The executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has disclosed that workers have been enjoying an additional N35,000 wage allowance since January.

He also disclosed that a new minimum wage programme will shortly be implemented by the state administration.

According to the governor, since the start of the year, people who were previously making the minimum wage of N35,000 or more now receive salaries of N70,000 or more.

“The civil servant and all public officers in Lagos know that since January, we have continued to pay the wage allowance of a minimum of N35,000 over and above what they were earning before.

“What this means is that people that are earning a minimum of N35,000 or more before are now earning over N70,00. That is what they have been enjoying since January.

“So it is important for people to know that we make these things very clear that this government has doubled up to ensure that at this difficult time, it has not left the citizens on their own,” Sanwo-Olu said at a state function on Thursday.

The governor while giving an update on the intervention the state embarked on to ameliorate the current economic hardship,  said his administration will distribute food items to 500,000 households in the state through unions and local governments.

Speaking on the ‘Ounje Eko’ initiative, where food items are sold at discounted prices, the governor said, “We created 59 makeshift markets outside of the regular markets out of our 57 local government and local council development areas and made it Sunday-Sunday market.”

Tigran Gambaryan, the detained Binance Holdings Limited executive, has made attempt to escape from Kuje Correctional Facility.

According to The Punch, Mr Gambaryan who is currently remanded in Kuje Correctional Facility, applied for a new United States of America passport, under the pretence that his seized passport was missing.

EFCC sources, on Wednesday, under anonymity said that the Armenian-born Binance executive, Gambaryan who has both American and Armenian passports, told the US Embassy in Abuja that he lost his passport which is currently being held by the anti-graft Agency.

Following the development, the EFCC has urged the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to disregard Gambaryan’s bail application, while noting that the Armenian-American could flee from Nigeria like his Kenyan-British colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla who fled to Kenya.

A source, privy to the investigations, revealed that “The second Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, who is currently remanded in Kuje prison, has planned to escape from the facility. He applied to the US embassy in Abuja to issue him a new Visa while lying that he lost his passport which was seized by the EFCC.”

Another source, under anonymity, added that “Gambaryan could have escaped from Kuje if not for the fact that the US embassy flagged his request for a new passport. Fortunately, the US embassy immediately reached out to the EFFC, and the embassy was informed that he’s a criminal suspect whose case is currently in court for alleged money laundering – concealing the source of the $35,400, 000 generated as revenue by Binance in Nigeria knowing that the funds constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.”

Meanwhile, the EFCC had on Tuesday, urged Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja to deny Gambaryan’s bail application.

The anti-graft agency said it was too risky to admit the foreigner to bail, noting the escape of his co-defendant, Nadeem Anjarwalla, from the custody of the National Security Adviser and his escape to Kenya.

Besides, the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Ekele Iheanacho, told the court that the anti-graft agency uncovered an alleged plot by Gambaryan to obtain a new passport to facilitate his escape from Nigeria after the EFCC had seized his passport.

Gambaryan, his fleeing colleague, Anjarwalla, and Binance Holdings Limited are being prosecuted by the EFCC on money laundering charges.

The anti-graft agency accused them of concealing the source of the $35,400, 000 generated as revenue by Binance in Nigeria knowing that the funds constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.

Opposing Gambaryan’s bail application on Tuesday, the EFCC prosecutor said, “There was an attempt by this defendant to procure another travelling document even when he was aware that his passport was in the custody of the state. He pretended as if the said passport was stolen.”

Iheanacho told the court that within the same period that Anjarwalla fled the custody, Gambaryan also allegedly made moves to escape from custody and flee the country but was intercepted by the operatives of the commission.

“This court will be taking a grave risk to grant the defendant bail. This is also because he has no attachment to any community in Nigeria.

“The experience we have had with the man who escaped to Kenya while his United Kingdom passport is in Nigeria will certainly repeat itself if this defendant is granted bail.

“The 1st defendant (Binance) is operating virtually. The only thing we have to hold on to is this defendant. So, we pray My Lord to refuse bail to the defendant.”

Iheanacho said with the intelligence information at the EFCC’s disposal it was not safe to release the foreigner on bail.

Numerous protestors on Thursday stormed the All Progressives Congress (APC) national secretariat in Abuja, demanding the resignation of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the party’s national chairman, in response to his recent suspension by a faction of his ward executives and the Kano State government’s alleged bribery charge against him.

Singing solidarity songs and carrying banners bearing the slogans “Ganduje must resign” and “Return the APC chairmanship to North Central,” the demonstrators urged President Bola Tinubu and Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume to take into consideration moving the party’s leadership back to their area.

The agitation comes two days after the Forum of APC State Chairmen passed a vote of confidence on Ganduje and backed him to remain as national chairman.

The delegation of 37 state chairmen gave the endorsement during a solidarity visit to the national secretariat of the party.

The former governor had recently been slammed with a fresh suspension by a faction of the Ganduje Ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano, an action the ruling party said was carried out by some impostors allegedly being sponsored by the state government.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the protesters under the aegis of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders lamented that the continued stay of Ganduje in office was a clear violation of the zoning process in the party.

Leader of the demonstrators, Mohammed Mahmud Saba, disclosed that, unlike the 37 APC state chairmen, his people in the North Central have passed a vote of no confidence on the national chairman and equally demanded his immediate resignation.

Saba reiterated that the people of North Central felt betrayed when the position of APC national chairman was hijacked from them following the exit of Senator Abdullahi Adamu despite giving Tinubu the third highest votes after North West and South West at the 2023 presidential election.

He said, “We the North Central APC Concerned Stakeholders have resolved to unanimously agitate for our right and reclaim our mandate which was handed unto us by the National Convention of our great Party in 2022. Various sections of our constitution have established the procedure of replacing an executive member at all levels of the party in the event of death, resignation, incapacitation or expulsion from the party by any executive member.

“It is a fact that the emergence of Dr. Umar Ganduje as national chairman was done against the spirit and soul of the APC which is the constitution of our great party. This singular act has impacted negatively on us as a people in the North Central. We feel betrayed and spited because we gave His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the third highest votes after North West and South West in the country which put us in a better position to enjoy the fruit of our labour.

“We, therefore, demand that Dr Umar Ganduje resign immediately and stop parading himself as the National Chairman of our great party; the zoning arrangements made by the National Convention in 2022, which zoned the office of the national chairman to the North Central be respected by the NEC and all other organs of the party and that all governors elected on the platform of the APC in the North Central should wake up from their slumber and mobilize their members against this impunity until Ganduje resigns as the national chairman.”