Telecom
FG Orders Prosecution to Logical Conclusion of Benjamin Joseph, Alleged Blackmailer of Zinox Chairman
The Federal Government has ordered the continuation of prosecution to a logical conclusion of one Benjamin Joseph, owner of Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, an Ibadan-based ICT retail firm and alleged accuser of the Zinox Chairman, Leo Stan Ekeh, for malicious falsehood over an alleged N170m fraud.
The order was communicated via a letter dated 6th June from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami to the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba and communicated to the courts by the IGP on 26th September 2022.
This was confirmed in a statement by Matthew Burkaa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
According to the statement, Joseph has a previous court judgment of N20m as damages awarded against him by an FCT High Court Abuja, for giving the Federal Government false information after accusing Ekeh of fraudulently converting a contract awarded to his firm by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2012. Furthermore, the statement revealed that Joseph is facing another criminal charge for false petitioning before Honourable Justice Peter Kekemeke of the High Court of the FCT, Abuja.
The SAN, who disclosed that this clarification is necessary in informing the public to disregard the various sponsored media reports being circulated online and on social media by Joseph against the Zinox Chairman, also stated that every available legal means will be employed to address the libelous contents in the referenced publications and seek for appropriate remedies and damages, where necessary.
The statement reads in part: ‘‘We act for Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, Technology Distributions Limited (TD) and its staff Chioma Ekeh, Chris Eze Ozims, Oyebode Folashade and Charles Adigwe (hereinafter referred to collectively or individually as “Our Clients”).
‘‘Our Clients have drawn our attention to several online publications, containing some false, distorted and damaging contents in the SAHARA REPORTERS of October 2, 2022 titled: ZINOX GROUP CHAIRMAN, WIFE, 11 OTHERS FACE TRIAL IN NIGERIAN COURT OVER ALLEGED N170M CONTRACT FRAUD NINE YEARS AFTER. A Similar story with the same content was published in OPERA NEWS on 29th September, 2022, and in the NATIONAL WAVES on 29th September 2022 titled: LEO STAN EKEH’S ALLEGED N170.3M FRAUD SCANDAL RESURFACES; and also in THE NEWS MATRICS (Online News Paper Publication) published on the 30th September 2022 titled: FG TO PROSECUTE ZINOX BOSS, EKEH, WIFE OVER ALLEGED N170.3M FRAUD. THE WITNESS (online newspaper) of September 29, 2022, also carried the story. Copies of these online publications have gone viral on social media and have been read globally by different persons and diverse groups, who have been worried by the content of the publication and have continued to bombard our Clients with calls expressing their utter shock and consternation at the content of the publications.
‘‘First of all, of great concern, is how a straightforward business transaction between two corporate entities, Technology Distributions Limited (TD) and Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited has been skewed in a manner to give the erroneous impression that a personal business was transacted by individuals, to wit: Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, his wife and his named staff with one Mr. Benjamin Joseph. Such personalisation (as carried by the publications) was apparently to achieve an ulterior motive to blackmail, drag, embarrass, and bring down the persons so named in the publication, while the author of the publications appears as a victim and continues to bask in a vain glory.’’
Specifically, Burkaa disclosed that reports of investigation reports by various authorities including the Nigerian Police Force, Special Fraud Unit (SFU) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reveal that Mr. Ekeh and Zinox Technologies Limited are not connected in any way to the allegations that formed the basis of the said libellous publications.
‘‘In fact, in all the investigations by the Nigerian Police and the EFCC, Mr Leo Stan Ekeh, Technology Distributions Limited (TD) and its staff, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh, Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, Mrs. Folashade Oyebode, and Mr. Charles Adigwe have been formally and severally vindicated and absolved of any wrong-doing as the entire allegations were found to be false. On the contrary, the mastermind of all the allegations, a certain Mr. Benjamin Joseph, is presently standing trial in Court for forwarding false allegations via a Petition containing the very allegations that formed the basis of the referenced publications to the Federal Government of Nigeria. That Charge is still pending in Court.’’
Also, he held that neither Mr. Ekeh nor the other persons mentioned in the articles had been served with any charge by the law firm of FALANA & FALANA, as falsely claimed, adding that they only read of the existence of the charge in the media. Burkaa, who condemned the development, described it as going against all known ethics of the administration of justice in Nigeria, especially as the said charge has been widely circulated on print and electronic media with all its details and the full names of persons mentioned along with the charge number.
In addition, he stated that the FG has filed a formal charge against Benjamin Joseph for submitting a false petition against Mr. Ekeh, his wife, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh and other persons mentioned in the articles, while noting that the same falsehood has now been reported in those media publications as the content of the charge against them.
Burkaa noted that: ‘‘The Criminal Charge will be coming up before His Lordship, the Hon. Justice U.P. Kekemeke of the FCT, High Court, Abuja on the 3rd day of November, 2022 for the defence of Mr. Benjamin Joseph whose “No Case Submission” had been dismissed by the Court, indicating that he has a case to answer. The Federal Government has also written letters through the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) and the Nigerian Police Force for the continuation of the said prosecution. The letters are dated 6th of June, 2022 and 26th September, 2022.
‘‘It is therefore appalling to our Clients to read, via the above publications, that a Charge had been filed against them by a private law firm associated with Mr. Benjamin Joseph because, they (our Clients) had by a letter dated 19th November, 2018 drawn the attention of the Honourable, the Attorney General of the Federation to the fact that, it was apparent that the Law firm of FALANA &FALANA was acting on the instructions of Mr. Benjamin Joseph, the MD of Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, who is the Defendant standing trial in Charge No: CR/216/2016.
‘‘More shocking to our Clients is the fact that the Nominal Complainant (Benjamin Joseph) in Charge No: FCT/HC/CR/469/2022 which formed the basis of the above online publications, is the Defendant in Charge No: CR/216/2016 and the subject matter in Charge No: FCT/HC/CR/469/2022 is the very basis for the prosecution of Mr. Benjamin Joseph in Charge No: CR/216/2016.
‘‘It is also imperative to point out that the High Court of the FCT, Per D.Z Senchi J. (as he then was) in Charge No: FCT/HC/CR/244/2018 dismissed as “false petitioning” the very allegations forming the basis of the new charges filed by FALANA & FALANA’S Chambers, and indicted the said Benjamin Joseph for forwarding false information to the Nigerian Police. The court went ahead to slam a fine of N20million against him for writing a Petition containing falsehood against our Clients and to serve as a deterrent to others who might want to mislead security agencies by forwarding false complaints against innocent Nigerians. The said Judgment is dated the 24th day of February, 2021. In fact, Chioma Ekeh and Chris Eze Ozims, who are also supposedly charged in the referred charge, were prosecution witnesses against Benjamin Joseph in the two previously filed charges. So, the present Charge includes the very persons who had been discharged and acquitted on the same set of facts and in whose favour there is a subsisting Judgment.’’
Meanwhile, the SAN added that copies of all the documents mentioned above (including the Judgement, Reports, and letters) are available for verification as they are in various courts’ records, having been tendered in proceedings.
The ongoing saga relates to a 2012 Credit Sales of HP Laptops to Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited on an interest-free credit facility when they could not fund the contract awarded to them by FIRS to supply laptops, along with twelve other companies. After FIRS paid all suppliers who were funded by Technology Distribution (TD), the other companies paid TD the pre-agreed invoice value.
But Mr. Benjamin Joseph, the MD of Citadel, tried to divert TD’s fund but his partner Princess Kama resisted that move. After TD was paid, a dispute arose between Benjamin Joseph and his partner, Princess Kama, on profit sharing. At a point, Chief Afe Babalola, SAN who was Counsel to Benjamin Joseph, tried to intervene and cause an amicable settlement of the profit-sharing dispute. But Benjamin Joseph wanted the entire money without paying TD. It was at this point that he changed the story and contended that he was not aware of the contract and that his company was used to defraud FIRS. However, during investigation by Nigerian Police and EFCC, the FIRS provided proof that Benjamin Joseph was indeed aware of the contract and that all the ordered computers were fully supplied and received by the FIRS.
In addition, Mr. Benjamin Joseph again reported the matter to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police Force, Milverton Road, Ikoyi. The SFU conducted investigations and indicted him on the basis that a forensic analysis report showed that he signed the board resolution which he alleged was forged. He thereafter lodged another petition to the Police Headquarters, Abuja, and after a thorough investigation, it was found again that his allegations were false. It was on the basis of that finding that he was charged to court in 2016 in Charge No: CR/216/2016 (IGP vs. Benjamin Joseph) for giving false information. That Charge is presently pending before Honourable Justice Peter Kekemeke of the High Court of the FCT, Abuja.
Equally important, the Police (Prosecution) has closed their case since 2018 and Mr. Benjamin Joseph has been called upon by the Court to open his defence. Instead of proceeding with the said defense to conclusion, he has devised different tactics in his bid to sway the Attorney General to discontinue the criminal charge preferred against him. Interestingly, the Law Firm of FALANA & FALANA who filed the present charge had earlier in 2018 applied to the Attorney General of the Federation by a letter dated November 1, 2018, for a Fiat to prosecute our clients. In order to convince the office of the Attorney General, Mr. Joseph submitted some spurious reports said to have been made in 2015 and in 2020 by the Nigerian Police, which his solicitors again used to apply for another Fiat. However, the Nigerian Police Headquarters Abuja, by a comprehensive report dated December 1, 2020, discredited and disclaimed all those “reports” relied upon by Mr. Benjamin Joseph, which was used to convince the Attorney General to grant a Fiat in May 2022.
On this basis and upon a critical review of all documents relating to the case, the office of the Attorney General saw through the falsehood and issued a new letter to the Police dated 6th June, 2022 directing the Police to continue the prosecution of Benjamin Joseph and bring the criminal charge against him to a logical conclusion. This letter was brought to the attention of the Court by Counsel to the Nigerian Police through their letter dated 26th September, 2022.
Burkaa added: ‘‘Mr. Benjamin Joseph and his Legal Team were in Court on 27th September, 2022 and were aware of this directive by the office of the Attorney General. It is therefore appalling that the referenced publications inundated the Press two days after that Court Proceedings with screaming headlines without stating the correct facts for the benefit of the general public.’’
While noting that the publications against the Zinox Chairman were made in bad faith, the SAN contended that they contained false, distorted and slanted narrative to mislead the public, while also stating that they equally contained half-truth carefully skewed to malign and embarrass Mr. Ekeh and hurt his business interests.
Visa, a global leader in payments, today announced the launch of a new report, ‘Value of Acceptance: Understanding the Digital Payment Landscape in Nigeria,’ which highlights substantial growth potential for digital payments, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In Nigeria, digital payments are proving beneficial for surveyed SMEs, with nearly 90% believing that it boosts revenue and customer footfall. This growing confidence in digital transactions, especially cards, is coupled with a desire for further digitization, with 76% of cash-only SMEs planning to invest in new payment technologies.
The study also reveals that more than half of merchants already prefer digital payments, with 44% reporting lost sales due to customers’ lack of cash and 62% expressing concerns over fraud risk associated with cash.
Nigeria’s Digital Payments Momentum
An overwhelmingly positive outlook on digital payment investment emerged in the report, with 83% of merchants surveyed seeing this as a crucial component for growth, boosting sales, reducing fraud, and enhancing convenience among customers,
“Nigeria’s digital payments landscape is rapidly evolving, with a growing inclination towards digital transactions,” stated Andrew Uaboi, Vice President & Head, Visa West Africa.
“This transformation not only holds the promise of bolstering SMEs prosperity but can also help the economy to thrive.
“At Visa, we look forward to working together with our partners to further drive this transformation, enabling individuals, merchants, and businesses to grow and participate in the digital economy.”
Addressing Challenges to Unlock Full Potential
Unlocking digital payments’ full potential in Nigeria will require confronting key challenges. There is an overarching need to enhance financial literacy and raise awareness about the benefits of digital payments while also incentivizing their usage among customers.
With 76% of cash-only SMEs surveyed intending to get a point-of-sale (POS) device in the near future, an opportunity emerges to accelerate adoption through simplifying onboarding.
In addition, improving infrastructure to counteract concerns around payments failures (42%) can enhance confidence in digitization. To address fraud concerns, educational campaigns are vital to highlighting the robust security features of digital payments, especially the lower fraud risk associated with card payments.
Visa’s established cybersecurity capabilities can be instrumental to building trust across the digital payments landscape in Nigeria by helping to harness confidence across both the SME and consumer segments.
The Broader Value of Digital Payment Acceptance
Digital payments are crucial for Nigerian SMEs for a number of reasons including – boosting revenue through an increasingly cashless customer base, improving customer satisfaction with faster payments, and reducing operational risks by minimizing cash handling. Digital transaction records also provide valuable data that facilitate access to financing and stimulate growth.
While cash is still seen as quick and convenient, cards offer an advantage across expense tracking, spending encouragement, and enhanced security. Meanwhile, mobile and digital wallets offer an innovative and competitive edge. Promoting the adoption of preferred methods, particularly card payments, is crucial for driving growth.
Beyond direct benefits, digital payment adoption drives economic growth and financial inclusion, by connecting the unbanked to the formal financial system and enabling access to savings, credit, and insurance.
Research shows that the transition to the digital economy can generate 1-2% annual GDP growth; a mere 1% increase in card usage generates an average $67 billion annual increase in goods and services consumption across 70 countries and territories.
Visa: A Partner in Driving Digital Payment Adoption
Visa is uniquely positioned to support Nigeria’s transition to a more digital economy. As a trusted advisor and partner, Visa offers a range of capabilities to help governments, financial institutions, businesses, and technology providers enhance their digital payment acceptance maturity.
Visa’s suite of solutions includes programs for specific merchant segments, innovations like Tap to Phone, Contactless Payments and Click to Pay, and resources educating businesses about the benefits of digital payments.
About the Visa Value of Acceptance report
Visa’s ‘Value of Acceptance: Understanding the Digital Payment Landscape in Nigeria’ report, conducted by 4Sight Research & Analytics, examines the current state of digital payment acceptance, exploring both opportunities and challenges. The findings are based on face-to-face interviews with 250 SME owners/managers who are key decision-makers with respect to day-to-day business decisions.
Telecom
Gombe Commissioner of Police Visits GBB Command Centre, Strengthens Collaboration on ICT-Driven Security Solutions
Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited welcomed the newly appointed Commissioner of Police for Gombe State, CP Bello Yahaya, on a courtesy visit to its North East Regional Office and Safe City Emergency Command Centre.
This visit underscored the growing synergy between law enforcement and technology-driven solutions in strengthening security operations and fostering digital transformation in the region.
During the visit, CP Bello Yahaya was received by Mr. Ibrahim Bello, Regional Coordinator of GBB North East Regional Office, alongside key members of the GBB team.
The engagement provided a platform to explore strategic collaborations aimed at enhancing security infrastructure, digital transformation, and capacity-building initiatives for the Gombe State Police Command.
The Commissioner was taken on a guided tour of the Safe City Emergency Command Centre, a state-of-the-art facility that forms a critical part of the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) project.
The centre plays a pivotal role in improving security architecture across Gombe State and the North East region, leveraging cutting-edge surveillance systems, real-time monitoring tools, and integrated emergency response mechanisms.
With its advanced Unified Communications System, security analytics, and digital emergency response coordination, the Safe City Command Centre provides law enforcement with real-time intelligence, proactive threat detection, and seamless inter-agency collaboration, enabling a more effective and responsive approach to public safety.
CP Bello Yahaya expressed keen interest in leveraging ICT solutions to strengthen policing efforts, emphasizing the importance of technology in modern crime prevention, data-driven policing, and crisis management.
He highlighted the need for enhanced digital transformation, improved connectivity, and expanded training programs to equip officers with the necessary skills to operate effectively in a digitally evolving security landscape.
Galaxy Backbone reaffirmed its commitment to supporting law enforcement agencies, government institutions, and critical stakeholders through innovative ICT solutions, secure cloud infrastructure, and digital training programs.
By providing access to high-speed connectivity, cybersecurity frameworks, and cloud-powered command centres, GBB continues to drive the adoption of smart policing solutions and enhanced security management across Nigeria.
The visit concluded with a shared commitment to deepening engagement between Galaxy Backbone and the Gombe State Police Command, focusing on optimizing digital transformation initiatives for law enforcement efficiency, expanding the scope of ICT-driven surveillance and emergency response systems and strengthening training programs for officers to enhance digital skills and operational effectiveness.
As Nigeria’s leading digital infrastructure provider, Galaxy Backbone continues to shape the future of public safety, digital governance, and cybersecurity, ensuring that law enforcement agencies have access to the best tools to protect lives and property.
Salesforce, in collaboration with Hugging Face, Cohere, and Carnegie Mellon University, announced the release of the AI Energy Score, a first-of-its-kind benchmarking tool that lets AI developers and users evaluate, identify, and compare the energy consumption of AI models.
Salesforce also announced it will be the first AI model developer to disclose the energy efficiency data of its proprietary models under the new framework.
The AI Energy Score aims to address the lack of transparency about the environmental impact of AI models. Similar to how ENERGY STAR transformed energy efficiency standards for appliances and electronics, this initiative establishes a clear, trusted benchmark for AI model sustainability.
“Reducing AI energy consumption lowers operational costs, optimises infrastructure, and enhances long-term sustainability and profitability. We are proud to work with industry leaders to build a more transparent AI ecosystem,” says Linda Saunders, Salesforce Country Manager and Senior Director of Solution Engineering for Africa.
The AI Energy Score will debut at the AI Action Summit, where leaders from over 100 countries, the private sector, and civil society will convene to harness AI for good. By enhancing transparency, the score can drive market preference for efficient models and incentivise sustainable AI development. Recognised by the French Government and the Paris Peace Forum for its transformative potential, the AI Energy Score features:
Standardised Energy Ratings: A standardised framework for measuring and comparing AI model energy efficiency.
Public Leaderboard: A comprehensive leaderboard that features scores for 10 common AI tasks — such as text generation, image generation, and summarisation — performed by 166 models, including Salesforce’s SFR-Embedding, xLAM, and SF-TextBase.
Benchmarking Portal: A platform where AI developers can submit their open or proprietary AI models to be evaluated and added to the leaderboard. Open models can be automatically tested, while closed models can be evaluated through a secured testing sandbox.
Recognisable Energy Use Label: A new 1- to 5-star label that rates AI model energy use, with five stars indicating the highest efficiency. This helps developers and users easily identify and choose more sustainable models. Once rated, AI developers can generate standardised labels to share their models’ energy score, with built-in guidance on the proper label display for visibility and impact.
Last year, the company introduced Agentforce, the agentic layer of the Salesforce Platform for deploying autonomous AI agents across any business function. Agentforce offers tools to build and customise agents, as well as a library of ready-to-use skills for sales, service, marketing, commerce, Tableau, Slack, and more.
SERAP Gives CBN 48-Hour Ultimatum to Withdraw ATM Fee Hike
Binance Chief Insists Some FG Officials, Reps Demand $150m Bribe
FG Seeks Fresh $300m Loan from World Bank for Health Security
inDrive Unveils Cashless Bank Transfer Feature in Nigeria
FG Drops Merger of NCAA, NAMA
Canal+ to Carve, Spin out MultiChoice’s LicenceCo in Aggressive Takeover Bid
Fidelity Bank and NIYEEDEP Join Forces to Empower 6 Million Nigerian Youths
FCCPC Issues Message to Nigerians on How to Report Loan Apps Harassing Customers
Mobile App Usage to Drop By 25 Percent on AI Assistants- Study
NCC, NBTE to formulate IP Policy for Polytechnics, Technical Institutions
News2 days agoTikTok Returns on Apple, Google US App Stores as Trump Delays Ban
General News2 days agoResearchers Develop Innovative Treatment for Malaria
E-Financial2 days agoAfrican Union Launches Credit Rating Agency to Promote Regional Economic Integration
Telecom2 days agoVisa Launches Report on Digital Payment Landscape in Nigeria, Shows Positive Outlook
Broadcasting2 days agoFG Kickstarts Construction of Emerging Technologies Institute in Kano
General News2 days agoNigeria to Host ICEGOV 2025, A Milestone in Digital Governance and Global Leadership
General News2 days agoMTN Nigeria Foundation Supports Education with Donation of School Supplies to 1000+ Students
Broadcasting2 days agoFamily Marks one-year Memorial of Late APC Chieftain, Ojougboh with Charity Outreach