News

Shocking image of Joy Owolabi Allegedly Assaulted By NSCDC In Plateau

Published

4 years ago

September 5, 2022

Preport

Personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, have been accused of assaulting a shop owner, Mrs. Joy Owolabi, in Jos, Plateau state, on Friday, September 2, at the Nanmwa Junction, Abattoir area in Jos South local government area. Living her with bruised eyes and injuries on other parts of her body.

Before the Friday incident, the yet-to-be-identified personnel came to the betting office next to the victim’s shop last month and parked his official motorcycle in front of Mrs. Owolabi’s shop, blocking her entrance. She said she called his attention to re-park the motorcycle but she was allegedly ignored and an argument ensued.

Later that day the personnel returned to the betting shop with his colleague and parked his motorcycle in the similar manner that the woman complained about. The incident led to an exchange of words between him and the shop owner.

Instead of parking his motorcycle properly, the victim and some eyewitnesses alleged he punched the victim, pushed her to the ground, and started flogging her with a wire as neighbors and passersby watch helplessly. None could rescue the woman as the assaulter and his colleague were armed.

Narrating her ordeal, Mrs. Owolabi said people could not rescue her as the NSCDC personnel and his colleague were armed.

Quote

“I was in my shop on the 2nd of September, 2022, at about noon, I saw two men in uniform, they were from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, they rode into my shop. One stood by the roadside and the second one came to the entrance of my shop.

“They came with an official motorcycle, when the man parked, blocking the entrance of my shop, I went and met him and said please, help me re-park this motorcycle because the way you parked, I cannot enter the shop,”

“My neighbour who is the Manager also came out and saw the way the man parked the motorcycle; he started pleading with the man to re-park it. As we were talking, the man punched me in my left eye and I fell to the ground

“As I was trying to stand up, he punched me in the second eye. He removed the wire and started flogging me. They came in armed so people were afraid of coming to my rescue and when this thing was going on, people were just watching. After flogging me, the two of them left with the motorcycle. When they left, I locked my shop and went to their office which is not far from my shop to report.”

Another shop owner who did not want to be mentioned told the publication; “This is somebody’s wife that this boy beat like an animal because he is wearing a uniform. We were scared of going close for fear of being shot. It appears that the boy is on something, apart from getting justice for the woman, he should be fished out and punished to save the woman in his life. It could be that is the manner he is flogging them at home.”

He appealed that the NSCDC should not sweep the incident under the carpet in the guise of not being able to identify the culprit, saying, “the owner of the shop that he used to enter can help to identify him.”

At the time of this report, the victim was still receiving treatment at a hospital in Jos as she is feeling severe pains all over her body.

It was also gathered that the victim was asked to return on Monday as all personnel on a motorcycle would be present for her to “identify” who assaulted her.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the corps in the state, DSC Madaki Longbit said he was not aware of the incident but would find out on Monday.

Business

EFCC Hands Over Recovered N140m to Loan Firm in Lagos

Published

3 hours ago

September 18, 2026

Preport

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Okotie-Eboh, Ikoyi, Lagos, have handed over the sum of N140million to an investment and money-lending company, B4 Sail Limited.

The recovery of the funds, handed over in bank drafts by the Acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE I Bawa Usman Kaltungo, followed investigations into an alleged case of obtaining money by false pretence and diversion of funds involving one Jacob Oyebola Esan and companies linked to him.

In a petition submitted on April 20, 2026, B4 Sail Limited alleged that Esan, on behalf of his company, Geo Fields Plc, had approached the company in August 2025 for a N500 Million Naira loan facility to boost his business.

The loan facility, according to the petitioner, attracted an interest rate of 15 per cent per month and had a tenor of one month.
Investigation revealed that Esan, who is the first suspect, had previously obtained other loan facilities from the company, bringing his total loan exposure to N1,065,000,000.00 (One Billion, Sixty-Five Million Naira).
It was also revealed that Esan pledged shares held by him as collateral for the facilities through Calyx Securities Limited, the clearing house for the stocks, with the understanding that the shares would be subject to a lien in favour of B4 Sail Limited and that the company would have the first right of payment upon the sale of the shares.

The lien, investigation revealed, was communicated to B4 Sail Limited through a letter signed by the second suspect, Gbolahan Azeez Bello, Managing Director, Calyx Securities Limited.

Further investigation, however, revealed that the shares pledged as collateral had been sold without the knowledge of the petitioner, resulting in the suspect’s alleged default in repaying the facilities.
Consequently, the outstanding loan and accrued interest had risen to N2,250,500,000.00 (Two Billion, Two Hundred and Fifty Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira).

Speaking during the handover ceremony, Kaltungo stated that the recovery “represents a further step in the Commission’s efforts to ensure that funds and assets recovered in the course of its investigations are appropriately returned to legitimate owners and victims in accordance with due process.

The post EFCC Hands Over Recovered N140m to Loan Firm in Lagos appeared first on Business Today NG.

News

A startup that builds other startups raised $100M, and is all-in on physical AI

Published

3 hours ago

September 18, 2026

Preport

Four years ago, a startup lab launched that wasn’t quite an incubator, accelerator program, or venture firm. UP.Labs, as it was called then, built startups designed to solve problems for corporate customers such as Alaska Airlines and Porsche, as well as for the outside world.

The firm still has the same mission — albeit with a critical addition to its approach, a new name, and a $100 million investment from Silversmith Capital Partners. Vantora, as the firm is now called, continues to work with its corporate customers, including some new ones in industrial manufacturing that it declined to name, and in the oil and gas sector.

But now, it’s more focused on building startups solely for its corporate customers, and not for the broader market.

Founder and CEO John Kuolt told TechCrunch that Vantora is moving toward a “proprietary M&A pipeline.” This means Vantora will still build startups for its corporate partners, which invest in the ventures and serve as their first customers. But those corporate partners now have the option to fold the startups into their core businesses — and essentially keep them to themselves.

That shift has influenced Vantora’s increased focus on physical AI startups, according to Kuolt.

In the past, Vantora would end up spiking ideas that were strategic to its corporate partners, but too sensitive to bring to the outside world.

“We were missing on the biggest value problems, which had the biggest upside because of that,” Kuolt said in a recent interview. “Imagine you’re a Fortune 100 industrial company and you need to retrofit all of your hardware and machines for autonomy. You need to own that, it needs to be sovereign, and you can’t rely on a third party to go do that for you. You need to own that intelligence layer. They’re never going to let us go sell that to their competitors.”

This change has allowed Vantora to “unlock big physical AI use cases,” according to Kuolt, including with its existing customers.

For example, the firm came up with an idea to use AI to advance the business of its partner J.B. Hunt. “They said there is no way you can take this out to the world, and so we passed on it,” he said, adding that this proprietary model now allows Vantora to pursue it.

The firm launched in 2022 with Porsche as its first corporate partner. Since then, Vantora has launched several startups for Porsche and struck deals with Alaska Airlines, J.B. Hunt, Wabash, and TDG, the parent of Ashley Furniture.

In its early days, UP.Labs was tied — although never financially — to venture firm Up.Partners. While Vantora still shares office space with the California-based VC, it is its own entity, Kuolt explained, noting that the $100 million from Silversmith is the company’s first outside investment.

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