Veteran broadcaster, Olusola Atere testifies against Doyin Okupe in his on-going 'Dasukigate' trial

The trial of former Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, who the EFCC is prosecuting before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja continued on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 with veteran broadcaster, Olusola Atere testifying against Okupe.



Atere retired as Executive Director News, NTA in 2016. Okupe was arraigned on a 59-count charge, bordering on money laundering and criminal diversion of funds to the tune of N702,000,000 (Seven Hundred and Two Million Naira) only.



Testifying as Prosecution Witness 2, (PW2), Atere told the court that "Okupe was a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, whom he said came to the NTA and met with the management of the News Directorate which he happened to be a member then, to request for the production of a one-hour programme to promote the policies and programmes of the then Federeal Government's administration.



He said, "we held a meeting and started planning for the programme. Subsequently, members of Okupe's team came for another meeting with NTA."



Atere told the court that after the meeting, he was directed to raise a memo to send a budget proposal to the office of the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs on October 9, 2013 for which he said no response came from Okupe.



Atere further disclosed that the NTA appointed a producer for the proposed programme who was liaising with the team from Okupe's office. According to him, by October 23, 2013, he was directed by his boss the Executive Director News to raise a memo to the Acting Director General NTA, informing him of the Okupe request and that by October 24, 2013, the Director General minuted to him that the programme should be taken as part of corporate social responsibility and be broadcast at no cost.



Atere informed the court that he didn't have much to do with the programme from this point as the producer was liaising with Okupe's team.

Alleged N4.5bn Fraud: EFCC arraigns Ex-Skye bank chairman, Tunde Ayeni

EFCC, on March 6, 2019, arraigned Tunde Ayeni, a former Chairman, Board of Directors, Skye Bank Plc, before Justice Valentine Ashi of a Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court, Apo on a four-count charge, bordering on criminal breach of trust to the tune of N4,597,500,000.



Ayeni was arraigned along with Timothy Ajani Oguntayo, for allegedly conspiring at different times to fraudulently divert depositors’ funds domiciled at Skye Bank Plc to personal use.

One of the counts reads:


“That you, Tunde Ayeni, whilst being the Chairman, Board of Directors of the defunct Skye Bank Plc and Timothy Ajani Oguntayo, while being the Managing Director, MD of the defunct Skye Bank Plc on or about October 16, 2014 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst being bankers entrusted with property, to wit: depositors’ funds in the defunct Skye Bank Plc’s Suspense Account, committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the sum of N1,000,000,000 (One Billion Naira) and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code.”

They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges. Counsel for the first defendant, Dele Adesina, SAN, who held brief for the lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, informed the court of their pending bail application, which was served on the prosecution on December 13, 2018.



Counsel for the second defendant, Oyetola Oshobi, SAN, also made similar application.



The trial judge, thereafter, admitted them to bail in the sum of N500 million (Five Hundred Million Naira) with two sureties each in like sum, who must be resident in Abuja, and must own a landed property “of sufficient value”, within Abuja metropolis.

Check out a husband's six rules to a happy union and tell us what you think

Ryan Stephens took to Twitter to share his tips on how to make a union work.

For starters, he says he and his wife see each other as teammates rather than soulmates and these six rules help them to be good teammates towards each other.

Employment Scam: EFCC arrests man impersonating custom’s boss, Hameed Ali

The Ilorin Zonal Office of EFCC on February 20, 2019, arrested one Azeez Yakubu Afolayan for impersonating the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (retd) and using his name to scam job seekers.



Afolayan was arrested by EFCC operatives on March 5, 2019 following complaints from one of his victims.



Trouble started for him when a staff of the Customs Service, Hasaan Garba Muhammed petitioned the EFCC, accusing him of defrauding innocent Nigerians, seeking employment into the Service. He had so far defrauded them of about N1 million.



Under interrogation, he admitted to the crime. He said: “I started duping people since 2017 up till date, I duped about five people, I collected different amount of money from my victims and all of them used to transfer money to my bank accounts.



“I used to tell them that I will help them to secure employment with the Nigerian Custom Services, but I was just scamming.” Some of the items recovered from him include, Nigerian Customs Service Application Forms, Customs employment letters, passports of some job seekers among others.



He will soon be charged to court.

Piers Morgan says Kylie Jenner only became the youngest self-made billionaire because Kim Kardashian made a sex tape

Piers Morgan is unimpressed with Kylie Jenner being the youngest self-made billionaire and he said she achieved that only because of her elder sister, Kim Kardashian's sex tape, which made the family popular.



Piers Morgan particularly had an issue with the "self-made". He said she isn't self-made because Kim's sex tape is responsible for her success.

He tweeted: "It’s not self-made, it’s because her sister made a sex tape."







The infamous sex tape was made in 2003 when Kim and Ray J were dating but it leaked in 2007.

Photo: Lagos police arrest Amara Ezeodum, who robbed a lady at gun point in Lekki

Officers of the Rapid Response Squad in Lagos have arrested a man identified as Amara Ezeodum, who robbed a lady around Lekki Phase 1 two nights ago.



According to the RRS, he was arrested after the lady screamed for help and caught the attention of the officers on patrol. A gun was recovered from him on the spot. He will be charged to court where he will be arraigned for his crime.

Drake hangs out with Anthony Joshua in the boxing ring ahead of his 23rd professional fight (Photo)

Award-winning Canadian rapper, Drake was pictured with British Nigerian boxer, Anthony Joshua in the boxing ring ahead of his 23rd professional fight.

Captioning the photo he posted to his Instagram, Drake wrote: 'Walk in the rave, smile on my face. Drink in my cup, hand in my jeans. Man talk tough, man look up, down, left, right. Straight to a bang in the teeth'.

According to The Daily Mail, Drake's been training with Jamie Reynolds who is also Joshua's strength and conditioning coach.