Point One

 It’s nearly two weeks since the Supreme Court overruled the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its naira swap policy, but Nigerians yet struggle with scarcity of cash and gridlock in digital banking for daily transactions. The regulatory bank is playing dumb on the apex court’s verdict, and so is the Federal Government despite that President Muhammadu Buhari took frontal ownership of the policy through a broadcast on 16th February approving the use of old N200 notes till 10th April, out of the currency denominations declared to have ceased to be legal tender since 10th February. In other words, the authorities appear to have found a convenient turf in a brutalised citizenry to test the limits of obduracy against judicial supremacy.   CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele had on 26th October, last year, announced the policy by which he said the N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations were being redesigned and the old notes withdrawn from circulation. The regulatory banker cited as a maj...

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Senator Dino Melaye, has never been someone constrained by civility in public comportment. He expresses himself impulsively, and at times with grotesque exertions bordering on the comical. One image of him that endures in memory was from way back in 2007, at the early stages of his National Assembly (NASS) career. There on the rostrum in the House of Representatives was torn-vested Honourable Melaye who, as a member of the green chamber, dug in at the side of then House Speaker Patricia Etteh and waved his shirt that he had pulled off as he fiercely defended Etteh against internal rebellion by a so-called Integrity Group. Not that he succeeded with that pitch, because the first and till date only ‘Madam Speaker’ in Nigeria’s history was displaced by the insurrection after barely five months in the saddle. Later when he  moved to the Senate chamber and crisscrossed between PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), and even in the last few...

If the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had thought its currency redesign policy was purely economic, it must have seen how wrong that was and formed another view of the whole affair by now. The controversial policy is more political than economic. Unless he lives in fantasyland, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele who is its arrowhead must see what perfect storm he has led this country into – and that at an inauspicious time, namely on the cusp of a momentous general election. Amidst the hailstorm of ensuing challenges, there have been quick taps by ‘Brother Mefi’ on the reset button. But the ‘exit’ button seems out of contemplation unless policy masterminds sacrifice one of its primary objectives. In other words, they are stuck between the rock and a hard place; and so are we all. When Emefiele announced the decision to redesign the N200, N500 and N1000 denominations mid-October, last year, he presented the measure as an ambush policy of the apex bank to rein in some three trillion naira circu...

 When the Department of State Security (DSS) early last December issued a 48-hour ultimatum to downstream petroleum sector operators to normalise fuel supply to the public, it apparently thought they had a handle on what it takes to do just that. Indications have shown, however, that they didn’t; and whereas they postured as if what DSS said was doable, the situation is far more complicated. And so, eight weeks after the ultimatum, product scarcity persists.  The secret police suspected the persistent scarcity of premium motor spirit across the country was an invidious orchestration and only stopped short of shouting, ‘Sabotage!’ It called industry stakeholders including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depots and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum Tank...

Every profession has icons in diverse moulds. In legal advocacy, people are more familiar with icons as civil / human rights and constitutional lawyers. But there is a reputed practitioner who stands distinguished in the application of the principles of Law to advance the cause of the Christian faith he espouses. Barrister Wole Olufon, who has served the legal profession in different capacities including as officer and member of the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); Member, Council of Legal Education and Honourable Member, Body of Benchers, holds the ace as one who has used his legal practice to wage crusades against forces ranged against clients that embody his spiritual convictions. He does this most times for the sheer conviction, more than for the legal fees; and he has been quite lucky with getting Heaven’s help for desired results from these crusades. Early in his career, Olufon waged a highly controversial case to defend clients that included th...

Conflicting narratives about the gruesome killing of a medical doctor in Delta State on New Year eve raise questions about the thoroughness of police investigation and possible motivating factors behind the enterprise of crime in Nigeria. But the nut of this murder must be cracked earnestly if only to inform the design of the country’s security architecture as could prevent future reoccurrence, besides getting justice for the slain doctor’s family and associates. Dr. Uyi Iluobe was the medical director of Olivet Clinic, a private hospital he ran in Oghareki, Ethiope-West council area of Delta State, and was gunned down by yet-to-be identified / apprehended assailants on 29th December, 2022. The circumstance of the killing is, however, in dispute between the late doctor’s colleagues and the Delta State Police Command that is hunting the killers. Even the facts of the incident are foggy. It was initially reported the dastardly act occurred on 31st December, whereas later reports put the ...

Beginning from today, 12th December, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be making Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) of registrants available at its 774 local government area offices for collection. By Section 47(1) of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2022, a person who intends to vote in any Nigerian election “shall present himself with his voter’s card to a Presiding Officer for accreditation at the polling unit in the constituency in which his name is registered.” That is to say, you must get your PVC ready if your intend / desire to vote in the imminent 2023 general election comprising the national elections into the Presidency and National Assembly seats on 25th February, 2023, and state elections into the governorships and houses of assembly on 11th March, 2023. The first of those elections is just 74 days away, and anyone yet to collect his/her PVC has no time to lose doing so. Many of the PVCs, according to INEC, are for persons who registered or transferred their...