₦airaland Forum

Segun Adewole

The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has said the state will not provide land for ranching as it believes it is a private business.

Makinde said this to clarify a tweet in which he revealed that Oyo State will adopt the National Livestock Transformation Plan which is already being implemented in Kwara State.

The Governor, after a meeting with his Kwara State counterpart, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, had said on Twitter, “We also agreed that the National Livestock Transformation Plan which is already being implemented in Kwara State would be implemented in Oyo State leading to further collaborations between both states on economy and security.”

His tweet was taken by many to mean an implementation of Rural Grazing Area settlements which many Nigerians had in the past kicked against.

One Twitter user, @olufunkeajibul1, said, “I hope the National Livestock Transformation Plan is not the same RUGA. If yes, Mr Governor please tread with caution. But no, please fire on all salvos.”

@Itee_esq said, “Your Excellency Sir, hope you are not bringing RUGA to Oyo State through the back door.”


@Carol-Ukoha said, “They changed RUGA to National Livestock Transformation Plan, can’t you read between the lines? I hope you have a rethink. You cannot afford to fail your people. This decision is unintelligent please.”

The attention of the Governor was drawn to the reactions to his tweet, resulting in a clarification on his decision to implement the National Livestock Transformation Plan.

According to him, the state will not implement the whole of the National Livestock Transformation Plan, only the aspects it finds beneficial.

Makinde said, “My attention has been drawn to this tweet regarding the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan during the joint security meeting, yesterday. For the avoidance of doubt, when I said we would implement the plan, I didn’t mean a wholesale implementation.

“We will be taking aspects which are beneficial for our state. As I have stated on several occasions, our position in Oyo State is that ranching is a private business and should be carried out as such. Our admin won’t be providing land for free to private investors for ranching.”

A cleric, Chris McDouglas Omosokpea of Peculiar Generation Assembly Church, Oshodi, Lagos, who is facing a charge for the rape of his member’s teen daughter has allegedly sold his church building and fled to an unknown place to establish another church.

Omosokpea, who was arrested in June 2020 by officers of the Makinde Police Station where the family of the victim reported the matter, was granted bail on health grounds before the Lagos High Court.


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It was gathered that the pastor had allegedly sexually abused a 14-year-old girl for the past four years before he was arrested and charged before the court for defilement.

The case came up again on Tuesday before the Presiding Magistrate, Kubeinje, at Ogba Magistrates Court, Lagos, but Omosokpea was conspicuously absent while the complainant and some members of his church were present. The matter was adjourned till April 21, 2021.

The pastor’s decision to dispose of the church shocked his members, who went there, only to see that the structure had been pulled down by the new buyer.

Some members of the church expressed their shock over how Omosokpea sold the church without informing them after he had convinced them that he was innocent of the allegation of defilement.

Before he was arrested, the victim claimed the pastor deceived her with fake prophecies and she kept the abuses away from her parents, who had been members of the church for over 12 years, with a strong belief that Pastor Douglas was a real man of God.

However, when she could no longer bear it, she started threatening to commit suicide over the trauma and was persuaded to open up on what she was passing through.

It was then she opened up and told her parents that Pastor Douglas had abused her for the past four years and instilled fear into her not to tell anyone.

SaharaReporters learnt that Omosokpea had allegedly established another church in an undisclosed location at Lekki, Lagos.

By Olawale Ajimotokan
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will on Saturday, be among the key national figures to receive the first jabs of Oxford Astra-Zeneca COVID- 19 vaccine scheduled to arrive Abuja Tuesday.

The Executive Director National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib revealed this Monday at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing to unveil the National vaccine roll-out plan.

It was gathered that the vaccine will only be administered on the President after a few vials of it are handed over to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFCAC), for analysis over a period of two days- Wednesday and Thursday- after the ceremonies to mark the arrival of the vaccines .

Shuaib said that after the vaccination of the President and the Vice President and sequel to the clearance by NAFDAC, the PTF, Federal Ministry of Health and NPHCDA, the first national vaccination site will be set up at the treatment center of the National Hospital in Abuja on Friday, March 5, 2021, to commence the vaccination of the frontline health workers and support staff.

The health workers would also be electronically registered in the COVID-19 vaccine database and would receive their COVID-19 vaccination card which has a QR code that can be verified worldwide. President Buhari is expected to grace the occasion.


Afterward, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police, the Federal Ministers, Senators, House of Representatives members, traditional leaders and religious leaders would be vaccinated on March 8, at the vaccination sites to be set up at designated locations, including National Assembly Clinic, State House Clinic and Federal Medical Centre, Jabi.

“After this launch and initial roll-out phase, vaccine distribution to the States for the phase 1 vaccination process will begin. This phase is the vaccination of all frontline health workers, their supporting staff and strategic leaders. Deployment of vaccines to the states would be based on the assessment of their level of preparedness. Some of the parameters that would be used for the assessment include adequate maintenance of their cold chain storage facilities, adequate preparation for logistic transportation to the ward/ health facility, adequate security in place during transportation and at vaccination sites, completion of training of health workers, efficient social mobilization activities in place, adherence to protocol for vaccine deployment,” Shuaib said.

He added that in collaboration with CACOVID, plans were afoot for a cargo plane to transport the vaccines to the states by air while states without a functional airport will have their vaccines transported by road, using vans with fitted Cold Cabins, from the nearest airport. The vaccines are to be stored at the state cold stores, from where they will be transported by road to LGA cold stores.

He also reiterated that soldiers and policemen will be deployed to protect the cold stores which are valuable national assets from being vandalized by looters.

He noted once activities have commenced in the states, there would be strict monitoring of the vaccination by PTF, Ministry of Health, NPHCDA and independent bodies such as EFCC, DSS, ICPC, and Civil Society Organisations, warning that states/health facilities and health workers that are identified as defaulting from the standard protocol and guidelines for this phase of vaccination would be sanctioned.

He stated that the National team would be ready for the arrival of the next batch of vaccines from Harvard facility which is the African Vaccine Action team, a combination AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines, for the phase two of vaccination, to involve the elderly from 50 years and above, across all 36 States and the FCT.

The phase 3 vaccination process involves vaccination of those between 18 – 49years with co-morbidities (such as hypertension, diabetes, lung disease, other heart disease, liver or renal disease, etc) while phase 4 vaccination process would involve vaccination of the rest of the eligible population between the ages 18 – 49years.

The NPHCDA Executive Director urged all eligible Nigerians aged 18 years and above to be patient as they will eventually, be vaccinated as the vaccines arrive in batches due to limited supply.

Also speaking at the briefing the Chairman PTF, Mr Boss Mustapha, assured that vaccines coming to Nigeria are safe and efficacious. He also noted that while the development of vaccines was a ray of hope and a welcome development, vaccines alone cannot be a solution.

He also offered deep condolences to the families and associates of all those that have lost their lives to the virus, stating the memory of the loss of lives remains sobering and will continue to propel the nation in the battle to overcome the pandemic.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has demanded a public apology from the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe for ‘criticising’ Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

The APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, in a statement, said “legal action” will be instituted against the senator if he failed to publicly apologise to Bello, saying that his utterances against the governor were ”false, irresponsible and malicious.”

Nabena was reacting to a statement by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asking Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC Kogi) to retract his comment and apologise to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

The party said it is on record through a video in circulation that Senator Abaribe made some false verbal attacks “discrediting governor Yahaya Bello before Senator Smart Adeyemi replied him.

“How the PDP has conveniently edited this fact from the sequence of events is unbecoming, but characteristic of the party’s modus operandi.

“Indeed, if there is any apology to be tendered, it should be by Senator Abaribe who must retract every statement in the video currently trending, disparaging the achievement and the person of Governor Bello,” the APC said.

Abaribe and Sen. Smart Adeyemi (APC Kogi) had last week exchanged unfriendly banters on the floor of the senate over an alleged social media post.

The two senators were at loggerheads when a motion on urgent need for the restoration and revalidation of the Safe School Initiative was debated.

The federal government says Nigerians will have the option to pay to own millions of solar panels it plans for 5 million homes as part of its Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).

The ESP was rolled out in 2020 in response to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

To own a solar unit, there will be the option of paying N4,000 monthly for three years. That translates to N144, 000 a unit.

This was revealed in a statement issued by the Office of the Vice President on Thursday. It was not immediately clear what the other alternatives would be.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo called the programme a “game-changer” in terms of providing jobs and expanding the use of renewable energy in the country.

The off-grid project is financed by UBA, Sterling Bank, First Bank and Fidelity Bank and its implementation will be driven by the Rural Electrification Agency, REA.

The statement said Mr Osinbajo spoke about the initiative during a virtual engagement with stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Solar Power Naija Initiative on Thursday.

He was quoted to have said, “Our Solar Home System was designed to be a game-changer in the renewable energy space, in other words, it is not just a programme to provide off-grid power alone, but one that creates opportunities for the development of the local capacities in the assembly, manufacture and even maintenance of equipment.”

“We have seen quite a bit of interest already from international and local players across the off-grid solar value chain, there is indeed a lot of interest that we are seeing,” Mr Osinbajo said, according to the statement signed by his assistant, Laolu Akande.

The government hopes the plan will service 25 million Nigerians who are not connected to the national grid.

With regards to ownership, Mr Osinbajo said, “Under the scheme, there is an option of outright ownership by beneficiaries possibly at a rough estimate of N4, 000 per month for a period of 3 years.”

“Also, there is the value addition to the economy in the area of job creation for at least 250, 000 persons and the ramping up of local content in solar equipment manufacturing systems installation and maintenance,” it said.

“The banks that are keyed into this have already shown a great deal of interest and leadership in this particular area and we commend them for what they have done so far. We hope that we will be able to work closely with them as we go ahead. And same with all of the assemblers, manufacturers of off-grid systems.”

Mr Osinbajo called on commercial banks to support the federal government’s move towards developing the local capacity for the entire solar energy sector.

“As you know, the CBN is committed to this, and we hope that this partnership will be one that we will be able to leverage to achieve great things in the coming months.

“Please leverage on the funding opportunities that have been offered and all of our internal people are willing to work to ensure that you succeed,” he stated.

Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, more commonly called Rev King, who was convicted for murder to the Supreme Court and given a death sentence, has been gifted with 17 newspaper advert pages in ThisDay, by his church members and others who celebrated him like a god.

Reverend King, General Overseer of Christian Praying Assembly, Lagos State, who was sentenced to death in January 2007 for murder, indecent and sexual assaults and other atrocities in his church, was seen on the newspaper adverts celebrated as “daddy and god.”

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The newspaper devoted 17 full colour pages to King being adverts carried by his church members, saying “His Holiness, the Most High Dr Reverend King live and reign forever in our lives in Jesus Christ name. Amen. We worship and adore you, our living God.”

“On the glorious day of his birthday, you are the light of the world which have (sic) come to stay, to lighten the lives of your true children. Sir, you are the reason why we are alive today,” another message reads.

King, from Anambra State, in 2006, became notorious in the country following the murder of a church member, Ann Uzoh.

The cleric was arraigned before the Lagos High Court in Ikeja on September 26, 2006, on six counts of the murder of Uzoh as well as the attempted murder of five other members.

He was said to have doused the deceased and the five other victims with petrol and set them on fire for allegedly committing fornication.

Uzoh died on August 2, 2006, 11 days after the incident, as a result of the injuries which she sustained from the burns.

The trial judge, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, had in his judgement delivered on January 11, 2007, convicted Ezeugo and sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment on each of the five counts of attempted murder and death sentence for murder.

The adverts carried for Reverend King run from ThisDay Friday Page 25 to Page 41, as it was learnt that most of the church members had in solidarity adopted the name of their convicted General Overseer who they all call ‘Daddy’.

Some of the adverts came from the CPA St Women Worldwide, CPA Ketu Branch, Bresser branch, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“Daddy, you are the reason why I and my family are existing. We wish you many more triumphant years. Your kingdom shall reign over all the earth and shall endure from everlasting to everlasting,” a member, Somtobechukwu King and his family wrote.

Dissatisfied with Justice Oyewole’s judgement in 2007, King appealed to the Court of Appeal, which also affirmed the sentence passed on him.

He further appealed to the Supreme Court which dismissed his appeal and affirmed the judgments of both the Lagos High Court and the Court of Appeal.

On February 26, 2016, the Supreme Court upheld Reverend King’s death sentencing as many Nigerians awaited the court’s decision with bated breath.

A seven-man panel of Justices ‎of the apex court led by Justice Walter Onnoghen, confirmed the death sentence that was earlier handed to Ezeugo by the Lagos State High Court.

The verdict was delivered by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta. “This appeal has no merit. The judgement of the court of appeal is hereby affirmed. The prison sentence that was earlier handed to the appellant is no longer relevant in view of the death sentence passed on him,” he stated.

Although Reverend King has been in prison custody for the past 10 years, several members of his church CPA, have kept a revered image of their pastor, marking his birthday in absentia and even continuing with services.

In 2014, CPA members also bought spaces in Nigerian dailies to extol Reverend King’s virtues while hailing him as the light of the world.

A number of Nigerians allege that Reverend King has a strong hold on his members and even manipulates them from prison.

He even reportedly sends messages to them for Sunday services.

“The man of the moment, the mighty man in battle; the giver of life and the hope of the hopeless. Daddy we thank you for your presence in our lives, families and business. King forever, live forever,” another birthday advert reads on Friday.

Kingsley Nwezeh and Alex Enumah in Abuja

With the nomination of Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa as the Chairman-designate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), 850 police officers seconded to the anti-graft commission may go back to the police force, THISDAY has learnt.

THISDAY checks showed that the likelihood of redeploying the police personnel is giving them jitters as many of them are afraid of being taken out of the “lucrative” posting.

However, sources said whether or not the police personnel would be retained would be determined by Bawa after the Senate has confirmed his nomination.

Bawa, who was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 16, is one of the pioneers of the EFCC Academy and the first non-police officer picked to head the commission since its inception in 2003.

Bawa is said to have been put under pressure by EFCC operatives who are agitating that the police personnel should leave the commission for its trained officers.

“The Inspector-General of Police had complained loudly about the shortage of personnel for police duties. So, this is an opportunity to release his personnel who are not performing core security duties back to force to reinforce it to perform its core function of protecting the citizenry from violent criminals that have virtually taken over our country,” an EFCC operative told THISDAY at the weekend.

Investigations show that Bawa may cave in to the demand of his colleagues who had had a running battle with the police personnel while the commission was under the leadership of the police.

The commission had over the years relied on seconded staff from ministries, police and other agencies.

Presently, the staff strength of the EFCC is 2,220, spread across different departments out of which about 850 are police officers.

The former acting Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, had in one of his budget defences lamented poor funding that prevented the commission from recruiting 750 additional staff.

It was gathered that the recruitment was carried out but did not meet the target number envisaged.

A police source told THISDAY that the Chairman-designate would determine whether or not to work with the police or reduce the number.

“It is not the responsibility of the police to determine that. The new chairman when cleared by the Senate and he resumes will make a decision on that.

“He may decide to rely on EFCC operatives or reduce the number of police officers,” the source said.

THISDAY checks at the EFCC also showed that the issue was also a concern.

An EFCC source said: “It is obvious that it is for the incoming chairman to speak on that. I cannot speak for him.”

The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 10, Sokoto, Mr. Ali Janga, had hailed the nomination of Bawa as the chairman-designate, saying that the nomination of a core staff of the commission is proof that the police have creditably discharged their duties of nurturing the commission to maturity.

The AIG spoke while receiving the Head, EFCC Sokoto Zonal Office, Mr. Bawa Kaltungo, and his team that paid him a courtesy visit.

Janga said he was among the pioneer 23 officers that started the EFCC in 2003 and trained the pioneer Course 1 cadet officers.

An EFCC statement said the zonal police boss assured the EFCC delegation of enhanced cooperation.

Kaltungo had solicited more cooperation and support from the AIG, adding that the commission is desirous of leveraging on the strength of the police.

Meanwhile, some lawyers have urged Bawa to imbibe the culture of transparency in the commission to succeed in his new assignment.

The lawyers in their separate interviews with THISDAY on Bawa’s nomination urged him to be transparent to earn the trust, respect and support of the people.

They also advised him to endeavour to subject himself and the commission to the laws.

“In my own humble view, the best and only safe approach is for him to give the highest premium to the rule of law. Once he allows the rule of law to be his watchword and preoccupation, he would easily navigate his way devoid of the land mines that proved to be the Achilles’ heels of his predecessor(s) in office,” said Mr. Dayo Akinlaja (SAN).

Akinlaja also advised Bawa to distance himself from the tendency to jettison the rule of law in the guise of wanting to achieve results.

“It pays to follow due process in the execution of official duties. Without a doubt, there is no alternative to obedience to court orders.

“The moment he chooses to see the court as an appendage of the executive or a burden of a sort to its commission, there is bound to be the penchant for disobedience to court orders,” he said.

The senior lawyer added that if the new boss of the anti-graft agency is civil enough to subordinate the commission to the judiciary, on the understanding that Nigeria runs constitutional democracy, the problem of disobedience to court orders would not arise.

According to him, there is no need for media trial because it is a product of self-aggrandisement.

“He should shun it. The imperative of in-house cleansing should not be lost on him as well. If he is mindful enough of all these and others kindred to them, he stands a chance of making a positive difference in the office,” he added.

An Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Steve Ekeh, while welcoming the appointment of Bawa, however, felt that the federal government ought to have decided on Magu’s fate before appointing his replacement.

“It is a welcome development that a substantive head is appointed for EFCC although it would have been better if there was a closure to Magu’s era by the government deciding Magu’s fate. As it is now, the Magu’s issue is still hanging and it is not good for the image of the country and the commission,” he said.

Ekeh noted that one of the undoings of Magu was his engagement in showboating, media trials and lack of transparency on recovered loots and assets.

He also charged Bawa to ensure probity and transparency in the management of recovered loots and assets.

Another Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Obasi-Nweze, said the only way Bawa could avoid the pitfalls of his predecessor was to be transparent.

“If you are transparent and you tell the truth always, nobody can successfully set you up because the truth will always prevail. Public offices are not shrouded in secrecy,” Obasi-Nweze said.

By Adibe Emenyonu

The Benin-city by-pass in Edo State is gaining notoriety for kidnapping and banditry as a journalist, Ben Duno, who was travelling on that route with other commuters at the weekend escaped being attacked by the Fulani herdsmen at the weekend.

Duno, who works with the Sun Newspaper, said they escaped abduction by the whiskers while traveling from Warri, Delta State to Ibadan, Oyo State, for a close friend’s wedding.

Narrating his experience, Duno said he has never been terrified in his life, but he and other co-travellers nearly walked into the hands of the marauders terrorising the country.

He said: “The frightening reports on the security challenges across the country, especially on some major highways traversing the country, where travellers are being kidnapped on a daily basis, made me avoid travelling out of my Warri enclaves in the last three years.

“This fear was compounded with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic since early last year till date, especially with the fact that this second waves appears to be deadlier.”

However, the Warri correspondent of the Sun Newspaper stated that when he got an invite from a friend that his cousin was getting married in Ibadan over the weekend he decided to change his mind about his earlier decision.

According to him, “We left the park at about 7:38 a.m. in Warri, Delta State and began the journey to Ibadan.

“The journey was smooth until we got to the Benin by-pass by 9:00a.m., when we saw so many vehicles (both commercial and private) parked off the road, and when our bus driver asked other drivers what was happening, they said herdsmen were operating on the road and that the policemen on patrol on the highway run away.

“To my surprise and anger, the police patrol team that we saw, warned commuters to go back and take road in the town if we must continue our journey.

“When some of us, including drivers, passengers and few ladies, decided to walk to a point to see if we can catch a glimpse of what was happening,

a car approached to inform us that the criminals were moving towards our direction and the earlier we start moving away the better. That was when all the passengers and drivers started running for safety.

“I want to use this medium to appeal to everyone not to travel this period except its absolutely necessary, as nowhere is safe in this country at the moment. It has never been this terrible in our national life.”

Members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, have advised Nigerians to expect a higher petrol pump price in the coming days, saying the price may rise to N195 per litre.

They lamented what they described as “inconsistencies” on the part of the Federal Government, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiary, the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) on deregulation policy.

NNPC had last week ruled out immediate price rise until a scheduled meeting between the Federal Government and labour unions at the end of the month.

But IPMAN members have revealed that petrol may sell between N190 and N195 soon.

They said despite NNPC assurance of product availability, independent marketers could not access the product from NNPC depots forcing them to rely on independent depot owners for supplies.

Speaking to journalists after a meeting in Abuja at the weekend, Chief Executive Officer of Kankada Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited, Danasabe Kakanda, accused the government of giving the private depot owners edge over independent marketers.

He explained that independent marketers were always left at the mercies of private depot owners from whom they rely on supplies even though they also own filling stations and compete with the marketers.

He said: “With the inconsistencies of government, Nigerians should expect the price of fuel to be between N190 to N195”.

Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer of Foste Nigeria Limited, Chief Austin Erhabor, urged the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva through NNPC to come out clear to explain to Nigerians whether they have deregulated the petroleum supply chain or not.

“It is time for them to separate politics from economics. Our business is dying. How can you be talking about deregulation and you are mentioning official pump price”, he queried.

Erhabor exonerated petroleum marketers in the ongoing uncertainty in the supply chain, saying the sector is suffering from confusing government policies.

“These private depot owners were not supposed to own filling stations. They were supposed to be in the middle between NNPC and the independent marketers. Is it fair for somebody that I am buying from, my competitor, I buy from you, you come and build station close to me, and you are the one that is supplying me, how can I sell? Because if you want me to die off the business, all you need to do is to supply to the level you are selling to me in your depots”, he added.

The Foste Nigeria Limited boss accused private depot owners of systematically edging the independent marketers out of business by

hoarding petroleum products to ensure that only their filling stations are loaded first.

“As we speak most of us have paid money to these depots without getting the product. And before your eyes, they are loading up their own trucks. These private depots are known”, he said.

On his part, former National Publicity Secretary of IPMAN, Dr Emma Ihedigbo, also said the oil marketers are no longer happy about what government agencies are doing with the petrol supply chain.

“What we are saying in effect is that we are crying out that, PPMC want to strangulate IPMAN members and all the businessmen dealing in petroleum products and we are no longer happy about it. And if nothing is done, we will come out and tell the world what is going on”, he said.

The Nigerian air force personnel who died in a plane crash were en route Niger state to rescue students abducted from Government Science College, Kagara.

Shehu Koko, chairman of the house committee on air force, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

TheCable had reported that the Beechcraft KingAir B350i (NAF 201) conveying the military personnel crashed near the Abuja airport.

None of the seven personnel on board survived the mishap.

“We highly regret the loss of our gallant officers who apparently were on a mission to rescue the kidnapped students of a secondary school in Kagara community in Niger State,” Koko said.

He commiserated with the families of the deceased officers, assuring that assured that investigation into the incident will “begin in earnest to determine the remote cause”.

Speaking in the same vein, Ibikunle Daramola, air force spokesman, said the jet was scheduled to conduct surveillance missions over Niger and its environs.

The officers were heading to Niger four days after bandits abducted 42 persons including 27 students during an early morning attack in Kagara.

There is no official information on their whereabouts of the students yet, but the federal government has promised to ensure their safe and swift release.

Recently, Nigerians, who were already agonising in the atmosphere of unabating insecurity, were greeted with yet another bad news; an imminent fuel price increase. What is more disturbing is the call for them to bear the pains of the increase, as if they ever had any respite from all the years of persistent price rise in petroleum products. Fortunately, towards the end of last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), through its spokesperson, Kennie Obateru, said there would be no fuel price increase. As good as the news may be, it tells about some lack of coordination between the NNPC and the Ministry; and an embarrassing lack of communication between the GMD and the Minister. Chris Paul reports


Obviously, from the body of the press statement issued by NNPC last week, there will be an eventual hike in the price of fuel. At over $65 per barrel, crude oil price is riding on a three-month high. So, naturally, one should expect the price of fuel to be in the range of N200 to N250 per litre. But government, ‘somehow’, still regulates the price of the product, which would have been a good development if the process was transparent.

Whatever they choose to do and however they elect to do it, NNPC has only succeeded in making Nigerians understand that the days of buying fuel at unregulated price like kerosene or diesel are now here to stay. That reality was underscored in Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva’s statement. The only problem here is that Nigerians may not be as quiet as they have been; buying kerosene and diesel.


As it stands now, NNPC is giving Nigerians respite for the month of February, while they dialogue with other stakeholders to convince them on why Nigerians must swallow the pain of another fuel price increase.

Unfortunately, that dialogue may not be yielding any positive result. The Public Relations Manager of the Independent Petroleum Marketers, Chinedu Ukadike, seems to disagree with his NNPC counterpart. If the marketers are getting the product at between N160 and N165 at private depots, surely, NNPC would not expect the marketers to sell at N162 per litre.


Already, fuel queues are surfacing in different parts of the country. In other words, Nigerians are about to begin the reggae and the blues dance all over again.

So, Sylva is correct. There will be a petrol price hike and it may have actually begun.

Taking a break from the usual cumbersome technical argument, perhaps the social pressure this increase will cause the country and its citizens should be strong enough, an argument, to get the government to ensure in-country refining of the nation’s crude, is accomplished, once and for all; at any cost; just to save Nigerians more avoidable hardship.


Looking at the recent announcement by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, of another price hike on fuel, Nigerians who thought the era of fuel price increases is over, now know as hinted in Sylva’s statement that when it comes to paying for your fuel, there is no silver lining anywhere.

In a remark, he made on February 9, 2021, Sylva asked Nigerians to prepare for a higher regime of the pump price of petrol, given the new fortune of crude oil in the international market.


As global crude oil price hovered around $60 per barrel, last week, Sylva said an increase in the cost of petrol has become inevitable. He, however, pleaded with Nigerians to be ready to bear the pains of the new price regime.

The question is what more pains is it that the Nigerian must have to bear under the weight of this imminent fuel price increase?

It is public knowledge and not rocket science, that for every time, government increases the price of fuel, the price of everything else increases disproportionate to the percentage increase of the fuel price.


So, Sylva is telling Nigerians to bear the pains of higher cost of transportation. For those who have children in private schools, the Minister is asking them to bear the pain of paying more for the school fees of their children; and where the cost becomes unaffordable, those Nigerians have to bear the pains of having their children drop out of school.

For Nigerians struggling to manage the N30,000 minimum wage salary, they will have to bear the pains of paying higher rent, they have to find a way to feed their families under the norming sting of increased cost of foodstuffs in the market.


For the many jobless youths, the Minister is pleading with them of enduring the added pains- of the fuel price increase- to their already miserable existence.

Coming in February or any other month, for now, at a period in the year, when money is hard to come by and life is so hard; this proposed fuel price hike will cause untold hardship to over 90per cent of Nigerians.

The consequences of this will include a rise in suicide rate. Some companies may have to close shop and lay off staff, thereby leading to more alarming increase in the already massive field of the unemployed.


The desperate ones among the jobless will have more reasons to join bad gangs to fend for themselves.

That means kidnapping, killing, and general violence, advance fee and internet fraud will be on rise again.

Consequently, the country, at large, will have to bear the pains of worse state of insecurity, sadness and sorrow all over the land.

With the official inauguration of the Nigerian Upstream Cost Optimisation Programme (NUCOP), last week and its efforts to optimize production bottom-line, the federal government also ramped up its plan to achieve the $10 per barrel crude oil production target.


At the NUCOP inauguration in Abuja, Sylva said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) can no longer continue to bear the cost of under-recovery or subsidy, adding that while government revenue has improved following the rise in crude oil price, the gains cannot be squandered on subsidy payment.

By his latest claim to subsidy, the Sylva has contradicted the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, who exclaimed that the era of subsidy payment for imported fuel was gone forever.


In his interview on an AIT program in April, 2020, Kyari stated, categorically, that there is no fuel subsidy anymore in Nigeria; emphasising that “it is zero subsidy forever.”

Elaborating more on his pronouncement, he said henceforth, there will be no resort to either fuel subsidy or under-recovery of any nature; adding that “NNPC will play in the petroleum marketplace, just like another marketer in the space.

But we will be there for the country to sustain the security of supply at market price.”


He also hinted that though the government was not deregulating the petrol sub-sector, but it would still get involved in fixing prices.

On the face value, what this means is that the NNPC will be there to fix fuel price so Nigerians are left to the vagaries of price volatility.

The landing cost of petrol, according to the pricing template of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), is over N179 per litre, while the expected Open Market Price (OMP) is about N202 per litre.


However, the filling stations are yet to reflect the price, as the product is still being sold for between the N162 and N165 per litre price range.

“Since we are optimising everything, NNPC needs to also think about the optimisation of product cost because as we all know, oil prices are where they are today, $60.

As desirable as this is, this has serious consequences as well on product prices. So, we want to take the pleasure and we should as a country be ready to take the pain. Today the NNPC is taking a big hit from this. We all know that there is no provision in the budget for subsidy,” he said.


Stressing the level of toll, the subsidy has taken on the bottom line of the national oil company, Sylva said “Somewhere down the line, I believe that the NNPC cannot continue to take this blow. There is no way because there is no provision for it. As a country, let us take the benefits of the higher crude oil prices and I hope we will also be ready to take a little pain on the side of higher product prices.”

Of the nine priority areas given to the ministry as its operational mandate, the minister said reduction of crude oil extraction cost remains critical.


Compared to Iran and Saudi Arabia, among other oil-producing nation,

Sylva stated that the cost of oil production in Nigeria is exceptionally high; adding that the development is depriving the country of the prospect of attracting investments and the need to remain globally competitive.

“Average total cost is now below $30/barrel for JV contract and less than $20 for Production Sharing Contracts (PSC).

We need to do more. Engagement should reach a consensus on cost reduction,” he affirmed.


Like Nigerians, who will be reeling under worse pains and misery, oil services companies would have to bear the pain of laying off staff, reducing administrative cost which may involve doing away with other cost, such as community-development friendly funding.

The argument of government is anchored on the ongoing global energy transition.

Thus, according to them, less cost-efficient companies cannot survive today. Fifty dollars per barrel production cost cannot survive.


In admission to some of the cost- impacting challenges, Nigerian companies experience in the course of production, the Minister said, “There are issues of security. Many companies are hiring their own armies and we can’t continue like that. Issues of taxes and others have to be addressed. Our practices must change so that service providers can deliver.

So, we can achieve economic growth and our partners can derive benefits. It’s not CSR but pure business. We must have the best of fiscal environment and policies so that cost of operation can come down and our target is at least $10/barrel.”


Crude has hit the $60 and Sylva reiterated “It comes with a product price increase.

We are trying to keep the country wet. We are engaging with labour. No provision for subsidy in the budget.”

At a time when the country is battling to stem the tide of the insecurity that is threatening to throw the federation into a civil war, this is the wrong time to foist this measure on the people under whatever guise.


Common sense should make the government recognize the point that business can only thrive in peace time.

Rather than throwing up their hands, in surrender, to the problem, the managers of the nation’s petroleum resources are expected to explore and exploit the low-hanging fruits it can leverage on to make petrol products available and affordable for Nigerians.

The time calls on the oil managers to fast track the commissioning of the 650kbpd and other smaller Refineries that could be quickly worked on to come onstream.


The impression given by the Minister, in his recent remarks, is that government is refusing to see fuel, particularly, as not just a business, but a commodity that holds the soul of business operations and citizens daily life in a socio-economic climate that is powered, largely, by one product; fuel.

To that extent, Sylva’s statement would be deemed insensitive and callous considering the hardship they face today.

Every attempt for the government to make Nigerians believe it is helpless, in the face of the increase in the price of petrol products, crumbles on the crucible of the unbridled corruption going on in the nation’s petroleum industry.


Evidently, the Minister is calling on Nigerians to bear the pains, arising from the consequence of the stealing and Product diversion going on in the downstream arm of the industry.

So, through no fault of theirs, Nigerians must bear the pains now brought upon them by the demise of four refineries that would have refined the country’s crude in-country.

A development that would have the country so much money, in hard currency and made the product cheaper and readily available.


Common sense and elementary logic provide the platform; as had been done before under the watch of the late Tam David West, then Petroleum Minister; for NNPC to take its crude to Refineries in exchange for refined products.

That barter arrangement came at little or cost to the country, at that time. Why can that deal not be revived to save Nigerians the needless suffering?

Although, the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) appear similar, operationally, it would appear the current version or variant is bleeding the country’s forex reserves ‘mysteriously.’

It is obvious, therefore, that the suffering of Nigerians are anything but over; as the light they imagined at the end of the tunnel appears to have been put out by this recent assertion by the Minister that the days of fuel price increases are finally upon the citizens.

By Kunle Sanni


The announcement by the presidency of Abdulrasheed Bawa as the chairman-designate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) shocked many of his colleagues Tuesday.

The 40-year-old Mr Bawa will have to be screened and confirmed by the Senate before he steps into office as the substantive chairman of the commission.

At the EFCC’s Lagos office, which Mr Bawa currently heads, detectives and other officials of the commission expressed slightly divergent views on the appointment, with some expressing joy that a “workaholic” who pushed staff beyond their limits would now have his attention diverted to other places, while others expressed sadness that a reformer who “transformed” the Lagos office would now have to pay less attention to the Lagos office.

“He’s a workaholic who pushes people to work hard, sometimes too hard,” said a senior detective at the EFCC’s Lagos office, adding that “he hardly approves casual leave and has no regard for COVID-19 protocols. You just must come to the office and work.”

“Spirit (as Mr Bawa is called by his colleagues) really brought professionalism to the Lagos office,” another detective said. “He introduced biometrics to ensure entry and exit of staff can be monitored and has virtually ended the culture of people coming late or not coming to the office. He ensures he gets briefings from team leads, not zonal heads, he tries to know all his staff.”

To understand how Mr Bawa is viewed by his colleagues, PREMIUM TIMES interviewed over 10 EFCC operatives including two senior police officers working at the commission, all of whom have worked directly with Mr Bawa in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan or Port Harcourt — the four EFCC bases that the nominee has worked from. All of them asked not to be named as they are not permitted to talk to the media.

“Actually Bawa is one of the more thoughtful officers in the EFCC, a former senior official of the EFCC said. “He is also very hard working. What I can remember is that he is one of the finest in his course set. I will say that being the first product of the EFCC academy to head the agency makes good of the promise to end the reign of police leadership.”

Our findings reveal that Mr Bawa’s colleagues see him as a young, brilliant, hardworking, and ambitious reformer who would most likely deliver if his backers in government, including Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s attorney-general, do not interfere with his job. Mr Malami engineered the exit of the former acting chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Magu, and is believed to be one of the nominee’s major backers.

Mr Malami is from the same Kebbi State as Mr Bawa, although while the attorney-general is from Birnin-Kebbi local government area of the state, the new EFCC chairman-designate hails from Jega local government. Both men are not known to have any family, business or professional relationship.

However, Mr Malami is believed to have contributed significantly to Mr Bawa’s nomination for the top EFCC job.


Abdulrasheed Bawa: Profile

Mr Bawa, 40, joined the EFCC in 2005 as one of its pioneer cadets (Course 1).

He graduated from the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics (Second Class Upper) in 2001.

Mr Bawa, who joined the EFCC as an Assistant Detective Superintendent in 2005, also holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy which he obtained from the same university in 2012.

Mr Bawa has spent all his work life at the EFCC and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of London.

He has successfully investigated and testified in the prosecution of many cases leading to convictions and recovery of looted monetary and material assets across the world.

He has been head of the EFCC team investigating Diezani Allison-Madueke from 2015 till date. His team has recovered millions of dollars worth of property in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. No fewer than 92 of such assets are in Nigeria.

He also supervised the investigations of Atlantic Energy Group — from 2014 to 2015 — leading to the recovery of assets in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and Canada.

“Most times, when the EFCC is collaborating with the London Metropolitan Police on investigations, Bawa is usually tasked to head the team. He is that brilliant,” a detective, who worked with Mr Bawa on some of the investigations, said.

Mr Bawa, once his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, will set two records: the youngest ever EFCC chairman and the first EFCC chairperson who is not a police officer.

Among his colleagues that we spoke to, no one expressed doubt about Mr Bawa’s capacity and commitment to the commission. However, they all speculated about his relationship with Mr Malami while some described him as being “very ambitious.”


The Bawa Network and the battle with Magu

Mr Bawa has worked with all EFCC chairpersons since inception, but those close to him say he was closest to Ibrahim Lamorde, a retired deputy inspector-general of police, who headed the EFCC between November 2011 and November 2015.

When Mr Magu was appointed acting EFCC chairman in November 2015, he developed a close working relationship with Mr Bawa. Both men worked under Mr Lamorde and under Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer chairman of the agency.

“They knew each other very well. In fact, Bawa was the first among his course mates that Magu appointed head of zonal office,” a senior official who worked with both Messrs Magu and Bawa said, referring to when Mr Bawa was appointed the head of the Ibadan zonal office in June 2018.

Their good working relationship continued when Mr Bawa was moved from the Ibadan zonal office to Port Harcourt zonal office in January 2019. It was from there that their relationship went south, those familiar with the matter said.

Recent media reports said Mr Magu had in the past ordered Mr Bawa arrested and detained for alleged theft of some confiscated petro-laden fuel tankers. But PREMIUM TIMES has since determined that report to be inaccurate.

The truth of the matter, our findings show, is that sometime in 2019, the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the commission, then headed by Mr Bawa, identified 244 trucks alleged to have illegally dealt in petroleum products and whose owners could not be traced. It wanted the trucks permanently forfeited to the federal government and obtained Mr Magu’s approval to proceed.

On May 31, 2019, Justice Isaq Sani of the Federal High Court gave an order of interim forfeiture of the trucks. In compliance with that order, the EFCC publicised details of the trucks in The Nation newspaper’s edition of June 21, 2019. The court granted a final forfeiture order on July 5, 2019.

However, as a result of the publication in the newspaper, owners of 45 of the trucks emerged, saying their drivers acted without their consent. The commission’s legal department then advised Mr Bawa that it would be illegal to auction the trucks whose drivers confessed to having acted alone.

The legal department quoted Section 25 (iii) of the EFCC Establishment Act to back its advisory. That section states, “No means of conveyance shall be forfeited under this section to the of an interest of an owner, by reason of any act established by that owner to have been committed without the knowledge, consent or willful connivance of that owner.”

The legal department also advised that rather than allow the 45 truck owners who showed up to challenge the final forfeiture order granted by the court, the commission should release their trucks to them and prosecute their drivers.

Based on that advice, Mr Bawa’s zone released the 26 of the trucks to their owners on bond. Also around that time, it was found that due to duplication and serial numbering problem, there were actually 235 trucks instead of the 244 Mr Magu earlier reported to the presidency via a July 29, 2019 letter.

When Mr Magu became aware that the 26 trucks had been released based on the EFCC law and the commission’s legal department’s advice, he became angry that there were now fewer trucks than he had reported to the presidency. He directed Mr Bawa to give him a formal report on the matter.

Those familiar with the matter said in his report, Mr Bawa took “absolute responsibility” for his zone’s action, saying all the 26 trucks/vehicles were released on bond and could be recovered.

“It was eventually determined that no truck was missing and that Mr Bawa and his colleagues at the Port Harcourt zone did not engage in any underhand dealings,” an EFCC insider said.

Mr Magu later redeployed Mr Bawa from Port Harcourt and transferred him to the EFCC training academy in Abuja, a posting many considered a punishment.

Three of our sources, two of whom are close to Mr Bawa, say it was from that point that Mr Bawa started getting closer to Mr Malami.

Mr Magu has yet to speak on Mr Bawa’s nomination, but one of his lawyers raised an eyebrow with the appointment, saying Mr Magu has not been treated fairly as he was controversially removed without being indicted of any offence while his reputation was smeared.


The Appointment/Confirmation

Since presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, announced Mr Bawa’s appointment as EFCC chairman on Tuesday, there have been widespread reports that the attorney-general played a role in the appointment, although no concrete evidence has been adduced for the speculations.

The next stage is for the Senate to review Mr Bawa’s appointment for possible confirmation. With the Senate dominated by President Muhammadu’s Buhari’s loyalists, the lawmakers are expected to confirm the nominee.

However, some EFCC officials said they would be looking forward to seeing how Mr Bawa would guard the independence of the EFCC from Mr Malami’s influence.

“We are happy,” one operative said. “At least Bawa is one of us, not a police officer. As for Malami, we will be watching.”

months after President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded the nomination of his Special Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie to the Senate for confirmation as a national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Red Chamber is yet to commence legislative work on the request.

Onochie’s fate is delaying the confirmation of three other INEC nominees submitted to the Senate.

President Buhari had, on October 12, nominated Onochie (Delta), Professor Muhammad Sani Kallah (Katsina) and Professor Kunle Cornelius Ajayi (Ekiti) as national commissioners of the INEC. He also nominated Saidu Babura Ahmad as a resident electoral commissioner (Jigawa).

Buhari, in an executive communication to Senate President Ahmad Lawan, stated that his request was pursuant to Paragraph 14, part I (f) of the Third Schedule to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.

Apart from reading Buhari’s letter on the floor of the Senate, the nomination has not been referred to the Committee on INEC for screening.

As is customary, after the president’s letter seeking confirmation of nominees is read on the floor of the Senate, the request will be referred to the relevant committees on the next legislative day for further action.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the Senate president is yet to act on Onochie’s nomination, with sources saying it was due to the thunderous outrage that trailed her appointment.


3 Other Nominees Affected

The chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano), also confirmed that the names of the four nominees had not been referred to his committee for screening.

Senators, mostly from the leading opposition party and some from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and civil society groups had kicked against her nomination, saying she was “too partisan” to be a commissioner in an important institution like INEC.

Opposition senators said that by nominating Onochie, Buhari had “willfully gone against the constitution he swore to uphold,” and urged him to withdraw it.

“Item F, paragraph 14 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) forbids a card carrying member of a political party to be a member of the INEC,’’ Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, quoted in a short statement.

Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologbondiyan, said the nomination Onochie as INEC national commissioner supported the position of the party that Buhari’s statements “were mere glib talks on electoral sanctity and clearly demonstrates that he has no plans whatsoever to leave a legacy of credible polls.”


Why Senate is yet to act

It was learnt that the Red Chamber decided to suspend legislative action on the three other nominees in anticipation of a response from the presidency.

A top source familiar with the issues surrounding her nomination told Daily Trust on Sunday that Lawan was conscious of the public perception of the Ninth Senate, which critics call a “rubberstamp’’ for always speedily endorsing the executive’s requests.

He said though some senators were contacted to help her scale through the screening, the Senate president is silent on it because acting on Onochie’s nomination “would affect the by-partisan harmony in the Senate.”

Findings revealed that other nominees have been reaching out to some senators to mount pressure on Lawan to refer their nominations to the committee for screening.

The source said, “Apart from reading the executive communication, Lawan has not done anything on it. Who will confirm that kind of nomination? The INEC is an electoral umpire and you are nominating a known aide of the president to be a commissioner there.

“But senators who are close to the three other nominees have been mounting pressure on the Senate president to refer the nominations to the committee and the panel should step down Onochie’s nomination.

“Lawan cares about the public perception of the Senate and has said that the presidency may nominate her for another position.”

On whether Lawan has communicated to the presidency to replace Onochie, the source said the Senate anticipated that its long silence on the request may force the presidency to replace her.

He said, “When the president writes the Senate, after reading the executive communication, the Senate president would refer the nomination to the appropriate committee. The report of the committee will then be considered on the floor, where a resolution on the nomination would be passed.

“The president can write to replace any nominee, irrespective of the stage the screening has reached in the Senate. But the Senate president cannot ask the president to replace any nomination. It is the committee report that the lawmakers will debate and pass a resolution on. I don’t think Lawan wants the committee report to have any negative effect the cordial relationship between both arms. That’s why he has been silent about it.”


How INEC fares without national commissioners

The INEC has 12 national commissioners, two each from the six geopolitical zones. The commission said though there are six national commissioners that are yet to be appointed by the federal government, the commission has a strategy to carry out its activities without the full complement of the commissioners.

National commissioners of the INEC are assigned to oversee some of the states in geopolitical grouping, supervising the resident electoral commissioner in the assigned states.

They also function as chairmen and members of the 15 standing committees.

The INEC standing committees are: Appointment, Promotion and Discipline Committee (APDC), Board of Survey and Technical Equipment Acquisition Committee (BOSTEAC), Board of Electoral Institute (TEI), Election Observation and Party Monitoring Committee (EPMC), Estate, Works and Transport Committee (EWTC), Finance and General Purpose Committee (F&GPC) and Health and Welfare Committee (HWC).

Others are Information Technology and Voter Registration Committee (ITVRC), Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Legal Services and Clearance Committee (LSCC), Operations and Logistics Committee (OLC), Outreach and Partnerships Committee (OPC), Planning, Monitoring and Strategy Committee (PMSC), Security Committee (SC) and Tenders Board (TB).

The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the commission currently has six national commissioners.

According to him, six national commissioners are yet to be appointed by the federal government.

“The chairman and the six available national commissioners have ensured that the commission does not suffer any harm. It is not an easy undertaking, but it is not beyond the team.

“Indeed, the commission has, over the years, developed a unique feature of adjusting itself in this kind of situation. This is not the first time the commission is facing this type of scenario, but it has always demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to survive under pressure,” Oyekanmi said.

He, however, said the commission would be glad to have the remaining six national commissioners in place as soon as possible.


Presidency mum

The Presidency was silent on Saturday over the delay in the confirmation of Onochie and the other three national commissioners.

Daily Trust sent separate messages to Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare after phone calls.

The message read: “Four months after President Muhammadu Buhari sent four names to Senate for confirmation as INEC National Commissioners, including his Special Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, whose nomination attracted stiff opposition for allegedly being a card-carrying member of APC.

“What’s the Presidency doing to ensure the confirmation of these four nominees whose names were submitted even before that of INEC Chairman? Why the delay and silence over the matter?”

There was no response from the two officials.

Foreign techies and innovators have renewed the historic scramble for the Nigerian market, following official restriction of local transactions in cryptocurrencies.

The Guardian learnt that the number and intensity of online meetings with young traders on how they can circumvent the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN)’s restriction on banks and other financial institutions from transacting have increased in several folds since last week.

In one of the meetings in which The Guardian participated by proxy last week, Nigerian youths were invited to subscribe to a credit card launched a few months ago. The selling point of the card described as a lifestyle card is that it enables users to convert cryptocurrencies to five different benchmark currencies – dollar, pound, euro, yen and yuan.

A lead presenter at the meeting hosted on Zoom said each of the cards costs $79, and that it enables users to convert leading coins to any of the five currencies and could be used by any MasterCard compatible platform. He said it would be particularly useful to Nigerian youths, as the CBN “excludes the financial system from crypto trading.” The card, it was revealed, is backed with a full academy that takes subscribers through the complexity of digital currency trading and blockchain technology. Users could store as much as $500,000 in the credit card, which is used globally for any transaction.

Apart from the zoom meeting, Nigerian subscribers who are promised a bonus anytime the card “is swapped” are receiving requests from young Nigerians regularly. Nigeria’s market leader, it was learnt, is available to field questions regularly as the “local economy is crucial to the company.”

There are many other cards and digital apps being marketed to Nigerian crypto devotees as alternatives to the regimented financial system now banned from having anything to do with the fluid investment.

“From Asia to the United States, cryptocurrency trading is the new oil. And they are not taking any chance. They offer different incentives, including bonuses and discounts, just to get a slice of the market,” a source said at the weekend.

On Monday ago, another online engagement was scheduled for 9 pm by another foreign team to take Nigerians through “a simple way to trade in the unlimited digital ecosystem without going through the banking system.”

And as foreigners compete with one another to mine the huge opportunity in the Nigerian market, the number of those signing up for the first time has increased tremendously, The Guardian has also been informed.

A devotee who said he has made over N10 million in profits from digital currencies in the past three years said he had helped more than 10 individuals sign up after the CBN restriction.

“Interestingly, these are some of the people I could not convince to join before the ban. Suddenly, everybody wants to see how it works and how it can actually serve as a side hustle.’ More people are signing up, this seems to balance out the number of people involved in a panic sale,” the source said.

Local startups exchanges, it was also learnt, currently face a herculean task to survive the restriction as banks have severed ties with them. Some of the firms, it was disclosed, are struggling against time to retool their platforms “some of them were not configured to handle peer-to-peer (p2p) trading” before now.

With most of their subscribers moving their accounts to foreign, a source said the companies face an existential threat.

Following the controversy that followed the restriction, the Senate summoned the CBN and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who seemed to have initial contradictory positions on the fad.

Last year, the SEC issued a regulatory framework for virtual and digital assets in Nigeria, recognising the asset classes. It stipulated in the framework that “all Digital Assets Token Offering (DATOs), Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Security Token ICOs and other Blockchain-based offers of digital assets within Nigeria or by Nigerian issuers or sponsors or foreign issuers targeting Nigerian investors shall be subject to the regulation of the Commission.

“Existing digital assets offerings before the implementation of the regulatory guidelines will have three months to either submit the initial assessment filing of documents for registration proper, as the case may be.

“Any person (individual or corporate) whose activities involve any aspect of Blockchain-related and virtual digital asset services must be registered by the Commission and, as such, will be subject to the regulatory guidelines.

“Such services include…reception, transmission and execution of orders on behalf of other persons, dealers on own account, portfolio management, investment advice custodian or nominee services.”

But last weekend, the Commission made a U-turn, saying it aligned with the new position taken by the Central Bank.

“SEC made its statement at the time to provide regulatory certainty within the digital asset space, due to the growing volume of reported flows. Subsequently, in its capacity as the regulator of the banking system, the CBN identified certain risks, which if allowed to persist, will threaten investor protection, a key mandate of the SEC, as well as financial system stability, a key mandate of the CBN.

“In light of these facts, we have engaged with the CBN and agreed to work together to further analyse, and better understand the identified risks to ensure that appropriate and adequate mitigants are put in place, should such securities be allowed in the future,” the institution said in its latest release.

But an economist at the Lagos Business School, Dr. Bongo Adi, charged the authorities to be forthright and align with global moves as it cannot contain or control digital currency evolution, adding that the underlying technology, Blockchain, is becoming a lifestyle.

Adi said central banking is exceeding its limit as digital currency becomes increasingly more important. With the online communities becoming increasingly contiguous, he wondered how the CBN intends to keep the digital currencies at bay.

“It is not about legal capability, it is about technological capability. Technological capability is superior to legal capability. It is about what you can do and not what you want to do.

“The transaction volume on Aliba maybe a million times higher than the transaction in naira. If Aliba wants to introduce a medium of exchange for users of the platform, how do you regulate them? If you ask me, the shelf life of central banking has expired,” he insisted.

The economist charged the CBN to follow other central banks who are finding creative ways to align with cryptocurrencies, adding that Nigeria cannot run away from Blockchain, which powers digital currencies if it thinks there is a problem with cryptocurrencies.

“The CBN should rather engage smart people to study how the architecture works and stop these shenanigans. You cannot regulate what you do not control. You can regulate the naira because you created it,” Adi said.

A trader and lawyer, Isaac Ijuo, said it was unfortunate that Nigeria has not innovated a way to tax the huge crypto transaction, but making a futile effort to kill the market.

Ijuo said the banks, until recently, were making billions from the market while the government was left out as young chaps made untaxed millions of naira monthly.

In October 2020, a UsefulTulips report claimed that $32.3 million worth of bitcoin was traded in Nigeria, a market rated as second to the United States in terms of volume of transactions.

Another report said Paxful, a leading peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace, has more than a million registered accounts from Nigeria, making up 25 per cent of its customer base. The company reported that Nigeria traded 60,215 bitcoins valued at more than $566 million in five years, from 2015 to 2020.

As authorities find a way to regulate or close the investment window, youths are not ready to back out, as the government is not genuinely interested in job-creating ventures. But beneath this, findings revealed that unmatched return on investment is responsible for the popularity of the window. Hence, the authorities are dealing with a generation who knows nothing about the capital market but go around with global charts on digital currencies on their phones.

There are occasional losses but the earnings are almost irresistible. For instance, bitcoin, the flagship and most capitalised cryptocurrency has gained 210 per cent in capital appreciation in the past three months. As of press time, the year-on-year appreciation was about 400 per cent.

In the past year also, Ethereum, the second leading coin, gained 790 per cent. FTX Token, another leading coin, has also gained over 700 per cent. Some cryptocurrencies have recovered over 1000 per cent, while the least performing tradable assets have recorded at least 300 per cent appreciation.

“How much would you have gained in capital appreciation if you invested in the capital market in the past one year,” Gideon Awoyemi, who plays in the global market actively, asked.

Also, cryptocurrencies give the investors the liquidity and power to make choices uncommon with other investments. Traders monitor their portfolios and can liquidate, buy or convert to another asset anything they choose.

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Monday becomes one of the women leading international organisations after she was named the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.

With this, she joined the select club of women chosen to head an international organisation, becoming the first female and first African chief of the World Trade Organization.

Former Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Nigeria’s first woman finance minister trained as a development economist – she has degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.

66-year-old Iweala spent a quarter of a century at the World Bank, rising to be managing director and running for the top role in 2012, and is seen as a trailblazer in her home country.

– Christine Lagarde: ECB –

France’s Lagarde took over the helm of the European Central Bank in 2019, having been named by EU leaders to serve an eight-year term and becoming the first woman to occupy the role since the ECB was launched in 1998.

Lagarde was a corporate lawyer in the United States before becoming French finance minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, and then the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2011-2019.

According to a 2020 study by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) there are only 14 women heading the world’s 173 central banks.

In 2014 American Janet Yellen entered the history books in becoming the first woman chief of the powerful Federal Reserve, before being ousted by Donald Trump four years later. Following the election of Joe Biden she has become the first female Treasury Secretary.

– Kristalina Georgieva: IMF –

Bulgaria’s Georgieva is the second woman, after Lagarde, to head the IMF. Named in 2019, the economist by training spent most of her career at the World Bank, before becoming its director general in 2017.

– Audrey Azoulay: UNESCO –

The former French culture minister became the second woman in late 2017 to head the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, after Irina Bokova, whom she succeeded. No woman, however, has ever headed the United Nations.

– Ursula von der Leyen: European Commission

Germany’s von der Leyen took over in 2019 as European Commission President, the first woman to head the EU executive.

At the German defence minister for nearly six years, she had been seen for a time as heir apparent to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had named her in each of her governments from 2005 to 2019.

– Winnie Byanyima: UNAIDS –

Uganda’s Byanyima was named in 2019 the first woman to head UNAIDS, which was created in 1995. She had previously headed Oxfam and was an official at the United Nations Development Programme.

Ayinde Minna
Residents of Brighter Road in Minna Niger State were thrown into confusion on Tuesday morning as irate youths who joined traders shopping in the area’s mini-market destroyed the private residence of the Niger State Deputy Governor in Minna, the Niger State capital.

The incident, according to a source, happened around 11.00am when the youths and the traders whose shops were demolished by the Urban Development Board unleashed their anger on the deputy governor’s house.

A source who craved anonymity told this medium that the marketers alleged that they were not given any quit notice by anybody but only to saw caterpillars demolishing people’s shops without allowing them to pack their goods and valuables that were inside.

The source also noted that the traders who demanded justice and equity also demanded the demolition of the house of the deputy governor as it is in the same place with the shops marked for demolition.


The source revealed that the traders lost millions of naira to the demolition as they could not pick even a pin from the site.

One of the shop owners, Mallam Muritala, lamented that the state government has brought him down totally, adding that they never gave him any noticed.
‌
He said they came early yesterday morning and asked him to come out of the shop before they started demolishing it without even allowing him to pack his cash, goods and valuables.


He said, “I was just sitting in my shop and they said come out – their bulldozer was stationed in front of my shop – and immediately they brought me out forcefully. They brought down my entire shop without allowing me to pack my cash, goods and even other valuables. They have taken me back to zero levels, I’m left with nothing.”

Another trader whose shop was also demolished, Moses Dunia, accused the Niger State government of being power drunken for protecting the house of the deputy governor while making life hard for the common man in the area.

While reacting to the incident, the acting general manager of Urban Development Board described the allegation as baseless, adding that all the illegal structures in the area were duly served with notification of the demolition of illegal structures in the state.

The Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, has ordered the immediate closure of all boarding schools in the bandit ravaged areas of the state.

The Governor said the action is necessary to save the life of the students as the areas have already been taking over by bandits.

He said this after a brief meeting with heads of security agencies in the state at the Government House, Minna on Wednesday.

Bello also cried out to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to deploy all necessary mechanisms to help in containing the situation as it is now out of hand.

You could graduate from Harvard University or bag a Ph.D. from MIT, and rise to become the managing director of the World Bank who wins the heart of 164 countries to be voted WTO DG and still be primarily described as a “66-year-old Nigerian grandmother”.

At least three Swiss newspapers — Luzerner Zeitung, Aargauer Zeitung and St. Galler Tagblatt — have all primarily described Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the recently-elected director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), as a 66-year-old Nigerian grandmother.

While Okonjo-Iweala is indeed a grandmother and a 66-year-old, describing her as such after such a major appointment has led to a heavy backlash on and off social media.

The reportage from this section of the Swiss media has been referred to as an expression of racism and gender discrimination.

“This Grandmother will become the new boss of WTO,” the headline of a report by Luzerner Zeitung read, announcing Okonjo-Iweala’s selection as the director-general.

The article was published in the online and hardcopy version of the newspaper. But following the backlash on social media, the online version of the article was edited to read “This 66-year-old Nigerian will head WTO”.

Linda Klare-Repnik, the coordinator environmental and social management system, at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, called the newspaper out on Linkedin.

“Gender discrimination and racism: Swiss newspaper headlines the nomination of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for WTO Director General as ‘This Grandmother will become the new boss of WTO,” she wrote.

“If it had been a white man, the title would have been along the lines of ‘Harvard Economist, ex-World Bank Managing Director and ex Minister of Finance …’

Nadja Schnetzler, who co-founded a Swiss magazine called Republik, asked how the reporter would have written the election of Joe Biden as American president.

“What would you think if you wrote about Biden ‘this grandfather will be US President’?” she tweeted.

Aargauer Zeitung, which also published the same article written by Jan Dirk Herbermann, apologised for the “wrong” reportage.

“Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the first woman to head the World Trade Organization. We presented the 66-year-old economist and former World Bank deputy head in a portrait and focused on her role as a grandmother in the title. That was wrong,” the newspaper tweeted, after the backlash.

“Okonjo-Iweala is much more than that. For example, Harvard economist, as you can read in our text,” the newspaper added, sharing an updated version of the article.

A Ugandan-born academic and development economist in Germany highlighted that the same media would refer to Angela Merkel, who is also 66 as mother, but refer to Okonjo-Iweala as a grandmother.

Okonjo-Iweala has a Bachelor’s in economics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She also holds honourary degrees from over a dozen universities globally.

She was a two-time minister of finance in Nigeria and minister of foreign affairs. She is the first female to take up both jobs.

She is a board member at Twitter, Standard Chartered Bank, and African Risk Capacity. The 66-year-old was up till February 2021, the co-chair of the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate.

She is a member Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) international advisory board; IMF external advisory board; and AU special envoy.

She won the global finance minister of the year 2005 by Euromoney. She was one of the top 100 most influential people in the World for 2014 by TIME Magazine.

She was also one of the top 100 global thinkers for 2011 and 2012 by Foreign Policy.

The top 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine would not have been complete in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 without her name.

She holds some of the highest national honours from Nigeria, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire.

Governor Sani Bello of Niger State has ordered the immediate closure of all the boarding schools in four local government areas of the state.

This is as a result of the abduction of students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara.

Gunmen had invaded the school in the wee hours of Wednesday, raiding hostels and staff quarters.

A student was killed during the operation that lasted for hours.

Addressing a press conference in Minna, the State capital, Bello ordered that boarding schools in Rafi, Munya, Mariga and Shiroro local government areas should be closed indefinitely.

Kingsley Nweze, Chuks Okocha in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna


Apparently apprehending open grazing as the root cause of the prevailing tension between herders and farmers nationwide, North-west governors at yesterday’s meeting with security chiefs in Kaduna, reportedly sought more time to develop ranches seen to be the panacea for the raging conflict in the country.

A reliable source close to the meeting told THISDAY last night that although the governors expressed reservations over the profiling of herders from the Northern part of the country, more recently in the South-west, they, however, agreed that the lasting solution to the incessant conflict is ranching but asked for more time to develop the modern way of animal husbandry.


The National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), service chiefs, and heads of other security and intelligence agencies had met with the governors as part of a planned tour of the six zones of the country to discuss with stakeholders the way out of the worsening security.

The security chiefs assured the governors that efforts are being intensified to arrest the worsening insecurity in the country and proposed another meeting to draw up a roadmap to better security in the region.


“In a bid to develop a road map for peace and security in the region, it was resolved that a date for a follow-up meeting of the North-west stakeholders would be announced to fully deliberate and agree on the new road map,” a statement issued by the ONSA said last night.

Monguno, in company with the Chief of Defence Staff, Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao; the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo; and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, at a town hall meeting on the security crisis in the country, in Kaduna, said President Muhammadu Buhari was determined to end insecurity in the country.


While Gambo was represented by an official, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Muri, stood in for Adamu.

The meeting with governors of the seven states in the North-west and other stakeholders was conveyed to discuss the security challenges bedevilling the region.

As parts of efforts to reinvigorate the fight against insecurity, Irabor told the gathering that the country’s security architecture is being reviewed.

The northern governors, however, asked for more time to implement the ranching option to end the crisis occasioned by transhumance, which has led to frequent clashes between herders and farmers.


The seven states in the North-west, especially Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara, have been under constant attacks by bandits, who invade villages, kill, rape and abduct people for ransom.

The meeting, which was supposed to be a town hall meeting with the governors and key stakeholders in the region to discuss the security challenges, however, did not hold as many of the stakeholders, especially traditional, religious and community leaders did not attend due to the short notice given them.


However, all the seven governors – Kaduna (Malam, Nasir el-Rufai); Kano (Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje); Katsina (Hon. Bello Masari); Kebbi (Senator Atiku Bagudu); Sokoto (Hon. Aminu Tambuwal), and Zamfara (Hon. Bello Matawalle) as well as the chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Simon Lalong, attended.

Addressing the gathering, the NSA said the purpose of the meeting was to address the security challenges facing the country.

According to him, with the new service chiefs, there is a new direction in confronting the security challenges.


He said Buhari was worried about the insecurity.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is very worried about what is going on. He is concerned about loss of innocent lives all over the country.

“What is going on in the North-east and North-west is very troubling to all of us and the president is committed to stopping this terrible situation in which we keep killing each other without regards to the other person’s right to undertake his legitimate undertaking of what choice of work he has decided to undertake,” he stated.


The NSA added that security is the primary responsibility of government, saying: “Nobody is shying away from that.

It is the fundamental responsibility of government to secure the lives of its citizens and their property.

“That is why we decided to take the bull by the horns with my colleague, the chief of defence staff.”

He, however, urged political, traditional and religious leaders to complement efforts by government at all levels to end insecurity.


He said: “I don’t want to believe that we are unable to put an end to what is going on in this country. We want to reassure you that with the appointment of new service chiefs, the government is determined to secure its citizens.”

He charged all the stakeholders to work not just within their local communities, but with the wider society and security agencies to deal with insecurity.

Monguno said: “I know there are some people trying to undermine efforts of the government and also security agencies. This will also be brought to an end. It is difficult but not impossible.


“One thing President Buhari has always said is that as diverse as we are, our greatest strength resides in that diversity.

“Other countries have been able to achieve unity in diversity and there is actually no reason why a country like Nigeria cannot do the same.”

He reassured Nigerians that with the new service chiefs, there is a new direction in confronting this problem.

“All that we require is your understanding and patience. A lot of lives have been lost; unfortunately, we cannot bring back the dead from where they are. We can only pray for the repose of their souls,” he said.


Earlier in his opening remarks, Irabor had said some re-organisations in the security architecture were being undertaken to combat insecurity.

He said they intended to let everyone know, especially the governors in the North-west, as well Nigerians, that the situation in the North-west, security-wise, is of concern to the Commander-in-Chief and to everyone who is in the security and defence sector.

Irabor said security agencies were trying their best to combat insecurity.


“We have come to give you assurances that some reorganisations are being undertaken currently to change the tide of insecurity in the country and across the land.

“We are in no doubt as to whether there are issues. We are in no doubt as to whether you have concerns,” he said.

He said the essence of the meeting was to feel the pulse of the people and to reassure them that the federal government is not asleep in terms of security.


“The National Security Adviser, I as well as the service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of SSS and every other arm of the security agencies are hoping to ensure that there is a difference,” he stated.

In his speech, el-Rufai commended the security agencies for working closely with governors to tackle insecurity.

He said: “Daily, the armed forces and security agencies are losing lives. The bandits are becoming bolder, they even have the audacity now to attack military camps and ambushed those on patrols, yet those that are not informed said that nothing is being done.”


However, a source privy to discussions between the security chiefs and the governors told THISDAY that the states’ helmsmen expressed concern about the profiling of Fulani as criminals, adding that they are under pressure from their people for reprisal against other tribes living in the North.

He said the governors urged their colleagues in the South to speak against the threat to Northerners in their domain.

The governors also reaffirmed that ranching is the best for cattle grazing but want more time for it to be implemented.


“All Fulani or Hausa people should not be profiled as criminals. The criminals among them should be arrested and prosecuted by constitutionally recognised law enforcement agencies. Even in the North, there are Southerners arrested for criminal offences but that does not mean that all Southerners are criminal,” the source explained.

The source added that the governors also pledged to hold regular security meetings with district heads, emirs, and religious leaders.

They also stressed the need to avoid reprisal against Southerners living in the North.

A close source in the party who spoke to SaharaReporters on Sunday said the ruling party is desperate to win the general elections in 2023 by hook or by crook.



There is information that card-carrying members of the All Progressives Congress around Abule Egba and Meiran in Lagos have been begging and promising people money to convince them to register with the party for its revalidation exercise, SaharaReporters has gathered.

A close source in the party who spoke to SaharaReporters on Sunday said the ruling party is desperate to win the general elections in 2023 by hook or by crook.

The source told SaharaReporters about plans to pay people as much as N2, 000 each to register with the party.

However, the payment will not be done immediately.

At Lagos State Property Development Corporation Estate in Meiran, the source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said members of the public are wooed to participate in the exercise for a "token of N2, 000 upon completion of the registration".

An investigation by SaharaReporters showed that upon filling the form for the revalidation exercise, a part is torn off and given to the new inductee to give to their link in the party or the party member who directed them there.

It was, however, gathered that pandemonium broke out on Saturday as some party members had begun to hoard the forms so that only their friends and relatives would benefit from the dole out later.

“There was a fight because of this on Saturday due to suspicion of foul play in the game,” the source said.

“Some members were hoarding the forms for their people, and telling others coming for the registration and revalidation that the forms were not available.”

According to the source, the issue led to a brawl that disrupted the exercise on Saturday.

The source said, “The party wants to compensate people for registering with as low as N2, 000, and they are compiling names of the people based on this. And the members that invited them would also be compensated by the leaders of the party.

“You know this issue of revalidation all boils down to (Asiwaju Ahmed) Tinubu issue in 2023. The party is divided over his matter and they want to do everything to make sure Jagaban contests and wins in 2023.

“The compensation is not immediately. It is going to be something later and it may even be bigger than what is expected depending on who someone knows and what they offer.”

Rebecca Ejifoma

One of the officers of the Lagos State Police Command, Saturday, told arrested protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in a video trending on Twitter that ‘god of iron will kill them.’

The officer said this while addressing the arrested protesters including Mr. Marcaroni. They were handcuffed and stripped of their shirts and singlets.

While one of the officers calmly asked them what they were thinking, an officer was heard cursing the arrested protesters in Yoruba language, “Ogun ma pa yin” (God of iron will kill you).

Not deterred by the arrest of the first set, another group of peaceful unarmed protesters arrived at the Toll Plaza chanting, “How many people government go kill?”.

Although they sat on the ground to demand justice, they were also apprehended like their fellow protesters.

Meanwhile, other protesters who stayed indoor, took to Twitter to vent their disgust over the way the government chose to handle the issue.

A tweeter.user, Idris @alomah, reacted to the arrest thus, “Nigeria will treat peaceful protesters this way yet pamper ‘repentant’ bandits for ‘surrendering’ ammunition. This country is a joke!”

Another Tweeter handle, Dharmie_Charmz @Precious_ayeni, wrote: “I don’t think peaceful protest can do the job again. Since they want to be mad in this country…let’s be mad together.. Make we scatter everything.. And rearrange it after everything has cleared.”

Asaba One Joseph Mukala, popularly known as ‘Pastor’ has been nabbed by detectives for defiling an 18-year-old girl, Godsglory Nnabundo, of Udumuje Quarters at Onicha-Olona in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State.

This came as two lovers – Matilda and Ufuoma Alome – were found dead inside their room along the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Road in Amikpe, Sapele Council Area of the state after returning from a night party.

Also, a 28-year-old man, Dafe Desmond, was arrested by detectives for running away after abandoning the body of his late 18-year-old girlfriend, Blessing Akpovwovwo, in a hospital in Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area of the state.

The newly posted Delta State Commissioner of Police, Ari Muhammed Ali, who declared total war against criminalities in the state at the Command Headquarters in Asaba, said anyone caught would be charged to court.

According to him, an alarm was raised by Goodness Onyepunka, the younger sister of Godsglory that was raped to death in Mukala’s apartment. Mukala was said to have taken her on his motorcycle to his house where he had carnal knowledge of her.

The CP said one Akpovwovwo Ogheneovo of Ugono Village in Abraka wept when one Chief Okponoko Umunade called him on phone to tell him that his daughter, Blessing, died in her boyfriend’s house.

He added that detectives in Abraka Police Division had smoked out the boyfriend, Desmond, who resides at Okwijere Uruoka in Abraka, who abandoned her corpse at Government Hospital Abraka and fled.

The CP said: “Detectives visited the scene, took photograph of the corpse and removed the body to the morgue of the General Hospital at Abraka Town, for autopsy. “Since foul play was suspected, the said Dafe Desmond and one Joel Dafe Ruro, an accomplice, and Mukala, who defiled Godsglory and she died in his room, were swiftly arrested.”

It was learnt that the two lovers were found dead after curious neighbours knocked on their door and got no response. The neighbours peeped through the window and saw them lying motionless – one was said to be on the floor while the other was on the bed.

One of their neighbours, who identified herself as Efe, said the two lovers went for a night party, came back, slept and did not wake up. She lamented that the victims returned to Nigeria last year from an undisclosed overseas trip.

“We were shocked when neighbours raised the alarm this morning that they woke up on the fateful morning and noticed that his vehicle had not moved out of the compound for work and there were no signs that the wife had come out. “We became apprehensive.

Their window was opened but their door was locked inside. We became curious and decided to look through the window. That was how we saw their dead bodies,” Efe said.

Another source linked their death to generator fume. The source said, “Their generator was on yesterday, when they came back, so we are suspecting it must have been the cause of their death.”

The CP, who paraded 30 suspected cult members, 46 COVID-19 curfew violators, six kidnappers, two murder suspects and three armed robbers in Asaba, warned teenage and unmarried girls who are in the habit of connecting to unknown lovers on the Internet to desist from such.

He said a toy rubber gun was recovered from a hotel room in Warri where a Facebook lover girl was driven to for a night out with an unknown lover boy.

According to the CP, the victim, one Joy Meretin of Ogharefe in Oghara Kingdom, reported to the Divisional Police Station in Ebrumede that she was invited though Facebook by a boyfriend, one Prince Ossai, and was received by him along with two other boys.

“She was driven to Ingot Hotel behind Ovie Palace Road in Effurun, along the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Road. At the hotel, she was made to sit in-between them.

“Suddenly, Ossai stood up and gave her a slap on the face, dragged her into the toilet at gun and knife point. She was forced to unlock her phone which she surrendered to them with her ATM card and the password.

“In the process of withdrawing N220,000 from her bank account, they broke the toilet mirror on her face and injured her forehead with the nozzle of the pistol when the Facebook lovers were about to leave,” the CP said.

Mastercard says it will begin to accept cryptocurrencies on its network in 2021.

In a blog post by Raj Dhamodharan, its executive vice president for digital assets, blockchain products and partnerships, the company said it is preparing for the future of crypto and payments.

“Whatever your opinions on cryptocurrencies — from a dyed-in-wool fanatic to utter skeptic — the fact remains that these digital assets are becoming a more important part of the payments world,” the blog post read.

“This is a big change that will require a lot of work. We will be very thoughtful about which assets we support based on our principles for digital currencies, which focus on consumer protection and compliance.

“Our philosophy on cryptocurrencies is straightforward: It’s about choice. Mastercard isn’t here to recommend you start using cryptocurrencies. But we are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value – traditional or crypto – however, they want.

“To be completely clear, not all of today’s cryptocurrencies will be supported on our network. While stablecoins are more regulated and reliable than in the recent past, many of the hundreds of digital assets in circulation still need to tighten their compliance measures, so they won’t meet our requirements.”

Mastercard said this development will create more possibilities for shoppers and merchants to transact in an entirely new form of payment.

It listed consumer protection, strict compliance protocols including know your customer (KYC), compliance with local laws and regulations in the regions where they are used and the ability to be used as a payment option as the criteria to be used in selecting the cryptocurrencies to be added to its network.

The Central Bank of Nigeria recently directed banks and other financial institution to close accounts of persons or entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions.

The CBN argues that cryptocurrencies pose the risk of loss of investments, money laundering, terrorism financing, illicit fund flows and other criminal activities.

Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has criticised the Ogun State Police Command for denying that cows invaded his building in Abeokuta, Ogun State, warning that there would be a Suya feast If such happened again.

Soyinka on Thursday stated that he would invite the police to join the feast as there "will be no lack for cadaver affirmation."

In a reaction titled, "Mad cows and madder narratives," the Nobel laureate from Kemta Housing Estate, Abeokuta, noted that it was unprofessional for the police to deny an incident that had photographs and other obvious proofs.

He said, "For those who truly seek details of the Ijegba incident, I hereby affirm that I was never physically attacked, neither did I attack any cows. The cows and herders did however attack my property – and not for the first time.

"The police need to be very, very careful, learn to be straightforward with public information. Failure to adhere to that obvious, basic form of conduct means that the public will lose total confidence in security agencies and constantly bypass them in times of civic unrest, no matter how trivial or deadly. How on earth could the police claim that my property was not invaded by cattle? It was.

"My groundsmen knew the drill and commenced the process of expelling them. Fortunately, I was then driving out and was able to lend a hand by vehicle manoeuvering. Both cattle and herdsmen were flushed out of my property.

"Once they were outside the gates, I came down from the vehicle and beckoned the herdsmen to come over. At first, they pretended not to understand, then, as I approached, they fled into the bush. We thereupon 'arrested' the cows, confining them to the roadside, while I sent my groundsman, Taiye, to the police to come and take over.

"Since they took rather long in responding, I summoned a replacement and proceeded to the police station. On the way, we met a detachment, turned round, and together we returned to the scene of the crime."

Soyinka noted that the police wanted to commence combing the bush for the herders but he stopped them, asking them to keep the cows and the owners would show up, which was what happened.

"I thoroughly resent the police version which suggests that the cows never invaded my home: home is not just a building, it includes its grounds. And it was not a stray cow, or two or three. It was a herd – we have photos, so why the lie? It is so unnecessary, unprofessional and suspiciously compromised.

"The police suggest that I have nothing better to do than to go accosting cows on the public road – to what end?

"If the police demand proof, the next time such an invasion takes place, I warn that there will be no lack for cadaver affirmation and the police will be officially invited to join in the ensuing Suya feast. So please, let us get serious."

He added that the menace of "cattle imperialism under any guise is an obscenity to humanity."

"So, let me serve notice that we are about to commence a process of public sensitisation; we hope even the police will join hands with the agenda as it progresses.

"A special practical plea: now that the railways are being resurrected, let us make cattle wagons a priority. I grew up with the regular sight of those practical conveyances. It is time to bring them back," he concluded.

Cows had been reported to have invaded the residence of the Nobel laureate on Wednesday - an incident which drew condemnation from various groups and quarters, although the police in Ogun denied the incident, saying it was a case of straying cows.

A woman whose lover demanded for DNA test on their son has vowed that she will never allow that to happen.


DNA palaver


The woman insisted that the child belongs to her lover

A woman has insisted that she will not allow her lover take their son for DNA test.

The woman identified as Chinyere swore that the child belongs to her lover, but said she will not allow him take their child for DNA test.

The drama started after the man accused Chinyere of paternity fraud as he expressed suspicion that he may not be the biological father of their child.

The man subsequently demanded DNA test on their son. But the woman has adamantly refused to carry out the test saying that she is certain that he is the father.

The duo visited a counsellor to settle the issue and the video which is currently making rounds on social media was filmed in the counsellor’s office.

During the session, the woman narrated how she was double dating her alleged baby daddy with another man.

Shortly afterwards, she discovered that she was pregnant and dumped the other guy even though he had intentions to marry her.

She presented the child to the current man as his, but years down the line, the alleged baby father worried that the boy is not his and demanded a DNA test to prove that he is truly the biological father.

From the video, it appears that they are not legally married because the man is married to another woman. Chinyere suspects that his wife is the driving force behind his sudden need for a DNA test.

All efforts to convince the woman to succumb to the demands of her son’s father proved futile. The counsellor further threatened to contact the police and get her arrested because the man has legal right to conduct a DNA test.

Watch the video below:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zq9V_5ZoM0

The office of the inspector-general of police (IGP) will on February 15 arraign Ikedi Ohakim, former governor of Imo state, over alleged harassment of one Chinyere Amuchinwa.

The former governor is to be arraigned alongside one Chinedu Okpareke before Taiwo Taiwo, federal high court judge, on a five-count charge bordering on cybercrime.

Okpareke was earlier arrested and detained in connection with the alleged offences but was released upon fulfilment of his bail conditions.

According to the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/287/2020, the accused persons were said to have threatened to release a nude photograph of Amuchienwa, if she fails to drop the charges of attempted kidnap against them.

In the charge dated November 25, 2020 and signed by M.O. Omosun, a lawyer, the police alleged that Ohakim and Okpareke “knowingly and intentionally transmitted communication through a computer system or network to harass and bully Amuchienwa”.

According to the police, the offence is punishable under Section 24(1)(a) of the Cybercrime Act 2015.

Some of the charges reads: ”That you Chinendu Okpareke ‘m’ 49, and Dr Ikedi Ohakim ‘m’ and others now at large on the 13th day of August 2020 within the jurisdiction of this court did conspire among yourselves by knowingly and intentionally send messages by means of computer system or network in a grossly offensive, pornographic, nude of an indecent obscene and menacing character of one Chinyere Amuchienwa ‘f’ and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 27 (1)(a) of the Cybercrime Act 2015.

”That you Chinendu Okpareke ‘m’ 49, and Dr Ikedi Ohakim ‘m’ and others now at large on the 13th day of August 2020 within the jurisdiction of this court did conspire among yourselves to cause annoyance and criminal intimidation to one Chinyere Amuchienwa ‘f’ and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 27 (1)(a) of the Cybercrime Act 2015.

”That you Chinendu Okpareke ‘m’ 49, and Dr Ikedi Ohakim ‘m’ and others now at large on the 13th day of August 2020 within the jurisdiction of this court did conspire among yourselves by knowingly and intentionally called and threatened one Chinyere Amuchienwa ‘f’ that if she does not drop the first information charge of attempted kidnap against by it and others at large, the nude pictures of the said Chinyere Amuchienwa ‘f’ will be posted to CNN and all over the world and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 24 (1)(a) of the Cybercrime Act 2015.”

Ohakim is also standing trial before a federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Maitama on a three-count charge bordering on criminal defamation against Amuchienwa.

A businesswoman, Bukola Ejalonibu, on Friday told a Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan to dissolve her 23-year-old marriage to estranged husband, Kolawole because he uses charms on her during sex.

In her petition, Bukola prayed the court to grant her prayer for divorce because: ”my husband uses charms on me before sleeping with me’.

“My lord, my life is in danger. Every time he uses the charms, I fainth and have to be hospitalised. Kolawole is a reckless drunk and can kill me,” she said.

She alleged that Kolawole threw her things out of the house and has destroyed her supermarket.

In his defence, Kolawale, said that his wife was an ingrate.

”She wants me dead so that she can inherit my property.

“I opened a multi-million Naira supermarket for her. I gave her money. My wife is promiscuous,” he alleged.

After listening to the testimonies, the president of the court, Chief Ademola Odunade dissolved the marriage.

Odunade granted custody of the first two children to Kolawole and the last two to Ejalonibu.

He ordered the respondent to pay N10,000 as monthly feeding allowance to Ejalonibu.

NAN

Chuknovski:
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Sulaimon Olooru, first son of the Seriki Fulani of Eggua community in the Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Adamu Olooru, has said the Nigeria Police are clueless about curtailing the criminal activities of killer Fulani herders across the country.

He said a new approach must be devised to fight the murderous nomads for peace to reign in the country.

Adamu told SaharaReporters in an exclusive interview on Monday in Eggua.

Speaking about his ordeal in the last few days, Sulaimon noted that the Nigeria Police had merely been fighting the killer Fulani herdsmen with theories with no practical improvements to show for it.

“I just left a meeting in Aiyetoro now. We had a meeting with the police. We have had a series of meetings like that in the past which yielded no successful results. Personally, I think the Nigeria Police cannot handle these criminal Fulanis. They don’t know what to do,” Sulaimon said.

He said the police do not even act on intelligence given to them prior to an attack and would rather wait for people to get killed before they respond.

“When we hear about the possibility of an attack or assault that might come from the nomads, we inform the police. But all that they tell you is to write a report. In most of these cases, they are even endangering the lives of people that give the information.

“In the end, they won’t make any moves until the incident has happened. And, they don’t arrest the criminals, instead, they will be asking you if you can identify one of the criminals. Who has the courage to identify criminals with guns and dangerous weapons?”

According to him, the lasting solution to the persistent crisis between farmers and herders in the country is that each region of the country should either manage their territory or break away.

“Honestly, I’m fed up with this crisis. I think what is best for all of us is to manage the land in each state or region by ourselves. Or, let regions break away in Nigeria if that will help us.

“I’m begging you, help us to tell the Nigerian government that if the police cannot handle insecurity in the country, we should go our separate ways.”

Sulaimon’s father, Seriki Fulani of Eggua, Adamu Olooru, recently fled the community after his house and a Fulani settlement where cattle were sold in the area, were burnt by some youths.

An Ibadan-based rights activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, had stormed Eggua with his lieutenants to assist the residents of the troubled community drive out Fulani herdsmen, whom they had blamed for the incessant kidnappings, killings and farm destructions in their area.

Shortly after Igboho's visit, the residence of Olooru was set ablaze as he was blamed for doing nothing about the criminal activities perpetrated by killer Fulani herders in the area.

Sulaimon told SaharaReporters that his father had relocated to Abeokuta following the incident.

He, however, did not disclose the area where his father moved to in Abeokuta.

Some hours before the Oyo State government assured residents of the state that the Ibarapa area of the state was now safe for people to move without fear or intimidation, motorists in three cars were attacked by suspected herdsmen in Eruwa, capital of Ibarapa East Local Government area of the state.

The incident was said to have occurred at a place known as Okolo in Eruwa.

The Commandant of Oyo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun Corps), Col. Olayinka Olayanju (rtd), had earlier declared that Ibarapaland was safe and free of killer herdsmen and kidnappers.

The Commandant, who stated this in a statement made available in Ibadan, said he would volunteer to lead anyone interested in touring the parts of Ibarapaland earlier hit by herders/farmers’ crisis.

He also denounced some audio and video posts on social media, which tend to raise what he called "clearly unfounded alarms" about the Ibarapa security situation, saying he had been moving in and out of the area for days now.

According to him, farmers and the law- abiding people in the area are going about their businesses without molestation.

But an eyewitness told Saharareporters in Ibadan that the attack on the people of Eruwa on Sunday morning led to burning of the Fulani settlement in Eruwa.

He said many travellers who sustained injuries during the attack, have been taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment, but however added that nobody was killed in the incident.

Meanwhile, the state government on Monday said the Ministry of Health in the state had commenced the treatment of three victims of herdsmen attacks in Igangan area.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Bashir Bello, who spoke to newsmen in Ibadan, said that the trio were currently receiving treatment in a government hospital in Ibadan and in stable condition.

Bello stated that the decision to relocate the victims of herdsmen attacks to Ibadan was taken by Makinde during his visit to Igangan last week.

He said that the governor had directed the state's Ministry of Health to arrange for the state government to foot the hospital bills of the three victims.

A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the commissioner as saying that all necessary biomedical and laboratory investigations had been conducted on the three victims.

He added that the trio, namely Isaiah Seun, 26; Emmanuel Aderogba, 71; and Adekola Adeyemo, 65, have been attended to by both orthopedic surgeons and specialists, and that they are all doing well at the Ring Road State Hospital, Adeoyo.

He maintained that the cost of all the investigations done, laboratories' investigations and the x-rays were borne by the state government, adding that the hospital management hds been given the mandate to give the victims everything required without paying any bill.

According to Bello, Makinde gave his word at Igangan that the victims would be taken care of, even if it required tertiary health facilities' attention, noting, however, that upon evaluation, it was discovered that the three cases could be managed properly by secondary health facilities.

He said: “Following the directive of His Excellency that the ministry should take charge of the three victims of herdsmen attack at Igangan. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, the Permanent Secretary of the Hospital Management Board and a team of medical doctors went down and combined with the chairman of Ibarapa North-West LCDA, and brought the three victims; one is Isaiah Seun, a 26-year-old bricklayer and commercial motorcycle rider before the injury occurred. He had a head injury and was fairly conscious and alert when brought in.

"The second was an elderly man of 71 years, Mr. Emmanuel Aderogba, with a fractured right radius. He is also being hospitalised. The third man is 65-years-old, Mr. Adekola Adeyemo, also with a head injury. He was a tree-felling machine operator.

“All of them have been taken care of; X-rays were done for those with fractures and head injuries. All necessary biomedical and laboratory investigations have been conducted. They have been attended to by both orthopedic surgeons and specialists necessary and they are all doing well now in the hospitals. They are all at Ring Road State Hospital, Adeoyo.

"I must mention that all attentions given, investigations done, laboratories investigations and the X-rays were free because the costs were borne by the state government.

"They will also be very happy to report on their state of health and the hospital management has been given the mandate to give them all that is required, that is, without any bills. All bills will be settled by the Hospital Management Board and the Ministry of Health.

"The governor gave the word that he will take special care of them even if it will require tertiary attention. But by our evaluation, it is a case that the secondary health care facility can properly manage. We thank the governor for the very positive action taken and we also thank him for his concern for the welfare of the citizenry entirely.”

Segun Adewole

The Chief Press Secretary to the Lagos State Governor, Gboyega Akosile, has reacted to the planned protest slated for Saturday, February 13, 2020, against the reopening of the Lekki tollgate in the state.

The organisers of the protest are angered by a ruling for the tollgate to be reopened as issued by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses.

The control of the tollgate, which was the epicentre of the October 2020 #EndSARS protest against police brutality and bad governance in Nigeria, was ordered to be returned to the Lekki Concession Company.

Not pleased by the panel’s decision, some Nigerians on Twitter threatened to occupy the tollgate on Saturday to express their displeasure.

Reacting to the planned protest, Akosile, in response to a tweet with the hashtag #DontLetThemBringLagosDown, said “nobody will bring our dear Lagos State down! Their rights end where other people’s rights begin.”

Lagos State had witnessed the destruction of public and private properties during the #EndSARS protest, before and after the alleged Lekki tollgate shooting by soldiers.