metro

Businessman jailed four years for refusing to accept Naira as legal tender

Published

1 month ago

April 16, 2025

Uzondu Precious Chimaobi

Businessman jailed four years for refusing to accept Naira as legal tender

Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has convicted and sentenced a businessman, Uzondu Precious Chimaobi, to four years imprisonment for refusing to accept the Naira as legal tender.

A statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated that Chimaobi was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on refusal to accept the Naira as a legal tender by the agency’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 in Lagos.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Precious Chimaobi Uzondu, on December 10 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, refused to accept Naira (Nigeria legal tender) by accepting the sum of $5700 ( Five Thousand Seven Hundred USD) as a means of payment for a purchase of a cartier diamond bracelet with serial number (12345678) and you, thereby , committed an offence contrary to Section 20 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007.”

According to the EFCC, the defendant initially pleaded not guilty to the charge, leading to his full trial.

Subsequently, the prosecution presented its first witness, Owolabi Oyarekhua Jude, an EFCC operative, who told the court that “the Commission received intelligence on the activities of a jewellery company called Unlimited Jewellers Limited, “whose owner is one Uzondu Precious Chimaobi.

READ ALSO:

He added that “The Company, which deals in jewelry at Atlantic Mall, Chevron Drive, Lekki, Lagos intentionally tags and sells its products in Dollars as against the CBN Act, 2007 ,which stipulates Naira as the only legal tender in Nigeria.”

Continuing, he added that “ Subsequently, a covert operation was carried out, where an undercover operative of the Commission disguised as a customer to purchase a Diamond Nail bracelet that was tagged $6000 and bought it for $5700.

“The company refused to receive Naira and demanded Dollars as a means of payment. The payment was made and receipt was issued in Dollars . The owner of the company was arrested and taken to the Commission’s office.”

However, at the resumed sitting on April 14, 2025, the defendant opted to change his “not guilty” plea to “guilty.

Upon his guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, H.U. Kofarnaisa, prayed the court to rely on the evidence earlier given by the investigating officer and admit it in convicting the defendant.

Businessman jailed four years for refusing to accept Naira as legal tender

metro

Nigeria’s inflation rate drops again to 23.7%, says NBS report

Published

10 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Trends Admin

Nigeria’s inflation rate drops again to 23.7%, says NBS report

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported a decline in Nigeria’s inflation rate, which eased to 23.7 percent in April 2025, down from 24.23 percent recorded in March.

This was disclosed in the April Consumer Price Index (CPI) and inflation data released on Thursday.

According to the report, inflation dropped by 1.86 percent on a month-on-month basis.

The food inflation rate also showed a slowdown, standing at 21.26 percent year-on-year in April.

READ ALSO:

“In April 2025, the headline inflation rate eased to 23.71 percent relative to the March 2025 headline inflation rate of 24.23 percent.

The MoM headline inflation rate in April 2025 was 1.86 percent. The food inflation rate was 21.26 percent (YoY),” NBS wrote on its X account on Thursday.

The CPI report comes just days before the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled for May 19 and 20, 2025.

Recall that the inflation rate had surged to 24.23 percent in March following the CPI rebase introduced in January. The CBN had paused interest rate hikes in February after inflation appeared to ease.

Nigeria’s inflation rate drops again to 23.7%, says NBS report

Education

UTME: Father of candidate who committed suicide over low score speaks

Published

10 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Trends Admin

Opesusi Timilehin

UTME: Father of candidate who committed suicide over low score speaks

A 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate committed suicide on account of her low score.

The Lagos candidate, now identified as Faith Opesusi, was said to have scored 146 out of 400 points.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) released the results for its 2025 UTME on May 9.

An analysis revealed that more than 78 per cent of candidates scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum obtainable points.

The metrics, believed to have signalled mass failure, spurred protests from candidates who challenged the integrity of the exam.

Oluwafemi Opesusi, Faith’s father, said his distraught daughter took a liquid substance that led to her death after checking her result.

READ ALSO:

In an interview with BBC, Oluwafemi said his 19-year-old daughter wanted to study Microbiology but the dream was cut short.

He said JAMB did not release the original result of his late daughter.

Oluwafemi said his daughter was devastated and disappointed after seeing her result.

“She had a high score in 2024 UTME. This year, she was given 146. The pain of it drove her to commit suicide,” he said.

The father said he would have tried to console his daughter if she had opened up about her trauma.

He added that the family was disappointed that her daughter had taken her own life.

On May 14, JAMB admitted that a technical error in Lagos and south-east states compromised UTME results across 157 centres.

A teary-eyed Ishaq Oloyede apologised to the affected candidates and Nigerians in a televised conference on May 14.

The JAMB registrar said the error, caused by one of its service providers, affected nearly 380,000 candidates.

These candidates, he added, will now be made to resit the examination between May 15 and May 19, 2025.

As of this reporting, JAMB has yet to directly address the Faith Opesusi case.

UTME: Father of candidate who committed suicide over low score speaks

metro

Shadow Govt: Nigerians mobilisiing 500 lawyers for me- Utomi

Published

11 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Trends Admin

Pat Utomi

Shadow Govt: Nigerians mobilisiing 500 lawyers for me- Utomi

Renowned political economist and former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, says a group of Nigerians is mobilising legal support in response to a lawsuit filed against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

Utomi made the disclosure on Friday via a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“It’s energising (that) some want to put together 500 lawyers to defend me against the DSS,” he stated.

The DSS recently dragged Utomi to the Federal High Court in Abuja, accusing him of attempting to institute what he termed a “shadow government” in Nigeria. The security agency is urging the court to classify the action as unconstitutional.

READ ALSO:

In court documents dated May 13 and filed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Akinlolu Kehinde, the DSS argued that Utomi’s initiative was not only improper but posed a serious threat to national stability and the current democratic order.

Utomi, who contested the presidency in 2007 under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is the sole defendant in the case.

Despite the legal action, he expressed gratitude for the messages of support he has received from around the country.

“I am heartened by messages of solidarity from across Nigeria on this shadowy business of chasing shadows of shadow cabinets. Reminds me of the Nigeria I used to know. I want to thank all,” he wrote.