CBN restricts dollar sale to save naira.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has stopped the sale of dollars to some categories of importers at its twice-weekly regulated foreign exchange market in order to save the naira from falling.

The move is meant to also reduce the pressure on the naira amid falling oil prices and perceived dollarisation of the economy, according to industry analysts.

In a circular released on Thursday, the central bank specifically said it would no longer sell dollars to importers of electronics, finished products, information technology equipment, generators, telecommunication equipment and invisible transactions at its Retail Dutch Auction System forex market.

According to the directive, the importation of the listed items will now be funded at the interbank forex market only.

The circular was signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Mr. O.I Gbadamosi.

It read in part, “In order to maintain the existing stability in the foreign exchange market and to further strengthen the various policies already initiated by the CBN, the importation of the items shall henceforth be funded from the interbank foreign exchange market only.”

Meanwhile, the CBN said it had also reviewed the guidelines for the operation of its Standing Deposit Facility in order to encourage banks and discount houses to lend to the productive sectors of the economy.

The central bank noted that banks and discount houses preferred keeping their idle balances at the CBN’s SDF, thereby constraining the process of financial intermediation.

Consequently, it has reduced the remunerable daily placements by banks and discount houses at the SDF to maximum of N7.5bn.

In a circular signed by its Director, Financial Markets, Mr. E. U Ukeje, the central bank said, “All deposits by a bank or discount house in excess of N7.5bn shall not be remunerated.”

Defection: S’West APC panel meets over Osoba, others.

 

Olusegun Osoba

Members of the South-West Committee of the All Progressives Congress met on Thursday on how to make a former Governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, the embattled Deputy Governor, Segun Adesegun, and others have a rethink on their defection to the Social Democratic Party.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, who made this known in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, said the committee headed by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has an ex-Minister of Information, Tony Momoh, as one of its members.

Mohammed neither gave the names of other members of the truce panel nor stated where the meeting took place.

He   said, “We believe that the grievances are not irreconcilable and we are redoubling our efforts to bring them back. What we share in common with them is much more than the areas of disagreement.

“There’s nothing absolutely fundamental that cannot be reconciled. The party’s South-West committee on reconciliation is in a strategic meeting right now as I speak with you to ensure that the family remains one.

“We will concentrate efforts on bringing the major players into accord. The committee has the mandate to get to the root cause of the disagreement and achieve total reconciliation.”

It was gathered from a reliable member of the APC that the truce committee would meet soon with Osoba, Adesegun and others who joined the SDP, a party led by a former Presidential candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party.

The other APC members that defected are Senators Adegbenga Kaka, Ghenga Obadara and Akin Odunsi, who represent Ogun East, Ogun Central and Ogun West respectively.

The defected members of the House of Representatives are Kunle Adeyemi, Babatunde Olabode, Olumide Osoba, Abiodun Abudu and Bukunola Buraimo.

Earlier on Thursday, Mohammed,   in a terse statement   expressed the hope that the defectors would reconsider their decision and beat a quick retreat.

He also pointed out that the defection would not affect the overall chances of the party in the forthcoming polls in Ogun State.

Mohammed added that the party was   shocked   by the defection because it came at a time   efforts were ongoing to reconcile all its aggrieved members in the state.

He said, ‘’Yes, the defection of some our members will create some challenges for our party, but we will go back to the drawing board to restrategise and redouble our efforts to retain the state in 2015.

‘’Every member of our party is important to its overall success, but none is more important than the party. Against this background, no member can hold the party to ransom.’’

The APC spokesman said it was a mere fallacy for anyone to conclude that the defection of some members, irrespective of their importance, would dramatically alter the chances of the party in 2015.

 He therefore urged the APC members in the state not to lose any sleep over the latest development.

 

A member of the House of Representatives, Kehinde Odeneye, who was reported to have also defected, said he was still in the APC.

Odeneye said, “Contrary to reports that I have defected to the SDP, I am still a bona fide and committed member of the APC and have not at any time defected or expressed the intention of defecting to any other political party.”

Odeneye said he was approached by those who defected to the SDP but he declined on the basis of principles.

“When they were about to defect, they approached me but I refused because I don’t believe in   jumping from one party to another.”

The state   publicity secretary of the APC, Sola Lawal, has however said the party cannot take any action yet against Adesegun since he has not formally defected to the SDP.

“I cannot tell you the sanction yet; let us wait until he finally defects,’’ Lawal said in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents.

He said, “We are not aware of the move the deputy governor is making, either to defect to another party or not. At the party level, there is no document to show that he has left the APC.   Even Chief Osoba has not disclosed where he’s going.”

A member of the assembly, Remmy Hassan, told   our correspondent in the state that it would be difficult for the 26 -member House of Assembly to impeach Adesegun.

The House is factionalised into 13 members loyal to Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the other 13 making up the opposition.

Hassan,who is the Leader of the opposition lawmakers,   said   they were patiently     waiting   for any attempt to impeach the deputy governor.

He said, “It will be practically difficult to impeach the deputy governor because there is no constitutional breach.   However, everybody is awake even while asleep.

“We have 13 members each on both sides. But the other 13 loyal to the governor are at a disadvantage, because the   Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi, who is on their side cannot not vote. He only presides.”

Efforts   to speak with   Adekunbi proved abortive as his telephone line was unreachable.

In Abuja, Chief Olu Falae described the defection of Osoba and others to the SDP as a welcome development.

 He said, “I welcome all Nigerians to join this party from councillors to President because this party, although may not control the Federal Government, it is a party with a clear people- oriented ideology.

“It is a party which philosophy is zero tolerance for corruption. It makes the people   the central object of its endeavour. Any party that is not doing all these is not a party.

“I hope all Nigerians will join this party so that the country could be a different nation. The country needs to be changed. Change is absolutely necessary.”

The former presidential aspirant also said he had consulted with his lawyer to interpret what the law says if a politician holding a public office dumps his party for another party.

“I have consulted a lawyer who told me that the legal interpretation is that the law only requires legislators to resign if they change their political affiliation. That is what I was told, I am not a lawyer. The lawyers will advise us as a party. We are law-abiding. It is whatever the law says that we will do.”

Asked what his party would do if the APC moved to impeach Adesegun , Falae said, “that would amount to being speculative.”

He said, “The election is next year February. I don’t think it is a major issue for now. The Deputy Governor may decide to resign or decide to stay depending on what the lawyers advise him to do.”

No president resigns during war, Jonathan tells APC.

    President Goodluck Jonathan

The Presidency has said there is no part of the world where the President resigns during an ongoing war.

It therefore challenged the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to tell Nigerians where such presidents had resigned during war time.

The Presidency was reacting to the demand by the leadership of the APC, including its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that President Goodluck Jonathan should resign because of the on-going war against the country by the members of the Boko Haram sect.

Reacting on behalf of the President, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, asked Nigerians to ignore such calls.

He said, “The suggestion by one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Tinubu, that President Goodluck Jonathan should resign from office as a result of the activities of insurgents in the north-eastern part of the country, has once again shown beyond doubt that the former Lagos State governor and his colleagues in the opposition are a bunch of political anarchists and charlatans blinded by an unbridled appetite for power.

“The assertion by Tinubu at a political rally in Ilorin, Kwara State on Wednesday that in ‘civilised’ societies, the President should have resigned is unfounded and lacking in historical precedence.

“We challenge him to tell Nigerians which part of his ‘civilised’ world has there been a call on a President to resign during an on-going war.

“When terrorists attacked the United States of America in September 2001, the leaders of the Democratic Party did not demand a resignation of President George Bush but rather they rose in defence of the American nation to support the various measures taken by the President to defeat the al Qaeda terrorists.”

He said it was necessary to remind the APC leader that it was leading members of his party who vehemently opposed and openly criticised the proscription of the Boko Haram sect by the Federal Government in 2013 with some of them even going as far as describing it as a move against the North while others tried to incite the civil society to condemn this anti-terrorists’ action.

Okupe said that it was therefore unfortunate that the APC, in its desperation for power and eagerness to make selfish political gains from insecurity, had shown a total lack of the spirit of nationalism and statesmanship in its public comments on the challenges of insurgency in the North-East.

He added that it was particularly sad that the leaders of the APC would mount every available podium to pour invectives on the President and ridicule members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria who were in the battlefield against terror.

“Telling the President to resign because of an ongoing insurgency is the height of insensitive, indecorous and bad politics which ought to be roundly condemned by every patriotic Nigerian,” he added.

 

He said that by the provisions of the Nigerian constitution, the only recognised means of changing a government was through the electoral process.

Police arrest another Lagos DPO for rape

 Magodo Police Post.

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Oladipo Afolayan, for allegedly raping a woman in his office.

The development comes a few months after another Lagos DPO, Mr. Adekunle Awe, was arrested for allegedly raping a woman, Idowu Akinwunmi, in his office at the Onikan Police Division.

Rev4mation's world learnt that Afolayan, who is a Superintendent of Police, had only been recently posted to the Magodo Police Post when the incident allegedly occurred.

It was learnt that the woman he allegedly raped was a suspect in an ongoing investigation.

It was gathered that following a report by the victim, Afolayan was arrested and brought before the Commissioner of Police, Cornelius Aderanti.

Aderanti was said to have also reported the matter to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Command, Mr. Umar Manko.

Our correspondent learnt that the matter was transferred to the X Squad, a department at the state command which is in charge of investigating police crimes and misdemeanours.

When our correspondent visited the Magodo Police Post on Thursday, policemen on duty refused to comment on the matter.

It was, however, learnt that after taking his statement, the X Squad transferred the DPO and the case file to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.

When contacted on the telephone, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed that the police were investigating the matter, adding that the senior police officer would be made to face the law if found culpable.

He said, “Yes, we are investigating an allegation like that. As a result of the sensitivity of the matter, it would be too soon to come to a conclusion. The stance of the Commissioner of Police is not to condone any act of indiscipline whether from the public or from our men.

“Therefore, when investigations are concluded, and the officer is found culpable, he will be made to dance to the tune of the law, and if it is found otherwise, he will be cleared. The press will be invited and briefed once investigations are concluded.”