The All Progressives Congress (APC) Screening Committee for the Osun State governorship primary election has disqualified the former deputy governor and National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Iyiola Omisore, immediate past Deputy Governor Benedict Olugboyega Alabi and five other governorship aspirants ahead of the party’s primary election.
Other disqualified aspirants are Dotun Babayemi; Akin Ogunbiyi; Senator Babajide Omoworare; Kunle Adegoke (SAN); and Babatunde Haketer Oralusi
The seven-man screening committee headed by Barr. Obinna Uzor, in a report submitted to the party’s organization department yesterday, cleared Hon. Mulikat Adeola Jimoh and Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji for the December 13 party primary election.
The cleared aspirants were found to have fulfilled regulatory requirements as stipulated by the party guidelines, the Constitution, and the Electoral Act
The Committee, however, referred the disqualified aspirants to the National Working Committee (NWC) for final clearance before they can proceed for the shadow election.
In the 6-page report signed by all the members, the committee claimed it received a petition from Osun APC Renewal Group, urging the disqualification of the two aspirants who were identified as falling short of the mandatory nominator requirements prescribed under the APC Constitution and the Party’s Guidelines for the Governorship Primary.
It further stated that “upon careful review, the Committee found the issues raised in the petition to be weighty, substantial, and germane to the integrity of the screening process. In the interest of fairness, transparency, and uniform application of the party’s rules, the Committee resolved that the concerns highlighted should not be applied selectively.
“Accordingly, the Committee extended the same scrutiny to all nine (9) aspirants, ensuring that every sponsor (nominator) of an aspirant was assessed on the basis of compliance with Articles 9.3(i) and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution and paragraph 6(c) of the Guidelines. This approach guaranteed a level playing field and upheld the principles of internal party democracy.
Upon conclusion of the two-day screening exercise, the Committee “found that two (2) aspirants, Mulikat Abiola Jimoh and Munirudeen Bola Oyebanji, satisfactorily met all constitutional and guideline requirements of the APC, including proper nomination by the requisite number of fully registered, financially up-to-date party members from each Local Government Area.”
The Committee also observed that seven aspirants: Sen. Iyiola Omisore, Babatunde Haketer Oralusi, Mr. Oyedotun Babayemi, Dr. Akinade Akanmu Ogunbiyi, Benedict Olugboyega Alabi, Adegoke Rasheed Okiki Adekunle, and Sen. Babajide Omoworare-failed to meet the mandatory nomination requirement of being sponsored by five (5) fully registered and financially up-to-date members from each Local Government Area contrary to Articles 9.3(i) of the APC Constitution and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution as well as Paragraph 6(c) of the APC Guidelines for the 2025 Governorship Primary.
Meanwhile, the Screening Appeal Committee, headed by Senator Tola Odebiyi, will sit on Saturday in Abuja to attend to petitions and appeals from the seven disqualified and any other aggrieved stakeholders.
The Supreme Court yesterday expressed displeasure at Federal Government’s failure to put into effect the July 2024 judgement of the court that local governments’ share from the federation account be paid directly to them.
The apex court said there was no credible evidence before it that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) had initiated or completed the needed modalities to give effect to its judgment in the case of AG of the Federation and AG of Abia State and others.
It asked the authorities to commence the implementation of that decision forthwith.
“In the instant suit, the decision of this court in the case of AG of the Federation and AG of Abia State and others is binding on the defendant, who is to ensure that it is complied with,” Justice Mohammed Idris said in his lead judgement yesterday in a suit filed on behalf of the Osun State Government by the state’s Attorney General to compel the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to release withheld allocations due to local governments in the state.
The court struck out the Osun State government suit.
The apex court, in a split decision of six-to-one, held that the AG of Osun State lacked the locus standi (the legal right) to have filed the suit on behalf of LGs in Osun State as they are legal entity with capacity to sue to assert their right.
In the lead majority judgment in the suit marked: SC/CV/773/2025, prepared and read by Justice Idris, the Supreme Court partially upheld the preliminary objection raised by the AGF against the competence of the suit.
Justice Idris held that the plaintiff failed to establish that there was any cause of action capable of invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as provided under Section 232(1) of Construction.
He noted that from the facts of the case, the issue in dispute was about the alleged failure of the Federal Government to release funds standing to the credit of Osun State Local Governments in the Federation account.
He held that the plaintiff failed to establish that the subject of the suit constituted a dispute between Osun State and the FG to have clothed the state’s AG with the necessary locus standi to approach the Supreme Court.
He distinguished the Osun case from that of the Attorney General of the Federation v the Attorney General of Abia and others, in which the Supreme Court ordered the direct payment of allocations to local governments across the federation.
Justice Idris held that such a suit, relating to dispute over local government funds, ought to have been filed by the affected local governments, which are a constitutionally recognised tier of government and separate juristic entities vested with the power to sue and be sued, or filed by the state’s AG with the authorisation of the affected LGAs.
He held that the LGs are not appendages of the states and are therefore autonomous and with the legal capacity to take care of their own affairs.
“Just as the Federal Government cannot interfere in the affairs of the states, being the second tier of government, the state government equally lacks the constitutional authorities to interfere in
the affairs of the Local Government councils, which are autonomous bodies created by the Constitution,” he said.
He added that even in instances where LGs are combining efforts with the state as provided in the Constitution, they do so as autonomous entities.
This position , he said, implies that the Local Government councils “possess inherent authorities to conduct their affairs without interference from any tier of government, including the collection and management of revenues accruing to them.
His words: “This, no doubt, implies that the ownership of funds allocated to the Local Government councils from the Federation Account reside exclusive with the councils.
“The Constitution does not envisage any form of joint ownership between the states and the Local Government councils.
“It is the democratically elected Local Government council officials, and not the state government, that possess the legitimate authorities to control such funds.”
The judge faulted the AGF’s argument that Osun State was in contempt of the Supreme Court ‘s judgment in the AG of the Federation v. AG, Abia and others, insisting that it was the AGF, and by extension the FG, that has failed to give effect to the judgment.
He held that the duty to initiate and operationalise the mechanisms required for direct funding of the nation’s Local Governments lies with the federal and state governments.
The judge noted that the process of opening dedicated accounts for the 774 LGAs requires several administrative steps within the purview of federal agencies
Justice Idris held the defendant failed to take necessary steps to ensure that the judgment of the court on Local Government autonomy was obeyed.
He said since the defendant failed to comply with the subsisting judgment of the court, it lacked the moral right to accuse the plaintiff of collecting and receiving funds meant for LGs in Osun State.
The judge said: “I must also emphasize that the defendant’s hands are not clean, but soiled and cannot be allowed to drink from the fountain of justice since he who comes to equity must come with clean hands, and he who seeks equity must do equity.”
Justice Idris held that by the July 2024 judgment, the Federal Government is under obligation to ensure that all funds standing to the credit of Local Governments in the federation account are sent directly to them without being withheld under any excuse.
In addition, he said the Federal Government should take immediate steps to enforce the judgment and release all outstanding allocations to all LGs in the country.
Justice Idris said: “it is pertinent to issue a stern admonition to the Federation. This court’s judgment in AG of the Federation v. AG Abia and others remains the subsisting and binding order of this court.
“As the Executive arm of government, the Federation is under a constitutional and legal duty to give full and faithful effect to the directives of this court.
“It is imperative that the Federation ensures strict and immediate compliance with the terms of that judgment without evasion, delay and partial performance.
“In particular, the Federation is hereby reminded that it is bound to remit in full, and without any further delay, all outstanding allocations due to all democratically elected Local Government councils across Nigeria.
“Any failure to comply with the orders of this court constitutes a deliberate disregard of the rule of law.
“The Federation is enjoined to take immediate and practical steps to discharge its constitutional responsibilities in accordance with this court’s directives in the judgment in AG Federation v. AG Abia State and others, thereby re-enforcing democratic governance, ensuring accountability and upholding the supremacy and sanctity of the Constitution,” he said.
Justice Emmanuel Agim wrote the dissenting judgment in which he disagreed with the position of the six other Justices on the seven-member panel.
Justice Agim rejected the defendant’s preliminary objection and assumed jurisdiction over the case.
He held that the AG of Osun State has the locus standi to approach the Supreme Court on the issue.
Justice Agim further held that the plaintiff established a cause of action and that the dispute was between the Osun State Government and the Federation over the latter’s decision to withhold state’s Local Government councils’ allocations.
In the July 2024 judgement, the Supreme Court directed the federal government to pay allocations directly to local government councils from the federation account.
A seven-member panel of justices said state governments had continued to abuse their powers by retaining and using the funds meant for LGs.
It also ordered the federal government to withhold allocations of LGs governed by unelected officials appointed by the governor.
Justice Agim, who read the lead judgment, said states are mandated to ensure that their local government councils are democratically elected, and that governors cannot use their powers to dissolve democratically elected local government councils.
“The amount standing to the credit of local government councils must be paid by the federation to the local government councils and not by any other person or body,” the judge said.
“The said amount must be paid to local government councils that are democratically elected.
“An order of injunction is hereby granted restraining the defendants from collecting funds belonging to the local government councils when no democratically elected local government councils are in place.
“An order that henceforth no state government should be paid monies standing to the credit of the local government councils.
“An order for immediate enforcement and compliance with these orders by the state governments and successive governments henceforth.”
The federal government filed the suit at the Supreme Court against governors of the 36 states to ask for full autonomy for the country’s 774 local governments.
The federal government prayed the court to authorise the direct transfer of funds from the federation account to local governments — in accordance with the constitution.
Osun ALGON hails ‘victory for democracy’
The Osun State Chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) welcomed yesterday’s verdict of the Supreme Court as “a victory for democracy, victory for good governance and victory for common man on the streets of Osun.”
Chairman of the association, Mr Abiodun Idowu, said in a statement in Osogbo that the judgement was a testament to “the fact that judiciary remains the last hope of a common man.”
“This sound judgement,” he added , “has practically put an end to the protracted litigations over the control of our Councils in Osun.”
Continuing, he said: “To us, this legal feat has further entrenched our commitment to continue to bring all round development and massive socioeconomic and infrastructural developments to the people at our various councils.
“We are resolute to resuscitate the dearth and inflictions that Osun government under the watch of Governor Ademola Adeleke has plunged our Councils into as we begin to bring the more desired change and development to the grassroots.”
Osun Assembly passes bill to regulate administration of LG accounts
As the Supreme Court was handing down its judgement in Abuja,the Osun State House of Assembly passed a bill regulating the administration of the state local government accounts with commercial banks and financial institutions.
The bill entitled “Osun State Local Government Account Administration Bill 2025” was introduced by Speaker Adewale Egbedun during plenary and passed in quick succession till its third reading.
The Majority Leader, Mr Adewunmi Babajide, said under Order 80 Rule 1 of the Assembly, that “every bill shall receive three readings before passage but two-third of the lawmakers can fast track a bill’s passage.”
Babajide, while reading the policy trust of the bill, said in accordance to Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution, local governments’ existence and operation are provided for but the statutory allocation and internal revenue of the local governments must be guided.
The speaker, while presenting the bill stated that all local government accounts shall now be opened and operated in accordance with the bill.
“These include two signatories to each local government accounts who must be the Director of Finance, and the Director of Administration and General Services.
“That the Permanent Secretary of the Osun Civil Service Commission must issue a signed letter of introduction to any commercial bank or financial institutions, introducing the signatories,” he stated.
He said no political office holder or appointee shall be or allowed to be a signatory to any local government account opened or to be opened by any local government in the state.
“Any person, body, commercial bank, agency, organisation, group or entity who opens, operates, maintains and allows the opening, operation or maintenance of local government account, contrary to the provision of the bill, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to five years imprisonment or a fine of N50 million or to both,” he said.
He said that any further amendment on the passed bill would be done administratively.
The Speaker said that a clean copy of the passed bill would be transmitted to the Gov. Ademola Adeleke for assent.
He is a man of immense talents, a financial colossus whose sterling quality and expertise in the financial sector has continued to earn him accolades across the globe. If the name Bade Adeshina doesn’t sound familiar to you, it seems you haven’t paid much attention to his remarkable exploits in the Nigeria’s financial landscape where he has shone brilliantly for the past three decades.
Bade Adeshina is an exceptionally accomplished Nigerian who has done well for himself. Adeshina, a native of Osun State parades an intimidating curriculum vitae.
Apart from his degrees in Nigeria, Adeshina has gone ahead to acquire more knowledge. He has attended several globally recognized universities including Harvard. With his many accomplishments in the private and public sectors, it was a delight when the management of Edwin Clark University founded by the late elder stateman, Edwin Clark bestowed the highest honour on Adeshina.
In a letter sent to the financial titan, it stated “This distinguished award recognizes your remarkable accomplishments and leadership in the fields of finance, investment management, and governance. Your extensive career, spanning commercial and investment banking, discount house operations, pension management, and public service, reflects excellence, innovation, and commitment to national and international economic development.”
The University Senate noted, with particular admiration, your educational background with B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Finance from the University of Lagos, your Treasury Dealership Certificate with CIBN/Financial Market Dealers Association, and your Fellowships with several professional bodies including The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Certified Pension Institute of Nigeria, Association of Investment Advisers and Portfolio Managers, Institute of Directors Nigeria, and Nigerian Institute of Management, among others.
“Your sterling leadership as Chairman and Director of several reputable organizations, and your service as Special Adviser on Economic Planning, Budget and Development to the Government of Osun State, were further considered as evidence of your entrepreneurial distinction and dedication to national development.
On Saturday November 29th, 2025, Delta State stood still when chairman of Goldfield Group, a diversified financial services firm, Dr. Abimbade Abdulyekeen Adeshina popularly known as ‘Bade Adeshina’ was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Management Science (Honorary Causa) in Entrepreneural Finance and Management in recognition of his contribution to the country’s financial sector.
The Osun State born technocrat, was decorated with the honorary degree on November 29th during the combined 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Convocation Ceremonies held at the University Auditorium in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
The event brought together industry leaders, policymakers, and academia.
Vice Chancellor of ECU, Prof. Samuel Tita Wara, in his address during the occasion, said the university proudly conferred its honorary doctorate degree on Dr. Adeshina, whom he described as an astute finance entrepreneur, manager, and administrator, for his exceptional leadership, innovation in financial management and dedication to human empowerment, which mirror the ideals of the University.
Acknowledging that great leaders inspire others not by power but example, Prof. Wara noted that Dr. Adeshina story is one of diligence, faith and national contribution.
“We celebrate your impact and support to the development and growth of Edwin Clark University in accordance with the aim of our Founder and Father, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark. We also appreciate you and your family for the support and donation to the University based on belief and commitment to education, thus extending opportunities for the less privileged in our communities”, the Vice-Chancellor added.
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Adeshina said he was humbled for the recognition bestowed on him and accepted the award of Doctor of Management Science (D.MSc) (Honoris Causa) in Entrepreneurial Finance and Management with immense gratitude and respect for Edwin Clark University.
“I thank the Senate and leadership of Edwin Clark University for the confidence reposed in me and my work. Your recognition strengthens my belief that steady service, ethical leadership and commitment to learning remain essential for building strong institutions and a stronger nation”, he added.
Dr. Adeshina noted that his journey in finance, governance and institutional development had been shaped by the lessons gained through education, the guidance of the Almighty and the invaluable encouragement from his colleagues and his family.
He said further “I owe much to the people who stood by me, challenged me and supported my efforts and vision over the years. This award is not only a personal honour; it is a reminder for me to continue to contribute where my skills and experience can make a meaningful difference.
“I hope my story encourages young Nigerians to pursue excellence with discipline, and lead with integrity wherever they find themselves”, he added.
Dr. Adeshina reflected that on occasions such as this, “we must appreciate the role that citadels of learning in our country must continue to play in rebuilding Nigeria.
“This is so that our country may translate its enormous potentials into tangible assets; those priceless assets needed in a digital era where the best performing nations prioritize knowledge as key drivers of socio-economic transformation, as I reckon to be part of treasured mandate of Edwin Clark University. This university deserves all the support we as alumni can provide, to sustain and grow the dream of its founder – Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark”, he added.
Dr. Adeshina is a highly accomplished and versatile senior executive and board leader with over three decades of distinguished experience across commercial and investment banking, asset management, stockbroking, public service and financial consulting.
His career is marked by a consistent record of leadership in highly competitive and structured institutions, both in Nigeria and internationally.
Dr. Adeshina academic foundation includes a B.Sc. and M.Sc in Finance from the University of Lagos and a Diploma in Information Science/Systems from the University of Ibadan. He further enhanced his executive education through prestigious programs at world-renowned institutions including Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Kellogg School of Management and Wharton Business School.
He has held several C-suite and Board-level positions, demonstrating a capacity for strategic direction and governance. Dr. Adeshina served as the Managing Director/CEO of CDL Asset Management Limited, where he provided overall leadership and oversaw leadership a diverse portfolio including funds management, corporate finance and treasury services.
Previously, as General Manager at Marina International Limited, he honed his expertise in treasury, risk management and investment banking over a 15-year tenure. His public service commitment was demonstrated in a cabinet-level role as Special Adviser and Head of the Ministry of Economic Planning, Budget and Development for the State of Osun, where he spearheaded budget preparation, economic planning and public procurement reforms.
Dr. Adeshina currently serves as Chairman for several entities including the Goldfield Group, a diversified financial services firm and Health Assur Ltd. He is also the Founder/Director of Ultra Goldfield Logistics Limited, UK, a venture leveraging AI and machine learning in the logistics sector. His extensive directorship include past roles on the boards of Premium Pension Limited and CDL Capital Market Limited.
Under his watch, Goldfield Group, which comprises organisations offering financial and management consulting to high net worth individuals; corporate and project finance advisory services, securities brokerage and real estate investment/management as well as pension funds management, has become the toast of clients from diverse sectors.
The financial guru is a distinguished fellow of multiple professional bodies including the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (FCIB), the Certified Pension Institute of Nigeria (FCIP) and the Institute of Directors, Nigeria.
His deep industry engagement is further evidenced by his membership on numerous high-level committees, particularly in audit, risk, investment and governance across the banking, pension and public sectors.
A prolific contributor to his field, Dr. Adeshina has authored over 40 publications and presented numerous papers on topics ranging from financial risk management and pension governance to economic development. Combining strong analytical, organizational and problem-solving skills with a reputation for high integrity.
Reacting to the award bestowed on Dr. Adeshina, an elated Alhaja Asisat Olanike Adeshina described her husband of 40 years as a very meticulous person who has been able to gather grace to where he is today.
She said the family was happy for the recognition bestowed on her husband in far away South-South region adding “Its not easy but we, as a family, we are happy for this recognition.
“Now adding this feather to his cap, I am so grateful to Almighty God to witness this. I am happy its coming from Edwin Clark University, South-South as we call the area even though we are from South-West but I am happy its coming from somewhere we dont have a root”, she added.
A long standing friend of the awardee, Mr. Ade Odunewu also described Dr. Adeshina as a thorough bread professional, a very thorough and humble person.
He said he had witnessed some other awards bestowed on him in the past and now this from Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo adding “He is a very respected person, a banker of repute for many years.
Odunewu said Dr. Adeshina deserved the award by ECU having been part of a management and running of some universities in the past recalling his role as a council member of Ladoke Akintola University.
Barrister S. K. Babalola, who happens to be Dr. Adeshina’s Best Man during his wedding 40 years ago, described the honorary doctorate degree award on his friend as a manifestation of the awardee’s tenacity of purpose.
“Adeshina is somebody that is highly methodical, highly resourceful and very tenacious in whatever he believes in. He is one person that gives his whole to whatever he believes in”, he added.
Extolling the virtue of the honoraree, Managing Director and Chief Executive Office, CRC Credit Bureau, Dr. Ahmed Popoola described Dr. Adeshina as a role model who constantly encourages people around him to excel.
“My path crosses with Dr. Adeshina in 1979 at at the University of Lagos Library.
“Our relationship is a mentee mentor type. He is a big brother. He shows andolute interest in people. He sacrifices a lot to support his family members and friends, even at a high level of inconvenience to him. The people I know him with have been together with him for decades.
What stands him out according to popoola is Adeshina’s unparalleled and high level of integrity. “He is a first-class professional who knows his onions, especially in corporate finance and banking. He is always on top of whatever he chooses to do. He is forthright and focused. He is so reliable and trustworthy. He doesn’t cut corners. He is arguably the most meticulous professional I have ever met.”
Prince Labi Emokpare expressed appreciation to Edwin Clark University for recognizing the man he said to have paid his dues to humanity.
“I think he deserves more than this. He is a great person, very straight forward and I can tell you he has paid his dues to this country. He has done very well for humanity, for the communities of this country. I wish him more winnings”, he added.
For Bade Adeshina, indeed, it is an honour well deserved.
At the commencement of his inaugural lecture titled ‘The Nigerian State: A Country Without Countrymen’, Professor Babatunde Olusegun Agara of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, professed his guiding life credos of faith in God Almighty as a Christian, commitment to positive societal change beneficial to the masses and adherence to the Marxist tenets of revolutionary transformation in the realm of economics. His analysis of the different manifestations of disruptive violence in contemporary Nigeria combines the values, assumptions and outlook of radical political economy a la the late Claude Ake with a rigorous application of the theoretical framework and conceptual classifications of comparative politics and strategic studies.
The most attractive, informative and useful feature of this inaugural lecture is his exhaustive interrogation of the identities, operational modalities, value-orientations and organisational structures, especially of the diverse non-state actors currently threatening the Nigerian state’s monopoly of the instruments and techniques of violence with negative consequences for the country’s territorial integrity, unity and political stability.
He identifies what he describes as ‘the evil triad’ of insecurity, threats of secession and herders’ invasion’ as the prevailing most potent sources of danger to the security of lives and property in Nigeria. Surely, those who have taken up arms against the Nigerian State, snuffing out the lives of fellow citizens with impunity at will, do not see the victims of their violence as fellow countrymen or women. Understanding the nature, characteristics and motivations of the diverse individuals and groups involved in these largely asymmetric acts of violence is thus critical to finding enduring solutions to the protracted violence that has plagued the Nigerian State over the last decade and a half.
This is partly why the content of this lecture should be of particular interest to Nigerian policy makers and those involved in various forms of conflict mitigation, conflict control, conflict containment and conflict management in Nigeria.
Professor Agara’s interrogation of the phenomenon of insurgency encompasses features, manifestations and tendencies that include the entirety of Africa beyond Nigeria. One of the forms of insurgencies which he focuses his searchlight on is that of ‘States against citizens’. He avers that states can mount an insurgency against their citizens, including the enforcement of sanctions against those who violate their laws through extant legal processes or “through the clandestine use of illegal violence designed to intimidate and terrorise citizens with the intention of preventing them from opposing the government and disobeying or contravening the state’s laws”. The latter objective is achieved through psychologically and physically restricting and constricting laws, or more brazenly, the outright elimination of adversaries of incumbent governments in control of states’ apparatuses.
The second kind of insurgency examined in the lecture is that of citizens against citizens. According to him, “A major manifestation of this type of insurgency is by vigilante violence and ethnic or tribal conflicts. Although over 80% of the insurgency experienced in the world today is located within Asia and Africa, its manifestation has always taken the form of ethnic conflict. The vigilante type emerged primarily because of the inability of the police to control crime, and these vigilante groups, at least in Nigeria, later metamorphosed into ethnic militias…this type of ethnic insurgency has been further complicated by religiously motivated violence, thereby making the divide between ethnic conflict and religious violence difficult to delineate”. He attributes the eruption of ethnic insurgency to such factors as group loyalty and identity, feelings of marginalisation and alienation, struggle for access to state power and the quest for resource control.
Professor Agara also examines another form of insurgency, which is the expression of discontent by citizens against the policies of a state or its leadership, leading to “either organised or spontaneous uprising or riots having neither clear political goals nor organised leadership”. This type of insurgency, he points out, is aimed at overthrowing the government and occurs largely within a state, although it may have violent repercussions that transcend territorial boundaries. Next, the professor focuses on the assorted means that insurgents can opt for in seeking to achieve their objectives. These include guerrilla wars, revolution and terrorism.
He explains that guerrilla wars are preferred by insurgents when they face stronger, better-equipped enemy forces against which a diffuse type of war is more effective. “Thus, as a strategy, guerrilla warfare avoids direct, decisive battles and instead, opts for a series of protracted but small skirmishes where the insurgents’ inferiority in terms of manpower, arms and equipment can be turned to an advantage by adopting flexible hit-and-run tactics and style of warfare…guerrilla warfare employs raids, ambushes and sabotage from remote and inaccessible bases in mountains, forests, jungles or territory of neighboring states”.
Another feature of guerrilla warfare analysed by Professor Agara is that of many modern states, which, in addition to their regular armies, train troops called special forces to confront non-conventional combatants in irregular warfare. He submits that “As a result of the special training in sabotage, explosives and selective destruction of targets and because cruelty and brutality unmodified and unsanctioned by rules of war under which regular armies operate are the enduring characteristics of irregular warfare, these elites’ military groups actually qualify to be called terrorists-in-uniform”. On the concept of revolution, the lecturer analyses it both as a means of achieving the objectives of insurgency or as an end of achieving far-reaching social and political outcomes often by violent means. Unlike social reform, a revolution aims at smashing “the existing status quo and replacing it with a better one while at the same time resolving the issue of class antagonism and contradiction.”
Perhaps because of our contemporary experiences in Nigeria, Professor Agara examines at greater length the phenomenon of terrorism. He identifies diverse forms of terrorism, including state terrorism, which refers to the use of terrorism by a state against its own population or state-sponsored terrorism, which is international terrorist activity sponsored by states through the provision of arms, training, safe haven or financial backing. Distinguishing between religious-motivated and politically-motivated terrorism, he notes that, although both employ the use of violence, the latter seeks to challenge the authority of the state without affecting the private rights of innocent parties, while the goals of the former are essentially “trans-temporal and the time limit of their struggle is eternity”.
Professor Agara identifies other features of religious-motivated terrorism to include choosing the targets of violence not for military values or reasons but rather for their impact on public consciousness due to the degree of brutality or element of surprise or suddenness; portraying the perpetrators of religious-terrorism as pursuing the cause of a ‘god’ and their opponents as consequently evil; and the propagation of the divine nature of religious terrorism, which is perceived as a struggle between good and evil.
Acts of terrorism, Professor Agara points out, are particularly deliberately geared to make the most damaging impact in order to draw the widest possible attention to the demands and exploits of the terrorists. He explains this thus: “Coupled with this is the fact that terrorist actions would be useless if not directed to attract attention, the attention of a specific in which a particular mode of fear is sought to be created. The violence of terrorism is not an end in itself. Rather, violence is employed precisely to create a sense of fear, terror and uncertainty in the people who are the audience of terrorism”.
Another interesting aspect of this lecture is the professor’s exhaustive examination of the nexus between terrorism and organised crime. He argues that the transition towards a more closely knit, globalised economy has also facilitated “the emergence of a transnational form of organized criminality, which has increased the possibilities of terrorists becoming involved in illegal business”. Insurgents increasingly exploit the opportunities provided by improved communication, advances in information technologies as well as greater mobility of goods and services across countries, among others, to participate in purely criminal activities.
At the level of operational modes of operation, the convergence between terrorist groups and organized crime cartels, according to Professor Agara, includes involvement in the trafficking or use of drugs; engaging in illegal trading activities through, for instance, the use of the black market to sell gold, diamonds and other precious minerals to fund their activities; the facilitation of their operations through forging documents such as traveling documents, passports and credit cards to ease their movements across different countries and kidnapping for ransom as the fastest and perhaps the surest way to acquire funds for criminals and jihadists”.
Other areas of convergence in the mode of Operation between terrorist groups and criminal gangs, which the author illuminates, include the use of intimidation, aggression and threats to extort money from members of the public including the payment of money by victims in turn for protection by the criminal elements; creation of front or screen companies to launder and legitimize laundering of and movement of money or funds acquired through shadowy sources of organized crime or other illicit activities.
Two forms of convergence by terrorist groups and criminal syndicates, pointed out by the Professor, include direct collaboration between criminal cartels and terrorist groups especially where both share similar religious ideology and beliefs or where such collaboration is a function of meeting a mutually beneficial economic activity or practical need.
Comparing the areas of convergence as regards the organizational methods of terrorist groups in contrast with criminal cartels, Professor Agara notes that these include the primacy of the pursuit, first and foremost, of pecuniary and monetary interests to the detriment of overtly political goals; an essentially hierarchical organizational structure by both; an organizational structure premised on a cell-like formation with each cell consisting of not more than 10 members and each cell enabled to function independently of each other. Furthermore, Membership into organised criminal groups and terrorist organisations is never advertised or announced, nor are written applications invited, with applicants shortlisted for interview. By virtue of their exclusivity, the membership is also exclusive, not open, but significantly limited with strict qualification or criteria such as ethnic background, kinship, race, criminal record, religious affiliation (particularly in the case of religious terrorism like ISIS,al-Qaeda and Boko Haram).
On recruitment of members, he notes that both members of terror groups and criminal gangs demand, in addition to basic qualifications in either criminal proclivities or extremist ideological bent, “potential members would also require to be sponsored by a high-ranking member of the group and must prove qualified by their willingness to perform any acts required of them, obey orders and keep secrets”. Ironically, although both terrors groups and criminal gangs are essentially lawless elements by definition, Professor Agara notes that the activities of members are guided by rules and regulations which they are expected to follow; both terrors groups and criminal cartels claim monopoly over particular territories over which they strive to maintain dominance; both types of groups do not hesitate as regards their willingness to exploit the use of illegal violence while both organized criminal gangs and terrorist organizations constitute an ongoing criminal conspiracy against the society but designed to persist through time and even after and beyond the lifetimes of the present members”.
In the last three sections of the lecture, Professor Agara rigorously interrogates the phenomena of secession and herders’ invasion, which he had earlier cited as components of the ‘triad of evil’ currently afflicting the Nigerian State. And in conclusion, he examines the implications of the widespread violence for the efficacy of the Nigerian State in performing its obligations, particularly of maintaining the safety of the lives and property of citizens. He argues that failed states are characterised by an implosion of states’ structures, which results in the incapability of governmental authorities to perform their functions, including providing security, respecting the rule of law, exercising control, supplying education and health services and maintaining economic and structural infrastructures”. Does he then arrive at the conclusion that Nigeria is a failed state?
Rather, he argues that the concept of State failure is a gradual unfolding of loss of state efficacy, which can be measured along a continuum, “as the state becomes progressively less capable of performing its functions and as a result becomes more and more ‘failed’. Complete state collapse is the ultimate, but rare result, while different stages of state failure can be encountered along the continuum”. Since he argues that the defining characteristic of state failure lies in the implosion of government institutions and the inability of any group to constitute the governing authority by effectively replacing the government in power, Professor Agara introduces a new category between failed and collapsed states to depict the Nigerian situation.
Of the Nigerian case, he submits thus that “While this may not be categorical, the fact that the institutions of the state still function, and are periodically contested for, may be believed to be the fact and reality of a failed state where such institutions have crumbled and, in some cases, are no longer in existence. Hence, the need to introduce another concept- to describe such states – as fractured states. Nigeria may be described as a fractured state since the institutional pillars on which the state rests are still ‘operational’ and visibly contested for, even though it has not adequately provided the public with the necessary goods and services, including security of lives and property”. How do we stem the complete slide of the Nigerian State from a fractured polity to a failed one or a collapsed State? That is a critical question facing both the operators of the Nigerian State, as well as those with specialisation in the study of complex, plural, federal societies like Nigeria such as Professor Babatunde Agara.
Natives still use bush lanterns, charcoal pressing iron
Questions trail state government’s multi billion naira investments in rural electrification
New Ekuri, a rural community in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State has remained in darkness in all its 87 years of existence.And that is despite successive government’s vow to provide electricity even in remote areas of the state. Numerous promises made,and billions of naira spent over the last 10 years by the administrations of the immediate past Governor Ben Ayade and the incumbent, Governor Bassey Otu,have been to no avail. New Ekuri is a victim of the failed promises and today wallows in ruins as joblessness, poverty and festering vices have become dominant features of the community. INNOCENT DURU reports.
Hilda Ayimor, a junior secondary school pupil in New Ekuri wouldn’t have known what electricity looks like but for neighbours who use generators and solar light. Her community hasn’t had power supply in its 87 years of existence. Not even a single power pole or cable passes the area to give the people a glimmer of hope that electricity supply would soon get to the community.
“Ours is a world of darkness,” Hilda said in a tone that wrenches the heart.
“We are always in darkness. Many of us, the young ones who have not gone outside this community before, wouldn’t have known what electricity is if not for neighbours who use I better pass my neighbour generators and those who use small solar light panels. I guess we are just a little better than our ancestors who lived during the stone age.”
Owning to the enormity of the chores she attends to at home after school hours, Hilda hardly has time to read during the day.
“It’s only at night I have the time to read. Unfortunately, power is a challenge. We use torch to read. We have only one torch in our house. We put the light in one place and come together to read around it,” she said.
“It’s always not easy for us to read in that manner but we have no choice. That is the condition we have found ourselves in New Ekuri.”
The pupils are not alone in this disgusting condition that the people of New Ekuri have found themselves.
Their teachers fare no better in preparing for classes.
“Absence of power supply is doing incalculable damage to education and everything you can think of in our community,” a teacher who gave his name as Nathaniel Okon said.
“It very sickening teaching without power supply. I use torch to read to prepare for class. At times, I read in the evening after school hours when there’s an opportunity to do so. There is a torch I tie on my head to read. But the challenge is that it causes headache for me after a while. I can’t even read online because we don’t have internet connection in the community.”
Once in a while Okon uses generator but he finds the cost of doing so prohibitive.
“I manage to spend about N10, 000 on fuel monthly from my meager salary of N20, 000,” he said.
“ I am sustained by what I get from my farm and small business. When there is no money to buy fuel, I go out to power my phone at a charging point. It costs N300 to do that.”
As a teacher who admonishes his pupils to maintain a high level of cleanliness, Okon does everything possible to make sure he doesn’t go to school with rumpled clothes. “I use pressing iron that uses charcoal to iron my clothes because there is no electricity. We do not buy charcoal because that is what we use to cook.”
Economic activities grounded
Socio-economic life in the community is almost zero. Hand work that young people could engage in to earn a living is non-existent. Only privileged members use generator to power their businesses. Incidentally, businesses hardly thrive in the community where poverty walks on all fours.
Gilbert Uyietta who runs a beer parlor business in the community said: “We rely on generators all year round. It affects my business. Seventy percent of the profit that I am supposed to have goes into buying fuel. A litre of fuel here is N1,500.
“Today, I have bought three litres of petrol that can serve me for about three to four hours. If you check that, it amounts to N4, 500 daily. It is not certain I will make enough sales that will give me that amount in a day, much more profit that I will need to attend to other personal and family needs.”
Sounding frustrated,he added: “if I have enough capital, I will leave the community and go to an urban area where there is electricity.”
A member of the community, Pastor Louis described New Ekuri as a very poor environment.
“Life is difficult in New Ekuri. The cost of living is very high because when our people travel to buy things, they factor the very high overhead costs and the profit they want to make into whatever item they want to sell.
“So, you are buying it at a very high price. When you don’t have power supply, your business will not flourish the way it should be,” he said, regretting that “people rely on their torch here. Some people use rechargeable light. That’s what people actually depend on. If not, they would have been going about with their bush lanterns and candles and all that.
“In fact, even now, some people still use bush lanterns in their houses. There are many who sleep in the dark. Another thing that actually helps people here is this Hausa light, known as after NEPA. So they buy battery, slot it in there and use it. When it runs down, they go back to buy another battery. When its life span expires, they will look for another one to buy.”
Reeling out other woes bedeviling the community, Pastor Louis said: “There are several people who cannot go to school because there are no means of doing so. You look at where people live and be sorry for them because they are poor. And sometimes when you see what our people eat, you will be moved to pity. It also speaks volumes for you to understand that if these people had good means of livelihood, things would have been better for them today.”
Pastor Louis also identified lack of roads as one of the challenges hindering the development of the community.
“Where will electricity come from? When we don’t have an access road, is it electricity we will have?” he asked rhetorically.
“The government has never done anything like that for us. Whatever we have is what we have done through communal efforts to see that we shouldn’t remain in the forest.”
Going down memory lane, he said: “ New Ekuri was created in 1938. Our people migrated from Old Ekuri which had been there before 1938. New Ekuri is almost 90 years old and for this length of years, we have never had power supply much more government presence of building a road for the community.
“Since we don’t have an access road, where will those poles pass through? That’s the challenge we face. We are in Nigeria and we vote during elections but we don’t have government’s attention. The government is aware of our predicament. We have been talking and talking without response.”
The cleric noted that what would have attracted the government’s attention to help New Ekuri is the “conservation we are embarking on. That project will be of benefit not just to the state but to the country and the world at large. But because government has no interest in that, they still support loggers to go into the forest. The government allows them to go in there and that has been a big fight for Ekuri people to see how they could sustain what they have actually decided to conserve all these years. So it’s a big fight for us.”
Politicians have kept making empty promises- Clan head
The Clan Head of Ekuri Clan and Village Head, New Ekuri, Chief Abel Egbe lamented that they are only remembered by politicians during political campaigns.
His words: “There is no politician that comes here to campaign that we have not told about our predicament. They always promise that they would do something but at the end of the day, they do nothing. It is always empty promises they make. What is it that you ask politicians that they will not promise to give you? They will promise you everything but will they fulfill it?”
Continuing, he said: “At times, when the politicians come, we ask them to put their promises into writing but immediately they win their elections, they will be nowhere to be found again. When they want to mount street lights, they will not remember us. They will put all that in their communities but they don’t deem it necessary to extend it to us.
“A member of the State House of Assembly mounted street lights and stopped it at Old Ekuri. He didn’t extend it to our side. My youth leader went there and pleaded that he should give us three or four but he didn’t give us even one.”
Bemoaning the level of joblessness among his people, he said: “here, people cannot acquire skills that require electricity. The jobs that could have been provided through that are not there. Anything that requires light for people to get engaged and earn a living is not available here.”
Rape, other vices thrive in the community
Criminal activities are on the rise in the community and the absence of electricity is believed to be the primary cause.
“Rape is very rampant because everywhere is very dark at night,” Okon said.
Continuing, he said: “all manner of nasty things happen here at night under the cover of darkness. Secret cult activities are also very rampant. It is very alarming and all this is getting out of hand because there is no power supply. You know that electricity is a form of security. Once there is power supply in any environment, that area will be safe a little.”
Also decrying the high level of criminality, a member of the community, Supol Godwin Akamo said: “There are vices going on because of the sordid darkness our people are living in. The women rose recently against the menace of rape.”
Community calls for help
Community leaders and residents appealed to the state government and their representatives in the state and National Assemblies to come to their aid.
Supol Akamo said: “we are in darkness. We are not different from primitive people. We are still living like stoneage people. We want people that can help us. We are suffering and dying in silence because we don’t have any representatives in government. Our cries are ignored by those in authority.”
Ayade’s unfulfilled promises
In April 2017, the immediate past governor of the state, Ben Ayade raised the hope of New Ekuri people and other rural communities in the state when he announced that the government had concluded plans to build a two-megawatt power plant in each of the 18 local councils of the state.
He said the project, which was billed for completion before 2019, would be executed in partnership with a South African firm, Industrial Project Services (IPS).
During the presentation in Calabar, Ayade said: “I have 18 local government areas and it is my commitment to ensure that every council and village has electricity under my watch.”
Admitting that the move was very ambitious, he, however, noted that the plants would incorporate renewable and non-renewable energy sources, adding that the state was “considering the option of using solar for the day and gas fire for the night.”
Ayade went on: “The radiation studies and baseline data for Nigeria cover copiously a spectrum of Cross River. Obviously the radiation that we see from literature studies shows clearly that we have a high level of it, thereby making the applicability of solar as an energy source in the northern and central parts of the state very viable.
“We are trying to have an industrial setting where we will actually be dealing with power supply and solar base systems to stranded communities, those that are disconnected from the national grid as well as some municipalities that are there.”
In March 2019, the Cross River State Electrification Agency, announced that Ayade had procured a total of 189 electricity distribution transformers, worth N650million, for the 18 local government areas of the state.
The then Director General of the agency, Dr. Jake Enyia, who lauded the efforts of the state governor in improving access to electricity in rural communities, said procurement processes were on-going for the provision of electricity in more than 400 communities across the State at the cost of N8.5billion.
He said this was in line with the Cross River State Executive Council’s approval of 100percent electricity coverage in the state.
According to him, “…procurement of 189 electricity distribution transformers at the cost of N650 million, …carried out a survey of the status of electricity infrastructure in the 18 local government areas of the state.
“The governor has also commissioned some abandoned electrification projects across the state.
“There is direct intervention to more than 30 communities in the provision of electricity materials worth N30million, enhanced relationship and constant monitoring of activities of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, in Cross River State, which has necessitated the radical improvement in power supply in the state.”
Otu’s promise
Ayade’s successor, Bassey Otu, in October 2024 launched an innovative solar power initiative aimed at electrifying 10,000 rural households across the state.
The state government, in February this year announced that it had taken delivery of 10,000 solar home systems to power remote communities across the state but none of that has been seen by New Ekuri people.
The solar systems—comprising solar panels, charging ports, radio systems, and fans—are designed to provide reliable electricity to areas beyond the reach of traditional grid infrastructure.
Receiving the shipment on behalf of the Governor, Francis Ekpo, Director General of the Cross River State Electrification Agency, described the development as a major milestone in the state’s push for rural electrification. He called the initiative a game-changer for rural development, particularly for communities in hard-to-reach areas.
“This is an exciting moment as we begin to implement one of His Excellency’s key visions—electrifying 10,000 homes. Today, we are offloading the solar home systems that will soon be distributed to communities in need,” Ekpo stated.
The pledges laced with admission of unfulfilled promises continued last week when the Cross River State Government and Rural Electrification Agency (REA) launched a renewed partnership to aggressively expand clean energy access across the state.
The renewed commitment emerged at a high-level strategic roundtable in Abuja, themed “Sustainable Impact, Beyond Policies: Powering Cross River State’s Blue & Green Economies Through Clean Energy Investments.”
Speaking at the event, Governor Otu , represented by Deputy Governor Peter Agbe Odey, said the state had reached a critical point where only three of Cross River’s 18 local council areas enjoy consistent electricity, a situation that leaves millions of residents and businesses dependent on generators and high fuel costs.
Otu, who painted a stark picture of the state’s energy crisis, said Ikom, the state’s commercial nerve centre, has had no public electricity for over six months.
According to the governor, Ogoja, another major local council area, has been battling frequent blackouts and low voltage for years, disrupting businesses, hospitals, and smallholder agro-processing operations.
While describing energy access as a critical enabler for the development of the state’s blue and green economies, Otu noted: “It is through enhanced clean energy infrastructure that we can unlock the vast potential of our natural resources while preserving our environment for future generations.”
State government promises into look into complaints
The state government has promised to look into the complaints of the people of New Ekuri.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Electricity, Engineer Emmanuel gave the assurance in a telephone interview with our correspondent. His words: “I will do a finding on the community and do a follow up on it.”
Engineer Emmanuel noted that the governor recently approved the rehabilitation of the Akamkpa axis of the state.
“Before this time they had a total collapse of their network that feeds the area and its environs. The rehabilitation is still on. We did a test run on some parts of Akamkpa, the whole length of Akamkpa is yet to to be captured because they are doing vegetation cleaning.
“The supply in that axis has been fluctuating. The power distributors have not been able to allocate sufficient power to that axis. We are on it already.”
Lekan Osifeso Jr, otherwise known as Lojay has never been the type to hide behind the glitter of stardom. In an industry driven by bravado, the Monalisa hitmaker has carved his identity from something far more delicate — vulnerability. Now stepping into a new artistic chapter with his debut album XOXO, the Lagos-born singer is peeling back yet another layer, confronting the kind of love that bruises, teaches, and ultimately reshapes a man. In this interview with ADENIYI ADEWOYIN, the artiste whose journey began in church choirs long before the global stages, reflects on songwriting, evolution, and the moment he realised that loving someone too deeply can come at the cost of losing oneself.
You grew up in a church environment with strong musical roots. How did that early exposure shape your sound and emotional depth as an artist today?
Growing up in church taught me the power of feeling in music before I even understood structure. The harmonies, the choirs, the passion behind worship gave me this instinct to connect emotionally first, technically second. That’s why even when I sing about love or heartbreak, it still feels spiritual in some way.
You started as part of a rap group called Dkoy. Looking back, how did those early rap days influence your approach to songwriting and performance now?
Rap taught me discipline with words. Back then, I used to obsess over rhyme schemes and flows. That period trained me to treat songwriting like storytelling. Even when I’m singing now, there’s rhythm and precision in how I place words and melodies.
The name Lojay comes from your real name, Lekan Osifeso Jr. Beyond being a stage name, what does Lojay represent to you personally?
Lojay is the most honest version of me. It’s not a character; it’s the voice of my emotions. As Lojay, I allow myself to feel everything fully: joy, pain, love, temptation, and confusion. It’s my emotional fingerprint.
Your sound blends Afro-fusion, R&B, and electronic vibes. How do you balance global influences while staying authentically Nigerian?
It’s natural for me because my foundation is Afrobeat. The percussion, the groove, the slang. But I’m also a global listener. I might make a melody inspired by European folk music, but the bounce will still come from Lagos. That balance is what makes my sound universal but still ours.
Your voice carries both vulnerability and confidence. Is that emotional duality something you consciously create, or does it just flow naturally?
It just happens. I think real confidence is being able to be vulnerable. So when I record, I don’t hide how I feel. Some days I sound broken, some days I sound untouchable, and that’s human.
As an artist who experiments a lot with mood and texture, how do you know when a song feels complete?
When it feels like me. Not perfect, but true. I could have fifty versions of one song, but the moment I play it and it moves me without overthinking, that’s when I know it’s done.
You’re known to have a lot of female fans. How do you handle their attention while keeping your focus on your art and privacy?
I appreciate the love, genuinely. But I’ve learned balance. You can’t feed every type of energy. I keep my private life separate from my artistry because once you lose that boundary; the music starts to feel performative instead of real.
Your debut album XOXO marks a new chapter. What emotions or experiences inspired it, and how does it differ from LV N ATTN and Gangster Romantic?
XOXO is more grown. It’s me reflecting on love and heartbreak with more maturity, not just passion, but patterns, lessons, and scars. LV N ATTN was desire, Gangster Romantic was heartbreak, and XOXO was accepted.
If XOXO had a message or heartbeat, what would you say it’s about: love, evolution, or self-discovery?
All three, but mostly evolution. It’s about loving, losing, healing, and still choosing to love again —just differently.
How do you want people to feel after listening to XOXO from start to finish?
I want them to feel seen. Like, they just went through a journey with me. The highs, the lows, the in-betweens. If someone finishes it and says, “Yeah, I’ve been there,” then I did my job.
You’ve sung about love, heartbreak, and desire with so much honesty. What’s one personal experience that changed the way you write or see love today?
There was a point where I loved someone deeply but lost myself in the process. That taught me love should add to you, not erase you. Since then, I’ve written from a place of balance — loving, but with awareness.
You often come across as calm and introspective. When the fame, pressure, or expectations get too heavy, what keeps you grounded as Lekan, not just Lojay?
Family, faith, and silence. Sometimes I just disappear for a bit, no music, no social media, just time to breathe and reconnect with God and my people. That’s how I remember who I am outside the noise.
In a bold and strategic effort to combat the escalating menace of drug and substance abuse among youths, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has intensified its intervention in Imo State through a large-scale, multidimensional awareness campaign.
Partnering with Bitoonda Nigeria Ltd and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the initiative aims to drastically reduce drug experimentation and addiction among secondary school students across the state.
Launched in observance of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, this proactive campaign is themed, “The Evidence is Clear: Invest in Prevention, Break the Chain, Say No to Drug Abuse.” It highlights the urgent need for pre-emptive education as a cornerstone in safeguarding the well-being of young Nigerians effectively curbing the social, health, and economic consequences of substance abuse.
The campaign’s broad scope involved awareness and interactive health talks, peer-led counseling sessions which focused on equipping youths with factual information about the risks of drugs, training them to recognize and resist peer pressure, and fostering communication channels that encourage open dialogue about drug-related challenges.
Several prominent secondary schools across Imo, including Government Secondary School Owerri, Owerri City School, Girls Secondary School Ikenegbu, Emmanuel College Owerri, and Imo Government Girls Secondary School, have actively embraced and participated in this critical initiative.
During the engaging school visits,the lectors delivered compelling presentations that detailed the severe implications of drug abuse on mental health, academic performance, and future career prospects. They reiterated that drug abuse is a complex societal challenge perpetuated by an illegal network of cultivators, traffickers, and users, necessitating a united, community-wide defense strategy.
“It is deeply alarming to witness the surge in substance abuse among adolescents. This epidemic not only threatens their immediate health but also jeopardizes their long-term potential and the future development of our society,” the campaign speakers warned.
They stressed that addressing the drug menace requires early preventive measures, sustained education, and the cultivation of a supportive environment that discourages drug use.
Highlighting the pivotal role of youth as agents of change, the campaign calls on students to become advocates for drug-free lifestyles, encouraging peer support systems that amplify positive behavior and collective responsibility. The programme further encourages parents, teachers, and community leaders to remain vigilant and informed about drug abuse signs to facilitate timely interventions.
School administrators expressed profound gratitude to the NDDC, Bitoonda Nigeria Ltd, and NDLEA for their visionary leadership and commitment to youth empowerment. They praised the campaign’s innovative approach in providing students with the tools to make informed choices, resist negative peer influences, and contribute meaningfully to a healthier society.
Moving forward, the NDDC has pledged to sustain and expand this campaign through continuous monitoring, community partnerships, and the integration of technology-driven awareness programmes aimed at reaching even more youths across the states in Niger Delta and beyond.
So alarming and concerning did this column perceive President Donald Trump’s recent threat to invade Nigeria militarily to check what he described as ‘Christian genocide’ that, over the last three weeks, we have examined diverse dimensions of this warning and its implications. Our central contention has been that this undisguised threatened violation of Nigeria’s sovereignty constitutes not just a danger to the incumbent administration of President Bola Tinubu but an indictment of Nigeria’s ruling class as a whole. Those members of the political elite, who thus gloat over Trump’s categorisation of Nigeria as a ‘now failed’ State and feel surreptitious vindication by the American leader’s contemptuous disdain for Nigeria, are as much an object of his scorn and ridicule as those in power at the centre today on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It is instructive that over the last week in the United States, there have been incidents of fatal attacks on innocent citizens by trigger-happy gunmen, resulting in several deaths. One of such killings took place in the vicinity of the White House, leading to the death of at least one National Guard officer and another being injured. In another instance in California, four school children were said to have died in a mass shooting at a child’s birthday party, with several others suffering from various degrees of injuries. Such tragedies have become routine in America where deaths from senseless mass shootings have become endemic. But such failings do not justify the overgeneralized categorisation of that country as a ‘now failed’ State.
In the same vein, Nigeria’s challenges with insecurity do not necessitate its being depicted in derogatory and pejorative terms. This is particularly so as the accusation of ‘Christian genocide’ in Nigeria completely misses the mark and successive Nigerian governments have not been indifferent or insensitive to the need to tackle the assorted acts of insurgency threatening the country’s territorial integrity and cohesion. It is instructive that various Nigerian groups and individuals in the diaspora actively peddled the propaganda of ‘Christian genocide’ in the country, which President Trump and other far-right Republican ideologues enthusiastically bought into. The harm which disaffected members of the political elite can inflict, directly or indirectly, on their own country reinforces the imperative of forging a viable and enduring elite consensus as a necessary condition for national stability, peace and progress.
Incidentally, America today also suffers from the plague of a lack of elite consensus. The greatest military and economic power on earth today, despite evident signs of a gradual weakening, is described in the media, academia and other platforms of public discourse in that country as a badly divided society torn right through the middle between the liberals and the more conservative Republicans. Indeed, the degree of polarisation in America may be far deeper than the variant of elite fractiousness in Nigeria as is evident in the bitterness of recent electoral contestations in that country with President Trump instigating an insurrection at the Capitol, a symbol of American democracy, protesting his loss in the 2020 presidential election, which he described as a fraud.
However, America has the advantage of strong and resilient institutions capable of safeguarding democratic tenets, principles and values, particularly through Judicial intervention, as is the case during Trump’s ongoing second term, when he has stretched the constitutional limits of Presidential powers to their utmost bounds. So far, various courts at the lower levels have blocked the Trump administration’s policy idiosyncrasies and acts of executive over-reach even though he has generally had his way on appeal at the Supreme Court, where he succeeded in getting a majority of conservative judges appointed during his first term. Yet, this has not prompted anyone to label America as a ‘now failed’ State, nor have aspersions been hurled at judges who understandably base their Judicial decisions on facts before them, interpreted within the context of their worldviews and value-orientation.
But the central point of this piece is the urgent imperative for the political elite in Nigeria to forge the necessary class consensus across political party, ethnic, regional and religious divides without which there cannot be any basis for stability, peace, progress and development. This does not mean that the various factions, factions and tendencies of the Nigerian elite should forget their differences and create an artificial and unnatural commonality. That would be the perfect recipe for a one-party State, which would be detrimental to the continuous nurturing and consolidation of a genuine democratic order, which is a necessary condition for economic development and national cohesion. Rather, forging an elite consensus involves members of the elite recognising their differences and identifying those areas where they must work in unison and accommodate each other, even while vigorously maintaining their differences as regards ideological orientation, policy articulation and philosophical disposition or worldview.
One area of critical importance for cultivating viable elite consensus among the various factions and tendencies that constitute Nigeria’s ruling class is reaching a common agreement on the indispensability of a transparent, credible and efficient electoral process as a cardinal element of an inclusive democratic system. This implies that both elected officials and their ruling parties, as well as those in opposition, develop a common commitment to the sustenance of democracy. Those who lose elections will not clamour for military intervention or external invasion because of their disenchantment with electoral outcomes while those in power will not undermine or render the opposition ineffective. The elite in power and those in opposition are two sides of a coin that are both critical to the sustenance and continuous development of democracy.
But then, those in opposition cannot expect the party in government to enforce cohesion within their ranks or help them to devise political strategies to strengthen their parties. That is a responsibility they must undertake on their own. Thus, the continued lamentations of leading opposition politicians on the plight of their parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), which they blame on deliberate destabilization by the ruling APC, is unnecessary and unproductive. There is absolutely no basis for former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, to have deserted the PDP with his supporters for the emergent All Democratic Congress (ADC), all in a quest for a platform on which to contest the next presidential election. In further bifurcating the PDP, which already has roots in all 774 Local Government Areas across the country as well as the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards, Atiku has weakened the possibility of a stronger, more viable opposition arising to effectively challenge the APC at the 2027 polls.
The ADC is still largely inchoate and is unlikely to become a political machine capable of effectively challenging for power at the centre come 2027. It will also be recalled that it was Atiku ‘s intransigent refusal to allow the PDP national championship to revert to the South after his emergence as presidential candidate of the party in 2023, in violation of its zoning principle, that provided for rotation of power between the North and the South, created the grounds for the fragmentation of the PDP, its loss in the 2024 election and it’s unfolding catastrophic implosion. Indeed, the concession of the presidential tickets of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) in alliance with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the PDP to the Southwest in 1999, to compensate the Yoruba for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Chief MKO Abiola is the kind of elite consensus necessary to stabilize democratic governance to promote economic progress and political stability in Nigeria.
In the case of Mr Peter Obi, he has proven to be utterly clueless in resolving the protracted crisis in which the LP has been immersed. Surprisingly, even his running mate in the 2023 presidential election, Mr Datti-Ahmed, appears to have deserted his erstwhile boss and aligned with a different faction of the LP. Part of the problem is that Obi, just like Atiku, is more interested in finding a platform to actualize his presidential ambition rather than helping to build a solid opposition front irrespective of whether or not he emerges as the presidential candidate. With this kind of individualistic approach by these key opposition leaders, it is unlikely that they can build a formidable front to meaningfully challenge the ruling party for power at the centre in 2027.
Another area where there must be a consensus on the part of Nigeria’s political elite is the need to join hands across partisan divides to fight the deep-seated and long-standing endemic poverty and grossly unjust inequality that are at the root of Nigeria’s current chronic insecurity challenge. This will entail elite unanimity on fighting the industrial -scale corruption that pervades our national life such that humongous funds criminally diverted into private pockets can be made available to boost food production, provide affordable but qualitative healthcare, generate jobs for millions of our youth, improve access to qualitative education and properly as well a equip and motivate our security agencies in the ongoing do-or-die struggle against diverse forms of terror against the Nigerian State.
Some unthinkable things happen in the administration of sports in Nigeria. One of such is the reported neglect of Ola Aina to treat himself for an injury he sustained playing for the country. Aina is threatening to dump the country in future international competitions over the shabby manner in which the NFF’s and indeed the NSC’s leadership abandoned him to his fate to treat his injury.
Aina, in his report stated categorically that his English Premier League club, Nottingham Forest FC of England underwrote his medical expenses from the time he underwent a successful surgery till his current recuperating condition. Indeed Nottingham Forest FC’s Manager told the international media in a pre-match interview on Monday night that he is expecting Aina back in the team’s training session next year. Is this writer shocked by what has befallen Aina? Certainly not.
The NFF and indeed the NSC showboating attitude to the players’ welfare is legendary, so much so that there is a lack the trust and confidence in these two bodies whenever they make promises to change for an improvement in subsequent tournaments. In fact, the players have had to down tools to get their entitlements, the last of such shows of shame happened in Morocco, mid-November during the CAF Playoffs where Nigeria was edged out of the 2026 World Cup on penalties by DR. Congo.
Aina’s outcry and threat not to honour Nigeria’s invitations raises the poser if our sportsmen and women have serious and binding insurance policies, for instance? I’m not an insurance broker, so permit me to ask our sports chieftains if indeed our athletes have insurance policies which can be accessed, especially in situations like the one Aina found himself. Reading Aina’s comments rightfully suggested that the immensely talented defender was asking for some form of compensation. This is a legitimate request.
Otherwise, on what premise is Chelle or any of our football or sports chieftains expecting Aina to join the Nigeria side in camp, ahead of the 2025 AFCON matches in Morocco? To whom much is given, so much more is expected. We need to prioritise our athletes’ welfare packages because there can’t be sports administrators without the athletes who win the laurels. The reason foreign clubs get our players’ support on the thorny club versus county imbroglio.
Yes, NFF President visited Aina after Nigeria’s ouster from the 2026 World Cup, but that visit was more to ameliorate the setting which the defender complained about. Curiously, in this drama was the story that Chelle was waiting to find out if Aina and Agu would be fit for AFCON. The question would be what happened with the talk of Chelle being in close contact with our players, so much so that he presented a 55-man squad for Nigeria, although another story claimed he has his 28-man squad ready for submission to beat the December 10 deadline set by CAF.
Chelle has picked Aina and Agu while his submission that he got assurances from the players that they will be fit hence his decision to include them in his squad remains to be seen – although he is also aware that they might also not make it.
His explanation was taken by the NFF technical committee, with Chelle also saying that the doubts over the availability of one of the duo, was why he handed a first time call up to young LASK defender Emmanuel Michael.
According to Chelle: ‘’Michael will serve as a cover for the two senior left backs in the team in Zaidu Sanusi and Bruno Onyemaechi respectively.”
However, if Aina walks his talk of not honouring Nigeria’s matches, Chelle’s headache would be worrisome since Fredrick is also out of AFCON with a very serious hamstring injury while Aina’s manager stated that he would be back in January.
Chelle appears to have learned a few lessons from the ill-fated 2026 World Cup qualification series with his choice of players. Unfortunately, FIFA has inadvertently thrown spanner in the works of coaches like Chelle who are thinking of rebuilding the Super Eagles, using younger players.
FIFA chiefs in their argument published on Thursday morning said: ‘’Clubs will only be obliged to release players for the Africa Cup of Nations from December 15 – a week later than the standard international window – following a decision by FIFA on Wednesday in Zurich.”
”FIFA said the shortened release period, the same approach used for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was agreed after consultations with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and other stakeholders to “reduce the impact on various parties”, without elaborating.
‘’The 2025 window of the men’s UEFA Champions League runs until December 10. The governing body added that national federations and clubs involved in continental tournaments over the release period are being encouraged to hold bilateral talks to agree “appropriate individual solutions” where scheduling conflicts arise.”
Countries going to Morocco for AFCON have been given the shortest part of the stick, like Nigeria which are eager to pacify their citizens by lifting the AFCON trophy like they did in South Africa in 2013. The African Nations Cup will run from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026, leaving national teams less than a week to prepare once all players are available, in what is likely to be another logistical challenge for coaches and organisers at the continent’s flagship international competition.
Thumbs up to William Troost Ekong for announcing his retirement from international duties on Thursday, drawing international applause for knowing when to quit the game which brought him fame, opulence and wealth.
According to Troost-Ekong: “None of this would have been possible without the people around me. To every coach, member of staff, and most importantly, my teammates, past and present who have been part of my international journey, thank you!”
“To the Nigerian fans—the heartbeat of Nigerian football. Your support has carried me through every high and every challenge. I will stand with you as you stood with me.
“This isn’t a final goodbye. My work within Nigerian communities continues, just as my love and passion for this team will never fade. ‘’
One only hopes that the rebuilding exercise of our national teams is enduring. Only the best should be selected. Our national teams have lost the fear factor such that hitherto soccer minors now beat Nigeria in competitions. Our sportsmen and women should always be rewarded after each feat.
It is true that there is a global recession. But the spiral effect of rewarding our athletes is unquantifiable when they move from amateurs to professionals. A handsome reward in cash and kind will reinvigorate the desire of most sceptic parents to allow their kids earn a living as sportsmen and women.
Indeed, athletes who win laurels for Nigeria are children of the hewers of woods and drawers of water. In fact, every time these kids sneak out to do sports, they return home to be flogged and at other times denied their meals to serve as deterrent to other kids who would want to toe their path. Some of these parents beat their children because they want them to be educated. They always point at their relations and neighbours whose kids are educated and doing very well in society. They want to produce as many graduates as they can afford to send to school, not sportsmen and women whose life span in the industry is between one year and 10, barring any injuries.
For some other parents, its boundless joy if their kids sneak out for games. It means fewer people to cater for when the meals are ready. Of course, these lads are not bothered. Their target is to get recognition from clubs or national teams’ scouts, which they know will open a new vista in their lives.
Expressing his appreciation to the organisers of the award led by Collins Enebeli (MAVIN Grandpa), the late Majek’s Manager and CEO, Miracle Day Music, Omenka Uzoma Day said: “I say a big thank you to AMAN for the recognition award to Majek.
This is the first award he has received after his demise and we are grateful to you. He paved the way for today’s musicians who are all over the world making the nation proud. When I got the information about this award, I had to cancel my ongoing tour in New Zealand and Australia because this is a grand honour. I want to reiterate that Majek was never involved in hard drugs, he only smoked weed and took alcohol.”
Continuing, Uzo said, “He lived with me for 12 years in Atlanta, U.S., UK, South Africa and Nigeria. I know him in and out. People should wait for the untold story of Majek Fashek. I came here with his bell which he gave to me in November 2018. I didn’t know why he did it then, but now I know. His clothes, guitar shoes and other souvenirs are in a store in London. I only have a pair of his shoes with me in Nigeria. Nigeria will be great again.”
Uzo also thanked Wizkid’s manager, Sunday Are, who accompanied him to the stage, as well as the crew of Majek’s Spirit of Love.
Uzo, whose new single, ‘Afrika Liberation,’ is making waves, added that Majek’s son, Randy, extends his heartfelt appreciation to the organisers and all Nigerians and Africans who believed in his father.
