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Court orders 54 banks to return N9.3bn stolen by hackers

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Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered 54 banks to immediately return a total of N9,329,322,870 fraudulently transferred by hackers from an unnamed old generation bank.

The judgment, delivered on April 15, 2025, follows an ex parte motion filed in suit number FHC/L/CS/629/2025.

The court directed the financial institutions to place a Post No Debit restriction on all accounts that received the stolen funds and to begin the immediate return of all available funds to the originating bank.

The plaintiff bank reported that on March 23, 2025, a breach in its core banking system resulted in unauthorised debits from multiple customer accounts.

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The stolen funds—amounting to over N9.3bn—were then dispersed across accounts in 54 financial institutions.

Upon detection of the incident, the bank said it promptly alerted the institutions involved and began tracking the disbursements.

The investigation revealed that the funds were transferred in multiple tranches from the bank into primary accounts and subsequently rerouted to other accounts held by secondary and tertiary beneficiaries.

Justice Dipeolu ruled that the affected banks must provide details of the implicated accounts, including balances and amounts already transferred.

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The judge further ordered the immediate return of all recoverable funds to the plaintiff bank.

The financial institutions are also to share comprehensive customer data related to the transactions, including names and destination accounts.

Restrictions are to be maintained on all accounts that received any portion of the funds until full recovery is made, limited to the amount each received.

The judge clarified that the ruling applies strictly to erroneously transferred funds and does not infringe on other customer deposits.

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“For the avoidance of doubt and for clarity, the order is only in respect of funds erroneously transferred and sums salvaged,” the ruling emphasised.

Justice Dipeolu concluded that the stolen funds “belong to the plaintiff and not the customers of the respondent banks,” affirming the court’s authority to direct full restitution.

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Woman bites off manhood of s3x partner over argument

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A woman has bitten off her lover’s genitals during a sex argument in Rivers.

The Rivers State Police Command has arrested a 43-year-old woman identified as Gift for allegedly biting off the tip of her lover’s penis during a domestic dispute in the Mile 3 area of Diobu, Port Harcourt.

The incident, which occurred on Thursday, sent shockwaves through the densely populated Bishop Okoye Street when news of the act emerged.

According to sources, the altercation began when Gift’s lover, identified only as Sunday, requested to have s3x.

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Gift reportedly refused, accusing him of using s3x-enhancing drugs that made their encounters excessively prolonged.

A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Mr. Sunday became angry and allegedly descended on his female partner for her refusal.

“In the process, Gift managed to get hold of the man’s manhood with her mouth and chop off the cap of the penis.”

The man’s screams reportedly drew the attention of neighbours, some of whom attempted to mob the woman before police intervened.

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“The cap of the man’s penis was completely bitten off by the woman,” the source added.

Gift was rescued by officers from the Nkpolu Police Division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, and taken into custody.

The victim, Sunday, was rushed to an undisclosed hospital in the city for urgent medical attention.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Superintendent of Police Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident on Friday.

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“Yes, I can confirm the incident. The woman (suspect), aged 43 years, has been arrested and investigation is ongoing,” Iringe-Koko said.

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INEC Releases Details Of 2025 Anambra Guber Candidates

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The Independent National Electoral Commission has released the personal particulars of candidates for the 2025 Anambra State governorship election.

The publication of the particulars followed the conclusion of party primaries by 16 political parties and the upload of candidates’ nomination forms for the election by the deadline of 6 pm on May 12, 2025, when the dedicated portal automatically shut down.

This was disclosed in a statement by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, on Saturday, titled ‘PUBLICATION OF PERSONAL PARTICULARS OF CANDIDATES FOR THE 2025 ANAMBRA STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION’.

The Anambra State governorship election is scheduled to hold on Saturday, November 8, 2025.

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The statement read, “Following the conclusion of party primaries, 16 political parties have uploaded their candidates’ nomination forms for the Anambra State Governorship Election by the deadline of 6 pm on Monday, May 12, 2025, when the dedicated portal automatically shuts down.

“As provided in Section 29(3) of the Electoral Act 2022 and listed as item 4 on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election, the Commission has published the personal particulars of each candidate and his running mate by displaying copies of the Form EC9, along with all the accompanying academic credentials and other documents submitted by them, at our state headquaters and the 21 local government offices across Anambra State.”

INEC called on Nigerians to assess the candidates’ documents.

The candidates documents displayed by INEC
The candidates’ documents displayed by INEC. Credit: INEC/X
It also urged aspirants with reasonable grounds to believe that a candidate provided false information to challenge the nomination of the candidate in court.

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It also disclosed that the final list of candidates would be published on June 9, 2025, which is at least 150 days before the election.

This, it said, was in line with the provision of Section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.

It said, We appeal to Nigerians to scrutinise the documents. Any aspirant who participated in his/her party primaries with reasonable grounds to believe that the information provided by a candidate is false can challenge the nomination in a Federal High Court as provided in Section 29(5) of the Electoral Act 2022.

“The final list of candidates will be published on June 9, 2025, which is at least 150 days before the day of the election, in line with the provision of Section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and listed as item 7 on our Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election.”

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Alleged $1m, £34,537 Scam: EFCC Presents First Witness, Peter Okoye against Ex-P-Square Manager

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Unidentified EFCC Operative Takes Own life

The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday, May 16, 2025, presented its first prosecution witness, PW1, Peter Obumuneme Okoye,( a.k.a Mr P) against Jude Chigozie Okoye, elder brother and former Manager of Paul and Peter Okoye, before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.

Okoye is standing trial alongside his company, Northside Music Ltd., on a four-count charge bordering on alleged stealing to the tune of $1m and £34,537 .

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Mohammed Bashir, the PW1 told the court that his brother’s wife, Ifeoma, owned 80 per cent of Northside Music Ltd, while Jude retained the remaining 20 percent shares.

He said: “ I went to the EFCC with my lawyer to submit the petition on January 22, 2024. I initially wrote Northside Music as the respondent. But upon various investigations carried out by the Commission, it was discovered that Jude’s wife, Ifeoma, is the owner of the company because she owes 80 per cent shares, while Jude retains the remaining 20 per cent.

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“I submitted the petition and I never spoke to either Paul or Jude until early April in 2024 when the EFCC asked if my twin brother was involved and I said I did not know.

“The Commission discovered there were over 47 bank accounts used by Jude to receive royalties.”

He also told the court that though both Paul and Jude were later invited by the Commission, the latter was detained.

In his further evidence, he said: “Jude never denied that he committed the crime. However, my twin brother told me during a meeting at the EFCC office that our elder brother owns P-Square.

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“Paul told me Jude owns 40 per cent, while the two of us owe 30 per cent each.

“Ifeoma was never part of our engagement and I was not aware when Northside Music was registered.

“Northside Music, according to my findings, was registered in 2015 and had been operating illegally two years prior to our break-up.”

The prosecution, thereafter, sought to tender the petition dated January 22, 2024.

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There was no objection to its admissibility by the lead counsel to the defendants, Clement Onwuenwunor, SAN.

Earlier in the proceedings, the witness had told the court that he and his twin brother, Paul, started their music career in 1999.

He had also told the court that between 2005 and 2006, they floated a company, Northside Entertainment Ltd, where they were directors and shareholders.

He, however, said Jude was the sole signatory to the company’s three accounts domiciled in Eco Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Zenith Bank.

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“ They were both Naira and Dollar accounts and Jude was the sole manager of all the accounts.

“In September 2017, P-Square broke up and we came back together in November 2021.

“Within the period, I never received any royalty paid into our company.

“Before we broke up in 2017, every royalty was being paid into Northside Entertainment Ltd., where the three of us were shareholders.

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“We have two aggregators (streaming platforms that generate income): I-rocking.com and Free me digital, which I was aware of.

“When people play our songs on their mobile phones, it generates income: and so, we receive funds from these two aggregators prior to our split.”

The PW1, who said he went solo as Mr P after the group broke up and got a different manager, further told court that “ When we got back without him being our manager, I discovered a similar company was run by our brother known as Northside Music.

“I started seeing some discrepancies in the way royalties were sent to me and my twin brother . When I went for a tour in London, some individual approached us if we would like to sell our catalogs, but they needed to see the back-end.

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“After so much attempt to get the back-end from Jude, I discovered that he had tampered with the original one, which made over seven companies to have a rethink of purchasing the catalogs.”

The case was adjourned till May 23 for continuation of trial.

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