👻 Ghost doctors... boo.
FG increased the price of petrol, Police officer charged with murder, A Senate member is accused of armed robbery
Hi!
The Nigeria Immigration Service, on Monday, opened its portal for the 2023 recruitment for interested applicants across the country. See openings and how to apply.
Word count: 2,000 (approx. 7 min read).
In this edition
FG increased the price of petrol
Police officer charged with murder
A Senate member is accused of armed robbery
Ghost doctors in Zamfara
PSA
Change your bills
CBN says the old N200, N500 and N1000 Naira notes are still scheduled to become illegal by the 31st of this month.
Two weeks ago, banks reported that they’re still giving the old notes because CBN has not provided enough new notes to replace the number of bills people are bringing into the bank to exchange.
But CBN says the banks are lying. They insist that they have distributed enough and said people should report banks that give them old bills and whose ATMs are still dispensing the old notes.
The CBN is also responding to news that traders are not accepting the new notes in markets. To resolve this, they have started a public campaign to tell locals about the new note regime. Very curious timing but we’ll see what happens in 10 days.
Fuel is scarce and (more) expensive
While petrol scarcity slowly becomes the new normal, the government has topped it off by increasing the official cost of petrol to N185 (previously N170).
Guardian Nigeria reports that the FG increased the price to “encourage marketers to open up for business rather than the ongoing phased rationing causing scarcity”.
This is the second time the price is increasing in six months. In May 2020, the FG upped it from N160 to N170.
Last month, they increased the price of electricity.
Petrol prices across the country were already a mess before this official increase.
Prices at even the official petrol station (NNPC) has been around N195, while private-owned fuel stations have been selling for N200+
Money
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved the distribution of N990.189 billion as revenue to the three tiers of government beginning in December 2022.
The amount approved includes gross statutory revenue, VAT, exchange gain, and electronic money transfer fees.
The Federal Government received N375.306 billion, states received N299.557 billion, local governments got N221.807 billion, and oil-producing states received N93.519 billion (13% of mineral revenue).
The gross revenue available from VAT in December 2022 was N250.512 billion (cost of allocation was N10.020 billion), gross statutory revenue was N1136.183 billion (cost of collection was N31.531 billion, and transfers totalled N396.896 billion), and electric money revenue was N24.315 billion.
Insecurity
Railway infrastructure concerns
Last Saturday, kidnappers abducted 20 people at Ikimi/Ekehen Station in Edo State. So far 7 people have been rescued. 13 people are still missing.
This is the second train station attack in less than a year.
These incidents and several cases of vandalism on railways across the country have ignited concerns over the return on investment so far spent on building railways.
The Railway Police Command arrested over 20 suspected vandals and thieves in between May and August 2022.
The FG reports they’ve spent $4.12 billion so far, all of which came as a loan from the Chinese government. They’re supposed to use revenue from the railways to pay back. Yikes.
A breakdown of the investment shows that $2.5 billion was invested in the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge, the Abuja-Kaduna rail line was $1.5 billion while the rehabilitation of the Warri-Itakpe standard gauge cost $121 million.
This week in kidnap stories
In Ilorin, Kwara Police arrested 3 suspected human traffickers.
Musa Ayuba, 44, Jeremiah Muda, 35, and Luka Ayuba, 37, are all from Bangi village in Niger State.
Okasanmi Ajayi, the state's police public relations officer, revealed that the victims - 22 boys and 19 girls - ranged in age from 5 to 15.
According to him, the suspects were caught on the Okolowo motorway on 14 January while waiting to transport the children to an unknown destination.
Ajayi said the suspects claimed to be travelling from Niger State to meet with a pastor and enrol the children in an unidentified location.
Rivers police identify kidnappers using social media as bait
TW: rape.
Rivers State Police Command's c4i Intelligence Unit arrested 3 men for luring young women on dating sites and kidnapping them for ransom.
The arrest was linked to the suspects' recent operation, which took place on December 20, 2022, when a 28-year-old lady from Port Harcourt was lured down to Igwurita market junction, kidnapped, and taken to Chokocho Pipeline, where the kidnap syndicate raped and stole from her.
Iringe-Koko stated that the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N600,000 from the victims' relatives before releasing her on December 21, 2022.
The suspects "confessed to luring girls out through Tinder chats," according to Iringe-Koko.
Churchgoers kidnapped in Katsina
Terrorists attacked the New Life For All Church in Kankara, Katsina State, on Sunday and abducted about 25 worshippers.
Ishaya Jurau, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Aminu Masari on Christian Affairs, also confirmed the attack.
According to Jurau, security personnel are working to save the victims.
Katsina State Police is however claiming that 7 worshippers were kidnapped.
SP Gambo Isah, the state police spokesman, said the terrorists shot one Pastor Haruna in the hand during the attack.
The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Kankara led a team of police officers to the village, but the terrorists had fled with the victims before they arrived.
This is the same community where over 300 schoolboys were kidnapped and released four days later.
The security agents seemed to be iffy on exactly how many kids were missing, so they couldn't say for sure if they were all released. Amazing
Police brutality
Drambi Vandi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, has been charged with the murder of a lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, on Christmas Day in Ajah Lagos - Guardian NG
The Lagos State Government charged the suspected murderer with a single count before Justice Ibironke Harrison. He was charged with murder under Section 223 of the Lagos State Criminal Law of 2015.
Police Inspector, Mathew Ameh was one of those who testified. In his testimony, he said his team, which included Vandi, was conducting a stop and search in Ajah, Under Bridge.
Ameh stated that his team attempted to stop Omobolanle's car, which was an unregistered vehicle, but the driver refused to stop and the defendant shot at the vehicle.
After the testimony, the judge — Justice Ibironke Harrison — granted an order to cross-examine the witness and postponed the trial to January 25 and 26, 2023.
Crime, corruption
Did the Security Service raid CBN?
This week, some news outlets reported that the SSS invaded the Central Bank headquarters to search the Governor, Godwin Emefiele’s office.
Recall that Nigeria’s secret service was trying for a while to arrest Emefiele over “suspected terrorism financing”, but the court said they were not allowed to because the judge didn’t think they had enough evidence to arrest a man of Emefiele’s status.
Emefiele resumed work the following day — he’s been out on leave for a few weeks. He publically denied the raid, and the SSS said the news is “fake and misleading”
However, sources informed Nairametrics that several consultations took place ahead of the governor’s return with some high-profile Nigerians wading it to avoid a possible confrontation.
The thing between Bukola Saraki and Abba Kyari
In April 2018, the police arrested about 12 people who robbed banks and homes in Offa, Kwara. The armed robbers killed more than 10 people and robbed 5 banks.
June 2018: The police said their investigations uncovered links between then president of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki and 5 of the criminals. Firstly, the 5 had mentioned Saraki in their statements and upon further investigation, the police claim that they found more personal links between Saraki and the suspects.
June 2018: The police called Saraki in for questioning. He disputed any connection to the criminals
July 2018: Saraki releases a statement where he accuses the police of partaking in a ploy by his opponents aimed at scoring “cheap political points”
November 2018: one of the prime suspects in the case - a former police officer died in his cell. The head of the investigation team — former deputy commissioner of police, now convicted criminal Abba Kyari — broke the news.
The case is paused and picked back up in 2023: During the hearing on the 18th of January, another primary suspect told the court that Saraki had nothing to do with the robbery. According to him, it was all Abba Kyari’s doing.
The suspect — Ayoade Akinrinbosun — said Kyari offered to pay N10 million and give him a visa to implicate Saraki.
Akinrinbosun said he refused the reward, so Kyari used force - he was tortured and shot in the leg in order to implicate Saraki. He also said the suspect who curiously died was shot in front of him.
Abba Kyari says he didn’t do it.
Does Enugu INEC Deputy Director do land fraud?
Obinna Ayogu, the INEC's Deputy Director, has been questioned by police in Enugu State on allegations of forgery, fraud, trespass, and acts capable of causing a breakdown in law and order - Guardian NG
A petition dated December 21, 2022, prompted police intervention.
According to the petition, Ayogu forged an agreement in which a woman, Ann Ngene, sold him a landed property in Umakashi, Nsukka Council. Ann denied knowing him or selling land to him.
The petitioners claimed that the INEC official also forged a document, employing Alloysius Ezema, a Shanahan Community Bank employee who forged and thumb-printed the agreements.
According to police sources, Ezema confessed to the police and provided details on the amount paid to him as well as the location of the payment.
Do the crime, try to avoid the time
The Supreme Court has rejected a request by the family of the late Military leader, General Sani Abacha, to halt the Federal Government's efforts to reopen criminal forfeiture proceedings against the Abacha family.
The government is investigating family members for alleged complicity in looting the nation's treasury during Abacha's administration.
On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had previously endorsed the Federal Government's authority to reopen criminal forfeiture proceedings against the family.
Ghost doctors
During the recent workers' verification exercise to implement the N30,000 new national minimum wage, Zamfara Governor Bello Matawalle revealed that 199 ghost doctors were discovered on the state government payroll.
"We discovered that we had 280 doctors receiving monthly salaries, but only 81 of them were genuine."
"This was one of the major challenges that hampered the full implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage for workers in the state, which began in November 2022.
"We are addressing the issue in collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other stakeholders," Matawalle said.
He stated that his administration is working to ensure that workers' salaries in Zamfara are paid on time.
To prove his dedication, he assured that he has paid all government workers' salaries in the state for November and December 2022.
Death by hanging
An Osun State High Court in Osogbo sentenced four men to death by hanging for killing and robbing Victor Akinbile, who is believed to be a relative of the former Osun State Deputy Governor.
In Lagos, the Ikeja Special Offences Court sentenced a man to death by hanging for stealing N57,000 from a nurse on her way to work at 4 a.m. The nurse said the man and his friend (still not caught) threatened her with an iron rod and a pair or scissors and forcefully took her bag. The sentence, the judge said, is in accordance with Lagos’ Criminal law, 2015.
There was no mention of a possible appeal in either of these cases.
Road to general elections (Feb 25th)
You still have 9 days to get your PVC!
APC supporters jump ship
In Bauchi State, about 20,350 APC members have defected to the PDP.
According to Bauchi governor Bala Mohammed's Special Assistant for Political Matters, the people decamping are from the state's 20 local government areas.
Bala Zungur, one of the decampers, stated that he was influenced by the achievements of the state under a PDP governor, particularly in the area of infrastructure development.
He claimed that Governor Bala Mohammed and his PDP administration have built roads, schools, hospitals, and other viable projects.
Tinubu will not be disqualified
The Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu for nominating a fellow Muslim, Kashim Shettima, as running mate for the general elections scheduled for the 25th of February.
The judge said he was dismissing the case because the lawyer, Osigwe Ahmed Momoh, is not an APC member and thus cannot understand the process that produced Tinubu and his running mate. As a result, he is unable to question them.
Africa, a country
Ghana’s government and trade unions have agreed to increase all public servants’ salaries by 30% for 2023, they said in a joint statement, as the country struggles to reduce debt and tackle rampant inflation - Aljazeera
Cantum dumps Access
Centum Investment Co. Plc of Kenya has terminated a deal with Nigeria's Access Bank to sell its 83.4% stake in Kenya's Sidian Bank because the deadline for completion has passed.
Centum announced plans to sell its stake in Access Bank, a subsidiary of Access Holdings, in June, subject to regulatory approval in Kenya and Nigeria.
Centum stated that the planned sale would be guided by share purchase agreement conditions that had to be met by a certain date.
"Centum was unable to reach satisfactory terms with Access Bank for the extension of the SPA and chose not to pursue extension."
The transaction was expected to close in December.
Other news
Lawyer Sues IGP, DSS, AGF over negligence of the safety of Labor Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi - Nigeria Crime
Rivers residents discover illegal crude tap on Shell pipeline, seven years after - Guardian Ng
fire at Araromi Auto Spare Parts Market, in the Agodi-Gate area of Ibadan, Oyo State - The Cable
A team of four researchers from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso in Oyo State, have won N89.1 million as a research grant from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), under the 2021 TETFund National Research Fund (NRF) Intervention - Premium Times
Nigeria lost, at least, N8 trillion to rent seekers who explore the multiple rates in the foreign exchange (FX) market to rip off the country - Guardian Ng
Nnamdi Kanu has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government for labelling his group as a terrorist organisation - Vanguard
A group of medical practitioners, under the aegis of Biafra Medical Practitioners (BMP), has called for the immediate release of detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, over his alleged worsening health condition - Guardian Ng