Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo,  has escalated the enforcement of his earlier directive to traders at Onitsha Main Market, warning that shops of defiant traders will be forcibly closed if they continue ignoring government orders to open for business on Mondays.

The development follows Soludo’s initial announcement on Monday, when he ordered a one-week closure of the market over traders’ persistent defiance of the state’s anti-Monday sit-at-home directive.

Addressing the situation during an on-the-spot inspection of the market this afternoon, the governor said past efforts to persuade traders had failed, and the government is now moving to a more assertive approach.

“If you deny 20% of workdays in a year, you are undermining our prosperity, job creation, and the economy. In 2022 and 2023, we fought it. In 2024 and 2025, we pleaded. But in 2026, we are shifting to gear 4, no backing down. Anyone who closes their shop, we will help them close it for one week. From next week, if they refuse to open by Monday, I will shut down the market and take over some of them,” Soludo declared.

He described traders’ repeated Monday closures as deliberate economic sabotage, stressing that the closure ordered on Monday was a protective measure for law-abiding citizens.

Security personnel, including the police, army, and other agencies, have been deployed to enforce the closure and maintain order. Soludo warned that non-compliant traders after the one-week shutdown risk a longer closure of up to one month.

The measure is part of the state government’s ongoing effort to end Monday sit-at-home practices, which have continuously disrupted economic activities across the South-East.

The Nigeria Police Force has uncovered a ₦7.7 billion cyber-enabled telecommunications fraud and arrested six suspects linked to the illegal diversion of airtime and data resources belonging to a telecom company.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, Benjamin Hundeyin, the police said the operation was carried out by the National Cybercrime Centre following a petition from the affected company.

According to the statement, the company reported “suspicious and unauthorised activities within its billing and payments infrastructure.”

The police said investigations revealed that “internal staff login credentials had been compromised, granting threat actors unlawful access to core systems.”

The syndicate responsible for the illegal diversion of a telecommunications company’s airtime and data resources, resulting in “an estimated financial loss of over ₦7.7 billion.”

Following weeks of planning, the police said “coordinated enforcement operations were executed in October 2025 in Kano and Katsina States, with a follow-up arrest in the Federal Capital Territory.”

The statement added that six suspects were arrested during the operation.

“They include Ahmad Bala, Karibu Mohammed Shehu, Umar Habib, Obinna Ananaba, Ibrahim Shehu, and Masa’ud Sa’ad,” the police said.

The Punch

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused President Bola Tinubu of deducting N100b every month from the federation account without approval.

Speaking during an interview on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television, El-Rufai said such an action deserves nothing but impeachment.

According to him, the unauthorised deductions have been going on for over 15 months, amounting to a total of N1.5 trillion.

He said: “Government data. I’m not quoting something out of the air. So for that 100 billion that goes out every month from the Federation account, without appropriation by the National Assembly, by the way, without appropriation by the state assemblies, because part of the money belongs to the states.

“So each state assembly is supposed to appropriate that part. So the entire deduction and expenditure is unconstitutional. It’s an impeachable offense, but it has been going on for more than 15 months from the last time I checked.

“So where has that 1.5 trillion gone? What is it being used for? Why is the security situation just getting worse? Why is the government asking communities to protect themselves?

“Look if you asked me in 2022 or 2023 when we were campaigning, that things would ever be this bad, I would say that you are mentally ill.”

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