News
EFCC Puts More Govs Under Watch over Looted Funds
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said the number of governors being monitored by the agency for possible money laundering arising from the redesign of the naira is rising.
Speaking to correspondents after a meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday, he, however, declined to give the exact number of state chief executives involved.
The anti-graft agency had previously revealed that three governors were being watched on the suspicion that they might attempt to launder stashed cash in their possession which they might not be able to lodge in the bank before the deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria to return old notes for redesign.
Bawa commended the apex bank’s initiative to redesign some naira denominations, describing it as a significant process in the country’s fight against financial crimes and other forms of corruption.
He said, “On the issue of the governors that we are monitoring, in fact, the numbers have even increased. We are monitoring everything; Nigerians are helping. Well, I don’t want to give you the figures so that you will not go and speculate whether they are in the north or in the south, but it’s important that Nigerians key into it.”
Commending the redesign initiative and how significant the amount of cash out of CBN’s control is, Bawa said, “Oh, it is, it is very significant. You know that there is an obligation of money laundering law that we have, in which an individual is expected to carry out a transaction that is above N5m through the financial institution, there is also the threshold in which a corporate entity is expected to carry out transactions that is above N10m in the financial sector and why is it so?
“It is so because financial institutions are expected to make currency transaction reports, and suspicious transaction reports to relevant agencies. With that, institutions like us will be able to monitor which funds are legitimate and which ones are not legitimate.
“Here we are now, in which 85% of our currency is out in circulation and people are carrying out transactions above the thresholds as provided by this provision over and above that we will not be able to monitor; we don’t know what they’re doing.
“These are the transactions that are creating and giving avenues to other forms of crime that we’re seeing in this country; payment of ransom, banditry, and all of that, payment of bribery to political actors, and the arrest.
“So, it is a good thing for all of us, for the entire country and that is why we are calling on Nigerians to embrace the policy.”
The EFCC boss urged politicians to go about their campaigns without using illegitimate funds.
Speaking on the Eagle Eye, an app recently introduced by the commission, he said the initiative was to ease the reporting of crime.
“Let me use this opportunity to remind Nigerians that Eagle Eye is very important for those that are reporting the holders of these currencies that we know that are out there,” he added.
The Punch
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
To survive, everyone must work irrespective of creed or cadre. Work defines an individual, and sets them apart.
Working as a human being is however, relative. A student’s main work is to read and pass examination. A parent’s main work is to train their children. An employee’s main work is do the job they have been paid to do. A pastor’s job is to preach the gospel of Christ in addition to leading people to God. An athlete’s main work is to train and compete at global events in addition to winning laurels. The list is endless.
It’s the job every living being does that attracts opportunities to them, and so, staying docile and expecting opportunities to come your way is another way of encouraging poverty, lack and want in your life. In fact, docile people derive a certain level of joy from begging. Some even love freebies, free lunch and introduction for job opportunities just because they think they have the connection to make it work without them necessarily doing the corresponding work or have the requisite skill.
I personally believe it’s only lazy minds, who think that way. Life doesn’t work that way. I have since discovered that the more work one does the more doors and opportunities that come his way.
Speaking from experience, I have observed that some of the opportunities and favours I am currently receiving and enjoying are consequences of the foundation I laid many years ago. One might be wondering how that works. Let me explain a little, the day you sow a seed is not the day you will reap the fruits. Let me be more direct, as an author, it wasn’t an easy feat writing, researching, editing, doing the layout, publishing and printing the manuscript. It was lots of work, and I didn’t know my book would connect me to resourceful persons today.
In addition, the book generated royalties that humbled me to say the least. The moral of this analysis lies in the fact that when I was spending hours doing the work, I didn’t know it would attract the kind of global attention and news interviews that came to me. Now, you see why it’s good to work. Even the Bible states in Luke 10:7, that every laborer deserves fair compensation.
Did you know that if anyone wants to bless you, they will bless you with the work you do. That’s why the book of life states; God will bless the works of your hands. Nobody likes to give out free money. They like their money to work for them. It’s sad and very unfortunate to see people who pray for opportunities, favours, and blessings without doing any work. These lesser minds think money and opportunities will fall from heaven; they fail to realize that it is their work that heaven is waiting to use to bless them.
Did you know that there are things which God has enabled us to do for ourselves, and there are things we need to depend on Him to assist us. Let me explain further; if all your prayer requests are things men can provide, why are you really praying? Isn’t prayer meant for things you can’t do yourself? You pray to pass an exam that your friend read to pass. You pray to get a job that your friend got on merit. You appeal to God for a car that your friend worked for. It looks as if you are abusing prayer, and you want God to give you the things He has equipped you to provide for yourself. It is high time we understood that prayer is not the solution to laziness.
My late dad, Chief Lazarus Ukazu, advised my siblings and I to always work. As a matter of fact, each time he feels we are oversleeping, he’ll wake us up and say we have many years to sleep in the grave when we die, but as we are alive, we must work.
This instructive advice has been one of the best inspirational lessons I have received in my life. That advice made me feel like setting another goal each time I accomplish a major feat.
The importance of working cannot be overemphasized. The difference between high achievers and docile people is the work they do. While high achievers are very intentional with their life, docile people live by chance. While high achievers are determined to break records, and set new records, docile people are always comfortable living in their comfort zone.
In our contemporary society, we literally have no reason to fail because there’s the availability technology and social media to boost the work we do. It’s easy for one to know what we represent by just surfing the internet. So, imagine when frivolities are seen on your page, it will greatly affect you. Then contrast it with when good information is seen of you on the internet. Like I always say, why be local when we can be global?
Did you know that working is like taking a risk, the more work and risk someone engages in, the more opportunities and experience come their way.
In summary, if you are asked, what’s your work or what project are you working on, what will be your response?
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
A Rivers High Court sitting in Oyigbo Local Government Area has issued an interim injunction temporarily halting further action on the impeachment process against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Nma-Odu.
In a ruling delivered in Port Harcourt, the court restrained Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, alongside 32 other defendants — including the Clerk of the House and the Chief Judge of Rivers State – from taking steps aimed at advancing the impeachment process.
Specifically, the order barred the Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor-Amadi, from receiving, forwarding, considering, or acting on any request, resolution, or impeachment-related document from the Assembly for the purpose of constituting an investigative panel, pending the determination of the matter. The injunction is to subsist for seven days.
The order was granted by Justice Florence Fiberesima following the hearing of a motion ex parte filed separately by Governor Fubara and his deputy. In the two suits—marked OYHC/7/CS/2026 and OYHC/6/CS/2026—the court also granted the claimants leave to serve the interim order and other originating processes on the first to the thirty-first defendants by pasting them at the gate of the Rivers State Assembly quarters.
The court also directed that the Chief Judge, listed as the thirty-second defendant, be served through any staff of the judiciary at his chambers within the court premises.
Justice Fiberesima, thereafter, adjourned the matter to January 23, 2026, for hearing of the motion on notice, as the legal battle over the impeachment move shifts from the political arena to the courtroom.
On Friday, the Rivers State House of Assembly had asked the Chief Judge to set up a panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct against Governor Fubara and his deputy.
The assembly members, who made the call through a unanimous vote, vowed to continue with the impeachment process.
The lawmakers had earlier addressed a press conference in Port Harcourt, where they accused Fubara of allegedly using blackmail.
Addressing journalists, the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, claimed Fubara lacks the trust needed to address the crisis rocking the oil-rich State.
They accused the governor of infringing on the 1999 Constitution, saying the parliament was left with no other choice but to apply their legislative power by impeaching him from office.
The lawmakers also claimed the governor and his deputy had resorted to intimidating the parliament.
They, however, thanked President Bola Tinubu for wading into the crisis.
The members also called on the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, to reconvene the House.
Their position came weeks after they initiated an impeachment process against Fubara and Odu. The lawmakers are accusing them of gross negligence, a move that has heightened political tension in the coastal State.
News
Fubara: Rivers Assembly Urges Chief Judge to Begin Impeachment Probe As Four Lawmakers Make U-turn
Rivers State House of Assembly on Friday called on the Chief Judge of the state to set up panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.
The assembly members, who made the call through a unanimous vote, vowed to continue with the impeachment process.
The lawmakers had earlier addressed a live press conference in Port Harcourt where they accused Fubara of allegedly using blackmail.
Addressing journalists, the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, said Fubara lacked the trust needed to address the crisis rocking the oil-rich state.
They accused the governor of infringing on the 1999 Constitution, saying the parliament was left with no other choice but to apply their legislative power by impeaching him from office.
The lawmakers also claimed the governor and his deputy had resorted to intimidating the parliament.
They, however, thanked President Bola Tinubu for wading into the crisis.
“It is obvious that the only solution now is to apply the solution prescribed by the 1999 Constitution as altered, which is the impeachment of the incorrigible governor and the deputy governor,” Maol said.
“We therefore strongly appeal to leaders at all levels and the good people of Rivers State to kindly consider the problem at hand and understand that the impeachment process is the best way to go at this point.
“We are using this medium to call on the Speaker to allow the constitutional process to proceed unhindered. We thank our dear President, Bola Tinubu, who has demonstrated so much love for Rivers State. He did his best for the resolution of this impasse, but the governor and deputy governor are adamant,” the lawmaker added.
The members also called on the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, to reconvene the House.
Four members of the House who had held pressers, calling for a political solution, recanted and declared their support for the impeachment process to continue.
Shortly after the live press conference, the lawmakers made their way to the chambers for the commencement of a parliamentary session.
At plenary, the members unanimously voted in support of an investigation of the allegations of gross misconduct against Fubara and his deputy.
“This voting clearly shows the decision of the House,” Amaewhule declared while calling on the Chief Judge of the state to set up an panel of investigation.
