Category: 📈Trends

Chicago woman, Clarisa Figueroa, 51, accused of luring a pregnant teenager to her home and cutting her baby from her womb with a butcher knife nearly five years ago has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

According to Associated Press on Wednesday, Figueroa received the sentence in a Cook County courtroom Tuesday after she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the 2019 killing of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez.

According to prosecutors, Figueroa enticed 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, who was nine months pregnant at the time, to her home on April 23, 2019, under the pretense of offering free clothing for her unborn child, only to then strangle her with a cable.

Subsequently, Figueroa dialed 911, falsely claiming she had given birth and that the child was not breathing.

The child died about two months later.

Yovanny Lopez, the husband of the victim Marlen Ochoa-Lopez and father of their child Yovanny Jadiel Lopez, described how the tragedy affected him and the couple’s older child, Joshua, who he said “has lost his mother forever.”

“The memory of my infant son’s last breath in my arms is complete agony,” he said in a statement read in Spanish and English in the courtroom. “… God’s justice will be served upon you the day you die.”

Authorities allege that shortly after the passing of Figueroa’s adult son from natural causes, she told her family she was pregnant. They said that she schemed for months to obtain a newborn, even going as far as posting an ultrasound and images of a nursery decorated for a baby on her Facebook profile.

It is claimed that in March 2019, she and Marlen Ochoa-Lopez connected via a Facebook group designated for expectant mothers.

Detectives investigating Ochoa-Lopez’s disappearance learned that she had gone to the defendant’s home. Two weeks after her disappearance, police found her car parked nearby.

Detectives probing into Ochoa-Lopez’s disappearance discovered that she had visited the defendant’s home.

Approximately two weeks following her disappearance, law enforcement found her vehicle parked nearby and was told by Desiree Figueroa, Clarisa’s daughter, that her mother had recently given birth.

Subsequent DNA tests confirmed that the child was not biologically related to Clarisa Figueroa.

Ochoa-Lopez’s body was discovered in a garbage can outside the Figueroa residence.

Police and prosecutors said Figueroa tricked her boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, into believing he was the father of the child.

Bobak, who cleaned up the crime scene, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice last year.

Desiree Figueroa, aged 29, pleaded guilty to murder in January for her involvement in assisting her mother and received a 30-year prison sentence. She had also agreed to testify against her mother as part of her plea agreement.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has vowed to arrest the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and bring him before the Federal High Court Abuja for arraignment to answer to the charges preferred against him.

This came on the heels of Bello’s counsel, Abdulwahab Muhammed, SAN, refusing to be served in the place of his client who is on the run from the EFCC.

The anti-graft agency, while addressing the court on Thursday through its team of lawyers led by Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, stressed that operatives would execute the arrest warrant against the former governor even if it has to be done by the use of force.

Pinheiro said, “We have to arraign him in court even if we have to use the military. Immunity is only attached to a person and not the building.

“The law allows to break down walls to arrest an evading defendant. Section 284 says all persons are to obey the service of charge.”

Pinheiro had narrated to the court how all efforts to get Bello arrested and bring him before the court for arraignment were obstructed by “someone with immunity.”

“My Lord, I have made an oral application, and I tried to get him arrested yesterday but was prevented by someone with immunity.

He said, “My Lord, what happened yesterday was that he was whisked away by a person with immunity, and we know he is in the home of that person. We will send security agents there to get him even if we have to break in because immunity is not attached to a building.

“If he wants to play games, we will show him that the Constitution is above every individual, and you cannot fight the Constitution.”

Pinheiro continued, “A former President of the United States was charged to court, and he has been appearing for his trial. He did not file all sorts of things to frustrate the case.

“A former governor is filing a fundamental human rights suit. If he says he is innocent, let him come and prove it instead of filing frivolous applications to delay his trial.”

Responding, Bello’s counsel, Muhammed, informed the court that his client had obtained an order from a High Court in Kogi State restraining the anti-graft agency from inviting, arresting or prosecuting him over the instant charge against him.

“Respectfully, My Lord, the defendant had approached a court for his fundamental human right. The High Court in Kogi State,” he said.

Muhammed held that the court had no jurisdiction to do any other thing rather than to take his client’s motion, challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the subsisting charge.

He faulted the EFCC ‘s move to try to get Bello arrested in his Abuja residence while judgment was being delivered on the fundamental human rights suit.

“What happened at Zone 4 Abuja yesterday, where they laid siege to the house of the former governor while he was in Lokoja waiting for judgment in his fundamental right enforcement suit, was unfortunate You don’t issue a warrant against a defendant who is already before the court and who has also briefed lawyers to defend him.

“They wanted the Court of Appeal to vacate the restraining order, but the Appeal Court refused.

“That a court gave an order in the morning, and another court of the same coordinate jurisdiction issues a contrary order in the evening is an invitation to anarchy. The defendant is not a fugitive. He is relying on an order of court to take protection,” Muhammed argued.

He told the court that the issue of arraignment shouldn’t be the bone of contention when his client had not been served.

“We don’t need the arraignment to take place. Your Lordship has to determine the issue of jurisdiction first because it is a threshold issue.

“Moreover, we are yet to be served with any process by the prosecution. You cannot be talking of arraignment when you have not been served,” Bello’s counsel cautioned.

Meanwhile, all efforts to serve Bello’s counsel in the courtroom by the EFCC lawyer were met with stiff rejection as he insisted that he had no authority to take the charge.

Pinheiro said that since Bello’s counsel was in court on behalf of his client, he would proceed to serve him.

“We will now make our service to the counsel who has unconditionally announced his appearance for the defendant,” Pinheiro  said.

Responding, Muhammed stated, “My Lord, we will accept their service if they bring a formal application, not a process.”

Muhammed then told the court they would be challenging the arrest warrant.

After listening to both parties, Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the matter till Tuesday, April 23, 2024, for ruling and arraignment.

At an academic conference some years ago, two students walked up to me after learning I was a Nigerian.They had based their academic projects on popular cross-dresser Idris Okunenye (Bobrisky) and they wanted to know a few things about her. Bobrisky was still a straw weight then but was not ignorable. One of them asked how she survives a Nigeria virulently opposed to any display of nonconforming sexuality. I opined that Bobrisky’s survival partly owes to the internet, particularly its feature that allows virtually any sight to escalate into a spectacle made Bobrisky one we could view remotely from the display show glass of our phone screens. That distance also put her out of the physical reach and social orbit where she could be harmed.

Then the other factor was money. The Bobrisky character implicitly understood something about Nigeria: for all our claims about “African values and morals,” we worship money. A universal solvent, money dissolves even our strongest claims of virtue. With money, you can regulate the collective moral temperature. So, Bobrisky did not appear on the social scene as a stereotypical cross-dresser appealing to public conscience for acceptance. She spurned acceptance and made her own brash rules of public engagement. Elsewhere, people who transition their gender take up an activist cause to fight the power (or the establishment) on behalf of other marginalised people. Not Bobrisky. On the social scene, she was a glammed-up doll, a made-for-contemporary-feminism Barbie doll that rolls in wads of cash. Bobrisky also talked about a “bae,” another tactic. Knowing that you are not a figure of power in the Nigerian political culture if you cannot claim the backing of some shadowy forces, she had to claim a male sponsor. It does not matter if those shadow backers exist or not. What counts is how much Bobrisky understood Nigeria, and how she mirrored us back to ourselves. It was a tactic that worked for her until it did not.

One day in the future when Bobrisky’s history is written, someone might say her undoing began when she stepped forward to collect an award meant for biological women. But the precedent will be how her glamorous existence as a woman undermined the ultimate symbol of masculinity: the penis. Bobrisky was a man who, by transitioning into a woman, proved that manhood was not the ultimate prize that men have long been socialised into believing. By whittling down manhood and opting for feminity, she treated the penis as another gift of nature that you could accept or reject. For men whose entire identity revolves around the thing between their legs, Bobrisky was an abomination. How can nature give you this thing, and you dare not venerate it? It was even worse for them that Bobrisky did not only become feminised but she was also living as a woman who possesses something beyond biology that a man needs in order to be called a man: economic power. For men whose claims to masculinity are daily abridged by the emasculating Nigerian economy, Bobrisky’s gender fluidity and wealth must have been torture. She was not the regular woman against whom they could measure their masculinity. That is why Portable’s song about Bobrisky being a “disgrace to Brotherhood” resonated with them.

When men could not take the affront to their dear penis anymore, they came up with the most spurious charge against Bobrisky. It was not that hard. Nigeria has a collection of judicial enforcers—from the police to the Department of State Services, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and even judges—who wield immense power but hardly match it up with either a sense of moral responsibility or an understanding of the spirit of democracy. For people who operate in bad faith, they have a lot of power. When Bobrisky stood in front of the judge and pled guilty, she must have expected a judge who would treat her like any other person and not the one who would see her as a personification of destabilised masculinity.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has declared a former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, wanted for offences relating to economic and financial crimes.

This was contained in a notice posted on the commission’s official Facebook page on Thursday.

“Former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, is wanted by the EFCC for offences relating to economic and financial crimes to the tune of N80.2 bn.

“Anybody with information as to his whereabouts should report immediately to the commission or the nearest police station,” the notice read.

Details later…

Young man has shared a video showcasing the heartwarming moment he reunited with his father after nine years abroad.

The man identified as @akuraymond9 on TikTok was heard screaming ‘daddy’ with joy as he ran to give his father a hug.

He revealed that it was the first time he was seeing his father for the past nine years.

The heartwarming reunion has ignited lots of reactions from viewers.

Softies said: “The shouting of Daddy hit my heart na today my Daddy demis pain me again.”

@libaby reacted: “That name Daddy is priceless, na your father born u nam, welcome home in good health, isee.”

ChiomzyEmpire said: “We’ll re still babies in front our parents little jumping and hugging.”

Kings said: “Na me remain ooh but e know go pass this year sha Heaven done sign am.”

Sonia Nassy reacted: “That joy, may the happiness never depart from ur home.”

Betty diamond said: “Congratulations dear.”

Chii8 said: “Who be this camera person abeg?”

@chacha_mila said: “You guys are really lucky to have one, as for me l don’t know how father’s love feels like or brother’s love.”

Nigerian man has left netizens in stitches after sharing a video of his oyinbo wife playing in his village.

The funny man shared a hilarious clip of the white lady running around the road with her slippers in her hands

The man identified TikTok as @mspunyafatih1 praised the lady while revealing that he never thought could run that fast.

Netizens who watched the video admired the interracial love they shared and asked how they could get white partners for themselves.

@chisomokechukwu98 said: “This one is even better than all those one that used to marry their grandmother.”

Abimbola reacted: “Cute sha make wonna help use find Oyinbo husband.”

@user6825808659526 reacted: “Bro which baba do am for you, cus I need fine one like this.”

@humbleshockerO reacted: “Why ur wife dy do like oyinbo princess.”

@edubrazil15 said: “Cuteness overload.”

MAJIC said: “My guy make them no use juju marry am from ur hand oh,na village u dey so or maybe u just visit sha.”

@chinnybardie said: “Your baby is beautiful, thank God you no carry grandma come back.”

Watch the video below:

https://www.tiktok.com/@mspunyafatih1/video/7356505110882553094?_r=1&_d=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8c8iQNFnW8r%2Bw3kcTXJX7mFvupMEJkAr%2B30AHDGTjb38HRzBVlvcfXk82IyuWEDDEJ%2BsCBEiaG9WPsBUWGgA%3D&checksum=a330c8ff591329d5979650b8b07954115d72a1cbe067aa54bea0e9a7fbca0d86&preview_pb=0&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAABTzXrgB37FCujprS-MSY2lczOknpkeutta0GQV2PUBLDvg_LfVL7ho2kCFTRFu7L&share_app_id=1340&share_item_id=7356505110882553094&share_link_id=8fb3573d-e7d8-4a89-b62e-6f567a31f536&sharer_language=en&source=h5_m&timestamp=1713405761&u_code=e24kkf14da914b&ugbiz_name=Main&user_id=7105015287032071174&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_source=copy

The Federal Government has eventually complied with the demands of domestic crude oil refiners and other operators in the sector, as it declared on Monday that indigenous refineries can now buy crude oil in naira or dollars.

It also declared that the total crude oil and condensate reserves in Nigeria increased to 37.5 billion barrels as of January 1, 2024, with a life index of 68.01 years.

The government disclosed this through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission at a briefing in Abuja, where it unveiled the new template for domestic crude oil supply obligation.

It stated that in compliance with the provisions of Section 109(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, the NUPRC in a landmark move, had developed a template guiding the activities for Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation.

“The commission in conjunction with relevant stakeholders from NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services, representatives of Crude Oil/Condensate Producers, Crude Oil Refinery-Owners Association of Nigeria, and Dangote Petroleum Refinery came up with the template for the buy-in of all.

“This is in a bid to foster a seamless implementation of the DCSO and ensure consistent supply of crude oil to domestic refineries,” the Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, told journalists in Abuja.

Responding to a question on the currency of transaction for crude oil purchase, as approved in the new template, Komolafe stated that it would be either in naira or dollar, adding that naira transactions would free the pressure on the country’s foreign exchange rate.

The NUPRC boss also pointed out that the template had become effective because all necessary parties had signed up for it.

He said, “The PIA intends to make the implementation (of crude oil obligation) very easy for the parties, both for the producers and refineries. So the answer simply is that the currency for the transaction would either be in naira or dollar. That is the simple answer.

“But we all know that if the transaction is carried out in naira, that itself will free the pressure on the exchange rate. That will help the exchange rate. So that is the intent and besides, the overall intent of the Petroleum Industry Act is to develop our midstream, which is a very laudable provision of the PIA.”

In the currency of payment section of the new template, it was stated that “the payment shall be in either United States dollar or naira or both. Where the payment is in both currencies, the payment split shall be as agreed in the SPA between the producer and the refiner.”

On February 26, 2024, The PUNCH exclusively reported that modular refineries in Nigeria were facing the threat of shutting down operations following their inability to access foreign exchange for the purchase of crude oil, a commodity priced in United States dollars.

Nigeria has 25 licenced modular refineries with a combined capacity of producing 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

Although not all of the plants are currently operational, the report stated that the functional ones were increasingly finding it difficult to purchase crude due to the foreign exchange crisis in the country.

The facilities, which produce Automotive Gas Oil, popularly called diesel, Dual Purpose Kerosene or kerosene, naphtha and black oil, were finding it hard to make the refined products available to oil marketers for distribution to consumers.

Operators of the plants explained that the scarcity of dollars had made it almost impossible for dealers to purchase crude oil, as the modular refinery players and oil marketers demanded the sale of crude oil in naira from the Federal Government.

The modular refinery operators, who spoke under the aegis of the Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria, lamented at the time that the Federal Government had not been able to keep its part of the bargain concerning the provision of feedstock to local crude oil refiners.

The Publicity Secretary, Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria, Eche Idoko, had stated that modular refineries might close shop if nothing was done to ameliorate the situation.

CORAN is a registered association of modular and conventional refinery companies in Nigeria, while modular refineries are simplified refineries that require significantly less capital investment than traditional full-scale refineries.

Idoko said, “The purchase of crude oil in dollars is currently the major challenge to modular refineries. We buy crude in dollars and sell our refined products in naira, and this is a major challenge. And apart from that, where do you get the dollars to pay for the crude?

“You heard the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria crying out recently about the dollar saga. We have requested that crude oil be sold to us in naira. And when you do this, you ease the pressure on the naira and this will make our diesel cheaper.

“It will encourage more investors to build and patronise the local refineries. If you take petroleum products off the foreign exchange market, you would have helped the naira by 60 per cent.”

Crude reserves rise

At the briefing on Monday, the government revealed that the total crude oil and condensate reserves in Nigeria increased to 37.5 billion barrels as of January 1, 2024, with a life index of 68.01 years.

It also announced an increase in the country’s gas reserves, as this moved up to 209.26 trillion cubic feet as of January 1, 2024, while its reserves index life was put at 97.99 years.

Komolafe said, “I am pleased to present to you an overview of the nation’s oil, condensate, associated gas, and non-associated gas reserves as of January 1, 2024, as follows: 1. Crude oil and condensate reserves stand at 31.56 billion barrels and 5.94 billion barrels respectively, amounting to a total of 37.50 billion barrels.

“2. Associated gas and non-associated gas reserves stand at 102.59 trillion cubic feet and 106.67TCF respectively, resulting in total gas reserves of 209.26TCF. The reserves life index is 68.01 years and 97.99 years for oil and gas respectively.”

Komolafe stated that positive gross additions to oil and gas reserves of 1.087 billion barrels and 2.573 trillion cubic feet respectively were recorded.

“Given the above, and in furtherance of the provisions of Chapter 1, Part III, Section 7 (g), (i), (j), (k), (m), (q), (r) (of the Petroleum Industry Act) and other powers enabling me in this respect, I declare the total oil and condensate reserves of 37.50 billion barrels and total gas reserves of 209.26 trillion cubic feet as the official national petroleum reserves position as of January 1, 2024,” he stated.

Before the latest increase announced by the government, Nigeria’s total crude oil and condensates reserves as of January 1, 2023, was 36.96 billion barrels, while its total associated gas and non-associated gas reserves as of January 1, 2023, was 208.83 trillion cubic feet.

Nigeria has been looking for new sources of oil by exploring what are called frontier basins. These are areas where little or no exploration has been done before.

Some of the basins being explored include the Anambra Basin, Benue trough

Bida basin, Chad basin (Nigerian section), Dahomey basin, Sokoto basin Deep and Ultra-deep offshore Niger Delta.

The Federal Government hopes that these basins will contain significant reserves of oil and gas. However, there have been some controversies about how much money should be spent on exploration, and how the benefits should be shared.

Notwithstanding the concerns, there is the potential that these basins could help to increase Nigeria’s oil production and boost its economy.

Meanwhile, while commenting on the significance of the reserves, Komolafe said the figures showed the abundance of crude oil and gas that the country could produce within a stipulated period, adding that Nigeria boasts 33 per cent of gas reserves in Africa.

The naira has continued its resurgence against the United States dollar, appreciating N1,136/$ at the official market and N1,050/$ at the parallel market at the close of trading activities on Monday.

This was as traders predicted the dollar’s fall to below N1,000 before the end of the week.

At the official foreign exchange market, data from the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, revealed that the naira surged by 6.1 per cent or N69 from N1,205/$ recorded on Friday to N1,136/$ on Monday.

The total daily turnover dropped slightly to $251.60m on Monday, from $281.34m recorded on Friday.

The intra-day high also improved significantly, closing at N1,227 per dollar from N1,265 per dollar quoted on Friday. The intra-day low appreciated by N100/$1 as the dollar was quoted on the spot at N1,000 on Monday, stronger than the N1,100 quoted on Friday.

The improved rate followed a string of foreign exchange directives by the Central Bank of Nigeria aimed at stabilising the naira. The apex bank last month said it had successfully resolved all valid foreign exchange backlogs, as pledged by the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, addressing inherited claims amounting to $7bn.

Data from the FMDQ also indicated that total inflows into the NAFEM increased by 41.7 per cent to $3.75bn as against $2.64bn in February – the highest level since March 2019 ($6.07bn).

The apex Bank had last week reviewed the exchange rate for the Bureau De Charge operators to N1,101 per dollar from N1,251/$1 as it plans to sell $15.88m to 1,588 eligible BDC operators.

As part of measures to control inflation and stabilise the naira, the CBN last month raised its benchmark interest rate, known as the Monetary Policy Rate by 200 basis points to 24.75 per cent from 22.75 per cent in February 2024.

“We anticipate that the naira would continue to strengthen as the CBN intensifies efforts to bolster liquidity in the market,” analysts at Afrinvest said.

At the unofficial market, currency traders at the popular Wuse Zone 4 market complained bitterly about the naira rates, stressing that the business was no longer profitable.

Malam Ibrahim in a chat with our correspondent claimed he bought the dollar between the rate of N950 and N980 and sold between  N1,010 and N1,020

According to him, the low demand is making currency traders negotiate below N1,000 as buying price and selling between N1,010 and N1,020.

Another trader confirmed the same rate saying, “The rate is nearing below N1,000/dollar for buying and even for selling. The dollar is crashing very fast. We started buying at N1,030 today but suddenly, the rates started dropping. The business is really slow, and the CBN rate has also affected us. The most painful thing now is that we are buying, but there is no demand to sell, and that is where the challenges are coming from.  And that is the reason the rate went down today. I bought at N1,000 today but I can no longer sell at that price. We have even gone below the rate the CBN gave us.

When our correspondent contacted other traders to get an average rate, operators said they were buying at N900 and selling at N940 per dollar.

Last week, an investment company, Goldman Sachs Group, said the Naira had already established itself as the top-performing currency globally in April, adding that the local currency was expected to extend its gains, amid the continuing effective policy management by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Goldman Sachs economists, who previously forecasted in February that the Naira would strengthen to N1,200/$ in 2024, now anticipate it could surpass this level due to aggressive measures by the central bank, including a total of 600 basis points in interest rate increases during policy meetings in February and March.