The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Hard life in their twilights

    Aged female petty traders whose sources of livelihood were ruined by forces beyond their control are struggling in their twilights to make ends meet. They share their daily experiences in this report by Kunle Akinrinade, Adebukola Adebayo & Uche Chinenye.

    Madam Lydia Ebunoluwa would have laughed it off as a figment of someone’s imagination if anyone had predicted about 20 years ago that she would be hustling for survival as a 77-year-old retiree. For the greater part of her 28 years of dedicated service as a teacher, her major dreams were to live happily and enjoy the sweat of her long years in service.

    Indeed, the indigene of Efon Alaaye in Ekiti State was happy when she retired from active service in 1995 and collected her retirement emoluments. She had spent a part of it on building a house on a parcel of land she had acquired while she was in service as a teacher in various public schools in Agege, a Lagos suburb, in the hope that she would live on the rent and her paltry monthly pension.

    But a few years into retirement, she lost the house to a controversial demolition exercise and life became a nightmare. Since the horrible incident, she has been living from hand to mouth, selling sachet water around the popular Ile Epo Market on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

    In an encounter with the distraught woman penultimate Tuesday, she lamented the turn her life had taken, intermittently bursting into tears as she recalled her happy years as a teacher and the cruel fate she has had to grapple with in retirement.

    “Life has been very cruel to me. I lost the only building I spent my retirement benefits to build. I was collecting rent from the house until it was pulled down by some lawless land grabbers. As you can see, I sit here all day selling pure (sachet) water to passers-by just to eke out a living,” she said in a tone laden with emotion.

    “A few hours ago, the woman who supplies me the water on credit tongue-lashed me for not being able to pay for the water I collected from her on credit yesterday. I don’t make enough that can feed me three times a day.

    “The most I make in a day is N500. The little I earn from selling the water and my meagre monthly pension is what keeps me going; but it is not enough to make me happy. I have grandchildren from my late daughter while the other two children of mine have no jobs. It is sad that I have to go through hardship at old age.’’

    A few meters away from the spot where Ebunoluwa operates, 63-year-old Comfort Adeboye fought hard to sell a popular brand of soft drink to a motorist held in traffic at Ile Epo Bus Stop. With teary eyes, she told The Nation her descent into hard life after she lost her grocery shop to the demolition of buildings carried out by the Lagos State Government during the construction of the Abule Egba flyover a few years ago.

    She said: “I used to run a grocery shop at the Abule Egba section of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. I was doing well in business until my shop was pulled down by the state government at the beginning of the construction of a bridge on the highway. Since then, my life has become miserable.

    “I lost everything to the demolition exercise because it was done in the early hours of the day and I live around Agbado, Ogun State. I could not salvage anything from the rubble and life became difficult for me because I am a widow with two undergraduate children to take care of.

    “At my age, I am not supposed to be doing this kind of hard work, but there was no help from anyone and this is the only work I can do for now to earn a living despite the attendant hazards and low profit.”

    For 60-year-old Mrs Titilayo Oladeji, the need to sustain her family dragged her into selling shea butter at Oshodi Market, after her herbal medicine business collapsed without remedy a few years ago.

    She had wanted to try her hands on other businesses but she lacked the means to start up. Worried by the need to cater for her five children, she started selling shea butter by collecting the local product on credit.

    She said: “I used to run a fairly successful herbal medicine business until the business collapsed and life became miserable for me and my family. I make an average of N1000 daily from selling shea butter while I have five children to cater for. Some of them are currently studying in the university while others are apprentice artisans.

    “My husband and children live in Ibadan, Oyo State while I hustle selling shea butter here in Oshodi, Lagos. From the N1000 profit, I pay the sum of N200 for my accommodation in a dingy room I shared with others like me who come from other states to trade at Oshodi Market, because I do not have money to rent a befitting room where I can sleep comfortably.”

    A 60-year-old public toilet janitor at Oshodi, Mrs Imoru Lamidi Imoru, said she decided to take up the job three months ago, when she was at a crossroads after losing all the money she invested on a grocery business, saying that she would have ended up as a beggar if she had not taken up the job.

    The mother of five said: “I must confess that I started this job three months ago after being in a quandary as to what to do to earn a living. I am 60 years old, but my life became a mess after my business failed and I was left with no choice but to survive on anything that could guarantee my meals every day.

    “My job is to collect money from people who use the public toilet, and that is my means of livelihood. I do this job in order to survive, so I would not end up in the streets as a beggar. The work is not that profitable. Some times I earn barely a thousand naira and at other times I don’t even earn anything at all.

    “Although I live in Sango area of Ota in Ogun State, I reside temporarily somewhere in Ikeja, because what I earn cannot take me home every day.’’

    But for her failed marriage two decades ago, Mrs Abimbola Ishola said she would not have been struggling to make ends meet. The 60-year-old woman, who sells body cream at Oshodi Market, said she took to the trade to support herself and children after she was abandoned by her ex-husband.

    The business, according to Abimbola is too small to take care of her needs and that of her three children because of the little amount she earns as profit.

    She said: “I have been selling hair and body cream for over 20 years. I started the business to support myself and my children. I make only N500 at most on a daily basis from selling creams because the business is not hugely profitable.’’

    Aside the meagre profit from the business, Abimbola, who displays her wares close to the roadside, has to contend with avoiding arrest by the operatives of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offence Task Force, who carry out routine raid on street traders in the area.

    She said: “Like others, I have had to battle some challenges, including running away from arrest by men of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offence Task Force, who regularly chase many of us who are street traders. Some of my colleagues had been arrested in the past and I am just lucky that they have not arrested me or confiscated my wares.

    “I have been training my three children from the little money I make from my little business. I reside at Kola in Alagbado, a Lagos suburb, and live with my children while my husband has abandoned me.’’

    A widow, Mrs Olajide Bosede, said she ventured into hawking herbal medicine after she lost her husband about 10 years ago.

    She said: “I decided to start this business ten years ago in order to have money to support my family after the death of my husband, although the business is not profitable enough, as I make little income from it.

    “To be honest with you, my profit on a daily basis is not more than N500, which is hardly enough to feed me and my family or transport me to my home at Kola in Alagbado area of Lagos.’’

  • Okada operator beats wife to death for refusing to breastfeed baby

    The police in Ogun State have arrested one Kingsley Maduekwe for beating his wife to death.

    A statement issued on Friday by police spokesman, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi  said Maduekwe allegedly committed the crime on Wednesday September 11, 2019.

    The 40-year-old commercial motorcyclist popularly called okada allegedly killed his wife, identified as Glory Maduekwe at about 11.30pm, following a misunderstanding over breastfeeding of their new baby.

    He said: ‘’The arrest of the suspect followed a report by one Chief Rafiu Gbadamosi, the Baale of Egando in Atan-Ota that the couple have a minor misunderstanding as a result of which the husband beat the wife to death at about 11:30pm.

    Read Also: Indian woman commits suicide after husband stops her tobacco intake

    ‘’On the strength of the report, the Divisional Police Officer(DPO) of Atan Ota division, SP Salau Abiodun led his detectives to the scene where the suspect was promptly arrested. On interrogation, the suspect, an okada rider who is an indigene of Ihiala in Anambra State, stated that his Late wife, a mother of eight was nursing a month- old- baby and that the baby was crying which made him to wake his wife up to breastfeed the baby, but she refused claiming that she was too tired to breastfeed the baby at that time.

    ‘’He stated further that the victim got up and was going to the sitting room leaving the baby behind and this got him annoyed, consequent upon which he drew her back and gave her a hot slap. The woman there and then fell down and gave up the ghost. The corpse of the victim has been deposited at the morgue in General Hospital, Ota, for post mortem examination.

    Oyeyemi added that the suspect had been transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation and prosecution.

  • NSCDC arrests 12 female naira vendors

    No fewer than 12 young female currency vendors have been arrested by men of Rivers State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) over alleged illicit sale of naira notes.

    The suspects who were arrested during a raid supervised by the Commandant of NSCDC in the state, Muktar Lawal, were paraded on Friday in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    Parading the suspects at NSCDC headquarters on Olu Obasanjo Road, Port Harcourt, Lawal said the arrest was carried out in collaboration on September 12, 2019, in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in order to forestall the illicit sale of the country’s currency notes.

    “The clampdown on the naira vendors and sellers is hinged on the CBN’s Act, Sections 20 and 21, which make it a punishable offence for any individual or group of persons to hawk, sell or otherwise trade in the naira notes, coins or any note issued by the CBN.

    Read Also: Aregbesola tasks NSCDC on intelligence gathering

    “The twelve suspects were arrested on the grounds of economic crime of national security, bordering on hawking of new Nigeria currency around Garrison Bus Stop, Rumukwurushi and Rumuodara, all in Port Harcourt.

    “A total N1, 047,555, consisting of various denominations, was recovered from the suspects.

    Investigations have already commenced on the matter, to ascertain the sources of the naira notes.”

    The commandant also assured that NSCDC and the CBN would continue the clamp down on the perpetrators of the offence, which he said was punishable under the CBN Act 2007 to a jail term of not less than six months or to a fine of not less than N50, 000 or both.

    He hinted that the suspects would be charged to court, as soon as investigations were concluded.

    He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, acts of spraying the naira notes at occasions, soiling and writing on the naira, squeezing the naira, hawking and selling of the country’s currency notes are abuses of the naira and are punishable by law.”

  • Xenophobic attacks: Returnees relive ordeal, demand revenge against South Africa

    For the 187 Nigerians who returned home from South Africa on Wednesday, it is time to thank God for sparing their lives from the jaws of death impelled by xenophobic attacks in the rainbow country. For many of them it was a tough decision, but one they had to take after their horrendous encounters with militants in the former apartheid enclave, just like their counterparts from other African countries like Zambian, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

    From their testimonies, their plight was a case of search for greener pastures turning sour. Besides the dislocation returning home will cause them, the mental agony of having to count their losses is an eternal torture. The returnees from different parts of the country said they had been running from pillar to post to escape attacks as they made their ways from different parts of South Africa into Johannesburg to be documented for return to their country of birth.

    They said they responded to the presidential directive that all Nigerians in South Africa return home, as the Nigerian authorities in Johannesburg had commenced documentation of the affected nationals preparatory to their return home. The process of their return had been accelerated by the gesture of indigenous carrier, Air Peace, which deployed its Boeing 777 aircraft to bring back hundreds of Nigerians who were trapped in the xenophobic conundrum.

    As the aircraft arrived South Africa in the early hours of Wednesday, more than 320 Nigerians who were set to return home were subjected to security checks by Immigration authorities, who required them to carry out fresh set of biometrics and subjected them to other humiliating experiences, delaying them for 15 hours before they could embark on the six-hour flight to Nigeria.

    While it was a sweet-bitter experience to return home, emotions took the greater part of them as they boarded the aircraft. Tears flowed freely down their cheeks because reality of having to return home had dawned on them.

    As the aircraft landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, the cabin crew of Air Peace emerged with placards with the inscription ‘Say No to Xenophobia.’ As they disembarked from the Boeing 777-200 which landed at exactly 9.32 at the hajj and cargo section of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, the returnees were in high spirits, praising the airline, the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Consul General for the great efforts made to evacuate them from South Africa.

    Horror tales from returnees

    Some of the returnees told journalists at the airport that their erstwhile South Africans hosts were fierce in their attacks on Nigerians, going from house to house and from shop to shop, looting and burning whatever they believed belonged to Nigerians.

    Juwon Sadiku, an indigene of Oyo State, who said he was a businessman, regretted his long stay in South Africa, saying: “It was a narrow escape from that hell called South Africa. Those people are wicked. They hate Nigerians because of our enterprise and courageous spirit.

    “It was terrible, my brother. We barely escaped with our lives. We were all scared. In Pretoria, some of those South African militants were going from house to house, looking for Nigerians to kill.

    “The apartheid in South Africa is still there. This time around, it was not a case of whites against blacks but inhumanity from black South Africans to fellow blacks who are foreigners. The people have a poor sense of history. They forgot the role Nigeria, as part of the Frontline States, played in their independence. They are evil. They are just callous.”

    He went on: “Even if you are married to their women, they will not spare any foreigner, especially Nigerians. I do not know what we have done to them to warrant this level of hatred. “But I do not blame them. It is time for our government to rise up and defend the interest of Nigerians. They must be forced to pay compensation for the wanton destruction of our property. Our people should also target their business interests and halt them here in Nigeria.”

    Another returnee, Olu Bamidele, who hails from Ikorodu in Lagos State, said he had been in South Africa for many years, but had to return home following federal government’s gesture to evacuate Nigerians and save their lives.

    Another returnee, a mother of two of South East extraction who declined to give her name, said she would not forget in a hurry how the premises that hosted her business were set ablaze by rampaging South African youths.

    She said: “My brother, these are my two children (pointing to them). I am happy that I am alive and back with them to Nigeria.  I was running a beauty shop in Pretoria, but some South Africans came and set the premises where I carried out my business ablaze.  I lost everything.

    “How am I going to carry on with my life? I had to join the aircraft provided by Air Peace to return.

    “Even the car I was driving, in the wake of the xenophobic attacks, I asked an agent to help me sell it just to get some money to resettle myself, but the place where the car was put up for sale was vandalized and the car burnt. But what can I do but resign to fate? When there is life, there is hope.

    “I even have a valid work permit and visa to stay in the country, but that is now history. We have returned. We are looking up to the Nigerian government to see what they will do to assist us.”

    Returnee points accusing finger at South African govt

    Yet another returnee, an indigene of Anambra State who gave his name as Uche Nwabu, said he had to hide for many days in Pretoria when Zulu militants launched attacks on Nigerians and other foreigners.

    He accused the South African police and security agencies of conniving with the irate militants to unleash terror on Nigerians.

    He said: “On one of the days, I was returning from work where I served as a tiller. We heard that South African militants were attacking Nigerians. We alerted the South African police that their people were carrying out violent attacks on Nigerians. They ignored us and looked the other way. We had to run for dear lives.

    “As I speak to you, a lot of Nigerians are afraid to leave their homes in Pretoria for Johannesburg for fear of attack. Many of our people have been killed and are unaccounted for. But this madness must stop. Our government must stand up to take serious action.

    “My brother, if the situation in Nigeria were better, most of us would not have gone to South Africa to risk our lives. If government could provide uninterrupted power supply, create a friendlier business environment, most of us will prefer to stay here and salvage our country.”

    He, however, wondered why government had not severed diplomatic ties with South Africa, considering the “evil” their people have done to Nigerians.

    He said: “Government should go ahead and cut the flight frequencies of South African Airways and other businesses in Nigeria. That way, their government would call their people to order. ”

    Why some Nigerians would not return

    Narrating his unsavoury experience, another returnee who identified himself as Roland Chibuzo from Abia State, said some Nigerians were reluctant to return home in spite of the gesture from government because of the investments they have in South Africa.

    He said: “I can tell you for free that many of our people are reluctant to come back to Nigeria because they have invested heavily in South Africa. Some or people have houses, hotels and other investments, and they will not like to leave such behind. If they return home, what will they be doing here? Where would they start from? It is a serious dilemma.”

    Speaking about their ordeal, one of the returnees, who hails from Osun State and identified himself simply as Saheed, lamented how he was sacked from job by South Africans as well as other inhuman treatments meted out on him.

    Another returnee, Victor Uwas, an indigene of Delta State, said: “My brother, the situation was terrible. We were all scared because they were going from home to home looking for Nigerians to kill and maim.

    “Apartheid is still continuing in South Africa with their wicked policy of segregation. This time, it is not about segregation between the white and the black but segregation between South Africans and the nationals of other African countries. It is about the oppression of other Africans.

    “The reason they are attacking Nigerians is that South African youths are lazy. They blame Nigerians for their economic problems, which is very wrong. That why the Nigerian government must cut diplomatic ties with South Africa.

    “The whole world is keeping quiet because the evil of xenophobia is black people against black people. If it was against while people, America and Europe would have said something to condemn the evil act.”

    He, however, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to say something to send a strong signal to his South African counterpart that the Nigerian government would take every step to protect her people.”

    Another returnee from Abia State identified as Onuoha Chizoba said although it was painful, he was happy to return home.

    He said: “I would like to advise Nigerians still staying back in South Africa to return home, because from the plans we learnt that those South African have, they will carry out more attacks on foreigners, including Nigerians.”

    On his part, an Osun indigene who gave him name as Aliu  Saheed said many Nigerians were refusing to come home because of their investment in South Africa.

    He said: “Many people do not want to return home because of the cars and other property and families they have in South Africa. How do you expect such people to come to Nigeria like that without any compensation?

    “We who decided to return home have lost everything; that is why we are here. I worked in the protocol department of a South African company for six months. I have been in the country since 2015. In the company where I worked at the airport, they refused to pay my salary.

    “I was attending one of their schools, but I was pushed out because I am a foreigner.”

    A female returnee, who gave her name as Temide Olakojo, from Oyo State, said: “I registered my company in South Africa. I was selling beauty products with valid papers. I decided to return home because of the massive killings and looting of property of Nigerians by South Africans.”

    Another female returnee said she was lucky to have escaped because the car she rode in was stopped and she was asked by the South Africans to introduce herself. She spoke their language,

    And they spared her life. She said after the narrow escape, she resolved that it was time to return home.

    She said: “I have lived in South Africa since 2012. I had a permit, but based on the bad experience, the search for greener pastures has turned sour.”

    Why we volunteered to evacuate Nigerians from South Africa —Air Peace boss

    Speaking on the gesture by Air Peace to evacuate stranded Nigerians in the xenophobic attacks, the Chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema, said: “We carried out the evacuation free of charge. It is for our people. We decided to do it because we want to show that it is not all about money; that nobody can go into his grave with his bank account or a fat purse, but that you can go to the grave with the legacies you leave behind.

    “So we decided to carry out this evacuation after seeing the gory pictures on the internet. Like I have always done before in this country, it was a duty to lift the lives of my people in trouble.

    “It is not the first time. It was a patriotic act to send signals to some foreign countries who want to try Nigeria.

    “Yes, as Nigerians, we have our differences. But we are one and the dehumanization should stop to restore the dignity of this country.

    “We moved in to restore the pride and resolve of Nigerians to live together, to do this for the harmony of Nigerians to support the government.

    “This is to give the returnees a sense of belonging. As we moved into the aircraft, they started singing the national anthem. They felt proud to be Nigerians.

    “As they sang the national anthem, it brought drew tears to my cheeks. The motivation is there, and we thank God.

    “Air Peace is ready is do as many trips as there is a single Nigerian left in South Africa to be evacuated. We were to move over 320 Nigerians, but the authorities in South Africa frustrated us. We are ready to go back and bring our people.”

  • Court vacates forfeiture order on Okorocha’s properties

    A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt Rivers State has vacated a forfeiture order secured by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on some properties belonging to former Imo Governor Rochas Okorocha and some members of his family.

    The anti-graft agency had early this month obtained the court’s orders for the interim forfeiture of assets traced to the former governor, his wife, Nneoma Nkechi and their daughter.

    The properties are:  “a 16 – block 96 – flat structure and an eight – bungalow multimillion naira estate, hotel, two schools, shopping plaza, supermarket, hospital and four vehicles.

    “The same were  known to those close to the state as,  East High College, East High Academy, Willowood Hotel, House of Freeda, Dews of Hope hospital and Market Square Supermarket.”

    The commission in an earlier statement said it would like to know how Rochas Foundation and “other accomplices” acquired and or converted some of the property for personal use.

    Read Also: APC repaid me with evil, says Okorocha

    It alleged that a prima facie cases had been established against the suspects, which they would answer to.

    Vacating the Order, the presiding Judge, Kolawole Omotoso, lifted the forfeiture order on some of the properties especially the schools to enable students to resume for the new academic year.

    The court however made another Order restraining the respondents (Okorocha and family members) from selling any of the properties pending the conclusion of investigation by the EFCC.

    The development followed the submission by Okorocha’s Lawyer, Okey Amaechi, that the forfeiture order displayed on the school gates would negatively affect resumption of academic activities in the new session, insisting that parents would be discouraged to register their children and wards in the schools.

    Meanwhile the EFCC had asked the Court to exclude two of the properties earlier listed in the forfeiture order after it was discovered that they were not owned by the former governor or any of his family members.

  • Police not after me, says Lagos NURTW chieftain

    A chieftain of the National Union of Road and Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State, Mustapha Adekunle a.k.a Sego on Friday denied being wanted by the police for any crime.

    He said he had no link with a recent attack on the new chairman of NURTW in Lagos State, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo who was stabbed in the neck during a rally organized by the All Progressive’ Congress(APC).

    Adekunle said some people orchestrated false news to discredit him following his recent appointment into the state executive council of NURTW.

    Read Also: NURTW crisis: MC Oluomo, predecessor settle rift

    “The news that I am being wanted by the police is fallacious and misleading. First, let me make it clear here that, I am not on the wanted list of the police. The issue they were referring to was the violence which occurred at an APC rally in which myself and Alhaji MC Oluomo were the targets of the aggressors. This issue was reported to the police by those who actually masterminded the attack with a view to implicate me. The police instead of carrying out due investigation on the matter decided to take side with the mastermind of the crisis.

    “They went over board to declare me wanted for an offence I never committed. Because of this, I confronted the police to clear my name. Alhaji MC Oluomo who was the prime victim of the organised attack also testified to exonerate me of any wrong doing. The police, sensing that they had goofed on the matter tactically withdrew their statement against me. And since then, I have been going about my legitimate activities as a law abiding citizen.

    “It is funny to hear now that I am being wanted by the police. The question to ask those who are sponsoring the malicious story is that, why is such story coming up now that I am being made a member of the caretaker committee of Lagos NURTW? If i am being wanted, how come the Nigeria police have not arrested me all this while that I have been moving freely about and carrying out my business activities? At least, it is in the public knowledge that, I don’t live a fugitive life as i go out to attend social functions, business engagements and religious activities without any fear.

    “Anyway, I know this is the handiwork of my enemies within Lagos NURTW who are not happy about my appointment as a member of the caretaker committee of the union. They were the ones who sponsored the malicious story,’’ he added.

  • Two ministers suspected as moles in $9.6bn P&ID judgment debt

    Insinuations in some quarters that the $9.6bn damages secured by P&ID against the federal government in respect of the latter’s purported failure to honour a contractual agreement it had with the former was arranged by some interests to defraud the government may not be far from the truth if feelers from the inner circles of the Presidential Villa are anything to go by.

    Sentry gathered during the week that some suspected moles in the President’s cabinet are urging the federal government to pay the $9.6bn ordered by the courts for purportedly breaching its contractual agreement with the Irish firm.

    At a session held in Aso Rock between President Buhari and some members of his cabinet on how to tackle the debt overhang, two ministers suspected to be serving other interests were said to have been adamant that the Federal Government should initiate “necessary action” to pay the foreign company the sum specified by the courts.

    The ministers in question were even said to have recommended two people who should meet with the representatives of P&ID to negotiate the terms for the payment of the debt.

    But President Buhari was said to have put his foot down, saying that the federal government was prepared for a fight to the finish with P&ID on the matter.

    The President’s declaration of his resolve was said to have put the two ministers in very uncomfortable positions and they are now doing everything they can to regain the President’s confidence.

  • Suspected burglar trapped, dies in Lagos church

    A suspected burglar met his tragic end on Tuesday after he was trapped by burglar proofs at God’s Prestige Church, Arepo Street, Awori area of Abule Egba, Lagos.

    The church, according to sources, had been burgled twice this year before the latest incident.

    When The Nation visited the scene, the body of the unnamed robber was still trapped in between the burglar proof made of iron bars.

    Read Also: Two burglars arrested by IRT operatives

    Sources said the robber must have gained access into the church on Monday night and got trapped before he could cart away items kept there.

    “The first time the church was burgled early this year, the robbers carted away equipment such as keyboard among other music instruments.

    “They came back a second time and stole electrical appliances, hence, the burglar proof was put in place by the church’s management.’’

  • Anxiety in Melaye’s camp after governorship primaries

    There is palpable anxiety in the political camp of Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, following the outcome of the recently concluded governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State.

    Although he had gone into the primary election with high hopes of picking the party’s ticket for the governorship election of the state scheduled to hold on November 16, the result was nothing short of a catastrophe, considering that he had just been sacked by the state’s National Assembly/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal.

    The rambunctious senator was still smarting from the shock of the tribunal’s verdict when the governorship primaries of the party was held with him polling a paltry 70 votes to emerge a fourth behind the winner, Musa Wada who polled 748 votes, Ibrahim Abubakar who polled 710 votes and the immediate past governor of the state, Idris Wada, who came third with 345 votes.

    The result of the primary election coupled with his sack by the tribunal as senator means that Melaye faces the grim prospect of a long spell in political wilderness if he fails to reverse the verdict of the tribunal in a superior court.

    Little wonder he has been ranting on twitter over missing votes from eight out of 10 ballot boxes since Wada was declared winner, while the APC candidate, Governor Yahaya Bello, has been celebrating the defeat as if he has won re-election.

  • Man hangs self over wife’s alleged infidelity

    A man has taken his life in Lagos after finding out that his wife of over  12 years  was cheating on him.

    The body of the middle age furniture maker, Abiodun Tijani was found dangling from the ceiling of his one room apartment at 1, Abeokuta Street in Alagbado area of Lagos  penultimate Tuesday.

    Sources said Tijani decided to end it all when he suspected that his wife was  indulging in extra-marital affairs.

    The Nation gathered that the deceased was residing in Abeokuta, Ogun State, until he recently relocated to Lagos to join his wife who had been living in the house for nine years now.

    Residents described him as an easy going man who ran his furniture workshop around the AIT Road in the area.

    A source said: ‘’His wife moved into this building about nine years ago and she is a quiet woman.

    Read Also: Man threatens suicide over father’s unpaid gratuity

    “The man (Tijani) used to live in Abeokuta, Ogun State, until he joined his wife here about a year ago. The couple is blessed with a 12-year-old boy, called Wasiu

    “Although the man was unassuming , he had been feuding with his wife who sells soft drinks and grocery at the  old toll gate in Ota.”

    Wasiu, , the only child of the deceased, recalled how his father tricked him out of the house on the fateful before taking his own life.

    He said: “ He went out the day before the incident and returned home the following  morning.

    “By then my mother had gone out; he gave me money to go to a barber’s shop to cut my hair. By the time I returned home I met him dangling from the ceiling.

    “He didn’t share his problems with me and I wouldn’t know what could have led him to commit suicide. He lost his father several years ago but his aged mother is still alive. He hailed from  Ago Ika, Abeokuta.’’

    The incident was reported to the Alagbado Police Station, while men of the station assisted in evacuating Tijani’s body from the scene.