President Muhammadu Buhari has issued a warning to leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against “name-calling and distractions” as the party prepares for its national convention.

Buhari’s warning was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman.

Over the past days, governors and other stakeholders in APC have engaged in back-and-forth criticism over the arrangements for the party’s national convention scheduled to hold on March 26.

Amid the controversy over the zoning of national offices also came the change in leadership of the APC national caretaker committee, with Abubakar Sani Bello, governor of Niger, now in charge of the party’s affairs, while Mai Mala Buni, chair of the committee, is said to be away on a medical trip.

Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo, had claimed that some of his colleagues were working against the convention, and described them as “Yahoo Yahoo” governors.

In the statement, Buhari criticised the “infighting” in the party, and warned that distractions of any sort in relation to the convention must stop.

“Yes, we are entitled to our own share of dissent and intra-party discord. These are common in all parties, left and right all over the world. But parties splintered by competing egos destine themselves to the worst possible fate,” he was quoted as saying.

“As the country prepares for the long run up to the 2023 presidential election, we all expect a robust debate on the issues that matter and what is going in the APC should be a reflection of this, not the infighting we are seeing.

“There must be no more distractions ahead of the convention to choose new leaders.”

The Cable

The U.S. will resume legal proceedings to confiscate more than $150 million it says was laundered by a leading member of Nigeria’s ruling party after attempts to reach an out-of-court settlement failed.

The Justice Department has been trying to seize four investment portfolios held in trust for Abubakar Bagudu and his family since 2013. The U.S. alleges Bagudu, 60, was part of a network controlled by former dictator Sani Abacha that misappropriated billions of dollars from state coffers in the 1990s.

Bagudu is governor of Nigeria’s northern state of Kebbi and heads an influential body of governors representing the ruling All Progressives Congress. His brother Ibrahim, who is entitled to an annuity from the assets, is challenging the forfeiture in a federal court in Washington.

While the parties obtained a stay from the judge in early 2020 to discuss “a potential negotiated resolution,” the U.S. now believes the talks have reached an “impasse” and the case is set to restart, the two sides said in a joint report on March 2. Still, Ibrahim Bagudu is “amenable to continuing settlement discussions while litigation resumes,” as he is of the view that an out-of-court resolution remains possible, according to the filings.

The U.S. and Ibrahim have been trying to negotiate a broader settlement that includes his brother as well as the Nigerian and U.K. governments, court filings show. A U.K. court froze the investment portfolios in 2014 following a request from the U.S.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has said it is unable to assist the U.S. because it is bound by a settlement Abubakar Bagudu reached with a previous administration in 2003. This arrangement allowed Bagudu to return $163 million to the Nigerian authorities, which in exchange dropped all outstanding civil and criminal claims against him, according to court filings.

The government and Bagudu concluded a new agreement in 2018 that would see ownership of the investment portfolios -- worth 141 million euros ($154 million) in late 2019 -- transferred to the Nigerian state, which would then pay 98.5 million euros to Bagudu and his affiliates, according to U.S. court documents. Buhari’s administration has applied to the U.K. court to unfreeze the assets.

The U.S. Justice Department said in February 2020 it had asked the Nigerian government to withdraw litigation it had commenced in the U.K. that was hindering its efforts to forfeit laundered funds held in Bagudu’s name.

The Justice Department declined to comment. A spokesman for Nigerian Attorney General Abubakar Malami and lawyers for the Bagudu brothers didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg

Just one pint of beer or average glass of wine a day may begin to shrink the overall volume of the brain, a new study has found, and the damage worsens as the number of daily drinks rises.

On average, people at age 50 who drank a pint of beer or 6-ounce glass of wine (two alcohol units) a day in the last month had brains that appeared two years older than those who only drank a half of a beer (one unit), according to the study, which published Friday in the journal Nature.

The brains of people that age who said they drank three alcohol units a day had reductions in both white and gray matter that looked as if they had added 3.5 years to the ages of their brains.

One alcohol unit is 10 milligrams or 8 grams of pure alcohol. That means 25 milligrams or a single shot of liquor is one unit; a 16-ounce can of beer or cider is two units; and a standard 6-ounce glass of wine (175 milligrams) is two units.

The brains of nondrinkers who began consuming an average of one alcohol unit a day showed the equivalent of a half a year of aging, according to the study.

In comparison, drinking four alcohol units a day aged a person's brain by more than 10 years.

"It's not linear. It gets worse the more you drink," first author Remi Daviet, an assistant professor of marketing in the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in a statement.

"A problem in this study is that they only have information on people's drinking habits for the one year prior to the (brain) imaging," said alcohol researcher Emmanuela Gakidou, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington.

"I think this is a major limitation of the study as it's likely that the cumulative consumption of alcohol throughout one's lifetime is associated with the brain, not just the level of consumption right before the images were taken," she added.

"The relationship between alcohol and health is complex, and our understanding of that relationship is evolving over time. Based on this study, I would not really draw any definitive conclusions, but I would say that the authors have identified areas for further research."

Benefits of alcohol?

Doctors used to believe that moderate amounts of alcohol could provide a health benefit, especially to the heart and the brain, but recent research has called that assumption into question. A number of studies have found no amount of drinking to be healthy, and the World Heart Federation recently published a policy brief saying there is "no level of alcohol consumption that is safe for health."

"Small amounts of alcohol are associated with health benefits for some conditions, such as ischemic heart disease and diabetes, but harmful for others, such as road traffic accidents and breast cancer," Gakidou said, adding there are others, such as a stroke, where the outcome isn't clear.

"There isn't really a simple answer for a given individual," she said. "Based on what we do know at this time, whether small amounts of alcohol are beneficial or harmful for an individual depends on that person's health status and their risk profile. ... Are they more prone to heart disease or cancer?"

Brain scans and large study size

The report analyzed data from more than 36,000 people who took part in the UK Biobank study, which houses in-depth genetic and health information on more than 500,000 middle-aged adults living in the United Kingdom.

People in the study had provided information on the number of drinks they had each week in the previous year and had undergone an MRI brain scan. Researchers compared their scans with images of typical aging brains and then controlled for such variables as age, sex, smoking status, socioeconomic status, genetic ancestry and overall head size.

"The fact that we have such a large sample size allows us to find subtle patterns, even between drinking the equivalent of half a beer and one beer a day," coauthor Gideon Nave, an assistant professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

"Having this dataset is like having a microscope or a telescope with a more powerful lens," Nave said. "You get a better resolution and start seeing patterns and associations you couldn't before."

He told CNN that is why this study was able to find a more distinct pattern of association between drinking and brain volume than past studies. However, he added, the results are just that -- an association -- as the study could not prove cause and effect.

"Our study is by far the largest investigation of the topic," Nave said. "It uses a general population sample, and it controls for more confounds than before. As such, it provides overwhelmingly more evidence than any previous investigations and gets us closer to settling the debate."

However, the study left a number of questions unanswered, such as a person's cognitive engagement, Gakidou said.

"I believe that there is sufficient evidence that suggests that brain function decays faster among those that are not engaged in intellectually stimulating activities, either through work or hobbies," she said.

"My main criticism is that the authors are overinterpreting the findings of their study and drawing conclusions that are not necessarily supported by what is presented in the paper. I do not see a significant trend in their graphs, and so I'm not convinced by the conclusions."

CNN

A yet-to- be- identified dispatch rider was beaten to pulp at the Sangotedo area of Lagos for allegedly stealing a child .

Witnesses said the stolen child was found and recovered in a dispatch box of the suspect.

It was gathered that the dispatch rider was picked at a traffic when someone overhead the crying of a baby in the dispatch box.

The whistleblower was said to have raised the alarm which attracted passersby who rescued the child and pummeled the suspect and were about lynching him before he was rescued by security agents.

However, in a swift reaction, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the case has not been reported to any police station or formation in the state.

He has called for the parents of the said stolen child and those who were still holding the suspect to report to the nearest police station .

He said,” the attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a video going viral on social media alleging that a dispatch rider was caught with a stolen child in dispatch box.

“The command wishes to inform the public that the incident said to have taken place in Sangotedo area, Lekki, was not reported at any police station to enable the police take appropriate actions.

“Notwithstanding that the incident was not reported, Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, has directed that efforts should be intensified to locate the whereabouts of the alleged dispatch rider and the parents or guardians of the child to enable the police investigate the incident”.

Lauretta Fagbohun, Ogun

Araromi Ajegunle Community in Sagamu area of Ogun state has called on Governor Dapo Abiodun and the state House of Assembly to save them from alleged forceful take over of their lands, by a Chinese company before it degenerates into full crisis.

The agitated residents of the area who cried out in a protest said "the Chinese guarded by armed military men have invaded their community and forcefully taken over their lands", describing the act as illegal. 

They chanted solidarity songs and marched to the construction site of the Chinese company carrying placards with various inscriptions, such as "Ogun state government, please save us from foreign invaders in disguise of investors", "Stop encroaching on our community land. Respect court order", "We say no to illegal activities of ministry of lands", We Ajegule Araromi youth association are tired of land grabbers, Mr. Governor act very fast" and "Enough is Enough! Mr. Governor act now" among others.

They alleged that, the immediate past administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun in 2013, under the guise of using the land to build a trailer park, acquired their land, but instead sold it to the Chinese company without giving them any compensation.

The community leader, Chief Amos Adesanya who spoke on behalf of the protesters alleged that, no fewer than 500 structures have been demolished by the Chinese and the land taken over without compensation paid to the owners.

Adesanya lamented the continued silence of the government on the issue following the claim by the Chinese that they have paid an undisclosed amount of money to the government to acquire over 500 hectares of their lands.

He said, both the government and the Chinese company had continued to violate court orders restraining them from further invading their lands.

Adesanya said, "We just woke up one day and saw the Chinese guarded by military men taking possession of our land, grabbing our land, demolishing our structures and erecting their own.

"We are here to agitate for our right, how can some people just take over our land without notice and we didn't sell our land to them.

"We want the government to please help us, they have taken more than half of our community lands. We want the Ogun state and Federal governments to please help us because we have no where else to go now.

"We are seeing strangers everyday taking over our land, our inheritance. We were not given any form of compensation, this is simply a forceful take over of our lands. We have not been paid. Different people have properties here that have been demolished and taken over with no kobo paid to them as compensation.

"So far, they have demolished more than 500 buildings, both completed and those still under construction.

We are talking about more than 500 hectares of land. Our appeal to government is to intervene and stop this inhumane treatment being meted to us".

One of the victims, Mrs. Mopelola Aliu whose house was built on three plots of land and was allegedly demolished with the land taken over said, "We need help because this suffering that these Chinese are putting us through is too much. This has been going on since 2013.

"I have three plots of land here and there is a building on it, but they came four weeks ago to demolish my building and forcefully take over my land.

"This community has been existing for the past 100 years. What have we done to the government to deserve this? What is our offense? Let them tell us our offense, if we know our offense, we will beg the government. They should just leave us alone. 

"We want peace, we don't want to engage the Chinese in violence and that is why we are appealing to this government to intervene."

Addressing the protesters, a Chinese who simply identified himself as Felix said, the company was willing to dialogue with representatives of the community. He advised them to take their case to the State Bureau of Lands and Survey.

Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report attempts are being made to reach out to Senator Ibikunle Amosun who was the former Governor in the State, but now representing Ogun Central at the National Assembly. 

Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have announced temporary suspension of overseas Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card services and Point of Sale (PoS) transactions.

The banks’ decision followed consistent dollar scarcity and challenges faced by manufacturers and real sector operators in sourcing foreign exchange from the economy.

Zenith Bank Plc, which yesterday confirmed the development in a memo emailed to customers, said the move was in line with current economic realities.

The bank said: “Please be informed that we have temporary suspended the use of Zenith Bank Naira cards for International Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cash withdrawals and PoS transactions.

“Additionally, the monthly card spend limit for web transactions has been reviewed from $100 to $20. This review is in response to today’s economic realities.

”If you have higher International spend requirements, simply visit any of our branches and request for foreign currency debit or prepaid card, which are available in US dollar, Pounds and Euro variants.”

First Bank Nigeria Plc has also announced limit review on all dollar-based ATM and PoS transactions abroad.

In an email to customers yesterday, the bank attributed the adjustment to dollar transitions on e-payment channels to ‘market realities on foreign exchange’.

The bank said: “Due to current market realities on foreign exchange, we’ve reviewed cross border transaction limits for the  Naira Mastercard and the Naira Credit Card to $50 monthly.”

Stanbic IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Bank had, few years back, announced the suspension of their overseas ATM card services.

Both banks advised their customers seeking to carry out transactions denominated in foreign exchange to apply for dollar or pounds sterling debit credit cards.

According to them, the dollar or pounds sterling debit or credit cards will be linked to the customers’ domiciliary accounts.

This is despite the fact that the banks have in the past few months reduced the monthly total amount of forex-denominated transactions that customers can do, using their naira debit or credit cards via ATMs and PoS terminals abroad as well as online payments or transactions.

Investigation showed that some banks had slashed their daily ATM withdrawal limit abroad from the $300 advised by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Bankers Committee to $100 due to their inability to source for dollars to fund the transactions.

Banking sources said banks were increasingly finding it difficult to fund their foreign-currency denominated services, especially online forex transactions and overseas ATM withdrawals, as well as PoS usage overseas by customers.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had earlier expressed concerns about the indiscriminate and suspicious manner in which some bank customers were spending dollars and other foreign currencies abroad through their naira debit cards.

To reduce forex spending abroad, the CBN directed that the $50,000 annual forex limit it imposed would be implemented and defaulters sanctioned.

The Nation

A Lagos-Ibadan train, on Thursday, stopped abruptly after “running out of diesel”.

According to a Twitter user, King Isaiah Obadore, who was reportedly on the train, the crew members said the train stopped moving because it had exhausted diesel. 

“Boarded Train from Ibadan to Lagos. We’re still stuck in the forest with unknown Chinese Men,” Obadore said.

“They said fuel finished. What a beautiful country, Nigeria.” 

In a trending video, another passenger was seen commenting about the situation while some passengers were seen hanging around the train.

When contacted, Mahmood Yakubu, spokesperson of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), said he was not aware of the situation.

“I don’t know. I am not aware of it. I’ll find it about it and feed you back,” Yakubu told our correspondent on phone.

On Tuesday, the price of automotive gas oil, also known as diesel, had hit N625 per litre in some fuel stations.

The development is due to scarcity of fuel amid supply disruptions occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Cable

...lawmakers refuse EFCC invitation, after instituting a suit against the agency

The Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, and his colleagues allegedly embezzled millions of naira belonging to the House, including forging the receipts of two filling stations, court documents filed before the Federal High Court in the state have shown.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is investigating the lawmakers over a N700 million alleged fraud.

The documents, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, showed that the Assembly, under the leadership of Mr Oluomo, had claimed to have spent the money on training and other “miscellaneous expenses.”

Part of the money, it was gathered, was also expended on the purchase of fuel from two fueling stations in Abeokuta.

On request, the Assembly had submitted receipts to the EFCC as proof that the spending followed due process.

Yazid Bawa, an operative of the EFCC who deposed to the commission’s counter-affidavit, said after analysing the receipts, they invited the lawmakers to come and make clarifications on some discrepancies observed.

Despite several letters to the lawmakers, Mr Bawa said they refused to honour the invitation.

Fuel purchase

The EFCC said the Assembly submitted receipts of fuel purchases from NNPC mega station and Ashkash filling station, both in Abeokuta.

The franchise of the NNPC mega station in Abeokuta is owned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, while the immediate past Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Suraj Adekunbi, owns Ashkash filling station.

Upon receipt of the documents from the Assembly, the anti-graft agency wrote both stations to confirm the veracity of the receipts, but both stations wrote EFCC confirming that the receipts presented to it by the Assembly are fake.

In their separate responses to the EFCC, it was seen that both companies clearly denied the receipts in question.

For the NNPC, through a letterhead by Obasanjo Holdings Limited (Mega station), the filing station responded saying, “Your letter dated January 24, 2022, on the above subject refers. We write to inform you that the receipts being investigated were not issued by our filling station.

“Please find attached copies of the receipt we issued in 2018,2019 and 2021 which differs from those in question. We hope this addresses your concern.”

Also, Ashkash on its letterhead, Ashkash Nigeria Limited, responded that, “Sequel to your letter with reference no CR: 3000/EFCC/LS/CMU/OG Vol 1/63. Dated January 24, 2022.

“We have painstakingly and extensively gone through our records, nothing of such exists in our transactions records.

By this, we did not know anything about the receipts sent for investigation. Thanks for your usual cooperation.” ‘Financial records’

The EFCC said it had received intelligence that principal members of the House connived to divert for personal use N700 million allocated for the running of the House of Assembly.

The agency said preliminary investigation into the intelligence showed there are “criminal schemes perpetuated inside the Ogun State House of Assembly by its members and officials including but not limited to forgeries of documents, falsification of financial records and diversion of public funds by some elected members and civil servant.”

The agency further said the financial records of the House were falsified in order to retire public funds the lawmakers had diverted or wanted to divert for their personal use.

“Investigations have also revealed that some corporate entities that purportedly issued some invoices and receipts to the plaintiffs do not exist even though these receipts and invoices were used by the plaintiffs and their cohorts to justify the disbursement of funds.”

The EFCC accused the lawmakers and their agents of threatening some possible witnesses that would help the agency in its investigation.

The commission denied claims that it was being used by Oludare Kadiri, the impeached Deputy Speaker of the House, adding that it was not aware of the political differences between the House and Mr Kadiri.

The House had impeached Mr Kadiri last year over allegations of gross misconduct.

The lawmaker had also accused his colleagues of forging his signature to swindle the Assembly of about N50 million.

In its reaction to the EFCC, the Ogun Assembly approached a Federal High Court in Abeokuta seeking an order to stall the anti-graft agency’s investigation pending the determination of the substantive suit.

The lawmakers attributed their failure to honour the EFCC invitation to the pending suit.

Premium Times

The Yewa North Patriotic Forum has expressed displeasure over the kidnapping of two siblings Esther Kehinde, 20, and David Kehinde, 15 on Tuesday by unknown gunmen, saying the state is no more safe for residents. 

The duo who were abducted at Oremeji street, Joga Orile area of Ayetoro, Yewa North Local Government, Ogun State, were said to have been forcefully taken away from their resident around 9:00pm while they were carrying out domestic chores.

The group, in a statement by its Secretary, Ganiu Fatolu, appealed to law enforcement agencies to live up to their responsibilities.

“We are highly devastated at the horrible incident which took place at a not too far distance to a police station. While the kidnappers shot in the air for minutes, they were left to have a field day.

“As an association that fights for the interest of our people, we can only appeal to the law enforcers, especially the police, to be alive to their responsibilities and ensure the safe return of these two young ones.

“Although we understand that the state is no longer safe for citizens not to talk more of investors, our case in Yewa axis is more than terrible. People now keep vigils protecting their families.

“We know that this too shall pass. But, we must all remember, that a king who turns a village into a city and the other who turns a city into a village shall both not be forgotten. But what they will be remembered for shall either be the evil or the good they do during their times,” the group posited.

There was pandemonium as unknown gunmen on Tuesday kidnapped two siblings, Esther Kehinde, 20, and David Kehinde, 15, at Oremeji street, Joga Orile area of Ayetoro, Yewa North Local Government, Ogun State.

The victims were said to have been abducted from their residents around 9pm while they were carrying out domestic chores.

A source, who pleaded anonymity said the kidnappers entered the house as gentlemen, held the victims’ hands and forced their way out of the premises.

The victims’ grandfather, who was also present at the scene, was said to have passed out when he was hit in the head by the kidnappers.

It was gathered that after about twelve hours, the kidnappers contacted the family of the pupils and requested N15 million ransom before the duo could gain their freedom.

According to an eyewitness, “They came into the house around 9pm, just behind our house where David and her sister were washing their school uniforms. Their grandpa too was seated there when the kidnappers appeared and held the two of them.

“The grandpa challenged them but one of them hit the man on the head and he passed out immediately. Their mother heard the noise and rushed out, but met the kidnappers’ stiff resistance.

“They shot in the air for a few minutes before taking to their heels,” the source said.

Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the incident, saying the police is on top of the matter.

Oyeyemi appealed to the family to carry the police along in their conversations with the abductors.

“We are frantically on top of the matter. We would like to also use this medium to appeal to the family of the victims to please carry us along in any conversation with these hoodlums,” Oyeyemi pleaded.