The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Excitement, anticipation as 18 states welcome new governors

    Excitement, anticipation as 18 states welcome new governors

    Like Abuja,state capitals including  Asaba, Makurdi, Port Harcourt, Umuahia and Sokoto, among others,  are in festive mood as  new governors take over  in 18 states of the federation tomorrow.

    Power will change hands in Abia, Akwa Ibom,Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna and Kano.

    There will also be change of guards in Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto,Taraba and Zamfara states.

    The governors of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Oyo and Yobe are scheduled to be sworn in for a second term.

    Law enforcement agencies in the  various states have tightened  security to avert any  breach of peace.

    The Rivers State Police Commissioner, Nwonyi Polycarp Emeka, has ordered maximum deployment of personnel, intelligence, and operational resources for effective policing with special attention paid to  the  Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Elekahia, Port Harcourt, the venue of the ceremony.

    Emeka in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, also directed that other parts of the state should be adequately policed.

    Outgoing Governor Nyesom Wike has told the people of Opobo Kingdom to resist any temptation to   antagonise the incoming administration of their kinsman and governor-elect, Sir Siminalayi Fubara.

    “We also urge all of you who are from Opobo to continue to give your son support. Do not be the one that will fight him.  Do not be the one that will pull him down. Be his engine room. Be his pillar,” he said.

    “While others are trying to drag him down, you should be trying to make him stand firm. This is very important. To have a governor from your area is not easy. You know in 2015 you tried it, it didn’t work. Now that it is God’s time, has it not worked?”

    Wike expressed joy that he was in Opobo to inaugurate the reclaimed land of over 20 hectares, which would solve the problem of land scarcity in the area.

     The governor thanked the Opobo people and their Amanyanabo, King Dandeson Douglas Jaja for their electoral support during the general election and in the last eight years.

    Benue Governor-elect’s  supporters clean up Makurdi  ahead of inauguration

    Supporters of Benue State Governor-elect Hyacinth Alia yesterday trooped out to sweep clean the state capital ahead of his inauguration.

    The sanitation exercise was accompanied with singing, drumming and dancing on the major streets of the state capital.

    The Director of Communications to the Governor-elect Kulas Tersoo told The Nation by  phone that the people were shocked that Makurdi was left dirty despite the over N6billion said to have been spent by the outgoing government on the procurement of vehicles and equipment for refuse collection and general sanitation.

    Alia spent the better part of Thursday and Friday with the men and officers of  Nigeria Police at the IBB Square, Makurdi, for rehearsals ahead of tomorrow’s swearing in.

    The Police Commissioner, Okoro Alawari Julius, has ordered all Area Commanders, Tactical Commanders and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the state  to emplace adequate security in their areas of responsibility.

    Gombe Governor dissolves cabinet;removes all political appointees 

    Gombe State governor,  Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, yesterday dissolved  the State Executive Council and terminated  the appointment of all political appointees.

    However, political office holders in statutory boards and commissions are excluded from this directive. Equally, Local Government Caretaker chairmen will remain in charge of their respective councils until the expiration of their tenure on 19th June, 2023.

     Governor Inuwa Yahaya has also accepted the resignation of the Gombe State Head of Civil Service, Alhaji Bappayo Yahaya. In his place, the governor  approved the appointment of the Permanent Secretary/Principal Private Secretary ( PPS) to the Governor, Ahmed Kasimu Abdullahi as Acting Head of Civil Service. 

    The governor expressed appreciation to all the relieved appointees for their invaluable support and contribution to the success of his administration and wished them the best in their future endeavours.

    The governor, during  a valedictory Executive Council meeting  thanked the cabinet members for their sacrifices and dedication which saw to the success of his first tenure, noting that the achievements recorded by his administration would not have been possible without the efforts of the members whom he described as good team players. 

    Sokoto APC transition committee organises special prayer for  swearing in

    The Sokoto  State Transition Committee  of the APC yesterday held a special prayer session to usher in Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto and Alhaji Idris Mohammed Gobir as governor and deputy governor respectively.

    Bashar Abubakar, spokesman for the APC leader in the state,Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, said  the prayer to  seek  divine guidance for the incoming president and governor of the state.

    The special prayer session was coordinated by Mallam Bashir Gidan Kanawa and conducted by 13 Islamic scholars.

    Prominent among them were the Chief Imam of Sultan Bello Jumu’at Mosque, Imam Malami Akwara,  Sarkin Mallaman Sokoto, Mallam Yahaya Na Malam Boyi, Alkalin Mallaman Sokoto, Mallam Umar Ahmad Helele and Mallam Bello Kofa.

    Other scholars included: Sheikh Abdul’aziz Kofar Rini, Sheikh Yahuza Shehu Tambuwal, Mallam Yusuf Labbo and Mallam Nafiu Malami Dan Haja, among others.

    No handing over note to Otti until May 29  — Abia Govt

     Abia State outgoing governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, said there would be no handing over note to his successor, Dr. Alex Otti until tomorrow.

    Otti had pulled out his nominees from the joint committee set up to ensure a smooth transition.

    He accused the outgoing government of non- cooperation.

    Outgoing Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, John Okiyi-Kalu, in a monitored interview said the state government would not hand  over any official document of the state to Otti when he hasn’t taken oath of office.

    Okiyi-Kalu said: “We will not hand over the document to the incoming governor until he has taken oath of office.

     “There is a reason for that. In that document, you have a lot of secret information concerning the running of this state. The security architecture information is there.

    “If you now give it to someone who is not under oath and he is splashing it on  Facebook as we have been seeing them do (they think that everything is for Facebook and radio stations). What does that do to the security of the good people of Abia State?

    Meanwhile, the Umuahia Township Stadium and the International Conference Center (ICC) are wearing a new look ahead of Monday’s swearing-in of Otti as the 5th governor of the state.

    El-Rufai hands over Transition Committee Report to Uba Sani

    But it is a different case in Kaduna State where outgoing Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State has handed over the Transition Committee Report to the Governor -elect, Senator Uba Sani, saying that, the incoming administration is lucky to have a working document to guide its operations from  the first day in office.

     The governor   thanked members of the committee for doing a very good job, adding that the quality of the people on the committee was such that “I expect nothing less.”

     El-Rufai also congratulated Senator Uba Sani for having a working document even before taking office, recalling that, “our 2015 Transition Committee Report remains our blueprint for all that we have done in eight years.”

    Speaking shortly after receiving the  report, the Governor-elect, Senator Uba Sani, pledged to  study it thoroughly  and implement most of the recommendations.

     Niger Commissioners and Special Advisers to remain in office until Inauguration Day

     Commissioners and Special Advisers in Niger State are to retain their positions until tomorrow, according to outgoing Governor  Abubakar Sani Bello.

    But other political appointees were asked to leave.

    They were asked to hand over notes and other government property in their possession to the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Political Affairs in the SSG’s Office on or before Monday, 29th May, 2023.

    OKOWA fails to dissolve cabinet after valedictory session

    Delta State outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa directed the Secretary to State Government (SSG), Commissioners and other exco members to remain at their duty posts until midnight of Sunday, May 28, 2023.

    Okowa, who gave this directive at the valedictory session in exco chamber, weekend, in Government House, Asaba, said his administration’s success stories cannot be complete without members of the State Executive Council (Exco) being part of it.

     He said his administration did not only construct physical bridges but built bridges of unity among the various nationalities in the state, adding that Deltans must remain united in their quest for more development.

     The governor pointed out that the impact of his administration in terms of developmental projects ranging from roads and bridges infrastructure, health care, peace and security were novel particularly the youth entrepreneurship programmes that have turned several youths into entrepreneurs and employers of labour.

     Lalong picks  new head of service on eve of departure from office

    Plateau State outgoing governor, Simon Lalong, yesterday unexpectedly announced the appointment of Rauta Dakok as the state’s new head of service.

    Dakok is taking over from Mr. Sunday Hyat who retired from the service.

    The new HoS was immediately sworn in by Lalong.

     TBS wears new look as Lagos set for Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat’s second term inauguration

     The Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS),Lagos ,is wearing a fresh look ahead of tomorrow’s swearing in of  Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat for a second term.

    TBS, located in Lagos Island and close to the Lagos House, Marina, on Saturday witnessed massive decoration and aesthetic improvements as members of the Inauguration Committee and vendors worked to give the venue a new look. 

    The VIP stand located at the centre of TBS wore a very exquisite and colorful look with the decorators still putting finishing touches to it as at Saturday afternoon. 

    There were some platforms located close to the VIP stand, where the rituals of the swearing-in would be performed during the inauguration. 

    Lagosians trooped out yesterday  for the “Greater Lagos Exhibition”, a pictorial exhibition on the works of Governor Sanwo-Olu from May 29, 2019 to date.

    The eight-day photo exhibition held at the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, Onikan, runs daily from 10 am to 6 pm, started last Sunday and will end today.

  • Senate Presidency: Akpabio, Yari, Izunaso intensify consultations

    Senate Presidency: Akpabio, Yari, Izunaso intensify consultations

    The frenzy of consultations by aspirants for the Senate presidency in the 10th National Assembly is intensifying ahead of the inauguration of the legislative arm within the next two weeks.

    Dr. Orji Kalu, Alhaji AbdulAziz Yari and Mr. Osita Izunaso are pressing ahead with their campaigns for the position regardless of the endorsement of Senator Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom State by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    It was gathered that besides working harder to sell their aspirations to senators-elect and other stakeholders, some of the aspirants are also pushing to have the leadership of the party withdraw its endorsement of Akpabio.

    There were indications yesterday that the party is in no mood to alter the zoning formula or withdraw its support for Akpabio.

    The National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC earlier this month ratified a zoning formula for the leadership positions of the 10th National Assembly in spite of protests by aggrieved members of the party alleging lopsidedness of the arrangement.

    The party announced Akpabio (South-South) and Barau Jibrin (North-West) as its choices for the senate president and deputy senate president respectively while it endorsed Tajudeen Abbas (North-West) and Ben Kalu (South-East) for House of Representatives speaker and deputy speaker respectively.

    The NWC ratified the arrangement during a special meeting at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja.

     But some aspirants including Orji Kalu, Yari and Izunaso, rejected the arrangement and vowed to press on with their aspirations.

    The dissatisfied APC senators are urging the APC leadership to reconsider the Senate President’s micro-zoning.

    Yari appears to be relying on his coming from the Northwest zone of the country to spring a surprise. A traditional base of ruling APC, the zone has maintained significant electoral showings for the party.

    The Northwest has a huge number of APC senators-elect in the 10th Assembly and supporters of the former Zamfara state governor are optimistic that these APC lawmakers and their counterparts from other parties will not fail to support one of their own for such a position in the next administration. Some stakeholders within and outside the northwest have been drumming support for Yari’s aspiration.

    On his part, Senator Izunaso, a Christian who is from the Southeast, is riding on the agitation by the zone for inclusion in the government after an alleged long stretch of marginalization.

    A long serving political actor in the National Assembly since the advent of the Fourth Republic, he is also claiming that as a more senior senator than other aspirants, he is the man who should be given the task of leading the 10th National Assembly.

    Senator Izunaso’s supporters also want the APC to reward his loyalty to the party and by so doing, encourage other politicians in the Southeast to embrace the ruling party.

    Senator Kalu from Abia State in the Southeast, who is the current Senate Chief Whip, insists that the Senate presidency be zoned to his region for political balancing. He urges the APC leadership to micro zone the seat to his geo-political zone if the party is to be fair to all the zones of the country.

    He alleges that the current zoning arrangement marginalised the Southeast geo-political zone. He is unrelenting in his clamour for what he describes as the need for a more conciliatory inclusion and representation of the Southeast in the business of the next APC administration.

    Reliable sources said while Akpabio, who continues to garner endorsements from within and outside the ruling party, is not resting on his oars in spite of being the anointed candidate of the APC leadership, other aspirants are also moving ahead in their consultations and campaign for the Senate presidency.

    “All of them- Akpabio, Yari, Izunaso, and even Kalu- are still talking to senators-elect and other stakeholders. The campaign has gathered more steam in the last couple of days and all of them are claiming that they have enough support to swing victory their way on inauguration day,” a source said.

    Supporters of Akpabio claim he is set for his coronation as the next Senate President, given the support he enjoys across party lines.

    The former Akwa Ibom State governor already enjoys the backing of the President-elect, the Vice President- elect and APC governors among several stakeholders within and outside the ruling party.

    Recently, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State also pledged his support and those of some other opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor for Akpabio’s Senate presidency ambition.

    According to recent claims by his camp, the number of elected senators that have expressed support for Akpabio has risen to more than 70.

    Last week, Senator Ali Ndume, who is leading Akpabio’s campaign for the Senate presidency, said no fewer than 64 senators were supporting Akpabio’s ambition to lead the Senate.

    Akpabio’s supporters claim that his brand of leadership which is highlighted by nationalism, forthrightness and zeal for service delivery remains his unique selling proposition ahead of the election of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.

    But senators opposed to Akpabio’s aspiration are insisting that his endorsement by the leadership of the APC and other stakeholders will not hand him the Senate presidency on a platter of gold.

    According to them, the fact that voting on inauguration day is not by open ballot leaves the senators-elect with the power to still go ahead and vote for whoever they prefer even if this will mean rejecting the directives of their parties and leaders.

    Some of the aspirants also claimed to have many senators supporting their aspirations for the plum job, ready to cast their votes for them at the appropriate time.

    Prominent among the aspirants kicking against Akpabio’s endorsement is Senator Yari, former governor of Zamfara State. Sources said he is still consulting and meeting with senators-elect and stakeholders to discuss his ambition.

    His supporters say he has the network and war chest to prosecute his ambition. He is advocating that senators-elect in the 10th Assembly be allowed to choose their leaders without interference from any political party. He says he is the most qualified to lead the next Senate. He is a former Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

    Meanwhile, a coalition of Arewa Civil Society Groups on Friday called on President-elect, Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC-NWC to ensure that the next President of the Senate comes from the South-eastern part of the Country.

    These groups believed that if that is considered, it would largely address the issue of power exclusion and marginalisation that led to insecurity in this part of the country.

    Reading a text of the press conference at Sardauna Conference Hall, Arewa House, Kawo, Kaduna, Spokesman of the Coalition, Muhammad Aminu Abbas, observed that for political stability and democratic consolidation, APC must take cognisance of the fact that the South-East geo-political zone has two APC States (Imo and Ebonyi) while the South-South has one APC State (Cross River).

    APC unlikely to alter zoning formula

    The Nation gathered yesterday that the APC is unlikely to reverse its decision on those it has endorsed for the leadership of NASS.

    Party sources said consultations made by the APC following protests by some of the aspirants were not in favour of any reversal of the zoing formula.

    One of the sources said: “Yes, the National Chairman promised a review of the zoning arrangement after further consultations, but feelers from the consultations made so far revealed that the party and the lawmakers will have to work around the already announced zoning arrangement.

    “Consultations with some critical stakeholders and even some opposition elements showed that most people are not in favour of alteration of the arrangements for the two chambers.”

    Another member of the National Working Committee of the APC also foreclosed any review, especially in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

    He said: “In keeping with the promise by the National Chairman, high level consultations have been made in the last one week. Majority of our leaders and members have come to terms with the earlier arrangement.

    “The option available to us now is to get other aspirants to settle for the remaining positions in the leadership cadre of the Senate.”

    Investigation by The Nation in the Senate also revealed that Akpabio remains the candidate to beat.

    But it was gathered that Yari, Kalu and Izunaso have been talking with a view to working together.

    A source said Kalu and  Izunaso have aligned with Yari against Akpabio.

    Another source said the party will have to find a way of assuaging the feelings of its members from the North Central.

    “At the moment, the APC is awaiting the swearing-in of the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is expected to take a definite stand on assumption of office on Monday,” the source said.

     He said that in contrast to Yari’s last minute scramble to get Senators-elect to back his ambition, Akpabio and Jibrin have 70 lawmakers-elect that have signed on to vote them on the day of inauguration.

    “Akpabio and Jibrin now have 45 APC Senators-elect and 25 Senators-elect from opposition parties that are committed to the struggle for the leadership of the 10th Senate.

    “The number cuts across all political parties as you can see. However, Akpabio and Jibrin are not resting on their oars. They continue to work to increase the tally in their favour,” the source said.

  • Epidemic of leaked phone calls

    Epidemic of leaked phone calls

    Nigeria is in an uproar over leaked phone calls. It used to be that the police or the secret service was generally fingered for phone or wire tapping, sometimes without court warrants, and citizens were apprehensive about the privacy of their phone calls. Though there is nothing to suggest that the intelligence agencies are still not running riot over telephone tapping, however, the crime has become an all-comers affair, with everyone taking advantage of the digital revolution to secretly record one another. Will it stop anytime soon? It is unlikely. The advantages to the snoopy and malfeasant individual obviously far outweigh the disadvantages. What used to be the fear of the public concerning their helpless and almost unfettered exposure to agents of the government secretly recording or listening in on their phone conversations has in the past few years transformed into everyone possessing the capability to record unwary neighbor. To cap the problem, the leaked calls, if they are incriminatory, now get uploaded on social media.

    The most recent leaked call involved outgoing Kano State governor Abdullahi Ganduje and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential running mate placeholder Ibrahim Masari conversing on the meeting in France between President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) leader and former Kano governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. In the alleged call, Mr Ganduje expressed his reservations about the effort to conciliate Dr Kwankwaso. All four personalities involved or mentioned in the leaked call are associates and allies. But the call was obviously leaked to sour relationships between the gentlemen for unstated political objectives. Some of the men involved are undoubtedly embarrassed.

    But the Ganduje-Masari leaked call is in no way as devastating and embarrassing as the leaked call between Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church, David Oyedepo, and Labour Party presidential candidate in the last election, Peter Obi, on the subject of sectarian politics. Pressed for an answer, especially when the conversation between the two men veered towards deploying strong and unflattering words to describe the nature of contemporary Nigerian politics, the bishop made only tangential references to the phone conversation in a sermon soon after the leak in which he described himself unprovably as apolitical and magisterial in his political views. He was clearly embarrassed, but still refused to acknowledge the call. Mr Obi simply continued to obfuscate on the subject until a newsman pinned him down before he acknowledged the call. He did not describe the last election as religious war, he growled, but conceded that he ‘begged’ the bishop to help him corral religious votes. On why he at first denied the call in its entirety, he simply quibbled over the lie and refused to apologise. Both bishop and protégé were left with egg on their faces.

    Then there was the alleged tripartite phone call between ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar, Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal, and Delta governor Ifeanyi Okowa, all of them Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains. Recorded and leaked before the last presidential election, the conversation was allegedly geared towards compromising the election, particularly the security agencies and the electoral umpire, INEC. None of the three gentlemen agreed that the call took place. In fact, they seemed to have devised the stock answer of simply denying the calls ever took place. Yes, so simple. And just before the elections too, Michael Achimugu, a former aide of Alhaji Atiku, also leaked phone conversations he swore he had with the former vice president that revealed how the party chieftain subverted procurement process using fronts via onshore shell businesses to win and execute controversial contracts as well as siphon and launder illicit money. The response? The audio was manipulated, said aides of the former vice president.

    Another devastating leaked call allegedly involved ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, Charles Oputa, who is also known as Charly Boy, and former Cross River governor Donald Duke in which Nigerian youths were incited to occupy Nigeria and prevent both the conclusion of the last presidential election and the legitimisation of the same election. Again the stock response was that the call didn’t happen, or that the story was the handiwork of forgers and manipulators. But while Mr Duke denied the call, Mr Oputa was less categorical. As for the former president, no one dared approach him for his side of the story. But Nigerians believed the call took place, and the incitement was in tune with the open statement issued by the former president asking President Muhammadu Buhari to abort the election before the results were fully declared in late February. The call to abort the process, coming from a former elected president, was irrational and indefensible, and so too the alleged inciting phone call. But the law enforcement agents have turned a blind eye.

    Most of the controversial phone leaks were recorded and uploaded by individuals involved in the calls. While the law is ambiguous about acts of bad faith, morality is not. But what is at issue here is not the law per se but the complete bursting of trust between individuals and associates. The state may be reluctant to probe these leaks because, strictly speaking, no law was broken, and no one has lodged a complaint, but since various degrees of crimes were alleged in the leaked calls, it behoved the law enforcement agencies to launch investigations. Their reticence in the face of serial infractions, not to say their indolence and indifference, remains truly baffling. The phone leaks, whether they are described as illegal or immoral, will, therefore, continue. And habitual liars among these highly placed and amoral politicians and state officials will continue to assail the public with cock and bull stories when they are found out.

  • NLC, LP heading for implosion

    NLC, LP heading for implosion

    When the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Joe Ajaero, announced that the union was waiting for the incoming Tinubu administration to unveil its agenda for workers, and also warned that industrial crisis awaited the administration because of the outgoing president’s unfinished task concerning Labour, it was not clear in what capacity he made the statement. Was he speaking as NLC president? Or was he speaking as the owner and benefactor of Labour Party (LP) to which he has foolishly tied the union and thrown in his lot? So far, given how he has linked NLC with LP, spoken violently in the party’s favour, and engaged in strong-arm tactics to ward off challenges from factional party leaders, his role as a union president has diminished in inverse proportion to his ascendancy as LP enforcer.

    Read Also : JUST IN: Labour Party factions clash after tribunal proceedings

    Mr Ajaero, as this column maintained weeks ago, has behaved very unwisely as a union president, and it is baffling how he got elected into that weighty position. His two roles may conflict, but surely he can’t be so idealistic as not to understand that the incoming administration he is advising will not also be puzzled and conflicted about how to relate with him and the NLC. Will the administration see NLC as a union or as LP in another guise? When Mr Ajaero speaks, would the administration be sure whether the union or LP is speaking? The NLC president and the LP have poured contempt on the All Progressives Congress (APC) and questioned and litigated the incoming administration’s victory. Could they be trusted to fight for workers’ interest without hidden political objectives? And as some analysts have wondered, given the ‘coincidence’ of the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) presidents hailing from LP-loving regions, would the administration be comfortable relating with the union leaders as unbiased Labour activists?

    There will be an implosion in the NLC sooner or later. When the LP was not a nationally significant political and electoral player, the presidency was not conflicted about how to relate with the union. But now that LP has become a significant political player, the administration, not to say the country, will be curious and apprehensive.

  • Ngige sold ASUU a dummy

    Ngige sold ASUU a dummy

    The exuberant former Labour and Employment minister, Chris Ngige, obviously played ducks and drakes with the feelings of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), particularly the splinter National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA). After he encouraged division in ASUU ranks, he gave the splinter unions the impression their withheld salaries, about eight months arrears, would be paid. They were suckered. No pay has been forthcoming. Worse, by some incredible sleight of hand, shortly before he vacated office brazenly and contemptuously engineered the exemption of some 204 Nnamdi Azikwe University (UNIZIK) lecturers of the Faculties of Medicine, Clinical Sciences, and Basic Medical Sciences from the salary embargo, and secured approval from the federal government to pay them. Dr Ngige is from Anambra, and apart from stretching stories and bluffing his opponents, this grandiose of all former ministers must need return home, with all the attendant implications, ASUU be damned.    

  • Osinbajo recalls two near air crashes at valedictory service

    Osinbajo recalls two near air crashes at valedictory service

    Outgoing Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo‘s lucky escape from two near air crashes was the high point of his speech as he reflected on his time in office in Abuja yesterday.

    The occasion was the valedictory service organised in his honour by the staff of the Office of the Vice President on Friday.

    Expressing gratitude to God for escaping death on both occasions, the Vice President recalled how God saved him and 11 others from a helicopter crash in Kabba, Kogi State on February 2, 2019.

    He also recalled how in June 2018, a chopper conveying him and members of his “Main Party” from the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada, made a forcible landing a few seconds after take-off.

    “I’m truly grateful to the Almighty God,” the VP said.

    Accompanied by his wife, Dolapo, who he described as his “most potent weapon”, Osinbajo said he felt honoured to have worked with his staff members whom he described as “incredible people”.

    Osinbajo said: “I’m honoured to have worked with such incredible people. Everyone put in exceptional hard work.

    “I personally interviewed most of you that worked with me. I wanted people who had a heart for this country, a genuine love and concern about the progress of this nation.

    “Eight years have gone by very quickly, I must say. Here we are today a few days to the inauguration.

    “There are many great experiences, great things that have happened and I’m glad we’ve come this far.”

    The Vice President did not only commend the staff of his office for their dedication and patriotism, he also highlighted the selfless service of his police and security details, the civil servants, his Chief of Staff, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, and Special Assistants among others.

    Prof. Osinbajo expressed gratitude to every one of them for their support throughout his eight years as President Muhammadu Buhari’s deputy.

    One of the high points of the occasion was the presentation of the outgoing Vice President with gifts and hand written valedictory notes from staff members.

    In a statement issued by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, yesterday, Prof. Osinbajo commended the Deputy Chief of Staff and former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Mr. Ade Ipaye, for his loyalty, dedication and brilliant service.

    In his remarks at the occasion, Osinbajo noted that Nigeria’s story is one filled with hope, courage, triumphs, incredible talents and potential in spite of its numerous challenges.

  • I practised as fake lawyer to spite my SAN father for denying me —Suspect

    I practised as fake lawyer to spite my SAN father for denying me —Suspect

    A 25-YEAR-OLD fake lawyer, Abdulgafar Ayanrinde, has been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) after he allegedly defrauded some point of sale (POS) agents inside the court premises in Ekiti and Osun State.

    It was gathered that Ayanrinde, who had been parading himself as a lawyer, wearing gown and wig, also defrauded some commercial drivers before his arrest.

    Parading the suspect at the NSCDC State Command in Osogbo, Osun State capital yesterday, the Commandant, Sunday Agboola, disclosed that the suspect was arrested in Ilorin, Kwara State following the intelligence carried out on him after complaints from members of the public.

    He said on May 23, Ayanrinde defrauded a driver he had hired to take him to the State High Court in Osogbo and the Federal High Court in Akure, Ondo State where he defrauded some POS agents the sum of N150,000 before returning to Ilorin.

    Agboola added that Ayanrinde defrauded another driver who took him to Ilorin the sum of N100,000 after which he was arrested.

    In a chat with our correspondent, Ayanrinde confessed that he dropped out of Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan (UI) in 2022 when he could no longer pay his school fees.

    He said: “I decided to start practicing as a fake lawyer to swindle people in courts because my father, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), decided to neglect me and my mother after he impregnated her.

    “I committed this crime to spite him. I regret my action. My father is the one that destroyed my life. He denied me as his son and never took responsibility for me.”

  • Letter from Onitsha

    Letter from Onitsha

    I have received a few letters from my readers over the long period of ventilating my mind in several newspapers, principally the Guardian in which my first article was published in 1999. To be honest, the letters have been very few but some of them have been memorable, unforgettable even,  because they were the beginning of endurable relationships with their respective writers. And I would hasten to add that e-mails will not be considered in this category of letters because of the impersonality of e-mails vis a vis those  letters delivered in a stamped envelope and which may take so long to be delivered that they are now described as snail mail. They may have been slow but they carried substantial weight and came with something personal from the sender. Unfortunately, in these days of electronic transfers of everything, not to talk of artificial intelligence, the romance of letter writing has been consigned to the dustbin and at least in Nigeria, post offices and all the officials associated with them are now conspicuous only by their absence from the public space. Their demise deserves to be mourned.

    Long before we all contrived to become computer literate and threw away our pens, I received a letter which was post-marked in Ondo. Upon reading it, I found that it was written by a secondary school boy who wanted me to know that he was a regular reader of the Guardian and that he really enjoyed reading my articles when ever they were featured in the Guardian. I was very much impressed by the coherence of his writing and I immediately sent him a response. Not content with being a correspondent, he followed up with a visit to me at Ife, introducing himself to me when he was finally in my presence by calling himself, ‘your boy from Ondo’. He did not stop here as he followed this up by coming over to the  university to study Pharmacy; following closely in my footsteps by becoming a pharmacist and then went a step further by abandoning the practice of pharmacy for that of a writer very early on in his career. Over time and despite the otherwise intimidating disparity in our respective ages, we are now good friends who are constantly talking about how life is unfolding in Nigeria.

    Another letter that is worthy of recall came in from much further away as it came from Onitsha. Some ten years ago, I wrote an article with the satirical title of ‘Dangerous man at the Central Bank’. Lamido Sanusi had just been appointed the Governor of the Central Bank at the time and he had gone into that temple with a whip with which he was belabouring the padded backs of the fat cats who had installed themselves as controllers of the Nigerian banking sector, or in some cases, had installed themselves in powerful positions in some bank or the other. I was quite impressed by the exertions of the young governor and said as much in my article which caught the attention of many people and remains a prime example of my work as a titular columnist. One of those who were captivated by that article was my correspondent from Onitsha. A few days after that article was published, I received that famous letter from Onitsha and it soon proved to be a life changer. After the effusive praise of my article, a photocopy of which was enclosed in the letter as proof that it had been read, as if any such proof was needed. I was baldly informed that the article had sparked a determination in the writer to study for a degree in English, not only that, but to take the degree from Obafemi Awolowo University where I was a lecturer. This elicited a wry smile from me, seeing that it stated clearly at the bottom of the article that I was a professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy, as far away from the Department of English as can be ordinarily imagined. The writer then informed me that since I was the one who influenced his decision to take a degree in English it had become my was duty to ensure that he was admitted to what had now become the university of his choice. He sat for the JAMB examination and his score was so close to 250 marks as to make no difference. I was therefore convinced that he was a worthy candidate for admission but not to take any chances, I went over to the Faculty of Arts to make sure that he had indeed been offered the admission I thought his performance deserved. To my surprise, I found out that the cut off mark for English that year was a few marks in excess of 250 and he was therefore not qualified for admission into the Department of English. Having taken part in the admission process to my own Faculty, I knew that his chances of admission were slim to none and asked that he be considered admission into another course in the Faculty. It was on the basis of this plea that he was admitted to the Department of Modern European Languages to study German.

    As could be expected, the young man was not pleased by this turn of events since he had English on his mind, if what he said in his letter about me provoking his interest in the study of English was indeed the truth and nothing but the truth. At first, he wanted to turn down the offer of admission but on second thoughts, he took my advice to accept the offer to study German at Ife which after all was the University of his Choice. In the end, he came over to Ife for four years and went back to Onitsha with a degree in German in this pocket and a lifelong attachment to Ife in his heart, a situation which is consistent with our dream of a united Nigeria since the catalyst for our meeting was an article about a prince from Kano as he was at the time, completing the usual triangle of West, East and North in usual Nigerian discourse about unity.

    I would not have made reference to the letter from Onitsha but for the fact that I received an e-mail from my man on the Niger recently as I have been receiving from time to time over the last few years. None of the e-mails has reached the passionate level of that first letter but the most recent one deserves some attention because of its subject. My correspondent was making a response to my article about the fruitless search for unity within the Federation. Quite out of the blues and in the absence of any preamble, he said emphatically that there was no basis for Nigerian unity because as far as he was concerned Nigeria was created in error. According to him the Amalgamation of the constituent parts of Nigeria should not have happened. I must admit that there are many people who share this sentiment but as I told him, he had not thought his submission through and that he was just repeating what he had heard so often that it had become part of his reasoning process and I did not think that he should be allowed to get away with such slack reasoning.

    The fact of the matter is that the Lagos colony together with the Southern and Northern protectorates were stitched together in what has come to be known to history as the Amalgamation. Nigeria as a country came into being in 1914 because the British colonialists were in the process of building their empire on the cheap and that the main driver of that initiative was strictly economic and therefore not altruistic or even noble: thus building a very weak foundation for the nation. As a result of this, the new nation was totally devoid of both heart and soul, no wonder then that Nigeria has been struggling with a plethora of problems and has been lurching form one crisis to the other. But, is it true that all those parts that were amalgamated were so different from each other that there was no basis for bringing them together in a new country? What people did not take into consideration was that new countries were being created all over Europe in the period leading up to the First World War and that some of them, notably Germany and Italy were created through the amalgamation of different territories some of which had a history of serious discord between them. Italy and Germany are still going strong even though they have had to cope with regional conflicts, some of them of the explosive kind. Nigeria is not alone in being the product of Amalgamation. In any case, with the territories involved in the Nigerian version of Amalgamation, did the British really have a choice in the matter? Long before Nigeria was conceived in the mind of the British, people living in different parts of the country had interacted with each other, in some cases for centuries so that they could not be considered to be total strangers to each other. The extent of the interactions which took place at that time cannot now be quantified but we know that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe from Onitsha was born in Zungeru in 1904 at a time when that town was the capital of the Northern Protectorate. There must be many others in this category but have been lost to history because, they cannot not now be credited with great deeds as is the case with Zik. Apart from the movement of people between the various protectorates, there were joint services which cut across the territories that now constitute Nigeria before Amalgamation was declared. For example, the Railways which connected Lagos to Kano was finished in 1912. More tellingly, money from the South was used to balance he budget of the Northern Protectorate which suggested that the Amalgamation when it happened, was a culmination of a process which took place over a considerable period of time.

    The Amalgamation of 1914 was a mistake only because of its unintended consequences. The British would not under normal circumstances have considered the possibility of putting together a territory that now contains a fifth of the population of Africa with all the potential conferred on her by not just population but an impressive quantum of rich natural resources. Those riches, if they had been prudently managed would have made it possible for an African country to become one of the leading countries in the world. Without Nigeria’s impressive size, military clout and diplomatic recognition, the country would not have been able to fight successfully for the emancipation of Southern Africa from the oppression of apartheid rule in those truly turbulent days of the seventies when the forces ranged against freedom for our brothers in the South appeared to be running out of control. It is inconceivable that the British planned to create such a vibrant country through the amalgamation of those protectorates.

    Nigeria as presented to us by the British is a country which has a great deal going for her, the only problem here, is the questionable quality of those human beings who now inhabit that amalgamated space.

  • Tinubu: of unnecessary bigotry and the urgency of now

    Tinubu: of unnecessary bigotry and the urgency of now

    “When Tinubu is done with Nigeria, you’ll never wish to stay away from Nigeria. You’ll always want to come to Nigeria, just like everyone wants to always come to Lagos”- Aliko Dangote, at the formal opening of his 650,000 barrels per day refinery in Lagos, Monday, 22 May, 2023”.

    The  dictionary definition of bigotry is an “obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief or opinion, in particular, a prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group”.

    In the article, ‘The Immediate Task Before The President – Elect’, (The Nation, 28 April, 2023), I wrote as follows:”Therefore, bad as our macro- economic circumstances are, the incoming administration must, first of all, spare a thought for ameliorating our present inter- ethnic realities which were terribly aggravated by the recent elections.

    The result is that  while Nigeria’s challenges before now were centred on our poor economy, insecurity and corruption, today inter personal, as well as inter – ethnic relations, have so plummeted that the President – Elect must use all the channels at his disposal to calm the waters across board to enable him deliver on his promise of a renewed hope for Nigerians. To do otherwise will tantamount to pouring water on the back of a duck and, no matter how well meaning he may be, it will be difficult to see his good works fruitify as fast as they should”.

    Read Also : Tinubu: The tasks and challenges ahead

    Shortly after that, but in the same article, I wrote:”it is common knowledge that Nigeria has traditionally rested on the North – West – East tripod. Therefore, since both the West and the North have already produced the incoming President and Vice- President respectively, the next logical, fair and equitable thing to do, is for the Senate President to be zoned to the SouthEast”.

    Ordinarily, this reconciliatory tone is all any of us, privileged to have a public medium like this one, should be preaching. Unfortunately, the more one observed the goings on in the country, especially, since the presidential election, the more nauseated one becomes because all you see are people from the Southeast, almost to the last person, doing everything to trash an election  which is certain to reckon as one of the fairest ever, in Nigeria, all because Obi, an Igbo lost even where it is a notorious fact that Ndigbo have been too insular in their politics where others have been building bridges for decades. It thus became obvious that besides declaring Obi the winner, nothing other than cancelling the election will satisfy them.

    The result is that a people who would not have bat an eyelid if Boko Haram’s Shekau had won the presidential election, resorted into doing their damndest to dispute the election’s credibility. They are in fact so sure it will not stand that everywhere you go, especially in Abuja, there are always a retinue of Igbo demonstrators, daily dancing on Abuja  streets, demanding that the President – Elect must not be sworn in as constitutionally prescribed, on 29 May, 2023.

    Nor did their regular, complicit television stations spare us  as they daily assemblem all manner of so – called analysts, mostly  of a particular tribe,  just to do their dirty job. Indeed, one of them, a U.S based doctor, recently sauntered into the country, and headed directly to the Supreme Court, asking that the swearing in of the President – Elect be delayed, all because he claims to have contested the presidential election, way back, 2011. For that egregious abuse of court process, the Supreme Court has appropriately served him his comeuppance, fining him a total of N40M.

    Incidentally, it has not occurred to Igbos that they are carrying their  dislike of Yorubas a bit too far. Rather, so determined are they that Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must not be sworn in,  that a  people, who have abused President Muhammadu Buhari to no end, claiming he is a Sudanese pretender to the throne, can now  suddenly wake up to ask that he remains, illegally, in office until the PEPC concludes adjudication, whenever that is.

    The last presidential election, no matter what those who believe they must be in eternal contestation with the Yoruba think, will go down as one of  Nigeria’s most stellar elections. At the last count, not only did about 10 state governors lose one election, or the other, both President Mohammadu Buhari and the incoming President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, lost the election in their respective state.

    But simply because some nay – saying Rasputins – assorted bishops, pastors and sharmans – chose to speak for themselves, claiming they heard from God – Peter Obi, who is  almost a complete unknown in the Northern geo- political zones that mattered the most electorally, permitted himself to swallow the lie that he won the election.

    He has been challenged to prove that beyond street demonstrations.

    Since then too, probably out of the  fear of the serial assassins terrorising everywhere in the Southeast, Igbos can only say Obi lost the election, strictly under their breath.

    And why will Obi not lose?

    Compared  to Tinubu and Atiku, what exactly is Obi’s political trajectory?

    What one legacy of his, as governor of Anambra State was, or is, being copied by a single state anywhere, in Nigeria? Yes, like Tinubu, he was a state governor; but Tinubu was far more than a state governor. He was a super governor who, out of office, heavily facilitated the election of a President, made a Vice President, contributed tremendously towards the election of several state governors and uncountable legislators, apart from the countless others who learnt  at his feet. Take off obidients and who do you see around Peter Obi, beyond his feuding Labour party journey men?

    In the next proximate election to the presidential, that is, the senatorial, which took place same day and time, while Obi’s Labour party could only win 7 out of 109 seats, Tinubu’s APC hauled home 64. Obi’s party’s sole governor from the election has since been tossed to the marines, awaiting appeal at a higher court, having emerged a candidate outside the purview of the Electoral Law, 2022. 

    Yet just about anything would do for these people to hamstring whatever they consider a Yoruba success story.

    I am not out this week to regurgitate Nigerian election history or to delve into how, since the days of the Rt. Honourable (Dr) Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Igbo political elite has done  everything they can, to thwart anything they consider a Yoruba political achievement. They instigated Northerners to team up with them in their plots against the Yoruba.

    I challenge them to mention an instance when Yorubas did the same to Ndigbo. Even when Zik attempted to ‘colonise’ the West, he was,  democratically, relieved of such an audacious ambition.

    What has continued to amaze me is how the most Igbo – accommodating part of Nigeria came to earn this level of angst, if not outright hatred, from them. 

    And for what great success they made of their dislike of the Yoruba, I invite interested persons to read Emeritus ProfessorOlatunji Dare in: ‘Interim Wetin’ – The Nation, Tuesday, 9 May, 2023.

    In the piece, Professor Dare did a good job of showing how Igbos teamed up with Northerners –  no instigated them – to work against Chief Obafemi Awolowo, played a leading role in messing up Chief M.K O Abiola’s June 12 victory; just  as they are now trying to do to Tinubu’s mandate.

    We can, however, take solace in the fact that there are the likes of fair- minded  Chimaroke Nnamani, who has, in turn, identified two eminent Igbo elders – Chekwas Okorie and Ogbonnaya Onu –  who he says, are capable of convoking an Igbo Citizen’s conference to chart a new path for Ndigbo. There is no legitimate reason, for instance, why they should hate Yorubas so. And whenever that Conference holds, it must deprecate Igbo’s excessive self – love, as well as decide to do unto others, only the good things they would do unto themselves. I have two wonderful Igbo friends, one a professor, and the other a lawyer, who would be picture perfect for the summit. They are both worth their names in gold, but for now, their names must remain under wraps, for security reasons.

    Let me now conclude with a very critical matter on which the incoming President cannot afford to delay action. Come Monday, 29 May, 2023 the most prepared Nigerian politician for the post of President, ever, will be sworn in. Unfortunately, no matter how grounded, and well prepared politically he is, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu could not have come into office at a more inauspicious time. It is, indeed, a truism that a day can be too long in the life of a nation. I say this in reference to the utter butchery Fulani herders have wreaked in Benue and Plateau states in the past fortnight. You would almost think they were deliberately sending President Buhari forth in a festival of blood letting.

    And why not?

    After all, they operated throughout the Buhari years as if Nigeria has no laws. Reports have it that in villages like Fungzai, Hale, Kubwat, Bwoi and many other communities of the Kombun District of Mangu Local Government Area and some communities in the Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau state, about 130 people were killed by Fulani militias who burnt  about 1,000 buildings in 22 villages while, in the Benue attack, suspected Fulani herdsmen allegedly killed 18 persons during a renewed attack on the Iye Community in Uvir, Guma Local Government Area. Some of those killed, which allegedly included women and children, were said to have been beheaded, and their remains burnt alongside their houses and food barns.

    What manner of human beings are these?

    While these killings are  horrendous and chilling, the allegations, and threats, by MACBAN (Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria) can, if urgent action is not taken by the incoming government, completely turn the Middle Belt to a sea of blood.

    Consequent upon the killings in Plateau state, the Chairman  of MACBAN, Muhammad Nuru Abdullahi, has alleged that 100 fulani were  killed by Mwaghavul people in a planned and coordinated genocide attack. He further alleged that Berom and Tarok tribal mercenaries are being hired and imported into the area. While these Fulani allegations should be taken with a pinch of salt, and have, indeed, been refuted by the  Mwaghavul Development Association, government must move rapidly to nip all these in the bud; in a way and manner that will signpost the Tinubu approach to fighting insecurity, going forward.

    It must be far different from what Nigerians saw under President Buhari. This, in essence, is saying that whoever takes a life must, willy nilly, now lose his, or hers. That is about the only  way to rein in these serial murderers with a view to restoring a modicum of peace in the country. President Tinubu must realise that this is the URGENCY OF NOW, which cannot, and must not wait because as the Yorubas say, a ki fina sori orule sun – meaning you do not sleep when your roof is on fire.

    I heartily welcome President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and wish him a rousing success in office.

  • Sanwoolu, Hamzat comply declare assets ahead of May 29 inauguration

    Sanwoolu, Hamzat comply declare assets ahead of May 29 inauguration

    In compliance with paragraph 11 part 1 to the 5th schedule of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that mandates political office holders to declare their assets on assumption and at the of their term in office, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat on Saturday submitted their Asset Declaration Forms.

    Governor Sanwo-Olu and his deputy have, by their action, satisfied section 185(1) of the same Constitution that makes it paramount for the political office holders to declare their Assets before they take oath of office. The asset declaration was administered to the Governor and his deputy by Professor S.F Ogundare, Board member representing South West zone, and witnessed by Rt. Hon. Taofeek Olawale Abdulsalam, member and Mrs. O Popoola, Lagos State Director of the Code of Conduct Bureau.