Eight state house of assembly candidates of the Labour Party (LP) in Jigawa are said to have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). In a statement on Friday, Habibu Nuhu Kila, media adviser of Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, governor of Jigawa, said his principal formally received the defectors into the party at a meeting in the state house in Dutse. Kila said the defectors are from Auyo, Kirikasamma, Bulangu, Malam Madori , Kafin Hausa, Birniwa, Guri and Kaugama constituencies. The media adviser quoted Abubakar as saying that they would be carried along in the activities of the APC in the state. On his part, Mohammed Makinta, the LP candidate for Guri constituency, said he and the seven candidates realized that APC is “the most credible political party”. “We promise to work to ensure victory for the APC’s candidates in the forthcoming general election,” Makinta said. Aminu Sani Gumel, chairman of the APC in Jigawa, said they would be accorded the rights and privileges enjoyed by old members. “As bonafide members of the APC, you are entitled to all rights and privileges enjoyed by those you met in the party,” Gumel said.

  A 40-year old man, Nuhu Usman, of Dangarga Village in Burra District of Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State, has allegedly shot and killed one of his two wives with a dane gun. The Police Public Relations Officer of Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Wakil, who said this in a media statement made available to journalists on Friday, said that the victim was rushed to the hospital where she was certified dead by a medical doctor. The suspect was said to have loaded his local gun and kept it by his side while sleeping thinking his eldest son, who held grudges against him, would come to his room to harm him. Usman was sleeping with his wife when she went out to use the restroom and upon her return to the room, he thought it was his son that had come into the room to attack him, so he took his gun and shot her in her stomach. “Operatives attached to the command have arrested Nuhu Umar Usman, male (40) of Dangarfa Village via Kyata Burra District Bauchi State. “Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect slept in the same room with his wife (deceased) that night, the suspect had two wives and six children. That there was an altercation between the wives, to the extent that the eldest son held grudges against the father and threatened to harm him. “Prior to that incident, the eldest son threatened the father and this made the suspect load his dane gun and keep it beside him throughout the night waiting for any intruder, possibly his eldest son. “Investigation revealed that on the 28th December 2022 at about 2.00am while he was sleeping in the same room with his wife, Ladi Nuhu (37) of the same address she went out of the room to ease herself. “On her way back to the room, the husband woke up and armed himself with the dane gun upon hearing a suspicious move close to his room and directly fired at her in the stomach. As a result, she sustained injury. “The victim was rushed to the General Hospital Burra, but certified dead by a medical doctor. “The state Commissioner of Police, CP Aminu Alhassan, directed that the suspect be charged to court on completion of the investigation,” he stated.

  The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered Deposit Money Banks not to pay customers making over-the-counter withdrawals of new naira notes again. Instead, the apex bank directed the banks to load their Automated Teller Machines with only new notes to ensure that the currency circulates across the nation ahead of the January 32, 2023 deadline when the old notes will no longer be legal tender. The apex bank issued the directive to the banks on Wednesday and ordered that the implementation must begin immediately. However, as of Friday, the banks had not been able to comply with the directive as they complained of inadequate supply of the new notes, prompting them to load their ATMs with the old notes. A source in a Tier-1 bank, who informed one of our correspondents of the CBN directive on Thursday, said her lender on Thursday issued a memo in that respect to all the branch managers to enforce the CBN order. The memo, which was titled., ‘Urgent update on currency redesign’ and signed by the Group Head, Retail Operation, stated, “The CBN has mandated that we immediately stop the Over-the-Counter payment of the new N200, N500 & N,1000 currency. Instead, all new notes should be loaded into the ATMs for customer withdrawals. “This is effective immediately please.” The source, who is a manager in one of the bank’s branches in Ikeja, Lagos, however, complained that the new notes were in short supply, hence the branch decided to load a mixture of the old and new N1,000 and N500 notes in the ATMs for customers to withdraw. The source stated, “We got a memo from the head office this morning (Thursday) that we should stop dispensing new notes to customers who come to withdraw over the counter, but instead we should load the ATMs with the new notes. The correspondence from the head office said the directive was from the CBN and that we should implement it immediately. “The directive has, however, thrown us into a dilemma as we are in short supply of the new notes and we can’t afford not to load the ATMs as there has been a surge in the number of customers coming to withdraw after the Yuletide holidays. “Loading of ATMs is the responsibility of the banks. When our bank tested the ATMs, only one denomination of the new notes passed the test of dispensing seamlessly through our machines. The bank is working on reconfiguring the ATMs to be able to dispense the new notes. What we have done in my branch is to mix the few new N1,000 and N500 notes available with old ones so that desperate customers can make withdrawals and meet their immediate needs. “If you observed, a lot of ATMs were inactive during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The idea was not to give out old notes, but unfortunately, the new ones are not in circulation. The banks have a mandate to evacuate N1bn old notes each to the CBN on a daily basis and our head office has set a strict vault limit or cash holding limit for each branch, which on no condition we must exceed.” When contacted, the CBN spokesman, Osita Nwanisobi, did not respond to enquiries by Saturday PUNCH. As soon as one of our correspondents introduced himself and the topic, he went mute. Subsequent calls to his mobile line were not taken. Text and WhatsApp messages sent to his telephone were not replied to. However, a senior official of the CBN, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the issue, confirmed that the apex bank indeed issued the directive to the banks. He explained, “From this weekend, new notes will be available for disbursement to bank customers. We are pushing the N1,000 and N500 notes through the ATMs for now. The N200 will be available later. “The aim is to check inflation and currency abuse. A research was conducted and it showed that the demand for the N1,000 and N500 is higher, hence the decision to start with them.” When asked when the agent banking representatives, who dispense cash to customers through Point of Sale terminals, would have the new notes, he said the objective of setting them up was not to handle large volume transactions, adding that the operators were abusing the guideline.

  The Kwara State Police Command has arrested one Issa Naigheti for allegedly kidnapping his father and collecting a ransom of N2.5m. Ajayi Okasanmi, spokesman of the command, who disclosed this said the suspect was arrested around Kambi area of Ilorin. He said officers attached to the anti-kidnapping team of the Kwara police command arrested the suspect while on the trail of suspected kidnappers. Okasanmi added that efforts were ongoing to arrest his other accomplices. “The suspect confessed under interrogation to having conspired with two others to kidnap his father, Bature Naigboho in Igboho/Igbeti area of Oyo State and collected N2.5m ransom”, Okasanmi said. He added that the case would be transferred to Oyo State, where the crime was committed.

  The acting Director General (DG) of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mrs Christy Ubah, has appealed that the allowances of corps members who will serve as ad hoc staff of inec in the forthcoming elections be improved due to the economic hardship in the country. Speaking Friday in Abuja when INEC’s Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, visited her, Mrs Uba said it had become necessary to look into improving the allowances of corps members as the current allowances could not cater for them in view of economic realities. She said that in its effort to ensure more corps members participated in the election process, the scheme had concluded plans to resume orientation camp for Batch A Stream 1 in January, noting that the commission should leverage the orientation course to sensitise the corps members on their roles during the elections. Ubah noted that as a scheme they had directed state coordinators to encourage as many corps members as possible to register on the INEC portal as ad hoc staff for the elections and participate as well, adding that the scheme had gone ahead to sensitise the corps members that their security was being taken care of already. On his part, Prof Yakubu said that without the corps members, it would be difficult to conduct elections in the country. He said it was necessary to involve the corps members in the conduct of elections as the commission had introduced technology in the conduct of elections which would demand educated and tech-savvy people to handle. He noted that corps members operated the most critical parts of the elections, which was conducting the voting process at the polling units, collation of results, as well as transmission of results. He said due to the involvement of NYSC in the conduct of elections in the country, the commission had included them in the inter-agency consultative committee on election security at the state level where the state coordinators would work together with state Commissioners of Police to achieve a smooth process. On the security of corps members, he said the commission would extend security to the lodges of the corps members involved in the election process while they were on the field working so that they would be safe when they returned. He added that the commission had also provided insurance cover for the corps members deployed on election duty.

  A chief magistrate court in Wuse zone 6, federal capital territory (FCT), has ordered the arrest of Umo Eno, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom state. Eno, who is the preferred candidate of Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom, won the party’s primary held in May 2022. He secured 993 votes, while a total of 1,018 delegates participated in the election. He defeated his closest challengers — Onofiok Luke, a member of the house of representatives, who got two votes; and Bassey Albert, a member of the senate, who polled one vote. In a document seen by TheCable, the warrant of arrest was issued by Emmanuel Iyanna, chief magistrate, on December 23, 2022. According to the document, the governorship candidate is facing charges of “cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property”. The complainant in the suit marked CR/94/2022 is one Edet Godwin Etim. “You are hereby directed to arrest the said pastor Umo Bassey Eno and produce him before me,” the chief magistrate said. A source confirmed to TheCable that the criminal proceedings have been concluded and Eno was convicted. “The warrant of arrest is based on criminal proceedings conviction conducted by the chief magistrate court, Wuse, Abuja, and directed that the defendant be arrested and brought to court for sentencing having continuously refused to surrender himself to court,” the source said.

  The federal government has sacked over 500 “illegal staff” of the ministry of labour and employment, TheCable can report. They were said to have been employed into the ministry weeks before the 2019 general election — but without a waiver from the office of the head of the civil service of the federation. According to an internal circular signed by Hussain AbdallahRahman, the director of human resource management at the ministry, and obtained by TheCable, the “illegal staff” were sacked due to the refusal of a committee to enroll the new employees into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform. The IPPIS is a platform under the office of the accountant-general of the federation responsible for the payment of salaries and wages directly to government employees’ bank accounts with appropriate deductions and remittances of third-party payments. AbdallahRahman stated in the circular that the non-compliance with the directive of the head of civil service by the ministry of labour during the employment process was the main cause of the sack of the workers. The circular also directed the affected workers to return all government properties in their care to their respective unit heads. With reference to the letter from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Ref. No. NICSF/PS/CMO/IPPIS/S.2/VOLT dated 5th September 2022, on the above subject, I am directed to inform the under-listed persons that the Committee on Enrolment of New Employees into the IPPIS platform did not process their enrolment,” the circular reads. “Furthermore, the recruitment exercise was carried out without waiver from its office. “All affected persons are hereby requested to immediately return any government property or properties in their possession to the heads of department/unit.” ‘N300K PER SLOT’ A top source in the ministry — who did not want to be named due to fear of intimidation — told TheCable that the affected staff were those who paid for employment slots. Trading of employment slots, especially federal jobs, is not an uncommon practice in the civil service system. The source said the sacked staff were hired by the ministry in 2019, adding that while some were given IPPIS numbers and proper identification, others were not. He added that those without the IPPIS numbers have not been paid since then.   Another source alleged that the job racketeering scandal was during the tenure of William Alo and Ake Adeniyi, permanent secretary and human resources manager, respectively, at the ministry at the time. “They sold the slots to innocent people in 2019. These people were not paid for once to date. You will see them lurking around the ministry building. What we know for sure is that the racket is between the former permanent secretary, Alo, and Ake Adeniyi,” the source said. “The last time I checked, I knew the affected people paid over N300,000 each for the jobs.” TheCable learnt that the affected staff have written to Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the matter, which is currently being investigated — a development Azuka Ogugua, the commission’s spokesperson, confirmed. “Basically, ICPC is working with the office of the head of the civil service of the federation (OHCSF) and Federal Civil Service Commission to deal with job racketeering issues,” Ogugua said. “This was stated clearly during a policy dialogue held by the commission in April last year. Some persons have been arrested and prosecuted and the details are on our website. But if those fired by the FG wrote to the commission, I cannot discuss details of their letter.” ‘WE HAVE NO OPTION THAN TO LET THEM GO’ In an interview with TheCable, Olajide Osundun, the spokesperson for the ministry of labour, said the ministry resolved to let the affected staff go after efforts to legalise their employment failed. Speaking further, he said the issues around the employment scandal started when Alo and Adeniyi recruited above the number approved for the ministry by the office of the head of the civil service of the federation. He said the ministry got approval for the recruitment of 120 junior staff as against the over 600 who were later recruited. “So, we have an excess of 512. All these happened during the period of transitioning to the new tenure of the present administration,” he said. “The minister of labour and employment knew nothing about employment. The current permanent secretary and the director of administration now weren’t there then. “This became an issue. Ngige made an overture to the head of the service and pleaded for a waiver to retain them. The head of the service said there is no vacancy for them. “The new permanent secretary also made a lot of efforts to see how these 512 can be retained. The head of service said she would have loved to do it, but she can’t just approve employment without vacancy for them. “The ministry had no option now, but to ask the 512 to leave because they were not captured for salary. They haven’t been paid salary since the time they were given the employment letters. The summary of it was the appointment was illegal. “There is nothing to do to correct illegality. The present administration in the ministry has no other thing to do after making several failed overtures than for them to leave.”

  Femi Adesina, special adviser on media and publicity to the president, says the sterling performance of Buba Marwa as the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) shows Nigeria is redeemable. Adesina, in his weekly opinion article published on Friday, said Marwa’s seizures of illicit drugs and arrests of drug barons have saved many Nigerian youths and families from the “ravages of drug addiction”. “Give it to President Buhari. He has identified some round pegs for round holes in the country, given them the necessary support, and they are doing exploits. Buba Marwa is one of them,” he said. “Who says this country is irredeemable? Not with men of sterling character like Buhari and Marwa.” In September 2022, the NDLEA chairman was praised by Nigerians for the agency’s biggest singular cocaine seizure of 1.8 tonnes worth N194 billion. Adesina said the news of the seizure, which came as a shock to the president, was enough to disrupt lives across West Africa. “Yes, we can do it. On all fronts, in all spheres of life and endeavour, like Buba Marwa is showing. There are many hundreds, thousands of him around the country. They only need to be found, and given opportunities, as Buhari and those before him did to Marwa,” Adesina wrote. “Again, we were in New York last September, attending the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly. News came from home that the NDLEA had seized 1,855 kilograms of cocaine in Lagos. Holy Moses! That was enough to overthrow not just Nigeria, but the entire West Africa. “After the President was informed of the landmark seizure, the first thing he said was; get me Buba Marwa on the phone. “He commended the NDLEA chairman for the great work he was doing, saving Nigerian youths, families, and society from the ravages of drug addiction.” Adesina said Marwa’s hard work as the NDLEA boss was one of the reasons why he was among the 437 persons bestowed with national honours. “President Buhari loves Gen. Marwa, just as he does anyone that loves and serves the country, working passionately for God and humanity,” he said. “It was, therefore, no surprise when National Honors were given last October, and Marwa was on the list. In 2003, he had earlier been given OFR, Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic. It was topped with CON. Commander of the Order of the Niger. Well deserved. “I am not surprised that every credible award in the land, and even beyond, has been given to Gen. Marwa in recent times. He’s one of our best, and an inspiration to adults and youths alike.”