Below The Headlines - 84
A widow is ordered to mourn more and King Charles vibes with Davido
This week I wrote a throwback piece on the Cold War and how Nigeria managed to escape the worst of the era’s paranoia.
I warn readers not to appear in this newsletter and yet this week, I came dangerously close to doing so myself. Enjoy the usual selection, if you can.
Inside Nigeria
I struggle to think of anything more shameful in recent times than the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti by the Senate. In particular the way it played out so publicly:
The Federal Government on Friday said it would intervene in the leadership crisis of the National Assembly after the suspension of the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
“We’re engaging all the stakeholders to ensure that they temper justice with mercy,” the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Iman Suleiman-Ibrahim, told State House correspondents during the Meet-the-Press Programme at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Her comments came barely 24 hours after the 10th Senate suspended Natasha for six months.
The lawmaker had submitted a petition alleging she had been sexually harassed by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Natasha first raised the alarm on February 28.
However, the Senate dismissed her petition on procedural grounds as the ethics committee recommended her suspension, saying she had brought ridicule to the upper chamber.
Reacting to the development, the women affairs minister said, “It’s an unfortunate incident that should not happen. In the last Assembly, we had nine senators who were women.
“We don’t want to lose any woman member in the Senate or decrease in number.
“We’re going to be brokering peace. We’ll engage all the stakeholders to ensure that they temper justice with mercy.”
This year’s ramadan is brought to you by the economic situation in the country:
Faruk Musa, the head of a family of three residing in Minna, expressed mixed feelings about this year’s Ramadan fast, noting that although the situation is manageable, the last of money is a problem.
Musa noted that while food prices have seen some decline in the market, they remain significantly high for certain essential items.
He recalled how last year, he could purchase beans for akara and for Iftar at the rate of N2,500 per mudu. This year, however price has dropped to N1,200, but there is no money to purchase items.
“Maize, for instance, to cost N1,000 last Ramadan, but now it’s going for about N700,” Musa said.
Despite these reductions, Musa’s main concern lies with the prices of vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and onions. He lamented that these items are still expensive, with peppers now costing as much as N200 in local markets, compared to just N50 last year.
“In Minna, you can’t get pepper for less than N200 now, whereas last year it was much cheaper. The prices have not improved,” he added.
For Iftar, Musa typically prepares local dishes such as kosai, kunu, and occasionally masa, complemented by dates or fruits. However, he admitted that he does not have the means to donate meals to nearby mosques.
At Sahoor, Musa and his wife make do with leftovers from the previous night, warming them up with tea to begin their fast. As the adults in the household, he and his wife make sure the children have enough to start their day.
Musa’s main concern this year, is purchasing new clothes for his two young children for the Sallah celebrations. “My focus is now on ensuring that my children have proper Sallah clothes,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Musa remains hopeful that the spirit of Ramadan will carry his family through this trying times.
Bizarre story:
After 11 years of divorce, a customary Court at Rumuogba in Rivers State has stripped Mrs Kate Ngbor of continuing to bear her former husband’s name with immediate effect.
The claimant, Chief Sam Ngbor, has, in suit no: OCC/9/2021, sought a court order to restrain his former wife, Mrs Kate Mgbor, from continuing to bear his name.
The court granted the orders after the submissions from E. O Erhirhi Esq, counsel of the claimant and R.U Egwenre Esq, counsel for the defendant.
The court ordered that the defendant has no right, except on the express permission of the claimant, to continue to bear or answer the name “Ngbor” or “Sam-Ngbor” (as the case may be).
The court consequently, in the judgment, stripped the defendant of the name “Ngbor” or “Sam-Ngbor”.
“The court ordered the defendant to revert to her maiden name or any other name of her choice, excepting “Ngbor” or “Sam-Ngbor” as the case may be.
The court restrained the defendant from further bearing the name Mrs. Kate Ngbor or Mrs. Kate Sam-Ngbor (as the case may be) or further parading herself or holding herself out in this name howsoever.”
And another bizarre story:
In a shocking case, The Guardian gathered that a widow in Enugu State was compelled to revisit her grief six months after her husband’s passing, as his kinsmen deemed her initial mourning period insufficient, sparking a distressing ordeal that highlights the persistence of harmful cultural practices.
This is despite the fact that the state has adopted the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP Act), which prohibits all forms of violence against persons in the country.
In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, Enugu State Commissioner for Children, Gender Affairs, and Social Development, Ngozi Eni, disclosed that the perpetrators of the heinous act have been arrested and charged to court.
Update on banditry in Kaduna:
A notorious bandit leader, who adopted the name Shekau due to his notoriety, has been ambushed and killed by a rival faction in Kachia Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State.
Intelligence sources revealed to Zagazola Makama that the attack was orchestrated by a rival bandit leader, Shumo, an indigene of Ragadada, Buruku in Birnin Gwari LGA. The assault was in retaliation for a previous attack by Shekau, who had reportedly seized Shumo’s weapons and killed several of his fighters.
According to sources, the ambush, which took place on March 5, 2025, resulted in Shekau’s death along with some of his lieutenants. The bodies of the neutralized bandits were later buried by individuals identified as Yellow Million, Baba Kusa, and an imam from Kabode village, Kachia LGA.
The Edo State Government is cracking down on the kidnapping ecosystem:
The Edo State Government has intensified its crackdown on individuals aiding kidnappers, as the state’s task force on Friday demolished another property linked to criminal activities.
The latest demolition took place in Eshioriri-Erah, Owan East Local Government Area in the state, targeting the home of a septuagenarian accused of acting as an informant for kidnappers operating in the Owan and Esan forests.
The suspect, identified as Mr. Karimu Audu, is alleged to have provided information to suspected kidnappers, hosted them overnight, and supplied them with food.
Addressing journalists at the demolition scene, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Affairs, Mr. Akhere Paul, emphasized the state government’s zero tolerance for complicity in kidnapping.
“We are here because of conspiracy. He has been working with kidnappers in the forest. Let this serve as a warning to everyone—if you see something, say something.
Outside Nigeria
Darlington Akporuga, a Nigerian ‘socialite’ who was arrested on his wedding day in America (where he was living illegally), has now pleaded guilty to online romance scams that took in $3m:
A 47-year-old Houston man has entered a guilty plea to wire fraud and conspiracy for a romance scheme targeting citizens nationwide, many of whom were elderly, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Darlington Akporugo admitted to being a central figure in a long-running romance scheme based in Houston that victimized citizens from Chicago to Kentucky. Akporugo worked with others to lure victims through online romances and then induce them to send money to various bank accounts he controlled.
To further the fraud, Akporugo and his co-conspirators used fake names to contact victims on social media, gain their confidence and then persuade them to invest in non-existent businesses or provide funds for invented personal circumstances.
As part of his plea, Akporugo admitted to approaching potential victims, primarily on social media sites such as Facebook, and then directing them to send money to either his or his associates’ bank accounts. That money was often then directed overseas.
In addition to collecting cash and wire transfers, Akpourgo also admitted to having victims open lines of credit in his name and, in one case, purchasing a luxury vehicle for his personal use.
During the multi-year investigation, authorities were able to identify over 25 victims of the scheme, the majority either retired or of advanced age.
Losses from the fraud ring’s operation total more than $3 million.
United States Attorney’s Office
An amazing long read showing how a South Carolina town with a love for horses got embroiled in a Sambo Dasuki money laundering scheme. An incredible piece of journalism that includes links to some eye opening documents:
Twenty-three years ago, a middle-aged man from Nigeria traveled to Aiken to buy a horse farm. He’d arrived unannounced to close the deal. It was a warm day, the end of the polo season. He wore Bermuda shorts, sandals and socks, and a colorful shirt. Despite his casual clothes, he had an elegance about him. After all, he was the head of Nigeria’s government mint, friendly with American diplomats and the son of a Nigerian sultan. He'd come prepared. He had a briefcase.
And money from overseas was on the way.
[…]
But the horse farm in Aiken ultimately became more than an overseas trophy. Over the years, the Dasukis traveled between Nigeria and the United States many times. In the late 1990s, they sought a more permanent residency status by requesting political asylum. But U.S. immigration officials in 1998 denied their request, arguing that the Dasukis failed to demonstrate they had been harmed or persecuted. In the early 2000s, the family tried a different tack — one that leveraged their newly purchased Green Hill Farms in Aiken.
Farida Dasuki applied for an EB-5 visa, which in immigration circles is sometimes called a “golden visa.” Foreigners qualify by investing in an American business that preserves or generates at least 10 jobs. With an EB-5 visa, foreign citizens and their families can live freely in the United States for years. Their children may be eligible for in-state tuition and scholarships, and this visa status often paves the way to U.S. citizenship.
But to get such a visa, applicants must prove they had a legal source of money for their new American investment. In her application, Farida Dasukis pitched a horse-breeding business at Green Hill Farms, records show. Money for the project came from Sambo Dasuki’s work as a consultant for the Nigerian branch of an American oil company, her application said. The company operated an offshore platform in Ghana, and Dasuki claimed that he had been paid $1 million to lobby Ghanaian officials.
Immigration documents reveal the U.S. government’s skepticism. In one, officials noted that Dasuki had no experience in the oil industry to justify the $1 million consultancy. They said the $950,000 used to buy the farm had arrived in Aiken in circuitous ways: through a chain of corporations in the Bahamas and Hong Kong before arriving in the coffers of a South Carolina corporation that handled the sale.
Homeland Security officials concluded there was no evidence that the money came from a lawful source, and that the farm itself didn’t seem to be an ongoing business. The U.S. government denied Farida Dasuki's visa request.
News from Greater Manchester:
A popular African themed restaurant in Leigh has been rated as the best place to eat in the town. Taste Africana, on Market Street, has been awarded the top honour by customers via a restaurant aggregator.
The award given out by 'RestaurantGuru' takes in reviews, ratings and user engagement trends. On the website, Taste Africana is described as having a 'pretty atmosphere' and features high praise for its ' courteous staff.'
Taste Africana was opened by couple, Cynthia and Bright Chinule. The pair ventured into the food business after a successful stint as an online takeaway operating from their home in Leigh.
The Telegraph is continuing to highlight absurd cases from the UK’s immigration tribunals. Here’s another crazy one:
A psychotic Nigerian armed robber and crack cocaine dealer has been spared deportation because he would be considered “possessed” in the African country.
The criminal was jailed for seven years for carrying out an armed robbery on a brothel in 2011, and seven years later was jailed for supplying crack cocaine.
A deportation order was made more than 10 years ago in April 2014, but he appealed on human rights grounds.
The serial offender is still in Britain a decade on and has been allowed to stay because he believes he is possessed and treatment in his home country is not good enough, a judge has ruled.
Super Bowl winner, Maro Ojomo, was in Nigeria recently:
Eagles defensive tackle Moro Ojomo made a special stop after the Super Bowl LIX win — the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Nigeria.
Ojomo, who was born and raised in Lagos before moving to the United States in 2009, returned to his home country to speak with Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, about the Super Bowl win and future of football in the country.
He presented the president with a signed Eagles helmet and a Super Bowl champions hat.
"It is everything when you look at the amount of Africans, specifically Nigerians, that are in American football — it is a lot," Ojomo told reporters during his visit. "The most important thing is giving our youths an opportunity to get into American football. It is a pathway for education, high school, and college degrees and it is a pathway to make Nigeria bigger on a worldly view. I think about the community, the friends I grew up with, the heritage and my family values of being a Nigerian such as hard work, education, sports."
King Charles III has shared his music playlist:
The King has shared his personal playlist of tracks that bring him joy – featuring everything from reggae and Afrobeats to contemporary pop hits.
Bob Marley, Kylie Minogue, and Grace Jones all feature on the King's top tracks from across the Commonwealth, alongside the likes of Nigerian-American singer-songwriter Davido and recent Brit Award winner Raye.
King Charles recorded his Apple Music radio show, named The King's Music Room, in his office at Buckingham Palace.
The show is named after one of the state rooms at the royal residence, in which a baby Prince Charles was christened in 1948.
This tragic story is in the Scottish media but I don’t think I’ve seen it in Nigerian media:
A man has been sentenced to the death penalty for murdering his wife by setting her on fire after she made a trip home to Nigeria from Scotland.
Mother-of-four Chinyere Ogudoro , 46, and her brother Ifeanyi Edoziem suffered fatal injuries during an incident at her family home in Lagos in April 2022. Her husband Benjamin Ogudoro, 53, killed his wife and brother-in-law by setting them alight as they slept using a petroleum-based substance.
Mrs Ogudoro moved to Scotland in 2017 to study at Glasgow Caledonian University and gained a master's degree in international business management. She had set up home in Glasgow and formed her own management consultancy company in the city after graduating from university.
Ogudoro's trial at Lagos State High Court heard he was jealous of his wife's business career and was angry that she owned the house they lived in. Mrs Ogudoro had returned to speak with her husband after finding out he planned to sell the family home without her permission.
Ogudoro claimed the fire had started by accident but was found guilty of the murders by Judge Serifat Sonaike last week and she sentenced him to death by hanging. Uche Uwalaka, the sister of the victims, gave evidence for the prosecution and said their mother had died as a result of the pain of losing two of her children on the same day.
She said: "I am pleading for justice because of the pain of losing my siblings to the actions of the defendant." Mrs Ogudoro died at the scene of the incident on April 1, 2022. Her younger brother died later in hospital but was able to give a dying declaration to police alleging that his brother-in-law was responsible.
Ogudoro claimed he discovered the fire after returning home from a bar and had tried to save his wife and brother-in-law. He said: "I did not kill my wife. It is absolutely not true that I poured fuel on my wife and her brother. By the time I went back to the house, she was still with her brother in the guest room. I was on my phone and I suddenly saw an unusual light coming from the balcony close to the guest room.
"When I got there, I opened the door and I saw the fire. I moved back immediately because the flames had already touched me. I even sustained injuries on my hand and legs. I ran to the place I went to drink earlier. Some people were there and I asked them for help and begged them to pour water on me because my body was hot. They poured some water on me and that was the last thing I remembered until I found myself in the hospital."
Tyler Austin Harper is a writer I really like and here he shares his review of Chimamanda Adichie’s new book, Dream Count:
Adichie quite deliberately presents us with protagonists who have trouble sticking to that one-fifth time limit of thinking about men. Her quartet of characters is a lineup of familiar female archetypes. Chia is a romantic intent on true love, an adventurer forever seeking a soulmate. Her best friend, Zikora, is a striver eager to have it all—a lucrative legal career and a husband and children. Omelogor is Chia’s cousin, recently back home after a leave from her Nigerian finance job to study pornography in American graduate school; she’s an acerbic pragmatist who avoids serious relationships. And Kadiatou, Chia’s hired help, has been lured from Guinea by dreams and is shocked by permissive American mores. Motherhood, real and hypothetical, is front of mind for all, and expectations veer off course for each of them.
In Omelogor, Adichie seems to be reaching for another satirical guide on the model of Ifemelu, Americanah’s race-blogger protagonist: a participant observer of fraying gender dynamics, emotionally preoccupied with the opposite sex while also bemusedly untethered. For several years, Omelogor has been running a popular website, For Men Only, which takes off during the pandemic. There she dispenses anonymous but clearly female counsel about gender, sex, and romance, having decided that men need more than the pornographic tutelage they’re steeped in. She signs her missives with a lightly pandering flourish: “Remember, I’m on your side, dear men.”
But Omelogor is angry too (sometimes a symptom of depression, Chia notes). She’s well aware that despite the persona she creates for her blog, she is no expert on serious relationships, and she suspects that she may be too cynical and disillusioned to be on anyone’s side in the gender war, including her own. She cops to having returned from her American sojourn with “a jaundiced spirit and a mood like midnight.” Instead of enjoying the restorative break she’d hoped for (money laundering loomed large in her African banking work), she felt lonely and alienated, not least by “perfect righteous American liberals,” insistent that “you board their ideological train.”
Rugby School is due to open in Lagos, Nigeria next September. The wonderfully named Dr. Adam England has been appointed as its head:
Dr Adam England will become the founding Principal of Rugby School Nigeria with effect from 10 March 2025.
Dr England has 20 years of education leadership experience in the UK and Africa, most recently as Director General of Ecole International Ruban Vert in Libreville, Gabon.
Rugby School Nigeria will open in September 2025, offering a two-year A level programme for day students from the age of 16. In September 2026 the School will expand to include day and boarding students aged 11 to 18.
Dr England holds degrees in English and French from the University of Warwick and Swansea University, along with a doctorate in English Literature. He was Chair of the Independent Schools Council of Wales and is an experienced school design consultant. He speaks fluent French, and some Arabic, and is a keen rugby player and coach.
‘I am delighted to be returning to Lagos and to becoming Principal of such a prestigious school as Rugby,’ he said. ‘Before then I shall be spending some time at Rugby School England, absorbing its “Whole Person Whole Point” philosophy and its global approach to teaching and learning. I have no doubt that the parents and children of Lagos, and more widely in Nigeria, will be excited about the opening of Rugby and all the educational opportunities it will offer.’
Rugby School Nigeria is on a purpose-built campus in Eko Atlantic City in Lagos, a modern urban space with reliable transport, secure utilities, a beautiful landscape and ocean-side surroundings.
Feature on Cynthia Erivo:
Erivo, who along with sister, Stephanie, was raised by her Nigerian-born mother, Edith, in London, has risen to become one of the film world’s biggest stars since graduating from Rada in 2010.
Lead roles in the stage musicals Sister Act and The Color Purple led her to Broadway and Hollywood with roles in Steve McQueen’s Widows followed, in 2019, by the biopic Harriet, in which her performance as the abolitionist Harriet Tubman attracted her first Oscar leading actress nomination, as well as another for Best Original Song.
Erivo’s leading actress nomination for Wicked, the second big-screen instalment of which is due for release in November — will have her vie on Sunday in Los Angeles with Mikey Madison, Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres and Karla Sofía Gascón.
The US recently seized a crypto wallet with $1.5 million in it from a Nigerian:
The U.S. government has taken action against cryptocurrencies linked to a wire fraud and money laundering case, targeting assets held on the Binance platform. In a civil forfeiture action filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, federal authorities are seeking to permanently confiscate a range of digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
The seized cryptocurrencies, valued at approximately $1.5 million, were taken from a Binance account last October and are now the subject of a legal claim. The assets include 7.23918814 BTC, 105.75351403 ETH, 636.11899592 AVAX, 14120.995091 USDT, 2,380,467,906.17 SHIB, and 319008151.01 PEPE.
The investigation, led by Special Agent Katrina P. Caulfield from the U.S. Secret Service, traced the seized cryptocurrencies back to a scam called Trade Propel. This platform posed as an investment platform, luring victims into investing through a Facebook group called "Financial Independence Forum" with promises of high returns from cryptocurrency trading. One victim, referred to as Victim-1, was persuaded to transfer 1.33 BTC to an individual named "Tom Sheldon Haley."
Further investigation revealed that the Trade Propel website was a sham, falsely claiming affiliation with reputable financial institutions and had been indicated in numerous fraud reports. The government contends that the seized assets are directly tied to the proceeds of wire fraud and were used in money laundering operations. The cryptocurrencies were funneled through multiple intermediate wallets before being deposited into the Binance account held by Avwerosuo Omokri, who is associated with a Nigerian passport.
This story left me so confused. And can I just say, for the record, I had no involvement in this:
A vulnerable former chef died in a “cuckoo” house after being repeatedly beaten, kept in slavery and forced to sleep beside dogs, a court has heard.
The body of 55-year-old Dimitrios Tsavdaris was found in a foetal position in a flat in Hackney, north London, after he succumbed to weeks of violent attacks, the Old Bailey was told.
He had allegedly been taken there from the home of Bamidele Fawehinmi in Wickford, Essex, where he slept on a mattress in a garage beside American Pitbull cross-breed dogs.
Weighing just over eight stone, the victim was a frail “vulnerable person” who may have been dead or dying for several days before his body was found last January 29, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said.
He had suffered multiple fractures to his ribs, face and breastbone as well as old and new bleeding on the brain and internal injuries, jurors were told.
Fawehinmi, 31, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of Mr Tsavdaris’s murder and causing him grievous bodily harm.
[…]
Ms Carberry said: “The police were alerted to Dimitrios’ death by this defendant’s own father who, upon learning from his son that there was a dead body in a flat associated with him, did the right thing and reported it to the police.
“Meanwhile his son, knowing he had killed a man, tried to flee the country via Heathrow airport to Lagos in Nigeria.”
Alma Asinobi is attempting to do the impossible. I can only wish her well:
In 2019, Alma Asinobi, a Nigerian postgraduate architecture student, gave herself an ambitious goal after obtaining her first passport: to visit up to 16 countries every year.
Then Covid-19 triggered a global lockdown, curtailing her dreams. Since restrictions were lifted, she has visited more than 30 countries and founded a travel agency, Kaijego.
On 15 March, the 26-year-old will attempt to fulfil another ambition: breaking the Guinness world record for the shortest time traversing all seven continents.
“It is the most ‘do it afraid’ thing I’ve done in my life,” she said.
If she succeeds, she will join a string of freshly minted record-holders in west Africa, where a new generation is passionately embracing breaking records. Since 2023, there have been more than 7,000 applications from the region’s 16 countries, according to Nicholas Brookes, the marketing director at Guinness World Records (GWR).
Asinobi, who travelled to other countries to obtain some of the 10 visas needed for the challenge, wants to highlight the difficulties posed by travelling with a “low-mobility” passport. On the 2025 Henley Passport Index, which ranks 199 countries by travel freedoms, Nigeria is tied in 88th place with Ethiopia and Myanmar.
