Opay Nigeria has blocked accounts of it’s customers alleged to be making suspicious transactions, the company said.
The payment platform said the affected accounts were blocked due to suspicious transactions or account activities, fraud reports, password and payment PIN errors.
Opay tweeted on Monday that, “The recent blocking and freezing of selected Opay accounts were carried out according to financial compliance and regulatory rules.
“Please note that Opay will never block your account unjustly and will only do so in case of suspicious transactions or account activities, fraud reports, password and payment PIN errors.
“All cases of blocked accounts are currently being reviewed by Opay and relevant regulatory bodies.”
THE WHISTLER had reported how a POS operator, Musa Bamaiyi, who uses Opay platform was defrauded by hackers.
The fraudsters used Palmpay, an e-payment app to transfer about N127,000 from their victim’s account.
They also made several attempts to withdraw N893,021 from their v
The decision has gathered reactions from affected customers of the payment platform.
For @PromiseOnyeka15 said: “This one you guys are talking about blocking of users accounts day by day, hope you people are not something else?. It’s right time for me to withdraw all my fund before I hear story that touches the heart.”
Also, @iamDJOKB while reacting said, “I can’t view my balance. Does that means my account is blocked. I just made transfer to it and I can’t view my balance. Please help.”
Another customer who tweeted with @PeopleloadedTv said, “Money is no longer safe with all this online bank like Opay, Kuda etc be smart. Now all my money can’t be found since morning.”
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The Federal Government has inaugurated the National Committee Against Torture (NCAT), whose terms of reference include ensuring that education and information regarding the prohibition against torture are fully included in the training of law enforcement and public officers.
The Attorney General of the Federation (HAGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), inaugurated the Committee in Abuja in recognition of the increasing cases of torture across the country, according to a statement on Saturday made available to THE WHISTLER by NHRC Deputy Director Public Affairs, Fatimah Agwai Mohmmed.
The AGF was quoted to have said that the Committee whose secretariat will be domiciled at the NHRC, is expected to play a crucial role to stamp out torture and other related vices, and to ensure justice to survivors and victims.
On his part, the NHRC Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu SAN ) who also doubles as the alternate Chair of the Committee said the idea of NHRC hosting the Committee (Secretariat) aligns with international best practices, given that it brings credibility to the work of the Committee.
The statement further reads:
“In her remarks, the Solicitor General of the Federation and Chairperson of the NCAT, on behalf of other members commended the HAG for reconstituting the committee. She assured the AGF of the committee’s commitment to satisfactorily implement the terms of reference, particularly with respect to providing timely statutory reports as required under UNCAT and working with renewed vigour towards fighting against the scourge.
“The Chief Custodian of Human Rights in Nigeria, (Ojukwu) recalled that visits to Correctional Service facilities and other detention centres was one of the major challenges of the previous Committee, saying that leveraging on the powers of the Commission to visit such facilities will be highly beneficial to the Committee.
“The NHRC Boss emphasized the need for the Committee to collaborate with relevant MDAs, Nigerian Bar Associations and Civil Society Organizations to identify and escalate complaints of torture so as to facilitate timely redress of these cases by the Committee.
“The Committee’s Terms of Reference are “To engage and liaise with Committee Against Torture (CAT) and regional human rights mechanisms in the context of country reporting, interactive dialogue or facilitation of visits by special procedure mandate holders or the Subcommittees on the Prevention of Torture.
“To organize and facilitate the preparation of reports to CAT and regional human rights mechanisms, and of responses to communication, follow up questions and recommendations or decisions received from such mechanisms.
“To coordinate data collection and information gathering from government agencies, National Assembly and the Judiciary for the reporting and follow up.
“To foster and lead consultations for reporting and follow up with the National Human Rights Commission and Civil Society Organizations.
“To receive and consider communications on torture from individuals, CSOs and government institutions.
“To prepare quarterly briefings to the HAGF on cases of torture and propose appropriate administrative/Judicial intervention.
“Propose a review of Anti-Torture Legislation and further develop a National Anti-Torture Policy.”
The Nigerian Army has killed Musti, a notorious bandit behind last year’s deadly attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.
The attack on the military school claimed the lives of two officers of the institution – Lt. Commander Wulah and Flight Lieutenant Okoronkwo, while a captain, Major Christopher Datong was abducted
The Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who disclosed this on Saturday, said troops also killed scores of bandits around the tollgate general area in Chikun Local Government Area of the state.
According to the commissioner, another notorious bandit, known as Boderi Isiya, narrowly escaped being killed, adding that corpses and weapons were recovered at the scene, while some of the terrorists eventually died from bullet wounds.
The Commissioner said, “Notorious bandit Boderi Isiya has narrowly escaped being neutralized, while his deadly second in command and several other fighters were gunned down by Nigerian Army troops.
“Security agencies informed the Kaduna State Government of this development in an operational feedback.
“A painstaking check with credible human intelligence sources further confirmed that Boderi and his terror group had a bad day at the hands of the combat-ready troops.
“According to the reports, the troops engaged the bandits around the Tollgate general area of Chikun LGA. The bandits scrambled in retreat, only to run into another ambush laid by the troops in Sabon Gida general area.
“The troops engaged the bandits ferociously, and ultimately subdued them.
“Boderi’s deadly second in command, one Musti, was among those identified to have been eliminated, alongside one Yellow Mai-Madrid and one Dan-Katsinawa, with others yet to be identified. Some of the terrorists are battling with life-threatening wounds.
“Musti and Boderi were responsible for the security breach at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, and kidnappings of students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, the Emir of Bungudu and several other citizens last year.”
There was confusion at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, in Anambra State on Saturday after three undergraduate students were found dead in their hostel.
The institution, Naija News learnt, had closed its last session on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, after the completion of its second-semester examination.
The school management, however, said it was shocking to learn about the untimely death of the undergraduate students.
Reports said the female students, all in their 200-level, were found dead inside their hostel rooms at the Igbariam campus of the varsity.
A source at the institution confirmed the identity of the students as Obidiaso Chidera (200-level Political Science student), Mercy (200-level Pharmacy student), and Emmanuella (200-level Business Administration).
It is yet unclear what led to their death but security operatives and the school authorities are on their toes to unravel the mystery behind the sad incident.
There are suspicions, however, that the deceased might have mistakenly locked themselves up in their room from outside.
“The students were locked up in the apartment. When we got access to the apartment, we found them lifeless with two of them on their beds in the room, while the third lifeless body was found in the kitchen,” an unnamed source told The PUNCH on Saturday.
While confirming the incident, the management of the institution said the death of the students came as a shock to it.
The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Dr. Harrison Madubueze, said the institution received the report of the incident with rude shock.
Madubueze said, “The university management received with rude shock the news of the death of three of its students. At the moment, the date, time and manner of their death are still uncertain.
“However, the security operatives are investigating the matter and at the appropriate time, they will make the findings public.”
The varsity mouthpiece stressed that the management was unaware that any of her students in the second-year class and above were still within the University environment.
According to him, the second-semester session had ended and students are expected to resume for the new session on October 1st, 2022.
No fewer than 20 passengers perished at Lanlate in Ibarapa East Local Government Area on Friday when two commercial vehicles collided.
It was gathered that the two vehicles which were loaded were travelling on the opposite direction when they collided and burst into flames.
The vehicles and the occupants were reportedly burnt to death while two lucky ones were rescued with injuried from the wreckage.
Eye witnesses blamed the accident on over speeding, telling our correspondent that there were weeping and wailing at the scene as sympathisers thronged the scene.
The Chairman, Ibarapa East Local Government Area, Mr Gbenga Obalowo, was said to have led rescue operation at the scene.
Obalowo said, “It was a very terrible accident. It was a gory sight. We counted over 20 bodies that were burnt completely.
“I learnt the vehicles had a head on collision and the two vehicles, a commercial bus and a Sienna which was also conveying passengers caught fire and got burnt beyond repair.
“Our drivers need to avoid speeding. They should consider other road users and avoid reckless driving.”
It was learnt that the deceased (unknown identity) was reportedly seen by neighbours four years ago during one of his occasional trip to Ibadan from Port Harcourt in Rivers State where he resides at the time.
As at the time of filing this report, the cause of death is yet to be ascertained.
Residents told newsmen that non of the residents in the area knew about the incident until this week when the community decided to enter into the compound to cut the overgrown grass inside his compound which has become a haven for snakes and rodents.
It was gathered that the Abokis who were contracted for the job of cutting the grass in the deceased compound were told to jump into the compound since the gate of the house were locked from behind only for them to found out that the car of the house owner is in the premises and has been covered with grass.
According to eyewitness , after managing to cut down the bush , they peeped at the window of the building and saw the skeleton of the decomposed corpse on his bed with a phone in his hand.
Officers of the Oyo state police command are currently carrying out a comprehensive investigation into the incident.
– As Rivers, Oyo, Abia Governors, Others Boycott NEC Meeting
The resignation of Walid Jibrin as the Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has not deterred Governor Nyesom Wike from continuing with his attack on the party.
This comes as the Rivers Governor has vowed to continue to “fight” until the party serves justice by asking its chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to step down from his position.
Ever since Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, emerged as PDP’s presidential candidate, the party has not enjoyed a moment of peace as Governor Wike has insisted that it would be unfair for the party’s national chairman and presidential candidate to come from the same region.
On this ground, the Rivers governor demanded Ayu’s resignation as a condition to support the party’s presidential candidate in 2023.
But in an apparent move to shut Wike up, the party’s BoT Chairman who also hails from the north volunteered to step down from his position for peace to reign.
Unsatisfied by the move, Governor Wike during the commissioning of the Rivers State University’s Ahoada Campus in the Ahoada East Local Government Area said “This fight we will fight it to the end.”
Meanwhile, some southern governors among whom have shown loyalty to Wike in the matter did not attend PDP NEC meeting.
They include governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom.
African Researchers hold Symposium on Africa’s Development
A group of African researchers under the name Alafarika for Study and Consultancy had recently on August 26 and 27, 2022 organized a virtual symposium titled “Knowledge Creation and Dissemination in Africa”, which researchers in African affairs from Morocco, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Egypt, and the Central African Republic participated to come up with model for African Development. The participants commended the initiative for giving great importance to knowledge, its creation and dissemination, and considering it an initial and basic building block for developing and progressing in Africa.
The two-day session which dealt with a series of issues related to influencing African policy and politics with knowledge, the process of knowledge management for development; the role of the media in creating knowledge societies; and the challenges facing academic publishing and its potential solutions. The symposium also touched on the relationship between philosophy and human development in the African context and how revolutions and movements demanding change can be directed based on the knowledge that provides answers to the state-building and development that the continent needs in the twenty-first century and the digital age, in addition to the potential of investigative and data journalism to contribute to Africa’s prosperity.
Talking about creating knowledge societies and influencing African politics, the speakers revealed that consultancy institutions are one of the means of influencing knowledge creation processes if these institutions are rooted in local issues and are experts in initiatives that touch the needs of the population and citizens. The speakers stressed that civilizations and advanced societies throughout history have depended on knowledge and actors in disseminating human sciences. Despite the lack of interest of some current African governments in knowledge, its means and tools for its dissemination, the history of Africa, its civilizations and kingdoms in different regions confirmed that Africa has rich experience in this regard. What is required today is to study these historical achievements and support the creativity of young people that may limit the brain drain in many African countries, in addition to attaching the utmost importance to educational institutions and their outputs.
They stressed that knowledge management is a necessary process for development because it relates to many sensitive areas and is an essential means of successful management and that it elevates knowledge to the forefront of any government or political system’s success by emphasizing the knowledge capabilities of individuals, universities, and research institutions that facilitate access to knowledge, participation in it, distribution, preservation, and retrieval.
Talking about the impact of globalization and the rapid technological change in human societies, the speakers make knowledge the basis of domination and influence. Stating that all indicators show the strength of tomorrow’s world will be determined by the interest in human capital and the exploitation of the energies and capabilities of the continent’s population in sustainable human development. In terms of knowledge management and development, they are of the belief that there is a need to move from theories to real-life applications to meet the challenges of the continent and the rapid transformations in all fields without neglecting data technologies, which collect and categorize information to enable users of knowledge systems and services to access them when necessary. Pointing that all of these can be achieved through interviews and dialogues with experts and actors in national development policies, humanities, and modern methods that reflect positively on African societies and enable African countries to compete globally.
African Media Institutions are tasked with the process of creating knowledge society at a time when global media ignore the role of Africans in crystallizing global knowledge and the information explosion, without overlooking the fact that digital media plays some of the roles of traditional media, influencing different African societies and stages. Media roles are however agreed not be limited to the use of various means to highlight developments and experiences in African countries, their civilizations and history or to publicize their tourism sectors. Taking the information revolution and technological innovations the continent’s youth seize today in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, and other African countries to develop the financial, agricultural, and health sectors into consideration, the relationship between the media and the dissemination of knowledge shows a relationship of mutual influence that can be observed in concepts related to human values, the crucible of communication and understanding.
Another means of developing and changing society is the process of scientific research and academic publishing. It was also agreed that one of the tools through which sustainable development can be achieved thereby addressing the challenges facing academic publishing in Africa and the weak governmental attention to the results of research projects and recommendations of conferences and research sessions that may contribute to promoting development.
While one of the crisis facing academic publishing in Africa is lack of publishing and distribution centres for works, academic books, and scientific journals within Africa, without forgetting that education curricula and teaching methods in several African countries are rooted in the colonial era and ideas that strengthen Western scientific institutions while weakening African scientific institutions that are already short of the necessary infrastructural resources.
Speakers in the “Knowledge Creation and Dissemination in Africa” symposium also pointed out that African philosophy can help us understand the problems facing the creation of knowledge and enhance the patterns of knowledge production that the continent needs. Furthermore, studying African history and philosophy may determine the African position towards modern science and contemporary issues, especially since knowledge based on African philosophical foundations may transform African societies into freer societies and can provide answers to the most important factors contributing to political, social, and economic inequality.
The COVID-19 crisis has shown the repercussions of the lack of independent and effective scientific research, sufficient scientific and technological resources, and the lack of manufacturing capabilities in the global south in general and Africa in particular. As a result, most African health care systems relied on the so-called “goodwill” of the global north and foreign vaccines.
The symposium also highlights that recent protests and political transformations in Africa indicated that most movements calling for change were not based on knowledge foundations that meet the state-building processes Africa needs in the twenty-first century. This is despite the fact that between 2005 and 2014, 40 out of 54 countries on the African continent witnessed widespread protests and uprisings in their various forms at the local and national levels. The knowledge equation lies in the repeated mistakes of these movements and that some of these uprisings often exacerbate the situation in the countries where they occur. Knowledge gaps can also be seen in the ideologies and parties that refuse to bring about the continent’s desired social and political changes.
In conclusion, the participants praised the role of investigative and data journalism in promoting African prosperity based on knowledge, as data and statistical information should contribute to achieving good governance and revealing corporate and institutional corruption and social injustice, in addition to presenting powerful and influential stories and revealing the truth. Thus, data is a mirror to confirm or deny a particular phenomenon or issue and a means of exploring its direction and foreseeing its future trend.
The residence of Tukur Mamu, a negotiator with the Kaduna Train terrorists has been invaded by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The operatives reportedly invaded his residence in the early hours of Thursday and left with documents, phones and laptops.
Daily Trust reports that the members of his family within the apartment were asked to sign documents they did not read before carting them away.
Mamu, who was arrested in Cario, Egypt was indicted over ransom racketeering and relationship with terrorists in the northeastern extremity of Egypt.
But Mamu upon his arrest on Wednesday and immediate deportation accused the Federal Government of orchestrating his arrest with claims he was only on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj with his wives, eldest son and brother-in-law.
Recall that Mamu, came to the limelight after he made public his involvement with the terrorists that abducted the inbound Kaduna train passengers, negotiating their release.
Although there were speculations of outrageous ransoms paid by families of victims, Mamu had constantly debunked such reports, with claims that all releases by terrorists were achieved through dialogue.
Mamu had collected huge sums running into billions for terrorists with some of the payments made in foreign currencies by families and negotiated the release of their loved ones.
