The Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned one Blessing David-Agwa, a fake fertility nurse, before Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court sitting in Independence Layout, Enugu State.

The EFCC disclosed this in a statement on X.com on Wednesday.

According to the EFCC, David-Agwa’s criminal issues began on August 28 when the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency handed her over to the anti-graft agency for investigation and possible prosecution after discovering that she had presented herself as a medical fertility nurse, thereby defrauding unsuspecting victims.

An investigation into the matter reportedly revealed that the defendant allegedly forged certificates from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and used them to falsely present herself as a medical fertility nurse, specially trained to assist women in getting pregnant with ease.

It was also discovered that the defendant had successfully defrauded over 45 innocent women who fell for her false claims.

The statement revealed that the defendant was arraigned on 45 counts of charges bordering on fraudulent impersonation, forgery, and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N28,278,600.

The statement read, “Count 41 of the charge reads ‘That you, Blessing Amaka David-Agwa, sometime in 2024 in Enugu, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, with intent to defraud, did obtain the total sum of One Million, Six Hundred Thousand Naira (N1,600,000.00) only from one Okenwa Joy Chiamaka, under the pretence of being a Medical Fertility Nurse (specially trained to assist women to get pregnant with ease), which pretext you knew to be false, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.’

“Count 24 of the charge reads: ‘That you, Blessing Amaka David-Agwa, sometime in 2024 in Enugu, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, with intent to defraud, did obtain the total sum of One Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N1,250,000.00) from one Amarachi Okpala, under the pretence of being a Medical Fertility Nurse (specially trained to assist women to get pregnant with ease), which pretext you knew to be false, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

The defendant was said to have pleaded not guilty to all counts when they were read to her.

In view of her pleas, counsel to the EFCC, Blessing Obasi, reportedly prayed the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded at the Enugu State Correctional Facility.

The statement added, “However, the defence counsel, G. C. Madubuegwu, informed the court about a pending motion on notice for bail, dated 4th October 2024, and filed on the same date. ‘It is brought pursuant to Section 162 and 165(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act,’ he said. After moving the said application, he prayed the court to grant the defendant bail on liberal terms.

“Obasi vehemently opposed the application for bail on the grounds that the allegation against the defendant was a serious one, citing the mental health impact on the victims.”

After listening to both sides, Justice Umar reportedly adjourned the matter to November 12, 2024, for a ruling on the bail application.

The defendant was thereafter remanded at the Enugu State Correctional Facility.

The Enugu State Police Command has announced the arrest of a native doctor and father of a 26-year-old man identified as Chikwado Eze, who died during a botched fortification in the state.

The tragic incident happened at Ugbaike, Enugu Ezike, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State last week.

According to reports, Chikwado had secured a visa to travel abroad and returned to his village to share the news with his father, Mr. Uwakwe Eze. However, his father insisted on a fortification ritual to ensure his success overseas and took him to a native doctor, Onuwa.

The native doctor identified as Enuwa Odugu, allegedly claimed that Chikwado needed to be buried alive for 1 hour and 30 minutes to be properly fortified. Unfortunately, when Chikwado was exhumed after the stipulated time, he was found dead.

Confirming the incident in a statement issued late Tuesday night by the Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, said the father of the deceased and the native doctor had been arrested.

According to the statement “a native doctor, one Enuwa Odugu “m”, aged 48, and Uwakwe Eze “m”, aged 67, were arrested for conspiracy and murder of Eze’s 26-year-old son, one Chikwado Celestine Eze.

“The incident is alleged to have occurred when Uwakwe Eze took his son to the native doctor’s shrine for a ritual intended to fortify him with charms. However, during the ritual, the deceased was buried in a coffin but he unfortunately died in the process.

“He was rushed to the hospital and confirmed dead by the attending doctor, and his body deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.”

He said that the native doctor had confessed to the crime and other previous performances of such rituals, attributing the death of the victim to his non-adherence to certain ritualistic rules he earlier prescribed for him.

“The case is under investigation, and the suspects will be arraigned in court once investigations are concluded,” Ndukwe said.

President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Executive Council have announced the scrapping of the Niger Delta Ministry and the Ministry of Sports Development.

According to a tweet by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, on Wednesday, the decision was reached during the FEC meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday.

The statement read, “President Tinubu and Federal Executive Council scrap Niger Delta Ministry and the Ministry of sports development.

“There will now be a ministry of regional development to oversee all the regional development commissions, such as Niger Delta Development Commission, North West Development Commission, South West Development Commission , North East Development Commission.”

He also said the responsibilities previously held by the Ministry of Sports Development will now be transferred to the National Sports Commission, which will take charge of sports-related activities in Nigeria.

“The National Sports Commission will take over the role of the Ministry of Sports,” he stated.

Additionally, the FEC approved the merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Culture and Creative Economy, creating a single entity.

Three suspected kidnappers have been arrested by the Anti-kidnap Unit of the Federal Capital Police Command in connection with the alleged abduction of some pastors of ECWA church in Bwari Area Council of the FCT.

The FCT police commissioner, CP Olatunji Disu, who disclosed this while parading the suspects at the command in Abuja on Monday, said the suspects were arrested following a raid on the kidnappers’ hideout at Kweri forest that borders Kaduna and the FCT.

Disu said the suspects were responsible for various armed robberies/kidnappings as well as attacks on pastors’ quarters belonging to ECWA church in Dnapoyi village in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, Mpape village, Daupe village.

He gave the names of the suspects as Hussaini Adamu, Yau Adamu and Aminu Adamu, saying the suspects were led by their gang leader, Gwan Umar, which he said is based in the forest in Kaduna State.

He said the suspects had confessed to killing of one Comfort Oyanga adding that Felix Sanyo and Julius Oyanga were abducted at Daupe in Tafa LGA of Niger State, while a sum of N80 million ransom was paid by the victims’ family.

According to him, the suspects also collectively kidnapped one Dimas Maisamari in Mpape, FCT alongside some victims, which he said were all taken to Kaduna forest.

He said the suspects collected a ransom running into millions of naira from families of the victims, even as he said efforts were ongoing to trace and arrest other wanted kidnappers on the command’s list.

The police commissioner said exhibits recovered included two AK 47 rifles, 85 rounds of live 7.62 ammunition 3 AK 47 magazines and one locally-made gun.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has distributed 55,859 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the forthcoming governorship polls in Ondo State.

The development was confirmed in a statement released on Tuesday by Sam Olumekun, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee.

Olumekun stated that the collection of the PVCs will be transferred to the commission’s local government offices.

The statement indicated that for a duration of five days, the commission facilitated the collection of PVCs from the recent Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in all 203 wards throughout Ondo State.

The Ondo Governorship election is scheduled for November 16, 2024.

In light of this, INEC has urged remaining voters to collect their PVCs from their respective local government offices, reiterating its stance that no cards will be collected on behalf of others.

“The commission is pleased to announce that at the end of the five days, 55,859 cards were personally collected by new registrants and applicants for transfer and replacement of lost or damaged cards as provided by law. This figure represents 62.2% of the 89,777 cards available for collection.

“This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days in Ondo State since the commission introduced the CVR in 2015. A detailed breakdown of the collection by local government areas has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.

“Meanwhile, the collection will resume in our 18 local government offices in Ondo State from tomorrow (Wednesday, October 23) to Tuesday, October 29, 2024, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily (including the weekend). Detailed information on the locations of our local government offices in Ondo State is already available on our website,” the statement read.

Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, Deji Adeyanju has stated that it would be difficult for any opposition merger to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.

Adeyanju, in an interview with Daily Post, argued that opposition parties missed a critical opportunity during the 2023 presidential election by failing to unite and present a unified candidate against Tinubu.

A Pretoria high court judge has convicted a woman found guilty of the killing of her parents, pregnant sister, and brother.

Judge Mashudu Munzhelele sentenced 24-year-old Onthatile Sebati to 25 years in prison for her role in the 2016 killings, while her cousins Tumelo and Kagiso Mokone were handed life sentences.

The horrific incident saw the deaths of Onthatile’s father, police constable Solomon Lucky Sebati, her mother Mmatshepo, a nurse, her 19-year-old pregnant sister, Tshegofatso, and her three-year-old brother Quinton, all shot in their home in Mmakau, North West. Onthatile was 15 years old at the time of the killings, while her cousins were both 18.