219 Nigerians Rescues from Forced Cybercrime in Ghana

By: Michael Mike

The Federal Government has lauded Ghanaian authorities for rescuing at least 219 young Nigerians who were trafficked to the West African country and forced into cybercrimes.

It also restated its commitment to providing the youth with technical education and skills to curb growing unemployment.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu made the commitment when she visited the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) in Accra, Ghana, where the victims of trafficking were being detained.

In a closed door meeting with the Executive Director of the agency, Mr. Bashiru Dapilah and two of his directors, the minister expressed gratitude to the operatives for doing their job professionally especially treating the victims with dignity.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who was in Ghana for the official launch of the 50th anniversary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers on the withdrawal of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, described as callous and inhuman, the exploitation of innocent young people.

She said that trafficking was modern slavery, obnoxious and man’s inhumanity to man.

She however urged Nigerian youth to shun people who promise irresistible job offers outside the shores of the country, decrying the most times these are just baits to lure them into slavery.

She stated that the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana had last Thursday, alerted her of the incident and how the victims were held under inhuman conditions by the perpetrators before the sting operation that burst the evil syndicate.

She said: “Prior to their rescue, these boys had been locked up in about 25 rooms within the estate where they were used to perpetrate cybercrimes. At the time of their arrest, many of them, being locked inside confined spaces with computers for weeks on end without being let outside, were even unable to get their eyes to adjust to the sun when they were led outside those dark rooms. Some had been serially abused with visible lacerations inflicted on them by their criminal ‘don’ while one had his legs broken for not tendering all the proceeds of his cybercrime.”

Addressing the victims at the premises of the agency, the minister said that they were lucky to have been rescued, disclosing that many had lost their lives in similar circumstances while others rot in jails in parts of the world.

She said: “Count yourselves lucky as next time, it may not be a benevolent country like Ghana. It may not be a circumstance within a location where we have excellent bilateral relations. There are countries that take cybercrimes very seriously and by the time they lock you up, they will throw away the key. We are still trying to this day to ensure that Ethiopia signs our exchange or transfer of sentenced persons MoU so that we can bring those nationals who are trapped in their prisons back to Nigeria. So we don’t lose even more of them.

“We are happy that this commission has excellent relations with NAPTIP and they have been kind enough. I was really humbled when the Executive Director said their interest is not for these young men to get back to Nigeria into the prison system; because that’s what usually happens. Under that situation, they are obliged to hand you over to law enforcement, correctional facilities in Nigeria and then you know what will happen. It’s another cycle of your relatives coming to prison to bring you food,” Odumegwu-Ojukwu said.

She however highlighted that the Nigerian government was committed to citizen-centred diplomacy as a cardinal thrust of the foreign policy of President Bola Tinubu-administration.

She said that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration has laudable programmes particularly those that give skills to the youth so that they do not indulge in crimes of this nature.

She, therefore, urged the victims, to take advantage of this second chance that God has made possible for them by keying into some of the intervention programmes of the federal government.

She admonished: “Know that East, West, home is best. So, when you get home, give the government opportunity to equip you with skills.

“I am also using this opportunity to commend other Nigerians who are industrious, hardworking and law-abiding in Ghana.

“I can assure you that Ghana will have the support and cooperation of the Nigerian Government in the fight against organised crimes.

“It’s something that our own Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will want to be part of to ensure that we are not seen as headquarters of economic crimes.”

She described what happened as a success story, a model to how bilateral relations should be pursued in addressing economic and financial crimes.

Executive Director of the agency, Dapilah explained how his team acted on intelligence to achieve the feat.

He said: “We are not looking at this as a Nigerian crime because you have some backing of Ghanaian. The estate where they lived, we arrested the owner and he will be prosecuted.

“We require collaboration between our two countries. The crime is committed here in Ghana but we know that somebody in Nigeria was behind it. So, these persons have been rescued but the next thing is the collaboration to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended.

“As you go home, take the message to our counterpart in Nigeria that we will be needing collaboration to to roundup the perpetrators,” he said.

The Ghana anti-graft boss extolled majority of Nigerians in the country who he said were law-abiding and contributing significantly to the development of Ghana and its economy.

“We have a large Nigerian population here that are law-abiding especially where they are selling spare parts. We have a lot of them running restaurants where we go to eat Nigerian delicacies,” Dapilah said.

He also thanked the Nigerian High Commission for working closely with the agency for long, detailednoting that the Chargé D’Affaires, Ambassador Dayo Adeoye collaborated with them.

Adeoye daid that over 3 million Nigerians reside in Ghana and many of them are doing well, helping the economic development of their host country.

He called for aggressive enlightenment to curb the spate of trafficking involving Nigerians.

About 231 young Nigerians are expected to arrive Lagos on Friday from Ghana and handed to government officials.

219 Nigerians Rescues from Forced Cybercrime in Ghana

VP SHETTIMA AND THE ILLOGICAL PERMUTATIONS FOR 2027

By: Inuwa Bwala

As happened in 2023, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was to name his running mate, vested interests are again up in arms, trying to hoodwink or armstwist him into doing their bids.
What people forget, however, is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a master schemer and knows exactly what to do at the appropriate time. Contrary to what many people think, he has his own game plan and can not be compelled to play to the gallery.
In the last few weeks, I have read a plethora of writeups trying to give President Bola Ahmed Tinubu prescriptions on how to chart a new political course if he hopes to achieve his second term bid in the 2027 general elections.
Many of the write ups contain permutations in the event of the emergence of a perceived strong opposition and that unless he drops his Vice President for another person, he will have a difficult task.
As a student of political history, and given our experiences, I dare say that if Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima could win in the face of all the obstacles placed in their ways from within and from without there does not appear any threat to this same ticket in 2027.
I must confess that I have not yet met a shrewed political strategist in Nigeria like the President who against all permutations settled for Kashim Shettima neither am I aware of any politician who could be as loyal dedicated and determined to his Boss as Shettima has demonstrated over the years.
The game is already on, and the biggest threat to Tinubu in 2027 is indeed any attempt to shift the goalpost in the mu
middle of the game.
As far as I know, the combination has given a very good account of itself, and with the rays of hope beyond the immediate horizon, Kashim Shettima remains President Bola Ahmed Tinubu best choice
I am aware that people have been trying to drive a wedge between them by framing false narratives that are neither here nor there. So as not to embolden those who are heating up the polity unnecessarily, the silence maintained on political permutations remains the best by both the president and the vice president.
Silence on certain issues has paid off for both of them before, and it will again pay off.
When people thought Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sick and weak and may even die before the end of his first tenure, he maintained a golden silence on his health status and rather magnified it as real thereby tricking all Nigerians into believing it was true.
Now that he has proven to be healthy and strong, the voices that predicted a doom for the presidency are silent.

VP SHETTIMA AND THE ILLOGICAL PERMUTATIONS FOR 2027

Nigerien Army Deserter Who Joined Boko Haram Surrenders in Diffa Region

By: Our Reporter

A deserter from the Niger Republic Armed Forces who reportedly joined the terrorist group Boko Haram has surrendered to local authorities in Kindjandi, located in the Diffa Region of southeastern Niger Republic.
The individual, identified as Abba Ibrahim, had been serving with the Nigerien Armed Forces since 2022 before deserting his post in Bosso on March 8, 2025, according to military intelligence sources. He fled alongside a fellow soldier, Bandam Dala, and subsequently joined a Boko Haram faction active in the Lake Chad area.
Security sources disclosed that Ibrahim surrendered on April 21, 2025, arriving in Kindjandi on horseback with a rifle. He was accompanied by an unidentified young man whose details are yet to be confirmed.
Ibrahim was taken into custody by the Nigerien Armed Forces on the morning of April 22, 2025, and is currently undergoing debriefing and interrogation by military intelligence.
The Diffa Region has remained a hotspot for insurgent activity due to its proximity to Lake Chad and border areas with Nigeria, where Boko Haram and other extremist groups operate.

Nigerien Army Deserter Who Joined Boko Haram Surrenders in Diffa Region