The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, on Wednesday, unveiled eight modernised fire trucks in Abuja.
Abubakar said this was to enhance emergency response capabilities. It is the first phase of the initiative to upgrade 19 units across the service.
Speaking during the unveiling, Abubakar said, “We have prioritised air operations, focusing on fleet expansion, combat readiness, and operational safety.
“In line with this, around 1,500 personnel have received training in various safety disciplines this year, highlighting our dedication to a safety-conscious force,’’ he said.
The CAS noted that a key part of the ongoing safety reforms was an overhaul of fire safety systems intended to improve compliance, enable early risk identification, and support evidence-based decision-making across the service.
“This initiative is another giant stride towards securing not just the skies but also the lives and properties within our bases and surrounding communities.
“It underscores our integrated approach to national service, which combines military excellence with humanitarian responsibility,” he added.
The Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Emmanuel Oluguo, said the upgrades incorporated higher-capacity components and cutting-edge firefighting systems designed to extend vehicle lifespan and significantly enhance operational efficiency.
Air Force Gets Fire Trucks, Trains 1,500 Officers On Safety is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Este artículo estará disponible en español en El Tiempo Latino.
In recent weeks, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that “very, very strong studies” link food dyes to cancer and ADHD. Experts are concerned about the impacts of unhealthy diets and obesity in the U.S., but some say Kennedy overstates the role of food dyes in chronic disease.
The dyes haven’t been shown to cause cancer in humans. Studies show a possible link to symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children.
Recently, Kennedy has taken his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign on the road, appearing in some states that have passed legislation to limit food dyes and other additives. So far, governors in California, Arizona, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia have signed laws disallowing certain food dyes from school meals, some beginning as soon as later this year, and West Virginia also enacted a law that will ban seven synthetic food dyes outright from sale in the state beginning in 2028. Lawmakers in two dozen additional states have introduced or passed bills that would restrict synthetic food dyes, which are present in a variety of foods, from soft drinks to cereal.
“So the loneliness, the dispossession, the crisis that we have in mental health, in suicide, in ADD, ADHD, all of these are linked — and particularly to the dyes,” Kennedy said in a March 28 speech in West Virginia, given alongside Gov. Patrick Morrisey. “It’s very clear the dyes that Gov. Morrisey is banning, all of them are linked in very, very strong studies to ADHD and to cancers. So we’re seeing an explosion in cancers in this country.”
Kennedy also spoke about food dyes in an April 8 interview on CBS News, following a stop in Arizona to celebrate legislation to ban food dyes and other additives in school lunches, as well as a law aiming to ban use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds to purchase sodas. “The food dyes are kind of the most egregious,” Kennedy told CBS. “They don’t use them in any other country. They’re clearly associated with a variety — a grim inventory — of diseases, including cancers and behavioral disease and neurological disease like ADHD, and it’s very, very well-documented.”
We reached out to HHS to ask about the research Kennedy was referring to, but we did not receive a reply.
The evidence linking food dyes and cancer comes from studies in animals and cells. There isn’t evidence food dyes are driving an increase in cancer in humans, Susan Mayne, who served as director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2015 and 2023, told us.
“We are seeing rising rates of the obesity-related cancers, and especially in young people, and that is concerning,” she said. “But focusing in on risk factors where there’s really no significant scientific evidence indicating that they are causing these cancers while omitting ones we know are is really undermining public health.” Mayne spent much of her career studying nutrition, epidemiology and cancer at Yale School of Public Health, where she is now an adjunct professor.
Some research suggests that food dyes lead to neurobehavioral changes in some children. But the literature is mixed and opinions vary on the strength of the evidence.
“The totality of scientific evidence indicates that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives, but some evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them,” the FDA says on its website in the answer to a question about food dyes and child behavior.
Kennedy is also incorrect in categorically stating that food dyes aren’t used in any other country. Regulations on food dyes vary around the world, and companies have reformulated some foods to eliminate synthetic dyes for certain markets. The European Union, for example, requires that foods containing certain food colors have warning labels stating that they “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” However, synthetic food dyes are allowed outside the U.S.
Some researchers and advocacy groups have said the bar for evidence on food dyes’ harms should be low, based on their lack of benefits for consumers.
“These are entirely unnecessary when we are talking about nutrition and food safety,” Thomas Galligan, principal scientist for food additives and supplements at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, told us, differentiating them from additives with some use, such as preservatives that keep food from going bad. “They are strictly a money-making tool for food companies, and so our tolerance for the risk, so to speak, is extremely low in the case of food dyes.” CSPI has advocated a ban on synthetic food dyes.
The organization also has advocated the tightening of the GRAS, or generally recognized as safe, pathway — a way for food companies to add new ingredients to their foods without undergoing FDA review. Kennedy has told the FDA to explore revising the GRAS pathway.
“Colorants are unnecessary … so they should be out totally,” Dr. John O. Warner, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at Imperial College London who has studied the effects of synthetic food dyes and other additives on children’s behavior, told us. He said a switch to natural colors would be positive but that it is necessary to shift people’s diets overall to more natural foods and less ultraprocessed foods. “It’s not only the additives which are being shown to have the potential for adverse effects” in ultraprocessed foods, he said. “It’s the original food and the way it’s processed that could also be having an adverse effect.”
“I am all for getting rid of artificial colors and closing the GRAS loophole but neither of those is a major cause of obesity and its health consequences,” Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, wrote on April 2 on her blog, Food Politics.
Other researchers have expressed concern that an overly narrow focus on food dyes or other specific additives — combined with cuts to the federal workforce and programs, and the weakening of environmental regulations — will not meaningfully transform Americans’ health.
“We’re hearing all this rhetoric from RFK Jr. about how he wants to fix the food system, but then he’s making massive cuts within HHS and FDA that will directly impede his ability to fix the food system,” Galligan said.
Food Dyes Not Established to Cause Human Cancers
Kennedy’s comments give the incorrect impression that FDA-approved synthetic food dyes are a well-established cause of cancer.
“The only food additives for which evidence has shown a link with cancer are nitrites and nitrates, which are used as preservatives in processed meat,” the American Institute for Cancer Research states on its website. “Eating processed meat is strongly associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. There is currently no other strong evidence linking food additives to an increased cancer risk.”
“I think the evidence that the approved food colorings cause cancer is very slim,” Dr. Ronald Kleinman, a pediatrician who studies nutrition at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, told us.
Two studies whose results were published in 1987 indicated that Red 3 caused cancer in male laboratory rats. Based on this research and following a 2022 petition from consumer advocacy groups, the FDA on Jan. 15 announced a ban of Red 3 in food and drugs, which will take effect in 2027 for food and 2028 for drugs. But the agency said that it was banning the dye due to a requirement under law to ban any food additive that has been shown to cause cancer in animals — and not due to concern that the dye caused cancer in people.
The dye caused cancer “due to a rat specific hormonal mechanism” that does not apply in humans, according to the agency, and people are not usually exposed to the levels of dye shown to cause cancer in male rats. Claims that the dye’s presence in food or drugs “puts people at risk are not supported by the available scientific information,” the FDA website says.
“I think there’s a good process in place to review whether the … dyes cause cancer,” Kleinman said. “For all of those that have been approved, we can be pretty certain at this point that there is no evidence that they cause cancer and move on.”
The overall data also do not support Kennedy’s statement that there has been an “explosion” in cancers. Cancer mortality has been declining in the U.S. since the 1990s, in both men and women. Incidence also has declined in men since its peak in the 1990s, although it has risen gradually in women over this period. (A major factor driving a cancer spike in the 1990s in men was the rise of PSA testing, which can identify slow-growing prostate cancers that would have never gone on to cause harm.)
The mortality rates “went up very high some decades ago, and that was because of the huge impact of smoking on lung cancer in both men and women, and that dominated the entire mortality data because lung cancer was so common and so lethal,” Mayne explained. “And then with public health interventions to reduce smoking, we saw a decrease in cancer mortality. First it started in men, followed behind that in women.” The decline in cancer deaths has also been driven by improvements in cancer screening and treatment, according to the American Cancer Society.
Cancers have varied risk factors, Mayne said, and some cancers — such as adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and uterine cancer — have risen in recent decades. There is also a pattern of increased cancer risk emerging in younger generations, due to a rise in obesity and other known and unknown factors, according to the ACS.
“The wonderful public health gains we made with tobacco control have been eroded by the growing prevalence of obesity in this country,” Mayne said.
What people eat and drink also can increase the risk for specific cancers independent of obesity. For instance, research “very consistently” shows that diets low in fiber-containing foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, are associated with a higher risk of colon cancer, Mayne said. Consuming more meat — and particularly processed meat — is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, she said. And drinking more alcohol is associated with increased risk of a variety of cancers.
To reduce risk of cancer overall, Mayne emphasized the importance of avoiding excess alcohol, avoiding tobacco, vaccinating against human papillomavirus for younger people, maintaining a healthy body weight and eating a high-quality diet.
Other researchers acknowledged the research on food dyes and cancer in humans is limited but expressed concern about possible risks.
Galligan of CSPI agreed that “we don’t have direct evidence Red 3 causes cancer in humans,” but he said that studies to investigate this in humans would be “hard to conduct” and argued that the available evidence supported banning the dye. His organization was among those that petitioned to ban Red 3 based on the rat data.
Lorne Hofseth, director of the Center for Colon Cancer Research at the University of South Carolina, expressed concern that approved dyes could cause inflammation and DNA damage, which are mechanisms for increasing the risk of cancer. The dyes “tickle the players involved in carcinogenesis,” he told us.
A Possible Link Between Food Dyes and ADHD Symptoms
Joel Nigg, a clinical psychologist at Oregon Health & Science University, told us in an email that ADHD has many causes working in concert. Perhaps the largest single contributing factor is genetics, he said, but there are also multiple environmental factors that either protect against or help cause ADHD, “especially early in development.”
Some studies have found a connection between consuming synthetic food dyes and ADHD symptoms, which include inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.
“Thus, it is fair to say that food dyes are associated with ADHD and do make a modest contribution to it, but are not the major cause,” Nigg said.
These include challenge studies, in which children avoided food dyes and sometimes other additives for a period and then were randomly assigned at certain intervals to consume drinks or foods containing either these additives or a placebo.
Photo by Yuliya Kirayonak / stock.adobe.com
Researchers at the University of Southampton in the U.K. in the early 2000s, for example, had around 1,800 3-year-old children from the general population stop consuming synthetic food colorings and a type of preservative for a week, before randomly assigning them to consume drinks either containing the substances or not. The children’s parents reported an increase in hyperactivity with both the placebo drinks and the additive-containing drinks, but the increase in hyperactivity was greater with the drinks containing the additives. Clinicians unrelated to the children did not detect a difference in behavior in children who did versus did not receive the additives.
Subsequently, the researchers did a similar study in around 300 additional 3-year-olds and 8- and 9-year-olds, using two mixtures of food dyes and additives. This study relied on parent and teacher reports, as well as results of a computerized test for the older children. One mix had a small but statistically significant influence on behavioral changes in both age groups. A different mix showed an influence in the older children, but not the younger ones.
Other studies, however, have not identified any effect of food dyes on behavior. Overall, the literature is mixed, with studies arriving at varying conclusions, perhaps because of differences in methodology, the populations studied and the additives included.
Some review studies have nevertheless found the link between food dyes and behavioral changes to be convincing.
“Overall, our review of human studies suggests that synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral effects, such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity and restlessness in sensitive children,” a 2021 report from California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment concluded.
Nigg in 2012 co-authored a meta-analysis that found that an “estimated 8% of children with ADHD may have symptoms related to synthetic food colors.” He told us he believed that eliminating synthetic food dyes in the U.S. “would have a small effect on reducing symptoms of inattention and cases of ADHD.”
However, Nigg said that to “really reduce environmental contributors to ADHD, it would be important to also address other equally if not more important factors.” These include reducing exposure to lead in the environment, certain types of air pollution, other chemicals, and possibly pesticides and herbicides.
And he emphasized the importance of preventing exposures in the womb, adding that low birthweight “is a major contributor to ADHD.”
“Overall, dietary factors are relevant, but are certainly not the whole story,” he said. “Given that some of these other contributors are hard to address, perhaps a case can be made for ‘doing what we can’ to reduce exposures.”
Other researchers pointed out weaknesses in the data showing a link between food dyes and children’s behavior.
Mayne said that key studies where children were randomly assigned to consume food dyes involved dosing children with multiple ingredients at the same time, which makes it difficult to determine which ingredients caused the reported behavioral changes.
Kleinman said that weaknesses of the research on food dyes and attention deficit include a lack of “rigorous criteria for defining attention deficit,” the small size of the studies, the brief period the children were followed and the difficulty of separating the effects of food colors from other factors that influence behavior, including when the children were observed and what other things they consumed.
“I think that taken as a whole, there really is very little convincing evidence that food coloring contributes to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and banning them for that reason seems to me to be out way ahead of where the evidence is right now,” Kleinman said.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
A federal judge says some nonprofits awarded billions for a so-called green bank to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects cannot have their contracts scrapped and must have access to some of the frozen money. The ruling is a defeat for President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, which argues the program is rife with financial mismanagement.
The order late Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan “gives us a chance to breathe after the EPA unlawfully — and without due process — terminated our awards and blocked access to funds that were appropriated by Congress and legally obligated,” said Climate United CEO Beth Bafford.
The lawsuit by Climate United Fund and other groups contends that the EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin and Citibank, which held the grant money, illegally blocked the funds awarded last year and had jeopardized the organizations’ operations.
Chutkan said Citibank must provide the money that was due to the nonprofits before the EPA had frozen their accounts in mid-February. The EPA immediately appealed.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, commonly referred to as a “green bank,” was authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act under Democratic President Joe Biden. Its goals run counter to the Trump administration’s opposition to climate-friendly policies and its embrace of fossil fuels. Zeldin quickly made the bank a target, characterizing the $20 billion in grants as a “gold bar” scheme marred by conflicts of interest and potential fraud.
A federal prosecutor resigned after being asked to open a criminal investigation, saying there was not enough evidence to move ahead. The FBI and Treasury Department, in coordination with the EPA, pressured Citibank to freeze the grants, which it did, according to the nonprofits.
Last month, Zeldin announced the termination of the grants, saying “well documented incidents of misconduct, conflicts of interest, and potential fraud raise significant concerns and pose unacceptable risk.”
Chutkan paused that move, saying the government provided no significant evidence of wrongdoing. But the Republican administration, in a recent filing, asserted it was allowed to end the contracts based on oversight concerns and shifting priorities.
“EPA’s new admission that it ‘did not terminate for Plaintiffs’ noncompliance’ … confirms that EPA’s invocation of ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ was arbitrary and pretextual” the nonprofits said in a court filing.
To the government, the case is “just a run-of-the-mill (albeit large) contract dispute.”
That argument is important because it could move the case to a different court that can only award a lump sum and not force the government to keep the grants in place.
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed reconciliation appeals from former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, stating that Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has yet to seek forgiveness or acknowledge any wrongdoing.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, Wike emphasised that forgiveness is only meaningful when the offender takes responsibility and requests pardon—something Fubara has not done.
Tompolo had earlier urged Wike to set aside his grievances and make peace with Governor Fubara for the sake of stability in Rivers State. “Just like I would not accept rebellion from my son, I also won’t cause more problems. Wike is angry, but he must calm down for the good of all. We will have a dialogue and resolve all lingering issues. Fubara will return to his seat,” Tompolo said.
Responding to Tompolo’s call, Wike’s spokesman, Lere Olayinka, expressed scepticism.
“There’s no offence to speak of. Forgiveness only comes into play when someone personally offends you and then seeks pardon,” Olayinka said. “Assuming, as Christians, that Fubara has indeed offended the minister, has he come to ask for forgiveness? The first step is admitting the offence. Fubara has not taken that step.”
Olayinka clarified that Wike’s position is rooted in governance concerns, not personal animosity.
“The minister has never claimed that Fubara offended him on a personal level. He only emphasized that Fubara should govern within the rule of law and not abandon those who risked their lives and resources to make his governorship possible. That’s not a call for personal reconciliation—it’s a matter of principle.”
Olayinka also questioned Fubara’s changing stance toward Wike.
“He should reflect deeply. During the time they worked together, when Wike was taking bullets on his behalf, Wike wasn’t a bad person. So at what point did he become someone Fubara could openly say he would ‘deal with’? What changed?”
“It’s like asking a doctor to prescribe medicine for a sick patient, but failing to convince the patient to take it. What’s the result?”
After winning the hearts of millions in the 2015 Daredevil series, Matt Murdock has made a much-awaited comeback with Daredevil: Born Again. While fans thought since , Disney would cut down on the violence and gore we have seen previously, as it turns out, this was not the case, and Daredevil came back to us in all his glory. Now that Daredevil Born Again has concluded its first season and has left us in anticipation regarding its season 2, here, let me tell you everything we know and can anticipate regarding the release date, trailer, cast, and plot of Daredevil Born Again Season 2.
When Will Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Come Out?
The official release date of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 has not yet been announced. However, the filming of the second season began in March 2025 and it is currently underway. Considering that the filming has already begun, we can expect Daredevil Born Again Season 2 to release sometime in mid-2026.
Is There a Trailer For Daredevil: Born Again Season 2?
Since the filming is still underway, the trailer for Daredevil: Born Again has not been released yet. However, considering that the filming of the upcoming season began even before the first one ended, we can expect to see a teaser by early 2026 and a trailer soon after it.
How Many Episodes Will be There in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2?
Initially, Daredevil: Born Again was supposed to be 18 episodes long. However, the series was cut in half and divided into two separate seasons. So, considering that season 1 features 9 episodes, Daredevil Born Again Season 2 will have 9 episodes as well, with production of season 2 already in progress.
What Will Be the Cast of Daredevil Born Again Season 2?
Daredevil Born Again Season 2 will have the same cast as season 1 since the story has not yet been completed. We will see the return of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, along with Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin.
Jon Bernthal will return as Frank Castle/The Punisher, along with Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page. We will also see the return of Daredevil’s arc nemesis, Bullseye, played by Wilson Bethel, and Wilson Fisk’s new protégé, Daniel Blake, played by Michael Gandolfini, will also mark his return.
What Could Be the Plot of Daredevil Born Again Season 2?
The plot of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 at this point is pretty self-explanatory. In Season 1, we see that Daredevil, or Matt Murdock, is out looking for the person who was responsible for the death of his friend, Foggy Nelson.
For a long time, he thought that Bullseye did it out of personal vendetta, but later realised that Vanessa Fisk was the one who ordered the hit. In the final episode, we see that the entire task force created by Wilson Fisk is out to take down Daredevil and the other vigilantes, New York City is under martial law, and with the Punisher captured, Matt has to find a way to save his city from the tyranny of Wilson Fisk, which is what we will get to see in Season 2.
Shashank Shakya
Shashank Shakya is an entertainment writer at Beebom. He has completed his Bachelors (Honors) in English Literature and is a published author.
Shashank boasts incomparable knowledge about the Marvel and DC universe, along with other branches of entertainment with substantial experience in the field of writing.
Technology stocks took a hit on Wednesday as leading chipmakers raised red flags over rising costs and demand uncertainty. This new worry is linked to renewed U.S.-China trade tensions. Nvidia and AMD led the decline, with both companies disclosing major financial impacts from tightened export rules. The broader chipmaking sector followed suit. There have been strong reactions from investors due to the trade restrictions. It may undermine growth across the industry.
U.S.-China trade tensions induce losses
Nvidia discloses $5.5 billion charge
A regulatory filing revealed that Nvidia will take a $5.5 billion charge related to its H20 graphics processing units. These were originally tailored for the Chinese market. After the revelation, Nvidia shares dropped more than 6%. These GPUs had been developed under the Biden administration’s export framework. They comply with the previous ban on advanced AI hardware.
However, Nvidia is now required to obtain licenses to export the chips to China and other designated destinations. This complies with new measures introduced after President Donald Trump’s return to office. The H20 had been expected to contribute up to $15 billion in revenue for 2024. The license requirement and the uncertainty surrounding it have severely altered Nvidia’s near-term outlook.
AMD faces an $800 million risk while ASML misses orders
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also warned of major financial exposure. It stated in its filing that new export controls on its MI308 chips could result in an $800 million impact. AMD shares fell more than 6% following the announcement. These statements are the first concrete indications that Trump’s agenda could directly disrupt U.S. chipmakers’ operations and revenue pipelines.
Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML added to the sector’s woes, missing order expectations and attributing some of the weakness to uncertainty caused by trade restrictions. Its shares declined by roughly 5%, further weighing on sentiment in the chipmaking and tech hardware space.
The U.S.-China trade tension-induced downturn wasn’t limited to chip stocks. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF fell more than 4%, reflecting losses across the sector. Micron, Marvell, and Broadcom each shed around 2%. However, equipment makers like Applied Materials and Lam Research were down roughly 3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also slid nearly 2%, with major players like Meta, Alphabet, and Tesla each losing about 2%. Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft posted more modest declines of around 1%. Nevertheless, the pullback shows broader market jitters tied to U.S.-China trade policy.
Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.Follow Gizchina.com on Google News for news and updates in the technology sector.
In the wake of public outrage following the sudden collapse of CryptoBank Exchange (CBEX), a digital investment platform allegedly responsible for the loss of over N1.3 trillion in Nigerian investments, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reiterated its consistent warnings to the public against Ponzi and fraudulent investment schemes.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale emphasized that the Commission had been proactive in alerting Nigerians about such criminal operations long before the CBEX crisis emerged.
“You’ll recall that on March 11 this year, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, directed us to release a public warning about 58 fraudulent investment platforms. That list included CBEX-type operations,” Oyewale said. “This shows we were not caught unaware. We have been working behind the scenes — before, during, and after public complaints surfaced.”
CBEX, reportedly a Chinese-owned online digital trading firm, allegedly lured thousands of Nigerian investors with promises of unrealistically high returns before crashing on Monday. Many have since been unable to access their funds, with emotional videos of victims flooding social media platforms.
Read Also: Led by Sultan, northern monarchs condemn rising killings, insecurity in region
Oyewale, however, maintained that the EFCC cannot be held accountable for individual decisions to patronize unlicensed digital platforms. He stressed that the agency had issued repeated warnings and educational content on the dangers of unregulated online investments.
“The CBEX scheme is entirely virtual. Its so-called local offices in Ibadan and elsewhere were not functional or verifiable. It operated outside Nigeria’s regulatory radar,” he explained. “We’ve educated Nigerians on the need to verify compliance with laws such as the Money Laundering Act, Proceeds of Crime Act, and the Terrorism Financing Act before committing funds to any investment scheme.”
He also pointed to the recently passed Investment and Securities Act 2025, describing it as a robust legal framework that criminalizes any form of digital trading not licensed or regulated by Nigerian authorities.
Cautioning the public against get-rich-quick promises, Oyewale said, “No credible financial institution can guarantee 100% return on investment in 30 days. Even the Central Bank’s current interest rate is 27.5%. So when someone promises double returns in a month, it’s clearly a red flag.”
Despite the magnitude of the CBEX fraud, the EFCC assured Nigerians that all is not lost. According to Oyewale, the Commission is working closely with international partners, including Interpol, to trace the perpetrators and recover stolen funds.
“It would be irresponsible for us to fold our arms and declare the case closed,” he said. “We are engaging with Interpol and other global agencies to bring the culprits to justice. Restitution for victims may take time, but we are determined. Investors will not be abandoned.”
He added, “This situation could have been avoided. But our commitment now is not just to investigate and prosecute, but to recover as much as possible and protect future investors. Escapism is not an option.”
In this still from a video obtained by CNN, Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi is led away from an immigration center in Vermont as he is taken into ICE custody. (Obtained by CNN via CNN Newsource)
By Yash Roy, CNN
(CNN) — A Palestinian student at Columbia University went into a Vermont immigration office Monday hoping to begin the final step to becoming a US citizen. But instead of having an interview, Mohsen Mahdawi – who’s been in the United States for a decade – was taken away in handcuffs.
Immigration officials detained Mahdawi, a prominent organizer of pro-Palestinian protests on campus a year ago, at a US Citizenship and Immigration Services facility in Colchester, Vermont, where he lives, his lawyer told CNN. His detention appears to be part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters from last spring.
A Vermont District judge has since issued a temporary restraining order preventing his removal from the US or Vermont.
“The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian,” Mahdawi’s attorney, Luna Droubi, wrote to CNN in a statement. “His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional.”
The Department of Homeland Security referred CNN to the State Department, which declined to comment on the matter at this time.
Mahdawi, a senior at Columbia, stepped back from his pro-Palestinian organizing in March 2024, before students started an encampment and occupied university buildings, drawing national scrutiny and a large police presence on campus.
He has plans to enroll in a master’s program at the school this fall, according to his attorneys. He began the citizenship process in 2024, his lawyer told CNN.
Mahdawi grew up in a refugee camp in the West Bank and has been a lawful permanent resident for a decade, according to a habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf. His family remains in the West Bank.
His attorneys submitted the motion in Vermont’s federal district court, calling for his release on bail, pending adjudication. Vermont District Court Judge William Sessions issued a temporary restraining order preventing his removal from Vermont and from the country.
Mahdawi is the second Palestinian student at Columbia with a green card who has been detained by immigration authorities for removal from the country. The other is Mahmoud Khalil, one of the lead negotiators of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, who was arrested March 8. Mahdawi and Khalil co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia in the fall of 2023.
Khalil is a permanent resident and his wife is a US citizen. Khalil is being held at a detention facility in Louisiana, pending litigation on his detention.
Mahdawi remains in Vermont, according to a statement from his lawyers, and his attorneys have been able to speak with him.
“We have confirmation he remains in Vermont from Acting US Attorney (Michael) Drescher and from the local ICE office,” Droubi told CNN. “One of his lawyers was able to speak to him. If they now choose to move him from Vermont, it will have been with full knowledge of the court’s order telling them not to.”
Other students detained in similar situations have been transferred to detention facilities in Louisiana and Texas before a judge could order that they remain in the place they were originally detained.
Such transfers underscore ICE’s power in deciding where to house detained migrants – a power that some immigration attorneys say the Trump administration is now using to move disfavored migrants far from their attorneys, families and support systems.
Columbia University declined to comment, citing privacy obligations.
Vermont’s congressional delegation, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint, released a joint statement condemning the detention, calling it “immoral, inhumane and illegal.”
“Earlier today, Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont, walked into an immigration office for what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process,” they wrote. “Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plainclothes, armed, individuals with their faces covered. … This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”
In its move to cancel Mahdawi’s green card, his lawyer wrote in the filing, the Trump administration appears to be citing the foreign policy rule of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which grants the secretary of state the authority to cancel someone’s permanent residency if they are deemed to pose a threat to American foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week discussed visa and green card revocations tied to protests on campus, saying people involved in the 2024 protests helped fuel antisemitism across the nation.
“If they’re taking activities that are counter to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa,” Rubio said.
Mahdawi spoke to the CBS program “60 Minutes” in December 2023 about his activism on Columbia’s campus and his experience as a Palestinian. During the interview, Mahdawi also spoke about antisemitism.
“The fight for freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand in hand because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Mahdawi told CBS.
Friday, a Louisiana immigration judge ruled Khalil is subject to removal given the government’s determination that Khalil endangered American foreign policy. Khalil’s case is also being litigated in a district court in New Jersey, and the immigration judge’s ruling in Louisiana can be appealed, meaning Khalil’s deportation is on hold. His attorneys have made clear they plan to appeal.
Khalil and Mahdawi are part of a group of students on college campuses who have student visas or green cards whom the government has detained as part of what the Trump administration claims are efforts to crack down on antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests.
CNN’s Eric Levenson and Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.
