Headlines
UK Court Jails Four Nigerians for Forging 2000 Marriage Certificates
Four persons have been jailed after forging more than 2,000 marriage certificates to help people live in the UK illegally.
Abraham Alade Olarotimi Onifade, 41; Abayomi Aderinsoye Shodipo, 38; Nosimot Mojisola Gbadamosi, 31; and Adekunle Kabir, 54’; were all sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in London on Tuesday.
The Home Office said the four were part of an organised criminal group that made fraudulent EU Settlement Scheme applications for Nigerian nationals.
They carried out the enterprise between March 2019 and May last year, and were also found to have provided false Nigerian Customary Marriage Certificates and other fraudulent documentation to help applicants remain in the country.
An investigation from the Home Office in the UK and Lagos found more than 2,000 false marriage documents were facilitated by the group, who themselves were Nigerians.
Home Office chief immigration officer Paul Moran said: “This group was absolutely prolific in their desire to abuse our borders and have rightly been brought to justice.
“As with many gangs we encounter, their sole priority was financial gain. I am delighted that my team was able to intercept their operation, and I hope these convictions will serve as a warning to unscrupulous gangs who exploit people’s desperation to remain in the UK.
“We will continue to work tirelessly to secure our borders and clamp down on the gangs who prey on vulnerable people to make money.”
Onifade, from Gravesend in Kent, and Shodipo, from Manchester, were both found guilty of conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry into the UK and conspiracy to provide articles used in fraud. They were jailed for six years and five years respectively.
Gbadamosi, from Bolton, was convicted of obtaining leave to remain by deception and fraud by false representation and sentenced to six years.
Kabir, from London, was found guilty of possession of an identity document with improper intention but was cleared of obtaining leave to remain by deception. He was jailed for nine months
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent the names of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, days after he sent the first batch of three names.
Bayo Onanuga, media aide to President Tinubu made this known in a statement on Saturday.
According to the statement, President Tinubu, in two separate letters to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio asked the Senate to consider and confirm expeditiously 15 nominees as career ambassadors and 17 nominees as non-career ambassadors.
Onanuga stated that there are four women on the career ambassadors’ list and six women on the non-career ambassadors’ list.
The statement reads, “Among the non-career ambassador designates are Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia, a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta), former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmud Yakubu, former Ekiti first lady, Erelu Angela Adebayo, and former Enugu governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
“Others are Tasiu Musa Maigari, the former speaker of the Katsina House of Assembly, Yakubu N. Gambo, a former Commissioner in Plateau State and former deputy executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
“Professor Nora Ladi Daduut, a former senator from Plateau; Otunba Femi Pedro, a former deputy governor of Lagos State; Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister from Osun State; and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu from Anambra State are on the nomination list.
“Also on the list are former First Lady of Oyo, Fatima Florence Ajimobi, former Lagos Commissioner, Lola Akande, former Adamawa Senator, Grace Bent, former governor of Abia, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, businessman, lawyer and Senator from Ondo State, and the former ambassador of Nigeria to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu from Benue State.
“Among the nominees for career ambassador and high commissioner-designates are: Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi) and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).
“The other nominees are Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kawara) and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).
“The new nominees are expected to be posted to countries with which Nigeria maintains excellent and strategic bilateral relations, such as China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, Kenya, and to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union. All the nominees will know their diplomatic assignments after their confirmation by the Senate.
“Last week, President Tinubu sent three ambassadorial nominees for screening and confirmation. The nominees were Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and Retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun). All three are in the pot for posting to the UK, USA, or France after their confirmation.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said more nominees for ambassadorial positions will be announced soon.”
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has sensationally claimed that there was no coup in Guinea-Bissau.
Jonathan believes the coup announced on Wednesday, as the country’s presidential election result was about to be announced, was ceremonial, wondering how a sitting President would announce a coup.
General Horta Inta-A Na Man was sworn in on November 27, 2025, following a military coup that deposed Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Jonathan feels that Embaló, a former senior military officer himself, cannot be so easily overthrown, insisting that something fishy played out.
Jonathan had been in Guinea-Bissau as part of a joint election observer mission deployed by the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, and the West African Elders Forum to monitor the presidential and legislative elections.
But military authorities in the country on Wednesday declared they had assumed full control of the country.
They also announced the suspension of all electoral activities and the immediate closure of national borders.
“Because, for two things: it is the president, President Embaló, who announced it. And specifically what happened in Guinea-Bissau, I wouldn’t call it a coup. It was not a coup. Maybe some people describe it as not quite… for want of a better word, I will say, maybe a ceremonial coup, because for two things: it is the president, President Embaló, that announced it, before later the military man came up to address the world that they were in charge.
“Then Embaló had already announced it, which is strange — not only announcing the coup but, while the coup took place, he was using his phone and addressing media organizations across the world that he had been arrested.
“I mean, I’m a Nigerian close to 70 years, and I know how they keep heads of state when a coup takes place.
“Recently, I was a mediator in Mali, and within that period, we had a military coup. Militaries don’t take over government and the sitting president that they overthrow would be allowed to be addressing press conferences and announcing that they are being arrested.
“Who is fooling who? Basically, what happened in Guinea-Bissau is quite disturbing to me, who believes in democracy. In fact, I feel more pains than the day I called Buhari to congratulate him when I lost the election.”
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has returned to Abuja after being evacuated from Guinea-Bissau in the wake of a military coup in the West African country.
He arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Thursday.
A video shared by ARISE News captured his arrival, showing Jonathan stepping down from a Guinea-Bissau government aircraft at night as supporters and officials received him.
Jonathan had travelled to the country as the head of the West African Elders Forum Election Observation Mission to monitor last Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections.
His delegation was still on the assignment when the military announced it had taken over the government.
Reports later said that Jonathan was trapped, prompting the House of Representatives, during Thursday’s plenary, to urge the Federal government to use every diplomatic channel to ensure his safe return.
The Federal government subsequently issued a statement confirming that he was safe and had left the country.
“Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is very safe and out of Guinea-Bissau. He left with a special flight with members of his delegation, including Mohamed Chambas,” the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said in an interview with journalists.
