FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, disclosed that the infrastructure drive embarked upon by Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State would attract investment into the state. 

He also charged the governor to sustain the peace and tranquility existing in the state, saying Osun remains one of the most peaceful states in the country.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Government House VIP Lodge in Osogbo, the former President urged the governor not to mind those castigating him for dancing but should combine his dancing skills with provision of infrastructure like he is doing presently in the state.

He said: “Some people once despise you that you are a dancer but I said only happy people dance, you are my dancing partner.

“What I have heard and saw three days ago that I have been here, if anyone still doubts the fact that you are working, bring the person to come and see Osun himself.

“Make sure you prioritise your developmental projects in line with the peoples’ desire, such priorities would attract investment thereby enhancing growth and development of the state.

“Our people have desire to work and invest, they need an enabling environment once you do that, there would be job opportunities for the teeming youth population in the state.”

Earlier, Governor Adeleke had disclosed that his drive to complete the project which was initiated by the previous administration was borne out of the desire to ensure that the state get value for every of its money invested.

“I am of the firm belief that we should never politicise public infrastructure. Political affiliation should never drive what project is completed or abandoned. This project was started by an APC government, abandoned by an APC government but now completed by a PDP government. We are setting the standard for best practice.

“We are conscious of what impact projects like this make on cost of governance. In an era of clamour for reduction in cost of running government, we seek to reduce cost of hosting important personalities who are visiting the State. With this structure completed, we have achieved a major milestone in cost efficiency.”

The National Assembly and the 36 state assemblies of the federation as well as their agencies will spend about N724bn this year, an analysis of their 2024 budgets by The PUNCH has shown.

Further findings also showed that the salaries and allowances for federal and state lawmakers would cost the country about N50bn this year.

This means that the federal and state governments earmarked N673.94bn for the national and state assemblies as well as their related agencies in the 2024 budget.

The salaries and allowances are based on data collated from a document obtained from the website of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission.

However, the overall allowances exceed the reported figure due to undisclosed amounts for several of the lawmakers.

An analysis shows that 109 members of the senate will get N8.67bn in salaries and allowances while 360 members in the green chamber will get N24.43bn in salaries and allowances.

A breakdown shows that the annual basic salary of the President of the Senate is N2.48m each year (about N9.92m in four years) while that of the Deputy President is N2.31m yearly (about N9.24m in four years).

Out of 19 allowances assigned to the Senate President and his deputy, only five allowances were assigned a specific figure.

The disclosed allowances include constituency allowance (250 per cent of the basic annual salary), duty tour allowance (N50,000 per night), Estacode ($1,300 per night), Recess (10 per cent of the basic annual salary) and severance gratuity (300 per cent of the basic annual salary).

The allowances of the Senate President will gulp about N33.29m, which includes a N6.21m annual constituency allowance, N248,424.25 annual recess allowance, and N7.45m for severance gratuity, which is paid at the end of the tenure.

The allowances of the Deputy Senate President are expected to cost the nation about N30.94m, which includes N5.77m annual constituency allowance, N230,916.70 annual recess allowance, and N6.93m for severance gratuity.

Other senators get N2.03m as basic annual salary (a total of N8.12m in four years) and a total allowance of N72,137,440 for each of them.

The salaries of the 107 senators will cost N868.3m, while their allowances will cost N7.72bn.

In the section for the salaries and allowances of other senators, out of the 20 allowances mentioned, only 15 were disclosed.

Similarly, the Speaker of the House gets an annual salary of N2.48m (about N9.92m in four years), while the deputy gets N2.29m (about N9.16m in four years).

The allowances of the Speaker are about N18.33m which includes N2.48m annually for constituency allowance, N247,711 annual recess allowance, and N7.43m severance gratuity.

The allowance of the deputy speaker was pegged at about N17.16m and this includes annual N2.29m for constituency allowance, N288,703 for recess, and N6.86m for severance gratuity.

Other members of the House of Representatives get N1.99m each as basic annual salary (a total of N7.94m in four years), while each got N58.76m as allowance.

The salaries of the 358 House of Representatives members will cost N2.84bn while their allowances are estimated at N21.04bn.

Also, the Speaker of a state assembly will be paid N1.64m (N6.56m in four years) as an annual basic salary while the deputy speaker gets N1.45m (N5.8m in four years).

In total, the 36 speakers will get about N59.04m as annual basic salary or N236.16m in four years while the 36 deputies will get about N52.1m as annual basic salary or N208.40m in four years.

The allowances of the speaker will gulp about N5.58m (N22.30m in four years) which includes N409,968 annual constituency allowance, N163,987.50  annual leave allowance, and N3.28m severance gratuity.

The deputy speaker will be paid about N4.92m (N19.67m in four years), and this includes N361,495 constituency allowance, N144,598 for annual leave, and N2.89m severance gratuity.

In total, the basic allowances for the 36 speakers and their deputies will cost the nation N1.51bn.

There are 784 members in the 36 state Houses of Assembly each of whom is entitled to N1.34m annual salary or N5.34m in four years and an allowance of N12.97m.

In total, the 784 members cost their states about N4.19bn in salary and N10.17bn in allowance.

Meanwhile, checks by The PUNCH indicated that the government approved a total sum of N294.7bn for the National Assembly, its affiliate bodies and infrastructure construction.

Details of the National Assembly’s 2024 budget showed that the assembly office got N36.73bn for its activities. The Senate got an envelope funding of N49.14bn while the Representatives got N78.63bn.

The political arm of the National Assembly has the Senate and the House of Representatives with 109 and 360 members, respectively, while the administrative/bureaucratic arm has the National Assembly Management headed by the Clerk of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Service Commission.

The federal parliament has affiliate bodies including the National Assembly Service Commission which got funding of N12.33bn, the National Assembly Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (the academic arm) got N9.1bn while the headquarters got N4.5bn.

Further checks showed that the legislative aides were given N20.34bn, the Public Account Committee of the Senate got N130m while N150m went to that of the green chamber.

Office of the retired clerks and permanent secretaries were allotted N1.2bn, the service-wide vote was N15.2bn; general services got N30.81bn, National Assembly Library building got N12.12bn while books procurement for the library got N3bn; Appropriation Committee Department – Senate (N200m); Appropriation Committee Department – House (N200m). The construction of the NASC will also gulp N10bn.

‘State Assembly’s budgets’

The statutory budgets of a state assembly and its agencies surged to N379.28bn in the 2024 budget.

An analysis of each state’s 2024 budget showed that Akwa-Ibom, Kaduna, Delta, Edo, Imo, Lagos, and Ogun governments gave the highest funding to their lawmakers.

This funding includes appropriation for the service commission, civil servants and capital expenditure.

Abia State assembly got N6.43bn, Akwa-Ibom (N5.84bn), Anambra (N7.23bn), Bauchi (5.45bn), Bayelsa (N2.04bn), Benue (N6.18bn), Borno (N8.1bn), Cross-Rivers (N10.82bn), Delta (N14.17bn), Ebonyi (N2.39bn), Edo (N26.17bn), Ekiti (N2.8bn), Enugu (N6.23bn), Gombe (N5.61bn), Imo (N26.85bn), Jigawa (N7.17bn), Kaduna (N17.11bn), Kano (N10.08bn).

Other states including Katsina (N4.83bn), Kebbi (N6.72bn), Kogi (N7.77bn), Kwara (N5.03bn), Lagos (N70.56bn), Nasarawa (N6.03bn), Niger (N4.15bn), Ogun (N14.41bn), Ondo (N11.34bn), Osun(N4.13bn), Oyo (N9.68bn), Plateau (N10.15bn), Rivers (N5.02bn), Sokoto (N10.16bn), Taraba (N9.5bn), Yobe (N3.99bn), and Zamfara (N3.83bn).

• Reactions

Meanwhile, some state parliaments have reacted.  The Ondo State House of Assembly said the amount earmarked for the budget of the assembly would not be enough to take care of all its expenses in 2024.

A check on the state’s website showed that a sum of N14.9bn was earmarked for the Ondo assembly for this year.

Speaking on the budget, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Orientation, Mr Olatunji Oshati, said the sum was not enough, calling for the implementation of the assembly autonomy which has been signed into law by the President.

Oshati said, “The money (budget) is not enough; even though we have been agitating for the release of our constituency allowances to carry out our constituency projects, it has not been granted. We would be happy if the money could be increased to enable the House to function well.

“It would be great if the assembly autonomy law that has been signed could be implemented, it would enable the house to address its financial challenges without any influence of the executive. The house would also function maximally”.

•  Edo

In Edo, the State House of Assembly was allotted the sum of N13bn in the state’s budget for 2024.

The Speaker of the House, Blessing Agbebaku, had disclosed this early this recently during a function.

However, efforts to get the breakdown of the budget at the weekend proved abortive as a principal officer told the PUNCH that the breakdown could only be obtained from the Ministry of Finance.

Also, the Minority Leader of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Lukman Adeleye, on Sunday, said the budgetary allocation for the legislature was around N12bn.

Adeleye, however, said that the figure was only on paper, as precedence has shown that the actual budget performance has hardly been 30 per cent.

He said, “In this case, the actual performance, I mean the money the assembly will be able to get for a whole year, may not be more than 30 per cent of the entire budget going by the past performance of the budget.

‘’The budgetary provision was designed to take into consideration the implementation of the autonomy of the state houses of assembly as enacted during the tenure of President Mohammadu Buhari.

“The budget is to take care of both the capital and recurrent expenditure like payment of salaries for the civil servants, the salaries for the lawmakers, the constituency projects, running of the assembly, training, oversight functions among other things to aid the effectiveness of the legislature.

“But as I have earlier pointed out, the budgetary allocation is on paper because I don’t know of any governor that has implemented the autonomy law, we are still at the mercy of the executive arm of the government”.

•  Groups react

Meanwhile, some anti-corruption groups have reacted to the issue.

The Deputy Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Kolawole Oludare, said the NASS lacked transparency and accountability, saying, “The transparency part is letting the people be aware of how much and the process of allocation. The accountability aspect is also for the actions and the procedures of the National Assembly.

“For context, the National Assembly was allocated just under N200bn in the 2024 budget in the appropriation, and they increased it on their own by say, more than 50 per cent in the 2024 appropriation before it was passed into law. So you will see that the NASS is lacking in the transparency and accountability mechanism in the way they handle their appropriation, both recurrent and capital. And perhaps that is why also the state legislature is taking a cue from the NASS”, he stated.

On his part, the Executive Director, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Musa Ibrahim, lamented the “discrimination and exploitation” in the unequal pay between the legislators and officials in the security agencies, describing it as unfair.

“Because the Nigerian government has created unequal pay, some Nigerians that are contributing immensely to the growth and development of this country are being neglected, and are not being given necessary support, especially those who are even giving their lives to save the country and save Nigerians.

“There’s no way you can continue to impoverish public officials, especially serving security officials with this peanut and then you expect them to go and put their lives, to protect you and the rest of the people. I think this is unfair, we cannot continue to do this exploitation and discrimination in pay. We cannot be pampering political appointees and politicians siphoning the public taxpayers’ money when there is not much to see in terms of the contribution they are making,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, the Centre for Accountability and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, stated that the lawmakers’ bogus pay was insensitive.

“Ordinarily, any emolument that is not recommended by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission is against the law and anybody that earns such income has committed an offence that is supposed to be criminal in nature. But what we have in Nigeria is that our leaders behave as if they are above the law, and they behave as if they have been elected to enjoy on our behalf.

Basically, what they have done is insensitive, is actually wickedness, and it will get to a time where Nigerians will not be able to bear it anymore, and it will snowball into a conflagration that they will find difficult to douse,” he said.

The Nigerian music industry was recently unsettled by a series of beefs, with Afrobeats artistes of all categories throwing jibes at one another.

The beefs, which have been budding for a while, reached their zenith at a time when the infamous Drake and Kendrick Lamar rap beef was raging on the other side of the Atlantic.

DAILY POST takes a look at some of the popular beefs threatening the Nigerian music industry.

Wizkid vs Davido

Wizkid and Davido, touted as Nigeria’s biggest music stars, have had a strained relationship since their early days as rising artists in 2011.

Although they have never revealed the cause of the beef, the feud has been on and off for over a decade.

While the duo has had some moments of peace over the years due to reconciliatory efforts, there has always been a chill between their cult-like fanbases, “Wizkid FC” and “30BG”, especially on social media.

The latest chapter in their saga started when many thought that they were finally ending their age-long supremacy rift, especially with Wizkid’s announcement that he would be going on a joint tour with Davido after his ‘More Love, Less Ego’ tour.

But all that hope was dashed when they reignited their long-standing feud with a fiery social media exchange on the night of April 29.

Wizkid had earlier posted a leaked video of someone, purported to be Davido, on his knees, crying and begging for a woman’s attention.

The Starboy boss posted the video implying that his fans needed to plead for a new song with a similar intensity to the person in the video, who appears to be Davido.

The post sparked controversy on social media, causing a stir among the 30 Billion gang, Wizkid FC, and also Davido who responded later in the night.

In his clapback, Davido taunted Wizkid that his career was resurrected a few years ago but died again. He boasted that since he entered the music industry, Wizkid and others have not experienced peace of mind.

“That’s what I thought. Nothing to say, exactly why I stopped wasting my clout and jeopardizing my millions of USD of endorsements on someone whose career was resurrected a few years ago just to die again,” the ‘OBO’ crooner said.

Responding to Davido, Wizkid boasted that even if he decides to retire from the music industry now, the DMW boss will still not be on his level.

He said, “I got nun to say to u my boy! I can retire today and you still not on my level. You be influencer with a songwriter. Wish u well.”

The social media war continued with Wizkid reposting the controversial leaked video the following day and Davido throwing jibes at him both on X and Instagram for days.

Kizz Daniel vs Tekno

The friction between Kizz Daniel and Tekno happened simultaneously with Wizkid and Davido’s social media war.

In the afternoon of April 29, Kizz Daniel dug up a tweet wherein Tekno insinuated that the Fly Boi boss’ money isn’t on the same level as his, while debunking a report that he received royalties worth N1 billion from their collaborative song ‘Buga.’

Kizz Daniel blasted Tekno for being ungrateful, claiming that he “rescued” his (Tekno’s) dying career with the song.

He said, “Dem mention money you sef dey talk… spewing sh*t like an*s. See ekuke wey we rescue with Buga. Oloribu omo ale.”

In his reaction, Tekno warned Kizz Daniel not to provoke him, else, he would feel his wrath.

“Hope you are trending now fool! Careful o, breeze blow foul ny*sh dey open. I’m not the one to be played with before I Kattywilliams your *ss. Insecure narcissist,” the ‘Pana’ crooner said.

The singers later unfollowed each other on social media.

Adekunle Gold vs Samklef

Singer Adekunle Gold and producer Samklef recently fell out after the producer-turned-blogger called out his wife, Simi, for being “ungrateful.”

Samklef, who had publicly admitted having feelings for Simi during their days as struggling artistes, vowed never to “fully” forgive if she doesn’t publicly apologize for setting him up for dragging.

He said, “If simi comes out publicly and apologizes for setting me up for dragging I will fully forgive her. But if she doesn’t I will be reminding her who she truly is for the next 7 billion years.”

Reacting, Adekunle Gold categorically told Samklef that his wife doesn’t owe him anything.

“When will it be your turn to receive sense from your 7th heaven? Because you are clearly lost in your own damn mind. Simi doesn’t owe you sh*t and it’s about time you stopped calling her name every 3 market days. If anything, you owe me! Stop fooling around and act your age!,” Gold fumed.

Samklef rebuffed, “Dear Adekunle, I made your wife Simi.

“And yes Adekunle your wife Simi owes Samklef a public apology for setting me up for dragging. How u see am?

“And just so u know Simi music career not fit pass the level again. I samklef says o!

“Wey u for just dey one conner dey look or reach out to me for old time sake…You wan use me shine with all this small temporary fame. Say he wife owes me nothing. I beg una for money Abi wetin you mean ? Can you imagine this small boy?”

Meanwhile, Simi has addressed her colleague, Brymo, and producer-turned-blogger, Samklef’s flirtatious comments about her.

Recall that Brymo sparked controversy last year after admitting that he demanded sex from Simi while she was unmarried before he could make music with her.

He said she rejected his request and he in turn declined to collaborate with her.

In a recent interview with Angela Yee, Simi said there was no point in what Brymo and Samklef said about her, emphasizing that she couldn’t take them seriously.

The mother of one said she is confused about their rhetoric and considers their actions as “comedy.”

She said, “I don’t know what these people [Brymo and Samklef] are going on about. The funny thing is that these are two different people and I don’t know why they keep talking about me like that. When you even look at what they’re saying, you can’t even pick out anything. I’m still confused.”

Wizkid vs Don Jazzy

Wizkid’s recent social media onslaught did not spare Mavin Records boss, Don Jazzy.

Wizkid fired shots at Don Jazzy after his signee, rapper Ladipoe mocked the Grammy-winning singer for claiming that ‘hip hop is dead’.

On his X handle, Ladipoe wrote, “Nigerian rappers that survived ‘hip hop is dead’ watching Afrobeat artistes go through their own.”

After a fan alerted Wizkid to the post, he reacted by saying, “Lol, never chatting with anyone signed to an influencer. Next.”

He also retweeted two tweets suggesting that he referred to Don Jazzy as an influencer.

Don Jazzy, displeased by Wizkid’s remark, unfollowed him on Instagram.

Wizkid’s subtle shade at Don Jazzy sparked reactions from a cross-section of Nigerian celebrities, including skit makers, Mr Macaroni and Nasboi, and reality stars, Doyin and Tacha.

Reacting via his X handle, Mr Macaroni insisted that while Don Jazzy is influential across music, contents, films, and brands, the context in which Wizkid called him “an influencer” was disrespectful to “everything he has done and is still doing for the Nigerian Music Industry.”

He noted that Don Jazzy is an “absolute legend” who is selfless and has shown support to many entertainers in the country regardless of their status.

Similarly, content creator and singer, Nasboi faulted Wizkid for shading Don Jazzy.

“Wizkid was wrong for talking to Don Jazzy that way. Before now, Wizkid used to respect Don Jazzy,” he stated on the Bahd And Boujee Podcast, co-hosted by reality star, Tolanibaj and actress, Moet Abebe.

Appearing on Cool FM’s Big Friday Show With Tacha, Nasboi revealed that he has been receiving death threats following his criticism of Wizkid for shading Don Jazzy, but maintained that he still stands on his initial stance that the Starboy boss was wrong for shading the Mavin honcho.

“I feel like the context [in which Wizkid called Don Jazzy an influencer] wasn’t okay,” he reiterated.

The Edo Police Command has arrested Musa Suleman, for engaging his three-year-old daughter, Sarah Suleman, who is a kid model, in adult content on social media at the Auchi area of the state.

This was disclosed in a statement released by the spokesperson for the state command,Chidi Nwabuzor, on Sunday.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Suleman posted indecent pictures of the minor on her recently deactivated Instagram page, @officialsarah_ig, exposing sensitive parts of her body, as she posed erotically.

Some of the viral videos had generated concerns from Nigerians, who called for Suleman’s arrest because his daughter was not safe in his custody, as they feared that she might be involved in pornographic activities or sexually abused for monetary gains.

When our correspondent observed Sarah’s Instagram page, it contained posts that promoted nudity and immorality because she engaged in adult activities like attending clubs, photo/video sessions with a bikini, seductive dance, and others.

He also stated that a Malaysian influencer and an adult movie actress, Siew Pui Yi, known as Ms Puiyi, was his daughter’s mentor, as he specified in every post made on her page.

In a post Suleman made on his daughter’s page on December 30, 2023, he uploaded a provocative picture of his daughter with two yet-to-be-identified grown men, accompanied with a disturbing caption, which read, “Hanging out with men; the kids stay at home. Yoo!.”

In an earlier statement, Suleman had clarified that the reason behind his actions was because he was not getting support from social media users towards his passion, so he decided to “promote” his child’s modelling career.

He said, “One Nigeria, we cannot do comedy because no helper, this is what we can do. Help promote a model.”

The Edo police spokesperson, Nwabuzor, noted that the command took swift action by enforcing the arrest of Suleman after he was exposed, and an investigation was ongoing to make sure justice was served.

“The Edo State Police Command is aware of the trending video of a child of about four-year-old conspicuously naked and used as adult content in an undisclosed hotel in Auchi, Edo State.

“The Commissioner of Police Edo State Command, CP Funsho Adegboye, immediately drafted a tactical team to go out and arrest the suspect and his cohort. Within 12 hours, the father of the girl was arrested, and the investigation has commenced while further revelation will be made known to the public.

“The CP therefore appealed to the good citizens of Nigeria to remain calm that justice will be served,” Nwabuzor said.

…Says Edo ranks second in terms of conviction after Lagos

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has revealed that underage boys, who are into internet fraud popularly called ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ do age declaration to enable them to open bank accounts and get driver’s licences to expend their proceeds from the crimes, as it vowed to go after government agencies and individuals that issue the papers for the fraudulent declarations.

The Zonal Director of the EFCC in charge of Edo, Delta and Ondo states, Effa Okim, stated this in Benin City, while on a courtesy visit to the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, led by Festus Alenkhe.

He also disclosed that Edo State was second to Lagos in terms of convictions despite the small size of the state.

Okim said parents who normally claim that their children were underage when convicted would also go in for it for their complicity in the forgery of documents.

He said: “Crime, what we call yahoo yahoo is visible in our streets. When you walk on our streets, when you visit our hotels per second, you see these boys and it is so visible that it is disturbing and in addition to being visible, the statistics that we have is that Edo is after Lagos in terms of conviction.

“It calls for concern because in terms of size, Edo is not big but look at the slant on the level of convictions, it is not a good reputation and for me. Edo is too great in Nigerian history to be reduced to that level in terms of criminality.

“When you hear that a 12-year-old boy has been sent to jail, that in law he is not supposed to go jail because he is underage but it happens here often because they go and agree with some authorities and do age declaration stating that they are 18 just to enable them to open an account and put their criminal structures in place and at the end, when they are arrested, their father will come to say their children are underage.

“We are asking them where were you when he got his driver’s licence, where were you when your underage son opened an account because in the Nigerian law, an underage cannot open an account? Where were you when your son was irresponsibly spending money?”

He said the commission in line with its mandate and vision was ready to partner with the media “to reduce the visibility of crime on our streets.”

On his part, Alenkhe urged the new zonal director to maintain an open-door policy to always make information available to journalists.

An officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Abdulwahab Magaji, serving in the Federal Capital Territory, reportedly shot himself dead in his residence on Binta Street, Farm Estate area, Abuja.

PUNCH Metro gathered from a senior law enforcement officer that the incident happened last Monday.

According to the source, the family of the deceased had raised the alarm that Magaji had shot himself with a rifle, prompting police officers to visit the scene of the incident.

The source added that when the police arrived at the scene, the victim was reportedly rushed to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, where he was confirmed dead.

The source said, “A family of the deceased had raised the alarm that CSC Abdulahi Abdulwahab Magaji, a customs officer serving in Abuja, shot himself in his house at Farm Centre with a pump-action rifle.

“Police officers dashed to the scene of the incident and took the victim to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, where he was certified dead by the doctor on duty.”

The source added that the body of the deceased had been handed over to the family for burial, according to Islamic rites.

Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction of the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, proved abortive as calls made to her line were not answered as of the time of filing this report.

Similarly, the Customs National Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Maiwada, could not be reached for comments as his line was switched off, and messages sent to him were not responded to as of the time this report was filed.

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said Nigeria needs to continue diversifying to attract investment and boost trade surplus.

Okonjo-Iweala stated this while addressing newsmen after a meeting with the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle and other women at the Nigerian Women in Leadership event in Abuja weekend.

Nigeria recorded N1.41 trillion trade deficit between October and December of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

Mr Olisa Agbakoba has reacted to the controversial cybersecurity levy imposed on Nigerians by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Agbakoba described the imposition of the levy as unconstitutional and not a “good idea”.

Speaking with TheCable, the former NBA President said: “It is not a good idea at all. I believe it is a good idea to have a cybersecurity act so that we can deal with cybercrime. However, it is not a good idea to create a fund for which the national security adviser will be entitled to deploy when that is contrary to what the constitution prescribes,” he said.

“So, I am going to court to challenge the imposition by the CBN on levies on the banks which will amount to the banks paying about N3 trillion a year.

“That is unconstitutional because what the constitution says is that everything concerning revenue, whether it is tax or non-tax revenue such as the levy in the cybersecurity act, must pass through the federation account for it to now be appropriated by the National Assembly.

“So, if the same National Assembly makes a law bypassing the appropriation process and putting money in the hands of an agency, that is unconstitutional.”

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted three truckloads of opioids, comprising 3,450,000 pills and 344,000 bottles of codeine syrup at Abule Ado, in the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Confirming the drug seizure which happened on Thursday, the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said three suspects were arrested in connection with the incident.

The statement partly read, “The multi-billion naira consignments were loaded into two 40-ft container trucks and another 20-ft truck at the AML bonded terminal, Abule-Osun, near the International Trade Fair complex before heading to a large warehouse at Abule-Ado, where the NDLEA officers eventually arrested the suspects and recovered the opioid consignments on Thursday, May 9, 2024.”

The statement also revealed that in Ekiti State, a 75-year-old grandpa, Jibril Audu, was arrested on Friday with 7.5 kilogrammes of cannabis at Oke-asa village, Ijero-Ekiti, during a raid, while a 70-year-old grandma, Tikwase Nytor, was nabbed with 15.6 kilogrammes of the same substance on Thursday during a raid at Achusa, along the International Market Road, Makurdi, Benue State.

It also stated that in a separate operation on Tuesday, the NDLEA operatives arrested a suspect, Nwankwo Ejike, in the Coker area of Lagos, where 100 litres of codeine syrup were recovered from him, while 60 litres of the same substance were seized from one Clinton Akinye in the same area on the same day.

The statement added, “Not less than 37.5kg of cannabis sativa loaded in a Toyota Camry was recovered from another suspect, Adegbola Segun, 47, when the car was intercepted at the Mile 12 area of Lagos on Monday, May 6.

“Another consignment of opioids consisting of 59,106 pills of tramadol and different quantities of codeine syrup and Rohypnol being taken across the border to Garua, Cameroon, was intercepted by the NDLEA officers on Monday, May 6, along Mubi-Yola Road, Adamawa State.

“Two suspects linked to the drugs: Abubakar Auwal, 39, and Adamu Abubakar, 25, aka Bamanga, a trans-border trafficker, who was to take the consignment from Mubi across to Cameroon, were promptly arrested.”

Similarly, the NDLEA officials in Edo State were reported to have raided the Iguiye forest in the Ovia North East Local Government Area on Saturday, “where a total of 11, 636.185 kg of cannabis was destroyed on three farms measuring 4.654474 hectares, while an additional 188kg of the same psychoactive substance was recovered, and a suspect, Itah Nyong, was arrested during the overnight operation.”

The Chief of Staff to Rivers State Government, Edison Ehie, has alleged that he was offered money to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

He, however, did not disclose the identities of those who offered him money.

Addressing a rally in Ahoada East area of the state, the former factional speaker of the State House of Assembly disclosed the purported plot to impeach the governor, eliciting applause from the gathered crowd.

“They invited me, your son, to impeach the governor and I told them clearly, I was not interested.

“They gave me all the money that was hidden before, which I rejected. And because I refused, they conspired and declared me wanted,” Ehie said in a viral video clip from the rally.

Last year, Ehie was declared wanted by the police in connection with the invasion of the State House of Assembly.

In October 2023, an explosion rattled the state assembly building amidst reports of lawmakers attempting to impeach Fubara.

It was alleged that certain individuals with close ties to the governor were implicated in the incident.

The Martin Amaewhule-led lawmakers had reportedly lodged criminal complaints against Ehie with the Rivers State Police Command regarding the invasion and arson of the Rivers State House of Assembly chambers by unidentified hoodlums.

Ehie’s revelation contributes to the protracted crisis in the state, stemming from the conflict between Fubara and his predecessor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.