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INTERVIEW: My 30-year-old son uses diapers, crawls after #EndSARS shooting — Lagos widow

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A 48-year-old widow living in Lagos, Tope Oshodi, tells TEMITOPE ADETUNJI life has been unbearable for her since her 30-year-old son, Ridwan, was critically injured after being shot by policemen amid the 2020 #EndSARS crisis

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Temitope Oshodi, mother to Ridwan Oshodi, who was shot during the #ENDSARS protest in 2020. I am 48 years old.

How old is Ridwan?

He was 27 years when the incident happened; he will be 30 years this year. He is the first of my three children. He was a fashion designer at Yaba, Lagos.

In what circumstances was he shot during the #EndSARS protest?

On October 20, 2020, he was at work when I called him to come back home because I heard that there was a crisis at Lekki. We stay in Ojuelegba Area C Barracks. When I called him, he said he was very busy working on customers’ cloths. He said he had a job that he needed to finish and deliver, as the customer needed it urgently. He told me that if he was able to finish the work early enough he would come home but if not, he would sleep over at the shop. Later at night, he called me to say that he couldn’t finish the work and he would therefore sleep over in his shop. He said he would come home the following morning.

In the morning of the following day, after Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos declared a curfew, he told me that he was done with the job and he was on his way home. Just some seconds after we spoke on phone, I heard gunshots around Ojuelegba bridge. I started to try to call him, to tell him to watch his steps. Then we heard cries and shouts that Ridwan had been shot by policemen. We rushed out to rescue him. We took him to Havana Hospital nearby where he was given first aid treatment. He was shot on the stomach. The doctor said the bullet had come out of his back and that his backbone was affected. He said the case was more serious than he could handle at the hospital and referred us to LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital).

We were in LUTH for about four to five months. They did two surgeries for him. I spent N500,000 on his treatment before pleading with the doctors to discharge him because I had spent all I had and I could no longer afford the medical bills. I had borrowed heavily to buy drugs, pay for X-rays and physiotherapy. It was after we got back home that some people came from PUNCH newspapers came to interview me, my children and neighbours. They did a video and government officials called us from Alausa to come for the support. We were asked to submit some documents (medical reports and evidence of bills paid). Six months after submitting the documents, they told us they couldn’t find the documents anymore. They said we should submit the documents afresh. We did that but still nothing has happened up till now; we haven’t heard from them.

When was the last time you went to Alausa?

The last time we went to Alausa was May last year.

PUNCH

Tags: policemen, protest, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, government, Lagos, EndSARS, Babajide Sanwo-Olu

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JUST IN: IMF ask CBN to extend Feb 10 deadline for old naira notes

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By Francesca Iwambe

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the February 10 deadline for the use of old naira notes if the difficulties in getting new notes persist.

According to the IMF, the call become necessary as the development had led to the disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new noted in the bank.

The call was contained in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday.

“In light of hardships caused by disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new bank notes available to the public, in spite of measures introduced by the CBN to mitigate the challenges in the banknote swap process, the IMF encourages the CBN to consider extending the deadline, should problems persist in the next few days leading up to the February 10, 2023 deadline,” the statement reads.

Tags: International Monetary Fund, Nigeria, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, IMF, Central Bank

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BREAKING: Supreme Court suspends February 10 deadline for naira swap

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By Francesca Iwambe, Abuja

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Government from ending the legal tender statuses of old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes on February 10, 2023.

The apex court made the order following the suit filed by three State governments challenging the Naira swap policy.

Recall that governments of Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi States had approached the Supreme Court seeking an order to stop the policy.

Naijablitznews.com will bring you more details shortly

Tags: Kogi, Supreme Court, Federal Government, Central Bank, Court, 10, Central Bank of Nigeria, State

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CBN captures more Communities as currency swap is continuous in Taraba

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Emmanuel Awari-Jalingo

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Friday extend her currency swap exercise to more Communities of Yorro, Ardo-Kola and Ibi local government areas of Taraba state.

The Director Financial System Strategy, Central Bank of Nigeria, Ibrahim Hassan who disclosed this to our correspondent in Jalingo said, the development was in continuation of the CBN initiative targeted at ensuring that all rural dwellers in Taraba have their old naira notes swapped to new ones or deposited in banks before the extended CBN deadline for currency swap.

Hassan noted that the currency Swap Initiative was to help save communities who do not have access to bank, swap their old naira notes to the new notes.

“Just as we have been doing to ensure that people in the rural Communities of Taraba who do not have access to Bank have their old naira notes swap to new ones. CBN delegation have been drafted to more Communities of Yorro, Ardo-Kola and Ibi local to ensure success of the initiative.

“CBN delegation for Yorro is led by Mr Jackson Imandi, the Deputy Director, the one Ardo-Kola is led by Mr. Kazeem Olatinmu while the one in Ibi local government is been led by the CBN Head of Banking Services in Taraba State, Hayatu Yahaya Shehu to ensure the villagers gain advantage of the Ten days extension for the currency swap” Hassan explained.

When contacted, the chief of Mumuye in Yorro local government, Ado Adamu Manang, that of Ibi, Abubakar Salihu Danbaw and some beneficiary of the exercise in Ardo-Kola local government, Mohammed Musa, Hafsatu Babangida and Isa Mahmud, commended the central Bank of Nigeria for the exercise as it was the best for villagers and promised to help create massive awareness for people to swap their old naira notes to the new ones.

According to them, businesses were already collapsing as people were no longer accepting the old naira notes even before the extended window.