Today, I celebrate a wise man. A provider of sophisticated solutions to complex problems. An unmatched listener & processor of information. A diligent workaholic who sleeps lightly and briefly but works heavily and constantly. A patient teacher and fearless defender of the voiceless.

To a unifying leader and believer in Nigeria who now serves all Nigerians as our President, Happy Birthday!

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Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Official Spokesman of the President

It is in our character as human beings to turn every anniversary into a celebration. There is dancing and rejoicing. Easter is here and what will happen in Christendom was already foreshadowed last Sunday during Palm Sunday processions. Tomorrow which is Good Friday, except in places some young men act the crucifixion of the Lord to remind the world of the brutality and horror visited on the Son of God, Jesus, hardly would seriousness this time calls for be demonstrated. The Palm Sunday is yearly a re-enactment of the enrapturing reception for the Lord during Passover in Jerusalem. Passover was a thanksgiving celebration of the liberation of the Jews by Moses from Pharaoh’s Egypt. The occasion is described as the triumphal entry of the Lord into Jerusalem for the Passover. The reception was, to an unsuspecting great many, deception to entrap the Saviour. The elaborate plan laid out was that His entry would be hailed amidst cries in celebration: “Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (John 12: 13).

It all began from Judas Iscariot who made contact with a Resistant Movement who had been agitating to remove the Roman yoke on the Israelites. They believed rebellion against Caesar, Emperor Tiberius was the answer. Members of the movement were to come for Passover Festival disguised as pilgrims so as not to arouse any suspicion, particularly that of the Romans. The resistance members persuaded themselves that since Christ was the one generally believed to be the Messiah, he perfectly fitted the bill to lead them in the rebellion against Rome. The Romans were to be driven away. By their own understanding the mission of the Messiah must be political. Whether he liked it or not, Jesus was to be proclaimed king.

The grouse of Judas was that the Lord Jesus had no interest in material things. Everywhere Christ spoke His audience was always deeply moved; they watched His healing miracles with awe and in disbelief: The blind received their sight; the lame and infirm walked and He raised the dead. Because of His own love for the material, Judas was always ill-at-ease watching Jesus turning down gifts. Those healed offered their wealth which He always declined. How Judas wished such wealth or sundry gifts were his. He could not understand why in the face of opportunities they, that is, the Lord and His Disciples, could be living from hand to mouth and wandering about like vagrants when as the promised Messiah royal dignity should be His lot. He saw how Jesus held His audience spell-bound and exercised power over them through His Person and His Word. Judas was convinced such power could be converted into pursuit of earthly affairs and made to manifest in an earthly way. It would, in his reckoning, be history fulfilling itself and he being part of that history.

The day of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem with fanfare came, and the reception by the multitude was as the members of the Resistant Movement wished it with the hailing: “Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.” It surprised Jesus and He felt uneasy with it, seeing through it all. He went to the Temple where He addressed the congregants who were ostensibly pilgrims for the Festival. He called for peace and love for and among fellow men. He spoke of submission to the Will of God, the Father. He then went on to command them to love their enemies. The battle-ready pilgrims were astounded by what they heard and their leaders pressed to meet and speak to the Lord personally, knowing the risk they had taken upon themselves. How could they be asked to love their enemies, the enemies they wanted driven out of Israel? The enemies were the Romans. They wanted to seek confirmation from the Lord of what they had laid out as His role to lead the Jews to battle and also receive words of encouragement from Him. But Judas could not arrange it as the danger to which he had exposed the Lord and fellow Disciples dawned on Him. His breach of loyalty would be exposed. His intellectual superiority among his fellow disciples would have proven to be in vain. He alone among the rebellious group knew that the Lord would not allow Himself to be made an earthly king. He could see that the Lord was far distant from the role penciled down He would play.

Before the Passover, the Son of God had raised Lazarus from the dead in Bethany. It was widely believed, not the least by the political establishment that, acts of raising people from the dead were veritable signs that the time of the promised Messiah and concomitantly the liberation and triumph of Israel was at hand. In Jerusalem, the Great Sanhedrin was totally perturbed by the development. They had a special meeting session where they asked themselves: “What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” (John 11: 47-48).

Realizing that his conspiracy had blown up in his face, Judas suffered from inner turmoil and engaged in a fierce inner struggle with himself. He got greatly confused and his turmoil got to the point he grew in hatred for the Lord. He fell into the hands of Caiaphas who soon got persuaded that the hatred Judas had developed for his Master was genuine. The plan was hatched as to how Judas would report the movement of the Lord to the authorities. He pledged that as soon as an opportunity for the arrest of his Master presented itself he would alert Caiaphas, the high priest. When the arrest was effected town–criers went round the streets in Jerusalem to announce it, calling the Lord the fake prophet of Nazareth and a blasphemer. The same crowd that hailed the Lord as the blessed King of Israel asked that He be crucified. It was reported that they had placed all their hopes of national greatness and liberation on the Lord and believed that they had been betrayed whereas it was they that did not have a clear recognition nor the understanding of who Christ was and what His Mission on earth was. He did not come to lead mankind to war, but to show them the way out of chaos and confusion as well as out of the burden of entanglement of the web of sins and wrong-doing. It is revealed in the enlightenment of these times spreading on earth today that “coming from the Highest, from the Luminous Heights of Eternal Truth, in order through His message to draw the human spirits’ attention to their wrong way of living, and to show them the only way leading upwards, the Son of God had no understanding for such futile, fleeting earthly desires as national pride, political influence or the craving for power.

Ernest Schmitt, in his work: ‘The Son of God—Birth and Trial of Jesus (in its Historical, Political and Religious Aspect)’ says: “But when in fulfillment of Divine promises He really did appear, it was just the leading religious circles who, having treated the prophecies about His coming so cheaply in order to make the people tractable for themselves, became his embittered enemies. Every word uttered by the Envoy of God exposed the emptiness of their doctrines, and the arrogance of their claim to leadership. With their power threatened, and seething with hatred, they only schemed how they could silence the troublesome admonisher.

“But even among those who honestly longed for the coming of the Messiah, many a one still passed him by unsuspecting, not being sufficiently alert, and in false expectation dreaming of a different fulfillment. Only a few were able to rise up to a divining of the greatness of the sacrifice that lay just in taking upon Himself the hardship and difficulties of an incarnation. Since also the Divine on earth is subject to the eternal and unchangeable Laws of God, It shows purely outwardly no striking difference from men.

“The impending expectation which should have created the soil for a speedy, joyful recognition of the Promised One actually formed a dividing wall, because those who awaited Him had, in the way of men, pressed it into the demand of their earthly-political worldly wishes. Thereby a connection with the Son of God and His Light-Message was made impossible.”

At the time of the Passover Festival, the priests had sentenced the Son of God to death but they could not have Him arrested because of the throng of the admiring crowd. Members of the priestly establishment unceasingly met to deliberate on an unbearable situation of crowd milling round Jesus, all a threat to their power and influence. They felt that there was no way they would attempt to arrest him and it would not trigger serious disturbances. The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew His whereabouts, the person should report to the authorities for His arrest. (John 11:57). Judas knowing where the Lord could be found with His Disciples –Kidron Valley garden—in line with his promise to Caiaphas, led soldiers and police from the chief priests and the Pharisees armed with lanterns, torches and weapons to arrest the Lord. They tied Him up. He was kicked, scorned, and mocked and a crown of thorns was placed on His Head.

The Nazarene was taken to Pontius Pilate, the representative of Tiberius Augustus. Pilate, who did not see Christ as constituting any threat to Rome, thought of setting Him free. His wife too had warned him not to have hand in any harm to an “innocent man.” She said to her husband: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” (Matthew 27:19). He was determined not to yield to the pressure of the Jews. The Jews had said in reply to Pilate’s questioning on why Jesus was brought before him: “We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Ceasar, saying that he himself is Christ, a King.” (Luke 23: 2). But Pilate returned the verdict of not guilty in favour of the Lord Christ. “I find no fault in this man.” But the crowd instigated by the priests further pressed the case which Pilate had thought was closed after his pronouncement. When the rabble would not give up, he referred the matter to Herod. He was again later to turn to the crowd, saying to them: “I find in him no fault at all. Will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?” And the rabble said they would prefer the release of Barabbas a gang leader being held over accusation of murder. Pilate said for the third time that he found no fault in Jesus the Lord. The crowd answered the appeal for their compassion with an even more hateful and dreadful outcry: “Crucify him!” At this point Caiaphas stepped in, employing political blackmail said to Pilate: “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” (John 19: 12).

In the end the death sentence on the Lord was supported with the invocation of Section 82 of the Jewish law which states: “Even the execution of an innocent person can serve in the maintenance of law and order, and the salvation of God’s people.” Pontus Pilate not wanting to offend Rome and lose his position, washed off his hands, believing that after all it was the people who would bear responsibility for their actions.

I have recounted these developments to show that the Lord Jesus did not come, descending from the Highest Heights, to die in order to take away the sins of humanity. He was dastardly murdered through the conspiracy of the Jewish priestly and political establishments of the era. The Almighty Father could not have sent His Son, to be sacrificial lamb for the sins of us mankind. Even in normal human law it would be totally strange, indeed horrifying and considered a great act of injustice to have an innocent man seized and executed in place of a criminal. The Lord brought peace and love as the Prince of Peace and the Love of God the Father, but was repaid with searing hate and most brutal cruelties and gruesome death simply because the priests and political authorities feared for their hold and influence on the people which might slip off their hands with the presence of the Envoy of God Whom they did not recognize as the Messiah. They whipped up hatred among the people against the Lord Jesus. There is nothing inscrutable about the perfect Laws expressing the Holy Will of the Almighty Creator which is All-Justice and perfection from the very beginning, governing the whole of Creation. Easter Festival, therefore, calls for nothing other than deep reflection and remorsefulness, not revelry. (NEXT WEEK: WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN IT IS SAID: Behold there goes the Lamb of God that beareth the sins of the world”?).

The House of Representatives has berated the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), commercial banks and other financial institutions over alleged questionable transactions and remittances over the Remita platform.

Chairman of the House Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Bamidele Salam, while speaking at the resumed investigative hearing of the committee on Thursday, also queried the payment of N15bn to Remita from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) from 2016 to 2018.

He described it as questionable because the OAGF paid the money without agreement or contract.

In his submission, the Director Banking Services (CBN), Ahmed Abdullahi, said the apex bank sourced an alternative way of remitting revenue, adding that Remita and System Spec were selected because they had been rendering similar services to banks.

Similarly, the Chief Accountant, TSA Department, who represented the Accountant General for the Federation, Oyewole Adewale, said the CBN refused to respond to letters requesting it to reconcile the revenue accrued to the country through TSA.

On his part, the Director, Remita Payment Services Ltd, Aderemi Atanda, while reading the summary of the TSA collection record, said that 10, 20 and 50 per cent were shared among CBN, commercial banks and Remita respectively, noting that the collections were usually not static, that they varied.

[DailyTrust]

Centre for Law and Civil Culture (CLCC) has urged National Assembly to set up an independent inquiry into the killing of 17 officers and soldiers in Delta State on March 14.

It called on National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to probe the incident to prevent a recurrence.

In a statement by Executive Secretary, Abdul Imran, and Deputy Legal Adviser, Oyinkansola Chukwu, the centre said the police should lead the investigations.

“The Army cannot objectively investigate the killings. It is police responsibility.

“CLCC calls on the police not to abdicate its constitutional and statutory responsibility,” it said.

The centre urged the Army to exercise caution and ensure innocent people are not punished for the offence they knew nothing about.

It said Delta State governor, police and other security agencies as well as the press should be given access to the troubled community. 

Describing the killings as “cruel and barbaric”, CLCC commiserated with the Army and the bereaved families.

[TheNation]

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria has expressed support for the move of the Senate to probe the Ways and Means loan to the Federal Government under the administration of former president, Muhammadu Buhari.

 In February, the Senate constituted a nine-member ad hoc committee to probe the disbursement and usage of the N30tn Ways and Means loan obtained by the Buhari administration from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Speaking with journalists recently, the ICAN President, Dr Innocent Okwuosa, welcomed the inquiry by the upper legislative chamber and called on the  CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso to learn from the mistakes of past CBN bosses.

 ICAN President said, “Our expectation is that with the new administration, borrowing will be a thing of the past. However, I will advise CBN should continue to extend Ways and Means to the government but the CBN itself has stated that it will not continue to extend Ways and Means to the government. In fact, this is a good policy from our perspective. So, if CBN should stick to not increasing the Ways and Means that it gives to the government, that’s a policy that we support.

 “I think it is a Fiscal Responsibility Committee that placed a limit on what Ways and Means percentage would be. It’s something around five per cent. When CBN exceeded this, people kept quiet. They should have spoken up so that CBN does not continue to exceed this limit. Now, it is not five per cent, we are talking about N30tn, that’s huge. I understand it’s been converted into bond. But one good thing we support is the fact that the Senate has instituted an inquiry into those Ways and Means. I would guess that the investigation would lead to more revelation and would be a lesson which the present CBN would learn from and would not go into the mistake of the previous CBN.”

Okwuosa urged the CBN to seek alternative means to support government deficit financing and discontinue increasing Ways and Means to the government.

He said, “They could go to the capital market and tie them to projects because each time you have a government deficit, it must be as a result of not having funds to back a project. So, if we want to raise funds for such a project, we (can) do that in the capital market and tie it specifically to the project that we couldn’t provide funding for in the budget. I think that’s the way CBN should go.”

Okwuosa also said that Nigeria would earn more forex if the nation promoted exports to African countries and took advantage of Africa’s free continental trade agreement.

 “If we can also promote trade in Africa, assuming we cannot export to Europe, since we have an Africa Continental Trade Agreement that has come into place. It can be utilised, but we need to utilise it more. I think a combination of all these will increase foreign exchange for us and we begin to see the impact on the exchange rate,” he added.

[Punch]

IT is in the genre of fairy tales. A virtually unknown 43-year-old in 2023, makes a Facebook post alleging that Macky Sall, the ubiquitous President of his country, Senegal, was trampling on the fundamental rights of citizens. His post was in support of jailed opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko and the manipulation of the judiciary to send him to prison for allegedly colluding with terrorist groups, instigating insurrection and endangering state security.

Now, Sall, backed by the power and might of super power, France, was not a man to annoy. For his insolence, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, was seized and thrown into jail like Sonko. It was to intimidate those who opposed the autocrat.

Then, events began to move at a dizzying pace independent of those who sat in prison or the Presidential Palace. Sall was following in the footsteps of fellow French stooge in Africa, Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire. The latter is on an unconstitutional and illegal third term in office. However, Sall failed in his bid to run for an unconstitutional third term. He then devised an insidious way to remain in power; simply postpone the presidential election indefinitely. That was his greatest undoing.

Although backed by the Senegalese parliament, state power, external forces and the quiet acquiesce of many West African Presidents, he could not impose his will as power had left the Presidential Palace for the streets. The dictates of the streets as expressed by popular mass protests was that the election must hold and, Sall must leave at the expiration of his tenure on April 2, 2024.

The parliament, bowing to the pressures of the mass, on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, granted amnesty to political detainees. Clearly in order to reduce the electoral chances of Diomaye and give the ruling party candidate and former Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, better chances, Sall did not release the opposition leaders from prison until Thursday, March 14, that is ten days before the Sunday, March 24, 2024 presidential election. Diomaye was on the ballot as Sonko had been barred. His message to the people was simple: “Diomaye is Sonko”.

The campaign against him that he never held any high office, was never a parliamentarian, minister and as such, has zero leadership experience, counted in his favour. He has never been part of the rot that saw Senegal to its underdeveloped and malnourished state. He emerge as a ‘Mister Clean’. Who better to midwife change than a person who has not been part of the rotten past?

The man who was sitting in prison while other candidates were campaigning, and whose face was virtually unrecognisable, emerged from the shadows and was given a one-way ticket to the Presidential Palace by the electorate. He received more than 54 per cent of the vote, while Amadou Ba came a distant second with over 35 per cent and, third placed candidate, Aliou Mamadou Dia, won 2.8 per cent. Diomaye said: “By electing me, the Senegalese people have chosen to break with the past. I promise to govern with humility and transparency.”

Diomaye is now set to send President Sall packing for the good of the Senegalese and African people and to the glory of humanity. For me, in order to strengthen democratic principles and make dictatorship unattractive, Sall should be tried for his manifest crimes. First, he endangered Senegal by subverting democracy, including the fundamental rights of the people to freedom of movement and fair hearing. Secondly, he illegally detained people without a right to have their day in court. Thirdly, his government reportedly murdered at least 20 Senegalese for daring to protest against growing dictatorship. Fourthly, he illegally dissolved the opposition, Patriots of Senegal, PASTEF, party. Fifth, for unilaterally, unconstitutionally and illegally postponing the February 25 presidential election. Sixth, for illegally attempting to extend his presidential tenure by postponing the presidential election and handover date indefinitely.

The Senegalese did not vote for Diomaye, a man they hardly knew or could recognise. Rather, they voted for an idea, for hope and for a desired future. The pathway to that future, according to the Pan Africanist President-elect, include constitutional changes which will separate the judiciary from the executive, drastically reducing the powers of the President, including creating the office of the Vice President. It includes an uncompromising war against corruption and drastic reduction of the 20 per cent unemployment in a population of 17 million.

But the ultimate goal, is to snatch the sovereignty of the country from France; a sort of second independence that would transform the flag independence Senegal was given on August 2, 1960, to a real independence that would include economic, financial and social independence from France. The plan of the emergent powers in Senegal include a currency change from the French-controlled CFA Franc because, as Diomaye argues: “There’s no sovereignty if there’s no monetary sovereignty.” Although the proposed currency transition might have been made easier by the September 16, 2023 decision of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to exit the Franc and establish a new common currency, the Eco, Senegal would need to be tactical as its funds are in the bowels of the French Central Bank.

Other plans include renegotiating mining rights as Niger recently did with spectacular economic gains and, revisiting energy contracts as Senegal is set to become an oil producing country this year.

These are the real issues that would define the Diomaye Presidency; whether it will be a success or a failure like that of Sall. The steps will also determine whether France and its Western allies would allow Senegal develop or try to strangulate it by little veiled sanctions, vile propaganda, falsehood, instigation or even coup.

Interestingly, Senegal is the only country in the 16 West African countries that has never witnessed a coup. But faced with real change and a shrinking neo-colony made smaller by the military revolts in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic, France would do anything to keep Senegal, a subservient neo-colony like Cote d’Ivoire.

Whatever it is, in the fog of uncertainty across Africa, including wars and dictatorship, Senegal has lit a fire to give us some illumination. As it is, Senegal itself has little time as Diomaye’s presidency begins on April 2, 2024 heralding a possible new age for Africa.

In the past two decades, West Africans have clamoured for change from the rotten past. In some cases, the change was stalled, in some, it was delivered through the barrel of the gun. However, what Senegal has shown us is that, despite the odds, true change can be delivered through the ballot box. But there is a caveat: as United States President John Kennedy said on March 13, 1962: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent change inevitable.”

•Int’l commercial banks get N500bn as minimim
•National Commercial banks N200bn
•Banks given 24mths deadline

The top five banks have a shortfall of N1.5 trillion to meet the new minimum capital base announced yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN for international commercial banks.

In a statement yesterday, the CBN unveiled new minimum capital requirements for banks, raising the minimum capital base for commercial banks with international authorisation by 900 per cent to N500 billion from N50 billion.

Confirming this in Abuja, yesterday in a statement, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali said the new minimum capital base for commercial banks with national authorisation is now 200 Billion, representing 700 per cent increase from N25 billion.

She also disclosed that the new requirement for commercial banks with regional authorization has been raised to N50 billion, representing 400 per cent increase from N10 billion.

Mrs. Sidi Ali also disclosed that the new minimum capital for merchant banks would be N50 Billion, while the new requirements for non-interest banks with national and regional authorisations are N20 Billion and N10 Billion, respectively.

A circular signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Mr. Haruna Mustafa, to all commercial, merchant, and non-interest banks and promoters of proposed banks emphasized that all banks are required to meet the minimum capital requirement within 24 months commencing from April 1, 2024, and terminating on March 31, 2026

According to the circular, the move, initially disclosed by the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, in his address to the Annual Bankers’ Dinner in November 2023, was to enhance banks’ resilience, solvency, and capacity to continue supporting the growth of the Nigerian economy.

To enable them to meet the minimum capital requirements, the CBN urged banks to consider inject fresh equity capital through private placements, rights issues and/or offers for subscription; Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As); and/or upgrade or downgrade of license authorisation.

Furthermore, the circular disclosed that the minimum capital shall comprise paid-up capital and share premium only. It stressed that the new capital requirement shall not be based on the Shareholders’ Fund.

“Additional Tier 1 (AT1) Capital shall not be eligible for meeting the new requirement. Notwithstanding the capital increase, banks are to ensure strict compliance with the minimum capital adequacy ratio (CAR) requirement applicable to their license authorisation.

“In line with extant regulations, banks that breach the CAR requirement shall be required to inject fresh capital to regularise their position,” it added.

The CBN circular said the minimum capital requirement for proposed banks shall be paid-up capital, adding that the new minimum capital requirement shall apply to all new applications for banking licenses submitted after April 1, 2024.

It noted that the CBN would continue to process all pending applications for banking licenses for which a capital deposit had been made and/or an Approval-in-Principle (AIP) had been granted. However, it said that the promoters of such proposed banks would make up the difference between the capital deposited with the CBN and the new capital requirement no later than March 31, 2026.

Meanwhile, the CBN said all banks are required to submit an implementation plan (clearly indicating the chosen option(s) for meeting the new capital requirement and various activities involved with their timelines) no later than April 30, 2024. The CBN also disclosed that it would l monitor and ensure compliance with the new requirements within the specified timeline.

Top banks and capital shortfall

Under the new minimum capital requirement, each of the top five banks namely Access Bank, FirstBank, GTBank, UBA and Zenith Bank must have N500 billion as a minimum capital base.

The CBN however said the minimum capital requirement is limited to paid-up capital and share premium.

Consequently, the five banks are supposed to have combined paid-up capital and share premium of N2.5 trillion.

Vanguard findings, based on the latest financial results of the bank showed that the combined paid-up capital and share premium of the top five banks amounted to N1.037 trillion, representing a shortfall of N1.472 trillion.

Based on the stipulation of the CBN, Access Corporation, the parent company of Access Bank has paid-up capital and share premium of N251.811 billion according to its 2023 full-year result released yesterday hence a shortfall of N248.189 billion.
FBN Holdings, the parent company of FirstBank has paid-up capital and share premium of N251.3 billion, hence a shortfall of N248.66 billion, according to its Q3’23 results

The paid-up capital and share premium of GTHoldco, the parent company of GTBank stands at N138.186 billion as of Q3’23, hence a shortfall of N361.814 billion

UBA has paid-up capital and share premium of N115.815 billion, hence a shortfall of N384.185 billion according to its Q3’23
Zenith Bank has a paid-up capital and share premium of N270.745 billion, hence a shortfall of N229.255 billion.

[Vanguard]

President Bola Tinubu has appointed Abdullahi Usman Bello as the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) chairman.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, said the appointment is pending confirmation by the senate.

Ngelale said, “Tinubu believes that Bello will lead the bureau with utmost integrity toward the realisation of its mandate of maintaining high standards of public morality in the conduct of government business”.

“Dr. Bello is a consummate professional with more than 25 years of work experience in consulting, banking, law enforcement, financial services, and academia,” the statement reads.

Bello is an assistant forensic accounting and auditing professor at Northumbria University, United Kingdom, his profile on LinkedIn revealed.

If his appointment is confirmed by the senate, it will lay to rest, the leadership tussle in the bureau.

In November 2023, Murtala Kankia, the acting chairman of CCB, debunked the claim that Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, a former member of the house of representatives, had been appointed to replace him at the bureau.

Earlier, a letter purportedly signed by George Akume, the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), announced the appointment of Agbonayinma by Tinubu as the chairman of CCB.

But in an internal memo released by Kankia and sighted by TheCable, the acting chairman of CCB described the letter as “fake, misleading and does not emanate from the office of the secretary to the government of the federation”.

Kankia had said he is the most senior ranking member of the bureau, adding that he remains the acting chairman of the agency until further directives from the president.

[TheCable]