Eid- el- Kabir Koyewon felicitates Muslims, urges continuous prayers for Nigeria

 

Cheif Olaiya Babalola Koyewon, PCRC Moniya Area Command chairman has felicitated with Nigerians, the Muslim Ummah and the Nigeria Police Force on the occasion of Eid-el-Kabir.

Koyewon in his Sallah message, said every true Muslim, should be grateful to God for the privilege to celebrate the 2022 Sallah, regardless of all challenges

Stressing that the best way to demonstrate our gratitude to God was to share His blessings with neighbours and show love and kindness to all.

“I want to use the occasion to urge all Muslim faithful Nigerians to be steadfast in working and praying for the peace, unity and progress of our beloved country.

“Though the current challenges are painful but this is a passing phase in our historical process of nation-building.

“Please do not be carried away by the pageantry of the Sallah celebration, but as parents, we should use the occasion to reflect and extend our gestures and hands of support to the needy in the society.’’ he comments.

While emphasised the importance of peace, unity and tolerance amongst the diverse people of the country for growth and development to take place, noting that Nigeria diversity should be a source of strength rather than conflict.

“As we join the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s Sallah, I enjoin you to replicate and demonstrate in your daily lives the lessons and virtues of sacrifice, forgiveness, piety, self-denial and genuine love toward one another which you learnt during the month- long fasting.”

“I urge you to also take out opportunity, cashing on the spirituality of this festive period to offer special prayers for the nation against the backdrop of the current security challenges.

“As parents, we should pray for all the children, mothers, fathers and brothers that are in the IDP camps as well as those that have been kidnapped.

“We should also pray for the economic situation and to lift up our people before God, especially the downtrodden,’’.

Koyewon however called on Nigerians to pray for those that are struggling to make ends meet as well as the leadership of this country. The Moniya Area Command PCRC chairman while welcoming the new Police Commissioner for Oyo State Command he confirmed his members support for the xstate command..

Prominent Egyptian activist marks 100 days of hunger strike

Veteran Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, pictured at his Cairo home in 2019, is serving a five-year prison sentence. Photo: Khaled DESOUKI / AFP/File Source: AFP

Supporters of prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who on Sunday marked 100 days on hunger strike, are calling on Washington to help secure his release, a statement said.

A major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah was sentenced in December to five years in prison after he was convicted along with two others of "broadcasting false news".

Sunday marked 100 days of his huger strike, a statement from his support committee said. He has been only taking "100 calories a day in the form of a spoon of honey and a drop of milk in tea", Saturday's statement said.

His sister Sanaa Seif will speak about his case in a media briefing in Washington on Monday ahead of a Middle East tour later in the week by US President Joe Biden, the statement added.

Other Arab leaders including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are expected to be present in Saudi Arabia when Biden visits the kingdom as part of his tour.

Another sister, Mona Seif continues to draw attention to the plight of what rights groups say are about 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. She has been collecting letters of support from European lawmakers for months.

Mona Seif announced this week that she was suspending her own hunger strike, which she had begun in solidarity with her brother.

"Alaa is currently serving a five-year sentence for sharing a Facebook post about prison conditions in Egypt," the support committee statement said.

"He is on hunger strike demanding his right to consular access from the British embassy," it added.

Abdel Fattah gained UK citizenship in April from inside prison, through his British-born mother Laila Soueif.

Egypt's interior ministry said last month that it had footage that "disproves" reports of his hunger strike.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in June that Britain was "working very hard to secure his release".

The British government is now in disarray after Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister this week.

Egypt is set to host the COP27 climate summit in November, a role Human Rights Watch has said "rewards" President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's "repressive rule".

Source: AFP

Osinbajo receives London-Lagos biker, cautions against polio complacency

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says there is need to sustain the campaign against polio, warning that the disease is “very crafty.”

Osinbajo handed down the warning on Thursday at Presidential Villa, while receiving the Nigerian Biker, Kunle Adeyanju, who embarked on a polio-inspired charity ride from London to Lagos.

Adeyanju, who arrived in Lagos on May 29, was accompanied to the Presidential Villa by a retinue of bikers and members of the Rotary Club.

The vice president said he was pleased to receive Adeyanju on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that a trip of 12,000 kilometres of uncertain terrain and 12 countries was no mean feat.

“ I am really also excited about the fact not only that you have done this for the adventure because I am told you are an adventurer; that you do sky diving, bungee jumping, cycling, all sorts of other adventures but more for a very worthy cause which is the Polio crusade.

“And I must say to you that the whole polio campaign is one that we have taken quite seriously; the Federal Government of Nigeria, especially in the past couple of years, has taken it very seriously indeed which explains why now we have an end.

“But I am sure the District Governor  will let you know; polio is a very crafty disease and I  think you have also pointed that out when you think you have conquered it, if you are not careful, if you are complacent, it will come back, very quickly; which is why we must keep a sustained attack against it.’’

Osinbajo said the National Economic Council (NEC) had also made polio one of the central public health issues.

According to him, NEC has a committee which deals with polio alone while the council also receives reports on polio from relevant agencies.

“The World Health Organisation and several other Organisations, including local organisations, will come and give us a report of the status of the drive against polio in the country and so, it keeps us well-informed.

“So, I think that this is an area where there is a lot of work and I really want to commend again the Rotary International, Rotary Club for all the work that they are doing.

“I think that this is something that we must continue to support as well as other very significant public health issues,’’ he said.

The vice president said that Adeyanju’s voyage resonated the African/Nigerian story of resilience, hard work and intelligence. 

Ovaioza, MMM and three of the world's biggest Ponzi schemes and the lost

Early in April this year, Nigerians woke up to the news that one of the fastest-rising businesswomen, popularly called Ovaioza, operated a bubble which she called Ovaioza Farm Produce Storage Business (OFPSB) and made away with over N4 billion in investors' money.

Ovaioza was said to have hoodwinked her victims with bogus and attractive returns on investment with her farm produce business.

The world's biggest Ponzi Scheme operators Source: UGC

She allegedly bought a house in the US worth over $400,000, exotic cars and did numerous giveaways on social media.

Before Ovaioza was Chinmark Investment Group which was said to have lured victims with mouthwatering real estate deals.

While the likes of Chinmark Investment and Ovaioza Farm Produce are Ponzi schemes of recent times, history is, however replete with people who have pulled off huge investment scams on unsuspecting victims.

What these scammers do is look for loopholes and nudge people in order to pull off a scam and earn millions in a short time.

A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that is performed by a dummy organisation, built with the sole purpose of defrauding people by luring them into good schemes to get the money and vanish.

These are the biggest Ponzi schemes of all times

Bernie Madoff was a popular American financier who executed the largest Ponzi scheme in history, defrauding thousands of investors of tens of millions of dollars for 17 years.

Madoff was the chairman of Nasdaq in the 90s. He died in prison, serving a 150-year jail term after defrauding victims of $64.8 billion.

What he did was to deposit funds from new clients with which he paid old ones who wanted to cash out.

Sergei Pateleevich Mavrodi was a fraudster who founded the infamous MMM scheme in the late 80s and later in 2017 in Nigeria and parts of Africa.

The MMM scheme was established by Mavrodi with his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi and Olga Melnikova, who used the initials of their names for the business.According to reports, they operated a network of businesses importing computers. In 1992, tax police accused the company of tax evasion, which led to the collapse of a part of the scheme, which was a bank, cutting off the company’s financial lifeline.

It promised investors a 3000 return on investment by offering American stocks to Russian investors.

The international organisation known as Stanford Financial Group was privately owned.

It had 50 0ffices around the world and its head office in Houston, Texas. The company was seized by the US authorities in 2009. It managed $8.5 billion of assets for about 30,000 clients from 150 countries on six continents/

The Romania-based Ponzi scheme known as Caritas was active for two years - 1992-1994, defrauded victims of about $450 million while leaving a huge debt.

It attracted millions of investors and depositors from around the country.

It lured victims into investing in what they called ‘mutual aid’, showcasing itself as a business aimed at helping people and offering eight times the capital they invested.

The CEO of Ovaioza Farm Produce Storage Business (OFPSB), is being called out on social media by myriads of people who say they invested millions into her buying and selling business but have been scammed by the businesswoman.

Social media is awash with the news of Ovaioza, the Chief Executive Officer of OFPSB of her, scamming investors and sending fake alerts to them.

Some who spoke with Legit.ng say she picks up a fight with them at the slightest provocation and dares them to do their worst. 

Souce legit