he Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has ordered the immediate nationwide destruction of billboards bearing “All eyes on the judiciary”.

Olalekan Fadolape, Director General of ARCON, gave the directive in a statement obtained by Peoples Gazette on Tuesday.

“The concept exposed were not approved by the Advertising Standards Panel, hence, the Council has directed that all materials being exposed be brought down immediately and the violators’ sanctioned,” Mr Fadolape said.

The statement is coming amid anxiety as Nigerians await the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).

The five-member panel of the PEPT in Abuja, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, had reserved its judgement on the petitions filed by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, against President Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general election.

The Tribunal, however, has until September 16 to deliver the judgment on the petitions before it.

Mr Fadolape said the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) failed in the approval of one of the concepts as the advertisement failed to meet ARCON’s guidelines.

He explained that the cause forming the central theme of the campaign in the advertisement was a matter pending before the PEPT and was “controversial and capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace.”

He added that “The advertisement is considered a blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and particularly the Honourable Justices of the Tribunal who are expected to discharge their judiciary functions without fear or favour over a matter that is currently jus pendis.”

Mr Fadolape, however, ordered the dissolution of the ASP secretariate for failing to diligently exercise its functions as the gatekeeper of advertising, advertisement and marketing communication.

Nigeria’s inflation surged to 24.08% in the month of July 2023, a 129 basis-point increase compared to 22.79% recorded in the previous month. This represents the sixth consecutive increase in the headline index this year.

This is according to the recently released Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for July 2023 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The significant jump is following the complete removal of petrol subsidies and the unification/devaluation of the official exchange rate. Notably, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate stood at 2.89% in July which was 0.76% higher than the rate recorded in June 2023 (2.13%).

In terms of contribution to the year-on-year inflation, Food and non-alcoholic beverages (12.47%) contributed the most, followed by housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel (4.03%), and clothing and footwear (1.84%).

Food inflation

The Food inflation rate rose to 26.98% in July 2023, representing a 1.73% point increase from 25.25% recorded in the previous month and 4.97% points higher than 22.02% recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.

• On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in July 2023 was 3.45%, this was 1.06% higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023 (2.4%).
• The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve-month ending July 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 24.46%, which was a 5.71% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in July 2022 (18.75%).
• The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetable, milk, cheese, and eggs.

Core inflation

The “All items less farm produce” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 20.47% in July 2023 on a year-on-year basis; up by 4.41% when compared to the 16.06% recorded in July 2022.

• On a month-on-month basis, the Core inflation rate was 2.11% in July 2023. It stood at 1.77% in June 2023, up by 0.34%.
• The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 18.84% for the twelve-month ending July 2023; this was 4.31% points higher than the 14.53% recorded in July 2022.
• The highest increases were recorded in prices of passenger transport by air, passenger transport by road, vehicle spare parts, medical services, maintenance, and repair of personal transport equipment.

Simon Ekpa, a popular Biafra agitator and Separatist, has advised foreign Embassies in Nigeria not to grant Ifeanyi Ejiofor a visa over insecurity in the southeast.

Ekpa, the Finland-based lawyer and Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government disclosed this in a letter made available to DAILY POST on Tuesday.

According to him, Ejiofor should be held responsible for insecurity in the southeast region.

“To All Foreign Embassies Operating in Nigeria Ref: Barr. IFEANYI EJIOFOR AND FAMILY. We wish to inform all foreign embassies operating in Nigeria that Barr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor is planning to come to any of your embassies to seek visas for himself and his family to travel out of Nigeria.

“His intention is not to go for tourism or the like. Ifeanyi Ejiofor is a fugitive running away from Nigeria. He intends to seek asylum on arrival on the soil of any country that grants him entrance.
“Ifeanyi Ejiofor is the source and progenitor of the insecurity in Biafra Land -southeast of Nigeria, in conjunction with his other allies.

“Biafra Land- southeast of Nigeria, today is witnessing a complete breakdown of law and other, characterized by extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, arsons, terrorism and flagrant abuse of human rights”, the letter reads.

• Police Confirms Arrest of 8, Recovery of Arms, Ammunition
• Warns Against Spread of Distorted Views on Operations

Following receipt of a petition from a law firm on the activities of some hoodlums armed with guns and other dangerous weapons who were in the habit of constantly and repeatedly terrorizing members of Nembe Bassambiri Community in Bayelsa State, and coupled with other similar complaints and intelligence in that region, operatives of the Police Strike Force were deployed to the area for a combing operation to rid the community of the activities of armed hoodlums.

Consequently, the operatives swung into action and raided the camps of the hoodlums in and around the Nembe Bassambiri Community on the eve of Saturday 12th August, 2023. The operation led to the arrest of Eight (8) suspects including Gift Vanman, Daniel Solomon, Ishmael Teknikio aka Moore, Rufus Itario, Joel Jubilee, Sylvanus Alatari, Sounpre Solomon, and Ayebanate Talbot (POS). Items recovered include 3 AK-47 Rifles, 2 pump action guns, 1 LAR rifle, 1 jack-knife, 1 dagger, magazines, 104 rounds of live ammunition of various calibres, 2 POS machines, 10 ATM Cards, and 1 rechargeable bulb.

The Police wish to state in clear terms that the operation was carried out by a combined team of police operatives to sanitize the community, and the officers were professional, neutral, and proactive in the mission to liberate members of the community from the terror instilled by the nefarious activities of the armed hoodlums as the Force will not allow lawlessness or gross violations of the laws in any part of the country. This is contrary to the distorted narrative in the news making the rounds that the community was attacked by hoodlums dressed in police uniforms. The distorted news is clearly the handiwork of mischief makers and they are hereby warned against such calculated attempts to destabilize the country.

It is also pertinent to send out a warning to all recalcitrant members of the society whose stock-in-trade is instilling fear into law-abiding members of the public and fomenting troubles across the country, to desist from such as the police will leave no stone unturned in the bid to rid our societies of hooliganism, terrorism, and gross violation of extant laws.

The Nigeria Police Force hereby reassures Nigerians of the unwavering commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to attend to security issues affecting them by acting promptly on intelligence to curb such acts in any part of the country. Similarly, the Police assures the confidentiality of reliable informants while urging members of the public to partner with the Police and other security agencies with prompt and actionable intelligence on the activities of members of the underworld, and criminally-minded individuals, who foment troubles, commit crimes, and cause instability.

The IGP reiterates that the operation in Nembe is a signal to other hoodlums with similar intents of causing fear amongst the people with their activities across the country to turn a new leaf or be assured that the long and unbiased arm of the law will catch up with them in no distant time.

The suspects will be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigations.

ACP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra,
Force Public Relations Officer,
Force Headquarters,
Abuja.

The recent military coup d’état in Niger was the fifth the West African country of 26 million people has experienced since its independence from France in 1960. Land-locked Niger is among the poorest countries in the world, despite the oil-rich nation being the world’s seventh largest producer of uranium. Both civilian and military governments have failed to develop the country, and been accused of widespread corruption. General Abdourahamane Tchiani’s coup two weeks ago, thus repeated a historical pattern. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) suspended Niger’s military regime from their institutions, and announced sanctions.

Of Political Godfathers and Military Brass Hats

Niger has remained stubbornly stuck at the bottom of human developments league tables. But despite widespread claims of the country benefitting from huge amounts of aid, it is clear that much of this assistance has not gone towards poverty reduction, but disproportionately benefitted foreign interests who tend to channel aid through their own citizens and institutions, and sell goods and services produced in their own countries.

President Mahamadou Issoufou held power for a decade from 2011, before handing over to his protégé: the recently deposed Mohamed Bazoum. A political godfather, Issoufou, has unsuccessfully sought to mediate this dispute between his successor and the former head of his presidential guard, General Tchiani. Bazoum narrowly survived a coup attempt on the eve of his assumption of office in April 2021. His saviour at the time was ironically Tchiani, the decade-long head of the 700-strong presidential guard who has just overthrown him. Bazoum had caused discontent within the military by sacking chief of staff, General Salifou Modi, and reportedly preparing to replace Tchiani. The putsch thus appears to have been a pre-emptive strike, though Tchiani was able to mobilise support within the military and population by exploiting grievances over continuing challenges in battling jihadists across the Niger-Mali-Burkina Faso tri-border area, as well as over the rising cost of living.

Regional Sound and Fury amidst Gulliver’s Troubles

With newly-installed Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, having recently been elected ECOWAS chair, the subregional body announced the severance of trade and electricity to Niger, banned flights, froze financial assets, and - without apparently having properly consulted their military defence chiefs who met a week later - ineptly gave Niger’s military junta a week to surrender power to Bazoum or face a military intervention. This ill-conceived ultimatum has now come and gone, leaving ECOWAS with egg on its face. On 10 August, its leaders contradictorily ordered a subregional force to restore constitutional order in Niger, while simultaneously stressing the need to use peaceful means to achieve this outcome.

One of General Tchiani’s first acts after declaring himself president, was to announce a renewal of military cooperation with anti-French military regimes in Mali and Burkina Faso. Bamako and Ouagadougou reciprocated by announcing that they would regard any ECOWAS military intervention in Niger as a “declaration of war” on them, promising to come to Niger’s aid. The military regime in Guinea has also been supportive of Niger’s putschists. The new regime in Niamey further announced the end of defence accords with France, demanding that Paris withdraw its troops from among its last Gallic staging posts in the Sahel.

Nigeria – under the military dictatorships of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha - had acted as a regional hegemon in the 1990s, deploying troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone under the ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), in which it provided 80% of the troops and 90% of the costs. An announced $8 billion left the Nigerian treasury for both peacekeeping missions (though the figure is probably closer to $2 billion), while the country suffered about 1,500 fatalities. Even these two praiseworthy missions, however, represented “hegemony on a shoestring,” eventually requiring UN interventions to stabilize Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Unlike Babangida and Abacha, president Bola Tinubu has to contend with parliament and public opinion in launching what would clearly be a deeply unpopular military intervention into Niger. Amidst a $100 billion debt and cost of living crisis triggered by the removal of the country’s fuel subsidy, Nigeria’s ill-equipped and under-funded military is now a shadow of its former self, struggling to pacify Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants in Nigeria’s northeast, as well as stem attacks by Fulani herdsmen and kidnappers across the country. Nigeria has thus massively scaled back its peacekeeping activities, also following the constant breakdown of its armoured personnel carriers in the AU/UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur. A Nigerian-led military intervention has been vociferously opposed by several Nigerian Senators and religious leaders, with the country sharing a 1,600-kilometre border with Niger, and many Hausa groups – an ethnicity to which General Tchiani belongs - in Nigeria’s Kano and Sokoto states enjoying close family links and lucrative trading relations across both countries’ common border.

Amidst these existential regional divisions in which a quarter of ECOWAS states are now under military rule, the viability of the recently completed Niger-Benin pipeline set to transmit oil to Europe, could be under threat. Further afield in Central Africa, Chadian leader, Mahamat Idriss Déby, has tried rather unconvincingly to mediate the dispute. But having himself assumed power through a French-backed coup, he continues to commit gross human rights abuses by killing protestors and jailing opponents of his rule. In the Maghreb, Algeria’s military-dominated regime – which has a 1,000-kilometre border with Niger – has publicly cautioned against an ECOWAS intervention.

The Demise of Pax Gallica and Pax Americana, the Rise of Pax Russica?

During its military intervention into Mali in 2013, French troops were sent to guard uranium mines in neighbouring Niger. At the time of the Niger coup, Gallic soldiers were still protecting uranium mines in northern Niger, controlled by the Orano Group which has 17 industrial sites in France. Paris currently has 1,500 troops and an airbase in Niger, having earlier been expelled from Mali and Burkina Faso for utterly failing to wage an effective counter-terrorist insurgency over the last decade. French leadership of the G5 Sahel countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Mauritania) has now spectacularly collapsed, having used regional soldiers as cannon-fodder to fight jihadists, while itself adopting a more cautious but domineering approach. Very noticeable in pro-junta street protests in Niger – as earlier seen in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso – was the waving of Russian flags, and strong condemnation of the former French colonial power.

Under US president, Barack Obama, Washington had heavily militarised the country’s Africa policy. The Kenyan-Kansan initiated the $110 million drone and air base in Niger, which now has 1,100 American troops. Uncle Sam has thus committed himself, in this crisis, to restoring Bazoum to power, with the ousted president penning a clearly ghost-written piece in the Washington Post seeking US assistance to restore his mandate, while raising the spectre of Russian intervention through Wagner mercenaries. The US-dominated World Bank has cut off annual aid of $600 million to Niamey. With strong anti-Western sentiment in Niger, a Franco-American backed ECOWAS military intervention could be perceived as an effort to protect Paris and Washington’s military and economic interests in Niger.

Moscow, like Beijing, has adopted the majority African position criticising the coup, and called for a return to constitutional order. Russia’s Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin – whose mercenaries are supporting regimes in Mali and Central African Republic – has however welcomed the junta, offering assistance to the putschists in battling what he portrayed as Western neo-colonialism in Niger.

The Return of the Men on Horseback

The Niger coup has glaringly exposed the fragility of many African governments. As US president, John F. Kennedy, famously noted in 1962: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” Many democratically elected governments in Africa have traditionally closed off political systems by autocratically clamping down on genuine opposition - what regional civil society activists often term “civilian coups d’état - making the military the only viable alternative for political change. Self-serving soldiers have, however, failed as spectacularly as politicians to transform African societies. Within ECOWAS itself, current regimes in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Togo, and Sierra Leone could all be vulnerable to future coups if democratic governance is not properly practised. Even the kleptocratic regional Gulliver – Nigeria – must get its own house in order to prevent the return of military “Men on Horseback”.

Professor Adekeye Adebajo is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship in South Africa.

Nigeria’s currency has continued to experience free-fall against the Dollar two months after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s floating of Naira, a decision that has further worsened the woes of Africa’s largest economy.

From 14 June, when CBN liberalized the forex market, till date, the country’s currency has continued to slump against the Dollar from N750/$1 at the parallel market known as a black market to N950/$1 on Monday, August 14, 2023.

The situation became more worrisome as the gap between the official window and the parallel market widened with a differential of N181, defeating the essence of CBN’s floating of the Naira.

The ongoing probe of the apex bank by a special investigator, Jim Obazee, appointed by President Bola Ahmed, may have worsened the depreciation of the Naira, according to experts familiar with the sector.

Details from the CBN’s seven years consolidated financial statements released last week showed a combined indebtedness of $7.5 billion to JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, with a foreign reserve of $33.88 billion. This is part of the reasons the forex crisis has lingered, Prof Uche Uwaleke, an economist stated.

But the Acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, blamed undocumented forex remittance and the unregulated parallel market for the woes in the sector.

Consequently, the country’s economy, which heavily depends on fuel, continues to bleed from the forex crisis.

For instance, the oil marketers have dropped a hint of a further hike in petrol pump prices as a reflection of the soaring price of the Dollar.

That would affect the masses still struggling to cope with July’s fuel increment occasioned by petrol subsidy removal since June.

Speaking with DAILY POST exclusively on Monday, the president of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe said its members cannot be blamed for the ongoing crisis in the forex market.

He blamed the prevalence of unlicensed online platforms operating in different jurisdictions without standardized regulations capturing diaspora remittances and denying the official market.

According to him, the recent happenings in the sector had further brought the need for CBN to have its members pick up agents of diaspora remittances to block loopholes and stymie the forex crisis.

“The revelation of the apex bank on diversion of diaspora remittance has vindicated our long-time advocacy to make BDCs pick up agents of diaspora remittances to block the loopholes that the CBN is bringing to the forefront.

“To make diaspora remittance inflows into the official market, the BDCs should be made the sole agents of diaspora remittances and break the monopoly of the agency of the international money transfer operators.

“What we have now is the prevalence of unlicensed online application platforms and fintech that operate in different jurisdictions without standardized regulation capturing diaspora remittances and denying the official market”, he stated.

Also, Idakolo Gbolade, Chief Executive Officer of SD & D Capital Management, said the continued Naira decline could be attributed to the reduction in forex inflows into the economy, resulting in foreign currency scarcity.

He stated that major oil companies, establishments and commercial banks contributed significantly to the forex crisis by encouraging increased scarcity for their benefits and profitability.

Gbolade urged that the government must urgently pursue policies that halt further deterioration in the sector.

“The Naira’s continuous decline can be mainly attributed to reduced forex inflows into the economy, which has led to the scarcity of foreign currencies and has put pressure on existing reserves. These pressures, combined with our debt obligations, have led to reduced foreign reserves.

“The cooperation of major forex revenue contributors like the oil majors and commercial banks are also suspect because they have encouraged increased arbitrage in the foreign exchange for their benefit and profitability.

“The federal government needs to critically examine the policy and ensure that the CBN monitors the implementation of the policy.

“This uncertainty in this sector has contributed to rising inflation and rising high cost of living,” he stated.

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, says the examination body has done nothing untoward or illegal with his recent recruitment exercise.

The JAMB helmsman defended the decision of the board to employ 300 staff without advertising the positions.

Professor Oloyede, who appeared before the House of Representatives on Monday, said the decision was to fill vacancies created due to retirement.

The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee is investigating employment racketeering by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

Meanwhile, the committee also observed that 14 individuals at the Federal Character Commission (FCC) received salaries through IPPIS without being placed in any federal government agencies.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, the Edo State capital, has affirmed Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party.

This was contained in a statement issued Monday evening by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh.

The case with No: CA/B/93/2023, which was filed by Mr. Lucky Shaibu against Abure and five others, was dismissed after a unanimous decision by Justice Abadua, Fatima Akinbami and Sybil O. Nwaka-Gbagi.

The plaintiff, Shauibu who was a member of the Labour Party Executive in Ward 3 in Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State, had allegedly suspended the chairman of the Labour Party.

However, in his lead judgment, Justice Abadua affirmed the decision of the High Court of Edo State and held that one man cannot suspend the national chairman of LP in line with Articles 13 and 17 of the Constitution of the Party and the extant Electoral Act of 2022.

Abure, in his reaction to the judgment, hailed the courageous judges of the appellate court, Benin, for refusing to close their eyes to the justice of the case, while commending his legal team, led by G.C. Igbokwe, SAN, for a job well done.

Igbokwe described the judgment as sound, courageous and unimpeachable while stating that in line with the judgment, Abure remained the national chairman of LP, until the party would hold its convention.

No fewer than 21 military personnel including senior officers were reportedly killed by the suspected bandits at Kundu via Zungeru in the Wushishi Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger state.

It was gathered that 13 of them were killed in an encounter on Sunday, while eight others were killed on Monday in an ambush in which a captain and a major were reportedly involved.

According to reports, the security operatives were trying to block the Kundu route of the criminals who were about to cross with some rustled cattle when they were ambushed, leading to the casualties including five vigilantes who were injured with bullets.

It was reliably gathered that the bandits had rustled several animals from several communities and tried to cross from Akere to the northern parts of the country.

An eyewitness told Channels Television that the corpses of the 21 military personnel were deposited at the same Zungeru hospital where the injured vigilante group were receiving medical treatment.

An injured vigilante, Sani Adamu, in a phone interview, said they had a gun battle within a range of less than 100m but they were challenged because the criminals’ weapons were more sophisticated than theirs, leading to casualties.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.- Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, on Monday, assured that the army and other security agencies would not fail in addressing the current security challenges in the country.

Lagbaja gave the assurance when he inaugurated the newly-constructed Headquarters of 8 Division Nigerian Army Sokoto.

“I must admit that the nation has faced some security challenges along the way, but the troops have been responding to these challenges across the country.

“We will continue to do all within our power to combat every security challenge confronting the country and meet the expectations of the country in providing a secure environment for economic activities to thrive,” he added.

He called on Nigerians to support the troops with actionable information in their battle against criminals in the country.

Lagbaja said that the construction of army formations was to bring the troops closer to the people for effective and timely response to any security threat.

He added that the new barracks would enhance regimentation and coordination of responses to security challenges.