Barely 24 hours after a Federal Capital Teritorry High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the release of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, from detention, another court has nullified his arrest, detention and interrogation by the Department of State Services (DSS), DailyTrust reports. In a judgment upon an Originating Motion on Notice brought before the Court by Emefiele, against Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Inspector General of Police, State Security Service (SSS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria, the presiding Judge held that the arrest, detention and interrogation of Emefiele were in violation of the subsisting judgment and orders of Justice M. A. Hassan in Suit No. FCT/HC/GAR/CV/41/2022. Emefiele through his Counsel, Peter Abang, had asked the court to set aside, quash, invalidate and nullify the arrest and detention of the Applicant for being illegal and a nullity in view of the subsisting judgment of Justice M. A. Hassan delivered on December 29, 2022. Justice Bello Kawu, on Friday, while delivering the judgment in the matter, held that the arrest, detention and interrogation being in violation of the subsisting judgment and orders of Justice M. A. Hassan in Suit No. FCT/HC/GAR/CV/41/2022. Justice Kawu also made an order setting aside, voiding, quashing, invalidating and nullifying any warrant of arrest obtained or procured by the respondents, especially the DSS for the arrest, detention and/or interrogation of Mr. Emefiele in connection with the allegations of terrorism financing, fraudulent practices, money laundering, round tripping, threat to national security before or from any court since the date of the judgment of Justice M. A. Hassan. The court also ordered Emefiele’s release from DSS custody. In his reaction to the latest judgment, Counsel to Mr. Emefiele told journalists that beyond the release of his client, that Nigerians must celebrate the fact that Nigerian judges despite several acts of intimidation by security agencies and the some unfavourable conditions under which they work are bold to dispense justice not minding whose ox is gored. He called on the DSS to immediate comply with the orders of the court and release his client so that he can go and look after his failing health aggravated by over one month of illegal and unlawful arrest and detention.

  The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has dismissed the case against the former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Delivering judgment, Justice Yusuf Halilu, described the EFCC’s charges of fraud and abuse of office against Okorocha as an abuse of judicial process on the grounds that the anti-graft agency had filed a similar charge against the defendant at the Federal high court. More to follow….

  Governor Hope Uzodimma has said that he does not operate a security vote in Imo State. He spoke on the matter on Thursday after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to seek an appointment for the Southeast leaders and Ohanaeze Ndigbo over the insecurity in the region. Uzodimma, however, requested that state governors should be given more latitude to tackle security challenges at subnational levels with the federal structure. He also said governors were not at liberty to choose or reject security measures decided by the federal government because of the federal structure of the country. When asked to justify his security vote if the state could not handle the matter, he said: “Security vote, I am not against it, but I don’t operate it in Imo State. Again, you should find out from my parliament, I don’t operate it in Imo State but I still think that governors should be given a headroom, governors should be allowed a window to have funds they can use to manage security issues. “As I speak to you, we are not addressing the problem of insecurity in Imo State through kinetic means alone, we have adopted both kinetic and non-kinetic approach. We also procure intelligence that will help security agencies function effectively and efficiently. So, all these are intangible aspects of security control measures. It is then important that governors who have been elected, sworn-in to manage the resources and the mandate of the people be given latitude to operate so that they’ll be able to provide results.” On the motive behind his visit to the villa, he said the people of the Southeast like other regions, deserved federal government support to enable them live their daily lives and go about their businesses. He, however, did not give details of what the Southeast leaders would want from Tinubu when the meeting holds. Uzodimma said non-state actors had employed fear and indiscriminate killings and brigandage to enforce an illegal sit-at-home on some days in the region. According to him, the problem has also become an issue of “perception management”. He added that international diplomacy, which is also part of the solution, is beyond the purview of state governors. Asked about the claim by former Nigeria Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, that his men were helping the federal government tackle insecurity in the Southeast, Uzodimma replied that he was not aware of such and could not identify who were ‘Dokubo’s men’. The governor, who spoke on the flooding ravaging the Southeast, said a recent hydrographic survey indicated that the huge cost of remedying the situation might be beyond the capabilities of state governments.

  Operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 13 Chinese over alleged illegal mining in Kwara State. The suspects, a female and 12 males, were arrested on Wednesday in the GRA of Ilorin. The commission said the action followed credible intelligence about their activities of illegal mining and non-payment of royalties to the federal government as required by law contrary to and punishable under Section 1(8) (b) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17, 1983. EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said that investigation prior to their arrest revealed that the operators had different illegal mining sites in almost all the 16 LGAs of the state.

  TEXT OF MEDIA BRIEFING BY MR. DELE ALAKE, SPECIAL ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT ON SPECIAL DUTIES, COMMUNICATIONS AND STRATEGY ON THE DETAILS OF PRESIDENTIAL INTERVENTION ON FOOD SECURITY, FOOD PRICING & SUSTAINABILITY ON THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023 Gentlemen of the press, I welcome you once again to this press conference to update the public on President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s immediate response to the current food inflation in the country. As a hands-on- leader who follows developments across the country everyday, Mr. President is not unmindful of the rising cost of food and how it affects the citizens. While availability is not a problem, affordability has been a major issue to many Nigerians in all parts of the country. This has led a significant drop in demand thereby undermining the viability of the entire agriculture and food value chain. Accordingly, in line with this administration’s position on ensuring that the most vulnerable are supported, Mr. President has declared, with immediate effect the following actions: • That a state of emergency on food security be announced immediately, and • That all matters pertaining to food & water availability and affordability, as essential livelihood items, be included within the purview of the National Security Council. As a direct and immediate response to this crisis, a number of initiatives will be deployed in the coming weeks to reverse this inflationary trend and guarantee future uninterrupted supplies of affordable foods to ordinary Nigerians. As with most emergencies, there are immediate, medium- and long-term interventions and solutions. In the immediate term, we intend to deploy some savings from the fuel subsidy removal into the Agricultural sector focusing on revamping the agricultural sector. In an earlier meeting with Agriculture Stakeholders (today), we drafted a memorandum of partnership between the government and the individual stakeholder representatives that encompasses the decisions taken and actions proposed from our engagements. The immediate intervention strategies are as follows: 1. We will immediately release fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal. 2. There must be an urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is produced all-year round. As a country, Mr. President has made it clear that we can no be comfortable with seasonal farming. We can no longer afford to have farming down times. 3. We shall create and support a National Commodity Board that will review and continuously assess food prices as well as maintain a strategic food reserve that will be used as a price stabilisation mechanism for critical grains and other food items. Through this board, government will moderate spikes and dips in food prices. To achieve this, we have the following stakeholders on board to support the intervention effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: The National Commodity Exchange (NCX), Seed Companies, National Seed Council and Research institutes, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Food Processing/ Agric Processing associations, private sector holders & Prime Anchors, small holder farmers, crop associations and Fertilizer producers, blenders and suppliers associations to mention a few. 4. We will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks. 5. The Central Bank will continue to play a major role of funding the agricultural value chain. 6. Activation of land banks. There is currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase availability of arable land for farming which will immediately impact food output. – Mechanization and land clearing- The government will also collaborate with mechanization companies to clear more forests & make them available for farming 7. River basins- there are currently 11 rivers basins that will ensure planting of crops during the dry season with irrigation schemes that will guarantee continuous farming production all year round, to stem the seasonal glut and scarcity that we usually experience. 8. We will deploy concessionary capital/funding to the sector especially towards fertilizer, processing, mechanization, seeds, chemicals, equipment, feed, labour, etc. The concessionary funds will ensure food is always available and affordable thereby having a direct impact on Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI). This administration is focused on ensuring the HCI numbers, which currently ranks as the 3rd lowest in the world, are improved for increased productivity. 9. Transportation and Storage: The cost of transporting Agricultural products has been a major challenge (due to permits, toll gates, and other associated costs). When the costs of moving farm produce is significantly impacted- it will immediately be passed to the consumers, which will affect the price of food- the government will explore other means of transportation including rail and water transport, to reduce freight costs and in turn impact the food prices. As for storage, existing warehouses and tanks will be revamped to cut waste & ensure efficient preservation of food items. 10. We will Increase revenue from food and agricultural exports. As we ensure there is sufficient, affordable food for the populace, we will concurrently work on stimulating the export capacity of the Agric sector. 11. Trade Facilitation: Transportation, storage and export will be improved by working with the Nigerian Customs, who have assured us that the bottlenecks experienced in exporting and importing food items as well as intra-city transportation through tolling will be removed. These are some of the immediate interventions this government will put in place to tackle this crisis. Principally, one of the major positive outcomes of these interventions will be a massive boost in employment and job creation. Indeed, agriculture already accounts for about 35.21 percent of employment in Nigeria (as at 2021), the target is to double this percentage to about 70% in the long term. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mandate to create jobs for our teeming youth population will be achieved with between 5 to 10 million more jobs created within the value chain, working with the current 500,000 hectares of arable land and the several hundreds of thousands more

  The Federal Government, on Thursday, announced that the 11 power distribution companies in Nigeria have applied for the review of their various electricity tariffs in order to incorporate the changes in the macroeconomic parameters across the country. It disclosed this through a notice published by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission. It added that the Discos also stated their reasons for the rate review were premised on factors affecting the quality of service, operations and sustainability of the companies. In the notice, obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, the NERC stated the application for rate review by the power firms was in line with the rules contained in the Electricity Act 2023. Recall that some power distribution companies had announced in June that there would be a hike in tariff, projected to take effect from July 1, 2023. The Discos, however, backtracked the next day after widespread criticisms, as they stated that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission had yet to approve the hike.The development caused apprehension among power users at the time, as many prepaid consumers rushed to buy more electricity units in their meters, while anticipating a possible hike in tariff. It was, however, observed on July 1, 2023, that the Discos did not raise the tariff, an indication that they had yet to get the approval of the power sector regulator. But on Thursday, the NERC announced that the power firms had applied for a review of their respective tariffs, though it described it as an application for rate review. In the notice from the regulator, it said, “Pursuant to Section 116 (1) and 2(a&b) of the Electricity Act 2023 and other extant rules, the 11 successor electricity distribution companies have filed an application for rate review with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

  Peter Nweke, a commercial motorcyclist, has been apprehended for allegedly sodomising a 15-year-old boy in Ondo State. Mr Nweke, 35, was nabbed by members of the Abusoro Community in the Ijoka Area of Akure, the Ondo State capital and was immediately handed over to operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Daily Trust gathered that the suspect would lure his victim from school to his house where he would have carnal knowledge of the teenager and later returned him to his parents’ house daily before he was caught. Confirming the arrest of the suspect on Thursday, the spokesperson for the NSCDC in Ondo, Daniel Aidamenbor, said the suspect was apprehended by the collective effort of the community, who observed his strange movement around the victim’s residence daily. He, however, added that the suspect would be charged to court accordingly after the conclusion of the investigation.