No Release of Tinubu’s Documents & more – 26th Oct 2023

Sannu from BA! This is the Rorshok Nigeria Update from the 26th of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Nigeria.

We begin today's episode with political news. On Monday, the 23rd, The United States Court of the District of Columbia rejected an emergency request by Aaron Greenspan, a U.S. writer, to compel the FBI to release classified documents about Tinubu.

Greenspan made the emergency request after learning that the Nigerian Supreme Court will begin hearing the appeals of major opposition presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, against Tinubu on Monday, the 23rd. Reportedly, the FBI holds documents suspected to contain Tinubu's offenses in the United States, including alleged involvement in drug-related crimes. However, Beryl Howell, the case judge, said that Greenspan didn't meet the requirements to ask for the release of such documents.

Moving on, the naira has continued to lose value after the exchange rate stood at 1,200 naira to the dollar on Monday, the 23rd. The previous week, the naira traded at one thousand, one hundred naira in the black market. Exchange operators in the parallel market have said this is due to a lack of forex in the country. The naira has lost value since the Central Bank announced a free currency flow in June. The exchange rate then stood at seven hundred and sixty-five naira to the dollar.

On Monday, the 23rd, the Business and Property Court in London dismissed an eleven billion dollar suit the Process and Industrial Developments Limited (or P&ID) filed against the Nigerian government. Back in twenty seventeen, P&ID won a six billion dollar suit against the Nigerian government because the executive failed to honor a gas supply contract former president Jonathan signed in twenty ten. The money awarded to P&ID later grew to eleven billion dollars due to accumulated interest.

However, reportedly, the Business and Property Court decided to rule in favor of Nigeria after receiving evidence that some staff of P&ID had bribed government officials to secure the twenty ten contract. Nigerians made fun of an infographic supposedly belonging to P&ID, which showed how the company would distribute the winnings among their top executives, as they had believed they would win the court case.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the 19th, the Police arrested Nnajiofor Nweke, a parent to a high school student who allegedly flogged his son's teacher to death in Delta State. Reportedly, the unnamed son stole two kegs of palm wine from a local palm wine shop, and school authorities scolded him. However, Nweke wasn't happy with that, so he went into the school with a cane and began flogging several teachers. One of the teachers purportedly slumped and died because of the beatings. Human Rights activists in the country have called for more protection for teachers.

Still in the topic of education, on Friday, the 20th, the House of Representatives asked the Federal Government to ban the importation and local production of educational content that promotes LGBT values in schools in the country. The Federal Ministry of Education, the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council, and the Education Research Council have also been urged to remove content favoring LGBT values from books used in elementary schools nationwide.

On Wednesday, the 25th, the Federal Government announced that it won’t pay the salaries of the workers who are not in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System or IPPIS. The IPPIS system is a platform used for paying all federal government workers. However, many workers haven’t enrolled on the IPPIS System because they believe the platform has failed to capture bonuses and other sundry payments. To date, over eighty-nine thousand members of the Association of Staff Union of Universities (or ASUU) haven’t enrolled in the IPPIS.

On Wednesday, the 25th, The State Security Service, a secret police division, released Rasheed Bawa, the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission or EFCC. Bawa was arrested on the 14th of June but didn’t face charges. The State Security Service didn't disclose why it held the former EFCC boss. After announcing Bawa's release on its Twitter account, users questioned the Secret Service about why they detained him for so long without informing the general public of his offense. Allegedly, Bawa held a lot of indicting information about top office holders during his time as the EFCC Chairman, as this may have caused him to step on many toes before President Tinubu’s government.

In more trending news, there is a bill blocking the Central Bank governor and deputies from partisan politics and making the Central Bank more efficient. On Wednesday, the 25th, the bill passed the second reading and might be turned into a law. Reportedly, the bill aimed to prevent controversies like the one that happened during the twenty twenty-three elections involving Godwin Emefiele, the former Central Bank governor. He contested the presidential primary against President Tinubu under the ruling All Progressives Congress party. However, rumors had it that the governor was using public funds to run his campaign.

Moving on, Kashim Shettima, the Vice President, is trying to attract investors. On Tuesday, the 24th, he told investors in the US that there are seventy million hectares of arable lands in Nigeria. He also told them that the federal government would create mechanized farm centers in all 774 local governments nationwide. He announced that President Tinubu had declared a state of emergency in agriculture with a plan to reduce food insecurity and make Nigeria more welcoming to investors. Meanwhile, the presidential committee on tax reforms has also proposed removing over 190 taxes affecting business operations in the country.

In sports, on Saturday, the 21st, many local media reported that Nigeria's men's Football Team, the Super Eagles, has been ranked the world's 10th most valuable football team. The Super Eagles are valued at four hundred and eighty million dollars. England's Three Lions top the list since they are reportedly worth over one billion, four hundred million dollars. Other countries making up the top ten are France, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Let’s wrap up this edition with more sports news. Jose Peseiro, the Super Eagles coach has expressed optimism about having Curtis Jones, Liverpool's midfielder on the team. Jones is eligible to play for Nigeria because his grandfather was born in the country. Despite featuring for England at the youth level, the midfielder is yet to play for England's senior men's team. Peseiro said that having the midfielder in his team will be a welcome development ahead of the country's World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho and Zimbabwe and the African Cup of Nations next year.

And that’s it for this week! But don’t leave yet, there’s something important we need to tell you.

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Sorry for the bad news, hope we can stay with you!

Sai gobe