By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Five policemen died on Tuesday in a road accident on their way from Edo to Kano State.

Kano Police Commissioner, Salmam Garba, who confirmed the death of the five officers, said the accident occurred along Kano-Zaria express way.

About eight others injured in the crash are being treated in an hospital, he informed.

“The deceased officers are from Kano state police command. There were drafted to Edo state for election duty, where they carried out their assignment successfully.

“Sadly, they lost their lives at Karfi, when their vehicle had a head-on collision with a reversing trailer,” Garba said.

It was gathered the driver of the trailer is among the eight survivors receiving treatment at an hospital in Kano.

CP Dogo, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent, said the Command was taking measures to ensure that the wounded officers receive adequate treatment and survive.

He described the deaths as shocking and prayed God to give the Command and families of the dead the fortitude to bear the loss.

“It is unfortunate, we lost five of our officers to a fatal accident at Karfi, along Kano-Zaria Road.

“They were returning from Edo state where they were drafted to maintain law and order during the election.

“About eight of them, including the driver of the trailer are in the hospital.

“Their vehicle had a collision with a reversing trailer,” he said.

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that it will sanction banks failing to dispense cash through their automated teller machine (ATMs), as part of efforts to ensure sufficient cash in circulation.

This Nigeria news platform understands that CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso said this during a press briefing at the end of the 297th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The governor emphasized that all deposit money banks must ensure there is always enough cash available for withdrawals.

CBN monitors banks
The CBN governor said that the apex bank has set up a monitoring system to ensure compliance, and any bank not adhering to this directive will face penalties.

Cardoso reiterated that the CBN’s monitoring and spot-checking system would keep track of banks’ compliance, and those failing to meet the requirement would be sanctioned.

He said: “We ourselves, have devised a monitoring system, a spot-checking system, whereby we will go to the banks and just ensure that these things are done in the way and manner in which they are meant to be done.

“And if they are not, again, there will be sanctions but I believe that at the stage we are in now, everybody realises that stakeholders play their part in ensuring that cash gets to the desired places they are intended to be.”

N1.4 trillion to be released in next three months
Cardoso further disclosed that the CBN plans to release an additional N1.4 trillion into circulation over the next three months to improve cash flow within the banking system.

This move, he said, is aimed at ensuring sufficient cash availability in ATMs and across bank branches, addressing the challenges of cash insufficiency that many customers have faced.

He said: “Another N1.4 trillion is likely to be delivered in another three months to aid that whole process of cash within the system and cash velocity.

“So, from our perspective, we are doing everything possible to ensure that there is sufficient cash in the system. There is no excuse for not having sufficient cash in the system.

“Now it goes to the deployment of that cash and quite frankly, we are working very, very closely, we are engaging with all the deposit money banks to ensure that they are putting these things through their ATMs, effectively dispensing cash to those that are in need.

“And whether they are in need or not, that’s the function of the deposit money banks. And at all points in time, there should be sufficient cash in their system that nobody should go there without being able to withdraw.”

The family of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, have explained why their son demanded that Justice Binta Nyako who presided over his case steps down.

According to the family, the refusal of the Presiding Judge to comply with the orders of the Supreme Court concerning the IPOB Leader is the reason Kanu requested her stepping aside.

The family said that the apex court had faulted Nyako for revoking Kanu’s bail, wondering why she failed to restore the bail after the Supreme Court’s order.

Kanu’s family while reacting to the decision of the Presiding Judge to hands off the case, accused her of bias against their son.

Prince Emmanuel Kanu who spoke for the family said the Judge’s final decision to recuse herself from the case was a step in the right direction.

The family which said they had also lost confidence in the Presiding Judge expressed hope that the next judge to be assigned the matter would comply with the earlier judgment of the Supreme Court.

“The reason Nnamdi Kanu requested the Presiding Judge to step down was because she refused to comply with the orders of the Supreme Court.

“As far as we are concerned, she was not willing or prepared to comply with any of the orders of the apex court. We also lost confidence in her because she was biased against our son.”

According to the family, Kanu should not be standing trial in Nigeria because his extraordinary rendition was a violation of the law itself, hence, the federal government has lost the rights to prosecute him.

The family maintained that Kanu was abducted in Kenya and renditioned to Nigeria against every known protocol and international law.