In the dying days of his administration in 2007, President Olusegun Obasanjo sold 51 percent of federal government’s stakes in two of Nigeria’s four ailing refineries to Bluestar Oil Services Ltd — a consortium floated by Dangote Oil, Zenon Oil and Transcorp Plc — for $761 million. Shortly after the inauguration of a new administration, the oil industry unions — apparently prompted — kicked that Obasanjo sold the refineries to his cronies, insisted that one of the refineries alone was worth over $5 billion, and staged a four-day strike. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua gleefully reversed the privatisation and returned the refineries to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Alhaji Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, appointed the NNPC group managing director by President Yar’Adua, told the world in September 2007 that all our refineries would start working at “near full capacity” by December 2007 after “rehabilitation” which, you may want to know, cost us several billions of naira. In preparation for the magic, he said government had awarded a $52 million contract for the repair of the Chanomi Creek pipeline, the main feeder pipeline to Warri and Kaduna refineries blown up by militants in 2006. All was set for the amazing revamp of the 445,000 barrels per day (bpd) refineries, after which we would stop importing petroleum products and live together happily ever after.

What happened next? We are now in September 2023 — on the 16th anniversary of Yar’Adua’s monumental promise — and Nigeria is still waiting for the magic to happen. (As an aside, Yar’Adua was named in the Panama Papers to have secretly bought an £890,000 house in London in 2008 while serving as the NNPC GMD, using a company he registered in the British Virgin Islands — but there is nothing to see there). Sixteen years after the unions said the Port Harcourt refinery alone was worth $5 billion, no one would buy it for N5 million. Sixteen years after we bungled a major victory for local refining of petroleum products, we are still helplessly and hopelessly hooked on fuel imports.

But Yar’Adua was not alone. Every single president after him promised to get the refineries working at “near full capacity”. President Goodluck Jonathan vowed to raise the dead. Between 2013 and 2015, he reportedly spent $396 million on turnaround maintenance (TAM) — and the refineries have still not worked, although I admit that the fortune of a few individuals experienced turnaround miracles. In April 2021, Mallam Mele Kyari, the CEO of NNPC Ltd, followed the enviable tradition of his predecessors by signing a $1.5 billion contract to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery. President Bola Tinubu has now customarily promised that the refineries will be back by December 2023.

In summary, 16 years after we reversed the sale of the refineries because they were bought by Obasanjo’s “cronies” and promised to get them back to “near full capacity”, we have burnt billions of dollars on TAM contracts and we are still here waiting patiently and enthusiastically for Godot. We are still promising to get the refineries to work “by December” (why always December?) and have no clue when this bizarre bazaar will be over. From the time of Gen Sani Abacha till date, all the presidents have played the same card of getting the refineries to work. It appears there is a hymn sheet at the Presidential Villa from which they all sing: the harmony is enduring and unbelievable.

But you know what? If you take a proper look at the financial and economic implications of fuel importation in Nigeria, you will find a damning explanation for some of the woes overwhelming us today. Shall we discuss the billions of dollars we have burnt on demurrage and storage charges on fuel imports since 1999 (because our ports do not have the adequate reception capacity and the NNPC does not have sufficient storage facilities)? Shall we discuss the fact that the resources we have burnt on demurrage and storage expenses over the same period could have built the biggest refineries in the world and turned us to exporters of both crude oil and petroleum products?

Does anyone ever calculate how much of our forex earnings we burn on fuel importation? This is the largest single consumer of forex today. I wonder what might have been if we had taken another route. When Obasanjo was president and we had considerable savings from oil revenue, I campaigned vigorously that we should invest in a new refinery. I was lectured by neo-liberal fanatics that government should not run a refinery, that it should be the business of the private sector. I conceded but with a request: let us build a refinery (since no investor was willing to do so), lease out the management and sell it off after some years. Let us just stop fuel importation by any means!

The cost of the decisions we took — or failed to take — yesterday is coming back to bite us hard today and threatening to pull down the already fragile economy. With dwindling oil output and export, we are currently facing a double whammy: we export little oil and spend the little income to import petroleum products because we do not refine at home. Things got so bad at a stage that we did not have enough crude to exchange for products, so we mortgaged future oil production in order to import petrol for today. We are digging one hole after the other to fill the other holes we have dug everywhere. It is difficult to understand how we do things here and expect positive outcomes.

Help me make sense of this. A farmer produces yams and sells a tuber for N2,000 to Mama Put. But because he does not have the mortar and pestle to pound the yam, he goes to the Mama Put to buy a wrap of pounded yam for N1,000. Mama Put can probably make N10,000 per tuber, selling it as pounded, fried, boiled or roasted yam, or making yam flour and amala from it. Mama Put can sell the peels as feed for goats. There are several products from yam! Now, wait for this: our farmer friend runs into a harvest problem and starts buying pounded yam on credit, promising to pay with next year’s harvest. That is Nigeria for you: selling crude oil and spending the revenue to import petrol.

The country should be exporting petroleum products — such as petrol, diesel, low pour oil fuel, and jet fuel — and earning billions of dollars, in addition to the little matter of jobs and tax revenue. We want the naira to exchange at N1/$1 (whatever the merits are) but how can you spend all your forex on importing petrol and still expect the naira not to keep losing value? What else are you exporting to earn dollars? Where are the dollars? If income from your biggest export, which used to account for 90 percent of your forex earnings, has been going down for years, what else are you doing to get more dollar inflow into your economy? It seems we are expecting the dollar to fall from heaven.

Let us go to Singapore briefly. The country is less than the size of Lagos state and has a population of 5.6 million. But we are not here to discuss land mass and population. My interest is the size of the intellect. The country does not have oil but it has some of the biggest refineries in the world with the capacity to refine 1.5 million bpd. Nigeria, one of the world’s richest in crude reserves, has been having the capacity for 445,000 bpd since 1987 and rarely refines a barrel. Singapore is regarded as Asia’s oil hub and earned $40.8 billion from exporting refined petroleum products in 2021. Yes, $40.8 billion! It is not about resource wealth or political system. It is the brain. Vision. Mission. Passion.

What more can I say? Ajaokuta Steel Mill has become a centre of stealing since it was conceived in 1979. Up till today, we have not finished stealing through Ajaokuta. If it was a country where our heads were properly screwed on our necks, we would be earning billions of dollars from exporting iron and steel, to say nothing about the jobs and the value chain in the economy. According to data by CEPII, the leading French centre for research and expertise on the world economy, China earned $61 billion from iron and steel exports in 2021. Japan earned $35 billion, Germany $32.8 billion, Russia $30.5 billion, and South Korea $28 billion. These things start from the brain. It is not magic.

Don’t let us get started with palm oil. Forget the legendary story of how an Asian country came to take palm seedlings from Nigeria some decades ago and is now a world leader in the production of the cash crop. As far as I am concerned, that is history and we should move on for Pete’s sake. The part I cannot understand for the life of me is why we keep lamenting as if lamentation ever solved any problem. There are more depressing statistics to share with us but I think we can chew on this for a while: in 2022, Indonesia earned $27.8 billion from palm oil exports alone. I am attracted by the enormous forex earnings for sure, but I am more smitten by the associated economic activities.

Let’s be frank: the solution to our economic and security challenges are hidden in plain sight. It is no rocket science. Nigeria can be one of the biggest exporters of palm oil, petrol, solid minerals, name it — if we use our brains positively. We have no business with being a net importer of petroleum products, so much so the aviation industry is sometimes paralysed because of fuel scarcity. Nigeria is the only country that experiences this constant affliction. Some things are too weird about us. That is why some think the country is under a spell. I can’t say if it is a spiritual problem because spiritual matters are above my paygrade, but I am sure that we don’t know what we are doing. We’re lost.

But when you see that some sectors are doing well —  fintech and entertainment, for instance — in spite of the government, you cannot but conclude that the political leadership has questions to answer. We have a warped concept of governance. When you run a system where the unwritten code is that leadership is all about personal comfort and there are no consequences for bad behaviour, what you get is a Nigeria. We know what ails us. It’s been well diagnosed. But we have refused to take our medication: competent and patriotic leadership at all levels. Our capacity for shortsightedness and selfishness is legendary and damaging. Do I really need to spell that out again?

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

GABON GARRISSON

Gabon is the latest African country to come under the jackboot with the overthrow of President Ali Bongo Ondimba shortly after he was declared winner of a flawed election that returned him to office for a third term. He had succeeded his late father, Omar, in 2009. I was amused that father and son had ruled Gabon for a combined period of 56 years before the military coup — only for me to read reports that the new military ruler, Brigadier General Brice Oligui Nguema, is the ousted president’s cousin. I didn’t know whether to be angry or burst into laughter. I now can’t say what is more odious — the father-and-son stranglehold on Gabon or the incursion by their extended family. Africa!

COUP CONTAGION

Military coups are back in full force in Africa and I must be one of the least excited. I will say this one more time: military should stay out of politics. By their training and orientation, soldiers are not primed to govern the civil populace. Most of Africa was ruled by soldiers in the 1970s and 1980s and if they were geniuses, Africa would be competing with the rest of the world today. I will never argue against the notion that there is a general leadership problem on the continent. I will also not deny the fact that liberal democracy has not delivered the dividends as it should. But the military has not proved itself to be better either. Let’s give democracy a chance, no matter how imperfect. Liberties.

ALL EYES ON P&ID

There are underground moves by some selfish Nigerians to cut a deal in the P&ID case by seeking to arrest the British high court judgment. The facts, according to our lawyers, are positive for us. More so, we have a right of appeal if we lose, so it is difficult to understand why some fellows are trying to stampede President Bola Tinubu to go for out-of-court settlement. If we win, P&ID and its backers will not get a penny. Instead, the court may ask them to pay our costs. It is already a good signal that a court allowed us to challenge the $6.6 billion (plus interests) award because of allegations of corruption in the contracting process. Tinubu must not cave in to these commission chasers. Greed.

AND FINALLY…

Mr Wale Adedayo, chairman of Ijebu East LGA, Ogun state, bluntly told Mr Dapo Abiodun, the governor, that the “emperor has not clothes”. He accused the governor of hijacking the funds meant for councils — a major obstacle to the proper functioning of the local government system in Nigeria. The emperor was very angry. Councillors from Ijebu East quickly visited the emperor with their tails between their legs, apologising for Adedayo’s misdemeanour, and wailing: “We are sorry sir! The emperor has clothes! The emperor is not naked!” Seven councillors proceeded to suspend Adedayo for three months over allegations of maladministration and financial mismanagement. Nigeria!

The Nigeria Police Force on Saturday said it is investigating a report of an alleged extortion of N620,000 by some men said to be police officers wearing Mufti along the Sanni Abacha road, GRA in Rivers State.

The Police Spokesperson, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi disclosed this while reacting to the complaints via his X, formerly Twitter, account.

Some men said to be officers of the Rivers State Police Command were reported to have accosted one Daniel at about 9 p.m. while he rode on an Uber.

The men, five in number, were said to have appeared in an all-black attire without name tags or a serial number for identification.

The brother of the victim, who reported the case via his X handle @smartninho narrated: “They seized his phone and went through it. They found nothing and went ahead to open all his bank apps and saw money in his accounts.

“They beat him up and put him in their Sienna. They kept beating him in the sienna with other boys they picked in a similar style. They did not allow him to communicate with his family or relatives.

“They drove them to a thick bush in Ogoni and continued to the border of Akwa Ibom. There they stopped and brought him out. They continued beating and threatening to shoot him if he didn’t transfer a huge amount to them.

“They started with a request for Twenty million Naira (N20m). They emptied his accounts, removing over Six hundred and twenty thousand Naira (N620k)”.

The post shared at 3: 38 p.m. on Saturday, gained traction after an independent journalist and influencer on the X App escalated the incident via his paid blue tick page.

The spokesperson of the police, Muyiwa while reacting said, “This will be looked into again. I am personally taking it up”.

He added, “I agree that we have recorded some cases against the men in Rivers Command, and we will address them all. I want to commend those who have been sending in their complaints. Justice will be done”.

The Rivers State Police command has come under fire in recent times following numerous complaints and claims from residents of brutality, indiscriminate extortion, high-handedness, unprofessionalism and public disobedience of police extant laws.

In April, three officers were captured assaulting a motorist in the state. The officers were seen slapping the victim repeatedly after beating him with a cane.

In a follow-up to Muyiwa’s reaction, the Nigeria Police Force also took to its official page to condemn the situation, pledging to take action if “guilt is proven”.

It said, “We take misconduct allegations seriously and are concerned about the reported incident. The welfare and safety of all citizens matter.

“An investigation is underway. Rest assured, action will be taken if guilt is proven. Thank you for bringing this to our notice”.

The management of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, a Federal Government-contracted oil pipeline surveillance firm has accused the Nigerian Navy of arresting its staff while ensuring that oil thieves fled when the company staff made attempts to arrest them.

The company also said it had evidence to disprove the arrest and continued detention of its personnel over an alleged crude oil theft.

Operatives of the Navy under the Commander of Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Beecroft, Commodore Kolawole Oguntuga had arrested four Tantita personnel on the waterways in Itolu community, Lekki, in Lagos State.

The Navy said they were investigating the circumstances that led to economic sabotage and how the oil product from Ondo State made its way to the Lagos Sea.

But Tantita in a statement on Saturday explained details of the incident accusing the Navy of sabotage.

It said, “On Monday, August 28, at about 1:30 p.m., a Tantita Security Services patrol team operating in the Ondo State area received credible intelligence that a motorised wooden boat was illegally loading crude oil from an offshore oil well jacket.

“In fact, the same well jacket in OML 110 operated by Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria Limited, where we caught MT TURA II stealing crude oil, a few months ago.

“They dispatched an advance team to find the wooden boat while a backup team comprising Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps (NSCDC) component of the government security agencies (GSA) was assembled to follow through on the lead.

“While we cannot name the NSCDC personnel for obvious reasons, they were six and our personnel were eight, not four. The advance team with the help of local fisher folk could determine that the motorised wooden boat was heading toward Lagos and gave hot pursuit.

“Upon noticing the approaching Tantita teams, the crew of the motorised wooden boat abandoned the wooden boat for their speed boat.

“One team of Tantita and NSCDC personnel boarded the wooden boat to secure the evidence while another team gave hot pursuit.

“There is video evidence of the Tantita team together with NSCDC personnel coming alongside the wooden boat, boarding and attempting to secure the boat.

“There is also evidence of the Tantita and GSA team giving chase to the crew of the boat. How then did the Nigerian Navy get involved in this operation?

“The escaping crew of the motorised wooden boat fled toward the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base at Ibeju-Lekki, so the Tantita and NSCDC personnel followed in hot pursuit, believing that the criminals would meet their waterloo there.

“They were wrong. Instead of the fleeing crew being arrested, it was the Tantita personnel who came down to apprehend the fleeing crew that was arrested.

“After arresting Tantita personnel and freeing the crew, the Nigerian Navy personnel then went to the motorised wooden boat and drove out the combined Tantita/GSA team trying to keep the boat and the evidence afloat.”

The firm stated that as soon as the men were arrested, the management of Tantita reached out to the Navy for clarification of the situation, and they received feedback saying they were investigating and the men would be released, yet they were still being detained.

Tantita claimed to have gotten the outcome of the Navy’s investigation on the incident saying “There are even more damning revelations, which out of courtesy to the Navy hierarchy and the needs of national security we will not divulge on the pages of a newspaper”.

It, however, noted that “the continued detention by the Nigerian Navy of these five brave, selfless Nigerians who risked their lives on the high seas to protect our commonwealth is a disservice to our nation.

“These family men put their lives at risk for the good of the nation and are now being made to suffer ridicule for doing the right thing. It serves to demoralise good men everywhere who have sought and are seeking to do something to better our nation”, the firm stated.

Simon Ekpa, acclaimed prime minister of Biafra Government in Exile (BRGIE), Saturday, said “if Nnamdi Kanu and other Biafrans being illegally detained by the Nigeria state are not released, and all roadblocks and checkpoints in the South-East not dismantled on or before 15th of September 2023, the people will embark on another 3 weeks’ civil disobedience with a curfew.”

Ekpa stated this in a release entitled ‘delegitimisation of Nigeria within Biafra territory’.

The breakdown of the three-week sit-at-home shows that ‘Week One, September 18, 2023, will be the normal Monday sit-at-home; September 19, 2023, to September 22, 2023 will be a curfew from 6am to 12 noon; while September 23 2023 will be normal movement.

The statement added, “Week Two, 25.9.2023, there will be normal Monday sit-at-home; 26.9.2023 to 29.9.2023, there will be curfew from 6am to 12noon; 30.9.2023 and 1.10.2023 and 1.10. 2023, there will be normal movement in Biafra country.

“Week Three, 2.10.2023, normal Monday sit-at-home; 3.10.2023 to 6.10.2023, there will be curfew from 6am to 12noon. During this 3 weeks’ curfew, every Nigeria government secretariat in Biafra territory must shut down in all states.”

Our correspondent reports that Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra in June this year, barred Ekpa from declaring sit-at-home, describing the act as ‘killing the economy of the south-easterners whom he is fighting for’.

Kanu’s handwritten statement was unveiled during a world press conference in Enugu organised by his special counsel, Barr Aloy Eimakor.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing had, Friday, reaffirmed their resolve to end sit-at-home in the Southeast of Nigeria.

According to the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Alex Ogbonnia, Ohanaeze youths “expressed concern over the instigated insecurity and socio-economic disruptions in Igbo land.

” While commending the Southeast governors for all the efforts towards overcoming these challenges, the acting national youth leader, Mazi Chukwuma Okpalaezeukwu, stated that they shall not rest on their oars till peace and security is restored in Southeast and Nigeria at large.”

IPOB had declared sit-at-home in 2021 to demand the release of Kanu who is being detained at the custody of the DSS over alleged treason, running a proscribed group and jumping bail.

Despite the cancellation of the sit-at-home by IPOB, Ekpa’s renegade wing has been ordering sit-at-home, including a two-week sit-at-home last month.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, has assured Nigerians that his ministry would be transparent and people-centered in all its dealings.

The minister, who spoke during the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), explained that transparency and people-centredness in rule of law are key to the country’s progress.

The NBA’s annual conference which was held in Abuja ended on Friday.

At the gathering, Fagbemi held that going forward, the Ministry under his watch will place the fundamental rights of average citizens and their well being at the centre of its strategies or policies.

“I have realised that with the enormity of tasks at hand, the most reliable approach to making significant progress will be to place the people at the centre of every policy and strategy of the Ministry.

“With the generous support of Mr. President, my Ministry will dedicate its time and resources in the promotion of people-centred Justice,” said Fagbemi who also promised that his ministry’s reform agenda would involve promotion of the rule of law and administration of justice.

“We will maintain fair, transparent, and responsive processes that will reflect the aspirations of Nigerians in the overall promotion of the rule of law and administration of justice,” Fagbemi said.

THE WHISTLER reports that Fagbemi became Nigeria’s 24th AGF after his swearing-in by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday, 21st August, 2023.

Before his nomination as AGF, he served as the lead counsel of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defending the ruling party against petitions challenging the election of Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has decried its inability to secure convictions in corruption cases, including high-profile ones, attributing it to frivolous court judgments.

The spokesman for the commission, Wilson Uwajaren, in an interview with journalists in Kaduna State, highlighted some of the challenges impeding the speedy prosecution of corruption cases and securing convictions.

According to him, the losses are due to what he described as frivolous court judgments based on technicalities rather than the facts and national interest, as well as arbitrary adjournment of corruption cases, among other factors.

Uwajaren, who shared the insight at a one-day workshop for media practitioners on Effective Reporting of EFCC activities held in Kaduna State, also disclosed that the commission secured about 7,700 convictions across the country in 2022.
In his remarks, the acting Chairman of the commission, Abdulkarim Chukkol, expressed concern over the rising internet-related fraud among the youth in Kaduna State.

The EFCC boss, who was represented by the acting Zonal Commander in the state, Aisha Abubakar, lamented that the active involvement of youths in internet-related frauds had the tendency to smear the image of the country and consequently discourage hard work and legitimate means of livelihood.
He urged the media to beam its searchlight on the menace of internet crimes and adequately inform the public about the activities of such criminal elements in order to safeguard them from falling victim to fraud.

Chukkol also restated the “unwavering” commitment of the EFCC towards eradicating all forms of economic and financial crimes in the country, noting that such efforts had led to the conviction of over 100 financial crime offenders in the Kaduna zonal office alone.

it's a rumour, Shaibu's CPS reacts

The feud between the Edo Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his deputy Comrade Philip Shaibu is getting messier daily, following the reported evacuation of the office of the deputy out of the state Government House by Obaseki.

The office of the deputy governor which was hitherto located inside Government House in Benin, it was gathered has been relocated to the state government-owned building, an alleged abandoned property along Dennis Osadebey in GRA, Benin City, the Edo State capital.

It was gathered the new office of the embattled Philip Shaibu, is now at No. 7, Dennis Osadebey Avenue, with a conspicuous signpost erected at the front of the building.

The signpost has an inscription as: “Office of the Deputy Governor; NO 7, Dennis Osadebey Avenue, GRA, Benin City”.

When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to Shaibu, Comrade Musa Ebomhiana, told our correspondent that he had yet to get an official correspondent to that effect.

“I don’t know how true it is, but I still see it as a story in the realm of rumour. I have not been informed officially and I don’t believe in rumour but substance.

“This is weekend and we are here in Edo North for the election (Local Government Council election)

“And we plan to resume on Monday when the picture would be clearer. As I speak to you now, we are in an election in Edo North and I don’t want to comment on something I don’t know. It is on social media and I have also read about it,” he said.

Recall that Comrade Shaibu recently approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, and sought amongst others, an order restricting Governor Obaseki, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Judge of Edo State and others from commencing his alleged impeachment processes.

The development according to political observers had led to the redeployment of the Permanent Secretary of the State Sports Commission, Mrs. Sabina Chikere, an in-law of the deputy governor to the state, Government House.

The deputy governor’s press crew prior to its recent disbandment by Governor Obaseki was sent out from the venue of the 60th anniversary celebration of Midwest Referendum venue in Benin.

Also, the deputy governor was recently prevented from going close to his principal Obaseki by a security detail attached to the governor during a recent function in Benin.

says Tinubu wants to rebuild the economy

Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has urged Nigerians to stop complaining about the current hardship, saying all policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government are to revive the economy.

Since Tinubu’s inauguration in May, his government has taken a series of decisions including removal of subsidy on petroleum as it pushes for reforms in major sectors of the economy.

The moves have triggered criticisms from several Nigerians and recently led to nationwide protests by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other labour unions.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Friday, Uzodinma said Nigerians must “reduce lamentations and agitations” regarding the policies of the Tinubu administration.

The Imo governor said the desire of the president to “recover the economy” is “so strong and impeccable”, adding that “every reasonable mind” in the country should support the president.

“Time has come for us to begin to wear our thinking cap. To think differently and positively. Reduce lamentations and agitations and then confront the challenges before us as a people. It is not about government or Mr. President,” he said

“It is about our country. Collectively, we must decide to recover our country. You may not like the face of the man in power. You may not like the face of the President but you should listen to him to understand whether he is making some sense or committed.

“The commitment I have seen from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his desire and passion to recover the economy of this country and drive this country forward on the path of growth is so strong and impeccable that every reasonable mind in the country must jump and follow.

“And this is how many days? Just less than 70 days as president and people have started lamentations here and there. I think we should be positive thinkers and think correctly as citizens.”

Uzodimma, who is seeking re-election in November, also promised to fish out masterminds of the insecurity in the South-East state within weeks.

“In a few weeks’ time – what we have deployed now, we will soon unravel those behind the killings and insecurity in Imo State,” he added.

The governor equally restated his claims that members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are the major victims of insecurity in Imo State.

“I have told the security to tell me the reasons behind it. It is not a coincidence that many people who are being killed are members of my party, APC. A child cries in the night and in the day it is lying lifeless.

“It is not also a coincidence that only lately, prominent members of my party that they participated in the last election – their houses are being attacked. Some traditional rulers that I have sympathy for our party, their party were also being attacked,” he added.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has recalled all ambassadors and non-career ambassadors serving in different parts of the world

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, disclosed his Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir on Saturday.

He said: “Sequel to the inquiries on the letter recalling the Nigerian ambassador to the UK, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has reaffirmed that all career ambassadors and non-career ambassadors have been recalled on the instructions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Ambassadors as representatives of the country they serve at the behest of the president and it’s his prerogative to send or recall them from any country.”

The ambassadors are expected to commence the winding down of their affairs in their countries of deployment, take formal leave of the host government within 60 days and return to Nigeria by October 31, 2023, at the latest.

The minister, while thanking them for the service they have rendered in their capacity while representing the country in their host countries, said he is looking forward to welcoming them in Abuja on their return.

The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in charge of Economic Policy, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, has been released by the Department of State Services (DSS).
This development was confirmed yesterday afternoon by a source close to Obiora, who also admitted that the apex bank’s deputy governor spent some days with the DSS.

The source, who is an official of the CBN, said he had no knowledge of what transpired between Obiora and DSS while in detention.
He said the deputy governor’s release from detention was welcomed by the staff of the apex bank, many of whom were already worried that they were being specifically targeted.

The CBN official said the Jim Obaze-led Special Investigations Panel had “requested for several documents from many departments as part of its investigation to unravel what transpired in the CBN under Godwin Emefiele”.
He also disclosed that the Special Investigation Panel had requested for documents from Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) and the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB).

Following the arrest of Emefiele, President Tinubu appointed a special panel led by Jim Obazee to investigate the CBN.
As part of this ongoing audit, the panel has been questioning the deputy governors of the CBN and other senior officials of the bank.