FG seizes former minister of petroleum, Dan Etete’s private jet in Canada

The federal government has seized a private jet believed to be owned by former minister of petroleum Dan Etete, over his alleged involvement in the $1.1 billion Malabu oil deal.



The Bombardier 6000 jet with tail number M-MYNA which touched down at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport in Canada on Friday evening, was seized on Saturday morning after a Quebec judge granted a seizure order.



Finance Uncovered reported that Babatunde Olabode ‘Bode’ Johnson who was appointed by the Nigerian government in 2016 to recover assets from the OPL 245 deal, confirmed the seizure. He said the court order was served on the jet’s owner, a company called Tibit Ltd, which has until Tuesday next week (9 June) to file court papers opposing the seizure. Tibit Ltd is an anonymously owned company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).



Johnson added that the jet which Etete paid a total of $57m for in 2011, has been closely monitored and has been grounded in Dubai for the past four years.



He said;




“Our investigators in Dubai then noticed that the jet, having been grounded in Dubai for so long, suddenly did some test flights and even went up to a cruising altitude for a short while. It seemed like they were testing whether they could fly somewhere.

“The jet then took off from Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai, mid-morning on Friday. We did not know the destination at that point.

“We now suspected that it was being flown to Canada for a major service, pending a possible sale.

“We had just a few hours to get a legal team in place on the ground there in Canada to file the injunction. It was 3am in Nigeria when I made a statement to the judge via video link.”



Etete who became the petroleum minister during Abacha's military regime, has been accused of awarding the prospecting rights to the huge OPL 245 block to a company he secretly controlled, Malabu Oil and Gas. After he went back to being a private citizen, he offloaded the oil block to oil giants Shell and Eni in 2011 who paid a combined $1.3 billion to the Nigerian government.



While Shell and ENI paid a signature bonus of $210 million to the federal government, they paid $1.1 billion to buy 100 percent interest in the oil block from Malabu. It was alleged that some government officials were bribed to facilitate the deal which is considered unfavourable to Nigeria as the value of the oil block is estimated to be worth much more than what was paid for it. Eni and Shell have however denied any wrongdoing.



Etete has also denied any wrongdoing and has dismissed the allegations as “political propaganda”. Now aged 75, he is thought to divide his time between Dubai and France.

FIFA confirms paying $700,000 owed to Super Falcons for World Cup participation

World football governing body, FIFA, has confirmed it has paid Nigerian Football Federation the outstanding $700,000 owed to the Super Falcons for participation in the 2019 Women’s World Cup.



Nigeria's women's team, the Super Falcons participated in the Women's World cup in June 2019 and as at February 2020 had not received payment of $1m for participation.



The NFF were due to receive $1m for reaching the Round of 16 in France, but $240,000 was deducted for the Super Falcon's extended stay in France and rescheduled flight after their sit-in protest.



In February, FIFA explained the payment delays.

"Regarding your request, as part of our long-term vision to invest into the development of women’s football at all levels, prior to last year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in France, Fifa announced that it would more than triple the financial contribution for participating Member Associations in the tournament to USD 50 million," Will Shand, a Fifa spokesperson, wrote to Goal.



FIFA also revealed the money was also being processed.



In an interview this week, Amaju Pinnick, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president said the NFF had not received its prize money.

"I have always said that we have a special love for the Super Falcons," Pinnick told media in a virtual press briefing on Monday.

"That is the team that has won the most laurels for this country and we appreciate and adore them.

"I will be in contact with Fifa during the week to know when we will receive the appearance fee from the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup.



Pinnick also revealed the team is meant to share 30 percent of the prize money.

"That money is the sum of $760,000, and 30 percent of that money is for the team to share."



However, FIFA Fifa has confirmed it has paid Nigeria the outstanding 2019 Women’s World Cup prize money in full.

"We can confirm that the full amount due to NFF related to the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2019, including prize money and preparation money, has been paid," FIFA official Shand wrote to Goal .



Meanwhile the NFF says they haven't received the payment.

"They told us they have paid the money but you know it takes time to hit CBN as it’s not a conventional bank," an NFF official reportedly told Goal.

"It takes a little while before we can get the money from CBN. The process is not that smooth. The money from Fifa will have to go through the Citibank in New York to Citibank in London before it gets to the CBN in Nigeria.

"However, we have discussed with the players on the mode of payment and hoping to do that as soon as we can assess the money."

Mark Zuckerberg promises Facebook policy review amid criticism for not barring Trump's posts

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to review Facebook's policies on moderating controversial and violence inciting messages, including those of US President Trump after 30 percent of his staff reportedly threatened to resign last week following Zuckerberg's decision to not censor Trump's message on the platform in the aftermath of protests following the police killing of black-American George Floyd.



"In the post, Trump referred to protesters as thugs and used a racist quote that was criticized for violence.







'....There THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him the Military is with him all the way,' wrote Trump.

'Any difficulty and we will assume control, but when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!' Trump wrote in the post shared on his Facebook and Twitter pages.



Twitter flagged Trump's post with a warning sign drawing condemnation from Trump while Zuckerberg criticized Twitter for fact checking Trump's tweets saying it isn't the job of social media companies to criticize or censor Politicians.







Facebook refused to either flag or remove the post and despite Facebook staffers wanting Zuckerberg to fact check posts of politicians, Zuckerberg resisted calls from employees to put disclaimer on Trump's posts.



Anger among the company's staff was so severe it prompted 5,500 employees to complain and a third of them threatened to resign.



Zuckerberg has now promised to review the social network's policies that led to its decision to not moderate controversial messages posted by President Donald Trump.



The announcement, which came in the form of a letter to employees, said: 'We're going to review our policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force to see if there are any amendments we should adopt,' Zuckerberg wrote.



This, he said, includes 'excessive use of police or state force. Given the sensitive history in the US, this deserves special consideration.'

'The decision I made last week has left many of you angry, disappointed and hurt,' Zuckerberg said in the letter, which he posted on his Facebook page.

'While we are looking at all of these areas, we may not come up with changes we want to make in all of them,' Zuckerberg cautioned.



As per the 2020 presidential elections voting, Zuckerberg said: 'I have confidence in the election integrity efforts we've implemented since 2016.'

'But there's a good chance that there will be unprecedented fear and confusion around going to the polls in November, and some will likely try to capitalize on that confusion,' he said.



The letter also addressed employees' complaints that minorities have not been sufficiently represented internally.

'We're going to review whether we need to change anything structurally to make sure the right groups and voices are at the table,' Zuckerberg said. Read the full letter below.









Zuckerberg's letter comes after Facebook employees during a 90 minutes virtual town hall on Tuesday with Zuckerberg demanded removal of hate speech in Facebook posts by politicians this week.

'Fact checking and removal of hate speech shouldn't be exempt for politicians,' the Facebook employees wrote.



During the meeting he defended the decision to refrain from flagging Trump's post.



He said that he didn't think that the post 'read as a dog whistle for vigilante supporters to take justice into their own hands.'



He said he decided to leave up the post because 'people need to know if the government is planning to deploy force.'

Pregnant wife of Edo politician is raped and murdered in Benin, sparking protest (photo/video)

Mrs Queen Igbinevbo, the pregnant wife of Comrade Promise Igbinevbo has died after she was raped and murdered at home.



Mrs Igbinevbo was alone at her home in Benin when her attackers gained entrance into the home through the ceiling.



A source who spoke to LIB said the intruders had come in search of her husband, Comrade Promise Igbinevbo, who is a Governorship Campaign Coordinator. However, when they didn't find him at home on May 20, 2020, they raped and murdered his wife.



Mrs Queen, who is known as a very religious woman in her neighbourhood, was discovered by neighbours who were worried that they have not seen her in a while.



A source said: "When we could not see Queen, I came to check if she was fine, because she lives alone, we met her naked, blood and foam was coming out of her mouth. There was semen all over her body.



"We had to call her husband who is staying in another place."



The source who spoke to LIB said neighbours reported seeing strange men walking up and down the street just days before the tragic incident.



The murder of Queen Igbinevbo sparked a demonstration in Benin. On Friday, June 5, protesters took to Edo State Police Command to demand justice for the deceased.



The source who spoke to LIB said three people have been arrested in relation to Mrs Queen Igbinevbo's brutal murder.

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Mrs Queen Igbinevbo, the pregnant wife of Comrade Promise Igbinevbo, has died after she was raped and murdered at home in Benin, Edo State. . . A source who spoke to LIB said the Intruders gained entrance into the home through the ceiling on May 20, 2020. They had come in search of her husband, the source added, but when they didn't find him, they attacked the wife. . . On Friday, June 5, protesters took to the Edo State Police Command to demand justice for the deceased.

Un post condiviso da Lindaikejiblog (@lindaikejiblogofficial) in data: 6 Giu 2020 alle ore 3:22 PDT

11 Almajiris repatriated from Kaduna test positive for COVID-19 in Sokoto

11 Almajiri repatriated from Kaduna state on June 4, have tested positive for COVID-19.



A statement from the state Ministry of Health says 33 of the Almajiris were sent back to the state from Kaduna and were immediately isolated at the state NYSC orientation camp, Wamakko. On arrival, all their samples were collected for testing.



Unfortunately, 11 out of 33 samples collected tested positive for the novel Coronavirus and are now been treated.

75% of rape cases I’m handling involve religious leaders – Foluke Daramola-Salako

Nollywood actress and founder of Passion Against Rape and Abuse Africa, PARAA, Foluke Daramola-Salako has said that 75 percent of the rape cases her organization has handle were perpetrated by religious leaders.



Daramola disclosed this during an interview with media personality, Funmi Iyanda.



The actress who was raped by her tenant when she was 17, said;




“75% of the cases I have on my table are from religious leaders, and a lot of time, we don’t get to the end of it, because when we start, the family would come and tell us we should leave the religious leader to God.”.



Daramola-Salako dismissed claims that indecent dressing is what is responsible for the increase in the number of rape cases.




“Nothing attracts rape, it is a sign of weakness. Why do they rape minors, teenagers, and even old women, is that also about indecent dressing?

You hardly find rape cases against young women except for sexual assaults and abuse in workplaces, we find it mostly amongst kids, teenagers, and elderly women, how come you are now telling me it is indecent dressing? And we are not animals.” she said