Following the recent ban on Cryptocurrency by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Senate on Thursday mandated its Committees on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, ICT and Cybercrimes and Capital Market to invite the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele to clarify controversies surrounding the ban.
Also to appear before the Committee is the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda.
The red chamber made the resolution following a motion titled: “CBN’s decision to stop Financial Institutions from transacting in Cryptocurrencies and matters arising therefrom”, as sponsored by Senator Istifanus Dung Gyang, (Plateau North) and Senator Adetokumbo Mukhail Abiru, (Lagos East).
The Senate expressed optimism that the information that would be extracted from the briefings from the two regulatory bodies would assist the Senate to “determine the opportunities and threats of the cryptocurrency on the nation’s economy and security.”
Umar Muhammed, a member vigilance group helping the military to fight Boko Haram in Borno State popularly known as Civilian JTF has been arrested for allegedly spreading information about alleged killing and abduction of soldiers by the insurgents on Facebook.
According to PRNigeria,, 29-year-old Muhammed had in the post on his Facebook page alleged that Boko Haram fighters killed five soldiers and abducted many others when they were providing security cover for workers repairing electricity facilities along Maiduguri-Damaturu road last Monday.
He allegedly made the post on February 8, during an operational tour of troops’ locations in the theatre, by the new Chief of Army (COAS), Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru.
The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Ado Isa, had in an earlier statement, described the report as “fake and misleading.”
He said: “Contrary to the rumours making the round, nobody was attacked on Monday, as the road was cleared for the maiden visitation of the COAS, who came to see the troops of Special Army Super Camp, Ngamdu.
“No repair work was been carried out on the TCN facility, as the workers were asked not to go, because our troops who were supposed to provide them with escort, were busy preparing for the COAS visit.
“To this end, the Nigerian Army wishes to unequivocally state that the claims contained in the disjointed report on Nigerian Army troops are nothing but fake, malicious and frivolous.”
But PRNigeria quoted a military source as confirming that Muhammed, was subsequently identified as a Civilian JTF Member at Shehuri-North in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and was arrested at his residence by security operatives.
It was gathered that the suspect claimed, during a preliminary investigation, that his account was hacked by anonymous persons to send the fake report.
No protest will hold at the Lekki Tollgate on Saturday, February 13, 2020, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has declared.
The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the alleged killing of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki Toll Gate, last Saturday decided to hand over the tollgate back to its operators, Lekki Concession Company, after forensic experts submitted their report on the October 20, 2020 incident.
Subsequently, hashtags such as #OccupyLekkiTollgate and counter-protest hashtags such as #DefendLagos and #DemNoBornYourPapaWell trended online. Both protests are slated for Saturday.
But the Lagos CP on Thursday said, “Allowing both groups to carry out their planned protests will be counter-productive.
“No protest in any guise will be allowed to take place on Saturday 13th February 2021.”
A 65-year-old farmer Alfa Sikiru Akinlotan has been found dead on his farm after his cocoa plantation was set ablaze by unknown arsonists.
Akinlotan was found dead on his burnt cocoa plantation on Wednesday in Igangan community, Ibarapa area of Oyo State.
It is thought that he died while trying to put out the strange fire.
Confirming the incident, Amotekun Commandant in the state Col. Olayinka Olayanju (Rtd.), said: “Alfa Sikiru Akinlotan from Gbogi Compound, Isale Amao area, Igangan, Ibarapa North Local Government died inside his farm at Itigbo, Apodun Road, Igangan, on Wednesday February 10, 2021.
“It happened that his cocoa farm with his cashew farm were set ablaze wherein he met his untimely death while he was trying to quench the fire. He was never attacked by any Fulani or other person.”
Igangan has been in the news in recent times for rising cases of insecurity by suspected herders.
Former Lagos State Governor Lateef Jakande has died on Thursday.
Jakande was governor of Lagos State from 1979 to 1983, and later was Minister of Works under the Sani Abacha military regime between 1993–1998.
The former Lagos State governor died at 91.
Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu mourned the former governor and described his death as a colossal loss.
“With gratitude to God for a worthy life well spent in the service of Lagos State, Nigeria and humanity, I announce the death of a venerable statesman, outstanding politician, public administrator and the first Civilian Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Nollywood actress, Seilat Adebowale Adeyemo is still enjoying the joy of being happily married, showing the world that love is a beautiful thing.
The movie star recently took to social media to thrill fans with photos showing her growth as a couple.
Seilat shared a collage of two photos, one was a flashback showing how things started, while the other was a more recent photo showing how things are between them currently.
Actress Stella Damasus has taken to social media to reminisce about the good times she had with her late father as she celebrates her posthumous birthday.
According to her, she misses her dad so much with the sweet memories and unforgettable mark she he left on her. She described him as a man of action and few words who was always there for her through thick and thin.
She wrote;
''I miss my daddy so much. It's his birthday today and i am holding back the tears because I know how we would have spent it. This smile was always there to make us laugh and cheer us up in those tough days. Daddy was always there. A man of action but very few words. Happy birthday to this GREAT MAN. I miss him. It is well. #hbd #posthumousbirthday #daddy''
BBNaija star, Khafi Kareem has cautioned fans who are so concerned about reporting suspicions about people’s pregnancies to stop before it gets out of hand.
According to her, if someone has not publicly come out to say they are pregnant, people should stop comment about what they think may be pregnancy. She noted that people should have some patience before they announce people’s pregnancy.
She wrote;
” People need to STOP this. If someone has not announced a pregnancy DO NOT congratulate them. DO NOT comment what you “think” you see! Whatever your intentions you don’t know what people are going through!!!”
“If they have good news let THEM share it. Speculations can cause so much hurt and distress. Women could be trying unsuccessfully for a baby, just had a miscarriage, have fibroids etc or have simply put on weight. STOP the scrutiny. How hard is it to leave women’s’ wombs alone?!”
So Ex-BBNaija housemate, Neo Akpofure has left the shores of Nigeria for the first time and he's grateful to God.
Neo and his girlfriend, Vee jetted to Ghana and were welcomed right at the airport by their Ghanaian fans. Writing how beautiful Ghana is and appreciating God for breaking the record, Neo tweeted;
“Finally left Naija for the first time…God that did it for me would do it for you too. P.S Ghana is Beautiful.”
Finally left Naija for the first time...God that did it for me would do it for you too.😩🙏🏽
P.S Ghana is Beautiful 🇬🇭
Lol, he even said the snake's venom can kill in 30 minutes and has the power of infecting 40 people at once. He calls it King Cobra. Werey! Lol.
So a snake lover has shared the story of how he loves snakes so much and have them as pet, but unfortunately got bitten by one for the very first time 3 weeks ago.
He says he woke up to start disposing them, and now he has woken up again and wants to dispose the last one. He calls it KING COBRA and spoke about his power of infecting 40 people at once with his venom. And then if not treated fast, the venom can kill in 30 mins.
So he says, if you want to buy it, you can slide into his DM.
Talk about real craze! Lol, buying your death sentence. NO THANKS!!!
Louis Vuitton owner LVMH and music star Rihanna have agreed to suspend her fashion line Fenty less than two years after its launch, the French luxury goods giant said on Wednesday.
LVMH said in a statement that Fenty’s ready to wear activity, based in Paris, would be “put on hold” pending better conditions - a rare setback for the luxury group, which has weathered the coronavirus crisis better than most rivals.
The R&B singer and LVMH launched the Fenty fashion brand in May 2019, only the second time the French group had set a label up from scratch as it looked to tap soaring demand for luxury celebrity collaborations.
LVMH did not elaborate on the reasons for hitting the pause button but after a big launch and debut collection, the brand kept a low profile and never followed up with major marketing events, even before the covid-19 crisis.
Me I hate lies, it's very obvious who started the fight!
So Ubi Franklin's 4th babymama, Sandra Iheuwa who is into different businesses and yo doing very well has been called out by former actress, Victoria Inyama.
Sandra had taken to her IG to advise single moms like herself to not just be slaying on the platform so people can see they are ;;doing well'', but instead GET TO WORK,
She even encouraged them saying, there;s no joy in slaying with just $500 in their bank accounts.
Next was Victoria Inyama jumping on her post.
Victoria took it as a point of duty to tag Sandra and then shamed her for being a babymama and even went as far as saying Ubi Franklin never had the intention of marrying her and then asked her to choose her category of babymama well.
Sandra thought she is mentally on stable and so quickly asked about her mental health. Opor oo,... ahm ahn... nawa o!
Electricity bill has sadly become the new way the Government is punishing it's citizens.
Yes you can say is President Buhari the one rolling out the bills? No, but it is happening under his watch -- his regime.
Who else has noticed it's like fuel even drys up in cars. I mean it's a full tank one minute, the next minute a quarter is gone.
Nollywood actress, Lilian Esoro is the next victim crying out on social media over an outrageous electricity bill. The actress says the power company just served her a N790,000 electricity bill and she wants to know if she is running a factory AT HOME. She also wants to know if the bill covers the whole year.
Sharing the copy of the bill on social media, she wrote;
“I don’t understand.. am I running a factory? or is this for the year… I don’t understand.. Una dey mad ni? NEPA abi PHCN, una they whine me ni”
Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has denied claim that he has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
He made the denial in a short statement issued after a video by Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello that he had accepted to join APC went viral on Wednesday.
But the former minister said though he has been involved in consultations with members of the ruling party, he has not made up his mind on whether to dump the PDP.
“Though we have had meetings across party lines and we are in a season of political consultation I have not left the PDP,” former minister said in a post on twitter.
Stella Immanuel, the doctor who claimed hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax, were effective cures for COVID-19, has demanded apology from US President, Joe Biden and the media which called her crazy.
Immanuel, a Donald Trump loyalist, made the claim on July 28, 2020, at the premises of the US Supreme Court.
Immanuel, a Cameroonian who schooled in Nigeria and is based in the US, was among a group testifying that the drug is efficacious.
She claimed she had treated 350 patients in her clinic and called all doubters scientific fraud. The move was to lobby the Congress to buy Trump’s advocacy for hydroxychloroquine.
On Wednesday, Immanuel asked Biden and others to apologise to her as new studies have revealed that Hydroxychloroquine actually works in treatment of COVID-19.
However, she gave no links to authenticate these new studies.
“I demand an apology. When we said Hydroxychloroquine works, we were ridiculed. Now studies are coming out saying it works. What about hundreds of thousands that have died and are still dying?
“I demand an apology from the media, CNN, CNBC, New York Times and all their likes, all those people, that called me crazy, from Hollywood, I mean from people that sat down making videos and calling me crazy, when I said Hydroxychloroquine works and they should not allow people to die.
“I am talking about FDA, CDC and others. I am talking about all of you, my colleagues, the ones that called me names and threatened to report me to the board and all that because I said Hydroxychloroquine works.
“Now you have all these studies that said it works. What about the 500,000 people plus that have died, who is going to be responsible for them?
“Even Joe Biden calls me crazy, I demand an apology from every single one of you because when I said the truth, none of you listened. You laughed at us, you ridiculed us and you allowed people to die. You are evil, this is evil, somebody need to be held accountable for this,” she said in a video on twitter.
I demand an apology. When we said Hydroxychloroquine works we were ridiculed. Now studies are coming out saying it works. What about hundreds of thousands that have died and are still dying. Take care of your family. Visit https://t.co/jTDgb5Et5p for prevention and treatment. pic.twitter.com/uaWmHx5dXl
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined the cause of the January 26, 2020, crash that killed NBA legend, Kobe Bryant.
The accident claimed the lives of others: Bryant’s daughter Gianna, Christina Mauser; Payton and Sarah Chester; John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli; and Zobayan.
The chopper took off after 9 a.m. from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, heading to Camarillo Airport for the second day of a weekend tournament at the Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks.
NTSB concluded that the helicopter pilot, Ara Zobayan, should not have flown into cloudy conditions.
Investigators found that his decision to fly resulted in his spatial disorientation and loss of control of the aircraft.
Zobayan’s “likely” self-induced pressure to get Bryant to his destination and inadequate review of safety management procedures by helicopter operator Island Express contributed to the crash, the board said.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said flying under visual flight rules through cloud cover was “legally prohibited”.
The board said Zobayan made a “poor decision” to fly at excessive speed in bad weather, and the helicopter was not in a controlled flight pattern when it crashed into the hillside near Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street at 9:45 a.m.
NTSB member, Michael Graham regretted that the pilot ignored his training, adding that as long as helicopters continue to fly into clouds while using visual flight rules “a certain percentage will not come out alive.”
Boko Haram terrorists on Tuesday reportedly abducted three officers of the Nigeria Customs Services during an attack on Geidam, a town in Yobe State near the Nigerian border with Niger Republic.
The insurgents had attacked the town late Tuesday evening.
Security sources told Premium Times that they took away the officers after driving into the town through the Geidam -Maine–Sorowa road.
The officers were stationed at a checkpoint on the road when the insurgents swooped on them, a source said.
The source revealed that the officers were posted from the zonal command of the Customs in Bauchi to Yobe at the border.
“What happened is very unfortunate because some of our personnel got the information of the attack and left the area but those three officers we learnt did not get the information early,”
“By the time they were trying to leave, the insurgents had closed in on them and took them away,” the source, a Customs officer, told our correspondent but asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to journalists.
The police spokesperson in the state, Dungus Abdulkarim, confirmed the Tuesday attack on Geidam.
Mr Abdulkarim said no casualty was recorded in the attack but the terrorists burnt an ambulance of the General Hospital, Geidam, and looted a shop.
A new law decriminalising same-s.e.x s.e.x.ual relations in Angola has gone into effect on Wednesday.
According to reports, the new law overturned a colonial-era ban on homos.e.xual relations which described it as "vice against nature”.
Activist Jean-Luc Romero-Michel tweeted, "The law decriminalising homos.e.x.uality adopted in Angola in 2019 took effect today. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is now reprehensible and even punishable by prison."
He said it was “a great step forward” in the fight against state-sponsored discrimination against the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer and inters.e.x) community.
Reacting to this development, Nigerian novelist, Elnathan John, predicts that Nigeria would likely adopt the law decriminalising homosexuality.
He wrote on his twitter handle, "So apparently the law decriminalising homosexuality in Angola goes into effect today. For those who think Nigeria is not ready, there are African countries doing this. It is possible. No decent society should have laws punishing people for their s.e.x.u.a.l.i.t.y."
The changes were passed in January 2019 by Angola’s parliament, but was not signed into law by the country’s president until November 2020.
The new law also prohibits discrimination based upon a person’s s.e.x.u.a.l orientation.
lijah Odeh, the young barber who was arrested by the Kano State Hisbah Corps for allegedly giving his customers haircuts which allegedly offend the Islamic faith, has been released.
The senator representing Benue South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Abba Moro, confirmed his release in a statement on Wednesday.
Odeh, who hails from Adum East, in the Obi Local Government Area of Benue State, was first arrested on January 15, 2021 and rearrested on Wednesday, January 27 after two of his customers were caught with hairstyles deemed blasphemous to the Islamic religion.
According to Moro, the case was struck out on Wednesday by a magistrate at the Gyadi-Gyadi Magistrates’ Court, who had refused to grant him bail earlier.
The statement read, “I'm pleased to announce the release of Elijah Odeh, a young barber from Obi LGA arrested and detained in Kano State over hairstyle he designed on two of his customers. The case was struck out today," the statement reads.
"Like I said the other day, I won't allow any of my constituents, anywhere in the country, suffer unjustly as long as I remain their senator.
"Elijah was unjustly arrested and even denied bail but thank God he's now free.
"Many thanks to Governor Samuel Ortom and all those who, in one way or the other, lent their voices in the struggle to get the young man released. It's victory for all of us!”
Davido has set a record as he tops the most artist in Africa with over 19 million followers on Instagram.
While Wizkid and Burna Boy we’re flouting around 11 million and 6 million followers respectively, the “FEM” hitmaker is currently flouting around 19 million followers on Instagram.
