A middle-aged woman based in Abeokuta, Ogun State, has committed suicide after setting herself on fire over a N70,000 debt. The woman popularly known as Mama Dada also reportedly set a rented apartment she lived in, on fire. The incident occurred at Oke-Keesi, Itoko area of Abeokuta, on Saturday. Witnesses said the deceased was burnt beyond recognition as the entire building was also razed down. Her neighbours said the woman had taken a loan from Lapo Microfinance bank popularly known as “Gbomu le lantern”, but got depressed over her inability to repay the loan. On the fateful, the woman reportedly sent one of her children to buy her some petrol. It was said that the woman had taken the petrol, excused the little boy, locked herself up, wet the room including herself and set the house ablaze. A neighbour, Rasheed Aina, said that the woman killed herself after she was unable to pay back a loan she took from one of the microfinance banks popularly known as ‘LAPO’. “Her neighbour told me that the loan was to the tune of N70,000,” Aina said. The Secretary of the Community Development Association, CDA, simply identified as Babawale, explained, “She was owing the ‘Gbomu le lantern’ the sum of N70,000. Because she was unable to meet up with the payment she then sent her last born to buy fuel and also use style to discharge the small boy then she locks herself up inside the room, poured petrol everywhere including herself and set the whole place on fire.” Her corpse has been deposited at the State General Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta. When contacted, the Police Spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said he had not been briefed on the matter.

  Sam Patten, a former official of the US state department, has been revealed to be behind the leaked documents containing ‘dirt’ on President Muhammadu Buhari in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election. An investigation by a team of newspapers, including the Guardian and Observer that revealed the identity of the Israeli hacker involved with Cambridge Analytica in a plot to manipulate the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria, said Patten was instrumental in using the hacked information to influence the election. The Israeli hacker named Tal Hanan, a “hacking and disinformation specialist”, was tasked with obtaining information, including the medical and financial records of Buhari, from the then-opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Meanwhile, Patten, who was the consultant that managed Cambridge Analytica’s campaign on the ground in Nigeria at the time, was “responsible for exploiting the material provided by Hanan”. “In January 2015, Patten found himself parachuted into Abuja, Nigeria, to lead a last-minute $1.8m “ghost” campaign for SCL (Cambridge Analytica) in support of President Jonathan and against Buhari. Kaiser had helped land the contract in her first weeks with the company,” the report reads. The materials gotten from the opposition were said to have been leaked to BuzzFeed and the Washington Free Beacon by Patten, who admitted to New York magazine in 2019, that his work for Cambridge Analytica “was analysis, speechwriting, ads and attempts to sway the media”. The report suggested that there was no evidence that Patten knew about the nefarious methods through which the material on the Nigerian then-opposition party was obtained by the Israeli hackers. “We continue to analyse the information that we received from Jorge (Hanan) to see if there is anything that would ignite the international press. If we find something, then we will push it,” an employee of Cambridge Analytica was quoted to have told a representative of the “rich supporter” of Goodluck Jonathan, the former president of Nigeria. ‘PATTEN & INTERNATIONAL MEDIA’ In an email discovered by the Guardian, Patten was said to have fed international media with information that Buhari’s campaign was run by AKPD Message and Media, the political consultancy founded by David Axelrod, a former chief strategist to Barack Obama. “Did anyone come up with anything that could be of interest? My overall read is that, while a good insight into campaign thinking, there are few silver bullets or smoking guns,” the report quoted Patten to have said. “Use the AKPD bits. What are our media pitch angles? B’s [Buhari’s] actual positions are obscured by a slick ‘change’ campaign steered by well-heeled American consultants,” Patten said in another email. Shortly after the last email, BuzzFeed, a news company based in New York, published an article with the headline: “Firm founded by David Axelrod worked in Nigerian election as recently as December”. On the same day, Washington Feed Beacon had an article titled “David Axelrod’s Political Consulting Firm Far More Involved in Nigeria Election than Previously Disclosed”.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari over “the unlawful directive banning the use of old N500 and N1,000 banknotes, contrary to the interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court that the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes remain legal tender.” Joined in the suit as Defendants are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The Supreme Court in a case initially brought by 10 states recently held that the old banknotes remain legal tender pending the determination of a motion on notice fixed for February 22. The deadline for the swap of the old notes expired February 10. However, Buhari in a national broadcast last week directed the CBN to recirculate only the old N200 banknotes, thereby overruling the Supreme Court and banning the use of old N500 and N1,000 notes in the country. In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/233/2023 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja SERAP is asking the court to determine “whether President Buhari’s directive banning the N500 and N1,000 banknotes is not inconsistent and incompatible with the constitutional duties to obey decisions of the Supreme Court and oath of office.” SERAP is asking the court for “a declaration that President Buhari’s directive banning the use of old N500 and N1,000 banknotes is a fundamental breach of section 287(1) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and his constitutional oath of office, and therefore unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void.” SERAP is seeking “an order of interim injunction restraining President Buhari, the CBN and Mr Malami, their agents or privies from further enforcing the presidential directive banning the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed contemporaneously in this suit.” In the suit, SERAP is arguing that: “Upholding the rule of law is the cornerstone of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy. President Buhari and other public officials and authorities have a binding legal responsibility to strictly comply with the rule of law and obey the decisions by the Supreme Court, and all other courts.”   SERAP is also arguing that, “The directive to ban the use of N500 and N1000 banknotes, contrary to the interim injunction by the Supreme Court, is ultra vires – beyond the constitutional and legitimate powers of President Buhari and the government.” The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, and Kolawole Oluwadare, read in part: “It is a very serious matter for anyone to flout a positive order of a court.” “President Buhari’s directive undermines the authority and independence of the judiciary, which is an underlying constitutional principle intended to ensure that government is conducted according to law, and to prevent the arbitrary exercise of powers or discretion by public officials and authorities.” “An order of Court must be obeyed even if such an order is perverse, until such a time that the order is set aside by a competent court. A flagrant flouting of an order of the court by the executive is an invitation to anarchy.” “The rule of law makes all government officials, including the President and other officials, answerable for their acts in the ordinary courts. The law must apply to everybody; nobody is above the law.” “Section 281(1) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that, ‘the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court.” “Under 318 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution, ‘decision’ means in relation to a court, any determination of that court and includes judgement decree, order, conviction, sentence or recommendation.” “It is the duty of the government to allow the law to take its course or allow the legal and judicial process to run its full course.” “The directive by President Buhari to ban the use of the old N500 and N1000 banknotes can have no other interpretation than the show of intention to pre-empt the final decision of the Supreme Court in this case.” “The courts expect the utmost respect of the law from the government itself which rules by the law.” “The rule of law is essential in a constitutional democracy such as we have in this country for the protection of the rights of citizens and for checking arbitrary use of power by the executive or its agencies.” “It is a necessary implication of the rule of law that, except where the law gives a discretion to a public functionary, he can only act in accordance with the law, as to do otherwise may enthrone arbitrariness.” “The Defendants are public officers who have sworn the constitutional oath office to perform their respective duties in the interest of the Nigerian citizens.” “This suit is not challenging the statutory power of the Central Bank of Nigeria, acting on the directive of the President, to change the currency and denomination banknotes in Nigeria.” “Unless the reliefs sought are granted, the Defendants will continue to violate constitutional provisions and disobey the order of the Supreme Court as implied by the directive of the President in his address to the nation on 16 February, 2023.” SERAP is also asking the court for the following reliefs: A DECLARATION that by virtue of section 287(1) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999, President Buhari, the CBN and Mr Malami have a constitutional duty to obey and enforce any decisions and orders of the Supreme Court, particularly the order allowing the use of old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes; AN ORDER restraining and stopping the CBN from carrying out and giving effect to the directive of the President directing and approving that the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes are no longer legal tender and the old N200 banknote will cease to be legal tender on 10 April 2023, in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria made on 8 February, 2023 in Suit Number

  The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly polls will hold nationwide despite the cash crunch and protests in some parts of the country. Following the re-design of the N200, N500 and N1,000 by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerians have been experiencing difficulty having access to the new notes. With this development, there have been fears that the general elections might be postponed or suffer glitches. But INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has allayed those fears, saying the commission is working closely with the CBN and security agencies. “The Central Bank has assured us that we will not suffer any encumbrances in that regard, no there are no issues with respect to that,” he stated.   “On what is happening around the country – the protests – is a security matter and security agencies have assured and reassured us that they will secure the environment for elections to hold peacefully nationwide. So we have no issues in that respect.” The INEC Chairman who tasked the trainee Corps members to be loyal to Nigeria, Nigerians and not political parties, also told them that on no account should they leave the BVAS in the custody of another. He warned that the corps members are going to be tracked to ensure accountability. After visiting the training centres, Yakubu, INEC officials and journalists proceeded to the International Conference Centre (ICC) for inspection.   The INEC boss said that they will perform basically three activities in this ICC which has been serving as the national collation centre for the collation, announcement of winners and presentations of the Certificate of Returns (CoR) to president and vice president elect; as well as the senators and house of representatives members elect.

  The governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-rufai has ordered ministries, departments and agencies to continue to accept payments made in all denominations of the naira. El-rufai disclosed this in a statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye. He noted that agencies in Kaduna should allow old and new naira notes to circulate in the state. “In line with the subsisting order of the Supreme Court, the Kaduna State Government has directed its Ministries, Departments and Agencies to ensure that their collection agents continue to accept payments made in all denominations of the naira, old and new”, he stated. Recall that El-rufai had on Friday challenged the order of President Muhammdu Buhari who directed that only the old N200 note should remain legal tender. He ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to allow the circulation of the old N200 naira along with the new redesigned notes. Irked with Mr President’s decision, El-rufai in his state broadcast directed the residents of Kaduna state to continue using old notes, pending the ruling of the Supreme Court on the matter.

  Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted consignments of illicit drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine and its precursor chemical, ephedrine going to the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and Cyprus at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and some courier companies. Spokesman of the Agency, Femi Babafemi said, “At least three traders at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo area of Lagos: Nwudele Basil Christopher; Chiedu Ezenwani Francis and Donatus Nwojiji have been arrested in connection with attempts to export 52.10 kilograms of ephedrine, a precursor chemical and active ingredient for the production of methamphetamine. “The illicit drugs were concealed in bunches of fishing threads and packed among other items in jumbo sacks that were intercepted at the SAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport on Sunday 31st January and Monday 1st February”.   “It took the painstaking efforts of NDLEA officers and deployment of sniffer dogs to be able to discover the complex mode of concealment of the illicit substance”. At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja, vigilant operatives of the Agency on Monday 13th February intercepted a 29-year-old Apeh Kelvin Ogbonna while attempting to board Turkish airline flight TK0624 going through Istanbul to Cyprus, with 4.5 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in false bottoms of his travelling bag. The suspect claimed he was running a boutique business in Enugu before he decided to travel to Cyprus for a degree in Business Administration. At three different courier firms in Lagos, operatives intercepted two cocaine consignments weighing 400 grams each, going to United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. They were hidden in walls of cartons used for packaging. Two other consignments containing 500 grams and 100 grams of methamphetamine were also blocked from being shipped to New Zealand after they were discovered concealed in food items. No fewer than 2,684,900 pills of tramadol and other pharmaceutical opioids were seized by operatives during interdiction operations in some states in the past week. In Adamawa, a total of 250,000 pills of tramadol and exol-5 as well as 1800ml of codeine neatly concealed in the reserve fuel tank of a trailer from Onitsha, Anambra state were seized at Mubi and a dealer, Hussaini Ibrahim (a.k.a Bafu) arrested. While a total of 279,000 pills of tramadol 200mg and 225mg were recovered from a suspect, Hammajan Suleman, along Okene-Abuja highway in Kogi, on Monday 13th February, 376 blocks of skunk weighing 229.36kgs and a Toyota Camry car used in conveying the consignment from Edo state enroute Kano by another suspect, Moses Alabi were handed over to NDLEA by a patrol team of the Nigerian Army, in Lokoja on Tuesday 14th February. In the same vein, two suspects: Christian Nnachor, 23 and Chinonso Obiora, 20, arrested with 1,843,900 tablets of Diazepam and 300,000 pills of Exol-5 by soldiers along Abuja-Kaduna express road were transferred to the Kaduna State Command of NDLEA on Monday 13th February while Christopher Maduka, 43, was arrested with 10,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection by NDLEA operatives on Saturday 18th Feb. along Abuja-Kaduna highway. In Kano, Ahmed Suraj Rabiu was nabbed with 89 bottles of codeine syrup in Badawa area of the state, while Amadu Musa and three others were arrested in Kofar Mata with 53 blocks of cannabis weighing 41.9kgs. In Niger state, a trans-border trafficker, Abdullahi Isah was arrested along Jebba-Mokwa highway with 188 blocks of skunk that weighed 107 kilograms, which he was attempting to take to Niger republic. While 24kgs of Arizona variant of cannabis and 2,000 pills of opioids were recovered from Ibrahim Isiyaku along Nguru- Kano road in Yobe, no fewer than four suspects: Usman Abubakar, a Chadian; Muhammad Ali; Ibrahim Yahaya and Babagana Abdullahi were arrested in connection with the seizure of 61.45kgs of cannabis and 22.1kgs of exol-5 in Jigawa with follow up operations in Kano. The consignments were ordered by Usman with a view to taking them to Chad. In his reaction to the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers, men and women of the MMIA, NAIA, DOGI, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Niger, and Yobe commands for their commitment and vigilance. He urged them and their compatriots across the country to continue with the current working synergy with other security forces towards ridding Nigeria of the menace of illicit drugs.

  The founder of Living Faith Church also known as Winners’ Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, has urged worshippers to vote wisely in the Saturday presidential election. The renowned bishop said he is for the peace and stability of Nigeria. Speaking during a sermon on Sunday at the Winners Chapel, the cleric also said Nigeria is not an entity or property but a people who are not for sale. Oyedepo said, “I am for the peace and stability of Nigeria, Nigeria is not for sale. We are not an entity or property, we’re a people and we are not for sale. Addressing the things to look out for in a candidate, he said, “You do not need to be a billionaire to be a president, you need capacity, you need character and we have them in every part of the country, everyone is free to join a party, but if you do not join the wellbeing of this nation, you are in problem. It will take an emergency intervention to revive this nation in gross distress. This week is decisive, so vote wisely. Vote for a leader with capacity and character.”

  There was tight security presence around the vicinity of the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress, venue of Sunday’s political roundtable of the governors, and the leadership of the party. Several routes leading to the popular Balantyre Street in Wuse II were on Sunday barricaded by stern-looking security operatives. The development is coming barely 48 hours after the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, summoned the state governors to an emergency meeting on Sunday. In attendance at the meeting were the members of the National Working Committee of the party, Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti) and Sani Bello (Niger). The absence of Governors Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) and virtually all his counterpart in the South were felt. Governors of Imo and Katsina states, however, had some representatives in attendance.

  The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has debunked reports circulating social media that its operatives raided the home of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and recovered N400billion. Ouk advert This was contained in a statement on Sunday by Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media and Publicity of the commission. According to online reports, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered EFCC to raid Tinubu’s house and N400billion of the new naira notes were recovered in his underground house. But the anti-corruption agency in the statement titled ‘EFCC Did Not Raid Tinubu’s Home’, said no such operation was carried out by its operatives. “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a report circulating in the social media, claiming that operatives of the Commission raided the home of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the forthcoming presidential elections and recovered a humongous sum of N400billion.   “The Commission wishes to state that no such operation was carried out by the EFCC. The public is enjoined to disregard the report as fake news,” the statement read.