An area court in Yola, Adamawa state's capital has remanded a driver identified as David Donald in prison for cheating a woman of over five buckets of local alcohol, burkutu.

Police prosecutor, Sgt Kabiru Abubakar told the court that the defendant ordered five plastic buckets of burkutu and two plates of fish pepper soup at a local joint in Yola on February 21, 2024, worth N6,600, refused to pay and attempted to escape.

He was arrested after Felicity Sunday and Linda Ali, the complainants, reported the matter to the police.

Before being remanded, Donald who is from Karim Lamido LGA in Taraba State, pleaded guilty to cheating contrary to Section 302 of the Penal Code.

A former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central in the Senate, Senator Sani Shehu, has claimed that former President Muhammadu Buhari destroyed Nigeria’s economy, saying the former president is responsible for the current economic hardship in the country.

Sani stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.

He said some of the economic policies that President Bola Tinubu is implementing now, which triggered the economic hardship, should have been implemented by Buhari.

The Kaduna senator said former President Buhari failed to implement the policies, which consequently allowed the economy to deteriorate.

Sani said, “We must be very factual and realistic with ourselves; the problem we find ourselves today, originated, was engineered, fabricated and sustained by the Buhari administration.

“The Buhari administration, institutionally, fundamentally destroyed the Nigerian economy,” he addded.

Sani absorbed Tinubu’s blame for the current situation, noting that, having said he (Tinubu) would implement the policies he has implemented so far during the campaign, Tinubu did not deceive Nigerians.

He said, “When Tinubu took over, he knows there is not going to be subsidy and to be realistic, he was very frank during his campaign. I am going to remove subsidy and whatever protest that will come out of it I will not back down’ and then people went ahead and voted for him, so he has not deceived Nigerians.

“Now he is in power, we are paying the price for the mistake of the past, for the failure of the past and for what we have refused to do in the past, so this is the reality,” he said.

Recall that some Nigerians in some states have taken to the streets to protest the situation over the economic hardship occasioned by some of Tinubu’s policies, especially the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of forex rate.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) also joined the protest over hardship on Tuesday with a nationwide action.

But, Sani said the NLC has the right to protest, adding that the protest to be wary of is not that of the NLC but the one that may be carried out by unorganised civil society.

Joseph Aloba, the father of the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba aka Mohbad, has called on the Nigeria Police to summon the wife of his deceased son, Omomunmi, to provide insights into the death of his son.

He disclosed this in a statement signed by the family and sent to PUNCH Metro on Wednesday.

PUNCH Metro had reported that Aloba filed a suit seeking to call more witnesses in the bid to unravel the cause of the death of his late singer-son.

In the application signed by his legal team, the witnesses requested to testify before the court include, “Ayobami Fisayo aka Spending; Boluwatife Adeyemo aka Darosha and Ibrahim Owodunni aka Prime Boy; all of whom were with the deceased at the material time.”

It was noted that the testimonies of the witnesses in the ongoing inquest would provide more factual, evidential, and better light on the circumstances leading to Mohbad’s death.

Meanwhile, the Aloba family in a statement sent to PUNCH Metro on Wednesday, Mohbad’s father said Omowunmi’s testimony could also be instrumental in shedding more light on the circumstances leading to the death.

The statement read in part, “It has come to our attention that Omomunmi Adebanjo, the wife of the late Mohbad, has expressed her knowledge of critical information related to his death. We urge the relevant authorities to extend an invitation to Omowunmi Adebanjo to provide her testimony and insights into this tragic event. We believe that her cooperation and testimony could be instrumental in shedding light on the circumstances leading to Mohbad’s demise.”

While citing the sensitive nature of the matter, he also urged the police to provide security to ensure her safety whenever she comes forward to share her knowledge with the authorities.

“We implore you (the police) to prioritise this investigation and take swift action to uncover the truth behind Mohbad’s death. The Aloba family and the public deserve closure, and justice must prevail,’ the statement added.

While noting that another sitting at the coroner inquest was coming up in a few days, he stated that “the opportunity is still there for you to go and tell them the truth you know.”

The deceased singer’s father also disclosed that he had filed a suit seeking a Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) test for his grandson, Liam, at the Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

Mohbad’s wife, Omowunmi, recently stated in an Instagram post that she had since November been waiting for a court order to proceed with the paternity test.

While stating that he owed Liam a duty to protect him, Mohbad’s father added that the move was to resolve the issues surrounding his paternity for future purposes.

He said, “Since the issue of Liam Aloba’s paternity is in the public domain, especially on social media, this information will continue to be there for now and maybe forever. As a grandfather to Liam Aloba, I owe the duty of protecting him now, and the future is at stake if the issue of paternity is not resolved now, and it will hurt her and the son in the future. Anyone can call him any bad name which I will not want that to happen to him now or in the nearest future. Wunmi Adebanjo, as a mother to Liam Aloba too, it is my thinking and belief that you will not like a situation where, in the future, people will use or call Liam Aloba any unpleasant name.

‘Since she wants a court order to do the DNA, my legal team has approached the court in that regard, the suit has been filed. Her legal team should do the needful whenever the court serves them by not frustrating the process so that Liam Aloba, whether he is my grandson or not, deserves the right to a good life without any blemish to his name and his existence on earth. If this is the only thing you can do to save him from future embarrassment, please do it for him as a mother; let him have a peaceful life to live.”

Mohbad died on September 12 at the age of 27, with circumstances surrounding his death sparking controversies on social media.

Being a former record label signee of Marlian Music owned by Naira Marley, Mohbad left the label in February 2022.

The Lagos State Police Command had on September 18, 2023, inaugurated a 13-man special investigation team to probe the singer’s death.

His death also led to the arrest of Naira Marley, and controversial Lagos socialite, Balogun Eletu, aka Sam Larry, amongst others.

The body of Mohbad was on September 21, 2023, exhumed for autopsy to unravel the cause of his death.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, had tweeted in September 2023 that an “autopsy has been concluded” and the police were “awaiting result.”

In the course of their probe, the police declared Primeboy wanted on October 4, 2023, after which he turned himself in two days after.

Meanwhile, Aloba, in November 2023, had stated that nobody should collect his son’s body for burial without his authorisation.

In an interview with PUNCH Metro in December 2023, Hundeyin reiterated that the command had not received the report of the autopsy conducted on Mohbad from the pathologists.

The lingering economic hardship may be compounded as telecom operators insist on increasing their tariffs. The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has been advocating for a tariff hike, citing rising operational costs.

In a recent meeting with the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, ALTON Chairman Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, argued that the tariffs set by the regulator were insufficient in light of escalating operational expenses.

He pointed out that, unlike the telecoms sector, other heavily regulated industries like power and insurance had seen price increases to reflect macroeconomic changes and the increased cost burden on operators.

While noting that the current price of services as pegged by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is unsustainable, the ALTON Chairman said: “Insurance prices have risen 200 per cent with power raising prices by over 40 per cent.

Telecommunications is the only sector that has not experienced a pricing regulatory framework review raising prices notwithstanding local and global macroeconomic realities.

“Not only has this impaired investor confidence and depleted available investible funds necessary to optimise infrastructure for improved service delivery, but it also threatens the very sustainability of our members’ operations.”

He also noted some challenges such as multiple taxation and deficiency in infrastructure. Industry players had urged the Federal Government to prioritise investment in telecoms infrastructure to aid the digital economy in the country.

They said the government should woo foreign investors into Nigeria and also encourage the local investors to put their money into infrastructural development, especially in the rural areas.

It is believed that opening up the rural areas will expand broadband and consequently improve the digital economy. Meanwhile, the telecoms operators have said they are investing in infrastructure to improve the quality of service as well as the quality of experience for all subscribers.

They said: “This is evidenced by the continued investments in network coverage and capacity to improve overall quality of service for the benefit of our esteemed customers.”

Adebayo urged the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, to collaborate with the operators to tackle the challenges affecting the industry, especially the infrastructure challenge, while urging the government to come up with policies that would make the business easy for them.

“However, as the Honourable Minister may be aware, ALTON’s members have continued to encounter strong macroeconomic headwinds, which have occasioned tough operating conditions, leading to a decline in CAPEX (domestic) and foreign direct (capital inflow) investments into the industry by 30.37 per cent and 46.9 per cent respectively between 2021 and 2022.

“It is ALTON’s considered view that many teething investment-impacting causal factors need to be definitively addressed to help deepen investment with the overall objective of driving increased CAPEX deployment for overall QoS improvement in line with the targets of the strategic plan to achieve 50 per cent improvement in QoS by the end of 2024,” he said.

Speaking on the damages done to telecoms infrastructure, Adebayo said there was a need to curb the acts by vandals, saying all these have been the factors that may make them increase their tariffs.

He said: “Telecommunications serves as an ‘enabler’ for all other critical infrastructure and infrastructure sectors vital to national productivity and security.

“To function optimally, telecommunications infrastructure relies on complex and interconnected support ecosystem consisting of fiber, satellites, towers, base stations, switches, data centers, etc., which need to function uninterrupted for delivery of optimal QoS.

“There have, however, been incidences of adverse cross-sectoral impact on QoS arising from damage to such infrastructure due to excavation during civil works such as road construction, deliberate/negligent vandalization and sabotage as well as theft of cable, equipment, and supplies such as diesel, generators and batteries, undue delay in issuance of site approvals for new towers/base stations as well as harassment of staff /site access denial by state/local agencies to enforce levy payments.”