This Warden Message is being issued to inform American citizens of a relatively new scheme to defraud members of the public. This scheme appears to target the middle and upper classes of Nigerian society, as well as the expatriate community. It capitalizes on individual fears and perceptions with respect to the present security situation in Nigeria.
How it Works:
· A potential target receives a phone call or text message on his/her mobile phone saying that the caller/sender and his gang have been paid to kill the target or a member of his/her family.
· The person is told he/she is receiving the warning because he/she is a nice person and the caller does not want to kill him/her.
· The potential scam victim is then advised either to drop off a set amount of money in cash at a pre-designated spot, or to deposit the money in a bank account, or to send recharge cards of the same amount to a mobile number. The scammer will tell the potential target that his/her safety cannot be guaranteed if he/she does not pay as directed.
· The individual is warned never to report this to the police, as his/her movements are being monitored by a member of the gang.
In the event that you receive this type of call/message, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria recommends that you take the following actions:
· Remain calm;
· Attempt to gain as much information as you can about the caller; and
· Immediately report the call to the Nigerian police.
Anyone receiving such a threat via an e-mail is advised to contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov/. For more information about this and other financial scams, please read the U.S. State Department's "International Financial Scams" brochure which may be found at
http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/financial_scams/financial_scams_3155.html.
We continue to advise all Americans to review their security procedures, remain vigilant to their surroundings, and report specific incidences of targeted violence to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja or the U. S. Consulate General in Lagos at the numbers below.
For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs internet website at
http://travel.state.gov/, where the current Worldwide Caution, Public Announcements, and
Travel Warnings can be found. Up to date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays.)
U.S. Embassy Abuja is located at Plot 1075 Diplomatic Drive, Central Business District, Abuja; the telephone number is 09-461-4000. E-Mail: ConsularAbuja@state.gov
The U.S. Consulate Lagos is located at 2 Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos; the telephone number is 01-261-1215. For after-hours emergencies, call 011 [234] (1) 261-1414, 261-0195, 261-0078, 261-0139, or 261-6477. E-Mail: lagoscons2@state.gov
Website: http://nigeria.usembassy.gov
Rivers Commissioner Target of Assassination (This Day)
A few hours after Governor Celestine Omehia swore in 23 Commissioners to form his cabinet, one of them, Mr. Billy Braide Eldre, who is the Commissioner for Energy, has escaped assasination.
According to the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, an unidentified man celebrating his appointment with the family at the commissioner's home in Diobu, Port Harcourt was shot dead in the bid.
"He was celebrating with his friends in his Diobu residence when the gunmen arrived apparently to assasinate him. They started shooting and in the process killed a man who came to celebrate with him", Ogbaudu explained.
He said the gunmen retreated immediately after their bid to kill Eldre failed and escaped before the police from Diobu Station could arrive at the scene.
He told THISDAY that the Commissioner was not hurt in the incident but did not say where he has been kept to ensure that those who made the attempt on his life do not come back.
It was not clear how many people were wounded in the attack as the gunmen were said to have sprayed the compound with bullets during the attack.
Meanwhile, Governor Omehia has attributed the four-hour delay of the inauguration of the state cabinet to what he described as “damning security reports” against some of the nominees.
At least, two of the Commissioner nominees screened were not sworn but details of those affected were not available as Omehia did not elaborate on the issue which he mentioned in passing during the swearing in ceremony.
Kidnapping Threats Continue (Vanguard)
THE Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND declared, yesterday, that there would be no immediate end to hostage taking in the Niger Delta region unless the Federal Government was prepared to wipe out corrupt practices.
It also vowed to check the abuse of hostage taking in the region.
MEND also counseled the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua not to be deceived by calls in some quarters for the creation of a Niger Delta Ministry which, according to MEND, would just be another bureaucratic waste pipe.
These and some other issues were raised in a statement issued by MEND through an e-mail to media houses yesterday.
The statement, in an interview format: The government under President Yar’Adua and Vice President Yar’Adua has made it clear that they would treat the Niger Delta as high priority. What does your group think about this? Will you be willing to work closely with the government towards resolving the current unrest in the Niger Delta?
“We have repeatedly sounded out that we will work closely with emerging realities and evolving processes. We demanded the release of Dokubo-Asari as a pre-requisite for the beginning of any negotiation with the Nigerian state which have for decades subjected our people to untold measures of neglect, oppression and marginalisation. We did not and have never said that the release of Dokubo-Asari would mean an end to agitations for the liberation and emancipation of our people.
So far, not good enough. However said, we are waiting in grim impatience. The future and whatever it brings will tell if we are satisfied or not.
Recently an Ijaw group presented a list of demands to President Yar’Adua. Do these demands represent what your men require to declare a complete truce with the Nigerian government?
Any Ijaw man with access to Aso Rock has the right to present any demand to Yar’Adua. There is nothing wrong with that. However, they are laid down structures of leadership in Ijaw land and we will never be party to any attempt by anyone to undermine the integrity and capability of any Ijaw organisation.
Anyway, we believe that the leadership of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) and the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) are in a better position to comment on this. They are educated enough to articulate the position of the Ijaw ethnic nationality. The INC is headed by a Professor and has a secretary who has a Ph.D.
You may wish to contact them as to the veracity of this claim.
The government and multinational oil corporations agree that the Niger Delta has truly been neglected for very long now. Some schools of thought believe that the creation of a Ministry of Niger Delta will speed up development in the Niger Delta. What is your view on this?
The cursed agitation for the creation of a Ministry of Niger Delta is the handiwork of a ‘fifth columnist’ group within the Ijaw and Niger Delta territory made up of disgruntled politicians, demented elites and position seekers.
Their strategic objection is the deliberately stall development in the Niger Delta by demanding for a bureaucracy prone ministry of the Niger Delta when there are already interventionist agencies such as the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority and more recently the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
If the government of the Nigerian state is sincere about its professed intention to give priority attention to the Niger Delta, then it must duly empower these existing agencies and interventionist institutions to effectively carry out their assigned mandates. This includes ensuring that all the resources required by the Niger Delta Development Commission to fully roll out its Master Plan is made available to it.
The government can then set up a compliance monitoring structure to monitor and ensure that the Commission is meeting up agreed milestones as stated in the Master Plan.
N2 Billion Earmarked to Combat Street Crime (Vanguard)
THE Lagos State government has approved N2 billion for the immediate expansion, re-organisation, re-kiting and re-motivation of the police anti robbery outfit in the state -- the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) -- as part of new strategy to protect life and property in the state.A separate N256 million was approved for the procurement of Science and Introductory Technology equipment for 40 public secondary schools across the state.
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In effect, 231 new Toyota Hillux vehicles are to be procured to effectively cover the 34 new sectors and 211 new RRS points throughout the state into which the squad has been re-structured. Besides, all officers and men of the RRS are to be provided with comprehensive insurance cover, improved special duty allowances and new sets of uniform while a new ultra-modern communication system to link all police formations in the state is to be installed.
Other measures taken by the state government so far to improve the security situation in the state include the setting up of a high-powered State Security Advisory Committee with representatives of all arms of the security community and other critical stakeholders as members; re-introduction of joint military-police patrol of the state set to take off soon; intensification of patrol of black spots by the state police command with hundreds of criminals arrested in the last few weeks and renewed clampdown on area boys and other undesirable elements by the State Task Force on Environmental and Miscellaneous Offences.
n the education sector, 15 Senior Secondary Schools are to receive science equipment worth N152.2 million, while 25 Junior Secondary Schools will be supplied with Intro-Tech equipment valued at over N103 million.
The state Task Force on the Rehabilitation of Public Schools has since 2004 spent approximately N6 billion on the provision of additional 4,000 new classrooms in 320 public schools across the state including emergency repairs, provision of roofs, school walls, drainages as well as laboratory and classroom furniture in another batch of 256 schools.
Other issues deliberated by the State Executive Council include radical solution to the problem of protracted traffic jam; the planned massive greening of Lagos metropolis and modalities for the institution of a sustainable Lagos State micro-finance initiative for the entrepreneurial poor as a major poverty alleviation initiative.
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