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Organ Trafficking: Ekweremadu bags 10 years in UK prison

The 21-year-old Lagos street trader was falsely presented as Ekweremadu’s daughter’s cousin in an attempt to persuade doctors to carry out an £80,000 private kidney transplant

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Former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu, has been sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison by a United Kingdom court for his role in an organ trafficking plot. His wife, Beatrice, was also sentenced to four years and six months, while Dr Obinna Obeta, the medical doctor who acted as a “middleman,” received a 10-year sentence and had his medical license suspended.

According to reports, a 21-year-old Lagos street trader was falsely presented as Ekweremadu’s daughter’s cousin in an attempt to persuade doctors to carry out an £80,000 private kidney transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London. The young man was offered an illegal reward to become a donor for Ekweremadu’s daughter after kidney disease forced her to drop out of a master’s degree program at Newcastle University.

The prosecutor, Hugh Davies KC, described Ekweremadu’s behavior as showing “entitlement, dishonesty, and hypocrisy,” and accused him and Obeta of treating the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward.” Their conviction was the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act.

Davies argued that Ekweremadu’s actions were not simply expedient in his daughter’s clinical interests but were exploitative and criminal. “Her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of somebody in poverty,” he said.

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Ayo Fayose Gets Presidential Portfolio As REA Board Chairman

Fayose will head the board of REA, with Alhaji Ahmadu Abubakar and Engineer Ilyasu Ibrahim Makinta appointed as members and non-executive directors,” said Onanuga.

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President Bola Tinubu has appointed the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, as chairman of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Board.

The President also appointed Major General Junaid Bindawa as chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission.

24 others were also appointed to 10 federal government agencies and commissions.

The appointments were contained in a statement issued by the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, in Abuja.

According to the statement, “All the appointments take immediate effect.”

“Fayose will head the board of REA, with Alhaji Ahmadu Abubakar and Engineer Ilyasu Ibrahim Makinta appointed as members and non-executive directors,” said Onanuga.

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BREAKING: ICPC grills Gbajabiamila over PFIPC scandal

According to Jiti Ogunye, Gbajabiamila’s counsel, the president’s chief of staff appeared at the ICPC headquarters on Monday, where he was questioned over the PFIPC controversy.

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The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has interrogated Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu, over his role in the emergence of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).

According to Jiti Ogunye, Gbajabiamila’s counsel, the president’s chief of staff appeared at the ICPC headquarters on Monday, where he was questioned over the PFIPC controversy.

Details soon

(The Cable)

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NBC Begins Training of Free -To- Air TV Installers

” We are doing it to ensure that they can properly track the NigComsat signal. We found out that installers are very critical to the success of the DSO project because we recently launched the DTH project. We are going DTT. We are going DTH. We are doing mobile App.”

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•50 set-top box installers and technicians in Ibadan

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has commenced nationwide capacity-building exercise to prepare installers for the rollout of the country’s renewed Digital Switchover (DSO) programme.

The Head of the DSO Unit and Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the Commission, Mrs. Clementine Usman-Wamba, announced the development during training of more than 50 set-top box installers and technicians in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

According to her, broadcasters would be shut out of analogue broadcasting transmission by 2028, hence the need for the training of installers that are professionals to assist in the process.

She said, “We are actually here in Ibadan to train installers specifically to be part of the Digital Switch Over process.We are doing it in conjunction with Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited, (NigComSat). It is a joint outreach that we are doing here today.”

” We are doing it to ensure that they can properly track the NigComsat signal. We found out that installers are very critical to the success of the DSO project because we recently launched the DTH project. We are going DTT. We are going DTH. We are doing mobile App.”

She said that the installation of Free TV is to enable Nigerians to have access to many channels without subscription, noting that the NBC has embarked on the training of the installers of decoders and dishes nationwide for effective take off of the project.

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