Kelechi Iheanacho, a Super Eagles and Leicester City striker, has rejected a new contract with the club despite interest from Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 27-year-old striker has made only ten league starts in the EFL Championships this season, with Enzo Maresca preferring Zambian Patson Daka to lead the line for the Foxes.

Iheanacho, along with Wilfred Ndidi, are nearing the end of their Leicester City careers, as their contracts expire in June 2024. While the defensive midfielder wants to join a Premier League top-six club, Iheanacho is not interested in staying at the King Power Stadium.

According to Football Insider, the highest-scoring African in the history of the FA Cup was offered an improved deal with a weekly wage of £65,000, but the Nigerian striker rejected the offer.

‘‘He (Iheanacho) has been offered a new deal but not prepared to sign. But we will wait till the end of the season and see,’’ the report stated.

Several reasons might have sparked Iheanacho’s reaction, with the absence of playing time at the forefront. According to Football Fancast, Aston Villa are interested in bringing the 2021 FA Cup winner to Villa Park as a backup for Ollie Watkins.

The Villains have enjoyed a great season under Unai Emery and have their eyes locked on a place in the UEFA Champions League next season. Should Iheanacho join Villa, he would have the luxury of playing alongside skilled players like Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby.

Aston Villa view Iheanacho as an experienced Premier League forward, representing a summer bargain that could make all the difference next season at Villa Park.

In 10 starts for Leicester, Iheanacho found the back of the net five times and created one goal, averaging a goal involvement every two games.

The Foxes have secured a return to the English Premier League after relegating on the last matchday in the previous season.

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Lagos State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has initiated plans to reconcile all warring members of the party in a bid to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state.

This was according to a chieftain of the party, Chief Olabode George, during Tuesday night’s edition of Newsday on Arise TV.

Since the poor performance of the party at the 2023 general elections, growing discordant tunes among stakeholders in the party have lingered on.

Even after a committee was set up by the leadership of the party to reconcile warring and aggrieved members, the party crisis lingered.

Recall that in February 2024, a chieftain of the PDP in Lagos State, Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, attributed the poor outings of the party in recent elections in the state to a lack of unity in the Lagos chapter.

He said the political party had also not been functioning well in the state because its structure had been weakened and had no leader serving as a rallying point in the chapter.

However, after several indoor meetings, some stakeholders of the party last Wednesday held a reconciliatory meeting to put the state chapter of the party in order ahead of the 2027 general election.

At the stakeholders’ meeting, which was held in Ikeja, the party chieftains stressed the need for forgiveness and unity within the party to increase the party’s chances at the forthcoming elections.

Shedding light on the series of efforts made at uniting the party ahead of the 2027 elections, the party stalwart noted that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

He, however, admitted that though there were some pockets of aggrieved members yet to be sorted out, the reconciliatory process was making meaningful headway.

He said, “In any organisation, any political party, you will have a kind of turmoil immediately after you lose an election; but the ability of the party and the managers of the party to get everybody back to a discussion table where we will do an in-depth postmortem analysis of what happened. How did we lose the elections, who were the people who were committed and loyal to the party, who were the other people who didn’t perform, who are the other people who are pretending that they are members of your party when they are working for your opposition?

“This is what we are going through now and I’m very happy that yesterday’s meeting in Ibadan that was chaired by the governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, and with all the other leaders from all the states of the Southwest came out to be a brilliant move. It shows that we still have leaders with the ability to rise above the pettiness, the inuendos of those who are struggling to get into positions in the party. You’ve got to work for it.”

Speaking further, George affirmed that efforts at ensuring the party was well-positioned for the 2027 general elections have been so far successful.

He stated, “We have been very successful in trying to move forward, it’s still a long time, 2027, the national meeting we had, the NEC meeting we had, plus the caucus meeting, the Board of Trustees meeting, to me was quite successful. So, we we told ourselves some truths, we are setting up committees for reconciliation, we had started our own in Lagos, and it’s been very highly successful.

“The one we did in Ibadan yesterday ended up on a very high note, very successful and I pray that by the next few months, people will see that unity, because once you are not united and you go to war as a General, you know you’ll be defeated. The same if we are not united to go into an election, we will be perpetually defeated.

“It’s high time, the electorate in Lagos are now fed up, they are looking for an alternative and if they see that we can weave ourselves as an indivisible group, they will now want to see how we can manage ourselves. One thing I will say is that there are discordant voices, a few that are throwing tantrums all over the whole place, those who got the ticket who were candidates, they collected humongous amounts of money, how they managed it and what they did were not quite plausible and the national itself, the managers at the national level they have realized it and they have given us the go-ahead to start mending fences.”

George said at the Ibadan meeting, they were able to close ranks for the leaders in Ondo, and it would be a reflection on state by state.

He added that the leadership of the party was determined to wrest power from the ruling APC in 2027.

“But we are determined that we are going to forge ahead, even if the numbers who are going to remain as members of the party are small. The members of the public can see that yes, these people are managing themselves very well.

“You can see even the party in government. Are they also completely trouble-free? No. Anytime you have any organisation, people will come with different tones and different voices, but the leaders first must respect their constitution and work according to the constitution.

“Yes, people will have interests in one thing or the other, but play the game according to the set rules. Once you do that, then you have no problem,” he said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered banks to stop charges on cash deposits.

The apex bank disclosed this in a May 6, 2024, circular signed by its Director of Banking Supervision, Adetona Adedeji.

The apex bank noted that the suspension will last until September 30, 2024. 

The development comes as Nigerian banks charge two per cent on deposits above N500,000 for individuals, while corporate account holders were to be charged two per cent on deposits above N3 million.

However, according to the latest circular to financial and non-financial institutions, CBN said the processing fees have been suspended.

“Please refer to our letter dated December 11, 2023, referenced BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/016/023 on the above subject, suspending processing charges imposed on cash deposits above N500,000 for individuals and N3,000,000 for corporates as contained in the ‘Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions’ issued on December 20, 2019.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria hereby extends the suspension of the processing fees of 2 per cent and 3 per cent previously charged on all cash deposits above these thresholds until September 30, 2024,” the circular reads.

The development comes as money outside the banking system rose by 10.67 per cent to N3.63 trillion in March 2024.

The CEO of Binance, a popular cryptocurrency platform, claimed that some unknown persons, claiming to be agents of Nigerian officials demanded huge payments in cryptocurrency to make their problems in the country “go away”.

Richard Teng, the firm’s chief executive officer (CEO) who took over from founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, made the claim in a blog post released Tuesday, May 7, on Binance's website.

He added that the request was made through a local firm it hired.

Speaking on Binance’s issues with the Nigerian government, Teng detailed how the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange tried to engage with the Nigerian authorities, including a meeting on January 8 in Abuja, where it was confronted with criminal allegations.

Teng said despite multiple requests, Binance had still not received details of the allegations, “and our employees, therefore, inquired if there was an opportunity to submit our responses in writing and in the absence of a public hearing”.

“There were a number of reasons for that, including the sensitivity of the information and getting the opportunity to see the allegations in full and prepare a thorough substantive response,” he said.


“The meeting ended with the Chair confirming they would consider the matter and revert through Binance’s local counsel.

“However, as our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegations.

“Later that day, our local counsel — representing us at that time — was summoned by the Committee through someone purporting to be their agent, who relayed the Committee’s terms and instructed our local counsel to advise us.

“Counsel reported back that he had been presented with a demand for a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away and that our decision was expected by the morning.

"Our team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and immediately departed.”

Teng said the payment request was declined “via our counsel, not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offer”.

The CEO said Binance clarified that it would engage in settlement negotiations on the conditions that the relevant petition or the details of all allegations were seen.

He wrote: "We, of course, declined the payment demand via our counsel, not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offer, and clarified that we would engage in settlement negotiations on the following conditions:

"Binance needs to see the relevant petition and/or the details of all allegations.

"Any settlement must be official, recorded in writing, and signed by all relevant parties.

"Any settlement must encompass all relevant agencies and be in full and final settlement of all allegations, including any potential historic tax liabilities, if applicable, with guarantees.

“While the exact terms of any settlement may have to remain private, there would have to be some public acknowledgement that a resolution has been reached.”

The Binance boss also requested that the company's “contractors and employees are not to be intimidated, harassed, or detained.”

He said the Binance counsel relayed its conditions which Nigerian authorities initially objected to before they later agreed.

In continuation of its engagement with Nigeria, two Binance officials, Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan and Binance’s regional manager for Africa; and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old US citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, arrived Nigeria to discuss further terms with the Nigerian government but they were arrested on February 28.

Anjarwalla later fled detention and left Nigeria.

On March 25, Nigeria’s government filed a criminal charge against Binance for “tax evasion”.

Teng appealed to the government to “Let Tigran go home to his family, and then Binance will work through the same process that we have done with Nigeria’s law enforcement community voluntarily more than 600 times in the past.”

He added: "We will always work to protect innocent users, and bad actors are not welcome on our platform. We will work tirelessly with public and private partners to remove them. Furthermore, we will continue engagement with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service on resolving potential historic tax liabilities.”

The Federal government has said the country’s healthcare system is attracting foreign patients, including Indians seeking medical treatments.

In an interview on Arise TV on Monday, Minister of State for Health, Dr Tunji Alausa, claimed that the nation’s healthcare was no longer in crisis.

He claimed that with improvements in the healthcare system, the country was witnessing a reversal of the ‘japa syndrome,’ suggesting that medical personnel were returning home from abroad. 

The Minister pointed out that Nigeria had become a preferred destination for medical tourism, particularly for surgical procedures, which were more cost-effective compared to other countries.

According to him, the proliferation of aesthetic hospitals, numbering close to 900 across Nigeria, also contributes to attracting patients seeking services such as plastic surgery.

“Today, we have almost 900 aesthetic hospitals around Nigeria. People are coming to get plastic surgery,’’ he said.

He noted that the administration’s commitment to prioritising public health led to positive changes in the healthcare sector.

“We have a President now that believes a healthy nation is the core to harnessing our biggest asset, which is our human capital,” Alausa said.

He added that the government allocated dedicated funds and initiated collaborations to enhance primary healthcare services and expand health insurance coverage.

“The President has mandated us to increase coverage from about seven million to about 50 million people to have health insurance in the next two to three years. This marks the highest budget allocation for the health sector in almost 24 years”, he said.

Adebayo Shittu, a former Minister of Communication under former President Muhammadu Buhari, has said his former principal’s administration was full of manipulations and fraudulent approvals.

Recall that presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, had also said many approvals for releasing funds within the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele did not have Buhari’s signature.

During an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Shittu said many persons close to Buhari manipulated things to their favour, plunging the country’s economy into a downward slide.

Commenting on the reports that the previous administration was printing money to run the economy, Shittu said Buhari was unaware of some things.

The former Minister called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to wade into the matter and ‘probe properly.’

He said, “Let me tell you, there were a lot of manipulations and we even heard that a lot of the so-called approvals did not emanate from President Buhari.

“There were a lot of manipulations and fraudulent approvals which did not emanate from the President.”

“I am telling you confidently that a lot of it did not get his attention. There were a lot of people around the President who exploited their relationship with the President and conspired with the then-CBN governor.

“I hope the EFCC will probe properly as to how these things happen without the President knowing.”

The All Progressives Congress, APC, have again accused Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, the 2023 Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, of attempting to undermine the political relevance of its National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, ahead of the next election in Kano State.

This was disclosed by the National Legal Adviser of the APC, Prof Abdulkareem Kana when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Both Ganduje and Kwankwaso, two former Kano governors, were allies before they fell out a few years ago over political differences in the state.

But Kana claimed all evidence at their disposal suggested that the leadership of the NNPP and its chieftains in Kano state were behind the pockets of sponsored protests to remove him as the national chairman of the APC.

The lawyer also admitted on the live programme that it was a show of power targeted at making Ganduje irrelevant ahead of the next election in the state.

He said, “I am not from Kano. But I have heard analysis from prominent politicians who think so (a war between Kwankwaso and Ganduje). It is an attempt to create a problem within our party. Of course, I have heard my chairman speak on this matter and I will believe his analysis that the idea is to demystify him going into the next election in the state. It is also possible to impact his influence, which is looming in Kano.

“But what could have led to the seeming collapse in the relationship between him and Kwankwaso, I really cannot say. These are two politicians who have come a long way. So I think this is pure politics at play and at some point, I am confident that they may likely find themselves at a point of convergence in which the issue will be resolved.

“The individuals who perpetrated the act of claiming identities that were not theirs are not members of our party. Within that community, they are known to be NNPP members. The NNPP is trying to scratch our skin but they are not capable of destabilising our party.

“Having worked with Ganduje for a month, I have come to see him as a father. He is a very responsible leader from the little I have learnt from him and he makes efforts to carry everybody along in his activities. He is a very experienced administrator and we are seeing the quality of his service in the party.”

When contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of NNPP, Ladipo Johnson, described the APC as a confused party with a delusional leader.

He said, “Usually the NNPP won’t like to join issues or give a reply to everything Ganduje and the APC say. The Kwankwaso he mentioned has nothing to do with his travail, which he caused with his own hands.

“We are talking about a man who is having a running battle with the party executives of his ward and who is not bold enough to go to court to face the charges against him.”

The plot to remove the embattled national chairman from office gathered momentum in the past month.

It reached a crescendo two weeks later when scores of demonstrators stormed the APC secretariat in Abuja to demand his resignation and have the seat of the party leadership, previously occupied by Abdullahi Adamu, returned to the North Central zone.

The protesters hinged their request on the recent suspension of Ganduje by a faction of his ward executive and the bribery allegation levelled against him by the Kano State government.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released additional results from the just concluded 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Confirming the development on Tuesday morning, the spokesman of the board, Fabian Benjamin, said 531 withheld results were recently released by the examination body.

Naija News understands that the released results bring the total number of JAMB results released so far to 1,842,897.

“As promised, the Board is proceeding with the screening of over 64,000 withheld results. It has, however, released an additional 531 results, taking the total number of results released to 1,842,897.

“In the course of the exercise, other cases of examination misconduct were also established to make a tally of 92 from the 81 initially discovered.

Benjamin said on Tuesday, “The Board is also looking at cases of unverified candidates and will soon come up with a position.”

JAMB had, on April 29, announced the release of the 2024 UTME results.

However, it noted that the board withheld the results of 64,624 out of the 1,904,189 who sat the examination, which will be subject to investigation.

The Nigerian government has drafted a plan to reintroduce the telecommunications tax previously suspended and other revenue-generating measures to secure a $750 million World Bank Loan.

This is according to the recent Stakeholder Engagement Plan for Nigeria – Accelerating Resource Mobilisation Reforms programme between Nigeria and the World Bank.

The document posted on the World Bank’s website showed that the Nigerian government might reintroduce taxes on telecoms, electronic money transaction levies, and other fiscal measures.

The Washington-based World Bank’s contribution of $750 million constitutes a significant portion of the programme’s budget, and the government is expected to contribute $1.17 billion through annual budgetary. Nigeria requested the loan in 2021 but was earlier stopped.

“Domestic Revenue Mobilisation drive in the government ARMOR program seeks to increase revenue on some targeted industries and sectors of the economy. Specific groups and agencies within affected sectors include the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria: The introduction of excises on telecom services requires that all telcos are mobilised to participate fully in collecting such revenue.

“Committee of Bankers: Introduction of EMT levy on electronic money transfers through the Nigerian Banking System would need the buy-in of all banking institutions”, the document partly reads.

The development comes after President Bola Tinubu, in July 2023, ordered the suspension of the five per cent excise duty on telecommunications and the Import Tax Adjustment levy on certain vehicles.

Recall that the Nigerian government applied for the $750 million loan in 2021 to improve the government’s financial position by enhancing its capacity to manage and mobilise domestic resources effectively, which includes improving tax and customs compliance and protecting oil revenues.

Sectors affected include manufacturers of goods such as alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, sugar-sweetened beverages, telecom and banking service providers, and the general tax-paying public, importers and international traders.