President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he is not interested in who becomes the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as he is open to the emergence of anyone.

He made the declaration in an interview aired on Channels Television on Wednesday evening having been asked about his interest in the candidate.

Asked if he was not going to be interested in who succeeds him, he said: “No. Let him come, whoever it is.

“The only important thing (is) I made sure that on record, nobody should ask me to come and give any evidence in any court. Otherwise, whoever it is, he will be in trouble. Because all the important things are on record. I made sure about that. Important issues are all on record.”

Pressed on whether he has any favourite in the APC, he added: “No. I wouldn’t because he may be eliminated if I mention it. I better keep it secret.”

Data methodology
The FCC archives the court details of asylees on its portal. So, PREMIUM TIMES conducted a yearlong analysis of a third of the over 900 court transcripts of Nigerians seeking asylum in Canada, mining details of their cases and inputting them into a spreadsheet.

The portal randomly sorts the cases by “relevance” and “date.” We sorted by “relevance” which returned all-encompassing randomness in terms of demography, date of, and reason for migration.

In all, our data captured about a third of all the immigration cases of Nigerians the FCC has published as of December 2021. The cases ranged from individual to joint applications, usually families.

It represents the largest collection and publication of private data on the immigration claims made by Nigerians seeking refugee status in the Great White North and the outcome of their applications.

While more than two-thirds of the 300 cases analysed arrived in Canada directly from Nigeria — usually on private visits, a stopover or via irregular border crossing — others entered from outside Nigeria, a majority of them from the U.S. and Europe.

In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted, “to those fleeing persecution, terror (and) war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength.” Some believe that comment triggered an unprecedented surge in asylum applications in the country.

To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017

Even though he added, “you will not be at an advantage if you choose to enter Canada irregularly. You must follow the rules and there are many,” it did not deter the rise in the influx.

At least 25 of the 300 cases analysed entered Canada that year, the highest recorded in a single year.

In his own application for asylum, 47-year-old Port Harcourt-based poultry farmer, Edirin Richard Enamejewa, claimed he was accused of being a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) while visiting Aba, southeast Nigeria, for business. He said he was arrested, beaten and detained by the police for a week.

He claimed he was released on bail after paying a bribe and was instructed to report to the police station every two weeks, an obligation he continued to meet. He said the police, however, kept threatening him with arrest and at a point forced him to pay a further bribe.

With the police and the military still on his trail, he jumped bail in October 2017 when he went on vacation in Canada. There, he made a claim for refugee protection but it was rejected. In a decision dated November 26, 2018, the RPD rejected the applicant’s claim because it found that he was not credible. The applicant subsequently appealed the RPD’s decision to the RAD.

In its verdict dated September 6, 2019, the RAD confirmed the RPD’s decision and rejected the applicant’s claim for refugee protection.

“Upon appeal to the RAD, the Applicant claimed that three policemen entered the Applicant’s farm on November 23, 2018 and asked the employees about the Applicant’s whereabouts,” court document said. “When the employees informed the police that they did not know where the Applicant was located or how to contact him, the police assaulted one of the employees.

“The Applicant submitted evidence to corroborate the November 23, 2018 police attack, but the RAD found that all of the Applicant’s new evidence was inadmissible and accordingly dismissed his request for an oral hearing. On the merits of the Applicant’s claim, the RAD held that the Applicant was not credible. The RAD found that the Applicant failed to adequately explain how he could miss multiple appointments with the police without facing consequences, and why he did not attempt to clear his name of the accusation that he was an IPOB member.”


He then took the case to the Federal Court of Canada for judicial review of the RAD’s decision. On April 12, 2021, Justice Ahmed of the FCC overturned the judgements, returning the matter “for redetermination by a differently constituted panel.” The judge faulted the RAD for unreasonably refusing to admit the new evidence submitted by the Applicant upon appeal.

Despite citing a similar reason as Mr Enamejewa, Douglas Eluomuno Chinwuba was not as lucky upon appeals after he filed an inland claim for refugee protection a month after his study permit application was denied in May 201.

Mr Chinwuba, a CEO of a company in Nigeria, was, in July 2015, granted a visitor’s visa to Canada. Between June and September 2016, he travelled to Canada to help his son who was enrolled at Ryerson University. In January 2017, the applicant again traveled to Canada and in February 2017 was himself accepted into Humber College in Canada. In May 2017, his application for a study permit was denied.

“In June 2017, the Applicant filed an inland claim for refugee protection alleging fear of persecution by the Directorate of State Security (DSS) and other security agents in Nigeria due to his political opinions and for being a suspected supporter of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) organization,” court document said of Mr Chinwuba’s case. “He claims to have been arrested, beaten, and detained by the DSS in October 2016 for a week until his lawyer provided proof that he had no connection with the IPOB.”

Mr Chinwuba claimed SSS agents in Nigeria continued to search for him and were asking his wife about his whereabouts. The Refugee Protection Division rejected his claim on October 24, 2017, on the basis of credibility. He appealed the decision but he lost, with the Refugee Appeal Division saying it found the Applicant’s responses to the RPD’s questions asking him to elaborate on his allegations as vague.

“The RAD agreed that the RPD’s findings that the Applicant’s allegations based upon his perceived involvement with the IPOB were inconsistent, and the RAD found no error in the RPD’s negative credibility findings in this regard,” court documents say. “Regarding the other documentary evidence that was considered by the RPD, the RAD agreed that there were clear irregularities and inconsistencies with these documents that raised concerns about the Applicant’s overall truthfulness and concerns about the reliability of his documentation.”

Mr Chinwuba then sought judicial review of the verdict at the Federal Court of Canada. But in a March 13, 2019 judgment, Madam Justice Ann Marie McDonald agreed with the RAD and RPD the applicant lacked credibility and in the absence of independent and credible documentary evidence, rejected the request for judicial review.

Findings
PREMIUM TIMES’ investigation revealed a confluence of reasons Nigerian gave for fleeing from their country. The reasons were categorised into 13.

They ranged from those who said they fled because of the persecution related to sexual orientation, religion, political opinions as well as violence from Boko Haram, herders, secessionists and cultists.

Of the 300 cases analysed, 270 cited one reason for fleeing. 28 gave two reasons. Others gave three.

Fifty-two (52) applicants (19.3 per cent) sought refuge because they were allegedly persecuted for their sexual orientation. Thirty-seven (37) said they they left Nigeria because of forced Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) (13.7 per cent). Another 32 (11.9 per cent) said political persecution drove them away from home. About 22 (8.1 per cent) cited sexual based violence as reason for seeking asylum while 24 (8.9 per cent) claimed they no longer feel secure in Nigeria due to insecurity.

At least 19 asylum seekers said their lives were threatened by militias. Another 13 (4.8 per cent) claimed they suffered religious persecution, cultural rituals and socio-economic suppression. Domestic violence was cited by 12 (4.4 per cent) applicants. Those seeking asylum to enable them obtain foreign degrees were 11 (4.1 per cent) while 10 applicants (3.7 per cent) gave family reason for wanting protection in Canada.

In all, sexual orientation was cited as reason 57 times, FGM 56 times, political persecution 34, SGBV 30, insecurity 28, militia and threat to life 20, religious persecution 20, cultural rituals 17, domestic violence 16, socio-economic 15, family reason 13, studies 11, residency permit 11, healthcare 8.

Officials have also grown suspicious of the claims and they have tightened measures to determine what story to believe and those to reject.

As a result, 198 (66 per cent) of the cases considered were dismissed while the remaining 102 were admitted for reconsideration.

For those whose cases were dismissed, it is usually because the court believes their stories were not credible or have internal flight alternatives like Benin City as was the case of Mr Akinkunmi, or Port Harcourt and Abuja as was for the Adeniji-Adeles.

Ehiosun Elvis Omijie, 26, a 2015 economics graduate of Ambrose Alli University, was one of those whose case was granted.

Despite submitting proof of full tuition payment of $16,084 CAD having been admitted to study applied business administration at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology [NAIT], a visa officer turned down his student visa request.

The official wondered “why (the) applicant would incur costs of relocating to Canada in order to undertake study at the same academic level to that already completed.”

Upon appeal, Justice Pentney said the visa officer’s decision was “unreasonable… and unintelligible… because there is no explanation” for the officer’s conclusion.

Tightening measures
Suspicious that some Nigerian applicants were making up stories, Canadian authorities have continued to tighten the procedures for immigration admittance. On December 20, 2021, Justice Andrew D. Little of the Federal Court of Canada gave a judgment dismissing claims by a family of five which claimed Fulani herders were after their lives.

The applicants were Chiyem Stephen Igwe, his spouse Agatha Ndudi Igwe, and their two sons, Jerome and Charles. They are from Akumazi in Delta State, south-south Nigeria. The adult applicants also have a daughter, Isioma Hilary, who was a baby and did not have a passport when the applicants fled to Canada. She remained in Nigeria in the care of a relative.

Mr Igwe holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Lagos. He claimed he was employed for many years at a shipping company. But that in October 2017, he changed careers and began farming on his ancestral farmlands in Delta State.

He said in early 2018, he came into conflict with Fulani herdsmen. He claimed several herdsmen led their cattle to graze on his land and declined to leave. Mr Igwe said he contacted local police and filed a report about the trespass, but that the police refused to assist. He said he and several other farmers then resolved to confront the herdsmen on their own. In Mr Igwe’s words, they formed a “vigilante” group.

Mr Igwe further told Canadian authorities that on February 2, 2018, he led the vigilante group and apprehended four herdsmen on a nearby farm. He said his team took the herdsmen into custody and presented them at the local police station. He claimed that within a few hours, the police released the herdsmen, despite the citizen’s arrests and the applicant’s previously filed report.

At about 10 p.m. on the same night, he said he received a threatening phone call. He recognised the caller’s voice as belonging to the leader of the local herdsmen, Musa Danladi. The caller, he said, threatened to kill him and the other group members in retaliation for the citizen’s arrests. He claimed the caller vowed the herdsmen would find the group members even if they fled from Akumazi. Mr Igwe said he reported the phone call to police.

Mr Igwe said early on February 4, 2018, someone set fire to his family compound. Mr Igwe claimed he awoke at 3:00 a.m. to a neighbour shouting “fire.” As he ran outside, he heard gunshots and shouting in the language spoken by the Fulani herdsmen. He glimpsed the arsonists fleeing on motorbike, but did not get a good look at them. Mr Igwe said he reported the event to police the next morning. The police agreed to look into the matter.

The applicant said after the fire, he feared for his safety and decided not to return to the farm. He joined the rest of his family in Lagos. He learned new information confirming that the fire had been set by the same herdsmen he and the other farmers had arrested. Mr Igwe claimed he tried to lodge a complaint with the Lagos police about the fire, but they referred him back to the local police in Akumazi.

Mr Igwe said on August 20, 2018, three men attacked his home in Lagos and set fire to their electric generator. In his Basis of Claim form, the applicant claimed he caught sight of one of the attackers while he was fleeing the home in Lagos, and recognised him to be Musa Danladi, the leader of the herders in his native home in Delta. He said his family fled to a local hotel for safety, where they remained until September 14, 2018, when they left Nigeria for the United States. On September 18, 2018, the family crossed the border from the United States to Canada irregularly and had since then been seeking asylum.

But the Canadian immigration authorities apparently did not buy his narrative. From the Refugee Protection Department to the Refugee Appeal Department and to the Federal Court of Canada where he took his case at different times, he was simply told to seek refuge in any other Nigerian city if he and his family feel unsafe in Lagos and Delta.

His next steps in the desperate push for residency in Canada remain unclear. And so are the fates of several others in his shoes.

INVESTIGATION: Canada Rush: What desperate Nigerian asylum seekers are telling Canada about Nigeria

Some Nigerians moving to Canada are telling immigration officials they are fleeing persecution over their sexual orientation, gender, and religious affiliations.

By Yusuf Akinpelu and Kabir Yusuf January 4, 2022

14 min read

By March this year, it will be three years since Gbenga Akinkunmi began scrambling to be granted asylum in Canada, based on unsubstantiated claim that almost every non-state actor in Nigeria was after his life and those of his family members.

In court documents reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Akinkunmi claimed he fled from his home in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria, while his wife and two children fled elsewhere after members of the terrorist Boko Haram sect came after him for challenging herders who encroached on his property. He claimed that before that incident, he had survived two earlier attacks from the herders.

In Warri where he claimed he initially fled to, he said he was again kidnapped by Niger Delta militants and that he only escaped after paying a part of the ransom the abductors demanded.

Mr Akinkunmi said he later fled to New York on March 11, 2018, using a valid U.S. visa. The next day, he entered Canada and made a refugee claim the next year before the Canadian Refugee Protection Division (RPD), claiming he narrowly escaped being killed by militias in Nigeria.

His claim was rejected by immigration authorities, with the jury saying he could have embraced an internal flight alternative (IFA) in neighbouring Benin City if Plateau and Warri were unsafe. This means he should have sought refuge in another city in Nigeria rather than fleeing to Canada.

Benin City is 96.7 kilometres away from Warri and can be reached by car in about two hours. According to the transportation measurement platform, travel math, the total flight duration between airports in the two cities is 37 minutes.

After his application was rejected, Mr Akinkunmi petitioned the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), arguing that Warri was too close to Benin and that deadly militants could be on his trail there. In Benin, he said, his six-year-old daughter risked forced genital mutilation. His appeal was dismissed.

With deportation imminent, last July, he sought the review of the verdict before the Federal Court of Canada. Again, his case was rejected.

“There was no credible evidence to establish, on a balance of probabilities,” Justice Walker ruled, “that Mr Akinkunmi and his wife and daughter had been persecuted or threatened by his family or that the feared family members had been able to locate them since 2017.”

Like Mr Akinkunmi, Prince Mctony Aire, 33, could also not convince authorities to grant him asylum in Canada. He had told a panel there that Islamic extremists and security forces in Nigeria were after him because he was bisexual. He claimed he was “detained, tortured and issued death threats” in Zaria, north-western Nigeria, before fleeing to Canada.

His case was dismissed by Justice von Finckenstein, who doubted his narratives and upheld a decision that the claimant faced less risk if he relocated to Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, which is 958 kilometres away from Zaria and can be reached by road in 12 hours and by air in an hour 22 minutes.

Analysing the Canada rush
The immigration cases involving Messrs Akinkunmi and Aire are among those concerning 300 Nigerians that we accessed and reviewed.

Documents detailing the cases are held by the Federal Court of Canada (FCC) and at least 5,000 pages of them were analysed by PREMIUM TIMES. They revealed what Nigerians are telling Canadian immigration authorities to claim asylum in the North American country.

This newspaper’s yearlong examination of the immigration documents showed a striking pattern of claims made by the Nigerian applicants. Nigerians seeking residency in Canada have more than tripled since 2015 when it rose from about 4,000 to nearly 13,000 in 2019.

A 2020 survey conducted by the Africa Polling Institute (API), a non-profit research think-tank, found the key “push factors” for the exodus of Nigerian immigrants to Canada to be due to Nigeria’s weak economy, heightened insecurity, perceived poor governance and the huge appetites for foreign degrees by citizens.


Reasons for exodus for Nigerian immigrants to Canada
While these may be the underlying reasons for the exodus to Canada, some prospective Nigerian asylees sometimes make up stories about their personal situations and state of affairs in their country to convince authorities to grant them stay in one of the world’s most developed countries.

In the documents we reviewed, majority of the asylum seekers, 270, gave a single reason for wanting to leave Nigeria. The remaining 30 applicants gave more than one reason.

Majority of the claimants, 52, or 19 per cent, claimed they needed to escape persecution due to their sexual orientation.

“This positions Nigeria as a country where sexual rights are not considered as human rights, and it opens spaces for conversation on the rights of the people in the LGBTQ communities,” Kudus Adebayo, a research fellow on diaspora and transnational studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, told PREMIUM TIMES.


“The country becomes a place where people can be forced out of their communities, separated from their families and lives because of their sexual orientation,” he added.

The Nigerian government outlawed same-sex relationships in 2014. The law stipulates up to 10 years jail term for belonging to a gay rights group and up to 14 years imprisonment for engaging in homosexual activities.

“Having a swelling asylum plea linked to the LGBTQ community is not shocking at all. The Nigerian state, with the anti same-sex law, and the general negative attitude towards non-heterosexual citizens, means that some people are constantly at the risk of losing their freedoms and lives,” Mr Adebayo said.

Alerted by this in 2017, Legal Aid Ontario which provides legal services for low-income people said it found an “unusual” pattern in sexual orientation claims by Nigerian asylees in Canada, a worrying trend it said may sometimes be fabricated.

“It galls me because of the potential impact that it could have on the refugee system and the Canadian public’s perception of refugee claimants and refugees in a very vulnerable time globally,” Jawad Kassab, who leads the agency’s refugee and immigration programme, said. The agency declined comments on its latest position.

Mr Adebayo, who is also a postdoctoral fellow at the African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, did not rule out the possibility of “an industry of emigration built around the narrative of sexuality and persecution of those in the LGBTQ community.”

“Those making money off the emigration economy would package travels around possible false claims of sexual persecution. This trend will surely make it difficult for the receiving states, that is Canada and others, to determine which claim should be granted and those to be rejected,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.

When Legal Aid Ontario suggested in a letter that lawyers may be coaching clients to fabricate their stories, Richard Odeleye, an immigration lawyer, described the accusation as “insulting” and “discriminatory.”

“It’s almost like a war zone for homosexuals,” Mr Odeleye said of Nigeria to CBC News. “You cannot expect people to put up with that, and they have to leave.”


Other immigrants said they were fleeing Nigeria due to forced female genital mutilation (FGM) and cultural rituals, political and religious persecution, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), insecurity, attacks from militia and threat to life, domestic violence, socio-economic and family reasons.

The allure of Canada
Second only to Russia by land size, Canada’s total land area of approximately 3.9 million square miles (10 million square km) means it is about 11 times the size of Nigeria, or accounts for roughly the northern two-fifths of the continent of North America, or about half the size of South America.

But despite this spaciality sprawling beneath the grandeur of its arctic frozen tundra and archipelago, the bilingual country (English and French) is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

Nearly 80 per cent of Canada’s 38 million population live within 93 miles (150 kilometers) of the Canada-United States border, leaving a vast swathe of the nation’s territory unoccupied. Senior citizens outnumber children too.

Pressed by the push to expand its labour force by offsetting its aging population, Canada started an Express Entry programme in 2015, offering successful skilled workers permanent residency permits. This “pull factor” attracted tons of migrants.

In a quest for upward mobility, more than 7 in 10 Nigerians (73 per cent) would relocate abroad with their family members if they had an opportunity, the 2021 Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey published by API found.

This explains why Nigerians are enamoured of the Great White North as the exodus to the North American country has shown no sign of slowing down.

For the fifth year running, more Nigerians emigrated to Canada than the year before and the number of Nigerians granted permanent residency has more than tripled since 2015, rising from 4,090 to peak at 12,600 in 2019, before COVID-19 slowed it.

The spokesperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said what informed this “may be Canadian immigration policy.”

Permanent residence permit issued to Nigerians from 2015.This growth rate outstrips India, China and Philippines, Canada’s top three sources of immigrants over the last five years.

“Exiting the country is a survival strategy for millions (of Nigerians), and this is clear from what we can call the ‘Japa Movement’ of the last few years,” Mr Adebayo said, adding that “exodus of any category of the population means that a country loses human resources to the receiving countries.”

Still, Mr Balogun said the insatiable crave by Nigerians to migrate abroad is not a case of brain drain but rather “brain gain (and) investment opportunities.”

“We are harvesting our human resources for national development. Hence our initiative on Nigeria diaspora investment summit, Door of Return, National Diaspora Day on every July 25 and celebration of our diaspora icons as done in September. Over 600 of them were celebrated across various fields and sectors,” he said, downplaying the potential collapse of the nation’s skilled population and shrinking middle-class.

The head of public affairs at the High Commission of Canada in Nigeria, Oluwa-Demilade Kosemani, was on leave when he was contacted for comments. He promised to revert as soon as he could.

Demilade Kosemani, was on leave when he was contacted for comments. He promised to revert as soon as he could.

Japa Movement’
Aminat, 19, accompanied by her mother, Agnes, and her father, Ademola Adeniji-Adele, entered Canada on August 30, 2015 on a student visa.

The following year her father, the son of the 20th Oba of Lagos and former commissioner for youth, sports and social development, died, leaving behind a treasure trove which included an estate but without a will.

Agnes and her daughter later sought asylum in Canada claiming that the administrator of Mr Adeniji-Adele’s estate insisted on not paying the family its due except Aminat returns to Nigeria, marries his friend’s son, denounces Christianity, and returns to Islam, court transcripts read.

Agnes claimed the executor paid for her trip to Canada to bring Aminat back to Nigeria, the documents showed. Instead, on June 7, 2017 Agnes took her son, Musediku, 17, with her to Canada and refused to return to Nigeria.

“The executor has ceased to fund Aminat’s education, and has cut off Agnes’ monthly allowance from her husband’s estate,” the asylum seekers told the court.

But the Federal Court of Canada (FCC), which reviewed earlier decisions denying Agnes and her children asylum, said the applicants failed to justify their claims that they would be in danger in all parts of Nigeria if they returned to the country. The court specifically said the applicants could relocate from Lagos to either Port Harcourt or Abuja where they would not be at risk.

“Furthermore, some of the news reports submitted by the applicants were irrelevant to their personal circumstances,” the court ruled. “One example was a CNN World article that described women who were arrested in Abuja and assaulted by the police based on the suspicion they were working as prostitutes.

“Others concerned challenges encountered by the population in general, such as homelessness, unemployment, pollution and unsafe drinking water. These problems were said to be particularly severe for those who are impoverished or lack family connections. However, by their own account the Applicants are members of a wealthy and distinguished family, most of whose members continue to be well disposed towards them.

“The Applicants adduced no evidence to substantiate their assertion that the Executor would have access to government or corporate databases, would be able to trace them through their mobile telephone SIM cards, and would therefore be able to locate them in the Internal Flight Alternatives, IFAs (other Nigerian cities). There was no evidence of the extent of public awareness of the Applicants’ surname outside Lagos.

“The onus was on the Applicants to demonstrate that the proposed IFAs were unsuitable. They were unable to meet this high threshold. The Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) found that the Applicants have a comparatively high level of education and supportive relatives in Nigeria, including the Applicant children’s numerous adult half-siblings. The Applicants speak English, which is Nigeria’s official language and is widely used in both Port Harcourt and Abuja. The Applicants have not demonstrated that any of these findings by the RAD were unreasonable.

“The RAD’s reasoning is transparent and intelligible. There was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the Applicants will not have access to housing and clean drinking water in the IFAs, be unable to find employment, or be denied their family’s support.”

…His claims baseless — MBF...

Direct primary produced Buhari in 2019 – Sani, ex-ACF scribble…

He is playing on our fears for violence for selfish end— JACNYA…

Development a tragedy for government – Pa Adebanjo…

Malami speaking in a confusing manner— Afenifere…

lt shows govt can’t address constitutional challenges – Shonibare

December 28, 2021


By Dapo Akinrefon, Peter Duru, Olayinka Ajayi, Ibrahim Hassan, & Abdulmumin Murtala

LAGOS — Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has stoked controversy with his latest claim that had President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, it would have precipitated crisis in the country. Malami’s remarks drew the ire of leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Middle Belt Forum, MBF, immediate past Secretary-General of Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Association, JACNYA, among others.

Malami, who featured on a Radio Kano programme on Sunday, said that President Buhari signing into law the Electoral Amendment Bill, would have triggered a new crisis that would lead to court cases.

He said: “What you should understand about leadership of the country, especially as it regards President Buhari on any law presented to him for signing is that the president is entitled to certain rights. When you talk about politics, he has rights, if you talk about economy, the business community also has rights on him, if you are talking about 60 per cent of Nigerians that are not politicians, if you talk about the economy, he also has rights, if you are talking about security, there is also what is expected of him. The president has to consider laws that are sustainable.

“The job of the president is that of politics, economy, business, security, legislation, politicians and non-politicians. This is because the leadership of the country is not for politicians alone, it is a leadership that affects social lives of the people, their religion, economy, security and others. This is contrary to the leadership of the legislators, which is solely political.

“Therefore, the lawmakers are only concerned about their political inclinations, while the president is concerned about the entire Nigerians made up of politicians and non-politicians. Any bill signed into law by President Buhari is in the interest of all Nigerians irrespective of their inclinations. He is after satisfying the interest of the over 200 million Nigerians he is serving and not a particular sector.

“For example, one of the reasons he did not sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is that there are 18 political parties and a law is founded that will allow for direct primaries. The difference between this and the general election is small because it allows for all Nigerians to come about and say their opinions.

“This means that you will repeat the general elections 18 times. Today, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, requires N305 billion for the 2023 general election. Now, if the general election, which is not based on newly proposed electoral system, will cost this much, how much will it cost to do the same election in the All Progressives Congress, APC? It might cost at least N200 billion because it will involve everyone.

“Although the good side of the law is that INEC is required to monitor it.

“Therefore, if it is assumed that every political party will spend N200 billion, how much will then be spent in conducting the same primary election in 18 political parties just to produce a qualified candidate? Let’s assume there are about 60 million politicians in the country, what about the remaining over 160 million Nigerians, who have nothing to do with politics? Are you fair to them? All the people want are good projects, good road from Abuja to Kano, portable drinking water, good education, school feeding programme and the rest of them. Are you fair to the 160 million Nigerians using their wealth just to conduct primary election to produce a party candidate, despite other demands by the public?

“My answer to this is that to spend this N305 billion that will be given to the INEC and the about N200 billion to be given to the political parties is not fair to the remaining 160 million Nigerians, who have no business about politics and political appointments. Their business is just a better life in Nigeria. This is the issue of cost implications,” Malami said.


Development a tragedy for government — Pa Adebanjo

Meanwhile, reacting to the claims by Malami that Buhari assenting to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill would cause crisis in the country, leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo yesterday, described the AGF’s comments as “unfortunate.

“It is so unfortunate that many people are misleading Buhari. We pray God to get rid of him before he ruins this country. For heaven’s sake, why would a young lawyer sound like that in a time like this?” he said.

Malami speaking in a confusing manner —Afenifere

Also, Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Jare Ajayi, said: “The Attorney-General of the Federation is expected to guide the government rightly. He should not speak in a manner that is confusing.

“When the president withheld his assent to the bill, the impression was not created that there was a clause in the bill that would create crisis.

“It is expected that the specific areas where the bill is faulty, should be communicated to the National Assembly, so that it will be clear to all why the president is not assenting to the bill.

“So, we expected him to clarify this and tell us specifically the aspect of the bill that would have caused crisis so as to know how to address those areas.”

Malami’s claims baseless — MBF

MBF’s National President, Dr. Bitrus Pogu, who also reacted to Malami’s claims, said: “What Malami said was baseless rubbish. These people make assumptions based on their perception; they try to instill fear in the people. Which crisis is he talking about? Didn’t President Buhari come in through direct primaries, is that not what the APC used? Did it throw the country into crisis?

“The issue is yes, it is true that parties have the liberty to choose the kind of selection process they would use to conduct their primaries, we have no quarrel with that.

“The problem of Nigeria is not whether it is direct or indirect primaries. The problem of Nigeria is how to stop the wanton rigging of elections in the country by the manipulation of election results, changing of results, the cancellation of results, throwing out of results just to declare who they want.

“And we can address that by transmitting results from the polling units direct to the server, everybody sees it and you do not alter the figures. That is the thing we want for Nigeria.

“We can from there move forward to another level, but what we want at this level is that results should be electronically transmitted from the polling stations to the collation centres.

“By so doing, you cut off all the so called Returning Officers and the excuses of cancellation of results unnecessarily because some people do not want results that did not favour them and all that.

“Besides, it will save costs, because most of the returning officers are no more useful. As the results come out, we all see them and Nigeria will be better for it because the right people will be elected into offices.

“So what Malami said does not hold water at all. The President, who appointed him came into office through direct primaries. And whether it is direct or not, that is not our problem. Let the President sign the amended electoral act bill, so that we can have a better and credible election by 2023. And all the bad experiences of 2019 and others in the past would be halted.”

Direct primary produced Buhari in 2019 –ACF’s ex-scribe, Sani

Elder statesman, Anthony Sani, and immediate past Secretary-General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, while reacting to Malami’s comments, said: “We have reacted to the advice by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice which seemed to have informed President Buhari’s letter to the National Assembly on why he withheld assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill of 2021.

“We had said the reasons given in the letter dwelt more on fears than in real advantages of direct primary in enhancement of internal democracy in our political parties. So, by saying the amendment as presented would bring about crisis does not make it so, considering the direct primary which produced President Buhari in 2019 did not bring about any crisis.

“The refusal by President to assent the Electoral Amendment Bill contained in the President’s letter to NASS has surprised many Nigerians for two reasons:

“President Buhari it was who insisted on direct primary by his party in 2019 and subjected himself to the direct primary while state governors under APC refused and conducted their own party primary using indirect primary.

“As a result, many legislators under APC and some of us thought he was for direct primary and mobilized for its support in the hope of enhancing internal democracy in the political parties. For the president to now turn against direct primary has stunned many Nigerians, especially his supporters, who have been on the same page with him on this matter.

“The second surprise is the fact that the refusal to assent the Electoral Amendment Bill of 2021 conveys the avoidable impression that the ruling APC has no position on this major aspect of law that governs our electoral processes, considering the ruling party, APC, controls both the Executive and the National Assembly. The refusal of the assent to the bill gives an impression that the government is at war with itself.

“The president’s letter to the National Assembly has also ignored the important advantages of direct primary, which include improvement of internal democracy of the political parties by doing away with power and abuse of incumbency of governors and money bags, who deploy their powers and hijack delegates during indirect primary. Rather, the president’s letter has dwelled so much on fear to the chagrin of advantages of direct primary.

“For example, the security challenges have been around for quite sometimes in Nigeria, and there have been reduction of insecurity under this regime by the day under this regime, yet there have been general elections where more people participate in voting in this country.

“When the letter talks of high cost of direct primary, it feigns ignorance of the fact that direct primary takes place either at polling unit level or ward level by only registered party members, who are far fewer than registered voters, and that any other exercise is a matter of collation for the relevant constituency, such as state assembly, Chairman of local government, House of Reps, Senate, Governor and president.

“The exercise of direct party primary could not be possibly be more than that of the general elections. What is more, INEC has said it needs N305billion for elections against the N500billion being bandied about to frighten the government away from direct primary.

“If smaller parties do not have the wherewithal to compete under our nascent multiparty democracy, they are at liberty to merge with the big political parties. After all, the nation is hoping to have only two major political parties, and not a crowd by way of number of political parties.

“After all, the high fees charged for nomination form by progressive party such APC has been designed to reduce the number of aspirants to a manageable level.

“Violation of citizens rights must be seen in proper context. An individual right is never absolute. For example, the president would not roll back mandates for face masks and vaccination just because there are some people who say such mandates constitute infringement on citizen’s right.

“The issue of likely litigation does not hold water precisely because if any law by political party conflicts with that of the nation like Electoral Act, the federal law would prevail.

“Consultations with stakeholders is good for the health of democracy. Yet, it is not good for our democracy for the president to give any impression that other vested interests have usurped the constitutional functions of the National Assembly.

“I am not in support of the notion that NASS should override the president. Such course of action would signal division within the government that is controlled by the ruling APC. That would not be healthy. I would rather prefer, both the executive and the majority of APC legislators to go back to the drawing board and sort out their differences with a view to coming out with common position in order to justify the clear mandate given by Nigerians to the APC controlled government to deliver on the promise of multiparty democracy,” he said.

He is playing on our fears of violence for selfish ends— JACNYA

Convener, Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations, JACNYA, Murtala Abubakar, while also reacting, said: “The statement credited to the Minister of Justice to the effect that “if Buhadi had signed the electoral act amendment bill, it would have caused crisis in the country” to me is deliberately made to use our collective fears for violence to justify an action that was carried out of selfish political consideration to perpetuate the over bearing dominance of the states governors in our party politics.

“It is an open secret that the governor’s forum used the Minister of Justice to cajole the president not to sign the bill. The opinion of many informed minds is that the new electoral bill that the president withheld assent to could have given the country the opportunity to improve intra-party mechanisms that give room for popular participation as against the current delegate system that has become a manipulative tool in the hand of governors and some moneybags.

“The assertion by the minister is far from the truth as the failure of the President to sign the bill as many anticipated, represents another missed opportunity by the current administration to improve our electoral system aimed at deepening our gemocratic culture.”

It shows the administration can’t address constitutional challenges — Shonibare

Also reacting, acting National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Chief Supo Shonibare said: “It’s only our inexperienced Attorney-General, who will be of the opinion that an initiative to deepen democracy would snowball into a national crisis, while under-age voters and processes that enable and encourage thumb printing and a complete negation of the votes cast, would not snowball into a national crisis.

“Why should the issue of direct primaries in political parties, be a problem for any democratic process? Is it the selection of a few that are able to protect our nascent, fragile democratic processes? Malami is such a big joke, that his utterances, would have been laughable, if he wasn’t holding such high position as the Chief law officer. If the Chief Law Officer has difficulty in understanding the building blocks necessary to add value to the laws of jurisprudence and enhancement of democracy, it’s an indication that the administration which threw up such a person cannot address our legal and constitutional challenges.”

December 26, 2021

Explains how he convinced Shehu Shagari to grant Ojukwu pardon

By Joseph Erunke

NIGERIAN Ambassador to Cote D’Ivoire during late President Shehu Shagari’s administration, Denis Ukume, has disclosed that late Biafra warlord, Odumegwu Ojukwu, wept under his shoulder for forgiveness over role in war.

The 83-year-old claimed Ojukwu agreed to Shagari’s condition to be referred to simply as “Mr” without any military insignia if he (Ojukwu) would be granted pardon for his role in the Nigerian Civil War.

But he said Ojukwu almost marred his chances of being accorded the amnesty when he flouted the condition a few hours after by referring to himself as “General Odumegwu Ojukwu”, in an appreciation letter he wrote to him following his role in the amnesty deal.

Ukume’s claims were contained in his book, titled: “I believe”, which he published among three others, launched in Abuja.

His three other books also launched alongside, were titled, “My Challenges”, Osofinco and Mamma Mia”, respectively.

In the published book, the former Nigerian ambassador also said the then National Party of Nigeria, NPN, had made efforts to frustrate the granting of amnesty to Ojukwu if he would not join the party upon return to Nigeria but that his firm opposition to the party’s leadership condition, led to the amnesty for the late Biafran leader.

“When the Executive Committee members of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, got wind about the progress being made in connection with the granting of amnesty to Ojukwu, they quickly sent a powerful delegation to me.

“They requested that under no circumstances should amnesty be given to Ojukwu unless he gave an unequivocal undertaking that he would enroll as a member of the NPN on return. I told them clearly that their demand was unacceptable. I reported the matter to the president.

“Weeks later, I traveled to Lagos to inform the president that I was convinced beyond any doubt that Ojukwu was thoroughly remorseful for all that had happened during the civil war. I then recommended he be granted amnesty.

“The president accepted my recommendation. He dispatched the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ali Baba, and the Director-General of National Security Organisation, NSO, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi with a list of conditions governing the granting of the amnesty.

“They were as follows: That no one would force him to join a political party. The government, however, advised that on his return, he should conduct a thorough overview of the political parties in the country with any of his choice; that his personal protection like those of all Nigerians was guaranteed under the Nigerian constitution; that he should not own a privately armed body for is protection,” he said.

Other conditions by Shagari to Ojukwu, according to Amb Ukume, were, “That he was returning to Nigeria as a Mr Odumegwu Ojukwu with no military insignia attached to his name; that his properties or those of his relations that had been confiscated as a result of a decree or edict remained the properties of government; that his properties or those of his relations occupied by government and rents not paid would be fully paid to date and that if those conditions were acceptable to him, the president would consider granting him amnesty.”

Ukume said: “Accompanied by the Minister and the Director-General, I took the conditions to a high-profile meeting of the Ivorian governing party which was convened by the president.

“I read the conditions one after the other. Ojukwu accepted all of them. Finally, we then went to a meeting of the Ivorian Executive Council. As the Minister, the DG, and I embraced him in turns, he broke down and wept profusely,” he claimed.

Ukume continued: “Shortly after the delegation had returned to Nigeria, I invited Ojukwu and his wife to the residence for a private dinner by the swimming pool. I had also asked a few senior members of the Nigerian Community, and our home-based officers with their wives to attend. The idea of the dinner, I informed President Shagari afterward, was to reassure Ojukwu about the genuineness of the government’s intentions, and to allay any unfounded fears that the government was planning to abduct him.

“Days after the dinner party, Ojukwu wrote to express his appreciation. I was shocked when he ended his letter with ‘Yours most respectfully, General Odumegwu Ojukwu.’

“General! He already had contravened one of the amnesty conditions!

“A few days later, I was in Lagos and called the attention of the president to the word “General”, which was clearly a misnomer given the conditions of the amnesty.

“The president had also received a letter from the ex-warlord requesting for a courtesy call appointment when he returned to Nigeria. The letter also carried the infamous insignia.

“However, benign President Shagari took the triviality in his stride. He was ever ready to receive Ojukwu,” he added.

According to Amb Ukume, Ex-vice president, late Alex Ekwueme, had planned to join prominent Ibo sons and daughters to welcome Ojukwu at the airport upon return to the country but was reminded of his then status by President Shagari.

“A great number of distinguished Ibo sons and daughters had planned to welcome Ojukwu at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Vice President Ekwueme was also reportedly warming up to join the welcoming party until Shagari reminded him of his status in the country,” he said.

Ikenna Obianeri

26 December 2021

The Youth Leader of Ogwuaniocha Community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, Mr Uche Onyedi, has said the kidnappers of its traditional ruler attacked the community on Friday night killing no fewer than four persons and burning over 50 houses.

Onyedi alleged that since the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Oliver Nnaji, was abducted about six weeks ago, the kidnappers had been visiting the community and causing mayhem.

He disclosed that the corpses of the four persons killed were taking away while an elderly man was also taken away after the hoodlums burnt his house.

The elders of the community had staged a protest in Awka on Friday due to the level of insecurity in the place.

Speaking with our correspondent on Saturday, Onyedi said following the protest by members of the community, the men invaded the community again.

He said, “On Friday night, the men attacked our community and the vigilante team, killing four people and burning over 50 houses. They went away with the corpses and also took an elderly man away after burning down his house. Up until now, we don’t know where they took him to.

“Right now, as we are speaking, the men (hoodlums) are still parading the community with fuel and burning down houses. We have called on security agencies, none of them is responding.

“I called the Commissioner of Police and he said they were sending their men, but up until now, we have not seen any security personnel.

“We need government presence in our community because we are helpless. While people are celebrating Christmas today, our community is deserted because people are fleeing. We are likely considering staging another protest as the ones we have done are not yielding any desired results.”

Also speaking, the Secretary, Ogwuaniocha Community Association, Mr Chukwudioha Franklin, explained that the problem started since the discovery of oil in the community, which he alleged that the Lion Squad wanted to be in control of the proceeds.

Franklin accused the state government of only being interested in the oil and thereby playing “politics” with the people’s lives.

He said, “We have been sending messages to the state government and the security agencies to tell them to stop playing politicising with people’s lives and declare the abductors wanted, but all our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

“I spoke with the SSG this (Saturday) morning, he told me that he had directed the security agents and that they are on top of it, but they are not on top of anything. The government is only interested in the oil that has been found in our community, which has made the state one of the oil producing states. They are not interested in protecting the lives of the people.

“We are seriously helpless. The government is nonchalant over our plight. Come to Ogwuaniocha today that is Christmas, it looks like a desert; the people are fleeing their homes. We are not celebrating. How can a small group of individuals kidnap a traditional ruler, till now, the government has not declared them wanted.

"All of them are interested in the oil, the government wanted to make the state an oil producing state which they have achieved through the discovery of oil in our community and the efforts of our abducted ruler, but they don’t care about the welfare of the people.

“As we speak, there is a faceoff between the abductors and the community’s vigilante group.”

When the police spokesman, Mr Ikenga Tochukwu, was contacted on the issue, he simply replied, “I have no information on this please.”

The calls to the phone number of the Secretary to the State Government, Solo Chukwulobelu was not picked as of the time of filing this report.

By George Okojie

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday officially launched the Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project’s Women and Youth Empowerment Programme (WYEP), empowering 1,786 farmers with N3,635,580,000 seed capital to start an agriculture-based venture in three value chains of aquaculture, rice and poultry.

The 1,786 farmers, including women, youths and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) were empowered under the APPEALS Project to execute their approved Business Investment Plan, which has a provision for the employment of at least one person.

APPEALS Project is a tripartite agreement between the Lagos State Government, the Federal Government and the World Bank.

Speaking during the presentation of cheques worth N3.6billion to 1,738 beneficiaries of APPEALS Project at the Blue Roof, Agidingbi, Lagos, Governor Sanwo-Olu reiterated his administration’s commitment to providing an enabling environment for agricultural productivity and new employment opportunities.

The Governor said the construction of 13.16 kilometers of Farm Access Roads embarked upon by APPEALS Project in four locations and farming clusters namely; Araga Farm Settlement, Igbodu and Poultry Cluster in Epe; Erikorodo Poultry Estate in Ikorodu and Afowo in Badagry, would be completed by June 2022.

He said: “We are strongly committed to enhancing the agricultural productivity of small and medium-scale farmers in Lagos State, and improving value addition along with our agricultural value chain, which are the core objectives of the Lagos APPEALS project.

“Agriculture offers our people, especially our youths, an opportunity to make a difference, especially through effective deployment of technology in the sector, for improved productivity and the attainment of our food security and safety goals on one hand, and our job creation agenda on the other. I am a strong believer that the increased involvement of young Nigerians in agriculture will help tackle various long standing challenges facing the sector.

December 23, 2021

Dapo Akirefon

By Dapo Akinrefon & Shina Abubakar, Osogbo

The queen of Ooni of Ife, Naomi Silekunola Ogunwusi has announced her separation from the monarch, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.

Queen Naomi announced the decision on her verified Instagram page citing irreconcilable differences between the duo.

She writes, “I bless the Lord almighty for His faithfulness in the last 3years of my marriage. In life’s journey, it isn’t how far. Still, how well, indeed though satan should buffet if trials should come, I have this blessed assurance controlling all situations and saying to me it is well with my soul. Certainly, it is well. I made my journey into the ancient throne of Ife with faith in my heart and love for the keeper of it.

“Few impressions I would love to correct. If anyone knows otherwise, they are free to come up with facts. Let it be known that this decision to move on did not come because his majesty is married to another queen. As many would love to assume, throughout our life as a couple, I was the only married wife to him. There were side attractions, but it was never an issue.

“I never approached him with any revelation of any sort, as many believed he contacted me first and made his proposal known several months later. The marriage was not an arranged one, as many have misconstrued. I never knew the prophetess said to have introduced me to him. Instead, he introduced her to me after I agreed to marry him. I was only being polite out of respect for him.

“I have never been pregnant all my life before Tadenikawo; my son is my first ever pregnancy with medical reports to back it up The girl who is said to be my daughter is my niece I did my best to endure and make it work; many times, I smiled through the struggle, but I have finally realised I had just one assignment, my son, and when God is done, He is done.

“He chose Saul to be king, and when He was done, He told the prophet Samuel I have moved on. Religion was never an issue between us; please refer to my interview on News Central TV. Instead, His Majesty has a picture he would love the world to see and perceive him as and another one which is his true self.

“Today I announce the beginning of a new dawn and the close of a chapter. Today, I am a mother to God’s unique gift. I am no longer a slave to my thoughts of perfection. I, at this moment, announce that I shall no longer be referred to as wife to the Ooni of Ife or as Queen of lle-Ife but as the Queen of the people and mother of my adorable Prince”.

It’s not true – Palace

Following the rumoured separation by Queen Naomi from the Ooni of Ife, Ooni Enitan Ogunwusi, the palace has faulted the claim saying “it is not true.”

When contacted, the Ooni’s Director of Media and Public Affairs, Moses Olafare told Vanguard that “this is not the first time such rumours had been peddled. There was a time it was reported that she left the palace and the next thing, she gave birth. So, the story is not true and it should not be taken seriously.”

Vanguard News Nigeria

•Collection of signatures begins•Reps to consider President’s reasons next year •Obi urges rework of rejected Bill

•Fayemi: governors not afraid of direct primary


By Yusuf Alli, Sanni Onogu, And Tony Akowe, Abuja And Emmanuel Badejo

On Dec 22, 2021

President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 has sparked a big row between him and the National Assembly.

Aggrieved senators have begun collection of signatures to override the President’s veto of the bill, it was learnt yesterday.

Political differences momentarily collapsed as a good number of senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) teamed up to protest the President’s decision.

The senators said they were elected by Nigerians to make law, not the governors, whose wishes the President seems to be pandering to.

There was resentment as Senate President Ahmad Lawan read President Buhari’s letter informing them about the withholding of assent.

Lawan unveiled the contents of the letter from the President, shortly after the Upper Chamber rose from its Executive Session at 11.40am.

However, House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said the Lower Chamber will respond to the President’s explanation in January, next year.

Buhari, in the letter titled: “Withholding of assent to Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021”, said apart from legal, financial, economic and security implications of direct primary, the mode, which could stifle smaller parties, is susceptible to corruption and monetisation.

He said direct primaries are not free from manipulations.

The President also said direct primary as the sole method of choosing flag bearer is democratic.

Buhari added: “I am constrained to withhold assent to the Electoral Act (amendment) in view of the reasons already adduced”.

Also, he said his decision was in line with Section 58(1 and 4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The President warned the lawmakers to refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of political parties.

Many senators have appended their signatures to a special register to pass the bill into law without presidential assent.

Two issues were slated on the Order Paper for consideration, including the proposed override and the passage of 2022 Budget.

Sources said the Senate leadership tried to manage the situation at the Executive Session, but the senators said the battle line was drawn between them and the forces behind the presidential veto, especially governors.

Some of the senators, who were visibly angry, said it was obvious the President reneged on what he discussed with National Assembly leaders.

It was learnt that after the session, a list was being passed around for senators to indicate their interest in overriding the President.

Both APC and PDP senators allegedly embraced the idea by signing the register to override the veto.

However, Senate President Lawan and some principal officers tried to curtail the situation.

One of the options before the Senate leadership was to douse tension by shifting the debate on the President’s veto till January 2022.

But, tension pervaded the National Assembly throughout plenary.

The issue in contention last night was whether or not to invoke Section 58 (1-5) of the 1999 Constitution to override the President’s decision.

A senator from the Northeast said: “At the Executive Session, we agreed that there was nothing concrete in the reasons given by the President for rejecting the bill. Instead of toeing the path of participatory democracy, the President has adopted the same selective democracy approach, which we have been practicing for 22 years.

“We have initiated the move to override the President’s veto because the bill is in the public interest. It will empower the people to choose their leader instead of the present imposition by most governors and power brokers.

“If you look at the National Assembly, less than 30 per cent of the lawmakers used to return to the two chambers. The low return rate was not due to poor performance, but because some power brokers did not want them.

“With introduction of direct primaries, the lawmakers will be more accountable to the people and their re-election mandate will be people-driven.”

A senator from Northwest, who confided in one of our correspondents, said: “We are all involved and we have secured the full backing of opposition senators. We have drawn the dagger long time ago. This was why there was an impasse when we met with the Executive at the Presidential Villa.

“We are set to override the President’s veto. It is a bill and we are trying to muster two-thirds to pass it into law. It is time to check the increasing level of intransigence of some people, especially governors who determine those to be fielded as candidates for elective posts.

“The luck we have is that we do not need any fresh procedure to override the president’s veto. It will be read three times and at the third attempt, it will become a law with two-third majority.”

A senator from the Southeast said: “To show that we mean business, we have asked all our colleagues who have travelled to their districts in various states to return to be part of our session tomorrow.”

A senator from the Southsouth said: “We are aware of the pressure on the President of the Senate to manage the situation. But, we know he will feel the pulse of his colleagues and stay from trouble. He was struggling at the Executive Session to control the situation, which was tensed.

“Even though Lawan is an institution person, he has managed the affairs of the Senate well by not hurting the feelings of his colleagues. We hope he will avoid this banana peel and allow the Legislature to do what is right.

“We have got intelligence that our override efforts should be thwarted. If we are frustrated, the entire chamber also has a better option. Wisdom requires that he should not go against the will of his colleagues.”

A senator from Northcentral said: “I think there is a way out. Democracy is give and take. Buhari cannot reject this bill without offering anything in return.

“The President should go back to our session with the Executive at the Presidential Villa where Senators suggested the introduction of the Right of First Refusal at all levels of elective posts to reduce crises associated with primaries, whether direct or indirect.”

Section 58 (5) of the Constitution reads: “Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

Senator Abba Moro said reasons given by the President in withholding assent were not satisfactory while confirming moves to override Buhari’s veto.

Moro said: “To my view and the views of majority of senators, the President’s reasons are not enough because all stakeholders have acknowledged the fact that the amended electoral act as it is today contains fantastic provisions that could deepen democracy.

“If we reject the amended electoral bill because of direct primary, then, it will be very unfortunate.

“If it is because of direct primary the President rejected the will of the people, I can assure you that myself and my colleagues are prepared this time around to override the President.”

Minority Leader of the House, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu, appealed to his colleagues to take a critical look at the position of the President before going on Christmas break.

He added that deferring it to when the House will resume plenary next year may be too late as the law may be coming too close to party primaries.

Elumelu said Nigerians were anxiously waiting for the lawmakers to take a position on the Bill and inform them.

Speaking on Channels Television ‘Politics Today’, the Senate spokesperson, Ajibola Basiru, said there are four options opened for the members of the National Assembly. These include: to discard the bill in its entirety; to remove anything that has to do with primaries from the bill; to veto the President, and to rework the bill and represent it to the President for his assent.

Basiru said the argument that direct primary would be too costly for the country to bear is fallacious and unsubstantiated.

He chided those alluding to inaccurate political party members’ register, saying that would be a serious indictment on the APC, which spent humongous sum to conduct the exercise recently.

Faulting some of the reasons for rejecting the bill, Basiru said: “The argument of cost is totally fallacious. Argument that smaller political parties will be marginalised cannot stand.”

He added: “As far as I’m concerned, adoption of direct primary is the best option for the nation because there is a need to return the party to the people. We have good reasons and justifications for suggesting what we did and we still stand by that.”

Basiru also debunked insinuations about the conspiracy that lawmakers wanted to use the direct primary to hijack the political parties from the governors.

A constitutional lawyer, Emmanuel Ayangbulem, who said the legislators have expressed the wishes of the people through the bill, submitted that, direct primary is the way to deepen the nation’s democracy.

He said: “The NASS is constitutionally made to make law. Apart from the exclusive list, the constitution empowers the National Assembly to make laws in certain cases.

“The main issue at the moment has to do with direct primary. But, the sovereignty of the people has been expressed through the National Assembly, which the legislators represent.

“The constitution provides that two-third majority of the NASS can override the president.

However, Kawu Sumailu, former aide to the President on National Assembly matter, who validated the President’s decision, said he had been a victim of direct primary.

By Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

On Dec 19, 2021

Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested one Mr Eze Onyebuchi and his wife Oluchi,for selling their one-month-old baby for N50,000.

They were arrested at Ilara in Ode Remo area of the state on the 16th of December, following a tip off that the couple residing at Ayegbami area of the town willingly sold the baby to a woman now at large.

The Divisional Police Officer of Ode-Remo Division, DSP Olayemi Fagbohun, acted swiftly on the information and detailed his detectives to the area which led to the arrest of the couple.

The couple, upon interrogation claimed that a woman by name Mrs. Ruth Obajinmi  introduced them to a woman who claimed to have come from the Human Rights Office with a promise to foster the child.

They claimed that the said woman gave them a token sum of N50,000 and took the child away, without knowing her from no where.

While the Police had assured that effort are on to arrest that woman in order to recover the child from her.

The State Police Commissioner, CP Lanre Bankole, has directed that the suspects be transferred to the state anti- human trafficking and child labour unit of the state investigation department for further investigation.

The CP said manhunt has been launched to arrest the buyer.

How Police arrested suspected rape, ritual kingpin that terrorizes teenage girls in Eastern states

December 17, 2021

•Gang target virgins in higher schools

•Lure victims with lofty promises

•Lodges in hotels with radio speakers to control noise; sprays perfumes to control smell from victims’ dead bodies, ropes, belts for tying them up

By Vincent Ujummadu, Awka; Ike Odu, Nsukka & Esther Onyegbulah

A middle- aged man (name withheld) suspected to be the ring-leader of a deadly gang that specializes in raping and using teenagers for rituals has been arrested by the police in Zone 13, Anambra State.

The suspect said to reside in Obosi, Anambra State but hails from Ovoko, Nsukka in Enugu State was allegedly involved in luring unsuspecting teenagers in higher institutions of learning in the Eastern states of the country to hotels where they will be raped, after which their blood will be collected for ritual. Police sources said the suspect whose means of livelihood are unknown claims to be building hotels and hostels and always invited his victims to hotels with promises of showering them with gifts.

How his exploits blew open

However, his exploits were blown open at the University town of Nsukka, last October, after he started charting a teenage student of the University (name withheld) on facebook and later ended up tricking her to a popular hotel in the town where he allegedly raped her. It was gathered that while he was in the act, the suspect tied the girl with belts and rope and she lost consciousness.

Later, the suspect reportedly revived the teenager and told her to clean up in the bathroom. Luckily, the victim ran into the bathroom with her telephone, locked herself up and was able to send frantic messages to her roommate and other friends including her doctor to mobilize students and save her life.

Father of the victim, who is a senior lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, who pleaded for the family’s name not to be mentioned, stated that in the SOS message (print out shown to our reporter), her daughter was pleading passionately with her roommate to engage a commercial motorcyclist urgently and race to the hotel to save her life.

According to the father of the victim, as she was busy sending the message crying for help, the impatient suspect was already calling on her to come out of the bathroom. “When she failed to respond, the suspect who was blaring the radio set in high decibels with a view to covering up his deeds banged furiously on the bathroom door and started destroying it.

Roommates to the rescue

“Luckily, her friends in the campus, who found it very difficult to get a commercial motorcyclist at the hour of the night succeeded at last and rushed to the hotel, with her doctor, who was also alerted. They broke into room 101 and rescued the girl. Both the students and other lodgers in the hotel, including players of the famous Enugu Rangers International, nearly lynched the suspect to death but for the intervention of security guards from the hotel, who assured of handing him over to the police.

“However, the story took a different dimension after the police at Nsukka Division arrived the scene, only to be told that the suspect escaped from the grip of the hotel’s security guards. They only succeeded in recovering the suspect’s abandoned vehicle, bloodstained bedsheet in the room where the victim was raped, and CCTV footages in the hotel.

When investigations continued, we started suspecting fowl play when overtures were being made to us for the matter to be settled amicably, while police investigators kept treating the matter as a mere rape case, without addressing the glaring issue of attempted murder for ritual.

Based on this, we quickly transferred the case to Zone 13, Ukpor, Anambra State, where fresh investigations commenced.

Intelligence report that paid off.

“The police at the zone, together with some military men involved in operation in the east, swiftly embarked on intelligence and scientific investigation and succeeded in arresting the suspect, while he had concluded plans to flee to Ivory Coast,” he stated.

It was learned that while they were tracking the suspect, they nearly succeeded twice at arresting him, while he was also luring another teenage student to a hotel in Nsukka to perform the same act. He narrowly escaped during the encounter. However, police sources said they are still trying unravel the faith of the girls he went out with during that period.

It was gathered that police search for him paid off few weeks later, after vigilante men at Obosi, Anambra State who were alerted over his atrocities, succeeded in arresting him while he was almost trying to escape to Ivory Coast. The suspect, according to sources, made serious overtures of huge financial rewards to the vigilante group at Obosi to set him free, but the group resisted the temptation and handed him over to the police.

His operational weapons

Vanguard Metro learned that after his arrest, signs of charms, anti-gun and matchete charms were seen all over his body. However, police sources said initially after his arrest, he accused the victim and her roommate of being lesbians but, later, he started narrating his exploits with his gang. It was disclosed that the suspect is a secondary school drop-out and has no known means of livelihood. He reportedly lodges in expensive hotels and drives two cars. He allegedly uses different names like Emeka, Emmy, Oderah Loius, during his criminal exploits and had spent some time in Ghana, where he was said to have escaped after he was exposed.

He also goes about to hotels with radio speakers to control noise, an odour perfume to control smell from his victim’s dead bodies; ropes, belts for restraining the victims and tying them up. These items were recovered together with the CCTV footages in the hotel. In some of his chats, collected through intelligence report, he was also advertising on his whatsaap status that young girls should contact him to collect their school fees and that he was organising a big burial at Nsukka, that they should come and pick their school fees.

Police sources further said that he goes about with sack of money, living in hotels, driving SUV’s and wearing expensive Rolex watches and gold bangles, which he uses to entice his victims. He also lives in three addresses in Obosi and Nsukka.

My daughter has been traumatized

Father of the victim, who said his daughter has been traumatised after the incident, told Metro: “All we are saying is that police must arrest members of the gang hiding outside and busy pressing buttons for their master to be freed. We have all the evidence to show that it is not just a case of rape, but an attempted ritual murder. All his collaborators helping him to subvert justice must be brought to book.

“We learned that the hotel management sacked the manager and some staff that witnessed the incident, to cover up for the suspect, despite helping him to escape when he was held by the mob to be handed to the police. They also gave the suspect master key to the room he gave to his gang members, which they used to move out most of the suspect’s belongings.”

Reactions

When contacted, the General Manager of Jerry Marriott Hotel and Suites in Nsukka Local government area of Enugu State, where the incident allegedly took place, Patrick Agu said he was not yet employed by the hotel management when one Louis Onyeke allegedly raped and attempted to murder the UNN student in the hotel facility. However, Agu said his enquires revealed that the incident happened in the hotel and that police were already investigating the case.

He also exonerated the hotel management from the escape of the suspect, who has now been arrested by police. “When that incident happened, I was not yet an employee of Jerry Marriott Hotel. However, upon my enquires, I learnt that the incident really took place. Already, the police are handling the matter and the suspects are all reporting to Zone 13, Ukpor-Dunukofia, Anambra State, to answer for their crime. That is all I can say about the incident,” he explained.

While reacting to the development, the spokesperson of Enugu State Police Command, Daniel Ndukwe, said he needed time to verify the incident. “Is it something that happened three months ago? You have to hold on while I verify the incident, because it is not recent,” he said.

In his comment, when contacted, the Assistant Inspector- General of Police in-charge of Zone 13, Ukpor-Dunukofia, Muri Musa, told Metro: ”The case of rape against the suspect from Ovoko, Nsukka in Enugu State, who attempted to rape a doctor’s daughter’s is before Zone 13. We are working on it. When we conclude our investigation, if there is any prima facie case against the suspect, he will be arraigned in the court of law. The suspect has been arrested and he is in our custody.”

December 16, 2021

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state has hailed the selfless sacrifices made by officers and men of the Armed Forces to keep Nigeria one and said the country would not be divided.

Obaseki stated this on Thursday in Benin at the launching of the 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Emblem.

According to him, most Nigerians have benefited from the selfless sacrifices of members of the armed forces “from the first world War through our civil war till this day, where we are still losing patriots”.

He said that it was imperative to remember and appreciate the fallen heroes and the enormous courage of serving gallant soldiers.

“As a state and a country, we remain very optimistic that despite the threats of insecurity and banditry which we face as a country and a state, that we will overcome.

“We are hopeful that we will continue to secure our state and our country, because we have courageous people like you, who are ready to serve and sacrifice for the country.

“That is why we take event like this very seriously and to encourage the younger ones what sacrifices to the country means and also to encourage those of you who are in service that your efforts will not be in vain.

“This occasion also reminds us of the need to jealousy guard the unity of our country.

“We should not encourage the kind of rhetoric that we have been parading in this country today about the unity of our great country. Nigeria has come to stay, and Nigeria cannot and will not be divided.

“It has to be so, because people have paid a supreme sacrifice to keep this country together, and it will not be right or fair to do anything to make it look as if those people who fought for this country did not know what they were doing.”

The governor launched the Emblem with N10 million, pledged to replace the legion’s Hilux van and include the legion as part of the state’s security architecture.

“We need your services, we need people like you to help us improve the work being done by our local vigilantes across the various ward and local governments,’’ Obaseki said.

In his comments, the Speaker, Edo House of Assembly, Mr Marcus Onobun pledged 50 per cent of his salary to the legion while the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Tony Aziegbemi, donated N1 million.

In his remarks, the state Chairman of the Nigerian Legion, Mr Ignatius Enabulele, pledged their support to tackle insecurity in the state.

(NAN)

Ohanaeze Secretary To Tinubu: Shelve Your Presidential Bid To Preserve Nigeria’s Corporate Existence

.Says APC leader’s attitude to South-East predicament morally repressible

National publicity secretary of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, in the early hours of Monday, asked a former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, to shelve his touted 2023 presidential bid to preserve Nigeria’s corporate existence.

In an open letter to Tinubu, he counsel Tinubu to key into the Igbo presidency in 2023 cause, stressing that posterity would be kind of him if he toed the “path of reason, conscience and equity” on the matter.

Describing the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader as a strategic thinker with a formidable frontier spirit, Ogbonnia noted in the document titled: Open Letter to His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” that his fear was that Tinubu would be embarking on a political adventure that lacks conscience and principle if he contests for the presidency.

His words: “In the past, Ahmed Bola Tinubu would have concerned himself with the cause of the agitation in the South-East and the solution thereof, but because of the obsession to become a president, it does appear that the more turbulent the South-East the better for the Jagaban. This is morally reprehensible. However, I have my fears that Tinubu is embarking on a political adventure that lacks both conscience and principle.

Ogbonnia made a copy of the letter available to the Nigerian Tribune in Ibadan.

He warned that the huge social capital and the profiling of Tinubu as the conscience of Nigeria may suffer irreversible damage if he contests the presidency in 2023, adding: “I am persuaded that such ambition will be ill-advised and would amount to the demystification of the cult-followership, which the Jagaban has built around himself.

The letter read in part: “Your Excellency, the major cause of the agitation in the South-East of Nigeria is the obvious alienation of the people from the various centres of power which has attained its crescendo under the present APC led government. The extreme form of the agitation is the yearnings for secession by groups such as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

“Evidently, the ongoing activities of IPOB in the South-East should be of great concern to every patriotic Nigerian. For the avoidance of doubt, the followers of IPOB insist on leaving Nigeria for a country of their own, if the injustice against them persists unabated. On the other hand, the more deprived the South-East, the more the crises in the region. Unfortunately, some Nigerians outside the South-East are playing the ostrich.

“When confronted with danger, the ostrich instinctively buries its head in the sand dunes in the hope that it is shielded from the enemy.

“The ostrich often forgets that the entire body is exposed to the danger. In other words, it is a foolhardiness to believe that the ripple effect of the South-East agitation and restiveness will not affect entire Nigeria.

“My fear is that to deny the South-East the very opportunity and in fact, the right to produce the next president of Nigeria will increase the agitation and ultimately spell disaster for the country.

“I am convinced that Your Excellency, in your typical manner of fighting for equity and justice should be in the vanguard for a Nigerian president from the South East of Nigeria, come 2023. This is the mark of a true statesman.

“One would also appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari and all the former Nigerian leaders, namely General Yakubu Gowon, General Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and some others such as our only Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Chief Edwin Clark, etc to speak up in defence of peace and unity of Nigeria by insisting on fairness to the South East of Nigeria. And they would have written their names in gold.

“I must quickly add that the difference between the progressive and retrogressive or backward societies is the presence or absence of men of courage, selflessness, justice and truth. Nigeria will forever remember Dr Alex Ekwueme and his group because of speaking truth to power and rising to the occasion when it matters most. This is a noble path that beckons.

“In the past, Ahmed Bola Tinubu would have concerned himself with the cause of the agitation in the South-East and the solution thereof, but because of the obsession to become a president, it does appear that the more turbulent the South-East the better for the Jagaban. This is morally reprehensible.

“However, I have my fears that Tinubu is embarking on a political adventure that lacks both conscience and principle. The immortal words of Othman Dan-Fodio that “conscience is an open wound and only the truth can heal it” should serve as a moral compass to Nigerian leaders. Noah Webster had admonished that all the miseries, afflictions and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the inner still voice of reason and conscience.

“It is also necessary to add that the solid foundation for a new Igbo-Yoruba relation that was laid with the blood of the likes of Col Adekunle Fajuyi will be improved upon by your large heart. I must admit that my request to Your Excellency is a very difficult pill to swallow but a more difficult pill awaits the likely post-2023 agitations, national crises, insecurity, instability and the collapse of the Nigerian economy if injustice against the South East of Nigeria prevails. On the other hand, a pyrrhic victory and calamity await those who intend to rejoice and dance for unjustly depriving the Igbo rights.

The author notes that BAT is a man whose immense political manoeuvres cannot be ignored. While interacting with the leaders of the North on Saturday, December 11, 2023, BAT is quoted as saying: I don’t need the South East and South-South to become Nigerian President. He added among others, that “the vote of the North West, North East, some largely Muslim states in the North Central as well as South West, were enough to make him president”.

“Many shortsighted Tinubu apologists will jump at the above calculation aimed at nailing the political coffin of the South-East and South-South. The question remains: Does the above political calculation promote national peace and unity?

“On the other hand, an ambition that will set Nigeria on a collision course, mutual mistrust, civil disobedience, political upheavals and violence is not only unscrupulous but morally reprehensible.

“Based on the foregoing, I most sincerely advise His Excellency, Senator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to toe the path of reason, conscience and equity. It is important to add that posterity will be kind to Your Excellency if you reconsider your ambition in the interest of the corporate existence of Nigeria. Not only that, I wish to see Jagaban adding his voice to a Nigerian President of the South-East extraction.”

December 11, 2021

By Peter Okutu, Abakaliki

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, weekend, accused the Department of State Services DSS of starving and maltreating their leader, Nnamdi Kanu who is in their custody.

According to the group, the DSS has denied Kanu food for three days running.

The group called on the security agency to, as a matter of urgency, transfer Kanu to Kuje Prisons or any other correctional centre, where suspects awaiting trails, are kept.

The group’s Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, stated this in a statement, on Saturday.

The statement read, “We are the global movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the command and leadership of our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to place the world on notice over the continued maltreatment and humiliation of our Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, custody Abuja.

“The Nigeria DSS security agents have decided to use starvation and hunger strategy to eliminate our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in the custody. They have continued to confine him to a solitary cell under harsh conditions since his rendition to Nigeria in June. Solitary confinement is not the correctional centre. They should send him to Kuje Prisons, pending his court dates.

“They are asking the Nigerian government and security agencies that is busy granting and releasing bandits and real terrorists every day to transfer our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to a Nigerian prison/Correctional Centre, where persons awaiting trial are kept.

“Nothing should happen to our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in detention.

“Nigerian DSS has denied our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, food for three to four days now.”

Man remanded in prison over death of controversial activist who sued End SARS supporters

The tenant accused of killing controversial activist Kenechukwu Okereke has been arraigned in court and also remanded in prison custody.

The deceased, a staunch supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, was popular for speaking against the End SARS movement. Last year, he sued a number of celebrities, pastors, and groups who supported the End SARS protests (read here).

Unfortunately, his wife announced last month that he has been killed by a former tenant in Nkpor, Anambra state (read here).

Chiadikobi Nnadi, 29, has been arrested over Mr Okeke's death.

Nnadi allegedly led a gang of six young men to attack Okeke in his house. They then macheted him, poured fuel on him, and set him ablaze.

The Anambra state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga said Chiadikobi Nnadi has been remanded in prison after being arraigned on Thursday, Dec. 9.

Ikenga said: "The suspect, one Chiadikobi Nnaji, ‘M’ Aged 29 years implicated in the brutal murder of Kenechukwu Okeke has on 9th December, 2021 been charged to court and subsequently remanded in a correctional facility in Anambra State.

"Recall, following the murder incident that took place in Nkpor on 28th October 2021, which also trended on the social media, the Commissioner of Police, Anambra Command, CP Echeng Echeng had then ordered the immediate arrest of persons linked to the murder. The order resulted in the investigation and arrest of Chiadikobi Nnaji.

"The CP thanked members of the public, especially family members of the deceased as well as their well wishers for their various support which led to the arrest of the suspect. The CP also assures that the Command will always live up to expectation in the discharge of its statutory responsibilities."

December 3, 2021

.Urge speedy implementation of panel recommendations

.Tell aggrieved persons to go to court for redress


By Olasunkanmi Akoni

A coalition of concerned Civil Society Organisations, DefendLagos, has expressed readiness to join Lagos State Governor, Bababjide Sanwo-Olu, in the proposed “Walk for Peace” by the state government to bring harmony and healing of Lagos, aftermath of EndSARS, October 20, 2020 Lekki Toll Gate shooting incident.

DefendLagos Coalition is an amalgamation of over 60 civil society organisations and self determination groups formed following the wanton destruction of Lagos on Wednesday October 21, 2020.

Coordinator Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate, CPPM, Nelson Ekujumi, and Declan Ihekaire, Activists For Good Governance, made the remarks on Friday at a press briefing, held in Ikeja, Lagos.

Also in attendance include: Domestic Violence (CAIDOV), Gbenga Soloki; Coalition of Oodua Self Determination Groups (COSEG), Dayo Ogunlana and Grassroots Democratic Initiative, Razaq Obasola, among others.

The group also warned that any attempts to sabotage the economic activities of Lagos State through the narrative of #LekkiMassacre would be forcefully and legally resisted.

The group noted that it was unfortunate that the good intentions behind the 2020 #EndSARS protests were rubbished, when hoodlums hijacked the process to destroy significant monuments, lives and even various security posts in the country, especially in Lagos State.

They commended the Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the spirit of statesmanship displayed in reaching out to some of the leaders of the #ENDSARS Protest Movement during his broadcast on Tuesday 30th November 2021.

The group also appealed to Governor Sanwo-Olu to rally the Presidency, the National Economic Council (NEC), APC legislators, the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police amongst others to push for necessary reforms in the Police.

They also stressed that those bandying the massacre narrative have a bigger agenda, noting that with time, the truth would unfold.

The group also described the White Paper as a win-win for both the government and the genuine #ENDSARS campaigners and urged the government to begin the full implementation of all the recommendations that are within its remit without delay.

According to Ihekaire: “Let it be made clear here today again, we will defend Lagos using the PEOPLE POWER. It will be peaceful. It will be purposeful. It will be legal. But it will be stronger than the power of the vocal minority trying to super-impose their false narrative on the majority.

“It is important to state here also for avoidance of doubt that some of our leaders here today attended all the sittings of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution.

“We saw how the attempts to erect the false Massacre Narrative before the panel fell poorly like a pack of cards. This is why each time we have asked them, where are the families of these people “massacred” at the Lekki Toll Gate? They will respond with insults and curses. When we ask them, have you read the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry?

“They will call the god of thunder and resort to threats. Law is not about emotions. It is about evidential facts that will constitute a body of weight of evidence.

“Murder is a serious offence. When you say somebody was killed you must say where, when, how, by who, with what and for what. All of your claims must be able to stand the test of forensics.

“Our strategy was simply to mobilize genuine peace-loving people of Lagos in their thousands to come out to protect Lagos from the forces of destruction.

“But in a desperate attempt to make their tales by moonlight believable, they went ahead to accuse some of our leaders seated here today as those behind the alledged attacks on EndSARS protesters last year and alledged attack on one of the witnesses who testified before the Judicial Panel of Inquiry.

“They all including some of the leading lawyers backing them today know us very well from way back, that, that is not our own modus operandi. That is not who we are.

“That is not how we do our struggle and win. We are peace advocates and practitioners, we are pacifists who fight the strength of numbers.

“Just as though to validate the credible intelligence in our possession that the plot to bring Lagos on her knees is still very much active, one of the #ENDSARS protest leaders at 10:50pm on Tuesday 30, November 2021, a certain Sarah Ibrahim tweeted as follows: “Sanwolu (sic) has denied the #LekkiMassacre in his White Paper Report. Youths ARE WE READY?? Are we heading back to the streets?? Are we going to get justice? Should we shut everywhere down.

“This is nothing but an act of economic sabotage by the same unseen forces to return to the streets of Lagos and finish the destruction of what they left behind in October 20202 like the Egyptian plagues. If they felt aggrieved, they should approach a court of competent jurisdiction for redress.

“It is in pursuit of this peace objective that the DefendLagos Coalition hereby accepts the invitation of Governor Sanwo-Olu to the planned Lagos Peace Walk.”

December 2, 2021

Warns party against re-admitting duo

By Steve Oko

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State, Dr Isaac Nkole, has warned the party against re-admitting Senator Orji Uzor Kalu into the ‘big umbrella’.

Nkole who gave the warning in a media chat in Umuahia, claimed that the former Governor “is in a desperate move to return to the PDP having discovered that his days in the All Progressive Congress APC are numbered”.

He also claimed that Gov Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State is allegedly making contacts to return to the PDP having discovered he was deceived into joining APC”.

According to Dr Nkole, the Senate Chief Whip has been reaching out to key stakeholders in PDP both in the state and the national levels, begging them to allow him to return to the party.

But Dr. Nkole who described Kalu as “spoiler and political liability”, argued that the former governor’s return to PDP “is not in the best interest of the party.”

His words:” I want to advise the leadership of PDP both in Abia and national to be careful not to allow Senator Orji Uzor Kalu return to our great party because his return will destroy PDP.

” I’m raising this alarm because we heard that he is making contacts with the party big wigs begging for the door to be opened for him to come back.

” He knows he is already at the end of the road in APC as the party’s structure is off his grip. His political fate is sealed because his faction of the party is not the one recognised by Abuja.

” Knowing the implications for him and others in 2023, that’s why he’s making desperate efforts to return to PDP but we don’t need people like him to infest our part.”

According to Nkole, the Senate Chief Whip is not the only APC chieftain from the South East itching to return to the PDP.

” We heard that Gov. Dave Umahi also wants to return to PDP. They have all discovered that they made the wrong decision by joining APC in the first place. That’s why they all want to return but PDP is tired of political liabilities and desperados without ideology”.

Senator Kalu was elected Abia governor in 1999 on the platform of the PDP but left the party to form the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, at the peak of his political war with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006.

He later dumped PPA but his attempt to return to the PDP in 2014 was vigorously resisted by his erstwhile political ally and successor, Senator Theodore Orj.

He later defected to APC before the 2015 election when he contested for the Abia North Senatorial seat but lost to Senator Mao Ohuabunwa of the PDP.

Kalu, however, re-contested in 2019 when he eventually was declared winner of the contest.

Depression

Experts have attributed the rate at which people abuse drugs to depression.

According to them, the rate of people who suffer from depression is very high these days, and this makes them indulge in anything that seems to make them happy even when some of them are fully aware of the consequences.

Knowing the addicted

According to WebMD, some of the signs of someone with serious meth addiction include tattered dressing and shabby looks, always picking at hair or skin, loss of appetite and weight, frequent moving of eyes, strange sleeping patterns (staying up for days or even weeks at a time), talkativeness (nonstop talking), insolvency leading to selling of possessions or stealing, angry outbursts or mood swings, and psychotic behaviour such as paranoia and hallucinations.

Quit Notices

While some Igbo communities have started dealing with drug dealers, others are issuing quit warnings to unscrupulous elements. One of the notices read: “With a heart full of sorrow, Nteje Youths have begun a check on those selling and those buying this hard drug called ‘meth’ (ICE)…because it has caused more harm than good to the youths of our land and those involved must be brought to book…”

A public service announcement from Umudioka Improvement Union, Anambra State and signed by the President-General, Hon. Chike Odoji, reads: “This to announce to all indigenes of Umudioka and non-indigenes living in Umudioka that, henceforth, consumption, smoking and sales of meth – methamphetamine, Isi na Awa Agu – Colorado (High-level Marijuana), Aju Achu Enwe – Arisona (SK), Stonch – Mkpuru ogwu, Indian Hemp – Marijuana and other substances/illicit drugs have been proscribed in Umudioka and environs.

“Soonest, UIU, in conjunction with NDLEA, anti-cult and other relevant law enforcement agencies, will commence a manhunt for all dealers and consumers within Umudioka.

“You are therefore advised to stay away from any known bunk that deals on the above-prohibited items. We will not spare anyone once apprehended no matter how highly placed.”

Blame Judges

Worried about the high rate of drug abuse in the country, Sen. Dimka Hezekiah (Plateau) has sponsored a bill to amend the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) law to check the incidence of light sentencing for drug offenders.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N 30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 provides for stringent penalties for persons involved in the importation and exportation of hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin.

These penalties range from life imprisonment to 15 years in jail.

Hezekiah, however, raised concerns that although the Supreme Court had held that the minimum penalty for those dealing in hard drugs was a term of 15 years, some judges of the Federal High Court had continued to pass ridiculously light and illegal sentences on convicts.

“Rather than a term of imprisonment of 15 years, the maximum sentence passed on any convict was a term of 3 years for heroin”, the lawmaker said.

“Some of these have been as low as four months imprisonment for 1.44 kg of cocaine.

“Worse still is the fact that when some of the judges pass these light terms of imprisonment, the convicts are further given options of fines, which are not provided for under the NDLEA Act.”

Hezekiah further said that the arbitrariness that was being perpetrated by the trial judges by not following the provisions of the Act could lead to corrupt practices and encouragement of the drug trade.

He added that the proposed amendment would close any loopholes by having a clear, unambiguous and unequivocal provision that judges could not vary the sentences provided by the Act.

Generation at Risk

Supporting the bill, Sen. Istifanus Dung (PDP-Plateau) said the prevalence and menace of drugs and their destructive effects on the lives of citizens, particularly youths, had attained an alarming stage.

“A whole generation is at risk of being lost to drugs. The production and sale of illicit drugs require strong regulation and enforcement powered by NDLEA”, Dung said.

“And this bill is seeking to strengthen and stiffen the sanctions against drug abuse in such a way that it will end in breaking and ending the destructive drug trade.”

Scary Situation

Also speaking, Sen. Abba Moro (PDP-Benue) said: “The bill is germane to the circumstances in which we find ourselves here.

“The scary situation in which we find ourselves in this country today emanates partly from a combination of factors of the proliferation of firearms and light weapons. “The second dimension to our very scary security situation is the question of drugs.”

A Ravaging Epidemic – Marwa, NDLEA boss

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Gen. Buba Marwa, has described the problem of drugs in Nigeria as “a ravaging epidemic”, stressing that “it is for this reason that we remained upstanding to do our best with what we have and with the support we have been receiving from the Federal Government.

Marwa, in a recent report, stated that with the support from the Federal Government, foreign partners and stakeholders, Nigeria would win the war against drug abuse and trafficking.

“We plan to go to local governments for sensitisation; we are constrained at this moment with the size of our workforce but with the approval of the President, we have recruited more personnel to increase our size to enable us to go into the local governments so that each local government will eventually have its special command”, he said.

According to him, the Federal Government had produced the improved fourth edition of the National Drug Control Master Plan 2021-2025 with the technical support from the UNODC and EU funding.

The document, according to the NDLEA boss, comprehensively addresses four thematic pillars of Supply Reduction, Demand Reduction, Access to Controlled Medicines for Medical Purposes, and Coordination and Governance.

Addicts Need Help

Continuing, Marwa said: “I must say that the use of drugs is an illness, especially when it gets to addiction. They (addicts) can’t help themselves, they need to be helped. The efforts will not be towards criminalising or penalising them but to help them to be treated, so we encourage those under drugs to seek treatment. Twenty per cent of the drug users in Nigeria have drug use disorder. They need help and we encourage that.’’

Imo Lawmaker Calls for Action

In a related development, the lawmaker representing Ideato North in Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Innocent Egwim, has voiced his concerns that if nothing was done to checkmate the ugly trend and get the youths of the state to say no to the consumption of meth and other such drugs, the future of the state would be in jeopardy.

In a motion titled, ‘To Curb the Menace of Consumption of meth and Other Killer Hard Drugs Among the Youths of Imo State’, and co-sponsored by seven other lawmakers, Egwim said: “The menace of the consumption of meth, among others, by the youths of this state is too obvious to be ignored as the non-affordability of the psychoactive hard drugs such cocaine, barbiturate, tramadol, codeine and others has led most of our youths to consume a more deadly, tough and cheaper substance, which they christened meth or Guzoro.”

The lawmaker explained that the habitual consumption of meth has rendered some of “our youths useless by making them mad and sending some to their early graves as its consumption is often associated with health hazards and risks such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular-related illness, mental health problems, sleep deprivation, brain damage and anorexia to list a few.

“Therefore, if nothing is done to checkmate the ugly trend and get the youths of this state to say no to the consumption of meth and other such drugs, the future of the state is in jeopardy in terms of getting good pedigree of youths for leadership succession”.

Egwim urged the House to prevail on Governor Hope Uzodinma to take appropriate steps to address the situation in Imo before it gets out of hand.

November 28, 2021

By Nnamdi Ojiego

An epidemic has hit Igboland. No one is safe. Gory tales litter the space.

On October 19, 2021, a boy allegedly killed his father in Adazi Ani in Anambra State and took the father’s N50, 000 just to buy meth. He was apprehended by youths of the community, beaten to stupor and burnt alive.

Another died in neighboring community as a result of debilitating effects of meth. In Umudioka, Anambra, two siblings, after taking Guzoro, chased their mother with machetes and prevented the woman from coming to the family house for three days until the village vigilante officials intervened.

There are numerous trending videos on social media platforms from different communities in Igbo land of young men, and in some cases, women and under-aged, being tied to beams and trees at public squares, beaten mercilessly for dealing in and taking meth. Information emanating from the zone shows that many Igbo youths are going insane, even as some have completely gone mad after drug use. And these are the future of the society.

According to population projections by the United Nations for 2020, about 43 per cent of the Nigerian population comprised children 0-14 years, 19 per cent aged 15-24 years and about 62 per cent are below age 25 years. By contrast, less than five per cent is aged 60 years and above. This makes Nigeria a youthful population with a median age of about 18 years, which is lower than African and world estimates of 20 and 29 respectively.

Escalation

With the above statistics, it is believed that the energy that will power Nigeria into a prosperous future will come from her teeming, vibrant youths. However, with a worrisome escalation in the rate of drugs abuse in the country, this generation of youths may not live to achieve their God-given potentials.

Faced with this existential threat, many stakeholders and prominent individuals of Igbo extraction, including politicians, celebrities, and community leaders, have expressed concerns over the effects of deadly substances and lending their voices for a concerted effort to stem the tide that is capable of wiping a generation of Igbo from the surface of the earth. They are aware that if urgent action is not taken, the Igbo race could be annihilated and the land becomes desolate.

Methamphetamine

What is meth that has thrown the South-East into chaos? It is a hard drug called methamphetamine or meth for short. It is called meth or ice in local parlance because it looks like ice block. It is also called Guzoro because of euphoria effect one gets after taking it.

According to Wikipedia, methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity.

The US National Institute on Drug Abuse described methamphetamine as a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It takes the form of a white, odourless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.

Meth was developed early in the 20th century from its parent drug, amphetamine, and was used originally in nasal decongestants and bronchial inhalers. Like amphetamine, methamphetamine causes increased activity and talkativeness, decreased appetite, and a pleasurable sense of well-being or euphoria.

However, methamphetamine differs from amphetamine in that, at comparable doses, much greater amounts of the drug get into the brain, making it a more potent stimulant. It also has longer-lasting and more harmful effects on the central nervous system. These characteristics make it a drug with a high potential for widespread misuse.

In time, it became clear that methamphetamine was dangerously addictive. In the 1970s, the drug was added to the Schedule II list of controlled substances and became illegal except when it is prescribed by a physician for a very limited number of medical conditions.

The activities of the drugs addicts and dealers have become so damaging that town unions and youths associations are taking drastic measures to stamp out the menace from their communities. The situation is made worse and dangerous because there is no quick cure or drug for the addiction. The only treatment is behavioral therapy which is not readily available in Nigeria.

Extreme Measures

Though some people have condemned the manner of punishment meted out to the addicts and peddlers, describing it as barbaric, inhuman and unacceptable, others were of the view that no punishment or measure is too much or harsh for drug abusers considering the havoc the new way of life of some youths is already wreaking in the society.

Miracle Chioma, a concerned Nigerian, in her reaction, described the action as barbaric, stressing that beating the abusers would not stop them from taking the substance.

“These are adults who are already addicted to a particular substance and drug addiction is a chronic disease characterized by compulsive or uncontrollable drug seeking and use despite its harmful consequences”, Chioma stated.

“Addiction is a strong disease and these people can’t stop taking meth by this act of beating them.

“Most drug addicts need long-term and repeated care from a behavioral counsellor or a therapist to stop using the drug completely and recover their lives.”

Cane Deliverance

But Ugezu J. Ugezu, a celebrated movie actor and director, in a widely circulated video, supported what he termed ‘Cane Deliverance’ (flogging) and, specifically, urged all communities to adopt it to save Igbo youths.

According to him, town unions should not wait on government but take the bull by the horns in tackling the problem.

He said: “I want to lend my voice to a raging issue in our land and I am urging presidents-general of town unions, specifically, to wake up from their slumbers and take the bull by the horns.

“What I’m talking about is what is called meth that our youths are taking and they are neck-deep into it.

“We don’t know how it started or who started it. It could be from those who want to destroy our land and our youths have ignorantly embraced it, little children, especially those who have nothing doing. “Even those that do menial jobs are now into it. You can see it’s not a good thing. So I believe that it is through flogging that the madness can be driven out of them.

“I’m glad some communities have started already and I am saying that if your community’s constitution does not have provisions for flogging errant youths, let the constitution be amended to make provision for flogging.

“If we leave these children on their own, all of them will be useless.

“The Igbo have structures like age grade, Umunna, etc., let’s use these already existing structures to fight and correct these anomalies.

“If we don’t take these drastic measures now, in the next three to five years, we will have a bigger disaster in our hands.

“We are talking of the future of our land, so if we allow them to waste their lives, we will be the ultimate losers. We have to start now and it’s the town unions that will lead this fight.

“We can’t wait for government on this. We must fight this fight ourselves. We must use the cane to whip out the evil spirit in our youths.

“So any child that refuses to listen to good counsel, his body will listen to flogging.”

Failure

Speaking in the same vein, a youth leader and Convener of Movement for Grassroots Governance, Comrade Ebelechukwu Ngini, blamed government at all levels for the calamity that has befallen Igbo youths, even as he supported the various measures adopted by communities to fight the scourge including flogging.

Ngini said: “Shaming the drug abusers is getting positive results so far. This may not be the best international practice but it is pragmatic.

“We don’t have the luxury of basic mental health facilities, what do you expect us to do? Speak beautiful grammar and fantasize on lofty psychiatric know how?

READ ALSO: meth: Mexicans set up labs in Nigeria to produce meth in 2016 — Reps

“No, we must do something to save a generation. So far, flogging has been discouraging many would-have-been users whilst a lot more dropped the habit automatically after such treatment.

“What other results do you want to see? The flogging more than anything brought the menace of this drug to the front burner of discussion now. We can get better but for now, the flogging continues. Don’t want to get flogged publicly? Avoid Mkpårå mmiri.

“I am beyond worried. I am much afraid that our greatest asset as a people is being destroyed before our very eyes. The future of every race is their youth and here we are talking about young, even teenage boys and girls getting illicit drugs easily and abusing them.

‘I cringe to imagine what will become of us if this plague is not nipped in the bud. The worrisome question is how come meth litters our streets such that even 11-year-olds easily access them like it is Vitamin C? What makes the supply chain this thick and seamless? A question I believe the NDLEA should answer.

State of Emergency

“The cause is primarily the failure of government keeping to their side of the social contract with the people.

“Parents should stop making excuses for errant children and treat children tilting towards bad gangs dispassionately for a stitch in time saves nine.

“That said, I believe we, rather than passing the buck now, ought to declare a state of emergency on the menace.

“I unequivocally commend Anambra youths who have taken it upon ourselves to tackle this hydra-headed monster head-on.

“We must give our best to end the abuse of Mkpårå mmiri before it ends us.

“Many of users turn out to be the worst kind of criminals; gory stories of their escapades are legion. One beheaded his father the other day in Adazi. Many robberies and prostitution there are in a bid to support the illicit drug habit”.

Francisca Ike-Nebeolisa, another concerned Igbo, supported Ngini’s stance, saying: “Hunting them and treating them as criminals have helped so many of them. That is the reason most communities are adopting this means.

“Whatever means any community adopts to curtail the sale of this killer drug and reduce the rate people take it should be encouraged because, once people are unable to access the substance, it will reduce its spread.

Testimony

Giving credence to the assertions of those in support public shaming, one of the victims, in a testimonial video, stated that the flogging and beating he received saved him from destroying himself and made him a better person.

Ugochukwu, a native of Osumenyi in Anambra, revealed that he was one of those who received severe beatings for indulging in meth.

“My town’s youth association apprehended me, tied me up and gave me almost 100 strokes of the cane. That was how the drugs left him”, he explained.

In the video, he professed his newfound life, stressing that he is now humble and working as an apprentice in a barber’s shop.

The victim thanked the youths for dispensing those life-saving strokes and encouraged them to fish out other young boys in need of the therapy that saved him.

Asian Treatment

An anonymous commentator, who claimed that the situation was worse in Imo, his home state, said dealers should receive stiffer punishment.

“Many guys in Imo are mad right now due to meth. Government and communities must go after the dealers”, he said.

“Imo, like Anambra, is also flogging them. A lot of our brothers who are drug peddlers and who usually travel to other countries to destroy their youths are now home destroying Igbo youths.

“If anyone should be flogged, it should be the dealers. I am even advocating death penalty for the dealers and sellers in our land just like it is done in some countries in Asia. “I will never feel sorry for anyone given life or 50 years in prison or the death penalty for carrying drugs in Asia and other nations. They did not want their youths destroyed. Now I know why.”

By Isabel Vincent

November 20, 2021

Whitefish, Mont., is known for fly fishing and hiking trails studded with yellow Aspen trees. But after Silicon Valley billionaire Michael Goguen took up residence in the Rocky Mountain town several years ago, he transformed it into his private fiefdom: a dark banana republic where he allegedly controls local law enforcement — and a “harem” of young women.

The bombshell allegations, which also include claims of Goguen ordering his security chief to kill detractors, are contained in a lengthy civil complaint recently filed in United States District Court for the District of Montana.

According to the court papers, Goguen, 57, employs hundreds of residents in companies he controls, and owns a series of luxury “safe houses” where he takes dozens of young women for sex. He has a spreadsheet documenting his sexual encounters with 5,000 women, and even outfitted a local bar he owns with a basement “boom boom” room, which features a stripper pole. The underground enclave is allegedly used “to maintain women for the purpose of committing illicit sexual activity.”

Requests for comment from Goguen’s lawyer were not returned Friday.

The complaint, which seeks more than $800 million in damages, was filed by four former employees who set up Goguen’s Amyntor Group LLC, a Whitefish-based security contractor that had clients around the world.

Now, Goguen is wrapped up in a mystery that just keeps getting messier, as person after person has apparently tried to take him down — only to end up taken down themselves.

Originally from Bedford, Mass., Goguen joined the venture investment firm Sequoia Capital, based in Menlo Park, Calif., in 1996. It was already known for taking smart early bets on companies, including Apple and Cisco, and would later generate big buzz — and money — for getting behind brands that would become enormous: Google, YouTube, PayPal and Instagram among them.

He had gotten a share of the Google deal and, as Bloomberg reported, “frequently appeared on the Forbes Midas List for his ability to find and fund winning technologies.”

But things came to a crashing halt in 2016 when his former mistress Amber Baptiste, an exotic dancer from Canada, accused him of “constant sexual abuse,” including “countless hours of forced sodomy,” court papers say. He also demanded that she refer to him as “king” and “emperor,” according to the filings. In 2012 Baptiste said, she underwent surgery for a ruptured anal canal after Goguen “forcibly sodomized her and left her bleeding and alone on the floor of a hotel room in a foreign country,” court papers claimed.

Goguen won a countersuit in the three-year legal battle, eventually securing a restraining order against Baptiste from filing any similar suits against him. But the allegations cost him his job at Sequoia Capital in Silicon Valley, where he had been a longtime partner.

At the time a Sequoia spokesman told TechCrunch that “while the firm understood ‘these allegations of serious improprieties’ to be ‘unproven and unrelated to Sequoia’ its management committee had nevertheless ‘decided that Mike’s departure was the appropriate course of action.’”

Despite the high-profile exit, Goguen is still worth more than $5 billion, according to a source.

Goguen, began spending more time in Whitefish, a town of just over 7,000 residents, where he built a sprawling 75,000-square-foot mansion with an additional 30,000-square-foot nuclear-grade bunker that can accommodate up to 25 people for a year. He lives with his fourth wife.

There, he runs several businesses, including Casey’s Whitefish, a pub and restaurant, and Two Bear Capital, a firm that invests in “early stage companies with disruptive innovations,” including biotech and cybersecurity, according to his LinkedIn page. He also funds Two Bear Farm and is behind Two Bear Air Rescue Foundation, a non-profit that provides “world class aviation support” to law enforcement and others for search and rescue, free of charge.

He started Amyntor Group LLC, a private defense contractor that, at one point, was in line to create a private spy network for the Trump administration, according to BuzzFeed. Negotiations were stalled because Goguen could not obtain a security clearance with the US government because of the allegations of sexual abuse, court papers allege.

Meanwhile, another ghost from his past was about to haunt him.

Bryan Nash was a former workout buddy from California, who had reluctantly accompanied Goguen to bars and strip clubs.

In 2019, federal authorities indicted Nash on 10 counts of stalking and extortion; according to the criminal complaint, Nash had threatened to reveal unspecified secrets unless Goguen paid him $15 million, and also emailed members of Goguen’s family. In May 2020, Nash pleaded guilty to blackmailing Goguen, and was later sentenced to five years of probation.

This is where Matthew Marshall comes in.

A former Marine and alleged CIA operative, he once headed up the Amyntor Group — and is now the lead plaintiff in the civil suit filed against Goguen in February and amended in September.

Although Marshall, now 51, had been recruited by Goguen in 2013 to set up the private security contracting business, he alleges in his lawsuit that he soon became a reluctant fixer for the billionaire, arranging the purchase of luxury homes and vehicles for members of his harem, and spying on and intimidating his enemies.

“Marshall was being asked to purchase, out of his personal accounts, vehicles, jewelry, earnest money deposits on properties, and to provide cash or other items for Goguen’s mistresses, or as hush-money payoffs to Goguen’s acquaintances and employees who had ‘learned too much’ about Goguen’s sexual misconduct and crimes, and the Goguen Sexual Scheme,” court papers allege.

Marshall also paid for luxury vacations, health care and education expenses in exchange for women “to strip and have sex with him [Goguen], to perform other deviant sexual acts with him, or to maintain their silence as participants in Goguen’s sexual misconduct,” court papers say.

Goguen’s girlfriends were given Marshall’s number and were urged to call him directly if they had any problems. In one case, he was dispatched to help a group of Playboy Playmates who were on safari in Africa and lost their passports, court papers say.

Women who tried to complain to police about Goguen’s alleged sexual assaults were met with unsympathetic law enforcement at the Igbo County Sheriff’s Dept, some of whom were on Goguen’s payroll, according to court papers — which also allege that Goguen had set up a mechanism to listen in on police communications.

When one of those women told a local police officer that Goguen had allegedly sexually assaulted her, Marshall urged the officer to go to the FBI. But the investigation was quashed after Goguen wined and dined the cop, promising him luxury elk hunts in his private jet, court papers say.

In 2018, the woman identified in court papers as Pam Doe, told Whitefish police that Goguen had sexually assaulted her after giving her cocaine and alcohol.

“He had sex with her and then paid her $1,200,” court papers say. The investigation was handed to Detective Shane Erickson, who did not follow through, court papers say.

“Det. Erickson openly shared with Marshall the fact that he was spending time with Goguen, including having dinner at his house, spending time on Whitefish Lake, going on a coyote hunt,” court papers say. “Erickson also informed Marshall that Goguen had offered to take him on his yearly week-long $20,000 elk hunt in Colorado with private guides.”

Pam Doe later recanted her story with police after signing a non-disparagement agreement with Goguen. It is not known if the agreement included a financial settlement.

In another instance, Marshall was dispatched to help a married woman, identified in court papers as Kim Doe. The wife of a prominent Whitefish businessman, she allegedly had a long-term affair with Goguen. When her husband found out about the trysts and began divorce proceedings, Goguen gave her a credit card and bought her a five-bedroom home in a nearby town. He told Marshall to pay the charges, which amounted to $30,000 a month.

“After witnessing their relationship over several years, Marshall came to understand that Goguen had placed Kim Doe and her children in a position of utter dependence based on false promises and emotional manipulation to satisfy his sexual appetite,” court papers say.

Goguen’s old accusers also pop up in the new suit.

According to the court papers, Goguen once brought his daughters and their teenage babysitter to Nash’s home, where he allegedly had sex with the babysitter in a cottage on the property, according to court filings. An outraged Nash called him a pedophile and reported him to local police “to no avail,” court papers say.

The papers also claim Goguen had sex with Nash’s wife as they were going through a divorce. Goguen allegedly had Nash followed by a private detective and paid for the wife’s legal expenses, “causing the divorce to be drawn out and having Nash incur more expenses,” court papers say.

On Sept. 19, 2014, Goguen allegedly asked Marshall to arrange to kill Nash in a text message on wickr, an encrypted instant messaging platform: “He needs to be killed. I know that’s a VERY big ask but we are in defcon 5. We can discuss details in person but we do NOT have conversations about this on our cell phones. Wickr only…”

Marshall has claimed that he refused and tried to “dissuade Goguen from going to extreme measures against his enemies.”

As for Baptiste, the former mistress, in the lead up to her 2016 suit against him, Goguen allegedly asked Marshall to help with “cyber operations” and “immigration fraud,” urging him to find a way to deport Baptiste back to Canada. If he could have her deported “then his case with Baptiste would go away,” court papers said.

Once Baptiste’s lawsuit was filed, Goguen allegedly told Marshall to act as his “general 100x more aggressive than Patton was, to coordinate and make sure everything is happening that should be happening — PR firms, private investigators criminal side, local PR, everything,” according to court papers. Goguen allegedly asked Marshall to hire a private investigator to follow Baptiste and use the resources of the security company to target her.

According to court papers, Marshall observed “the psychological pain and pressure” that Goguen “relentlessly applied” to Baptiste after she filed her California lawsuit for breach of a $40 million settlement.

But on Nov. 10, Marshall — like Nash and Baptiste before him — found himself suddenly in the hot seat.

He accepted a plea agreement in federal court in Montana for wire fraud, tax evasion and conning Goguen out of millions of dollars.

The federal charges against Marshall allegedly came after he began to complain about some of the extracurricular duties Goguen asked him to perform in order to keep his harem under control.

Marshall’s own civil suit states that Goguen and his associates filed false claims against the security expert, alleging that he committed fraud in order to hide Goguen’s underground sexual activities.

“Goguen … falsely told the FBI that Marshall did not have the requisite experience, had stolen and then laundered funds from Goguen and testified in other ways meant to obstruct law enforcement’s discovery of Goguen’s sexual misconduct and the existence of the Goguen Sexual Scheme,” court papers allege.

Marshall pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. He said that he did not use money that Goguen had forwarded to him for paramilitary missions to Mexico “or anywhere else. Instead, he spent the money on personal expenses and loans and gifts to friends and family members, among other expenditures,” the plea states.

But according to the civil complaint, Marshall spent the cash on Goguen’s orders and was not reimbursed by Goguen.

Marshall agreed to pay up to $3.5 million in restitution and is scheduled to be sentenced next year.

At least one local authority has had enough of Goguen.

“This man has to be stopped,” said Bill Dial. The retired Whitefish police chief sued Goguen in December 2019 for alleged interference in his own investigation. “He’s a billionaire a la Harvey Weinstein and Epstien. There’s a lot of people in this community who know what he’s about and they’re afraid of him.”

…Governor slams zoning, states qualities of candidate

By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt On Nov 20, 2021


Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and his Adamawa State counterpart, Ahmadu Fintiri, have reflected on the type of presidential candidate the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) needs to take over power in 2023.

While Wike was concerned about how and when the candidate would emerge, Fintiri, dwelled on the character and qualities of the candidate, saying he was not in support of zoning.

A statement signed by Wike’s Special Assistant, Media, Kelvin Ebiri, said the duo spoke when Wike paid a courtesy visit to Fintiri at the Government House, Yola, on Friday.

Wike and his entourage were in Yola to appreciate Fintiri, who was the Chairman of the PDP Convention Planning Committee for successfully conducting the exercise.

Wike said stakeholders in the party would at the right time collectively decide the party’s presidential candidate.

He said that the PDP was ready to take over power at the centre in 2023 following the success of its convention.

The Rivers state governor commended Fintiri and members of the PDP convention planning committee for making the party proud by conducting a transparent and rancour-free convention.

Nigerians believe that PDP has put themselves in a position to take over the affairs of this country. It was not easy”, he said.

Wike said that those, who had not participated in organising a party convention might presume it was an easy feat to accomplish.

He said: “At a time most people were expecting that it may not work out for PDP. It only did not work out well, it was peacefully conducted, the best ever conducted since PDP started.

“I believe that when people have done well, you commend them. When you give them another opportunity, they will put in their best. And that is one of the things I have come today to say my brother, you’ve done well with your people. You did not put us to shame.”

Wike noted that when he and others nominated Fintiri as the chairman of the convention planning committee, they never had any reservation about his capacity to deliver a credible and transparent convention.

” Today, Ahmadu Fintiri has become a household name in Nigerian politics, because of the convention he conducted very transparently. Thank you for what you have done for our great party”, he said.

The governor also used the occasion to shower encomium on Fintiri for his developmental strides in Adamawa State, particularly in Yola, the State capital.

He said: “How much does he get from the federation account,

yet he is able to judiciously put them into use for the interest and development of Adamawa State. If other people had done this within the city, he would have moved on to other areas that need attention. I want to plea to all of you to continue to give him the support.”

In his remarks, Fintiri said the successful conduct of the PDP convention had provided Nigerians, especially the younger generation, an alternative platform to elect the next Nigerian president in 2023.

He urged Wike, who he acknowledged contributed immeasurably to the success of the convention, not to relent in his support for the party in the years ahead.

He said: “We are not just colleagues, we are not just in the same party, we have discovered ourselves to be good friends and even metamorphosing into being brothers. This is what we need in this country.

“That is why I am not a supporter of those who are calling for zoning of the presidency. I am for those that are calling for good candidates that can bring this country together, and improve on the potentials that abound in both the humans and capital of Nigeria.

“But, I trust that whoever we are going to get as our presidential candidate in 2023, will be the person that Nigerians want, will be the person that understands this country, and will be the person that will pull this country together and put her where she belongs in the comity of nations.”

The Adamawa State governor said his administration had been doing its best to attract people into the party by embarking on human and infrastructural development.

“It is not easy considering the available resources, but through fiscal discipline and elimination of waste by in governance, we are able to save and put it into developmental projects.”

Fintiri commended all the PDP governors and other stakeholders of the party for giving his committee the opportunity to serve.

He said: “God, through his wisdom has seen us through. We have a stable party that is ready to take government in 2023. We must thank you for your thoughtfulness to come on this courtesy call to appreciate the little we were able to do in carrying out this assignment on behalf of all of us.”

November 18, 2021

Chief Mrs Folashade Tinubu Ojo, the Iyaloja General of Nigeria has explained the circumstances that led to the closure of the popular Oyingbo market in Lagos, last Friday.

She stated that, Honorable Omolola Essien, the Chairman of the Lagos Mainland Local Government, which oversees the Oyingbo Market, ordered the immediate closure of the market over the very poor hygiene conditions in the market.

Tinubu-Ojo stated this while addressing members of the press at Alausa, Ikeja on Wednesday.

“The Chairman of the Local Government called me and said that she had ordered the immediate closure of the market. She said the market was too dirty and not appropriate as a sales for food items to be consumed by human beings”.

“I also visited the market myself and ordered the traders to immediately commence a sanitation exercise and that the market will not be reopened until the market is properly cleaned.

“In order not to make the traders suffer much losses, I asked that traders selling perishable items to continue selling till the end of the day but that no trader at all will be allowed to sell from the next day”.

The Iyaloja of Agric Coker Odunade section of the Oyingbo Market; Mrs Abimbola, also said that they had raised a team to conduct a spot-check on the Oyingbo market if it was clean enough to be opened, but on getting there, we found that the market was worse than how it was the last time they checked.

Speaking further, Chief Mrs. Tinubu Ojo said that Ministry of Environment officials and also her own took pictures as evidence of how dirty the market was.

She also addressed the issue of allegations against her that she had ordered Oyingbo Market traders to pay a levy of N5million (Five Million Naira).

“BBC Yoruba reported that I ordered the closure of the market because they did not pay the N5 million levy. This is common blackmail that some of the traders resort to so that they can cover their misdemeanour. A section of them were even trying to intimidate us while we were at the market but we stood our ground."

She seized the opportunity to advice all Lagos market traders to make sure that they sanitize their market and also make it clean.

Saraki asks Buhari to disregard controversy on direct primary, sign Electoral Bill into law


November 15, 2021

By Demola Akinyemi

Former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Bill into law in the interest of the masses and also deepen Nigeria’s democracy, the controversy over direct primaries notwithstanding.

Saraki, who is also former Kwara State governor, said the raging debate on the propriety or otherwise generated by the passage of direct primary for political parties by the National Assembly must not be allowed to scuttle the Electoral Bill.

Speaking with journalists on the sideline of the 9th memoral prayer for his late father, Dr Olusola Saraki, at the family’s Ilofa road residence, GRA, Ilorin, yesterday, Saraki said the important thing was for President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Electoral Bill for Nigerians to benefit from its other parts.

He said: “Direct primaries is best for political parties if properly done. But I am sure Nigerians are not prepared for it because there is still a lot of work to be done.

“But now, the National Assembly has passed it, we should make the best out of the situation, rather than allowing the controversy of one item to throw away the other good parts of the bill.

“What is important is for the President to assent to it and enable Nigerians benefit from the other parts.’’

On the performance of the PDP at the recent election in Anambra State where the party came a distant third, Saraki noted that the exercise was a success for Nigeria and democracy.

He described his late father as a selfless leader whose legacies Nigerians should adopt in the light of the country’s sorry situation.

Other dignitaries that graced the event were the Minister for Transportation, State, Gbemisola Saraki; Sen Rafiu Ibrahim; former PDP National Secretary, former Acting National Chairman of PDP, Abubakar Kawu Baraje; former Minister of Transportation, Bio Ibrahim; former speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Dr Ali Ahmad; and National Legal Adviser of PDP, Kamaldeen Ajibade, SAN, among others.

The prayer which commenced by 8:00am was led by the Chief Imam of Ilorin, Shiekh Muhammad Bashir Soliu.

The cleric was supported by the Grand Mukadam of Ilorin, Sheikh Sulaiman Dan-Borno, Sheikh Saanu Sheu, and Imam AbdulRazaq Aduagba.

Dan Borno in his sermon, described late Saraki as a star who benefitted everybody that those in government today held their political rise to him.

He called on the children and beneficiaries of late Saraki’s legacies not to allow his footprints die in vain, and called on all those who cherished his legacies to spread the good works of the late politician.

November 14, 2021

…Targets 50,000 supporters

By Egufe Yafugborhi

MEMBERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, predominantly of the Sen Magnus Abe’s faction have inaugurated 2023 Bola Ahmed Tinubu Support(BATS) in the state on strong conviction that the former Lagos state governor is most “eminently qualified” to be Nigeria’s next President.

At the BATS Rivers chapter inauguration in Port Harcourt Sunday, Sen Wilson Ake alleged that 2020 EndSARS crisis was instigated by detractors who would not want the former APC leading founder to become president in the next elections.

Ake, Chairman of the group’s Steering Committee stated, “For someone to work and another person will come and eat is not of God. We are supporting Tinubu because we know that he is eminently qualified, and he has worked so hard to see APC win.

“We do not have that wicked spirit in us. That is why we are saying we must pay back Tinubu what he has put into APC. We are not against anybody. Anybody who wants to try should go ahead, but they should not use the question that they must eliminate Tinubu to succeed.

“They went far as starting EndSARS in Lagos. EndSARS ended up by burning Tinubu’s hotel, his television house, his newspaper house when Tinubu is not in government. You can see the target is how do we decimate this man. After you have worked so hard, then people will say you should go to the back and sit and the good man and good woman will clap for such thing.”

On reservations about Tinubu’s age as a weakness against his presidential bid, Ake, three terms Rivers Senator, said, “When they talk about age I begin to ask, Buhari is the oldest man in government, both President, Governor and everything. Can you say any of them has performed better than Buhari now, because he is old?

“If they are now saying that Tinubu is old, it them means that they are regretting brightening Buhari, that is what they are trying to say, so they should come out opening to say that.

“Looking at all the state Governors, they are within the age bracket of 30 and 50. Is there any magic coming from them? Instead of them to look out for quality, they are emphasising age. That shows we are not serious in this country.

“Anybody using the question of age to attack, disqualify Tinubu is merely playing the Ostrich and we cannot allow that to distract us.”It is only fair and respect for justice if we should say, Tinubu should be the next president of Nigeria.”

Coordinator of Rivers BATS, Chief Tony Okocha, noted, “We know he (Tinubu) has the midas touch. We know he is competent, experienced and we know he is detribalized. So if we have a nationalist like that why won’t we support him?”

Okocha stressed that the mission of BATS in Rivers is to mobilize 50,000 APC supporters in the state to promote Tinubu for the prime position in 2023.

November 11, 2021

James Ogunnaike – Abeokuta

Ogun State has been ranked 4th in revenue generation among the 36 states in the country.

The ranking according to the Statisense showed that Ogun generated N74b between January and September, 2021.

The state which came behind Lagos, FCT and Rivers in the ranking, recorded a plus of 131.5% revenue increase in the months under review.

Reacting to the ranking, the Chief Economic Adviser and Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Okubadejo, noted “this is the first time in the history of Ogun State that we’d be generating such an amount within just nine months”.

He attributed the feat recorded by the state to the current revenue generation drive by the incumbent administration led by Governor Dapo Abiodun.

Okubadejo added that various economic initiatives capable of enhancing Ease of Doing Business being implemented by the administration, has begun to yield positive results.

November 10, 2021

…As Atiku, Saraki, Anyim walk tight rope

By Dirisu Yakubu

Against the backdrop of the success of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, national convention, governors elected on the platform of the party have shifted their attention to 2023 with the aim of having one of their own fly the party’s Presidential flag, Vanguard gathered, Wednesday.

The 13 governors recently demonstrated their grip on the party as they succeeded in reducing what was meant to be an elective convention to almost a no contest, prevailing on 18 out of the 21 aspirants to the various party offices to queue behind consensus candidates. The development inflicted political injury on many top players as they watched the governors delivered their preferred candidates with little or no resistance.

Ahead of the 2023 election, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state and his Bauchi state counterpart, Senator Bala Mohammed are believed to be nursing Presidential ambitions even as they are yet to officially declare their interest.

Speaking exclusively to Vanguard in confidence, a former governor of one of the North-Western states and member of the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, said following the hitch-free conduct of the convention where the governors had their way, “they are now certain to bankroll one of their own to run for the Presidency in the next general election.”

According to him, “It is too early to say a certain governor has been endorsed by his colleagues for the ticket as others apart from those in the public domain are likely to join the race. What I can however tell you is that the governors have realized how powerful they truly are and are not going to yield an inch to anybody in the race to the Presidency. It will interest you to know that after the convention, the governors met, away from the prying eyes of the media, just to congratulate themselves and plot their next move.

“They control the delegates in their various states and even in those states where PDP do not have governors, they have found a way of exerting their influence. But this is not about power show; it is about change of guard. They simply want to be in charge as they believe that since the party lost the Presidency, they ordinarily ought to be the kingmakers. And who better to fly the Presidential ticket than a governor?” he asked.

With this development, the Presidential ambition of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, immediate past Senate President, Bukola Saraki and one-time Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim may have hit the rock given the influence of the governors in the affairs of the party today.

Atiku’s body language and Saraki’s public utterances have given them away as potential Presidential aspirants in 2023 while Anyim has confirmed his interest in the race, whether the PDP zone the ticket to a particular or not.

Speaking recently in Abuja, Anyim, a one-time President of the Senate said: “Posters of my Presidential bid and agitations by groups for me to contest flooded the social media in 2020 and I disassociated myself from such calls. I felt that it was too early for such declarations to enable the present administration concentrate on governance. Such calls resurfaced in the early part of 2021 and I choose to be quiet over the issue.

“We presently have less than 18 months to the next elections and I feel the time was ripe to indicate my interest.”

Continuing, Anyim said zoning of the Presidential ticket has been deferred by the party, adding however that “nothing stops any one from the South-East zone from contesting the Presidency even if it was not zoned to it. The most important thing is that the party’s national convention is a sort of rebirth for a group of people who have recovered from a setback. The party members are presently focused and determined to reclaim power with one spirit,” he told newsmen.

Don’t be distracted by Yahoo boys, they will go to jail, Osinbajo tells Nigerian youths

November 4, 2021

By Sola Isola – Ibadan

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Wednesday, urged Nigerian youths not to join or be distracted by gangs of fraudsters popularly called ‘yahoo boys’, saying they will end up in jail, rather they should make efforts to access various programmes set up by the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to support young entrepreneurs and other Nigerians.

While delivering the first convocation lecture of Kola Daisi University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Osinbajo gave examples of many young Nigerians who have made it without cutting corners and urged the graduands and the youth to embrace integrity and character in order to excel in life.

Osinbajo stressed that there are numerous Federal Government’s support programmes they could access and make it in life.

He said:”Don’t be distracted by the yahoo yahoo boys that are coming up one day with fancy cars. Their days are always numbered. They will go to jail one day. The point, of course, is that what is the point of making money when you can’t sleep well at night. The point is that all of the examples I’ve given, not one of them has wealthy parents. All of them did most, if not all, their education here in Nigeria.

“So, it is important for us to bear in mind that a Nigerian education is an important credential because you understand the terrain and you understand the law of the land. But you must find out about the support that is available either from the private sector or public sector. For example, the Federal Government has established a N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund. This provides financial support for small businesses in any field.

”The Central Bank of Nigeria has also established the creative sector funds, mainly for youth people in technology and entertainment. There is also the new programme called Investing in Digital and Creative Enterprises with over $600 million to support young technology and creative entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurs through the provision of finance, skill development and infrastructure.

“Earlier this year, the Federal Government partnered with UNDP and the private sector to start a programme called the Jubilee Fellow Internship Programme, for the next five years, every year, 20,000 students after youth service, will be given internship opportunity in private sector companies and public agencies. The idea would be for the participants to gain relevant ideas and life skills that will enable them transition seamlessly into a professional business or public sector career while also earning a good pay during the internship. These opportunities exist, make the effort to access them”.

Fifty-two graduands from various programmes such as Computer Science, Industrial Chemistry, Micro-biology, Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, English and Literary Studies, History and Diplomatic Studies, Mass Communication and Political Science, were awarded first degree. 12 of them made a first-class grade.

Also speaking at the event, Chief Kola Daisi, the founder of the institution said: “I believe that an educated society is essential to a successful democracy and in this era of technology, it is very certain that, probably, as much as 70 per cent of jobs in our future economy will require university education”.

To the graduands, he said:” My words of inspiration to the graduands of today is to dream high, aim high and work hard in life in order to accomplish such aims”.

“To commemorate this occasion and especially so as to attain the competitiveness and distinction I envisage, a special Endowment Fund has been established for the KDU and with every humility, I hereby wish to subscribe the sum of one billion naira as my initial subscription to the University’s Endowment Fund”, he added.

Dignitaries at the event include; Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state-represented by the Deputy Governor Engr. Rauf Olaniyan, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III; the Minister of Solid Minerals, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, Former Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof Julius Okojie.

November 2, 2021

By Femi Salako

The declaration of Dr. Doyin Okupe to contest the next presidential election in Nigeria is one which has continued to garner immense support from Nigerians, and Party Members of the People Democratic Party. It is one which has given Nigerians hope that they can have a candidate with value and substance, one with the needed experience and drive to lead Nigeria to a new and greater height.

While the People Democratic Party (PDP) recorded a great success with its just concluded National Convention, it’s also a big win for Dr. Doyin Okupe has he was amongst one of the few Presidential Aspirants who stole the limelight.

If there was any doubt about his resolve and determination to contest the next presidential election in the country, the recently concluded National Convention helped erase any shade of doubt.

The posters and campaign materials of the two times presidential spokesperson became a common feature of the convention as his supporters came en-masse to throw their weight behind him.

His army of supporters took the venue of the convention by storm going head to head with the supporter’s strength of candidates like Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and Former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

Ever since the declaration of Dr. Doyin Okupe for presidency,he has continued not only to make his plans known to all Nigerians, he has also cemented himself as the only candidate of the PDP who has come out from the South to vie for the presidency come 2023.

His resolve is unshakeable, firm and determined, in his words, “There is no stopping us now, we’ve got the groove, in this upward beat of the PDP towards 2023, by the Grace of the Almighty God, I will play a leading role”

Evidence of this became manifest during the recently concluded National Convention when little me was the only visible Presidential Aspirant from the whole of Southern Nigeria.”

It may be too early to start predicting those who will eventually contest the next Presidential election in Nigeria, however it’s not far fetched to put Dr. Doyin Okupe in the ring of the strong candidates who will replace President Muhammadu Buhari as the next president of the nation come 2023.

October 31, 2021

…As Arapaja beats Oyinlola, Ciroma loses again

…APC incapable of holding convention - Ayu

By Dirisu Yakubu

ABUJA - Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, ex- Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and former Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido may have had a foretaste of what await them in their rumoured 2023 Presidential ambitions.

At the just concluded national elective convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abuja; governors showed their might as they literally handpicked members of the next National Working Committee, NWC, and other national officers of the party.

Atiku, Saraki and Lamido, Vanguard gathered, did everything possible to drum support for Olagunsoye Oyinlola who vied for the office of the deputy national chairman (South) against Taofeek Arapaja.

Arapaja, a former deputy governor of Oyo state, rode on the support of the PDP governors to the convention, as entreaties made to Oyinlola to stepped down failed.

Two hours before balloting, Atiku, Saraki and Lamido shrugged off their big men status as they made their way to state pavilions housing delegates, to woo support for Oyinlola. The move, according to findings, was aimed at neutralizing the influence of the governors who have since hijacked the party following the ouster of former chairman, Prince Uche Secondus. But, it turned out an exercise in futility as Arapaja polled a total of 2,004 votes to beat Oyinlola who barely garnered 705 votes.

A member of the outgoing NWC told Vanguard in confidence that with the feat, governors have announced themselves as the undisputed owners of the party.

“Atiku and Saraki should realize that their time is over. If they want to pursue their 2023 ambitions, the governors would have a big say. What it means is that without the support of the governors, you can’t win a big position in the PDP of today. This is the message I think everyone took home from this convention,” he said.

Like in 2017 when her bid to become the PDP deputy national chairman (North) failed, former Women Affairs Minister, Maryam Ina Ciroma again failed to realize her ambition as she lost to Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum.

13 governors elected on the platform of the PDP, Vanguard learnt, had pleaded with Ciroma to shelve her ambition to give room to the emergence of Damagum as consensus candidate.

After entreaties to her failed, Ciroma headed for the convention with confidence but the governors made their influence count as Damagum polled 2, 222 votes to emerge deputy national chairman (North) while Ciroma garnered a paltry 365 votes.

One striking feature of the voting pattern of delegates was that they all voted uniformly for the consensus candidates handpicked by either the governors or their associates.

Thus, the likes of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Debo Ologunagba, Stella Effah-Attoe and Kamaldeen Ajibade emerged national secretary, national publicity secretary, national woman leader and national legal adviser respectively after polling 3,426 votes each at the convention.

The story was the same for unopposed Umar Bature, Okechukwu Daniel, Daniel Woyegikuro,

and Mohammed suleiman, as they became members of the NWC after polling 3,426 votes each to emerge national organizing secretary, national auditor, national financial secretary and national youth leader of the party respectively.

Like in 2017, the PDP governors compiled names of their preferred candidates, all of whom emerged victorious at the convention.

Meanwhile, national chairman-elect of the PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu has taunted the All Progressives Congress, APC, for what he called their inability to conduct successful state congresses let alone a national elective convention.

In his remarks shortly after he was pronounced elected chairman of the party by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, Ayu took the APC to the cleaners, blaming it for the sundry challenges facing the country.

“I believe the other party can never hold a convention because even in states, they cannot hold congresses. They have produced 92 state chairmen for 36 states, how can they hold a successful convention which the PDP has done? We are waiting for them. This is a challenge to them. This is a quit notice for them. PDP is back and is taking back the country to develop it.

“I want to sincerely appreciate the PDP family. Today is simply a thank you address. When we started this party 23 years ago, we never in any way imagined that the journey will get us to this stage, a stage where we ruled for 16 years.

“We went into rough times, but for anybody who bother to see, PDP is back to rescue Nigeria from the terrible mess we have been in in the last six years.

“I want to appreciate all of you who have taken time as delegates, observers, supporters, and members of the media as well as security services who have made this event such a wonderful event.

“Many people imagined that this convention will lead to the break up of the PDP. Those who dream like that are dreaming in wonderland. Their dream was misplaced.

“Those who have lost hope should know that Nigeria is not a divided country. A small group of people decided to divide Nigeria. PDP will come back, unite our people, put them together, North and South, East and West.

“We will move ahead to develop this country. We did it before, we are going to do it again. I want to thank the governors. I want to thank the delegates. I want to thank our supporters and every single person who has made this event such a huge success,” he said.

The Consensus List

1. Iyorchia Ayu- national chairman

2. Umar Iliya Damagum- deputy national chairman (North)

3. Taofeek Arapaja- deputy national chairman (South)

4. Samuel Anyanwu (national secretary)

5. Ahmed Yayari Mohammed (national treasurer)

6. Umar Bature (national organizing secretary)

7. Daniel Woyegikuro (national financial secretary)

8. Stella Effah-Attoe (national woman leader)

9. Mohammed Kadade suleiman (national youth leader)

10. Kamaldeen Adeyemi Ajibade (national legal adviser)

11. Debo Ologunagba (national publicity secretary)

12. Okechukwu Obiechina Daniel (national auditor)

13. Setonji Koshoede (deputy national secretary)

14 Ndubisi Eneh David (deputy national treasurer)

15. Ibrahim Abdullahi (deputy national publicity secretary)

16. Ighoyota Amori (deputy national organizing secretary)

17. Adamu Kamale (deputy national financial secretary)

18. Hajara Yakubu Wanka (deputy national woman leader)

19. Timothy Osadolor (deputy national youth leader)

20. Okechukwu Osuoha (deputy national legal adviser)

Secondus’ action meant to sabotage PDP, says Wike

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State hailed the court’s decision and declared that no individual, including Secondus, would be allowed to derail the party’s mission to rescue Nigeria.

“Anybody who crosses our way to stop this rescue of Nigeria, the person is an enemy of to this country”, he said in Port Harcourt while reacting to the Court of Appeal dismissal of Secondus’ application that sought to stop the PDP convention.

He said: “What Secondus is doing is to sabotage the efforts of Nigerians, the efforts of PDP from rescuing this country from the hand of the party that has failed the country. And it is not fair.

“This is a party that has given you everything and there’s nothing wrong in making sacrifice. Even if, assuming though not conceding, that anything was wrong, we expected that having achieved what you have achieved in your life from this party, there is nothing wrong in making sacrifice.

“If you make sacrifice for the party, you’re making sacrifice for Nigerians. If PDP is not there, which other party is ready to rescue Nigeria?”

Wike clarified that the Court of Appeal did not only dismiss the application of Secondus, but it also ordered that the PDP national convention be conducted unrestrained.

He said: “Our constitution provides that if a national chairman is removed, the deputy national chairman from that zone will immediately be the chairman or acting chairman as the case may be.

“And so, when Secondus was removed, he handed over to the acting national chairman now. So, the act has already been done, completed. So, what will the court say when someone is already acting and supervising that office?”

Wike said the PDP convention on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st October 2021 would be one of the best that had ever been conducted, adding that Nigerians were expecting PDP to come out of the convention more united.

Wike said the party, particularly the PDP governors, were more united because they had realised that Nigeria was in problem and only a united PDP could wrest power from the APC.

He said: “Nigeria is in problem and we cannot do it alone. We require everybody to work with us collectively and see how this country can be rescued.

“Nigerians are not happy with the ruling party, the way Nigerians are being treated. Like I’ve told everybody that there is nothing better than making sacrifice for the interest of the country. PDP is the only platform, and which it is today as the only opposition party that will rescue Nigeria.”


Southwest PDP: ‘We shall weed out all usurpers’

Similar sentiments were expressed by the Southwest PDP.

Secretary of the zone, Chief Rahman Owokoniran said: “This is not just victory for PDP, it is victory for Nigerians and Nigeria’s democracy as we match towards 2023 general elections.

“Justice will always prevail. How can a man who has benefited so much from the party seek to destroy it?

“PDP believes greatly in democracy and we only welcome those that are ready to help repair Nigeria, not sink it further.

“Today marks another victory for PDP and Nigeria. We shall weed out all the usurpers in our great party.”

Ayu, others assume duties Dec 9

The National Chairman designate of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu and other national party officers to be elected at the national convention later today will assume duties on December 9, chairman of the Convention Organising Committee, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, announced yesterday in Abuja.

By implication, the present national officers will remain in office till December 8 when their four-year tenure expires.

Speaking on what to expect at the convention, Fintiri said that of the 21 available party offices, only three will be contested for.

He listed the three as the Deputy National Chairman (South) with Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja vying for the position.

Also in contention is the position of National Auditor, with three candidates slugging it out. The contestants are Okechukwu Obiechina Daniel, Ikechukwu Samben Nwosu and Mrs Chibuogwu Benson-Oraelosi.

Similarly, Muhammed Kadade Suleiman and Usman Elkudan will be vying for the position of National Youth Leader.

Governor Fintiri also said that the party’s Screening Appeal Panel had affirmed the disqualification of all the aspirants who were barred for contesting for positions at the convention by the Screening Committee.

He added that the Appeal Committee threw out the petitions filed against Arapaja and Samuel Anyanwu who are candidates for Deputy National Chairman (South) and National Secretary respectively.


No fewer than 3600 delegates are expected to vote at the convention.

Court restrains Edo bigwigs Orbih, 10 others from participating in convention

An Edo State High Court sitting in Benin yesterday granted an order restraining the National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Dan Orbih, and the State Secretary of the party, Hilary Otsu, from participating in the PDP convention.

Also restrained by Justice Joy Okeaya-Inneh are Hon. Samuel Saiki, Vincent Ekpomhoriri Umoru, Leslie Ebozoje, David Okoh Aigbodion (also known as Arizona), Abdulkareem Kassim, Kayode Ogunubi, Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide Ihama (House of Representatives member representing Oredo Federal Constituency), Mr Oduwa Igbinosun and Mr Friday Enaruna.

The court restrained the Defendants from attending, participating or voting at the National Convention of the 12th Defendant herein to elect members of its National Working Committee, NWC or another Governing body, which Convention is fixed for the 30th and 31st of October 2021 or fixed for any other date, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion ex-parte filed by Chief Idehen Manfred Ekundayo, Mr Stanley Iduoze and Odior Omadimhe.

By Yusuf Alli on October 30, 2021

By Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern
Operation/Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt/Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

*Appeal Court Ruling: Secondus heads for Supreme Court

*Suspended national chairman enemy of PDP – Rivers gov

*Deputy Chair: Southwest split over Oyinlola, Arapaja

*Ayu, Anyanwu, others to resume December 9


The constitution of the incoming National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be a test of strength by governors and elders of the party, according to indications in Abuja last night.

The NWC will emerge at the National Convention which gets underway later today in the federal capital after the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt yesterday gave the green light for the meeting to proceed.

It turned down an application by the suspended National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus to stop the convention.

Party members, including Secondus’ estranged chief supporter, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the Southwest zonal hierarchy of the PDP hailed the party’s victory at the court and assailed the suspended chairman for the litigation.

“Anybody who crosses our way to stop this rescue of Nigeria, the person is an enemy of this country,” Wike said in Port Harcourt moments after the court ruling, adding that Secondus’ action was aimed at sabotaging the party.

The Southwest PDP wondered why “a man who has benefited so much from the party seeks to destroy it.”

Secondus was dissatisfied with the ruling and vowed to take his grievances to the Supreme Court “as no abuse of the constitution of our dear party should be allowed to stand.”

Investigation by The Nation revealed that governors and elders of the party are locked in a battle of wits to put their loyalists in the new National Working Committee (NWC).

Horse-trading in the last few days shows that old forces in the party are losing grounds to new ones.

The emerging power brokers are governors, especially Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Ifeanyi Uguwanyi (Enugu) and Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta).

Some of the old forces still pulling some weight are a former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State and a former Minister of Police Affairs, Adamu Maina Waziri.

The governors and other stakeholders launched into a crucial meeting last night in Abuja on the fate of ex-Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a trusted ally of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, and Inna Ciroma (the wife of a founding father of PDP, the late Adamu Ciroma).

It was gathered that Inna Ciroma has been under intense pressure in the last 48 hours to step down.

Oyinlola who is seeking to be the Deputy National Chairman (South) is locked in a battle with Taofeek Arapaja, who is the anointed candidate of Governor Seyi Makinde.

The meeting was meant to find a common ground on who between Oyinlola and Arapaja should get the position.

Those at the enlarged stakeholders meeting held at the Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, included the 13 governors elected on the platform of the party.

Others were NEC members, Board of Trustees (BoT) members, National Working Committee members, National Assembly members, former governors and former cabinet ministers, among others.

At the meeting were the immediate past Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who was attending the party’s function for the first time since he left office in 2015; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Senate Presidents David Mark, Adolphus Wabara and Pius Anyim; and former PDP national chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo.

Also present were former Governors Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Ibrahim Shema (Katsina); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Peter Obi (Anambra); and Emeka Ihedioha (Imo).

Efforts by party leaders to pick one of the contestants as a consensus candidate have failed to yield positive results.

Governor Makinde of Oyo State, backing Arapaja for the position, is said to have secured the buy-in of his 12 other colleagues on the choice.

But some elders and leaders are rooting for Oyinlola. Their position is premised on the need for the party to beef up its support base in states where the PDP does not have a sitting governor. They claim that while Makinde is on ground in Oyo to lead the party’s mobilisation drive toward the 2023 general elections, Oyinlola should be empowered to strengthen the party structure in Osun and be a rallying point for the party.

It was on the basis of this calculation that the PDP deliberately zoned its critical elective positions in the National Working Committee (NWC) to states where the party does not have governors.

A source said: “It was for this reason that the National Secretary was micro-zoned to Imo State and the Deputy National Chairman (North) micro-zoned to Yobe State where the PDP does not have sitting governors.

“The argument of some of our leaders who expressed a presence for Arapaja was that Oyinlola defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014.

“These leaders have chosen to forget that Arapaja also defected to the APC about the same time. What about some of our high ranking chieftains who defected to the APC in 2014 and who worked hard to ensure that the PDP lost the 2015 presidential elections.

“Some of these leaders are occupying prominent elective positions in government on the platform of the PDP today with some of them aspiring to get the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 election.

Also present were former Governors Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Ibrahim Shema (Katsina); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Peter Obi (Anambra); and Emeka Ihedioha (Imo).

Efforts by party leaders to pick one of the contestants as a consensus candidate have failed to yield positive results.

Governor Makinde of Oyo State, backing Arapaja for the position, is said to have secured the buy-in of his 12 other colleagues on the choice.

But some elders and leaders are rooting for Oyinlola. Their position is premised on the need for the party to beef up its support base in states where the PDP does not have a sitting governor. They claim that while Makinde is on ground in Oyo to lead the party’s mobilisation drive toward the 2023 general elections, Oyinlola should be empowered to strengthen the party structure in Osun and be a rallying point for the party.

It was on the basis of this calculation that the PDP deliberately zoned its critical elective positions in the National Working Committee (NWC) to states where the party does not have governors.

A source said: “It was for this reason that the National Secretary was micro-zoned to Imo State and the Deputy National Chairman (North) micro-zoned to Yobe State where the PDP does not have sitting governors.

“The argument of some of our leaders who expressed a presence for Arapaja was that Oyinlola defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014.

“These leaders have chosen to forget that Arapaja also defected to the APC about the same time. What about some of our high ranking chieftains who defected to the APC in 2014 and who worked hard to ensure that the PDP lost the 2015 presidential elections.

“Some of these leaders are occupying prominent elective positions in government on the platform of the PDP today with some of them aspiring to get the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 election.

“To some of us, this is double standard which may not help the party in the long run.”

The meeting was also expected to take a final position on the Deputy National Chairman (North), which is being contested by Alhaji Umar Damagum and Mrs. Inna Ciroma. The party had yet to take a final position on who to consider for the position between the two contestants from Yobe State.

Answering a question on the party’s position on the matter, the chairman of the Convention Organising Committee, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, said during a briefing earlier yesterday that the matter was still being resolved.

Fintiri said: “We are still deliberating on who to go for the office between the two contestants. But we have resolved that the two will not contest at the convention. One of them must step down for the other.”

Meanwhile, last minute preparations for the convention continued in earnest up to yesterday’s judgment.

There was a flurry of activities at the expansive Eagle Square, Abuja, designated venue for the convention as party members and hired hands were observed performing one task or the other.

Canopies have been erected and the main podium and brightly decorated in the red, green, white signature colours of the PDP.

Also, posters of contestants in varying sizes adorned strategic locations at the venue.

Investigation revealed that all the key actors have been trying to outwit each other in their battle for the soul of PDP.

About 27 aspirants have got the clearance to contest for 21 offices at the National Convention. The offices are National Chairman, National Deputy Chairman (North), Deputy National Chairman (South), National Secretary, Deputy National Secretary, National Treasurer, Deputy National Treasurer, National Financial Secretary, Deputy National Financial Secretary, National Organising Secretary and Deputy National Organising Secretary.

The remaining posts are those of National Publicity Secretary, Deputy National Publicity Secretary, National Legal Adviser, Deputy National Legal Adviser, National Auditor, Deputy National Auditor, National Women’s Leader and Deputy National Leader and National Youth Leader and Deputy National Youth Leader.

Investigation shows that while the Wike-Ortom/governors alliance is producing the new National Chairman of PDP, Iyorchia Ayu (who will be adopted today), the deal with the governors led to the ceding of the office of the National Secretary to Wike.

It was learnt that to the discomfiture of all the stakeholders in the Southeast, Wike has succeeded in anointing Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of PDP.

“In the power-sharing arrangement, all the PDP governors have been accommodated in one way or the other under the Consensus Option which was adopted by them,” a well placed party source said.

“They also agreed that where some aspirants have chosen to defy consensus to contest, all the governors will direct their delegates to vote for the mutually agreed ones.

“So far, the pact by the governors has led to Wike, Ortom, Fintiri, Okowa, Bala, Saraki, Tambuwal Makinde, Ugwuanyi, Ikpeazu leading the new generation of power brokers in PDP.

“It was a smart and strategic move by Saraki which made his camp to secure the post of National Legal Adviser, which is the soul of the party.”

Responding to a question, the source said: “I think the offices yet to be resolved through consensus are Deputy National Chairman (North), Deputy National Chairman (South) and National Auditor.

“Governors and party leaders have been trying to prevail on Inna Ciroma to withdraw for Iliya Damagum, who has been adopted as the consensus candidate for the office of Deputy National Chairman (North). But she is yet to do so.

“For the Deputy National Chairman (South), Governor Seyi Makinde has insisted on Taofeek Arapaja but ex-Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola is adamant that he will slug it out at the convention. We expect a royal battle at the convention ground.

“The founding fathers of PDP and the military elements in the party have decided to rally round Oyinlola.

“Concerning the office of National Auditor, the governors have mutually conceded the slot to Sir Obi Okechukwu from Anambra State, but Sam Ben Nwosu, a close associate of a former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said he will contest.”

I am heading for Supreme Court, says Secondus

Dissatisfied with yesterday’s ruling of the Court of Appeal which gave the green light for the holding of the PDP National Convention, Prince Uche Secondus said he is heading for the Supreme Court.

He said no abuse of the constitution of PDP should be allowed to stand.

He said the case in court was not about himself but about the sanctity of PDP’s constitution and core democratic principles of justice and rule of law.

He said he did not at any time take PDP to court and would not have done that.

Secondus made the clarifications in a statement through his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Ike Abonyi.

He said: “I have just been briefed of the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt dismissing my motion to halt the National Convention of the party. I respect the position of the court even though I disagree totally with it.

“Even as the substantive case is still pending at the Court of Appeal I have instructed my lawyers to study the ruling with a view to appealing it immediately as no abuse of the constitution of our dear party should be allowed to stand.

“The issue is not about Prince Uche Secondus but about the sanctity of our party constitution and core democratic principles of justice and rule of law not only in PDP but in our democracy. No impunity must be condoned.”

Secondus said he did not at any time sue the PDP because of the harm litigations had done to the party in the past.

He added: “I will therefore wish to emphasise the fact that I did not take the party to court and would not have done that.

“As a foundation member of this party, who has served at various levels, State Chairman, Chairman of state Chairmen, National Organizing Secretary, Deputy National Chairman, Acting National Chairman and now National Chairman, I am very much abreast with the workings of the party.

“I have been a witness to how much harm litigations have done to our party in the past and as a result I have been a strong advocate against settling issues in courts.

“This was why I resisted and rejected entreaties of those who wanted me to go to court to halt these forces when it was obvious that they were determined to disrupt my leadership and truncate my tenure in office with the sole objective of hijacking the party for their selfish ulterior motives.

“To allow this travesty to stand is to reduce our beloved party to a level where anybody can wake up overnight and remove officers against the proscribed constitutional process and the National Chairman for that matter, and purporting to use the judiciary through an ex parte order to legitimize same.

“As a major practitioner in our democracy, I am duty bound to protect and defend the sanctity of the provisions of our constitution of which I’m the custodian.”

He said the PDP descended to this level because those who orchestrated the crisis ignored party elders’ calls to withdraw the case.

He said: “I wish to therefore at this juncture thank and appreciate leaders and other stakeholders of our party who have called in to express their concerns on this matter and appeal for the understanding of all.

“If those who orchestrated and fostered this avoidable crisis had listened to wise counsel of party leaders and elders who advised the withdrawal of cases, this situation would have been avoidable. I wish the party well as always.”

October 29, 2021

In a last-ditch effort to secure a united front in the national convention to elect national officers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stakeholders of the party from the Southwest zone have concluded negotiations on candidates to adopt as consensus options.

Sources at the consultative meeting held in Lagos on Wednesday say that the stakeholders have concluded on former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the deputy national chairman (South) and Hon. Debo Ologunagba as the national publicity secretary of the party. Oyinlola and Ologunagba are from Osun and Ondo states respectively.

Leaders of the party who organized the meeting, according to a source, are dissatisfied by the highhanded disposition of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and thereby forging a united position to checkmate the only PDP governor from the region.

The meeting, which was learnt to have been attended by state executive officials and elders from Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states decided to throw their support behind Oyinlola on account that he is competent and was the first person to signify intention for the position. In addition to that is their claim that the emergence of Oyo State former deputy governor, Taofeek Arapaja was a creation of Governor Makinde.

A source who was part of the meeting said that “majority of party officials from other states in the Southwest are not happy with the way Governor Makinde has handled the affairs of the party. The PDP in the Southwest is one big family and we recognize the fact that the governor is the leader of the party in his state. In the current situation where Governor Makinde is the only PDP governor from the Southwest, we recognize him to be the leader of the party from the zone.

“But leadership requires that you take everybody along. When we organized election for the position of zonal chairman for the PDP in the Southwest, Governor Makinde sponsored Arapaja, and even though a large number of people went against his position, we still delivered his candidate in the person of the self-same Taofeek Arapaja from Oyo State.

“Again, this time around, after we, the stakeholders of the party had micro-zoned the position of the deputy national chairman to Osun State, and with Prince Oyinlola signifying intention for the post, our leader, Governor Makinde went behind us to bring this same Arapaja from Oyo State against our wish. Oyo State alone, is not Southwest and we would have expected that this time around, the governor would generously concede the position of deputy national chairman to someone from another state in the zone but he didn’t do that.

“Now, remember that the Osun State governorship election is next to the 2023 general election. It is one election that is crucial for the PDP to win. We, the stakeholders, believe that Prince Oyinlola, having been governor in Osun State and with records of his achievements in office, should be the person to lead our campaign in the Osun State governorship election. For him to play that role well should require that we, as a political party, recognize the asset that we have in Prince Oyinlola and decorate him with the position of deputy national chairman. He has a more colourful appeal than Ambassador Arapaja in leading campaigns in the Southwest and that is why today, we are all in agreement that Oyinlola should be the most senior party official in the Southwest.

“On Saturday, we will deliver our votes for him and network with our other colleagues and party members from other zones to affirm support for Oyinlola and secure his victory,” a source who pleaded anonymity said.