₦airaland Forum

“We expect that the naira would appreciate further. We have always said that what happened last week was purely a speculative attack". - Ecobank Analyst

• BDCs to introduce forex band, reforms for parallel market

Foreign currency speculators, who launched an unprecedented attack against the naira in the last two weeks, got their fingers burnt on Tuesday when the nation’s currency staged a major recovery, rising to N310 to a dollar at the close of business, compared to N375 at which it sold on Monday.

The naira fell to an all-time low of about N400 to a dollar on the parallel market last week fuelling concerns that it would plummet further to N450-N500/$ this week.

But findings from THISDAY showed that the naira defied expectations, climbing to as high as N305 to the dollar at some parallel market points in Lagos on Tuesday afternoon, before settling at N310.

Forex dealers and currency analysts attributed the significant gain on the parallel market to excess supply of the greenback in the market, even as it looked like a lot of speculators lost the shirts on their back.

THISDAY gathered from a reliable source that speculators who thought that by attacking the currency last week, coupled with misplaced concerns that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was going to stop the allocation of forex for school fees and medical bills abroad, this would compel the central bank and President Muhammadu Buhari to alter their stance against the devaluation of the currency.

But they were disappointed when Buhari, in Egypt at the weekend, adamantly ruled out the devaluation of the naira on the grounds that Nigeria does not have the competitive advantage to benefit from an official currency adjustment.

Reacting to the president’s stance, speculators who had been betting that the naira would depreciate further, started dumping the dollars with reckless abandon, effectively creating excess supply of the greenback in the parallel market.

Commenting on the situation in the secondary forex market, the chairman, Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said: “The market is moving from perception to reality.”

Similarly, an analyst at Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Ezun, predicted that the naira would edge higher in the coming days.

“We expect that the naira would appreciate further. We have always said that what happened last week was purely a speculative attack.

Some people felt that if they pushed the naira down to that level, they could force the CBN to devalue, so that when the naira is devalued and the gap widens further, they would now bring out the dollar cash to make a kill,” Ezun said.

He however urged the fiscal authorities to introduce policies that would help stimulate economic activities, saying that the fundamentals of the economy were still weak.

ABCON also aligned with the federal government’s decision not to further devalue the naira.
Gwadabe said this at a media briefing, pointing out that devaluing the naira would create more problems than it would solve.

He said that as a way of enhancing transparency in the BDC sub-sector, his association had decided to introduce a forex rate band weekly.

This rate band is expected to serve as a guide for all BDCs and the public on the prevailing exchange rate across the country, he added.
In addition, it will be operated in line with the regulated forex rate in the economy.

“This is to forestall exploitation of forex end users, and also to ensure that end users are informed to avoid falling victims of exploitation.

“The band will be announced via weekly press releases that will be circulated to the media for publication.

“ABCON will introduce a series of measures aimed at transforming the operations of BDCs in Nigeria to align with global best practices. These include: review and updating of BDC operational manual; introduction of live trading platforms; automation of all transactions and documentation requirements; and increased partnership with the CBN and other relevant agencies.

“Further, as part of its responsibility as a self regulatoryorganisation (SRO), and also in continuation of its aim to transform its members to compete within the global regulatory currency market, ABCON will seek the approval of relevant monetary and fiscal authorities as well as partnership for effective use of the nation's external reserves to enhance domestic trade and foreign exchange management.

“To this end, our website and internet platforms will be developed to position BDCs to serve as agents of Western Union and currency auctioneers.

“We would also develop platforms that will allow our members to access sources of autonomous foreign exchange like govt agencies, embassies, IOCs and export proceeds, etc,” he explained.
He also urged the federal government to introduce policies that would diversify the economy to increase non-oil export earnings, and reduce imports.

This, according to him, would lead to increased foreign exchange inflow and a reduction in demand for foreign exchange.

In addition to policies that would diversify the economy, ABCON suggested that the CBN should review the policy of dollar importation into the economy for the purpose of defending the naira.

According to the association, the central bank should introduce a policy whereby the naira is used to intervene in the real sectors of the economy to boost productivity.

Furthermore, Gwadabe said as a way of reducing demand for dollars, the CBN should explore the option of promoting the use and acceptability of naira for transactions within the West African sub-region.

He added: “We observe that this is already happening at the level of informal trading activities within the sub-region, and it is our belief that this can be replicated at the level of formal economic activities.”

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/speculators-get-their-fingers-burnt-naira-strengthens-to-n310-/232783/

Senator Uche Ekwunife, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the March 28, Anambra Central senatorial election may not be qualified to participate in the re-run election ordered by the Enugu Appeal panel which nullified her election.

From the full text of the certified true copy of the Appeal Court obtained in Enugu, yesterday, the appellate court held that the 11th respondent (Ekwunife) “was not the product of a valid primary and was therefore, not duly and legitimately nominated.

“That has disqualified her from contesting the election into the Anambra Central district.”

The court cited Supreme Court ruling on Wambai Vs Donatus (2014) that “a person cannot be qualified to be a candidate of a party except and unless he is nominated and sponsored by a political party.”

The court held that neither Ekwunife nor the PDP led evidence to prove that there was a primary and those who participated in such a primary where Ekwunife was elected.

Chairman of the appeal panel Justice A.D. Yahaya, who read the judgment said: “After an election, if a person wishes to challenge the result of the election on ground of nomination/pre- election matter, he can legally do so before a tribunal under Section 138 (1) (a) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended and it is wrong to hold that an election tribunal does not have jurisdiction to hear and determine such a matter.”

“Nomination is part and parcel of qualification to stand for an election and since an election can be challenged on the grounds of lack of qualification, it follows that the appropriate forum to challenge it after the election is held is the Election Tribunal.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/a-court-bars-pdp-ekwunife-from-anambra-central-senatorial-re-run/

UMUAHIA—ABIA State Government said henceforth, pupils and students in both public and private primary and secondary schools would be not admitted unless they produce tax receipt of their parents.

The state Commissioner for Information, Bonie Iwuoha who announced this explained that it was the decision of the State Executive Council.

The government also directed all private and public schools to introduce skill acquisition studies in their curricula, saying it would help students develop their talents.

According to Iwuoha, the policy would also apply to returning pupils and students in January.

Iwuoha further announced that the government had also directed its ministries and agencies to henceforth, stop appointing revenue agents for the collection of revenue, warning that any agency that flouts the directive would be sanctioned.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/no-tax-receipt-no-admission-of-pupils-students-abia-govt/

• Ex-minister must face probe, says Oshiomhole
• EFCC: We’ll recover stolen funds
• Dokpesi arraigned, remanded in custody over N2.1bn

Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has opened up on why she approved the transfer of $322 million (about N61.4 billion) recovered from the late former Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha, to the office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). Dasuki is being probed for the $2 billion arms procurement scandal.

Okonjo-Iweala insisted that the sum of $322 million transferred to Dasuki’s office as NSA was solely for the purpose of prosecuting the war against insurgency in the North-East. She, however, decried attempts by some persons to link her with the messy $2.1 billion arms procurement scam. Okonjo-Iweala said the disbursement was done with the full approval of the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, based on the recommendations of a presidential commit-tee.

She recalled that throughout 2014, there were public complaints by the military hierarchy to President Jonathan about the inadequacy of funds to fight the anti-terror war in the North-East, resulting in Boko Haram making gains and even taking territories. According to her, a lot of the criticisms were directed at the Federal Ministry of Finance under her watch, which was accused of not doing enough to find funds for the operations.

In a statement issued by her Media Adviser, Paul Nwabiuku, the former minister said that as a Minister of Finance, her responsibilities entailed, amongst others, to find sources of funding for the financing of approved national priorities such as security, job creation and infrastructure.

“In fact, the ministry, on several occasions, had to call press conferences to provide details of budgetary spending on the military, to show, against the background of limited resources and other urgent national priorities, that it was doing its best on funding security,” she said.

The former minister clarified that it was during the heat and intensity of Boko Harram assault that some new Abacha funds of about $322 million were returned with another $700 million still expected to be returned. She explained that the fresh recovered Abacha loot was not part of funds returned in 2005-2006 under the Obasanjo government whose use for developmental purposes was monitored by the World Bank.

To ensure the funds were judiciously used, she said, Jonathan set up a committee comprising of the former Minister of Justice, former NSA and herself to determine how best to use both the returned and expected funds for development. “The NSA made a case for using the returned funds for urgent security operations since, he noted, there cannot be any development without peace and security. Based on this, a decision was taken to deploy about $322 million for the military operations, while the expected $700 million would be applied for development programmes as originally conceived.

“Following the discussions and based on the urgency of the NSA’s memo, Dr Okonjo-Iweala requested the president to approve the transfer of the requested amount to the NSA’s office for the specified purposes.

“But, as captured in the memo, she insisted on three conditions:

(a) Only a part, not the entire Abacha funds would be spent on the arms; the rest would be invested in developmental projects as originally conceived.

(b.) The money was to be treated as borrowed funds, which would be paid back as soon as possible.

(c). The NSA’s office was to account for the spending to the president who was the Commander in Chief, given the fact that the Minister of Finance is not part of the security architecture and does not participate in the Security Council,” the statement stated.

An online newspaper, Premium Times, had yesterday reported that the former minister approved the transfer of the N61.4 billion. Okonjo-Iweala’s letter, dated January 20, 2015, which was addressed to the former President Goodluck Jonathan, revealed that the money was transferred following a January 12, 2015 request by the Office of the NSA under Dasuki.

The request was to fund procurement of arms and ammunition as well as intelligence equipment. “Please find a request by the National Security Adviser (NSA) for the transfer of $300 million and £5.5 million of the recovered Abacha funds to an ONSA (Office of the National Security Adviser) operations account,” the letter read.

“The NSA has explained that this is to enable the purchase of ammunition, security, and other intelligence equipment for the security agencies in order to enable them fully confront the ongoing Boko Haram threat. “His request is sequel to the meeting you chaired with the committee on the use of recovered funds where the decision was made that recovered Abacha funds would be split 50-50 between urgent security needs to confront Boko Haram and development need (including a portion for the Future Generations window of the Sovereign Wealth Fund),” Okonjo-Iweala wrote.

She added that the letter was to seek Jonathan’s approval for the funds to be disbursed to the ONSA. The former minister further explained that the money being transferred formed part of the Federal Government Independent Revenue, adding that the Presidency should oversee the disbursement of the fund. “This letter is to seek your approval to borrow these funds, for now, to disburse to the NSA.

These funds form part of the projected Federal Government Independent Revenue, to be appropriated, in the light and for accountability, given the peculiar nature of security and intelligence transactions, we would expect the NSA to account to Your Excellency for the utilisation of the funds,” she concluded.

Former President Jonathan, in a letter dated January 30, 2015, approved the transfer. Meanwhile, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the probe on the alleged $2 billion arms deal to Okonjo- Iweala.

Oshiomhole insisted that the former Finance Minister would not pretend to be innocent in the whole saga. He said Okonjo-Iweala has clear questions to answer regarding the probe of the $2 billion arms deal which has also led to the arrest of other prominent Nigerians, including the chairman of DAAR Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi; former Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa; erstwhile Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda. The Edo State governor, who spoke to State House Correspondents after a meeting with Buhari at the presidential villa, said the Federal Government should not limit the probe to the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), who is currently in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alone. He said:

“The government has to go the whole hog, because I know as a governor that no money gets out of the treasury even after I have approved as the governor without the approval of the Commissioner of Finance. This is the procedure. “So, the probe should go into whether all these monies are appropriated at all, when the money got out of the treasury and through whom? The Minister of Finance, under the rules, must endorse before money gets out of the treasury before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approves.

The governor insisted that it was not possible to withdraw such huge funds from the treasury without the knowledge of the former Finance Minister. He noted that Dasuki was just one of the bleeding points in the country’s treasury. “Dasuki is just one bleeding point. They are several bleeding points in the system. You look at the total number of expenditure on subsidy which the World Bank have released figures just now, about N7 trillion over the past four to five years,” he added.

http://newtelegraphonline.com/2015/12/okonjo-iweala-on-arms-dealwhy-i-approved-n61bn-abachas-loot-for-dasuki/

TonyeBarcanista:
Guy forget this distraction. Both parties raised it in their respective suit against the INEC declared winners. This is not even the matter on ground.

Barca both parties raised it at the tribunal but one successfully proved his own {even called INEC to testify on its behalf} while the other didn't.

See reasons below:

1. Justice Elizabeth Karatu of the Benue Tribunal dismissed the petition of Terhemen Tarzor for lack of diligent prosecution. After assuming jurisdiction to entertain the matter and recognizing Tarzoor’s locus standi to challenge the emergence of the APC candidate, Justice Karatu anchored her judgement on the provisions of Section 177 and 138(1)(c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and held that Governor Ortom met all the criteria for being recognized as the validly elected candidate of the APC.

She went further to point out that the petitioner failed to provide valid evidences to show that the APC did not hold its primaries as required by law.

According to her, the petitioners witness (one) made mockery of the Tribunal by presenting to it a report of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on the APC primaries which was not written on an INEC letter headed paper nor signed by the relevant persons.

Justice Karatu further pointed out the failure of the petitioner to spell out the relief being sought in the matter.

She held that “by the provisions of Section 140(2) of the 2010 Electoral Act as amended, in the face of the paucity of facts presented before the Tribunal, the petitioner has to succeed on the strength of his own case.”

She stated that this principle was discountenanced by the petitioner in the course of the trial thereby dealing a blow to his petition.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/09/benue-petition-tribunal-upholds-ortoms-election/.

2. Tarzoor and the PDP had also alleged that Ortom was not qualified for the contest, following his improper resignation from the PDP. Delivering judgment on the matter, Justice Elizabeth Karatu’s led panel held that the petitioner failed to provide evidence to the petition, including PDP membership register which could have shown that Ortom was still in PDP. She therefore ruled that: “on whatever condition Ortom qualified to contest.”

http://beta.dailytrust.com.ng/news/politics/tribunal-upholds-ortom-s-election/111758.html

TonyeBarcanista:
Neither did APC went to court on such ground in Taraba state. It was INEC that brought it up before the tribunal in their testimony.
There is no way APC can legitimately escape this

APC actually did, see proof below:

TonyeBarcanista:
Just yesterday, the Taraba state governorship election petition tribunal that sat in Abuja nullified the election of Governor Ishaku Darius of the PDP in favor of Hajia Aisha Alhassan of APC. The decision was based on the ground that Architect Ishaku Darius was not validly nominated by the PDP in contravention of Sections 78, 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act(EA 2010). Specifically, the tribunal held that the PDP never had legal candidate for the Taraba poll.

If we are to go by the judgement, then it will be fair for the Benue state election tribunal to nullify the election of Governor Samuel Orthom of APC because his nomination contravened S 78(b)(1)(2), 85(1) and 85(2) of the Electoral Act as well.

Governor Orthom's Illegitimate Nomination:
According to INEC's timetable for 2015 General election, primary election of candidate was slated for October 2 and December 11, 2014.

The APC Governorship primary election for Benue state was originally slated for December 4/5 2014, but it wasn't held. It was again shifted to December 11, 2014(deadline) but NO primary election was held on the said day. No report that any delegate participated in ANY primary election on that day. The party 'elders' settled for a consensus candidate before the midnight of the day. Even the pro-APC Nations Newspaper reported that;

"Chief Ortom emerged after other governorship aspirants stepped down for him at the end of a close door meeting brokered by the senate minority leader, Senator George Akume, in Makurdi."
www.thenationonlineng.net/benue-apc-settles-ortom-governorship-candidate/

In fact, the five other APC aspirants including, Emmanuel Jime, Mike Iordye, Akange Audu, Sen Joseph Waku and Prof Steve Ugbah released a statement on December 12, 2014 to REJECT the arrangement of the so-called party elders in Benue state (see here www.leadership.ng/news/394871/benue-apc-primaries-5-guber-aspirants-reject-ortom).

Further more, INEC was NOT present at the dead of the night to witness the illegitimate arrangement that was held inside somebody's parlour. Let us no forget that Goodluck Jonathan though a PDP consensus candidate, went through formal primaries to fulfill the Electoral Act.

APC Has No Legal Gubernatorial Candidate For Benue state:
Going by the above, the arrangement that brought Samuel Orthom as the APC candidate for Benue state governorship election contravenes sections 78(b)(1)(2) and85(1)(2) of the Electoral Act 2010.

Section 78 (b) (1)(2) of the Electoral Act states: In the case of nomination to the position of Governorship candidate, a political party shall where they intend to sponsor candidates:

(i) hold special congress in each of the Local Government Areas of the States with delegates voting for each of the aspirants at the congress to be held in designated centres on specified dates.

(ii) the aspirant with the highest number of vote at the end of the voting shall be declared the winner of the primaries of the party and aspirant’s name shall be forwarded to the commission as the candidate of the party, for the particular state.

The arrangement that brought Orthom never met the above condition. Hence, the APC technically has no candidate for Benue state governorship election 2015. There is no record that APC Benue delegates endorsed Samuel Orthom as candidate through voice votes or ballot box. There is also no record that INEC witnessed any Benue APC governorship primary election on or before December 11, 2014 which is in contravento to S85 of the Electoral Act.

The PDP candidate Terhemen Tarzor should have been declared as the legitimate winner of the election by INEC.

INEC's Glaring Hypocrisy:
The position of INEC on Taraba and Benue states reeks double standard. While they testified that they never witnessed ANY primary legitimate PDP primary for Taraba state governorship contest, the FAILED to testify same for Benue state. This issue should be taken up by the PDP to reclaim Benue state to the people. I believe that the court will do the needful should PDP raise this issue before it.

What is good for Taraba should be good for Benue.


May God Bless Us All and Bless Nigeria

Thank God you acknowledged that INEC testified on behalf of Aisha so that settles it.

slimz10:
bro, I believe that Rivers state and akwa ibom state will be shared among the two parties.

Mmmmh

The APC and its candidate, Alhassan, had gone before the tribunal to challenge the victory of Ishaku of the PDP at the polls.

The petitioners prayed the tribunal to void the governorship poll for corrupt practices and substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended.

They also urged the tribunal to disqualify the 1st respondent, Ishaku, and hold that all votes credited to him during the election were “wasted and thrown away votes”.

The petitioners through their lead counsel, Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, told the tribunal: “Contrary to the provisions of Section 85 of the Electoral Act, which requires the service of at least 21 days to INEC before the holding of congress for the conduct of primary election, the 2nd respondent (PDP) only delivered their notice to INEC on December 11, 2014, at exactly 6:04pm and held the purported primaries on the same day. This was apparently after they have conducted the said primary.

“That in defiance of the requirement of Section 87 of the Electoral Act, the 2nd respondent held the purported primary at Abuja as against Jalingo, Taraba State capital.

“That relying on their earlier notice to INEC for the holding of the primary at the Taraba State capital, INEC (3rd respondent) sent their monitoring team to observe the primary election on December 8, 2014, but the congress did not hold without any explanation from the party.

“That in flagrant disregard to the demand of the Electoral Act 2010, the 1st and 2nd respondents held their primary in Abuja without approval from INEC.

“That by reason of paragraphs i, ii, iii, and iv above, the 1st respondent was not duly sponsored by his political party as required under section 177(c) of the 1999 constitution nor duly sponsored, the 1st respondent is/was not qualified to have contested the gubernatorial election that held in Taraba State on April 11 and 25, 2015”.

Culled from Vanguard Newspaper

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/why-tribunal-sacked-taraba-governor/