₦airaland Forum

An elder statesman, Tanko Yakassai, has alleged that some cabals in the Presidency are behind the increasing number of Presidential aspirants from the Southern part of Nigeria in the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Yakassai claimed that cabals in the Presidency are encouraging some aspirants from the South to purchase the APC Presidential nomination forms.

He said the aim was to break the clamour for APC to zone its presidential ticket to the Southern part of the country.

In a statement, the elder statesman said: “We know it that all these presidential aspirants of the APC from the South are being encouraged by some cabals in the Presidency for the purpose of breaking the clamour for a southern presidential candidate from the APC.

The cabals are doing it to break the ranks of the southern part of the country that are clamouring for a power shift.”

APC has recorded a large number of its members who have signified interest to run for the Presidency from the Southern part of the country.

From the South-East, the likes of Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor; Chris Ngige, Minister for Labour and Employment; Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education; Orji Uzor Kalu, Senate Chief Whip; and Rochas Okorocha, Imo West Senator are running for APC’s ticket.

In the Southwest, Bola Tinubu, APC National Leader; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; Pastor Tunde Bakare; among others are vying for the party’s presidential ticket.

Akinaka described it as gross misconduct not needed for anyone vying for such an exalted office.

A Niger Delta youth leader and businessman, Richard Akinaka has lambasted the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, over his continued denial and stay in office despite his move to join the 2023 presidential race on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

He described Emefiele as a morally weak aspirant hiding to contest for President.

He, therefore, called for the disqualification of the CBN governor.

Richard said though he has nothing against anyone with the requisite qualifications to seek political office, Emefiele vying for political office while still occupying the office of governor at the apex bank is a gross violation of ethics.

Akinaka described it as gross misconduct not needed for anyone vying for such an exalted office.

According to Akinaka, Section 9 of the CBN Act, 2007 provides that “the governor and the deputy governors shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the bank, and while holding office, shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation, whether remunerated or not.”

He pointed out that "politics is a vocation and the CBN Governor is not allowed by law to engage in partisan politics. It is unthinkable that Emefiele, despite his embarrassing failures of managing the country’s economy still wants to further wreck the entire country."

He said, "Every young Nigerian, especially those of us within the age bracket of 40 years and below, should be concerned with what is going on in this country to the extent that it should be our priority to decide the next set of leadership we desire. Because we have a great stake in this country now.

"But in the interim, what is the major issue now is the level of decadence in our public sector. The loss of value to the extent that public offices are now being driven by the whims and caprices of those who occupy them.

"I see no reason why the Central Bank Governor will be politically exposed. Though he has a right as a Nigerian to contest elections, he has a right to pursue his political aspirations but not at the expense of the office he occupies, when campaigns, billboards and branded cars and posters are everywhere about his ambition and he is denying it.

"But right now, it is on record that nomination form has been bought and according to him or media reports, it was bought by local farmers. A form worth 100 million naira! It is not true. With the level of hunger ravaging this country, I don't think local farmers have the money to make such contributions.

"It is rather unfortunate that he cannot come out boldly to own up to his aspiration because he doesn't want to resign from his office and this is the height of immorality and irresponsibility and for me, this alone should disqualify him.

"In any case, what does the CBN governor, Emefiele have to offer to Nigeria seeing the level of the economic woes we have in this country under his watch? What else does he have to offer this country that he has not done?

"So, I am calling on the National Assembly, as a matter of urgency, to enact a law so that people in public offices will not have the undue advantage to use government resources and influence to pursue their political aspirations. What is going on is wrong. Emefiele has a mark of honour which I know he has lost and should resign immediately and save the sanctity of that office if he wants to contest."

A coalition of rice farmers and other crop growers had purportedly moved to drag Emefiele into the 2023 presidential race by purchasing N100 million All Progressives Congress’ presidential expression of interest and nomination forms for him.

By Bashir Bello, Kano
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State is warming up to pick the senatorial form on Monday to contest for the seat of Kano North senatorial district.

Ganduje’s decision to pick up the form was reached at the stakeholders meeting held behind closed doors at the government house.

A source with privilege information from the meeting said the Governor is expected to pick the nomination and expression of interest forms for the Kano North Senatorial District on Monday.

With this development, Ganduje is to unseat the incumbent Senator Barau Jibrin who is currently occupying the seat.

Although, Jibrin, had declared interest for the governorship seat but is yet to pick the governorship seat form.

Jibrin before now was a close ally of Ganduje and perceived to be favourite candidate of Ganduje for the governorship seat before things fell apart between them and he joined the factional APC (G7) led by Senator Ibrahim Shekarau.

The federal government says the Lagos-Ibadan expressway will be commissioned next month.

Minister of state for Works and Housing, Mu’azu Sambo, disclosed this yesterday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in New York.

Sambo added that the Second Niger Bridge will be commissioned in October.

On October 11, President Muhammadu Buhari said the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, and other key projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) will be completed before 2023.

Last month, minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the Second Niger Bridge was at a 91 per cent completion rate.

According to Sambo, Buhari has handed over 941 km of road projects between November 25 and December 13, 2021, to connect 10 states in five geo-political zones.

“The Second Niger Bridge that has alluded every administration will be commissioned in October by President Muhammadu Buhari and Lagos-Ibadan highway that has deferred previous administrations will be commissioned in June,” Sambo said.

“They represent critical infrastructure necessary to develop a country and its people, for them to be able to get on with their lives in an easy and convenient way.

“President Buhari clearly understands the necessity to invest in infrastructure, not just to support a growing population but as an economic driver.

“It is, therefore, not surprising that, through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, we are managing over 1,019 contracts involving 958 bridges and road projects.”

The minister also said the federal government is also constructing houses in 34 states of the federation, citing about 6,000 housing units nationwide so far.

He added that infrastructure is the bedrock of development as it covers all the sectors of life.

From Uche Usim, Abuja


With a sovereign debt of N39.556 trillion amid growing crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, investors say the Nigerian economy is on ventilators and may completely collapse, if pragmatic steps are not taken to ward off thieves and boost oil production.

These disruptions are succinctly described in some quarters as untreated national sores that have existed for decades, which continue to rob the Federal Government of much-needed revenue and worsen environmental pollution.

Crude oil theft recently assumed the worst dimension in Nigeria’s chequered history, with reports indicating that over 70 per cent of mined crude oil was lost to organised criminal gangs populated by the elite.

Tony Elumelu, the executive chairman of Transcorp Group and operator of Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 281, recently raised the flag that the frightening level of oil theft was convincing evidence that Nigeria can never meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production quota, since the bulk of the crude is usually stolen.

“There is no doubt that Nigeria will not reach its OPEC production quota unless it stops the stealing. Who is stealing crude oil? They are not everyday people. They are the elite of society, and we must fight them together,” he tweeted recently.

Also commenting on the horror, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, lamented the worsening oil theft and its destabilising effect on government revenue and accretion to reserves.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State openly accused the security agencies of being complicit in the menace, but his voice was hushed by the propaganda machinery of the political class.

However, operators insist that scrubbing off the culpability of security agencies in oil theft is the very reason it is blooming.

They said the network is so sophisticated that it cannot exist without the blessings of security agencies. This is because oil theft involves ferrying the product in barges that must be escorted by armed law enforcement agents to markets in the United States, West African nations, Brazil, China, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Balkans.

About 150,000 barrels of oil a day was stolen last year, costing the government $5 billion.

More so, a report released earlier this year during a meeting on crude oil theft between the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and Oil Producers Trade Section, and the Independent Petroleum Producers Group showed that, from January 2021 to February 2022, Nigeria lost $3.2 billion to crude oil theft.

Group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari, described it as a national emergency on account of the proportion, dimension and sophistication it has taken in recent times.

According to him, Nigeria, as an oil-producing country, ought to be enjoying a windfall now with the sudden rise in the price of crude oil in the international market due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but it is not.

Before the Russia-Ukraine crisis, crude oil was selling at between $96 and $97 per barrel. It shot up to $105 per barrel the day after the conflict began. It has since then been hovering between $110 and $125 per barrel. Nigeria is not reaping as much as it should from this because it is not able to meet its OPEC production quota.

In fact, crude oil production has dropped to an all-time low of 1.29 million barrels per day (without condensate). The addition of condensate brings Nigeria’s production to 1.49mbpd.

A look at production figures from 2020 till date shows in stark relief how much of a monster the menace of crude oil theft has become. The average production in 2020 was at 1.77mbpd.

With 2020 was the year the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic almost brought the world to a halt with virtually every country on lockdown, the price of crude oil crashed to sub-zero levels with unprecedented demand dip. The development resulted in zero crude oil theft in Nigeria, obviously because there was no market for the thieves to sell their stolen crude. This saw the country recording its highest production level of 2.49mbpd on April 17, 2020.

According to Kyari, what that development showed was that Nigeria had the capacity to produce that figure (2.49mbpd) on any normal day because there was no special intervention of any kind that led to that peak production that day.

However, as normalcy returned and the price of oil began a steady rise, the oil thieves began to step up their game and upstream operators began to experience production losses, which have been growing in almost direct proportion to the rise in crude oil price in the international market.

Explaining the situation recently, the NNPC GMD said it got to a point where, if producers injected 239,000 barrels of crude oil into either of the Trans-Niger Pipeline or the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (some of the major pipelines that convey crude oil to the terminals for export), only 3,000 barrels would be received. It got to a point where it was no longer economically sustainable to pump crude into the lines and a force majeure was declared.

In 2021, a similar trend was observed. In January that year, out of about 239,000bpd pumped into the line, only 190,000bpd was recovered, putting the loss at 19,000bpd.

The rate of oil theft kept increasing as the price of crude oil rose in the market, until March 2022 when there was zero recovery from all the volumes pumped into the line.

Another pattern in the trend of oil theft is that it is more endemic with joint venture assets and those that belong to the independents than with production sharing contracts assets. This is likely because of the nature of the JV assets, which are mainly onshore or in swamp/shallow waters. This makes the evacuation pipelines more accessible than those of the PSCs, which are offshore and in deep waters.

There is also a pattern in the way the theft is carried out. This can be discerned from the size of pipes inserted on the lines and the technology deployed in carrying out the insertion.

In some cases, the pipes inserted to steal crude oil from the lines are small and fitted in an amateurish way. This is an indication that those involved are small-time criminals, more likely artisanal refiners who operate the slew of illegal refineries that dot the creeks of the Niger Delta from Akwa Ibom to Rivers, and from Delta to Bayelsa.

Some of the pipes fitted into the lines to siphon crude oil are big. In some cases, they are of the same size as the pipeline or of the size used at the terminal to pump crude into vessels. A close look at them would show that they were professionally fitted with the use of cutting-edge technology. There have been cases where riser pipes were used, indicating that the criminals deployed cranes. These cases prove that the persons involved are not the regular illegal refinery operators but sophisticated and very knowledgeable criminals with access to vessels through which they ship the stolen crude oil out of the country.

The involvement of this last group is what accounts for the high volumes involved in the theft, which has become an existential economic threat to the oil and gas industry and Nigeria as a nation.

On the other hand, artisanal refiners and their illegal refineries have constituted a very grave danger to the environment and people of the host communities through the heavy pollution caused by their activities. This is beginning to cause soot in the atmosphere and health challenges in some communities.

In terms of the financial losses to the nation, in 2021, the total volume of crude oil stolen was put at 200,000 barrel per day. At an average price of $55 per barrel, the total loss came to about $4bn (from January to December 2021).

In 2022, between January and April alone, the volume of crude stolen has risen to about 250,000 barrels per day, putting the total loss at about $1.5bn (at the rate of $100 per barrel).

Another way to look at the virulent nature of the crime is to look at the rate at which the crude pipelines are breached with insertions. On a stretch of 20 kilometres of pipelines, there were 85 insertion points in three weeks!

The Trans-Forcados Pipeline, which is about the most reliable of all the land lines, is not spared. It records about 19,000bpd loss daily.

There are also cases of sheer vandalism where the lines are just blown out with explosives resulting in spillages and environmental hazards.

Yet, another area where oil theft is affecting the economy is the area of investment. It has slowed down the gains the Petroleum Inductry Act (PIA) was supposed to bring about in the area of investment. Potential investors now ask how they can recoup their investment when crude oil is stolen.

With the twin menace of oil theft and pipeline vandalism assuming epidemic proportion, the President has given marching orders to the Chief of Defense Staff to lead a war against the criminals. All the security agencies have been mobilized to flush out the criminal elements and restore normalcy.

In fact, officials of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigerian Navy have already made some arrests.

The NNPC has also deployed community-based security to monitor the pipelines while it is working on deploying technological tools for more effective surveillance and monitoring of the lines and facilities.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) are also tracking movement of funds relating to the criminality.

While there is hope that all the measures that have been deployed so far will begin to yield results within the next two months, it must be pointed out that oil theft and pipeline vandalism are problems for everyone. Apart from the host communities that are directly affected by environmental degradation, every citizen suffers the loss of national revenue when the government does not have enough to provide social amenities and infrastructure to improve the quality of life in the country.

It is, therefore, imperative for all Nigerians to rise against those behind crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism with a view to stamping them out so that the oil and gas industry can yield the fulness of its benefit to the nation and the citizenry.

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, had a rare outburst at a recent Sunday sermon when he spoke about the massive theft of crude in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, which has planted the country on the road to bankruptcy.

He inferred that the industry was currently in dire straits, stressing that efforts must be made to save it.

He said: “Who is stealing the oil? Where is the money going? What do they want to do with the money? Who are the foreign nations buying this stolen oil? How many of these nations of the world are your friends?

“We are borrowing more and according to a friend of mine, we are moving steadily towards a state of bankruptcy, a whole nation.”

For an economy already bogged down with corruption, opacity and environmental vandalism associated with its oil industry, leaving the issue untackled is akin to national suicide, especially when one reckons that the oil industry generates about two-thirds of Nigeria’s revenue.

Analysts say the issue must never be politicised if the country is to survive because it has reached a point where the monster is either killed or it kills the nation.

Already, oil theft has ruined all efforts by the NNPC to reduce the cost of oil production to about $10 per barrel as the current production cost is pegged at $32 a barrel.

Another player and founding Managing Director of Seplat Petroleum, Austin Avuru, in a recent report, warned that oil production in Nigeria was now in an emergency, critical state, due to oil theft.

In the report titled, “Reining in the collapse of the Nigerian oil industry,” Avuru disclosed that some oil producers no longer get to see as much as 80 per cent of their production making it to the terminals. He also urged the authorities to do something about the problem.

Meanwhile, sensing dangers ahead, amid louder calls for energy transition, International Oil Companies (IOCs), who built the infrastructure in which oil is mined, are quickening their exit, leaving the country vulnerable to a crippling energy crisis.

Investigation by Daily Sun reveals that private sector players with expertise on how to manage the imbroglio are not part of the solution crew the government has constituted to arrest the situation.

According to industry watchers, the solution to oil theft does not lie in excessively militarising the Niger Delta region, but by a tripartite agreement between the private sector players, government bodies (Ministry of Petroleum Resources and agencies) and the security and intelligence circle.

The Chairman Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, has rejected the idea of Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the Senate caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Daily Trust had reported how Lawan’s allies in the parliament including Senator Yusuf Yusuf (APC, Taraba), Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger) and a former lawmaker, Senator Abdullahi Gumel, are pushing for his endorsement.

The move, which started before the Senators’ Sallah recess, has polarised the parliament that is made of 71 APC, 37 PDP and one YPP member.

The Senators had last week embarked on a recess to enable them to celebrate this Eid-el-Fitr. They are to resume on Tuesday, May 10.

In a chat with Daily Trust, Ndume said those behind the idea have not contacted him, because “They know my position.”

Ndume, who is leading the presidential campaign team of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said it’s the turn of the South to rule the nation.

“I have nothing against Ahmad Lawan; he is my colleague but I have everything against injustice. I won’t support even my biological brother. Fielding a northerner is tantamount to injustice and tantamount to a third term. The so-called northern elders that are pushing it are doing so to perpetuate injustice.

“It’s the turn of the South and we have to support them to actualise this. I’m disappointed with those that are pushing this. I had since taken position even before my alignment with Amaechi,” he said.

Other aspirants eyeing the APC ticket include Dave Umahi (Ebonyi ), Dr Chris Ngige (Anambra), Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba (Imo), Senator Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Ihechukwu Dallas Chima (Abia), Usman Iwu (Imo), Ben Ayade (Cross River), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim (Kwara), Mr Tein Jack-Rich (Rivers), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Adamu Garba II (Adamawa)

The ruling party had fixed its primaries for May 30 and June 1, where its flag bearer for the presidency would be elected.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, says there is evidence that Nigerian soldiers are colluding with bandits and terrorists to wreak havoc on the country.

In a letter published by Sahara Reporters, the CDS cited several incidents of soldiers arrested in connection with the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorists, including the arrest of a soldier who conspired with a known terrorist informant Babagana Kura in Bama, Borno.

Mr Irabor condemned the development.

“Recent happenings in various TOOs reveal an increase in cases of aiding and abetting by personnel. This development was revealed in different reports of arrests of military personnel within a short period of time,” the letter stated.

It added, “It would be recalled that a soldier was arrested by a covert intelligence team for conniving with a confirmed terrorist informant known as Babagana Kura in Bama LGA, Borno State. The arrests of these personnel are indicative of inside action that has continued to aid the adversary, pertinently with immediate or potential impact on operations.”

The revelation came as President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime continues to flounder in reining in bandits and terrorists.

Recently, Lance Corporal Abdullahi Jibrin, an instructor with a Nigerian Army battalion in Geidam, Yobe, committed suicide after arrest for conspiring with Boko Haram insurgents who attacked Yobe communities.

Since 2009, Nigeria has been battling the extremist group and, later, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), including bandits.

There were allegations government officials were enabling the terrorists and bandits.

While appearing on a radio programme in 2020, ex-CBN’s deputy governor Obadiah Mailafia (now deceased) claimed some rehabilitated terrorists revealed that a serving northern governor was a Boko Haram leader.

There seem to be possible regrouping of militants in Niger Delta region as one of the recalcitrant militant groups, has openly declared their support for the national leader of All Progressive Congress (APC) and 2023 presidential aspirant, Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

The suspected militants who were masked in a video released on Friday, said that they would be in operation in the whole of the Niger Delta coastline to deliver the presidential ambition of Tinubu in 2023.

Thousands of militant groups had in 2009 renounced militancy after the federal government under late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua declared an amnesty programme for the freedom fighters who were pushing for control of resources in the region.

It was not clear where this new group were operating from but in a footage they released on Friday, they spoke of their preparedness to take over the coastline of the nine states of Niger Delta.

Displaying assorted rifles in several customised gunboats, the militants declared that Tinubu is the only one they want to succeed President Buhari, vowing to work for him and ensure that he wins all the states of the Niger Delta region.

Chanting Ijaw war songs, they threatened to unleash mayhem if Tinubu is not given the chance to emerge as Buhari’s successor.

The development is coming at the time multiple reports say former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan, an Ijaw man would likely declare to contest the 2023 presidential election under the APC platform.

Terrorists who kidnapped the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers have at the weekend, released Sadiq Ango Abdullahi, son of the Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi and his late wife, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan, aka Mama Taraba.

Journalists were told that Sadiq after spending over a month in captivity, was released on Friday after yet to be disclosed amount was paid as ransom to the terrorists.

The police were yet to react to the development.

By Abiodun Alade

The growing number of presidential aspirants from the South West in the All Progressives Congress (APC) is threatening the chances of the zone to pick the ticket of the ruling party.

The aspirants from the zone include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (Ogun), former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole (Ogun), Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (Lagos) and the chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti).

Daily Trust reports that the five South West aspirants are expected to battle other presidential aspirants from other zones for the party’s ticket at the primary slated May 30/June 1.

The ruling party has not zoned its presidential ticket to any part of the country but since President Muhammadu Buhari hails from North West, there are expectations that the southern part of the country will pick the party ticket for the 2023 general election.

While there are contenders from South East and South South for the APC’s presidential ticket, those from the South West do not appear ready to back out from the race.

Most of those that declared for the coveted seat have continued with their consultations amid wrangling by their neighbours.

Sources said the aspirants’ confidence stems from the historic alliance between the defunct CPC and the ACN, two political parties that led to the formation of the ruling APC with the support of a section of PDP and APGA ahead of the 2015 general elections.

However, there are fears that Tinubu, Osinbajo, Fayemi, Amosun, among others have their supporters among the delegates from the zone and the implication is that at the end of the day, this might reduce the chances of the South West.

The South East geopolitical zone has seven aspirants including David Umahi (Ebonyi), Dr Chris Ngige (Anambra), Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba (Imo), Orji Uzo Kalu (Abia), Senator Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Ihechukwu Dallas Chima (Abia) and Usman Iwu (Imo).

So far, only three persons have indicated interest from the South South including Ben Ayade (Cross River), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Mr Tein Jack-Rich (Rivers).

The North Central has two; Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim (Kwara). The only person from the North East is Adamu Garba II (Adamawa).

Daily Trust reports no aspirant has indicated interest from the North West.

The South West delegates

Daily Trust had recently reported that the South West geopolitical zone has 1,568 delegates that would participate in the primaries.

They are part of the 7,800 delegates from the six geopolitical zones of the country.

In terms of numerical voters’ strength, the South West comes second after the North West geopolitical zone, which has a total of 1,924 delegates.

Pundits who spoke to our correspondents said at the national convention, the five aspirants from the South West are expected to battle for delegates from their zone, even though very few of the delegates might likely vote for aspirants from other zones.

However, they told the Daily Trust that Tinubu and Osinbajo are the clear contenders from the area.

Sources said Gov. Fayemi has not shown commitment to be taken seriously in the race even though he has started consultations while Amosun and Bankole are expected to reduce Osinbajo’s overwhelming votes in Ogun State.

One of our sources said early permutations favoured Tinubu to win majority of the votes from the South West.

The national leader of APC is expected to have bloc votes from Lagos and Osun states, as well as over 60% from Oyo State. He is also expected to get substantial votes from delegates from Ekiti and Ondo states.

This, however, could not be independently verified even as watchers of happenings in the region said the serious aspirants are deploying technology, poll experts and the body language of community, religious and traditional leaders in shaping their expectation and strength in the race. Osinbajo, it was learnt is primed to get bloc votes from Ogun delegates following his endorsement by Governor Dapo Abiodun and critical stakeholders from his state of origin.

He is expected to have a fair showing in Oyo State where delegates loyal to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, are backing his ambition.

The Professor of Law, who is expected to struggle for delegate votes in Lagos, is expected not to do too poorly in Osun with the support of the camp loyal to Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.

However, if Fayemi makes it to the primary, Ekiti delegates are expected to queue behind the governor, jeopardising Osinbajo’s chances in the state.

Analysts predict a split vote in Ondo State for Osinbajo and Tinubu, especially if Fayemi, a bosom friend of the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, fails to mount a serious challenge in the coming days.

Daily Trust, however, gathered that Osinbajo and Tinubu are banking on support from the North, where no major aspirant has shown interest in picking the party’s ticket.

Our role is tailored towards parties’ decisions – Afenifere

Contacted to comment on the implications of having many aspirants from their zone, the spokesperson of Afenifere, Comrade Jare Ajayi said the pan-Yoruba sociocultural group will allow political parties to determine their affairs because they are the umbrella body for all Yorubas.

On his part, a former minister, Adeseye Ogunlewe, said the expression of interest by five aspirants from the zone is not a threat to one of them picking the ticket.

“Let’s wait for them to pick the forms first. We can begin to assess their chances after that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Tinubu Support Group Management Council, Abdulmumin Jibrin, said the former Lagos state governor will be the major beneficiary of many aspirants in the race.

“In APC, the only beneficiary of many aspirants contesting for the office of president is Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Please we want more and more aspirants to contest. The more aspirants in the race, the wider the victory margin for BAT,” he said. A constitutional lawyer and Coordinator, Progressive Lawyers For Osinbajo, Dr Kayode Ajulo, said that the position of the VP as the flag bearer of the APC is secured.

Ajulo said Osinbajo is not a regional aspirant but the most credible aspirant appealing to all regions in the country.

“His acceptability transcends religious, tribal and political lines. No one can ignore the fact that Prof. Osinbajo is the most credible aspirant of the APC and none of the people who have shown interest can match him.

“Most of them pick the presidential form to not contest but to either negotiate, keep their status in government or maintain their relevance. It will be surprising to many Nigerians that most of these aspirants will queue behind PYO before the party primaries,” he said.

‘Aspirants require wider acceptability’

Our correspondents report beyond scrambling for delegates in the South West, the aspirants must have to go poaching in the remaining five regions.

For instance, the documents in our possession showed that the North Central had 1,278 delegates, followed by the North East with 1, 212 delegates while the South East with 838 had the least delegates for the primary. Also, 53 delegates are going to come from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

We should strive for a national president

Three activists, Mohammad Al-Amin, Mic Collins and Ade Babalola said what Nigeria needed was a national leader.

“The delegates should strongly deemphasise the region or religion of the aspirants and go for the best,” Al-Amin said.

“It will be suicidal to have a regional president…I mean a president who will go to the Villa with the notion that it was his people that were instrumental to his emergence,” Collins said, while Babalola said even if the delegates voted along insignificant parameters, “Nigerians should come together and vote for a candidate that will solve their woes, irrespective of the political party he would come from.”

Hundreds of casual workers at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) grounded activities at the facility on Thursday over the company’s failure to regularise their appointments.

The protesters, some of whom had served the company for about 28 years demanded the immediate regularisation of their appointments from casual to regular employees.

They also demanded salary increment, payment of all outstanding allowances, better working conditions and improved welfare among others.

Some of them demanded for outright payoffs, alleging that the management of the NNPC, the supervisory agency had refused to yield to their demand for regularisation over the years.

Some held tree branches while others wielded placards with different inscriptions expressing their misgivings.

“No conversion, no quick fix,’’ “15 years to 27 years of slavery must stop,’’ “NNPC, stop technical lies,’’ “Warri, Kaduna, Port Harcourt Refineries must work,’’ “Increase our salary,’’ some of the inscriptions read.

Calling on the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, to address the issue, the protesters said that activities would not resume in the company until their demands were met.

One of the protesters said “the workers want to leave the job and want the management to pay them off since their services are no longer needed.

“On the ground that the management still wants our services and want to keep us, we demand for our conversion from causal staff to permanent staff,’’ he said.

The aggrieved workers protested over the same issue in 2019 and in 2020 without a resolution.

Okechukwu Nnodim



The Federal Government on Monday announced that it had identified preferred/reserved bidders for 12 federal highways up for concession under the Highway Development and Management Initiative.

It said this was following the conclusion of the evaluation of the proposals submitted for phase one of the value-added concession under the HDMI.

The HDMI is a PPP initiative of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing that seeks to attract sustainable investment and funding in the development of road infrastructure and maximise the use of assets along the right-of-way of federal highways across the country.

The first phase of the value-added concession under the HDMI seeks to concession 12 economically viable road corridors to technically and financially capable private sector firms/consortia.

The 12 highways represent 1,963km or 5.6 per cent of Nigeria’s 35,000km federal highways, which include Benin-Asaba, Abuja-Lokoja, Kano-Katsina, Onitsha-Owerri-Aba, Sagamu-Benin and Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga highways.

Others include Kano-Maiduguri (Kano-Shuarin), Kano-Maiduguri (Potiskum-Damaturu), Lokoja-Benin, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Ilorin-Jebba, Lagos-Otta-Abeokuta and Lagos-Badagry-Seme border.

The Special Adviser on Communications to the Minister of Works and Housing, Hakeem Bello, said in a statement issued in Abuja that the value-added concession request-for-proposal evaluation report was presented and approved on April 21, 2022 at the project steering committee meeting chaired by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

The statement read in part, “Members of the PSC from the ministries of Works and Housing, Environment, Finance, Budget and National Planning, and Justice, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, and Bureau of Public Enterprises attended the meeting.

“Speaking, the Head, PPP Unit, FMWH, Abimbola Asein, disclosed that the Project Delivery Team had concluded the evaluation of the bidders’ technical and financial proposals and proposed preferred/reserved bidders had been identified.

“She, however, explained that the HDMI project steering committee reserves the right to disqualify any preferred bidder found to have supplied inaccurate or misleading information, following due diligence or is unable to reach a mutual agreement on the project’s technical and financial parameters.”

The ministry stated that after deliberating on the prayers presented by the Project Delivery Team, the Project Steering Committee approved the prayers and adopted amendments agreed on during the meeting.

“The PSC reiterated the importance of due diligence on the preferred bidders and recommended the constitution of a team made up of high-ranking officials from the relevant ministries, noting that this would help achieve value for money for Nigeria during negotiations,” it stated.

The FMWH explained that the rationale behind the HDMI, a private sector engagement, was to provide alternative sources of financing for road development and management across the country.

It said the initiative was consistent with the provisions of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Establishment Act 2005; National Policy on Public-Private Partnership; Federal Highways Act CAP. 135, 1971; and Federal Roads and Bridges Tolling Policy.

“The scope of the VAC under the HDMI includes the expansion, re-alignment, rehabilitation, and maintenance of the existing road pavements and bridges; construction of interchanges and pedestrian crossings and construction and operations of tolling facilities,” it stated.

It added, “There is also the installation and operations of weigh bridges; installation and operation of intelligent traffic systems for remote highway monitoring; physical patrol of the highway; provision of towing services, ambulance service, and refuse management.

“Others include the provision of directional signage, rest areas, and highway illumination, among others.”

The request-for-qualification notice for the 12 highways was published on March 29, 2021, through the HDMI portal.

At the close of the RFQ portal on May 31, 2021, 75 firms/consortia successfully submitted valid applications.

An inter-ministerial evaluation committee evaluated the 75 submitted bids, wherein 18 firms/consortia were prequalified, having met all the criteria outlined in the RFQ notice.

The RFP documents were then issued out to the 18 prequalified bidders on October 29, 2021, through the HDMI portal.

The deadline was February 22, 2022, while documents from the 18 bidders were officially opened during the RFP bid opening ceremony held on February 23, 2022.

“The project is now at the due diligence stage and will be followed by negotiation of technical and financial parameters. The negotiated parameters will be populated in the Full Business Case to be forwarded to ICRC for FBC compliance certificate,” the FMWH stated.

It added, “The compliance certificate will be presented to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and approval. If approved, the concession agreement will be vetted by the Federal Ministry of Justice within a stipulated time frame to enable commercial close.”

By Emmanuel Samaila, Yola


There was tension in Yola, Adamawa State, yesterday, as armed policemen took over the House of Assembly premises to prevent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members that defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from gaining access to the chambers.

The lawmakers, who are still in recess till June, hurriedly resumed yesterday when PDP members started defecting to APC.

There was a protest at the Assembly by constituents of Michika, whose representative, Joseph Kwada, defected from PDP to APC last week.

Leader of the protesters, Mr. Koji Garta, told newsmen that they were protesting against plans by a few PDP lawmakers to declare vacant the seat of Michika constituency for defecting to APC.

“When APC lawmaker, Musa Bororo, defected to PDP, there was no problem; when another member from African Democratic Congress (ADC) decamped to APC, there was no problem. Why is the situation of our members different? If he has committed any offence, the party (APC) should approach the court, not PDP lawmakers,” he said.

Garta, who assured Governor Ahmadu Fintiri that Michika would not vote for him for a second term, pointed out that they stand with their member Kwada.

On why he defected to APC, Kwada told journalists that PDP in Adamawa had been reduced to the governor’s private enterprise.

“How can I remain in a party where there is no justice, a party run like a private business, a party where sincerity and justice are the most scarce products? No, let me free myself from this ‘Animal Farm’ in Adamawa PDP,” he said.

When journalists visited the Assembly, hundreds of fierce-looking policemen were seen blocking the entrance with their vehicles.

Journalists were told that the Speaker was in a closed-door meeting with few lawmakers.

Scores of people are feared to have been killed following an explosion at an illegal oil refining site in Egbema/Ohaji area of Imo state.

The incident, which was said to have started around 11pm on Friday, resulted in a fire outbreak at Abaezi forest in Ohaji/Egbema area.

Speaking on the incident, Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo, said many youths lost their lives to the fire.

Uzodimma, who was represented by Goodluck Opiah, commissioner for petroleum resources, said Okenze Onyewoke, the owner of the illegal refining site, had been declared wanted by the state government.

“At the moment, I can’t really confirm the number of the deceased because many family members have removed the corpses of so many others,” he said.

“Apart from this calamity, the act has destroyed the aquatic life in the community. Our people before now are predominantly farmers and fishermen.

“Look around, you’ll find smoke coming from this illegal act. If this is not enough for any person to stop, I think the community is heading for what I can’t describe.

“Most of the people who are engaging in this act are from Rivers, Bayelsa and other neighbouring states and it is sabotage for our people to allow this illegal activity to continue.”

He sympathised with the families of the deceased and warned residents to stop engaging in such illicit activity.

“I wish to appeal to our youths to desist from making themselves available for this illegal act. This is a suicidal business they got themselves into,” he said.

“On behalf of the Imo state government, we condole with the bereaved families. The Imo state government prays that God will give the family of those who lost their lives the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”

By Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu


The parents of two of the six children that were killed in an airstrike by a Nigerian Air Force jet strike on Wednesday were killed by bandits two years ago, PREMIUM TIMES learned on Thursday.

Residents said the six children were killed when a Nigerian Air Force jet bombed their residence in Kurebe, Shiroro Local Government of the state.

Salis Sabo, the spokesperson of the Coalition of Shiroro Association (COSA), said the incident happened on the morning of Wednesday 13 April, as the children were returning from a motorised borehole in the community where they had gone to fetch water.

“The two other children who lost their lives in the incidents have for long lost their parents. One of them is a daughter of late Malam Isah Kurebe and the other is a daughter of late Malam Adamu Kurebe, who was killed by the terrorists two years ago.

“The innocent child he left over, has now been taken away by a similar fate. This is the second time this type of incident is happening, Mr Sabo said in a statement.

He said a man who lost two of his daughters and two granddaughters in the incident said there were no bandits in the village at the time the aircraft bombed the community.

He added that the camps of the insurgents are well known and wondered why they were not targeted by the air force.

“The insurgents around the community are of two groups, with two different camps. One links up with the community through Unguwan Zomo, the other through Kwantan Yashi area. We don’t know why the why fighter jet would be targeting the community where civilians live,” Mr Sabo said.

According to the statement, residents of the area whose house was destroyed said they were living at the mercy of the insurgents.

The gunmen enter the community at will, loot their property, and rape their daughters, wives and even their mothers.

They force residents to live in the village (perhaps to use them as human shields against attacks from the military) as anyone who attempts to leave is dealt with.

“While we continue to vent, spleen, raise dust and even bring down the roof when the occasion calls for that, to get the Government do what it has sworn to do. However, the continued pampering of these nefarious vermin who inflict terror straight from the gutter will leave us with so much to be inferred,” Mr Sabo said.

The spokesperson of the Nigerian Air Force, Edward Gabkwet, couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Three sexually explicit videos of a young lady identified as Ms. Gracious Paradise, the daughter of a Clergyman, John Paradise has surfaced online.

Mr. Paradise oversees the Banner of Grace Church, Ketabebe in Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area.

The Bleep videos of his daughter who is reportedly a final year student of the Cross River State School of Nursing and Midwifery, Itigidi, Abi Local Government made the school authority to send her parking, a family source who did not want to be named, told CrossRiverWatch.

But, a member of the Governing Board of the institution said the Board is not aware of such action.

“I called to find out but the details are sketchy. But, we are to meet tomorrow, maybe it will be tabled there,” the board member said after asking if the person was putting on the school uniform while carrying out the act.

In two of the videos which will not be shared by CrossRiverWatch due to an editorial policy on digital rights, Ms. Gracious is clearly aware of the act.

In one, she films the man in a position that suggests he was thrusting his manhood into her vagina.

In the second video, she films her nude self from her waist up.

In the third video, only a part of her face is shown as the video clip starts from a manhood inside a vagina, then pans to her breasts and face

NSA to el-Rufai: Anti-banditry operations not for public… you’re giving kidnappers information

Babagana Monguno, national security adviser (NSA), says intelligence operations of security agencies against bandits are not for public consumption.

Monguno spoke on Thursday while addressing journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and service chiefs at the presidential villa.

He was responding to questions on a recent comment made by Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna.

In March, while speaking about the train attack in the state, the Kaduna governor had asked the military to bomb bandits’ hideouts, instead of waiting for them to attack.

El-Rufai had said the camps and phone numbers of the bandits are known by the security agencies.

“We know where their camps are. We know where they are. The SSS have their phone numbers. They listen to them, and they give me the report. We know what they are planning. We shouldn’t be waiting for them to attack. Why can’t we go after them?” he had asked.

“We are in a state of war. This place should be declared a war zone. The army, air force, and the police should go in there and kill them. Will there be innocent casualties? Yes! In every war situation, there are casualties.”

Speaking on Thursday, Monguno said the governor’s disclosure on the activities of security operatives is also dangerous for kidnap victims.

“Governor Nasir el-Rufai spoke about the security agencies, saying we know who they are, where they are. Again, that is the danger. When you start talking too much, you give away a lot,” he said.

“Now, even if they say we know where they are, that in itself is already a problem. Because once you say it, whether it is true or false, the person who has your people in captivity will move to another location. It’s just as simple as that.

“So, sometimes, it is best to just keep silent; mum is the word.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was yet to receive official communication from the Senate on existing three vacant seats in the Red Chamber nine days after they became vacant.

Consequently, the people of Nasarawa West, Borno North, and Zamfara Central senatorial districts of Nasarawa, Borno and Zamfara States respectively may lose legislative representation for the next 13 months when the 9th Senate will wind down in mid-June, 2023.

Recall that the newly elected national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu; his deputy (North), Senator Abubakar Kyari, and Muhammed Hassan Nasiha had formally resigned their membership of the Senate last week Tuesday.

Before they emerged as APC leaders, both Adamu and Kyari represented Nasarawa West and Borno North senatorial districts of Nasarawa and Borno States respectively. While Nasiha was few weeks ago sworn-in as the new deputy governor of Zamfara State.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, read out their resignation letters at the commencement of the Senate plenary on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.

Meanwhile, speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP in Abuja on Wednesday, the chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the Senate was yet to write the Commission on the vacancies, a major impediment that has hindered the body to release a date for the bye-elections in the three senatorial districts in order elect replacements.

Oyekanmi noted that if a vacancy exists in the Senate, the appropriate authority will declare it and officially inform the Commission.

He said, “Once the Commission receives this official communication, it will subsequently take a decision on when the bye-election will hold.”

The CPS added that he was not aware that the Commission has yet received any such communication from the Senate.

LEADERSHIP’s attempt to reach out to the Senate spokesperson, Senator Ajibola Basiru (APC, Osun Central) proved abortive as he was not responding to messages sent to his known phone lines at press time.

By Ibrahim Baba Saleh

Boko Haram fighters have wreaked another havoc on Geidam, a Yobe town that was attacked in 2021.

According to residents, the sect members sneaked into the town on Wednesday night without firing a single shot.

They were said to have parked their motorbikes in a neighbouring community.

Daily Trust gathered the insurgents entered through the eastern part of the town and set Government Science and Technical School Geidam ablaze, killing one person at the school quarters.

A source who doesn’t want to be named told our correspondent that the gunmen also targeted ‘Kwari’, a popular brothel in Geidam, where they slaughtered 10 persons, both men and women.

“They took us by surprise this time around; they entered in silence without firing shots or using vehicles.”

“Upon their entrance, they asked some of the residents to recite verses of the Qur’an before they either allowed them leave or get killed.”

Meanwhile, some residents are currently fleeing the town to avoid being trapped as was the case last year when the insurgents spent days in the community.

The Executive Chairman of Geidam Local Government, Ali Kolo, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report, but his deputy, Musa Muhammed, confirmed the attack.

By Stephen Onda


A viral post on a Facebook page, O. W. Entertainment, claimed that a mermaid was caught by some brave people who initially went fishing in a river in Nigeria.

The post is captioned: “BREAKING NEWS…mamiwater (river goddess) caught in Nigeria…my beautiful people how Una see this matter because this nor be FOTO shoot ooo.”


In the three-minute video which showed an embedded video of a purported black mermaid, a middle-aged man who identified himself as David said many people didn’t believe that mermaids existed or believed they were white and not black.

He also claimed, among others, that the journey to catch the mermaid was not an easy one as it had been disturbing residents of the area for a long time.

The video as of Thursday morning had garnered more than 10,000 likes and other emojis, 5,200 comments, 16,000 shares and 1.4 million views.

Comments on the post showed that some viewers actually believed the video contains mermaid. Many viewers “thanked God” for subduing the “spirit” while others urged that it should be released before those in the “mermaid kingdom” came to look for the missing mermaid.

“This na another problem them won invite join the wahala dey Nigeria. Abeg make them return her in peace and apologize because they will be looking for her now. Na pesi pikin,” one comment read.

“O nature se mermaid is real, I only watch it in films, this is so scary o…so na Mami water na we de eat no bi fish…this must be the spirit of water I think… God is great hmmm, wonderful God,” another viewer stated.


Analyzing the video?

A search by Daily Trust revealed that a Kenyan television station had tweeted about the video, saying “Reports indicating that a mermaid has been spotted in Kwale are fake, police say.” Kwale is located in Kenya.

A further check on the video showed that the earliest version was posted on TikTok on April 6, 2022 on TikTok and captioned, “Real Mermaid Caught in Muizenberg South Africa.”

Checks by our correspondent revealed that video was doctored. It is a digitally altered composite featuring genuine footage of a dying fish and digitally added images of what appears to be a doll.

A close examination of the footage showed that sand loses texture as the arms of the purported mermaid moved across the beach. At one point, the fingers even disappeared, indicating that the “mermaid’s body” was digitally inserted into this footage.


What are mermaids?

In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drowning. In other folk traditions (or sometimes within the same traditions), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans.

The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry. Although traditions about and sighting of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, they are generally assumed to co-exist with their female counterparts. The male and the female collectively are sometimes referred to as “merfolk or merpeople.”


Are mermaids real?

In 2012, the television channel Animal Planet aired a show claiming to establish that mermaids are real. The programme was filmed to appear to be a documentary, complete with interviews with “scientists” (paid actors) and phone-camera footage. Though the show carried a very brief disclaimer that it was a work of fiction, many viewers took it as a proof of mermaids’ existence.

A month after the programme aired, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration posted a statement on its website denouncing the supposed existence of the half-human, half-fish beings. “No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found,” the post read.

CONCLUSION: The video did not originate from Nigeria as claimed and did not show a mermaid. There is no compelling evidence that mermaids (popularly called Mami Water) are real. Their existence still remains a myth.

The administration of Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has sent 97 clerics to Saudi Arabia on Lesser Hajj to “pray for a stoppage of banditry”.

According to the Deputy Governor, Sen. Hassan Nasiha, it is part of strategies to restore peace and security in the state.

The clerics are to engage in prayer sessions in almost all strategic holy places of worship in the cities of Makkah and Madina, with a view to restore peace in Zamfara and Nigeria in general.

Addressing the clerics before their departure, the deputy governor admonished them to consider the state and its people in their prayers.

This, he said, they should do with the hope that God would cause an end to multiple problems of the nation.

Delivering a sermon at the departure, a cleric, Dr Atiku Balarabe, briefed the pilgrims on how best to concentrate on their worship and prayers in Saudi Arabia.

He said they should constantly remember that they are representative of all citizens of the state and to seek God’s intervention to bring an end to banditry and other crimes in the state.

Balarabe said they must concentrate on the prayers to meet the state’s expectations considering the trust reposed in them by millions of people of the state.

Earlier in the month, Zamfara distributed 200 Cadillac 2019 model to traditional rulers in the state. (NAN)

By Zahraddeen Yakubu Shuaibu

The family of Yahaya Hassan Musa, a 39-year-old businessman, was thrown into mourning as his body was found in a forest hours after his abductors received a N6m ransom.

The incident started on Thursday, when the victim, who is married with two kids, was coming back from Cotonou, Benin Republic, after a business trip and was kidnapped in a forest around Mopa area of Kogi State, with the kidnappers demanding N10m and later slashing it to N6m.

Narrating the incident to City & Crime, the late Yahaya’s brother, Abubakar Hassan Musa, who took the N6m to the kidnappers, said his brother used to fly whenever he travelled, but that on that fateful trip he decided to return by road.

He said, “The kidnappers requested that I should take the money to a forest in Kabba. I went and delivered the money in cash. They then directed me to a place where I would meet him, but I did not meet him. I slept in the forest alone.

“The following day I continued searching until a woman who was kidnapped alongside my brother called me and said they killed him before even collecting the ransom, but that she didn’t know where they dumped his body.

“I went back to the nearby town and hired hunters to get back into the forest and search for the corpse. After treking many kilometers, we found his decomposing corpse.”

He said because they couldn’t find a bus to carry the corpse because of its decaying condition, they buried him in the bush according Islamic rites after consulting the family in Kano.

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration has done well despite the limited resources at its disposal.

The president said this at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which held in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said when his government came on board, terrorists were in charge of some local government areas and the South South, which currently enjoy relative peace, was restive.

“I will like us to reflect on what the situation was before we came in. How many Local Government Areas were under the control of terrorists in the North-East? In the South-South, we all know what the situation was; now we have relative peace. With the resources at our disposal, we have done very well.

“People are very forgetful. Our main problem now is in the North West and North Central. People are killing one another in these places, what for? We are going to be very tough.’’

The President also warned against imposition in the ruling party, saying such dictatorial tendency has cost APC some seats.

He asked party members to follow due process in all the party processes as well as to develop more mechanisms against corruption.

“I enjoin you all to follow due process in all the party processes and more importantly to develop more mechanisms against corruption.”

“I call on all party members to abide by all extant laws, rules, and regulations and to leaders of our party to avoid imposition of candidates that cannot win popular elections.

“This dictatorial behavior cost us many strategic seats in the past. In the recent past this led to some of our strong members unfortunately opting to go elsewhere because of unfairly oppressive behavior of party leaders at state level.

“I must caution strongly against any tendency towards developing cliques, in-fighting within the party.

“We want to win well not succumb to factions on account of personal acerbities and desire to retain control at all costs. That surely is not the road to win,’’ he said.

The president also told new members of the National Working Committee (NWC), which had been delegated powers of NEC for a period, to work towards keeping the party together by creating more room for discussions.

On forthcoming general elections in 2023, Buhari urged party members to be more mindful of the pitfalls that led to the ouster of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.

An Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has said President Muhammadu Buhari was unfairly criticised over the insecurity in Nigeria.

The group said the current security situation must not be judged in isolation because there are precedents to be considered.

According to MURIC, Ex-presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo and Musa Yar’adua all contributed to the insecurity in Nigeria.

The group also listed Saraki as one of the saboteurs of Buhari’s government.

This was contained in a statement composed on Saturday, 16th April 2022 by the director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola and sent to PM News on Tuesday morning.



The statement reads:

“It has been observed that critics of the Buhari administration on the state of insecurity in the country today have narrowed their perspective on attacks which occurred during the period of the current administration alone without considering the circumstances both in the remote and immediate past. Such a parameter is bound to produce a narrow, parochial and unfair assessment.

“We call on critics to be retrospective. Today was born from the wombs of yesterday. The current situation must not be judged in isolation. There are precedents to be considered. Those who refuse to juxtapose past events with current happenings are being unjust to both the Buhari administration and history.

“Just as Nigerians must not trace the root of banditry and insurgency to Northern youths alone but go beyond them, so must commentators on the current insecurity trace the ugly phenomenon to past regimes if they want to be objective in their assessment.

“To that extent, therefore, Nigerians must interrogate what happened to funds meant for the acquisition of weapons for the military in the days of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. $2.1 billion was diverted to the private pockets of politicians. That is the exact cost of the Lagos-Ibadan dual carriage modern rail line. Unfortunately, culprits are the same people shouting loudest over insecurity today.


“The Chibock girls would have been rescued hours after they were abducted if Jonathan had acted promptly. But he dilly-dallied for three weeks claiming it was a plot hatched by his political enemies. It was this procrastination that gave Boko Haram the chance to dig in. Characteristically today, critics cannot spell Jonathan’s name.

“A structure can only be as good as its foundation. Nullity upon nullity can only be a nullity. You cannot build reality on a sheer phantom. Those who stole the country dry and denied our military the much-needed weaponry, including those who failed to act on time, laid the foundation for today’s woes. Buhari is merely trying to salvage the situation.

“Yet our ‘last look at the Moore’ must not stop at the days of the Jonathan regime alone. For instance, Nigerians would not have been hearing of Boko Haram today if the threat had been nipped in the bud in the days of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Yar’adua. Insecurity has come a long, windy path. The blame should not be laid on the doorsteps of President Muhammadu Buhari. The blame should go straight to where it belongs.

“We must also not forget the negative role played by fifth columnist politicians particularly the Saraki-led unpatriotic and anti-people senators and members of the House of Representatives of his days, including Saraki’s co-traveller, Yakubu Dogara, ex-Speaker. These were lawmakers who sabotaged all efforts made by the Buhari regime to acquire arms for the Nigerian military for a whole four years (2015-2019). Saraki and Dogsra were planted in the National Assembly by those who feared an eight years of hurricane Buhari.

“They allowed Boko Haram to become too powerful. It is therefore paradoxical that the same Senator Saraki now wants to contest as Nigeria’s president. It is certain that the affliction of the disease called collective amnesia has reached a pandemic stage in Nigeria. We forget so quickly that our numero uno public enemy becomes our hero as soon as our tears dry up.

“How could we have forgotten so soon? Bombings in Abuja reached high crescendo. The United Nations building, Nigeria Police’headquaters, EFCC headquarters, Nyanya motor park, mosques, churches, etc were not spared by terrorists. Suicide bombers had a field day between 2011 and 2015. Who was in power then? Was it Buhari? Why are critics now narrowing everything down to this regime?

“How can we be so ungrateful? Who did this to Nigeria? What crime have the security agencies committed that we refuse to appreciate them in spite of their huge sacrifices and successes? The US army is a great force to reckon with today because the citizens appreciate them.

“Where are the suicide bombers today? The security agencies stopped the menace of suicide bombing but we still don’t want to appreciate them. Residents of Maiduguri are now sleeping with calm. Who did that?


“No Nigerian administration has acquired so much weaponry for the military like Buhari. We challenge those critics to draw up a honest comparative list of the performance and morale of the military under previous regimes and the Buhari administration. It is on record that Nigerian troops used to take cover in neighbouring countries after sighting insurgents who were always armed to the teeth.

“The reverse is the case today as Boko Haram fighters take to their heels when faced by our gallant soldiers. Thousands of them have also surrendered. Also, no Nigerian government has recruited policemen in an aggressive manner as we have it today under Buhari. The numerical strength of the police which was at a standstill (130,000) from 2003 to 2015 has been boosted by Buhari with 10,000 recruits annually. Can you beat that? Conservatively, Nigeria must have at least 136,000 men as of 2022.

“While it may be true that as President, Buhari is responsible for the lives and properties of Nigerians, we must remember that security should not be left to soldiers and policemen alone. Every citizen must be security conscious and they are expected to feed the security agencies with useful information. We must be their ears and eyes.

“But what do we get from Nigerians? They are the ones cutting rails to sell them. They cut aluminium railings on bridges. They destroy infrastructure. Why do some people think Buhari must be blamed for sixteen years of recklessness, sixteen years of impunity, sixteen years of corruption without borders?

“Our assessment of the security situation must also be retrospective. Government is a continuum and the Buhari regime cannot be an exception. Therefore, it can only continue from where its predecessor stopped.

“The Jonathan regime bequeathed a legacy of insecurity to the Buhari administration. It is a relay race. What is passed to you is what you build on. Unfortunately, this regime received a disadvantaged baton and it is doing its best to improve on it. Only a biased spectator from the stands will condemn a runner who received his own baton from an athlete who came last and far behind.


“MURIC is not saying anything new. Therefore we cannot be accused of referring to any particular critic or group of critics. We have been consistent in showcasing the good works of the Buhari administration and defending it when it is unfairly attacked.

“We are definitely not reacting to the comments of any of the Imams and Muslim leaders whose interviews were published in the Tribune of today. Neither are we referring to the comments of any Islamic organisation. A certain development compelled our outing today and this is a general comment to all Nigerians.

“Our appeal to critics is to be constructive. Comments must be balanced because anyone who says this administration has not done a single good thing since inception must have a heavy burden on his conscience.

“We are free to criticise Buhari, but let us swallow our pride and eschew the bitterness by admitting his achievements as well. Buhari is definitely not perfect and there is insecurity in the land. But fake news, politicisation, bias, bitterness, distortion and misinformation will not take us anywhere.

“As we drop the anchor, we doff our hats to the security agencies for their many achievements and sacrifices. Gallant Nigerian soldiers and policemen. MURIC appreciates you. Great men and heroes of the secret police, we cherish your sacrifices.

“We reiterate that commentators on insecurity in the country must take retrospective looks at the Nigerian situation for a fair, constructive and comprehensive assessment. Any judgement passed on this administration without considering where it was coming from can only be described as jaundiced, myopic and parochial.”

By Ade Adesomoju


President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday controversially pardoned two former state governors who were jailed for stealing public funds in 2018 and were yet to serve half the length of their jail terms.

The former governors – Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Jolly Nyame of Taraba State – who governed their respective states between 1999 and 2007, were among the 159 convicted persons whose pardon was approved by the Council of State on Thursday.

Although the full list of those pardoned and the reasons given for the individual cases are still sketchy, it was learnt that the former governors, both of whom are in their early 60s, got their pardon on the grounds of age and health.

It calls back to mind a similar gesture that Mr Buhari’s predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan, extended to a former Bayelsa State governor, the late Dipreye Alamieyesegha, in March 2013.

Mr Jonathan served under Mr Alamieyesegha as deputy governor, from 1999 to 2005. Mr Alamieyesegha, who was removed from office over corruption allegations in 2005, was later convicted after he pleaded guilty to corruption charges at the Federal High Court in Lagos on July 26, 2007.

As president, Mr Jonathan pardoned Mr Alamieyesegha in gratitude to a political benefactor who gave him the opportunity to start his political career as Bayelsa State deputy governor. Nigerians responded in outrage.

Expressing his displeasure in a letter to Mr Jonathan, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who said he missed the council of state meeting where the pardon was ratified, noted that the action was a wrong way of compensating a political benefactor.

“Mr President, I know how much you see Alamieyeseigha as your benefactor since he selected you as his running mate which was the beginning of your rise on the political ladder.

“But there is much to lose as a government and as a nation for taking inappropriate time to please a benefactor no matter how concealed,” Mr Obasanjo wrote to the then President Jonathan.


Summarising public sensibilities towards the pardon, Mr Obasanjo described it as a demonstration of an “absolute lack of political will to fight or confront corruption.”

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, on his part, said the pardon was unjustifiable and amounted to encouraging corruption.

“What is going on right now gives the picture of a government that is floundering and justifying the unjustifiable. It amounts to encouragement of corruption,” Mr Soyinka said.

Some present-day members of President Buhari’s political family, such as Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, and a serving minister, Festus Keyamo, did not pull any punches in their criticism of the pardon in 2013. They accused Mr Jonathan of not only failing to fight corruption but also of reversing the gains of the anti-corruption efforts of previous administrations.


Jonathan pardon Vs Buhari pardon

If Mr Jonathan’s pardon for Mr Alamieyesgha demonstrated an encouragement of corruption and lack of political will to fight it, Mr Buhari’s pardon for Messrs Dariye and Nyame amounts to emboldening corruption and going a step further to stab the heart of those fighting it.

In Mr Jonathan’s case, Mr Alamieyesegha, the beneficiary of the pardon, was remorseful by pleading guilty to the corruption charges against him at the earliest possible time.

Also, his plea of guilt saved a lot of judicial time and taxpayers’ funds that would have been expended if he had opted for a full-blown trial.

Moreover, his pardon also came years after he had completed the jail term imposed on him by the court.

A senior lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, who defended the pardon granted to Mr Alamieyesegha in 2013, maintained in an opinion article on Saturday that beyond being remorseful, the former Bayelsa State governor earned it through other ways.

Citing a book, ‘The Burden of Service’, authored by Mohammed Adoke, who was the Attorney General of the Federation when Mr Jonathan granted the pardon in 2013, Mr Ozekhome said the former Bayelsa State governor had “earlier been pardoned by (President) Yar’Adua, though not gazetted before his death.”

He added that Mr Alamieyesegha also helped “in brokering the peace process that led to amnesty in the restive Niger Delta region that halted oil production.”

This, the senior lawyer said, “in turn, led to stability in the area and reduced pipeline vandalism, kidnapping of expatriates, and thus improved oil production which had plummeted to a state of nadir, leading to national ruckus and impoverishment.”

The reverse is the case for Messrs Dariye and Nyame who remorselessly dragged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and his prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs, through 12 to 13 years of tortuous legal battles with millions of naira of taxpayers’ money expended to assemble witnesses and evidence and pursue endless appeals.

This lasted till the Supreme Court in 2020 affirmed a jail term of 12 years for Mr Nyame for stealing about 1.6 billion and a jail term, in 2021, of 10 years for Mr Dariye for stealing N1.16 billion.


Mr Dariye did not stop there. After the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction on March 12, 2021, he filed an application at the Federal High Court in Abuja to retrieve some properties recovered as proceeds of corruption from him.

The judge, Obiora Egwatu, struck out the case on March 7, this year.

While Mr Buhari was considering granting him a pardon, the man was filing an appeal at the Court of Appeal insisting on retrieving the proceeds of corruption seized from him.

Expressing concerns over the pardon granted to the remorseless convicts, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the Nigerian partner of Transparency International (TI), said “some of these cases took over ten years to conclude and with lots of resources committed.”

“In one case, for example, a witness had to be flown from the United Kingdom to Nigeria at different times with funds from taxpayers,” the group said in the statement signed by its executive director, Auwal Musa, on Friday.

Mr Buhari, thus, erased the toiling of over a decade with a wave of the hand in granting pardon to the high-profile looters.

Mr Ozekhome argued that the remorseless Messrs Dariye and Nyame who “betrayed their people by stealing from them” did not deserve the pardon granted to them.

“They breached the trust reposed in them. None of them admitted their guilt or wrongdoings until the courts found them guilty, up to the Supreme Court.

“As a matter of fact, Joshua Dariye was a sitting Senator when the Supreme Court affirmed the 10-year jail term earlier passed on him. What then is the basis for granting pardon to these individuals in a country where corruption is the bane and struts around imperiously like a peacock?” Mr Ozekhome said.


Ruse anti-corruption war

Mr Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), campaigned for office in 2015 by discrediting Mr Jonathan’s administration as corruption-infested. They also vowed to clear the Augean stable if given the opportunity to govern.

It was a campaign promise underpinned by the public’s enduring impression of the former dictator as a no-nonsense military general with zero tolerance for corruption. This image of him clung to the heart of many Nigerians since his stint as head of state over 30 years before becoming an elected president in 2015.

The much-avowed fight against corruption that Mr Buhari and APC promised to execute has now reached its poignant turning point with the pardon issued to Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame.

Some said the pardon has hit the final nail into the coffin of whatever remained of the anti-corruption battle that started floundering soon after it started.

Faced with the challenges of the anti-corruption war, Mr Buhari and his administration officials often heap the blame on the judiciary.

Recently, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said the judiciary was to blame for the delay in high-profile corruption cases; an allegation that Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad swiftly denied.

The minister’s allegation against the judiciary is a sentiment Mr Buhari had expressed more explicitly while announcing the suspension of then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, in January 2019. Mr Buhari accused the Supreme Court under Mr Onnoghen’s leadership of serially setting persons accused of serious corruption allegations free.

“It is no secret that this government is dissatisfied with the alarming rate in which the Supreme Court of Nigeria under the oversight of Justice Walter Onnoghen has serially set free, persons accused of the most dire acts of corruption, often on mere technicalities, and after quite a number of them have been convicted by the trial and appellate courts,” Mr Buhari had said.

But this pardon may have finally put a lie to the allegation that the judiciary is responsible for the shattered anti-corruption war. It also clearly places the president on a higher level of culpability in sabotaging the anti-corruption war.

This is proven by the fact that the looting by Messrs Dariye and Nyame outraged the trial judge to the point of sentencing the culprits to 14 years in jail in 2018, although the Supreme Court would later affirm 10 years for Mr Dariye and 12 years for Mr Nyame.

“I am morally outraged with the facts of this case,” the judge, Adebukola Banjoko of the FCT High Court in Gudu, Abuja, (now elevated to the Court of Appeal), said of Mr Nyame’s looting in her judgement delivered on June 12, 2018.

“The evidence shows that the defendant and his cohorts behaved like common thieves with unbridled greed,” she added.

In contrast, Mr Buhari’s reaction to the judgments on the two men was to bring them out of prison.

Citing the case of the controversial withdrawal of the charges against Danjuma Goje, a former Gombe State governor, in 2019, CISLAC said the pardon granted to Messrs Dariye and Nyame is a continuation of “the trend of shielding politically exposed persons from accounting for their actions.”

To Mr Ozekhome, the pardon given to the former governors by Mr Buhari is “a tacit support” for corruption which the president promised to fight.

He added that it “shows that once you are a friend of the president or a member of his political party, or his acolyte and supporter, you can get away with any crime. In other words, in Nigeria, corruption surely pays!”

“This becomes more worrisome under a government which made fighting corruption one of its tripodal mantras,” Mr Ozekhome said.


International implication

As the decision hurts Nigerians’ sensibilities, it also sends a chill to different parts of the world.

One of those likely to receive the news with a withering blast of shock is Peter Clerk, who investigated Mr Dariye, as a metropolitan police officer in the United Kingdom in 2004. He, thereafter, shuttled between Nigeria and London over the years to gather evidence for prosecution.

Mr Clerk also took the trouble to return to Nigeria after his retirement to testify in the trial of the former governor in 2016.

On May 9, 2016, Mr Clerk sat in the witness box for hours, taking the trial judge through his galling findings. He added that a valid arrest warrant was still pending against the former governor, who jumped bail in the UK after he was released in September 2004.

It implies that Mr Dariye, despite his pardon by Mr Buhari, remains a fugitive in the United Kingdom, one of Nigeria’s major partners in the recovery of looted assets.

CISLAC captured this succinctly, saying, “It is important to state that when convicted individuals who looted billions of naira are released, there is no way that the international community will take Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts seriously, especially when attempts are being made to recover stolen assets outside the country.”


Corruption to get worse

The Nigerian constitution under sections 175 and 212 empowers state governors and the president to grant pardons to those found guilty of crimes after consulting with the relevant state’s advisory body or the council of state.

But lawyers say it is a discretionary power that must be sparingly exercised with caution. They argue that it should be used only when there is genuine remorse on the part of the convict.

Mr Ozekhome said pardon should be granted “as a recognition of a cause worth celebrating, not offensive and fouling the air”.

Relying on various judicial authorities, the senior lawyer said a pardon “relieves the person of all sins,” and turns an offender into “a new man”. He also said it can sometimes mean “blotting out “all suffering, consequences, and punishments whatsoever that the said conviction may ensure, but not to wipe out the conviction itself.”

To him, the pardon granted to Messrs Nyame and Dariye was in bad taste, coming shortly after Nigeria was “rated the 149th out of 180 most corrupt countries in the world, and the second most corrupt country in West Africa, by Transparency International (TI).”

On the psychological impact the pardon will have on Nigerians, Mr Ozekhome asked, “Where lies the justice for the impoverished people of Plateau and Taraba States who will now watch their tormentors stroll out with red carpet treatment?”

CISLAC shared the view that the pardon “confirms the poor rating of Nigeria on different global indexes and reports like the Corruption Perception Index and the Afro barometer corruption survey which have reported an increase in corruption in Nigeria.”

It said the effect of the “singular ill-advised act of abuse of power” is that “it will definitely embolden political thieves and unrepentant pilferers of our national commonwealth.”

Anyway, the stench of the dirty deal may soon be lost in the midst of unending scandals that continually ooze out of government circles.

But what will persist for years to come is its demoralising effect on prosecuting agencies and their personnel, as well as the judges who braved all odds and sweated blood to see the cases to their logical conclusion.

CISLAC recalled that “operatives of anti-corruption agencies had to put their lives at risk even to the point of facing physical attacks while these cases were on and suddenly, we read that these individuals have been pardoned.”

This will also undercut the prosecuting agencies’ moral rectitude to investigate and prosecute high-profile personalities; especially those who do not belong to the ruling party.

The Unravelling of Muhammadu Buhari
Perhaps another poignant takeaway from this is the unravelling of Mr Buhari.

Mr Buhari and his then party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), were silent over the pardon granted Mr Alamieyesegha in 2013.

Mr Buhari maintained a deafening silence even when many who believed in his forthrightness called on him, as a member of the council of state that ratified the pardon, to publicly dissociate himself from what they saw as a dirty deal.

This pardon by him appears to have completed the demystification, revealing a concealed softness that betrays the no-nonsense general’s stony outlook of sternness against corruption.

That hardcover that has endured for decades has forever been cast away.

Some operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) handling high-profiled cases for the commission in various courts have said their morale is becoming lower than before due to a recent presidential pardon.

The operatives, who spoke on Sunday to Daily Trust anonymously in separate interviews, said their dampened morale was based on the recent Presidential pardon granted to the former governors of Plateau and Taraba States, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame respectively.

Dariye and Nyame were jailed for embezzling N1.16bn and N1.6bn, respectively totalling N2.76bn.

It would be recalled that the National Council of State had last Thursday endorsed the pardon of Dariye, Nyame and 157 other convicts following the recommendation of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.

The 12-member committee, headed by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, was inaugurated by President Buhari in 2018.

One of the operatives who spoke to Daily Trust said, “It is quite sad that the two former governors could be pardoned despite our sleepless nights to ensure that those people who looted commonwealth didn’t go scot-free. Sincerely, this will definitely affect our zeal to prosecute any PEPs.”

Another operative, in his submission, said, “There is no need to waste millions of Naira in prosecuting political thieves, after all, they will be pardoned if their convictions are finally secure

“I’m still wondering the rationale behind their pardon by the Council of State presided over, by President Muhammadu Buhari.”

AHEAD of the May 29/30 presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), two of the leading aspirants have begun to plot victory graph on how to secure the ticket of the party. 

Sunday Tribune investigation revealed that a former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, are pushing ahead of other aspirants by fishing for the votes of the party’s statutory delegates. 

Both Tinubu and Amaechi’s jostling for delegates is part of their back-up plans should the rumoured consensus arrangement being flown by some interests within the party fail. 

It was gathered that the statutory delegates of the party number about 3,000 across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). 

The statutory delegates are former and serving federal lawmakers as well as former and current principal officers of state assemblies. 

Sunday Tribune investigations revealed that they constitute about one third of the total delegates who will decide the fate of the presidential aspirants. 

Amaechi’s foot-soldiers, Sunday Tribune gathered exclusively, have met statutory delegates from the South-West twice within a month. 

The meetings, which were held during the week of the party’s national convention last month and on April 5, took place in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. 

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and 2019 APC gubernatorial candidate in Benue State, Emmanuel Lyambee Jime, led Amaechi’s representatives to the second meeting attended by about 100 of the delegates. 

It was gathered that Emmanuel-Lyambee marketed the reasons the delegates should give their votes to the two-term River State governor, chief of which was his legislative experience as a former speaker. 

The delegates, who came from all the six South-West states, were told that they would have unhindered access to Amaechi if he becomes the president. A source privy to one of the meetings told Sunday Tribune that “the delegates only listened to them and never made any commitment as to who will get their votes.” 

It was learnt the Tinubu also met with about 500 of the statutory delegates at a hotel in Abuja on the eve of the party’s national convention last month. At the meeting, Tinubu, it was gathered, told the attendees why he should be allowed to govern the country, noting that he had paid his democratic dues. 

“During the meeting, he told us how he will approach the issue of insecurity and economy,” said one of the delegates. 

A former head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu and the Ekiti Central Senator, Opeyemi Bamidele were some of those who accompanied Tinubu to the meeting. 

Ribadu, who also spoke at the meeting, described Tinubu as the most qualified to land the job and charged the delegates to give him their votes. 

The former EFCC chief was quoted to have said that speculations about corruption allegations against Tinubu could not be substantiated. 

He told the delegates that as the EFCC under him investigated Tinubu a number of times and found nothing incriminating against him. 

Before the Abuja meeting, about 200 of the statutory delegates from the South-West delegates had gathered at a hotel in Ibadan where they declared their support for Tinubu. 

The group of South-West delegates is being coordinated by a former deputy governor of Ogun State and former Senator from Ogun East, Senator Gbenga Kaka and a former Lagos West Senator, Ganiyu Solomon. 

Meanwhile, as part of his ongoing consultations, Amaechi is expected to visit the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun and other leaders of thought in Oyo State tomorrow.

By Simon Echewofun Sunday

With the recent three power grid collapses in less than 30 days, there are worries that acts of power infrastructure vandalism is on the rise.

The latest system collapse occurred on April 8, 2022 around 6.30pm as the national power grid plunged from 2,400 megawatts (MW) some 30 minutes earlier to a zero level, causing widespread outage.

Vandalism led to collapse of grid, says FG
Anger as National Grid Collapses again

According to insider reports, attempts to restore the power grid suffered a setback around 8:50pm on the same night as the system tripped off again, with an outage lasting through to the next day in many parts of the country.

The latest grid disruption came just about 24 days after similar incidents on March 14 and 15, 2022. An industry official said the system collapse was multiple, especially from the gas-fired power plants.

The Minister of Power, Abubakar D. Aliyu, an engineer, had conveyed an emergency meeting that lasted through Monday night, where he tasked the operators on working together to make electricity more stable.

While power generation companies (GenCos) had a day before the previous collapse complained of poor revenue to procure gas, as well as technical issues with mostly the units of gas-fired plants, the vice chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Musiliu Oseni, at a briefing in March, blamed one of the collapses on the tripping of a power line along the Benin axis in Edo State.

An official of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which manages the power grid, also confirmed that some towers were affected at the Sapele to Benin transmission route, causing the trip- off.

Also in the same month, the TCN, in a statement, noted that it discovered the hacking of a tower on the 132 kilovolts (kV) Enugu to Benue transmission line, which also electrocuted a suspected vandal. The line was immediately fixed to avoid a system collapse on that route.

After the system collapse, the spokesman for the minister of power, Isa Sanusi, in a statement confirmed the incident, noting that the NERC was probing the recurring grid failure.

Sanusi also said, “The immediate cause of the national blackout (system collapse) was an act of vandalism on a transmission tower on the Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit transmission line, thus resulting in a sudden loss of about 400mw of generation (Calabar NIPP). This consequently led to a cascade of plants’ shutdown across the country.”

Further explaining the nature of the vandalism, the Port Harcourt regional transmission manager at the TCN, Daniel Udofia, an engineer, said Tower 104 was vandalised at Oku Iboku in Akwa Ibom State on the 330kV Odukpani (Cross River) to Ikot Ekpene (Akwa Ibom) transmission line.

Dilemma on the way out

While some experts have advocated for a decentralized transmission system like that of United States in order to end the preponderance of grid collapse in the country, others believe Nigeria should continue with the centralised grid system like that of the United Kingdom.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the US multiple grid system is divided into many parts comprising the eastern and western grid systems, and other grid systems that are all synchronized. The country consists of 120,000 miles (190,000 km) of lines operated by 500 companies.

However, in the United Kingdom, there is a central national grid serving the Great Britain, connecting power stations and major substations, according to the nationalgrid.com.

Nigeria, like UK, its formal colonial master has a transmission network that operates two high voltage levels, the 330 kilovolts and 132 kilovolts transmission lines and substations spanning over 20,000km of transmission lines, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.

Supporting the decentralization of the national grid in the long run, the national president of Nigerian Institute of Power Engineers (NIPE), Engr. Israel Abraham, said the transmission system should be decentralised across regions and that DisCos should be expanded from the current 11 units to 37, serving each states and the FCT to address the prevalent system collapses.

Others argue that there is a need for grid monitoring tools as the federal government in the ministry’s statement admitted the lack of them, especially the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition System (SCADA) to quickly isolate nationwide outages.

Our correspondent recalled that shortly after suspected vandals destroyed a 330kV transmission line tower in Oku Iboku community of Akwa Ibom State, the managing director of the TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, an engineer, and some management officials of the public-owned company, visited the site of the vandalism to assess the extent of damage.

He noted that the national electricity grid system collapse recorded on April 8, 2022 was caused by the activities of vandals on tower number 104 on the Ikot-Ekpene –Calabar 330 kilovolts double circuit transmission line around Oku Iboku community in Akwa Ibom State.

“This singular act threw the entire country into darkness, plus the humongous loss in terms of economic resources,” he stated.

Speaking further while addressing pressmen, he said, “Despite this, we have remained resolute in our effort to find ways of ensuring power supply to the good people of Akwa Ibom and the country in general.

“To effectively achieve this, every citizen of Nigeria must in one way or another contribute to this fight against the vandalism of power infrastructures.”

However, more revelation of the nationwide power assets sabotage was made by the executive director of the Transmission Service Provider at the TCN, Victor Adewumi, an engineer.

He said, “It is happening almost everywhere in the country now. Even in Delta State we had to quickly mobilise to fix 10 towers in a row when we saw an act of vandalism. This is outright sabotage; it doesn’t happen in other climes. We appeal to the youths and Nigerians to own these assets because they belong to us. Each time, we pull the government back and turn around to blame the same government. It is very unfair to throw the whole country into blackout.”

Adewumi, who said vandalism caused retrogression in power infrastructure development, added, “There is no way this country can move forward if each time we take a step forward we take three backward. Everybody needs power and every generation plants service every part of Nigeria.

“You can see how callous people can be to deliberately remove tower members to bring this thing down.”

There are other cases of 132kV power transmission line vandalism recorded in Ogun State, where three towers crashed on the Papalanto/Ojere 132kV double-circuit lines after they were vandalised. Another 132kV transmission line tower was hacked on the 132kV New Haven to Nkalagu transmission line in Enugu State, where a vandal was arrested by security operatives.

One incident too many

Available statistics from the Independent System Operator (ISO), a section of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, shows that in nine years (from November 2013 to April 2022), the Nigerian national power grid system has recorded 115 system collapses. This is the period when the power sector utilities have been privatised.

Random picks show that there were 42 of such collapses in just a year (2010) and over 10 events every year until 2020.

Further analysis however showed that the system or grid collapse declined in the last few years as only four collapses occurred in 2020, while two were recorded in 2021, being the lowest so far.

However, three have been recorded already in less than a month, between March 14 and April 8 this year, mostly as a result of poor gas to GenCos, in the first instance.

The second collapse was traced to the vandalism of power transmission tower in Benin, Edo State, and the third collapse of April 8 was traced a vandalised tower in Oku Iboku in Akwa Ibom State.

Why govt needs more synergy, policing

To tackle the situation, some experts have insisted that the government, power operators, residents and security agents should deepen synergy to intercept vandals before they execute their acts.

The Akwa Ibom State commissioner for power and petroleum development, John Etim, said the government would work with the TCN on mass sensitisation of the public, while making laws at the House of Assembly for stricter penalties against vandals. He also said the state had intensified security surveillance to curb vandals’ activities.

Mr Bulus Yaro, a power consultant, said he was aware that some power firms occasionally engaged the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and vigilante groups to patrol lines. “These efforts are not enough; from time to time, community members, including youths, should be involved in the process.

“Then security agents should be made to arrest and prosecute dealers in metal scraps, especially if they are found to be copper and aluminium conductors. That is when we will start being serious to tackle this sabotage,” said Yaro.

Compensate consumers for poor electricity – Rights group

Some observers believe that consumers must be compensated for loss of electricity over the decline in power supply services as there is a contract due to the service base tariff, which means that power consumers should pay for what they get.

Commenting on the situation, the president of the Nigerian Consumer Protection Network (NCPN), Comrade Kunle Kola Olubiyo, while condemning the acts of sabotage, noted that with all the contractual failure by the power sector value chain to give power to Nigerian consumers, there is still no compensation to consumers for poor service.

He said, “The Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) extant rules allows for downward review of band and tariff, but customers are being illegally migrated from Band C and Band D to Band A and Band B nationwide, even in the face of failures to deliver on the contract/service-based tariff. These are mechanically configured to shortchange customers.”

Olubiyo also said no customer of electricity distribution companies (DisCos) had been getting 22/16 hours of electricity and steady 10 hours attached to each of the tariff bands.

He added, “All the considerations and key indicators have failed roundly due to gas constraints, grid constraints, vandalism of gas-to-power infrastructure and vandalism of critical electricity grid value chain infrastructure, among others.

“In the face of all of these, why is it that customers’ billing classifications are being jerked up?” he asked.

By Godfrey Bivbere


A controversy is now brewing around the disappearance of about 19 containers of unknown items destined for a major Lagos based Bonded Terminal from Tin-can Island port from the port.

Vanguard Maritime Reports gathered that the missing consignments must have been “flown out” (moved) out of the port without official clearance by the approving authorities, namely, the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, the terminal operator, and others.

Should I get him deported from abroad?
This is even as the NCS has said that they are not aware of the official release of the consignments, explaining that it is possible that the issue of alleged 19 missing may have been dealt with by the Customs management.

“Flying of container” is a term used for a container moved out of the port without payment of duty and approvals.

A Customs source at Tin-can Island Command told Vanguard that the missing containers are still in the Customs computer system.

But the National Coordinator of the “100 per cent Compliance Team” of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, Ibrahim Tanko, said it is true that the 19 units of 40 foot containers were nowhere to be seen.

Speaking on the issue the Public Relations Officer of the Command, Uche Ejesieme, told Vanguard Maritime Report that the Service will leave no stone unturned to ensure that they get to the root of the matter.

According to him, “The freight forwarders who protested at the Bonded Terminal were wrong because they didn’t notify Tin Can Island Customs of their decision to protest. The issue did not just happen; it has been ongoing for several years.”

“All the bonded terminal’s facilities were closed on instructions from headquarters. Customs was able to extract some commitment from them to the extent of paying some of the charges into the government coffers before being allowed to commence operations.

“A few days ago, the National President of NAGAFF, Mr. Tony Esizi, the Founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, and Alhaji Tanko visited the Customs Area Controller who directed that Customs rejigs the file.

He also directed the Enforcement Unit of the Command to make findings on the issue to know whether the Customs headquarters comprehen-sively dealt with the matter or whether there are some unresolved areas,” he concluded.