Elsanto Blog

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily halted the move by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria to ban the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023. A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro halted the federal government plan in a ruling in an exparte application brought by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara. The PUNCH reports that the February 10 deadline for the currency swap announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria pitted Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) against 14 political parties  which threatened to boycott the February 25 election, should the CBN extend the time limit. This is as a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory restrained the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), CBN, its Governor Godwin Emefiele and 27 commercial banks from suspending, stopping, extending or interfering with the currency swap terminal date.

The government of Spain has pledged its commitment to help Nigeria tackle the rising state of insecurity across the country. This was made known when the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, led a delegation to the Nigeria Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, in Abuja on Thursday. Albares noted that his first visit evolves around bilateral and economic cooperation, adding that the existing relationship between both countries will be improved upon. The Spanish minister commended the efforts so far by the Federal government in curbing insecurity, stating that it is ready to extend a helping hand to address the root causes of insecurity.He said “Nigeria is one of the great regional actors, the first economy of the continent and an absolute pillar to ECOWAS. My visit is to give a new impetus to the relationship that is already strong and restate the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Spain in which five Memorandum of Understandings were signed and three trea...

A lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Mrs. Ngozi Uzodike, has been delivered of septuplets (seven babies), IGBERETV reports. Ngozi, who works at the Department of Business Administration, delivered the babies, two boys and five girls, at Obijackson Women and Children Hospital, Okija, Ihiala Local Government Area last Sunday January 8, 2022. However, one of the girls died and the hospital is threatening to stop medication on the remaining six babies if they fail to pay the N19 million bill.  The new mother lamented that she had not been paid salaries since she started working at the institution in December 2020. Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, her husband, Mr. Celestine Uzodike, said they could only pay N1.6m of the N9m billed by the hospital.  He lamented that his wife had never earned a kobo as salary, even after she had been promoted from Assistant Lecturer to Lecturer II. Uzodike, however, appealed to the Federal Government to pay the two y...

Pele's funeral will take place inside the Santos stadium next week Monday January 2 and Tuesday January 3rd, the Brazilian club said, when fans will be able to pay their final respects to the football legend. The Brazilian legend, whose full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died Thursday at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer, sparking an outpouring of tributes from around the world. His body will go straight from the Albert Einstein Hospital to Estádio Urbano Caldeira in Vila Belmiro at dawn on Monday and the coffin will be placed in the centre of the pitch. The public wake is expected to begin at 10am. The ceremony will continue until 10am on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, when the parade will take place through the streets of Santos. Pele died at the age of 82 following a long battle with colon cancer. He had been in hospital since late last month. Pele had a colon tumour removed in September 2021. Neither his family nor the hospital have said whether it h...

The Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, has confirmed the death of Professor George Obiozor, the President General of the apex Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo. He made this known in a statement on his Instagram page on Wednesday night. Uzodimma said, “On behalf of the Government and people of Imo State, I, Senator Hope Uzodimma, the Executive Governor of Imo State, sorrowfully announce the passage of a great Son of Imo State and Nigeria, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, worldwide, Prof George OBIOZOR. “A renowned academic, an exceptional diplomat, a statesman and a tenacious patriot, Prof George Obiozor passed on recently after a brief illness.The death of this foremost Igbo leader and former NIGERIA’S ambassador to the United States and the State of Israel, is a big loss to Imo State, the South East and the entire Nigeria. “I have no doubt that both Nigeria and the international community will miss his profound intellectual contributions and wise counsel ...

The State Security Service has started exercising a be-on-the-lookout for Governor Godwin Emefiele of the Central Bank of Nigeria, according to two officials familiar with the matter. Consequently, the domestic intelligence office has deployed several officers to monitor the CBN Headquarters, Mr Emefiele’s family residence in Lagos, and the Abuja home of businessman Christopher Emefiele, unrelated by blood, Peoples Gazette learnt this weekend.  An SSS officer familiar with the matter said the deployment came from an assistant director and could not immediately say whether or not Director-General Yusuf Bichi signed off on it.  “We have different teams of at least two each monitoring those places,” the officer said under anonymity to disclose cursory specifics of an ongoing operation. “We don’t know if they have more people deployed to even more places, but we did not see any signal from the DG’s office to suggest his involvement at this point”  The officers wer...

Veteran Comedian, Bright Okpocha, popularly known as Basketmouth, on Thursday, announced a breakup with his wife, Elsie Okpocha. The PUNCH had earlier reported that Basketmouth celebrated Elsie’s 44th birthday anniversary around September but failed to celebrate their annual wedding anniversary which usually comes up in November. Taking to his verified social media to announce their divorce, Basketmouth wrote, “As much as it pains me to bring my personal life to the public space, this is an unavoidable situation.After much deliberations, my wife and I have made the difficult decision to end our marriage. “As we move forward separately, we will continue to work together to give our beautiful children all the care, love, guidance and support they need. “We humbly ask that you respect our privacy as we navigate through these times. Thank you,” he said.

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of Financial Stability, Aisha Ahmad, has said she does not know the quantities of new notes the CBN printed and released for circulation. She said this while responding to questions by lawmakers when she appeared before the House of Representatives to brief the House on the apex bank’s cashless policy and cash withdrawal limits. The lawmakers had on Wednesday resolved that a deputy governor of the CBN should appear to brief the House today (Thursday) in the absence of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is outside the country to attend to health issues. A lawmaker, Sada Soli, in the course of the grilling of the CBN deputy governor, raised concerns over the non-availability of the new notes, days after it was were released to the public and asked her to disclose the quantities of new notes printed. But responding to the question, the CBN deputy governor said she does not know the quantities of notes printed by the ...

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has said the presidency is a life-long ambition. To this end, Atiku vowed to keep pushing until he succeeds in becoming Nigeria’s president. Speaking with Financial Times, the PDP presidential candidate said he would keep pursuing his ambition as long as he is alive and healthy. “It is a life-long ambition and as long as I’m alive and strong and healthy, I will continue pursuing it,” Atiku said. The former Vice President is one of the top candidates vying for the 2023 presidential election. It’s widely believed that the Waziri of Adamawa has been vying for the presidency since 1992 when he stepped down for MKO Abiola. During the last presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari defeated him to retain power. However, mixed feelings have continued to trail Atiku’s 2023 presidential pursuit, as some believe that he has no chance while others feel he is better positioned to win. https://dailypost.ng/...

BREAKING: Argentina are considering putting Lionel Messi on their banknotes   Officials of their financial governing body are looking to mark their nation’s historic World Cup triumph � Source- Via El Financiero newspaper. You can't put a price on Messi... or maybe you CAN! Argentina's Central Bank 'is plotting to put Lionel Messi's face on a 1,000 peso BANK NOTE' to mark nation's World Cup win in Qatar So, it turns out you can put a price on Lionel Messi. After the talismanic forward guided Argentina to their first World Cup win since 1986 in Mexico, Messi has been at the centre of discussions to have his face put onto a new 1,000 peso bill. According to newspaper El Financiero, the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina are eager to mark the national team's historic win in Qatar and have been working on ideas since before the epic 4-2 shootout win in the final over France. Mock-ups of the 1,000 peso note being discussed has since gone viral - with fans ...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawals across all channels by individuals and corporate organisations to N500,000 and N5 million, respectively. The directive is contained in a circular issued by the bank on Wednesday and signed by Haruna Mustafa, director of banking supervision department. The development comes two weeks after the CBN reduced the weekly over-the-counter cash withdrawal limit for individuals to N100,000 and that of corporate organisations to N500,000. The bank also reduced withdrawals at automated teller machines (ATMs) and point-of-sale terminals to N20,000 per day. The policy had generated mixed reactions from Nigerians. While some said it would have a negative effect on small businesses, others applauded it as a strategic move towards boosting the cashless policy and reducing the amount of cash outside the banking system. In the circular, the apex bank said it made the upward review based on feedback received fro...

The pictures of Nigerian Singer, Davido's with Chioma has become the most liked post by a Nigerian on Instagram, IGBERETV reports. The couple arrived at the Lusail stadium in Qatar to witness the World Cup tournament. The afro pop singer shared adorable photos of himself and Chioma on Sunday, December 18. This was the first social media post he had made since the death of his son, Ifeanyi in October 2022. Millions of followers from across the world rushed to the post to like it.  As at the time of this report, the photos have garnered over 1.7m likes on Instagram and close to over 220,000 comments. Follow link

Paul Okoye goes ‘savage mode’ to publish images of women who called his girlfriend ugly Paul Okoye, better known by his stage name Rude Boy, has in a recent post revealed a distinct side of himself that many people didn't realize he possessed. The musician, 41, revealed his new girlfriend, Ify, on Sunday, December 11, the day of their anniversary after his wife, Anita, filed for divorce from him in 2021. Since the musician made his connection with his new partner, Ivy Ifeoma, online trolls have made it their mission to slam both the artiste and his new love by branding her as "ugly". While others on social media believed that Ifeoma, 22, was too young to be dating Paul, some social media investigators even went so far as to unearth previous recordings of the model appearing to acknowledge that she dates wealthy men for their money. In a post he shared today, the "Reason With Me" artiste showed more than nine pictures of some ladies who had teased and...

Nollywood actress, Empress Njamah, has debunked the rumours that she is engaged, IGBERETV reports. She also accused her 'fiance' of physically assaulting her, in a Livestream via her business Instagram account on Friday, IGBERETV reports. Njamah revealed that the engagement video on her personal page was made under duress and that she had been scammed, beaten, held hostage by the man, who she said is from Liberia.  She said, "A guy that one couldn’t even call a human being came into my life in pretence of wanting to marry me, I didn’t know that he had other motives and he came when I was very vulnerable, when I lost my friend, Ada Ameh. I’ve been speaking to this guy for months on phone, speaking to people I thought were his relatives, everything is just scam. He came into my life, said he could not leave me because I wasn’t not okay. I really wasn’t okay, I was hiding it from the press. The death of my friend broke me down so bad I could not function and he sa...

Following an attempted murder on her husband, the estranged wife of former member of House of Representatives, Robinson Uwak, has been ordered to be remanded in Suleja Correctional Centre. The Inspector General of Police arraigned Kazia Uwak, Joseph Utum, and Ibiang Ofem, before the A Grade I Area Court in Nyanya, Abuja, on charges of joint act and attempt to commit grievous bodily harm on the ex-lawmaker. The charges were brought under Sections 95, 79, 248 of the penal code. Following their arraignment and not guilty plea, Justice M. Inuwa, in a remand warrant dated December 15, 2022, ordered Kaizia’s remand at the Nigerian Correctional Service custodial centre in Suleja, Niger State, while Utum and Ofem were remanded in Keffi. The police first information report, said the defendants were arrested for agreeing to do away with Uwak to enable Kaizia convert and inherit his valuable properties worth millions of naira in FCT, Port Harcourt and Uyo. The police alleged that in furtherance o...

The newly redesigned naira notes will go into circulation on Thursday (today) with Deposit Money Banks releasing the bills to their customers via over-the-counter payments. This came about three weeks after the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), unveiled the new bills at a weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Aso Rock Villa. The President unveiled the redesigned notes across the N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations. The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, had in October announced that apex bank would release re-designed naira notes by December 15, 2022.He also disclosed that the old notes would cease to be regarded as legal tender by January 31, 2023. Emefiele pointed out that the redesigning of the naira notes would help to curb counterfeit notes, and reduce ransom payments to terrorists and kidnappers. The CBN boss said it was worrisome that 85 per cent of the total currency in circulation was being hoarded by Nigerians.

Today, we formally commenced a legal action before the FCT High Court against Simon Ekpa, which action is founded on a plethora of grave infractions arising from his violent, disturbing and false declarations. I may not release further details here so that it will not prejudice the robust legal actions already lined up for him and his cohorts. It shall be coming in piecemeal. This is the first batch. I also want to assure Simon Ekpa and his cohorts affected by this compelling legal action, that no matter the country you people believe to be presently hiding under its sovereign protection, the full arms of the law shall certainly catch up with you all, in the legal onslaught already commenced. This is just one in the long line of compelling civil and criminal litigations coming your way. The hour has come, and I wish to reiterate that you Simon Ekpa cannot escape from the long arms of the law. We move! With this oji abatam! Signed  Sir ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq. 13th December, 2022.Nnamd...

Popular Babalawo or Ife priest character in Yoruba movies, Adewale Alebiosu has revealed that reciting some incantations in movies had some adverse effects on him in real life. Alebiosu, who spoke with BBB Yoruba, said he was just doing his job as an actor, that he never knew the incantations he was reciting could come to haunt him in real life. Alebiosu said, “I never knew there was so much more to the incantations I was delivering. I thought I was just delivering my lines, not knowing there are repercussions to follow. Whenever I get home after the act, while I sleep I would see some strange beings and some would turn to goats and start biting me.”Alebiosu warned that the coming generation who wants to play the role of a Babalawo should be very careful and be ready to be prayerful. According to him, the role requires all sorts of precautions. “I’m saying this to warn them so that they don’t end up regretting their lives or ending up miserably,” he said.

Five-time Ballon d’Or award winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, has said his dream to win the World Cup for Portugal has ended. Ronaldo said this in a post on social media following Portugal’s 1-0 loss to Morocco in the quarter-final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup on Saturday. A first-half goal by Youssef En-Nesyri sent Portugal packing while the North African team booked a spot in the semi-finals against defending champions France. Reacting, Ronaldo wrote, “Winning a World Cup for Portugal was the biggest and most ambitious dream of my career. Fortunately, I won many titles of international dimension, including Portugal, but putting our country’s name on the highest foot in the World was my biggest dream.“I fought for it. I fought hard for this dream. In the five appearances, I scored in World Cups over 16 years, always by the side of great players and supported by millions of Portuguese, I gave my all. Leave it all out on the field. I never turned my face to the fight and I never gav...

Fast-rising and street-hop artiste, Habeeb Okikiola, popularly known as Portable has welcomed his fourth child with third ‘baby mama’. The 27-year-old Sango Ota-based singer shared a picture of his baby mama’s bump and a video of the newborn on his Instagram page.  The Zazu crooner said the birth of the baby was a double celebration for him as the day marked his first anniversary in the music industry. Recall that Portable rose to fame and marked his entrance into the spotlight on December 10, 2021, after Poco Lee introduced him to Olamide which brought about the collabo for his hit single, “Zazzu Zeh”.The leader of the Zeh nation movement revealed the child’s name as Akorede Omolalomi Badmus. “Thank u lord for the Gift of Life. Akorede Omolalomi Badmus. It’s a new bouncing baby boy. Congrats to myself and the mother @honey_berry25 Iyawo IKA. December 10th de day real fame came & same Dec 10th I welcomed a new baby boi. God no dey disappoint,” Portable wrote. The  baby is ...