Author: The Nation

Barely a week to the expiration of the use of old naira notes in the country, traders in Kwara State have refused to accept the old currency notes.

The Nation’s findings revealed the old notes are still being dispensed by some banks automatic teller machines (ATMs) in the State
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This is antithetical to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)‘s directive to commercial banks on the need to dispense the new notes through their ATMs.

Scores of fish and meat sellers are the worst hit in this quagmire.

A pepper soup seller, who simply gave her name as Wunmi, told our correspondent from Thursday January 26th, she would accept cash of old naira notes from her customers.

She added: “From Thursday any customer that does not have new currency can do electronic payment.”

Investigation revealed that at the Abubakar Olusola Saraki Abattoir, Akerebiata, Ilorin, on Tuesday some meat sellers were turned back because they did not have the new naira notes.

A retail meat seller, Yetunde, said she went to the abattoir on Tuesday but could not purchase meat because of her inability to present new notes.

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“I was at the abattoir on the fateful day but I did not get meat to buy. My customer did not have cows to slaughter as sellers in far north refused to accept old naira notes. Only butchers that have cows in stock are the ones selling meat to us. I have not been able to supply meat to my customers since Tuesday this week,” Yetunde added.

Same thing goes for Dupe Imam, a fish sellers.

She narrated the ordeal of her colleagues in the hands of suppliers at Gbugbu Market, Edu local government area.

“Today (Wednesday) is the Gbugbu Market day. Unfortunately, many of us did not go as the sellers would not accept old naira notes.

“Many of our customers who are predominantly Nupe do not have bank accounts so without new notes they would sell their fish to you,” she said.

The Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) will on Thursday hear more eyewitness accounts of the killing of a Lagos-based lawyer, Mrs. Omobolanle Raheem, on Christmas Day, allegedly by an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr. Drambi Vandi.

Expected to enter the witness box as third and fourth prosecution witnesses are the deceased’s husband Gbenga Raheem and her sister.

Justice Ibironke Harrison fixed the date Wednesday after concluding the testimonies of the first two prosecution witnesses, Mr. Matthew Ameh and Mr. Fiyegha Ebimine – both Police Inspectors.

The Lagos State Government on January 16 began Vandi’s prosecution for the alleged murder.

Its Attorney-General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyo Onigbanjo, SAN, arraigned Vandi on a one-count charge of murder.

The charge, dated December 28, 2022, and marked LD/20598c/22, alleged that Vandi killed Raheem contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

“ASP Vandi on the 25th of December 2022 at Ajah roundabout along Lekki-Epe Expressway Lagos in the Lagos Judicial Division unlawfully killed one Omobolanle Raheem (F) by shooting her in the chest,” it read.

Vandi pleaded not guilty.

At the resumption of proceedings Wednesday, Vandi’s lawyer, Adetokunbo Odutola completed his cross-examination of Inspector Ameh, which he began on January 16.

Ameh repeated his testimony that on the day and at the scene of the killing, he heard “a noise” indicating that Mrs. Raheem had been shot.

Responding to Odutola’s query, the witness explained that the noise he referenced in his statement could not have been anything else but a gunshot sound.

“When you hear the sound of a banger, it is different from a gunshot sound. A tyre bust sound is different from a gunshot sound,” Ameh added.

Upon entering the witness stand, Ebimine was led in evidence by Onigbanjo.

He confirmed Ameh’s testimony that they were in a three-man team led by Vandi on the day of the shooting.

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He further corroborated Ameh’s account of the shooting, saying he also heard the “noise” shortly after the deceased and her husband slowly drove past him and Ameh in a Toyota Venza

“One woman was in the passenger seat, a man was driving. I flagged the vehicle down. It didn’t stop. They passed me. I wondered why. He was not speeding. Ameh also flagged him down but he didn’t stop,” Ebimine said

He said shortly after, he heard “a gunshot from the back. I asked Ameh, ‘What is going on?’”

The witness told the court that afterwards a crowd gathered and swooped on Vandi, brought him out of a Korope (commercial minibus) where he hid and put him in the deceased’s car.

“I was trying to find out what was going on. I called Vandi on the phone to find out. I said ‘Oga, what happened?’ He said ‘wait.’,” Ebimine said.

He testified that Vandi’s response was the same when he called him again some minutes later.

Responding to questions from Onigbanjo, the witness said the Venza posed no threat to him or the public when it drove past.

Onigbanjo: “As the Toyota Venza drove past, was there any threat to your life?”

Ebimine: “No, no, no, no.”

Onigbanjo: “As the Venza approached, was there any threat to the general public?”

Ebimine: “No, they were peace there.”

The witness, who earlier stated that he was armed, denied firing his weapon.

Following Odutola’s cross-examination, he hinted at his intention to visit the scene of the crime, adding that he would also like to examine the ballistics trport for tge weapon and ammuntion allegedly used by Vandi.

Justice Harrison advised the lawyer to make a formal application and adjourned till Thursday for continuation of trial.

Bolanle, 41, a property lawyer with over 10 years of call-to-bar experience was killed on Christmas Day during a stop and search duty in the Ajah area of Lagos.

Vandi, attached to the Ajiwe Police Station in Ajah, Lagos, is accused of shooting Raheem while she was returning from an outing with her husband, sister and other family members.

Immediate past Adamawa Governor Senator Jibrilla Bindow has finally defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Bindow confirmed this when contacted on Wednesday, laying to rest his long speculated exit from the party.

The Nation reports that rumours have been on after the governorship primary of the party which he lost to Senator Aishatu Ahmed Binani last year, that he had left the party when he kept denying.

Bindow who was Senator for Adamawa North District from 2011 to 2015 initially in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before defecting to APC towards the 2015 election, and Governor from 2015 to 2019 under the APC, formally declared his exit from the APC via a letter on Tuesday evening.

In the letter to the APC chairman in his Kolere Ward in Mubi North LGA, Bindow said that unresolved crisis within the party in the State informed his defection.

He said events of the 2019 general election and the 2022 Governorship primary remained the main reasons for his decision.

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Bindow, who flew the APC governorship ticket in the 2019, lost the poll because of division within the APC, following which many notable members, especially those who lost the 2019 ticket of the APC to him, reportedly worked against him.

Bindow is one of at least two governorship aspirants of the APC believed not to have fully accepted the outcome of the APC primary which produced Senator Aishatu Ahmed Binani as the candidate for the March 11 governorship election.

Bindow said in his resignation latter that lack of genuine reconciliation with aggrieved stakeholders within the party in Adamawa State since the governorship primary of last year has particularly made him uncomfortable in the APC.

He has not expressively stated the party he is joining, but he is most likely headed for the PDP which his support group has recently been associating with in no secret manner.