Top Stories
By Ezinwanne Onwuka
● Reintroduce yourself to Nigerians, to the world: Peter Obi blasts Bola Tinubu
Opposition candidate during Nigeria’s last presidential election Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) has solicited Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come out clean on his identity. Specifically, Obi is asking Tinubu to “let the world know” his name, nationality, place of birth, and the schools he attended with dates and certificates obtained.
The decade-long saga over Tinubu’s identity and academic qualifications took a new turn on Tuesday, Oct. 3 after the Chicago State University [CSU] released the Nigerian President’s academic records. It was found, upon cross-examination, that Tinubu submitted a forged certificate to the Nigerian electoral body in his election bid, among other findings.
Obi, who has remained resolute in his legal battle to unseat Tinubu, said the issue has smeared Nigeria’s international image. “Uninformed outsiders now see Nigerians as fraudsters, certificate forgers or identity thieves,” the candidate said at a press briefing today. Obi said Nigerians need to know who their leader is while the international community deserves to know the true identity of the person they are engaging with.
● Army General’s ultimatum to bandits: Leave Benue or be crushed
The Nigerian military launched an exercise code-named “Enduring Peace” in Benue State on Tuesday [Oct. 10] with the commandant of the force, Major General Hilary Nzan warning all criminals sternly to flee the northcentral state or risk being “crushed mercilessly”.
“I can assure you that the military and other agencies out for this exercise will hunt you anywhere you hide and will crush you mercilessly,” Nzan said during the flag-off of the exercise. He said men of the force were combat-ready to hunt down kidnappers, armed robbers, cattle rustlers, recalcitrant herders and farmers who kill, maim and destroy property in the State. “Peace is not negotiable in Benue”, the Army General stressed.
The “Enduring Peace” exercise was also flagged off in neighbouring Kogi and Nassarawa States, and Nigeria’s capital Abuja to checkmate insecurity in the States as the yuletide season approaches.
● Bandits murder village head, kidnap scores in Niger
Bandits killed Usman Sarki, the village head of the Zazzaga community in Munya County of northcentral Niger State on Tuesday night. During the all-too-familiar night attack, Sarki was shot dead, an unspecified number of locals, including women, were kidnapped and livestock was rustled.
A source told Daily Trust that the bandits didn’t spare nearby communities too. In Kutara village, he said, seven persons were taken hostage to nobody-knows-where destination. Wasiu Abiodun, police spokesperson confirmed the attacks to Nigerian media on Wednesday [today] but kept mum on the full details. Attacks on communities in Munya, Shiroro and Rafi Counties of Niger have become a daily occurrence in the last few weeks.
● Army General jailed for 7 years for theft
The Nigerian Army special court-martial on Tuesday came down heavily on senior army official Major General Umaru Mohammed for the misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the Group Managing Director of Nigerian Army Properties Limited [NAPL]. The court sent the Major General to prison for seven years.
The court also ordered the Army General to pay back the sums of $2,178,900 [N1,689,736,950] and N1,690,000,000 [$2,213,900] he stole from the NAPL coffers for various misdeeds. Mohammed was tried on 18-count charges bordering on forgery, theft, conspiracy and indiscipline. He pleaded not guilty to all allegations but the court found him guilty of 14 charges.
Among others, the Army General was found guilty of stealing $430,800 paid into the Nigerian Army dollar account and for confiscating N74 million [$96,940] out of N75 million [$98,250] paid for a property belonging to the Nigerian Army in Lagos State.
● Lawmakers brainstorm measures to strengthen the local currency
Nigerian lawmakers have tasked the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] to address the steep downward slide of the naira against the USD. The naira has been on a free fall against the USD since the central bank, with the backing of the government, introduced the currency float policy, which now permits market forces to determine exchange rates.
The naira fell from N778.602/$1 as of early September to over N1,000/1$ at the parallel market, a wide margin with the official rate. Today, the naira exchanged for the dollar at the parallel market between N1,022/$1, according to Naira Rates, a bot that tweets daily FX rates on X. Yesterday, the rate stood at N1,008/$1, a 0.79 per cent change from Monday’s N1,000/$1. As the naira is falling, inflation is on the rise.
The lawmakers, on Tuesday, made several demands from the central bank, including to stabilize the local currency and address speculative activities in the forex market. The legislators also resolved to investigate the use of the USD as legal tender for domestic transactions in Nigeria.
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Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
