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Naval Chief, Who Allegedly Stole N1.3 Billion, On The Run – EFCC Informs Abuja Court

By
Ayodele Oni
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EFCC Operatives

By Ayodele Oni

A case of money laundering filed against a former Naval Chief, Rear Admiral Tahir Yusuf Biu by the Economic, Financial and Crimes Commission, (EFCC) is on the verge of being thrown out by  a Federal High Court, Abuja.

The presiding Judge, Inyang Edem Ekwo, threatened on Friday that he would strike out the case at the next adjournment date if EFCC could not produce the defendant.

The EFCC had told the Court that the former Naval Chief allegedly stole N1.3B from the Nigerian Navy and, is on the run.

The anti-graft agency said that all efforts to locate the whereabouts of Admiral Biu in all parts of the country have proved unsuccessful since March 16 this year when a 9-count criminal charge was filed against him.

EFCC’S counsel, Mr Cosmas Obeta Ugwu lamented that traces of the defendant could not be found, hence, he could not be brought before the court to answer the criminal charges against him.

According to the charge sheet, Rear Admiral Biu  on November 30, 2015 in Abuja, allegedly took possession of N100M transferred into his Bitmas Enterprises personal company bank account with number 1011904172 at Zenith bank from Naval Headquarters account domiciled at Zenith bank contrary to section 15 (2) of Money Laundering Prohibition Act.

The charge sheet revealed that on March 14, 2012, Biu allegedly took possession of N135.4M into his Bitmas Enterprises account 1001439871 transferred from Defence Intelligence Agency personnel account, while another N197.8M was also transferred in the same manner into Bitmas account.

EFCC also charged him with unlawful transferring of N148M from Defence Intellence Agency to his company account at Zenith bank and N334M into the same Company’s account in the same manner.

Besides, Admiral Biu was alleged to have taken a possession of another N152M and another N20M from Defence Intellence Agency transferred into the company account.

The anti-graft agency also alleged that the former Naval Chief diverted $300, 000 from Navy Personal account meant for purchase of furniture for Navy Secondary School at Okura to his personal company account domiciled at Zenith bank before he escaped to unknown destination.

When the matter came up, EFCC lawyer said the commission is helpless in locating the defendant for arrest and arraignment in court but Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo disagreed with the anti-graft agency on the issue.

Justice Ekwo held that the agency was wasting state powers adding that several statutes give enormous powers to EFCC to fish out anybody from hideout for justice where necessary.

The Judge therefore threatened to strike out the criminal charges if at the next adjourned date the agency could not produce the suspect before the Court.

He subsequently fixed February 22, 2023 as the last adjournment for EFCC to produce the defendant in court or have the charge struck out.

Appeal Court Reinstates Gov Umahi, Deputy, Says They Can Only Be Impeached

By
Ayodele Oni
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0

By Ayodele Oni

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ruled that David Umahi remains as Governor of Ebonyi state, and Eric Igwe as deputy.

The Court on Friday reversed the March 8 judgment of the Abuja Federal High Court, sacking Umahi as Governor and his deputy for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Haruna Tsanami, held in a judgment that the 1999 Constitution as amended, did not provide any punishment for a governor or deputy governor who defected from the party on which platform they got to office.

The appellate court, in its judgment, held that the only option opened to a political party, aggrieved by the defection of a governor or deputy governor, is to explore the impeachment option provided in the Constitution.

The appellate court aligned with an earlier decision on the same issue given by the Enugu division of the court.

Justice Ekwo of the Abuja Federal High court Abuja had on March 8, 2022, ordered the Ebonyi state Governor Dave Umahi and his deputy, Eric Igwe, to vacate their seats as the governor and deputy on grounds that the PDP won the election on March 2019 and not its candidate.

Citing section 221 of the constitution, Justice Inyang Ekwo  declared their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress, (APC) as illegal and unconstitutional.

Calabar: Electricity Worker Gets Electrocuted While Working on a Pole

By
The Source
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PHED Worker

By Stanley Ekpenyong

An unidentified electricity worker with Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, Tuesday got electrocuted while working on an electricity pole along IBB way, close to Margret Ekpo Airport, Calabar.

A circulating video showed the moment the victim got electrocuted and started falling off the pole while his colleagues frantically tried to save him.

At the time of this report, it could not be confirmed  whether he survived the scary incident or not.

Viewpoint: Apostle Suleman On Eagles’ Wing

By
James Orji
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By Rudolf Okonkwo

Dear God,

I praise you, God, for saving my beautiful family and me from enemies who wanted to kill me and destroy the wonderful work that I am doing for you. Nobody else in your vineyard is delivering souls for you like I am. Thank you for ensuring no bullet scraped even a single hair on my skin. Such a misfortune would have been a disaster. Trust me when I say this, God, if something had happened to my immaculate family or me, it would have shaken the world’s confidence in your greatness.

By your singular act last week, you have reassured me again that you are faithful to those who trust and worship you. You have never disappointed us. In Isaiah 40.31, you promised us that “those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings of eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak”.

My God, you proved all that last week. On the wings of eagles, you took my perfect family and me away from my enemies. You made us run without getting weary. You made us walk without growing weak when we were near my house. May your name be praised. You have renewed my strength. I will serve you more and more, for I have seen your glory.

You said in Isaiah 54: 17 that “no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord”.

You vindicated yourself beyond any doubt. You confused my enemies and had them kill my security men, drivers, and some low-level groupies. In Exodus 23: 22, you promised, “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be enemy of your enemies and an adversary of your adversaries”.

In the eyes of the world, the weapons my enemies fashioned against me failed. You became the enemy of my enemies and the adversary of my adversaries. There is nobody like you, God. You did so because I carefully obeyed your voice and did all you said. My enemies do not see this because they spend their time reading stupid blogs and social media
posts about me.

In Luke 6: 27 – 36, you said, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them”.

Excuse me, God, I hope you know that your proclamations here are obsolete. From Stephanie Otobo to Chioma Ifemeludike, these are the troubled children I have blessed. I had done good to them more than any man they ever knew. When I say good, I mean real good in the church and the oza room. Yet, what did I get in return? They struck me on the cheek. I offered the other cheek as you commanded. And they struck me again. They did not end it there. They recruited other women of easy virtue to tarnish my image. I did not mind them. They took my cloak. One
of them, Stephanie, took my tunic and took a picture of the thing hidden behind the tunic. She showed it to the world all to destroy me. That was when I said, “enough is enough”.

Excuse me, God, if it were you that someone took your cloak and your tunic and exposed to the world the thing hidden behind the tunic, what would you do? Would you sit back and let them? I doubt it.

In Romans 12: 14, you said, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them”.

Excuse me, God, but I don’t think you understand the world we live in now. The enemies we have today are very vicious. They are not the type that we can treat with kid’s gloves. There is no blessing them; hell no. We need not just curse them; we must declare fire for fire. It is the language that they understand.

I know that you are a mighty God and all that. But trust me, if I did not secure my family inside a bulletproof vehicle, we would have been dead by now. And the shame would have been yours, my God. Please excuse me for saying so. You and I know that it is true.

Without that bulletproof car, I would have been a dead man, like Prophet T.B. Joshua. By now, my wife would have been fighting my pastors for who would control my church. Some of my over-ambitious pastors would have been renting big halls across Auchi and Ekpoma to start their own churches. They would be planning my funeral now, and those who hated me for the work I was doing for you would have been mocking me and making fun of you, God.

Please excuse me, God, but I did you a great favor in buying this bulletproof vehicle. I wasn’t the only one that would have been made fun of. Some of my enemies already say that you did not reveal this attack to me when you spoke to me on December 31, 2021. God, what is up with that? Why did you fall my hand? I am the only one that can tell you
this, God. Other workers in your vineyard will lie to you.

Please, excuse me, God, but you embarrassed me. You played into the hands of my enemies by making it look as if we do not know what we are doing. Haba! Common now, I don’t like that one bit. If we continue to be partners, you must fill me in on all your plans—no more surprises.

If you must let my enemies kill people around me, at least let me know on time so I can fortify myself. That way, I can come out of the car at the first sound of the gun and tell the shooters to stay still, the same way you ordered the storm to be still, and it obeyed. If there were people they killed, I would raise them from the dead, like you raised Lazarus. That would have been more like it. It would have made me look like a professional, not a whimper, which you turned me into with your surprise attack.

In Romans 12: 19, you warned us: “Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord”.

As a result of all that has transpired since I signed up to work with you, I beg your indulgence to, henceforth, let me take care of the vengeance aspect of this job. I don’t like how you are handling that part. Either you are too slow or distracted to sense the dangers before they strike or let the enemies know that the best defense is an attack.

Finally, excuse me, God, if I sound rude, but it gets to a point when a man has to be a man and not wait for the heavens to save him from enemies here on earth.

I hope you understand. Once again, thank you for saving my life and my family’s life. As for the security men, drivers, and my groupies killed, please have mercy on their poor souls. I know that after death, it is judgment. As a result, it is late for some of them to make heaven. But God, see what you can do to get them far away from the hottest places in
hell. Being that they died while working for me should count for something. Yes or No? Please excuse me, God. I am not saying you should break the rules for them or give them special treatment. As we say in Nigeria, I am just pleading for you to “see what you can do”.

Yours truly,

Apostle Johnson Suleman

Omega Fire Ministries International

Okonkwo is a lecturer at the School of Visual Arts in New York City 

FBN Holdings GMD Speaks On Stellar Performance As PBT Hits N106bn

By
James Orji
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0

The Group Managing Director, GMD, First Bank Holdings Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo says the company has succeeded in its core focus of growing business and profitability.

Financial experts said the chief executive of FBN Holdings, the parent company of First Bank Nigeria, FBN Ltd, Nigeria’s first-generation commercial bank, is right considering the milestones recorded by the financial services provider in key performing metrics in the last one year.

Okonkwo spoke following the holder’s release of its third quarter 2022 unaudited financial statement, which showed that the financial congloromate’s profit before tax, PBT doubled to N105.5 billion year-on-year from N52.9 billion reported in the corresponding year 2021.

The GMD said the recent Fitch rating upgrade of the holding company to ‘B’ with Stable Outlook is a testimonial to its stellar performance across key performance areas.

According to him, “FBNHoldings has again in Q3 2022 delivered a stellar performance, growing sustainable income from our core businesses. This is a testament to the success of our focus on carefully growing the business and driving profitability.

“As a result, Gross earnings grew 26.6per cent y-o-y to N546.2 billion, while profit before tax doubled y-o-y to N105.5 billion. I am particularly delighted by the significant improvement in our credit risk portfolio.

“Specifically, the NPL ratio closed at 4.7per cent within the regulatory threshold of five per cent, while the coverage ratio increased to 75.1per cent from 62.2per cent in FY 2021.

“Furthermore, during the period under review, in attestation of the progress made by the Group, Fitch upgraded the credit ratings of FBNHoldings and FirstBank to ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook.

“Value creation remains our overarching objective as we continue to leverage the strengths of our unique brand and heritage to optimise our diverse business portfolio.

“We are confident of making further progress, with the capacity to generate sustainable performance that delivers superior returns to all our stakeholders,” he said in the statement.

The statement further indicates that the holding company also grew its profit after tax to N91.2 billion in nine months of 2022, representing an increase of over 120 percent compared to 2021.

The figures also showed that the company recorded over N547 billion in gross earnings in nine months of 2022, an increase of over N432 billion compared to the same period in 2021.

Total assets within the period stood at N9.85 trillion, while customer deposits closed at N6.6 trillion by September 30, 2022.

2023: Kwakwanso Will Win By 50m Votes

By
James Orji
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0

Buba Galadima, a former ally of President Muhammadu Buhari has tipped the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso to win the 2023 presidential election by 50 million votes.

The Independent national Electoral Commission, INEC said earlier this week that over 93 million Nigerians have registered to vote in next year’s general election.

Only a few Nigerians would agree with Galadima that Kwakwanso, a former Governor of Kano state will defeat the other presidential candidates in the very critical election.

This is more so considering that the former governor is not even in the picture among those projected as frontline presidential candidates.

Close watchers of the unfolding politics ahead of the make or mar election have described the race as a three-horse race between Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Kwakwanso’s critics cite, for instance, his limited popularity in a certain part of the country just a few months into the elections, which comes up in February next year.

But Galadima said the former defense Minister will beat other presidential candidates to emerge Nigeria’s commander in chief.

Galadima who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, the presidential candidate of the party will win all 19 Northern states and also win in the south.

The constitution requires that a presidential candidate must win 25 percent of votes cast in 24 of the 36 states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT to become president.

According to Galadima’s analyses, “The northeast is completely Kwankwaso because he will win Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe, and Bauchi, including the governorship.

“He will win the north-east, north-central, and will win the north-west. All combined, they have over 50-something million voters.

“Kwankwaso will poach the south-south, southeast, and part of the southwest.

“I assure you that all Nigerians who desire freedom, development, progress, and health services, have no other person to vote for than Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

“PDP is not even on the ballot because its strength is in the south-east, which has been eroded by Peter Obi. The next strength of PDP is in the south-south. With Wike never supporting Atiku, the south-south is gone.”

Kwakwanso has been struggling to shore up his support base across the country, particularly after a former governor of Kano state, Ibrahim Shekarau dumped the ANPP for the PDP.

He should have teamed up with Peter Obi of LP to form a third force to stand a chance against established political parties such as APC and PDP  in the 2023 elections, Kwakwanso critics said.

Sterling Bank Showcases Opportunities in Agric Sector

By
James Orji
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0

Sterling Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading commercial bank, has said there are massive opportunities in the Nigerian agricultural sector for those who are prepared to work hard, with a clear vision and commitment.

Chairman of the board of directors of the bank, Asue Ighodalo disclosed this in his address of welcome at the opening of the 2022 Agriculture Summit Africa, ASA, hosted by the bank recently in Lagos themed Engineering A Trillion Dollar Agricultural Economy.

This year’s ASA is hosted by the bank in collaboration with her esteemed partners including, Leadway Assurance, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Thrive Agric, GIZ, Noor Takaful, Microsoft Nigeria, and Stears Data, among others.

Ighodalo remarked that the ASA remains a signpost of the bank’s commitment to the agricultural sector, one of the five sectors of specific focus in the bank’s HEART strategy. The other sectors are health, education, agriculture, renewable energy, and transportation.

According to him, “As a major financial institution and the leading institution in this sector, we are ready and prepared, and we have the financial expertise to partner strongly with such resourceful agripreneurs.”

He also noted in his speech that Nigeria remains “a net food importer“. He further remarked that” Today, we only export primary raw materials with minimal value added. Sadly, in four years, our food imports have increased fourfold causing massive pressures on our foreign reserves and thereby also exporting our jobs,” adding, “As a nation that seeks economic growth urgently and food security; we must reverse this trend, immediately.”

He said developed countries jumpstarted their development by building and growing the manufacturing industry through the process of adding value to their agricultural products. Adding that “it has also become a critical imperative that Nigeria increase the quality and yield of its production, achieve food security, capitalize on trade opportunities within the African region and thereby hasten its climb towards economic competitiveness and prosperity.”

Zenith Bank Surmounts Headwinds With Strong Q3 Topline, Bottom Line Performance

By
James Orji
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0
Ebenezer Onyeagwu - Zenith Bank PLC MD

Zenith Bank Plc has announced its unaudited results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2022, recording a remarkable double-digit growth of 20 percent in gross earnings from N518.7 billion reported in Q3 2021 to N620.6 billion in Q3 2022. This performance demonstrates the Group’s resilience against a challenging macroeconomic environment.

According to the unaudited account presented to the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, the growth in the topline was driven by interest and non-interest income growth. Interest income grew by 27 percent from N308.8 billion to N390.8 billion, driven majorly by growth in risk assets and an improvement in pricing. This also strengthened Earnings Per Share, EPS, by nine percent to N5.55.

This double-digit growth in the topline also aided the bottom line, as the Group also recorded a 13 percent year-on-year, YoY, increase in profit before tax, growing from N179.8 billion in Q3 2021 to N202.5 billion in Q3 2022. Profit after tax equally grew by nine percent from N160.6 billion to N174.3 billion in the same period.

Growth in non-interest income was enabled by the Group’s retail strategy, with continued substantial customer acquisition driving transactions, deposit growth, and growth in electronic banking income.

Due to inflationary pressure and the rising cost of doing business, operating costs grew by 17 percent. However, this was below the growth in gross earnings (20%), thereby facilitating the double-digit growth in the bottom line.

The continuing elevated yield environment affected the cost of funding which increased from 1.4 percent to 1.7 percent in the current period. This affected the net interest margin, NIM, which dropped due to the immediate implementation of higher yields on interest-bearing liabilities. However, the NIM is expected to see a correction in subsequent quarters as the assets side is repriced correspondingly.

Total assets grew by 20 percent from N9.45 trillion to N11.34 trillion in 2022, mainly driven by growth in customers’ deposits. Customer deposits grew by 24 percent from N6.47 trillion in December 2021 to N8.04 trillion in September 2022 due to the market’s confidence in the brand.

Loans and advances also grew by 16 percent from N3.5 trillion in December 2021 to N4.06 trillion in September 2022, boosting the Group’s interest income and displaying the Group’s appetite for high-yielding risk assets creation. As a result of this growth, the capital adequacy ratio reduced from 21 percent to 19.1 percent, while the liquidity ratio reduced from 71.6 percent to 68.9 percent. Both prudential ratios remain very strong and are still well above regulatory thresholds.

In the year’s final quarter, management is determined to sustain the strong performance trajectory while adapting to changes in the regulatory environment and focusing on creative initiatives to mitigate inflationary trends, foreign exchange pressures and the growing competitive environment.

Zenith Bank’s track record of excellent performance has continued to earn the brand numerous awards, including being recognised as Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital, for the 13th consecutive year, in the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine; Best Bank in Nigeria, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the World Finance Banking Awards; Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022; Best in Corporate Governance’ Financial Services’ Africa, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, by the Ethical Boardroom; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria and Best Innovation In Retail Banking, Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards.

Also, the Bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021, Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2020 and Retail Bank of the year at the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards 2020 and 2021.

Similarly, Zenith Bank was honoured as Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020 and emerged winner in four categories at the Sustainability, Enterprise, and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2021, carting home the awards for “Best Company in Reporting and Transparency”, “Best Company in Infrastructure Development”, “Best Company in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment”, and the coveted “Most Responsible Organisation in Africa.

Naira Notes Change: CNPP Hails CBN, Says Only Intending Vote-Buyers, Beneficiaries Of Proceeds of Crimes Will Kick Against Move

By
The Source
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0
Chief Willy Ezugwu

Conference Of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has hailed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over its sudden move to redesign high denominations of Naira notes, including N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes.

The CNPP in a statement issued in Abuja by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, noted that “only politicians who intended to buy votes and financially induce electoral officials, the ignorant of the import of the policy or beneficiaries of proceeds of crimes, including drug barons and kidnappers, will kick against the move by the CBN.”

According to the umbrella association of all registered political parties and political associations in Nigeria, “the effort of the CBN to control the amount of money in circulation, where N2.7 trillion out of the N3.3 trillion currency in circulation was said to be outside the vault of commercial banks across the country, and are found to supposedly be held by members of the public, is of high risk for the country’s economy and her internal security.

“It is therefore obvious that many politicians, especially since 2015, amassed illicit wealth and deplated the national commonwealth to the extent that the currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.2 trillion as of September 2022, according to the CBN data.

“Certainly, this is unacceptable in any economy controlled by sane financial experts.

“The CNPP is glad that the timing for this Naira notes redesign is right as there is no better time than in an election year, especially where politicians have made vote-buying an alternative to convincing the electorates through their track records and capacity to govern beyond rhetoric as well as a commitment to selling the manifestos of their political parties during campaigns.

“In recent times, rather than candidates and their supporters work towards convincing electorates to vote for their preferred political parties, they resort to use of derogatory words against the opposition or fan the embers of ethnicity and religion.

“So, as dramatic as the move may seem, the CNPP is totally in support of the CBN and the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele on this policy initiative and hereby call on all security agencies, including the Directorate of State Services (DSS), the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the ICPC to redouble efforts to reduce insecurity and electoral corruption by placing all politicians contesting in the 2023 general elections on perpetual surveillance.

“We urge the anti-graft units of all security agencies and commissions to use the opportunity created by the new and existing currencies exchange window from December to January 31, 2023 when the existing currencies shall cease to be a legal tender, to monitor illicit campaign financing, money laundering, terror financing, rasom to hostage takers and drug barons.

“In the same vein, bank managers should be banned by the CBN from any form of home delivery of cash to citizens and corporate organizations until after February 1, 2023 to ensure that the country reaps the gains of the CBN monetary policy.

“We urge the CBN to ensure that all exchanges of old notes with new notes should go through the bank accounts of the individuals exchanging large sums of money to as part of efforts to track illicit funds as such individuals and corporations can be made to explain how they came about the large sums of monies to security operatives, especially the EFCC.

“We therefore call on all well-meaning Nigerians, patriotic Whistleblowers and security agencies to ensure that this lifetime opportunities leads to sanity in the Nigerian economy and the political arena as part of efforts in deepening democracy and reduced the number of drug lords and corrupt politicians in office from 2023 general elections.

“We equally commend President Muhammadu Buhari for his approval of the planned redesign of the currency notes, especially at this time”, the CNPP stated.

70% Of Bayelsa Submerged In Flood – Jonathan; Calls For Help

By
The Source
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0

Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has called for support for victims of the devastating flood that has killed hundreds and destroyed several property in many states across the country.

The former President in a statement released by his office after he visited Otuoke his community and other affected areas in Bayelsa State lamented that this year’s heavy flooding has resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the most affected states, adding that the situation requires urgent action and collaboration by all stakeholders.
Dr. Jonathan noted that many states are now helpless, including Bayelsa, his home state with more than 70 percent of its land area already submerged.

The former President said: “I sympathize with the victims of this year’s flood across many states of the federation who have lost loved ones and  properties worth millions. The worsening humanitarian crisis in the affected states calls for urgent action and collaboration by all stakeholders.

“I am touched by the dire situation in some of the affected states, especially my home State Bayelsa where almost all the local government areas  are submerged in water and the East-West Road section leading to the State has become impassable, creating scarcity of food and essential commodities.”

He said further: “Today, I visited Otuoke, my community and a few other communities in Bayelsa State to assess the impact of the flood. It is still a depressing situation in many of the affected communities because of the magnitude of the flood and the disruption and destruction it has caused.

“This is a moment of crisis; we need to work in unity to achieve the goal of giving hope and providing succor to all victims. I urged all citizens  of goodwill and humanitarian agencies to  demonstrate solidarity with these victims and provide support to those affected.”

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