Category: Northern Reports

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has vowed to address the poor infrastructural development in Isokoland if elected.

Omo-Agege, who decried the infrastructural decay in Isoko and other parts of State, assured that an APC-led government will proactively tackle the developmental needs of the state.

The Delta Central lawmaker spoke on Friday during the continuation of Delta APC ward-to-ward campaign to Ozoro, Oleh and Emevor in Isoko North and Isoko South LGAs of the state.

The APC governorship candidate told cheering mammoth crowd of APC supporters that his administration will embark on urban renewal and development of Isoko communities.

He charged the people of Isoko Nation to tap into national politics by supporting APC and all their candidates in the 2023 general.

Omo-Agege posited that Deltans will reject Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s vice presidential bid at the poll by voting against him and the PDP.

“PDP has lost the presidency already. Deltans won’t allow Okowa to export his failure in Delta State to presidency. Don’t allow Okowa to deceive you, any vote casted for PDP is a wasted vote.

“I want the people of Isoko Nation to key into the politics of the ‘national grid.’ The national grid for the 2023 elections is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. If we in Delta State want to enjoy the dividends of democracy we must join Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s bandwagon because he’s the next President of Nigeria.

“We are here in Ozoro, the headquarters of Isoko North LGA. It’s an oil producing local government area. Meanwhile, Okowa is coming after the suffering he has inflicted on this local government and the entire Isoko Nation, he’s still asking you to vote PDP for another 8years.

“With all the monies (N4.2 trillion) that have come to Delta State, what’s the share of Delta North? What do you have to show? Nothing! This is the golden opportunity the Isoko people have been waiting for. Vote all APC candidates”, Omo-Agege said.

The Senate Deputy President

paid glowing tribute to the victims of the boat mishap which claimed the lives of five persons during the party’s campaign to Warri South-West LGA last year.

Omo-Agege said the victims paid the ‘supreme prize’ in their quest to liberate Delta from the maladministration of the PDP-led government of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

According to him, “Let me honour the lives of five ‘gallant Delta soldiers.’ I called them gallant soldiers because they passed in the service and the battle to liberate Delta State from the strangulation and wickedness of the Okowa administration. I want to assure them and their families today, that their sacrifice will not be in vain.

Speaking at the campaign rally, the APC Senatorial candidate for Delta South, Hon. Joel Thomas-Onowhakpor charged the people of Isoko Nation to support and massively vote for APC in the forthcoming general elections.

Thomas-Onowhakpor told crowd of APC supporters at the various wards visited that Isoko people vote the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege as next Nigeria’s President and Delta’s governor.

Others who spoke including former Delta Commissioners, Dr. Karo Ilolo and Chief (Mrs) Betty Efekodha, MC Paul, Mrs Faith Majemite and Apostle Jones Erue assured Omo-Agege of victory in next governorship election in the State.
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Immediate past Kwara Chief Judge Justice Suleiman Durosinlorun Kawu has said Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq gave him the confidence to pull through a tough moment in the twilight of his career when several petitions were written to force him out of office.

Justice Kawu retired as the Chief Judge of the state on Wednesday amid commendations for his brilliance, forthrightness, people-skills, and other good leadership qualities with which he ran the office. 

Speaking at a dinner the Governor held in his honour, Justice Kawu recalled how the Governor told him to ignore the attacks on him and continue his duties as the CJ.

“Talking about our working relationship, I remember there was an occasion when I requested for some things on behalf of the state judiciary, and Your Excellency said that My Lord, please be sure that these things you are requesting for are captured in the state budget because you didn’t want to run foul of the Procurement Act, and I assured you that I would never bring anything outside the budget. Your action, that day indicated to me that you are a law abiding citizen and leader, ” Justice Kawu said. 

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“There was also a time when, for some reasons, some issues cropped up and there were so many petitions written against me, both to me, to Your Excellency, the Kwara State House of Assembly and the NJC (National Judicial Council). It got to a time I almost fed up. 

“I booked appointment with Your Excellency one day and I told you (Governor) that I was preparing to retire as the Chief Judge of Kwara state, and if you find me wanting on three issues of being a lazy judge, corrupt, or I have used my office for political ends. I said just any of them, and I would be ready to resign. 

“And you asked me, My Lord, why did you ask this question? I replied that the petitions were too unbearable for me. I remember that you just opened your drawer and showed me some copies of the petitions, and also said, if I had not raised it, you would not have bothered to ask me. And you said ‘please my Lord, go on with your work’.

“That your action impacted me positively as it gave me the confidence that I was doing the right thing and that I could go on. May God Almighty continue to guide and protect you.”

The ceremony was attended by creme de la creme from the bar and the bench, industry, traditional institutions, and the academia. 

Justice Kawu, who appreciated the Governor for honouring him, said the dinner further attested to the fact that AbdulRazaq holds the judiciary in high esteem.

“With this dinner, Your Excellency has demonstrated that the judicial arm of government is an important arm. You have demonstrated the fact that all the three arms of government in the state must work in unity for the benefit of the people of Kwara state. You have refused to relegate the Kwara State Judiciary to the background,” he added. 

He sought the continued support of the Executive and Legislative arms of government in the state for Hon. Justice Mathew Adebara who succeeds him, noting that such will help him consolidate on the existing gains in the judiciary.

AbdulRazaq, in his response, congratulated Justice Kawu on the successful retirement after his meritorious service to the state, affirming that he enjoyed working with him as the state Chief Judge.

“I celebrate with my Lord on this momentous day. This is a day that every public servant would look forward to with joy; it is a day to cherish and to remember forever,” he said. 

He said the Lordship’s wealth of experience will continue to be of immense benefit to the state, hoping that the retired CJ will always be available to render the same support to the state and Nigeria as a whole even after retirement. 

“I want to place on record that since assuming office as Governor, I have had a cordial working relationship with Hon. Justice Kawu. In the past three and a half years, I have enjoyed his forthrightness, his commitment to duty, and his readiness to serve,” he said.

“Today marks your Lordship’s official disengagement from service. Words alone cannot express my felicitations to you on your remarkable public service duty tour spanning nearly four decades.”

The Governor thereafter handed a car key to the retired CJ, saying the retired judicial officer deserved it.

He said there are plans to do the same for other judges, saying the delay had been due to the paucity of resources.

Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of the state, Senior Ibrahim Suleiman, for his part, said the retired CJ was a jurist per excellence, who he said had laboured hard to sustain the dignity of the judiciary in the state.

He thanked AbdulRazaq for deeming it fit to honour the Chief Judge and how he has respected the principle of separation of power among the three arms of government in Kwara.

The guest speaker at the Bura Cultural Day, Prof. Hassan Bdliya, has denied insulting Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum and his administration.

He said he was also not antagonistic of the governor, who he said deserved a second term.

Bdliya said his reference to the marginalisation of the Biu people preceded Zulum and goes back 100 years.

The annual event was held on January 1 at Marama Town in Hawul Local Government.

Prof Bdliya’s paper alluded to a long history of co-existence between the dominant ethnic nationalities and the lesser ones across Nigeria, including the Bura people and the other tribes like the Kanuris in Borno.

But, Governor Zulum, who attended the event, was reported as saying it was insulting to say he was marginalising any ethnic group in the state.

The governor was quoted as saying: “I think its an insult on me for somebody to talk about marginalisation looking at the number of mega projects that we have initiated to this very important LGA and by extension in Marama town.

“I think Borno State is one. Yes, I am Kanuri by tribe but under no circumstances since I assumed office as the Governor of Borno State did I decide to sideline any tribe in Borno.

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“I was not happy with the speech of one of your elders, because this administration has performed better in Southern Borno, than even in Northern Borno.

“This is the first time Borno government had a Christian Head of Service.

“I believe we are doing our best, but we are all human beings. If there is anything wrong we did to the Bura community, we will rectify our mistake by God grace.

“What we did in terms of capital projects in this part of the state is not obtainable in Borno Central and Northern Borno.

“We constructed so many roads and primary healthcare. We built various mega schools including Biu High Islamic School.

“We built churches. We empowered your women and youths with capital and skills acquisition, among other things, all in Bura community.

“We are overhauling Marama General Hospital, built ultra modern market in Kwaya Kusar built police station.

“I offer scholarship to thousands of students in this community. I built vocational Centre in Marama.”

But, Prof. Bdliya said his comments were not targeted at Zulum as a person or his administration but alluded to history.

“I wish to clarify the context in which the aforementioned article, which cast me as an insulter of Governor Zulum, was couched.

“The journalist who wrote it apparently did not have enough time or space to present it.

“Governor Zulum in his address at the Bura Cultural Day held at Marama on January 1st 2023, did indeed express his displeasure about a statement that I made in my address as the Guest Speaker at the event.

“Among many statements that I made in the address, in the context which I now wish to clarify, I indeed did state that the people of Biu, albeit of southern Borno, are marginalised.

“The following is the context of my address:

“My aim, in tandem with the purpose of the Bura Cultural Day programme, was to contribute to the continued development of Bura culture as a tool for promoting development.

“I did this by pointing out antecedents that have predisposed us as a people to operate sub optimally. This is how.

“According to the 1963 census, the Bura/Pabir or Biu people is the 25th largest ethnic group in Nigeria.

“But due to the influence of alien civilisations or cultures (slavery, imperialism/ colonialism, Islam, Christianity, hegemony, etc), we today lack the clout that is commensurate with our numbers in the scheme of things.

“The alien civilisations have disaggregated us into small units that have made us easy objects of divide and rule, as well as domination.

“I accordingly wish to urge our people to consolidate and reclaim our clout.”

Prof. Hassan said his paper was simply “to initiate honest consultations in order to avert reactionary interactions, as we are witnessing with IPOB and Odua”.

He added: “Let us mount this horse of change while it is still trotting and steer it.

“We should not allow it to start galloping at free will to undesirable destinations.

“The national landscape is now dotted with various nationalities struggling to liberate themselves from perceived or real dominance.

“The movements for Biafra and Odua republics are examples.

“There are then several others who are not looking for republics but equity.

“Some are already openly staging their struggles, like the Idoma in Benue State.

“Some have remained as ‘the elephant in the room’, who may sooner or later bolt and cause serious problems.

“An example of this is the hegemonic relationship between the Kanuris and the other ethnic groups/nationalities who have been merged to form Borno State.

“Over the past 100 plus years, our coexistence has transited from exploitation/harvest, through control, to domination/manipulation and now transiting into partnership.”

Prof. Hassan, while extending his solidarity to the governor Zulum, said he Was not antagonistic to him or his administrations.

He sees Zulum as a courageous man who, given a second term in office, can address the long historical imbalances in the state.

“I wish to assure Governor Zulum that as an individual I am not antagonistic of his administration or his person.

“I am playing on a turf which is more than a hundred years long, but because we are at the verge of an election, with political stalwarts having turned the Bura Cultural Day into a political rally, his attention was unavoidably focused on his administration, which is the last four years at the tip of this long turf.

“The marginalisation that I alluded to is about the over 100 years of our coexistence in Borno.

“It is certainly not about Governor Zulum’s administration or person.

“I see him as a courageous man, and my aspiration is that if the people of Borno do grant to him a second term, he can deploy his courage to address the elephant in our room.

“This elephant has been slowing us down and it is now poised to wreak havoc for all of us.

“My intentions are good, and I come in peace,” Prof. Hassan said.

It was a nostalgic homecoming for Bayero University Kano (BUK) graduating class of 1992 when they converged on the State to mark the 30th graduation anniversary.

Inspired by the creation of a WhatsApp group in 2016, the forum has texpended more than N20million on indigent students, sick persons, the poor, prison inmates, etc.

The forum chairman, Muhammad Dahiru Sa’ad, said that apart from numerous humanitarian activities, they are planning to build a permanent structure at BUK.

“We have paid scholarships, tuition fees for students, ransom for kidnapped members, medical bills of less privileged, bail for awaiting trial inmates and lesser offenders, among other aids,” he said.

Engr. Rakiya Abubakar observed that since reuniting, the former schoolmates have been able to nurture and sustain the various relationships established.

“We have assisted ourselves and many people. It will not be out of place to say our WhatsApp group is the bloodline, the backbone, the very essence of our several interventions to humanity and the community.”

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Sani Kankarofi, a Deputy Commissioner of Police and Organizing Committee Chairman, described the occasion as momentous, commending his colleagues for their kind gesture to those in need.

“We place premium in trying to support students to go further in their education. We also intervene at correctional centres by providing vocational materials at prisons for inmates to learn artisanal skills.”

Forum Spokesperson, El-Yakub Shehu expressed excitement about the successes of the members who work in different sectors including academic, judiciary, business, politics, security and diplomatic services.

Yushau Shuaib of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential noted that the annual gathering is a platform to show love towards one another as it was during school days.

Dr. Kabiru Said Sufi, Dr. Dahiru Sani and other speakers emphasised the benefits of reunions. They advised graduates to give back to society and the institutions that moulded them.

Prof. Aliyu Dauda, a lecturer during the 92 set, praised the group for their generosity and being “humane and sympathetic” to all and sundry.

“I appreciate what they have done for me personally, as a retired Professor. I am very grateful to this class of 1992. I pray Allah will continue to make it easy for all of them”, Dauda said.

Aside a gala dinner, a football match, visits to hospitals as well as sick/bereaved members, the old students paid a courtesy visit to BUK Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas, and Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero.