Business
Investigation: Top MLM Leaders Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure Others Indicted Over OmegaPro Fraud
Investigation: Top MLM Leaders Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure Others Indicted Over OmegaPro Fraud
MLM leaders such as Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure and others have been alleged by some Nigerian investors of aiding and abetting a Dubai-based company identified as OmegaPro Forex and Investment Trading Company to defraud Nigerians.
This is according to a statement signed by Dr. Ope Banwo, the Coordinating Attorney of OmegaPro Action Nigeria Class (OANC), a group formed by affected investors.
Photo Caption: Dilawar Singh, Co-founder, OmegaPro Forex and Investment Trading Company
According to the statement, the investors affected include widows, retirees, high-net-worth individuals, big business people, and even young people just starting in life.
In the statement seen by www.theoctopusnews.com, Dr. Banwo noted that the fraud cost Nigerians over $100,000,000 (over N100 Billion), with over $1 Billion of investors’ money allegedly stolen in over 70 countries around the world.
How The Fraud Was Hatched
OmegaPro Forex and Investment Trading Company emerged on the scene, promising Nigerians and investors in general a pathway to financial success.
The investment scheme gained popularity and trust among Nigerians and in the world, as many saw it as a ticket to financial freedom. However, little did they know that it was going to be one of the biggest investment tragedies in Nigeria’s history.
With an intricate web of deception and manipulation, alleged promoters of the scheme including Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure, and several top leader MLM Diamonds, painted the image of a foolproof investment opportunity with high returns and a secure investment environment.
Alleged promoters and agents such as Grace Udenwa Udoye, Wuraola Fadairo Orunupin, Olasebikan Oladapo, Maryann Ilorah, Chinwe Ikpe, Ajibare Olushola Ebunoluwa, Dotun Fatoyinbo,. Dr Afoma Nwolisa, and Matthew Ogunmodede, marketed the venture aggressively, touting its legitimacy and potential for lucrative earnings.
At that rate of marketing, investors couldn’t help but take the bait, especially as top agents and promoters in the MLM industry who carried significant influence within their networks also participated in the marketing exercise for OmegaPro.
They leveraged their status, persuading thousands of investors to entrust their hard-earned money with OmegaPro. Their endorsements created an illusion of credibility that typically lured in unsuspecting Nigerians.
Aside from this, they kept assuring Nigerian investors that rigorous due diligence had been conducted by them on OmegaPro’s Dubai-based owners and operations, implying that it was a legitimate and low-risk investment.
This way, investors put in their entire life savings, and pensions, while some even sold their houses and properties to invest in the OmegaPro ‘Forex’ trading activities.
For their services, these top promoters allegedly collected a 10 per cent commission from the OmegaPro Dubai company as a finders fee from the investment of every unsuspecting investor they referred to the scheme by selling it as a forex trading company.
At the height of what has now been declared a mega scam by investors, several of these top agents and promoters like Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin and Bonaventure Igboanugo allegedly earned over $50,000 weekly as finders’ fee commissions from 1000s of unsuspecting Nigerians whom they kept leading to believe that OmegaPro was a legit Forex Trading Company. Cumulatively, they allegedly earned over $2million each in over just a couple of years.
The Dubai company allegedly owned by known Dubai-based scammers such as Andreas Szackas, Dilawar Singh, Mike Simms with a long history of scamming people went as far as giving the investors a back office that showed that forex trading was going on in the company. These alleged forex trading activities have since been exposed by the USA CFTC as an elaborate scam to lure in people interested in forex trading on a global level.
According to Barrister Banwo, top promoters and agents of the biggest global forex scams in history allegedly used the illegal commissions and proceeds from this OmegaPro Ponzi scheme to buy huge mansions in choice places in Nigeria, Canada, the USA, and the United Kingdom leaving investors in pain.
“Daniel Onoja recently celebrated the purchase of a multi-million-dollar house in Canada, while Leo Bonaventure, recently posted videos of the housewarming of his own amazing multi-billion naira estate in Lagos. On his part, Leo Bonaventure, recently obtained a micro-banking license,” Banwo said.
While the promoters of the alleged scam smiled at the bank, investors have been crying having realised that the alleged due diligence said to have been conducted was non-existent, and their funds gone.
Interestingly, investigation has now shown that experts in forex trading had for the past three years been sounding the alarm bells that Omegapro was a scam and a Ponzi scheme.
These experts wrote articles and posted videos about OmegaPro, however, these Nigerian top agents and promoters pretended they did not see any of these warning signs as they continued to promote OmegaPro as a foolproof investment.
Climax Of The Scam
The pains of OmegaPro’s investors began in September 2022, when OmegaPro Dubai leaders, their collaborators all over the world, and Nigeria suddenly announced that its system had been hacked, and it stopped releasing payments of matured investments to investors all over the world. A few weeks later, the Dubai owners announced that they were migrating all their investors’ accounts to a new company called Brokers Domain until they could fix the breach in their system. Investors all over the world started getting nervous with some asking tough questions.
Then around April 2022, while over $1 billion of investors’ money in over 70 countries remained frozen, the owners and their top agents and collaborators announced the formation of a new company called Go Global and began aggressively recruiting Omegapro investors to invest in the new company with promises that their investments in OmegaPro would soon be released.
Many investors fell for this and started promoting the new Go Global company, while others started seeing the handwriting on the wall.
Finally, in August 2023, the OmegaPro owners based in Dubai, and their top promoters and agents announced that they would not be able to pay anyone’s Omegapro investment because the United States CFTC had frozen their accounts over some investigations affecting one of their partners named Mike Simms. However, they could not explain how Omegapro money could have been seized in the USA when they had earlier confirmed that the company does not have any office in the USA and did not have any license to operate direct or financial transactions in the USA.
As suspicions grew, with many investors asking for more details of this shocking announcement, OmegaPro leaders abruptly closed its doors, and many of their top Nigerian agents and promoters also went underground, leaving thousands of investors all over the world, including over 250,000 Nigerian investors in despair.
The company’s Dubai-based owners, Dilawar, Singh, and Paulo, and other top agents allegedly made off with millions of dollars in investments from over 70 countries all over the world, including an estimated N200 billion coming from Nigerian investors.
Amidst reports of a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Interpol, and a pending class action lawsuit by affected Nigerian investors in the name of OmegaPro Action Nigeria, one is forced to X-ray the involvement of these agents and promoters all over the world, especially those of OmegaPro agents in Nigeria who aided and abetted the Dubai company to scam their citizens.
Questions such as were they complicit in the scheme, did they knowingly promote a fraudulent venture, or were they also victims of deception, were they willing accomplices, unwitting victims, should they be made to refund the billions of Naira they received in commissions for luring unsuspecting members of the public into parting with their hard-earned money into this global scam have been asked.
Typically, some maintain that the promoters are guilty of not doing their due diligence while promoting OmegaPro thus leading to the loss of thousands of Dollars.
For this sect, the ruling is simple, a refund, at the minimum, the commissions earned from the illegal forex trading scheme is a must.
Business
No Disparity,’ NUPRC Confirmed 1.8m bopd NNPC Ltd Oil Production Figures At NAPE Conference
‘No Disparity,’ NUPRC Confirmed 1.8m bopd NNPC Ltd Oil Production Figures At NAPE Conference
‘1.54m bopd production figure (quoted by THISDAY for October) is for September, not October,’ What NUPRC boss told highest body of petroleum explorationists and stakeholders in Lagos.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) confirmed the 1.8 million barrels of per day (bopd) production figures earlier released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited) at the conference organised by the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) in Lagos.
This newspaper, which reported the Commission boss, Gbenga Komolafe, to have said this to stakeholders, maintained that the development is contrary to a report making the round that the NUPRC contradicted the NNPC Ltd figures.
Speaking at the 42nd Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists Annual International Conference & Exhibition in Lagos, Komolafe said that Nigeria’s crude oil output, including condensate, increased by 16.56 per cent to 1.8 million barrels per day, bpd in October 2024, from 1.54 million bpd in September 2024.
He said that as a result of this feat, Nigeria has exceeded the 1.5 million bpd quota of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
“This represents an increase of 253,710,
bpd to reach 1.8 million bpd in October, up from 1.54 million bpd in September 2024, representing 16.56 per cent month-on-month rise,” he said.
Represented by Enorense Amadasu, Executive Commissioner for Development and Production at NUPRC, the NUPRC boss declared that efforts were underway to further increase oil output to two million bpd by December 2024.
Highlighting the theme of the conference, “Resolving the Nigerian Energy Trilemma: Energy Security, Sustainable Growth and Affordability”, Komolafe, said the organization is committed to expanding Nigeria’s oil production capacity.
Checks by this newspaper showed that this is the same position of the NNPC Ltd, which said it and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8 million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4billion standard cubic feet (bscf) per day.
The company announced this at a press briefing, maintaining that the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This newspaper gathered that these figures are, contrary to misconstrued report, the same with the ones announced by the NUPRC.
Disparity Where There Is None
A THISDAY review of the delayed October production figures by the NUPRC, which is the oil and gas sector upstream regulator, claimed that Nigeria produced 1.538 million bpd of crude oil and condensate.
The three-month low production data released by the NUPRC, the report claimed, contradicted the report announced by the national oil company and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources (Oil), which specifically put production at 1.808 million bpd.
Looking Beyind 1.8m bopd
Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, who reiterated that the Company revved up oroduction to 1.8 m bopd, declared the target to even increase the production to 2 million bopd.
Kyari congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.
“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.
Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator, and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.
He said the interventions led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the Production War Room team was inaugurated on the 25th June 2024, production was at 1.430mbpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into it sustaining the production recovery to 1.7mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2mbpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who also congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.
He charged the Company’s Management to come up with a cashflow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3mbpd.
-END-
ZENITH BANK LIGHTS UP AJOSE ADEOGUN STREET, USHERING IN THE YULETIDE SEASON
In keeping with its acclaimed annual tradition, Zenith Bank once again set the stage for the Yuletide season with the Light-Up of Ajose Adeogun Street and Roundabout, Victoria Island, Lagos on Saturday, 23 November 2024. The Light-Up ceremony was performed by the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank Plc, Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, OON.
The Light-Up ceremony is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of Zenith Bank. Now in its 18th year, the beautiful Christmas decoration, which transforms the entire stretch of Ajose Adeogun Street (home to Zenith Bank’s Corporate Headquarters) and Roundabout into a breathtaking yuletide wonderland, has come to be recognized as an iconic tourist attraction, bringing visitors from far and wide who visit with their families and friends to take pictures and enjoy the ambience of the street.
Speaking during the ceremony, Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji said “Over the years, Zenith Bank has hosted this spectacular event, transforming the entire Ajose Adeogun Street into a breathtaking yuletide wonderland. Our beautiful and elaborate Christmas decorations have become a centre of attraction and shared on social media platforms globally. As we light up the street tonight, we celebrate the essence of Christmas and Zenith Bank’s unparalleled CSR. Our customers will always be at the centre of all that we do in Zenith Bank.” She urged everyone to imbibe the message and spirit of Christmas which is about love, kindness, generosity and respect for humanity, and thanked the Lagos State Government for creating an enabling environment for the initiative.
She also praised the efforts of Quantum Markets, who have been responsible for the annual decorations, for their expertise and creativity in putting together the lovely decorations. In her words, “I want to thank the management of Quantum Markets for all the beautiful, creative and innovative ideas they keep coming up with. Quantum Markets always make it bigger and better every year, and we are always looking forward to it.”
Zenith Bank remains committed to furthering the economic, cultural and social development of its host communities. The bank’s sustainability and CSR initiatives are hinged on the belief that today’s business performance is not all about the financial numbers – the bank believes that an institution’s social investments, contributions to inclusive economic growth and development as well as improvements in the condition of the physical environment, all constitute a balanced scorecard.
As a testament to its contributions and social investments in its host communities and the society at large, the bank was recognised as the “Most Sustainable Bank, Nigeria” in the 2023 and 2024 International Banker Banking Awards and “Most Responsible Organization in Africa” at the Sustainability, Enterprise, and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2021.
Top 10 Places Where Smart Money Flows in Lagos Real Estate in 2024 by Dennis Isong.
Last week, my friend Chidi called me in a panic. “Bros, I just inherited ₦50 million from my extremely wealthy uncle, and my wife wants us to buy land in Banana Island!” he exclaimed. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Chidi,” I replied, “with ₦50 million, you can’t even buy a decent-sized parking space in Banana Island.” That’s the reality of Lagos real estate – a market where dreams meet practicality, and smart investors look beyond the obvious.
As Lagos continues its relentless expansion, new investment opportunities are emerging in previously overlooked areas. Let’s explore the top 10 real estate investment hotspots that promise significant returns in 2024.
1. Sangotedo
Once considered the backwoods of Lekki, Sangotedo has transformed into a real estate goldmine. With the completion of several major road networks and the presence of notable institutions like the Lagos Business School, property values here have appreciated by over 40% in the last two years. The area offers a perfect blend of residential and commercial opportunities, with land prices still reasonable enough for medium-scale investors.
2. Ikorodu North
Don’t roll your eyes just yet! Ikorodu North, particularly around Ijede Road, is experiencing unprecedented development. The ongoing road expansion project and the proposed Fourth Mainland Bridge access point have triggered a surge in property values. Early investors are already reaping rewards, with some reporting up to 60% appreciation in just 18 months.
3. Epe
The quiet transformation of Epe into a major industrial hub is perhaps Lagos’s best-kept real estate secret. With the Lekki Deep Sea Port now operational and the Dangote Refinery nearby, Epe’s real estate market is on steroids. Focus on areas around the Lekki-Epe Expressway and the new Epe Resort Road.
4. Badagry
History is repeating itself in Badagry, but this time with property values. The completion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway project has opened up unprecedented opportunities. International investors are quietly acquiring large land parcels here, particularly around the Free Trade Zone area. The planned seaport project makes this a long-term investment goldmine.
5. Abijo GRA
Situated between Ajah and Ibeju-Lekki, Abijo GRA represents the new face of luxury suburban living in Lagos. The area benefits from excellent infrastructure and proximity to major developments along the Lekki corridor. Property values here have shown consistent appreciation, with a remarkable 35% increase in the past year alone.
6. Isheri North
This area’s transformation from a flood-prone zone to a prime real estate location is nothing short of miraculous. Improved drainage systems and the completion of several estate projects have boosted investor confidence. The proximity to both Lagos and Ogun states makes it a unique investment opportunity.
7. Bogije
Located along the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Bogije is experiencing a real estate renaissance. The area benefits from its strategic location between developed Ajah and the industrial hub of Ibeju-Lekki. Land prices here are still relatively affordable, making it attractive for both individual and institutional investors.
8. Agbowa
Don’t let the distance fool you. Agbowa is emerging as Lagos’s new industrial frontier. The state government’s focus on developing this area as an industrial hub has sparked interest from real estate investors. Early birds here stand to gain significantly as industrial development drives residential and commercial property demand.
9. Alimosho
As Lagos’s largest local government area, Alimosho continues to offer diverse real estate opportunities. The focus areas are around Ikotun-Igando and Ayobo-Ipaja axes, where improved road networks and the proposed rail line are driving property appreciation. The high population density ensures steady rental income for residential properties.
10. Ibeju-Lekki
Despite being an obvious choice, Ibeju-Lekki deserves its spot on this list. The area around the Lekki Free Trade Zone continues to appreciate, driven by industrial developments and improved infrastructure. However, smart investors are now looking at secondary locations within Ibeju-Lekki, particularly areas around Eleko Junction and Akodo.
Investment Tips:
Due diligence is crucial. Always verify land titles and obtain necessary documentation.
Consider infrastructure development plans when making investment decisions.
Long-term holds typically yield better returns in Lagos real estate.
Partner with reputable real estate professionals for guidance.
Keep an eye on government policies and development plans.
Remember Chidi? He eventually invested in two plots in Sangotedo instead of chasing the Banana Island dream. Six months later, a major tech company announced plans to build their campus nearby, and his property value jumped by 25%. Sometimes, the best investment opportunities aren’t in the most obvious places.
As Lagos continues its march toward becoming Africa’s premier megacity, these locations offer varying degrees of opportunity for different categories of investors. Whether you’re looking for quick appreciation or steady long-term growth, understanding these hotspots’ unique characteristics and growth drivers is crucial for making informed investment decisions.
The key to success in Lagos real estate remains the same: buy where development is going, not where it has been. As we navigate through 2024, these areas represent the sweet spot where opportunity meets affordability, promising significant returns for discerning investors.
Dennis Isong is a TOP REALTOR IN LAGOS.He Helps Nigerians in Diaspora to Own Property In Lagos Nigeria STRESS-FREE. For Questions WhatsApp/Call 2348164741041
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