The Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council in Rivers State has taken a swipe at the state governor, Nyesom Wike, over the cancellation of the approval granted for the party’s presidential campaign in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

The spokesman for the PDP PCC in the state, Dr Leloonu Nwibubasa, who stated this in an interview with SUPERS.ng, also said the governor lacked integrity for not naming his preferred presidential candidate in January as he promised.

Nwibubasa said from all indications, the governor was increasingly frustrated.

On Wednesday, the state government cancelled the approval given to the PDP for the rally of its standard bearer to hold in the state on February 11, 2023.

The cancellation was contained in a letter signed by the state Commissioner for Sports, Christopher Green, and addressed to the Director General, PDP PCC, Aminu Tambuwal.

The letter said credible information available to the state government showed that the PDP PCC was working in collaboration with a faction of the All Progressives Congress in the state led by Tonye Cole.

It added that information at the government’s disposal show that activities of the APC in the state have always been marred by violence due largely to irreconcilable internal conflicts within the party.

It added, “The Rivers State Government is unable to risk damage to or destruction of the very valuable and priced asset, the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, which your use of the same in collaboration with your Tonye Patrick Cole APC faction will expose it to.

“In the circumstance, the Rivers State Government has come to the painful but inevitable decision to withdraw the approval earlier given to you for the use of the stadium and the said approval is hereby withdrawn.”

Nwibubasa, while confirming the development, described the state government’s earlier approval as a Greek gift.

Berating Wike, Nwibubasa further said the governor was not a good fighter, because a good fighter knows when to quit.

Nwibubasa stated, “We are not surprised when certain decisions are taken because it all amounts to the fact that the level of frustration is increasing.

“We will only appeal to him that he should return to his party and return to the part of peace. And that is part of honour. No one fights a war and refuses to evaluate the same war, and knows when to call it quits. He is not a good fighter.

“For the presidential candidate of the PDP, we are very certain that Rivers people are happy with him. They are in love with him and they are going to vote for him en masse come February 25, 2023.”

Asked what he thinks about Wike’s inability to name his preferred presidential candidate as he had promised, he said it shows the governor has no integrity.

“His inability to name his preferred candidate as publicly announced in January, again is a pointer to his level of instability and incoherence.”

“It tells of his integrity that he cannot match his words with action. So, for us, it is painful that we have a governor who says one thing and does the other.

The commission indicated this on Tuesday when it disclosed that it had arrested members of a syndicate of currency racketeers trading in the redesigned naira notes at Zone 4, Wuse and Dei-Dei axis of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The Abuja suspects were nabbed according to findings by SUPERS.ng during an operation to halt the illicit currency trading carried out by the anti-graft agency between Saturday and Monday.

The EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the development in a statement on Tuesday.

Findings from EFCC officials showed its operatives had penned down some commercial nerve centres in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna, where currency hawkers are having a field day.

The EFCC planned raids came on the heels of similar raids of currency hawkers and racketeers by personnel of the Department of State Services.

The EFCC planned raids came a day after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefile, said the apex bank would collaborate with law enforcement agencies such as the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, to track heavy withdrawals.

SUPERS.ng reports that the CBN had extended the deadline for the validity of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes from January 31 to February 10.

The Department of State Services revealed on Monday that its operatives arrested some currency traders who had turned the sale of newly redesigned notes into brisk business.

The secret police also alleged that the perpetrators were working in cahoots with officials of commercial banks.

Meanwhile, the EFCC further noted that its findings revealed that some of the money traders were working with officials of Money Deposit Banks, vowing to extend its operation to all major commercial centres across the country until all the syndicates involved in the illegal trade are demobilized.

The anti-graft agency also urged financial market operators to ensure compliance with the guidelines set by the CBN.

It added, “The suspects have made useful statements, including a disclosure that they were acting in cohort with some unscrupulous officials of Money Deposit Banks.

“The commission will extend the operation to all the major commercial centres of the country until all the syndicates involved in the illegal trade are demobilised. Financial system operators are also warned to desist from the sharp practices or risk arrest and prosecution.

“Zonal commanders of the EFCC also met with officials of various banks in their commands in an effort to ascertain the volume of the new notes issued to the commercial banks and how the banks were dispensing the monies to their customers.”

“The commanders urged the financial market operators to ensure compliance with the guidelines set by the Central Bank of Nigeria while disclosing that they have dispatched operatives across their commands to monitor the level of compliance by banks and other operators in the financial market.”

Heavy withdrawals

The apex bank has asked commercial banks to stop multiple debit card withdrawals as it stepped up efforts to implement a seamless currency change regime.

The CBN governor, Emefiele, in a meeting with commercial banks on Monday also reportedly directed banks not to pay old notes via ATMs or over the counter.

He equally instructed the EFCC and ICPC officials to inspect bank branches over the next two weeks to ensure full compliance with the guidelines.

The reported directive read in part, “At the CBN Bankers Committee meeting today (Monday), the governor instructed Banks as follows: No Bank is authorised to pay out old notes via ATMs or in bank branches over-the-counter

“No payment of new notes over the counter. Banks are only allowed to release new notes via ATMs. Corporates that require cash should only be given the old N100 notes and below. Corporates must not be given new notes.

“EFCC/ICPC officials will accompany CBN examiners to inspect bank branches over the next two weeks to assess full Compliance with CBN guidelines above.

“Officials of branches that fail to comply or that release cash to corporates and politicians will face termination of their contracts and the respective banks will be sanctioned

“No branch should allow an individual with multiple debit cards to do multiple transactions on ATMs.

“All new notes have tracking numbers to trace them back to state, bank and bank branches. So, notes confiscated at parties and other locations can be traced back to the bank and applicable branch.”

Bank customers in Lagos expressed worries over their inability to get either old naira notes over the counter or at the ATMs.

The two banks visited by The PUNCH in Marina had queues of customers in the banking hall.

According to the customers, the ban on over-the-counter transactions of old notes was meant to compound the problems of Nigerians.

While speaking with our correspondent at the banking hall of the United Bank for Africa located by Leventis, Marina, Adewale Adebayo said the banks were out to punish the masses.

He said, “When you are talking about banning counter transactions of the old notes when the majority of the machines were not working, the decision does not make any sense.

“They say it is going to stop the old notes in circulation, but this is not true. These old notes are still everywhere. The PoS people are still giving the old notes. Banning it without the provision on how to get the new ones is too complicated for those of us who need cash for daily survival.’’

Suleiman Rasaki, a cooperative operator, told The PUNCH at the banking hall of the Sterling bank in Marina, Lagos, that the rationale behind banning transactions of the old notes when the ATMs were not dispensing sufficient cash was ill-conceived.

But Emmanuel Anoro believed the decision was the right one considering the depreciation in the value of the naira.

He added that “The changing of new naira notes is okay. It will help to change the contaminated notes and discourage people who are keeping money inside their houses.”

As of the time of filing the report around 2 pm, only a few machines were working in all the ATMs visited in Marina.

CBN directive

Our correspondent also reported that the banks visited fully complied with the CBN directive as other denominations such as N200 and N100 as well as a few new notes were sighted at the hall.

Speaking with The PUNCH, a Pos operator, who identified herself as Mercy disclosed that her account officer told her that she could only withdraw N10,000 over-the-counter in N100 and N50 denominations.

“I use this money for my business; how can I be handing out N50 naira to customers. We can’t get money at the ATMs. I have had to buy old notes from people who have them. This is so frustrating, I wish the deadline was not extended.

‘’The extension has thrown us into this turmoil. Going forward, I am raising my charges: N200 for N5,000 old notes and N500 for N5,000 new notes.

Another customer, Fatima, stated, “I have been queuing at the ATMs but when it gets to my turn, the ATM won’t dispense cash. I have taken all my cash to restock my shop and now I am in trouble.”

Other customers who attempted to withdraw from the PoS complained about the poor network and bank officials being unavailable to solve their problems

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a trader in Mowe, Ogun state, said, “Right now, my money is stuck; about N5000. I tried to transfer to buy a pack of drinks and the transaction failed. The PoS operator did not get the money and now my money is hanging. My husband tried to go to the bank to complain but the sight of the mammoth crowd dissuaded him.”

Findings by The PUNCH indicated that the recent directive of the CBN to commercial banks to dispense only N100, N50, and N20 instead of higher denominations might have prompted some banks to stop dispensing cash as many Deposit Money Banks failed to issue money to stranded customers.

Our correspondent observed that none of the banks along the Ikotun-Idimu axis was dispensing any currency.


A staff member of Access Bank at Ikotun, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said that they stopped dispensing cash through the ATM last week.

“The ATMs stopped paying since last week and for over-the-counter payment, we are no longer paying because there is not enough (cash) to pay,” he noted.

An angry customer, Stanley, who was unable to get cash at a Union Bank branch on the same axis, said, “My brother, they are not paying at all, I have been here for the past two hours, and no payment. I have an account with First Bank, I had gone there earlier and they still didn’t pay me. I don’t know what this country is turning into. You have money in this country, you can’t use it.”

Addressing the impatient customers, a bank official stated, “The N100 (note) they asked us to issue over-the-counter is not enough. We just don’t know what to do. We are only hopeful that things will get better.”

Meanwhile, a staff member of the Zenith bank told our correspondent that their ATMs had been dispensing money all day but later ran out of cash.

In the Magboro, Ibafo axis of Ogun State, The PUNCH noticed that a lot of bank customers were not pleased with the lower notes being dispensed over-the –counter.

A displeased customer who gave his name as Joseph Madu said, “I wanted to withdraw N50,000 but imagine them giving me N20 notes. How many bundles will I carry and all my hands will be full?’’

Another bank customer, Moji Ajibola said, “How do they expect us to carry this money around? I have had to reduce the sum I want to withdraw because there’s no way I can carry that load of money before all these bad boys think I am carrying big money.’’

But a bank worker explained that the bank loaded the lower notes into the ATMs in line with the CBN directive.

”The attention of the Board has been drawn to a LinkedIn account purported to be the account of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, and sending friend requests to members of the public. This is a ploy initiated with the sole aim of defrauding gullible members of the public.

“The Board wishes to state that Prof. Is-haq Oloyede does not own or operate any social media account and neither has he asked anybody to open or manage one on his behalf.

“LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. As such, it should be noted that the goal of the site is to enable registered users to connect with people they know and trust professionally. Prof. Oloyede does not belong to this class of individuals nor intend to join.

“This disclaimer became necessary in view of some unscrupulous elements, who have purportedly opened a LinkedIn account on his behalf to hoodwink unsuspecting members of the public with their bogus claims of the erudite professor helping to network business enterprises, managing careers, providing jobs, running a research firm or connecting people with business contacts of firms or industry through the account

“The Board urges the general public to be wary of these criminal elements so as not to fall victims to the scammers.”

The Federal Government is meeting with operators in the midstream and downstream oil sector as part of measures towards developing strategic stock for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, in key locations across the country,

It said the national strategic stocks would help in addressing the recurring fuel scarcity in Nigeria, as it also announced the constitution of a 14-man committee to find a lasting solution to the disruptions in the supply and distribution of petroleum products.

On the strategic stock, the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Ogbugo Ukoha, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the ongoing stakeholders’ consultation forum on midstream and downstream petroleum regulations.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, he explained that the NMDPRA and stakeholders were going through the eight draft regulations, which were the third batch, put together by the authority, adding that the National Strategic Stock Regulations was one of them.

He said, “Section 181 of the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act) compels us to develop strategic stock. On the supply issues that we usually have, recall that a few weeks ago, there was flooding in Lokoja and Bayelsa, and supplies were impacted negatively.

“We should have strategic stock across the country. And there are storage everywhere, even though pipelines need to be revamped. So this strategic stock regulations addresses that need, and it is a priority.”

Ukoha added, “It takes three to four days for trucks from the coastal areas to get here (Abuja), and if something happens on the road, then you will see how it will impact on the supplies in the Federal Capital Territory.

“On Friday, we had to go to Niger State, where three trucks fell across the Bida-Lapai and Agae road. We were there to make sure that those trucks were cleared. But with the strategic stock, most of that will be addressed.

“If you have that kind of issue, you’ll just recall some volumes from the nearest storage. So these are very important draft regulations that the authority is putting forward.”

The NMDPRA official explained that the midstream and downstream arms of the sector were very strategic positions in the industry, and the regulations being put out by the authority were critical

“If you look at this third batch of draft regulations we are considering, there are eight of them and almost all of them speak to a particular aspect in the value chain,” he stated.