The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Falana sues Army over alleged extra-judicial murder

    Falana sues Army over alleged extra-judicial murder

    Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN has filed a lawsuit before a Federal High Court in Lagos against the Chief of Army Staff over ‘the extra-judicial killing of Inspector Monday Orukpe at the Trade Fair section of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway Area of Lagos State in August 2022 in the course of his official duties.”

    Joined in the suit as respondents are 10 other army officers.

    In the suit filed  on behalf of Mrs Favour Monday, for the enforcement of her husband’s fundamental human rights to life, the dignity of the human person, private and family life and presumption of innocence.

    Mrs Monday has four children with Inspector Monday Orukpe: Divine Monday (15 years old), Emmanuel Monday (12 years old), Praise Monday and Covenant Monday (1-year-old).

    In the suit, Falana is arguing that, “It is clear beyond doubt that the deceased’s fundamental rights have been grossly violated and on the strength of the facts and exhibits contained in the affidavit in support, the legal argument canvassed in this suit.”

    According to Falana, “a man should be allowed to thread Nigeria soil and breathe Nigeria air until the Court finds him unworthy to so do. The respondent’s agents have no right to sniff life out of the deceased on extra-judicially as they have done in this case.”

    The suit, read in part: “We graciously pray my Lord to so hold and grant the reliefs as sought in the statement accompanying this application.

    “On the whole, we urge your Lordship to find that this application has merit and in finding as such make the declarations and orders sought herein.”

    “The applicant is a Nigerian, a resident of Ota in Ogun State and the wife of Inspector Monday Orukpe who was gruesomely murdered by the agents of the 1st Respondent.

    “The deceased; Inspector Monday Orukpe was an inspector of police with the Trade Fair Police Divisional Headquarters of the Lagos State Police Command murdered on August 3, 2022, along Lagos/Badagry Expressway, Lagos while carrying out his official duties as a police officer.

    “The deceased, Inspector Monday Orukpe, was entitled to his right to life, dignity of his person, fair hearing and presumption of innocence guaranteed by Sections 33, 34 and 36 (1) and (5) of Nigeria (As Amended) and Articles 4, 5 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (CAP A10) LFN 2004.

    Read Also: Falana: why Buhari must assent to Bill on Right to Education

    “The extra-judicial killing of the Applicant’s husband; Inspector Monday Orukpe by armed agents of the 1st Respondent at the Lagos/Badagry Expressway of Lagos State on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, violates the deceased’s fundamental right to life guaranteed by Section 33 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) 1999 (As Amended) and Article 4 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights.

    “The Applicant is seeking the following reliefs:

    “A declaration that the extra-judicial killing of the Applicant’s husband, Inspector Monday Orukpe by the 2nd to 11th Respondents at the Trade Fair section of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway Area of Lagos State on Wednesday, August 3, 2022 is wrongful, unlawful and illegal as it violates the deceased’s fundamental right to life guaranteed by Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) 1999 (As Amended) and Article 4 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights.

    An order of the court mandating the Respondents to set up a special education fund of not less than N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Naira) through the registry of this Honourable Court in favour of the children of late Inspector Monday Orukpe and the Applicant, sufficient to cater for their educational needs from primary school to University in any educational institution they may wish to attend.

    An order of the court compelling the Respondents to jointly and severally pay to the applicant the sum of N200 million  as general and aggravated damages for the illegal violation of the fundamental rights to life, the dignity of the person and presumption of innocence of Inspector Monday Orukpe; their breadwinner.

    And any other order as the court may deem fit to make in the circumstance of the case.

    No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

  • Stop causing confusion in NURTW, Southwest leaders warn Baruwa

    Stop causing confusion in NURTW, Southwest leaders warn Baruwa

    • •Agbede is Southwest candidate

    Leaders of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the Southwest have warned outgoing president, Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa, to stop causing confusion and division in the union.

    Chairman of the Southwest Elders’ Forum, Pa Samuel Jonah, was reacting to a reported solidarity visit by some retirees of the union from North West, North East and North Central, to Baruwa.

    A statement by the forum said Baruwa was represented at the meeting by his Special Assistant on Labour and Industrial Relations, Comrade Abuul Boga. He was said to have boasted that the five zonal councils would go ahead and install Baruwa on the union for a second term without the Southwest’s involvement.

    But Pa Jonah said: “Members of the union in Southwest reject this position. It is a sign of arrogance on the part of Baruwa to have uttered that statement. The Southwest is part of Nigeria, and no one cannot write the history of NURTW without making strong reference to the Southwest.

    “NURTW was formed in the Southwest before it spread to other zones; so it will be unreasonable for anyone to think of removing the Southwest from the union. It is impossible.

    Read Also: Be wary of Baruwa, NURTW stakeholders caution TUC, NLC

     “Again, we would like to remind him that when it was the turn of Southwest to produce candidate for NURTW presidency, we all supported and endorsed him in 2019 to represent us at the national headquarters. As at then, all six states councils in the zone were functioning and operating. But today, all the councils have been taken over by state governments due to Baruwa’s uncooperative and arrogant attitude.”

    Pa Samuel Jonah appealed to all leaders and members of the union in the other five zones of the union to bring back the union.

    “Baruwa has really destroyed our union in the Southwest and we regret supporting him in 2019,” he lamented.

    He also accused Baruwa of using the union’s name to borrow money from banks and other financial institutions to run the union, warning that it could cause serious financial problems for the union.

    “And because revenue is not coming from the Southwest again, he has been using the NURTW to borrow money. As leaders from the zone, we can assure you that if Baruwa is removed today, all the state councils in Southwest will return to the NURTW. We leaders and members of the union in the Southwest have endorsed Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede as our candidate to represent us at the national level. Baruwa can no longer represent us.”

  • Access to light

    Access to light

    • •The student loan law is a great opportunity for a generation

    To be poor should not be a death sentence to ambition. That is the essence of the Access to Higher Education Bill signed into law as one of the first acts of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    It is significant on a number of levels. One, it was one of the major planks of President Tinubu’s campaign promises, and it is cheering that he has converted rhetoric into substance as he appended his signature to the bill. It shows that election promises should not be hifalutin moments on the political calendar but bonds of integrity.

    Two, it was a long-running bill initiated ironically by the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila. He is now the chief of staff to the president, and he stood beside the nation’s number one citizen as his autograph turned his dream into law. Gbajabiamila had initiated this bill with persistence since 2016 before he mounted the speaker’s chair. But it never scaled through as the idea of a loan scheme to help indigent students was seen as fanciful by many in the society and even lawmakers. He had reintroduced the bill in 2019 before its clincher in 2022.

    The idea gained traction during the presidential campaign, and President Tinubu highlighted it as his favourite campaign promise. So, it is potent that he promptly signed it to law. While it is a sign of legislative brilliance and doggedness on the part of Gbajabiamila, we cannot but reflect on the coincidence of vision and opportunity in the speaker’s efforts and the president’s signature.

    Although it is not, in theory, a new idea, this is the first time we have had this law in such a comprehensive and ambitious term accommodating every poor family in the country. It also embraces a time of surging youth population and fiery thirst for education in the country. Even today, the spaces in the universities, colleges of education and polytechnics cannot absorb all the youth who want higher education.

    The act challenges an economy of mammoth deficits and long years of waste and corruption as against previous eras when abundance of funds beckoned such an expensive programme. The rigour that characterises its conception and thought evinces how this country, in spite of its immense financial dry patches, shows that governance in Nigeria as in everywhere else has less to do with plenty than with plenty of imagination.

    The funding will derive from a number of apparent honey pots in the system. One, it will gulp one percent of profits from oil sales in the country as well as other mineral resources. It will also take one percent of taxes, levies and duties from the Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), education endowment funds schemes. It will also tap from public goodwill and patriotism as regards donations, gifts, grants, etc.

    The statistics as to how much these sources will chip in have not been published. It might not have been worked out. We expect the research sections of government to make this available. We shall also want a projection of how many students will benefit. These details should be worked out in due course, especially as the programme takes off in September.

    Read Also: Groups hail Tinubu over Akume, Gbajabiamila, Ribadu appointments

    This sort of programme, because of the priority of integrity, the number and calibre of people involved and the amount of money to defray, calls for not only trusted persons to manage it but it expects the beneficiaries to demonstrate good faith.

    The applicant is expected to be poor, and it means the family does not earn more than N500,000 annually. This is intricate given the instability of inflation and the value of the naira. This government probably hopes to stabilise the nation’s currency and rein in inflation. Otherwise, the law might have to be reviewed in this regard in consonance with cost and standard of living.

    The board will have such high-profile names as the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as chairman, a secretary selected by the chairman, the ministers of education and finance or their representatives, the auditor-general of the federation. This represents the officials of the government. The civil and other parts of society will sit on the board. They include the chairman of the National Universities Commission, representative of the vice chancellors in the country’s universities, representatives of the rectors of the polytechnics and the provosts of the colleges of education, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    This gives the board a democratic coloration and seems to guarantee accountability and fairness, especially as it limits the tenure of the members to when they hold the various positions that entitle them to be members. It also forecloses any tolerance for convicted felons of dishonesty and fraud or even unsound mind.

    There were some outcries online from some youths over the penalties for defaulters and it includes a N500,000 fine or a two-year jail term. Such complaint only derives from those who want to commit the offence. Nigeria is yet to have the sort of database of countries like the United States where student loan can easily be monitored and the culprits punished with measures like garnishment of wages, charging of social security accounts, notification of credit agencies, or loss of tax refunds.

    We therefore need good faith from the youth. The idea is that repayment can help swell the funds that will benefit generations after them. It is a sacrifice that requires gratitude, not criminal manoeuvre.

    The document betrays a lot painstaking effort to ensure that those who apply are poor, and that they actually are in school. Hence, the board will not sign off on any scholarship unless it is approved by the vice chancellor, rector or provost. And the guarantor must be a recognisable figure like a justice of the peace, an experienced lawyer of not less than 10 years of practice, a civil servant of not less than level 12.

    It is also fair on the loanee as they have to breathe after two years of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme before they can start to pay back.

    This programme also assumes that, one, there will be good faith from both government and citizens. Two, that the economy will handle the storms and provide the atmosphere for the students to pay by clinching jobs or doing fruitful enterprises.

    Many boys and girls who have surrendered to criminal orgies such as robbery and banditry can get a new life of dignity and self-worth with an opportunity to get enlightened irrespective of their parents’ class status. It refines youth and energises our future as a country. Girls who prostitute to pay fees can hold their own against amorous older men, and boys who rob can redirect their drives to cement a good future.

    This is not free education but higher education, which, even in the best of countries, is never free, except for a few countries like Germany. We may aspire to that. But this is a good start and we must hug it for its endorsement of a bright future for a troubled generation. Quality education is important, and we must follow this with a programme to make our schools models of learning. Rankings worldwide put our universities in unenviable light.

    It is a great programme but it calls for a great zeal from Nigerians and their government.

  • Curbing pollution in Nigeria

    Curbing pollution in Nigeria

    SIR: Nigeria has been ranked as the eighth most polluted country in the world in a report published by Oxford University’s Our World in Data platform and the Daily Mail of London. This should give cause for alarm. In 2021, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) noted that Nigeria had the highest number of air pollution-related child pneumonia deaths globally. This is largely attributed to air pollution in the household such as cooking over open fires.

    There is a need for a review of pollution laws in Nigeria. Our laws are weak and need to be strengthened. For example, the issue of pollution emitted from vehicles. Nigerians see nothing wrong in putting cars that are not roadworthy on the highway. It is particularly worse with articulated vehicles which not only pollute the environment with smoke but also generate noise pollution due to the sound from the engines. In most developed nations of the world, there are laws that make it almost impossible to put a vehicle on the road that is hazardous to other road users and the environment. Even if you find a way to break such laws, when you are caught, you will pay a steep fine and could lose your driving license. In Nigeria, those tasked with ensuring sanity on the highway are only too glad to look away when bribes are offered by offenders.

    Read Also: Eradicating plastic pollution

    Nigeria needs smoke-free policies. People smoke cigarettes almost everywhere without considering the implications on their health, the health of those around them, and the health of the environment.

    There is also the problem of industrial emissions. Though we do not have many problems in this regard because of our low level of industrialisation compared to developed countries of the world, yet it is still a factor which cannot be overlooked especially for residents of urban areas. Governments at all levels, especially the local governments should monitor their environments to ensure that factories and industries are not engaged in one form of pollution or the other.

    The habit of dumping garbage, nylons, and water bottles inside drainage systems by the citizenry must be curtailed. This attitude constitutes serious pollution to the environment as such rubbish blocks the drainage leading to flooding and its attendant consequences. Enlightenment of the public and the apprehension and subsequent punishment of offenders will go a long way to minimise this menace.

    The health of the citizens is at risk when pollution is allowed to fester. Government should initiate policies that will encourage the use of vehicles with low emissions and cleaner fuels. It should map out sustainable strategies that will help in managing urban waste such as recycling and waste separation.

    •Peter Ovie Akus,

    New Jersey, USA.

  • Ending insecurity in the north

    Ending insecurity in the north

    SIR: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has hit the ground running since he was inaugurated. Tinubu has proven he is fully prepared to take tough decisions in the interest of the country. The supersonic speed with which he removed petroleum subsidy, the appointments he made all point to his readiness to launch the country into the pedestal of growth and development.  But no nation can develop with ravaging insecurity dogging its territory. While the country has recorded remarkable progress since the restoration of democracy in 1999, the deteriorating insecurity resulting in wanton killings of defenceless Nigerians by non-state actors and other criminals has eroded the gains achieved so far. There is virtual loss of confidence by Nigerians in the inability of successive governments to tame the monster of insecurity bedevilling the country particularly in northern Nigeria. While the immediate past administration was able to contain the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents, leaving remnants to attack soft targets, the emergence of banditry in Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and Kaduna states and farmers/ herders clashes has compounded and escalated tension in the region.  

     Northern Nigeria, the food basket of not only Nigeria but also African countries, has become a shadow of its former self. While the Northeast is struggling with Boko Haram, North-central is battling with farmers/herders crises. The once peaceful Northwest has since turned to the home of banditry. The intractable security challenges in the north have continued to pose threats to food security and educational development. Many rural farmers have deserted their ancestral homes as bandits impose levies, abduct and kill defaulters at will. Schools are frequently being attacked and students kidnapped. The horrible situation has discouraged parents from sending their children or wards to schools. The lamentable figures of school dropouts which is estimated to have hit over 15million children, coupled with activities of rapacious bandits paints gloomy picture of education in the region.

    Read Also: Insecurity: Pray for Plateau, Lalong urges Nigerians

    Indeed, the region has become a killing field. Hardly a day passes without report of gory massacre of people in their villages, farms, markets or even on the roads. Though concerted efforts have been put in place by government to arrest the situation, the situation has defied lasting solution. However, with the new governors in the troubled states, one foresees an end to the lingering insecurity in the region. Already, the Zamfara State governor, Dauda Lawal Dare, held a close-door meeting with Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, in a bid to tackle the menace of banditry in his state. Also, Kaduna state governor, Malam Uba Sani, in an interview granted to Channels Television, bared his mind on the need to create state police. He emphasised that only state police can address security challenges.

    In Benue State, Governor Alias Mba has promised to review the anti-grazing laws implemented by his predecessor, Samuel Ortom. Katsina State governor, Dikko Radda, during his inauguration promised to exploit every avenue to confront insecurity in the state.

     The governors obviously have a good ideas and passion for the protection of their people from the activities of criminals terrorising their states. What remains is for the affected governors to liaise with federal government to achieve this feat. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should help the state governors through military and other logistics support. For a better policing, the president should invest heavily in intelligence gathering, scale up recruitment of security personnel, re-jig our security architecture and above all, work with neighbouring countries to eliminate the insecurity plaguing Nigeria.

    •Ibrahim Mustapha,

    Pambegua, Kaduna State.

  • ‘No move from Makinde on commissionership slots’

    ‘No move from Makinde on commissionership slots’

    Wife of former Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, has denied any offer of commissionership slots from Governor Seyi Makinde.

     A statement by former media aide, Bolaji Tunji, in reaction to an online publication, said there was no time that such overture was made to Mrs. Ajimobi.

    Read Also: Makinde, Oyomesi undecided over new Alaafin

     The statement reads: “This news is strange to us. We can state categorically that at no time was such an offer discussed. Mrs Ajimobi holds the governor in high regards as he has continued to exhibit good leadership traits, while playing the politics of a unifier to bring peace to the state.

     “However, the report about commissionership slots overture could only be attributed to mischief makers.”

  • Banks: Fraudsters on the prowl

    Banks: Fraudsters on the prowl

    SIR: One major recurring security incidence ravaging Nigeria’s financial industry is unauthorized, fraudulent withdrawal of money from customers’ accounts. It appears this cybercrime alongside its implications has come to stay.

    There are at least two types of cyber criminals behind these dastardly acts. First are crackers who use attacking methods like phishing, pharming, vishing, smishing and the likes to swindle gullible customers of their hard-earned money. Second are insiders in some of these financial institutions who abuse the trusts their employers and customers reposed in them by compromising and breaching confidential customers details at their disposal either on their own accords or by conniving with a third party to share the proceeds of the frauds.

    Crackers are experts in sourcing for information to achieve their aims. Disguising as staff of the banks is their ambush strategy. This has helped them to prey on the vulnerabilities of their victims. Gullible customers of most financial institutions unknowingly provide their personal banking details to these fraudsters on a platter of gold. These sensitive banking details are then used to breach the accounts of customers.

    Vishing is simply using telephone systems to imitate a legitimate personality or entity to scam people into divulging personal details. A lot of people have received phone calls from unusual numbers claiming to be customer service personnel from financial institutions alerting them of some dangers or challenges awaiting their accounts and the need to urgently provide some details which will be used to wade off the danger or rectify the challenge. Smishing on the other hand involves the use of SMS (text messages) to deceive people to divulge sensitive data about their account. Divulging sensitive data via vishing or smishing have led to fraudulent withdrawals of money from a lot of customers’ accounts.

    Insiders are staff of financial institutions who have access to customers’ sensitive data and used same to perpetrate frauds. There is quite a number of staff of financial institutions involved in this for so many reasons. Most are outsourced staff who are disgruntled over poor remuneration, bleak career future or sheer greed. In as much as nothing justifies these dishonourable acts, it is important for employers in the financial industry to put sound welfare packages, good career paths and conducive environment in place to dissuade staff from these unwholesome ventures. A lot of banks’ staff have no terminal benefits after many years of rigorous service. Staff are annually exited from the system in a blink of the eye without any reason other than cutting costs. This is one of the reasons the banking industry in the country have the highest rate of staff turnover. What’s worse? Most of these banks lack or are short of experienced personnel capable of investigating and tracing the insider perpetrators.

    Read Also: EFCC arrests 108 suspected internet fraudsters in Ogun, Rivers

    All these come at a cost too high for the customers to bear. Many customers have had their life savings, investments and retirements benefits wiped out of their accounts in a twinkle of an eye.

    Financial institutions cannot continue to ignore these ugly trends and their repercussions. Trust is one of the currencies of banking. Litigations, loss of customers and businesses, reputational damages, loss of revenue among many others are some of the repercussions awaiting banks who choose not to curtail these dastardly acts. Losing one customer may be like an insignificant drip of water from a leaking bucket. In time, the drips will empty the buckets of its contents.

     Ensuring security of depositor’s funds is a major factor in the financial industry. It boosts customer and businesses bases. A thorough study and understanding of the root causes of the failures of some banks to curtail these cybercrimes provides a very good platforms to convert these lacunas to advantages.

    Skilled Internal Auditors are central to tackling these maladies. No matter how good these fraudsters are in covering their tracks, auditors who know their onions can uncover these tracks. They can unravel the root causes of the frauds and help institute a sound control environment. More importantly, the body languages of the board of directors, management staff and top officials is a good pointer to the success or failure of the control environments

    Customers on their part needs to redefine trusts to exclude being comfortable with anyone masquerading as a representative of a brand and learn how not to share personal banking information to strangers. Providing maximum security for personal sensitive information is the obligation of all customers.  

    •Oluwatosin Abraham,

    Lagos.

  • WS, interim govt and new “owners” of Nigeria

    WS, interim govt and new “owners” of Nigeria

    Hardly a secret: the failed conspiracy to scupper the last general election and foist an interim national government (IMG), that Prof. Wole Soyinka just spoke of.

    What might not be so clear — at least to the undiscerning, among whom many count — is a new but vile generation of “owners of Nigeria”, sprouting under our very noses.  

    The good news, though: the old “owners” appear losing grip, while their new wannabe cousins are making a hash of their gambit — from the result of their many wild machinations during the last cycle of elections.

    Nigeria’s democracy is the better — and stronger — for it. 

    While the old “owners” of Nigeria — discredited military-era rulers and allies — use thunder-and-bluster, their new kith-and-kin apply under-your-skin stealth: cynically mouthing the law; or shuffling some clever religious cards. 

    That makes them all the more noxious, for they hide behind some phoney moral force. 

    Kongi warned of populist symbolism as crass opportunism, which could set voters on a joy ride to nowhere, and ultimately end in tears.

    “Revolution is not about lining up behind nearest available symbol,” he stressed on June 16 in Lagos, while unveiling the latest work in his Interventionist series, The Putin Files: Excursion Around The Ideology Of Pain.  “When a symbol does emerge, however, we are obliged to examine every aspect of what is fortuitously an offer, and continue to guard our freedoms every inch of the way.”

    On Nigeria and how to run it, a Babel of voices blared before the polls, professing newfound patriotism, pointing to their preferred candidates as sacred actualizers.

    To that, WS just added a famous ambivalence, but in support of no one in particular. 

    “Project Nigeria, I must confess, has become near terminally soul-searing.  Do I still believe in it?” he teased. “I’m no longer certain, but first we must rid ourselves of the tyranny of the ignorant and the opportunism of time-servers.”

    Tyranny of the ignorant and the opportunism of time-servers!  That hoopla has defined the 2023 electioneering, the election proper and even this post-poll era; with plots and counter-plots to tip the scale by hook or by crook.

    Indeed, it has been a season of ceaseless drama: the election itself; the disputation, fair or foul; and contrived ”uncertainty” — the vile plot that plagued President Bola Tinubu’s inauguration till the virtual last second, though former President Muhammadu Buhari had worked out a most seamless hand-over that Nigeria ever saw.

    Folks can figure out which candidate best approximated the babble of the ignorant and the rank opportunism by time-servers.

    Still, a perceptive profiling of three candidates, to see how each fits in, will do.

    Read Also: LP cries out over plot by PDP to install interim govt in Abia 

    Where does former Vice President Atiku Abubakar belong?  For starters, he was the PDP candidate.  To be sure, the PDP of 1999 (that swept Atiku and former President Olusegun Obasanjo into power) is different from the PDP of 2023, that now languishes in the wilderness.

    Still, to the extent that PDP was the the “Army Arrangement” (to borrow the title of one of Fela’s iconic releases) that gifted mainly conservative forces power in 1999 — many of them anti-democratic elements — it’s reasonable to project Atiku would be comfy with this old power bloc.

    But as the PDP appears progressively weaker since losing power in 2015, so would the old “owners” of Nigeria: frailer they get, as Nigeria’s democracy gains extra years.  About time too!   

    President Bola Tinubu (then the All Progressives Congress candidate) is the direct opposite of Atiku —  if not the outright nemesis of the power ancien regime that Atiku so exemplifies. 

    Tinubu’s trajectory, from 1999, says it all.  From the sole surviving Alliance for Democracy (AD) governor in 2003, he galvanized a South West progressives power reclaim, starting from 2007, first under Action Congress (AC); then from 2011, under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). 

    By 2014, Tinubu’s ACN had inspired a new opposition alliance: APC.  APC, in 2015, would flash PDP the red card, though with the help of some PDP elements, who joined the other APC legacy partners: Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Rochas Okorocha’s All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) rump and Vice President Kashim Shettima’s All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).

    So, might the old conservative bloc be hostile to Tinubu as they are warm to Atiku? Not that clear-cut: Tinubu is a practical (not dogmatic) progressive that boasts friends in the conservative camp, just as Atiku too could posture as some liberal conservative.

    It’s that seeming mishmash that the new “owners” hoped to crush, with Obasanjo, living to the full his post-power role as gadfly, anointing Peter Obi as new messiah.

    But both Obasanjo and Obi were old PDP hierarchs, very much part of the old rot they now railed against.  Still, their holy rage was sweet music to the band of frustrated youths, blissfully ignorant of their country’s history, and the pair’s roles in the debacle.

    But even if you could see through Obasanjo and Obi, it was harder seeing through the motives of lawyers and priests, flying new kites, carefully veiling their partisan blights.

    One top lawyer created a controversy out of a hitherto settled matter in law: the place of Abuja, the federal capital, in determining a presidential candidate’s win or loss.

    A bevy of priests, orthodox and Pentecostal, turned their pulpits into subversive platforms, pumping captive congregation full of partisan bile; turning the church into a partisan camp, restive and radicalized, on account of the so-called “Muslim-Muslim” ticket. 

    As the result hit the polity, and the “wrong” candidate had won, some Catholic priests staked their integrity on bad-mouthing the polls; and after, pushing strange legal theories of holding up inauguration, until legal challenges were completed, all in clear breach of the Constitution. 

    But if all else failed, the clamour for “interim national government” wouldn’t — they must have thought — not with after suffusing the polity with Armageddon tales.

    All hail — or nail — the new owners of Nigeria!

    As it happened, that plot  also crumbled, with a new government in place and doing the work of state.  Still, the strategy of sacred deceit has hardly changed.

    As white lies choked the media space during electioneering, so have some litigants been dishing out flowery stories, flattering badly faltering court procedures, just to game gullible partisans.

    But good news: so far, democracy is holding its own against the new wannabe, as it has wrestled, to a halt, the old “owners” of Nigeria.  That is heart-warming. 

  • Mutfwang calls for calm, tolerance

    Mutfwang calls for calm, tolerance

    Plateau State Governor, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang has called on Plateau State citizens to exhibit the spirit of calmness, tolerance and forgiveness over the recent unfortunate incidents that led to loss of lives in Mangu Local Government Area of the state.

    According to a statement by the governor’s spokesman, Gyang Bere, Mutfwang made the call during a solidarity  message to the people of the state, reiterated the government’s determination to build a new  and united Plateau, where opinion of citizens would be accommodated for the safety and progress  of the State.

    He implored religious, traditional  and community leaders to commence with the process of confidence building among citizens who are affected by the sad events to strengthen inter-communal relations.

    Read Also: Mutfwang charges security to fish out killers in rural communities

    He said the government would not tolerate activities of crisis merchants who for selfish reasons, are bent on fomenting  trouble and causing disaffection among peace loving citizens.

    The governor urged security personnel not to treat with kid gloves, culprits or sponsors of the insecurity challenges  in the state.

    While sympathising with families of victims of the attacks who were either killed or injured, the governor prayed for God’s comfort and quick recovery.

    He said the time had come for them to put behind issues that divide them and work with one accord to preserve our heritage.

  • Ex-Imo PDP executives join APC

    Ex-Imo PDP executives join APC

    • •‘They will account for embezzled funds’

    Former executive members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, who resigned on Sunday, have joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing Governor Hope Uzodimma’s monumental achievements as their motivation.

    The members, who visited Uzodimma yesterday, described him as ‘a performer who has beaten the records of all former governors since the late Chief Sam Mbakwe’.

    An address read by the former Publicity Secretary, Collins Opurozor, said: “Today, we can confidently and comfortably tell the world that we are headed to APC because of Governor Hope Uzodimma. We are joining APC because it is the party for the future of Imo and Ndigbo. We are joining APC because of the superlative performance of the governor which no other governor has achieved since the late Chief Sam Mbakwe.”

    They also cited the Imo State Charter of Equity as another strong reason for aligning with Governor Uzodimma, saying the impeccable logic of the Charter holds a promise for a better Imo State.

    Governor Uzodimma described the gesture as a dream come true for him since he had always wished that Imo State’s ‘first eleven’ play together as a team.

    According to him, every member of the team is valuable to the prosperity Government of Imo State, hence none will be discriminated against.

    Those who visited the governor were Sir Martins Ejiogu (former Deputy National Chairman); Collins Opuruzor (former Publicity Secretary); Mrs. Maria Mbakwe (former Women Leader); Joseph Eze (former Treasurer) and Chibuisi Obido (former Vice Chairman, Orlu Zone).

    The former Secretary, Ray Emeana, was said to have travelled outside the country while the former Youth Leader was engaged in an academic exercise.

    But the PDP maintained that their exit would not hamper its structure.

    The Financial Secretary, Bede Ojimadu, who addressed reporters at the party secretariat on Okigwe Road, Owerri, said the members would also be probed for alleged misappropriation of the party funds.

    He said: “They must account for the N1.4 billon presidential campaign fund given to the party by the former presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, and another N100 million given to the party by the governorship candidate and National Secretary of the Party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu. Let them join any party but they must account for all the funds they have recklessly spent.”