The Government of the United States has confirmed the return of $954,000 stolen by the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, to the state government through the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Mary Beth Leonard who is US Ambassador to Nigeria, announced the development at a press briefing on Thursday afternoon in Abuja.
She asserted that the official salary of the former governor during his tenure as a public servant from 1999 to his impeachment in 2005 did not tally h the quoated amount.
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‘However, during that time, he accumulated millions of dollars through abuse of office, money laundering,’ she said.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Alamieyeseigha died in October 2015 at the age of 62.
President Muhammadu Buhari has immediately directed that the said sum be utilised in developing the healthcare of Bayelsa.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has sent out warnings to people and residents of the state against rejecting the old Naira notes.
Sanwo-Olu vowed to prosecute those who reject the old naira notes in the state under any guise.
He warned that rejecting the old naira notes was against the ruling of the Supreme Court.
The governor’s warning was contained in a statement issued by the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso.
He said the Supreme Court’s ruling that both the new and old Naira notes still be in circulation beyond the February 10, 2023 deadline placed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had not changed.
‘That position has not changed. The state government hereby warns those rejecting the old notes to desist from doing so or face prosecution.
‘It is against the law to reject the old notes as doing so is contrary to the position of the Supreme Court,’ Sanwo-Olu said.
Governors of Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi, Lagos, Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, and Sokoto states had dragged the Federal Government and the CBN to the Supreme Court over the time limit for the swap of the naira.