Federal Government has instructed that Nigerians with expired passports who are planning to return to the country to celebrate the yuletide be allowed in without any hindrance.

In a letter dated 22nd December 2023 by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Wura-Ola Adepoju, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, through the Office of Assistant Comptroller General, Border Management, the NIS asked that Nigerians “be admitted into the country with their expired Nigerian passports”.

“l am directed to refer to the above subject matter and to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria in her efforts to make life easy for Nigerians in the diaspora has approved that all Nigerians returning home can be admitted into the country with their expired Nigerian passports.

“I am further directed to inform airlines coming to Nigeria to allow holders of Nigeria expired passports to board without let.

“In furtherance to the foregoing, all Nigeria Embassies and High Commissions are advised to give this directive the highest publicity it deserves.

“Consequent upon the above, all entry/exit points are by the copy of this letter directed to open a help desk for all Nigerians in this category and direct same to passport offices where their passports will be reissued within a maximum of two (2) weeks,” the letter stated in part.

Meanwhile, the media aide to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alkasim Abdulkadir, could not confirm receipt of the letter, adding that he was not in the office at the moment.

The phone number of the NIS spokesperson, Dotun Aridegbe, did not connect when the Daily Trust correspondent called to confirm the authenticity of the letter.

However, a reliable source at the NIS who wouldn’t want to be named confirmed that the policy was not new as the Federal Government did the same last year.

Daily Trust

Israel strikes 2 homes, killing more than 90 Palestinians. Biden says he didn't request a cease-fire

More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes in Gaza, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned that nowhere is safe in the territory and that Israel’s offensive creates “massive obstacles” to distribution of humanitarian aid.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, calling it a long and private conversation a day after the Biden administration again shielded Israel in the diplomatic arena. On Friday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution that calls for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to desperate civilians in Gaza, but not for a cease-fire.

“I did not ask for a cease-fire,” Biden said of the call. Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister “made clear that Israel would continue the war until achieving all its goals.”

Also Saturday, the Israeli military said troops arrested hundreds of alleged militants in Gaza over the past week and transferred more than 200 to Israel for further interrogation, providing rare details on a controversial policy of mass roundups of Palestinian men. The army said more than 700 people with alleged ties to the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have so far been sent to Israeli lockups.

Israel declared war after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages. More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war to destroy Hamas and more than 53,000 have been wounded, according to health officials in Gaza, a besieged territory ruled by the Islamic militant group for the past 16 years.

The Health Ministry in Gaza on Saturday evening said 201 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.

Airstrikes on Friday flattened two homes, including one in Gaza City, where 76 people from the al-Mughrabi family were killed, making the attack one of the deadliest of the war, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense department.

Among those killed were Issam al-Mughrabi, a veteran employee of the U.N. Development Program, his wife, and their five children.

“The U.N. and civilians in Gaza are not a target,” said Achim Steiner, the head of the agency. “This war must end.”

And a strike pulverized the home of Mohammed Khalifa, a local TV journalist, killing him and at least 14 others in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat, according to officials at the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital where the bodies were taken.

Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, citing the militants’ use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has launched thousands of airstrikes since Oct. 7, and has largely refrained from commenting on specific attacks.

Israel’s offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history, displacing nearly 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and leveling wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave. More than a half million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report this week from the United Nations and other agencies.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, men walking through the rubble tried to shoo away cats feeding on unclaimed bodies. One man covered a body with a blanket. Another wished to call an ambulance but had no phone signal.

The Israeli military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said forces were expanding their offensive in northern and southern Gaza and troops were fighting in “complex areas” in Khan Younis.

The army’s statement on detentions followed earlier Palestinian reports of large-scale roundups of teenage boys and men from homes, shelters and hospitals in northern Gaza where troops have established firmer control. Some of the released detainees have said they were stripped to their underwear, beaten and held for days with minimal water.

Channel 13 in Israel showed new footage of Palestinian men stripped to their underwear and walking in single file, with soldiers nearby. It was not clear when the footage was taken. In response to widespread criticism, the army has said detainees are stripped to check them for weapons. It has denied abuse allegations and said those without links to militants are quickly released.

Hamas called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations to pressure Israeli authorities to reveal the whereabouts and conditions of people detained.

Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas militants, including about 2,000 in the past three weeks, but has not presented evidence. It says 144 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive.

Following the U.N. resolution, it was not immediately clear how and when aid deliveries would accelerate. Trucks enter through two crossings — Rafah on the border with Egypt and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel. On Friday, fewer than 100 trucks entered, the U.N. said — far below the daily average of 500 before the war.

Both crossings were closed Saturday by mutual agreement among Israel, Egypt and the U.N., Israeli officials said.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan criticized the Security Council resolution that called for aid into Gaza without suspending hostilities, calling it “weak” and “insufficient.”

Ahead of the council vote, the U.S. negotiated the removal of language that would have given the U.N. authority to inspect aid going into Gaza, something Israel says it must continue to do itself to ensure material does not reach Hamas.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that it’s a mistake to measure the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation by the number of trucks.

“The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza,” he said.

Netanyahu and his government also faced pressure at home, with calls to get the remaining hostages freed. “Bibi, Bibi retire. We don’t want you anymore,” a crowd of thousands chanted in Tel Aviv.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian shelling kills one, injures seven in southern Ukraine, officials say

Waves of Russian shelling and drone attacks struck the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Saturday, killing one person and injuring seven, officials in the region said.

Russian forces also shelled a power station closer to the front lines in eastern Ukraine, injuring five workers and knocking out electricity to the town of Kurakhovo.

Russian forces a year ago abandoned positions on the western bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson region but constantly shell areas there from new positions on the eastern bank. Ukrainian troops have established beachheads on the eastern bank.

Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said a drone attack killed a man in the town of Stanislav, southeast of the city of Kherson, which for the past year, has been under Ukrainian control but subject to constant Russian shelling.

The city came under several Russian attacks throughout the day, including one sustained assault on residential areas in the early evening, and Prokudin said seven residents were hurt.

In the east, Russian shelling of a thermal power station in the town of Kurakhove injured five workers and triggered a power cut, the head of the local administration, Roman Padun, told the Suspilne public broadcaster.

Residents were leaving the town en masse, he said.

Kurakhove is a short distance from Maryinka, a town on the 1,000-km (600-mile) long front line virtually reduced to rubble after months of heavy fighting.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in its evening report, said Ukrainian forces had repelled two attacks on the town and more assaults on the nearby town of Avdiivka, focus of steady Russian attacks since mid-October.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia repels seven Ukraine’s counterattacks in Kupyansk area, hits two Leopard 2 tanks

The units of Russia's Battlegroup West have repelled seven counterattacks by the Ukrainian armed forces in the Kupyansk area, eliminating two Leopard 2 tanks, Battlegroup Spokesman Sergey Zybinsky told TASS.

"Motorized infantry units of the 6th general troops army supported by the artillery repelled five counterattacks by assault groups of the 14th and 115th mechanized and 95th air assault brigades near the lake of Liman, as well as Sinkovka and Ivanovka. The enemy was forced to retreat in the southern and south-western directions," he said. Near Zheglovka and Terny the enemy made two more attempts of counterattacks, which were also repelled, Zybinsky added.

The team of the self-propelled artillery system Msta-S eliminated a Leopard 2 tank near the settlement of Terny, he said, noting that the Ukrainian army’s losses totaled "up to 55 troops, two Leopard 2 tanks, two М113 armored fighting vehicles, two mortars, four pickups and D-20 weapon.".

Reuters/Tass

After President Bola Tinubu intervened in the seismic crisis that rocked oil-rich Rivers State last week, one thing and two people unraveled. By their unraveling, pretentious veils were lifted off their faces. They were, the president himself, the nature of Nigeria’s presidential democracy and the governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara. Nigerians distrusted the piece of paper that emanated from the Tinubu intervention. To them, it reeks of the proverbial partiality of one entrusted with the task of deploying their incisors to halve a piece of meat called the “af’eyin pin’ran”.

Let me break into granules who the Yoruba af’eyinpin’ran 

is. Whenever there is a tie in the need for an equal halving of a piece of meat, Yoruba are often suspicious of the human teeth being able to dispense equitable justice. Their fear is that, hiding under the cavalier clouds of the mouth, meat justice, with the incisors as the gavel, often results in inequity, tyranny and cheating. In their resignation to this incisors tyranny, they say only God can judge the af’eyinpin’ran.

There is often a cache of assumptions in cases where an af’eyinpin’ran’s equitable justice sense is sought. One is that they are older in stature and wisdom. Second, that they are assumed to be reputably impartial arbiters, and third, that the meat to be halved is beyond the oesophageal lust of the one to share the meat; that is, they are not greedy. But in most cases, the dental-judge, an alagata, is the arbiter who no one trusts. He is guilty, ab initio of hiding chunks of meat inside own mouth. 

This same Yoruba, in their extreme sense of empathy, reserve ample space in their hearts for one who is down. So they say, even if you are as unfeeling, uncaring and beyond bother as to be able to crush the ugly, meatless head of a tortoise with your teeth, you must wail on behalf of the mother who begot the person undergoing travails. “Eni ba j’ori ahun, yio se’daro alabiamo” they say. I mean, the matter of Governor Simnalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his abductors deserves our wails. Yes, Simnalayi has been abducted. No, there are no physical manacles around Sim’s feet and hands; yet, he is in chains. Or, forgive the disgusting epithets it evokes, but no pun or alliteration is intended, Sim is in deep shit. His situation can be compared to that of little Alice and her adventures in strange wonderland. In that famous and widely burnished 1865-written children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, authored by Lewis Carroll, a pot-pourri of fantastical tales and riddles are cobbled together to explain Alice’s dilemma. The young girl, Alice falls asleep in a meadow and begins to dream that she accompanied the white rabbit into its hole. In the hole, she encounters several wondrous, bizarre and illogical encounters with strange creatures which changed their sizes. Alice attends strange endless tea party in the company of the Mad Hatter as well. She then gets to the presence of the Queen who calls for the execution of almost everyone present. Later, the Queen ordered for Alice to be beheaded even in her presence. She then wakes up.

In that Aso Rock resolution, Simnalayi was literally beheaded on the request of FCT Minister Wike. It reminds one of biblical Herod Antipas. Antipas had ordered the beheading of John the Baptist on the request of Herodias' daughter. The head was subsequently placed on a platter. If you don’t want to go that Alice or John the Baptist extreme to describe the Simnalayi fate in Aso Rock last week, think up the fable of Tortoise the trickster and the Squirrel. Justifying the need for the evocation of the Tortoise to explain contemporary phenomena, Alice, in the same Alice in Wonderland, had asked, “Why did you call him Tortoise if he wasn’t one?” and the reply she got was, “We called him Tortoise because he taught us.” Tortoise teaches us that we have contemporary tricksters scattered in every plane of life, at the political, leadership, governmental and all existential levels. The wary enter their traps and some never return. So animals are deployed as metaphor for life, simply because in them is an embodiment of human potentials. They also mirror the vagueness and vagaries of life and the tensions that we encounter in the daily struggles while journeying to the top.

Last week, perhaps assuming that the race for the jugular of Rivers State was a duel between gentlemen, Simnalayi was in Aso Rock, with Peter Odili, the state’s first Fourth Republic governor. It was a meeting most probably called by Tinubu. Rivers had fluctuated dangerously in the past couple of weeks, so much that if not tamed, the oil-rich state could implode and explode. In an act reminiscent of pressing the nukes, Simnalayi had ordered the demolition of the State House of Assembly while the 24 defecting lawmakers from the PDP, in cahoots with Wike, had begun to march Rivers towards the precipice. The resolution, which later turned out to be an autocratic military decree from Aso Rock has received scalding criticisms from Rivers people and Nigerians. Ijaw youths held a public protest against it while some of their leaders have threatened court action against Tinubu and Fubara. The general belief that originated therefrom was that the age-long Tortoise trickery was deployed to wangle the way for Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Wike’s continued Adolf Hitler hold on the oil-rich state.

The tortoise trickery? So, one day, there was a contest for animal leadership kingdom in the forest. Tortoise and squirrel hit the finals of the contest. The ageless trickster, Tortoise put forward a suggestion of a race to determine who the rightful animal leader was. Other animals were astounded. Tortoise runs in a crawl and is reputed to be one of the most snailish of all animals. The Squirrel was in high spirit, persuaded he would win the race. The night preceding the race, however, wily Tortoise went to the proposed race track and decorated its strategic paths with noticeable palm-nuts. He also dug a hole beside the last track by a bush path, decked it with grasses and decorated the holes with palm-nuts. As all animals gathered the next day for the race, the two sprinters were invited. And the race begins. In a jiffy, the Squirrel sprinted off like a cheetah. However, at each stop where Tortoise decorated with palm-nuts, Squirrel stopped, looked sideways and not seeing Tortoise, assumed that he had enough time. He then began to feast on his favourite nuts. He stopped at every intersection the nuts were placed and when he got to the final one, he began to eat the palm-nuts and fell into the ditch. Struggling to wriggle self off the entanglements, by the time he came out, Tortoise had beaten him to the race and emerged winner. The slowest animal, Tortoise thus emerged the fastest and leader of the animals.

The piece of paper claiming resolution of the crisis was audaciously one-sided. In one of the issues, while ordering lawmakers who had earlier defected to the APC to be recognized by the governor, it didn’t ask the defected lawmakers to return to the political party under whose banner they secured membership of the House. Hitler couldn’t have authored a more tyrannical verse.

David Briggs, member of the Rivers Elders’ Forum and former Rivers State Commissioner for Works, last week tremendously helped to unravel the nature of the Tinubu presidency that we will have to grapple with. In an interview, Briggs, who claimed to be present at the Villa reconciliation revealed that Fubara signed the resolution under veiled presidential threat and without a single input into it. “I was there, so what I say is primary not secondary. We were invited for a meeting, but that was not a meeting. What happened is that Mr President walked in with a written resolution, addressed us and declared that what he had in his hand is a presidential proclamation, therefore he can whip. He emphasised the fact that he is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and anybody who tends to say no to what he is saying, it has consequences. That in a simple lay man’s word is a threat. He (Tinubu) wrote the resolution but refused to read it. He handed the resolution to Odili to read,” Briggs said.

Now, apart from his presidential powers, Tinubu possesses a Janus-faced political pedigree that makes him both wrong and the best person to be entrusted with the task of impartial arbitration of the Rivers conundrum. What seems to qualify him for the arbitration was that, Tinubu’s rising profile in Lagos politics was amplified by his rebellious elbowing and subsequent vanquishing of his Afenifere political godfathers in Lagos. The elders had thought they could hold a toll to him having made him governor. Again, when President Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to subjugate Lagos as one of the stools of his southwest fiefdom, Tinubu audaciously repelled his quest for conquest and made nonsense of Obasanjo and his presidential powers. With this pedigree of standing up to a self-imposed titular, it must have been expected that Tinubu would queue behind Fubara against the menacing principality of Wike. How come such thinking didn’t factor in the fact that, conversely, having conquered godfatherism, Tinubu installed himself as the numero uno godfather of Lagos politics with dystopian consequences for the good of that state in generations to come. While the warring stakeholders sympathetic to Fubara felt that Tinubu was qualified to bring equitable justice to Rivers because he suffered the deleterious consequences of godfatherism, the Wike faction didn’t think along that line. It must have encouraged Tinubu to use his incisors to halve the Rivers meat inequitably due to his recent past medallion as a Lagos godfather whose godfatherism tickles Wike’s fancy. Didn’t it occur to the Fubara group that the dalliance with the Rivers godfather may have a lot to do with the wealth of the oil-rich state and its link to the 2023 presidential campaign? 

To confirm how fatal it was to take the dispute before Tinubu as an Af’eyinpin’ran, the reported reply of the president when former Attorney-General of the State and Justice Commissioner, Adokiye Amiesimaka, allegedly confronted him with indubitable facts of his partiality speaks volume. Amiesimaka had reportedly asked him, “Fubara should do this, he should do that. You (referring to the president) have not said what those 25 or 27 Assembly members that defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress without consulting their constituency and constituents… should do.” In the words of Briggs, Tinubu’s reaction was, “I’m the leader of the APC in Nigeria. And you are telling me when babies are born into my family I should ask them to go.” Thus, it is obvious that the Rivers meat to be halved is not beyond the oesophageal desire of Tinubu, who incidentally was the one they took the meat before for sharing.

Siminalayi has received tomes of incendiary comments on account of appending his signature to the Villa resolution. He has been called simpleton, lily-livered and cowardly. Briggs’ intervention has helped peer searchlight into the fact that, beyond the meek-like bespectacled visor of Tinubu lies the tendency to, like a deadly viper, spit cold-blooded poison of power that can meander into the heart and kill its victim. Anyone who thought that African wielders of power are democratic, off the klieg of cameras, is mistaken. In their closets, they constrict their preys like a viper and are reincarnates of Idi Amin Dada and Emperor Haile Selassie. Many African leaders are despots and tyrants, cloked with such totalitarian inclination by the raw powers at their disposal. They romance a one-party state like a dog coddles its puppy. This fact is corroborated by Tinubu’s reported reply to Amiesimeka in his babies allegory. I know of a 4th republic governor of Nigeria who Obasanjo rose against with orchestrated plan of impeachment simply because the governor was tape-recorded as calling the president “senile old man.” The rhetoric from Briggs speaks volume of how Tinubu could go down this despotic route. Briggs had asked in the interview, “If you were in the position of the governor, what will you do? Get up and go? Say no to Mr President with that kind of subtle but energetic threat?”

This is why, as I said earlier, even if you are as unfeeling, uncaring and beyond bother as to be able to crush the ugly, meatless head of a tortoise with your teeth, you must wail on behalf of the mother who begot Siminalayi. In his agreement to be placeholder for Wike as third term governor of Rivers, Fubara has found himself in the belly of the whale. What he obviously won’t be able to confess to the people of Rivers is that he had the pre-governorship agreement to keep Wike belching behind the till of Rivers and ensure his hold on the levers of power even while in Abuja. Only a fool would continue the perpetuation of this slavish status-quo.

Those who subscribe to the Wike ladder theory are those who encourage despots to grow out of the ashes of governorship succession system. A couple of weeks ago, apparently upbraiding Fubara, Wike had asked those who climbed up by the leader not to break it. Their eyes permanently fixated on the bolts of the maggoty wardrobes they left behind in the Government House and which are fastened securely to avoid spillage to the eyes of the public, governors would always skew their succession in favour of their placeholders. They look for the most pliable person as successor to do their dirty deal. For the sake of the states, we must encourage the rebellion of these placeholders against their governor taskmasters. Not doing this will ensure that the resources of Nigerian states would continually be siphoned into the greedy purses of governors’ predecessors. What Tinubu did last Monday by that veiled threat to Siminalayi was to brusquely assist in the return of oil-rich Rivers to the insatiable pocket of his consort.

When Tinubu on Friday at the Surulere Ansar-Ud-Deen mosque promised to be fair to all Nigerians, the Briggs revelation should nudge us to ask if that fairness has same colour as the Fubara Af’eyinpin’ran fairness. The reality of that Briggs revelation is that we should prepare for the dystopia to come in Nigeria. Those who shout “On your mandate we stand” should also prepare to stand on the wings of the Fubara treatment to come.

The Emefiele execution in China

We wait to hear what the fallen former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele has to say on the lurid report of a probe of his years at the apex bank. The report was leaked on Friday and is the sensation in town. Emefiele himself is said to have perfected his bail conditions and has been released from prison custody. Whatever it is, we are sure of weeks of circus shows akin to that of Sambo Dasuki. 

Meanwhile, all manner of epithets are today being used to describe Emefiele. The latest is the scathing attack on him by the Nigerian presidency. Unearthing virulent details of the Jim Obazee’s Report last Friday, the presidency descended on Emefiele like a cruel matador. Apart from telling us of the several unauthorized accounts he opened and the banks he covertly acquired for himself, the presidency suggested that, were Emefiele to have committed the alleged theft of public funds in China, he would have faced execution. The China reference is very instructive. Only a few years ago, China executed two officials from its eastern cities upon conviction for corruption. They were Xu Maiyong, a former vice-mayor of Hangzhou, and Jiang Renjie, vice-mayor of Suzhou, who were both put to death after the rejection of their appeals. Xu and Jiang were accused of stealing about 300m yuan ($46m; £29m) through embezzlement and receiving bribes, crimes that have become regular occurrences in Nigerian government. In China, the corruption these crimes that have become commonplace in Nigeria are the main causes of public discontent leading to hundreds of officials being convicted yearly.

The only thing we remember vividly is that, as Nigerians, we have travelled this Tinubu government demonization route before. At the end of the day, it was a barren and lean road that led to nowhere. When Major General Muhammadu Buhari forcefully took over the reins of power in 1983, sending elected the civilian government scampering and groveling for its under-wears in the dark, Buhari leveled very crowd-pulling allegations against the Shehu Shagari-led government. One of such was that Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) AMA Akinloye had his photograph embossed on champagne bottles, as an underscore of the profligacy of the government of the Second Republic. Fast-forward to 1999 when the military was handing over the reins of power, men in khaki had sufficiently engrafted their names in halls of infamy. Allegations of enriching themselves with Nigeria’s money and mis-governance were so rife that the allegations against the Shagari government were child’s play.

Buhari cyclostyled that same propagandist condemnation when he took over government in 2015. Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser (NSA) was so dirtily tar-brushed that no one would buy him for a farthen. He was accused of colossal theft of Nigeria’s national patrimony funneled into several individuals for the prosecution of Nigeria’s 2015 elections. A viral video soon emerged of an alleged dalliance with a girl in detention. Till today, Dasuki roams about a free man and after the ice of power arrogance had thawed, no reference is ever made to the Sokoto prince any longer.

It will seem that immediately governments in Nigeria take over, they look for scapegoat to serve as escapism for their governmental inadequacies. Right now, there are massive grumblings in Nigeria. Hope is turning into despair. It was so bad that, at the public presentation of a book entitled, APC and transition politics in Abuja last week, former Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi, told the APC chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, to be bold enough to report the correct state of despondency on Nigerian streets to Tinubu. “The party leader should be the one to tell our President this is the feedback from the communities and constituencies out there. Not what he is hearing in the villa where he is locked out,” he said. The walls of the Villa and the drowning choruses of sycophants are deafening enough to block the ears of a president from the true rendition of events.

In the bid to escape condemnation and favourably recontextualize the cries of the people for its adulations, governments are known to deploy what is called in Latin argumentum ad misericordiam to shore up their sagging pride. It is one of the major pitfalls in arguments which is appeal to emotion or literally, argument from pity. It is an emotional appeal that tugs at people’s pity and emotions, rather than through logical reasoning or argument.

We all know that Emefiele was at the top of a band of men and women who grossly and wickedly misused presidential powers during the Buhari government. Emefiele was audacious, power-hungry and dangerously fiddled with CBN policies to benefit hirelings of the Buhari government and members of his family. This didn’t bother the Nigerian people that much. When he however began to tinker with the policies, like the Naira redesign policy, which pauperized, hungered Nigerians, he became a pariah. No one was considered greater in notoriety in that government like Emefiele.

If this government is so afraid of its own shadows that it cannot call a spade a spade, it should however not insult the people of Nigeria. When the Tinubu-appointed Special Investigator on the Central Bank of Nigeria and Related Entities, Obazee, said that the redesign of the Naira by the Buhari government was not expressly approved by the president, he was obviously saying one or two things. One, he was confirming what many have always said that Buhari was just a figurehead president for eight years who had no idea of how government under him was being run. Second, that Nigerians are purely stupid. Obazee had said that the approval for the redesign came from Buhari’s aide, Sabiu Tunde ‘Yusuf’. Obazee said this while presenting his final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable Offences)’ to the president last Wednesday.

If Buhari didn’t run a figurehead government, or wasn’t a placeholder for some vermin whose aim was to use his name to suck the Nigerian blood, how would such a massively consequential policy which eventually dragged people to their graves, be taken by an aide of no economic or fiscal consequence, a Personal Assistant?

If Obazee’s role in making that statement was to appeal to Nigerians’ emotions, he failed woefully. This is because, a few weeks ago, in an interview with the NTA, his first since leaving government, Buhari confirmed that he approved the naira redesign policy as a way of ensuring that his “integrity became unquestionable.” On November 23, 2022, Buhari even unveiled the redesigned naira notes earlier than scheduled and was shown in pictures taken with Emefiele giving his imprimatur to the policy, the two grinning from ear to ear. At the launch of the Naira notes which preceded the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Buhari expressed his happiness that the notes were produced in Nigeria and were well-fortified. If this government is afraid to hold Buhari accountable for his sins of silence, collaboration or abetment of Nigeria’s past fiscal woes, it should not hoodwink us with those illogical statements. More instructively, why would Emefiele be accused by the CBN investigator this massively in crimes that the presidential office said would earn him public execution in China and the Smart Alec ex-CBN governor is merely being charged for procurement fraud. 

By the way, does the presidential office realize that if the China model were to be in place in Nigeria today, where bribe receivers and embezzlers are executed at the drop of a hat, we may probably have no government in place as virtually everyone would have faced a squad of nuclear warheads?

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord ~ Luke 2:10-11.

Introduction

It’s that time of the year again — Christmas season — when people from all walks of life take time to rejoice and celebrate,  commemorative of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

In many parts of the world, every nook and cranny is lit up and decorated in brilliant colours. However, the unfortunate note here is that, in many cultures and sub-cultures as well, Christ has been thoughtlessly displaced from His own “Mass”!

It not uncommon nowadays to actually see people refer to “Christmas” as “Xmas”, thereby bastardizing the significance of the season. Very painful indeed!

Now, the word "Christmas" doesn’t actually occur anywhere in the Bible! It is an old English word that basically means "Christ's Mass", which refers to the celebration of the Lord's Supper, called “the Mass”.

Historically, the earliest occurrence of the word, “Christmas” on record is 1038 A.D. Christians at that time considered the Lord's Supper to be the most important part of the celebration of Christ's birth, hence it was called Christmas.

However, since that time, there have been diverse arguments and perceptions about Christmas, especially its origin and timing. Nevertheless, the unarguable fact is that Christ was born, and in the annals of history, it was an epoch-making occasion. There's no greater gift than the Saviour given!

Moreover, in our modern secular era, the glitter and shine, the wining and dining, the shopping and the exchange of gifts, the media commercialization, the brisk business activities and the general funfare that typically characterize Christmas everywhere are, though stealthily, fast displacing Christ in many hearts.

Meanwhile, the greatest tragedy of all time is not so much the commercialization of Christmas, etcetera, but its trivialization!

Many people have now forgotten the Person to whom they owe so very much, and have unwittingly removed Him from the event that supposedly commemorates His birth.

Just imagine that someone celebrating his birthday is somehow locked out of the event center. It is even more serious and more cruel than that when we realize what we do in shutting Christ out from Christmas.

Some people till today relate with Jesus as with a little child over there in Bethlehem lying in a manger. What a grievous mistake!

See, that little child then, Jesus, really grew up and waxed strong in the spirit, and He is now the Christ and the Only Saviour of the world (Luke 2:40). We had better come to terms with this truth, and settle down to enjoy His everlasting lordship.

This Jesus that’s being celebrated at Christmas is the same God that created the heavens, and spoke the worlds into existence (John 1:2-3). He is the same Ancient of Days that parted the Red Sea, and made an expressway in its bed, just to deliver His people from slavery.

He’s the Mighty God that made the blind to see, and the lame to walk. He healed the lepers, walked upon the sea, stilled the storm, and raised the dead. He is the same “God now with us”, Emmanuel!

He is the indisputable Saviour of the all mankind (Acts 4:11-12). His lordship is unarguable and His dominion is undeniable. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

If you're a lord in any circle on earth, He's your Lord; if you're a king in any domain, He's your King. Take it like that. He is the blessed and only Potentate. His lordship is forever and it extends from coast to coast (1Timothy 6:14-16).

Nevertheless, the love of God ever remains the real essence of Christmas, and its truest story is revealed in the giving heart of the Father-God (1John 4:16; James 1:17).

Hence, over the years, Christmas has become the sole global event to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ the Saviour, the greatest gift of God to mankind.

He is the epitome of God’s love for us, and anybody that hopes to enjoy the fullness of God’s matchless goodness today must bow to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Let’s Put Christ Back Properly Into Christmas

As believers, it behoves us to put Jesus Christ and the loving redemption He brought back into Christmas. He is truly alive, and we must remember to keep Him in His own show.

In the least, we must take the opportunity of the Christmas season to openly celebrate Him as our triumphant Savior and King. We must seize the moment to also witness and reveal Him to the world as the Mighty One, not as a "Baby-in-a-Manger!"

Again, as our very important decision, we must intentionally worship Jesus Christ for who He is, and praise Him for what He has done. We must soberly search our hearts to be sure that there are no areas of our lives that won't stand up to His divine scrutiny.

We must genuinely repent of our sins, spiritual lethargy, apathy, idleness, laziness, lassitude and drowsiness, being truly baptized into the fullness of Spirit of Jesus Christ, obeying Him implicitly and doing only those things that please Him, daily.

We must love God passionately, and get seriously involved in the ministry of relaying His love to others, reconciling lost souls back to Him, and remembering that the true story of Christmas represents the redeeming love of the Father (John 3:16).

Yes, this is the time to be merry, to share joy, to love and be loved, in the spirit of giving. God so loved us, that He became love-personified through the Incarnation (John 3:16). Hence, we must fully determine to reciprocate this matchless and unfathomable love of God.

You will certainly be happy and thrilled when you reciprocate His love. The love of God is the master key to exceeding grace (1Timothy 1:14). When you love God sincerely and overwhelmingly, you are translated from the terrestrial realm to the struggle-free celestial realm (1John 4:17).

More so, charity never fails. When your love for God, and His kingdom cause becomes your waking thought and your walking passion, then you can never fail.

The biggest gift we can offer the world this season is Jesus Christ (2Corinthians 5:11). When He is received in the hearts of men, He becomes enthroned and assumes His rightful place in their destinies, for time and for eternity.

This same Jesus, the Good Shepherd of our souls, Who was gentle, mild, meek and compassionate and Who became God's Paschal Lamb is coming back again.

However, He is coming this time around as a Judge of all. He will be unrelenting and unsparing in judgement, because the timeline for grace would have elapsed.

Friends and brethren, please let’s celebrate Christ responsibly during this Christmas season. Repent and believe the gospel today, if you’re yet to be born-again. Awake, be revived and turn on your light again, if you have backslidden.

Let’s altogether arouse the world that this same Jesus we are celebrating in this season will soon come back for judgement of sinners, and for rewards of saints. You won’t miss it. Happy Sunday, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year in advance, in Jesus name!

 ____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

Paul’s credentials were exemplary. He was a pure-blooded Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. He refers to himself as a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was a Pharisee, an esteemed group that demanded the strictest obedience to Jewish law. He was so zealous that he led the persecution of Christians. He obeyed the law very strictly.

These were his prized credentials. They were the things that gave meaning to his life. But when he met Christ, he realised that these credentials that he once considered valuable were worthless because of what Christ had done.

Called To Suffer

Jesus sent Ananias to Paul, saying: “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 5-16).

That was a watershed in Paul’s life. It turned his life upside down. Past gains suddenly became losses to him. As a result, he says: 

“What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:7-8).

Jesus Himself forewarns us about this. He says:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 12:44-46).

When he sold all he had, he lost all he had. When he sold all he had, he suffered a loss. But then, he gained a kingdom. If we are not prepared to suffer this kind of loss, we cannot be disciples of Christ. Jesus says: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33).

Fellowship of Sufferings

We suffer by the denial of things (good and bad) that the world offers for our enjoyment and self-esteem. These include our pedigree, credentials, fame, fortune, success, status, wealth, spouse, family, friends, children, sexual life, good health, and so on.

When we are denied any of these, we suffer loss. However, the value of knowing Christ surpasses all these things. So, if He asks us to give up or do without any of them, we must do so readily. We do not do this as a sacrifice. We do this as an act of love.

Winning By Losing

In the world, we gain by winning. In the kingdom of God, we gain by losing. We trade earthly gain for spiritual knowledge. 

30 years ago, I was attacked by armed robbers and shot in the leg. That incident introduced me to the Lord. He intervened, rescued me, and gave me His proverbial peace that surpasses all understanding, even during the attack. He insisted nothing was wrong with my leg, and then, a little later, healed my wounded leg.

He told me He was the One who sent the armed robbers to attack me. That was the only way He could get me to be still and know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10). Then He told me to read Matthew 13:16, where He says: “Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.”

What finally opened my ears and my eyes? Adversity! As we share in the sufferings of Christ, our eyes open. Then we see Him as our Saviour, as our deliverer, as our healer, as the Person who rescues us from the ordeals of life.

Jesus is the Great Physician, but I would not have known this unless I fell sick with a bullet-ridden leg and He then healed my leg.

When His disciples asked Him about a man who was blind from birth: “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.’” (John 9:2-3).

God is glorified in the healing of the sick, and the sick get to know the God who heals and to see Him at work first-hand. And then they also receive the commission to heal the sick.

This is the process as described by John. First, we hear, then we see, and then we practice:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1).

Many are the afflictions of the righteous (Psalm 34:19), and righteous Job went through a lot of afflictions. But when God finally intervened on his behalf, Job saw God in a completely different dimension. He exclaimed to God: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6).

There is nothing like adversity to open the eyes of the blind. The difference between what we know about God in prosperity and what we know about Him in adversity is the difference between hearing and seeing. For this reason, Jesus declares: “For judgment, I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” (John 9:39).

Affliction brings us to a more intimate knowledge of God. This is the promise of God: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:1).

Accordingly, when the three Hebrew children were thrown into the burning fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to bow down to and worship the golden image that he made, Jesus appeared to them as the fourth person in the fire and they were not burnt.

The evil king himself confirmed this. He exclaimed:

“‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’” (Daniel 3:24-25).

Similarly, when the Jews were stoning Stephen to death, his eyes were opened, and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the throne of God:

“When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’” (Acts 7:54-56).

From Doctor To Nurse

In 2002, I felt an unusual lump in my groin while having a shower. Just as soon as I detected this, the Lord spoke to me. “Femi,” He said, “It is a hernia. Go and see a doctor.” 

I was excited that the Lord, Himself, had revealed this to me. But I could not understand why He would then tell me to go and see a doctor instead of just healing me. He healed me with the bullet in my leg. What was so different about hernia?

This became a big trial of faith while I argued that, rather than consult a doctor, the Lord should just heal me. When I finally went to the doctor, he worsened matters by informing me the hernia would have to be surgically corrected. In the end, after arguing with God for over one year, I succumbed to surgery.

After I left the hospital, the Lord told me to read this scripture:

“God blesses those who are kind to the poor. He helps them out of their troubles. He protects them and keeps them alive; He publicly honours them and destroys the power of their enemies. He nurses them when they are sick and soothes their pains and worries.” (Psalm 41:1-3).

Then He said to me: “Femi, you know Me as a doctor. But I also want you to know Me as a nurse.” 

Blessings of Covid-19

In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, my Nouveau School was closed for seven months. I lost a lot of money and ran into debt. My wife and I were stuck in the house for months because our ages put us in the most vulnerable category statistically.

But in the middle of that affliction, God gave me a mighty blessing. With the advent of ZOOM, He told me to start Midnight Prayers. This quickly included participants from Nigeria, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Great Britain and the United States.

For the past three-and-a-half years, we have met non-stop every midnight to pray for one hour. That prayer meeting has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. It was born out of the adversity of Covid-19.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7).

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.femiaribisala.com 

Marjorie Bloom, a retired civil servant, was the victim of a "tech support" scam in 2021. Criminals used cryptocurrency to carry out the fraud.

Bloom, now 77, lost her life savings: $661,000.

Her experience highlights the growing threat of fraud that targets older adults.

In the spring of 2021, Marjorie Bloom waited for a phone call that would never come.

Over the course of the previous month, the retiree had wired hundreds of thousands of dollars into cryptocurrency per the suggestion of someone she believed to be a trusted confidant. The man claimed to be a "fraud investigator" at PNC Bank, where she'd been a longtime customer.

At his behest, Bloom, a widow who is now 77, liquidated her nest egg — savings, stocks, an annuity — for a total of $661,000.

The action was supposedly preventative: The "investigator" persuaded Bloom that criminals, using stolen personal data, were in the process of pilfering her life savings. To protect her money, he said, she had to move it quickly — and covertly. Divulging the problem to anyone, even her three children, could compromise their efforts, he said.

Had she alerted her children, she might have avoided the scam: Bloom's daughter, Ester, is the deputy managing editor for CNBC Make It. (Ester Bloom put CNBC in touch with her mother but was not involved in the reporting or editing of this story.)

The "investigator," though very convincing, turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Bloom, a retired civil servant, was ensnared in a "tech support" scam.

This type of fraud is increasingly common and largely targets older adults, who lost $588 million to tech support scams in 2022, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Criminals persuade victims they have a serious computer issue such as a virus, then masquerade as computer technicians from well-known companies as a cover for theft. Often, they persuade victims to wire funds to fraudulent accounts.

So on that Friday morning in May 2021, Bloom eagerly awaited a call with instructions on how to access the life savings she had diligently taken steps to secure.

The hours ticked by. Growing nervous, she eventually called the "investigator." His number had been disconnected. She called PNC, but the bank didn't have a record of the employee.

"All of a sudden, this grayness lifted," said Bloom, who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. "I realized I had been defrauded of everything."

'The money is there. The scammers know that'

Bloom's experience reveals an unsettling reality at a time when technological advancement, little-understood investment options and a patchwork of protections in the U.S. financial system expose more older Americans to financial fraud.

Americans 60 and older lost $3.1 billion to cyber fraud in 2022, an 84% increase from 2021, according to the FBI. Losses have jumped ninefold in just five years, from $342 million in 2017, FBI data shows. Because fraud statistics are based only on reported incidents, its true scope may be far greater.

Older adults, many of whom have saved their entire careers for retirement, can have the most to lose. In addition to retirement savings, they might have other pots of income and wealth: home equity, Social Security payments, pension checks and, if widowed, maybe a life insurance payout.

"The money is there," said Rebecca Keithley, a supervisory special agent in the FBI's Economic Crimes unit and the bureau's national program coordinator of the Department of Justice's Elder Justice Initiative. "The scammers know that."

Keithley — also the FBI's national program coordinator for frauds and swindles — is not involved in the investigation of Bloom's case.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is undergoing a massive demographic shift as an average of 10,000 baby boomers hit retirement age every day. This generation has shouldered more responsibility for their retirement preparations as employers began shifting away from pensions to 401(k)-type retirement plans decades ago.

Consumers ages 65 and older had an average of $232,710 in 401(k) plan savings in 2022, according to Vanguard Group, one of the nation's largest retirement-plan administrators. Further, 65- to 74-year-olds had a net worth of more than $1.2 million, on average, in 2019, according to the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances.

Fraud may deprive victims of funds for basic living expenses such as food and shelter, or for the travel and leisure they'd worked so hard to attain in their post-work life.

Beyond the immediate financial hit, fraud has several knock-on effects: Victims who raid their tax-preferred retirement funds may owe the IRS a hefty bill. Taking out a second mortgage or maxing out credit cards carry regular debt payments.

Older adults don't have the same ability as younger victims to earn in the workforce, and it's often challenging to recoup money from criminals or financial institutions.

"Most victims will say, 'I'm devastated financially, I'm ruined,'" said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs at AARP, an advocacy group for older adults. "But emotionally it's as bad, if not worse."

How criminals 'hijack' the aging brain

Tech support scams like the one Bloom suffered are an acute threat for older adults.

They are a type of "call center" fraud, which "overwhelmingly target" older adults, the FBI said. About half of people victimized by illegal call centers are 60 or older, and they experience 69% of the total financial losses relative to other age groups.

Nearly 18,000 Americans ages 60 and over reported being a victim of tech support scams in 2022, the FBI said. That's more than any other type of elder fraud and almost doubled from 2020.

Victims 60 and older lost more to these scams than all other age groups combined, the FBI reported. The average person lost $33,000, though losses extended to over $1 million in some cases, the FBI said.

In Bloom's case, her computer froze suddenly on April 22, 2021. A popup window alerted her to call a customer support phone number listed on the screen, supposedly for Microsoft.

Bloom then made a key mistake: She called the number, an action that real tech companies won't ever ask of customers in a security pop-up warning.

During the call, a "Microsoft engineer" told her that foreign hackers had hijacked her computer and stolen sensitive personal data. Her financial accounts, he suggested, were also likely under threat.

When Bloom told him she banked with PNC, the engineer — who was really a con artist — transferred her to an accomplice posing as a PNC fraud investigator. The man convinced Bloom that there were pending transactions worth $29,000 tied to her bank account. Her money had to be moved without delay to a new account, the scammer urged.

None of it was true.

"I fell for it," said Bloom, who retired in December 2017 after serving 42 years as a federal attorney, including stints at the Department of Energy and, most recently, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

"I didn't tell anybody," Bloom added.

The appearance of an immediate threat is an "age-old psychological technique" common in frauds that tends to be "more successful with the aging brain," said Keithley of the FBI.

In this technique, known as an "amygdala hijack" in reference to the brain's fear and threat response center, criminals trigger strong emotional reactions that overwhelm the rational part of our brains. We act rather than think, a classic fight-or-flight response — in this case induced by nefarious social engineers, often part of sophisticated organized crime networks.

Older adults tend to be home more often, use landline phones and be generally unsophisticated about technology and safe online behavior — all of which make them vulnerable and therefore frequent targets, Keithley said.

The Covid pandemic was a disproportionate threat to older adults, keeping Americans indoors and quickly pushing them online. The health emergency "ushered in a new wave of exploitative practices targeted at older Americans," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a 2022 report to Congress.

'Somebody should have asked'

Bloom, an avid traveler, is undeniably tough. In 2013, at 67 years old, she trekked to the base camp of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain; the base camp alone sits at an altitude of about 18,000 feet.

But the scam tested her resolve.

A year after the fraud, Bloom set out on a road trip to North Dakota. Five days in, she had a panic attack that seized the right side of her body in pain. She canceled everything and went home.

"In retrospect, I think the entire ordeal was a fearful reaction to spending money," Bloom said.

Before she realized she'd been scammed, Bloom had made five wire transfers within 28 days, amounting to $661,000, according to receipts of the transactions, which were reviewed by CNBC.

Much of those funds came from liquidating a stock portfolio — an inheritance from her parents — worth more than $400,000. She also liquidated the bulk of an annuity worth more than $200,000; if she'd kept it intact, it would have begun paying her a guaranteed income stream of about $2,700 a month for the next three decades, starting in 2023.

"This was my life savings," Bloom said. "It's what I was going to live on as a retiree."

When she discovered the loss, Bloom's immediate thought was of her three kids: a "profound disappointment" at squandering the reserves she'd intended to bequeath them. Bloom had wanted to offer the same financial assistance to her children as her parents had provided for her. Now, much of that money is gone, she said.

Her second concern was for her own financial security. Bloom still receives regular checks from a federal pension and Social Security, now her main sources of retirement income. It's enough to cover her mortgage, condo fee, car payment and other necessities — but the financial loss exposes Bloom to sacrifices nonetheless.

For one, she laments an inability to travel as frequently as she'd hoped in retirement. She is a member of the North Bethesda Camera Club and uses trips as an outlet for photography, a hobby that developed during her Everest expedition.

"I'm not starving," Bloom said. "But I could do a lot more [if I hadn't lost money]."

"I've lost a significant amount that I've worked for," she said.

Bloom sued PNC Bank — where she'd been a customer for over a decade — in May 2022 for full financial restitution and other damages, such as interest and attorney's fees.

In her lawsuit, Bloom argued that the fraud was ultimately successful because PNC ignored "obvious red flags" and "textbook evidence" of financial exploitation raised by her wire transfer requests, which were inconsistent with her typical pattern of banking.

According to the lawsuit, the bank didn't take steps to investigate or determine whether her money was at risk. The lawsuit claimed the bank acted negligently and breached its contractual duty of care.

"I'm retired ... [and] I look my age," Bloom said. "There's just no doubt about it."

"Somebody should have asked," she added.

In February, a federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed the negligence claim but allowed the claim for breach of contract to move forward in court. 

Bloom and the bank settled the lawsuit in September. Bloom declined to disclose terms of the agreement to CNBC. (Bloom's comments to CNBC for this story occurred in the spring, before the parties entered into settlement negotiations.)

A spokesperson for PNC Bank declined comment on the settlement.

Asked about the lawsuit in the spring, the bank said it acted within the scope of its legal duty.

"PNC maintains a comprehensive set of security controls to help protect our customers from increasingly sophisticated fraud threats and, when possible, we do our best to recover funds on behalf of impacted customers," a spokesperson told CNBC, when asked about Bloom's case and statements about the bank.

"While PNC regrets any losses incurred by a customer, we disagree with the allegations in this case and believe we acted appropriately with respect to these transactions," the spokesperson added.

'You're basically at the mercy of your bank'

Lawsuits such as Bloom's are rarely successful, legal experts said. Outcomes hinge on a complex web of federal and state rules that govern banking and elder financial fraud.

For instance, there's a distinction between "unauthorized" and "authorized" banking transactions.

Unauthorized transactions occur when criminals get hold of a customer's personal information — a debit card number, let's say — and buy something without approval. Customers are often reimbursed in such instances.

However, in Bloom's case, she made the wire transfers. Transactions initiated by a customer — even a victim duped by scammers — are generally considered "authorized," said Carla Sanchez-Adams, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. And such transactions carry weak customer protections, she said.

"You're basically at the mercy of your bank," Sanchez-Adams said.

Wire transfers also have weaker protections than other types of electronic fund transfers — such as debit card, ATM or peer-to-peer transactions, for example — because they're exempt from the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, a federal consumer protection law passed in 1978, she said.

Another federal law — the Bank Secrecy Act — sets standards for banks to ensure they have controls to prevent and detect crime such as money laundering and terrorist financing. While the law requires banks to file reports to regulators in certain cases to flag suspicious activity, it doesn't give individual consumers a legal remedy to recoup money lost due to criminal enterprise, Sanchez-Adams said.

"Banks should have some skin in the game," Sanchez-Adams said. "If you don't make them hurt, they won't change their practices."

Some states have elder-protection laws that establish separate duties to protect older adults from financial fraud, but they vary broadly in scope, she said.

For example, under Maryland law, banks are required to report suspected elder fraud to local law enforcement and other parties. As Bloom argued in her lawsuit, that means employees have likely received training to identify such activity. Such "heightened procedures" to protect older adults are part of the bank's duty of care relative to older customers, the lawsuit said.

To sidestep internal protocols — which most banks have established, according to industry data — scammers will often coach victims on what to say to bank tellers or other representatives, experts said. Perhaps the money is for a loan, or for a home-improvement project, for example. Bloom didn't require coaching, she said; according to her lawsuit, PNC bank employees didn't perform more than a "perfunctory inquiry" necessary to complete the transfers.

And there's an additional tension: Banks and other financial institutions have to weigh issues such as consumer privacy when choosing to intervene, said Marve Ann Alaimo, a partner and elder law expert at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur.

If the bank reasonably does its best to protect a client and there's still financial damage, it isn't necessarily the bank's fault, she said.

"We live in a free-market economy. And when you own something, you have the ultimate right to dispose of it as you wish," Alaimo said, referring to money held in a financial account.

"There's only so much protection a third party can provide for you," she added. They "aren't the ultimate arbiter of free will."

Cryptocurrency gives thieves 'new advantages'

Meanwhile, Bloom's money apparently went on a global tour.

Scammers had her wire funds from her PNC bank account to an account at the now-defunct Signature Bank in New York. According to the lawsuit, from there, her money was transferred to an account on the cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase, which scammers created using Bloom's picture and personal data. The assets were then converted into cryptocurrency — a type of virtual asset — and, an investigation later showed, moved to offshore accounts on the Binance crypto trading platform in the Cayman Islands.

Thieves have successfully used crypto to steal increasing amounts of money across all types of internet scams, according to the FBI.

In this context, cryptocurrency — examples of which include bitcoin and ethereum — is like cash; it's just another way to move money from Point A to Point B. But crypto "offers up new advantages" for thieves who transfer and launder illicit proceeds, said Patrick Wyman, chief of the FBI's Virtual Asset Unit. Wyman is not involved in the investigation of Bloom's case.

For one, using crypto is an easy way to move large sums of money across borders very quickly without having to engage with the financial system, Wyman said.

Another benefit for scammers: Crypto offers them a level of anonymity. Criminals use the digital assets to obfuscate their real identity — which, by the nature of crypto transactions, is difficult if not impossible to ascertain.

However, unlike with traditional financial transactions, which are private, all crypto transactions are recorded on a public ledger, or blockchain. So, while law enforcement officials may not be able to learn the identity of a perpetrator, they can generally trace the flow of money, Wyman said.

And that offers a silver lining for victims: "In some cases, we absolutely are able to recover those funds," Wyman said.

In April, the U.S. Department of Justice seized more than $112 million worth of virtual currency linked to crypto investment scams. The assets were seized from six accounts, one of which held $66.4 million, likely tied to wire fraud schemes, the DOJ said.

Wyman encourages victims to report fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center as soon as possible. It generally gets harder to recoup money the longer victims wait, he said.

Bloom reported the theft to the FBI; her case remains open. She's not optimistic about her chances of recovering money via law enforcement efforts. Even if the authorities are successful, she expects it will take years.

"I oscillate," she said of her reflections on the theft.

"I go from being thoroughly upset and [asking] 'What in the world was I thinking?' to saying 'You just have to move forward. What's done is done.'"

CNBC

Anthony Joshua has won his third fight of 2023 with a TKO victory over Otto Wallin in the main event of the “Day of Reckoning” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

After securing consecutive victories over Jermaine Franklin in April and Robert Helenius with a seventh-round knockout in August, Joshua cruised to a fifth-round technical knockout win over Wallin, who had been expected to be a formidable opponent, especially with his southpaw stance.

The only defeat on Wallin’s record before Joshua came in 2019 against Tyson Fury, in between the Gypsy King’s first and second meetings with Wilder. Fury won by unanimous decision but the Swedish heavyweight certainly made it a harder night than expected for the lineal champ.

Joshua now holds an impressive record of 27 victories and three losses, with 24 knockout wins.

Deontay Wilder lost to former WBO heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker by unanimous decision in the fight before Joshua’s.

Wallin’s coach, Joey Garnache, stopped the fight as he didn’t want his man to suffer any more punishment.

It was a tremendous performance from the two-time heavyweight champion, who told his former rival Andy Ruiz after the fight, “I’m back, I’m back.”

Punch

The Special Investigator probing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Jim Obazee, has discovered 593 bank accounts located in the United States, United Kingdom and China in which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under Godwin Emefiele, kept Nigerian funds without authorisation by the Board and Investment Committee of the bank.

The investigator also discovered how billions of naira were allegedly stolen by Mr Emefiele and other officials from the CBN’s accounts including a “fraudulent cash withdrawal of $6.23 million” – about N2.9 billion at the then official exchange rate of N461 to a dollar.

Obazee disclosed these in his report in which he recommended the prosecution of Emefiele and at least 13 other individuals, including his deputy governors, for alleged gross financial offences.

In the UK alone, the Special Investigator said his probe led him to 543.4 million Pounds kept by Emefiele in fixed deposit accounts. He also said Emefiele manipulated the Naira exchange rate and perpetrated fraud in the e-Naira project of the CBN.

In his report, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu on 9 December, a copy of which was seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Obazee identified several “chargeable offences” for which the former CBN governor may be asked to defend himself before a court.

Tinubu had on 28 July appointed Obazee as a Special Investigator to investigate the CBN and related entities, charging him to set up a suitably experienced and competent team and to work with relevant security and anti-corruption agencies for the assignment.

Tinubu said the appointment relied on the fundamental objective outlined in Section 15(5) of the Nigerian constitution and was in furtherance of the country’s anti-corruption fight.

The president had also directed Obazee, who was the chief executive officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) between 2011 and 2017, to take immediate steps to ensure the strengthening and probity of key Government Business Entities (GBEs) and block leakages in the CBN and related GBEs.

He also directed him to provide a comprehensive report on public wealth currently in the hands of corrupt individuals and establishments (whether private or public).

Naira redesign “fraud”

According to the report of the Special Investigator, the highly controversial redesign of the Naira in October 2022 “was neither recommended by the Board of the CBN nor approved by the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, contrary to the provisions of Section 19 (1) of the CBN Act, 2007,

“It was a conspiracy against the Nigerian people and specifically the political class by the then CBN Governor (Emefiele) and one of the erstwhile CBN Deputy Governor (Folashodun Shonubi). The idea was that of Shonubi (claiming interwoven challenges) and Emefiele designed and approved the currency on 19th October 2022.

“It was indeed meant to frustrate the political class and make their election agenda very difficult. It turned out to be a huge punishment to Nigerians and the Nigerian Economy coincidentally.”

Obazee said the CBN printed the new N200, N500 and N1000 notes at a total cost of N61.5 billion, out of which it has paid N31.8 billion to the contractor, even though the total value of the new notes in circulation as of August was only N769,562 billion.

“N1,727,500,000 was also spent on questionable legal fees on 19 cases that are directly traceable to the Naira Redesign and reconfiguration agenda,” Obazee said in the report.

Stating the timeline of how the decision to redesign the naira was conceived and executed, Obazee said the immediate past Director of Currency in the CBN, Ahmed Umar, who was under the supervision of Folashodun, wrote a memorandum on 25 August 2022, to the committee of Governors (CBN), advising the redesign of the currency.

The next month, Emefiele claimed that a presidential aide, Tunde Sabiu, told him during a visit to the Presidential Villa to consider redesigning the naira, and on 6 October, the CBN governor wrote Buhari seeking approval for the exercise.

“Emefiele did not consult with the management of the CBN nor seek any recommendation from the Board of the CBN as required by Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007,” the report said.

However, on the same 6th October 2022, Buhari approved the request but directed that the notes be printed locally. However, after the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc said it would be time-consuming to redesign and reconfigure the notes because of the new features contained in the design – positioning of watermark, presence of QR codes, different numbering style and other complex security features – Emefiele took the job to the UK firm, which varied the colours of the old notes and got paid 205,000 British Pounds for the “redesign effort.”

Other “chargeable offences”

The Special Investigator also identified other offences, including fraudulent use of Ways and Means to the tune of N26.627 trillion; fraudulent intervention programmes, fraudulent expenditures on Covid-19, and misrepresentation of presidential approval on the NESI Stabilisation Strategy Ltd.

On the “fraudulent use of “Ways and Means”, he reported:

“Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007 allows the CBN to grant temporary advances to the Federal Government in respect of temporary deficiency of budget revenue at an interest. This is what is commonly referred to as “Ways and Means”. The said Section also provides that such advance is to be repaid by the end of the Federal Government financial year in which they are granted, otherwise the CBN shall be stopped from granting such advances in subsequent years. The advance is never to be repaid by way of Promissory note, Securitisation nor issuance of Treasury Bills; etc.

“It was a surprise, Mr President, that under the last administration, the noble outlet became a huge source of fraudulent drain pipe for the then Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the erstwhile CBN Governor, all the four deputy CBN Governors (under the guise of COG), the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation and even the then Chief of Staff, In an instance, they padded what the former President Muhammadu Buhari approved with N198,963,162,187 (approximating an approval of N801,036,937,813 to N1 trillion).

“There are instances where no approvals are received from the former President Muhammadu Buhari and yet, N500 billion is taken and debited to Ways and Means.

“There are more shocking instances when the erstwhile CBN Governor and his four deputy Governors connived to steal outrightly in order to balance the books of the CBN. This was by violently taken (sic) money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account and then charged it to “Ways and Means,” They even created the narration as Presidential subsidy and expanded the “Ways and Means” portfolio to accommodate the crime.

“The CBN officers and even the then Acting CBN Governor could not produce the Presidential Approval of most of the expenses described as “Ways and Means”. When confronted to provide the breakdown of the supposed N22,719,703,774,306.90 that was presented to the 9th National Assembly to illegally securitise the “Ways and Means” financing, they were only able to partially explain a total of N9,063,286,720,318.92 or N9,258,040,720,318.92 (depending on which official you are considering his submission) and an unreasonable attribution of non-negotiated/unadvised interest element of N6,678,874,321,541,97. This shows that this was the point where the officers of the immediate past administration as well as the erstwhile CBN Governor and his four Deputy Governors connived, defrauded and stole from the commonwealth of the country with the aid of civil servants.

“The true position of the “Ways and Means” as documented from the reconciliation between the CBN and the Ministry of Finance at the time, is N4,449,149,411,584.54.”

$6.23 million foreign election observation missions

The Special Investigator also reported his discovery of the theft of $6.23 million from the vault of the CBN between 7 and 8 February this year, about two weeks before the presidential and National Assembly polls, under a purported approval of the president for the release of money to pay foreign election observers.

The removal of the money from the vault of the Foreign Payment Office, Abuja Branch, of the CBN, which was captured on CCTV footage, followed a trail of letters which began with one dated 23 January 2023 with the caption “Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observer Misions” (sic). The heist was completed when an official in the office, Uzero Oghenefego, “took steps, procured the dollar cash, and released same to persons yet to be fully identified.”

“As at date, Abdulwaheed Muhammed has admitted in a written statement that he acted in collaboration with one Bashirdeen Mohammed Maisanu, an assistant director in the Banking Supervision Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria and some persons he is yet to identify, to conceive and carry out the act of stealing the sum of $6.23 million out of the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“A fraudulent cash withdrawal of $6.23 million perpetrated since February 8th 2023, was not discovered nor taken seriously till the 4th of December when a Request for Information was issued by the Office of the Special Investigator. There is therefore an appearance of concealment by officers …”, the report stated.

President Tinubu was said to have requested the Special Investigator to submit the report by the first week of December so as not to delay his plans for the reform of the CBN and related agencies. When PREMIUM TIMES contacted his media aides on Thursday, they confirmed that Obazee had turned in his report but that the president had yet to communicate his decisions on it to his officials or the CBN.

Emefiele and the other individuals, whose names appeared in the report, could not be reached Thursday night and Friday morning to comment for this story.

PT

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued operational guidelines on virtual assets service providers (VASPs) to all banks and other financial institutions (OFIs).

Released on Friday, the guidelines are contained in a circular dated December 22, 2023, and signed by Haruna Mustapha, CBN’s director of the financial policy and regulation department.

According to the CBN, VASPs means any entity that  conducts exchange between virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) and fiat currencies, and transfers of virtual assets.

The development signals a shift from CBN’s initial position which restricts crypto transactions.

In February 2021, CBN issued a circular to deposit money banks (DMBs), non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), and OFIs to close accounts of persons or entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions within their systems.

The regulator further warned local financial institutions against dealing in crypto assets or facilitating payments for crypto exchanges.

The apex bank cited concerns over money laundering (ML), terrorism financing (TF), cybercrime, and the volatility of cryptocurrencies as reasons for the ban.

In its latest circular, however, the CBN directed all banks and OFIs to carry out cryptocurrency services.

The regulator said commercial banks must fully comply with the provisions of the guidelines on VASP.

“Current trends globally have shown that there is a need to regulate the activities of virtual assets service providers (VASPs) which include cryptocurrencies and crypto assets,” the CBN said.

“Following this development, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2018 also updated its Recommendation 15 to require VASPs to be regulated to prevent misuse of virtual assets for ML/TF/proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (PF).

“Furthermore, Section 30 of the money laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 recognizes VASPs as part of the definition of a financial institution.

”In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May 2022 issued rules on Issuance, offering, and custody of digital assets and VASPs to provide a regulatory framework for their operations in Nigeria.

“In view of the foregoing, the CBN hereby issues this guidelines to guide to financial institutions under its regulatory purview in respect of their banking relationship with VASPs in Nigeria.

“The guidelines supersedes the CBN’s circulars referenced FPR/DIR/GEN/CIR/06/010 of January 12, 2017, and BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/014/001 of February 5, 2021, on the subject.

“However, banks and other financial institutions are still prohibited from holding, trading, and/or transacting in virtual currencies on their account.”

On May 28, 2023, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the finance bill into law.

The law introduced a 10 percent tax on gains on the disposal of digital assets including cryptocurrency.

CBN