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  • ‘Young people need to harness the power of technology to their advantage’

    Moses Oruaze Dickson is one of the voices in the Nigerian legal service industry as much as he has built a reputation for himself as a philanthropist. His goal is to build one of Nigeria’s leading niche expertise commercial law firms . In this interview with Omolara Akintoye, Dickson, the Managing Solicitor, Triax Solicitors, talks about how he is supporting the disadvantaged through free pro-bono services through his commitment to philanthropy, how youths can harness the power of technology, his plans on job creation, among others. Excerpts:

    Based on your experience as an entrepreneur, what advice would you give to a startup?

    I have learned a lot from my mistakes as an entrepreneur and if I am to advise other young entrepreneurs, the five most critical bits of advice I would like to give are: first, there is no silver bullet ever! (And if someone tells you there is, be very cautious). Second is having unwavering confidence in yourself and your business. Third is to ensure your product answers/replaces people’s core problems or frustration points (the more niche the harder for user penetration). Fourth, if you cannot explain it in fewer than 20 words, your product is too complicated. The fifth is, asking for help is not wrong or a crime! Go get help and never be scared to find people to help

    What social responsibility projects have your firm executed or plans to execute?

    Over the years, we have partnered with nonprofit organisation like the Goldcoast Developmental Foundation to support disadvantaged individuals through our pro-bono services. We have also partnered with the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Bayelsa State chapter to fight violence against the girl child through the #ProtectTheGirlChild Challenge. This campaign was in response to the increasing cases of sexual violence on young girls across the country, which we feel that something must be done to address it. We plan to formally launch the #ProtectTheGirldChild campaign, providing legal services as well as financial support to ensure that victims of such violence are protected and given adequate access to justice.

    How do you think youths can harness digital platform to empower themselves?

    I always encourage youth to know that technology and social media can help the insurance industry connect more in the area of market. I was particularly interested in this topic because Insurance is one of the niche areas for our practice at Triax Solicitors. Not only are we interested in the industry, but we are also interested in dealing with issues around claims management, which is one of the major challenges of the insurance industry. Insurance companies need to do some things to connect with the youth market. They need to use social media to not only try to sell their services but educate people on ‘why they need insurance.’ One of my major arguments was that the major problem of the insurance industry is about perception. The perception of the industry by a vast majority of Nigerians is negative, as a lot of people do not trust the insurance companies to deliver on their promise of paying claims. In fact, I made clear the fact that Nigerians are even religious about it. They would rather commit their properties to God instead of getting insurance. If this is addressed through education and the setting up of a reliable claims management company, that would be one major problem solved by the industry.

    Second is on how technology through freelancing platforms would change the very nature of jobs as we know it. Young people need to acquire marketable skills that can be offered through digital platforms. Skills like programming, design, website development, and related skills can be offered from the comfort of any location.  The government cannot and will not be able to provide jobs for everyone. Therefore, it is the responsibility of young people to harness the power of technology and digital platforms to create jobs for themselves.

    Today, anyone can provide services from anywhere, with just a click of a button. It is the realisation of this job and skill transfer dynamic that informed the decision of one of our companies to venture into the creation of a freelancing digital platform for skilled individuals and employers who will need their services. I can boldly say now that the social media and technology is changing business, society, and culture on the continent and the world positively.

    What is the motivation for your commitment to philanthropy?

    Having stared at the face of poverty and refusing to bow throughout my upbringing, I have always felt a deep responsibility to give back to my community. I credit my parents, particularly my late mother, Mrs. Goldcoast Dickson for instilling the ethos of philanthropy, particularly my responsibility as a Christian to give and care for the less fortunate in our society. I believe our role as citizens of this world is to truly support the betterment of our society so that future generations and their offspring grow up to live even better lives and strive for even more than they think is possible today.

    Philanthropy is the ‘new green’ in the continent, yet, it seems to be an exclusive preserve of the rich; how do you think more people can be encouraged to commit to philanthropy, so as to contribute to solving some of the continent’s major problems, one among which is poverty?

    I truly believe that charity and philanthropy don’t necessarily mean you have to spend money. There are several avenues available to almost everyone in society on how to give back. I often tell people, consider donating your time, talents and belongings for the greater good. I think once people are aware that these non-financial avenues are equally as important and impactful as donating money –there can be greater collective efforts to helping the less fortunate.

    You have been very active recently on social media, what is your motivation for this?

    Well, over the years, I have acquired a lot of experience as an entrepreneur; having built a successful law practice, I feel obligated to share my knowledge and experience with other people, especially young people like me, who otherwise will not have the opportunity to learn from a mentor or someone who has experienced business first hand. People reach out to me privately asking for business advice and I have tried to respond to as many as I can, however, with social media, I can reach a lot of people at once. With social media, I can mentor a lot of people at once, while still having time to run my business. I believe social media is a blessing to our generation and any business or career individual who wants to get their message out there must learn to leverage on this tool to reach their target audience.

    Your law firm, Triax Solicitors, has been handling major commercial cases in the Niger-Delta…

    Triax Solicitors was founded with the vision to become one of the leading law firms in the country that is focused on niche practice, particularly in commercial law. So far, we have been able to successfully complete high profile projects worth over $100 million for a couple of clients. This we have achieved within our short existence of three years. Also, we have been able to expand our operations from Bayelsa State to Abuja and about to open a new office in Lagos State. We have a network of about 20 staff members for now and still growing.

    As a law firm, we are committed to supporting the communities where we do business by widening access to justice, education and finance. We collaborate with clients, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and charities to deliver these community outreaches and pro bono services, with partner-led, client-focused teams.

    Our community outreach and pro bono strategy focus on providing the best possible support to our NGO and charity clients, whilst at the same time expanding the capabilities of our people and strengthening relationships, partnership and collaboration. Our initiatives provide all of our people, at all levels, with opportunities to practice and enhance the skills that are key to their development, making them more effective and well-rounded.

    One way we measure the impact of this commitment is by setting ourselves an annual target of helping 5,000 people a year. We have a varied programme of community and pro bono activities, which focus on access to justice, access to education and access to finance.

     

  • ‘Don’t deregister political parties’

    The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress Party (NDCP) in the last presidential election, Dr. Johnson Edosomwan, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to stop threatening political parties with deregistration.

    The international development consultant said that it is unfair and insensitive for the INEC to be wielding such a huge stick when political parties are struggling through an electoral process.

    Edosomwan said that the law is clear on the process and procedure of the deregistration of political parties.

    He emphasized that it is wrong for the INEC to bully parties into deregistration since the election process has not been finalized.

    He went further to state that “it is this same law that empowers the INEC to deregister political parties that will also stop the INEC from deregistering political parties because firstly, litigations are all over the place which will take time to resolve and we are going to be faced with the inability of some governors to conduct local government elections which is required by the amended constitution before the INEC can decide to deregister any party that did not win a local government election or a councillorship seat or score some percentage in the local government election”.

    Read also: Delta NDCP complains about poll irregularities

    Edosomwan said that it is undemocratic for the INEC to target parties for deregistering at this time.

    “Targeting political parties for deregistration is hasty and confusing. That shouldn’t be the INEC’s immediate focus at this time. It is unproductive for our democracy and will limit and reduce the vibrancy of our democracy and our democratic values.

    “In the interest of our nascent democracy, my advice to the INEC is to focus on all the complaints that are being made and correct the anomalies in its processes in order to build our political process,” Edosomwan.

  • Obasanjo and the PDP 2023 agenda

    DESPITE the fairly strong showing of the opposition at the last polls, former president Olusegun Obasanjo remains sceptical about the cohesiveness and resoluteness of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to win subsequent polls, particularly the presidential election. If the opposition is to dominate the next election cycle, he suggests in a speech last Sunday, they will have to embark on internal reforms and purges. Arguing that he knew they would lose the 2015 presidential poll, but reluctant to say whether he sensed the disconcerting outcome of February’s presidential election, the former president advocates for radical changes in the opposition if they are to make a huge impression next time. Chief Obasanjo may be right about the PDP’s dire situation, particularly their indolence in facing up to the rigours of the last election, but it is doubtful whether even he understands the many-sidedness of the problems the party is contending with and why they lost the last poll by such a significant, though not destructive or irrecoverable, margin.

    If the former president’s self-righteousness is deemphasised or ignored, it should not be too difficult to accept his diagnosis of the ailment that continues to afflict the PDP and has now twice barred the opposition party from regaining Aso Villa. “I am not a perfect person. I have my shortcomings,” said the former president with disguised self-satisfaction. “If I deny my shortcomings, it means I am not being truthful to myself.” In the very next sentence, however, Chief Obasanjo betrays his true feelings: “…My shortcomings have nothing to do with my love for Nigeria. It has nothing to do with being greedy or selfishness.” Really? Is he so optimistic as to think his shortcomings do not either indicate or betray his contempt for Nigeria? And does his conscience not smite him over what many analysts think are his principle vices of greed and selfishness, two powerful shortcomings that in combination indicate a terrible flaw in a man?

    However, despite his self-confessed limitations, Chief Obasanjo is right to warn the PDP to watch their politics if they are to make significant inroads in 2023. He recommends that the opposition should assemble a critical mass of committed leaders and followers to strengthen the party for the huge task ahead in the next election cycle. It perhaps needs to be restated for the umpteenth time that the main opposition party cannot continue with their conservative approach to the business of politics if they are not to come to grief a third time. Twice they have been put to shame, in 2015 and 2019. A third time would mark them down as both incorrigible and uneducable. The country needs them, despite the excoriating attacks on their integrity masterminded by the ruling party and a sometimes hostile electorate. Yes, the country needs them, but nevertheless in a different shape and course. They must prove capable of the changes both Chief Obasanjo and the country are asking of them.

    Before the 2019 polls, this column more than three times fiercely admonished the PDP to embark on reform and purges in order to recreate and align themselves to the changing and radical needs of the country, particularly to sate the increasingly fickle and demanding needs of a less discriminating and less inquisitive electorate. Instead, the PDP, obviously unaccustomed to opposition politics and environment, desperately turned to the former Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff for succour. Yes, Mr Sheriff was as hard as they come: temperamental but pertinacious, domineering but courageous and combative, and contemptuous of his opponents but rich and accommodating. Such a man, on the surface, seemed very suited to the period needs of a party that had just received a merciless drubbing at the polls. However, the PDP later found out to their eternal regret that despite all of Mr Sheriff’s enticing gifts, nothing in his attitude or disposition makes him amenable to the long term needs of the party or even make him relevant to the development of its fundamental character.

    And just as the party emerged from a bruising legal and psychological battle with their interim chairman, they launched furiously into a bitter fratricidal nomination war that left them depleted and angry. Having burnt their fingers once while romancing  the obtruding Mr Sheriff, the party was reluctant to sleepwalk its way into the fatal embrace of moneybag governors who had attempted to hijack the party’s body and soul. In the end, they had had to settle for a new defector as their presidential candidate, and needed a coterie of other defectors in order to even be in a position to record some significant milestones in the last elections. They severely left alone the fundamental things that needed to be done, such as purging their ranks of the divisive and tainted characters whom the public regarded as emblematising and stigmatising the party. They also saw nothing wrong in sustaining their amorphous ideological character simply because the ruling Al Progressives Congress (APC) is also ideologically impure and imprecise.

    Chief Obasanjo has appeared to call them to arms. They will do well to hearken to his voice and consider whether the next few years should not invite them to take the risks they have been wary of contemplating since 2015

    The PDP also had the peculiar problem of contending with, and helplessly relying on, many of their controversial leaders without whom, it seemed, they could not hope to survive. The party needed the money and standing and name recognition of those controversial figures. And given the ossification of Nigerian politics, particularly its mercantilist leanings and traditions, the PDP rank and file feared that if they were completely denied the experience and courage of the old brigade, they were courting disaster. It’s a double edged sword. Either they now summon the courage to change direction and embrace new forces and ideas, or they stay in their comfort zone and face the risk of being transfixed to death. Chief Obasanjo has appeared to call them to arms. They will do well to hearken to his voice and consider whether the next few years should not invite them to take the risks they have been wary of contemplating since 2015.

    Indeed, far more than the former president has sensitised them to the political and existential dangers they face, the PDP faces the equally major and urgent issue of fixing their fixation with the next election cycle, in this case, the 2023 polls. When Chief Obasanjo spoke in the presence of the PDP leaders that visited him last Sunday, he harped on the urgency of fixing the party ahead of the 2023 elections. But are the party’s problems not worth fixing regardless of the next elections and their hypothetical outcomes? As a matter of fact, had the party looked beyond 2019 in their pre-election politics, it is unlikely they would have performed more poorly than they did in February and March. They were desperate in 2015, and so glossed over the deep reforms they should have made in the party. They were equally desperate in 2019, and again glossed over the indispensable and fundamental reforms that should be their political elixir. Ignoring or deemphasising radical changes that would stand them in good stead in the near future in their short-term desperation to regain the presidential villa is counterproductive.

    Chief Obasanjo may be unqualified to serve as the party’s moralist and lodestar, but his counsel is not altogether worthless. If the PDP is to thrive and retain relevance now and in the future, and especially if they are to make a far more aggressive impact in the coming elections, they must look inwards, reform their methods, refine their philosophical and ideological platforms, purge their ranks of the jaded and mercantilist politicians that degrade their purpose and vision, and rediscover the altruism that ennobles their desire to reshape Nigeria and even Africa. They have shown some hunger for public office; they have however not shown nobility of purpose. They have become desperate to win elections; they must be much more desperate to be ideologically relevant. They have been more clearly conservative than the ruling party is progressive; they should stick to their conservatism and even make it sexy.

  • APC’s growing ideological clarity

    Are there any fundamental differences in ideological orientation or philosophical outlook between Nigeria’s two hegemonic parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? Many Nigerians would say no. Both are essentially two sides of the same coin. Their leading members jump from one to the other with amazing ease. Many of them are more preoccupied with the acquisition of power more for material accumulation than any transcendental purpose. But is this perception of the two behemoths as organizational Siamese twins in terms of underlying motivating beliefs, values, assumptions and policy or articulations true? I don’t think so. What the just concluded elections have shown is the gradual crystallization of both parties along distinct ideological polarities.

    Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), in particular has, at various forums during the campaigns and after, incisively and painstakingly enunciated details of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s policy initiatives that reveal the APC’s emergent progressive ideological character. Under the APC in the last four years, there has been a massive channeling of public resources not just towards public infrastructure but also to succor the most vulnerable segments of the citizenry.

    Professor Osinbajo has constantly pungently reiterated the fact that, although the PMB administration has since 2015 earned far less from oil than the preceding PDP administrations did, the APC has done more in terms of investment in infrastructure and poverty alleviation in four years than the PDP recorded in 16 years. The PDP has found this irritating, annoying and no more than a mantra of excuses for failure to deliver on the APC’s electoral promises. But Osinbajo’s facts seem incontrovertible.

    In the VP’s words, “…lack of integrity in leadership and corruption, in particular, was the reason why we were finding it difficult to make progress. I explained that that’s why we earned $383 billion in four years, 2010-2014, the highest ever in the history of our country, and yet Lagos – Ibadan Expressway was not done. Lagos-Kano railway and all that is being done today were not done then. We cannot point to a single major infrastructure project that was completed in the 10-year period despite the high earnings including power”. On the contrary he reels out verifiable facts about the accomplishments of the PMB administration in infrastructure in its first term in diverse sectors including roads, rail transportation, bridges and power across the country’s geo-political zones.

    The scale of the APC’s investment in its Social Investment Programme (SIP) in the last four years is particularly remarkable. Through the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), for instance, loans ranging from N50,000 to N350,000 each were disbursed to more than 300,000 market women, traders, artisans and farmers across the country. This resulted in 349,000 beneficiaries opening new bank accounts/wallets thereby being drawn into the formal economy.

    Over two million petty traders gained access to micro-credit ranging from N50,000 to N150,000 through the Trader-Moni scheme administered by the Bank of Industry (BOI). Another 500, 000 traders operating through cooperatives benefitted from the Market-Moni micro credit scheme. And no less ambitious is the administration’s school feeding programme, which has provided a balanced meal for 9,300,892 pupils in 43,837 public primary schools in 26 states across Nigeria.

    Breaking this down, Osinbajo reveals that “the programme employs 95,422 cooks and over 100,000 smallholder farmers linked to the scheme” resulting in the “procurement, preparation and distribution of 594 cattle, 138,000 chickens, 6.8 million eggs and 83 metric tonnes of fish each week.” The positive implications of this kind of deliberate and unprecedented conditional cash transfer of resources towards those on the lowest rungs of society’s economic ladder cannot be overemphasized.

    It is of course obvious that with this massive infrastructure and social investment expenditure by the PMB administration, it is impossible for the grand larceny witnessed under the PDP, with a few individuals stealing humongous amounts of now recovered funds from state coffers, to take place under the APC. It is not that corruption has ceased to exist. But it cannot be practiced on a scale as injurious to the polity’s collective well being as witnessed during the GEJ administration.

    There is no doubt then that the APC is gaining in ideological clarity and organizational self definition. The party certainly does not derive intellectual inspiration from such extremist free market, neo-liberal economists such as Milton Friedman, Fredrick Hayek, W.W. Rostow  and his ‘non-communist manifesto’ or their political apostles such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher or Donald Trump. For these, society is made up of atomistic individuals involved in a Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ struggle. Free market fetishism, like electricity, permits of no feelings. Efficiency as epitomized by corporate profits is its guiding angel. State welfare to cater for the weak is not only indulgent; it breeds inefficiency, hurts business and hobbles progress. The state is an indispensable evil that must only be tolerated and its debilitating expansive proclivity curbed through aggressive privatization, deregulation, public sector downsizing and drastic curtailment of social subsidies. Rather, economically virile individuals and organizations must be given maximum opportunity to thrive and make profit so that wealth can trickle down for the benefit of the less able specie of the free market jungle.

    The APC’s Social Investment Programme would appear to draw intellectual inspiration from progressive economists like Dudley Seers or the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics winner, Amartya Sen. It was Seer who posited the three questions: ‘What has been happening to poverty? What has been happening to unemployment? And what has been happening to inequality?’ as the most critical in determining a society’s level of development. According to Seers, “If one of two of these central problems have been growing worse, especially if all three have, it would be strange to call the result ‘development’ even if per capita income doubled”.

    Sen contends that inevitable components of any meaningful economic development must include freedom of opportunity, freedom to access credit as well as economic protection from abject poverty for the vast majority. As Professor Osinbajo never tires of pointing out, the APC’s massive social investment scheme would not even be on the cards at all but for PMB’s personal integrity and commitment to prudence, fiscal discipline and transparency in governance. That is why the resources are now available to be channeled for the benefit of the poor.

    Even then, Buhari’s inexplicable ambivalence, even indulgence, towards trusted members of his inner caucus who abuse his trust and taint his administration’s image must have been a factor in the PDP’s surprisingly impressive showing in the 2019 polls. If putting a check on such aberrant aides who constitute an albatross to his government is one of the promised ‘tough decisions’ to expect from Buhari in his second term, he may yet lay the foundation for a long stay in power by the progressives.

    The APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, a veteran labour activist and leader as well as brilliant progressive polemicist is no doubt best placed to give ideological direction to the APC. The more dynamic and result-oriented of the APC progressive governors obviously take their bearing from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s theory and praxis of governance as paradigm- setting helmsman of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007.

    It is certainly for his commitment to the best interest of the party as well as his organizational, strategic and bargaining skills that party members defer to Tinubu honorifically as ‘National Leader’. Even more important and critical, in my view, is his role as intellectual torch bearer who seeks to constantly interrogate and make explicit what should be the ideological framework within which the APC’s vision and policies as a progressive party are grounded. This he did again during his 67th birthday colloquium when he stated clearly his perception of the right ideological course for the party to chart.

    In his words, “People the world over more than ever are questioning the centre-right conservative model that has, with few exceptions, governed the world for the last half century…Our pursuit of the Next Level cannot be achieved by blindly following the economic path of other nations. That would be tantamount to racing to live in a building just as its long term occupants were frantically rushing out, screaming that the edifice was crumbling. We dare not enter”.

    Continuing, Tinubu avers, “Our economy must be redefined to be an efficient yet moral social construct with the primary goal of optimizing the long-term welfare of the people through the sustained, productive and full employment of labour, land, capital and natural resources… To pull the nation from poverty, government must play a decisive role. It must at times direct and even develop markets and opportunities. This is nothing novel. I am only restating what the established economies did when they were young and assumed their trajectories toward growth”.

    This is certainly food for thought for the APC as the party strives to achieve greater ideological clarity even as Nigerians look forward to a better deal under Buhari’s Next Level agenda. It is instructive that as military head of state between 1983 and 1985 and even now, Buhari has continued to evince an instinctual mistrust for the free market orthodoxies of the Breton Woods Institutions.

     

    • Next week: Ideology and PDP’s Electoral Resurgence

  • 2019 ITTF World Junior Circuit: Nigeria sweeps medals in singles

    Just like the boys’ contingent did in the team event, they once again showed their class after sweeping majority of the medals in the singles event of the 2019 ITTF World Junior Circuit tagged Ghana Open.

    Azeez Solanke and Taiwo Matti claimed gold in the junior and cadet singles with both players adding the doubles titles in the junior and cadet to emerge as the best team in the competition.

    Despite not winning the gold medals in the girls’ event, Sukurat Aiyelabegan settled for silver and bronze medals in the mini-cadet, cadet and junior events as the most successful female player in the Nigeria team.

    To emerge as champion in the junior boys’ singles, Solanke had to dig deep to beat southpaw Matti 4-0 while Matti put the disappointment behind him by beating compatriot – Jamiu Ayanwale 3-1 to win gold medal in the cadet boys’ singles while he partnered with Ayanwale to claim the gold medal in the cadet boys doubles.

    Solanke partnership with Ayanwale also added another gold medal in the junior boys doubles after beating the pair of Matti and Augustine Emmanuel 3-1 in the final.

    However, this is indeed the best of times for Ghanaian players following the staging of the ITTF World Junior Circuit as majority of them could not hide their excitement about the hosting of the tournament.

    Despite not making it to most of the podiums, they were magnanimous that the knowledge acquired playing against some of the best juniors would fire them up to continue to work harder.

    Nathaniel Kwesi Somuah, Media Officer of Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) and Samuel Amoesi of Daily Graphic conducted separate interviews with some of the players.

    Richard Ofori, 11, who plays in mini- cadet division (Under-13), shared an experience in playing in his first ever international competition.

    “I have never played in such a competition; I felt nervous earlier which made me lost most of my matches. However, I have gained some experience and am happy about it,”

    Emnanuella Yaa kyere, also played in the girls’ mini-cadet division, said: “I am excited about playing in the competition. I have gathered a lot of experience which would help me in the future; I hope to learn from that to make me a better player.”

    For Samuel Hagan, who played in the junior division (U-18), it is an exposure for him. “I have never represented Ghana in a competition. I have learnt to be focus; I was under pressure to win which made me commit a lot of errors causing me to lose more matches at the initial stage.”

    Another Ghanaian talent, Matilda Fodu, U-18 player, recounted her joy to compete for Ghana. “The feeling is great, to represent the country on home soil, I never thought it will come soon. I have lost some matches but i hope to build on the experience and do better next time.”

     

  • Buhari salutes Oshiohmole for building strong, unified party

    President Muhammadu Buhari has joined all members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in felicitating with  party Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on his 67th birthday.

    He congratulated him for providing purposeful, courageous and tenacious leadership.

    According to a statement issued by 12.09a.m on Friday by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, the President affirmed that Comrade Oshiomhole, after many years of serving as a labour leader, brought a new dynamism into the collective effort to make democracy and development more inclusive in the country, recognising his vibrant relationship with Nigerian workers and ordinary people.

    Read also: Oshiomhole: Activist and political aficionado @ 67

    As the Chairman of APC, the President believed the strides recorded in the last elections across the country clearly testify to Oshiomhole’s visionary and vibrant leadership.

    He commended his effort at building a strong and unified party that is focused on strengthening internal democracy and developing the country.

    While rejoicing with family members, friends and political associates of the APC Chairman on the milestone, President Buhari described him as a man of conviction, who stands resolutely by whatever he believes in.

    The President prayed that the Almighty God will grant the party chairman longer life, good health and wisdom in serving the country and its citizens

  • Tokyo 2020 Olympics must reflect in 2019 budget, says Igali

    President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Hon Daniel Igali says the budget for the preparation of athletes for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan must be included in the 2019 budget if the country hopes to have a good participation in the event.

    Igali said this in a chat with NationSport on Wednesday night on arrival from Tunisia, where Nigerian wrestlers participated at 2019 African Senior Wrestling Championships.

    “The issues of funds have almost become like a broken record, it is something that happens with, not just wrestling, but a lot of amateur sports and it has to do with budgeting. We must have proactive budgeting. We have the Olympics next year and we cannot have a budget that will be passed in June next year, the moment we do that, we are already prepared to fail at the Olympics.

    “The Olympic budget next year should be encapsulated in this year’s budget. The preparations; all the qualification tournaments, everything to ensure a successful outing in Japan and medal-worthy performances put up by the athletes, have to be achieved this year.

    “So if we don’t do that, we are going to continue to experience the same thing we have experienced. It was a tough one for us. But I must commend the Minister of Sports and the permanent secretary that played their roles to ensure that we had some tickets before we left. Also, friends and the Nigeria Wrestling Federation for running around to ensure that we are able to go and come back. Hopefully, we can start looking around to settle some of the debts now.”

    Team Nigeria won a total of 13 medals (6 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze) at the championships in Tunisia and Igali commended the wrestlers for making the country proud.

    “I think it was the doggedness of the athletes, the instructions from the coaches, the desire and fire in the athletes to represent their country and to represent it well. I’m really very proud of my athletes and coaches for this enormous feat that we achieved in Hammamet, Tunisia.

    “The Tunisians have a very good female team and they were poised to come first, especially on home soil. So, it was a battle and my athletes were really dogged and wanted it bad enough. In spite of the preparations we had, this Nigerian spirit is something else. They get somewhere and in the heat of the moment, they keep firing from all cylinders. I can’t be more proud than this and I want to give them all the kudos, they really did well,” Igali told NationSport.

  • Kwara election panel to lawyers, parties: be wary of fraudulent agents

    A Kwara State Governorship and State Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Ilorin yesterday cautioned lawyers and parties to be wary of persons who might be parading themselves as agents for fraudulent purposes.

    The tribunal chairman, Justice Bassey Efiong Ikpme, stated this in his address at the inaugural sitting of the tribunal in Ilorin.

    “If any person or group comes to tell you that he or she is our agents for fraudulent purposes, please don’t believe it for we don’t have such agents,” he said.

    Other members of the tribunal include Justices Ngozi Okoaisabor and Mariya Ismail.

    He said: “We shall do our work without any form of bias.”

    He said the assignment was “time specific”, assuring that the tribunal would complete its work on the petition filed before it within the time lag.

    Justice Ikpme urged counsel to be ready to work within the time frame allowed for the tribunal to complete its assignment.

    In another development, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the just concluded governorship election, AbdulRasaq Atunwa, are challenging the qualification of governor-elect AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the March 9 governorship election

    In an application, counsel to the petitioner, Abdulwahab Bamidele, who held brief for Paul Isokoro (SAN), sought the tribunal’s leave to serve the 1st and 2nd respondents through “substituted means”.

    He asked the tribunal for a leave to enable him serve the respondents with the “petitions and processes on the tribunal’s notice board within the premises of the state high court complex Ilorin, his last known address at No 1 , Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin and  APC’S Secretariat at Asa Road, GRA ,Ilorin.

    Read also: Kwara election tribunal to lawyers, parties: Be wary of fraudulent agents

    A similar motion was filled by counsel to Action Alliance (AA), who is also challenging the qualification of the governor-elect.

    The tribunal latter rose to observe 10 minutes break after entertaining application by counsel seeking the tribunal’s permission  to serve the 1st and 2nd respondents through “substituted means”.

    In his ruling on the applications, the tribunal’s chairman said the tribunal “acknowledged” that the purpose of the application was to bring to the notices of the respondents the “pendency” of petitions before the tribunal for which they were granted.

    He, therefore, adjourned the sitting till April 15,2019 for hearing.

  • APC will reclaim all ‘stolen’ mandates

    Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Yekini Nabena has said the party will reclaim its stolen mandate in states where the 2019 elections was conducted in fragrant disregard to electoral values.

    Nabena said the rerun elections in Bauchi, Sokoto and Adamawa states, which threw up Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates were marred by massive rigging, violence and vote-buying.

    In Bauchi, PDP’s Bala Mohammed was declared winner. In Adamawa, Fintiri, of PDP won, while in Sokoto, incumbent Aminu Tambuwal was victorious.

    Nabena, who is APC’s deputy national publicity secretary, believed the rerun elections were not conducted in line with the laid down rules of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Speaking with reporters in Abuja, Nabena hoped the party would reclaim its mandate through the tribunals.

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    He said: “Following a review of the …re-run in Bauchi, Sokoto and Adamawa states, it is evident massive rigging, thuggery and vote-buying characterised the exercise.

    “It should be noted that while APC have over two third of members of the House of Assembly in Bauchi and a majority in Sokoto…  the re-run was rigged and were conducted without regards to laid down rules …”

    When asked if his party would challenge the outcome in the tribunal, he said APC would reclaim the mandate the people freely gave to it.

    “…the outcome …will be challenged … to reclaim our mandates,” Nabena said.

  • Ekiti Assembly confirms 13 commissioner-nominees

    THE Ekiti State House of Assembly has unanimously confirmed 13 commissioner nominees presented by Governor Kayode Fayemi.

    The nominees were confirmed by the House during yesterday’s plenary, presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Adeniran Alagbada.

    The nominees include a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Bamidele Faparusi; Mrs. Moji Kolade, Mr. Febisola Adewale, Mr. Gbenga Agbeyo, Mr. Michael Awopetu and Mrs. Moji Fafure.

    Others are Alhaji Ayodele Jinodu, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua, Mr. Sola Adebayo, Dr. Adio Folayan and Mr. Olusoga David, Chief Folorunso Olabode and Mr. Femi Ajayi.

    The Speaker urged them to ensure that they contribute their quota towards the development of the state.

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    Speaking to reporters after his confirmation, Faparusi said the new assignment is a call to serve the people.

    “This is a call to serve the people, a call to support the realisation of the vision for development of Governor Fayemi in the state,” he said.

    The house later adjourned sitting till Monday, April 8.