A former gang leader, Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been found guilty of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur.

This is coming nearly 30 years after the celebrated hip-hop star was murdered.

The jury found him guilty of one count of murder with a deadly weapon for the rap superstar’s death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996.

Dressed in a black suit, the 63-year-old stood impassively in the Las Vegas court as the verdict was read, before saying he would appeal.

During the trial, the court heard a recording of a police interview in 2008 in which Davis said he was in the car from which shots were fired, but did not himself fire the bullets that killed Shakur.

Prosecutors argued that although Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, did not himself fire the gun, he ordered the shooting and supplied the gun that his nephew Orlando Anderson used to open fire.

Anderson died in an unrelated shooting in 1998, having denied involvement in the killing of Shakur.

As the verdict was read out on Monday, Shakur’s relatives held hands, some hugging and crying.

Shakur was 25 when he was slain at the height of his career as one of rap’s most influential voices. He has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

For 30 years, the case remained one of America’s most famous cold cases, spurring countless conspiracies – but never a conviction, until now.

Photo caption: Gliffeth Wonuigwe, Gasgroup CEO with Engr. Norton Ned Jessup, P. E, COO

Gasgroup Plc has announced plans to pursue a listing on the Main Board of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) aimed at strengthening its corporate governance, enhance its visibility within Nigeria’s capital market and establish a platform for financing its next phase of growth.

This was announced weekend by Mr. Gliffeth Wonuigwe, Gasgroup’s Chief Executive Officer, while speaking to journalists on the company’s ongoing expansion drive. He said the proposed move is expected to provide an organised market for the company’s shares, improve price discovery and broaden the opportunity for eligible investors to participate in its long-term growth.

Gasgroup’s existing ordinary shares would, going forward, be admitted to trading on the NGX without the company undertaking an immediate public offer or issuing new shares to investors at the point of listing.

The company has historically operated within Nigeria’s oil and gas services industry and now repositioning as an integrated refining, gas and energy-infrastructure business, with particular emphasis on refining, liquefied natural gas, gas processing, transportation, storage, power generation and energy solutions for industrial customers and AI-powered data centres.

Its strategy is based on Nigeria’s substantial natural-gas resources and the growing demand for reliable, cleaner and more cost-efficient power across manufacturing, logistics, telecommunications and digital infrastructure.

Gasgroup intends to develop an integrated energy value chain capable of refining, moving gas from production and processing points to industrial and commercial users, and supplying power and gas feedstock to industries. This could include refined products, LNG and compressed natural gas facilities, gas transportation systems, storage and regasification infrastructure, embedded power plants and captive energy solutions across Africa.

The organization believes that dependable refining, gas-to-power infrastructure and AI in an integrated hub will become increasingly important as Nigerian businesses seek cheaper and more reliable power solutions.

A central component of Gasgroup’s expansion strategy is the development of gas and power infrastructure for artificial intelligence-powered data centres. To add, AI computing facilities require considerably greater power density than traditional data centres. They also require continuous electricity, efficient cooling systems, redundancy and the ability to expand rapidly as computing demand grows.

The company further intends to provide dedicated gas-to-power solutions that could support AI factories, hyperscale data centres, cloud-computing facilities, telecommunications infrastructure and enterprise data campuses.

Depending on the requirements of each project, the company’s proposed solutions may combine natural-gas generation, embedded power plants, LNG infrastructure, battery storage, backup systems and renewable-energy components.

The objective is to deliver energy infrastructure capable of supporting data-centre operations on a 24-hour basis while reducing dependence on diesel and mitigating the risks associated with unstable grid supply.

Gasgroup is also evaluating opportunities to participate directly in the development of integrated energy and data-centre campuses. Under this model, gas processing, power generation, fibre connectivity, cooling infrastructure and high-performance computing facilities could be developed within the same industrial ecosystem.

The company believes that access to dependable and competitively priced energy could help Nigeria attract greater investment in AI computing, cloud services and digital infrastructure.

Alongside the development of new projects, Gasgroup intends to pursue a disciplined acquisition strategy to accelerate its expansion across the gas and power value chains across Africa.

The company is evaluating potential acquisitions and strategic investments in businesses and assets operating in areas such as:

Gas processing and distribution; LNG and compressed natural gas infrastructure; Gas transportation, storage and logistics; Embedded and captive power generation; Oil and gas engineering and technical services; Data-centre power and cooling infrastructure; Renewable energy and battery-storage systems; and Other complementary energy and industrial-infrastructure businesses.

The proposed acquisitions may involve controlling interests, minority strategic investments, joint ventures, asset purchases or partnerships with established operators. It said also that that the acquisition targets would be assessed against clearly defined criteria, including asset quality, regulatory compliance, earnings potential, management capability, strategic location and their ability to complement the company’s existing and proposed operations. Also, any transaction would remain subject to satisfactory due diligence, independent valuation, financing availability, board approval and all applicable regulatory and shareholder approvals.

It is worthy to note that the company does not intend to pursue acquisitions merely to increase its size. Its focus will be on assets and businesses that can strengthen operating capacity, improve recurring cash flow and create measurable long-term value for shareholders.

Gasgroup expects the proposed NGX listing to provide a stronger institutional foundation for executing its growth strategy, as public-market presence could improve the company’s access to a wider range of financing instruments, including equity, corporate bonds, commercial paper, infrastructure funds, project finance and strategic institutional capital.

The company also expects the listing process to reinforce financial reporting, disclosure, risk management and corporate-governance standards across the organization, while looking forward to working with financial advisers, stockbrokers, solicitors, reporting accountants and other professional parties to prepare and submit the required listing documentation.

The timing and completion of the proposed listing will depend on the satisfaction of NGX requirements, applicable Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and other necessary approvals.

Unarguably, Nigeria’s digital economy will require substantial investment not only in software, fibre connectivity and computing equipment but also in the energy systems that keep digital infrastructure operational.

For AI data centres in particular, access to stable electricity could determine where investments are located and whether facilities can operate competitively. The company’s strategy is to position natural gas as a transition fuel and a practical foundation for the dependable power required by Nigeria’s emerging AI and cloud-computing industries.

The company believes that Nigeria can convert its domestic gas resources into a competitive advantage by linking gas infrastructure development with the country’s expanding demand for data storage, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Gasgroup’s long-term ambition is to become a leading African gas and energy-infrastructure company, connecting domestic gas resources to industrial development and the next generation of digital infrastructure.

The proposed listing by introduction represents an important step towards that objective, potentially giving the company greater visibility, institutional discipline and access to capital as it develops and acquires strategic energy assets.

The proposed listing and the projects, acquisitions and financing initiatives described in this article remain subject to corporate approvals, regulatory clearances, satisfactory

due diligence and prevailing market conditions. This article does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to purchase securities.

More than 40 officers and men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have been dismissed from service in the past two and a half years for offences related to corruption and other sharp practices.

The commission revealed this on Monday, saying that they were sacked over their involvement in alleged corruption and financial malfeasance that could tarnish the image of the agency.

The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, who disclosed this in Abuja when he met with media executives and other journalists in Abuja, said more than five of them are currently facing prosecution.

According to him, the case files of others involved that are yet to face the wrath of the law were being prepared for prosecution.

He stressed that these were part of the efforts to ensure that personnel of the anti-graft agency maintained the highest standards of integrity while investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.

“In the past two and a half years or three years of my service, I have asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice.

“More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment. You can follow those cases in court; they are public knowledge,” the anti-graft agency boss told journalists.