Atiku Accuses APC Governors Of Instigating Anarchy Over Naira Redesign

February 21, 2023

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has accused governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of preparing the ground for anarchy in the country through their utterances over the naira redesign.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, the PDP candidate, sympathized with Nigerians over the hardship they were facing over the naira scarcity, which was having unintended consequences.

Atiku said that the inciting comments by some APC governors wherein they threatened to shut banks rejecting the old notes had emboldened rioters to burn down commercial banks.

He said that Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, who had threatened to revoke the certificate of occupancy of banks rejecting the old notes, was acting like a dictator, and this had evoked rebellious actions.

“The President made it clear that the old N1,000 and N500 notes are no longer legal tender. Those who are dissatisfied with the President’s proclamation should go to court rather than resort to self-help. Two wrongs do not make a right.

“Governor Dapo Abiodun, who is the number one citizen of Ogun State, ought to know better. However, he has been threatening to revoke the C of O of banks that obey the President’s proclamation. This act of defiance has evoked rebellion, hence the riots and burning of banks in Sagamu, Abeokuta, and Mowe.”

Atiku knocked the All Progressives Congress chapter in Ogun State for distributing old notes to voters ahead of the election as seen in viral videos.

“In viral videos all over social media, agents of Governor Abiodun could be seen sharing the old notes in envelopes branded with the governor’s picture, convincing the supporters that the notes remain legal tenders contrary to the CBN policy.

“It is obvious that Governor Abiodun’s concern has nothing to do with the pains of the people. It is only because of the inability of his party to buy votes. If we may ask, where did the APC in Ogun State get the old notes that are no longer in circulation? These are funds that were stashed for vote buying.”

The PDP candidate noted that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State had accused APC chieftain, Adams Oshiomhole, of sponsoring the riots in Benin, which he said was clear evidence that the APC was behind the riots.

“Oshiomhole is one of the biggest critics of the naira redesign policy. It is not surprising that Governor Obaseki, who is the chief security officer of the state, has established that Oshiomhole is behind the riots. The APC really needs to stop provoking these riots.”

Atiku also knocked Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai; and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State for trying to provoke civil disobedience in their states.

“The APC and their governors do not love the masses. Their only grouse is their inability to buy votes because of this policy. Nigerians must not be deceived by these unscrupulous politicians.”

He called on the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, and other security agencies to infiltrate the ranks of those staging riots with a view to identifying their sponsors.

He said that the ultimate goal might be to force the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the election on the grounds of insecurity.

“With elections less than five days away, the ultimate goal of the sponsors of these riots may be the postponement of elections. We commend the military and the police so far for curbing some of these riots.

“However, we call on them to go a step further by identifying their sponsors.”

Measures Are Being Taken To Restore Sanity In Oil Sector, Bedeviled By Vandalism – Minister

Editorial staff

February 20, 2023

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has announced that measures are currently being taken to bring sanity to the oil sector which, according to him, has long being bedeviled by theft, pipeline vandalism and decayed infrastructure.

In a statement today, February 20, by his Senior Adviser, Media and Communications, Horatius Egua, the minister said however that despite the challenges, the Federal Government is determined to end the trend.

Chief Sylva stressed that the Federal Government is poised to end the trend through improved investments and security along the major oil and gas pipelines in Niger Delta region.

According to him, contrary to reports that about 40 per cent of the volumes of crude losses are due to measurement inaccuracies, the major sources of crude oil losses are theft, pipeline vandalism and production deferment as a result of pipeline non-availability.

“It is a known fact that the major losses of crude oil in the country have been through theft and destruction of oil pipelines. Again, we also know that some of the oil infrastructure are old and decayed and cannot perform at maximum capacity.

“And there is also the issue of lack of investments in fossil fuel in the country and the drive towards renewable energy has really hampered new investments in this sector.”

He emphasized that the problem associated with crude oil losses are systemic issues that the government is already handling with a view to finding permanently solutions to.

The minister, therefore, called on the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to harmoniously work together.

This, he said, would ensure that the constraints and impeding challenges in the optimal crude oil production volume were speedily addressed to boost national revenue.

He insisted that the Federal Government cannot continue to lose revenue through perceived lapses in crude oil production, especially at this very critical period of scarce revenue for the nation.

The minister said that this is not the time to dwell on the mistakes of the past or engaged in needless blame games but a time to work to close all existing leakages to enable government get maximum benefits from its crude oil and gas assets.

While expressing satisfaction at the improved security along the major oil pipelines in the region, Sylva called for sustained efforts by all concerned to maintain maximum crude oil production.

“We are very confident that Nigeria will achieve two million barrel per day crude oil production target very soon.

“The government is doing everything possible to get to where we should be and everyone is working hard to achieve this.”

Source: NAN.

Naira Re-Design: Tinubu Describes Atiku As Inconsistent, Opportunistic

Editorial staff

February 20, 2023

The Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has described his opponent in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDPD), Atiku Abubakar as being inconsistent and opportunistic in matter relating to the redesign of the nation’s naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Tinubu said that Atiku had earlier hailed the CBN policy to high heavens when he initially thought it was a policy deliberately designed to stop him from becoming the next elected president of Nigeria.

“Atiku called on President Muhammadu Buhari and CBN Governor to ensure strict implementation of the policy and the deadline of 31 January because in his and party’s short-sightedness and gross miscalculation, Tinubu was the prime target.

“Atiku’s position exploded on his face when the unintended consequences of the CBN policy manifested in its full ramifications and crippled the entire populace.

“Atiku capitulated and sought to claim some credit by asking the CBN to ‘slightly shift’ the deadline of 31 January 2023.”

Tinubu, in a statement today, February 20, by Director of Media and Publcicty of his Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Bayo Onanuga, said that the CBN and the Federal Government “to which Atiku and his party have suddenly become the cheer leaders listened to all the voices of reason and shifted the deadline for the currency swap till 10 February.

“On 1 February, Atiku took another public position, asking the CBN not to shift the deadline again”

He quoted Atiku as having written that “there should be no further postponement of the new Naira regime after the expiration of the February 10 deadline. The vote riggers are seeking to push the CBN to extend till after the election when they would have achieved their evil plots. The CBN and the Presidency should be steadfast. The merits of the new Naira policy far outweigh the little inconvenience we are experiencing.”

Tinubu said that as all Nigerians can now attest, the 10 February deadline also proved grossly inadequate.

“Governors of the APC challenged it in the Supreme Court and got an interim order asking the CBN to allow the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes to remain legal tender with the new notes.

“Amid the widespread misery and the currency scarcity that the Naira swap policy created for Nigerians, Atiku’s position proved once again an egregious miscalculation and clearly anti-people

“But with just five days away from the presidential election, Atiku wants to cash in on the mood of the country with his latest faux empathy. He is now asking CBN to allow Nigerians to deposit their N500 and N1000 old notes in commercial banks, after thousands of desperate Nigerians jammed the CBN offices in Lagos and other places, hoping to deposit their old currency and get the new notes.

“It is generally a bad time for poor and hapless Nigerians as currency scarcity has become the norm. The chameleonic politician forgot that he once described the suffering our people are going through some ‘little inconvenience”.

“We recognise Atiku’s desperation to be President and like chameleon, this unprincipled and unstable politician will change positions on any issue as long as he thinks it will help his perennial ambition.

“Nigerians should run away from Atiku. A man like the PDP candidate with no strong conviction and strength of character cannot offer the kind of leadership our country needs.

“Nigeria needs a consistent and steady leader who will stand firm and upright when it is convenient and when it is not convenient. Asiwaju Tinubu is that kind of leader and he has demonstrated that by his principled stand on the current crisis. He has also offered a six-point solution to get the country out of the current morass.”

Dana Airline Is Grounded Due To Maintenance, Engine Issues, Others

Editorial staff

February 20, 2023

All Dana Airline five planes are currently grounded due to maintenance, engine-related issues and other scheduled checks.

It was gathered that the grounded planes, which account for 100 percent of the carriers aircraft, are not available to fly, creating serious challenges against the backdrop of an already hostile cost environment and contributing to increased losses.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in July 2022, suspended the air transport license and air operator certificate of the airline for several operational infractions.

Investigation revealed that Boeing 737-3H4 (WL) with Registration Number 5N-DNB is currently out of the country for scheduled maintenance checks.

Boeing 737-3H4 (WL) with registration number 5N-DNA is presently parked at the 7 Star hanger due to an operational fault.

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (DC-9-83) with registration number 5N-JOY and another aircraft with registration number 5N-SAI are presently not operational due to checks and other faults.

McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (DC-9-82) with registration number 5N-BKI was last seen at the Air Force hanger for checks and technical issues. The airline risk being grounded again by the NCAA for operating less than two aircrafts.

The 6th plane of the airline a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 with registration number 5N-DEV has been scrapped with no engines.

Meanwhile, information available to this newspaper indicates that the airline is working to exchange an engine to fit inside the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (DC-9-82) 5N-BKI.

In a letter addressed to the Accountable Manager, Dana Airlines Limited Dana, Isolo, Lagos, dated July 20, 2022, NCAA while suspending its operations last year in Nigeria, reminded it that the Authority recently sanctioned it and its personnel for maintenance violations.

The letter, signed by Captain Musa Nuhu, the NCAA Director General, was copied to the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika.

The letter read: “While Dana Air was fined a total sum of N30,000,000.00 (Thirty Million Naira), which it had not been able to settle till date due financial constraints, the AME Licence of Dana Air’s erstwhile Director of Maintenance was revoked for making false statements and false entries in the technical logbooks of the aircraft, 5N-SAI and 5N-JOY.

“The AME Licence of Dana Air’s Quality Inspector was suspended for sixty (60) days and the AMEL Validation of one of Dana Air’s expatriate Maintenance Engineer was also suspended for sixty (60) days, for maintenance violations.

“The Authority is convinced that Dana Air and its personnel deliberately violate the provisions of the Nig.CARs relating to safety and therefore the Airline is no longer in a position to conduct safe operations.

“The cumulative and apparent deliberate violations of the Nig.CARS, as indicated above, by DANA Air employees, especially several key post holders is indicative of a toxic corporate safety culture within the organization. This, in conjunction with report of the Financial and Economic Health Audit, is a good indication that safety and security of Dana’s flight operations are under serious threat and can no longer be guaranteed.

“Consequently, the Authority, pursuant to Section 35 (2), (3) (b) and (4) of the Civil Aviation Act, 2006, hereby suspends indefinitely, effective midnight on Wednesday 20th July 2022, the Air Transport Licence (ATL) and Air Operator Certificate (AOC) issued to Dana Airlines Limited.

“Please recall that, in line with the provisions of Section 30 (4) (b) and (r) and Part 18.10.1 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs), the Authority, in the month of June, 2022, carried out a Financial and Economic Health Audit of Dana Airlines Limited (Dana Air) for the years ended 31st December 2018 to 31st December 2021 and for the period 1st January 2022 to 31st May 2022.

“The audit found that: Dana Air will not be able to meet current obligations as they fall due without resorting to more borrowings/debts, as the current liabilities far exceed the current assets. This is a red flag on the Airline’s ability to finance current obligations.

Source: Per Second News.

Osinbajo Laments 2 Million Nigerians Suffering From Acute Malnutrition, Wants Urgent Action

Editorial staff

February 20, 2023

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has raised alarm over the report by the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) placing Nigeria as the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 percent of children under five.

He said that an estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), with only two out of every 10 children affected being reached with treatment.

“Seven percent of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute malnutrition.”

Professor Osinbajo spoke today, February 20, at a virtual meeting of the National Council on Nutrition, where he observed with concern that the lives of young people and the future of the country depend largely on the collective efforts by public and private sectors towards improving human nutrition outcomes across the country.
“If we don’t make these efforts and do it seriously, the sheer number of our children whose mental and physical development would be stunted would be mind-boggling, and I think that we must not allow a situation where in the years to come, we are asking ourselves whether we couldn’t have done better.”

“I am very concerned that we do not allow bureaucracy to get in the way of the real efforts that ought to be made. This is a point that I think we must make again and again; we cannot afford to allow bureaucracy and some rules to get in the way of actually making the impact that we need to make.”

Osinbajo stressed the significance of having these Departments of Nutrition in all relevant MDAs, saying: “we must not lose sight of the fact that it is a historic responsibility for us and for coming generations that we do something significant, something that can be built on for those who are coming behind us.
“We must all come together and work hard on this issue of getting the department within the MDAs and ensuring that every MDA has a Department of Nutrition so that we can make individual impact and of course, the collective impact that we need to make.”
The Vice President also highlighted the need for the incoming administration to place Nutrition at the top of its agenda.
“I had a meeting last week with the technical advisory group of the Council and this was one of the issues that emerged, that we need to do something, to ensure that the incoming administration sees this also as a priority.
“And we have undertaken to do that to ensure that the Incoming administration is sufficiently sensitized through the transition council and through other formal and informal means.”
Professor Osinbajo also called for more public sensitization and awareness drive on the efforts of the Council in improving nutritional outcomes nationwide.

It would be recalled that following the recommendations of the Council, a Presidential directive was given in March last year for the establishment of Nutrition Departments in all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.
At the meeting today, the Vice President further mandated relevant public service officials to follow up on the issue for implementation of the directive.
The virtual meeting was attended by Federal Ministers, Heads of Agencies of Government, development partners, and members of the private sector.
They included the Ministers of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen; Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu; Agriculture, Dr Mahmood Mohammed Abubakar and the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba. The Chairman, Board of Trustees, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, HRH Mohammad Sanusi II, a member of the Council, also attended the meeting.

Tinubu Rejects Appointment Of Naja’atu As North West Police Coordinator For Elections

Editorial staff

February 20, 2023

The Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has rejected the appointment of Naja’atu Muhammad, a former Director of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, as the North-West coordinator of the Police Service Commission in the forthcoming general elections.

Director of Public Affairs and Chief Spokesperson of Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Festus Keyamo, who issued a statement today, February 20, on behalf of Tinubu, described as shocking the appointment of Naja’atu, saying that her selection is “callous and insensitive” considering her strained relationship with the APC

The statement read in part: “We are deeply shocked and appalled to read a release by the Police Service Commission appointing one of its most partisan members, Naja’atu Bala Muhammad as a North-West coordinator of the presidential election. In that role, she is expected to move about freely, supervising the conduct of police officers during the elections.

“With the well-documented activities, actions and vitriols of Naja’atu in the last few weeks against our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (after being shown the door out of the APC as a mole) we venture to say that this appointment is not only callous, it is insensitive, openly confrontational and consequently unacceptable by the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council.

“Coming at a time when President Muhammadu Buhari is constantly assuring and reassuring the world of free, fair and credible elections, it confirms our worst fears that there are functionaries of government that are actively working with the opposition to thwart the avowed commitment of Mr. President.”

The said that the role given to Naja’atu Muhammad required an unbiased person, adding that she can’t deliver in the position.

It demanded her immediate withdrawal from the position, saying Muhammad should not be allowed to hold such position in any part of the country

“We need not emphasise that the role given to NAJA’ATU requires a honest and unbiased individual who will discharge the duties diligently and without reproach. The nation will not get that from NAJA’ATU.

“We therefore demand for the IMMEDIATE withdrawal of the name of NAJA’ATU Bala Muhammad as a coordinator of the Police Service Commission for the North-West or any region for that matter. She has an inalienable right to continue to campaign for any candidate of her choice and to vote for that candidate, but she cannot be given a garment to wear at this time that is meant only for neutrals.”

The Police Service Commission had assigned Naja’atu Muhammed as one of the coordinators who will supervise conduct of police officers during the general elections.

The commission also appointed 44 others to deal with police officers who misbehave during the conduct of general elections across the federation.

Police Kicks Out Naja’atu, Replaces Her With Bawa Lawal After Tinubu Complained

Editorial staff

February 20, 2023

The Police Service Commission has kicked out Naja’atu Muhammad and replaced her with a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Bawa Lawal, to coordinate the monitoring of police officers’ conduct in the North-West region during the Saturday, February 25 Presidential election.

This came after the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, through the party’s Presidential Campaign Council complained that Naja’atu was not fit for the job because she had issues with the APC candidate.

In a statement on Monday, the PSC said, “The attention of the PSC was drawn to a press statement by the APC PCC on the appointment of Naja’atu representing women Interest and the North-West in the commission as one of the coordinators for the monitoring of police conduct in the February 25 presidential election which the council accused of partisanship.

The PSC had yesterday, February 19, announced the appointment of the former Director of the Civil Society directorate of the APC PCC, Naja’atu, as one of the coordinators that will supervise conduct of police officers during general forthcoming elections.

The commission, which appointed Naja’atu alongside 44 others, also threatened to deal with the police officers who misbehave during the conduct of next general elections across 36 States as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The Kano-born politician had left the APC and has been criticizing party and its Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

She had said that the challenges Nigeria faces require her to continue championing the struggle for a better country with a clear conscience.

But controversies later trailed her public comments against the APC and its candidate, Bola Tinubu.

Source: The PUNCH.

Atiku To Nigerians: Voting Tinubu Is Moving From Frying Pan To Fire

Greenbarge Reporters

February 20, 2023

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has warned Nigerians that a vote for the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, will amount to jumping from frying pan to fire.

The admonition is contained in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, which warned that citizens must not be deceived by Tinubu’s message of renewed hope as it is “hopelessness in disguise.”

With the election less than a week away the statement said: “Your hope will be stolen from you if he is allowed to govern Nigeria. That indeed will be a state of hopelessness – hell on earth, frying pan to fire.”

It recalled that as part of the grand deception, Tinubu, who started his campaign mid last year with a promise to continue with President Muhammadu Buhari’s “impeccable legacy,” has in the last three weeks been promising to reverse them.

Atiku asked Tinubu to make up his mind on whether he was running on Buhari’s legacy or running against it so as not to deceive innocent voters.

The main opposition candidate added, “Tinubu says the petrol scarcity and the naira shortage are aimed at scuttling his ambition. Later, he and his acolytes said they were only voicing out against the policy out of sheer concern for the masses. These are people who never muttered a word when students spent 10 months at home in 2020 and eight months at home in 2022 due to unprecedented university lecturers’ strike.

“These are people that never criticised the President at the height of the insecurity when schoolchildren were being abducted almost on a daily basis and when the naira witnessed a free fall that led to a sharp increase in the price of goods.”

The statement added: “Someone needs to tell Tinubu and his band of APC governors to please give up this irritating ostentatious performance of moral propriety. They are not angry about the naira redesign because they love the masses. They are only angry that their plan to unleash bullion vans on poor Nigerians has been thwarted.”

It said should Tinubu become the president of Nigeria, he will turn the country into his personal fiefdom and a one party state by muzzling the opposition as he had done in Lagos since 1999, adding that Tinubu would also turn the National Assembly into his foot stool and orchestrate the fall of the 4th Republic.

The statement further pointed out: “Tinubu has turned Lagos State into his personal fiefdom by arrogating all powers to himself so much so that even the current Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, publicly refers to him as ‘my principal’, clear evidence that Tinubu is far above the constitutionally recognised authority in the state.”

Source: Tribune Online.

Nigeria’s Amina, Dangote Become Ambassadors Of Sahel Region Climate Commission

Greenbarge Reporters

February 20, 2023

Amina Mohammed, a former Nigerian minister and current Deputy Secretary of the United Nations (UN) as well as the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, have been picked as Ambassadors of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC).

They were picked at the just concluded second conference of Heads of State and Government of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC), held on the margins of 36^th AU Summit in Addis Ababa.

A communiqué emanating from the Summit yesterday, February 18, gave names of other “eminent personalities” selected to be Ambassadors for advocacy and the mobilization of resources for the financing of climate related programmes and actions in the region, as former President of the Republic of Niger and first president of the Commission, Issoufou Mahamadou, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed.

Others are Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki, Tidjane Thiam, Aliko Dangote, MO Ibrahim; Ibrahima Thiaw, Paul Kammogne Fokam and Mossadeck Bally.

The Commission chose Nigeria to host the Secretariat of the Sahel Climate Fund even as it approved the appointment of Issifi Boureim of Niger Republic as the Executive Secretary of the Commission.

Boureim, until his appointment, was the Coordinator of the Transitory Operational Framework of the Commission.

His appointment is for a non-renewable period of three years, without the possibility of candidacy for future terms of office.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria had earlier declared Nigeria’s interest to host the headquarters of the Sahel Climate Fund, promising that the country will provide all necessary amenities.

The “Sahel Climate Fund” is the financial body of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC).

The body is one of the three climate Commissions for Africa created in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016 at the Summit of African Heads of State and Government, organised at the initiative of King of Morocco, on the sidelines of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Among other decisions by leaders of member countries during the mini-summit in Addis Ababa include the adoption of the methods of contributions from the States for the financing of the operations of the Executive Secretariat and the Sahel Climate Fund as well as for the participation in the 1^st recapitalization of the said Fund.

A panel of Heads of State comprising President Buhari, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, President Alassane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire and General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno of Chad was established to support the work of the President of the Commission.

Tinubu Media Team Raises Alarm Over Fake Website Set Up To Discredit Tinubu

Editorial staff

February 19, 2023

The Media Team of the President candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has raised alarm on the existence of a website that has been dishing out falsehood for the purpose of discrediting Tinubu.

In a statement today, February 18, the Director of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Bayo Onanuga, alleged that the website, igbotimesmagazine.online has been created with link to the Labour Party (LP) for the sole purpose of discrediting the APC presidential candidate.

He recounted some of the fake narrations the website has engaged in against Tinubu, recalling the recent one that alleged President Muhammadu Buhari directing the Department of State Service (DSS) to search Tinubu’s residence in Abuja where the sum of N400 million was found.

Full text of the APC statement is reproduced hereunder:

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has just stumbled on a rogue website, www. Igbotimesmagazine.online, out to disseminate false and malicious information about Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

In its latest false news, the site claimed that some EFCC operatives, on the order of President Muhammadu Buhari raided the “underground home” of Tinubu. It claimed that N400 billion of the new notes was recovered from there. The story, which notably lacked the essential “when, where and how” ingredients of any news story, went viral.

The EFCC has since issued a formal statement on the purported raid by its men as a fake story the public should disregard.

The dubious website, in its fake story, claimed investigations are still ongoing as to which bank manager made such money available to Tinubu, it then admitted its own absurdity when it wrote that “the money recovered in Tinubu’s “underground house” is equivalent of “the entire money printed for the whole Nigeria” by the CBN.

So, if Tinubu alone has all the money printed by Godwin Emefiele’s CBN, how do you account for the billions distributed by the apex bank to all the banks, including operators of POS?

The site, which on Twitter and Facebook appears to have links with the Labour Party, went further, in another post, to claim that President Muhammadu has ordered the arrest of the bank manager that made the phantom money available to the APC candidate.

In a previous post two weeks ago, the site had claimed that ‘an angry mob blocked N3 billion of new notes heading to Tinubu’s house’.

Other fake news on the site included one that claimed the Federal Government planned to borrow money from kidnappers in Kaduna because they have more money than our country. It credited the misleading news to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture.

We want to warn Nigerians to be wary of every piece of news emanating from the site, and its social media handles.

There will be many of such sites as some candidates become desperate to win at all costs, in fulfilment of some rogue and rigged opinion polls by ANAP Foundation and Nextier, shunning all decent norms and rules.

The igbotimesmagazine.online, with its affiliated social media handles exists for no good of our country.

It is out to misinform and mislead our people and disseminate malicious information on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the run up to the 25 February election, which the opposition candidates, including Peter Obi of Labour Party, are bound to lose.

We are not surprised that the opposition has embarked on sponsoring a website and social media handles, whose owners are unknown and which lacks physical address or even an email.

We urge the authorities to fish out the people behind the site, that is recklessly dishing out fake news, before more damage is done to our polity.

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