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World’s Richest Black Woman – Alakija Topples Oprah

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Despite falling oil prices, Nigerian Billionaire, Folorunsho Alakija has edged past Oprah Winfery as world’s richest Black Woman, with a fortune of $7.3bn. On the other hand, Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.9billion, according to Forbes.

According to Ventures Africa magazine’s Rich List, Alakija generated her wealth from oil and gas.

“It is widely believed that Alakija’s friendship with Maryam Babangida, the late wife of former head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, played a huge role in her relatively inexpensive acquisition of the oil block back in 1993,” the magazine noted.

United Kingdom-based Business Consultant, Philip Obi cautions that Alakija’s stand is shaky because oil is fast losing value in the face of falling oil prices. “Except she decides to diversify, 90% wealth in oil look unsteady considering the alternative energy potential,” Obi said.
Folorunso Alakija
“The world is going digital. Very soon, wealth will no longer be what we use to know; look at Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. That is where the world is going into- Digital world. The people who will continue to rule will be those in communications, food and health, social media, finance. These pillars are going to be critical to run the world. People are becoming multi- millionaire by just building smile apps.”

For his part, National President of Independent Shareholders Association (ISAN), Sunny Nwosu said that her ranking as world’s richest black woman is understandable because she has one of the biggest oil wells in the country that is managed on her behalf by a leading multinational oil corporation.

“Her oil well is one of the investments the military government bequeathed to people like her,” Nwosu said.

According to Ventures Africa, Africa boasts 55 billionaires and they’re worth a staggering $143.88 billion in total.

Alakija started her career as a secretary in a bank in the mid 1970s, Alakija, 62, then studied fashion in London and returned to Nigeria to start a label, Supreme Stitches. But her biggest break came in oil. In 1993, her company, Famfa Oil, was awarded an oil prospecting license, which later became OML 127, one of Nigeria’s most prolific oil blocks

The company owns a 60 per cent stake in the block, valued at around $7.3 billion, said Ventures Africa

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Kano Socialite, Hafsat Gold In Trouble As EFCC Invites Her Niger Republic In-laws For Abusing Naira Notes.

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The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a viral video where the nation’s currency, Naira, was freely sprayed at a wedding ceremony in Kano, Kano State on Friday, October 24, 2024.

 

 

Allegations of the abuse of the Naira were imputed to Mrs Fauziya Danjuma Goje, daughter of Senator Danjuma Goje, by Nigerians from all walks of life, including an Editorial by a leading and respected National Newspaper.

 

As a responsible and accountable anti-corruption agency campaigning against currency mutilation and dollarization of the economy, the EFCC swung into action by analysing the video and findings showed that the alleged naira abuse actually happened but not at the wedding of Goje’s daughter but at the wedding dinner of Amina Babagana Zannah held on the afore-mentioned date.

 

 

Zannah is the daughter of Hajara Seidu Haruna (a.ka. Hafsat Gold Nigeria) who is the Chief Executive Officer of Hafsat Jewellery Enterprise with offices in Abuja, Kano and Dubai (United Arab Emirate).

 

Haruna confirmed the viral video. She admitted that the alleged naira abuse took place at the wedding dinner of her daughter on October 24, 2024. The bridegroom, Ibrahim Mohammad hails from Niger Republic and those that allegedly sprayed naira notes and dollar bills were from the groom’s family in Niger Republic.

 

The Commission has invited the Nigerien groom, Mohammad, to report at its national headquarters in Abuja, with everyone that sprayed naira notes at his wedding with Zannah.

 

 

While the EFCC appreciates the consciousness its campaigns against naira abuse is building across the country, it will not move against anyone wrongly accused of an alleged crime. The Commission remains steadfast in this crusade and would spare no offender , no matter how highly placed.

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Godwin Obaseki inherited N55 billion debt in 2016, leaving N410 billion in 2024: Transition Report…..

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The Transition Committee of the All Progressives Congress has recommended a probe into more than N410 billion in local and foreign debts allegedly owed by the Edo government.

 

 

The committee made the recommendation on Monday in its report presented to Monday Okpebholo ahead of his inauguration on Tuesday as Edo’s fifth democratically elected governor.

 

Presenting the document, Pius Odubu, the chairman of the committee, said the committee was presented with N410 billion in debts as against the N55 billion inherited by the outgoing government in 2016.

 

“For those of you who have the capability to fact-check, you will find out that the indebtedness today is much more. It is over N500billion,” he said.

 

 

Mr Odubu, an erstwhile deputy governor, said the committee also recommended a review of memoranda of understanding on the management of Central and Stella Obasanjo hospitals.

 

“All employment carried out in the recent past should be cancelled, while the governor should investigate the true ownership of the Ossiomo power plant and Radisson Blu Hotel.

 

“The same with the Museum of West Africa Arts-MOWAA. We deserve to know the state’s equity in these companies as the outgoing government went blank on these enquiries.

 

“We also demanded a comprehensive review of the World Bank-funded EdoBest programme, and a probe should be instituted to uncover its rather opaque operations,” Mr Odubu explained.

 

 

“Mr Odubu added, “All major contracts issued by the state government under the Ministry of Roads and Bridges should be reviewed as they appear not to have followed due process, including the payment advance awarded to the contractors.

 

“The procurement agency indicted the government in its own report to the transition committee. Hence, we have advised the incoming governor to take a critical review.”

 

 

The committee chairman also called for streamlining the ICT ecosystem in the state, which he said appeared to be a duplication of duties.

 

“The outgoing government didn’t provide audited financial statements published or unpublished. Hence, the committee is advising the government to institute an inquiry into this.

 

 

“The government couldn’t account for the number of teachers in the state. Hence, we demand a proper teacher headcount,” Mr Odubu said.

 

The committee chairman said the document, comprised of a 24-page report and 800 annexures, was a product of three weeks of rigorous assignments, meetings, interactions, engagements and analyses of the documents presented to the committee.

 

(NAN)

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US court renews arrest warrant for Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema

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A United States court has reissued an order for the arrest of Allen Onyema, the founder and CEO of Air Peace Limited, over a $20 million bank fraud case that has been pending against him for five years.

 

The federal district court for Northern Georgia, Atlanta, renewed the arrest warrant on 9 October, following the addition of more charges to the case against Mr Onyema and his co-defendant – Ejiroghene Eghagha, the airline’s Chief of Administration and Finance.

 

US authorities filed the superseding indictment on 8 October, alleging new counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

 

The two counts added to the pre-existing 36 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, bank fraud, credit application fraud, and identity theft. The superseding indictment brought the counts to 38.

 

On the day the superseding indictment was filed, Assistant US Attorney Christopher Huber filed for a new arrest warrant after the first one issued against Mr Onyema in 2019.

 

On the following day, 9 October, a deputy clerk of the court signed and delivered the new arrest warrant to the US Marshal, the American body that carries out the arrest of fugitives.

 

Previous arrest warrants

It will be recalled that preparatory to the filing of the charges in 2019, Russell Vineyard, a magistrate at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, issued a corresponding warrant of arrest for Messrs Onyema and Eghagha in Canada.

 

American prosecutors had sought the warrant to enable Canadian law enforcement authorities to take the suspects into custody if sighted in their jurisdiction.

 

In another arrest warrant issued on 19 November 2019, Justin Anand, an American magistrate of the same court, ordered the US Marshals Service to take them into custody.

 

Allegations

In the charges pending since 2019, the US authorities accused Mr Onyema of moving suspicious funds from Nigeria to American bank accounts between 2017 and 2018 with the funds allegedly disguised as being meant to be used to purchase aircraft.

 

Mr Onyema and his co-defendant, Mr Eghagha, allegedly organised the fraud by applying for export letters of credit for the transfer of funds from a Nigerian bank account to the bank account of Mr Onyema’s Atlanta-Georgia-based firm, Springfield Aviation LLC, between 2016 and 2017.

 

The defendants, according to US prosecutors, applied for the funds purportedly for the purchase of aircraft by Air Peace from Springfield Aviation.

 

Both Air Peace, a major Nigerian commercial airline, and the US-based Springfield Aviation, are owned by Mr Onyema.

 

Prosecutors also said the aircraft referenced in each of the export letters of credit sent to the American banks was never owned or sold by Springfield Aviation.

 

They said the defendants made false statements and reports, and willfully overvalued property to influence the actions of the American banks.

 

Mr Eghagha was said to have sent the false documents, including fabricated purchase agreements, bills of sale, and valuation documents, to Ebony Mayfield to sign and submit to the respective banks in support of the letters of credit.

 

Mr Onyema had engaged Ms Mayfield, who was at various times, a bartender, restaurant waitress, and nightclub dancer, in 2016, to act as a manager of Springfield Aviation, and enter into contracts on the firm’s behalf.

 

Prosecutors said she “had no connection to the aviation business outside of her role with Springfield Aviation and had no education, training, or licensing in the review and valuation of aircraft, including aircraft components.”

 

In October 2022, the US District Court sentenced Ms Mayfield to three years’ probation for her roles in helping to facilitate the alleged fraud.

 

Prosecutors continue to allege that Mr Onyema founded and used Springfield Aviation “to facilitate large transfers of funds from his Nigerian bank accounts to the United States.”

 

Mr Onyema allegedly moved about $15 million from Springfield Aviation’s account with a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Atlanta, Georgia, to his personal savings account with the same bank in 27 transactions in 2017.

 

Each of the 27 transactions stands alone as a charge of money laundering.

 

In May 2019, upon discovering that he was under investigation in the Northern District of Georgia for bank fraud, Messrs Onyema and Eghagha allegedly directed the Springfield Aviation manager, Ms Mayfield, to sign a key business contract, but also specifically told her to not date the document.

 

In October 2019, Onyema allegedly caused his attorneys to present that same contract, now falsely dated as being signed on 5 May 2016 (prior to the bank fraud that began in 2016), to the government in an effort to stop the investigation and unfreeze his bank accounts.

 

 

The submission of the alleged false documents forms the basis for the new count of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the superseding charges.

 

Superseding charges

The US government added two counts to the charges in a superseding indictment last month.

 

Announcing the superseding indictment in a statement , the US Attorney Office, Northern District of Georgia, accused Mr Onyema and his co-defendant of “obstruction of justice for submitting false documents to the government in an effort to end an investigation of him that resulted in earlier charges of bank fraud and money laundering.”

 

Prosecutors said Mr Onyema submitted false documents to US authorities in 2019 in an effort to stop the investigation and unfreeze his bank accounts regarding the alleged $20 million bank fraud.

 

Mr Eghagha, the airline’s Chief of Administration and Finance, accused of participating in the alleged obstruction scheme, as well as in the earlier bank fraud counts, is Mr Onyema’s co-defendant in the case.

 

“After allegedly using his airline company as a cover to commit fraud on the United States’ banking system, Onyema, along with his co-defendant, allegedly committed additional crimes of fraud in a failed attempt to derail the government’s investigation of his conduct,” the statement quoted US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.

 

Also, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Lisa Fontanette, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Atlanta Field Office, said, “Allegedly, Onyema and his accomplices fraudulently used the U.S. banking system in an effort to hide the source of their ill-gotten money.”

 

Denial

Air Peace and Mr Onye,a’s lawyers have consistently maintained his innocence.

 

Reacting to the filing of the superseding indictment last month, Air Peace noted in a statement that “both Mr Onyema and Eghagha remain innocent and these are mere allegations, and the case is still in court.”

 

It added that: “Our legal team is fully engaged with the matter and is working tirelessly to ensure that justice prevails. We remain confident that, through due process, the truth will be revealed, and our CEO and co-defendant will be exonerated.”

 

The airline argued that Mr Onyema and his legal team have consistently cooperated with authorities throughout the legal process and that Air Peace continues to operate without disruption, upholding its commitment to delivering top-notch services to its valued customers.

 

“We want to reassure the public that these legal proceedings will not impact the safety, reliability, or day-to-day operations of Air Peace. The dedication and focus of our staff remain steadfast as we continue to provide you with the best aviation experience in Nigeria and beyond,” the airline said.

 

Source: Premium Times.

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