Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court has discharged Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, from the tax evasion allegations levelled against them by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The court’s decision followed a fresh set of amended charges filed by the FIRS after Binance appointed a Nigerian representative named Ayodele Omotilewa. The FIRS had initially filed legal proceedings against Binance, Gambaryan, and Nadeem on March 22, 2024, alleging tax evasion.   The amended lawsuit claimed that Binance and Gambaryan failed to collect and remit various taxes as stipulated by law. During the proceedings, Binance’s legal counsel informed the court about the appointment of its Nigerian representative, which led to the FIRS discontinuing the case against Gambaryan and Nadeem. The fresh charge against Binance accused the platform of offering services to Nigerians without deducting necessary Value Added Taxes (VAT), among other tax-related offenses. There was a debate in court regarding whether the Binance representative should enter the dock and take a plea on behalf of the corporation. The defense argued that Nigerian law doesn’t mandate such a procedure for corporate representatives. Ultimately, the judge struck out the previous charges and names of Gambaryan and Nadeem from the case, directing it to proceed with Binance alone. The court adjourned to July 12th for plea and instructed both parties to submit written addresses on the issue of the representative’s presence in the dock. This development comes amidst heightened scrutiny of cryptocurrency activities in Nigeria, with Binance facing separate prosecutions and accusations related to foreign exchange rates and money laundering.

  A 46-year-old security guard, Yusuf Abdulwasiu, and a plumber with the Kwara State Ministry of Water Resources simply identified as Aro, have been arrested over alleged theft of water treatment chemicals. The duo and six other suspects, Abdulrasheed Salawudeen, 21, Taiye Issa, 35, Olarewaju Yusuf, 40, Toyin Kazeem and one AbdulKadri Issa Olayiwola, 34, the alleged mastermind and receiver of the ‘stolen’ facilities, are presently held at the custody of the state police command.   They were arrested around 11:30 pm on June 4, 2024, following a routine patrol near the ministry’s gate, where suspicious activity was observed involving a commercial shuttle bus with registration number ABA804YG. It was gathered that the anti-kidnapping team of the command intercepted the bus loaded with water treatment chemicals after its driver attempted to evade arrest. Aro, the plumber in the ministry, was alleged to have duplicated the key to the ministry’s store to facilitate the theft. Sources said detectives while grilling the suspects discovered that they had already carted away 50 bags of chemicals before they were intercepted on their third trip. The Public Relations Officer of the command, Toun Ejire- Adeyemi, confirmed the development on Friday. According to her, “some suspects are being held in connection with the stolen water treatment chemicals. “25 bags of the items were retrieved from them as of the time of the arrest. The command is still on the trail of other suspects fingered in the alleged theft”, she added.

  Niger’s top court on Friday lifted the immunity of president Mohamed Bazoum, paving the way for a possible trial after his ouster in a July 2023 military coup. “The court orders the lifting of Mohamed Bazoum’s immunity,” said Abdou Dan Galadima, president of the court, created in November by the new military regime. The Niger authorities accuse Bazoum of treason, financing terrorism and plotting to undermine the state.   He has been held at the presidential residence with his wife Hadiza since the coup on July 26. After Friday’s hearing, Ould Salem Mohamed, one of Bazoum’s lawyers, said they took note of the decision and that the defence team would make a statement shortly. Bazoum is accused of having spoken by telephone with French President Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a bid for support “by an armed intervention” during the coup. The court hearing had been postponed twice, with Bazoum’s lawyers complaining of several obstacles to the right of a defence. In December, the court of the West African bloc, ECOWAS, ordered his immediate release. Niger pulled out of the regional grouping a month later.

  The Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, has suspended special promotions within the Force with immediate effect. The police boss made this known while decorating newly promoted top officers of the Police Force held in Abuja on Friday. He condemned some officers who lobby for special promotions, noting that henceforth, anyone recommended by politicians and influential personalities in society would be disciplined. Egbetokun also said when the need arises for any officer to be promoted specially, the issue will be handled by the police management. He also banned undue soliciting for posting, warning that anyone found guilty of this act would be dealt with in accordance with the law of the Force. Following the warning, the police boss decorated 15 senior police officers, who were recently promoted from their initial ranks to a new rank. Those newly decorated include one Deputy Inspector-General of Police, 11 Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and 15 Commissioners of Police. Egbetokun advised the newly promoted officers to live up to expectations and be a good example to their junior officers. Details later…

  The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said the company is expanding the storage capacity of its refinery by 600 million litres. Dangote spoke at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings and AfriCaribbean Trade & Investment Forum in Nassau, The Bahamas on Wednesday. This, according to him, will push the facility storage capacity to 5.3 billion litres. The Dangote Petrochemical Refinery refinery currently has 4.78 billion litres of storage capacity for refined petroleum products. Asked to speak on whether or not his refinery would crash the pump price of petrol, which currently sells at around ₦700 per litre, Dangote gave no affirmative answer, but he quickly recounted how the price of diesel fell from 1,700 to ₦1,200 when his diesel flooded the market. “The issue of gasoline is certainly a different issue. That one is being dealt with by the government. But let me give you an example. In the diesel, which the industries, transporters and everybody consume; when we first started, it was ₦1,700, and the dollar conversion was about ₦1,200 then. Immediately when we started, within two weeks we brought down the price to ₦1,000. We took it from ₦1,700 to ₦1,200 and from ₦1,200 to ₦1,700, we have given more than 60 per cent drop in price. With the currency now back up to about ₦1,500 per dollar, the price is still below ₦1,200. That’s a big improvement, from ₦1,700 to ₦1,200. And the diesel is available, we are not living from hand to mouth anymore,” Dangote replied when asked about a possible petrol price cut. The business mogul said the refinery would be a strategic reserve for refined products. “The country doesn’t have strategic reserves in terms of petrol, which is very dangerous. But in our plant now, when you came, we had only 4.78 billion litres of various tankage capacity. But right now we’re adding another 600 million. “So effectively, as we go forward, the refinery will be the strategic reserve of the country in terms of petroleum products,” he noted. He explained that international oil companies denied him access to their crude because they did not think he could succeed with the 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery. “In a system where, for 35 years, people are used to counting good money, and all of a sudden, they see that the days of counting that money have come to an end, you don’t expect them to pray for you. Of course, you expect them to fight back. “And I think that is the process that we’re now really going through. But the truth is that, yes, the country, the sub-region, and also the continent, of sub-Saharan Africa, need this refinery. So, you expect them to fight through non-supply of crude, non-purchase of the product, but I think it’s all temporary. We’ll get there,” he added. Dangote has been importing crude oil from the United States to get feedstock for the refinery. The Kano-born businessman added further that Nigeria has for years been importing dirty fuel into the country. Dangote asked the Federal Government to enforce regulations stopping the importation of dirty fuels. According to him, dirty fuels have been responsible for many cases of cancer in Nigeria and Africa. Speaking of imported fuel, he said, “It is high sulfur, very polluting and also when you look at it, especially in Nigeria, in the past few years, we’ve been having cases of cancer, and most of these cases of cancer have to do with the bad fuel that we’ve been using. So, I will advise even here, you should check the quality of what is being dumped in your region in The Caribbean.” He spoke further that Nigerian crude oil attracts the most premium, yet the nation imports the dirtiest fuels. Asked if there is no regulation to check the quality of imported fuel, Dangote reported, “Now there is regulation, so it is upon the regulators to enforce the regulation.” When fully operational, Dangote disclosed that the refinery would supply cheaper fuel to the Caribbean, saying the price of fuel in that area is expensive. He planned to set up a terminal in the region to give them access to cheaper energy. “I don’t know the exact price but I know that the price in the Caribbean in terms of petroleum products is very high. So, we produce it cheaply, we can always bring it here, we can set up a terminal and we will be able to feed their needs. “We have a bilateral agreement with them and bringing in stuff from there is not more than 18, 20 days maximum. Once we set up a terminal, they will have very cheap oil. They will have cheap energy. By having cheap energy, their economies will grow faster,” he maintained. Dangote recalled that he was once persuaded by a former Minister of Energy in Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al-Falih, to shelve the idea of building a refinery. However, he said he told the former minister that he did not need his advice. “Four years ago, I was in Saudi Arabia during the fasting period and I was invited for the breaking of the fast, Dr Falih, who used to be the Minister of Energy invited me to come and break the fast with him and I went there. He just said, ‘Aliko, I heard that you’re planning on building a refinery, what capacity?’ I said 650,000. He kept quiet for a while and said, ‘You know just about 120km from Mecca, we are building one and I think I would like you to go and have a look. We as Saudi Aramco, are facing a lot of challenges and, we are proceeding with it, but my advice to you is not to do it because normally, refineries are built by major oil corporations or sovereign countries.’ “I said, ‘But Your Excellency, unfortunately, we have already started, so I’m not looking for am advice.’ That was really how we continued,” he recounted. Dangote revealed that

  Following the lingering discussions on a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, organised labour has said that it is not fixated on any figure. The tripartite committee on minimum wage ended its deliberations last week, submitting two figures to President Bola Tinubu for consideration as the new minimum wage. While the government and the organised private sector are proposing ₦62,000, organised labour is demanding ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage. However, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, who was a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief on Friday, said no figure is sacrosanct as there is always room for adjustments. What we said is that for us when we give figures, there is always a room to meander, there is always a room for us to do some adjustment here and there,” Osifo said. “So, there is no figure that is sacrosanct, there is no figure that is cast in stone that both parties will be fixated on it. One of the reasons that we went on industrial action the last time was because when it got to N60,000, they told us that a kobo cannot even join the N60,000, that they cannot even add one naira to it. “So that was one of the reasons that led to that industrial action beyond the fact that there were also delays.” President Tinubu is expected to send an executive bill to the National Assembly for legislative action. The TUC President said that they are not going to pre-empt the President, but they are making all efforts to justify why Tinubu should tilt towards the figure presented by the labour instead of the one by the organised private sector and the government. He said that if the President send a figure that is not favourable to the labour to the National Assembly, they will still approach the lawmakers and push them to do much more. Osifo vowed that the work of the labour leaders will not end until the Minimum Wage Act 2024 becomes law. He said it is premature to predict what labour will do if what is passed is not acceptable to them at the end of the day. I will approve what Nigeria can afford Meanwhile, President Tinubu has said that he will only approve a new minimum wage that the government can afford. He stated this on Wednesday at a dinner to mark Nigeria’s 25 years of unbroken democracy in Abuja. “I have to celebrate with you my dear brother, Senate President, Deputy Senate President,” he said, adding that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his deputy, Jibrin Barau would soon get an Executive Bill from him on the new minimum wage. “The minimum wage is going to be what Nigerians can afford, what you can afford and what I can afford. Cut your coat according to your size, if you have size at all,” he said.

  The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence has asked the Federal Government to purchase new aircraft for President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima. The committee’s recommendation is contained in a report released after its investigation into the status of the aircraft in the presidential air fleet. “The committee is of the strong and informed opinion that, considering the fragile structure of the Nigerian federation and recognising the dire consequences of any foreseen or unforeseen mishap that may arise as a result of the technical or operational inadequacy of the presidential air fleet, it is in the best interest of the country to procure two additional aircraft as recommended,” the report reads. “This will also prove to be most cost-efficient in the long run, apart from the added advantage of providing a suitable, comfortable, and safe carrier befitting of the status and responsibilities of the office of the president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” In May, the house of representatives mandated the committee to conduct a “comprehensive investigation” into the aircraft in the presidential fleet to ascertain their airworthiness and technical status. The House resolution was sequel to a motion sponsored by Satomi Ahmed, chairman of the House Committee. There was a heated debate on the floor of House when the motion was moved. Some lawmakers suggested that the President should travel via commercial aircraft or by road. Ahmed’s motion followed reports of faulty aircraft in the presidential air fleet, forcing the President to use a chartered plane from the Netherlands to Saudi Arabia during his recent trip abroad.