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Fresh attack: Over 30 killed as gunmen invade another Plateau village

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Plateau attack

Gunmen have invaded another Plateau community killing over 30 persons in Tanknale village, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Spokesperson of the State Police Command, DSP Alfred Alabo, said the incident occurred at about 11 pm on Tuesday, May 6, 2023, barely a day after gunmen attacked Fungzai and Kubwat communities villages, in Mangu, killing over 40 persons.

In a statement on Wednesday, May 17, Alabo said the state Commissioner of Police, Bartholomew Onyeka, had directed the immediate deployment of armed personnel to the area

“The commissioner of police expressed sadness over the unfortunate incident that has claimed the lives of yet-to-be-identified persons from various villages within the area,” the PPRO said.

“At about 11:56 p.m. on Tuesday, we received a distress call from one of our police officers in charge of Tanknale village of Mangu that some gunmen were shooting sporadically in a nearby village.

“The commissioner immediately mobilised all assets in the command to the scene to ensure that the suspects are arrested and brought to book.

“Further information from the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), ACP Bawa Sale, who was also present at the scene, reveals that with help from other security agencies in the command, the hoodlums were chased away.”

He stated that due to the superior firepower of the security personnel, the gunmen abandoned four motorcycles, a Sharon vehicle, and some items used for their nefarious activities.

“As we speak, the culprits are on the run while our officers are still on their trail with the aim to ensure that they are neutralized and arrested,” the police spokesman added.

Alabo further quoted the Plateau State Commissioner of Police as calling on residents of the affected area to remain peaceful, adding that security agencies have modalities on ground to arrest the criminals.

He also called on the residents with useful information to avail it to the security agencies for prompt action.

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OpenAI says Codex is coming to your phone

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Codex is going mobile. The coding tool — which OpenAI launched approximately a year ago — has now been integrated into the ChatGPT app, allowing users to monitor and manage their development workflows remotely.

The new function allows users to see their Codex live environments in any devices where it is running. The company announced the changes Thursday; the update, which is currently in preview, is now available to all plans on iOS and Android.

“This is more than the ability to remotely control a single task or dispatch new tasks to your computer,” OpenAI said in a statement. “From your phone, you can work across all of your threads, review outputs, approve commands, change models, or start something new.”

Last month, OpenAI also gave Codex the ability to run in the background in desktop environments — empowering the tool to take care of various tasks autonomously. Earlier this month, the company also introduced a Chrome extension that allows the agent to work in live browser sessions.

In February, Anthropic released a similar feature — Remote Control — which allows users to remotely monitor Claude Code’s work from afar.

The flurry of feature releases from both OpenAI and Anthropic speaks to the tense competition between the two over whose agentic coding tool will become the most widely used. Over the past year, Anthropic’s Claude Code has gained in popularity among businesses and tech professionals alike, although both tools continue to be widely used.

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NDIC sues Wema Bank over N125bn Banana Island properties, N401m disputed payment

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The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), acting as liquidator of the defunct Gulf Bank Plc, has filed two separate suits against Wema Bank at the Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking the recovery of disputed Banana Island properties valued at about N125.38 billion and an alleged unauthorised payment of N401 million.

According to court documents shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, the case marked FHC/L/CP/466/26 and another companion suit, were filed under the Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act.

The NDIC said the action forms part of efforts to recover assets linked to the defunct bank, whose licence was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in January.

At the centre of the dispute are 12 high-value properties in Banana Island, Lagos, which NDIC explained were acquired through companies linked to Gulf Bank before its collapse.

NDIC is asking the court to declare the alleged disposal of the assets illegal and to compel Wema Bank to either return the title documents or pay the current value of the properties.

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NDIC also challenged what it described as a disputed payment of N401 million, which it said was collected by Wema Bank from the United Bank for Africa (UBA), acting as its agent bank.

Gulf Bank collapsed after its operating licence was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on 16 January 2006, due to insolvency and failure to meet capitalisation requirements.

Allegations of asset stripping

In a witness statement on oath filed on 6 March, a former Deputy Director at NDIC and ex-head of its Criminal Investigation Unit, Joseph Okolonji, said he personally supervised investigations into the transactions.

He told the court that the probe uncovered alleged efforts to strip the defunct bank of six Banana Island properties registered in the name of Euston Wenberg Engineering Company Limited.

According to him, the properties, measuring 13,794.145 square metres, are now valued at about N62.07 billion based on an estimated rate of N4.5 million per square metre.

Mr Okolonji alleged that Wema Bank gave the impression that the assets were sold for N250 million, even though it had no legal interest in the properties.

He also said investigators found no evidence of any valid interbank deposit to justify Wema Bank’s custody of the assets.

NDIC disputes the alleged deposit

NDIC argued that Wema Bank’s claim was based on a purported interbank placement of N771.79 million allegedly linked to Gulf Bank.

However, it said a joint special examination conducted by the CBN and NDIC in 2005 found no record of such a deposit in Gulf Bank’s books.

The report, according to NDIC, showed that Gulf Bank later described the funds as investments tied to Bankers’ Acceptances involving Ibom Power Company and Grix Nigeria Limited—an explanation regulators rejected.

NDIC further said there were no supporting banking documents such as placement memoranda, deposit slips, or account statements to back the transaction.

It also faulted Wema Bank’s reliance on two managers’ cheques issued in 2005 by Access Bank and Intercontinental Bank, totalling N250 million, which it linked to the disputed properties.

The corporation described the figure as unrealistic, arguing that even a single Banana Island property at the time was worth more than N500 million.

Second suit over Bacad-linked properties

In the second suit, NDIC is also challenging ownership of another six Banana Island properties allegedly acquired through Bacad Finance and Investment Limited, later renamed Supra Commercials Limited.

NDIC said Gulf Bank held the majority shares in the company and used it to acquire the properties, which cover about 13,979.974 square metres and are now valued at N62.91 billion.

It alleged that the bank later planned to develop the land into a luxury estate in partnership with Shelter Afrique before its collapse.

The corporation said Wema Bank later took possession of the assets and claimed they were sold for N524 million through managers’ cheques issued between 2006 and 2007.

It also accused the bank of collecting N401 million from UBA in 2009, despite earlier approval of only about N1.63 million as the amount due after liquidation.

NDIC said it had referred aspects of the transactions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation.

It listed several senior lawyers and retired security officials involved in its probe, including Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) D.A. Awosika, Pekun Sowole, retired Deputy Inspector General of Police Abiodun Alabi, and Joseph Okolonji.

The corporation also said it would call estate valuer Adebare Esan as a witness.

Wema Bank’s objection

Wema Bank, through its legal team led by Oladapo Olanipekun, Kehinde Ogunwunmiju, and Tunde Afe-Babalola, who are all SANs, challenged the jurisdiction of the court.

It argued that the dispute did not arise from a banking transaction covered by the Failed Banks Act and insisted that there was no debtor-creditor relationship between the two parties.

The bank also argued that the case is statute-barred, saying the transactions occurred between 2006 and 2007.

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It urged the court to dismiss the suits.

The court adjourned the matter until 25 June for further hearing.

Background

NDIC, as the statutory liquidator of failed banks in Nigeria, is empowered to recover assets and liabilities on behalf of depositors. Its action in this case is anchored on the Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act, which gives the Federal High Court jurisdiction over such matters.

Gulf Bank Plc was wound up after its licence was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Since then, NDIC has continued to trace and recover assets allegedly linked to the bank before its collapse.


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