The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the Jan. 31 deadline for exchanging old naira notes by extra ten days.
This CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said a new deadline of February 10, 2023, was approved on Sunday by President Muhammadu Buhari, who was in Daura, Katsina State.
Mr. Buhari made the decision shortly after a closed doors meeting with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, who visited him in Daura on Saturday.
Mr Tinubu had on Wednesday during a campaign rally in Southwest Nigeria that the issues of naira change and fuel scarcity in the country could be a policy targeted against his chances of winning the February 25 Presidential election. A statement his media team said was mistaken as an affront on the administration of Buhari.
Emefiele was summoned to Daura on Sunday morning to a closed-door meeting with the Buhari from where he received the approval to extend by ten days.
The CBN Governor said the ten days window provides opportunity for Nigerians who are yet to change their old Naira notes to new ones to “now do so”.
“This in an opportunity that people must utilise, because the deadline will not be extended again,” he said.
Nigeria government had I’m November 2022 unveiled the redesigned notes of N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations and said the existing ones cease to be legal tender by January, 31,2023.
Weeks to the end of the deadline, tension mounted across the country as citizens panicked while traders began to reject the old notes in fear of rumours that banks have no adequate new notes for everyone.
The National Assembly had to sit in a joint session to call for many months’ extension, especially as Nigerians lament that most Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country were still handing out the old Naira notes. Many fuel stations had to stop operation to avert the situation of collecting old naira notes, thereby causing artificial petrol scarcity.
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A new Theater Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, a military operation against Boko Haram terrorosm in Northeast Nigeria, Major General Ibrahim Ali has taken over tour of duty today.
General Ali takes over from Major General Chris Musa who had been on duty since June, 2021.
General Musa’s 19 months tour of duty at the Theater saw the most dramatic moment since the creation of the Theater in 2015 when thousands of Boko Haram terrorists surrendered to troops .
However, General Musa said despite the feat, the successes are just a scratch on the surface of the issue on the ground.
He called on troops to see Boko Haram as enemies of the state and ensure they live up to their sworn role as protectors of the nation by taking the war to the nooks and hideouts of the terrorists.
The general who is taking over as the Commander Infantry Corp, Jaji, in Kaduna state said his regrets in the past 19 months was the death of a General and other troops during the course of operations.
The new TC said he would build upon the successes of his predecessor.
There has been a sudden scarcity of fuel in Maiduguri on Friday as operators of fuel filling stations stopped selling their products as a strategy to evade collecting old naira notes which they fear they might not be able to bank before January 31.
Many filling station who were seen the previous days selling petroleum products or their tankers discharging more petrol into their reservoirs had refused to open on Friday.
The situation had caused motorists to begin buying from road side vendors at exorbitant rates of ₦500 or ₦450 per liter.
About 90 percent of petrol marketers have sold way above the official pump price. Throughout 2022, fuel will be sold at the independent markers’ filling station for ₦300, except at the few significant marketers, which require a day or two in the queue to buy at the official pump price.
The old naira note scare has now come to worsen the situation in Maiduguri.
A black market fuel vendor said, “they have fuel but don’t want to sell in exchange for old naira notes; that’s why they shut down – even I will stop selling by Sunday so that I won’t end up with dude notes.”
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An election petition tribunal sitting in Osogbo, Osun state, has nullified the election of Ademola Adeleke, as the governor of the state.
Should he fail to overturn the tribunal’s verdict at the superior courts, Mr Adeleke might go down in history as the governor with the shortest tenure to have ruled the state.
His sack came exactly two months after he was sworn in as Governor of Osun state.
Mr Adeleke was sworn in on Sunday November, 27, 2022 after he was declared as winner of the July 2022 gubernatorial election.
He took over from former governor Adegboyega Oyetola who was declared to have lost his bid to return for a second term.
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke, a candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) claimed 403,371 votes, while the incumbent Oyetola of the/All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 375,027 votes.
Mr. Adeleke, according to the faulted result of the INEC, defeated Mr Oyetola, by a margin of about 44,426 votes.
Mr. Oyetola disagreed with the decision of INEC on that election; hence he approached the Tribunal with evidence of malpractice and alleged disobedience to the Electoral Act; his most prominent challenger was the overvoting at the locations where Governor Adeleke was said to have a landslide. But the courts later observed that the error of overvoting was shared between the parties in court.
Justice Tetsea Kume of the Osun Election Petition Tribunal, while delivering a majority decision on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, declared that the INEC did not comply substantially with the constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act.
The Judge, therefore, deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates and declared that Oyetola won the election, having polled 314, 921, while Adeleke’s score came down to 290, 266.
He directed INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return and issue another one to Oyetola who won most of the lawful votes.
But this reverberating ruling by the Judges was not shared. One of the three judges had a dissenting voice; as such, he delivered a minority ruling in favor of Mr. Adeleke.
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Kule Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN) has commended members of the National Assembly for their strong can on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to shift forward the Jan. 31 deadline for withdrawal of old currency notes.
On Tuesday, Jan 24, the two chambers of the NASS had a joint session during which they unanimously urged the CBN Governor to “as a matter of utmost importance, save Nigeria’s economy from avoidable collapse” by extending the withdrawal period of the old currency notes to June 2023
KACRAN said the 9th Assembly “deserves the highest commendation from all well-meaning Nigerians.
“At this crucial time, they proved to Nigerians and the entire world that they are good representatives who are there to defend the interest of the people and the nation’s economy,” KACRAN National leader Khalil Mohammed Bello said in a statement shared with The Humanitarian Times.
KACRAN appealed to the NASS members to “remain resolute in their firm legislative stand to defend/safeguard the interest of their fatherland and that of our vulnerable and the downtrodden masses.”
What we are humbly advising them to do is, since (he) CBN governor is saying there is no going back on the request for the withdrawal of old currency notes, they should therefore use their legislative power to make him do the needful that will satisfy the generality of Nigerians. Most Nigerians are calling for a period extension for withdrawing the old currency notes to December 2023.
KACRAN happily views the actions of the National Assembly as an act in solid defense of the Nigerian masses.
The group, thereby, called on the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to sack the Central Bank Governor due to his unacceptable stand to ignore the call/appeal of well-meaning Nigerians to extend the deadline for the withdrawal of the old currency notes.
They further urged the NASS Members to “continue with their good work” by making sure the deadline fixed by the Central Bank Governor is extended to a meaningful time, whereby nobody will incur any loss of their hard earnings.
“We also want to use this medium to highly commend Yobe State Governor, Hon Mai Mala Buni, who was the only Governor out of the 36 Governors in Nigeria who, through his Director General Media, Malam Mamman Mohammed, spoke in BBC Hausa on Monday 23rd January 2023 vehemently called on Central Bank Governor to extend the deadline for the withdrawal of old currency.”
The DG press to Governor Buni was quoted to have said that “it is only three or four Local Governments out of the seventeen Local governments in Yobe state have banks,” and this makes it impossible for his people who are known nationwide to engage in commercial activities/farming and Cattle rearing to meet up the deadline.”
“In conclusion, we want to call on all Nigerians to join hands to appeal to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, to save his people from the extreme difficulties, hunger, and uncertainties of the highest order which most Nigerians are going through.
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Humangle has published a heartrenting story about an aged mother whose son was “wrongly” picked and detained by the military as a Boko Haram suspect embarked on a lone mission to secure his freedom. But her effort continued to hit the rocks as she was ripped off several times by officials. Ten years later, her grandson, who was born three months after her son was taken, has now joined her in the fight for justice.
ONCE upon a time, 11 years ago, during the early years of Boko Haram, a young man in Maiduguri, Northeast Nigeria, set out to join the early morning congregational prayer at a mosque not far from his home in Bulabulingaranam.
Buluabulingaranam used to be the den of Boko Haram terrorists when the terrorists reigned supreme in the township of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. The suburb was once a no-go area to the military.
It usually takes about 20 minutes to conclude the prayers, and everyone returns home to prepare for the day’s task. But that was not the case for Mustapha. It has been over a decade since he left home on that fateful morning.
When the Imam announced the salutation to end the prayer, little did the congregants know that a deployment of military troops had surrounded the mosque.
Every worshiper that stepped out of the mosque was rounded up and asked to sit on the dusty floor outside. Later, other male neighbourhood residents were equally fished out by soldiers who were moving from house to house and made to join the gathering of the apprehended.
Anyone who dared to challenge the soldiers’ actions got the butt of the AK-47 crashing down on his head or shoulder. So, they allowed wisdom to prevail by quietly waiting to see what the soldiers wanted from them again.
Later, the soldiers sorted out the elderly males and asked them to go home. In contrast, some of the young were labelled Boko Haram accomplices responsible for a recent attack on a nearby military post.
It was Mustapha’s turn to be interrogated. The soldiers marched him, at gunpoint, to his house, where he lived with his then-newlywed wife, Nafisat.
Mustapha was made to open the gate to his two-bedroom bungalow, and the soldiers ransacked his house, searching for hidden weapons or anything that may link him with ongoing violence in the city.
“They found nothing, and then one of the commanders told the soldiers to take him away, while my husband kept begging them to free him because he is not a member of Boko Haram,” Nafisat recalled.
The soldier dragged Mustapha out of the house even as his wife held onto him and begged them to free her husband. She had to let him go after one of the soldiers smacked her.
That was the last time his wife, six months into a pregnancy that would later produce her only child, would ever see him again.
Searching for Mustapha
HAJJA GANA, Mustapha’s mother, would later be informed about the arrest of her first son.
Known as an activist and labour unionist during her days in the civil service, Comrade Hajja Gana began the fight to free her first son, whom she swore was never a member of Boko Haram. She did not anticipate that her quest to free her son would last for ten years.
Like many other suspects of Boko Haram terrorism, the soldiers took Mustapha and others to the Giwa Barracks military detention facility in Maiduguri.
His mother would later trace him there, where she practically paid her way through some crooked soldiers to see her son.
“About three weeks after his arrest, I saw my son at the Giwa Barracks,” she said. “A senior military officer, a Colonel, asked that he be brought out of the cell.”
“My son begged me to do everything I could to ensure his release from the detention facility. He said, Mama, help me get out of here because this place is not a good place. The soldiers told us it would require a lot of money.”
Mustapha, who used to trade wholesale goods that he usually bought from Kano and sold to retail shops in Maiduguri, gave his mother a list of his business partners whom he said owed him money. He wanted her to get that money and use part of it to secure his release.
Extortion
Hajja Gana said she managed to retrieve her son’s money from his business partners and used it to get a lawyer and also pay some of the soldiers who claimed they could help her secure his release.
“I got all the money, but it was not enough. I had to sell my personal effects, my gold jewellery pieces, my savings, my landed property, and anything valuable to raise money.
“The soldiers kept asking me for money with the promise to help me bring him out. They told me my son would never be freed alive unless they sneaked him out. That people die every day in the cell, and they would include my son among the corpses to be evacuated to the mortuary so that I could go there and take him home.
The poor woman estimates that up to N2 million ($4,800) had been extorted from her so far.
“There was a time they asked me to provide N25,000 ($50) for them to service and fill up the tank of one of their vans so that they could sneak him out of Maiduguri to Damaturu, Yobe State, where I would travel ahead of time and receive, but on the condition that I don’t let him return to Borno State. I gave them the money and rushed down to Damaturu, where I waited all day, but neither my son nor the soldiers who collected my money showed up.
“Sometimes, they would call me and ask for money to enable them to check for his file, or they would call and tell me that one of their bosses wanted to see me, and when we met for a rendezvous, they would make all kinds of promises to me and then ask for money.”
With time, she realised she was being taken advantage of.
“Years later, the Giwa Barrack was attacked by Boko Haram terrorists who broke into the detention facility, and I never saw or heard from my son again.”
Unknown to Hajja Gana, the military had transferred her son and other suspects to the Wawa Cantonment of the Nigerian Army in Kainji, North-central Nigeria.
It took five years for Mustapha’s family to learn about this transfer.
Life Without Mustapha
THREE months after soldiers picked him up, Mustapha’s wife gave birth to their first and only child, Abdulkarim.
According to her mother-in-law, Nafisa continues to live with her husband’s family because she has never given up hope of seeing him again.
Abdulkarim and his mother, Nafisat, look at Mustapha’s old picture from a mobile device in this photo. Photo credit: Abdulkareem/ HumAngle.
Supported by her husband’s mother, young Nafisat weaned her child, enrolled in the university, and eventually graduated. Her son, Mustapha, had to be fed with “lies” about his father’s whereabouts.
“We usually tell him that his father has traveled to Saudi Arabia and will soon be back,” Nafisat said.
But as the boy gradually matured, his demand for his father shifted from a child’s expectations of beautiful gifts from his daddy, who would “soon” return, to ask his mother to allow him to speak to his daddy through her mobile phone.
“Being a member of the women’s civil society network known as Jire Dole, I had the cause to take my grandson to some of our advocacy outings and meetings just to make a statement about how it was wrong to wrongly arrest and detain a people on false accusations of being Boko Haram terrorists, yet you don’t have any evidence to prosecute,” she said.
Those public engagements with his grandmother had inadvertently exposed young Abdulkarim to finding the truth about his father’s whereabouts.
“So, one night, he came to me and asked why the soldiers were detaining his father in the military facility, and I told him that the soldiers lied against him to keep him there,” his mother, Nafisat, said.
“Since then, Abdulkarim had resolved to be a soldier so that he would one day free his father.”
But he never gets tired of writing letters to the military commander on the need to free his father, whom he has never seen since birth.
“Each time I was to go out to attend any public function, Abdulkarim would ask if I was going to see any military commander there. If my answer were yes, he would run to get a piece of paper and pen and then scribble a letter for me to deliver to the military commander.
A copy of Abdulkarim’s letter to the military commander he believes is holding his father in detention. Photo credit: Abdulkareem/HumAngle.
“I was very emotional the first day he handed me that piece of paper, and I cried all day,” Hajja Gana said.
“It was then that I came to realise that it has already been ten years, and this boy has grown to be able to write a letter; yet he has never set eyes on his father, whom he only appreciates from what we told him and from viewing the old pictures we have of him at home.
“Abdulkarim is now in class 6, preparing very soon to go to secondary school, and I thank God for his life and the love and support I enjoyed from people who helped my family ensure that he goes to school.
“My heart bleeds whenever he says he wants to become a soldier. A child who was just six months old in his mother’s womb when his father was arrested and detained has joined us in seeking justice for his dear father ten years later,” she said in tears.
Abdulkarim’s Letter
AT ten, Abdulkarim’s letter and how he expressed himself defined his personality as a child who knows what he wants now and what he would like to do in the future.
His legibly scripted short letter reads:
“Dear Sir,
How are you and how about your family?
Sir, please, I whanted [want] to see my father, sir. I (am) Abdulkarim Mustapha.
I am ten years old.
Since my mother born to me, I did not see my father up to now.
Please, sir, help me to see my father.”
Speaking with this reporter, Abdulkarim shared his dream of becoming a military officer someday so that he could be able to free his father from wrongful detention.
Though Abdulkarim’s dream of joining the military to rescue his father may seem a far-fetched mission, the primary six pupils said he would continue to write his letter to the military authority until God answers his prayers someday.
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The Northeast Development Commision (NEDC), has on Monday, Jan.23 began a two weeks training for public school teachers in the six states of the northeast zone of Nigeria.
The training is part of de commission’s agenda to rekindle learning in public schools that have been destroyed by the years of armed conflict in the region.
The training programme was being funded by Education Endowment Fund (EEF) unit of the NEDC.
The board chairman of NEDC-EEF, Asma’u Mohammed, informed that 1,800 teachers had been trained in the first phase, and another 1,800 are to be trained in the second phase for two weeks.
Hajia Asma’u also disclosed further that the Board and Management of the Commission have developed and completed the implementation of other programmes to address critical needs like “Provision of classrooms, desks and essential learning materials to support the resuscitation of the comfortable learning environment at the basic educational level, in each of the 112 Local Government Areas of the North East, and a Phase 2 of the project is about to commence.
Hajiya Asma’u Mai Ake Mohammed, NEDC-EEF Board Chairman speaking at the opening of the training.
“In the first phase of our teacher training, 1800 teachers (300 per State) were trained over a one-week period,” she said.
Hajiya Asma’u said stemming from the feedback received, and lessons learnt from the appraisal of the first outing, the duration of the training has been increased to two weeks with more emphasis on core subject areas.
“Additionally, to ensure more attention on teachers, we limited the slots for administrative staff to only 15 each for the Primary and Junior Secondary School segments.
“To guarantee value for money, we have enshrined 13 cardinal points, ranging from quality of training manuals, method of delivery, and strict monitoring of attendance of the participants, amongst others. Upon this, our consultants will be assessed to determine their effectiveness and prospects for future engagement by us.
“This will surely complement the NEDC and in no distant future immensely contribute towards achieving the strategic objectives of the Commission.”
The facilitating firm for the training of the 300 teachers in Borno state, LIMO Holdings, Nigeria Limited, said the participants are to be trained in Borno state for two weeks.
The CEO of LIMO Holdings, Dr Lawan Bukar Alhaji, noted that the exact number of participants are spread across the other five states of the subregion.
The Managing Director and CEO of NEDC, Goni Alkali, who declared the workshop open, was represented by a General Manager at the Commission, Saadatu Shehu.
The MD said, “the two weeks training was in line with the Commission’s core mandate, which is to tackle all manners of illiteracy in the northeast in its quest to achieve enhanced human capacity and capital development in the region through scholarships.”
Officials during the opening of the training. Photo by: NEDC
“As earlier mentioned, short term capacity building improvement of basic education has been the reason the EEF was created under the humanitarian directory to ensure excellent learning and teaching in our educational institutions.
“The two weeks capacity building for the teachers is an intervention strategy, and it is expected that the teachers will be motivated for self-efficacy and performances.”
The EEF Board of Trustees was inaugurated on the 7th of August 2020 as a specialised body that could fast-track NEDC’s intervention in the education sub-sector in the North East Geo-political zone, which has been ravaged by the over a decade-old Boko Haram insurgency.
According to a report by The Humanitarian Times, the 13-year-old armed conflict in the northeast has claimed the lives of well over 2,295 teachers and destroyed more than 1,400 classrooms across the northeast region.
This attack on the public education system has adversely impacted both the quality of learning and diminished access to education in the northeast.
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Chang & Eng Bunker were the first conjoined twins to be documented in global medical record. They were born in Siam on the 11th May 1811.
Their fame propelled the expression ” Siamese Twins” to become synonymous for conjoined twins in general. They were widely exhibited as curiosities, and were “two of the nineteenth century’s most studied human beings”
Chang and Eng, joined at the waist by a tubular band of tissue about 3.25 inches long and about 1.5 inches in diameter, were born of a half-Chinese mother and a Chinese father. Their mother reportedly said their birth was no more difficult than that of their other several siblings’.
Their father, Ti-eye, was a fisherman, who died when the twins were young, possibly in a smallpox epidemic that ran through the area in 1819. Their exact details of their early lives are unclear.
Chang and Eng were 17 years old, when they traveled to the United States.
They arrived in Boston on August 16, 1829. They were soon inspected by many physicians. Their arrival was excitedly reported in newspapers with varying degrees of racial stereotypes and falsehoods.
After leaving the United States, they toured major cities in Britain, and by the time they returned to New York in March 1831, the twins had gained some skill in English reading, writing, and speaking.
When touring in cities, the twins stayed at hotels, where they charged audiences to attend their “freak show”. In small towns, their manager would send flyers ahead of their arrival, and they would remain at a lodge or inn for just one or two nights.
The twins performed physical feats, running and doing somersaults. An emphasis was placed on their exoticness: they wore pigtails and dressed in “Oriental” clothing. Their performances occasionally featured swimming, playing checkers, and doing parlor tricks.
In 1843, Chang and Eng married, sisters Adelaide and Sarah Yates, daughters of a respected local landowner.
While the girls had a “fair share of suitors,” the brothers had gotten to know them over several years, often visiting upon their return from business travels, and befriending the entire family.
The two couples — and they were unquestionably, two distinct couples, lived in separate homes, with the brothers alternating half weeks with each of their Wives.
Each wife gave birth in 1844. While no details survived about how the couples conducted their intimacy, it’s worth noting that the brothers’ first children were born six days apart, and a later pair eight days. They would go on to have an astounding 21 children, between them.
In early October 1860 they signed with famed showman P.T Barnum for a month and exhibited in Barnum’s American Museum in New York City. They performed for several distinguished guests, including The Prince of Wales.
By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, the twins’ finances had taken a hit, so they decided to resume touring. Chang and Eng made a trip to Britain in 1868–69, seeing physicians and chatting in exhibitions; their last visit there had been over 30 years before. Chang’s daughter Nannie, who had never before been far from home, and Eng’s daughter Kate, both in their 20s, also came on the trip.
In 1870, Chang suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right side, the side that was closest to his brother. Eng nursed him back to relative health, as Chang tied up his right leg in a sling and, using both a crutch and his brother’s arm, went about his daily routine. But he never returned to full health, developed a vicious cough, and took to drinking.
Early in the morning of January 17th 1874, one of Eng’s sons checked on the sleeping twins. “Uncle Chang is dead,” The boy reportedly said to Eng, who responded, “Then I am going too!” Over the next hour, he suffered intense pain and distress, a cold sweat covering his body. The only notice he took of his dead twin, was to move his body nearer to him.
Two-and-a-half hours after losing his brother, Eng Bunker died, they were 62 years old.
The Chairman of the Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, Chris Ohizu, who was abducted recently, has been beheaded.
Mr Ohizu and two others were kidnapped on Friday, Jan. 20, 2022, in his country home, Imoko community in the Arondizuogu area by yet-to-be-identified shooters who also burnt down his building.
His abductors later decapitated him on Sunday, Jan. 22, after allegedly collecting of N6m ransom.
The abduction and subsequent killing of the Imo LG chairman seemed more of political assassination than kidnap for ransom.
Sources said a video had trended earlier online where the abducted chairman was seen kneeling while his abductors were heard warning the Governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodimma that “a similar fate awaits him.”
The abductors went ahead to behead the politician and then posted the video with his phone on his social media handle.
The spokesman of Imo Police Command, ASP Henry Okoye, confirmed the incident. He said the police had commenced investigation into the unfortunate incident.
Brazilian football superstar, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka “Pele”, who has recently passed after a fulfilling life of fame, has left behind a controversial will for his family.
Pele, mostly regarded as the best soccer player that ever lived, has in a will made fresh revelations about his private life that left the world gasping for a breath to understand his perplexing personality.
Pele, who had always denied being the father of Sandra Regina, a child believably sired out of wedlock, even after a DNA test ruling from the court proved that she was indeed his daughter, suddenly mentioned her as one of the beneficiaries of his wealth.
When his will was opened recently, Pele mentioned Sandra as one of the seven children to whom he left his estate.
Sandra Regina was born in 1964 after her mother, Anisio Machado, reportedly had a romance with Pele while she was his housemaid.
Sandra died 17 years ago, unaware that her father had secretly accepted her and would one day consider her as one of his children.
Sources close to the family said one of Pele’s last wishes was to meet late Sandra Regina’s two sons, who are his grandsons – Gabriel Arantes do Nascimento and Octavio Felinto Neto.
Pele eventually met them on December 28, 2022 – a day before his death.
Despite the lifetime denial of their mother, Gabriel was still appreciative for that historic moment, which was one of his mother’s biggest dreams.
Gabriel explained how he felt when his aunts notified them their grandfather finally wanted to meet them.
“We were very excited, it was an opportunity we had been waiting for. Every family has fights and rows, ours is no different, but there are moments when union and love are more important than anything else. We are delighted.”
Bay States News 