The CBN warned in Abuja on Tuesday that those abusing the naira were liable to go to jail. It warned that the law banning the “spraying’’ and the stepping on the naira, especially at social gatherings is still in force and offenders are liable to six months imprisonment or a fine of N50,000. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 21(3) of the CBN Act 2007 provides that mishandling of the naira is a punishable offence. Principal Manager, Currency Operations Department at the CBN, Ms Ngozi Etim, gave the warning when she spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). She said the CBN was working with the police, the FIRS, the EFCC and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to curb the abuse. She condemned the “spraying’’ of money in public, adding that the envelope remained the best and acceptable means of extending goodwill at events. “Money should not be squeezed but be put in envelopes. Oil should not be allowed to touch money; keep it neat like you keep your clothes. “You do not dirty your clothes and you do not keep your clothes on the ground, so, there is need to keep our naira well,’’ she said. She added that the CBN Act empowered it to arrest those who abused the naira. Etim stressed that the naira remains the pride of the nation and must be kept clean at all times. In his remarks, CBN’s Director, Corporate Communication, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, urged Nigerians to always treat the naira with care. Nwanisobi condemned the idea of hurling wads of naira notes in the air and stamping on the currency at social functions. “There have also been cases where people mishandle the naira, deface it, or hawk it at parties. “Contrary to the practice of these unpatriotic persons, it is neither cultural nor moral for people to disrespect the currency, which citizens trade in,’’ he stressed. NAN reports that there have been videos of famous Nigerians, including politicians, subjecting the naira to abuse. Naira notes have also become items of trade at garages and motor parks in different parts of the country, especially during festive periods. The CBN has, however, declared that anybody caught abusing the naira would be punished.

  Nnamdi Kanu’s legal representative, Barr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor has dragged Simone Ekpa to an Abuja High Court over his recent declarations in the South East. Ejiofor who attached copies of the suit to a a statement posted in his verified Facebook page on Tuesday said it was one of numerous suites instituted against the Finland based Biafra agitator. The statement reads: “Today, we formally commenced a legal action before the FCT High Court against Simon Ekpa, which action is founded on a plethora of grave infractions arising from his violent, disturbing and false declarations. “I may not release further details here so that it will not prejudice the robust legal actions already lined up for him and his cohorts. It shall be coming in piecemeal. This is the first batch. “I also want to assure Simon Ekpa and his cohorts affected by this compelling legal action, that no matter the country you people believe to be presently hiding under its sovereign protection, the full arms of the law shall certainly catch up with you all, in the legal onslaught already commenced “This is just one in the long line of compelling civil and criminal litigations coming your way. The hour has come, and I wish to reiterate that you Simon Ekpa cannot escape from the long arms of the law.”

  A Kwara State High Court has sentenced three to death by hanging for the rape and murder of University of Ilorin student, Olajide Blessing Omowumi, 24. The convicts were sentenced on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, in Ilorin after a one and half year legal battle.   The 300-level Agricultural Sciences student was found dead in her sister’s home on 2nd June, 2021 with her mouth gagged with clothes and bruises on her private part. A pathologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Dr. Kayode Adeniyi informed the court that the autopsy confirmed she was raped and strangled to death.   Eight prime suspects, Abdulazeez Ismail, Ajala Oluwatimileyin (aka Jacklord), Oyeyemi Omogbolahan, Abdulkarim Shuaib (aka Easy), Kareem Rasheed (Rashworld), Abdullateef Abdulrahman, Daud Adebayo (aka Bashman) and Akande Taiye Oladojawere, were arrested by DSS in connection with the murder and rape.

  Two yet-to-be-identified hoodlums in Kafin Madaki, headquarters of Ganjuwa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, have removed one of the eyes of a 12-year-old student. PUNCH Metro gathered that the victim, Najib Hussaini, an indigene of Kano State, came to Kafin Madaki to acquire Quranic education. The Bauchi State Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil, confirmed the incident in a statement on Tuesday. He said the state Commissioner of Police, Aminu Alhassan, had ordered a thorough investigation into the incident, adding that a manhunt for the suspects had begun. Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, said, “Najib Hussaini, who was attending Quranic school (Almajiranci) in Kafin-Madaki was barely a year in the state when the incident occurred on December 9, 2022, around 2am at Unguwar Yamma, not far from the victim’s school (Tsangaya). “It was revealed that two unknown people, who came on a motorcycle (Bajaj), lured the victim to a nearby house to assist them to call a lady. They took the victim on their bike straight to an isolated area near Hanyar Gonar Wakili of the same village. “They stopped the motorcycle in a bushy area and forcefully plucked the right eye of the victim and consequently abandoned him in a pool of blood. “The victim managed to reach a point where he was sighted by some of his colleagues, who rushed him to their teacher. “The incident was reported to the Ganjuwa Divisional Police Headquarters; discreet investigation commenced in earnest as the victim was rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.” The CP, according to the statement, vowed that “the perpetrators of the criminal act will be apprehended soon.”

  The Chairman of Yemi Sonde Media Group, owner of the popular radio, YES FM, Mr Yemi Sonde, has cried out to the public that a blackmailer was on his neck over a nude video of him. In a press statement issued by the ace broadcaster in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, Sonde said the blackmailer claimed to be in possession of his nude videos. Sonde claimed that when he demanded the blackmailer should send him a copy of the video which he obliged him, it was a video of him alone in his bedroom. According to him, the blackmailer, who claimed to live in Cote d’Ivoire, had repeatedly demanded sums of money which ranged from N500,000 to N1,500,000, from him if he wanted the video to be kept off the social media. The blackmailer also contacted some of the broadcaster’s friends with the said video, asking the friends to prevail on Sonde to part with the blackmail money. Sonde further said that the blackmailer demanded to be paid urgently if the broadcaster wanted him to delete the videos and threatened to circulate them all over social media in order to embarrass him, his family, and destroy his businesses. The Ibadan-based broadcaster said he had however told the blackmailer to go ahead with his threat and that he would not part with his hard-earned money to any blackmailer. “I am issuing this release to let Nigerians know that some powerful individuals who are bent on destroying me have orchestrated this blackmail. I don’t know what I did to necessitate this but I know that they will fail,” said Sonde. Sonde stressed that he had indicted the blackmail attempt with the right legal actions adding, “I suspect some high net-worth individuals in society who got the blackmailer to go after me, having hitherto sworn to take me down.”

  The House of Representatives has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and other regulatory agencies to end the lingering fuel scarcity in one week to ease the suffering of Nigerians. The order followed the adoption of motion of urgent public importance by Sa’idu Musa Abdullahi (APC, Niger) at plenary on Tuesday. Presenting the motion, he said in the last few months, Nigerians had been subjected to untold hardships caused by the lingering petrol scarcity, affecting economic activities and making the already trying times in the country more difficult. He said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) advanced several excuses to justify the fuel scarcity. The lawmaker stated, “Firstly, when the scarcity reared its ugly head at the peak of the rainy season in October this year, NMDPRA said the fuel scarcity in Abuja and other northern states was caused by rainfall which submerged the greater part of Lokoja including the highway leading to Abuja, a development that grounded all vehicular movements along that route. “Soon after floods/rains receded in Lokoja and the petrol scarcity continued, the President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said the situation persisted because of the supply gap created by the blockade in Lokoja. The IPMAN affirmed that there was enough product in the depots and that the lingering scarcity was only caused by the break in supply of the product. “When the scarcity continued and all the excuses advanced by the stakeholders watered down, the National Operations Controller of IPMAN advanced another reason and argued that the scarcity is because of an unsteady supply of the products. “Intelligence reports on current fuel scarcity gathered by our security agencies indicated that there is a deliberate plan by some oil marketers to derail the effort of the government in the distribution of fuel in the country by hoarding the petroleum products, thereby creating artificial scarcity all over the country”. He lamented that while the fuel scarcity is heating petroleum stations of some major marketers that are currently selling fuel on government regulated price, some independent marketers have enough petroleum products selling at unregulated prices. He added that most of such filling stations had resulted in selling fuel at over N300 per litre. He said, “It is observed with dismay that those who are gaining from this artificial fuel scarcity appear to be smiling home as a result of this ugly development and this has the potency to provoke innocent Nigerians against the government. “The inability of the regulators of the petroleum sector to end this artificial scarcity of petroleum products forced the Department of State Security Services to issue an ultimatum to the NNPC, and oil marketers to end the artificial scarcity within 48-hours”. The House therefore called on the NNPC Ltd to end the artificial scarcity within the next one week in order to ease the suffering of Nigerians. It further called on the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission to collaborate with the Nigerian Police Force and DSSS to ensure that fuel is sold at the regulated price and in all retail outlets. The House mandates its Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance.

  Twitter has mixed up its labelling of some Norwegian government officials, including Prime Minister Jonas Store. In its description of Norway’s foreign ministry account, the micro-blogging platform wrote “Nigeria government organisation”. On Tuesday, the Norwegian ministry raised the alarm over the disparity in identities and asked Twitter to rectify the issue. The misappropriation of identities was also found in the accounts of the country’s prime minister, and Anniken Huitfeldt, the foreign minister.   “Dear @TwitterSupport, as much as we enjoy .our excellent bilateral relations and close alphabetical vicinity with Nigeria, we would much appreciate if you could label us as Norway,” the Norwegian ministry tweeted. “P.S. That also goes for Prime Minister @jonasgahrstore and Foreign Minister @AHuitfeldt.”

  A former Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor on Tuesday, said the secret police took prompt action with its 48-hour ultimatum that oil marketers make Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol available for Nigerians. According to the former DSS director, the secret police made the move to forestall another #OccupyNigeria Protest. He also said attacks on offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are political and called on security agencies to bring the perpetrators to book. “The DSS is charged with providing intelligence for the maintenance of the internal security of this country. You will recall #OccupyNigeria, if you continue to see people in queues, the tendency for people to rise up against government is there whereas there is fuel,” Ejiofor stated on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme. #OccupyNigeria was a socio-political protest against the then government of President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2012. The protest, a response to the government’s announcement on subsidy removal and hike in petrol price from N65 per litre to N141, rocked the country’s major cities.   Last Thursday, amid biting fuel scarcity across Nigeria, the DSS directed oil marketers and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to resolve the fuel crisis within 48 hours, saying the situation is detrimental to the security of the country. Ejiofor, on Tuesday, argued that the DSS’ action was an ‘advisory’ and not an ‘ultimatum’. He said the ‘advisory’ has eased off the situation “which shows that there is intelligence in what is going on because there is a lot of fraud in the oil sector”. “Following the advisory by the DSS, I believe they are going to follow it up, possibly inviting the people responsible to give account of what is happening and Nigerians will begin to see (developments),” the ex-DSS director added. He, however, sympathised with oil marketers who have lamented their ordeal in the hands of private depot owners. Ejiofor said the marketers will have the issues resolved by the time subsidy is removed and the market liberalised. For weeks, vehicle owners especially in Lagos and Abuja have had a tough time getting petrol from filling stations. Whilst many outlets are closed, the few ones that are open sell the indispensable commodity for as high as N250 per litre above the uniform price of N169/litre. The shortage of supply has led to long, gruelling snake-like queues at the few open filling stations as motorists and business owners jostle to buy fuel while others resort to the black market. The situation has also worsened traffic on major roads as vehicle owners block at least one lane to join queues to filling station