Tuesday 18 July 2023 Audit report nails Adamu, Omisore as Tinubu, govs shop for new chair Suspended EFCC chair spends 33 days in custody Nigeria at high risk of anthrax outbreak, FG warns PoS operators divided as new charges commence Economists decry high production costs as inflation hits 22.79% Subsidy Removal: Oil Marketers Have Imported First Shipment Of PMS – NMDPRA Tribunal: APC’s Final Address Intended To Intimidate Judiciary, Harass Nigerians – PDP Death Toll In Kenya Starvation Cult Case Passes 400 Tinubu Arrives In Abuja After AU Meeting Kyari Becomes Acting APC Chairman, Confirms Adamu, Omisore’s Resignation Kaduna, Taraba, Two Other States Join HYPPADEC Police Arrest Kidnap Kingpin, Other Suspects In Rivers 2,300 Ghost Workers Removed From Payroll, N200m Saved – Abia Govt Reps Members Defend N70bn Allocation As NASS Renovation Lassa Fever: Nigeria Records 170 Deaths So Far In 2023 – NCDC Troops Thwart International Smuggling Syndicate, Intercept Ammunition En Route Anambra Ukraine Grain Deal Expires After Russia Refuses Extension Enugu Gov Threatens To Revoke License Of Traders Observing Sit-At-Home Emefiele: Arewa Leader In South, Wife Detained By DSS, Relatives Protest Customs Intercepts Arms Destined For South East At Lagos Port Court rejects Aliyu Abubakar’s statements implicating Adoke, says EFCC violated the law LP to Tinubu: There won’t be anarchy when you are evicted by law Naira recovers slightly against dollar at I&E window, closes at N795.2/$ Nnamdi Kanu condemns ‘charlatans’ unleashing mayhem in south-east, says lawyer ‘N5bn fraud’: Court fixes July 21 for Stella Oduah’s arraignment Our weapons against insecurity — Service chiefs 21-year-old undergraduate murdered by lover in Lagos Ondo community, LG boss disagree over imposition of monarch Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

  Finland-based Biafran separatist leader, Simon Ekpa has absolved his group, the Auto-pilot and the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, of being responsible for the killings and destructions in the southeast and blamed politicians instead. He said sit-a-home is a civil disobedience but politicians are the ones sponsoring thugs to cause the mayhem in the zone. Ekpa spoke in an interview with Vanguard. Your agitation is affecting the people and a lot of people do not understand what your agitations are about. Simon Ekpa wants the freedom of the Biafra people, he wants to finish what our fathers started, he wants to liberate the people of Biafra and those who believe that Nigeria is not meant for them. The liberation of Biafra is what Simon Ekpa has come to do. Are you comfortable with the way you are going about it? I am very comfortable and optimistic that the way I am going about it. It is the only way that Biafra is going to be liberated. Nigeria is a very complex country with dangerous tenacity, and they have used their policy to subjugate everyone into slavery, making everyone not think about anything else except their stomach. What we do is first, liberate people from their mental sway, which is a deliberate policy imposed on them. What is happening now started as far back as 1957; they intensified their restructuring of Nigeria into an Islamic state in 1989. The problem here is that many of you in Nigeria do not understand what is going on and it beats our imagination that you people are leaving in hell and many of you do not know you are leaving in hell. Many people in Nigeria do not know what is going on. It is we in the Diaspora that is telling them what is happening and it is very abnormal and unusual that people within the system do not understand what they are going through, rather it is the people outside that are telling them what they are going through. And that is because of the system and the policy that was designed to make it difficult for anybody within Nigeria to rise to fight against the system or that policy. If there is anybody that does not understand agitation for Biafra, it is probably not in Nigeria and probably, the person is not sensible enough. What is it that they do not understand? Is it that they don’t understand how dangerous it is to be in Nigeria? Is it that they don’t understand that there is an Islamic state in the North? Is it that they do not understand that Boko Haram is fighting for an Islamic State to convert Nigeria into an Islamic State, or is it that they do not understand that Nigeria itself was a scam? From Nnamdi Azikiwe to Awolowo to Tafawa Balewa and others; they were all having their different views and opinion about Nigeria’s amalgamation. Anybody that is above 18 today that doesn’t understand what I am doing or what Biafra is; it means that the person is not sensible enough. Nigerian policies were designed and targeted at impoverishing the people and enslaving them, making it difficult for the people to revolt against the government, especially in the agenda of Islamisation. That is what we are trying to liberate the people from, not allowing that particular hardship of Nigeria to be a tool that will make them not fight for a better future. And we are winning that war. The question has always been whether you are fighting for the people or doing things for your glory. I am fighting for the Igbo. I am fighting for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He is in the DSS dungeon and being detained illegally. Negotiation for peace starts with releasing him. Court has discharged him. But you are in a country where Boko Haram terrorists are being set free, being given amnesty every day. They are not fighting for the nation. They are fighting for the Islamic agenda and they are well-known terrorists all over the world, brutal terrorists who have killed women and children and they are not hiding it. When they get to court or surrender as they claim, they rehabilitate them and recruit them into the Nigerian Army and send them to the southeast to start killing our people. As I am talking to you today, every security chief, from the lowest to the highest within the Government House of Enugu is controlled by the Fulani and the Northerners. Are you aware of that? I am fighting for the people and at the same time, I want to make history to be one of those who liberated the most powerful and most successful nation in Africa. I’m fighting to make history and also liberate the people of Biafra. That would be the beginning of civilization in Africa because we have what it takes to make Biafra the best country, even to compete with Dubai. We have professionals scattered all over the world, we have the resources, the manpower, and the brain. What we intend to do in Biafra is a brain-based economy. What I am doing is making history just like Mandela, Gandhi, and every other person who fought to liberate their people from slavery and gain their independence and freedom. I want to make those history and liberate my people. I don’t care what they call me now. But what they call me in the future would be what matters to me at the end of the day. They can address me however they want now but I know what I am doing and I know what is going to be the end point. Are you comfortable with your modus operandi? I am very comfortable with my modus operandi and the only way to disorganise the Islamic agenda in Nigeria and to free my people. What I am doing is the only way, there is no better way to do it.

  Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu has threatened that traders in Enugu who observe next Monday’s sit-at-home order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) will lose their shops and licenses. Mbah stated this when he toured various parts of the state capital on Monday to monitor the level of compliance with his ban on the order. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that Mbah,p a few days after their assumption of office, announced an end to the order, effective from June 5. He had said that such orders restrict creativity, entrepreneurship, and productivity in the state, and threatened to close any school, markets, and financial institutions, among others, that obey the order. The governor warned that traders, who continued to sit at home from Monday, July 24, stood to lose their shops to serious-minded businessmen. He said that adequate security had been provided in the areas, adding that there had not been any incident of attack since the ban on sit-at-home in June. To the traders at Ogbete, Garki, and other markets, the governor warned that locking shops on Mondays would no longer be condoned. “But you know, there are also consequences for not heeding our orders. Going forward, I want to put you on notice. “I will go around again on Monday next week. We are going to come with the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority to put a seal on any shop that is found locked on Monday because of the illegal sit-at-home order. “We will take it that you are not ready to do business. “We are going to revoke your license. We will revoke your shop title and reallocate it to someone else who is ready to do business. This is something we must enforce with effect from Monday next week,” he warned.   Mbah, who took time to interact with business owners, shoppers, traders as well as civil servants at the State Secretariat, said “it should never be heard that we were cowed because of the threat of violence by these criminals”. He added that “the poverty that will befall us for sitting at home will kill us even faster. “We are losing over N10 billion every Monday that we sit at home. Enough is enough. This foolishness must end and it must end now. We cannot be marginalising ourselves and still complain of marginalisation. “So, we must say no to sit-at-home because what it means is that we are destroying our employment, our economy, and our GDP.” Meanwhile, the market leaders and business owners have assured the governor that they were now ready for full compliance, saying they were already sick and tired of the Monday sit-at-home. At the meeting with the Ogbete traders, President of Enugu State Amalgamated Traders Association, Comrade Stephen Aniagu, assured the governor that they had already agreed to commence full business, saying all shops would be opened from next Monday. Also, the leader of Abakpa Nike Market, Bernard Anike, also assured the governor that they had since started complying with the ban. NAN also reports that Mbah who visited Spar Mall, Roban Stores at Bisalla Road, Market Square, Shoprite, Zenith Bank at Ogui Road, Celebrities, Ogbete Market, Garki Awkunanaw Market, Mayor Market, Abakpa Market, and the State Secretariat, among others, lauded the level of compliance.

  Two members of the House of Representatives have defended the National Assembly in the wake of the controversy trailing its N70 billion allocation in the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act. The funds will cover renovations in the new chambers, according to the member for Obanliku/Obudu/Bekwara Federal Constituency in Cross River State, Peter Akpanke, and his counterpart representing Igbo-Eze North/Udenu Federal Constituency in Enugu State, Dennis Agbo. “There is a lot of work to be done, if you go to the National Assembly, what is being renovated at the moment is the main chambers and we are using the temporary chambers,” Akpanke said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday. “Most of the members of the National Assembly did not return, most of us are new members. The offices need to be renovated, most offices are not in good condition and it is unfortunate that this was not done before we were sworn in. “If you go to some places, you would see certain things that you won’t like, water is leaking in some places and all those things need to be fixed.” Agbo, a Labour Party member, was in agreement with his peer that the National Assembly complex was in a dilapidated state and in need of renovation. “As sessions come and go, the entire complex ages. No member is going to collect one naira, it is to improve the working conditions,” he said. “If the cost of that renovation or improving the working conditions is considered too high by Nigerians, they have the opportunity to still query it through their representatives.” ‘Focus On How It’s Spent’ Akpanke also maintained that the National Assembly leadership had a breakdown of how the money would be spent. “Until the money comes, I think the leadership would give Nigerians a proper breakdown on how they intend to spend this money and how the money is spent,” he said. According to him, the money approved was passed into the supplementary budget and has all its subheads. He urged Nigerians not to be in a hurry to talk about the amount, but rather to follow up on how the money is being used. Akpanke argued that if the renovations are not carried out, or the staff allowance and cars are not purchased, he would speak up to Nigerians. “I need a car, I need my office renovated. If the money is given to me to renovate my office, I will renovate my office and foot my bills. If the money is given to me to buy a car, I will buy a car and keep footing the bills,” he said. “But if it is not spent for what is budgeted for, I will blow the whistle, the money has to be spent the way it has been budgeted for.” When asked if it is too much to sacrifice for the majority of Nigerians who are living beyond the poverty line, the lawmaker said, “You need a good working environment, you need a car to drive to the office, you need an office to sit down to write your bills and motions, you need an office to receive your constituents and bring the dividends of democracy.” On Sunday, the Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, claimed that none of the N70 billion intended to “support their working conditions” will be distributed to members of the national parliament. Adaramodu said in a statement that the amount will be used to purchase furnishings and carry out repairs in lawmakers’ offices.

  Some constitutional and human rights lawyers have filed a contempt charge and commenced committal proceedings against the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi. The move against Bichi, according to the lawyers, is a result of a violation of multiple judgements and orders of court directing the release of the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele, from the custody of the agency. Led by Maxwell Opara and Ahmed Tijani, the lawyers are praying that the court commits Bichi to prison until he purges himself of the contempt. In their motion filed before the court for the issuing of Form 48 and Form 49 which are the forms to commence proceedings to commit a contemnor to prison, the lawyers said by the judgements and orders of Justice M. A. Hassan, Justice Hamza Muazu and Justice Bello Kawu, the DSS DG ought to have released Emefiele from detention. In the affidavit in support of the application, the consortium deposed to the fact that Justice M. A. Hassan restrained the respondents in that suit, particularly the DSS, from arresting, detaining, or interrogating Emefiele for offences connected to terrorism financing, money laundering, round tripping, financial crimes of national security dimension, among others. It is their deposition that despite the clear and positive orders of Justice Hassan, the DSS still went ahead to arrest and detain Emefiele and has so detained him for well over a month while shopping for evidence which does not exist. While addressing journalists after filing their processes at the registry of the court, Opara said the group would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion and ensure that Bichi is sent to prison to serve as a deterrent to other heads of security agencies and top government officials that contempt of court and gross abuse of their offices for personal vendetta will no longer be tolerated. Opara also called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately relieve Bichi of his appointment as the DSS DG for having allegedly misled the president that Emefiele had committed heinous crimes against the state only for him to now file a charge of possession of a validly registered pump action rifle against the suspended CBN governor. The lawyer added that since there was no valid court order and the DSS had been unable to find any evidence against Emefiele, he was entitled to his release. He concluded that the continuous detention by the DSS was unlawful and violated all his rights, hence the reason why the consortium would ensure Bichi ends up being committed to prison.

  The Abia State Government says it has saved over N200 million on the monthly wage bill, following an ongoing verification of civil servants and other public workers that eliminated over 2,300 ghost workers from the state’s payroll. According to a Monday statement by Kazie Uko, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Alex Otti, the state Accountant General, Njum Onyemenam, revealed that the saving was made using a unified payment system. She confirmed that workers had received the payment of April salaries as well as June pensions to retirees. See the full statement below: PRESS RELEASE ABIA IDENTIFIES 2,300 GHOST NAMES ON PAYROLL, SAVES OVER N200 MILLION MONTHLY The Abia State Government says it has saved over N200 million on monthly wage bill following ongoing verification of civil servants and other public workers in the state. State Accountant General, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, said the huge savings was made using a unified payment system. Onyemenam, who spoke Monday after a meeting with the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, said the verification exercise was still ongoing and that the government hopes to make more savings. “So far, we have been able to save N220 million from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments and pensioners. “Not less than 2,300 ghost names have been weeded out of the payrolls, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise,” the Accountant General said. She confirmed that following Governor Otti’s directive, government had last week paid the arrears of April salaries, left behind by the immediate past administration and also June pensions to retirees. Also, local government staff, who had been skipped when the June salaries were paid, due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries this week, Onyemenam said. KAZIE UKO Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Abia State July 17, 2023

  The Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, has arrested no fewer than 28 people for their involvement in various crimes in some parts of the state. Among the suspected criminals were two secondary school girls who were arrested by the men of the corps for allegedly faking their kidnap and demanding ransom from their mother. Parading the suspects at the headquarters of the command in Akure the state capital, on Monday, the state Commander of the Corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, said the two female pupils were 13 and 15 years of age. Both of them were said to be in JSS 1 and JSS 3. According to the commander, the suspects hid somewhere at Oka-Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area of the state, and called their mother, pretending to be kidnappers who abducted them and demanded a sum of N100,000. Adeleye also stated that pretending to be kidnappers, the girls called and threatened the monarch of their town to pay the ransom within 24 hours or they would kill the abductees in their custody. He said, “The 28 suspects we are parading today (Monday) shows that we have more kidnapping than any other criminal activities. This is in continuation of our efforts at ensuring that kidnapping in Ondo State becomes a thing of the past. “We have people who kidnapped themselves and raised alarm and in our diligent investigations, we were able to unravel the mystery surrounding their disappearance to the extent that they have confessed.” The Amotekun boss noted that the arrest of the suspects was in collaboration with the operatives of the Department of State Security as the telephone line being used by the girls was tracked to where they were. Speaking, one of the girls, who confessed to the crime, said it was her elder sister that lured her to it. The 13-year-old said, “On that day, my sister and I spent the night in our grandma’s place and left there around 6:00 am the following day. While on our way back home, my (elder) sister told me that she had a plan to get money from our mother. “She then revealed her plan to declare ourselves kidnapped and asked for N50,000 each ransom from our mother. It was my sister who taught me what to say when they put a call through to my mother. “When we called we didn’t know that it was the monarch that was speaking with us on the phone and we threatened to kill our victims in captivity if they failed to pay the ransom quickly.”

  One Prophet Segun Philip, 42, and Owolabi Adeeko, 23, have been sentenced to death by hanging by an Osun State High Court, sitting in Ikire, for killing Favour Daley-Oladele, a final year student of Lagos State University for ritual purposes. Justice Christiana Obadina while delivering judgement on the case in Ikire on Monday, also sentenced Bola Adeeko aged, 46 years, the mother of Owolabi, to two years jail term for eating human flesh. Owolabi and Favour met in LASU and were dating before the man invited her over to Ikoyi, Osun State, in December 2019. But while on the visit, Favour was lured to Philip’s church also in Ikoyi, where she was drugged and killed with a pestle. After harvesting some organs from her, Favour’s remains were buried in a shallow grave within the church premises by both men. The organs harvested from the deceased were reportedly used to prepare concoctions for Owolabi’s mother to improve her business fortune which was nosediving at the time. The three defendants, after they were arrested, were first arranged before a magistrate court in Apomu, in January 2020, but were re-arraigned before High Court, Ikire in November 2021, on the charges of conspiracy and murder contrary to Section 324 and 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. 34 Laws of Osun State, 2002. During the trial, the prosecution team, led by the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Osun State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Adekemi Bello, who appeared with Ajibola Alade, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on December 8, 2019. Bello also told the court that the Ogun State Police Command arrested Philip alongside Owolabi, adding that under interrogation, Owolabi confessed to the police that he used his girlfriend to prepare meals for a money ritual for his mother. The prosecution team in the course of the trial, called the police investigating officer that worked on the case and 8 other witnesses and tendered several exhibits before the court. The defendants did not call any witnesses but entered the witness box to testify in defense of their different roles in the matter. Counsel to the defendants, Adeshina Olaniyan, had pleaded for leniency while addressing the court. Delivering her judgement, Justice Obadina declared that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and pronounced Philip and Owolabi guilty of conspiracy and murder. She sentenced them to death by hanging for murder and 14 years imprisonment for conspiracy, while Owolabi’s mother, Bola, found guilty of consumption of human flesh, was sentenced to two years imprisonment.