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How Arinze received $382,000 from victims

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Ogunjobi Olalekan, a prosecution witness in the trial of Eze Harrison Arinze has told Justice J. K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, how Arinze received $382,000 (Three Hundred and Eighty Two Thousand United States Dollars) worth of bitcoins from his victims before his account was blocked by his Virtual Asset Service Provider , VASP.

The witness, an officer of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, told the court that Arinze’s victims were deceived into withdrawing their funds and deposited them into Arinze’s bitcoin accounts, thinking that they were transacting legitimate businesses.

Arinze was arraigned on March 22, 2023, before Justice Omotosho, on five count charges bordering on obtaining by false pretence and money laundering to the tune of $769,263 (Seven Hundred and Sixty Nine Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty Three United States Dollars).

One of the counts against him reads; “That you, Eze Harrison Arinze alias Charlotte Brain, sometimes between April, 2022 and December, 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, did fraudulently impersonate one Charlotte Brain, a purported owner of Digitrades.Ltd/Digitrades.Net/Swiss-Earnings/Craystal-Trade investment platform on Telegram and in that assumed character obtained crypto currency worth $592,000.00(Five Hundred and Ninety Two Thousand USD) from your victims through your bitcoins wallet address-333…. Domiciled with Coinbase, a Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(3)(b) Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2012 and Punishable under the same Act.”

Another count reads: “That you, Eze Harrison Arinze alias Charlotte Brain, while being the owner of Digitrades.Ltd/Digitrades.Net/Swiss-Earnings/Crystal-Trade, a purported investment platform on Telegram, sometime between 28th October, 2022 and 7th December, 2022, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, with the intent to defraud, obtained 9.771 bitcoins worth $168,000.00(One Hundred and Sixty Eight Thousand US Dollars) transferred to your bitcoins wallet address 333…, domiciled with a Coinbase, a Virtual Assets Service Provider(VASP) under the false pretence that the said sum is for crypto currency investments, which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

He pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.

At the resumed trial of the case, Olalekan told the court that:

“We requested for users on the platform who have deposited crypto currency to the defendant’s account and their names were provided. About thirty persons on the platforms deposited various sums of bitcoin to the defendant’s account”.

Continuing, he explained that: “those that were identified were from thirteen different countries- the total inflow to his bitcoin wallet address based on the response was about 15.5btc valued around $382,000 (Three Hundred and Eighty Two United States Dollars and the defendant has withdrawn about 5btc before it was blocked.”

“We got the information of these users who deposited the funds, showing their user identities, location, money deposited at different intervals, wallet addresses where these funds were sent to at different intervals”, he said. He further stated that other vital information like “the amount they sent, dollar equivalent, email addresses of depositors, transaction identities”, were also disclosed.

Olalekan told the court that 28 out of the 30 depositors were reached through their email addresses to establish the purpose of the various sums they deposited in the defendant’s account and what they knew about “Swiss-Coin, Swiss earning, Swiss coins and Digitrades.ltd.”

After listening to the witness testimony, Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter for continuation to June 14, 2023 and ordered the remand of the defendant in Kuje Correctional Centre

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Wizkid’s Disc Jockey, DJ Tunez’s Laptop Stolen in Maimi

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DJ Tunez has lost his laptop in Maimi. According to the official disc jockey of afrobeats star, Wizkid, he said he lost his laptop bag at the Afronation Festival in Maimi, United States, during the weekend. He said the laptop bag contained his working laptop and pleaded with whoever is in possession of it to return it to him. Tunez disclosed this via his Instastory recently. He promised a cash reward to anyone that finds it. He wrote, “I lost my laptop bag in Maimi please if anyone finds it contact me!Cash reward!“My Starboy DJ laptop ooo.”

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I Didn’t See It Coming – Keyamo Reacts to National Honour

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Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has reacted after President Muhammadu Buhari conferred a National Honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON, on him. Reacting on Sunday, Keyamo said he was conferred along with other “deserving and distinguished Nigerians”, saying he was number 15 in the list. Keyamo thanked and prayed for Buhari, asking God to honour the president as he did to others. The statement reads, “I was very delighted to wake up this morning to the news of the conferment on my humble self of one of the highest National Honours of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) (No. 15 on the list).“I had no single inkling this was coming and for this I am grateful to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.“His style is to give honours and privileges to those deserving of them and not those who lobby for them. Thank you, Mr. President and may God Almighty continue to honour you even as you have honoured others”.

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President Buhari Confers Citizenship On 385 Foreigners

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Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari has conferred citizenship on 385 foreign nationals, The Nation reports.He declared them worthy Nigerians after meeting all necessary conditions. The conferment was conducted on behalf of the President by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at Gen Abdulraman Danbazzau Conference Hall, Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Headquarters, Abuja. Buhari said his administration gave citizenship to more foreigners than any administration so far, asserting that the gesture was to encourage foreign investment and boost the nation’s economy. He described those conferred the citizenship as worthy of the honour, saying they have contributed in various fields of human endeavours to the development of the country.The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said those conferred with the citizenship met the stringent conditions attached to it, and called for the review of the Nigerian Constitution to allow more foreign nationals apply for citizenship. He said in Europe and United States, foreigners who had lived there could apply for citizenship after 5 years, but wondered why in Nigeria foreigners would have to wait for 15 years before they could apply for Nigeria citizenship. He however commended Buhari for initiating policies that make application for citizenship attractive to foreign nationals, saying from the records a total of 671 have been conferred with Nigeria citizenship within the past five years. Aregbesola said: ”That we have a high number of foreigners willing to become Nigerians is an indication that the on-going efforts of the Federal Government to make Nigeria a destination for investment and peaceful coexistence is beginning to yield good fruits.“I must state also that it is under our administration that the largest number of foreigners have been naturalised. “Between 2011 and 2013,a total of 266 foreigners became Nigerians. In 2017, 335 people took up Nigerian citizenship. But last year, 286 foreigners and today at this ceremony, 385, making a total of 671 have acquired Nigerian citizenship.“I am still not pleased with this figure. In Europe and America, thousands of foreigners are inducted into citizenship every year. They do this to attract youths and people in their prime who would like to contribute to the development of their countries.“The bane of the smooth pathway to Nigerian citizenship however is the constitutional requirement of continuous residency in Nigeria for 15 years.” This is a huge disincentive, considering that in the United States and most European countries, it is five years. Some of these countries have made a habit of snatching young and resourceful brains – who after four years of schooling and working for just one year – through easy pathways, to obtain quality migration to their countries.” I will therefore urge the relevant institutions of state to reconsider this in the next effort at amendment to the constitution. We ought to have easier pathways to citizenship for foreigners than currently obtains.”

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