General News
Ataga was Stabbed Multiple Times on the Neck- Super Network Co-Founder
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Mr Raman Obiorah Saliu, co -founder of Super Network Limited (owners of Super TV), has said that a total of seven multiple stabs was found on late Usifo Ataga, chief executive officer of Super TV
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late Usifo Ataga, chief executive officer of Super TV
Saliu stated this as the trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, a 300 level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, who is suspected to have killed the CEO of Super TV, continued on Monday at the Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).
Saliu, who broke down in tears while testifying before Justice Yetunde Adesanya, said apart from the stabs on Ataga’s neck, there was one to the stomach and several on the two sides of the ribs and the left ventricular to the chest.
Led in evidence by Mrs Adenike Oluwafemi, deputy director of Public Prosecution, he testified that the deceased was tied up, on both hands and legs like a ram waiting to be slaughtered.
Saliu, who is also a network engineer, programmer, and developer, testified as the fifth prosecution witness in the case. He told the court that he met the late Usifo Ataga 10 years ago in the course of building the Super TV App.
He explained that he was introduced to Ataga by a friend, Mr Bisi Osuneye, who is also late.
He added that when Ataga came into the project as an investor, he became a co-founder by adding so many ideas and they started working on the project until his demise last year June.
The witness also stated that as Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Ataga usually convene management meetings on Mondays and Executive (EXCO) meetings on Tuesdays and they sometimes meet virtually using Microsoft link.
Narrating how he came to hear about his death, Saliu said that he got a call from Ataga on Monday 14, June 2021, that he was having stomach pain and he subsequently advised the Super TV boss to take his drugs and get some rest.
He said that much later, he needed to reach Ataga, in relation to some tasks and so he started to call him the next day from about 11am.
Saliu narrated, “I started calling him, he didn’t pick his calls neither did he return my message. I was surprised because the only thing he wants to hear is the billing App, with MTN, which is working now.
“Michael (Ataga) didn’t pick his calls, everybody started reaching out to me because the only way they can get him is through me and the only way they can reach me is through him; he still did not pick up my calls, this was about 3:30pm, on June 15, 2021.
“Then I got a WhatsApp message from him, after reading the message, I said to myself this is not Michael, talking to me. The message read ” I saw your missed call, I took some drugs that made me sleeping.’ The construction of that message was not Michael, because Michael was very fluent in English.
“I knew that was not Micheal’s typing and it was someone else but I sent him a screenshot of the billing system in the Super TV App, that it’s working and his response to me was ok, great, that was when I knew something was happening because Michael will jump, up pick up his phone, and call me immediately. So, I went outside to take fresh air and I started thinking where he could have been now that he is not picking up my calls.
“I called Gambo, he is a driver and personal assistant (PA) to Michael. I asked him, did you receive any call from Micheal? He said no that he has also been calling him too because he needed to pick up his clothes from the laundry that he was traveling with to Abuja.
“Gambo said he got a WhatsApp message, that was between 5 to 6pm, on June 15, 2021, then we started thinking of what could have happened to him. Another of Micheal’s friend, Okwuedo, who lives with us at Victoria Garden City (VGC), also asked of his whereabouts, I told him I got a WhatsApp message from Michael. So, Okwuedo said let him see the message, immediately he saw it, he said this is not Michael’s typing.
“Okwuedo and Gambo went to few places where they thought he could be. So, I went back to the office and on Wednesday 16, June 2021, I asked Gambo if they found him, he said no. I then called his cook at Banana Island, that was when I knew that he left home since Sunday 13, June 2021.
“I was keeping calm because he was going to Abuja on Thursday for his 50th birthday. I told myself that wherever he was, I knew that he would come and meet me, and we would go to the airport, stay with the girls (Michael’s daughters) and his wife for his 50th birthday. They were actually waiting for him; they were planning a surprise birthday party for hi
“So, I started suspecting something was wrong because he was supposed to come to VGC on the 15th, but he didn’t. I had to raise an alarm that I don’t know where Michael was.
“My last WhatsApp message to Michael on June 16, 2021, was at 10:30am and the message read ‘Bro, where are you? I am worried, my BP is rising.” The message was read, no response, I started getting calls from his family wanting to wish him happy 50th birthday.
“Calls started coming in, I did not really know what to say. How can I say I’m looking for a 50-year-old man? To me, it didn’t make any sense. I wanted to go and make a complaint at the VGC police station of a missing person, when at about 6:33 to 6:35am on Thursday, 17 June 2021, I got a call from Mrs Brenda Ataga, who happens to be his wife and the wife said where is Usifo?
“I had to tell her the truth that I have been looking for Michael since Tuesday. She was a bit upset with me that I was looking for someone since on Tuesday and I did nothing about it. I tried to explain to her that I was trying to make a complaint, 10 minutes later she called back and said Michael’s phones were traced to the University of Lagos, UNILAG Guest House.
“I didn’t take my bath; I just grabbed my car key and I started driving to UNILAG. A friend called me, and I told him I was driving to UNILAG. He asked how I knew Usifo was in UNILAG, I mentioned that the information came from Brenda.
“Mrs Brenda Ataga also called me and said there is a team of policemen that will meet me at UNILAG, to conduct the search. I got to UNILAG before them, so I went to the security and told them I was looking for a black Range Rover and they directed me to the guest house.
“The police joined me with two of his friends and staff (member) from my office. Mrs Ataga called me and was giving me the GPS coordinate from where the direction of the phone is. While going through Yaba, I got a call from our GTBank account officer, whom I asked to help me trace Michael’s transactions, so that I can know where exactly he is.
“He told me that Michael made transactions on Sunday and Monday. The Sunday transaction was to a lady Mrs Nkechi Mogbo, the owner of the service apartment (where the deceased was murdered). The account officer also said that the transaction that was made on Monday was to a Sterling Bank with the name Chidinma Ojukwu Adora. The account officer asked me what was happening, I said today is his birthday and I have been looking for him since Tuesday.
“So, I told him that since the owner of the service apartment uses GTB, he should send me her number, and he did. The police said I should give the number to Brenda so that it will not distract from our search of Michael.”
“Only for Brenda to later call and tell me that Michael is dead. I fainted; it took the police to resuscitate me. When I was a bit okay, I called her and asked how? She said she called the number I sent to her, and the owner of the apartment said somebody was murdered that she should show his means of Identification if it was the person we were looking for.
“So, Brenda shared her husband’s picture to the woman and the owner of the service apartment said this person was murdered here and she is on her way to the police station at Maroko, so Brenda asked me to meet Mrs Nkechi Mogbo, at Panti.
“I met her with some of Michael’s friends at Panti, and we went to the scene of the incident where Michael was murdered. I didn’t want to believe that Michael was dead, I saw Michael’s belongings that the police brought out and we were not allowed inside.
“When I got to the mortuary, I saw Michael’s body, Michael was killed like a chicken, I saw a very big cut at the back of his neck. The wickedness, for me, is that the day I was with Michael’s corpse; they were still taking money from his account, that was 17 June 2021, exactly the day he was 50 years old.
“There were subsequent USSD transactions on his account until Brenda and I decided to close the account. I started tracking Chidinma, I started looking at Michael’s calls from 9mobile and MTN, Chidinma was calling him with a WhatsApp number.
“I traced the money that was transferred by Michael to Chidinma’s Sterling Bank and I supplied all the information to the police at Panti. Around 1am, on June 23, 2021, on a Wednesday, I got a message from Panti, that Chidinma has been arrested.
“Michael’s iPhone came with an original Apple pouch, when the police recovered the iPhone from Chidinma, it was replaced with a N1000 pouch; Michael’s laptop was also recovered. There were two iPhones, one iPhone 11 and one iPhone 7 or 8, was also recovered; I was told by the police that she gave the other iPhone to her sister,” Saliu recounted as he broke down in tears.
He further stated that there was a restaurant at Lekki – Angle Villa Restaurant that the deceased made a transaction on June 13.
“I shared the information with Michael’s friends, and they proceeded to Angle Villa, to confirm if a transaction was actually made. They confirmed that Michael came so we requested CCTV footage to know if he went alone, but we discovered that he came with Chidinma.
“The police at Panti took the video and I was surprised to see the CCTV footage all over the social media.”
During cross-examination by the counsel to Chidinma, Onwuka Egwu, the witness said he had no idea who handed the CCTV footage video to the police.
He said that the CCTV footage was trending prior to the arrest of Chidinma.
Justice Adesanya, in her ruling, adjourned until February 17 for the continuation of the trial.
General News
Trump Ends Funding for Malaria, Other Global Health Programs
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The Trump administration has ceased funding for roughly 5,800 global health programs, including those that support providing vaccines, life-saving medications, and emergency health care to millions of people around the world.
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Donald Trump
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department began sending out a wave of emails informing thousands of health groups, refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics, and polio vaccination projects that they would no longer receive funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), per the New York Times.
The funding was distributed to a wide range of programs, including those for HIV treatment, malaria prevention in Africa, and maternal health care in Nepal.
More major projects now canceled due to the funding cut include: a $90 million malaria prevention contract, a project in the Democratic Republic of Congo that provided water for 250,000 displaced people living in conflict zones, HIV care and treatment in Lesotho, Tanzania, and Eswatini run by Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, a $34 million medical supply management contract in Kenya, 87 shelters in South Africa that support thousands of women who have survived rape and domestic violence, a Yemen community health program in Yemen that identified malnourished children, and a severe acute malnutrition treatment project in Nigeria that serves millions of children and women.
“People will die, but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut,” Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, said in a statement.
General News
NAFDAC Withdraws Registration of Artemether/Lumefantrine Oral Suspension over Stability Concerns
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National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has announced the discontinuation of the registration of Multi-Dose Anti-Malarial (Artemether/Lumefantrine) dry powder for oral suspension.
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Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general, NAFDAC,
The decision follows stability concerns, as studies have shown that the reconstituted formulations lose efficacy over time.
The announcement was made in a public alert No. 01/2025, released on the agency’s website.
NAFDAC confirmed that the suspension applies to all locally manufactured and imported Multi-Dose Artemether/Lumefantrine dry powder for oral use.
Consequently, the agency will no longer accept new applications, renewals, or variations for any local or imported Multi-Dose Artemether/Lumefantrine dry powder for oral suspension.
According to NAFDAC, stability studies revealed that reconstituted Artemether/Lumefantrine oral suspension becomes unstable after mixing, leading to a loss of efficacy.
“This loss can have severe health consequences, including treatment failure, increased risk of complications, and, in extreme cases, death,” the agency stated.
All NAFDAC zonal directors and state coordinators have been instructed to conduct surveillance and remove all affected products from circulation.
The agency has also directed importers, distributors, retailers, healthcare professionals, and caregivers to immediately halt the importation, distribution, sale, and use of these medications.
NAFDAC has urged healthcare professionals and consumers to report any suspected sale of these products or related substandard medicines to the nearest NAFDAC office or via the agency’s toll-free number: 0800-162-3322. Reports can also be submitted via email at sf.alert@nafdac.gov.ng.
Additionally, individuals are encouraged to report adverse reactions through the Med-Safety mobile app, available on Android and iOS, or via email at pharmacovigilance@nafdac.gov.ng.
NAFDAC confirmed that this notification would be uploaded to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Surveillance and Monitoring System (GSMS) as part of its regulatory measures.
General News
EFCC Uncovers Use of Cryptocurrency in Illegal Arms Importation into Nigeria
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Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed that cryptocurrency is being utilized as a means of payment for the importation of illegal arms into Nigeria.
Ola Olukoyede, chairman, EFCC, made the disclosure recently while receiving participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 18 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), led by Director of Studies Hyginus Ngele, at the Commission’s headquarters.
Olukoyede said this development is one that everybody must take seriously.
“We are beginning to see the likelihood and propensity that many people are into the illegal importation of arms into the country using cryptocurrency as a means of payment. This is an area that must interest all of us.”
He expressed surprise at how bandits and insurgents have managed to sustain their activities over the years, stressing that the flow of small arms and light weapons across borders, along with the involvement of non-state actors in the illegal exploitation of minerals, compound the security threats.
He decried the fact that Nigeria has been besieged by various security challenges for nearly two decades, including insurgency, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, and farmer/herder clashes, which he partly attributed to the activities of non-state actors.
Specifically, Olukoyede noted that the role of non-state actors in exacerbating security and corruption challenges has not been fully examined.
“At the level of the EFCC, we have always been suspicious of the activities of non-state actors in areas where we face security challenges. In the Northeast, for instance, the activities of local and international NGOs have been under focus.
“This was a major impetus for the decision to mandate their registration with SCUML (Special Control Unit against Money Laundering), a department in EFCC, and a clear directive to notify the Commission on cash movements within the region,” he said.
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