A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bode George, has appealed to “those jumping ship” from the party to “calm down,” saying the party must not go down.

Chief George stated this in an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday.

George urged aggrieved members of the PDP to stay put and resolve the party’s problems.

Recall that the G5 — an aggrieved faction of the party — met with President Bola Tinubu at the state house in Abuja a few weeks ago.

Similarly, former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, and foremost member of the G5, had also met with the President several times.

The meetings have left the public with speculations that the members of the G5 were considering a defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking on the issue, George said PDP members “must never allow this party to crack up.”

He said, “We are still in court, and everyone still thinks they can win. Until the court decides who actually won the election, it will be a futile exercise trying to bring all sides together.

“In fact, I want to advise those who are jumping ship now to calm down because you can hear the APC leadership complain about the crack in the leaders of the party in the senate.

‘When you have a problem in your house, it is better to stay in that house and resolve the problem. There is nothing impossible to do if you have a fear of God.

“I want to appeal to all sides. Let us not allow this party to go down. We must never allow this party to crack up.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a warning to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) in the country to exercise caution when conducting transactions with businesses and individuals in certain countries. The countries specified by the CBN are the Russian Federation, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, and Cameroon.

The cautionary message from the CBN is in response to these countries being placed on the high-risk jurisdictions list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body responsible for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

The CBN’s warning was communicated through a circular, with reference number FPR/AML/PUB/BOF/001/029, issued by CBN director of financial policy and regulation, Mr. Chibuzo Efobi.

The FATF sets global standards aimed at preventing illegal financial activities and the associated societal harm. Apart from the aforementioned countries, other nations on the list include the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Croatia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

The CBN’s decision to issue this warning is based on the resolutions reached at a recent plenary session of the FATF, held last month.

The circular states, “Banks and other Financial Institutions should take note of the outcomes of the Financial Action Task Force Plenary conducted from June 21-23, 3023, and the subsequent addition of Cameroon, Croatia, and Vietnam to the list of jurisdictions under ‘Increased Monitoring.”

It further emphasised that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, and Myanmar remain on the high-risk jurisdictions list and are subject to a ‘Call for Action.’

In light of these developments, the CBN directs financial institutions to implement enhanced due diligence measures and, in severe cases, consider implementing countermeasures to protect the international financial system.

The circular also reminds financial institutions that the suspension of the Russian Federation from the FATF remains in effect.

Financial institutions are urged to stay vigilant and alert to potential emerging risks resulting from attempts to bypass measures designed to safeguard the international financial system.

Given these new developments, financial institutions are instructed to take note of all additions to jurisdictions under ‘Increased Monitoring’ and high-risk jurisdictions subject to a ‘Call-for-Action’ and take necessary steps to effectively mitigate these risks.

Twitter has reacted to newly launched rival social media app, Threads, by Meta on Thursday, threatening to sue the latter’s parent company.

According to a report by Semafor, citing a letter delivered to Mark Zuckerberg, a lawyer for Twitter said the company “has serious concerns that Meta Platforms (Meta) has engaged in systematic, willful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”

“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” Alex Spiro wrote in the letter.

Representatives for Twitter and Meta are yet to publicly comment on the lawsuit.

LEADERSHIP reports that Meta launched its competitor to Twitter in 100 countries. The new app had garnered 30 million sign-ups less than 24 hours after launch.

The Senate on Thursday condemned the administration of Muhammadu Buhari for “secret” concessions of some airports across the country.

It passed a legislation and ordered a thorough probe.

The upper house took the decision following a motion by Senator Sumaila Kawu (NNPP, Kano South), who queried the manner in which Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano; Nnamdidi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; and other international Airports were concessioned.

He recalled in his motion that the Federal Executive Council, on 17th May 2023, approved the concession of Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano for 30 years, to Messrs Corporación America Airports Consortium.

He argued that the Federal Ministry of Aviation (and Aerospace) does not own or run any airport in Nigeria, rather, that power is vested on the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, based on the governing Act.

“The Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission procedure document states, with respect to the agency that wishes to concession a facility that, ‘The public entity should have enabling authority to transfer its responsibility enabling legislative and policy framework or an Administrative Order to that effect;

“This reflects that the combined import of the FAAN Act and the ICRC procedures manual is an evident manifestation that the entire airports’ concession is based on an incurably faulty foundation.

“There is no doubt that it is the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, not the Ministry of Aviation, that has the power to transfer its responsibility’ to a would-be concessionaire,” the lawmaker argued.

He chastised the Ministry of Aviation for usurping the ‘legislative and policy framework.’

“I am convinced that if the claim that the FEC has approved the concession of Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport has any substance, then the FEC has indeed been misguided in its decision, and that action cannot amount to anything than a nullity;

“I am worried about the rationale in borrowing and spending public money to upgrade the airport only to hand it over to foreign businesses for a period of 30 years in the name of a concession.”

He lamented in his motion that “Nigeria is receiving a concession fees or upfront of $1.5m while the total amount of money that the Kano airport is accruing to the government is $97.4m.

“Disturbed that this concession is clearly dubious and raises questions on the process and what the actors stand to gain.”

While noting that the unions had embarked on strike during the commissioning process as FAAN was sidelined, he said “the concession by the Buhari-led administration raises a fundamental question of injustice on why an elephant project with huge public investment would take place just at the end of the administration.

“It is also observed that there are faulty gaps inherent in the concession that would lead to an array of lawsuits and thereby embarrass the current administration.”

The red chamber, in a decision said, “the committee on Aviation when constituted should investigate the ministry and agencies concerned to report back to the Senate.

“Condemned in strong terms the concessions of Aminu Kano Airport, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, and other airports that were conceded in the same way as they were not conceded in public interest

“Urged the federal government to review the entire exercise and give a level playing field to all stakeholders.”

Speaking before the ruling, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, who presided over the plenary, said Hadi Sirika carried out certain policies in secrecy hence the need for thorough investigation.

“Concession is what is in vogue all over the world because the government is a bad manager of business, even the Heathrow airport was conceded to a Nigerian. And the airport is doing really well.

“Although these things must be investigated, I would still vote for concession, but it must be done in a transparent manner,” he said.

Months after banks restricted withdrawals on automated teller machines (ATMs), commercial banks in the country are beginning to increase the maximum amount of cash customers can withdraw on a daily basis to N200,000.

In an emailed notice to customers yesterday, Zenith Bank said customers can now ‘perform cash withdrawals of up to N200,000 per day’ at its ATM terminals across the country.

This, it said, is irrespective of the bank that issued the card.

The bank, however, stated that the N500,000 weekly cashless policy withdrawal limit for individuals still stands.

There are insinuations that other banks in the country may follow this path, by allowing their customers to withdraw, through ATM terminals, large amounts in the region of N200,000, even though they have not made it public.

Before now, most banks had put a limit of N20,000 daily withdrawal on their ATM terminals mainly for cards issued by other banks. The limit had been put in place during the naira redesign policy.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had, last December, limited weekly cash withdrawals over the counter to N100,000 for individuals and N500,000 for organisations. It also set daily cash withdrawals at point of sale (POS) and ATM terminals at N20,000 per day, with the directive taking effect from January 9, 2023.

Customers had resorted to seeking out their bank ATMs where they could make more withdrawals, or making cash withdrawals over the counter.

A circular issued by the apex bank during the period stated that “the maximum cash withdrawal per week via ATM shall be N100,000 subject to a maximum of N20,000 cash withdrawal per day.

“Only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs. The maximum cash withdrawal via point of sale (POS) terminal shall be N20,000 daily.”

The limits on POS as well as denomination part of the statement have, however, not held ground as cash withdrawals limit through POS has since been in excess of N20,000 while all ATMs are dispensing only N1,000 and N500 notes.

Although a Federal High Court in Abuja granted him bail in the sum of N50 million, suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, will not be released, Daily Trust can report.

Kyari, who is facing charges of failure to declare assets alongside his siblings, was granted bail on Thursday.

The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had filed a 24-count charges against DCP Kyari, his brothers Mohammed Baba and Ali before the court over his failure to declare properties allegedly linked to him in the asset form.

The judge had earlier granted bail to the Kyari brothers who were accused of receiving funds from an international scam syndicate linked to Ramoni Abbas a.ka. Hushpuppi.

In his ruling on Thursday, Justice James Omotosho granted Kyari bail in the sum of N50m and two sureties in like sum.

Justice Omotosho added that the sureties must have property worth N25m within the court’s jurisdiction.

The House of Representatives has warned public tertiary institutions in the country not to take advantage of the Students Loans and access to Higher Education in Nigeria Act to increase their tuition fees.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Terseer Ugbor (APC-Benue) at plenary on Thursday in Abuja.

The House also resolved to convene a Legislative summit on student loans and access to higher education with all stakeholders in the education sector.

Moving the motion, Ugbor said that financial support from family members and relatives was often considered a traditional source for funding higher education globally.

He said in the past 60 years, such funding indicated that governments in both developed and developing countries had put in place various student loan and educational credit schemes to enable students to borrow towards the funding of higher education.

According to him, the use of Students Loans and Educational Credit Schemes in most countries of the world is often justified on the grounds that it guarantees greater access to higher education for less privileged citizens.

He said it was further predicated on the notion that education remained an investment in human capital which in turn would promote individual development, economic growth and national productivity.

He said, “after several years of unsuccessful attempts by successive administrations to introduce students loans, scholarships and other educational credit schemes, the 9th National Assembly passed the Students Loans Bill”.

He said it was recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu to provide the legal and institutional framework for the implementation of a Students Loan Scheme in the country.

He said the objectives and intention of the Students Loans were patriotic and would impact positive access to higher education in Nigeria, especially among the underprivileged citizens.

He, however, said that there were several critical omissions and identifiable bottlenecks that would frustrate the successful implementation of the Act.

This, according to him, is if immediate further legislative action was not taken to ensure its efficient implementation.

He said there was an urgent need to convene a legislative summit with all key stakeholders to develop a strategy to ensure the smooth implementation of the Act for the benefit of indigent Nigerian students.

(NAN)

Troops of the Nigerian Military attached to Operation HADIN KAI in the North East have neutralised members of Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) terrorists attempting to cross the Nigerian territory from the Cameroon border.

The terrorists numbering five, according to the Military High Command, were gunned down following intelligence report that they laid ambush along Bula Yobe-Darel Jamel in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.

The newly appointed Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. ES Buba, who disclosed this at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, said no fewer than 10 terrorists were captured alive.

Buba, who was represented at the briefing by his deputy, Brig.-Gen. Abdullahi Ibrahim, told journalists that arms, weapons and other logistics including bags of flour and detergent were recovered from them, adding that their collaborators were also arrested.

“Troops of Operation HADIN KAI in the Northeast zone of the country have continued to intensify operations against terrorists, including their logistics suppliers and collaborators.”

“In pursuit of this, troops, on 22 June 2023, following an intelligence report on terrorists crossing from Cameroon to Nigeria, laid ambush along Bula Yobe-Darel Jamel in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State and made contact with the terrorists.

“Following a fire fight, troops neutralized 5 Boko Haram Terrorists/Islamic State of West Africa Province terrorists and recovered 1 bag each of flour and detergent,” the senior military officer said.

He also revealed that no fewer than 967 terrorists, 82 adult males, 354 adult females and 531 children surrendered to troops at different locations within the joint area of operations.

The Presidency has said President Bola Tinubu will release the list of his ministerial nominees when he is ready.

In line with the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which mandates presidents and governors to submit the names of their ministerial and commissioner-nominees within 60 days of taking the oath of office, Tinubu, who assumed office on May 29, 2023, has less than one month to unveil his cabinet.

However, there have been reports on some persons that will make the list.

In stories by different national dailies, some names have been mentioned as those being considered by Tinubu.

Tokubo Abiru, senator representing Lagos East, and Prof Ali Pate, former Minister of Health, who declined a top global job, have been reported as Tinubu’s ministerial nominees.

According to reports, Abiru, former CEO of Polaris Bank, has been penciled down as next Finance Minister, while Pate has been nominated for the Health portfolio.

Former governor of Ekiti, Ayo Fayose, on Thursday, met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, saying afterwards that he will be the first to criticize the president if he goes back on campaign promises.

Speaking to correspondents after the meeting, he, however, noted that Tinubu had done well since coming into office and should be encouraged.

Fayose said since elections are over, and it is time to govern, Nigerians need to rally round the president who he said is alert and has a clear direction he wants to take the country.

According to the governor, President Tinubu cannot do it alone.

Even though he and some opposition party leaders such as Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde and former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, are working with Tinubu, he can never join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as he remains a member of the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Fayose said he did not expect Tinubu to fail, noting that if there is any delay, it will not be a deliberate act on the part of the president.