The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Zenith, Providus, and Jaiz banks have reportedly been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following their link to fraud allegations surrounding suspended and former Ministers of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu and Sadiya Umar-Farouq.

A source close to The Guardian confirmed the development saying Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu (Zenith Bank), Haruna Musa (Jaiz Bank), and Walter Akpani (Providus Bank) were arrested on Tuesday.

The source revealed further that they have been suspected of facilitating the improper diversion of public funds into private accounts.

Speaking further, the source said EFCC is working on unearthing suspicious transactions involving hefty sums of public money going into private accounts involving both Edu and Farouq during their tenures as ministers.

Recall that Farouq, a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs under the Presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, was accused of embezzling N37 billion meant for the conditional cash transfer program under Buhari’s tenure.

Meanwhile, Betta on the other hand was accused of fraud involving the sum of N585.189.

Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election has faulted the recent National Assembly’s approval of President Bola Tinubu’s request for the securitisation of outstanding N7.3 trillion ways and means debt balance.

While Ways and Means is a loan facility through which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) provides short-term financing to cover the government’s budget shortfalls, securitisation is the practice of pooling together various types of debt instruments and selling them as bonds to investors.

Reacting to the development in a statement issued via his verified X page, Obi described the securitisation as “illegal”.

“This is the time when we need to go beyond politics and partisan grandstanding to address the fundamental issues of rational economic management. I am afraid that the current administration is not paying sufficient attention to issues of rational economic management,” he said.

The LP’s presidential candidate said former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration also got the senate to approve N22.7 trillion in ways and means borrowing from the CBN, barely 26 days to the end of the eight-year tenure.

“In seven years, CBN lending to the Buhari government had climbed 2700% in flagrant violation of the CBN Act,” the former Anambra governor said.

“Indifferent to the illegality of the excessive ways and means borrowing, the national assembly still approved the new Tinubu administration’s request for an N7.3 trn securitization of the existing ways and means facility just before considering the 2024 budget proposals.

“No questions asked. No explanations were sought as to the precise purpose of these borrowings all within the seven-month tenure of this government.

“Ordinarily, minimum public accountability should require that the president and his administration offer more specific explanations about the purpose of these borrowings. But so far, all we have been told is that these borrowings are meant to fund ‘capital’ expenditure,” he said.

Samuel Eto’o, a former captain of Cameroon has asserted that Africans are more gifted football players than Europeans.

Eto’o who made the assertion on Tuesday said that an African nation can triumph in the FIFA World Cup with ease.

Speaking before this weekend’s 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the former Barcelona and Chelsea player noted (via SportBible’s Instagram handle): “Africans have a lot of talent, Europeans a bit less.

“I don’t see why an African country will not win a World Cup. It’s one of the easiest things to do. It’s just a couple of football matches.”

Former France, Barcelona and Arsenal striker, Thierry Henry, has revealed that he struggled with his mental health during his career, adding that he “must have been in depression.”

The 46-year-old ended his glittering 20-year club career in 2014, which also included stints at Monaco, Juventus and New York Red Bulls.

He scored 228 goals for Arsenal during his two spells, winning two Premier League titles before moving to Barça, where he won a pair of LaLiga titles as well as the Champions League.

A World Cup winner with France, Henry has also managed Arsenal’s youth teams, served as assistant coach of Belgium, and was the head coach of Monaco and Montreal Impact in MLS. He was appointed as the head coach of France under-21s in August.

“Throughout my career, and since I was born, I must have been in depression,” Henry told The Diary Of A CEO podcast.

“Did I know it? No. Did I do something about it? No. But I adapted to a certain way.”

Henry said it had been a difficult time for him during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was managing Montreal.

“I was in isolation in Montreal, and not being able to see my kids for a year was tough,” he added.

“Tears were coming alone. Why I don’t know, but maybe they were there for a very long time.”

[Leadership]

Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand has warned Axel Disasi that he could lose his spot at Chelsea next season if Thiago Silva remains at the Premier League club.

Since his £38.5 million move from Monaco last summer, Disasi has made 22 appearances for the Blues.

The defender has played at both centre-back and right-back under Mauricio Pochettino due to injuries.

Silva’s future at Stamford Bridge remains uncertain, with the 39-year-old’s contract due to expire at the end of the season.

The Brazilian remains one of Chelsea’s standout performers and Ferdinand feels he should partner Levi Colwill if he extends his stay at Stamford Bridge for another campaign.

“I don’t think he gets to play.

“Next season I’d keep Thiago Silva still and I’d play Colwill left centre-back,” Ferdinand said on Vibe With Five when asked about Disasi’s start at Chelsea.

[DailyPost]

Popular traditional chief in Ogun state, Adeyinka Folarin, the Baasegun of the Itunsokun village in the state, has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

He was shot at his Sagamu residence around 8:00 p.m. on Monday, January 9, by the gunmen suspected to be cultists. 

The tragic incident was confirmed by two traditional rulers seeking acknowledgment.

One of the traditional rulers said: “The information is correct but I don’t have much information about the incident. We heard that the chief who is a popular traditional chief and member of the Akarigbo in-council was killed last night. He is popularly called Baasegun, we however can’t say these are the people who did these terrible acts. We leave the police and other security agencies to do their job.”

According to a Sagamu local government employee who preferred anonymity, the incident also forced the LG employees to quickly end their workday to save their lives. 

The source said: “Already, tension is very high in the town as I speak to you, workers are already moving out of the local government secretariat to avoid being caught in any form of crisis. Many are saying the man was killed by cultists but no one could really confirm this, the information is still scanty now.”

However, the spokeswoman for the Ogun state Police Command, SP Omolola, is yet to confirm the incident. 

[TheNation]

President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday approved “cost-cutting” measures that involves slashing, by 60%, official entourage on local and international travels.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, revealed this while briefing State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

Ngelale said the directive applied to the Offices of the President, Vice President, First Lady, Wife of the Vice President and all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

He said, “President Bola Tinubu has approved that anywhere he travels within this country he will no longer accept or allow huge security delegations to be following him from Abuja, which attracts massive bills with respect to estacode and duty allowances from now on.

“He has approved a massive cost-cutting exercise that will cut across the entire Federal Government of Nigeria and the Offices of the President himself, the Vice President and the Office of the First Lady. It will be conducted in the following fashion.

“On international trips, the President has directed that no more than 20 individuals be allowed to travel with him. That number will be cut down to five in the case of the First Lady. Additionally, the number in the entourage on official international trips for the Vice President will be cut to five. The number that will be placed as a limit on the wife of the Vice President is also five.

“In terms of local trips, the President has approved a new limit of 25 members of staff to accompany him on domestic trips. within the country.

Ngelale noted that the Office of the First Lady and that of the Wife of the Vice President is now limited to 10 staff members on official trips within the country.

The Vice President will be limited to 15 members of staff on official trips within the country.

The presidential spokesman said ministers are now limited to four persons for foreign trips while heads of agencies can only travel with two persons.

Ngelale added, “By this directive, every minister will be limited to having not more than four members of staff going with them to any event anywhere in the world. In the case of CEOs of agencies, they will be limited to two staff going with them to anywhere in the world.”

Tuesday’s development came four weeks after the Tinubu administration came under harsh criticism for conveying a massive entourage to the COP28 Climate Change Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Details shortly…

[Punch]

The Presidency has refuted media reports that President Bola Tinubu summoned the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, for questioning at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Reports have it that Tunji-Ojo was summoned in relation to links between him and a company said to be involved in the financial mismanagement involving the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is said to have given a consultancy contract to the tune of N438 million, for the National Social Register to New New Planet Projects Ltd, a company the interior Minister is linked to.

The Interior Minister had come under fire for alleged involvement in a 438.1 million consultancy contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

It was gathered that Tunji-Ojo has since left the Presidential Villa after a meeting with President Tinubu but he was silent about the purpose of the visit.

According to Vanguard, a presidency source has denied media reports that the minister was summoned over the scandal.

The source said, “We are too intelligent to be stupid.”

It is understood that the company, New Planet Project Limited, was one of the numerous consultants awarded contracts from N3 billion given out by the suspended minister for the National Social Register contract.

In a document posted by the editor of a media platform, Pointblank News, Jackson Ude, Tunji-Ojo’s New Planet Project Limited was initially paid N279 million for verification of the list and another N159 million for the same purpose.

But in an appearance on Politics Today on Monday, the minister refuted being a Director in the company, stressing that he resigned years ago from the company.

The minister added that he resigned from the company in 2019 and has no current link with the management of the company.

[NaijaNews]

French President Emmanuel Macron has just appointed 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal as France’s new Prime Minister on Tuesday.

This move is aimed at Macron’s second term ahead of the European Parliament elections.

Although the appointment does not imply a major political shift, it signifies Macron’s intent to move beyond last year’s unpopular pension and immigration reforms, aiming to enhance his centrist party’s prospects in the upcoming EU ballot in June.

Opinion polls indicate Macron’s camp is trailing the far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s party by approximately eight to 10 percentage points.

Attal, a close ally of Macron, gained prominence as the government spokesman during the COVID pandemic. He is set to replace the outgoing Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

Attal, among the country’s most popular politicians in recent polls, has earned a reputation as a skilled minister comfortable in various media formats.

Macron, concluding 2023, had previously announced his intention to unveil new political initiatives.

What Macron said

In his message to Attal, Macron said,

• “I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the project of revitalization and regeneration that I announced”.

Attal will be France’s youngest Prime Minister and the first to be openly gay. Also, he and Macron have a combined age just below that of Joe Biden, who is running for a second mandate in this year’s U.S. presidential election.

Macron has struggled to deal with a more turbulent parliament since losing his absolute majority shortly after being re-elected in 2022.

About Gabriel Attal

Gabriel Attal, born on March 16, 1989, is a French politician affiliated with the Renaissance Party, currently serving as Prime Minister since January 9, 2024. He has a diverse background, studied law, and engaged in political activism from a young age.

Attal’s career includes roles such as advisor to the Minister of Health and Member of the French National Assembly. Notably, he became the spokesperson for La République En Marche! in 2018 and later held ministerial positions.

On October 16, 2018, at 29, Attal became the youngest member of a government in the Fifth Republic as Secrétaire d’État.

He later served as Minister of Public Action and Accounts and Minister of National Education and Youth.

Following Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne’s resignation, Attal, at 34, assumed the role of France’s youngest and first openly gay leader on January 9, 2024.

Despite his political success, Attal has faced online hate speech due to his identity, including antisemitic and homophobic attacks.

[Nairametrics]

The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has urged President Bola Tinubu to investigate the Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo following the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu. NANS alleges that Tunji-Ojo should be probed over his alleged involvement in a N438.1 million consultancy contract with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. This was stated in a release signed by NANS President, Pedro Obi, on Tuesday.

Betta Edu was suspended for reportedly transferring N585 million of Federal Government funds into a personal account. There are also claims that a company allegedly owned by Tunji-Ojo, New Planet Project Limited, received N438.1 million for consultancy services from Edu’s ministry.

Tunji-Ojo, speaking on a TV program, admitted his association with the company but stated that he resigned in 2019 when he ran for the House of Representatives. He emphasized that, while he remains a shareholder, he is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.

NANS President insists that Tunji Ojo’s involvement in the N438.1 million consultancy fee should also be investigated. The NANS president’s statement expressed concern about the financial misdoings at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, calling for extensive investigation into the spending under the supervision of the suspended Minister, Betta Edu. Furthermore, they emphasized the need for the prosecution of anyone found wanting in accordance with the law.