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Category: People & Politics

  • I married my first two wives same day — Ex-Oyo Deputy Governor Gbolarumi

    Former Oyo State deputy governor, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi, is a personality reputed in within and outside the state for his affinity with the late strong man of Ibadan politics, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu. Although many people once regarded him as an illiterate politician, he is today a lawyer, having graduated from the University of Ibadan and another university in London, the United Kingdom. In this interview with Southwest Bureau Chief BISI OLADELE and YINKA ADENIRAN, the controversial politician recalls how he went back to school after leaving office as deputy governor and why he chose to study at the University of Ibadan rather than doing so abroad as many Nigerians of his caliber are wont to do. He also reveals that he has produced four lawyers among his children in the last eight years.

     

    HOW did you become a politician?

    I was born in 1957 and I started my political career sometime in 1978. Thank God, I started very well. I was a strong member of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    I was there as a youth leader from the ward to constituency levels. I think everyone loved me there because I was very active and very confrontational. I was well known at the time.

    Along the line, the party was proscribed. After the proscription in 1983, as a result of the issue of Bola Ige (a former Oyo State governor), we had factions.

    I was in Adelakun’s faction. When the faction decided to defect to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), I withdrew my membership and continued with the UPN. After that, both the NPN and the UPN were scrapped in the Second Republic.

    In the Third Republic, there were only the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC). You were either here or there. As politicians we were holding meetings here and there before we eventually decided to join the SDP.

    Before then, I had met the late Baba (Lamidi) Adedibu, who mentored me. That was before the formation of SDP and NRC, because as at the time, we had zero party and we contested elections. Eventually, I became the State Secretary of SDP in the Old Oyo State before Osun was carved out. I remained the State Secretary of SDP before the two parties went under again.

    All the while, I was still with Baba Adedibu. My relationship with him had been on before the SDP/NRC era. We had a good relationship.

    At a time, he was looking for formidable people, individuals and groups in every community in Ibadan. That was how we met when he came to my area. Our relationship blossomed and he was instrumental to my emergence as the State Secretary.

    At the time I was to contest the position, the late Lamidi Adesina (former Oyo State governor) wanted to contest the same position. So also was Dr Mabaje.

    So, there were three of us contesting the office. At that time, Uncle Bola Ige was supporting Lam Adesina while Baba Adedibu and other leaders were supporting me and Mabaje was supported by our presidential aspirant during the era, Arch. Balogun. So, we were together and we decided to go to the field.

    A day to the election, Uncle Lam (Adesina) called me and said he could not contest against me. He said we were too close to let that happen. He was like my very good big brother, although we were not in the same faction.

    However, he said he just had to support me. So he came to the field to announce his withdrawal and support for me. When Dr Mabaje discovered that, he too withdrew and that made me win unopposed. And that was how I became the secretary of the party because we were all in the same political party.

    You also became the state chairman of PDP and deputy governor…

    Yes, later, the issue of SDP/NRC died down because the two parties were proscribed. During the period, I was elevated again because I wanted to contest for councillorship in my area before serving as the State Secretary, but Baba Adedibu asked me to stand down and he gave the slot to someone else. I withdrew, and unknown to me, Baba had another plan for me.

    During the Gen. Abdulkarim Adisa military era in the state, I was appointed the secretary of Ibadan Municipal Government. I was the last person to serve as secretary in the Ibadan Municiapal Government before it was split into many local government areas.

    I sat on the seat where Chief Adisa Akinloye and Chief Adelabu sat and I used the same office they used as the last secretary of the council. Along the line, I became the state party secretary.

    Thereafter, I was appointed as the State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and I was referred to as the ‘Link Man’ during the time of former governor Rashidi Ladoja’s administration. That was in 2003/2004.

    I only served for a period of time, because I was given an assignment which was like a caretaker committee, a one-man committee to reconcile all the leaders and stakeholders in the party and register all the members of the party, which I did singlehandedly. Immediately after that, I was compensated with the position of Deputy Governor of Oyo State.

    Along the line, I was not part of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala’s second term and I decided to stay at home. Seeing that I was doing nothing, I decided to go back to school.

    What were you doing before you ventured into partisan politics in 1978?

    At that time, I was on my own. When I left the secondary school (Timi Agbale Grammar School, Ede), I grew up in Ibadan but only spent my secondary school life in Ede. I went there as a boarder. I was engaged in private business such as farming before politics.

    At the time, my mother was averagely rich, but she was an illiterate and I dictated to her. I chose what I wanted and how I wanted it, so I was more or less a spoilt child, because my dad at the time was transferred to Kaduna.

    He was the Assistant General Manager of Peugeot Automobile, so, my mother was the only one taking care of me and she was an uneducated person.

    You can imagine how spoilt I could have been at the time because I always had all I wanted. But then, she didn’t attach importance to education as a popular trader in Agbeni Market, Ibadan.

    After becoming the State Secretary of SDP and rising to become an Acting State Chairman of PDP and having served as local government secretary and even deputy governor, what inspired you to go back to school?

    I decided to go back to school after we left government. Once you don’t belong to the governing party, you better stay at home. There is nothing you can do. When we were in government, we didn’t see them bothering us, so why should we bother them?

    I decided to go back to the university because I was thinking too. I gained admission into a London university, I got admission into some of the private universities in Nigeria, but I decided to go to the University of Ibadan for a purpose.

    You remember there were insinuations that I never went to school, or that I never saw the four walls of a classroom. People said a lot of things. They said I was a thug. They said I was the P.A. to Baba Adedibu, which I didn’t deny. The rumour said I had never attended any known institution.

    Then I told myself that if I could get admission in London and pursue the programme, when I returned, people would say I had gone to buy the certificate.

    Read Also: Rift between Akeredolu and I normal, says deputy governor

     

    That’s why I opted for a public school. And everybody knows the tradition of UI; there is no way you can bribe anybody or do otherwise than to face your studies. And if you don’t even attend class up to about 75-80 per cent, you will not be allowed to write exams.

     Apart from being less busy, what other reason informed your decision to return to school?

    Hazeem Gbolarumi
    Hazeem Gbolarumi

    I didn’t have anything to do, so why not education? Studying Law had been like a dream for me because I have passion for Law.

    But I didn’t have any opportunity to study Law at the time. I was one of the first set of Law students at the Ogun State University, Ago Iwoye. As at the time, the university was using a secondary school as a temporary site.

    I was given admission. I just saw my name in the list published in the defunct Sketch Newspaper. But they now wrote something on the notice board of the institution that the newly admitted students should bring cutlasses and hoes, and I wondered why that would be in a university. That was in 1981/82. This means I would have been a lawyer since the 80s.

    Does it mean you had all your results intact when you left secondary school?

    No, I didn’t. I decided to write GCE ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level and I went to The Polytechnic, Ibadan to study Secretariat Studies and finished the programme. As a student, I was fully involved in student unionism.

    I contested as the secretary of the Students’ Union Government (SUG). Although I didn’t win, the winner emerged with a difference of one vote. I was a student of Secretariat Studies at the time. That was shortly after I joined party politics around 1980.

    How will you describe your classroom experience at UI, having your children’s age mate as fellow class mates?

    It was very interesting. Some people would come to confirm if it was true that a former deputy governor was an undergraduate.

    The dean of the faculty would just tell them: “You will see the man in the front row. He comes to class every time.” But I wouldn’t know if they had peeped from the window to confirm my presence in class.

    But to God Almighty be the glory, I spent five years in school. It was very rough because one has to work for the children, you have to pay the bills and yet I took the study as a priority with no time to look for job or pursue contracts. So, we were only managing the little I had.

    It was really tough. But to God be the glory, it has come and gone. I eventually went to the Law School in Abuja. Before graduation, I had been given admission for my Masters in Law (LL.M) through correspondence.

    For about five or six times, I went to London for the nine months programme. The last time I went there, it was for my dissertation.

    How did you feel on the day you became a Law graduate and the day you were called to Bar?

    I give thanks to Almighty God to have given me that opportunity, because I never thought I could finish the programme.

    But with the support of other people, I think I need to be very, very grateful to God, because I dint know I would finish the programme. It was really tough and challenging.

    Before returning to school to study Law, did you ever feel inferior because of your level of education, given your rise in politics and the people you contested against?

    I never felt inferior, because I knew it did not mean anything. Look at our president today, what is his highest qualification? The constitution of this country is very clear – if you are to vie for such position, either governorship, presidential or whatever, the requirement is a minimum of school leaving certificate.

    It didn’t even specify if you pass or fail; just an attempt is required. So, what are we saying? If you have 10 degrees or even more, what has it got to do with service through politics?

    Look at my boss who is a former governor of the state too (Alao-Akala), he didn’t even attend any polytechnic or university. It doesn’t make any difference. Look at Shagari too, who is also a former president of this country. I think he was an NCE holder.

    So, it is an opportunity if you believe you can serve your people with what you have. Even the House of Assembly position allows for primary school leaving certificate with experience. If you have about 12 years experience with your primary six certificate, you can contest. So, the sky is the limit.

    So, I never felt bad and never felt inferior in my life. I have never. For me to have reached that position with school certificate  then, within the period I was into farm business, I had piggery farm and cassava cottage industry and I didn’t want to go back to school because I was contented with that and my mother supported me very well.

    I had enough and I married early. I led my first two wives to the altar the same day. As a young man with an illiterate mother and who had all he wanted, my mother planned it so well and she got it right, to marry two wives for me. So, I led both of them to the altar the same day.

    Now as a lawyer, what would you do differently if you have another opportunity?

    I am over sixty years old and I am still in politics. I do tell people that I am a political practitioner and a legal practitioner.

    Some people will then ask what I mean and I keep telling them that politics has become a profession in this country. You cannot do anything with politics except you are just deceiving yourself.

    To God be the glory, I think I got some things right to the best of my knowledge, and I thank God Almighty to have given me that opportunity to have been a lawyer and to be a political practitioner and even a successful business man

    What advice do you have for young people aspiring for something big in life but have so many challenges threatening their ambition?

    Let me tell you one thing that you may agree or disagree with: the only profession, the apex of all professions, is Law. You might say I am condemning other professions, but I am not.

    I just believe that the only profession in the world is Law. So, my advice to you is that you can still go back and study Law so that you will be able to know your rights.

    Four of my children are lawyers. We will be six soon, myself inclusive. They are all my seniors in the profession really, but I am glad. So, I want young people to do everything to conquer hindrance and pursue their dreams in life to become the best.

  • Changing phase of APO Legislative Quarters

    Onyedi OJIABOR and Sanni ONOGU Reports

     

    LIFE at Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja, is no longer what it used to be. With its general conception as an exclusive legislative zone for legislators, the legislative quarters have far degenerated.

    The unsavory disposition of things at the quarters has made life outside the chambers more uncertain.

    Legislators, who used to unwind and kill boredom at the quarters, have withdrawn to their cocoon.

    The worsening security situation in and around Abuja has also created the worse level of fear, palpable anxiety and apprehension ever experienced in the capital city.

    APO quaters
    Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja

    Senators, members of the House of Representatives and other highly placed socialites are always at their wits end for their safety.

    For most of them, the question of unwinding at weekends or after legislative business in the hallowed chambers is completely out of the way. Safety first, appears to be the unwritten rule of guidance for Apo Legislative Quarters’ occupants.

    A visit to the once bustling Apo Legislative Quarters tells the story of a city at sleep.

    No activity of note was noticed in the quarters except, of course, the menacing and threatening looks of security guards stationed at the entry points of the quarters.

    It was also learnt that social life at the legislative quarters was dealt a devastating blow by the sale of the quarters to people who have no business with the National Assembly.

    The sale of the legislative quarters to outsiders further polluted the environment to the extent that immediate neighbours may not know one another.

    Although, over 80 per cent of the buildings at the legislative quarters are said to have changed hands, the fear of hoodlums may have become the beginning of wisdom for a few lawmakers still retaining their apartments at the legislative quarters.

    In June 2003, President Olusegun Obasanjo directed that the fringe benefits of all public and political office holders be monetised.

    The monetisation exercise recommended by a committee, headed by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF), Ufot Ekaette, created the window for the lawmakers to acquire their apartments with ease.

    Shortly after the acquisition of the quarters, some the lawmakers turned round to sell off the property to willing buyers.

    The development prompted a member of the House to propose a change of name for Apo Legislative Quarters.

    The House rejected the proposal that the Federal Capital Territory Administration should be asked to change the name, Apo Legislative Quarters, to reflect current realities.

    This followed a motion in April 2019 by a lawmaker, Segun Adekola (Ekiti).

    Adekola explained that the motion was borne out of compassion for new legislators who he claimed passed through difficult experiences before they could get befitting accommodation in the capital city.

    Adekola reminded his colleagues that in 2004, the Federal Executive Council mandated the Federal Capital Territory Administration to sell all Federal Government’s non-essential housing units in Abuja.

    “This includes the Apo Legislative Quarters sold to legislators occupying houses at the time under specific rules and guidelines,” he said.

    He did not stop there. The Ekiti State-born lawmaker expressed concern over the challenging experiences new members of the legislature were subjected to in their quest to get decent accommodation in Abuja.

    He attributed the stress to the sale of the quarters originally built to accommodate lawmakers.

    Adekola was particularly concerned about the continuous use of the name, Apo Legislative Quarters, in describing the place, when in actual fact, most of the houses were no longer being occupied by legislators.

    He stressed that the proposal for the change of name became necessary “as over 80 per cent of the inhabitants of the legislative quarters are not legislators.”

    Read Also: Lawmakers building: Don’t spend N37b

     

    Although the motion was roundly defeated when it was put to a voice vote by the then Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, the exodus from Apo Legislative Quarters by Senators and House members has continued.

    Most of the lawmakers now prefer, for security reasons, to shift base to highbrow areas of the capital city.

    Most of them live in highly secluded areas of Asokoro District, Asokoro Extension, Maitama District, Guzape District, Gwarimpa District and Wuse II.

    •David Mark
    •David Mark

    Talking about where the lawmakers hibernate, findings show that the highbrow Transcorp Hilton, located in the Maitama area of the capital city, may have become the new haven.

    Not only that the lawmakers carry out their social activities at the fortified hospitality centre, high profile political meetings are often held there.

    Some travel to Dubai on weekends to have a feel of the bubbling fun-filled city. Those who can afford it go as far as United Kingdom, Canada and United States for shopping and relaxation.

    Even though the past time of most of the lawmakers is not clearly known, some of them stand out.

    Former  Senate President, David Mark was known to have busied himself playing golf and hosting local and international tournaments. Abuja Golf Course also called IBB International Golf and Country Club is made popular through David Mark’s golf playing prowess.

    Former Deputy Senate leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah enjoys flying, while controversial Kogi West Senator,

    Sen. Bala Ibn Na’Allah
    Sen. Bala Ibn Na’Allah

    Dino Melaye, was known for his penchant for sarcastic music videos and comments on social media.

    Melaye also took pride in the display of exotic automobiles and fashionable apparels.

    Embattled Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, became known for his scintillating tweets and deep sense of metaphoric description of issues. The Osun West dancing Senator, Ademola Adeleke, should not be left.

    Perhaps the exposition of Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Senator Gershom Henry Bassey, on the leisure time of lawmakers, gives more insight into how they unwind.

    Bassey, who is one of the home boys of Calabar, the Cross River State capital, says he does not drink but prefers to spend his spare time with his family.

    A sports enthusiast of note, Bassey also runs a musical band through which he plays active part in the scintillating Calabar Carnival.

    •Sen. Gershom Bassey
    •Sen. Gershom Bassey

    The Cross River South lawmaker tells the captivating story of his free time.

    “I am a family man. I have a wife and five children. So, I like to spend as much time with them as possible because the Senate work takes me away from the family. They are in different locations. So, what I try to do is to spend as much time as possible with them.

    “Of course, you talk about leisure activities; I have other things that I do. I am a very big sports fan. Like in football, I am an ardent fan of Calabar Rovers (laughs). I like Arsenal in the English Premier League. I have been an Arsenal fan for a long time. Unfortunately I haven’t been to the Emirates to watch them play, even though I have been in and out of London.

    I have never tried to go to the Emirates but maybe one of these days, I will go there. My other big passion, sports wise, is basketball. I have been chairman of the Cross River State Basket Ball Association for many years now. I am also very interested in the NBA in the United States where I have supported many teams over the years. There (US), I have visited some stadia and I have watched live matches there. I like athletics as well. So those are my passions in sports.

    “Back in the days, I used to play basketball. These days, I don’t find time to play much. Many years ago, I used to play a lot of basketball, almost daily.

    “I don’t really indulge in outside relaxation because I rarely have time. I like to work late and by the time I come back from the office or from my activities in the day, I am usually tired. In fact, a lot of times, I collapse on the couch and just sleep off. But once in a while, I go to the cinema. I like to watch movies once in a while when I have time. I don’t drink alcohol.

    “I like different genres of movies. Movies like the Matrix: Science Fiction, movies like The Godfather and movies like the Dog Day Afternoon, a very old movie. These are the types of movies I like because I like movies that tell a strong story. I also watch Nigerian movies from time to time. I like some of the works that our Nollywood people are doing. I quite enjoy them.

    Transcorp Hilton
    •Transcorp Hilton… where most lawmakers now unwind

    I cannot leave without talking about the carnival – The Calabar Carnival. I have a band that plays in the carnival, called Master Blaster. We are three-time champions of the Calabar Carnival. I haven’t participated much in carnivals since I came to the Senate. But the planning of carnivals is what I enjoy. That is one way I spend my time in the month of December.

    It is quite a big production to put together those carnival groups or bands. I enjoy it. Once in a while, I attend the shows and try to support the governor and the government of the state to make sure that they are well attended.

    “My best food as a Calabar man is pounded yam and white soup or ekpankukwo. You thought I would say rice and stew? The cuisine in Calabar is the richest in Nigeria and the variety is phenomenal. I doubt if you would come across any Calabar man or any Cross Riverian that will tell you that he likes rice and stew as his favourite dish. He has to be more sophisticated than that.”

    Some other Ninth Senate lawmakers are still battling to acquire an image of their own. Cash squeeze is said to be their major undoing.

  • My heart bleeds for lost lives in my constituency’s warring communities — Cross River Rep Egbona

    Dr. Alex Egbonna, the House of Representatives member representing Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, faces another electoral test in two weeks time following the Court of Appeal judgment that a by-election be conducted in two wards in Ekureku village. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, the only member of the National Assembly elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State speaks about his preparedness for the test and the communal clash between the Usumutong and Ebom/Ebijakara people, among other issues.

     

    IN two weeks from now, a by-election will be conducted in two wards in Ekureku, your village, in line with the order of the Appeal Court. How ready are you?

    Let me seize this opportunity to wish the entire people of Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency, whose interest I represent in the House of Representatives, a very happy new year. These were the people that voted overwhelmingly for me to get into the National Assembly. I therefore owe them my continued selfless service and representation as their representative.

    To answer your question straightaway, the rerun election that was ordered by the Court of Appeal will hold on January 25. On the same day, elections into some wards in Abi Local Government will also hold, in line with the order of the tribunal. My party, the APC, is ready.

    As the party’s candidate for the Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency rerun, I am ready. I am also sure that the people of the constituency are ready.

    One thing I will like members of the public to know is that I have a relationship with my people beyond politics. It is not the kind of relationship you find between politicians and the electorate. I am not one of those normal politicians who would abandon their people only to go to them when it is election time. You can make your independent findings about my relationship with the people of my constituency, or even the people of my state, from top to bottom.

    One thing is very clear: my constituents are ready for us to emerge victorious again. It was that same determination that made it possible for the APC to win the last election in my constituency in the entire state. I

    Alex Egbonna
    Alex Egbonna

    am sure you remember that it was only in the Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency that the PDP could not win in the entire state. I am talking of the state house of assembly elections, National Assembly elections and the governorship elections. It was my federal constituency that frustrated the antics of the PDP. So, you can imagine how resilient my people were.

    Now, come to think of it, the court-ordered rerun is only in two wards of my local government. I am talking of two wards of my village. That is how it is. I am from Ekureku, and this is about the Ekeruku people. At the risk of sounding immodest, Ekureku people are resolute on this matter because they know what is good for them. They know me. They know what I have done for them over the years, long before I even decided to contest an election.

    They know what they have seen in the last six months since I went into the House of Representatives. They know the projects that await them in the days ahead. Thank God, the budget has been passed and signed into law by Mr President. A lot of projects that will benefit the entire people of the constituency have been captured in the 2020 budget.

    You will recall that I undertook a tour of the entire constituency some months ago to find out from the people exactly what projects they would love the federal government to execute for them. The next stage is to ensure that those projects are executed under the 2020 budget. I am determined to continue to do that. So, the people of Ekureku know what is at stake and they will not want to take chances at all.

    But how did you feel about the appeal court judgment that ordered a rerun in Ekureku?

    For the matter under discourse, the Appeal Court is the final court. So, like they always say, once you have reached the final court of competent jurisdiction, there is nothing you can do. The judgment may have been final but it is not infallible. So, you accept the outcome and move on.

    In this case, I had no choice but to accept the judgment and then begin to prepare for the rerun. At least the court upturned the verdict of the tribunal which initially ruled that I was not the candidate of my party. The Appeal Court had also nullified the position of the tribunal which had ruled that my certificate of return be returned to INEC. The Court of Appeal decided in my favour and today, I am still a member of the House of Representatives.

    Read Also: Farmers/Herdsmen feud: 237 lives lost, 30 cases recorded says FG

     

    There has been a clash in the recent past involving some communities in your local government. Some people have been reported to have died. How do you feel about this?

    My heart bleeds. I weep for the losses we have suffered as a result of the communal clash between the Usumutong and Ebom/Ebijakara people. It is very sad. Very, very sad that in times like this, people can still take up arms against one another. I was told that many people were killed. I was told that a lot of our people had to flee their homes to take refuge in the forest. This is not the kind of news we should be hearing now. My heart really bleeds at this time.

    In times like this, I can only appeal to our people in the warring communities to have a rethink and allow peace to reign. I love and support peace. No matter what they are fighting for, human life is much more precious. There is no justifiable reason why lives should be taken by fellow human beings. I condemn the killings in its entirety. I condemn the wanton destruction of people’s property. I condemn the carnage.

    Some of us are fighting hard to attract development to our communities. Of course, you know that no matter how hard you try, no development can come if a people are not peaceful. I am begging all those who are fighting to drop their weapons of war and embrace peace.

    Let me also use the opportunity that this interview offers, to appeal to the Cross River State Government to intensify its efforts in making sure that this unnecessary blood-letting and skirmishes end. The government owes us the duty of providing security for all of us. The first responsibility of the government is to protect lives and property. So, I expect the state government to use every available and constitutional means to protect the lives and property of our people.

    Whatever needs to be done should be done fast. We cannot continue to lose our people to communal crisis. The perpetrators of this dastardly act should also be traced and punished according to the law. This will be the only way of preventing a re-occurrence. When people are punished for their crime, there is every tendency that others will learn and shun such crimes.

    On my part, I will continue to engage the necessary organs of the federal government with a view to finding an end to this crisis.

    There was a report that NEMA was in your village recently to give relief materials to victims of flood. Could that be part of the rerun campaigns?

    I am surprised that you are asking this kind of question. Why should I play politics with the fate and future of people who were unfortunate to be victims of flood? These are people who were chased out of their homes by flood. It was a natural disaster. Nobody prays for it. So, all we can do, using our privileged position, is to draw the attention of the federal government to their plight. In any case, that was why I was elected by the people.

    So, what I did was to liaise with NEMA and other relevant government agencies and cried to them to come to the aid of my people. I kept disturbing them until this help came. What you heard of was the fruit of my engagement with the federal government because I really wanted the pains of those flood victims to be ameliorated. I am happy that the federal government listened, through NEMA, and they sent those relief materials to my people.

    At the event where those items were shared, I also made another appeal to NEMA concerning an urgent need for assistance for my people in Ekureku for a rice mill. I am aware that NEMA offers such help. At the moment, what is happening is that people from our neighbouring state will come to Ekureku to buy the unprocessed rice in bags and take to their mill in Abakiliki to process because they have the facilities.

    Now, what I am asking NEMA to do for us is to give my people a mill so that as they harvest rice, they can also process and sell. It is one way of boosting local rice production, which Mr President has been promoting.

    Ekuruku has very rich soil for rice farming and the people are engaged in very serious rice farming business. The quality of Ekureku rice is phenomenal. But the challenge is how to process. I am certain that once NEMA comes to our aide, things will get better for our people.

    Ekureku people are ever grateful to the federal government and indeed to Mr President for the relief materials that we got. The people are very happy and have since sent greetings to Mr President and NEMA for the kind gesture. We only pray that God should not allow this kind of disaster to come near our people again.

  • ROW OVER EXECUTION OF MULTI-MILLION NAIRA CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS

    Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari slammed the National Assembly for having  little to show for over one trillion naira budgeted for constituency projects of the members in the last 10 years. INNOCENT DURU, who visited some constituency projects in Oyo State, reports that the projects have either been abandoned or not started, thereby denying the people the benefits the projects would have brought to them.

     

    Pandemonium reigned among th pupils of CAC Primary School, Oke Apon, a suburb of  Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State, recently when a  day that had started on a sparkling, bright note suddenly became dark and paved the way for a downpour .

    The innocent pupils, who were receiving lectures when the rain started, fell short of hurting themselves as they hopped out of their seats, running helter-skelter to avoid  having their books and bodies being drenched by the rain water pouring  into that water is not getting to.

    This causes serious distractions during lessons.  At times, the pupils in primary five would abandon their class and run to primary six, which is equally bad but slightly better, said a teacher in the school, who cannot be named for fear of victimisation.

    “The kids always have their chairs and tables soaked by rain making it impossible for them to use their furniture for as long as it rains. Aside from that, many of the pupils have had their books destroyed by rain.

    Some of the pupils get wet and become cold. This is not good for their health”.

    The teacher continued: “The woods holding the roof and the ceiling have been soaked and made very weak by the rain.

    Before you know it, they would fall and if that happens when the kids are in school, it could hurt them. In fact, the entire building is not conducive for learning.

    We are constantly in fears because serious dangers are hanging in the air. We are always praying that the building should not fall when we are in school.”

    Documents obtained by our reporter showed that the University of Ibadan is in charge of the federal government constituency fencing project, which costs N4million but residents think that it was initiated by a former lawmaker, Hon. Dada Awoleye.

    There was no signboard in any part of the school to show that any constituency project was being executed there.  Constituency projects are line item projects selected by legislators into the federal budget for implementation.

    The projects always have the collaboration, input or influence of the legislator representing that particular constituency in the legislature.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, during the National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in Public Sector, organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission(ICPC) last month, berated the National Assembly over the implementation of the project, alleging that  there is little to show for over one trillion Naira budgeted for constituency projects of the National Assembly members in the last 10 years.

    Checks around the school revealed that a part of the old fence on which the new one  was hinged has collapsed, defeating any purpose for which the project must have been carried out.

    Aside the broken down fence,  a thorough check round the school also revealed that the people still enjoy unhindered access into the school as the part where a gate is supposed to be mounted is still left wide open.

    “The school is a sort of ‘ATM card’ for some people. Our primary one and nursery two blocks had always been in good condition. But one day, some people came and removed the roof for almost a year without fixing it.

    Everything in the classrooms, including records that had been kept for several years, were destroyed. When they fixed the roof and repainted the block, they went and claimed that they rebuilt the building.

    That is the height of corruption and the evil they are doing to us. “The school does not have toilets. The pupils defecate inside the bush and that exposes them to serious dangers as they could be bitten by reptiles. One of our pupils fell inside a soak-away constructed for a health centre in front of the school.

    He went to pick his water bottle that fell inside the soak-away but ended up falling inside it. The pupil would have died there if not for his peers who raised the alarm and attracted ‘area boys’ who rescued the victim,” another teacher said.

    A primary six pupil, Oluseyi Damilare, is unhappy with the deplorable state of the school. “I feel very sad about the state of our classrooms. It would have been better if they had used the money for the fence to rebuild our classrooms.

    When it rains heavily, our classrooms would be so flooded that we would have to be using our energy and time for lesson to be cleaning the flooded classrooms.”

    His classmate, Adeniyi Adijat, also criticised the fence project and the general condition of the school.  “I am not happy learning in this kind of atmosphere.

    We are as good as learning in the open because rain messes up our books and our bodies. We catch cold and lose concentration in class.

    They should have renovated our classrooms and save us from the ugly experiences we are going through. A fence cannot stop rain from spoiling our books and messing up our bodies but a good classroom can. ”

    A resident, who gave his name as Olu, flayed the fence project, describing the idea as a scam.

    “How can anybody see a building that is in this horrible state and think of fencing it? The argument has always been that hoodlums always hang around the school to smoke Indian hemp and do other nefarious activities but this fence cannot stop that because it is very low.

    “The hoodlums would still be able to enter into the school. The annoyance of many of us is that they have not even completed the work.  As it is now, hoodlums don’t even need to scale to enter the school. They saunter into it, do whatever they want and walk away. “

     

    Contractor, UI, lawmaker react

    The contractor handling the project, Ajayi Oluwole, in a telephone interview, told The Nation that the decision to construct a fence was not his as he is only carrying out what is in the contract.

    “We are in charge of the CAC Primary School at Oke Apon fence project. We saw the advertisement for the project and bid for it.  The project is for UI.

    We submitted our application to the institution.  We have not abandoned any project in our own case. We are working on all of them.

    “We have revisited the project. We just cleared the site last week for us to continue the work. The fence project was what was given to us and not the building.

    We still have retention fee to collect from the UI  for the CAC Oke Apon project. A good part of the fund has been released. The area from where people can access the school is  the path of the primary health centre not being handled by us.

    “There should be a gate house and a gate there. That is not part of our project.  The space that should accommodate the gate house and the gate is where we left open knowing that something was still coming there.  If we put block there, they will still demolish it. That is why we left the place open.”

    Contacted, the spokesman of the University of Ibadan, Olatunji Oladejo, requested that the document showing the involvement of UI in the project should be sent to him via Whatsapp, saying: “I have to make enquiries because I can’t know everything.  But are you sure this is not a constituency project by one honourable? Kindly verify o. “

    After sending the document to him, this reporter subsequently called Oladejo to get the instititution’s response.  “I am yet to get those concerned,” he said.

    Asked if the people concerned were not in the school premises, he replied: “What if they are in the school compound? I said give me some time.

    You forwarded the thing to me and I forwarded it to them. The people who I am trying to get are not  within the school, if that would be sufficient for you.

    There is no journalist that I don’t cooperate with but if you think otherwise, no wahala.”

    The immediate past representative of the Ibadan Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Dada Awoleye, in a separate interview with our correspondent, clarified his role in the project.

    “The project was facilitated by me but domiciled in UI. I could have domiciled it with the Ministry of Works but because I wanted closer supervision, I decided to domicile it with an educational institution in my constituency because they also have their procurement procedures.

    If I should put it under an agency in Abuja, the job may even linger more than what we are talking now.  They may tell you the engineers would have to go to Ibadan to supervise and before they finish all that, the whole thing would become nauseating.

    “When you domicile a project inside an institution, it is left for that institution to carry out the procurement processes.

    They invite this and invite that and say this contractor has won at  the end of the day.  They have to continue to monitor to make sure the job is done.

    If the job is not well done, it has to bounce back on that agency because they also have their own projects that they do, which I call line budget from the federal government.  Theirs is to ensure that the job is done and the contractor is paid.

    Explaining why he opted for fencing the school instead of renovating it, the ex-lawmaker said: “You have to take priority.  Constituency fund is limited.

    That place where you have the fence being done is ward 4 of Ibadan North.  I needed to work in other wards. I had to ask ward 4 what is very important to this ward. I had given them a solar borehole in the past,  I had given them a primary health centre.

    “There had been a number of robbery cases in the past.  When robbers snatch peoples’ bags early in the morning, they pass through the school to the other side.

    When we provided the fence, I think on two occasions, they have caught thieves because they couldn’t scale the fence.  There is no more thorough fare for the thieves.  That shows that the fence project worked.

    “My intention was to look at the next stage and that was how to reconstruct or renovate one or two of the dilapidated classrooms. Unfortunately, I lost the last election.   There was plan to do security post in the school.”

     

    Controversy trails execution of lock-up shops project

    Controversy is also trailing the execution of lock-up shops project meant for Abadina Community equally located inside the University of Ibadan.

    The project was also facilitated by Hon. Awoleye, put in the care of UI and contracted to the same contractor handling the primary school fencing project.

    The project was yet to take off on two occasions that this reporter visited.  Gravel, sand and few blocks were sighted at the site.

    A resident, who gave his name simply as Ephraim, said they are aware of the project but regretted that the construction is yet to take off.

    “They have poured gravel and sand as you can see but nothing has been done. The project was actually meant to be done somewhere else but was later moved down here.

    They had previously demolished all the shops around the former location for the construction of the lock-up shops but that didn’t happen. The same thing is happening here now,” he said.

    While some of the traders expressed joy over the plan to construct the lock-up shops,  some others alleged that it is a plan by the management of the University of Ibadan to eject them from their present shops.

    “It is UI authorities that are behind the whole thing. They have been on this for some time. They want to send us away from where we are managing to earn a living because they want to be making money from the shops when it is finally done. It is wickedness,” a trader, who identified herself as  Mercy Oni, said.

    The President, Abadina Community and Chairman, Abadina Community Council,  Egbuna Ikechukwu  Peter, said the community was  aware of the project. “ It is our project.

    It is a constituency project from the 8th National Assembly.  It is Hon. Dada Awoleye that  facilitated the project for this federal constituency. They got the project in the name of the University of Ibadan, which is a famous institution.

    The lock-up shop has not been started at all.  I can’t just explain why. It was an inherited project by my administration. I just came into office on April 16.

    So, it was a project handed over to my administration but by now, we believe the project should be ongoing because the contractor has gone to site, dug the ground and did some other things but as I am talking to you now, all he is telling me is that there is no money.

    The money has been released.  I don’t understand him.  I have been trying to reach him but he keeps saying ‘I am trying to get money, I am trying to get money’. “

    Read Also: Senate seeks N2.1tr for constituency projects

     

    Explaining the need for the project, he said: “The idea of the project is to build market for this community.  This community you call Abadina is under Ibadan North, which is part of the federal constituency that  voted for  Hon. Dada Awoleye.

    This is his own contribution to us.  He has done his own part getting the money.  I make bold to let you know that the money is in our coffers but there are rules.

    “I mean the University of Ibadan coffers. We have about N6million or thereabouts.  We have rules to guide against abandoned projects.

    A certain percentage of that money is what has been given to that man. The university itself does not want shops littering the whole place. These are residential areas and we don’t want shops like these.

    When we have the lock-up shops, we would move every shop down to that place.  It is like a mini-market. When you have a market in a community, that is life coming up”.

    Now that the project has not been done, the chairman said: “It is crisis for us, especially for my administration. It is supposed to be a plus and a laudable one for that matter for us. I have spoken to the contractor severally but ‘I am looking for money’ has remained his excuse.  I have not been able to reach out to the honourable.  I have tried one or two people to get his number but I have not.”

     

    Contractor,  lawmaker react again

    Oluwole claimed that he had commenced work at the site, blaming  the UI authorities for the delay. “We have started the construction since June. The issue we have is with the land allocated to us for the project. We were on that site and had even procured materials for it, did the pegging and layout but the UI had to stop us.

    “They said erosion would not make our building to be sustained.   They said we would have to wait so that the physical planning department would allocate another place to us. We had to wait because if they would do drainage to control the erosion,  it would gulp a lot of money. They later gave us another place. As at yesterday, we were at the German floor level.”

    Asked for the cost of the projects, he said: “The lock-up shops project is N6million. Excluding VAT and tax, we have received only the sum of N840, 000 and we have spent double that amount. The whole challenge started from the land.  The second site they even gave us came with another issue.  The UI management said there is a cable line that passes under the land making us to wait again to ascertain things.”

    The facilitator of the project, Hon. Dada Awoyele  said the issue of the lock-up shops has been on for a very long time.  According to him, “The community came to me and asked if I could give them lock-up shops. Before I included it in the budget, the community and I went to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan to get his consent since it was going  to be done inside the institution. I included it in the budget the following year. In essence, I facilitated the construction of the lock-up shops for them in Abadina.

    “That was it. My obligation stops there at facilitating the project.  I made sure funds were appropriated for the lock-up shops. As an honourable member of the house, we are not permitted to carry out the project, so you have to domicile it in a government agency.

    “UI does its own procurement processes for its  own projects , so  there was nothing wrong in domiciling it inside UI.  I learnt that when the job was started,  they relocated the contractor somewhere. I think they have started the project. I am no more the member representing the constituency.  Whatever you want to do about the project , the level it is, where the fund is should be with UI”.

    Responding to why the project has not taken off, the spokesman of UI, Olatunji Oladejo, said: “Let me make my confirmation from deputy vice-chancellor administration, who is in charge of all infrastructure on campus and also get across to the maintenance department. I wouldn’t know why the thing has not taken off. I am not in maintenance.  So, I have to make my enquiries.”

    When later contacted to get his response, Oladejo said he was yet to get response from the people concerned.”

     

    Hope of glaucoma patients hangs in the balance

    The hope of getting medical assistance for many Nigerians suffering from glaucoma at the University Teaching Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, appears to be on the line.  This is as works have stopped on the Glaucoma Centre building, a 2017 Constituency Project being handled by the hospital.

    Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Between 1.1 to 1.4 million adults in Nigeria have the challenge.

    Findings show that the Glaucoma Centre project was aimed at expanding the current facility at the hospital, take care of more patients and help curb the menace of blindness caused by glaucoma.

    “This is a very disturbing development and needs to be addressed by the hospital management urgently because it has to do with the lives of people. The eyes are the light of the body and once they are gone, life becomes meaningless,” a worker at the hospital said.

    Contacted earlier to know why the project has been stalled, the Public Relations Officer of UCH, Akintoye Akinrinlola, fumed that he was asked to provide response within a short time, threatening to do a rejoinder before the report was published.

    He, thereafter, requested that  documents  about the project should be sent to him. After sending details of the project to his email, he replied: “Good evening, Mr. Duru. I received your email message to me. I have gone through the issues raised. My CMD is currently out of town and I have to take permission from him to respond to the issues. Furthermore, I need to ask all relevant departments the situation of things on the issues. After that, I will get back to you. Kindly bear with us, please.”

    When this reporter reached out to him last week, he promised to get the response ready by Thursday. When the reporter pleaded that the response should come on Wednesday, Akintoye requested that the reporter should call him on Wednesday morning to remind him about it. This reporter did as agreed and Akintoye said they were working on it and that it would be provided as soon as they were done.

    No response was heard from the institution that day. When a call was put to his mobile line last Thursday morning, Akntoye said: “Innocent please, I have not done it. I am seriously upset. Give me time. I don’t want to talk to you in a way you won’t like. Please, please, please.”

    He was yet to provide any response as at the time of filing this report.

     

    Mul-timillion naira water project abandoned at  Oko

    A water project that could have alleviated the sufferings of the people of Oko in Surulere Local Government Area of Oyo State has been abandoned.

    The project, which contract sum is N46 million, is fast being over grown by weeds.

    Instead of treated water supply that the people would have been enjoying, they are left to consume well and stream water, which exposes them to all manner of water-borne diseases.

    A resident, who gave his name as Babawale, said: “When they brought the project to our community, we felt very happy because we felt it would put an end to our dependence on well and stream water.

    Unfortunately, the project has been stalled exposing us to water-borne diseases. Many of our people are ignorant and may not acknowledge that the well and stream water they are drinking is causing harm to their bodies but the truth is, the water project would have ended a lot of challenges bedeviling this environment.”

    Also speaking, a furious  resident, who gave his name simply as Adio, said: “We have been drinking well and stream water since we were born and care less about the water project they have abandoned. At the appointed time, God will bring people who genuinely have the interest of the community at heart to develop it.”

    The project has Ogun –Oshun River Basin Development Authority  (OORBDA)  as the client and the Engineering Department of the body as the Supervising Consultant. Contacted, to know why work has stopped on the project, the Managing Director of OORBDA, Femi Odumosu, requested this reporter to  send his questions to him through  WhatsAPP . To avoid being told that the message was not delivered, the reporter also sent the questions to his email.

    Odumosu was, however, yet to respond as at the time of filing this report.

    • This investigation was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.

  • KWAM 1, 9ice, Q-Dot, other celebs honour Bodex

    Kehinde OLULEYE

    IT’S a busy life for top fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall a.k.a. KWAM 1. Every passing week, he is occupied with at least one event, and the events are in different countries. It means that within a week, KWAM 1could be found in different cities of the world.

    He is actually known to have turned down events, because sometimes, he has to shuttle between Nigeria and other countries.

    But we heard that when Florence Bodex, the celebrity shoemaker, gave him a date for her hosting of a parley with online ‘influencers’ and engagers in Lagos, KWAM 1 quickly circled the date on the calendar. And when the event took place last Saturday at Radisson Blu in GRA, Ikeja, the top musician was there live!

    And guess what, Bodex, as Florence Bodurin is fondly called, was pleased with the KWAM 1, as she grinned from ear to ear at the event that also attracted the likes of Q-Dot, 9ice, Ara the first female drummer, Nollywood star Emeka Ossai, Comedian Asiri and Retried AIG Tunji Alapinni.

    Read Also: Celebrate people while alive, Nollywood actor tells Nigerians

    Bodex’s event also had a representative of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in attendance! Mr. Olusegun Fafore, the Executive Assistant to Lagos State Governor on New Media and Public Relations, spoke on the “Consequences of Insidious Comments in the Cyberspace”. He noted that the word ‘insidious’ in the topic is the keyword, which is an adjective, qualifying the noun ‘comments.’

    Fafore, who spoke on behalf of Governor Sanwo-Olu, said: “With the reach and growing influence of the internet, which is validated by the increase in the number of internet users from 200,000 19 years ago to 116 million today, we need to treat our diversity as a nation, which cuts across languages, religion and cultural practices, with greater care.

    “We need to exercise high level of prudence and discipline in how we engage online, particularly when the benefit of context is lost to technology-created facelessness.”

    The event, which took place at the pool side of Radisson Blu, was indeed a great time for good social interaction on online affairs.

  • Why I’ve had to meet with every President from Shagari to Buhari — Ex-NUPENG Gen. Sec. Akinlaja

    Hon. (Comrade) Joseph Akinlaja is the Life Patron and Technical Consultant to PTD Branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG). He is also a former General Secretary of NUPENG and former Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources Downstream. From a humble beginning on his father’s farms in Ondo State, Akinlaja dreamt big about life and grew up to become a leader in the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) with the likes of Adams Oshiomhole and Frank Kokori. But he also has scars to show for it. He shares his story with PAUL UKPABIO.

    WHAT was life like growing up as a little boy in Ondo?

    It was exciting. I was born in Yaba in Ondo Local Government Area. I grew up with my siblings in a family of five—four boys and a girl. The girl was my immediate senior sister. It was a village setting which meant that we had the opportunity to play most of the games children played. There were also domestic chores to do at home after coming back from the public school we attended in the town.

    What were your early school days like?

    Education was compulsory, courtesy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who made primary and secondary education compulsory in the then Western Region of Nigeria. He introduced free primary education in 1955 and I went to school to get enrolled. But that year, my hand could not go across my head to touch my ear, which was the measure of school age at that time. The headmaster had to ask me to come back the following year. I did and started with free compulsory education.

    Education was the value for people in the Western Region at that time. Parents used to size each other up and teased each other about the number of children they had in college or in primary school when they sat under the tree in front of their houses after returning from work or from the farms, playing draft, ayo or other games together. Education was the value, and it is still so to some extent.

    Like I said, I started school in 1956. I went to modern school between 1961 and 1964 and then to secondary school, after which I came to Lagos from Ondo to attend the Yaba College of Technology where I studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering. I also studied in a French university in Russia, where I graduated in Political Economy in 1979, after which I began to attend short courses in trade unionism and management at the International Labour Institute in Geneva, Italy; the London School of Management in the UK and a university in South Africa where I did some short courses.

    What were the challenges you faced as a unionist in your younger days? 

    It was almost a taboo for employers then to have unions in their enterprises. We were not allowed to entertain union activities in the premises where we worked. I remember when we went to Empire Hotel in Mushin, Lagos to hold our meetings on Sunday, policemen were sent to us under trumped up charges just to prevent us from forming a combination towards a trade union. Even to collect union dues from the people we were trying to help in those days was a big issue.

    In those days, salaries were paid in envelopes fortnightly at Berec Nigeria Limited where I started my unionism career. There, some workers would jump over the fence to avoid paying union dues at the gate where the union officials used to mount sentry to collect union dues on pay days, which was one shilling per month. Even the employers used to drive us away from their gates, saying that we should not mount anything at their company gate to collect our dues. Some typical workers would even tell us that they could not open their pay envelopes until they took it home to their family heads or pastors or husband to bless the money. And once we allowed them to take it home, they never returned to pay that particular union due.

    So the union faced recognition challenge from employers and the challenge of collecting union dues from the workers, which was later overcome through organisational restructuring of trade unions along industrial lines in 1976, 77 and 78, and then compulsory check off dues that was introduced in 1978 through Decree Number 21 of 1978.

    You were a unionist as a young man. Weren’t your wife and family members worried about that aspect of your life?

    In the month of July, 1981, my wife was six months pregnant with our first child. That was exactly the day that I was sacked from work at the petroleum company where I worked. I was sad. When I got home, I wanted to hide the letter from my wife. But the moment she saw me, she asked me if it had become unbearable for me to continue struggling with the company I was working for. She said: ‘Today, you look dull.’ I tried to pretend but she objected, saying something must have happened to me.  I then told her: ‘Okay, they have sacked me.’ She said: ‘Okay, you know that I’m more than seven months gone in this pregnancy, but I know that what we and this child will eat, God has already provided it. Don’t worry about the sack.’ With that, she served me dinner and we ate together. I had thought she would break down, but she didn’t. That goes to show you how supportive my wife has been in our marriage right from my early days in unionism. I was lucky not to be sacked at home after I was sacked as union leader. Also, my wife has always been some sort of an activist in nature. So she encouraged and followed me in some dangerous struggles for the liberation of humanity. My parents were also known for fighting for the cause of humanity.

     

    ‘Dramatic way my

    wife reacted to news of

    my sack as union leader’

     

     

     

    What would you say has been the moving factor for you?

    It is the spirit to succeed and the spirit to help other people to succeed. Today, if you mention my name in NUPENG and in the Labour circle, it is a household name. Today, I have been honoured by the Federal Tanker Drivers Association in Nigeria as their Technical Consultant. I am usually consulted for opinion despite the fact that I left them 17 years ago. That shows you that my passion to help people is deep.

    Tell us about your relationship with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

    I was his deputy at a time. I was a very loyal deputy. He can attest to that. I made sure that Icarried out collective decisions to the last letter. So, the relationship was very cordial and it is still cordial.

    You started in the farm with your dad and family in Ondo State and ended up being a union leader. What would you say drove you in that direction?

    It was fate, because anytime I encountered any difficulty, it was always a springboard of progress for me. As a unionist, I became properly schooled on how to handle people at all levels. Today, I could be in the northern part with the people at the depot, and tomorrow, you could find me in Aso Rock holding meeting with the President of Nigeria. There is no president of Nigeria from Alhaji Shehu Shagari to the present one that I have not had a meeting with at one time or the other. So, I am a leveler. I can level with ordinary people like myself, and I can also level with people in higher places. And that’s what took me to the National Assembly. My knowledge and experience in advocacy for the ordinary people led to me to the legislature for eight years. I believe it was fate because each time I am victimised, and it led to an exit, such exit only leads me to a higher position in life.

    You worked for the British Petroleum which later became African Petroleum before you became a unionist. What memories do you have of these?

    The sweet memories I have is that I was able to be part of the struggle that now makes contribution of union dues easy, and seeing the successful process of the restructuring of the Trade Union in different aspects. The 17 senior staff associations plus the employers’ association, I was a part of that struggle. And it is a sweet memory because today in the Trade Union in Nigeria, we don’t have to go and wait at the gate to collect union dues by hand. It is now automatic.

    Which employment did you enjoy the most?

    I enjoyed the trade union experience the most. I was an employee of the Trade Union. British Petroleum changed its name to African Petroleum, meaning it was spearheaded by the same management team. I became an employee of NUPENG in 1981 and worked there until 2004 when I got to the climax of my career as General Secretary, after which I retired into politics.

    Why did you go into politics?

    I went into politics because I have always believed that trade unionism and politics are just two sides of a coin. Trade unionism, in a sense to me, is industrial politics. You cannot be a union leader without canvassing for votes among workers.  That is industrial politics. Then the other one is partisan politics which is based on political party. Between the two, politics is the common denominator.

    Read Also: NNPC cautions Nigerians against adulterated petroleum products

    So, since 1978, I have been involved in partisan politics. Even though I was a unionist, I was also a politician. I was the secretary of UPN in a ward in Mushin as at 1978. I became a counsellor between 1987 and 1989 in Lagos Mainland Local Government. I contested the chairmanship of the Federal Democratic Party in the Mainland Local Government. So, I have been doing unionism and politics together till today.

    As technical consultant and life patron of the petroleum tanker drivers’ branch of NUPENG, how do you think the tide of traffic gridlock in Apapa and on Lagos-Badagry Expressway can be stemmed?

    If the government, both state and federal, had listened to me and our union back then, this problem would have been solved a long time ago. During the tenure of General Adisa as Minister for Works during the Abacha regime, the labour unions confronted the government that we needed a parking space in Apapa, and they gave us an expanse of land at Orile. We asked the government to talk to Julius Berger to fix the 14 hectares of land for us but the government preferred to give it to a contractor who would charge tankers N2000. How can the tankers afford that? And that space would have taken more than 3,000 tankers off the road and they could go out serially to load. But the government turned down our idea and preferred to drive the tankers away. So they leave the place in the afternoon and come back at night.

    The land is still there. Now hoodlums have taken over the place and people are building small jetties in the place at Apapa. That is the irony of Nigeria! Anything anybody would do that would not benefit their pocket, even if it is good for the society, they would not do it! That is why we are where we are.

    You will turn 70 years next year. Any regrets?

    No regrets. My life has been a life of struggle. In 1969, I was beaten by a school bully, who I fought because he bullied a younger student. And he was punished by the principal. After that, l went into unionism. During the June 12 struggle, I was injured, detained for fighting for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. So, it’s been a life of struggle for me. I have been detained by the DSS for fighting for justice and fair play. But I enjoyed it because I was detained in the cause of service to humanity. As far as I’m concerned, it was a glorious detention. No regret at all.

    You were in the House of Representatives for eight years. How would you describe your experience as a federal lawmaker?

    It was exciting. The only regret I have on that one is that the Bill on Social Security never became law, and that’s because I am for a law that provides social security. If that law was in existence, it would be difficult for anybody to steal millions.

    You also have this peculiar style of projecting your culture…

    I love our local dresses. When you see me in the National Assembly, I’m always in my white and Musca (Aso Oke), which signifies the culture of Ondo people. So, when people ask me, ‘Are you from Benue?’ I reply, ‘No, this culture is from Ondo, and it is a culture that is about 530 years old. So, they now know that Ondo people dress like that.

    What is life like in retirement now?

    Well, I’m learning the ropes because it is not comfortable for me to wake up in the morning and go back to sleep again. You know, unionism and activism runs in the blood. So, I’m learning the ropes. Sometimes I get invitation from the labour unions and sometimes from politicians to deliver a lecture or speech at an event. I do that all around the country.

    I started thinking of my retirement right from the day I started working in 1971. When I was at British Petroleum, each time I got my salary and was paid overtime, I would save my overtime money in a separate account. I didn’t touch that. By 1979, it grew up to N6,000, and I used it to buy a car which I used for commercial purposes. Also instead of driving a big car, I rode a motorcycle. That is why up till today, I am a transporter. My one taxi became two, three, and became a tanker, and so on. So, I did not leave planning to chance. I thought about tomorrow back then.

    I didn’t want to retire into penury, so, I started planning my retirement from my first day at work. I also knew that my parents were not very rich, and so I could not rely on them. I knew I must carve a niche for myself so that people coming behind me could emulate.

  • Big Brother Naija is sheer PORNOGRAPHY —Reps committee chair on women affairs Onanuga

    Hon. Wunmi Onanuga is the Chairperson, House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development. She represents Ikenne/Sagamu Remo North Constituency in Ogun State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). She was the manager of the Miss Nigeria Beauty Pageant being handled by the then Daily Times of Nigeria. In this interview with VICTOR OLUWASEGUN, she speaks on her journey into politics, her legislative interests and sundry issues.

    The number of women in the National Assembly has been on the decline. The 35 per cent affirmative action appears to have failed woefully in this regard. What is your opinion?

    I think it is one of those things that we ladies are talking about, because I think the 35 per cent affirmation is just not enough. Nobody is exerting any pressure on it. Even when the women push for it, the men try to knock it down.

    Maybe we are not lobbying well enough. Maybe we need to assert ourselves some more. Maybe we need to intensify our efforts in lobbying and see that it even goes beyond politics. It is not just affirmation in politics, maybe in appointments or in elective positions. What about the civil service and public service appointments and elevation for women? So, we are going to look into a broader perspective of the affirmative action and widen our net.

    Would you say that politics is a new turf for you? I have been in politics now for 16 years, so I would not say it is a new turf for me. But with regards to everything I have ever done, yes, it is a new turf for me. But I have been in it a few years. So, it is part and parcel of me now. I have been in the race for House of Representatives since 2015. In 2015, I was asked to stand down for another party member, and as a party person, I did. I found myself here through hard work.

    If you were not doing this, what would you be doing?

    I will probably be running a kitchen for the homeless; feeding people. That is what I will do. Off the street, really.

    Politics in Nigeria seems to be a hard turf for women. It is not easy for Nigerian women to play politics because of the money, violence and other things involved. How has it been for you?

    I want to believe what has helped me the most is the fact that I am a people’s person, and for you to be able to appeal to your constituents, you have to be a people’s person. You have to be someone in the grassroots. I don’t live away from my constituency. I have people who come to me sincerely and tell me all the stuff that my constituents want. They spin me stuffs.

    When we investigate, we find that some are just a fib. I let them know that they came to tell a fib, but they came to say that because they did notknow how I would respond. So, in this instance, take this and sort yourself out, but we would try and see how we would put you in a system where you will be able to work for yourself and you won’t have to go to someone to beg for anything. So, on a daily basis they go around, they come back and they see I am there.

    It is not like I am 50 miles away and they would have to call me before they see me. I am right in their faces. So, for most women who want to play politics, it is not knowing people at the top that will help you. You need to let your people know you. You need to be able to buy the truths, the lies and the blackmail and still stay firm. And let them see you are here and you are not going anywhere. You might as well just go with the flow. So, you need to be a grassroots person first of all and then you need to work hard and let the people who are able to make the decision know that you are on ground; that if they refuse to understand how much your people love you, electoral success might be an issue. So, you be a party person, be a peoples’ person and you have to be on ground. You can’t be a runaway politician.

    What do you consider as the major challenges confronting women in politics in Nigeria?

    For me, it would be cash. It is not like you need to break the bank, but if you need to be in peoples’ faces all the time. You don’t need to have a deep pocket; you just need to be sincere with whatever you have with you. Sometimes some people come to me and say, ‘I have not eaten for the past three days.’ You will see truly that this person has not eaten for some time and you have only N5000 in your wallet. You open your bag and say, ‘Come, this is all I have. I didn’t know you were coming.

    This is my wallet.’ You put everything on the table. How much do you need to survive today? What do you think we can do to get you off? I can’t afford this, what can you do on your own to get you to stand on your feet? You guys work out a plan together, but that money you have in your wallet, you are able to share it with that person. The person will say this person can help my life. The person will take that straw, cling to it, feed him or herself that day and come back to tell you I have a passion for doing this or that, but I need somebody to help me. If you help me, I promise I will help other people.

    That is what you need. To do that, it takes sincerity and it also takes knowing the places to go to help other people. You don’t necessarily need to take all the money from your pocket. Talk to NGOs that are willing to assist other people and you let the people know that you can access these things if you can do certain things. So, the problem that women have really and truly in politics is finance.

    Why did you go for a Gbajabiamila candidacy when you came in to the House of Representatives when there were other equally strong candidates in the race?

    When I came in here, the person that reached out to me was Hon. Speaker, Gbajabiamila. The others sent in their profiles and their brochures and all the things they wanted to do. When I read through the Speaker’s profile and the fact that he spoke with me, he took me to a place where I want Nigeria to be generally and a place where I expected the House of Representatives to be in order to be able to work properly in regard to legislation, with regards to how he would take care of old legislators, and for me, he showed compassion. I felt this is someone who had the brain, who had the compassion and who showed he has the capacity to carry a lot of people along. That was why I worked for him. What are your legislative interests? The aged, the women and the youth. But principally, the aged. I need a law that will make it a priority for the aged to have a place to recreate; just chill out and have fun.

    They have served their time, whether with government or the companies they have worked with or even their children. Some people have never worked a day in their lives; all they did was just to find a way to sustain their children to go to school. Now they are too old to do anything, even for themselves, and they have no were to turn to. Unfortunately for some people, those children that they laboured over are dead. Nobody is out there looking after them. To get a meal a day is a problem, let alone having clothes to wear. So, when I say recreation facilities for the aged, at least they can leave their homes on a daily basis, get to the centre, eat a meal, maybe not breakfast, maybe not dinner but at least lunch, even if it is an apple or a cup of tea they have for dinner and they go to bed, at least they would have food in their tummy. It doesn’t have to be a place where they stay. I am not saying old peoples’ home, even though I will agitate for that as well. But at least, let us start a recreation centre first so that on a daily basis, they can come there and eat. Let’s have a homeless kitchen that anyone who is not able to feed themselves can go in there and have a meal a day.

    There needs to be a legislation towards that, especially for the aged people, so that at least somebody is looking after them. All the people that are agile today will grow old, and if we don’t put something in place, I am afraid all the old people in this country will have problems. Some will even die before their time. Some people live up to 100 in other countries because they have people who care for them. We should care for our aged people like that in this country. Do you really have any agenda for your constituency? My state is a state of learned people because we have a lot of firsts. There are a lot of educated people from Ogun State. And as much as we have that, we have some people who are also not as learned. Probably they were not opportune to have access to education. One of the agenda for my state would be adult literacy, because I don’t want to go out and repeat a lot of stuffs. It is taking me this time to study past legislations raised on the floor, maybe they got to second or third reading. Even those that have been passed, I am researching into things that are my desire. I want to know why they failed, and if they didn’t fail, why we are we not implementing them. You managed the Miss Nigeria beauty pageant. What’s your opinion about the bare all policy in pageants nowadays.

    When I was Pageant Manager, Miss Nigeria, the pageants that I did were no bikini or swim suit, because I don’t believe you will have to wear bikini to show how beautiful you are. The first year I was going to do it, I had a lot of antagonism, even from the office. And I said if I am the Pageant Manager then we are not going to have bikini and we are not going to have swim suit pageant. Instead of that segment we had on casuals, they wore shorts and Tshirts, because we were looking for the intellect of whoever the contestant is.

    Women are not cows. They are not out to be displayed for you to see what God has endowed them with. When Miss Nigeria started in 1957, they were only doing it with pictures, and I said why should we have bikini and swim suit sections? So, for me, Miss Nigeria, when I was there, had nothing to do with bikini and swim suits, and I think it is high time we went back to that. What then is your opinion about this current Big Brother Naija show? Do you think it espouses the African values? First of all, I don’t watch it. Because the first time, I did, I think it was four or five years ago. I don’t know what I was doing that night. I think I was unable to sleep because I had lots of stuff I was writing that night. The television was on so I could have sound in my room.

    I don’t know how I got to watch it that night and I saw how they were being intimate on the programme, and I was like: is this what they do? I was shocked that that programme would get to the point where on live television, adults, so to speak…they’re adults, they can do what they like, but they have turned it to pornography. Even if it was under the duvet or whatever it is, it was obvious they were getting intimate. And I just got disgusted. For me, it is a personal thing and I do not agree with the values it is sending across.

    We have enough problems with young people being sexually active at a very young age. We don’t need a programme that will tell them that being that active is moral. It is immoral! That is personal. Those who believe they can make so much money with a programme like that, I think everything these days is reduced to naira and kobo. But we have so many intelligent, talented, gifted people out there who need to be encouraged.

    There are so many people who have invented things in this country, who exactly is encouraging them? We talk about corporate social responsibility, what exactly is the CSR of the companies who make money in this country? A young man at the time I watched the programme got a First Class from a university in Nigeria and he was given a cheque of N100,000, and a person who was cooped up in a place for 30 days or three months or six months, I don’t know how long the show goes for. Juxtapose it with a young man who concentrates on his studies for three or four years; someone gets 30 million and somebody gets 100,000.

  • I’ve worn my monstrous look for 22 years – Childhood victim of fire accident

    Unless you are someone with lots of guts, you would be tempted to run away at the sight of him. His looks are scary, more like what the typical Nigerian child would call Ojuju Calabar (Calabar masquerade).

    But on a closer look at him, you would notice tears intermittently rolling down his cheeks. It is not that he is crying; it is the mode that a wicked fire accident has set his face.

    Spend more time with him and you will be stunned by his almost impeccable English, his desire to further his education, his natural intelligence and the story of how he lost his dad at a very tender age.

    Then you will hear the biggest of them all: the chilling story of his fall into a fire at age four which has changed his winsome look into a monstrous one with his poor parents unable to afford a plastic surgery.

    That is the plight of Mr Bassey Sunday Ejabu, a medical laboratory technician from the Agbara clan in the Ekureku group of villages of Abi Local Government Area, Cross River State. He is both fatherless and hopeless, not knowing where to turn for help to undergo a plastic surgery, following the severe burns he suffered from childhood.

    Last Wednesday, this reporter ran into him at the Ngarabe Health Centre, Ekureku, where Dr Alex Egbona, who represents the Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency had visited in the company of some journalists and development consultants, as part of his enumeration of projects to be included in the 2020 budget.

    Ejabu was as lively as every other person around. But because of his disfigured face, he seemed to gain more attention. Even Egbona battled with tears as he looked at him, trying to see how he could be assisted to get medical attention.

    The story he told of himself was both pathetic and heart-rending.

    He said: “It all happened in 1997. As at then, I was four years old. I had a very serious fever then. My mum gave me some medications and left me under the care of my elder brother as she went out to the farm.

    “After some time, I felt cold, so I wanted to go close to the fire we had made that morning for cooking so I could get warm up. I don’t know what happened, I fell inside the fire and got myself burnt.

    “When they heard of the incident, they took me to Eja Hospital, Itigidi for medication. After staying in the hospital for some time, I was discharged. There was a referral, but due to the low income of the family, since my parents were just poor farmers, they could not afford the money needed for me to be taken to a specialist hospital in order to carry out the surgery that was required.

    “I lost my father when I was about 11 years old. As at that time, I just finished my primary education. I was preparing to enter secondary school and he died the same month I was supposed to enter secondary school.”

    The mother, a local farmer, has been taking care of him since then, all alone. He fought back tears as he spoke, then he continued: “It has been very tough and difficult. I just survive by the grace of God. The challenge was too much, especially when it comes to handling the training of other children, because we are six in number.

    “So, for my mum alone as a poor farmer to be able to raise the income to train us, it was a very serious challenge. But with God’s grace and determination, we just struggle to help ourselves through formal education, which is the basic thing now.

    “With her low income, she knows the value of education, so she decided that even if it will take her tying only one wrapper, she must train us in school. As such, we enrolled in secondary school.

    “But it has always been very difficult, especially when it comes to paying school fees, buying textbooks and other expenses. It has been very tough.

    “But since we were determined to be educated, we tried our best to make sure that no matter how small the resources, we must go through school. Generally, life has been difficult.

    “The challenging moment I have gone through, especially when it comes to my health issue as it is now, is based on the wound which has not completely healed.

    “I find it difficult to go out and struggle on my own. I cannot do farming because of the wounds. And if it comes to going out to work or do business to raise money just like other youths do, working under the sun to do that is also a very big challenge. Anything that has to do with rain is also very difficult.

    “So that has been the issue bothering me seriously. If I can at least have my health restored, it will enable me struggle.”

    Even with his incapacitation, Ejabu believes his dream will not die. He has a dream to become a medical doctor, but he said he was not sure of how that would happen. Which is why he wants public spirited Nigerians to help out.

    He said: “Another issue which is disturbing me is in the area of my education. My mother has tried and I have got a diploma. But I need to further my education.

    “Because the money is not there, since my graduation, I have remained dormant and my condition cannot allow me to go out to the town and struggle or do whatever I can to raise money to sponsor myself.

    “Another challenge is unemployment. At least, it was my wish while I was in school that as soon as I came out, government would offer me employment to enable me raise money to take care of myself and if possible, further my education. But since then, employment has not come, and it is usually said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Being idle is not good.”

    For this reason, he has chosen to offer voluntary service to his community. Since there is no medical laboratory scientist at the community’s health centre, Ejabu decided to offer free services to patients in need of laboratory tests. He goes there every day to attend to patients. And he is doing with joy while waiting for help so that he can return to school or become gainfully employed, or both.

    He said: “Actually, upon my graduation from the College of Health Technology, Calabar as a medical laboratory technician, I came down to the village and found that in the whole health facility in our community here in Ekureku, we don’t have a laboratory where diagnosis can be carried out for proper treatment.

    “So, one of the staff in the facility, who was my mate in school, met me and told me that in their facility they have a laboratory unit and they have some of the equipment that are required in carrying out those tests; that the lab technician sent to their facility was transferred about five years ago and since then, the place has been dormant because the government had not transferred somebody to the place and the machines were getting damaged and developing faults.

    “So, I took as a challenge upon myself as one of the ways of helping society equally. I got there and took consent from the people in charge of the health centre and they permitted me; that I should come there if I could stay there and run tests. So I went there, cleaned up the place and put the things together.

    “What I am doing there is more or less voluntary work, because I am not paid. I am not a government employee. I just decided to stay there instead of being idle, and I have knowledge as somebody who has been trained in that field.

    “So I said let me just be there where I can help my people. For the few months which I have been there, I think I have been able to do well, especially with some basic tests like genotype which the people really need to know before they go into marriage, to avoid bringing out children with sickle cell disease, which may cause medical crisis. So I have been able to run tests like blood group test, malaria test and other analysis.

    “Actually in life, I desire to become a medical doctor. That has been my dream from even when I was small. I have been dreaming to become a medical doctor.

    “The help I want from the government right now is one, I want the government to sponsor my plastic surgery. I also want the government to sponsor me to pursue my education. I want to advance, if possible, in a course like medicine so that I can in return contribute my quota to the growth of the society.”

  • 15-yr-old impregnated by dad dies mysteriously

    Gift Alonge’s story is one that drives a sword into the heart. She was raped by her biological father who threatened that she would die if she opened up to anyone about the matter. But she braved the odds to cry out and paid the ultimate price as she died with her five-month-old pregnancy.

    Although her 42-year-old errant father, Jacob Alonge, a farmer and native doctor, has been committed to prison, she did not live to see the man that caused her pains walk into jail.

    In the words of D. Adamaigbo, the presiding Magistrate at Edo Family Court, “her father threatened her that if she revealed to the public she would die. She actually revealed it and she died.”

    The late Gift was raped by her father in 2017, and he threatened her by administering an oath of silence on her. He continued to rape her until she turned 15 and got her pregnant. The bizarre incident occurred at Ososo village in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area.

    The first time he raped Gift, according to the poor girl’s statement to the police, it was in the bush. He was said to have told Gift that they were going for prayers. In her statement as quoted in court, she said: “My father, by name Jacob Alonge, used to wake me up at night and said I should follow him for prayers. When we got inside the bush, he would force me and have sexual intercourse with me.”

    In the second statement she made at the state police headquarters, she said: “He threatened me not to tell anybody, and that if I did, he would kill me. One night, he called me and put me on top of a stone and used a razor blade to shave my private part and threatened me not to tell anybody.”

    The bubble, however, burst when Gift became pregnant last year. Members of the Braveheart Initiative Organisation (BHI) took up the case. They arranged for counselling and ante-natal care while her father was arrested.

    At the Ososo Police Station, he was said to have made a statement confessing to the crime of incest, and the case was transferred to the family unit of the State CID in Benin City. Gift was offered shelter by her maternal uncle, Mr. Ukere Adagbogu, who took a keen interest in his niece’s case and was also determined to get justice for her.

    Jacob was subsequently arraigned before the court and he pleaded guilty to the charges. The Magistrate fixed judgement for January 16, 2019

    Tragedy, however, struck on the day fixed for judgment as Gift, her uncle Ukere Adagbogu, Rhoda Braimoh, Promise Ezekiel and the driver of their vehicle, died in an auto crash on their way from Igarra to the court in Benin City to witness the judgment.

    On hearing the news about his daughter’s death, Alonge changed his guilty plea to not guilty, as he presumed that all the witnesses to the case were dead. At the Family Court, Jacob pleaded not guilty to the amended charges preferred against him.

    In the three count amended charges read at the Family Court, Jacob was accused of being in possession without lawful and reasonable excuse, fetish wrap of his late daughter’s pubic hair at Okeh Quarter in Ososo village, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area.

    Jacob was accused of having unlawful and indecent carnal knowledge of his biological daughter against the order of nature, and in the process impregnated her. He was said to have repeatedly had carnal knowledge of his daughter without her consent.

    The offences are punishable under sections 213, 358 and 214 of the Criminal Code cap 48 Laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria now applicable in Edo State. On August 1 when judgment was delivered, Jacob was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment.

    Alonge was convicted on all three count charges of unlawful possession of fetish wrap of the victims’ pubic hair, unlawfully and indecently having canal knowledge of his biological daughter, repeated sexual assault and for impregnated her.

    Read Also: Boy, 16, accused of raping girl, 3

    Delivering judgment in the case, the Presiding Magistrate, D.I Adamaigbo (Mrs) sentenced Jacob Alonge to five years on count one, two years and 14 years respectively on count two and three. The jail terms are to run consecutively.

    Adamaigbo said: “He consecutively had sex with her who is his own daughter and got her pregnant and thereby subjected her to shame and emotional stress. May her soul rest in peace.

    “To serve as a deterrent to others and would be offenders, we are of the opinion that the defendant should not have a space in a decent society.”

    Adamaigbo said the statement of the victim and the evidence of the PW1 confirmed what the victim said that “she was five months pregnant and that she was demoralized, emotionally distressed is sufficient corroboration that the victim was indeed sexually assaulted.

    “It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had canal knowledge of the victim as she said in her statement. Her statement was corroborated by the statement of the police in evidence.

    “The convict admitted in his statement and the law is that evidence admitted need no further proof. The defence that he was lured into the crime by his own daughter is an afterthought. We therefore find him guilty of each of the counts.”

    Reacting to the judgment, Executive Director of BHI, Priscillia Usiobaifo, said: “We have seen how resilience can prove worthwhile. I am very happy that there is no option of fine because we have had several cases that we won and they would give options of fine. This has encouraged us, and those that died did not die in vain.”

     

  • Murder at dawn

    Miyetti Allah leader, Saidu Saleh, was killed by gunmen allegedly for preventing them from kidnapping people and rustling their cows. Now his family members are asking who would protect them the way their breadwinner protected society, ONIMISI ALAO reports.

     

    Alhaji Saidu Alhaji Saleh, a zonal chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) who was killed on August 2 in his home in Mayo-Belwa, Adamawa State, left three wives and eighteen children.

    One of the children, 18-year-old Adamu, told our correspondent who visited the family house over the week, “Nigeria says Fulani people should go to school. Now, I have a diploma in law but I can’t find any job.”

    Adamu who also nurses the ambition of higher education, expressed regrets that his father was cut down not long after he promised to provide whatever sum he would need for further his studies.

    He said: “My father who had only Quranic learning desired that I should have all the western education that he missed. After my diploma in Law, he asked that I should target the highest educational level possible. He said I should pursue admission for a degree programme right away; that he was willing to sponsor me to any level that I could reach,” Adamu said.

    But the father, Saidu Saleh, met his end in the hands of gun-trotting bandits who stormed his residence and riddled him with bullets.

    Alhaji Saidu who made his living buying and selling cattle, was a zonal chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in charge of eight local government areas of Adamawa State, namely Jada, Toungo, Ganye, Mayo-Belwa, Numan, Demsa, Lamurde and Shelleng.

    Saidu who was 52, spent much of his life working to cleanse MACBAN of the bad eggs within its membership and to protect the communities around his zone by helping the law enforcement agencies identify and prosecute the kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other criminal elements who were terrorizing the communities.

    The Adamawa State Public Relations Officer of MACBAN, Jika Mohammed, recalled to our correspondent how the late MACBAN leader moved against the criminal elements.

    “Alhaji Saidu, who was famously called Kolaku, was a thorn in the flesh of criminals. Kolaku was fighting them. He was taking these criminals or seizing their weapons and giving them to the police. He was working hand in hand with the police and that was how we sustained peace.

    “Before Kolaku’s intervention, kidnapping was rampant in the zone. Nobody could sleep or go to the farm with any sense of safety. But he stopped it. That meant he stopped the criminals from their business. That was why they came to kill him.”

    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Adamawa State, DSP Suleiman Yahaya Ngurore, corroborated the MACBAN image maker’s account, saying, “The deceased was a brave man who had been cooperating with the police ever since the Commissioner of Police requested for cooperation in fighting kidnapping and cattle rustling in the state. He as a leader in MACBAN was among those who answered our call and always joined the police in going about fishing out the criminals.”

    The criminal elements had constantly warned Saidu to ‘mind his business’ and to let them mind their own business.

    “Before they came to kill him, they had for long been calling him on the phone, telling him to stop killing them. He was killing their business, so to them, he was killing them. They were telling him to take his hands off their business,” the MACBAN PRO said.

    For refusing to heed their warning, the criminal elements came calling that cold morning, precisely at 2.29 am, of August 2.

    Recalling the incident, Saidu’s first wife, Hajia Zainab, said, “We were all sleeping, but suddenly we had sounds of people hitting our doors. Then we heard gunshots. They burst into the room where he was. The wife he was with told him, ‘It’s like the people who want to kill you have come.’ Our husband could do nothing other than offer his prayer.”

    The MACBAN PRO described Saidu Saleh as a good man who truly meant well for his family and the society.

    Read Also: Gunmen kill Miyetti Allah leader after anti-crime honour

    He said: “Kolaku was a Fulani cattle dealer who also worked with Miyetti Allah for over 20 years.

    “He was MACBAN chairman for this LGA (Mayo-Belwa) for about 10 years before he became zonal chairman. As a cattle dealer, he used to go to various markets, buying cattle and sending them to other places, including the Southeast, through his boys.

    “He had only Quranic learning but was zealous with educating his children. Many were in primary school. Many others were in secondary school.”

    The Adamawa State Police Command had officially recognised Saidu’s crime fighting efforts only two weeks before the bloody onslaught against him by the men of the underworld.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Audu Madaki, had on July 15, 2019 presented to him and a couple of other community leaders, a plaque of recognition for his work with the police in the fight against crime in the state.

    It is unclear whether the police recognition of Saidu’s ‘wistle blowing’ posture became the final straw that broke the criminals’ back, but they evidently went against him fully prepared.

    They scaled the fence of his bungalow by first cutting off a section of the barbwire topping the fence.

    A neighbour who witnessed the operation from the safety of his house, said: “Three of the bandits climbed in while the rest surrounded the house outside. All of them carried big guns. I heard shots, evidently by those inside. Then they came out to join the rest and they drove away.”

    Saidu’s killers drove away, leaving in the house his corpse and his three wives and 18 children, and his father and mother in a separate compound around the neighborhood.

    “We don’t know how we will live without our husband. We are now the mother and father of the house,” the first wife, Zainab, said.

    The wives pleaded for intervention, including a scholarship for the highest educated of the children, diploma-holding Adamu, to go for further studies, or a job for him so he could help some of his siblings.

    Zainab said: “We appeal to government and Nigerians to do more about bandits. People in our communities need their freedom. Our husband was killed because he was fighting the bandits for the people to be free. He is gone but we have to work out our own existence.

    “One of our boys has a diploma and is employable. A chance for him to further his studies is equally desirable.”

    Adamu who finished from the College of Legal Studies, Yola, with a diploma in Common Law last year, specified that he was trained for jobs in courts, in government ministries and parastatals, in local council administration offices, in the various military and paramilitary agencies, among other places.

    Adamu said: “Government and the rest of Nigeria have seen what happened to my father after taking the sides with the people and fighting criminals. Now, we don’t know who will help the family.”

    For now, only the state police command is known to be doing something, essentially doing its duty of trying to track down Saidu’s killers.

    The PPRO Ngurore, said: “The killing of the MACBAN zonal chairman will not deter the fight against criminals. We are going after the killers. The police will trace and apprehend them and ensure that justice takes its course.

    And we have been assured by other leaders like the late MACBAN zonal chairman that his death will not end the concerted efforts against criminals.

    “Only yesterday (Sunday, August 4), we held a meeting with them. We concluded that we would not allow ourselves to be frustrated. We resolved to wake up to the fact that the remnants of the criminals are still around us and we should be vigilant.”