Heineken Lokpobiri says Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), facilitated his appointment as minister of state for petroleum resources (oil).

Lokpobiri spoke on Saturday at an event organised in honour of Wike by the Ijaw Peoples Congress (IPC) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.

“It is important to tell you my brothers and sisters that me that is standing before you today as the minister of state for petroleum resources was also made possible by Nyesom Wike,” Lokpobiri said.

“You also heard the account of the MD of the NDDC who said that the minister of the FCT played a direct role in his appointment.

“My own case could have been a more direct role. Some of you may not know. It all started in Wike’s house in Port Harcourt and it all got concluded in his house in Abuja.

“My second journey of becoming a minister started at the house of the minister in Port Harcourt and it was concluded in his house in Abuja. It is important for me to complete this history.

“Because when I was looking at the welcome address, our names were not included among those who have benefitted from his benevolence. I thought that my name, Heineken Lokpobiri, would have been included amongst those that he has helped.

“But since my name is not included, I have to complete it. I want you Ijaw people to know that we have a brother, we have a friend.

“It is always better to have a good friend than to have a bad brother. Of what use is a bad brother? It is of no use. But if you have a good friend in the case of the FCT minister, you are already blessed.

“Your excellency, the FCT minister, let me on behalf of the Ijaw people all over the world, express our gratitude to you for your show of love to Ijaw people.

“We Ijaw people are very grateful people. If you do us good, we will not pay you back with evil. So, we will always be grateful to you for what you have done for our Ijaw people. We are looking forward to you to do more for our Ijaw people.”

Lokpobiri, who hails from Bayelsa, served as minister of state for agriculture and rural development between 2015 to 2019 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He was appointed minister of state for petroleum resources by President Bola Tinubu in August 2023 — the same time Wike was named FCT minister.

Hezbollah acknowledged Sunday that Nabil Qaouk, the commander of its Preventive Security Unit and a member of Hezbollah’s central council, has been killed.

It said in a statement that it confirmed “the martyrdom of the esteemed mujahid scholar Sheikh Nabil Qaouk,” who had been killed in an Israeli raid on the Chyah area on the outskirts of Beirut. It gave no further details.

Hezbollah said that Qaouk had been “consistently present in the arenas of jihad, close to the mujahideen on the front lines.”

Israel had announced earlier Sunday that it killed Qaouk, with the country’s military describing him as “directly engaged in promoting terrorist designs against the State of Israel and its citizens, even in recent days.”

The United States designated Qaouk a global terrorist in October 2020, saying he had represented Hezbollah at events commemorating deceased Hezbollah terrorists as well as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in a US drone strike in January 2020.

Controversial social media personality and cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, has filed a lawsuit against internet activist and influencer, VeryDarkMan, seeking N1 billion in damages.

The legal battle stems from VDM sharing a voice recording, which he alleged was that of Bobrisky claiming to have bribed officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, with N15 million to drop the money laundering charge against him.

Bobrisky, however, has denied the claims, stating that the voice recordings purportedly implicating him in any wrongdoing were artificially generated using AI technology.

Sharing a letter from her lawyers via her social media account, Bobrisky sued VDM for N1 billion as damages and gave him 24 hours to publish a written and video recording apology.

The House of Representatives has launched an investigation into bribery allegations against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS).

The allegations, made by VeryDarkMan, claimed that the EFCC dropped money laundering charges against Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky, after receiving N15 million.

Rep Patrick Umoh, representing Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara Federal Constituency, Akwa Ibom State, sponsored the motion during Thursday’s plenary, expressing concern over the damaging allegations.

He emphasized the negative image of Nigeria as a corrupt nation and the need for urgent action.

Addressing his colleagues, Umoh expressed concern over the widely circulated publication by VeryDarkMan against the EFCC and the NCS.

He said, “The publication alleges that the EFCC dropped money laundering charges against Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky upon collection of the sum of N15,000, 000.

“The publication alleges that Idris Okuneye, upon conviction for abuse and defacing of the Naira, by the court, did not serve his time at the Nigeria Correctional Service, but was lodged outside the confines of the service.

“We are disturbed about the damning allegations against Nigerian critical law enforcement agencies-the EFCC and the NCS established by this hallowed chambers to fight correction and incarcerate persons convicted of a crime for correctional purposes respectively.”

He also added that the negative image and portrayal of Nigeria as a corrupt nation in the publication should not be swept under the carpet.

Speaker Tajudeen Abbas who presided over the plenary session, referred it to the Committees on Financial Crimes and Reformatory Institutions.