Ayeiroyin

Peru drug law enforcement yesterday seized 1,417 kilos of cocaine with logos that bear a photo of Barcelona star Lionel Messi as well as his name, found wrapped in containers of squid filets and destined for Belgium. The drugs were worth an estimated $85 million in street value, Peru officials said in a news release. Many packages of the drugs bore the likeness of Messi and his name, while the rest were wrapped in black packaging with a logo saying “King” with a likeness of the king of Spain. A spokesperson for the Peruvian National Police’s Anti-drugs Office (Dirandro) said that no one has been arrested or detained yet. “Most of the 1,288 packages of drugs were camouflaged as squid filets and had a label that said ‘Messi’ along with a picture of the Argentina player Lionel Messi wearing the shirt of the Spanish club Barcelona,” the news release said. The logos are used to guarantee the purity of the drugs by the gangs who traffic them, the official said, as well as guara...

The Lagos High Court yesterday gives judgement to Two of the four men tried for the 2012 murder of a general’s daughter, Cynthia Osokogu, Okwumo Echezona Nwabufo and his nephew  Olisaeloka Ezike are to die by hanging. Justice Olabisi A . kinlade found them guilty of drugging, chaining and strangling Osokogu, who was a Nasarawa State University post-graduate student, to death at Cosmilla Hotel, Festac Town, Lagos, on July 22, 2012. Orji Osita, 37, and Ezike Nonso, 29, were discharged and acquitted of the charge of recklessness, negligence and possession of stolen goods. Osita, a pharmacist, had been accused of supplying Nwabufo with Rophynol, a sedative which was allegedly used on the deceased, without a prescription. While Nonso was accused of buying her stolen Blackberry phones from Ezike. Nwabufo, 37, Ezike, 27, Osita and Nonso were arraigned on February 8, 2013, on a six-count charge of conspiracy, murder, stealing, recklessness, negligence and possession of s...

No fewer than 20 suspects in last Wednesday’s mayhem in Ile Ife, Osun State, have been arrested. Besides, panel of enquiry would be set up to investigate the immediate and remote cause of the crisis to complement the truth commission set up by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi. Osun Sstate Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this yesterday at Sabo area of Ile Ife where he and the visiting Senator Musa Kwankwaso addressed leaders of Hausa community over the crisis. He urged residents to assist the law enforcement agents to fish other troublemakers who participated in the crisis. Aregbesola, who visited Ile Ife for the second time since the unfortunate incident occurred reiterated that the mayhem was caused by miscreants who did not have the interest of the state at heart. Kwankwoso urged the parties to put the crisis behind them stating that the they should continue to live together in peace. He recalled his standing relationship with people in the southwest say...

N49 million “crispy notes of N200 and N50 denominations” abandoned at the Kaduna International Airport on Monday night packed in sack This is found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  A man who believed to be the owner ran away before EFCC operatives could question him.  The cash was discovered by EFCC Zonal Office in Kaduna in five large black 150kg sacks during routine baggage screening at the airport. A top source in the commission said: “Upon careful scrutiny of the sacks, it was discovered that they contained fresh crispy naira notes of N200 denomination in 200 bundles totaling N40million and N50 denomination in 180 bundles totaling N9million. “The bundles were all sealed, purportedly emanating from the Nigerian Security and Minting Company (MSPMC) as seen in the label on the packs. “The five sacks were sighted unattended and without tags containing fresh bulk items suspected to be money from the aroma perceived from the sacks. “The owner of the mo...

The return of President Muhammadu Buhari from the United Kingdom on Friday has brought stability into the polity. Says the Abia former governor, Dr Orji Kalu.  Kalu told newsmen in Lagos on Sunday that Nigerians were happy that the president was back in good health. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the president went on vacation to the UK on Jan. 20, and also met with his doctors during the trip before returning on Friday. Kalu said: “Now that the president is back, I am very happy; we have been praying. “Both Christians and Muslims have been praying because the country has been so polarised that the fabrics of our nation have been eaten with tribalism and religion. “So I am very happy that the president is back and I want him to listen to his doctor’s advice and continue to take his medication, if any’’. The former governor noted that the president had kept his campaign promise of restoring peace to the North Eastern part of the country, which had been...

Banks  are awash with dollars, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continues to support the naira. The banks have cleared the backlog of requests for foreign currencies for basic travel allowance, school fees and medicals. A banker told NAN that his bank had so much dollars that its marketers were asked to encourage customers to request for the greenback. The source said that the bank wanted to avoid a situation where it would be forced to return excess Forex to the CBN. Doing so would force the CBN to reduce the quantity of Forex sold to the bank. Another source from First Bank said following the CBN intervention, the bank had succeeded in clearing all pending requests for Forex as far back as September, 2016. Also, a source in Guaranty Trust Bank commended the decision of the CBN to flood the market with Forex, thereby allowing the banks to meet legitimate requests from its customers

Federal Government, yesterday, released its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, with a view to restore macro-economic stability and driving various sectors towards achieving the nation’s full economic potentials.  The core vision of the plan is sustained inclusive growth through structural economic transformation, with emphasis on improving both public and private sectors’ efficiency in order to increase national productivity and achieve sustainable diversification of production.  The document, released yesterday by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, read:  “The Plan envisages that by 2020, Nigeria would have made significant progress towards achieving structural economic change with a more diversified and inclusive economy.  “Overall, the Plan is expected to deliver on five key broad outcomes, namely:  A stable macro-economic environment, agricultural transformation and food security, sufficiency in energy (power ...