The Nation Newspaper

Category: Emeka Omeihe

  • Ahiajoku Lecture festival 2025

    Ahiajoku Lecture festival 2025

    Igbo-speaking people from seven states of the country will converge in Owerri, Imo State capital, later this month for the annual Ahiajoku Lecture festival.

    Instituted in 1979 by the first civilian governor of Imo State, Sam Mbakwe, the Ahiajoku Lecture was designed to celebrate, advance and sustain Igbo cultural heritage, foster intellectual discourse and cultural renaissance and spur overall development of Igbo nation and beyond.

    It sought in the main, to preserve and promote indigenous language, cultural values, unity as well as the progress of the Igbo people and Nigeria. At inception barely eight years after the civil war, the Igbo nation was largely confined to Anambra and Imo states, parts of Rivers and then Bendel State.

    With the subsequent creation of additional states, the scope expanded to include Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers states. Over the years, the lecture grew both in scope, strength and participation. Chairman of the planning committee for the 2025 Lecture festival, Chief Garry Igariwey, said all the governments of the seven Igbo-speaking states are being carried along in this year’s lecture festival with their buy in already secured.

     According to the former president-general of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the collaboration of these states and their governments will ensure “wider participation, ownership of this sacred tradition and shared vision of cultural renewal”. He had some good words for Governor Hope Uzodimma for his fervour in reviving the pan-Igbo Ahiajoku festival.

    The Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, His Lordship, Godfrey Igwebuike Onah is the guest lecturer for this year with the theme: “The Future of Igbo Economy Amidst the Challenges of Insecurity in the Southeast: A call for paradigm shift”. A renowned professor of philosophy and African epistemology, the bishop will no doubt, enrich his lecture with intellectual and moral authority.

    The topic is apt and timely as it sits properly with contemporary challenges. It is coming at a time concerns have been raised on the debilitating effects of the unceasing multidimensional insecurity on the economy of the region.  It is envisaged that the lecture topic will interrogate the festering security challenges, provide therapeutic responses and chart the pathway to economic development and progress of the zone.

    Activities lined up for the lecture proper include a curated arts and crafts exhibition, a scholarly colloquium, and cultural displays primed to celebrate Igbo culture and thought.

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    Apparently responding to observations that Ahiajoka Lecture should dismount from its elitist high podium to embrace and speak to the ordinary people without whom a culture will not have relevance, this year’s event is arranged to attract not just scholars of repute. Cultural and religious personages as well as representatives of the town unions are also involved. Besides, several associations of Ndigbo in the diaspora have signalled strong interest to participate in the coming event.

    This followed several engagements by the Director-General of the Ahiajoku Centre, Ray Emena with many diaspora groups, individuals and associations. The event is also expected to attract tourists, researchers, cultural ambassadors and Igbo sons and daughters from all walks of life and across the globe.

    This year’s festival is symbolic in more ways than one. For one, it is unique not only from the scope of prospective attendance, but especially so because it is the first time a Catholic bishop will be delivering the lecture. He will bring his ecclesiastical authority to bear on the topic. For another, the timing shares similar existential traits with extant challenges of Ndigbo when the maiden edition was held in 1979.

    Then, the Igbo race had just emerged with the scars of the civil war and their debilitating encumbrances. That was the time the Igbo nation was still trying to find its voice and establish their relevance as a people. As preparations for the 2025 edition gear up, Ndigbo and indeed the country are reeling under the pains of debilitating insecurity with its toll on lives, properties, development and progress. The topic of this year’s lecture is at the heart of that trajectory.

    As MJC Echeruo pointed out at Ahiajoku’s 40th anniversary Lecture in 2019, “When I delivered the first lecture in 1979, some eight years after the Nigerian-Biafra war, in the dawning of a post-war civilian administration in Nigeria, at a time when Ndigbo appeared very confident that a renaissance of spirited energies exhibited in the war effort into new and productive directions, we believe that such a drive would transform Igboland.

    Although still lacking serious access to national political power, we nevertheless believe in the possibility of Igbo self-fulfilment as well as national growth in our traumatised Nigerian fatherland”, Echeruo had stated.

    The Igbo nation is still at the same crossroads as Onah is about to give his lecture.  Echeruo was the lecturer for the maiden edition of the Ahiajoku lecture in 1979 with the theme, “Ahamefule- A matter of identity” which reflected the situation of Ndigbo within that period. He came again to deliver the Ahiajoku’s 40th anniversary lecture in 2019 during the brief administration of Governor Emeka Ihedioha.

    This time around, he titled his lecture, “Ogu Eri Mba: We Shall Survive” There is a common thread running around Echeruo’s topics-the identity of a people and their survival. That is the kind of existential and developmental issues you find woven into Ahiajoku’s Lecture topics. And therein lies its essence.

    Over the years, the lecture has served as a rallying point for scholars, policy makers and traditional rulers to interrogate the Igbo question and propose pathways for the collective advancement of its people. It also provides the compass to Igbo heritage, culture and aspirations, reviving shared identity and the spirits that bind the people together.

    Prominent Igbo intellectuals have in the past taken turns to deliver the annual lectures. The 1980 edition was delivered by former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture (UNN) and former Deputy Director-General, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan Prof. Bede Nwoye Okigbo. Renowned historian, Prof. Adiele Afigbo took the centre stage in 1981 while Prof. Anya O. Anya delivered that of 1982.

    The 1984 edition featured Prof. Donatus Nwoga, Prof. Ben Nwabueze took the centre stage in 1985 while Dr Pius Okigbo delivered the 1986 edition. The lecture held successfully annually till 1995. During the military administration of Tanko Zubairu between 1996 and 1999, the lecture did not hold. It however came into full force again in 2000 with the return of civil rule in the country. Several scholars took turns to deliver the lectures.

     Literary giant, Prof. Chinua Achebe returned from exile after two decades to deliver the 2009 edition of the lecture. Strikingly, the event coincided with the 50th anniversary of his famous novel – Things Fall Apart.

    For the eight years (2011-2018) Governor Rochas Okorocha was at the helm of affairs in the state, Ahiajoku Lecture never saw the light of the day. The lecture series was reinstated in 2019, a year that marked its 40th anniversary with its maiden lecturer, Echeruo again taking the centre stage. One remarkable thing in the build up to the 2019 lecture was the elevation of Ahiajoku to an institute and the appointment of a director-general to ensure continuity.

    Uzodimma has kept to this tradition with the resuscitation of the 2025 Ahiajoku Lecture festival. He had also, appointed a director-general for the centre to ensure that Ahiajoku lives up to its mandate. As in any endeavour of this magnitude, the 2025 edition yet, offers another opportunity for re-assessment with a view to improving on its objectives.

    This is especially so with the expansion in its scope of activities and participation. Funding and the level of involvement of the seven Igbo-speaking states to enhance regularity and continuity are bound to throw up new challenges. So also, the level of progress made by the lecture festival in re-awakening Igbo cultural and linguistic renaissance.

    Prof. Ihechukwu Madubuike recommends an Igbo Academy for the resetting of both the Igbo language and the Igbo culture. Hear the former Minister of Education and Health: “Language is the spirit of culture and without which a culture is dead. We should be delivering Ahiajoku Lectures in Igbo language. Igbo identity is too much a valent resource to be trifled with by the cognoscenti”.

    Madubuike who was a commissioner in Mbakwe’s regime when the lecture series was instituted, wants the annual fiesta to rotate among the seven Igbo states that identify with the aspirations and values of the authentic Ohanaeze Ndigbo organisation. Culture he said, “matters because it seeds political relevance and a people’s worldview”.

  • One derailment, too many

    One derailment, too many

    Last Tuesday’s derailment of an Abuja-Kaduna bound train shortly after take-off, has again raised concerns on regular maintenance of rail infrastructure and other critical national investments. The train left the Idu station, Abuja around 11am en route Kaduna but suddenly went off its track between Kubwa and Asham stations overturning some of its cabins.

    It was a scene of pandemonium as passengers struggled to escape some of the overturned cabins. Those lucky to escape unhurt were seen running in different directions, apparently for fear of the unknown in the bushy surroundings the accident happened.

    Emergency rescue services were quickly activated by the relevant agencies. This saw to the quick arrival of medical personnel, rescue services and the full compliment of security operatives. The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau said at the venue of the incident that six passengers sustained injuries with no casualty recorded.

    But the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) put the casualty figure at seven. The agency said first aid was administered to the injured at the scene before they were transferred to the hospital. Details of the cause of the accident are still foggy. An investigative committee was quickly constituted by the Minister of Transport, Said Alkali.

    Curiously even before the committee began its probe, the Managing Director of Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC), Kayode Opeifa has taken full responsibility for the incident. “Beyond apologies to Nigerians, I want to state clearly as the MD and Chief Executive, I take full responsibility. When it comes to safety, there is no room for indifference, the chief executive owns it and I do” he said in an interview.

    Yes, the buck stops at his table as the chief executive of the organisation. But in the instance case where an investigative panel has been set up for the purpose, it is premature for the MD to assume full responsibility for the incident when the cause is yet to be established.

    The issue in question is an accident case. In matters of this nature that could have a number of causative factors, some outside the control of the chief executive, it is only proper for the committee to complete its job before culpability could be established. Only then will it be appropriate for anyone to assume responsibility for his acts of omission or commission.

    Train derailment could result from technical failure, faulty or cracked tracks misaligned rails and worn out ties. It could equally be as a result of poor maintenance or outright sabotage. Some of these factors may be outside the control of a chief executive which should instruct a measure of caution in trading blames and assigning culpability.

    The matter really goes beyond blind assumption of responsibility unless the chief executive already nurses some idea regarding what could have led to the incident. Or is there a link between his admission and the allegation by a former senator from Kaduna State, Shehu Sani that the accident was a direct consequence of neglect?

    Sani had said passengers had for months been complaining about the wobbling rail tracks but nobody paid attention to such alerts until the incident happened. If this allegation holds any water, then one can understand the haste with which the NRC MD rushed into accepting responsibility for the incident.

    That is not all there is to the matter. The Kaduna-Abuja rail line, as one of Nigeria’s most active corridor patronised by the high and the low is not new to derailments. In March 2022, terrorists attacked an Abuja-Kaduna bound train with Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Katari, Kaduna State causing it to derail and overturn.

    The bandits shot indiscriminately killing many of the passengers and abducting others. They held some of the captives for months releasing those able to pay the ransom they demanded. It even took negotiations between the federal government through Sheikh Ahmad Gumi for all the captives to be released. Before then, bandits had severally attacked the same train service without breaking through.

    In May last year, a passenger train from Rigasa station, Kaduna derailed at Jere station. It departed with 685 passengers and crew on board. A month later, another derailment occurred when an Abuja-Kaduna bound train suffered similar fate with three of its coaches overturned.

    The NRC later laid the blame for one of the accidents on vandals. It said in a statement that the train experienced minor technical hitch at Asham station in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. It attributed the minor hitch to the removal of track fastening clips by vandals.

    The derailment is not limited to the Kaduna-Abuja bound train services. In January 2019, a Lagos-bound mass transit train derailed at Ashade killing one passenger. These represent just a few of such train accidents. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that between 2019 and 2025, there have been 188 trail derailments around the country’s train corridors.

    Even then, the NRC admitted that between 2022 and 2023 more then 50,000 rail clips were stolen from the Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itakpe and Abuja-Kaduna rail lines respectively. It is Little surprising the high incidence of train derailments across the country.

    These incidents raise questions about the nation’s huge investments in the rail transport system; regular maintenance of the rail lines and other strategic national infrastructure. The Federal Executive Council had in August 2022 approved over N718 million in contracts to secure the Abuja-Kaduna corridor.

    Two security outfits received the sum of N407 million and N310 million respectively. They were each to protect 27.4 kilometres of tracks and eight stations and 18 kilometres of track and four stations over two years. The volume clips’ removal and the regular derailments within this time frame and beyond raise questions as to the efficacy of these security contracts in manning the rail tracks.

     Nigeria’ hope for an efficient and modern transport system is largely predicated on a modernized rail transport system. This thinking is supported by the economy of scale that goes with a modernised rail transportation system.

    Apart from being the easiest and most efficient means of conveying bulk goods across the nation’s vast landmass, efficient train services will draw large passenger patronage as seen in the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor. It is cheaper and will save our roads the regular damage they face due to the pressure from large trucks conveying bulk goods. The federal government stands to save the huge funds deployed to road maintenance after each rainy season and enhance their durability.

    Government’s modernisation of its rail transport system is largely anchored on loans from the China Exim Bank which is executed through one of that country’s construction giants. In the 2024 budget, the federal government allocated N33.1 billion for various rail projects.

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    This included the completion of Abuja-Kaduna and the Lagos-Ibadan rail lines as well as the rehabilitation of the Itakpe-Ajaokuta line. Additionally, lawmakers allocated N400 billion in the 2025 budget for light rail projects in four states- Kano, Kaduna, Ogun and Lagos.

    The government is also said to have been provided with the proof-of-fund for an ambitious $60 billion high-speed rail network with Chinese partners that promises on completion, to revolutionise rail transport system. The high-speed rail network is primed to connect all key economic corridors across the country.

    These underscore the high premium the government places on rail modernisation and development. But these high-minded goals may not produce the right results in the face of the constant train derailments due to technical failures arising from poor maintenance culture, vandalization and sabotage on account of the cascading insecurity and associated inefficiencies.

    The high number of track clips stolen between 2022 and 2023 from three rail lines point to the absence of effective security monitoring in those corridors. Something urgent should be done to reverse that trend and protect the huge investments made in that sector. It will also save the loss to lives and property which constant train derailments engender.

    Regular inspection of the rail lines, aided by technology driven devices such as drones and CCTVs, will produce better results. Additionally, advanced technologies like ultrasonic rail testing can identify hidden defects for immediate repairs. That should be the right path to protecting and justifying the huge investments in rail infrastructure.

  • Citizen Jennifer’s ordeal

    Citizen Jennifer’s ordeal

    Even with the dismissal of eight members of the Anambra State Vigilante Services (Agunechemba) involved in the assault of a youth corps member, Jennifer Elohor and her colleagues, the larger issues thrown up by that incident should not be lost.

    Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Community Security, Ken Emeakayi while announcing the punitive measures, said the operatives who claimed to be pursuing suspected cultists, acted outside their mandate and would be handed to the police for prosecution.

    “The Soludo administration will not tolerate any form of unprofessionalism, brutality or abuse of office by security operatives. Any officer found guilty of misconduct will face immediate dismissal and prosecution”. Emeakayi said.

    He appeared to have struck the crux of the matter when he stressed that the case would mark a turning point in reforming community security operations in the state and restoring public confidence in it. It is hoped so.

    A viral video which circulated in the social media space last week had shown the moment armed operatives of the state’s security outfit stormed the corps members’ lodge in Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area of the state and assaulted the female member. In that video, the victim was seen being beaten and stripped naked by gun-trotting men as she ran in pains begging to be spared by her tormentors.

    Reports had it that the corps member was badly brutalised and subjected to humiliating and sexually degrading threats in an attack that exposed the excesses of such quasi-security outfits. Expectedly, the incident attracted wide condemnations as there didn’t appear any justification for the jungle justice on the poor lady.

    The embarrassing scene must have compelled the state government to wade into the matter. Initial reaction from Emeakayi was that the incident occurred during a joint security operation when operatives of Agunechemba pursued suspected cultists into a residential compound.

     According to him, the operatives were trailing some suspected cultists riding on motorcycles when they pursued them into a compound. In the process of searching the houses in line with their mandate, the unfortunate incident involving the corps member occurred.

    He however, admitted that while the security operatives were on a legitimate assignment, the manner they acted was not acceptable. He did not indicate the manner of their operation that was not acceptable to the state government. Neither can it be interpreted as a reference to the assault on the corps member. There must have been certain actions taken by the operatives in the course of the search that led to the unfortunate incident.

    The turn of events that led to the assault on the corps member to the extent of beating her mercilessly; tearing her dress and leaving her virtually naked remains foggy. Equally cloudy was the business the vigilante operatives had prying into phones and laptops of the corps members in a hot pursuit that ostensibly trailed fleeing cultists.

    What is not in doubt is that the operatives searched the phones and laptops of the corps members. Not with the admission by the state government that it replaced Jennifer’s damaged phone and laptop. That corroborates the narrative that the operatives accused the corps members of being internet fraudsters and took advantage of that to invade their privacy.

    Even then, Jennifer had in an interview at the weekend revealed how the operatives stormed their lodge, accusing them of involvement in internet and wire fraud. She said all attempts to explain to them they were youth service corps members including showing them valid identity cards fell on deaf ears.

    Rather, they manhandled them, grabbed their phones and laptops apparently in search of internet fraud evidence. So, the claim they were in hot pursuit of cultists fleeing on motorcycle collapsed irretrievably in the face of the new evidence from the victim.

    That raises question on the business of the vigilante group with the fight against financial and internet fraud. What is the business of such ad hoc and untrained security unit with the sophistication posed by financial and wire fraud?

    The dismissal of the erring operatives and the account of the incident by Jennifer have put a lie to the claim that they were pursuing cultists. Ironically, nothing was again heard of their encounter with the touted cultists. And if one may ask, were the suspected cultists riding on motorcycles males or females? In the unlikely situation that they were females, why did the security outfit beam its searchlight on the female corps member?

    All this leads to the inescapable conclusion that the operatives ran into trouble because of their insistence in searching the phones and laptops of the corps member for alleged involvement in internet fraud. Extortion and the desire to invade the privacy of the female corps members may have been behind that show of shame. It is inconceivable how the search and subsequent damage of phones and laptops will aid the unmasking of cultists.

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    Nonetheless, it is good a thing the Anambra State government moved quickly to fish out the culprits and has dismissed them from the services of the organisation. This should serve as a serious lesson to all those in similar positions that brazenly violate the rights of citizens without regard to due process and the rule of law.

    Perhaps, Jennifer’s case attracted prompt attention of the authorities because she is a youth corps member. Who knows the number of innocent citizens that have been so serially assaulted and harmed without attracting public notice? This is not the first time that the security outfit and others floated by state governments would be embroiled in human rights’ abuse controversy.

    Last February, their operation in Owerre-Ezukala, Orumba South LGA in which they claimed to have killed a good number of unknown gunmen and arrested others was marred by controversy. Villagers and relatives of three construction workers killed during the process and tagged unknown gunmen had staged serious protests proclaiming their innocence.

    The three consisting of a welder and tiler were said to be working in a church building when they were attacked and killed. Ironically, one of them was from Soludo’s hometown, Isuofia. A brother to the welder gave a chilling account of a scene depicting the Agunechemba security operatives celebrating the feat with a display of his brother’s welding equipment as evidence of his involvement in criminality. Allegations of indiscriminate arrests and extortion as bail conditions have also been freely traded against the outfit. But all these changed nothing.

    When Emeakayi said this singular incident marked a turning point in reforming the security outfit and restoring public confidence in it, he knows exactly what he was talking about. If it took the assault on the corps member for the state government to come to terms with that reality, so be it. That is by no means a vote of no confidence on the reasons behind the proliferation of such quasi security outfits in recent times.

    Agunechemba is not alone in the rising allegations of rights abuses and extra-judicial killings by quasi security outfits floated by state governments in the wake of the cascading insecurity across the country. Amnesty International documented several cases of human rights abuses by the Ebubeagu security operatives in Ebonyi and other states in the southeast.

    These include the killing of four persons and injuring of others in October 2021 at Amasiri community in Afikpo North LGA of Ebonyi State as well as accusations of its deployment to supress opposition.

    Its research also showed that Orlu, Orsu, Okigwe and ideato all in Imo State, were at some points under attacks by Ebubeagu operatives. The group was fingered in the killing of 14 youths in Awomama in the Oru East LGA of the state on July 2022. It has also been accused of suppressing opposition in the state.

    Agunechemba like others of its kind is a child of circumstance. It is borne out of the multi-dimensional insecurity across the country in the face of the inability of the conventional law enforcement agencies to effectively tame the monster. But their operations have been dogged by accusations of rights violation and extra-judicial killings.

    They post a record of largely ill-trained, ill-equipped and overzealous lot unable to rise to the exigencies of their sensitive offices. These manifest quite often in their constant resort to high-handedness and human rights violations as seen in the corps member’s ordeal.  If the state governments must continue to retain their services, they must upgrade the quality of their personnel and properly train them on rules of engagement in civilized and democratic setting.

    Ironically, their conduct has continued to create doubts on the propriety of the current agitations for state police.

  • Beyond Ayinde, Emmanson’s reprieve

    Beyond Ayinde, Emmanson’s reprieve

    Federal government’s reprieve for popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde Marshall and Comfort Emmanson for their unruly conduct while boarding the aircraft to their respective destinations, must have come to many as a huge surprise.

    Given the circumstance the pardon came, it struck as a hurried intervention to resolve allegations of selective justice arising from the handling of the two embarrassing incidents. It is not surprising that the reprieve has since divided opinion across the board. What were the issues?

    Ayinde and Emmanson were in two separate incidents involved in unruly conducts while travelling to Lagos from Abuja and Calabar respectively through different flights. The Fuji musician’s case arose from his refusal to surrender a flask suspected to contain alcohol while boarding a flight to Lagos.

    Under pressure from the airline staff, he allegedly splashed the contents of the flask on some of the staff including the pilot who came down from the cockpit when the incident was disrupting flight take-off. As the aircraft was about to taxi off leaving Ayinde behind, he quickly moved to the front of the plane to prevent it from take-off which posed serious security risk both to his life, the plane and its passengers.

    His conduct led to public condemnation even as the pilot was not spared for attempting to move the aircraft while the musician and some other airport staff were still standing in front of the plane. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) subsequently placed a six-month no-fly list on Ayinde and lodged a complaint with the Inspector-General of the Police (IGP). The pilot and the first officer of the flight were not spared as their licenses were equally suspended.

    Before the dust raised by the musician’s behaviour settled, another serious security breach involving a female passenger in another airline flying to Lagos occurred. This time, one Comfort Emmanson who allegedly refused to switch off her phone as the flight was taxing to take-off was at the centre of the fracas. Reports had it that on refusing to switch off her phone after pleas from the cabin attendant, a passenger sitting close-by had to snatch the phone and switched it off.

    Events took another turn on arrival at Lagos airport as Emmanson allegedly attacked the cabin crew inside the aircraft. As the situation deteriorated, posing serious danger to the aircraft, the crew called for reinforcement from those on ground who rushed into the plane and forcefully dragged down Emmanson in circumstances that exposed her body indecently.

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    The scene at the tarmac was really riotous as the lady virtually attacked anyone that tried to restrain her. It did no good to the image of the country.

    She was immediately taken into custody and subsequently arraigned at a Magistrate Court. Her inability to fulfil her bail conditions landed her at the Kirikiri custodial centre same day. The airline also placed her on a permanent travel ban.

    But the swiftness s with which Emmanson was arraigned in court and remanded in custodial centre, quickly elicited accusations of selective justice. This was especially so, given that Ayinde who was involved in an earlier breach of airport security and misconduct was allowed to go home free. Faced with this allegation, the NCAA was to explain that they had reported the Fuji musician’s case to the IGP as they lacked the powers to prosecute such offenders. They further explained that it was the airline Emmanson boarded that took her matter to court and not NCAA.

    That was the setting when the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo announced the discontinuation of the prosecution of the two suspects. The minister said in a statement that he conferred with Ibom Airline to withdraw the complaint against Emmanson and the leadership of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and got their agreement to lift the life ban on her.

    In the same vein, the NCAA is to reduce the flight ban on Ayinde to one month even as “FAAN will also work with the music star with a view to engaging him as an ambassador for proper airport security protocol going forward”, Keyamo said. He also directed the restoration of the licenses of the pilot and first officer of the VALUEJET Airline after a period of one-month ban.

    The minister rationalised the decisions on compassionate grounds even as he warned “government will never pander to base sentiments, politically motivated views or warped legal opinions when clear encroachment of our laws are involved”. It is not clear whom these warnings are directed to.

    But the government had been accused of selective application of justice given the seeming different standards in the handling of the two unruly behaviours. Before the minister’s intervention and subsequent reprieve for the duo, there had been calls for the trial of Ayinde for his unruly behaviour.

    Thus, the reprieve for Ayinde and Emmanson would appear a convenient escape route out of the contradictions raised by allegations of selective justice in the handling of the two incidents. That may well be. But the reprieve has not completely addressed that contradiction.

    These contradictions underscore the absurdity in engaging either Ayinde or Emmanson as good ambassadors for proper airport security protocols. The aphorism, you cannot give what you don’t have should be instructive in the circumstance. It is not possible to place nothing on something and expect positive outcomes. It is one thing to pardon them for their unruly conduct and another ballgame to reward misconduct.

    Such roles should be reserved for persons who have over time, exhibited exemplary behaviour in airport security protocols, if such standards of assessment exist. Rewarding misbehaviour would serve wrong messages. Even then, there are other acts of indiscipline airport staff and cabin crew contend with in their daily operations.

    Take the case of orderly disembarkation for instance. Just before an aircraft taxies to a halt, copious announcements are made on the need for passengers to disembark in orderly and responsible manner-row by row. The announcers sometimes go further to explain that the measure is to avoid loss of personal belongings associated with disorderly disembarkation. What do you get thereafter?

    As soon as the aircraft stops, some people at the back quickly leave their seats and rush towards the front in utter defiance of the security measures for which orderly and row by row exit was put in place. This writer saw this in action in an Abuja-Lagos flight on Monday August, 4, a day before the incident involving the Fuji musician occurred. And it is a regular feature in disembarkation protocols.

    In the instance cited, at least three passengers from the rear defied that security protocol to the protestations of other passengers. Those inconvenienced by the disorderly conducts grumbled aloud, others hissed even as shouts of Naija, Naija rented the air. So, it is not just enough to blame airport staff for not managing crises or misconduct effectively. The suffocating indiscipline by the citizenry is the issue to contend with.

    The message embedded in shouts of Naija, Naija speaks eloquently of the larger indiscipline and moral decay that permeate the entire fabric of our society. Crass indiscipline, disregard for rules and orderly conduct have become so pervasive that one begins to ask how we got into this mess.

     Though not entirely new, the situation appears to be getting worse by the day. Incidentally, it is difficult for any country to make reasonable progress with undisciplined and disorderly citizenry – one that breaks rules at will or seeks loopholes to sabotage well intended policies. That is the miserably position the country has found itself.

    It requires ethical and moral revolution to reverse the ruinous trend. A country ensnared in such huge moral deficits should not be seen trivialising serious acts of indiscipline bordering on brazen breach of airport security protocols. Ironically, that is the impression the proposal to make the music star an ambassador to proper airport security protocol conveys.

  • Anioma as sixth southeast state?

    Anioma as sixth southeast state?

    Even as the propriety of creating new states in the country remains a moot issue, some developments from the current agitations ought to be placed in their appropriate places. This is more so, to obviate complications in the trend and dimensions the current agitations are taking.

    Events from the recent zonal public hearing by the National Assembly highlighted how rancour can impact negatively on a smooth exercise at state creation. These issues hinge largely on the appropriateness of creating additional states in the face of inability of many of the present ones to sustain themselves, the areas that should constitute the new states and their places within the existing geo-political zones.

    There was also the issue of whether the six zonal structure will serve the country better than replicating states that lack financial viability. Media speculations that the National Assembly had approved the creation of a certain number of states also had a role in heating up the political space.

    This compelled the senate president, Godswill Akpabio, to issue a statement denying that senate had approved the creation of additional states. Though he acknowledged that 42 proposals for new states were received by the constitution review committee, none had scaled through the full rigours of the legislative process.  His warning to communities against organising meetings or mobilization efforts over proposed states that have not been legally established speaks eloquently of the seeming confusion in which the matter has been embroiled.

     At the public hearing in Owerri, Imo State, the disagreement bordered on whether the six geo-political zones or the states should form the basis of relationship with the central government in view of the insolvency of many of the present states.

    But at the public hearing in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the main issue of contention was whether the proposed Anioma State should be part of the Southeast or the South-south geo-political zone. The disagreement emanated from a bill sponsored by the senator representing Delta North district, Ned Nwoko, for the creation of Anioma State from the present Delta State to form the sixth southeast state.

    The senator had sought to justify his proposal for Anioma State to become the sixth southeast state on grounds of the common ancestry, heritage, language, common culture and social life that exist between the Igbo of the southeast and the Anioma people of Delta State in the south-south zone

    According to the senator, he was propelled in the journey by the conviction of his forebears who stood for the unification of the Igbos across what now stands as more than seven states. He went at lengths to showcase the surfeit of human, material and other nature-endowed resources that attest to the viability of the proposed state.

    But at the Uyo public hearing, the Ndokwa ethnic nationality complained of not being allowed to make presentation at the occasion. In a statement by the Ndokwa Neku Union, the apex socio-cultural and economic body representing the Ukwuani and Ndosumili people of Delta North, they said their communities belong to the south-south geo-political zone.

     According to the group, “the attempt to subsume their people into the southeast zone through the backdoor of Anioma State creation is not just a geographical error but an affront to their heritage”, querying that if the goal is to create a state that unites Delta North or to forcefully realign ethnic groups based on narrow agenda, the group said they are not against the creation of Anioma State but the attempt to subsume it under the southeast zone.

    There are also reservations from the southeast zone not on the demand for the creation of Anioma State but the attempt to make it the sixth state of the southeast zone. Even as many of the issues raised by Nwoko on similarities in culture, language, affinity and social life between the people of Anioma and the Igbo cannot be faulted, the attempt to make it the sixth southeast state is bound to run into serious problems.

    The demand for the creation of an additional state for the southeast has a long history borne out of the inequities of the current state structure in the country. Apart from the Northwest that has seven states, the two other zones in the northern divide have six states each. In the south, the southwest and south-south have six states each while the southeast trails behind them all with just five states.

    So, agitations for more states since the last exercise by the military had been dominated by the demand for the creation of one additional state to bring the southeast at par with other zones in the country. It was based on the regularity and unassailable justification for this demand that the last National Conference convened by the Jonathan regime approved one additional state for the southeast to bring it at par with others except the northwest. Delegates at that conference were unanimous on that singular demand even before they finally agreed for 18 states for the country.

    In their recommendation, each of the six zones was to get three states with one additional state for the southeast to make for equity, balance and fairness. It was also designed to redress the zone’s disadvantage in revenue allocation from the federation account, poor representation at the National Assembly and other suffocating inequalities arising from being confined to five states.

     Beside this, the history of the sixth state for the southeast is inexorably linked to the pattern of state creation in the country. Under the 12-states structure, the area now known as the southeast was named East Central State. The next exercise at state creation saw it split into Anambra and Imo states.

    Anambra and Imo were further split into Enugu and Abia states. While Anambra gave birth to Enugu State, Imo gave delivery to Abia State. Enugu and Abia states were later to enter into marriage and delivered Ebonyi State in the last state creation exercise.

    Incidentally, the way states evolved in the southeast had a key role in the pattern of agitations for a sixth state from that geo-political zone. That demand is also linked to the structure of the local governments of the five states. The two oldest states of Imo and Anambra have the largest number of local governments because; after giving birth to Enugu and Abia states, they have remained in their original forms. But Abia and Enugu have since been split to form Ebony State.

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    A breakdown of the number of local governments in the five states will drive this point home. Imo has 27 local governments, Anambra 21, Abia 17, Enugu 17 and Ebonyi 13. These figures are highlighted because in the initial demands for the creation of an additional state for the southeast, the main consideration was that it should be carved out of Imo and Anambra states based on the history of states’ creation in the zone in addition to the size of their local governments.

    That was why the initial agitation for the creation of the sixth state from the southeast revolved around Orlu and later Njaba states from Imo on account of the size of its local governments. These were to give way for Anim state -amalgam of some local government areas in Imo and Anambra states in view of their high numbers. They were later joined by Adada and Aba State agitations when the tempo took an upward swing.

    This historical background to the agitation for the creation of an additional state for the southeast is highlighted to demonstrate the absurdity in current campaign by Nwoko for the creation of the sixth southeast state from outside that geo-political zone. That is the daunting challenge the senator has to face in the attempt to subsume Anioma State as the sixth state of the southeast.

    Not only does it run contrary to the current calibration of the six zonal structure, it is bound to throw spanners in the quest by the southeast to redress years of inequity in states’ structure. It will further widen that inequality with more grave consequences for the people of the zone.

    Anioma is currently within the south-south geo-political divide irrespective of the affinities their people share with the Igbo in the southeast. There are also Igbos sharing the same similarities in culture, religion and language in other zones. Even then, other major ethnic groups in the country somehow, share in similar challenges.

    Unless we recalibrate the six zonal structure or reconfigure other governance constructs guiding relations between the centre and its constituents, Anioma as the sixth southeast state cannot fly. But the campaign for Anioma State is not new. It was one of the states explicitly recommended for the south-south by the last Constitutional Conference. Their people are still entitled to that demand.

    It is improbable the current National Assembly will successfully midwife the creation of new states before their tenure elapses. Where that is possible and Anioma satisfies the standards, it should be created without delay but as part of the south-south geo-political zone where it rightfully belongs.

  • The Idea to killings

    The Idea to killings

    What could be the motive behind the indiscriminate killing of about 20 innocent people by gunmen in three communities in the Ideato North Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State? That is the searing puzzle security agencies especially, the state police command must have to untangle.

    Unmasking those behind the dastardly and senseless killings is made more urgent given the early suspicion raised by the state police command on those responsible for the killings. The police had in a statement by its spokesman, Henry Okoye, fingered the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB and the Eastern Security Network ESN for alleged culpability.

    According to them, seven people died from the attacks with several others injured even as they assured the deployment of adequate intelligence and operational assets to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators to justice. That is the public expectation from the organisation.

    But the penchant by our security agencies to look at just one direction each time such killings occur may be part of the reasons such malfeasance festers. The danger in one-lead approach is that it forecloses other possible angles including the culpability of fifth columnists.

     And when that angle fails to yield positive results, it would have been too late for the security agencies to access other set of vital evidence to aid thorough and meaningful investigations. Their inability to resolve many of the puzzles thrown up by the cascading criminality across the country, may in part, be pinned down to the indecent haste with which conclusions are reached on possible crime suspects even before any arrest is made.

    The seeming culture of holding IPOB culpable for all manner of crimes even before any arrest is made has also curiously found favour in the slant of some newspaper headlines. A recent report by a national daily had the above headline: “Police burst IPOB/ESN syndicates in Imo, rescue over 100 victims”. In the body of the main story, the evidence the spokesman of the state police command provided was that of the arrest of 2,785 suspects implicated in serious offences such as kidnapping, terrorism, murder, armed robbery, cultism and child trafficking.

    Though the police said they also arrested some high-profile members of the IPOB/ESN and recovered high grade weapons in their camp in Njaba, they were just part of the 2,785 criminals nabbed. There is no attempt to absolve the IPOB/ESN from any culpability. Not at all! But the tendency to narrow down all criminalities in the zone to the IPOB/ESN no doubt, obfuscates the real nature, dimensions and character of the unceasing insecurity in that region.

     In the Ideato incident, three gunmen riding on a motorbike had penultimate week, spontaneously attacked three communities-Umualaoma, Ndiejezie and Ndiakunwata Uno. The marauders on approaching the communities’ commercial centres, opened fire on shop owners, their customers and others relaxing around the vicinity.

    Accounts of the exact time of the incident vary. While some reports had it that the attackers struck between 10 and 11 pm, the President General of Umualaoma community, Chikezie Oguejiofor, said in a statement that it happened around 8.21 pm with nine of their people killed for no reason. Differences in the time of the attacks may not be entirely strange given the time it took the killers to access the three communities.

     Oguejiofor captured the mood of the Umualaoma people when he described the killings as a dark moment in the history of the community. The same gunmen after attacking Umualaoma, rode through Ndiejezie and Ndiakunwata on the same stretch of the road that same night and left in their trail deaths, sorrow and awe. Eyewitnesses said the gunmen shot sporadically as they rode through the road linking the three communities without alighting from their motorbike.

    They shot all through the road targeting anybody on sight. Some of the lucky victims were heard lamenting the relative ease with which the gunmen shot indiscriminately at innocent people without any provocation wondering what could be the motive.

    Not unexpectedly, the incident has left the communities and their environs perplexed and in great trepidation. It has begun to take a toll on economic and social activities as people fear to venture outside their homes or gather in the open.

    The incident has exposed the vulnerability of the affected communities and others in the state. It should be a thing of immense worry that three gun-trotting criminals in a motorbike could attack and inflict mortal harm on three communities in a sequence without any resistance or trace. It spoke volumes on the porosity of the security situation in the state. The police have promised to unravel the masterminds of the criminality. Good!

    But as important as the unmasking of the culprits is, the overall target should be on credible intelligence gathering and crime prevention. When crimes are nipped at the bud, the police may have no cause to point accusing fingers in one direction to save face even when they are yet to make any arrests.

    That brings to question the role of the quasi security outfits floated by the state government and the various vigilante groups in the various communities in situations like this. Why were they not activated as the attacks spread through the three communities? This underscores the imperative to rejig and align the roles of such quasi security outfits and the community vigilante to work with the security agencies to secure rural communities. If gunmen could attack three communities in such a sequence without intervention from any quarters, that could embolden other criminal elements into extreme lawlessness.

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    The Ideato incident is not alone in the cycle of violence afflicting the state in particular and the southeast region. Just last June, the Agwa community in the Oguta LGA of Imo State was thrown into confusion after it was attacked thrice in two weeks by suspected herdsmen. The last attack which attracted serious outrage left five people killed, three kidnapped with others sustaining varying degrees of injury.

    Eye witnesses gave chilling accounts of how the heavily armed attackers stormed the community in broad daylight, shooting at sight anybody they saw on their way. In the two earlier attacks on the community, the suspects also shot sporadically resulting to the death of a pregnant woman.

    Tempers rose so high that the state police command had to issue a statement pledging their commitment to get the culprits tracked down through coordinated search operation across targeted locations, including forests areas and suspected hideouts.

    The anger and despair generated by the attacks on the Agwa people in the homes was so palpable. A subsequent meeting of stakeholders of the area convened by the state Commissioner of Police to find solutions to the attacks was quite revealing. Agwa community, in a letter they submitted at the occasion bared their mind, “we are afraid that if there are no urgent actions taken by the government to prevent future reoccurrence of this evil from herdsmen, Agwa youths may resort to self-defence”.

    That is a measure of the extent issues had degenerated and the vulnerability of the communities to attacks from sundry marauders. Their demand for the setting up of a joint security taskforce along the Ejemekwuru-Agwa road to guard against further bloodshed and contain the movement and operations of criminal elements in their clan further amplifies the dire insecure environment the communities live in.

    The list of such attacks, killings and kidnapping of innocent people for ransom and other criminal intentions around the south east landscape is endless even as many of them do not attract public attention anymore.

    Curiously, in the face of this multi-faceted criminality in the southeast, what gets often highlighted is the IPOB/ESN angle as if the technology for crimes’ committal is their exclusive preserve. Those who toe this path may have their reasons. But such fixation goes with the risk of masking other enablers and purveyors of the multi-dimensional insecurity assailing the country.

     The Ideato killings present a new but dangerous dimension to the cascading insecurity in the country. Its motive is one the security agencies must work to unravel.

  • A new constitution or amended version?

    A new constitution or amended version?

    The debate on whether Nigeria’s national questions are best addressed through an entirely new constitution or amended version resonated last week. It formed a major plank of the resolutions of The Patriots after their national summit on “The Future of Nigeria’s Constitutional Democracy”, held in Abuja.

    It could also be discerned from the reported disagreement between governors, Alex Otti and Hope Uzodinma of Abia and Imo states respectively on the desirability of creating more states in the country. The issue is no less evident in the refutation by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio of reports that the National Assembly has approved the creation of additional states.

    The Patriots are a group of elder statesmen and women and diverse interest groups led by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth in collaboration with the Nigerian Political Summit Group (NPSG)

    In a communique at the end of their summit, they “agreed that the 1999 constitution (as amended) is deeply flawed and unrepresentative in that it was not made by the people and is inadequate for addressing the country’s pluralism and the various challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation”. They were also in unison on the need for a new people-driven, inclusive, democratic constitution anchored on true federalism.

    To actualise this and other reforms, the summit agreed that the president be requested to introduce an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC organise elections to a National Constituent Assembly of delegates elected on a non-partisan basis. It shall be the responsibility of the Constituent Assembly to actualise a peoples’ democratic constitution that will be subjected to a referendum before it is assented to by the president to midwife a peoples’ democratic constitution, The Patriots further agreed.

    The issues raised by The Patriots are not entirely new. They formed the basis for the National Political Reforms Conference of the Obasanjo era and the National Conference organised by the Jonathan regime. But as fate would have it, none of them was implemented before those regimes wound up. The Patriots want the current constitution to give way for an entirely new democratic one by the people through representatives elected on a non-partisan basis and anchored on true federalism. 

    Other key recommendations are the restructuring of the six geo-political zones to ensure true federalism, devolution of powers to reduce excess power concentration at the centre and electoral reforms.  They want amendments to the Electoral Act and the relevant sections of the 1999 constitution (as amended) for Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic transmission of results in real time to be made mandatory.

    Barring elected officials from defecting to another political party before the end of their tenure or lose their seats if they switch camps, equity in statutory rotation of headship of national security agencies among sub-national units, creation of state police and secularity of the Nigerian state are other item for constitutional amendment.

    At the zonal public hearing on constitutional amendments by the House of Representatives in Owerri, Governor Uzodinma, while making a case for the creation of additional states, faulted the idea of wholesale scrapping of the current constitution. He reasoned that “like most constitutions around the world, ours is a work in progress. Let us continue to build on it. There is no perfect constitution anywhere in the world”

    He called for the creation of at least two additional states in the southeast even as he fingered ‘Anim State’ as a priority on the ground that it will have the status of an oil producing state upon creation.

    Otti’s view on the creation of additional states in the country especially in the volume the demand is coming is that it will be an additional burden to shoulder. Though he admits state creation will address concerns of exclusion of some ethnic and religious groups in the current structure, he is for an inclusive governance model in the states, one that gives every major clan a say in the allocation of resources, a seat at the decision-making table and the structural leverage to advance their political and economic interests.

    That is the level of divergence in opinions thrown up by the propriety of creating new states. Vicariously, Uzodinma shared in Otti’s fears when he sought to justify the creation of ‘Anim State’ on the basis of oil that can be found within its soil.

    But reacting to a seeming misrepresentation of his views on state creation, Otti further explained in a statement by his media aide that he had over the years advocated a six regional structure to reduce the cost of governance. He clarified that since a zone in the north has seven states, others six with the southeast trailing with only five states, there could be an additional state for the southeast to balance the disequilibrium. But not to create new states across the geo-political zones.

    The Senate entered the fray when it issued a statement denying that the National Assembly had approved a certain number of new states. Senate President Godswill Akpabio said during plenary that although 42 proposals for new states were received by the constitution review committee, none has scaled through full rigorous legislative process.

    The issue here is not as much with state creation as the dissonance in the modalities for a constitution that accommodates and reflects the pluralities of true federalism-one capable of addressing the fundamental systemic challenges that have over the years, held down the progress and development of this country.

    Can the review substantially address the structural imbalances that nurture divisions, mutual mistrust and slide to centrifugalism among the constituents? That is the issue to contend with especially given the shape these challenges have assumed in recent times.

    That is the point driving the agitation for a new constitution and restructuring the country along the six-political zones. But there are others who do not share this view. They believe the National Assembly has all it takes to initiate constitutional amendments that will take away Nigeria from the many flaws that had stood against its progress and development. They also point at the incongruity in the advocacy for the convocation of a constituent assembly when elected members of the National Assembly are still in place.

    The issue is whether the constitution review committees of the Senate and House Representatives can in verity, actuate the fundamental changes that will satisfy equity, fairness and guarantee the pluralism of a federal governance framework. In the debate between state creation and restructuring the country along the six geo-political zones given the unviability of many states, how far can the powers of the constitution review committees go?

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    The recent creation of six regional development commissions by the federal government and the inauguration of National Assembly committees for oversight functions further raise that stakes on the desirability, value and functionality of that governance framework.

    Beyond this, the National Assembly is progressing with its constitutional review process having constituted the two committees early last year. There are no definite timelines for the committees to complete their assignments even as the deputy speaker of the House, Benjamin Kalu had promised at inauguration that the new constitution would be ready in 24 months.

     Issues for amendment by the committees include devolution of powers, fiscal federalism, state police and local government autonomy. Others are constitutional roles for traditional institutions, inclusivity, equity and women representation into elective and appointive positions. Comprehensive electoral reforms to address the gaps identified in the 2023 general elections as well as the strengthening of greater institutional accountability also featured prominently in the agenda of the review committees.

    There is a common thread around the items for urgent constitutional review by The Patriots and the National Assembly. The only point of disagreement is that while The Patriots want the 1999 constitution thrown overboard, the National Assembly views incremental changes as the way out.

    Perhaps, this disagreement is fuelled by a seeming lack of confidence in the capacity of the National Assembly to come up with far-reaching changes-ones that will realistically and substantially address the contentious issues of our federal order. The body language of the National Assembly especially its inability to stand up as an independent arm of the government has not helped matters.

    The nation is facing serious systemic stress, tilting it to the precipice. This makes fundamental constitutional amendments imperative. Devolving more powers to the constituents including fiscal federalism, state police and local government autonomy are issues to be resolved before the next elections. It is time to fill the gaps created by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on local government autonomy.

    But all these may come to naught, if the National Assembly fails to review the Electoral Act and relevant sections of the constitution to make BVAS and electronic transmission of results in real time mandatory. It is nigh impossible to conceive of a democratic constitution when the lynchpin on which the wheels of democracy (free, fair and credible elections) revolves is heavily flawed.

  • Interrogating kidnap rescue claims

    Interrogating kidnap rescue claims

    Claims and counter claims between security agencies and the public on who takes credit for the freedom of kidnap victims, especially in circumstances ransom was paid are increasingly growing by the day. Though the government and security agencies have severally cautioned against ransom payments, the fact remains that many kidnap victims have had to secure their release from captivity through that process. That fact is no longer hidden.

    The ubiquity and complexity of kidnap cases in the face of inability by the security architecture to find a handle to many of them have left victims at the mercy of all manner of marauders. Many have been killed by their captors for inability to pay ransom even as others have been maimed for life due to torture.

    For fear of torture and death, victims do all within their powers to cough out huge sums of money to save their lives. Curiously, after this ransom has been paid and victims released, you find security agencies issuing statements assigning credit to their efforts for the eventual release of such victims.

    Ironically, those who pay ransom for their freedom do not take kindly to such bogus claims due largely to the dire circumstances such funds were raised. In many instances, victims were incarcerated in captivity for months without end only to be released after ransom was paid. It is not surprising that those who secured their freedom through ransom payment are easily piqued each time security agencies seek to appropriate credit for their freedom.

    A case in point was last week’s outcry by the Chief Imam of Uromi Central Mosque, Edo State, Sheikh Muhammad Murtadha Obhakhobo against the claim by the police that they rescued him from kidnappers who abducted him along the Ubiaja-illushi road. He was piqued that the police sought to take credit for his release even when they had no role in it.

    The Edo State Police Command had in a statement by its spokesperson, Moses Yamu said it was “pleased to inform the public that Moritada Obhakhobo, the Chief Imam of Uromi, was released by his abductors on July 13th,2025 due to the intense and sustained pressure mounted by our operatives”.  According to the statement, on receiving the report, the command launched a robust manhunt for the perpetrators, deploying tactical teams and collaborating with the local vigilante to track down the assailants and rescue the victim. The state’s police commissioner also commended the efforts of the operatives involved in the rescue action.

     Curiously, the police account on the date of the kidnap did not tally with that provided by the kidnap victim. The police said the incident occurred on July 7, and was reported at the Uromi Police Divisional Headquarters the following day. But the Imam’s account recorded the incident to have taken place on July 9.

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    Besides, the Imam faulted police account of their involvement in the rescue operation. Hear him: “I am Imam Muhammad Murtadha Obhakhobo, the Chief Imam of Uromi Central Mosque in Edo central. I was kidnapped on July 9, 2025 along Ubiaja-Illushi road. I just got information from the newspapers where the police are trying to take credit for doing nothing. I got myself released with the sum of N6.5 million on the 13th of July 2025”.

    The Chief Imam recounted that when he returned home, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Uromi, visited him to gather information on his abduction and subsequent release, wondering how the same police could now ascribe credit to themselves for the role they did not play. As far as the Imam is concerned, his release was as a result of private efforts and the payment of substantial ransom.

    Before this incident, the kidnap and freedom of a 64-year old Irish Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Luigi Brenna while watching football game by boys in the Somascan community playing ground in Ovia West Local Government Area of the same Edo State, was also embroiled in similar controversy. That time, it was between the police and the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin.

    Edo State police had claimed that when they received the information of the kidnap, their operatives immediately swung into action tracing the suspects to their camp. According to them, on sighting their operatives, the criminals opened fire on them. They were overpowered by police’ superior fire power with three of the criminals neutralised. The rest scampered into the forest abandoning their victim. The police said they rescued the victim and rushed him to Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital, Okada for medical treatment.

    Apparently not satisfied with the police account, the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin issued a statement to put the circumstances of the kidnap straight. A statement by the Archdiocese recounted how the priest was watching a football game by boys in the community playing ground, on Sunday July 3,2022, when suspected herdsmen stormed the venue and shot sporadically.

    The boys scampered at the sound of gunshots while Fr, Luigi made to run into his apartment before he was captured by the assailants. They beat him, used machete to hit his head and body and dragged him away. After about half an hour trekking and dragging the statement said, they gave him more beating for resisting to follow them. He fainted after the renewed beating. Sensing that he may have died, his captors abandoned him and disappeared from the scene.

    The Archdiocese said on regaining consciousness, Fr. Luigi went home in a pool of blood only to be rushed to the Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital Okada by some of his colleagues who came out from hiding. The next day, he was taken to another hospital.

    These are just two instances. There are many other accounts of contradicting claims from the police on its role in kidnap victims’ freedom that did not go down well with those involved in ransom negotiations and payment. In the first case cited, the police claimed the release of the Imam was due to their sustained pressure while in that of Fr. Luigi they even gave account of how they neutralised three of the criminals after heavy gunfire. The yawning gaps in the narratives are there for every discerning mind.

    Even if we are minded to tolerate police narrative that sustained pressure from them compelled the criminals to abandon the Uromi Iman, how much value should we assign to such claims in circumstances ransom was paid? That is the issue to contend with.

    This puzzle is further highlighted by a recent altercation involving the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on their role in the release from captivity, of former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Maharazu Tsiga (retd). The exchange followed a viral WhatsApp message by Brigadier-General Ismaila Abdullahi which claimed that some retired and serving military officers contributed money to pay the ransom demanded by Tsiga’s abductors for his release. The message further stated that the funds were paid into his account which was provided by Tsiga’s son, Kamal and thanked all those who contributed.

    But this incurred the ire of the DHQ. Its spokesman, Brigadier-General Tukur Gusau was quick to describe Abdullahi’s claims as “misleading” and “a calculated attempt to undermine the military’s dedicated efforts” to combat terrorism and rescue abducted citizens. Gusau said troops responded within hours of the abduction and launched series of search-and-rescue operation in conjunction with the air components.

    According to him, intelligence-led air raids on Dunya Hill – a known stronghold of terrorists disrupted the kidnappers and enabled the escape of several captives. Though Tsiga was unable to flee due to ill-health, DHQ said another captive, Barau Garba, a local teacher who was with him was rescued and reunited with his family.

    Here again, we are confronted with the puzzle of how much value to assign the sustained pressure by the military in situations where substantial ransom was paid before captives’ freedom? This is by no means to undermine the efforts of the security agencies in the war against kidnapping and all manners of violent crimes.

    Tsiga corroborated the efforts by the air component in the sustained pressure on the terrorists by the DHQ when he admitted that such air raids were the only response the terrorists feared most. He also gave a lucid account of how the terrorists used the captives as shield on the approach of fighter jets.

    All that can be admitted. But, if such pressure was not enough to get the captives released until negotiations were concluded with the terrorists and huge sums of money paid, can we reasonably wish away the influence of money in the circumstance? More so, when the captives had stayed so long in the dens of the terrorists as in Tsiga’s case?

    That is the dilemma thrown up by the manner the DHQ reacted to Abdullahi’s post. This may be an isolated case. But not for the Nigerian police that are in the habit of taking credit for the rescue they had no hand in. The encounter of the Chief Imam of Uromi Central Mosque and Fr. Luigi bear this out. But they denote a worrying trend in the success claims the police institution regularly assigns itself. The police are neither omniscience nor omnipotent. It would amount to wishful thinking to expect that they must find solutions to all crimes. Not at all! Bandying rescue claims that are easily faulted, whittles down public confidence in that institution. It is high time they refrained from bogus, false claims.

  • Cybercrime syndicates of foreigners

    Cybercrime syndicates of foreigners

    Nothing illustrates the mortal risk to Nigeria’s national security than the disclosure by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) of the successful prosecution and conviction of 146 foreign nationals out of the 194 arrested in the country last year for various financial crimes.

    Though heart-warming, the fact that such a high number of foreign cybercriminals operated within our shores, says a lot on the vulnerability of the country to external sabotage. Who knows the number of others that have been evading security detection and the incalculable harm their devious activities have wrought on the national economy?

    Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede said at the opening ceremony of the International Cybersecurity Conference in Abuja that the foreigners were arrested last year for various forms of financial crimes and activities inimical to the economic growth and development of the country.

     A majority of them were said to have posed as Nigerians with stolen identities to defraud unsuspecting individuals and institutions in the country while Nigerians are being accused wrongly for the crimes. The convicted foreigners would be made to serve their jail terms in the country before being repatriated to their home countries.

    It is good a thing the EFCC arraigned and secured the conviction of the 146 foreigners out of the 194 it arrested for sundry cybercrimes. The promptness of the arraignments and subsequent convictions will no doubt, send a clear message on the zero tolerance of the country to cybercrimes, especially those driven by foreigners.

    But the arrests and conviction of this high number of foreign criminals in just one year, highlights the pervasiveness of cybersecurity crimes in the country. In December 2024, the commission arrested 792 suspects for alleged involvement in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scam. This followed its sting operation in a seven-storey building in Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Subsequent profiling of the suspects showed that 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, and two Kharzartans were the brains behind the phoney fraud company which could easily be mistaken as the corporate headquarters of a major financial establishment. But behold, all that took place in that imposing edifice was nothing but cybercrime operations.

    The foreign syndicate used the facility to train their Nigerian accomplices on how to initiate romance and investment scams deploying their identities to that effect. It is not clear how long they operated in the building before being detected by the security agencies.

    But the fact that such imposing edifice employing so many Nigerians and located at the heart of Nigeria’s commercial centre, could be deployed for criminal activity, illustrates most poignantly the porosity of our national environment. In saner climes, it will be nigh impossible for foreigners to set up a phoney company in that manner, employ many of its nationals without someone raising an eyebrow.

    Even then, with the burgeoning high unemployment rate in the country, those lucky to secure jobs with the cybercrime company may not see the compunction to report them to the law enforcement agencies which may come with job loss. That is part of the uncanny contradiction. It is also possible that some of the Nigerian employee may not even understand the real nature of the business they were employed to carry out. 

    Another syndicate of fraudsters specialising on hotel review scam targeting mostly victims in the United Kingdom, (UK) was busted at Abudu Garba Street, Gudu within the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Abuja. Of the 105 suspects apprehended, four were Chinese while the rest Nigerians. 100 compact workstations were recovered from the Chinese who employed computer savvy Nigerians to work for them usually as customer service representatives.

    Their modus operandi is to train the Nigerians to work on prepared templates of criminality online. The foreign bosses give fake identities and assign foreign names to their Nigerian employees through which they chat with foreigners making false representations to them. When once the criminal business is about to be consummated, the Chinese takes over the discussions and shuts off the Nigerian employees to deny them knowledge of the eventual sum scammed.

    These are the high-profile foreign cybercrime financial syndicates smashed by the EFCC. There are many other arrests and smashing of cyber criminals across the country both of foreign and local hue. But as key to the war against sundry cybercrimes as the arrest and prosecution of offenders is, the objective factors that predispose Nigeria as safe haven for foreign-led criminal rings are issues to consider.

    A total of 5,049 cybercriminal domains and networks were taken down by the Cyber Hawks unit of the Nigerian Police in 2024 alongside arrests and seizures of electronic devices deployed for the crimes. The war against cybercrimes is no doubt, a huge challenge given its sophistication.

    Increasing reliance on technology, interconnected systems including the ease of access to cybercrime tolls and marketplaces are some of the factors that incubate cybercrimes. There is additionally the lucrative nature of cybercriminal activities.

     In the face of the lure of cybercrimes, Nigeria’s weak regulatory framework, widespread digital fraud and economic instability serve as fertile grounds for foreign-led cybercrime syndicates to take root. This is evident in the number of arrests and convictions, the relative ease with which such syndicates operate and evade the prying eyes of the security architecture.

    But how do these criminally-minded foreigners get into the country? That is the big question the relevant authorities charged with the duty of visa approvals must provide. Before then, the high number of foreign citizens involved in cybercrimes speaks eloquently of glaring loopholes and inadequacies in the processes preceding visa issuance.

    This calls for total overhaul of the visa issuing regulations by our embassies and high commission especially for citizens of countries that feature more prominently in cybercrimes within our shores. It is apparent that many of the foreigners found culpable in cybercrimes have no business being granted entry into the country in the first place.

    Besides, the yawning absence of a cybersecurity centre with the capacity to detect and promptly respond to cybercrime attacks in the face of the spreading scourge has not helped matters. It has become imperative for the relevant agencies to respond to the exigencies of the changing environment to stave off the easy resort of foreigners to cybercrimes while in the country.

    EFCC chairman, Olukoyede spoke along this line when he said “foreigners are taking advantage of the nation’s reputation as haven of frauds to establish a foothold here to disguise their atrocious criminal enterprise”. But he was quick to add that the EFCC through its operations has shown that there is no hiding place for foreign criminals in the country.

    Even as efforts are made to stamp out foreign-led cybercrime syndicates, the country faces the additional danger of the criminal technology they have transferred to our nationals. Our nationals trained by them still pose serious threat to economic and financial stability.

    A recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned that Chinese and Southeast Asia cybercrime rings have increasingly migrated operations to African countries including Nigeria following law enforcement crackdowns in their home countries.

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    UNODC’s acting Southeast Asia representative, Benedict Hofmann said, “The networks spread like cancer. They relocate, build and continue to exploit institutional weaknesses wherever they can”. Statistics from various sources in the country corroborate the enormity of cybersecurity crimes and attacks.

    According to Nigerian Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), businesses in the country face an average of 2,560 cyberattacks each week. Its Managing Director, Haruna Jalo-Waziri said at a 2024 cybersecurity conference in Abuja that the threat posed by the menace underscored the urgent need for robust cybersecurity measures especially with the 45 per cent increase in ransom wave attacks globally.

    All these highlight the top priority the government should place on cybersecurity because of its effects on economic stability and public trust.  Foreigners are quickly exploiting the weaknesses of our regulatory framework to sabotage the national economy. We must quickly stop that ruinous trend.

    But then, Nigerian landlords who rent their buildings to phoney cybercrime companies should be made to face severe consequences to serve as deterrent to others. It is a huge scandal that a foreign-led cybercrime company could rent a seven-storey building in the heart of Lagos, employ hundreds of Nigerians and operate with impunity before it was unmasked.

  • PDP: One step forward…

    PDP: One step forward…

    The optimism that followed the resolution of the rightful occupant of the office of the national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP at its 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting may after all, be short-lived. 

    Indications are that the decision to allow senator Samuel Anyanwu to act as the national secretary of the party may not be all it takes to end the lingering crisis in the PDP which for many years, straddled the political landscape like a colossus. Early signs of discomfort emerged when the southeast zone of the party while reacting to the decision of the NEC to recognise Anyanwu as the acting national secretary said they would take the decision home for a position on the matter.

    The zone has been insisting on the recognition of Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the authentic national secretary having been so nominated and presented to the NEC by it in keeping with the letters of the PDP constitution. They are yet to make their decision known as this was being put together. Before now, they had threatened to quit the party should Udeh-Okoye be denied that position. That threat has not been rescinded and may have informed the position of the zone to consult more on the ceding of the national secretary to Anyanwu.

    As if that development is not troubling enough, barely 24 hours after the PDP NEC’s decision to reinstate Anyanwu, key leaders of the party led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar were publicly wooing party members and other Nigerians to join a coalition under a party that was to be unveiled the following day.

    The appeal was contained in a communique signed by David Mark, a former president of the senate after a PDP coalition meeting in Abuja attended by among others, former national chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, ex- governors Aminu Tambuwal, Liyel Imoke Babangida Aliyu and Sam Egwu. Others were Ben Obi, Josephine Anenih, Austin Akobundu and Kola Ologbondiyan.

    Curiously at a press conference addressed the next day by the acting national chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun following what they called PDP National Working Committee meeting to consolidate the party unity after the reinstatement of Anyanwu as the national secretary, many of those that attended the coalition meeting sat with Damagun at the high table as he threatened consequences for members demarketing the party. Damagun had sought to use the meeting to shore up confidence that the crisis within the party has been finally resolved for good with members now speaking with one voice.

    Though David Mark was not at the meeting summoned by Damagun, he was to later officially announce his resignation from the PDP citing deepening internal divisions and leadership crises. Other coalition members who sat comfortably with Damagun, opted to hold their plans to their chests. But it is only a matter of time for their real plans to unfold. How this double dealing will fare for the overall unity, progress and stability of the PDP is a matter of conjecture.

    But Mark appeared to have set the tone for what is about to unfold when he said, “Deepening divisions, persistent leadership crises and irreconcilable differences have reduced the party to a shadow of its former self subjecting it to public ridicule”. Many of the key PDP leaders who attended both meetings share in Mark’s views regarding the current image of the PDP in the public space.

    Another evidence of festering schism is the conditions allegedly given to Anyanwu for his reinstatement. Anyanwu was reportedly asked to sign an undertaking that he would not victimise any of the staff of the party when he resumes duties before the decision to reinstate him was approved. That was not all, he was also asked to sign a guarantee that he would not obstruct the proceedings of the coming convention of the party billed for next month.

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    These conditions might appear simple but they highlight the deep-seated suspicion and mistrust within the party that could rupture any time soon. Before now, the PDP had witnessed a gale of defections with the switching of camps to the ruling APC by two of its governors, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and Umoh Eno of Akwa Ibom State. The party has also cried out that the APC government is working to lure more of its governors into its fold.

    When this threat is paired with the fact that many of the PDP leaders and supporters are neck-deep in promoting the coalition which last week adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the reality of the challenge begins to get more obvious. Mark who signed the communique urging the PDP members to join the coalition has officially resigned from the PDP to assume the position of acting national chairman of the ADC with Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State and APC chieftain acting as the national secretary. The reality on the ground is that many leaders and members of the PDP are just waiting in the wings for events to unfold before they ditch the party.

    The leadership of the party knows this clearly and may be severely handicapped in wielding the big stick in spite of its threats that amount to nothing in the face of the inability to discipline members who had been covertly and overtly working for the ruling party.

    PDP has in recent years gone through series of crisis first, starting with events leading to the 2015 elections which saw massive switching of camps to the opposition that significantly contributed to its loss of that election. But efforts to put the party into form again, suffered serious reverses following the rancorous outcome of its presidential primaries before the 2023 general elections. The furore cantered around which section of the national divide should field the presidential candidate.

    That election saw some of the PDP governors working against the party in the 2023 polls. The division that emerged during that election has continued to shape events in the party since then. At the centre of it all, is power struggles for the control of the structures of the party. The attempt by Anyanwu to return to his post of national secretary after losing the governorship election in Imo State further polarised the party along the line.

    Unceasing dispute over the rightful occupant of the national secretary’s office has been the undoing of the party, leading to a series of litigations. Opposition to the return of Anyanwu as the national secretary is in part, located in his alleged loyalty to Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT.

     Wike worked for the APC during the last presidential election and owes his             current office to that support. Many PDP leaders are not comfortable with him and fear that his control of the party may lead to its decapitation. Those who left the party in recent times cited the unceasing crisis and the damage to the image of the party.

    Even when the Supreme Court finally ruled on the disputed office of the national secretary, the judgment lent itself to varying interpretations. While Anyanwu claimed victory, the PDP relied on aspects of the ruling that affirmed the supremacy of the party over its internal affairs to hold that Udeh-Okoye who was duly nominated by the southeast zone of the party is the rightful occupant of that office.

    The apex court’s ruling was read differently by the contending parties and each position seemed right until the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC raised objections to a letter signed by Damagun informing the commission of party’s 100th NEC without the concurrent signature of the national secretary. In a subsequent meeting between INEC and the leadership of the party, their attention was drawn to the regulation requiring the signing of such letters by the chairman and secretary of the party and the inconsistency on who is the rightful occupant of that office.

    INEC read the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of Anyanwu. And the PDP was left with no other option than to have him back in that office albeit temporarily or risk convening a convention whose proceedings could be declared illegal by the courts.

    But they do not still trust him. That was why he was asked to withdraw all cases in court and sign the undertaking that he will not obstruct the proceedings of the convention. One’s reading of the conditions is that those opposed to him still fear he could manipulate the lists of delegates to have a firm hold on the structures of the party or hand over the party to Wike.

    That is the fear. Whether the mere signing of an undertaking will stave off the manipulations that have overtime stifled internal democracy within the party is a matter of time.