SHOCKING REVELATION: Sanusi may not be acting in our interest after all. Chances are that he and Waziri of the EFCC are only protecting northern interest and are being used as tools to carry out the northern agenda since Soludo removed the Arabic language from the Naira. Please read on:

Vanguard on 23 March 2009, did a world exclusive on alleged plot by a group of individuals to take over five banks in the country.

Two weeks ago, the new Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi sacked the chief executives and boards of five banks, therefore confirming our scoop of March 23.

The story:ANTI-CONSOLIDATION forces have regrouped with the hope of dismantling the structures and forcing a takeover of the top five banks in the country, Vanguard can now reveal. The grand plan by the group is to cause panic and uncertainty in the industry and make the target banks look unsafe for depositors

Meantime, indications emerged yesterday that the Federal Government may announce the names of a new Governor of the Central Bank (CBN) and the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) in April just a few weeks before the tenure of the incumbents run out.

However, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed concern over what it described as the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and tasked the Central Bank (CBN) to make public information on causes of the development as well as the scale of the crisis.

Vanguard investigations revealed that the aim of the anti-consolidation forces is to cause loss of public confidence in the banking industry and compel the Federal Government to move in by injecting funds. Further, they ultimately plan to instigate government to take equity holdings in the targeted banks.

Vanguard gathered that the group at work is made up of former bank owners who lost out during the consolidation exercise, a powerful clique in the present government, and some aggrieved persons in three of the six geopolitical zones in the country who felt left out in the consolidation exercise.

Presidency sources disclosed that those who felt left out in the consolidation exercise are up in arms to recoup what they felt they lost during Obasanjo years.

Part of the plans hatched by the group is to ensure that the incumbent Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, does not get a second term. The plan is also to ensure that whatever gains consolidation recorded are discredited.

This, it was learnt, was meant to force the President to act quickly in the matter of appointment of a successor to Soludo as they anticipate that the president’s slow move may scuttle their dreams and cause the renewal of Soludo’s re-appointment for a second term.

The group’s second game plan is to make Nigerian banks look unsafe in the eye of the banking public. Part of the game is to spread rumours that some banks are unsound and are on the verge of collapse. They send out text messages to individuals and account holders passing wrong information on their target banks. At the moment, the group’s target is one of the high-flying new generation banks where they have sent out several messages.

New CBN Gov, Auditor-General to emerge April

The tenure of the CBN Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. O. R. Ejenavi from Delta State will lapse in May 2009.

Naming nominees for the top jobs, according to a presidency source, will afford the Senate ample opportunity to work on them before they assume office.

While Soludo will complete his first term in office as CBN governor by May 29, Ejenavi will be due for retirement on age grounds on May 18.

However, among those being considered for the position of CBN governor include the Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman from Kano, who was a former Finance minister and deputy governor at the apex bank; another former CBN deputy governor, Obadiah Mailafia from Nassarawa, Mallam Isa Hayatudeen from Borno, a former managing director of FSB International Bank, incumbent Managing Director of First Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, also from Kano, and Mallam Falalu Bello from Kaduna, Managing Director, Unity Bank.

But the most touted name so far is that of Mallam Isa Yuguda, the Bauchi State governor who won election on the platform of the All Nigeria peoples Party, ANPP, but defected to the ruling PDP last week. Yuguda is also an in-law of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yuguda was also a former Managing Director of Inland Bank, a legacy bank in post-consolidation FinBank.

Past CBN governors include late Dr. Clement Isong (Akwa-Ibom), Alhaji Adamu Ciroma (Yobe); Mr. Ola Vincent (Lagos), late Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed (Bauchi); Mr. Paul Ogwuma (Abia), Dr. Joseph Sanusi (Ondo) and the current Professor Charles Soludo (Anambra).

It was also gathered that strict obedience to civil service rules will be observed in the appointment of a new Auditor General for the Federation going by the constitutional provision.

Section 86 Subsection 1 of the 1999 constitution states: “the Auditor-General for the Federation shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Federal Civil Service Commission, subject to the confirmation of the Senate.”

That of the CBN may be determined by other factors, mostly political considerations which are at the pleasure of the President without recourse to the commission.

The most senior director in the office of the Auditor-General currently is Mr. Ogunsina G.F from Ekiti State who may be appointed unless there is political maneuvering. Having been a director since 2004, it may not be smooth sailing for Ogunsina because, there is another senior civil servant Mr. Osonuga T. A. from Ogun State who was promoted a director in 2007 and is being propelled by other forces to occupy the office.

It’s unfortunate top 5 banks are targeted, says official

A CBN official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is unfortunate that top five banks are the target. The banks, he said, are sound. The CBN had mistaken in the past the ongoing move as de-marketing by competitors in the banking industry, saying it is unhealthy competition.

The group is using this means to make depositors panic and undertake massive withdrawal of funds from the targeted banks in an attempt to cause liquidity problem in the bank. In that state they hope to cause a take over by the government which may buy a stake in the bank and later sell to members of the privileged group who may be appointed in the interim into the board of the banks.

Arewa worries over liquidity problem

However, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) expressed concern over what it described as the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and tasked the Central Bank (CBN) to inform the people the cause of the development as well as the scale of the crisis.

ACF said that the commercial banks must have obviously lent too much money to people who either invested them in buying stocks or in the importation of petroleum products in the country, but are unable to repay such loans.

A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Mr. Anthony Sani however blamed the CBN for enquiring “into the volume of the so-called toxic assets of the commercial banks while refusing to tell Nigerians how or why in the first place, the banks found themselves in trouble.

The statement reads “The Working Committee of the National Executive Council of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) held its meeting at its national headquarters in Kaduna on Tuesday, the 17th of March 2009. In attendance were all National officers of the ACF drawn from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). General IBM Haruna, the Chairman presided.

“Among other things, the meeting reviewed and discussed a number of issues and other troubling developments in the country. At the end, it resolved to issue the following statement.

“The ACF deliberated on the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and observed that Nigerians are feeling increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to disclose the true the true nature and the scale of the crisis.

“Even members of the National Assembly, despite their best efforts, have been unable to get to the truth of the matter.
According to Arewa consultative forum “All that seem obvious is that our commercial banks had lent out too much money to too many people who had invested them in stocks or petroleum importation but who are now unable to pay back. Beyond that, the public has no clear idea as how or why the loans were given and on what terms.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/26/group-plots-takeover-of-five-top-banks/comment-page-13/

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Sanusi versus bank mismanagement

Disgraceful List of Oceanic Bank, Afribank, Finbank, Intercontinental Bank and Union Bank Debtors including Femi Otedola, Ibori, Arisekola, Ramanniya and all the “richest” men in Nigeria. This list released by the CBN also contains the amount owed. Please click on each picture to see a wider view.

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Who's next on their preylist?

Sometime ago, I notified you of the upsurge in kidnapping all over the country and recently in Lagos, well, if my statistics are right, 1 out of 10 people know someone who’s relative was recently kidnapped. Don’t you? Churches and schools have seriously stepped up their game in identifying parents and guardian of pupils (you know the type of school I’m referring to of course, he that is down needs fear no kidnap). With unemployment taking its toll on the family, to whom much is given… , our graduates have to survive and give something back to the family as fast as possible and they are taking it to the extreme based on the fact that we live in a community where so much emphasis is placed on material things. You just have to hammer, you gast to be bigs! Interswitch ATM card threats (419 scam), street begging, pick pocketting, bag snatching, shop lifting, car stealing, contract killing, car smuggling, gigoloing, oil bunkering, road waylaying, armed robbery, yahoozeeing and last but not the least, kidnapping.

Youths now “work from home”, the order of the day.

By the way, I’ve not been feeding well lately, I am begging you kidnappers out there, please come for me! I’m worth at least 15,000 naira so far you’ll be feeding me thrice daily for at least two weeks He he he. Please see a forwarded mail from my colleague right below, you may have seen it before but the question is, did you pass it on?

Kidnapping is becoming rampant, like HIV, it is now a scourge. It is real!

In this era of kidnapping, just to add to our caution list and tips. I got this from an ex-colleague……………………….

“I felt I should share this experience with you so that you will be careful how you deal with people who are unfamiliar with you.
About a month ago, a family friend in Abuja, Nigeria received anonymous telephone calls and text messages demanding a ransom of
NGN1, 200,000, failure which he and/or members of his family would either be kidnapped or shot.
No reason was given for the threat.  The gang was very thorough in their details of my friend’s family and his movement.
They gave him the first and middle names of each of his children and his wife, which were known only to very close relatives.  On one occasion, the gang gave a description of the clothes he wore on a particular day and the times he went out and came in.
The recipient was advised to play along with the group while efforts were made to contact the State Security Service (SSS) and the Police.
Two weeks ago, the gang issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the money to be paid.
The SSS contacted the management of the commercial bank nominated by the gang for the deposit of the ransom.  My friend was then advised to deposit the sum of NGN200, 000 in the Abuja account.  Three hours after the deposit was made, attempt was made to withdraw the money in a branch of the bank in Lagos.  The bank immediately alerted the police who arrested the man and kept him incommunicado.
As other members of the gang could not reach their member who was then in Police custody, they rang my friend to enquire if he reported the banking details to security agencies.  When my friend enquired why they asked, he was told that they had neither seen nor heard from the man they sent to collect the ransom from the bank.  The gang appeared to have bought the lie sold to them by my friend when he told them that the man might have absconded with the money.  Two hours later, they sent an account in another commercial bank for the remittance of the balance ransom.

The security agencies again placed alert on the account after which my friend paid in NGN200, 000.  Soon after the deposit was made, two men worked into a branch of the commercial bank, again in Lagos, to withdraw the money.  They were both arrested and handed over to the police.  All three men are now being interrogated by the FCT Command of the Nigeria Police.

In the course of the investigation, it was found that all three men had been contracted by my friend to drill a borehole in his house about two months ago.
While they were constructing the borehole, my friend’s wife had occasions to take them in her car to some places in Abuja to purchase materials for the works.  On one occasion, she had left a file containing her school records and other personal documents on the back seat of the car.  A member of the gang scanned through the file and extracted some vital personal information with the use of his mobile phone.  Also, during the course of the two weeks when they drilled the borehole, they had interviewed my friend’s two little children, aged four and three, to know their full names.”

There is so much we can learn from this incident.
    First, personal and sensitive information should not be left in a place where unauthorized persons could have access to them.
    Second, in our homes we should use only workmen who have been referenced and/or are familiar.
    And third, we should teach our household members to not speak to strangers.

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Daylight Bank Robberies are now the order of the day as Niger Delta boys step up from kidnapping and demanding ransome to actually tapping from the source of the ransoms. Banks within and outside Lagos now open in fear as these ruthless guys come in armed and trigger happy. You may find the following pictures disgusting as they contain very violent scenes and blood. View at your discretion.

The bullet holes, violence, the blood splatter, the destruction and the psychological trauma of all who witnessed this. God help us. Name of bank and branch witheld.

Here The Punch has a January Bank Robbery report

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Would you rather have the Cedes

LAGOS, Corporate Corruption: Wonder why the naira has struggled to make an impact against the dollar? In the news today, the EFCC has moved to arrest all the Diamond Bank Managers involved in the International Passport – visa dollar fraud. Since banks are supplied hard dollars from CBN to be sold to people with Valid Visas and tickets, some Bank Managers used this opportunity to their advantage. These managers make photocopies of these documents to back up such transactions (they were reportedly apprehended with a couple of fake and original passports in their possession) and then sell the dollars at killer rate to the Black Marketers. The dollar which sold at 202 naira sometime in March had risen against the naira due to high demand resulting from artificial scarcity of the dollar in banks.

EFCC arrests Diamond Bank Managers over dollar fraud

It is worth noting that this could mark the end of the careers of these managers, at least in the Banking Industry. Hopefully, this development should strike fear into the minds of defaulters and we can start to dream of 120 naira to a dollar again. Maybe I can comfortably return to school, and prices of inflated items can fall (na dream?)

What determines the naira-dollar exchange rate?

Why’s the naira so weak against the dollar?

Ps: The second part of the Lagos Traffic Laws will be out unfailingly today.

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