The Nigeria Police Force has arrested three men behind the proliferation of fake websites for JAMB registration, falsifying fake JAMB Admission Letters, System Interference and schemes operating phishing websites to defraud unsuspecting JAMB candidates.

Confirming their arrest to newsmen, the spokesperson of the Police force, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the suspects identified as Effa Leonard Mpama, Ibang Ernest Jerome and Eshiet Odotukana Benson, all male of ages 34, 38 and 38 respectively and others at large, belong to a syndicate who intentionally and knowingly conspired and procured amongst themselves services that enabled them to illegally access JAMB restricted Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) and e-facility respectively, and proceeded to alter and delete other candidates' previous admission letters and inputted fake details resulting in inauthentic admission letter which were acted upon as genuine to secure admissions into tertiary institutions and mobilization for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, thus compromising the entire JAMB admission process with its attendant consequences.  

‘’Upon arrest the suspects revealed their various degrees of involvement in the conspiracy, corroborating the already available overwhelming evidence. The duo of Effa Leonard Mpama and Ibang Ernest Jerome and others at large collect personal details of the prospective candidates and forward same to Mr. Eshiet Odotukana Benson who gets CAPS links from Daniel and Chris; Messrs. Daniel and Chris still at large are working in the JAMB Computer Based Test (CBT) Centers domiciled in FAN and UNICAL respectively in Calabar, Cross River State.  '

In more developments, digital Forensic analysis led to the recovery of 4 fake domains, websites and 2 principal threat actors of a syndicate in Imọ State behind the creation of the fake domains and other associated websites operated by them. Similarly, the third suspect,  Mr Eshiet, who has access to the CAPS links unlike the duo above, proceeds to any CBT centre and opens the jamb e-facility with a login detail of a candidate with previous admission and thereafter superimposes the new details collected to create a fake admission letter.'' Adejobi said

He stated that the offences are contrary to sections 8, 13 and 27 of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015 as amended 

While strongly warning against all sorts of criminal partnerships that promote illegal activities of this nature and others engaging in similar activities, Adejobi mentioned that the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, applauded the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Center led by CP Uche Ifeanyi Henry as he reaffirms the commitment of the Force to leveraging on emerging technological advancements to protect the citizens of Nigeria both physically and digital space.

The suspects will be charged in court upon the conclusion of the investigation. 

The Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, on Wednesday, June 12, said governors and other elected officials should earn minimum wage to reflect the current reality of Nigeria. 

He stated that the country was facing a dire financial crisis.  

The governor spoke at a special edition of The Platform.

According to him, Nigeria’s economic woes are worsened by the extravagant lifestyles of government officials, which are sustained at the expense of the nation’s wealth. 

He said: “Let’s come clean and straight with Nigerians. Nigeria is very poor and broke but the lifestyle of government and government officials does not show it, especially with the obscene flamboyance in public display."

He continued: "The poor are hungry and impatient, let’s not annoy them more with our insensitivity. In this case, I agree with reverend father Mbaka, who said elected governors should also earn minimum wage. I agree that we should be paid that so that we can feel that as well. 

“In Anambra, I have not received a kobo as salary since I assumed office. I have donated my salary to the state. 

“It is symbolic. It is not much. I think generally, the system is in denial. There must be some signalling, it is just the symbolism of this.” 

Soludo urged his colleagues and other elected officials to cut wasteful spending. 

“That is why I proposed reinventing the new code of conduct for public officers. For the federal government, the actual projected revenue comes to about N6,160 per Nigerian, per month. 

“For the states, except Lagos and a few states, most states have revenues amounting to less than N3,000 per resident, per month. 

“It is from this shares per citizen that we are expected to provide all the infrastructure, debt service, pay salaries and pensions, build schools, and provide everything. 

“For each of our wasteful spending, let’s be conscious of how many citizens share that we are squandering. Once we lose this consciousness about the public trust we bear, the society dies irredeemably,” he said.

Armed robbers on Thursday evening stormed a bank complex in the Abaji Area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) killing a police man and shooting a security guard of the bank.

The incident occurred at about 6 pm on Thursday when the robbers alighted from a vehicle, shot sporadically at a police station located close to the bank.

After killing an officer, they made their way to the bank premises shooting sporadically.

While a guard was shot as he attempted to flee at the bank premises, the robbers attempted to break into the strong room of the bank but were unsuccessful.

The police reportedly mobilised and were joined by soldiers and vigilantes who engaged the robbers in a shootout killing two of the robbers in the process.

Angry residents reportedly seized one of the robbers and set him on fire, according to one of the residents who spoke to newsmen.

The FCT Police Command while confirming the incident said it has deployed operatives of the anti-robbery squad and local security operatives to trail the fleeing robbers.

A Secondary School drop-out, Ruth Livinus, arrested for faking their kidnap, revealed yesterday that she did it to extort money from her widowed mother to establish a hairdressing salon.

The 27-year-old lady was arrested alongside her live-in-lover, Isaac Gabriel, whom she alleged sold the idea to her.

Parading the lovers alongside 21 other suspects arrested for various crimes at the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos, the Zonal Public Relations Officer, SP Ayuba Umma, said, “A case of kidnapping was reported to the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Command Headquarters, by one Jona Jumai, that sometime in May 2024, her sister, Ruth Livinus, who works as a domestic staff in the Ajah area of Lagos, went missing.

“Few days later, the family members were contacted via a strange telephone number that Ruth Livinus had been kidnapped and was in the custody of the kidnappers, who demanded a five million naira ransom to be paid into a designated account”.

A picture of her in a bush path, with hands and legs tied, as gathered, was sent to her mother to create fear and force her to meet the kidnappers’ demand. Her mother was said to have managed to pay N60, 000 only, before they were trailed to their hideout in Ikorodu area of Lagos.

Speaking with journalists, Kaduna state-born Ruth, in an emotional tone, expressed regrets over her actions. She said, “I wanted to use the money to open a hairdressing shop for myself. My boyfriend, Gabriel, sold the idea to me. We were caught because my stepsister tracked the number used to contact my mother, and that led the Police to us. I have only succeeded in collecting N60,000 as ransom before we were arrested.”

On his part, her boyfriend, Gabriel, however, said Ruth muted the idea.

According to the 24-year-old, “Ruth is a friend; she said she wanted to open a shop, and I told her to tell her mother. She initially suggested we should tell her brother that she was sick, but we concluded that the money that would be sent would not be much. She then said she would lie to her mother that she had been kidnapped. I only supported the idea,” the Benue State-born said.