Godwin Emefiele the former CBN governor was earlier arrested by the security forces of the State Security Service (SSS) on June 10, 2023 hours after the president suspended him from being the chief executive officer of the Nigerian apex bank. He was kept in the detention facility of the SSS for over a month without access to his lawyers or doctors. 

Some few days ago, a high court sitting in Abuja invalidated his arrest and detention and then mandated the SSS to either charge Mr Emefiele to court if they have a solid case against him or they should let him go home instead of keeping him in their detention facility arbitrarily without a court order. 

In response to this court ruling, the SSS came up with just two court charges against Emefiele. The two-count charges read

COUNT ONE

That you Godwin Emefiele Male of No 8 Colorado Street Maitama Abuja on or about the 15h June 2023 at No. 3b iru Close, Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government, Lagos State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court had in your possession one (1) Single Barrel shotGun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without license You thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of the Federation 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1) (b)(i) of the same Act.

COUNT TWO

That you Godwin Emefiele Male of No 8 Colorado Street Maitama Abuja on or about the 15 June 2023 at No 3b iru Close, Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government, Lagos State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court had in your possession One Hundred and Twenty-Three (123) Rounds of live ammunition (Cartridges) without a license. You thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of the Federation 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1)(b)(ii) of the same Act.

It is interesting to see that a former CBN governor was arrested and detained for over a month and he was only charged for illegal possession of firearms.

It is noteworthy to mention that prosecution of persons for the offense of illegal possession of firearms falls under the purview and jurisdiction of the Nigerian police force and never the State Security Service, especially when it is just one gun. Therefore, it is the police that has been empowered by law to prosecute Emefiele if he is to be prosecuted for that offense and never the SSS.

I want to believe that the SSS have more games to play other than this, as their way, they are definitely coming up with more charges to amend the charge sheet later on to trump up more charges against Emefiele. I want to also believe that Mr Emefiele’s persecution is purely a political vendetta for the role he played during the election period with the naira redesign policy as it hasn’t been seen that he has committed anything illegal other than the discharge of his statutory duties.

It is another opportunity to also remind Nigerians that the former EFCC boss, Mr Abgulrasheed Bawa who was also arrested by the SSS is still in detention and he is yet to be charged to court for over a month now. Maybe he will as well be charged with illegal possession of firearms. 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 22.79% in June 2023. This represents a 0.38% increase from the 22.41% recorded in May.

In the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report released in Abuja on Monday, the NBS said on a year-on-year basis, the June inflation rate was 4.19% higher than the rate in June 2022, which was at 18.6%.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2023 was 4.19 percent higher than the rate recorded in June 2022, which stood at 18.6 percent.

The report highlighted the major contributors to the increase in the headline index, with food and non-alcoholic beverages accounting for 11.81 percent and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel contributing 3.81 percent.

Other factors included clothing and footwear at 1.74 percent, transport at 1.48 percent, furnishings, household equipment, and maintenance at 1.15 percent, education at 0.9 percent, and health at 0.68 percent.

Moreover, the report indicated that the average CPI for the 12 months ending in June 2023 was 21.54 percent, representing a 5.00 percent increase compared to the previous year’s 16.54 percent recorded in June 2022.

In terms of food inflation, the rate for June 2023 on a year-on-year basis was 25.25 percent, marking a 4.65 percent rise compared to June 2022’s rate of 20.6 percent. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation in June 2023 reached 2.4 percent, reflecting a 0.21 percent increase compared to May’s rate of 2.19 percent.

The report indicated significant increases in the prices of various goods and services, such as passenger transport by air and road, gas, vehicle spare parts, liquid fuel, fuels, and lubricants for personal transport equipment, and medical services in June 2023.

On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate for June 2023 was 1.74 percent.

Regarding urban inflation, the rate in June 2023 was 24.33 percent on a year-on-year basis, representing a 5.23 percent increase from June 2022’s rate of 19.09 percent. Similarly, the rural inflation rate for June 2023 was 21.37 percent, which was 3.25 percent higher than the rate recorded in June 2022 at 18.13 percent.

An analysis of states’ profiles revealed that Lagos had the highest year-on-year inflation rate at 25.75 percent in June, followed by Ondo at 25.4 percent and Kogi at 25.23 percent. This indicated a considerable increase in the prices of goods and services in Lagos State compared to the same period last year. Additionally, Lagos recorded the highest month-on-month inflation rate at 2.7% in June, signaling a faster pace of price changes compared to other states.

The main driver of this surge was the removal of fuel subsidies by the federal government, leading to a significant rise in the pump price of petrol in Lagos. On the other hand, Borno recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis at 20.4 percent, followed by Zamfara at 20.93 percent, and Ekiti at 21.06 percent.

In terms of the month-on-month inflation rate for all items in June 2023, Ogun had the highest rate at 3.21 percent, followed by Plateau at 3.05 percent, and Jigawa at 3 percent. On the contrary, Zamfara had the slowest rise at 1.40 percent, followed by Delta at 1.42 percent, and Rivers at 1.54 percent.

Regarding food inflation, Lagos had the highest year-on-year rate at 30.37 percent in June, followed by Kwara at 30.8 percent, and Kogi at 29.71 percent. In contrast, Zamfara had the slowest rise in food inflation at 21.38 percent, followed by Sokoto at 21.60 percent, and Borno at 21.75 percent.

On a month-on-month basis for food inflation in June, Kwara had the highest rate at 3.82 percent, followed by Abuja at 3.64 percent, and Ogun at 3.56 percent. Rivers had the lowest increase at 0.75 percent, followed by Zamfara at 1.33 percent, and Adamawa at 1.47 percent.

The NBS said the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers may not fully capture the impact of the fuel subsidy removal and the unification of the exchange rate.