Just in: Police absent as voting commences in Rivers LG election

Police were conspicuously absent on Saturday morning at polling stations in River State where voters cast their votes in the state’s local government election.

The Rivers LGA election is taking place despite the court order restraining the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other security agencies from providing security during the poll.

But lawyer to state electoral body, Mr Femi Falana, said an appeal seeking a stay of execution of the court order had been filed, thus clearing the path for today’s poll.

In some polling units at the Saturday poll, voters were seen waiting for the arrival of election materials.

Earlier, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) commenced distribution of sensitive materials to LGAs for the conduct of the election.

On September 30, a federal high court in Abuja barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the 2023 voter register to RSIEC.

The court also barred the inspector-general of police and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the exercise.

On October 2, INEC said it had not released the voter register to RSIEC for the conduct of the election, in compliance with the verdict of the federal high court.

But the state governor Siminalayi Fubara said there was no going back in the conduct of the LG poll and had declared Thursday and Friday as public holidays in preparation for the election.

Emefiele told us politics influenced naira redesign – Ex-CBN acting gov

Former Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Folashodun Shonubi, has said he learnt that there was politics in the naira redesign carried out in 2022 by the then Governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele.

Shonubi, who was Deputy Governor (Operations) before his appointment as acting CBN governor, said Emefiele told him and others about the intrigues and politics in the exercise.

He made this claim as the prosecution third witness in his response to a question from Emefiele’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, at the resumed hearing on Thursday during the trial of the ex-governor of the CBN.

Emefiele is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory FCT (FCT) on four counts bordering on disobedience to the direction of law and illegal act causing injury to the public about the naira redesign.

Ojo had asked Shonubi if he was aware of the intrigues and politics in the naira redesign exercise.

The witness said he learnt from Emefiele, during one of their meetings, that there were indeed intrigues and politics in the exercise.

When asked if indeed there was presidential approval for the naira redesign, the witness said the defendant presented a document during one of the meetings of the CBN’s Committee of Governors (COG) containing the signature of the President.

Shonubi, however, said what the CBN under Emefiele produced after the naira redesign was different from what President Muhammadu Buhari approved.

He said the redesigned naira notes were launched by President Buhari, adding that he was not aware of a letter from the President complaining about the naira redesign.

Shonubi confirmed that he was invited once by the EFCC about the case and that he made statements.

He however said the EFCC did not have a physical confrontation between him and the defendant in respect of what was contained in his statements that related to him (the defendant).

While being led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, earlier, the witness said what was produced by the CBN under Emefiele as the redesigned naira notes were not the same as approved by the President.

He said the memo presented to the President for the naira redesign was solely prepared by Emefiele and sent to the President.

He said the CBN, under Emefiele, did not follow its laid down procedures for currency redesign.

Shonubi, a member of the COG and CBN board, told the court that Emefiele killed the recommendation for a redesign as made by the currency management department in early 2021.

He said, “The CBN did not follow the procedures (for redesigning the currency). I was a member of the CBN board as deputy governor.

“The chairman of both the COG and board was the governor. In early 2021, the currency department recommended the redesign of the currency notes.

“A paper was presented to me, and on the instruction of the governor (Emefiele), it was stepped down.

“In 2022, we again represented the paper and were asked to hold on.

“In mid-October 2022, the deputy governors were invited to a meeting in the office of the governor where he (Emefiele) informed us that he had presidential approval for the currency redesign.

“He showed us the memo, Mr president’s signature and instruction on the last page.”

Court summons Yahaya Bello over fresh N110.4bn fraud case

Former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has been summoned by an Abuja High Court in Maitama over a fresh fraud allegation to the tune of N110.4bn.

Maryanne Anenih, presiding judge, ordered Bello to appear before the court on October 24 for arraignment on 16 counts preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He was accused of criminal breach of trust to the tune of N110,446,470,089, contrary to sections 96 and 311 of the Penal Code Law Cap.89, Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963, and punishable under section 312 of same law.

Anenih ordered the EFCC to publish the summons in a national newspaper.

She also ordered the EFCC to paste copies of the summons on Bello’s last known address and in conspicuous places on the premises of the court.

The EFCC had brought the application before the court claiming that they have been unable to serve Bello with the charge marked CR/778/24 and filed on September 25.

The former governor is to stand trial alongside two officials of the Kogi State government — Abdulsalami Hudu and Umar Oricha.

According to the charge sheet, the defendants were alleged to have used funds from the Kogi State treasury to acquire properties in highbrow areas within the FCT and Dubai.