The US President Donald Trump has survived impeachment. The notorious trial came to an end on Wednesday with the embattled president winning the impeachment acquittal.

The senate voted to bring to an end the impeachment controversy that has put the White House on spotlight since August 2019. The first article of impeachment (abuse of power) polled 52-48 in favor of acquittal while the second article (obstruction of Congress) ended 53-47 favoring “not guilty.” It requires two-thirds “guilty” votes to reach the Constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanors to find Trump guilty and remove him from office.

Trump has boasted of his 95% approval rating within the GOP, an indication of his confidence that the Republican dominated senate would acquit him. In the House, the democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi had voted overwhelmingly for Trump’s impeachment, except for two democrats who joined the Republicans to oppose.

The senate trial appeared to have returned the favor to democrats, Mitch McConnell was overseeing what seemed like a predetermined trial. Apart from a few GOP members who said they were going to vote to impeach, others were inclined to party line.

Mitt Romney announced before the trial he was going to vote impeachment on the first charge, abuse of power, but would vote acquittal on the second, obstruction of justice.

While democrats are worried that if left, Trump will continue to abuse his power and exploit the system for his personal gain, Republicans saw the whole impeachment saga in Trump’s voice – “witch Hunt.”

The impeachment proceeding that started off a whistleblower’s tip which opened a can of private conversation President Trump had with his Ukrainian counterpart back in July last year. Trump reportedly pressured Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the former vice president Joe Biden, who is also a 2020 presidential aspirant.

Investigation into the claim has inspired House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to commence impeachment proceedings against Trump with only one article, abuse of power. But Trump was defiant in his response to the inquiry, blocking all witnesses subpoenaed in the White House from testifying. That resulted in the second article, obstruction of justice.

The nearly three weeks trial unraveled extraordinary shadow diplomacy run by Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani that set the Left on their toes, pushing for further investigation. Trump had temporarily halted the US military aid to Ukraine after his phone call with the president back in July 2019. Ukraine is a US ally in battle with a US foe, Russia. The fund was released in September after the intervention of the Congress.

In the senate, the Democrats’ attempt to call more witnesses was blocked by Republican votes, with McConnell saying the House would have done a better job before coming to the Senate. But the inquiry seems far from over as House Democrats may yet summon former national security adviser John Bolton to testify about revelations from his forthcoming book that offers a fresh account of Trump’s actions.

The lead prosecutor Adam Schiff, a Democrat House Member had appealed to senators to put sense of decency before partisanship. He said “right matters” and “truth matters” and that “Trump is not who you are.”

He told Associated Press: “The president’s lack of character, his willingness to cheat in the election – he’s not going to stop. It’s not going to change, which means that we are going to have to remain eternally vigilant.”

But GOP members appear to be more concerned about 2020 elections. Their assertion from the onset has been that Trump is being victimized and his presidency being undermined by the Left, which supports Trump’s claim of “witch hunt” and “presidential harassment.”

Trump’s lawyers led by Attorney Dershowitz argued that even if there was a quid pro quo as claimed by the prosecution, it is not impeachable because politicians often align their personal interest with the national interest.

Some Republicans kept their distance from Trump’s defense while others backed the call from conservatives to disclose the name of the whistleblower.

Trump has made the list of US presidents acquitted by the Senate alongside Andrew Johnson 1868 and Bill Clinton 1999.

Trump’s presidency has been tainted with controversy, starting with special counsel Muller’s inquiry into Russia’s involvement in the US election that brought Trump to power.

Toward the end of the trial, the public view of Trump and the GOP appeared to have improved as the new Gallup poll shows Trump hitting a new high of 49% from his dwindling 45 and below. The approval rating of the Republicans also hit a new high of 51%, the highest since 2005.

Trump in acknowledgement of his victory tweeted: “I will be making a public statement tomorrow at 12:00 pm from the White House to discuss our country’s victory on the impeachment hoax.”

Farmcrowdy has  announced the acquisition of Best Foods (L&P) to offer a wider livestock production and processing solution to the meat market. The acquisition will see Farmcrowdy owning majority stakes in Best Foods L&P Limited including its assets, team and customer contracts to supply meat across Nigeria.

Best Foods is an agribusiness group of over 16 years focused on the processing of livestock (Best Food Livestock and Poultry), farming (Best Food Fresh Farms), and marketing of agricultural produce (Naijapride – wholesaler/ Best Food dairy and multi-concepts – retailer). Best Foods L&P Limited was established to provide wholesome livestock and agricultural produce grown in Nigeria at affordable prices within and outside the country. The company is credited as one of the largest meat processors in Lagos, Nigeria. It has the capacity to process 120 – 200 bulls every day.

In this light, the acquisition of Best Foods L&P Limited will provide Farmcrowdy the opportunity to continue to grow its Livestock value chain with an improved process for livestock production and processing to reach the desired high standards fit for local consumption and export were necessary. The expansion will also enable Farmcrowdy to become the preferred source of processed livestock across Nigeria starting from Lagos. The expanded business will serve over 50 meat markets (including beef and poultry) across the south-western zone in Nigeria and will manage over 100 consumer endpoints.

Known for its prowess in adapting technology to agriculture, this acquisition will see Farmcrowdy enter the meat retail market with the launch of Farmcrowdy Meat Hubs. The hubs will be across Lagos in Q2 2020 to provide quality meat produced and traded by Farmcrowdy for everyday consumers using Technology. Reports show that Lagos alone consumes 6,000 cattle everyday while Nigeria processes over 1.2 billion chickens annually.

“Best Foods offers an exciting opportunity for Farmcrowdy to strengthen and expand its service offering in livestock production, processing, and supply.” Explains Kenneth Obiajulu, Managing Director of Farmcrowdy. “With a range of high profile clients, the acquisition supports Farmcrowdy’s strategy to lead the market and meet the requirements necessary to process approximately 45 cattle every day for meat consumption in Lagos.”

Emmanuel Ijewere, Founder of Best Foods, also commented: “Farmcrowdy’s acquisition of Best Foods provides a major growth opportunity for both our businesses through an extended service offering for our clients.” Following this move, Emmanuel Ijewere will join Farmcrowdy as a member of the advisory board.

Onyeka Akumah who is the Founder & CEO of Farmcrowdy also commented: “Farmcrowdy is Nigeria’s leading Agtech company using technology to change the way people invest in Agriculture then grow the food they eat. Today, this acquisition of Best Foods L&P Limited is a major milestone for the entire team knowing that we only launched Farmcrowdy 3 years ago with a bunch of 20 & 30 year olds. I grew up learning about the impact Best Foods and Mr. Ijewere had in the Agriculture space in Nigeria.  We are absolutely delighted to welcome him to the Board of Farmcrowdy as we continue to grow this space together”.

He concluded by saying, “Expect more collaborations and deals like this to grow the Agriculture sector and Farmcrowdy. We are happy to make plans towards launching Farmcrowdy Meat Hubs. This will enable people to order for the meat they sponsored for consumption. We manage the farms till harvest and now, people can order the meat.  We are completing the full-cycle for livestock on our platform”.

A few days after the implementation of the 7.5% VAT, the implication has hit home with increment in the cost of everyday services. Telecommunication is at the helm of services affected by the VAT increase. Subscribers are now being charged more for calls, data and SMS.

The chairman and head of operations of Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbolahan Awonuga said the increment is as a result of the Financial Tax Bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari late last year, which took effect February 1.

The ALTON boss said the 7.5% VAT will reflect in the cost of telecommunication products and services: The charges for data, text messages and phone calls will be increased as a result.

“Further to the assent of the Finance Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, which reviewed the Value Added Tax from five percent to 7.5 percent, ALTON wishes to notify consumers that our members will begin applying the new rate on all purchased telecommunication products and services with effect from February 01, 2020,” the statement from ALTON said.

Reaction to this development by Nigerians has been scornful. At the introduction of the Financial Tax Bill and the increment of VAT from 5% to 7.5%, the Federal Government has promised that none of it will affect poor Nigerians. The Financial Tax Bill has excluded basic home items from VAT: Honey, bread, cereals, cooking oils culinary herbs, fish, flour etc. basic food items were exempted from the list to ensure that poor Nigerians don’t have to pay more with the little they are earning.

Apart from food, other items that were also removed from the taxable include locally manufactured sanitary towels, pads and tampons, services rendered by microfinance banks, tuition relating to nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary education.

However, the digital tax was not considered as a plight to the poor, and it has hit everyone to astonishment. Call charges have gone up as high as N35 per a minute and SMS is N4.10.

Poll conducted by the International Center for Investigating Reporting (ICIR) shows that about 70 percent of Nigerians out-rightly condemn the digital taxes. The tweets under 7.5% VAT trend on Twitter also show resentment toward it, especially from Lagosians who believe they have had enough with the Okada ban to be inflicted with more suffering.

Meanwhile, the federal government has directed Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) to review its policy on SIM registration with immediate effect. The directive came from the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, who was represented by his Technical Assistant, Information Technology, Dr. Femi Adeluyi.

In a statement, the Minister said the need to revisit the SIM registration policy emanated from security reports after the SIM validation exercise carried out last year.

“The revision of the policy is based on the feedback received from the security agencies following the successful revalidation of improperly registered SIM cards in September 2019 and the blocking of those that failed to revalidate their SIMs,” Pantami said.

The policy update is expected to include new requirements. The NCC has been directed to ensure that new subscribers provide their National Identification Number (NIN) as a means of validation to register their SIMs. Foreigners are expected to provide their international passport and visa. All already registered SIMs are to be updated before 1st December 2020.

The new policy also stipulates that no subscriber should own more than three SIM cards, and no unregistered line should be allowed to be in use. The registration will be carried out by telecommunication operators while the regulator has been directed to make provision for subscribers to check their registration status, which includes checking the number of SIM cards registered to their name, the phone numbers and networks.

NCC is also required by the policy to ensure that operators develop cyber-attack resistant security measures that will protect subscribers’ data in line with the regulation of Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR). And to deactivate any SIM line that is caught doing something unlawful.

Dr. Pantami said the development has been in accordance with the constitution. Section 25(1) of the Nigerian Communication Act 2003, has empowered Ministers to “from time to time” offer policy direction and notify the regulator of his views in the communication sector.

However, the issue of SIM registration in Nigeria is becoming a cause for concern to subscribers who decry the periodic changes in policy that keep pushing them to re-register their SIMs. Experts have advocated a single database that will save the people the trouble of repeated SIM registration exercise.