The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has declared his readiness to issue a warrant of arrest on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele if he fails to appear before its committee on Thursday.

Gbajabiamila said instead of the House adjourning plenary till February 28 for the elections as planned, the lawmakers would reconvene on Tuesday to take an action against Emefiele and other bank chiefs who fail to show up.

The Speaker, who noted that Emefiele is his friend, pointed out that he would not hesitate to demand the Inspector-General of Police to effect the CBN governor’s arrest and forceful appearance before the House.

The House had set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the scarcity of the new naira at the Deposit Money Banks, also known as commercial banks, leading to tension over the January 31 deadline set by the CBN for the exchange of the old notes with the newly designed ones.

The Police in Jigawa State have confirmed the killing of one person identified as Halliru Lafka in a clash between rival groups at a campaign rally of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kazaure Local Government.

The State Commissioner of Police, CP. Emmanuel Ekot Effiom confirmed the incident to newsmen.

He said that police are hunting the suspected killer who was said to have disappeared to the neighbouring Kano State after he committed the crime.

According to him, “the police are on top of the situation and are working to arrest the suspect who ran away to Kano.”

He said the clash happened on Tuesday night between the members of the same APC during the party’s rally.

DAILY POST gathered that the deceased is a resident of Kazaure town and is a strong supporter of the APC Senatorial Candidate, Jigawa North-west District, Babangida Husseini.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has vowed to impose stiffer sanctions on financial institutions hoarding the new naira notes.

The apex bank issued the threat on Wednesday in reaction to the allegation that enough notes were not released.

Musa Jimoh, Director of the Payment System Management Department, denied the claim at a news conference in Jos, the capital of Plateau.

Jimoh confirmed that the CBN “massively supplied” the new notes to banks to dispense both at counters and Automated Teller Machines, ATMs.

”This is to enable quick circulation. We advice commercial banks to desist from keeping the cash away from the public or face the stiffer sanction,” he said.

Jimoh explained that the decision to redesign the naira conforms with the global practice as currency notes ought to be redesigned every five years.

The director advised citizens to deposit their old notes and collect new ones, stressing that the ultimatum remains sacrosanct.

At the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele stated that the January 31 deadline would not be extended.

The Enugu State Police Command on Tuesday, said it has launched investigation into the murder of a rice farmer in Nenwe, Aninri Local Government Area of the state and subsequent retaliatory killing of the alleged perpetrator.

The victim identified as Mr Ngozi Ogbuewu, hails from Umuekuma, Ugwuokpa, Emudo – Nenwe

The PUNCH gathered that a young man of about 25 years old, identified as Ifeanyi Ubah, a native of Nomeh in Nkanu East Council Area of the state had gone to Ugwuokpa Village in Emudo Nenwe, a neighbouring community and killed his victim who was returning from his rice farm with his wife.

Sources told our correspondent that the suspect who was later killed had cut off the head and hid same in a bag, took it home before luck ran out of him and was caught by his people who later handed him over to Nenwe people.

Some hoodlums on Sunday killed two people during an invasion of Mgbuka-Amanzu Road, Nkpikpa, in the Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.

An eyewitness, who identified herself as Mama Chinedu, said the gunmen, numbering about four, were in a tricycle.

She noted that the gang cornered an unidentified man going to church, shot and dispossessed him of his belongings and fled.

The resident said, “The gunmen double-crossed the young man, who was going to church, with their tricycle, shot him and dispossessed him of his belongings before firing some shots as they were leaving the scene.

The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has said that excessive fast can lead to kidney problems.

Adeyeye who said this on Monday while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja noted that using substandard, unwholesome products can also lead to kidney failure and death.

The PUNCH reports that kidney failure happens after your kidneys can no longer properly filter your blood. This causes toxins to accumulate in your body.

According to the President of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology, Dr Adanze Asinobi, about 869 million people globally are suffering from kidney disease and in Nigeria, there is an increasing prevalence of the disease

Eight days to the January 31 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria to stop the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes from being legal tender, banks’  Automated Teller Machines in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country are still dispensing the old notes, findings by The PUNCH have revealed.

A 300-level student of the Federal University of Technology Akure, Olona Oluwapelumi, has committed suicide at his residence in the Aule Area of Akure, the Ondo State capital.

The deceased, who was popularly called Black, was said to be in the Department of Industrial Design at the university. He was said to have hanged himself in his room.

The reasons he took the action against himself were unknown as of the time of filing this report.

A source in the school stated that the deceased’s friends on Saturday went to his room and discovered it was locked, after several calls without response, the door was broken and he was found hanged.

Gunmen on Friday night killed two members of the All Progressives Congress in Ebonyi State.

The killing of the APC members reportedly took place in Mkpuma Akpatakpa community in the Izzi Local Government Area of the state.

They were said to be attending an APC meeting on Friday night in the community, when the gunmen stormed the venue and opened fire on all present.

Their attackers, who were said to be two in number, reportedly operated with a motorcycle.

The Enugu State Police Command says it has concluded an investigation into the case of the alleged murder of 9-year-old house help, Precious James Korshima, by her guardian, Mrs Ujunwa Ugwoke.

The information was contained in a press release issued on Thursday by the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, detailing how Mrs Ugwoke killed the house help and feigned kidnap.

DAILY POST reported the murder of Precious, who Mrs Ugwuoke reportedly admitted that she killed and dumped her body along the Enugu-Portharcourt Expressway.

According to the Police, Mrs Ugwoke confessed to having beaten and caused the death of Precious, who was her house-help, in a residence at Fidelity Estate, Okpara Avenue, Enugu.

She said after the incident, she took the child’s lifeless body to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, for medical attention.

However, when it was confirmed that Precious was dead by the doctors on duty, Mrs Ugwoke immediately took the body and dumped it in a refuse site along Ugbo-Nwagidi Village Road, Enugwueze Uno-Ituku community in Awgu Local Government Area.

The 2023 national population and housing census will hold from March 29 to April 1, 2023.

The Chairman, National Population Commission, Nasir Kwarra, disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Friday shortly after an audience with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

“By March 29 to April 2, our staff will be on the field enumerating people,” said Kwarra.

According to him, the technological tools to be deployed will be able to code building and land mass, detailing information such as location, landscapes, etc.

The Federal Government has denied any increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, despite the hike in the cost of the commodity across the country.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, in a statement issued by his media aide, Horatius Egua, in Abuja on Friday, said the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had not approved any price increase for petrol.

The statement read in part, “President Muhammadu Buhari has not approved any increase in the price of PMS or any other petroleum product for that matter.

“There is no reason for President Muhammadu Buhari to renege on his earlier promise not to approve any increase in the price of PMS at this time.

Two members of Osun Baptist Conference held while delivering ransom to abductors in a community in Kogi State have regained freedom.

The two persons had gone to deliver N6m to secure the release of Samuel Oladotun and Fashola Tobiloba kidnapped in Ileogbo town to the abductors, when they were also held and fresh N24m ransom demanded.

But a letter obtained in Osogbo on Friday signed by Dr. Paul Kolawole, the President of Osun Baptist Conference, and addressed to Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, indicated that the last two victims were released on Friday.

The letter thanked Adeleke for his intervention, and said a sum of N10m was paid for the release of all the victims.

Suspected bandits again attacked the Abagana community opposite the Internally Displaced Persons’ camp located along Makurdi/Laafia road in Benue State.

The attack which happened on Thursday night came barely two years after the community witnessed invasion in which seven people were murdered. Sources in the community informed City Round that a family of six and two others were beheaded in the latest attack.

It was further gathered that the suspected bandits invaded the area around 9pm, shot indiscriminately and killed eight people among who were a husband and wife and their four children.

A source in the community said, “On Thursday at about 2100hrs, suspected bandits invaded the Abagana community opposite the IDP camp and killed many people. Eight corpses,  including women and children, have been recovered and another eight people were injured and they have been evacuated to hospital for treatment. Some of the bodies were beheaded and the heads taken away. A man with his wife and four children were all wiped out in the attack.’’