Attempted Bank Robbery Left 2 Injured, One Kidnapped In Ughelli

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Not less than two persons were injured on Friday when gang of armed robbers attempted to rob a branch of the United Bank for Africa, UBA at Ughelli community in Delta state.

It was gathered that one person was abducted during the failed robbery attempt.

Delta State Police Command is yet to issue statement regarding the robbery incident.

Videos posted online by eyewitness showed that the bank customers were in shock. 

Some of the customers trapped inside the banking hall could be heard shouting for the bank doors to be thrown opened while some others rejected the idea and insisted while shouting that the doors should be left closed.

During the dilemma, arguments ensued among the troubled bank customers with some insisting that if the armed robbers must gained access into the banking hall, let them break the bank doors by themselves.

It was gatherd that the Police officers stationed at the bank responded, engaging the armed assailants in a fierce gunfight that prevented them from gaining entry into the building.

An eyewitness accounted that the assailants had tracked a bank customer who was preparing to make a deposit and intercepted him just outside the bank premises. 

It could not be ascertained if the bank customer who came in to make deposit was the one taken away by the armed robbers.

But another eyewitness accounted that the bank customer entered the bank premises and shortly after the customer entered the bank, the gunmen swiftly moved into action.

“Within minutes of the customer’s entry, we heard gunshots and chaos erupted,” described a local resident who preferred to remain anonymous, according to SaharaReporters.

“The exchange of fire resulted in injuries to two individuals who were caught in the crossfire, and one person was forcibly abducted by the attackers.

“We were fortunate that the police were quick to respond,” stated another witness, visibly shaken by the ordeal. “It could have been much worse.”

The robbers, failing to breach the bank’s defences, fled the scene in a gold-colored Toyota Venza, evading immediate capture. Law enforcement agencies have launched a manhunt to apprehend the perpetrators and secure the safe release of the abducted individual.

“We are actively pursuing all leads to ensure those responsible for this brazen attack are brought to justice swiftly,” assured Police Commissioner Hassan Bello, addressing concerns from the community.

The injured victims were rushed to a nearby hospital for urgent medical treatment. Authorities have not disclosed the identities of those injured or abducted pending further investigation.

The attempted robbery has rattled the quiet town of Ughelli, with residents expressing shock and concern over the boldness of the attackers. Banking operations at the UBA branch have been temporarily suspended as authorities conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.

“We urge anyone with information regarding this incident to come forward,” urged Commissioner Bello, emphasizing the importance of community cooperation in combating such criminal acts”, SaharaReporters news report ends in quote.

Peter Obi Congratulates, Lists Commonwealth Nations’ Demands For Incoming UK PM Keir Starmer

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Former Anambra State Governor and the Labour Party Presidential candidate in the last General Elections in Nigeria, Peter Obi has sent a congratulatory message to the Labour Party candidate, Keir Starmer who will become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after the UK Labour Party won a majority seats at the Parliamentary House of Commons on Thursday in the 2024 UK general elections.

Peter Obi in a statement via his X social media handle on Friday, said that, he hoped that the victory of Keir Starmer will bring about a stronger ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Adding that, Keir Starmer should worked together with Nigeria and other Commonwealth nations to build a brighter future commonwealth for all.

“I sincerely congratulate Keir Starmer, and the Labour Party UK on the landslide victory they recorded in Thursday’s election. May the victory translate to a better and new chapter for all the UK residents as you remain committed to your electoral promises.

I also hope that your government will promote stronger ties between the UK and Nigeria, and help in deepening our  own democracy, especially during the challenging times that our nation is going through.

Nigeria is grappling with issues such as insecurity, education, healthcare, and poverty, and could greatly benefit from the support of the UK. Let us work together to build a brighter future commonwealth for all. I wish you a successful tenure”, Peter Obi stated in quote.

We had earlier reported that the Labour Party candidate in the 2024 general elections, Keir Starmer has been officially declared winner after the Labour Party secured more than the required 326 seats in the House of Commons.

Labour Party majority win of the UK parliamentary seats means Keir Starmer will be the next prime minister of the United Kingdom.
 

Labour  won the election with 410 seats, with the Conservatives of Rishi Sunak securing 144 seats.

Rishi Sunak in a broadcast accepted defeat, and says he has called Starmer to congratulate him even before the election results and winner were officially declared and announced.

Shortly after winning his seat in Holborn and St Pancras, Starmer says “the change begins right here…it is time for us to deliver”

“In the highest-profile Conservative losses so far, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and ex-leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt lose to Labour, according to BBC report.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage becomes an MP for the first time, winning Clacton, while the party’s Richard Tice and Lee Anderson also win

Ex-Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn wins Islington North as an independent, and Labour’s Jon Ashworth loses to an independent

George Galloway of the Workers Party loses the seat he won earlier this year, Carla Denyer wins for the Green Party in Bristol Central, while the SNP is forecast to go from 43 seats before the election to just six”, BBC added in its report.

Ahead of the exit poll, Rishi Sunak stated and in quote: “The only way to stop a high-tax Labour supermajority is to vote Conservative today. A vote for Reform or any other Party will hand Keir Starmer a blank cheque for generations. Polls close at 10pm – don’t forget to bring your ID.

You have 4 hours to stop a Labour supermajority that will put up taxes for the rest of your life.

Polls close at 10pm – don’t forget to bring your ID. If Labour are handed a blank cheque, they will use their supermajority to tax you more for the rest of your life.

Labour would scrap exams and tax working families by £2094. 2 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Keir Starmer would demolish our green belt. 3 hours to stop the Labour supermajority. Labour want to tax working families by £2094. 4 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Keir Starmer would tax you just for driving. 5 hours to stop the Labour supermajority. Labour would throw open our borders. 6 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Labour would change the voting system to stay in power for the rest of your life. 7 hours to stop the Labour supermajority. Keir Starmer would tax your family home. 8 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Labour would increase taxes on every part of your life, including your death. 9 hours to stop the Labour supermajority”, Rishi Sunak stated during pre election campaigns.

Keir Starmer said in reaction during pre election campaigns and after he won the Exit poll thus:

“Thank you, Holborn and St Pancras, for putting your trust in me again. Change begins right here.

I’ve changed the Labour Party. If you put your trust in me by voting Labour, I will change the country. Today, Britain’s future is on the ballot. Tomorrow, don’t just send a message. Send a government. Vote Labour”, Keir Starmer words end in quote.

BBC reported that after Keir Starmer won the exit poll, the Labour Party elected lawmaker who is due to be the next Prime Minister of UK, Keir Starmer said as presented verbatim the way BBC reported it. The report reads in quote thus: “Still addressing supporters in central London, Keir Starmer tells them “thank you truly – you have changed our country”.

After reaching the required 326 seats to win the general election, he says “a mandate like this comes with a great responsibility”.

He adds that the task of a Labour government is “nothing less than renewing the ideas that hold our country together”.

“We have to return politics to public service,” he goes on, adding his government will “show it can be a force for good”.

BBC report reads further that: “One feature of tonight’s results is how the advances that the Conservatives secured in Leave-voting areas after the EU referendum, most notably in 2019, have been entirely lost.

Compared with 2019, support for the Conservatives is down by 12 points in seats where less than 45% voted Leave.

In contrast, support for the party is down by 27 points in seats where more than 65% voted Leave. However, the pattern of losses in Conservative support since 2015 – before the EU referendum – is more or less the same everywhere.

Support for the party is down by 12 points, compared with 2015, in seats where less than 45% voted Leave, while it is down by nine points where more than 65% voted Leave”.

EFCC Raises Alarms Over Planned Protest To Take Up Arms Against Its Operatives

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Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has raised alarm over what it said to be a planned protest by some youths in Nigeria to take up arms against its operatives.

EFCC in a news release during the week, said the suspected group of people responsible for the planned armed protest are currently using social media to mobilize and instigate people against the commission.

EFCC Chairman in another news release on Thursday explained why Nigeria Banks are not issuing Credits cards to customers in the country. Adding that the banks only issued Debits cards due to poor rating of Nigeria as a result of cybercrimes.

The EFCC Chairman said about 71 International Companies left Nigeria and closed their businesses because their companies’ bank accounts were hacked by cybercriminals.

The statement reads in quote as presented verbatim thus: “the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, wishes to alert the general public on the plan by a shadowy group to instigate a “protest” against the Commission.

In the last couple of days, the group has been actively campaigning in the social media, recruiting impressionable young Nigerians, including students to take up “arms” against the EFCC.

This insidious campaign is being promoted as resistance to the operational activities of the Commission especially in respect of the enforcement of the laws dealing with cybercrimes.

The Commission, while not averse to protests by citizens, is alarmed by emerging evidence that suggest a grand design by corrupt elements under investigation or prosecution by the Commission to exploit the so-called protest to orchestrate a national uprising that may threaten the peace and security of our dear nation.

As a responsible law enforcement organisation, the Commission will not tolerate any breakdown of law and order anywhere in the country especially around its office locations across Nigeria.
EFCC, working in concert with sister security agencies, is therefore taking necessary measures to deal with possible threats to the peace and security of Nigeria.

The Commission, however, appeals to parents, guardians and heads of tertiary institutions to take responsibility in ensuring that their wards are not recruited to be used as cannon fodder in a proxy war against the Commission by vested corrupt interests.

The war being waged by the Commission against corruption and cybercrime is to protect the future of the youth of this country. That future is imperiled if Nigeria degenerates further in global reckoning as a den of fraudsters”.

In another news release on Thursday, EFCC said: “the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede was on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 conferred with the “Man of Valour” Award by Global Peace Movement International, GPMI, an international organization with presence in 27 countries. Two other Awards, Winner and Torchlight Awards were presented to the EFCC’s boss.

Presenting the Awards to Olukoyede at the EFCC’s corporate headquarters in Abuja, Dr Mike Uyi, President, GPMI, who came to the EFCC’s headquarters with a large delegation of local and international officials of the organization disclosed that the EFCC Chairman was unanimously chosen for the triple honour because of the new dawn his leadership has brought to the country’s anti-corruption fight.

“With the present EFCC Chairman, we are bold to say to the entire world that we have gotten a Chairman that will not fall by the wayside. We have gotten a Chairman who has integrity and fear of God to take on the job without fear or favour. And that is why he is qualified for the Global Peace Movement Awards.

Uyi explained that Olukoyede is one public official giving his all to Nigerians, standing in the gap and inspiring confidence within and outside the country. “I am presenting these Awards to the EFCC Chairman who has done so well for Nigeria. A lion that is not making noise. He has made Nigeria proud and we Nigerians at home and in the diaspora are proud of him”, he said.

In his response, Olukoyede while dedicating the Awards to the Commission, expressed appreciation of the management and staff of the Commission to GPMI.

He pointed out that everyone that identifies with the EFCC in its bid to tackle the menace of economic and financial crimes is a corruption fighter.

“On behalf of the management and staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission I would like to thank you very much for the honour that you have done to us. I want to tell you that we would not take the honour for granted. We are going to improve on whatever that has led to this. Everyone who identifies with our mandate is a corruption fighter.

While bewailing the scourge of corruption in the country, Olukoyede promised not to disappoint Nigerians and not to spare the corrupt.

According to him, for every ₦10 the EFCC recovers, more than ₦50 has been stolen and for you to recover that ₦10, you need approximately ₦2.50k.

To this end, he restated the commitment of his administration to the pursuit of preventive frameworks to tackle corruption . “We decided to go by the way of prevention and I set up a directorate of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control (FRAC).

With this Directorate, we are going into MDAs and monitor real time the implementation of budgets. As money is being released, we will be tracking it”, he said.

He acknowledged the political will of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to fight corruption, stressing that the President is not interfering in the works of the EFCC. “If God has not brought someone like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who gives us free hand to do this job, imagine what would have happened to our system?

There is so much to be done and somebody must do this job. Let us come together to give Nigerians the benefit of good governance

He restated that no shade of economic and financial crime would go unaddressed under his leadership of the EFCC. “We will do the mini; we will do the mega. If you don’t do the mini, the mini will become the mega. Some of these people stealing money in high places started from the local governments, they started as leaders of associations in schools, where they stole money and they did nothing to them and it became part of their lives.”

While touching on the negative impact of internet crimes, Olukoyede disclosed that several international companies had to shut down their Nigerian operations following massive theft of their finances through local wire fraud.

“In 2022, we lost over $500 million in our economy to yahoo boys. The statistics are there.

In the same year, about 71 international companies left Nigeria because they hacked their accounts. We can’t get credit cards in Nigeria because of our poor credit rating because of the activities of these cyber criminals, so the best we can get is debit cards.

Do you know that there are some international merchants that you cannot use Nigerian cards on their platforms? Display your Green Passport outside the country and see if they will not take you aside and search you thoroughly”, he said.

The EFCC boss charged Nigerians to fully embrace the fight against economic and financial crimes in the overall interests of the nation”, EFCC statement ends in quote.

UK PM Rishi Sunak Concedes Defeat, Congratulates Labour Party Keir Starmer

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Labour Party candidate in the 2024 general elections, Keir Starmer has been officially declared winner after the Labour Party secured more than the required 326 seats in the House of Commons.

Labour Party majority win of the UK parliamentary seats means Keir Starmer will be the next prime minister of the United Kingdom.
 

Labour  won the election with 410 seats, with the Conservatives of Rishi Sunak securing 144 seats.

Rishi Sunak in a broadcast accepted defeat, and says he has called Starmer to congratulate him even before the election results and winner were officially declared and announced.

Shortly after winning his seat in Holborn and St Pancras, Starmer says “the change begins right here…it is time for us to deliver”

“In the highest-profile Conservative losses so far, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and ex-leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt lose to Labour, according to BBC report.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage becomes an MP for the first time, winning Clacton, while the party’s Richard Tice and Lee Anderson also win

Ex-Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn wins Islington North as an independent, and Labour’s Jon Ashworth loses to an independent

George Galloway of the Workers Party loses the seat he won earlier this year, Carla Denyer wins for the Green Party in Bristol Central, while the SNP is forecast to go from 43 seats before the election to just six”, BBC added in its report.

Ahead of the exit poll, Rishi Sunak stated and in quote: “The only way to stop a high-tax Labour supermajority is to vote Conservative today. A vote for Reform or any other Party will hand Keir Starmer a blank cheque for generations. Polls close at 10pm – don’t forget to bring your ID.

You have 4 hours to stop a Labour supermajority that will put up taxes for the rest of your life.

Polls close at 10pm – don’t forget to bring your ID. If Labour are handed a blank cheque, they will use their supermajority to tax you more for the rest of your life.

Labour would scrap exams and tax working families by £2094. 2 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Keir Starmer would demolish our green belt. 3 hours to stop the Labour supermajority. Labour want to tax working families by £2094. 4 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Keir Starmer would tax you just for driving. 5 hours to stop the Labour supermajority. Labour would throw open our borders. 6 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Labour would change the voting system to stay in power for the rest of your life. 7 hours to stop the Labour supermajority. Keir Starmer would tax your family home. 8 hours to stop the Labour supermajority.

Labour would increase taxes on every part of your life, including your death. 9 hours to stop the Labour supermajority”, Rishi Sunak stated during pre election campaigns.

Keir Starmer said in reaction during pre election campaigns and after he won the Exit poll thus:

“Thank you, Holborn and St Pancras, for putting your trust in me again. Change begins right here.

I’ve changed the Labour Party. If you put your trust in me by voting Labour, I will change the country. Today, Britain’s future is on the ballot. Tomorrow, don’t just send a message. Send a government. Vote Labour”, Keir Starmer words end in quote.

BBC reported that after Keir Starmer won the exit poll, the Labour Party elected lawmaker who is due to be the next Prime Minister of UK, Keir Starmer said as presented verbatim the way BBC reported it. The report reads in quote thus: “Still addressing supporters in central London, Keir Starmer tells them “thank you truly – you have changed our country”.

After reaching the required 326 seats to win the general election, he says “a mandate like this comes with a great responsibility”.

He adds that the task of a Labour government is “nothing less than renewing the ideas that hold our country together”.

“We have to return politics to public service,” he goes on, adding his government will “show it can be a force for good”.

BBC report reads further that: “One feature of tonight’s results is how the advances that the Conservatives secured in Leave-voting areas after the EU referendum, most notably in 2019, have been entirely lost.

Compared with 2019, support for the Conservatives is down by 12 points in seats where less than 45% voted Leave.

In contrast, support for the party is down by 27 points in seats where more than 65% voted Leave. However, the pattern of losses in Conservative support since 2015 – before the EU referendum – is more or less the same everywhere.

Support for the party is down by 12 points, compared with 2015, in seats where less than 45% voted Leave, while it is down by nine points where more than 65% voted Leave”.