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72 developers bid for Anambra smart city project

No fewer than 72 estate developers have tendered proposals for the Anambra State Smart Mega City Project as envisioned by the state governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo.

As a result, the state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with seven of the developers to transform the state capital into a smart mega city.

The Managing Director, Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, Mark Okoye, and Commissioner for Lands, Prof Offornze Amucheazi, signed the pact on behalf of the state government on Tuesday.

Okoye said the pact was in line with Soludo’s vision of building a smart mega city and transforming the investment and economic landscape of the state.

He said the firms were selected after a rigorous screening from many companies in quality and timely delivery.

He said, “The governor’s brief to us is to reach out, engage and work with the private sector to attract investment for the state. For the last four months, we have screened over 60 real estate proposals with detailed analysis.

“The governor, who is passionate about quality products, with agenda for deadline, insisted on a three-year deadline as long as the firms are competent to deliver quality jobs.

 

Speaking, Amucheazi expressed confidence over the calibre of firms chosen for the project, assuring of the government’s continued support.

The commissioner said, “We had altogether 72 proposals; but after going through them, seven were successful. The place you are developing is unique and we are expecting nothing less, considering your pedigree.

“The ANSIPPA MD and I are coming from the private sector and we are working for a government where things are done entirely differently. ”

In his speech, one of the estate developers, Rainbow Heritage Projects Services Limited, pledged its readiness to create a reference point for infrastructural development in the state.

The Managing Director, Biedima Oliver, said, “We appreciate housing challenges as a national issue. We have identified Anambra as a critical state for such intervention.

“As real estate developers, we plan to change the state landscape and to find solutions to erosion menace and other development issues in the state.”

Punch

2023: Nigerian Governors And Treacherous Politics Of Naira Redesign- Law Mefor

The currency redesign and the cash crisis it has engendered have exposed the evil nature of Nigeria’s ruling elite for what they are. They have sought power and wealth as ends in themselves and not as means to better the society and lots of ordinary Nigerians. Their rallying points are the Nigerian governors who congregate under the amorphous and illegal body called the Nigeria governors forum (NGF). The NGF group is illegal and unconstitutional because they have no such right or mandate; nor is the forum a creation of any law.

Some of the governors led by Nasir El Rufai have gone to the Supreme Court to stop the currency swap, a policy of the same ruling party. Talk of a house divided against itself.

In the last eight years, calamity after calamity has visited the nation and the governors never thought it necessary to visit the President or approached the Supreme Court for intervention. Insecurity has since spiraled out of control and engulfed the nation with devastating consequences. Thousands of Nigerians have died and millions displaced. As pathetic and tragic is the fact that scores of schoolchildren abducted for months and years from various schools in the north are still in forests with the terrorists who violate and dehumanize them daily.

Leah Sharibu is still with the terrorists for over 5 years and is said to have a child or two forcefully sired by these monsters. Boko Haram terrorism is on the rebound with the nation’s military having a rough time and scores of them avoidably perishing too. Those alive are trudging on, poorly motivated and under-equipped as we hear. Bandits have grown into full-blown terrorist organizations under the APC’s watch. And Boko Haram terrorists have swelled their ranks by joining up with Al-Qaida and ISIS. They have all scaled up their terror activities to the point that no part of Nigeria is now safe; to say nothing about the killer herdsmen now having a field day.

The litany of woes besieging the country is long. Yet, the Nigerian governors never thought it necessary to visit Mr. President. They just visited the President to demand that the new and old naira notes be allowed to coexist for at least six months and when the President wasn’t forthcoming, El Rufai and two others went to the Supreme Court.

They make this request after creating the currency crisis by hijacking the currencies released to the banks by the CBN. That was how the banks’ vaults were emptied in a matter of days. New notes still hidden in banks are reserved for the same politicians, especially governors by these soulless bankers. We also hear that the bankers sell the new naira notes to the politicians for as high as 30%. To these bankers, therefore, the Nigerian masses may as well go to hell or worse still, perish. Thus a banker who sells N1oo m to a politician makes as much as N30m.

The corruption cesspool in Nigeria has always been the Nigerian banks. The bank managers, managing directors, and boards collude with the politicians, especially the governors, to deal with the monetary system as they would please. The bankers are the same actors who deliver billions in naira to the politicians at home, which led to over 70% of the nation’s banknotes being in private hands. Bullion vans were seen taking money to Bourdillon, a private house of the APC presidential candidate belonged to a bank.

That is precisely why the governors are on the neck of the President. They want the President to allow them to hold on to the illicit cash they accumulated and cannot return to the banks as demanded. More importantly, the governors and the rest of the politicians want to hold onto such illicit money for vote trading in the general election that is coming up in about two weeks.

These governors helped to orchestrate the currency crises and are now using it as a blackmail tool to force the hand of the President. If Buhari falls for this cheap blackmail, then the reason for currency redesign would have been defeated and would negatively affect the 2023 election as always.

The fact is that 110 days is more than enough for anybody to return legitimately earned physical cash to the banks. The extension being sought by the governors through the Supreme Court is therefore not for shortness of time but easy access and deployment of huge sums of the old currency stashed away over time for this election for vote buying and inducements.

Emefiele is a principal player in President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowal to bequeath Nigerians a free and fair election is one as a way of redeeming his years of the locust. To leave no one in doubt, the President has repeatedly made it clear that the politicians will not be allowed to intimidate the voters or allowed to use the money to buy their votes in February 2023. Emefiele has by default given effect to the President’s free and fair election declaration via the naira design.

This will directly affect ‘bullion van politicians’, who withdraw billions in naira to finance elections, particularly on Election Day. But the banks are bent on truncating the policy in collaboration with the same politicians that the President plans to checkmate. With the support of Mr. President, Emefiele has been able to resist the pressure to drop the naira recoloration and pegging of cash withdrawals. These are politicians who cannot win a free and fair election and would resort to voting trade to secure victory at the polls and capture the state power.

Nigeria is a country run on elite conspiracy; a clique of Nigerians, particularly governors who do everything legal and extralegal to capture state power. One of the things they do is the removal of difficult officials on trumped charges whose innocence or otherwise may never be established. The aim is to force the appointee out of the office and have a more pliable official in place. These were the people that pushed the DSS to seek a court order to remove the CBN governor last December.

It is also necessary to draw attention to the role of the CBN in the Nigerian Presidential Election. Not many know that the CBN houses most of the sensitive election materials including Result Sheets, Form EC 8 A&B, and many more. Unless the safety of these materials is guaranteed no one can guarantee the integrity of the 2023 general election, explaining why the cliques want the control of the CBN at all costs.

Again, the 2023 general election must not fail. If the polity is convulsed and ruptured, the election will be truncated. Many may not know, but under certain circumstances such as a state of emergency, President Muhammadu Buhari can stay beyond May 29, 2023. Those who genuinely seek a new order through a free, fair, and untainted election should prevail over those pulling the dangerous strings to allow this all-important election. The cataclysmic consequences can turn Nigeria into a dystopia (a society where life will be nasty, brutish, and short) overnight and uproot our hard-earned democracy.

The future is ours too to make or unmake. Nigerians are being pushed to the wall in this induced currency crisis so that they will convulse and truncate the polity. Emefiele must stay the course. The President must not yield to these rapacious governors and politicians. If they have their way, they will subvert the choice of Nigerians by deploying cash-to-vote trading as they have always done. If the Nigerian masses resist the pressure to react and truncate the election, their will shall prevail in the end and they will laugh last.

The choice is theirs. Posterity beckons!

 

· Dr Law Mefor, a forensic/social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought and can be reached via 09130335723 or drlawmefor@gmail.com. He tweets @DrLawMefor.

(Journalist101)

Buhari Sets Up Transition Committee Ahead Of May 29 Handover

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of a Presidential Transition Council to facilitate and manage the handing over of power by his government.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, announced this in Abuja on Thursday.

Members of the Committee are:

Secretary to the Government of the Federation – Chairman

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation

Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice

Permanent Secretaries of the following Ministries and Offices:

Defence

Interior

Finance, Budget and National Planning

Foreign Affairs

Information and Culture

Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA)

Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs

Cabinet Affairs Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF)

General Services Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF)

Economic and Political Affairs Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF)

State House

National Security Adviser

Chief of Defence Staff

Inspector-General of Police

Director General, National Intelligence Agency

Director General, State Security Services

Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria

“The Transition Council will be inaugurated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Tuesday 14th February, 2023 at 12 noon at the Conference Hall of the SGF. Members are expected to attend the inauguration in person,” Mustapha said in the statement signed on his behalf by the Director, Information in his office, Mr. Willie Bassey.

Buhari has repeatedly said he would hand over power on May 29, 2023.

(Daily Trust)

HOW INEC HAS RIGGED THE FEBRUARY 25 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN FAVOR ATIKU- Nwaezeigwe

There are ten incontrovertible grounds to prove that the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) under the Fulani-born Prof Mamood Yakubu has politically declared the ethnic kinsman of its Chairman, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the yet to be held February 25, 2023 Presidential election, in line with institutional moral bankruptcy of the Fulani oligarchy, linked with their grave imperious disregard to constitutionality in and out of positions of authority.

The first ground is the October 2022 landmark Caliphate stakeholders meeting sponsored by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and held at his Dubai UAE residence which was chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, but was however represented by a proxy. In the said meeting which the INEC Chairman Prof Mamood Yakubu was summoned to appear in person, it was resolved that every man and woman with Fulani blood must ensure by every available means that Alhaji Atiku Abubabar becomes the President of Nigeria after Muhammadu Buhari.
Prof Mamood Yakubu was specifically instructed to do everything both possible and impossible to declare Alhaji Atiku Abubakar winner of the coming February 25, 2023 Presidential election even if it will take the spilling of more human blood to do it. Prof Mamood Yakubu was further informed that his position of INEC Chairman was not primarily based on merit since there were better qualified Nigerians, but for the primary objective of ensuring that the Fulani retains the control of political power in Nigeria.
Nigerians should therefore consider Prof Mamood Yakubu as Chairman of INEC for the fundamental objective of installing a Fulani President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not as an unbiased umpire.  This clandestine Fulani decision was recently affirmed in form of protest by the APC Vice Presidential candidate Alhaji Kashim Shettima before the Emir of Daura in Katsina State, when he alleged that the Northern Fulani leaders are supporting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar over him because he is a Kanuri and not a Fulani.
The second ground is Mamood Yakubu’s unscrupulous decision to replace University lecturers as election returning officers with his malleable members of staff who will not be in positions of authority to either question or alter his planned fixed election deals in favor his ethnic kinsman Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. So far Prof Mamood Abubakar has not informed Nigerians his reason for adopting his internal staff as the appropriate returning officers against the institutionally unbiased class of academic professionals, except to have a free hand to manipulate the Presidential election in favor of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The third ground is the current artificial difficulties created by INEC over the collection of PVCs which still persist few weeks to the Presidential election. The irony of this INEC rigging plan is that these difficulties only exist in Southern Nigeria where the people are averse to the existing retrogressive Fulani leadership in Nigeria and for that reason will not vote for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. On the other hand, in the upper Northern States of Muslim Fulani, Hausa and other related groups, the same PVCs were distributed house to house to the people by INEC officials on the orders of the INEC Chairman Prof Mamood Yakubu. There has also been incontrovertible evidence of PVCs belonging to Igbo voters dumped in drainage pits. Yet Mamood Yakubu wants Nigerians to believe that the Presidential election is not already rigged in favor of his ethnic kinsman Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The fourth ground is the importation and registration as voters of foreign Fulani nationals from Central African Republic, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso and other ethnic Muslim elements from Chad and Niger Republics. The recent seizure of 6,216 PVCs and Nigerian national identity cards from these illegal Fulani aliens in Northern States by men and officers of Nigeria Immigration Service is an incontrovertible evidence of INEC collusion with Issah Pantami’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Technology to rig the coming Presidential election in favor of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The INEC Chairman Prof Mamood Yakubu is yet to address Nigerians on the reason why his Commission found it easier to register non-Nigerians as voters and issued them with PVCs without difficulties but found it difficult to distribute the same PVCs to Nigerian voters in Southern Nigeria.
The fifth ground is INEC’s clear intent to manipulate the election results with faulty and inactive BVAS from the polling units through the ward, Local Government and State levels to the final national collation center at Abuja in favor of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar through its appointed automated INEC Returning Officers. In fact, since the Returning officers will be INEC permanent staff whose daily bread depends on Mamood Yakubu the question of objection in the face of cases of manipulation of the results will be out of the way. This would not be the case if University academicians are in the same role. The cases of Osun State Governorship election and 2022 Kenya Presidential election are clear evidence that BVAS can easily be manipulated against the wishes of the voters.
The BVAS in line with this rigging intent are already clandestinely being distributed to wrong locations outside the States they are officially assigned. An instance is the recent accidental discovery of about ten BVAS machines officially assigned to Northeast in Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s Owa Oyibu community, which were quickly retrieved and transferred to Government House, Asaba. Mamood Yakubu and his INEC are yet to arrest the culprits, comment on, or explain to Nigerians how BVAS machines meant for a Northeast State found their way to Governor Okowa’s town and later to his Government House.
The sixth ground is the secret and clandestine employment of foreign Private IT contractors as providers of Presidential result IT synchronizing platforms from where results will easily be manipulated in favor of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as in the case of the 2022 Kenya Presidential election when the Chairman of Kenya Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) Wafula Chibukati who clandestinely imported five Venezuelan IT specialists to manipulate the Presidential election result in favor of William Ruto against Raila Odinga.
What ignorant Nigerians fail to understand about this manipulation is that the BVAS only deals with accreditation. What happens afterwards between transmission and finally declaration of results has nothing to do with BVAS. Most Nigerians in their political timidity and acute ignorance fail to understand that results transmitted from polling centers do not go straight to INEC internet server but are first transmitted to a private servers owned by a private IT contractor or contractors charged with the responsibility of synchronizing the results.
Ordinary Nigerians are yet to be informed or educated by INEC on what synchronization of results mean. In the recent Osun State Governorship election Nigerians were told there were two election results—one synchronized and the other unsynchronized. Who were the synchronized voters and who were the unsynchronized voters? All these IT technical terms boil down to INEC’s capability to manipulate election results at will and for the benefit of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Nigerians are yet to know who these private IT contractors with the powers to synchronize Nigerian voters out of their choice candidates, are? This is where Dr Issah Pantami’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Technology are working hard to achieve Fulani objective.
The point is that Nigerians will overwhelmingly vote Mr. Peter Obi for President and end up seeing their mandate criminally manipulated and changed by Mamood Yakubu and Issah Pantami through their private IT server providers through this criminal process of synchronizing votes cast by Nigerian citizens. And once Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is declared the winner by this criminal act that would be the end of the election since the Supreme Court will not be able to overturn the Presidential results already declared by the election commission given Nigeria’s culture and history of corrupt judicial system.
The seventh ground is the yet to be resolved under age voters willfully registered by the same INEC, an act that puts the Commission on the trough of criminality. Nigerians continue in their acute ignorance to live with INEC Chairman’s lies that the presence of under aged voters in the voters’ registers of Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Sokoto and Kebbi States has been resolved. This is a capital and compound lie. The INEC Chairman in addition to failing to give Nigerians adequate explanations is yet to satisfactorily prove that the under-aged voters particularly from Kano State have been removed from the Voters list. Banking on the institutional political dementia of Nigerians, Mamood Yakubu believes in his wildest imagination that mere announcement that the under aged voters have been struck off the voters list is enough evidence to cover up his criminal rigging antics. Nigerians were only informed that the one million or so voters removed from the voters list were those found to have engaged on double registration and not child-voters. The only functional reaction by the INEC Chairman on the subject of under aged voters was to instruct Nigerians to leave their respective voting stations on the day of election and travel to Kano and other Northern States to stop there child-voters from voting. Beyond this kindergarten instruction, Mamood Yakubu is yet to inform Nigerians how many under aged voters were discovered respectively in Kano, Jigawa, Yobe, Borno, Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and, Kebbi States. If indeed they were struck off the voters register what are the final voter-populations in these States? If Mamood Yakubu is yet to be properly informed, any election held in these States without proper account of under aged voters remains invalid in law. I want Nigerians to take note of this.
The eighth ground is the creation of artificial fuel scarcity in order to create difficulties for the people and by extension restrict people’s ability to travel, engage in their normal businesses and on the long run create voter apathy. What other excuse does Mamood Yakubu have to counter this obnoxious Fulani strategy to rig the Presidential election for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar if few weeks to Presidential election Nigerians cannot buy fuel in their country which is not only a major oil exporting nation but has four Government refineries? Just think of this impunity in governance and tell me how long Nigerians will allow this imperial insanity to persist? Mamood Yakubu is Fulani; Atiku Abubakar is Fulani; Muhammadu Buhari is Fulani; and the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Mele Kolo Kyari is Fulani, yet the Fulani do not produce oil in Nigeria.
The ninth ground is the unexpected creation of scarcity of Naira in circulation through the unscrupulous introduction of new notes. Bearing in mind that this is happening few weeks to the Presidential election, does INEC think that any election held under the present circumstances would be deemed credible? Mamood Yakubu should ask his Fulani kinsmen in authority with him how their bandit kinsmen in our forests were able to have early and easy access to the new naira currency notes while ordinary Nigerian citizens are sleeping in banks, some are dying and businesses are placed in a state of comatose?
The tenth and final ground is the persistent terrorism perpetrated by Fulani bandits, herdsmen and ISWAP under the protection of the Federal Government. A situation where Nigerian citizens continue to be kidnapped and murdered in cold-blood by these people without proactive measures by the Federal Government to stop them can never provide a justifiable room for credible elections. Millions of Nigerians remain displaced from their ancestral homes by these foreign Fulani mercenaries hired with Nigeria’s petroleum resources and Nigerians still believe all is well with these so-called General elections.
The conclusion of the matter is that the result of the February25, 2023 Presidential election has already been declared with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the winner with the challenge of whatever daring consequences would emerge from Nigerians. Nigerians should therefore not expect any credible Presidential election result from Mamood Yakubu’s INEC outside the planned declaration of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election, even though majority of Nigerian voters will overwhelmingly vote for the Labour Party Candidate Mr. Peter Obi.
What should therefore be of paramount importance to Nigerians is what should be their reaction in the event of this planned daylight electoral robbery? Will Nigerians allow the coming impunity to stand? Will Nigerians allow themselves to be enslaved by another Fulani patron killer-herdsman, who will continue with the heinous protection of his blood-sucking killer-Fulani kinsmen, bearing in mind that the same Alhaji Atiku Abubakar celebrated the stoning of Deborah Samuel by his Fulani Muslim foot-soldiers?

Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe Phd

Supreme Court ruling on Naira, non-binding, February 10 deadline remains – CBN legal Dept

The Supreme Court ruling stopping the federal government from implementing the February 10, 2023 deadline of phasing out the old Naira notes is irrelevant, non-binding and a distraction.

The legal opinion said, “Neither the CBN nor deposit money banks were parties to the suit filed by three state governments (Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara).

“The state governments simply took advantage of the fact that in matters purely between state and the FG, the Supreme Court can serve as the court of first and only instance. Joining the CBN in the matter would immediately rob the supreme court of jurisdiction

“Only the CBN is empowered by Law to determine what is termed legal tender, not the Supreme Court.

“The Attorney General of the Federation cannot issue a binding order on the apex bank governor or board as the CBN act didn’t contemplate such and the interim order is simply an academic attempt at grandstanding,” the opinion added.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Endorses Peter Obi for President

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has officially endorsed the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, ahead of the 25 February general elections.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Chiedozie Ogbonnia, on Tuesday, Ohanaeze said, apart from them, other regional socio-political groups also endorsed Mr Obi during their gathering at Wells Carlton Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja on Thursday.

The other groups which endorsed LP candidate during the gathering, according to the statement, included the Middle Belt Forum led by its president, Bitrus Porgu, the Pan Niger Delta Forum led by Edwin Clarke, the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, led by Ayo Adebanjo.

Ohanaeze said the groups separately acknowledged that Mr Obi has the needed capacity and competence to rescue Nigeria from its current woes and urged Nigerians to recognise and seize the rare opportunity which the LP candidate has provided.

“In unison, all acknowledged that Obi is the best thing God has done for Nigeria in this century; a game changer, soldier of morals, democracy archetype, the popular sentiment of Nigerian youths, an abundance philosopher, prudent resource manager, ethnic barrier-breaker and a quintessential audacious Igbo icon,” the group said.

It urged Igbos to remember that “politics is not always the art of the possible, but most times the art of choosing between the reasonable alternatives.”

The group suggested that it would be needless and counterproductive for residents of the South-east to continue their agitation against perceived marginalisation of the region and work against the LP candidate ahead of the general elections.

“Now that Nigerians are moving from a winter of despair to a summer of hope, through our son, Mr Peter Obi, is it sensible that agitations based on marginalisation and other forms of relative deprivations should continue?

Is it sensible to turn the barrel of the gun inwards? And is it sensible for any noble Igbo son and daughter to embark on self-destruction such as the sit-at-home syndrome, destruction of public utilities, among others,” Ohanaeze stated.

Ohanaeze said although the group does not “wax eloquent on partisan politics,” it maintains the earlier stand that it is the turn of the South-east to produce a Nigerian president in 2023.

It is to this end, that Ohanaeze insists that going by the political culture of sharing, zoning and rotation of power which have been in existence since the Nigeria came into existence, it is the turn of the South-east to produce a president for Nigeria in 2023,” the group said, insisting that the position is irrevocable.

Ohanaeze criticised what it termed “machinations” by the political parties against the South-east’s chances of producing a president in 2023.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo watched with keen interest, sadness and reproach the bourgeois cash and carry politics, conspiracy, cold intrigues, betrayals, hypocrisy, opportunism and other forms of machinations within the mainstream political parties, against the South-east, even from the least expected,” it said.

Dismissing the taunt that Obi has no structure to win the election, the apex Igbo sociocultural organisation said Obi-Datti movement has metamorphosised into the needed structure to win election.

“Students of political history will readily recall that it is the ideas from gifted men that develop concentrically into ideology, movements, revolutions and finally to a political structure. And today, the Obi-Datti movement has become an enviable irreversible, irrepressible and formidable structure in Nigeria,” Ohanaeze said.

(Journalist101)

Breaking: Supreme Courts Temporary Stops the Banning of Old Naira Note

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily halted the move by the federal government to ban the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023.

A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro, halted the move of the federal government in a ruling in an exparte application brought by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara.

The three states had specifically applied for an order of Interim Injunction restraining “the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on February 10, 2023, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.

Moving the application on Wednesday, counsel to the applicants, Mr A. I. Mustapha, SAN, had urged the apex court to grant the application in the interest of justice and the well-being of Nigeria.

He stated that the policy of the government had led to an “excruciating situation that is almost leading to anarchy in the land “.

While he referred to a Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) statistics which put the number of people who don’t have bank accounts at over 60 percent, Mustapha lamented that the few Nigerians with bank accounts can’t even access their monies from the bank as a result of the policy.

The senior lawyer further argued that unless the Supreme Court intervenes the situation will lead to anarchy because most banks are already closing operations.

Delivering ruling in the motion, Justice Okoro, held that after a careful consideration of the motion exparte this application is granted as prayed, “An order of Interim Injunction restraining the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on February 10, 2023, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.

He accordingly adjourned to February 15, 2023 for hearing of the main suit.

(Journalist101)

Gunmen kill UNIZIK Lecturer In Anambra, as lawyers protest colleague’s killing in Imo Gunmen

 

Gunmen on Tuesday killed a lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Prof. Anthony Eze

The assailants stormed the deceased’s residence in Awka with a Toyota Corolla salon car, shooting him at close range.

A resident of the area, who preferred anonymity, said the deceased attempted to flee on sighting the assailants who rushed and shot him repeatedly in the chest.

He said: “We were here this morning when the man was driving out of his house and suddenly a Toyota Corolla salon car pulled towards the entrance of his house.

“When he tried to drive back the gunmen followed him and shot him, emptying about four bullets into his chest. As soon as they executed their plot, they fled to an unknown destination while we ran for our lives.”

He said the deceased was rushed to the General Hospital Amaku where he was confirmed dead by the doctor.

Police spokesperson, Tochukwu Ikenga, said the Command was yet to receive report of the incident.

But Acting Director of Information and Public Relations, UNIZIK, Chika Ene, confirmed the incident.

She however said she was yet to receive full details of the incident.

Meanwhile, legal practitioners in Imo State on Tuesday protested in Owerri, the state capital, over the killing of the President of Ejemekwuru Customary Court in the Oguta Local Government Area of the state, Nnaemeka Ugboma.

 

Marching from the Bar centre on Owerri – Orlu Road in Owerri, they demanded an end to incessant killings in the state.

The lawyers dressed in black attires, with a banner and placards with various inscriptions, called for an end to killings in the state.

The chairman of the Owerri Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ugochukwu Allinor, in company of the four other chairmen of the NBA in the state, condemned Ugboma’s killing.

Allinor said the protest was to make the security agents in the state to sit up to their responsibilities.

He urged the government to provide adequate security arrangements at the court premises adding that there was need for all courts in the State to be fenced.

Allinor called on the police to apprehend the gunmen who killed the judge as well as those who beheaded the Sole Administrator of the Ideato North Local Government Area of the state, Chris Ohizu.

Chuks Agbugba, a lawyer, said the killing of the jurist was a threat to justice dispensation in the State.

Another lawyer, Tony Ephraim, said: “We are here to protest the constant killing of lawyers in Imo State and attack on court facilities by gunmen. The other time a former chairman of the bar was killed in his office. A lawyer was also killed in Orlu and now we are talking about the killing of the President of a Customary Court during a court session.”

Enugu 2023: Peter Mbah May Backs Frank Nweke Jr If…

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah is currently making a move to support gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state, Frank Nweke Jr if he loses at the court, Akelicious can authoritatively report.

According to the source, Mbah is making the move in case he did not secure his victory at court.

Justice Folashade Giwa-Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu State has fixed February 15 for ruling on the suit seeking for disqualification of all the PDP candidates in Enugu State from taking part in the 2023 general elections.

In the case instituted by the Enugu North Senatorial district candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chika Idoko, the plaintiff sought for an order of the court to disqualify all the PDP candidates standing for the coming the polls including the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, for Section 77 of the Electoral Act.

In the suit marked No: FHC/EN/CS/217/2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP, and all its candidates in Enugu State were listed as defendants while Idoko was the soul applicant.

He claimed that the PDP primary election was in contravention of Section 77 of the Electoral Act and should thus be voided, adding that the party should be punished in line with extant provisions of the Section 84 of the same Act.

His argument was that the party submitted its membership register to INEC on May 6, 2022, less than 30 days to its primary election, contrary to the provisions of the law.

When the case came on Thursday, all the parties in the suit adopted their process, including preliminary objections and addresses for the substantive suit.

However, after listening to parties arguments on their various positions, Justice Giwa-Ogunbanjo adjourned the suit to February 15 for ruling.

It was reliably gathered that in case of any eventuality, Mbah and his supporters in their plan B have resolved to support the APGA candidate, Frank Nweke Jr, in case the ruling the did not favour them.

According to the source, “I can authoritatively tell you that Mbah has been making secret moves and meeting with APGA leadership and party’s gladiators as a plan B, if he loses in the Febuary 15th, ruling, in order not to loss relevant in the Enugu politics.

“It was further gathered that both parties, APGA and the PDP is just waiting for the ruling to perfect the coalition if the does not favour the PDP, and this happens, it is 100 percent sure that Frank Nweke Jr will easily emerge victorious in the governorship election.

“Nweke Jr has already won the mind of Enugu people through his lofty manifesto and he has already adjudged as the leading candidate among all the governorship candidate in the state.

“And with the plan from PDP to support him, if the party loses at court, this will further boost Nweke Jr chances of ruling Enugu in 2023”, the source authoritatively said.

Latest Online Presidential Poll: Peter Obi wins the entire South, Gains Massive Support in the North

Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election is shaping to be an exciting race, with the Labour Party leading with 37%, followed by the PDP with 27% and the APC with 24%, according to the latest poll by Nextier SPD, an African-based international development consulting firm.

The poll, released on Saturday, February 5, 2023, is the second national face-to-face survey conducted by Nextier SPD and shows that a significant percentage of registered voters, 72% have chosen their presidential candidate.

The poll places Peter Obi, the dark horse of the 2023 election, well ahead of his closest rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.

According to the most recent Nextier Poll, Peter Obi has the greatest net favorability among the leading presidential contenders. At the same time, among the major political parties, the Labour Party has the greatest net favorability.

According to the firm’s website, Nextier SPD, employs evidence-based research and policy to create and strengthen knowledge and skills for managing society. The organisation released its first poll in November, 2022 and the Labour Party’s presidential candidate emerged as the most preferred. This poll shows Mr Obi has expanded his lead in the race.

In a statement released by the Peter Obi Campaign Organisation, it thanked Nigerians for their continued support leading up to the 2023 Presidential Election.

“It is wonderful to note that the findings of Nextier’s second poll for the 2023 General Elections suggest that the message of hope of our Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, is resonating strongly with the Nigerian people,” Dr Tanko Yunusa the Chief Spokesperson for the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, said in a statement on Sunday, February 5, 2023.

It demonstrates that the efforts of Nigerians from across the nation to take back their country and reshape its character and fortune to benefit all Nigerians are bearing fruit.

“We are delighted that His Excellency, Mr Peter Obi, who is seen as the burden bearer and hope for true change in Nigeria has the greatest net favorability rating among the leading presidential contenders.

“In addition, our great Party, the Labour Party, which was first mocked by institutional demagogues impeding Nigeria’s road to genuine greatness, has been deemed to have the greatest preference across various religious and non-religious groups in the nation.

We are particularly pleased by the findings that reveal that 72 per cent of respondents have already decided on who to vote for, and 77 per cent say that they will vote in the forthcoming election.

“This development is a strong indicator that the Nigerian voter is smart, conscious and actively engaged in changing the future of our nation. It also indicates that the Nigerian people have for long anticipated the emergence of a candidate like Peter Obi blessed with the capacity to bring about real change and good governance for all Nigerians,” he added.

The statement also expressed satisfaction that most Nigerians were concerned about tackling the vexing problems of insecurity, joblessness, bad economy, and institutionalised corruption, to which its Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, has offered the most straightforward solutions.

The possibility of a runoff between Peter Obi and either Atiku Abubakar or Bola Tinubu as indicated by the Nextier survey was based primarily on the fact that neither contender is projected to achieve the criterion for an outright victory.

According to the survey, only Peter Obi’s Labour Party would be able to accomplish that in 23 states, beating out the PDP and APC.

Other outcomes of the polls were communication channels of choice and the views of Nigerians on the neutrality of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The study found that radio and the social media tool WhatsApp are the most favoured outlets for political parties ahead of Election Day.

It also revealed that 47% of respondents believed INEC would not tamper with the results, while 29% did not, and 23% were doubtful.