🇳🇬 Nigeria to free 313 suspected Boko Haram insurgents for lack of evidence
Nigeria's military will free more than 300 people suspected of being part of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency after a court ruled there was no evidence they committed any crimes, a defence spokesperson said.
The 313 people, who had been suspected of being members of Boko Haram, will be released after a ruling by a court in northeastern Borno state, the heartland of the insurgency, according to defence spokesperson Major General Edward Buba.
"The court ordered their release for want of evidence after the conclusion of investigations and other ancillary matters," Buba said.
The cases were prosecuted by the Department of Prosecution, part of the Federal Ministry of Justice, and the people will be handed over to the Borno State Government for further action, he added.
Buba would not say where the suspects were being held or how long they had been in custody.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
Nigeria's military will free more than 300 people suspected of being part of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency after a court ruled there was no evidence they committed any crimes, a defence spokesperson said.
The 313 people, who had been suspected of being members of Boko Haram, will be released after a ruling by a court in northeastern Borno state, the heartland of the insurgency, according to defence spokesperson Major General Edward Buba.
"The court ordered their release for want of evidence after the conclusion of investigations and other ancillary matters," Buba said.
The cases were prosecuted by the Department of Prosecution, part of the Federal Ministry of Justice, and the people will be handed over to the Borno State Government for further action, he added.
Buba would not say where the suspects were being held or how long they had been in custody.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
🇳🇬 Millions of Nigerians face power price hikes
Nigerians face soaring electricity bills if the government goes ahead with plans to scrap its subsidy for 15% of consumers.
Doing so would save the public purse $2.6bn but only heap more pressure on millions of people struggling under a cost-of-living crisis.
The move was announced by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga on Tuesday, as a way to ease pressure on public finances.
He did not say when the rate would go up, but said rates had last been reviewed in 2020.
#Nigeria
@arficaintel
Nigerians face soaring electricity bills if the government goes ahead with plans to scrap its subsidy for 15% of consumers.
Doing so would save the public purse $2.6bn but only heap more pressure on millions of people struggling under a cost-of-living crisis.
The move was announced by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga on Tuesday, as a way to ease pressure on public finances.
He did not say when the rate would go up, but said rates had last been reviewed in 2020.
#Nigeria
@arficaintel
🇳🇬 Nigerian state under curfew amid abductions
Nigeria's restive north-western Zamfara state has imposed a curfew along its borders with Sokoto and Katsina states in a bid to curb escalating cases of kidnapping in the area.
Movement will be restricted between 19:00 and 06:00 local time, the state's Commissioner for Information and Culture was quoted by local media as saying.
“This is to tackle the incessant kidnapping of travellers along the Sokoto-Gusau-Funtua highway," Alhaji Mannir Haidara added.
Cases of kidnapping for ransom have surged in north-western Nigeria, where armed gangs, locally referred to as bandits, target villages, schools, and travellers.
Last month, dozens of schoolchildren were abducted but later rescued in Kaduna state.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
Nigeria's restive north-western Zamfara state has imposed a curfew along its borders with Sokoto and Katsina states in a bid to curb escalating cases of kidnapping in the area.
Movement will be restricted between 19:00 and 06:00 local time, the state's Commissioner for Information and Culture was quoted by local media as saying.
“This is to tackle the incessant kidnapping of travellers along the Sokoto-Gusau-Funtua highway," Alhaji Mannir Haidara added.
Cases of kidnapping for ransom have surged in north-western Nigeria, where armed gangs, locally referred to as bandits, target villages, schools, and travellers.
Last month, dozens of schoolchildren were abducted but later rescued in Kaduna state.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
🇳🇬 Nigeria's tax agency apologises after Easter message outcry
Nigeria's tax agency has apologised over an Easter message that was criticised as offensive and disrespectful by some Christians in the country.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Sunday shared a post on X saying: "Jesus paid your debts, not your taxes", local media reported.
The now-deleted post was denounced by a number of Christian organisations, which demanded that the tax agency apologise.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella group, said the message was “offensive and derogatory to the Christian faith”.
The association's National Director Abimbola Ayuba also complained that the post continued a pattern of "provocative messages around religious holidays".
In the apology FIRS spokesperson Dare Adekanmbi said the post was not intended to detract from the significance of Easter.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
Nigeria's tax agency has apologised over an Easter message that was criticised as offensive and disrespectful by some Christians in the country.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Sunday shared a post on X saying: "Jesus paid your debts, not your taxes", local media reported.
The now-deleted post was denounced by a number of Christian organisations, which demanded that the tax agency apologise.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella group, said the message was “offensive and derogatory to the Christian faith”.
The association's National Director Abimbola Ayuba also complained that the post continued a pattern of "provocative messages around religious holidays".
In the apology FIRS spokesperson Dare Adekanmbi said the post was not intended to detract from the significance of Easter.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
🇳🇬 Nigeria's Dangote refinery supplies petroleum products to local market
Nigeria's Dangote oil refinery started supplying petroleum products to the local market on Tuesday, a company executive and fuel marketing associations said, a major step in the country's quest for energy independence.
The refinery, Africa's largest, was built on a peninsula on the outskirts of the commercial capital Lagos at a cost of $20 billion by the continent's richest man Aliko Dangote and was completed.
Dangote's group executive, Devakumar Edwin, confirmed shipping of diesel and jet fuel into the local market.
"We have substantial quantities. Products are being evacuated both by sea and road. Ships are lining up one after another to load diesel and aviation jet fuel," Edwin told.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
Nigeria's Dangote oil refinery started supplying petroleum products to the local market on Tuesday, a company executive and fuel marketing associations said, a major step in the country's quest for energy independence.
The refinery, Africa's largest, was built on a peninsula on the outskirts of the commercial capital Lagos at a cost of $20 billion by the continent's richest man Aliko Dangote and was completed.
Dangote's group executive, Devakumar Edwin, confirmed shipping of diesel and jet fuel into the local market.
"We have substantial quantities. Products are being evacuated both by sea and road. Ships are lining up one after another to load diesel and aviation jet fuel," Edwin told.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
🇳🇬 Detained Binance executive in court on Nigerian tax, money laundry charges
One of the two executives from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, detained in Nigeria appeared in an Abuja court on Thursday to face tax evasion and money laundering charges.
Binance and two of its executives Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance's head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is a regional manager for Africa, have been charged with four counts of tax evasion and with laundering over $35 million.
Gambaryan was served with the charges for the first time since his detention during his court appearance and did not take a plea. He will be formally arraigned for the money laundering and tax charges on April 8 and 19, respectively, when his plea will be taken.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
One of the two executives from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, detained in Nigeria appeared in an Abuja court on Thursday to face tax evasion and money laundering charges.
Binance and two of its executives Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance's head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is a regional manager for Africa, have been charged with four counts of tax evasion and with laundering over $35 million.
Gambaryan was served with the charges for the first time since his detention during his court appearance and did not take a plea. He will be formally arraigned for the money laundering and tax charges on April 8 and 19, respectively, when his plea will be taken.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
🇳🇬 Nigeria files fresh charges against ex-central bank chief
The former head of Nigeria's central bank governor is expected to appear in a court in Lagos on Monday after fresh charges alleging misuse of office and corruption were filed against him by the anti-corruption agency on Friday.
Godwin Emefiele is already facing procurement fraud charges in another court in the capital Abuja. He has denied the charges.
On Friday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed new charges against the embattled former central bank chief, including alleged fraudulent foreign exchange allocation of $2 billion, local media reported.
The charge sheet claims that the allocation was done without supporting bids.
Emefiele committed the offences between 2022 and 2023, the commission said.
He was suspended lastJune by Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu and placed in detention.
Under Tinubu, Nigeria has reversed foreign exchange controls initiated by Emefiele and devalued the currency.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
The former head of Nigeria's central bank governor is expected to appear in a court in Lagos on Monday after fresh charges alleging misuse of office and corruption were filed against him by the anti-corruption agency on Friday.
Godwin Emefiele is already facing procurement fraud charges in another court in the capital Abuja. He has denied the charges.
On Friday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed new charges against the embattled former central bank chief, including alleged fraudulent foreign exchange allocation of $2 billion, local media reported.
The charge sheet claims that the allocation was done without supporting bids.
Emefiele committed the offences between 2022 and 2023, the commission said.
He was suspended lastJune by Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu and placed in detention.
Under Tinubu, Nigeria has reversed foreign exchange controls initiated by Emefiele and devalued the currency.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
🇳🇬 Nigeria's NNPC faces $3 billion backlog on petrol payments
Nigeria's state-oil company NNPC owes around $3 billion to fuel traders for imported petrol, three sources told Reuters, as the tumbling naira currency and rising global fuel prices have increased the effective subsidy it is paying.
The payment backlog is a blow to the government's efforts in Africa's largest economy to shore up its strained finances by curbing costly energy subsidies.
"They are paying, but it's slow," one of the Reuters' sources with knowledge of the matter said. Five sources said that NNPC - the country's main importer of petrol - was taking more than 130 days to make the payments instead of within 90 days.
#Nigeria #CAR
@africaintel
Nigeria's state-oil company NNPC owes around $3 billion to fuel traders for imported petrol, three sources told Reuters, as the tumbling naira currency and rising global fuel prices have increased the effective subsidy it is paying.
The payment backlog is a blow to the government's efforts in Africa's largest economy to shore up its strained finances by curbing costly energy subsidies.
"They are paying, but it's slow," one of the Reuters' sources with knowledge of the matter said. Five sources said that NNPC - the country's main importer of petrol - was taking more than 130 days to make the payments instead of within 90 days.
#Nigeria #CAR
@africaintel
Reuters
Exclusive: Nigeria's NNPC faces $3 billion backlog on petrol payments, sources say
Nigeria's state-oil company NNPC owes around $3 billion to fuel traders for imported petrol, three sources told Reuters, as the tumbling naira currency and rising global fuel prices have increased the effective subsidy it is paying.
🇳🇬 Nigerian judge to rule on separatist leader's bail next month
A Nigerian judge will rule next month if separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu's bail should be reinstated, the judge said on Wednesday, after the court last month denied a fresh application and ordered that he face a speedy trial on terrorism charges.
Kanu, a British citizen who leads the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, was first arrested in 2015 but disappeared from Nigeria after while on bail in 2017. He was subsequently arrested in Kenya in 2021 and charged in Nigeria with seven counts of terrorism. Kanu has pleaded not guilty.
Kanu denied breaching the 2017 bail conditions, saying he escaped for his life after soldiers invaded his ancestral home in southern Nigerian state of Abia. The prosecuting lawyer asked the court to dismiss Kanu's request.
Justice Binta Murtala Nyako, who denied Kanu bail last month, had wanted to commence his trial on Wednesday.
Nyako set May 20 for ruling on Kanu's application to restore his bail or to be moved to prison or house arrest from custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), a security agency.
Kanu's IPOB campaigns for the secession of southeastern Nigeria where the majority belong to the Igbo ethnic group. Nigerian authorities have labelled IPOB a terrorist organization.
An attempt by the southern region to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967, the year Kanu was born, triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than 1 million people.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
A Nigerian judge will rule next month if separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu's bail should be reinstated, the judge said on Wednesday, after the court last month denied a fresh application and ordered that he face a speedy trial on terrorism charges.
Kanu, a British citizen who leads the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, was first arrested in 2015 but disappeared from Nigeria after while on bail in 2017. He was subsequently arrested in Kenya in 2021 and charged in Nigeria with seven counts of terrorism. Kanu has pleaded not guilty.
Kanu denied breaching the 2017 bail conditions, saying he escaped for his life after soldiers invaded his ancestral home in southern Nigerian state of Abia. The prosecuting lawyer asked the court to dismiss Kanu's request.
Justice Binta Murtala Nyako, who denied Kanu bail last month, had wanted to commence his trial on Wednesday.
Nyako set May 20 for ruling on Kanu's application to restore his bail or to be moved to prison or house arrest from custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), a security agency.
Kanu's IPOB campaigns for the secession of southeastern Nigeria where the majority belong to the Igbo ethnic group. Nigerian authorities have labelled IPOB a terrorist organization.
An attempt by the southern region to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967, the year Kanu was born, triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than 1 million people.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
🇳🇬 A Nigerian schoolgirl abducted by extremists 10 years ago is rescued pregnant, with 3 kids
A girl who was seized from her school along with hundreds of others during a raid by extremists ten years ago in northeastern Nigeria has been rescued together with her three children, the Nigerian army said Thursday.
Lydia Simon, who is five months pregnant, was rescued by Nigerian troops in the Gwoza council area of Borno state, where the 15-year insurgency by Islamic extremists is concentrated, according to a statement from the army.
The statement was accompanied by a picture of Simon and her children, who appear to be aged between 2 and 4. She is yet to be reunited with her family.
Simon was among 276 girls seized from their school in Nigeria's Chibok village in April 2014 at the height of the extremist violence in the region. About 82 of them are still in captivity.
The first of a series of mass school kidnappings in the West African nation, the Chibok abduction shocked the world and triggered a global social media campaign tagged #BringBackOurGirls.
The Nigerian army did not say how she was freed other than that she was rescued in a hotspot known as Ngoshe, 130 kilometers (74 miles) north of the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.
Some Chibok parents and security analysts have said there is little evidence to show there is a special military operation to free the women. Those who returned in recent years were mostly found abandoned in the forests.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
A girl who was seized from her school along with hundreds of others during a raid by extremists ten years ago in northeastern Nigeria has been rescued together with her three children, the Nigerian army said Thursday.
Lydia Simon, who is five months pregnant, was rescued by Nigerian troops in the Gwoza council area of Borno state, where the 15-year insurgency by Islamic extremists is concentrated, according to a statement from the army.
The statement was accompanied by a picture of Simon and her children, who appear to be aged between 2 and 4. She is yet to be reunited with her family.
Simon was among 276 girls seized from their school in Nigeria's Chibok village in April 2014 at the height of the extremist violence in the region. About 82 of them are still in captivity.
The first of a series of mass school kidnappings in the West African nation, the Chibok abduction shocked the world and triggered a global social media campaign tagged #BringBackOurGirls.
The Nigerian army did not say how she was freed other than that she was rescued in a hotspot known as Ngoshe, 130 kilometers (74 miles) north of the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.
Some Chibok parents and security analysts have said there is little evidence to show there is a special military operation to free the women. Those who returned in recent years were mostly found abandoned in the forests.
#Nigeria
@africaintel