Folarin Kehinde

Olisa Metuh, former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has resigned his membership of the party.

In a letter addressed to Iyorchia Ayu, national chairman of the PDP, Metuh said he will no longer be involved in partisan politics.

He also said his decision is to enable him contribute to good governance.

“During my three weeks trip for medical and personal reasons, I came to the realisation that I can no longer play partisan politics in Nigeria,” the letter reads.

It is expected Olisa Metuh may join the Peter Obi campaign.

Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, the Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, has said it will take a miracle for the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi to win.

Mamora said this on Tuesday while featuring on a Channels TV programme “Political Paradigm”.

He said, “What I see, with all due respect is what you can call independent candidacy in Labour, and to the best of my knowledge even in America, no independent candidate has ever won the presidency. They can win in the Senate or House of Representatives but not in the presidential election, so it will be a miracle of the century.”

Mamora acknowledged that the former Anambra State governor enjoys a measure of support on social media, he, however, stressed the importance of strong political structures in winning elections.

The former senator said he won’t dismiss the support enjoyed by Peter Obi on social media, but added that “it doesn’t seem to me that it will be as such as would cause havoc in this system at the end of the day”.

This is because we do our checks on a regular basis. We look at the spread; we look at the capacity on the ground. You see, you cannot underrate the role of structures in politics and particularly in elections because this is the reality. There are many logistics involved in electioneering,” he said.

“The same way all these people are saying they will back Peter Obi is the same way they are saying they will back other candidates, especially those frontline candidates.”

Mamora said no one should be underrated in a contest, “but with all due respect to all these front liners, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Kwankwaso, of course, those are the faces we see when you tune into any channel”.

“So, you cannot underrate but I am saying that in spite of that and with all due respect to other candidates, he (Tinubu) is still the number one candidate to beat, that’s the point I am making,” he said.

Effective January 31, 2023, the existing N100, N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes will cease to be accepted as a medium of exchange for any transaction conducted in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said this at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja.

Emefiele said the apex bank, in line with global best practices has received the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign the bank notes new with new features.

He said when effective from December 15 this year, Nigerians who are in possession of the old notes should approach their banks for the new notes.

Explaining the rationale for the move, he said recent development in photographic technology and advancements in printing devices have made counterfeiting of currencies relatively easier.

According to him, the CBN had in recent times recorded significantly higher rates of counterfeiting especially at the higher denominations of N500 and N1,000 banknotes.

He also stated that there has been significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 80 per cent of currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks.

Emefiele also identified worsening shortage of clean and fit banknotes with attendant negative perception of the CBN and increased risk to financial stability; increasing ease and risk of counterfeiting evidenced by several security reports, as other reasons for the new policy.

The Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Wednesday, ordered the Federal Government to pay N500 million damages to the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for his forcible extradition and extraordinary rendition from Kenya.

Presiding Judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadike, who gave the judgement said that the Federal Government and its agencies grossly violated Kanu’s fundamental human rights by illegally renditioning him back to Nigeria without due process.

The court ordered the Federal Government to return the IPOB Leader to Kenya where he was before the June 19 2021 forceful disappearance from the East Africa country.

The verdict is coming barely one week after the Court of Appeal in Abuja declared Kanu’s rendition to Nigeria illegal, saying it did not follow due process, and violating all know International treaties signed by Nigeria.

The appellate court declared that the Federal Government had lost legitimacy to put the IPOB leader on trial.

It further quashed all seven counts of terrorism charge preferred against him by the Federal Government.

For the case in Umuahia, Kanu had through his Special Counsel, Mr Aloy Ejimakor, sued the Federal Government, challenging his abduction and rendition from Kenya.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the introduction of a National Domestic Card Scheme which is effective January 16, 2023.

According to reports, the Managing Director of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems Plc (NIBSS), Premier Owoh, stated this during the Committee’s meeting on Thursday, October 20, 2022.

The move is aimed at promoting stability, inclusion, and growth in the financial and payment system and will be delivered in conjunction with the Bankers Committee and other financial ecosystem stakeholders.

The card scheme was also expected to foster innovation within the Nigerian domestic market, while enabling African and international interoperability, allowing banks and other institutions to offer a variety of solutions including debit, credit, virtual, loyalty, and tokenized cards amongst others.

Nigeria remains Africa’s largest and most vibrant economy and the pace of digitisation and innovation, alongside the expansion of mobile penetration and the proactive policy initiatives of the CBN have driven the accelerated adoption of digital financial services.

Considering the strength and breadth of its banking sector and the rapid growth and transformation of its payments system over the last decade, Nigeria is ideally positioned to successfully launch a national card scheme.

Building on this platform to accelerate financial inclusion requires infrastructure that can deliver lower-cost payment services that are more accessible and affordable for Nigerians.

The central bank, in a statement issued by CBN Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, pointed out that the scheme could also be leveraged as a platform for the seamless dissemination of government-to-person payments and other social impact initiatives, enhancing financial access and supporting the growth of a robust and inclusive digital economy.