The elected members of the 10th House of Representatives are seriously battling for the principal offices after the House Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been elected and sworn in.

Recall that Honourable Tajudeen Abbas had been elected as the speaker of the house and Honorable Benjamin Kalu is the deputy speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.

Now, it is left for the house to elect members into the following principal offices, the Majority (House) Leader, Deputy Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Whip, Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip, and Deputy Minority Whip.

The North East, North Central, and South South zones are in a fierce contest for the position of the House Leader which is the third position in a legislative House, which frequently represents the party that appears to have both the majority in the House and the reins of power at the federal level.

Even though the APC, which controls a majority of the House and has more than 160 members, is yet to choose its anointed candidate for the house leader, elected members from the aforementioned zones are said to be squabbling over control of the leadership positions of the house.

According to Abdullahi Adamu, the APC’s national chairman, the party will shortly pick who would control the crucial seats in the National Assembly (NASS).

“What is now left for us, as a party, is to sit and determine the remaining members of each of these principal officers”, Adamu said after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa after the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly.

“We’re going to sit over this and we want to believe that we’re going to waste no time whatsoever, we’ll come up with what we’ll give the President to get his buy-in before it’s made public or before it goes to the National Assembly. This day is very historic.”

However, according to a senior party official, the APC has not yet made up its mind about the candidates for the principal offices.

The source who spoke to Leadership Newspaper under the condition of anonymity claimed that the zoning of the National Assembly presiding officers had raised a group of oppositions and that the ruling party was involved in intense negotiations to prevent a resurgence of the opposition.

The South West, which unlike the North West and South East does not have a presiding officer for the House, is not thrilled about holding the position because it is likely that the Senate Leader will come from the region that produced the president.

The source said, “Of course, the chairman said that but they haven’t done it. They are doing broad consultations to avoid what happened when they zoned the presiding officers’ position.

“There was a hue and cry against the decision which almost cost the party, especially in the Senate where our candidate, Godswill Akpabio, escaped almost by the whiskers.”

He added: “The last two Senate Leaders, Senators Yahaya Abdullahi, and Ibrahim Gobir, were both from the North West geopolitical zone. It is therefore given that the next one would come from the South West as President Tinubu. Consequently, a House Leader would not come from the South West.”

The contest for the North-East House Leader is between Usman Bello Kumo (Gombe), co-chairman of the Joint Task Force in the 10th Assembly, whose group backed the Abbas/Kalu joint ticket’s campaign, and Muktar Betara (Borno), a front-runner for the Speakership who withdrew at the last minute.

Two previous North-Central contenders for the Speakership, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi of Plateau and Abdulraheem Olawuyi of Kwara are vying for the position of House Leader.

Even though it does not seem conceivable, Betara, who was Abbas’ main challenger before he quit, reportedly decided to maintain his post as the head of the Appropriations Committee from the previous set.

The source said, “While Betara was left with the option of emerging as House Leader and was already making moves to get the position, Kumo, the leader of the group that worked for Abbas, is also indicating interest in the position. That makes it a struggle between the Borno and Gombe lawmakers.”

Respondents Urge Court To Ignore Exhibits

The Presidential Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, admitted in evidence, a bundle of exhibits containing the total number of Permanent Voters Card, PVCs, that were collected in 32 states of the federation before the 2023 general elections.

Equally admitted in evidence by the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel, was a bundle of documents that contained the total number of registered voters in the states.

The exhibits were brought before the court by the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi, who alleged that the presidential election that held on February 25, was rigged in favour of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Though Obi’s legal team was led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, however, the exhibits, were tendered through another senior lawyer in the team, Mr. Peter Afuba, SAN.

The petitioners told the court that the exhibits were duly certified by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

However, the electoral body, through its lawyer, Mr. Kemi Pinhero, SAN, said it was vehemently opposed to the admissibility of the exhibits in evidence.

Likewise, President Tinubu and the APC, who are the 2nd and 3rd Respondents in the matter, equally challenged the admission of the exhibits in evidence.

All the Respondents said they would adduce reasons behind their objections, in their final written address.

Despite the objections, the court admitted in evidence, documents on the total number of PVCs from the 32 states and marked them as exhibits PCN 1 to PCN 32.

The court equally admitted in evidence, certified true copy of a certificate of compliance on exhibits the petitioners earlier tendered in respect of Edo state.

Others electoral documents the court entered in evidence after they were tendered by the petitioners, were; certified copy of supplementary IReV reports for three Local Government Areas, LGAs, of Benue state, two LGAs of Cross River state, 12 LGAs of Lagos state, as well as one LGA in Gombe state.

Meanwhile, earlier in the proceedings, the petitioners called three more witnesses that testified before the court.

Dr. Chibuike Ugwoke, who appeared as the eight witness, PW-8, in the matter, told the court he is a cyber security expert.

The witness, who said he was subpoenaed to appear before the court to give evidence, tendered a document containing a press release the INEC issued prior to the general elections.

Led in evidence by a member of Obi’s legal team, Mr. Patrick Ikweto, SAN, the witness, told the court that the press release dated November 11, 2022, which was signed by INEC’s National Commissioner, Mr. Festus Okoye, was titled; “Alleged plot to abandon transmission of polling unit results to IReV portal.”

Ikweto, SAN, told the court that the witness had in paragraph 26 of his statement on oath, referred to sources/materials that were published or used by INEC from 2018 to 2023, with their specific Uniform Resource Identifiers, URIs, attached.

He said the PW-8, who was described as an expert witness, equally tendered a report on what he termed as “meta data”.

All the Respondents said they were opposed to the evidence of the witness and would give their reasons at a later stage of the case.

Besides, counsel to all the Respondents told the he court that they were served with statement of the witness, which was about eight pages, shortly before the proceedings commenced on Wednesday.

They, therefore, prayed the court to defer his cross-examination till Thursday to enable them to study his statement on oath which was admitted in evidence by the panel.

After the court gave the witness the nod to vacate the box and return on Thursday, the petitioners called their ninth witness, Mr. Onoja Sunday.

Sunday, who was led in evidence by Mr. Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, SAN, another member of Obi’s legal team, told the court that he is a staff of Women & Child Rescue Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organization.

He tendered both his statement on oath and his office identity card, which were both admitted in evidence.

While being cross examined by INEC’s lawyer, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, the witness told the court that from his observations, voting and counting went well on the day the presidential election held.

Asked if his party won election in the polling unit where he observed, the witness, said; “I do not work for any party, neither do I have any candidate.”

Answering further questions from INEC’s lawyer, the witness, said: “I did not work with BVAS in the polling unit and from my observation, the officials went away to the Ward collation center with the Form EC8A (polling unit result) that was signed by both the INEC officials and party agents.”

While also being cross-examined by a lawyer in President Tinubu’s legal team, Mr. Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, the witness, admitted that the subpoena upon which he appeared before the court, was not addressed to his organization, but to him personally, using his village address.

He told the court that after votes from the polling units was counted, INEC officials failed to upload the results to the IReV portal as required by the law.

On its part, the APC, through its lead counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, said it had no question for the witness.

Similarly, in his own testimony, the 10th witness, Mr. Kefas Iya, who identified himself as a civil servant, said he was subpoenaed to appear to give evidence before the court.

After a copy of the subpoena was tendered without objection from all the Respondents, the witness, told the court that he served as an ad-hoc staff of INEC.

He told the court that he supervised about 24 units in his Ward at Madagali LGA in Adamawa state, alongside one Suleiman Mustapha.

Narrating his experience as INEC’s Supervisory Presiding Officer, the witness, said: “Apart from a fracas that ensued between APC and PDP agents, there was no other issue except that of failure to transmit the election result.

“I did a good job and scores of the election were properly imputed in forms EC8As and the results were equally properly announced

“As a supervisor, it was not my duty to handle the BVAS machines,” he added.

While being cross-examined by President Tinubu’s lawyer, the witness, said he was not in court to testify on behalf of the INEC.

Asked if he was procured by the Labour Party to come and testify as one of its sympathizers, the witness, said: “My lords, I am not partisan. I only served as INEC’s ad-hoc staff during the election.”

The PW-10 admitted that the PDP won the presidential election in Adamawa state, adding that in all the units he visited as a supervisor, the BVAS worked very well.

More so, the witness, told the court that not withstanding issues with uploading of results, collation took place at the Ward level.

Asked if he would be surprised to know that result of the presidential election from his Ward was uploaded to INEC’s IReV portal, the witness, said: “Based on my knowledge as a supervisor, we did that of the National Assembly, but when we tried to upload the presidential election result, it did not go.

“All the polling agents were at their various units, but as a supervisory officer, I was able to move around.”

The court adjourned further hearing on the matter till Thursday.

Meantime, hearing on the petition the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar filed to also challenge the outcome of the presidential election, was stalled on Wednesday.

The panel deferred hearing on the matter till Thursday, after counsel to the petitioners, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, drew attention of the court to the fact much time was spent on proceedings in another petition by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM.

Uche, SAN, noted that with the court reconvening around 12:30pm, his clients would have barely 30minutes to present their case going by the timetable that was earlier issued by the panel.

Following an agreement by all the parties, the court adjourned the case till Thursday.

Both Obi and Atiku are expected to close their cases on Friday, after which the Respondents will open their defence.

Against the backdrop of a proposed 114 per cent increase in the salaries of elected politicians, including the president, vice president, governors, lawmakers, as well as judicial and public office holders, a former Kaduna lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, said raising the minimum wage for poor workers should come first.

Sani stated this in a statement via his verified Twitter handle on Wednesday.

He stated, “Raising the minimum wage of poor workers should come first before that of the elites holding public offices.

“With this 114% increase,a Federal Legislator will earn about N2million monthly salary and N25million monthly running cost for his office. Money derived from the removal of subsidy should be spent wisely,” he added.

Recall that The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has called for a 114 per cent increase in the salaries of elected politicians, including the President, vice president, governors, lawmakers as well as judicial and public office holders.

RMAFC is saddled with the responsibility of determining the remuneration appropriate for political officeholders including the President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Legislators and the holders of the offices as mentioned in Sections 84 and 124 of this Constitution.

The commission urged the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly to hasten efforts on amendment of relevant laws to give room for upward review of remuneration packages for political, judicial and public officers.

The RMAFC Chairman, Muhammadu Shehu, represented by a federal commissioner, Rakiya Tanko-Ayuba, made the call at the presentation of reports of the reviewed remuneration package to Kebbi State governor, Dr Nasir Idris, on Tuesday in Birnin Kebbi.

He said the implementation of the reviewed remuneration packages was effective from January 1, 2023, adding that the move was in accordance with the provision of paragraph 32(d) of part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution of the federal government (as amended).

He said the last remuneration review was conducted in 2007, noting that it culminated in the “certain political, public and judicial office holders (salaries and allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008”.

Muhammadu Shehu said, “It empowers the revenue mobilisation, allocation and fiscal commission to determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the president, vice-president, governors, deputy governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisers, legislators and the holders of the offices mentioned in sections 84 and 124 of the constitution of the federal government.

“Sixteen years after the last review, it is imperative that the remuneration packages for the categories of the office holders mentioned in relevant sections of the 1999 constitution (as amended) should be reviewed.

“Pursuant to the above, your excellency may please recall that on Wednesday, 1st February, 2023, the commission held a one-day zonal public hearing on the review of the remuneration package simultaneously in all the six (6) geo-political zones of the country. The aim of the exercise was to harvest inputs/ideas from a broad spectrum of stakeholders.”

He said the commission had objectively and subjectively reviewed the salary packages in the reports, adding that it adheres to the rules of equity and fairness, risk and responsibilities, and national order of precedence among others.

“The subjective criteria reflected the various expression by stakeholders through memoranda received, opinions expressed during the zonal public hearings and responses to questionnaires administered.

“The objectives of the criteria were obtained from analysis of macro-economic variables particularly the Consumer Price Index (CPI),” he noted.

The chairman added that the commission was also guided by some principles, including equity and fairness; risk and responsibilities; national order of precedence; motivation and tenure of office.

Muhammadu Shehu said that having considered the impact of the review on the economy, the remuneration of the political, public and judicial office holders in the country was adjusted “upward by 114%.”

The chairman explained that with respect to the judicial office holders, the commission considered the introduction of three new allowances.

He listed the allowances to include, “Professional Development Assistant: This is to allow for the provision of two law clerks to all judicial officers in the country.

“Long Service Allowance: This is to guarantee seniority/hierarchy between officers who have been on the bench for a minimum of five years and those that are appointed newly.

“Restricted or Forced Lifestyle: This is to take care of the nature of the lifestyle of judicial officers while in active service.”

The Debt Management Office, DMO, has warned the Federal Government against additional borrowing, saying 73.5 per cent of revenue generated this year will be used to service debt.

According to the DMO, the projected FGN Debt Service to Revenue ratio of 73.5 per cent for 2023 is high and cannot support higher levels of borrowing, and is also a threat to debt sustainability.

Consequently, the DMO advised the FG to focus on increasing revenue generation, stressing that attaining a sustainable Debt Service-to-Revenue ratio will require increasing FGN revenue from N10.49 trillion projected in 2023 budget to about N15.5 trillion.

It gave this warning as part of recommendations to the Federal Government, following analysis of the nation’s debt profile in 2022.

According to the DMO in the report of the Annual National Market Access Country (MAC) Debt Sustainability Analysis, “the analysis of the results of 2022 MAC-DSA shows that the Total Public Debt-toGDP ratio is projected to increase to 37.1 per cent in 2023, relative to 23.4 per cent as at September 2022, due to the inclusion of the N8.80 trillion (new borrowings) for the year 2023, the FGN Ways and Means at the CBN of over N23 trillion and estimated Promissory Notes issuance of N2.87 trillion in the debt stock.

“Baseline Scenario: The Country’s Debt stock remains sustainable under these criteria, but the borrowing space has been reduced when compared to Nigeria’s self-imposed debt limit of 40 per cent set in the MTDS, 2020-2023.

“On the other hand, FGN Debt Service-to-Revenue ratio at 73.5 per cent in 2023 exceeds the recommended threshold of 50 per cent due to low revenue, which means that there is need to significantly increase government revenue.

“Under the alternative scenario, the total public debt-to-GDP ratio at 45.4 per cent in 2023 exceeds Nigeria’s self-imposed debt limit of 40 per cent, while the FGN Debt Service-to-Revenue also exceeds the recommended threshold of 50 per cent.

“Based on the analysis of the results of the 2022 MAC-DSA, the DMO recommends the following:

“Although the baseline analysis projects total public debt-to-GDP ratio at 37.1 per cent for 2023, indicating a borrowing space of 2.9 per cent (equivalent of about N14.66 trillion) when compared to the self-imposed limit of 40 per cent, it is recommended that this should not be used as a basis for higher level of borrowing as was the case in the 2023 budget.

“This is because the outcome of the shock scenario, which is more realistic in the circumstances, exceeded the self-imposed limit.

“The projected FGN debt service-to-revenue ratio at 73.5 per cent for 2023 is high and a threat to debt sustainability. It means that the revenue profile cannot support higher levels of borrowing.

“Attaining a sustainable FGN debt service-to-revenue ratio will require an increase of FGN revenue from N10.49 trillion projected in 2023 budget to about N15.5 trillion.

“With respect to expansion in fiscal deficit, there is need to strictly adhere to the provision of extant legislations on government borrowing, especially the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 as it relates to Ways and Means advances, in order to moderate the growth rate of public debt.

“There is urgent need to pay more attention to revenue generation by implementing far reaching revenue mobilization initiatives and reforms, including the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives and all its pillars, with a view to raising the country’s tax revenue to GDP ratio from about 7 per cent (one of the lowest in the world) to that of its peer.

“Government should encourage the private sector fund infrastructure projects through the Public-Private Partnership, PPP, schemes and take out capital projects in the budget that are being funded from borrowing, thereby reducing budget deficit and borrowing.

“Government can reduce borrowing through privatization and/or sale of government assets.”

Debt service-revenue situation very precarious —Abidoye

Reacting to the warning yesterday, Head of Equity Research at FBNQuest Securities Limited,Tunde Abidoye, counseled the FG to conform to the recommendations of the DMO, as the country was in very precarious situation with regard to the debt service-to-revenue ratio of the government.

He said: “The recommendations of the DMO are the right things to do because when we look at things from a debt service-to-revenue ratio, the country is actually in a very precarious situation.

“Some estimates of debt service-to-revenue might even tell you it is even higher than that, and Debt-to-GDP has never been a good measure.

“If we take the U.S for instance, the debt-to-GDP is around 100 per cent but when you look at their debt service-to-revenue, it is very low. It is like the opposite of Nigeria. So they really don’t have so much worry.

“So the DMO has given the right recommendations and it is now for the fiscal and monetary authorities to conform, especially when it comes to things like Ways and Means, where with what we saw in the last administration, there was unrestricted access to printing money and all that.

‘’I think all those limits have to be adhered to, and implement some discipline. So I hope the FG listens to the DMO.”

Caution against further borrowing belated —Adonri

David Adonri, Vice Chairman, Highcap securities, said: “This caution from DMO against further borrowing by FGN is belated because excessive borrowing by previous administration has already damaged the financial economy of the country.

“However, it is better late than never. FGN is already choking under the weight of current debt liability. Adding more is akin to signing one’s death warrant. Hope FGN will listen to this wise counsel because a word is enough for the wise”

Fuel subsidy removal should lead to less borrowing —Kurfi

Analyst and Managing Director, APT Securities Limited, Mallam Garba Kurfi , said: “It is in order to caution about borrowing. 

“However, since fuel subsidy is removed I expect less borrowing by the FGN. The other measures taken by government to improve revenue, especially in the increase of crude oil production will improve the finances of FG.”

Private sector should drive the process —Olayinka

Chief Executive Officer, Wyoming Capital and Partners. Tajudeen Olayinka said: “The debt profile of a country is a function of the government’s economic focus and structure of the economy, vis-a-vis other macroeconomic factors.

‘’A government with a public sector domineering focus will accumulate more public debt to fund projects in the economy, whereas a government with emphasis on private sector dominance would require less public debts and more private capital to fund projects and drive capital formation in the economy.

‘’This is the reason for massive public debt and excessive borrowing from the Central Bank by the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“That is also part of the reason for low revenue generation capacity of the government and much lower economic growth. The only way forward is to place the economy on a normal course of adjustment, with the private sector in the driver’s seat. That way, you encourage total-factor productivity, job creation and faster economic growth.

“This should be the focus of the administration of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The economy is in dire need of drip and blood infusion.”

Also siding with DMO’s recommendations, Marvellous Adiele, Senior Associate, Parthian Partners, said: “More borrowings will increase our public debt and will also lead to an increased portion of our revenue being used for servicing debt in future.

“Our public debt is already at an all time high (N46.25trn as at Dec 2022) and the government needs to be cautious about more borrowings while improving revenue generations and introducing reforms to reduce deficit financing.”

Former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo says the great performance of President Bola Tinubu in the early days of his administration has continued to inspire everyone including his staunch critics.

Keyamo, who was Tinubu’s spokesperson during the 2023 presidential election campaign said Tinubu has been attracting his political opponents as he addressed issues of governance since his assumption of power.

The former minister said this on Twitter in reaction to a viral video in which Chioma Olowo, a follower of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, declared her support for the president.

Olowo, in the video, called on Obi to withdraw his court case against Tinubu, adding that the latter has done creditably well since he took over the affairs of the country.

Reacting to the video on Wednesday, Keyamo wrote, “And another one bites the ‘corn’!

“The strong start of ⁦@officialABAT to issues of governance⁩ has continued to inspire many, even his greatest critics, to fall in love with him.

“Some of us saw the future…”

The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has denied media report that it has approved the increment of salaries of political office-holders, judicial and public office holders by 114 per cent.

Christian Nwachukwu, the RMAFC’s public relations officer, said in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP that President Bola Tinubu had not approved the raise in public employees’ salary.

Rakiya Tanko-Ayuba, a Federal Commissioner in the Commission, had made the salary increment remark when she represented RMAFC chairman, Mohammad Shehu, at the presentation of the reports of the reviewed remuneration package to Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, in Birnin Kebbi, on Tuesday.

Tanko-Ayuba reportedly said that implementation of the reviewed remuneration packages was effective from January 1, 2023, a claim that has been strongly denied by the Commission’s spokesman.

“Not my chairman. Not my chairman. My chairman has never made any statement on it. And I have not made any statement on it. No statement from chairman, no statement from me. So, I don’t know. I heard one of the Commissioners said it. I don’t want to be quoted,” the RMAFC spokesperson told our Correspondent while denying the Commissioner’s assertion.

“No approval yet. There is no approval yet. I don’t know the source of that story. Everything is under the process. It has to come as a Bill for Mr President to assent.

“The President has not given assent. Until the President gives assent, you cannot take it as if it has taken effect. You know that. You are a journalist.

“I don’t want to be quoted wrongly. The President has not given assent to it. It is still under the process,” Nwachukwu said over a phone chat with this writer.

Asked if the National Assembly has begun work on the proposal, he said: “it will be sent to National Assembly. Whichever way, whether it has been sent or not, the President has not assented to it. All those legislative process has to be completed; finally, it will land on Mr President’s table for assent. That has not been completed.”

When our correspondent asked if that means that the story making the rounds on salary increment was not true, Nwachukwu said: “just take it the way you understand it so that you don’t quote me anyhow.”

Asked whether the RMAFC has sent the executive bill through FEC to the National Assembly for deliberation, Nwachukwu simply said: “everything is under the process.”

The Federal Government (FG), 36 states and 774 local governments (LG) in Nigeria shared N2.84 trillion as statutory allocation from the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, in the first four months of this year (January to April).

This represents a 7.98 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase when compared to N2.63 trillion shared in the corresponding period of 2022 (4m’22).

But there was a monthly downward trend during the four months.

Data from the monthly FAAC communique for the period showed that allocations for January stood at N750.2 billion. In February allocations fell by 3.67 percent to N722.6 billion and down by 1.1 percent to N714.6 billion in March.

The downward trend continued in April where allocations fell by 8.2 percent to N655.9 billion.

During the period FG received N1.07 trillion, up YoY by 5.9 percent from N1.01 trillion received in same period of 2022.

States received N931.85 billion, representing a 12 percent rise from N828.8 billion, while the LGs received N685.88 billion, rising by 11.9 percent from N612.5 billion in 2022.

Similarly, allocations from VAT rose YoY by 19.5 percent to N880.16 billion in 2023 from N736.06 billion in 2022.

However, the 13 percent derivation fund received by oil producing states dropped YoY by 32 percent to N132.7 billion in 2023 from N196.07 billion in 2022, reflecting the decline in crude oil production in March 2023 and April 2023.

In January 2023, crude oil production stood at 1.25 million barrels and rose by four percent to 1.3 million barrels and down by three percent to 1.26 million barrels in March.

The downward trend continued in April where it fell by 21.5 percent to 998,602 barrels.

The suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, who is still in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) has refused to write statements at the secret police’s facility, According to SaharaReporters reports.

Our correspondent further gathered that Bawa told investigators that the DSS had no right to detain him without charges, hence his refusal to write any statements in custody.

Bawa has been in detention along with Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, since they were suspended from their respective offices by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration over corruption allegations and abuse of office.

Bawa had refused to cooperate with DSS investigators, protesting against his detention without charges.

“The detained EFCC chairman has refused to write statements; he told DSS they have no right to detain him without charges.

“He was also accused of shielding former Governor of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari, while helping him to hunt down his opponents,” one of the sources revealed.

“So far since his detention, he has vehemently refused to cooperate with DSS investigators,” another top source noted.

Meanwhile, Emefiele named Bawa as an accomplice in the Naira redesign scam that rocked the country some months ago.

Bawa’s invitation and grilling by the DSS came days after Emefiele was arrested and flown from Lagos to Abuja to also face interrogations over alleged corruption and abuse of office.

The Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, presented a security expert, Dr. Chibuike Ugwoke as one of their subpoenaed witnesses (PW8) before the Presidential Election Petitions Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday.

Obi’s legal team, represented by P.I Ikweto SAN, asked him to enter the witness box and give his evidence in chief.

But before the witness could give evidence, INEC lawyer, A.B. Mahmoud SAN, said the expert’s statement on oath was only received by him minutes before the proceedings commenced.

He asked that cross examination of the witness be adjourned till Thursday so he could study his statement and question him appropriately.

Lawyers representing President Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun SAN and Lateef Fagbemi SAN, aligned with the submission of INEC.

Ikweto equally aligned with the respondents that his seventh witness would be cross-examined tomorrow.

Having taken note of their positions, the court directed the witness to go ahead to give his evidence in chief.

The respondents rose up again and urged the court not to take his evidence but Ikweto asked the court to allow his witness to continue.

The panel reserved ruling on their assertions till the time of final judgement.

Dr Ugwoke continued by telling the court that he is a cyber security expert living in Abuja.

He referred to a meta data (metadata is the hidden data that accompanies an image, video, and file in the internet) document regarding the INEC Results Viewing Portal IRev, and other online information relating to the election.

The security expert also tendered sources and archived links to materials (press releases) issued by INEC from 2018 to 2023.

One of the documents includes an INEC statement tagged “Alleged plot to abandon the Electronic Transmission of Results to IREV portal”, signed by Festus Okoye and dated November 11, 2022.

Ikweto asked the court to admit the documents cited by the security expert as Peter Obi’s evidence in the case.

Again, the respondents objected to the admissibility of the documents (metadata and INEC press releases) saying they would state the reasons for their objections at their final address.

The five-man panel of the court noted the position of the lawyers but admitted the documents cited by the security expert as evidence.

“The document is admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits,” Justice Haruna Tsammani held while discharging the witness.

Obi’s lawyer, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu SAN, then called Onoja Oloko Sunday, a staff of Women and Child Rescue Initiative, an NGO, as his next witness for the day.

The witness said he served as an election observer duly certified by INEC to observe the 2023 general elections.

Ikechukwu asked that his witness’ identity card be tendered in evidence but that was objected to by lawyers representing INEC, Tinubu and the APC.

However, the court admitted it in evidence.

Under cross-examination by INEC lawyer, Sunday admitted that the ID card he submitted is not an accreditation from INEC.

According to him, the only role he played in the polling units was observation.

He said from his observation, voting and counting went well except for the real-time transmission of scanned copy of polling unit results using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS machine.

But he agreed that he was not in a position to state that real-time transmission did not happen at the polling units he observed because he was not an INEC presiding officer.

“Your party won the election in that polling unit?”, Mahmoud asked, to which he replied “I did not work for any political party.”

Under cross-examination by Tinubu’s lawyer, Emmanuel Ukala SAN, he said the subpoena (summon from the court) was issued to him personally and not to his NGO.

He agreed that electoral officials complied strictly with the conduct of elections at the polling unit he observed.

But he maintained that results were not uploaded electronically at the polling unit.

After giving his testimony, the court discharged him.

After him, Cephas Iya, an INEC ad-hoc presiding officer staff, came forward as Obi legal team’s ninth witness.

He testified that he and one Suleiman Mustapha supervised 24 polling units in Madagali Ward, in Adamawa state.

He told the PEPC that there were issues between PDP and APC agents at respective polling units in his ward but they were eventually resolved.

He added that scores were properly recorded on Form EC8A (polling unit result sheet) and announced but that of the presidential election could not be uploaded in real-time using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS machine.

He was subsequently discharged.

After that, another lawyer from Obi’s legal team, Peter Afuba SAN asked the court to admit several documents produced by INEC based on subpoena as part of his client’s evidence.

Part of the documents he tendered was the list of total number of registered voters and PVCs collected in 32 states, CTC of certificate of compliance in Edo State, supplementary IREV reports for 3 Local Government Areas of Benue , Cross Rivers (2 LGAs) and Lagos State, among others.

The respondents including INEC again objected to the admissibility of the certified documents from the electoral umpire.

They, however, reserved their reasons until the time of final address.

The court subsequently admitted the documents as part of the petitioners’ exhibits.

The exchange rate between the naira and dollar sold for an intra-day high of N815/$1 at the official Investor & Exporter Window on Wednesday, June 21, 2023.

This is the highest rate traded for the dollar on the official market since we started tracking records in 2018 when the window was launched.

The exchange rate however closed at N763.17/$ at the close of business on Wednesday depreciating from N756.61/$1 recorded a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the disparity between the black market and the official exchange rate market closed again on Wednesday with the official rates closing at N763/$1.

This was close to the black market rate which sold for between N760-N770/$1 depending on who is buying or selling.

By achieving exchange rate parity for the third consecutive day, analysts believe the official rate has crossed a critical first step in price discovery.

The three major phases to price discovery are the transition phase, speculation and adjustment phase and the intervention phase.

In the speculation and adjustment phase, market participants, such as banks, forex traders, and institutional investors, analyze economic data, policy announcements, and other relevant factors to form expectations about the future exchange rate.

They may take positions in currencies based on these expectations, leading to fluctuations in the exchange rate.

As the market becomes familiar with the managed float regime, speculative activity, and adjustments may also occur.

In the intervention phase, the central bank may intervene in the foreign exchange market to influence the exchange rate.

[NationalDaily]