₦airaland Forum

The Oluwo of Iwo land in Osun State, Abdulrasheed Akanbi, has requested the support of the state government financially and logistically for his upcoming marriage to an unnamed princess from Kano State.

According to a letter obtained by SaharaReporters on Friday, dated February 8, 2022, addressed to Governor Gboyega Oyetola, the monarch said the estimated amount for the event is above N20,000,000.

“I have the instruction of His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr) Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo to notify you of the Oluwo’s decision to marry a Princess from Kano Emirate, to be precise Ado Bayero dynasty.

“I wish to remind your Excellency that the kind of royal wedding within two notable traditional institutions in Nigeria will require huge expenses, which necessitate the support of state government financially even logistically.

“Moreover, the estimated amount for the event is above N20,000,000. His Excellency, Oba Akanbi relies on you for necessary consideration and approval on this request,” the letter read.

Oluwo had in December 2019 divorced his former wife, Chanel Chin, and since then there has been no queen in the palace.

He announced his divorce in 2019 through his spokesperson, Alli Ibraheem, saying the separation was borne out of “personal irreconcilable differences.”

Oluwo accused Ms Chin of filming their bedroom activities and alleged that she tried to blackmail him into giving her some money so she would not release a particular video.

The controversial monarch also mocked her, saying that God Almighty who is worthy of praise will never leave his ordained servant to be scorned by enemies.

He, however, didn’t go into the details of what is contained in the video. The monarch also slammed his alleged detractors, kings inclusive, for failing in their plans to pull him down.

In the heat of their messy separation, the ex-queen had released a video of the monarch rolling up a joint to smoke.

This was after she granted an interview accusing him of numerous vices including sleeping with their 13-year-old maid.

They had met in Toronto, Canada where they both resided, long before the king’s ascension to the throne.

They tied the knot after his ascendancy on November 10, 2015.

The marriage produced a son named Oduduwa. In an interview published in December 2020, the monarch’s estranged wife said her marriage to the Oluwo was built on falsehood.

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Aisha Buhari on Kaduna-Abuja rail

President Muhammadu Buhari's administration has invested heavily in the revamping of Nigeria's rail sector.

First Lady Aisha Buhari on Thursday travelled from Kaduna to Abuja by train, a move her aide said was meant to encourage more Nigerians to use that mode of transportation.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that Mrs Buhari arrived in Kaduna from Kano by air and then decided to travel by train to Abuja.

She was in the company of her younger brother, Mahmud Ahmad, also known as Modi, and a few aides.

Those familiar with her movement said the train left Kaduna at 4 pm and arrived in Abuja at past 6 pm.

Our sources said Mrs Buhari and members of her immediate family have travelled by air since her husband came to power in 2015. The family has always travelled by planes provided by the presidential air fleet.

This is the first time she would make a long journey by any other mode of transportation, one of her associates told PREMIUM TIMES.

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Aisha Buhari on Kaduna-Abuja rail

Following incessant kidnappings on the Kaduna-Abuja road, many Nigerian commuters have abandoned the route and have resorted to travelling between the two cities by train.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has invested heavily in the revamping of Nigeria’s rail sector.

Apart from the Abuja-Kaduna line, the Lagos-Ibadan railway has also effectively roared back to life.

A few other rail lines across the country have also been rehabilitated or are being revamped

Sani Suleiman, a 14-year-old bandit has been arrested by operatives of the Zamfara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The teenager is said to be one of the foot soldiers of a bandit kingpin, Bello Turji and a rapist.

This was made known by the State commandant, A.A. Sparks who addressed journalists on Wednesday.

According to him, Suleiman was arrested in Kadage village, in Moriki Emirate, Zurmi Local Government Area.

Sparks noted that from investigation, it was discovered that the teenager was trained in the use of weapons by one Salihu Gang at Sububu forest.

He said the boy confessed that he participated in cattle rustling and kidnapping activities.

“Salihu Gang is said to be a foot soldier of a notorious armed bandit known as (Bello) Turji that has been terrorising the entire northwest zone,” Sparks said.

According to him, the boy confessed that he had been raping women brought to their camps.

He, however, said investigation was still ongoing and that the boy would be arraigned in court as soon as the investigation was completed.

Similarly, the corps arrested 10 illegal miners at Matuzgi village, in the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of the state.

The arrested miners are suspected to be bandits operating in the state.

“The men of the corps raided the illegal mining site in the early hours of Wednesday, 9th February, 2022, where about 9 bags of raw precious stones were confiscated by the corps special strike force and brought to the command,” he said.

He listed shovels, diggers and hammers as some of the exhibits recovered from the site.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says normalcy will be restored to petrol stations in Abuja and other areas in about three days following the resumption of loading in Lagos depots.

Mr Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive, NMDPRA, made this known when he visited some petroleum products depots in Apapa and Ijegun-Egba areas of Lagos State on Wednesday.

The depots visited by Ahmed who was accompanied by Mr Adeyemi Adetunji, Group Executive Director, Downstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., included 11 Plc, NIPCO, A.A. Rano and Emadeb.

Ahmed said the scarcity was caused by the stoppage of loading for some days when a vessel of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imported into the country was discovered to contain methanol above the specified volume.

He said the technical team comprising stakeholders in the downstream sector had been able to identify, isolate and quarantine the limited amount of PMS affected by the methanol volume that was discovered.

Ahmed said: “We have gone round some of the depots in Apapa and Ijegun-Egba and they are loading.

“These products that are being loaded have been tested and are being distributed to Lagos and other Northern parts of the country.

“There is a vessel that just arrived with 39,000 MT, which would be distributed to the major marketers here in Apapa.

“Once they start loading, Lagos will be cleared in a day or two but trucking from here to Abuja and other areas will take two to three days.”

He noted that the incident had taught the authority a lesson on the need for extra due diligence in carrying out its regulatory activities.

“I will not make any excuses. The fact is that there were mistakes made because we received product that was off specification even though there was a surveyor that actually went on board and took sample.

“Because this parameter was not indicated, they didn’t capture that parameter.

“So it was a mistake but now going forward, obviously we have to balance all these parameters and components of imported products not only PMS but other petroleum products.

“The component that was in excess was methanol and the fuel was not toxic or something that can destroy the environment but it was a matter of how it affects machineries and vehicles,” said Ahmed.

He said the withdrawn products would be re-blended to ensure it met the country’s specification.

According to him, it will be tested to ensure it is of good quality and recertified before it is redistributed into the market. (NAN).

Inein Victor Garrick, a Nigerian living in the United Kingdom (UK), has narrated how his decision to remove his native name from his CV marked the beginning of multiple job offers for him.

The 34-year-old, who was born in Southwest Nigeria, currently works as a Safety Inspector at Transport for Wales.

He said he began using his middle name Victor after struggling to get any job offers years after graduating from South Wales University in the UK.

“I never seemed to get past the first application stages even though on paper, I had all the necessary requirements for at least an interview,” Inien told Mirror UK.

“In addition, the few calls I had, the recruiters had an issue in saying my first name correctly.

“I started using Victor’s as first name due to the barriers I faced whilst applying to jobs after university.

“With comments like your name is difficult or hard to pronounce. I always felt I was on the backfoot and sent some unconscious bias.

“The moment I changed to my middle name Victor, on my CV, within a week, I had multiple calls for interviews.”

Inien moved to the UK aged 22 and he began to experience people mispronouncing his name.

He did not mind people mispronouncing his name at first but it started getting challenging because people were not making attempts to get his name right.

Rather than call him Inien, people choose to him Victor – his last name because it was easier to pronounce.

Inien said he “really felt the effect of it when I was trying to get a job. On paper, I had the necessary qualifications to at least get an interview.”

The few calls for job offers he had were slipping off at the point when they thought his name was quite tricky but to him it is very simple – just five letters.

“That was always the start of the conversation, oh your name is difficult and then asking where I’m from,” Inien said.

“But when I got to the interview stage, I’d answer when they call out my name and I’d be asked again, almost like ‘are you sure that’s you?”

Inein works with Transport for Wales, where he has been ever since and has praised the company for its supportive ethos.

He, however, feels he was “hiding part of himself” and has decided to stop going by Victor and return to his Nigerian name.

“I think it did really hit me. Last year, I almost felt like I hid a part of myself all those years,” Inien said. “It wasn’t shame per se but I wasn’t my true self.

“People would hear Victor and assume I was British or English and I wasn’t highlighting my true identity.

“I’m proud of where I’m from and I think I hid behind Victor. This opened that door to talk about Nigeria and my cultural heritage, it’s a fantastic conversation starter.”

Peter Uzoho


Nigeria’s daily power generation has fallen by an alarming 630 megawatts (MW) since Wednesday following a fire outbreak at Egbin Power Plant in Ikorodu, Lagos State and the resultant shut down of generation by the company.

This development, coupled with the load reduction mechanism adopted by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to prevent system collapse, has worsened the power supply situation in Lagos State. Electricity consumers in the state and its environs have been witnessing constant power outages for several weeks.

Egbin Power had, in a statement issued to its stakeholders and the general public yesterday, reported the fire incident at its power plant on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, at about 4.20pm, leading to blackout in Lagos State.

The thermal plant has an installed capacity of 1,320MW consisting of six turbines of 220MW each, while its actual average generating capacity is about 800MW.

Egbin said the fire outbreak was successfully contained by a team of its firefighters in collaboration with firefighters from the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) in Egbin.

The company said it had set out a process to determine the cause of the fire incident as it had temporarily suspended its operations in line with the plant’s safety procedures.

“Egbin has since activated its emergency response mechanism to determine the cause of the incident, while operations at the plant have been temporarily suspended in line with the plant’s safety procedures. Egbin is also working with the Federal Fire Service, the Federal Ministry of Power and other stakeholders to review the incident,” the management of the power plant said in the statement.

Confirming the fire incident and its technical implications, TCN’s spokesperson, Mrs. Ndidi Mba, told THISDAY yesterday that it had led to the removal of a total of 630MW from the national grid.

Mba said, “We know that there was a fire outbreak and the total generation of 630MW was removed from the grid because of that.

“You know, when a fire outbreak happens, even if it doesn’t affect the entire units, the tendency is that, to protect the other ones, you shut them down.”

“So, as I said, 630mw was removed from the grid on that day (Wednesday).”

Nigeria generates an average of 8,000mw of electricity daily, out of the installed 13,800mw capacity, transmits an average of 5,000mw, while distribution hovers between 3,000 and 2,500mw.

Meanwhile, electricity consumers in Lagos and its environs have recently been witnessing constant power outages.

The two distribution companies serving Lagos – Ikeja Electric (IE) and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) -attributed the outages under their networks to a drop in power generation in the country.

In a recent statement for its customers, IE blamed the power outage experienced in certain parts of its network on load shedding by the TCN as a result of a drop in power generation.

EKEDC had also attributed the reduction in supply to the drop in power generation from an average of 3,700MW to 2,000MW.

The Disco said this was caused by gas limitations arising from vandalism and more recently an issue affecting the TCN line from the Egbin Power Plant.

Explaining the constant power outages in Lagos State in recent times, the TCN spokesperson stated that the state was a high consumption area and that the agency had to reduce the load to avoid overloading 330kv lines within the state and to achieve load balance.

Meanwhile, Egbin has assured the public that its technical team is working assiduously to restore operations.

“As the foremost power plant in the nation, Egbin remains committed to providing power innovatively and responsibly in compliance with good health, safety and environmental standards,” she added.

By Dapo Akinrefon, Levinus Nwabughiogu, Omeiza Ajayi, Rotimi Ojomoyela & Shina Abubakar


LAGOS — Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the South-West zone are divided over the presidential ambitions of former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; and Ekiti State Governor, and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

While Fayemi is still consulting, three of the five governors from the zone are said to be with Tinubu, and one is undecided whether to back Tinubu or Osinbajo.

Governor Fayemi, who is eyeing the Presidency, said to be in consultation, is not backing Tinubu or Osinbajo. He has his ambition to pursue.

His neighbouring colleague from Ondo State, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, is undecided.

However, it was gathered that Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State are solidly behind Tinubu.

This happened as aggrieved APC governorship aspirants in Ekiti, who lost out in last Thursday’s primaries said they would not leave the party.

Also, a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, declined jurisdiction to entertain the case instituted by some aggrieved members of APC loyal to Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, against the ward congresses held in the state.

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the party and former House of Representatives Committee Chairman on National Security and Intelligence, Aminu Sani Jaji, has weighed in on the crisis in the party, declaring that a national chairmanship aspirant and former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, is not a registered member of the APC.


‘Abiodun is with Tinubu’

A source, who spoke with Vanguard in confidence, said: “The governor (of Ogun State) is with Tinubu. It was the Tinubu bloc that produced Dapo Abiodun as governor in 2019 and not Osinbajo’s bloc.”


Fayemi still consulting

Asked the side of the divide Governor Fayemi belongs, a credible source told Vanguard that Fayemi was still consulting on his presidential ambition.

“If we are going to come out, we must have crossed the ‘T’s and dotted the ‘I’s and we know that we have hope and our chances are bright.

“There is no point coming out without making an impact. It is important to make due consultations and be sure that if I come out, people will support me. He is not coming out to impress anybody.

“If it is necessary and the environment is okay, he will come out,” he said.

Asked if other APC governors were backing Fayemi, the source said: “You cannot measure that. However, his colleagues love him, his leadership direction, and the dynamism he has brought to bear, especially on the NGF.”


Osun APC congress: Court strikes out suit filed by Aregbesola’s group

In Osun, the aggrieved party members had urged the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo to invalidate the ward congresses held in the state on July 31, 2021.

The APC National Caretaker Chairman, Governor Mai Mala-Buni, Chairmen of the Congress and Appeal committees, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, among others were joined as defendants in the suit.

In its preliminary objection, counsel to the party, Governor Buni and INEC, argued that the case was a purely party affair, which the court should not dabble into and that Governor Buni by virtue of his position cannot be sued in such matter, among other grounds.

Counsel to the aggrieved party members, Mahmood Adesin, SAN, said the court could hear the matter because it bordered on exclusion of party members.

The presiding Judge, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, while giving his ruling, held that the suit brought before the court was strictly a party affair, which the court could not meddle in.

“The claim of the plaintiffs is to draw the court into the internal affairs of the party, which is not enshrined in the constitution.

“The Supreme Court has said courts can’t interfere with the internal issue of a party, unless it falls under Section 87(9) of the Electoral Act.

“The plaintiffs are not qualified to be called aspirants in the said congress. An aspirant is someone who has participated in an election.

“The fact remains that this matter does relate to the nomination of any candidate. Accordingly, the dispute does not fall under Section 87( of Electoral Act and Section 251 of the CFRN. The case of the plaintiffs is not covered by the law and can’t be adjudicated by the court,” he ruled.


We’re not leaving APC – Ekiti aggrieved gov aspirants

In Ekiti, there is no sign of respite yet in the crisis rocking the APC over its just concluded primary as some aggrieved aspirants, including the senator representing Ekiti Central, Opeyemi Bamidele, and a House of Representatives member, Femi Bamisile, talked tough, yesterday.

They clarified that decamping from the party was not an option but would rather stay inside the party and employ political and legal means to correct the alleged electoral irregularities perpetrated during the primary.

Shortly after addressing members of his campaign team across the 16 local government areas, who converged on his office in Ado Ekiti, Bamidele, at a joint press briefing with Bamisile, formally rejected the outcome of the primary that produced Biodun Oyebanji.

The senator added that all the alleged shenanigans and breach of the party’s constitution perpetrated by the Governor Abubakar Badaru-led Primary Committee would be addressed politically and legally to teach APC a lesson it will never forget.

On whether the seven aggrieved aspirants that had constituted themselves into a political force with the acronym G7 would defect from APC, Bamidele said: “None of us is contemplating defecting from APC; this is our party. We have contributed so much to it from the days of the Alliance for Democracy, AD.

“All we are asking for is justice. We are waiting for the national leadership to take the right step and this must start by them submitting a dummy name to INEC and use the two weeks window available as contained in the Electoral Act to do what is right in this matter. I can be quoted that the name that will be taken to INEC in Abuja will be a dummy name, so those celebrating should do that in moderation.

“If it is part of their calculation that we will leave the party for them, they are making a mistake. We are still waiting for the national leadership on our collective position. We have filed petitions and if they endorse that impunity they called primary, it will be clear that we have exhausted all the internal mechanisms for crisis resolution and we can return to the court of law.”

Bola Tinubu a was allegedly manipulated, Bamidele stated that the Badaru-led committee hijacked the process by distributing materials a day before election, changed collation centres, and arbitrarily appointed those that would do Oyebanji’s biddings to compromise the process and subvert the will of the people.”

“The process was totally hijacked by the Badaru committee. We saw people who were campaign managers, sponsors and promoters of Biodun Oyebanji being appointed and saddled with the responsibility of being Returning Officers in the 16 local governments.

“The election materials were to be distributed early on Thursday before the start of the primary in the presence of agents of aspirants, INEC, security chiefs and monitoring teams. But materials, both sensitive and non-sensitive, were distributed the previous night. We got calls that as of 11pm, Governor Badaru had handed over materials to returning officers from the 16 councils.

“Out of the 16 Returning Officers appointed, 11 of them were with Oyebanji when he collected his expression of interest form at the party secretariat in Abuja. In several of our local governments, the venues of our collation centres were changed. At the appropriate time, we will give evidence that will put all of us in public court and that will be useful in the court of law. Available INEC reports shows that there was no voting, no valid primary election in Ekiti.”

In his submission, Bamisile warned the security agencies against threatening people with arrest over the APC governorship crisis, saying such will not work.

“This is our state, we are fighting for what we believe in, this is a democracy where everyone has the right to support whoever one likes. The police shouldn’t threaten us with arrest. Nobody can stop this, the only thing they can do to stop us is to allow justice in our party.

“Whatever votes they have allotted to us will reflect on the day of election. We won’t leave this party, but not leaving does not mean that APC will not be taught a lesson. This is not a threat, but a prophecy that will come to pass. We are not going anywhere, but if the party doesn’t do it right, they will be taught a lesson they will never forget”.


Ex-Gov Yari not a member of APC — Jaji

In Zamfara, Mr. Aminu Sani Jaji said that former Governor Abdulaziz Yari is not a registered member of the APC.

His declaration comes a few weeks after another chairmanship aspirant and Special Adviser to Zamfara State Governor on Intergovernmental Affairs, Abdullahi Shinkafi, said Yari was unknown to the party.

Speaking with Vanguard, yesterday, in Abuja, Jaji also dismissed concerns that the request by the Abdullahi Adamu-led APC National Reconciliation Committee for an additional seven days to turn in its final report was meant to postpone the February 26 national convention.

Asked about the prospects of having a rancour-free convention, especially with crises in some state chapters of the party, including Zamfara, Jaji said: “We are not divided. I don’t know if Yari is a registered member of the party, but for me, he is not an APC member.”

When reminded that Yari was instrumental to the formation of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party ANPP, one of the legacy parties which led to the formation of the APC, Jaji queried: “Who built the ANPP? How did he build APC? Who is he to build APC? APC is a party and a platform. But before the emergence of APC, there was ANPP. Did Yari build the ANPP?

“Does that mean all the governors of ANPP owned the party? It is crystal clear that if he wants to contest or partake in the APC process, he needs to go back to his ward and register again.”

Yari had earlier dismissed allegations that he does not have a valid APC membership registration card.

“Why should anybody explain to the public that someone who was a governor did not have a membership registration card of the party he worked so tirelessly to form?” he queried.

On the possible postponement of the national convention due to the additional days requested by the reconciliation committee, the APC chieftain said there was still time to put in place mechanisms for the conduct of the exercise.

“The stewardship of the governor of Yobe State for maybe under one year, has revamped and transformed the party. It is yielding results. Recall that more governors have defected to the party but at the same time, there must be internal democracy.

“However, what the reconciliation committee is requesting will not in any way tamper with the date of the convention. The reconciliation process is an ongoing development. There is no problem with it. The CECPC can still submit the letter to meet up with the INEC deadline. “It is not an issue anymore. The most important aspect is for us, the APC members, to start congratulating the Mai Mala Buni-led CECPC for what they did. If we can get a national chairman, who can deliver and be committed like Buni, the APC will prosper,” he stated.


APC women write Buhari, NEC, ask for postponement of February Convention

Meanwhile, a coalition of APC Women Groups, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to postpone indefinitely the national convention of the party fixed for February 26.

This was contained in a statement signed by Dr. Cecilia Ikechukwu and other members in Abuja yesterday.

The coalition said there were many contentious and unresolved issues, which might affect the outcome of the convention.

“Your Excellency, currently the party has factions in 14 states, which is because the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) under His Excellency, Mai Malam Buni has done a good job in reconciling factions in other states and re-organization of the party.

“The party is yet to recover from the attendant losses from elections that were ordinarily guaranteed in Rivers and Zamfara state during the 2019 General Elections.

“Instead of learning the hard lessons contained in those avoidable experiences, the state governors and the colluding party leaders are rather adamant on repeating the show of shame on a national scale by fixing a date for the National Convention without first resolving the damaging issues on ground.

“As it was with Rivers and Zamfara states, there are legal implications for how the party is progressing into a national convention with all the issues surrounding the party.

“We fear the APC is now firmly placed to lose all the positions our members will contest for, not only at the polls but on legal technicalities as was the case in those two states,” the group stated.

The women group also appealed “that the convention be postponed indefinitely to allow the CECPC resolve these issues within the next three days and come up with a comprehensive report on how to navigate the murky waters the APC currently finds itself.

“That the Abdullahi Adamu committee be disbanded immediately, and a new committee set up, since this committee has serially failed in its mandate.

“That Mr. President unites the APC stakeholders and lead them to counter the influence of the cabals that want to destroy the party from within at all costs.

“It is our firm belief that these steps, if urgently taken, can pull the APC from the brink, although the window for saving the party is fast closing. Please Mr. President, save the APC from implosion,” the statement added.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has shut an Abuja-based radio station, Vision FM, for discussing the extension of the appointment of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Director-General, Rufai Abubakar and his alleged incompetence.

In a letter addressed to Vision FM’s Managing Director on Wednesday, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) claimed it sanctioned the broadcasting outfit for airing content harmful to national security in one of its programmes, ‘Idon Mikiya’ on January 5, 2022.

NBC pointed out that the station breached section 39 (3) (b) of the 1999 Constitution that imposed restrictions on issues relating to government security services or agencies.

It said: “Your discussion of issues, including appointments of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) constitutes a breach of the provision of section 39 (3) (b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which imposes restrictions on matters concerning government security services or agencies established by law.”

The Commission fined the media outlet N5 million and suspended the programme for six months from January 28, 2022.

It claimed that transmitting trade secrets and other issues regarding a national security agency was an act prejudicial to national security.

In December, President Muhammadu Buhari extended the tenure of Abubakar as the DG of NIA, despite internal protests against his reappointment.

Top NIA brass and critics of Buhari’s government had queried the appointment of Abubakar in 2018.

They complained about his competence, nationality and the motive behind his appointment.

One of the criticisms against the NIA boss appointment was how he allegedly failed his promotion examinations into directorship rank on three different occasions before being compulsorily retired.

Aside Abubakar’s alleged lack of qualification for the NIA top job, some directors in the agency accused the President of tribalism and religious bias in reappointing him.

The extension of him appointment in November took effect from January 10 2022, the same day he was first appointed the NIA boss in 2018.

Emirates Airline, the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), says it will resume passenger flight operations between Dubai and Nigeria on Saturday, February 5, 2022.

The airline said that passengers travelling to Dubai would undergo an additional COVID-19 test and remain in self-quarantine until the results of the test are received.

By Emmanuel Ani

It was a sad tale for members of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Oluwatoyi District in Ado-Ekiti, on Monday, as their monthly global crusade ended in a fiasco.

According to the wife of the pastor in charge of the church, Dr. Ajibade, trouble started when suspected thugs allegedly led by one Alfa Kudus, in their numbers, thronged the church premises to disrupt the solemn assembly.

Ajibade recounted that ”during our Global Crusade on 31st January 2022 at the Deeper Life Bible Church Oluwatoyi District Ado-Ekiti, a young man, named Alfa Kudus came with some men to meet one of our members (Brother Imole) during the prayer session and started shouting that his wife was beaten by Bro. Imole.

”They started beating Bro. Imole and within a few seconds about seven persons joined them, including a girl, before we intervened.

”The Pastor of the church told them to settle the issues outside but they failed to listen to him. One of them used a baton to beat Bro. Imole. They also destroyed 12 seats.

”It took the intervention of the landlord to restore normalcy before the matter was reported to the police.”

As of the time of filing this report, the matter is under investigation at the Police Area Command in Ado-Ekiti.

No fewer than 38 new aircrafts have been inducted into the inventory of the Nigerian Air Force to combat insurgency activities in the country.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, in the latest edition of the Airman, a magazine of the Nigerian Air Force, made the disclosure.
Amao explained that the latest addition to the fleet included the 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft recently acquired by the Nigerian Government.

He said while some of the aircraft had been deployed to tackle insecurity in some parts of the country, the others were being used to upscale its pilots’ training.

The Chief of Air affirmed that 173 pilots have been trained in the last six years with additional 155 student pilots undergoing training.

He said, “Prior to the coming on board of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in 2015, the NAF was in the pitiable state owing to neglect as most of its platforms were grounded or in states of disrepair.

"Officials initially offered to help but when the number of able-bodied citizens at the centre increased, they left us unattended to.

“The NAF can now boast of 38 brand new aircraft to tackle various security challenges and upscale its pilots’ training. The latest addition to the list is the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft which were recently inducted into the NAF order of Battle.

“The acquisitions and reactivation, as well as the emplacement of a robust logistics support structure, have enabled the NAF to raise the serviceability status from about 35 per cent in 2015 to about 72 per cent as of September 2021.

"The Force has introduced 11 new doctrines to guide its operations. The doctrines are based on analysis of the contemporary security environment as well as operational experiences.

"The competencies in the Air Force are now being guided by the doctrines."

The Nigeria Police Force has invited Instagram cleric, Prophet Adelana Adekunle Solomon, popularly known as Oba Solomon, for questioning.

In a letter seen by SaharaReporters, the police said the cleric known for his controversial preaching on social media was invited over a petition against him.

“The office is investigating a matter reported to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan Lagos,” part of the invitation letter read.

“In order to facilitate investigation, you are requested to report to the office in-charge of Zonal Complaint Response Unit, CSP Olukode Taofiki with GSM No. 08063250810 on 2nd February, 2022 by 1000hrs.”

When SaharaReporters reviewed Solomon’s Instagram page, several posts critiquing the Nigerian government and members of the All Progressives Congress were seen.

The latest was about him criticising the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The former Lagos governor had recently declared his intention to run for the country’s president in 2023.

“If I am a true Prophet of God, Tinubu will not become the President of Nigeria and he becomes the President, he will not spend 4 years before he will die,” the cleric had said in the video.

By Tina Abeku, Abuja


There was confusion at the headquarters of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), Abuja, where 18-year-old 200 level student of Baze University, Ifoema Obalum accused her father of sexual assault and resisted attempts by officials of the agency to forcefully hand her and the younger brother over to the accused.

The duo, had in December last year, ran to NAPTIP seeking protection from the father who is medical personnel at the State House clinic and a lecturer at the same Baze University, Abuja.

She accused her father of sexual assault, physical abuse and inflicting serious injuries on her 15-year-old younger brother since June 2020 when they began living with him. Before then, they lived in their maternal home after their mother and sole custodian died of cancer on May 21, 2018.

However, after a legal fight, the father was granted custody of Obalum and the younger brother by a Lagos family court.

The accused arrived at the headquarters of the agency with the court’s verdict along with his entourage, consisting of his legal representatives, some able-bodied men and a female who tried to take away the children who were handed over to them by the Rapid Response Unit of NAPTIP but failed to achieve his aim as the duo resisted the move.

NAPTIP said it couldn’t go against the court order, but the children resisted, crying and shouting that they would not return to the home of their abuser, but would rather commit suicide. This drew more attention from passersby and onlookers as the Investigating Officer on the case in the Rapid Response Unit of NAPTIP; Mrs. Usafina Chimera attempted to drag the children to their father to be taken away.

When asked by journalists why the agency is returning the children to the alleged abuser after coming to the agency for shelter, Chimera said: “What we do in the Rapid Response Unit is that when a complaint is lodged against someone, we go rapidly to rescue this person. When we received this complaint, we went to Baze University to where she stayed Mmaclocker with her brother to rescue her after her exams. Based on her statement, we commenced an investigation, and have taken the case to the legal department and it advise that there is no prima-facie evidence in prosecuting the case.

The girl, who has turned 18, is old enough to go further with the case. As an agency, we follow orders and the directives is that we should hand over the two of them to the father.”

On why she sought help from NAPTIP and their refusal to return to her father, Ifeoma explained that they had never really lived with their father until the passing of their mother shortly before she turned 18. She said their father came with policemen to their school to forcefully take them away from their maternal family’s custody, but failed and later sought custody through the court and it was granted to him.

She said: “I came to NAPTIP because I had to report to them a case of my father sexually assaulting me and physically abusing my brother, how he maltreats us, neglects us, and keeps us locked up in the house for three weeks with no form of communication to the world. No phone, internet, television, nothing.”

MEANWHILE, lawyers to the defendants, who work with PUNUKA attorneys and solicitors led by Ebele Enida has written a petition letter to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene on the matter.

A document made available to The Guardian reads “Petition against Dr. Dike Obalum for physical and Sexual Assault on his biological daughter, Miss Ifoema Obalum and Chukwuemeka Obalum.

The lawyers are urging President Muhammadu Buhari to use his office to investigate the matter and protect the children.

At 20, Esther Akan says she shoulders the burden of a 40-year-old and she does not look her age. As she strides through a bush path, on a sunny day in December 2021, with a basket on her head, her three-year-old daughter lets out a shrill scream.

Esther has no job and is pregnant. She became a farmer who only cultivates on their family’s small plot of land primarily to feed herself and her daughter. She also takes some to the market to sell whenever there is a surplus of her farm produce.

Five years ago, Esther was an SS2 student at Community Secondary Grammar School, Ikot Essien, Ibesikpo-Asutan, Akwa Ibom State. Then 16 years old, she got pregnant by her former schoolmate who had turned 30 already. She moved in with him as his wife and stopped going to school, a decision she says she now regrets.

In January 2021, her husband passed away shortly after confirming Esther was expecting their second child.

“I regretted taking that decision (early marriage). Instead of gaining, I am now suffering more than before,” Esther told PREMIUM TIMES.

In Nigeria, child marriage is defined as the union between two people in which one or both parties are younger than 18. In Akwa Ibom, the age of adulthood is 16. The United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 43 per cent of women in Nigeria aged between 20 and 24 got married before their 18th birthday. About 17 per cent were married by their 15th birthday.

Also, 80 per cent of those married before 18 gave up education as did 39 per cent of those married before 15.

While child marriage is predominant in northern Nigeria, with Jigawa having the worst situation with 90 per cent of girls less than 18 marrying in the state, the phenomenon also exists in southern Nigeria – albeit at a relatively lower scale.

Four states with the highest incidence of child marriage in the south are Ogun, Oyo, Delta and Akwa Ibom, with 29 per cent, 23 per cent, 23 per cent and 22 per cent respectively, according to the UNICEF data.

In Akwa Ibom, many people view such unions as illegal as they often do not follow the traditional means of getting married. In many cases, when a girl gets pregnant, their parents simply hand them over to their abusers and insist they be married. This is common with girls from poor homes.

“What you are seeing here are illegal unions between young girls and men. They do not follow the proper marital procedures so we cannot call them marriages,” said Michael Udoaba, a traditional birth attendant and community leader at Okop Ndua Erong community of Ibeskpo-Asutan area of the state.

“Most of them are impregnated at an early stage, some at 14 years old and some at 15 or even less, once that happens, they will move in to stay with the man that is responsible for the pregnancy.”

That often means dropping out of school.

In 2018, Akwa Ibom had the second-highest number of out-of-school children in the country, second only after Kano. The state recorded 581,800 children who were not in school while Kano had 989,234, according to the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC.

In terms of gender spread, Akwa Ibom had the highest number of out-of-school female children in the country with 298,161. The closest contender, Sokoto, recorded 270,586.

BACK TO ESTHER

Esther, the first of five children, lost her father at age 12. Her poor mother took farming jobs to feed her five children, and Esther managed to go to school after being sent off to work as a house help.

She became pregnant at 16 and moved in with the man, Ernest Ukpe, a former schoolmate. There were no rites to formalise the union, but they were referred to as a couple nonetheless.

Esther said her hope was to have some support from the marriage for her poor family. She stopped going to school.

“When I lost my dad, my mother was just a housewife and doing anything. Things were not easy for me and my siblings, we could not afford house rent and food, so we decided to relocate and join our grandmother in the village,” Esther said.

Although Ernest had managed to complete secondary education, he had no job. They struggled daily to feed and Ernest repeatedly beat her, she said. But she stayed back with the man nonetheless.

“My mother had said that marriage is all about endurance,” she told PREMIUM TIMES.

In January 2021, after four years together, Ernest took ill and died shortly after the couple discovered Esther was expecting their second child.

“Even when he fell sick, there was no money to take him to hospital,” Esther said. A few months later, her newborn had a fever and died.

Amid hardship, Esther relocated from the small apartment they lived in to be with her grandmother in her native village, Ikot Udo.

“I am traumatised emotionally and I’m hoping for help from God,” she said in between sobs.

Angelina’s Story

Angelina (real name withheld), 17, another young mother from Ikot Obio Ndoho village in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area, also left school before she became a teenager.

Like Esther, she too said she has suffered immense abuse at the hands of the man she calls husband.

“My husband always abuses me; most times he uses wood or plank to beat me. He always said to me that his father beat his mother to death, therefore, he can also beat me to death as well and nobody will do anything,” Angelina said.

“Most times, he abuses me and my family members verbally. He will not give me food for like 3 to 4 days. Anytime I informed my mother about what is happening in my marriage, my mother always advised me to endure and stay in the marriage, that marriage is all about tolerance,” the mother of one lamented.

Angelina, who cried uncontrollably while narrating her story, said she refused to report her husband to the police or any other security operatives due to the fear that her husband might kill her.

She narrated how things were difficult in her family after losing her father at a tender age and how she had to leave school then, at Primary six.

“After the death of my father, I could not continue in school again due to the difficult situation in the family. My mother alone struggled a lot to feed me and my siblings, in order to raise money and support her, I decided to start working as a salesgirl for someone and it was in that process that I met my husband.

“I planned to go back to school when things improve in my family, but when my husband met me, I could not resist him because I needed support and because of the early marriage, I was not able to go back to school anymore,” Ms Enobong added.

STEMMING THE TIDE

The Akwa Ibom Government says it has campaigned intensely against early marriage and the results have been coming in. In 2020, the government enacted a law banning marriage below the age of 16.

In other words, while the Nigerian government through the Child Rights Act recognises 18 as the age of adulthood, it is 16 years in Akwa Ibom.

“We have our own Child Right Law in Akwa Ibom State and the set age is 16 years,” the Deputy Director in the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice who is also a Director in the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Response Unit, Akwa Ibom State, Emem Ette, told PREMIUM TIMES.

She said the government is against child marriage, therefore such practice is an offence in Akwa Ibom State.

“In Akwa Ibom State, if a child under the age of 16 is raped or impregnated by a man, whether she gave her consent or not, as far as the law is concerned, someone that is below the age of 16 cannot give consent and so whoever that impregnated her should be reported to the police and prosecuted for raping that child,” she said.

She said the government was opposed to the practice of parents handing their wards to their abusers to marry.

“No parents should carry their child and say because you have impregnated my child, you should marry my child, it is not right. The law is against it and that is violence against person prohibition law, the law is very clear about early child marriage in the state,” Mrs Ette said.

She said the government’s effort was paying off, and there were fewer cases of child marriage. What the government is more concerned about now is dealing with teenage pregnancy, she said.

According to the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 2018, the adolescent (15-19 years) pregnancy rate in Akwa Ibom State was estimated at 12.8 per cent. It was the third-highest in the South-South region after Bayelsa’s 19.9 per cent and Cross River’s 14 per cent.

Since coming to power, the Udom Emmanuel administration of Akwa Ibom has given attention to the menace, with inspiration drawn from Mr Emmanuel’s wife’s declared passion for the girl-child.

Mrs Emmanuel in 2015 launched the Family Empowerment and Youth Reorientation Programme (FEYReP) to address the problem of teenage pregnancy.

“One of the major focuses of FEYReP will be on how to prevent teenage pregnancy. Some of these girls are victims of rape and other forms of gender-based violence. According to the 2012 Gender in Nigeria Report, one in every three girls aged 15 to 24 experience violence,” Mrs Emmanuel said during the launch of the programme, as reported by Vanguard newspaper.

The group advocates the prevention of teenage pregnancy and the promotion of the education of the girl-child.

The State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Ini Adiakpan, acknowledged that teenage pregnancy remains a problem in the state.

“In Akwa Ibom, how do we protect the girl child? The government has put in place some legal framework to protect the child; we have the Child Right Act, the gender policy among others. We also have free and compulsory education, which embraces both the male and female children and at that point, every child is expected to be in school,” she told PREMIUM TIMES.

“We teach them etiquette, we bring in role models who have achieved and succeeded to tell them how they did it right from childhood to adulthood and ensure that they specify that it was not smooth all through, that they had problems to become who they are. We believe that will strengthen them, raise their self-esteem and build their capacity to withstand pressure from within and without their families.

“In trying to reduce poverty and idleness among young people, we have introduced a lot of skill acquisition programs. We also have technology incubation centres where we call for training, handpick people and send for training as well. These steps will help them to become useful citizens to themselves and to society.”

Despite these efforts, the problem persists. More young women are leaving education due to pregnancy and childbirth.

More Cases

In 2020, Blessing Inyang, 17, returned to the village after a few years in Lagos with her aunty. She continued her education but soon dropped out of school after getting pregnant.

“When I returned from Lagos last year, I entered a relationship that did not last long and it resulted in pregnancy. The person that is responsible for the pregnancy had travelled to Lagos early this year to look for a job. Before then, I did not know I was pregnant.

“When I realised and I informed him about the pregnancy, he said I should abort it and I told him I cannot do it, since then, he refused to call me and has not been picking my calls anymore,” Blessing said.

Blessing gave birth a day before her interview with PREMIUM TIMES.

The new mother constantly sobbed as health workers from a non-governmental organisation, who introduced her, administered medical care on her. She complained of intense pain in her lower abdomen.

“I am crying not only because of the pains, but also the fact that I cannot continue in my education as expected. I registered for the WAEC and NECO examination; the pregnancy stopped me from writing the exam,” she said.

“My mother is late, it is only me and my father and he always told me that he is disappointed in me. My father is the one taking care of all the bills here. My boyfriend doesn’t pick my calls or send money to support me,” she added.


MORE THAN MISSING EDUCATION

Besides missing out on school, many victims of early marriage and teenage pregnancy in Akwa Ibom suffer severe violence at the hands of their so-called husbands.

FHI360/AHNI, a non-governmental organisation focused on combating gender-based violence (GBV), said it recorded scores of cases of GBV in Akwa Ibom last year.

In 2021, the highest number of sexual assaults the group recorded was in September, which had 23 cases, followed by June with 22 cases recorded in the month, according to data it shared with PREMIUM TIMES.

One of such victims of GBV in the state is 20-year-old Glory Udo. Also from Mkpat Enin, she got married at age 15. She discontinued her education after her Junior Secondary School Examination (JSS3) when she became pregnant. Her plan to return to school did not happen after childbirth.

She became a second wife and according to her, her decision was influenced by hardship. She has since suffered immense violence, she said.

“I am married to a man that has two wives and I am the second wife and also the youngest wife,” she said. “My husband always beats me with cutlass whenever we have misunderstandings.”

Glory, who was pregnant when she spoke to PREMIUM TIMES, said she relocated to her family house so she could get care, and anytime she decides to visit the man to request money, she would always end up fighting the first wife.

Health Implication

Many of the young women also face a potentially debilitating health problem as their young bodies overlabour to carry pregnancies and deliver their babies.

At a private centre on the outskirt of Uyo, the state capital, a team of non-governmental health experts work to save women from Vesico vaginal Fistula (VVF) and Recto Vaginal Fistula (RVF), defects that arise either from poor care during childbirth or underdeveloped body unable to bear the rigorous strains of child birth.

Family Life Centre-VVF Hospital, Uyo
Between January and September this year, the team from Family Life Centre/VVF Hospital at Mbribit Itam told PREMIUM TIMES it worked on several VVF cases, but at least 13 of the patients were between 13 and 18 years.

The figures recorded this year by the Mbribit Itam team so far are the highest in the last four years, data reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES show.

VVF cases at the family life center in the last five years
The centre said in the underage mother category, they recorded eight, five and 11 cases in 2020, 2019 and 2018 respectively.

“Most of the childbirth and sexual-related complications witnessed among the young girls is as a result of prolonged labour faced by young girls due to immature body system during childbirth,” Thompson Ntiense, the centre’s secretary, told PREMIUM TIMES.

NGOs and COMMUNITY EFFORTS

Many NGOs in the state work to respond to the challenges of early marriage and teenage pregnancy and their attendant health problems.

FHI360/AHNI, a non-governmental organization operating in the state, said it has a standard procedure once a case of sexual abuse is reported.

“When a Gender-Based Violence case (rape) is identified, the client is tested for HIV and pregnancy test. If the results show negative, you are placed on PEP (post exposure prophylaxis) for 1 month. Then we ask the client to come back for a retest after 3 months.

“In terms of other violence and even the rape cases, we place them on LIVE support then ask if the client needs police intervention. They mostly decline because of fear,” Charity Charles, the group’s focal person on GBV said in an email response to a PREMIUM TIMES enquiry.

The organisation partners with governments, private sector and civil society to provide lifesaving healthcare to people, especially in the rural areas, advocating against gender-based violence, rendering support to internally displaced communities and among others.

At the community level, Mr Udoaba, the traditional birth attendant at Okop Ndua Erong community, said they have also taken measures to stem the tide of teenage pregnancy.

“Whenever we have town hall meetings with parents, we always put it as one of the agenda of the day, we always inform parents about educating their children and not exposing them, most especially through street hawking. Hawking here exposes girl children to problems,” he said.

“Though some of the parents said they cannot do without sending the children to go and hawk because it is one of the ways they use to fend for their education, we advise them on the age that should be allowed to hawk. We said from 17 or 18 years and above it should be allowed and it has to be at open places like the market.” Mr Udoaba, also a secondary school teacher, added.

A woman community leader in Ikot Akpa Ntia village, Essien Udim Local Government Area, Arit Udoma, said that the community council, churches and other groups in the community have taken steps to discourage child marriage, teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence in the community.

“We are doing everything possible to stop the practises in our community,” she said. “In our church, we grouped the young people into groups, we organise seminars and sensitization exercises monthly to sensitise them, informing them of the risk and dangers involved in those practises.

“For the offenders, the village set stiff penalties to whosoever caught in such a (GBV) habit.”

I recently discovered, through a mutual friend, that my so-called best friend and my husband had an affair. When I confronted my husband about it, he denied it. When I told him of the facts at my disposal, he said it only happened once and she didn’t mean anything to him.

But when I confronted my friend, what she told me was even worse. She said my husband was rubbish between the sheets and I would be better off getting myself a real man! I can’t believe the brazenness of this my so-called friend. I’m so upset.

The federal government had a second thought on fuel subsidy removal to save the ruling APC from defeat in the 2023 general elections, experts in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and university dons said on Tuesday.

Following a threat of industrial action by the organised labour, the government on Monday announced the suspension of the removal of fuel subsidy and yesterday said the intervention would continue for 18 months.

President Muhammadu Buhari has 16 months to the end of his second term; meaning the next administration would most likely inherit the debacle.

Some of the experts who spoke to our correspondents said the Buhari-led administration, like those before it, slept on duty because it failed to address the root causes of the subsidy guzzling billions of naira monthly and therefore could not articulate an enduring solution as they rounded off their stay in office.

They also said it was very unlikely for the government to achieve anything in the petroleum sector in the next 16 months.

Reacting, a renowned political scientist, Professor Kamilu Sani Fage, said looking at it contextually, it is difficult not to agree with the school of thought that the APC-led government rescinded its decision because of the fear of losing the 2023 elections.

“The fact that election is in the corner, perhaps that is why the government had to retrace its position because it knows very well that if it goes ahead with the subsidy removal, it will be counter-productive for them.

“Number two, you have to put it in the context of the crisis we are having across the nation, from Boko Haram to bandits to IPOB in the South. So, I think even that alone will make it unwise for the government to go ahead with the subsidy removal as the labour unions have said they will call for strikes and the like. So, that also could have made the government withdraw (the plan) because it would not want to add another conflict for itself,” he said.

Moving forward, Prof. Fage of the Bayero University, Kano, said as long as the country is dependent on loans from the likes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the issue of subsidy removal will keep coming up as this is one of the fundamental conditions put forward by the loan givers.

“This is why the government has to go on to satisfy the conditions of the IMF to withdraw subsidy and that is why the government keeps on taxing the people in such a way that they will generate the money to at least pay for the loans. That is why the situation is that for every naira we get, about 70 kobo go to debt servicing.

“I do not think this is the end of it (subsidy removal). For political reasons, the government has withdrawn but when a new government comes, whether APC or PDP, provided we have these loans on us, the issue of subsidy will return,” he said.

On his part, the Acting Head of Political Science Department, University of Ilorin, Prof. Muhammed Alada, told Daily Trust last night that the government was being “smart” to avoid igniting any crisis, especially in an election year.

“Because 2023 is approaching, politics will determine many things and what the government has done is defer the removal to some other time because the timing is wrong now.

“This is not an appropriate time for the administration to ignite crisis, which the withdrawal will promote”, he said.


It’s a plot to finance 2023 elections – PDP

The leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP said last night that the decision to extend the time for subsidy removal was because of 2023 politics.

Its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, when contacted by one of our correspondents to comment on the government’s latest decision, said: “And you notice that any cycle that is near elections, there is a spike in the amount of money paid as subsidy.

“Between 2017 and 2018, it rises by 400 per cent. Now between 2020 and 2021, from N104 billion, it is N1.4 trillion. So, the challenge is this, what is this for other than for corruption and election?

“Go back to the policy and the records. And I want to be specific to you about records now so that you will be guided in your reporting about the exact figure of subsidies supposedly paid under the APC government between 2017 and 2018. In 2017 alone, it was N144.3 billion that was paid. In 2018, just a year into the election, it moved from N144.5 billion to N878 billion.

“Now, see another spike, in 2019, it was N551.2 billion. In 2020, it was N102 billion. You can see the movement. In 2021, N1.4 trillion, these are all election-related corruption embedded in the regime of payment of subsidy. Now, what happened in 2020 and 2021? That was the year you have COVID when most Nigerians were at home. So, what can account for N102 billion and N1.4 trillion? So, what happened? Who was consuming those petroleum products? That tells you of some challenges there.

“So, it wasn’t just based on the finance of it, or the account of it, or the requirements or policy, it is purely policy summersault that is consistent with everything they have done,” he said.

Also, a former PDP Chairman in Lagos State, Capt. Tunji Sele (rtd) said the APC-led government had never fulfilled any of its promises.

He said while it was reasonable to remove the fuel subsidy, the government had no moral latitude to remove it, recalling that officials of the present government including the president opposed the initial plan by the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration to remove fuel subsidy.

The PDP leader said it was unfortunate that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), primed as the biggest achievement of the administration, was being subjected to a review even before implementation.

Also speaking, a Professor of Economics at the University of Lagos, Ndubisi Nwokoma, said the decision to suspend the implementation was political saying the government was “only postponing the doomsday.”

He said, “What they are doing is trying to save their neck because if they had done it, the economy would have been in turmoil and that would go against their electoral fortunes.

“The second point is that they have been going back and forth on this. It is something they cannot run away from because they have destroyed the economy;

“The third issue is about sincerity. I don’t think the people in power have shown enough sincerity because they are the ones who opposed subsidy in the previous government.”

The APC was yet to comment on the matter as of the time of filing this report.


The 18 months extension

Speaking on the extension of the subsidy for 18 months, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, told reporters after a meeting with the president that the executive will soon reach out to the National Assembly over the development.

Sylva said: “Following extensive consultations with all key stakeholders within and outside the government, it has been agreed that the implementation period for the removal of the subsidy should be extended.”

The minister, while speaking on the effects of the subsidy removal on livelihoods of the poor, said, “The President assures that his administration will continue to put in place all necessary measures to protect the livelihoods of all Nigerians, especially the most vulnerable.’’


PIA can’t work now – Fasua

An expert and Chief Executive Officer of Global Analytics, Tope Fasua, said the Petroleum Industry Act signed by President Buhari amidst celebration that it would block leakages, increase revenue for the government and create jobs will not work at present.

“The political consideration has not overtaken the Petroleum Industry Act. The truth is that, logistically, it cannot be done right now,” Fasua, a member of Daily Trust Board of Economists, said.

“It is about survival. It goes beyond this government and we have to be alive to talk about the benefit associated with the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).”

He said this government had bitten more than it could chew and could not afford another ‘EndSARS.’

“We have compounded inflation since 2015 of over 250 per cent. Unemployment is at 33 per cent and our debt stock has quadrupled. The entire economic dashboard is in red and they have to be careful how they go about these things,” he added.


Retaining subsidy not enough- NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday shelved its planned strike but said that retaining subsidy is not enough to assuage the feelings of Nigerians.

It asked the federal government to quickly fix all moribund refineries in the country and reduce the pump price of petroleum products.

Addressing journalists at Labour House in Abuja, President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, also told the President Buhari-led administration to rejuvenate all its policies and create sustainable jobs for Nigerian workers and other citizens.

“Going forward, we will continue to engage with the government on the very critical issues of ensuring local refining of petroleum, creation of sustainable jobs and affordable price of petrol for Nigerian workers and people.”

Sam Ohuabunwa:

Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa was born on August 16, 1950, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He studied pharmacy at the University of Ife (now OAU), graduating in 1976. He had postgraduate training in Business and Organisational Management at Columbia University, USA, and he is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School (LBS).

The pharmacist and businessman-turned-politician is the founder and former chief executive officer of Neimeth Pharmaceutical. Ohuabunwa has traversed the business landscape, and at different times has been at the head of seven different companies and groups including the position of chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer Specialist Limited; chairman Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG); president at Nigeria Employers Consultative Association; former chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer Products plc, and president Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.

Ohuabunwa has recently canvassed for the support of the leaders of his party, the PDP for his aspiration to govern the country. He said he is the best-suited aspirant to lead the party back to power, to rescue the country, which he observed has been disorganized from the vision of its founding fathers.

He said: “I am coming to lay the foundation for proper unity of our nation to create a level-playing ground where every child born in every part of this country will have the same opportunity as the other child to achieve his potential the way it happens the United States of America.

“This office of president is a serious office. You must have experience in managing many things at the same time. It is not to take six months to form your cabinet, take six months to plan how you are going to work. I have the experience I’ve been trained. We need to think about our government. So, we need to see governance as a business whereby we have a contract with the citizens.”

Ohuabunwa is the author of the book, “Wired to Lead – life lessons from many years of organisational leadership.”


Chukwuka Monye:

Chukwuka Monye, a 43-years old social innovator and change management expert has also declared his intention to contest for the number one position in the country during the next general elections. With the slogan “our future is now”, the Oxford-trained innovation strategist outlined a three-point agenda of security, institutional reforms and jobs for Nigeria’s rapid transformation.

Monye urged Nigerians hoping for a better nation to remain steadfast because the dream is possible. He believes the country is in dire need of a youthful and vibrant president to chart a new course for Nigerians. He told a cheering crowd, mostly youths, in his hometown, Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State, where he made the declaration that he is uniquely positioned by age and experience to serve as a bridge-builder for the nation to realise the desired future.

He said: “I represent a generation that desires opportunities to express their innovative capacities. I represent a generation that desires justice, peace and equity. I represent a generation that excels and has attempted to create the best we can, despite the limited empowerment we have received. I represent a generation that believes that a global economy can be created out of things that we are passionate about such as music, arts and technology.”

The presidential hopeful said the level of poverty in the country is alarming, with 83 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. Pointing to the fact that Nigerians are at a high point of hopelessness and despair, he said the nation’s foundational structures were “at a brink of collapse with institutions such as justice, education, health and the security infrastructure unable to effectively meet the needs of Nigerians.”

The declaration ceremony in Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State opened with a discussion. The panel of discussants includes Ambassador Elvis Akpovi, executive director “Not Too Young to Lead”, Alhaji Rabiu Aliyu, Dr Olori Boye-Ajayi and May Ikeora.

Monye was born on July 21, 1979. He was educated at Maryland Convent Primary School and the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos, before moving abroad on a scholarship.

The founder of Ciuci Consulting, a multinational operations management consulting firm, Monye believes that Africa’s growth would be propelled by empowering its people to build sustainable enterprises and embrace systems thinking. As the managing partner of the company, he has led over 400 institutional change programmes and developed strategic roadmaps for several companies.

Monye, who is featured in the 2021 bestselling “Business Success Secrets” of global leaders, has been impacting lives through various charitable initiatives around the country.


Khadija Okunnu-Lamidi:

Mrs Khadija Okunnu-Lamidi, a 38-year-old media entrepreneur has also declared her intention to seek a political party’s nomination to contest next year’s presidential election.

Okunnu-Lamidi, who is the founder of Slice Media Solutions, made the declaration in Lagos recently. She does not belong to any political party yet. She is perhaps hoping that any party that shares her vision would adopt her to fly the flag of the party.

Okunnu-Lamidi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Human Resources Management from the University of Bolton and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Project Management (MSc) from Heriot-Watt University.

Speaking to reporters, Okunnu-Lamidi said she sees herself as the arrowhead for the intervention of her generation’s interests across the nation for politics and good governance. She said: “I seek to change the direction of our country because time and chance will happen to all of us and the time for action is today.

“We need a better class and a better crop of leaders that are selfless, disciplined and bound with integrity, and above all, who love the country and are invested in her future. I am here to activate all people, the old, the poor, the rich; to unite around a common ideal on the basis of a consensus about a superior national development agenda.”

Okunnu-Lamidi said her interests include 70 per cent of youths who are often disenfranchised and have not taken their rightful place in choosing the government of Nigeria. She expressed disappointment that Nigeria had missed important milestones in building the nation. She said it was more pertinent that Nigerians must begin to think differently in the way things are done and the way they interact with each other.

She said: “We are all guilty for surrendering to temporary powerlessness; we can and must start to think differently. We sing often about our heroes past. These are people who entered the governance of Nigeria by design or by chance at a very young age to take over from the colonial power that ruled Nigeria.

“This again is a generational inflexion point for the nation. A nation desperate for leadership needs the young, the strong, those who have a vision, those who have ideas, those who have a united Nigerian identity and a belief in this country. The people of Nigeria believe in Nigeria, they should not be led by leaders who don’t. We have to keep fighting for what we believe in, and above all, never lose hope. If you were waiting for a sign, this is it.”

There had been a lot of speculations and subterranean moves in the last year by many politicians across the political divide about next year’s presidential election. But it took the recent declaration of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to signal that the much-awaited electoral contest have begun in earnest. This is because of the reaction Tinubu’s declaration elicited across the country. He told reporters after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari that he has informed the number one citizen that he has made up his mind to contest the election to fulfil his age-long ambition to lead the country one day.

Twenty-four hours after Tinubu’s declaration, Ebonyi State’s Governor Dave Umahi also threw his hat into the ring, saying he wants to replicate his progressive efforts in the Southeast state at the national level. Like the former Lagos State governor, Umahi, a chieftain of the APC made the announcement after meeting with President Buhari and intimating him of his plan to run for the office. Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello joined the bandwagon last Thursday when he declared his intention to contest on the platform of the ruling party. Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has declared that he would run if the APC ticket is zoned to the Southeast.

Before the recent spate of declarations, a few aspirants have indicated their interest in the presidential ticket of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). They include former presidential aide, Dr. Doyin Okupe; former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim; the immediate past president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Sam Ohuabunwa; and publisher of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu. Other interested aspirants on the PDP platform are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso. But, they are still bidding their time to formally declare their intention; perhaps because the party is yet to make a categorical statement on the issue of power rotation between the North and the South.

Aside from aspirants within the two major parties, there are also indications that many Nigerians are interested in the race on the platform of other parties. Two of such aspirants have formally declared their intention to run. They are Chukwuka Monye, a 43-year old Oxford-trained innovation strategist and Mrs Khadija Okunnu-Lamidi, a 38-year-old media entrepreneur. Monye and Okunnu-Lamidi are yet to indicate the political platforms that would sponsor them. To contest for the presidency, one must be a Nigerian citizen that has attained the age of 35 and he or she must be sponsored by a political party.


Bola Tinubu:

The APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu practically opened the floodgates of declarations for the presidential race in next year’s general elections when he officially announced his plan to run recently. The former Lagos State Governor said he has the confidence, the vision, and the capacity to build on the foundation laid by President Buhari to turn around the fortunes of the country.

Since he declared his interest in the plum job, the former Lagos State governor has become the most talked-about politician in the country. Tinubu, who was Lagos State governor from 1999 to 2007, is widely regarded as the architect of modern Lagos. It is said that his ingenuity made the state what it is today. During his tenure, he designed a master plan that successive administrations after have been following.

Asiwaju is regarded as the kingmaker in the APC by virtue of the role he played in the emergence of Buhari in 2015 and his influence in the Southwest. While most of those who served as governors between 1999 and 2007 have lost their relevance in the political terrain, Tinubu has maintained his and even spread his tentacles to other parts of the country.

Born on March 29, 1952, Tinubu’s political career began in 1992 when he joined the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the aborted Third Republic. He was elected to the Senate to represent Lagos West senatorial district during that dispensation. He was one of the founding members of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), following the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, a group that fought for the recognition of the late Moshood Abiola as the winner of the election and the restoration of democracy.


David Umahi:

David Umahi is the current governor of Ebonyi State. Born on July 25, 1963, Umahi who defected from the PDP to the APC in November 2020 said he is undeterred by Tinubu’s aspiration. He was one of the three PDP governors that defected from the opposition party to the ruling party between November 2020 and June 2021.

The Ebonyi governor had argued that his defection had nothing to do with the 2023 presidential ticket but to take the Southeast region to the centre. “I want to clear the air that I never sought (for) the PDP presidential ticket and I will not. So whoever said that I moved to the APC because they refused to zone the ticket to me is being very mischievous,” he had retorted at the time.

Umahi who will round off his second term in office in 2023, has promised to replicate his feats as a governor at the national level if he eventually gets to fly the party ticket and win the presidential election. The Ebonyi State governor said he intends to bring a business-like spirit into governance.

He is the chairman of the Southeast Governors’ Forum. He believes that if the self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, is willing and open to engagement, peace will return to the Southeast. He indicated recently that his state will not take part in the struggle for the actualization of Biafra. He said Ebonyi State is better in a fair and equitable Nigeria because the state has investments everywhere and one cannot set fire to his own house.

Umahi who made this known in Abakaliki, the state capital during a reception organized for him after declaring his presidential bid in Abuja, said his state will not be part of the agitation for a sovereign nation for the Igbos.


Yahaya Bello:

Governor Yahaya Bello made his declaration to contest the 2023 presidency in Bauchi last Thursday while addressing APC legislators and women groups from the Northeast. The Kogi governor who addressed the meeting virtually said: “I am offering myself to aspire for the 2023 presidency under our party, the APC because the country deserves better and purposeful leadership from the youth.

“I really want to thank you for the wonderful things you are doing in your respective states and our fatherland and I sincerely want to appreciate you and thank you for the support to our great party, the support to President Buhari and your service to your people in your various constituencies.”

The governor, who has received a series of endorsements for his aspiration, has assured Nigerians that he will not betray their trust if elected as the president of the country. Born on June 18, 1975, in Okene, Kogi State, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), both from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.

Yahaya was sworn in as Kogi State governor in January 2016. At the time, he made history as the youngest elected state chief executive in the country. He emerged as governor following the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the candidate that initially vied for the position on the platform of the ruling party. Governor Bello was re-elected for a second term on November 16, 2019.


Doyin Okupe:

Dr. Adedoyin Okupe, better known as Dr. Doyin Okupe, is a medical doctor and politician. He was the National Publicity Secretary of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) during the aborted Third Republic. He was Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and later Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Born on March 22, 1952, in Iperu, Ogun State, Okupe declared his ambition to rule the country as far back as October 2021. While making the declaration, the former presidential aide said he prioritizes the needs of the poor if he is elected.

His words: “I believe I have the knowledge, the requisite national political experience and intellectual capacity and wisdom to halt the social and economic decadence, insecurity and pervasive poverty that has nearly made living meaningless in Nigeria. I want to run a government which for the first time will make the life, wellbeing and safety of lives and properties especially of the poor and needy a major priority.”

Okupe announced seven-point agenda, which he dubbed “My covenant with God and Nigerians”. This social contract, he said, includes “reset, heal and reunite the nation; make the poor and needy the priority of government; end insecurity in two years; and increase revenue base with massive agricultural drive.”

He also pledged to increase electricity generation to 30,000 megawatts in three years; drastically reduce youth unemployment and re-engineer, revamp the national economy, while disclosing his intention to radically change and overhaul the budgeting process to be people-oriented as against what he sees as “the fraudulent budgets we have run year in year out for the last 60 odd years”.


Anyim Pius Anyim:

Anyim Pius Anyim was born on February 19, 1961, in Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. He has been privileged to serve as the Senate president between August 2000 and May 2003. He was also Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Anyim said he decided to contest after years of prayers, reflections and introspection on not just his capacity and preparedness to take on the task ahead, “but also deep thoughts on our national challenges and the solutions they demand”.

The former SGF has already received the support of political leaders from the five Southeast states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. He said he will provide effective and efficient management of the nation’s diversity based on equity, justice, fairness, and inclusiveness.

He said: “I have been privileged to understand our national problems and appreciate their enormity and peculiarities in the last 21 years from my vantage positions in both the legislative and the executive arms of government. Therefore, I have a clear view of the task ahead as well as the solutions needed to advance the cause of our country.”


Dele Momodu:

About two months after his return to partisan politics, publisher of the Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu joined the growing list of aspirants jostling to succeed President Buhari. The frontline journalist and publisher reportedly met with the national leadership of the PDP to apprise them of his decision to vie for the party’s ticket because he believes that he represents the best hope for Nigeria as envisioned by the late mentor, Chief Moshood Abiola.

His words: “I’m proud to follow in the best traditions of my heroic mentor, Chief Moshood Abiola, who had wanted to banish poverty in our land, but was disastrously disallowed from achieving this laudable objective. Nigeria has paid a heavy price and penalty in the last 29 years and suffered untold agony and indignity as a result of that tragic misadventure.”

He told the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, that it is very obvious that Nigerians are eager to restore that promise of hope and the accompanying peace and joy that the party lost in 2015. He said: “The time has come for full reconciliation and forgiveness and closure of our ugly past. Nigeria urgently requires a reset and a total redirection… I, therefore, offer myself to the PDP as the best aspirant to turn the fortunes of our esteemed party and our well-endowed country around.

He expressed his conviction that the time has come to seriously challenge and dislodge those politicians who, he observed, have held Nigeria to ransom by kidnapping, hijacking, and destroying the future of the younger generation and generations yet unborn. He added: “Nigeria deserves much better than where we are now, and my appeal to fellow Nigerians is that we should collectively rescue our dear country from the suffocating claws of slave masters, overlords, and tyrants, vociferously and vehemently reject any suggestion that Nigeria should continue to tread this dangerous path. The die is cast, and we must regain and take back our country.”

Momodu was born on May 16, 1960, in Ile Ife, Osun State.

House of Representatives Majority Leader Alhassan Ado-Doguwa has welcomed his 28th child.

Ado-Doguwa, while responding to a congratulatory comment from the House Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu during plenary on Tuesday, said the child was born in the last 24 hours.

The House Leader, in his 50s, said he intends to get more as he is still active and prepared to get 30 before the 2023 elections.

The lawmaker, who represents Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has four wives.

He said: “This is no longer news. It is no longer news because this thing happened in the last 24 hours. It is true that my beloved family has gotten an additional one person. It is a baby girl. Bouncing.


“The mother and the baby are hale hearty. The husband is still active. I am here. And I thank God that I kept my word with the House that while I had 27 I promised you that I would continue counting. I want by the grace of God and your prayers that the count would continue.”

Doguwa joked about creating legislation to enable families with 30 children to get an electoral polling unit, as this was his target.

“Now that we are considering the Electoral Act amendment, I would also when we get to the floor perhaps in the Committee of the Whole, I would appeal to my members so that we suspend relevant rules and we have a clause in the Electoral Act where it permits families that do have up to 30 kids in their comes to have an electoral polling unit in that family,” he speaker

When the Speaker Femi Gbajbiamila asked if he was working towards a polling unit in his house with two to go, Ado-Doguwa responded: “At least between now and 2023 before the elections comes, if you allow that, then I would have a polling unit within my home.”

The Super Eagles on Tuesday morning quietly returned to Nigeria from the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon without fanfare.

The players and officials returned via a chartered flight from Garoua, where they played four matches.

They arrived at 1:10am at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, received by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials.

The NFF officials were led by their General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, accompanied by the federation’s executive committee members Yusuf Ahmed and Shehu Dikko.

A large chunk of the players and officials came down from the aircraft, alongside a large number comprising members of the supporters’ club and media personnel.

The aircraft later headed to Lagos, where it dropped off the few remaining players and officials while the rest headed to the Transcorp Hilton.

Sanusi welcomed the players and praised them for their efforts in Cameroon, saying it was now time to look ahead to the task of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

”You have tried your best. It was just unfortunate that you failed to reach the final. But, right now, what is left is the unfinished business of qualification for Qatar 2022,” he stated. “We should put behind us 2021 AFCON and start preparing for the final qualifiers.”

The team captain Ahmed Musa explained that the team had put behind them the disappointment of failing to reach its target at the 2021 AFCON.

”We are now looking forward to the World Cup qualifiers against Ghana’s Black Stars in March. But right now, it is back to club business for us,” he said.

The Super Eagles, after three wins in the competition’s first round, which earned the tag of favourites, could not go beyond the second round.

They lost 0-1 to Tunisia in a match that saw them reduced to 10 men just after the hour mark.

The players are expected to return to their respective clubs abroad in the next one or two days.

Eniola Akinkuotu, Friday OIokor and Solomon Odeniyi

A new amendment to the Electoral Act has precluded the possibility of voters challenging credentials submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission by candidates, The PUNCH has learnt.

The proposed law, if signed by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), will allow only those who participated in the party primary to challenge in court, the school certificates, the birth certificate and other credentials of a co-contestant.

Currently, Section 31(5) of the Electoral Act reads, “Any person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by a candidate in the affidavit or any document submitted by that candidate is false may file a suit at the Federal High Court, High Court of a State or the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) against such a person seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false.”

However, the new amendment reads, “Any aspirant who participated in the primaries of his political party who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by his political party’s candidate in the affidavit or any document submitted by that candidate in relation to his constitutional requirements to contest the election is false, may file a suit at the Federal High Court against that candidate seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false.”

Currently, all Nigerians are allowed to challenge the credentials of candidates of any political party. This has been reaffirmed by several court judgments.

For instance, in the case of Lawrence v PDP & Ors (2017), the Supreme Court in a judgment read by Justice Walter Onnoghen said, “From the provisions of Section 31(5) of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended supra, it is not in doubt that it confers locus standi on ‘any person’ whether a member of a political party or not to invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court in accordance with the said provisions and the court has the requisite vires to hear and determine his case.”

Agreeing with the judgment, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun said, “Section 31(5) of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, empowers any person with reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by a candidate is false to institute an action before any of the High Courts to seek a declaration that such information is false.”

In 2019, the PDP and its governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Douye Diri; filed a suit against the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, David Lyon; and his running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, seeking their disqualification because of the questionable school certificate of Degi-Eremienyo.

The Supreme Court agreed with the PDP and disqualified the APC despite the fact that the APC had already been declared winner of the election by INEC.

Should this new amendment to the Electoral Act be signed into law, the Bayelsa scenario may not be possible.

New provision will be challenged, N’Assembly can’t masquerade those seeking office, says SAN

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), told one of our correspondents in a chat that the amendment should not be allowed to stand.

Adegboruwa said such an amendment was antithetical to the Freedom of Information Act and the spirit of transparency even as he argued that the Supreme Court had at several times guaranteed the rights of Nigerians to challenge the qualifications of candidates.

He added, “I believe that the people seeking to occupy public office seek to occupy a position of trust and to that extent, once you have ventured into a contest for a position of public trust, your life is open and there is nothing to hide again.

“I think there are many Supreme Court judgements that have stated that it is not only those who are vying for a particular office that can question the credentials of a candidate. So, it is already settled in law that the locus to challenge the qualification of any candidate whether academic or otherwise is open to anybody who has reason to believe that a candidate has not told the truth.

“I think it is too late for the National Assembly to masquerade those seeking office. That new provision will be challenged and I don’t think it can see the light of day.”

Also in a chat with our correspondent, activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), argued that the provision, if allowed to scale through, would be a nullity.

Falana stated, “That provision will be illegal because anybody can demand from INEC under the FoI Act the form submitted by anybody and once you have that, you can go to court?

“That provision cannot remove my right to go to court. You can even report to the police or even prosecute the person by yourself. There is a provision for that in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. This new amendment will not help them.

“A lot of them have forged certificates and that is why they are doing it but it cannot help them. Even the constitution says anyone who presents to INEC a forged certificate has committed an offence. So, they cannot help themselves.”

A former INEC Director for Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, argued that the new provision would allow the wrong persons to win elections.

“As the law stands, if any candidate fills Form CF 004 for his personal particulars, anybody can go to court, file a case and say such a person is not qualified. In the new amendment, they have limited to only those who contested the primaries with that person is qualified.

“But it allows the wrong people to scale through and become elected officers. These are issues that we need to look at. This is one of the ugly aspects of the bill,” Osaze-Uzzi stated.

Sectional unconstitutional – CSO

The Convener, Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution, Ariyo- Dare Atoye described the section as unconstitutional.

He added that besides, any party who fails to field unqualified candidates would surely face the consequences.

Atoye said, “If there’s a provision in the Electoral Act that says that voters cannot sue, that is provision is unconstitutional. However, such a section should not be a source of worry for Nigerians, because it is always the responsibility of the political parties to field aspirants and candidates, the public has the responsibility to vote or not to vote an aspirant they think they have concern about. and if a party has run the risk of fielding a candidate with unqualified credentials should suffer from such an abnormality either from within or by a challenging party.

It will place responsibilities on politicians – Group

The Director, Center for Transparency Advocacy, Faith Nwadishi, said the section of the bill, if signed, would place more responsibilities on politicians who she described as lazy.

She said, “The process already is cumbersome and the judiciary is already messing up the entire process, these are mainly pre-election matters and if they are not dispensed off quickly, let it be the responsibility of those who are contesting that election. In fact, the politicians have become too lazy in our electoral process, they are the ones who should do the most work, they are the biggest beneficiary. What I think the bill would do is to give more responsibility of scrutiny to the contestants.

“As it is now, the citizen can draw the attention of whoever is contesting and let whoever is interested to take the matter to court , they should also ensure a thorough check on those contesting so that at the end of the day their votes would not be wasted like in Bayelsa.”

It is not democratic – IPAC

On his part, the National Treasurer, Inter-Party Advisory Council, Obidike Okolo, in an interview with The PUNCH said the provision was not democratic.

He said, “That provision, if passed is not democratic because it does not connote democracy. If a person presents certificate, anybody who is a Nigerian should be able to challenge such information given because the person who is presenting such information or certificate is not going to serve just those who contested primaries with him. He is going to serve the generality of Nigerians, especially even more when the person is giving such information under oath.

“So, it is like perjury and at the end of the day if you give false information and if you commit perjury, it’s crime against the state.

“The state is a representative of the people and it is actually a crime against the Nigerian people. So, why shouldn’t Nigerians be entitled to challenge any information if they feel somebody has given false information? So, we do not support that kind of law and that aspect should be expunged, that’s our opinion.”

The World Bank has warned that the incompetence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime in addressing worsening insecurity and harsh economic situation may fuel national unrest and impede the growth of Africa’s most populous nation.

World Bank, in its flagship report for 2022, titled “Global Economic prospect”, also cited mounting insecurity in Afghanistan, expressing concerns that it could further spread to Nigeria due to citizens’ dissatisfaction with the regime.

“Deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan, for instance, could generate instability in nearby countries, while conflict and violence in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa (for example, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, and Sudan) could escalate,” the institution said.

The World Bank report also implied that the current frustration with the Buhari regime has begun to have an adverse effect on the economy due to heightened insecurity ranging from kidnapping for ransom, armed robberies, and banditry.

These challenges, the organisation said, further escalate food insecurity, hinder the country’s growth, as well as affect job creation.

“In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the effects of food insecurity on the ability of people to work at full capacity are a downside risk to growth in the near term, and an acute challenge for households,” World Bank said.

Also, the financial institution had noted that Nigeria’s economy under the Muhammadu Buhari administration is worse than 10 years ago.

“The pandemic has reversed at least a decade of gains in per capita income in some countries—in almost a third of the region’s economies, including Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, per capita incomes are forecast to be lower in 2022 than a decade ago,” the report said.

In its six-monthly update on development in Nigeria in mid-2021, the organisation had stated that Nigeria lagged the rest of sub-Saharan Africa due to insecurity and food inflation.

The challenges, World Bank said, were responsible for increased poverty rate and slowing growth.

As the 2023 presidential race gathers momentum, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is all out to edge out former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, erstwhile Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and other contenders for the party’s ticket from the North.

Multiple high-level party sources told Daily Trust that Wike, who they described as the sole financier of the main opposition party has reached out to many of his colleagues on this agenda.

A source with knowledge of the permutations said the Rivers State governor was all out to zone the party’s presidential ticket to the South.

Daily Trust reports that two sitting governors who are members of the party are interested in the PDP presidential ticket. They are Governors of Sokoto, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and Bauchi, Bala Mohammed.

Also interested in the ticket are former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State.

Saraki, Daily Trust, gathered has been reaching out to stalwarts of the party ahead of his formal declaration for the presidency.

A source close to him said Saraki, former Governor of Kwara State, would soon declare for the presidential race.

Daily Trust reports that Wike played a key role in the emergence of Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after sacking the Uche Secondus-led executive.


The governors, the most influential power bloc, under the umbrella of the PDP Governors’ Forum, ensured the emergence of their candidates.

Through the scheming and machinations of the 13 governors of the party, 18 out of the 21 positions were filled through consensus. With this, pundits said the governors have taken over the soul of the main opposition party ahead of the 2023 politicking.

The 13 governors are; Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Bala Muhammed (Bauchi), Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Darius Ishaku (Taraba).

Last Monday, Wike hosted the PDP governors at the Government House, Port Harcourt as part of what watchers of the political space said was a continuation of their efforts to shape the 2023 politicking.

The Port Harcourt meeting came after Wike’s recent visits to Bauchi, Adamawa, Sokoto, Abia, Enugu, Oyo, and Bayelsa States.

Wike’s visits to some of his counterparts was said to be intended to woo the governors in his bid to perfect the plot.

Our source said the governor has recruited five of his colleagues into the project.

Wike is believed to have the support of governors Benue, Enugu, Oyo, Abia and Adamawa.

“In his camp now, he has five governors. Nobody can challenge him now because he has been funding the party. Who has total control of the NWC of our party? It’s Wike,” the source said.

A former senator said the governors are working hard to ensure that one of them picks the party’s ticket.

“I want to be frank with you, nobody is talking about Atiku now because the governors said they don’t want him because he is above 70. They want someone who can relate well with them and has the energy to withstand the challenges bedeviling the country,” he said.

But while these schemings are on, Atiku and other contenders have continued with consultation, with some of them said to be warming up to retire.

High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman, DAAR Communications, has been leading Atiku’s team across the country to canvass support for the presidential ambition of the former vice president.

The Dokpesi -led team has visited many states across the country. During the committee’s visit to Anambra State on Saturday, Atiku was described as the only aspirant that can lead PDP to victory.

Contacted, Saraki’s media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said he has no comment on the matter.


We are not aware – Atiku’s aide

Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe said they are not aware of the moves to edge out his boss.

He told Daily Trust that his boss enjoys the support of the Rivers State governor and other top shots.

“We are not aware of any such move. Atiku Abubakar enjoys the support of a good number of stakeholders in the PDP including Governor Wike. The focus of every stakeholder in the opposition party at this point is to rescue Nigeria and Nigerians from the claws of bad governance that the APC has thrown the country into.

“And like all patriots and stakeholders in the Nigeria Project, the priority of H.E Atiku Abubakar and indeed the PDP is to recruit eggheads who will come up with brilliant policy plans that can turn the current state of mass poverty, insecurity, divisions and hopelessness into prosperity and unity for Nigerians,” he said.

But another source close to the former vice president said Atiku was aware of the scheming.

He said Atiku would declare for the presidency when his Technical Committee on the 2023 project submits its report.

“If it is not consensus, Atiku will defeat all of them at the primary election,” he said.

But, a former Commissioner of Information in Edo State, Kassim Afegbua, has urged Atiku to dump his presidential ambition and support a southern candidate.

Afegbua, a member of the Technical Committee for Atiku’s presidency, in a statement yesterday, said the ambition of Atiku will not fly.

“Nigerians in their millions are tired of seeing the faces of persons who have dominated the political space in the last forty years and yet, unwilling to take a bow. In the spirit of the new thinking and paradigm shift, please tell them to allow us to breathe,” he said.

Meanwhile, all efforts made to speak with Governor Wike or any of his aides on the allegation that he is working against other aspirants in the 2023 presidential ambition yielded no results.


Everyone can contest – BoT member

Contacted, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Adamu Maina Waziri, said that all aspirants have the right to contest for the presidency.

“This is the principle of democracy and people have every right to vie for and be elected president of Nigeria, as long as the criteria as specified by the constitution are fulfilled.

“So, any PDP member has the right to aspire to be the candidate of the party at the federal level of election by reaching out to people.

“The vehicle for doing that in realising your aspirations is to go to the people and canvas for their support.

“In this wise, anybody aspiring to do that or trying to strategise to achieve that is being a democratic person,” he said.

He, however, warned that “We don’t want such consequences to be amplified to committing undemocratic behaviour within the polity”.


‘No decision on mode of primaries’

Another chieftain of the party, who does not want to be named, said a decision has not been taken on the method to be used for the party primaries.

In a phone interview, he said a decision would be taken when various organs of the party meet on the matter.

“We are urging the National Assembly to accelerate the harmonisation of the bill. We call on the president to summon the courage to assent to it. We are waiting. As a law-abiding party, whatever the law of the country says is what will guide us. We have not decided on the mode of primary until when this is done,” he said.

Atiku’s delay gives Rivers gov winning hand – Varsity don

A lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Dr Aminu Hayatu said it is still difficult to foresee how the situation in the PDP will play out because the party has been battling with the internal crisis even before its convention.

He, however, believes that if the Wike group succeeds in edging northern candidates out and the ruling APC also goes the way of fielding a Southern candidate, it will translate to one of the most keenly contested elections in the history of Nigeria come 2023, howbeit with money-politics determining the outcome.

He said Atiku left it a bit too late by not being assertive with the convention, which then gave the likes of Wike a winning hand.

“Wike is one of the strongest big shots in PDP now because he is the one who has been managing the party as far as visibility is concerned in terms of replying and criticising the ruling party. So it is a time he and his group feel that power should be given to at least one of their faction.

“Atiku has used money overtime in at least becoming the flag bearer of the party. But now, their (PDP) calculation is being teleguided by happenings in the APC. That is if APC manages to produce a Southern candidate, then it is a problem for the PDP because they would have wished that the APC produces a northern candidate, which most of the southern states are going to oppose. After all, it is a general agreement, although not written, that power should go to the south,” he said.

Hayatu added that if both parties end up with southern candidates “That would amount to the hottest contest we have seen in recent times because it will be about who can galvanise and win the sympathy of Nigerians towards their party.”

More than a dozen girls were abducted in Boko Haram’s latest attack in a community in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, according to a resident.

Daily Trust had reported how the insurgents broke into the town on Thursday night after shooting in different directions.

Civilians fled into the bush and surrounding villages when they struck at Pemi village near Chibok.

The insurgents torched not less than 20 houses, including a branch of EYN Church, a source told Daily Trust.

Bitrus Yohanna, a resident, said the leader of vigilantes in the community was the main target as the local guards have waged war against the insurgents in the axis.

“It was a sad day for us in Pemi, the insurgents came in large numbers and started raining bullets from different angles; they captured our vigilante commander and slit his throat, many houses were burnt down including EYN Church.” Yohanna disclosed.

Ba’ana Musa, a member of a vigilante group, who joined the local guards that engaged the insurgents in gun battle, said eight of those abducted escaped but 17 girls are in captivity.

“They came in the night and many villagers ran into the bush while 8 women among those abducted later escaped and returned to the village around 11 am today.

“But we are deeply worried over missing young girls. As we speak, not less than 17 young girls are with them.”

Chibok shot into limelight in 2014 when Boko Haram attacked Government Secondary School, Chibok, and abducted 276 girls.

While more than 100 were rescued, the whereabouts of others have remained unknown.

Construction work on the portion of Sultan road, which leads to the Kaduna residence of President Muhammadu Buhari, was intensified ahead of the president’s visit, Daily Trust reports.

Our correspondent reports that workers of Ronchess Global Resource Plc, the company handling road construction in the state, worked round the clock for four days to ensure the road was completed before January 20, 2022.

It was gathered that Governor Nasir El-Rufai mandated the contractor to complete the section of the road leading to Buhari’s residence before the president’s arrival.

Hours before the president flew into Kaduna from The Gambia, the road had been completed, with street lights installed as well as road signs.

It was, however, not opened for commuters, but manned by security personnel.

Our correspondent gathered from residents that construction workers were on ground day and night, for at least four days so as to deliver on the road.

One of the workers who spoke to Daily Trust on condition of anonymity, said, “We have been working day and night to ensure we complete the road and I thank God we delivered.”

Also, a gateman who has a small kiosk on one of the adjourning roads, Malam Yusuf Ibrahim, said he was shocked that the road could be fixed within such a short period.

According to him, “As at last Saturday, that section of the road was under construction, a lot of work had not been done, only for me to see that a rapid project was being made and it was completed before the president arrived.”

He added, “This shows that if the leaders are determined, the sky is their limit.”

Buhari arrived Kaduna on Wednesday night and has since been inaugurating projects in Kafanchan, Jema’a local government area of the state.

After the inauguration of some projects, Buhari commended the governor for “transforming Kaduna”.

“If you had not been in Kaduna for sometime now, surely you would miss your road home just like me. El-Rufai has really changed the face of this state. I relocated to Kaduna after serving my jail term in the 1980s from Daura. I cannot find my way home with the current development,” he had said.

By Bassey Willie


Bayelsa State Commissioner for Trade and Commence, Mr Otokito Federal Oparmiola, has been kidnapped.

Otokito was said to have been kidnapped by armed men at his residence at Otuokpoti, Ogbia Local Government area last night.

Daily Trust gathered that the gunmen invaded the community at about 11pm on Thursday and after firing severally to scare people away, proceeded to the commissioner’s residence.

When contacted, the police spokesman in Bayelsa State, SP Asinim Butswat said he was in a meeting and promised to call back.

By Ayodeji Adegboyega and Oladeinde Olawoyin

The Nigerian government has approved the award of a major maritime project to a company immersed in high-level corruption in two other African countries, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The company, Frabemar UK Ltd, is the technical partner to the consortium—MedTech and Rozi International—handpicked by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi, to handle the country’s International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN).

It is unclear if the Nigerian government conducted a background check on the technical partner awarded the security-sensitive contract and decided to ignore it, or perhaps Frabemar is being used as a front for a powerful individual or group.

Frabemar SRL, a subsidiary within the Frabemar group, is in the business of pre-shipment inspection, in Genoa Italy.

Owned by Franco Bernardini, the company was indicted in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali for corruption and embezzlement of public funds in 2012 and 2015 respectively.

According to documents and publications sourced from the two countries, Frabemar’s contracts were terminated and the company charged to court on matters bordering on impropriety and corruption.

The reports said that Frabemar serially under-remitted the revenue accruable to those governments, and massively bribed government officials.

In 2009, the DR Congo’s Office of Multimodal Freight Management (OGEFREM) signed a contract with Frabemar to represent it in various ports around the world by providing a record of all goods destined for the DRC with an electronic import information sheet (Feri).

This, like the Nigerian version of the cargo tracking note, was to be done for a fee.

OGEFREM is a public enterprise of a technical and commercial nature in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But the proceeds from the arrangement never made it to the coffers of the Congolese government, reports said, with claims that they were diverted into the pockets of a few people including a former minister and honorary CEO of Frabemar.

Coordinated by the Deputy Prosecutor, the magistrate Francesco Pinto, the investigation revealed that Mr Bernardini and his son Massimo Bernardini had paid bribes to former Congolese, Nigerien, and Beninese ministers and politicians.

“These bribes were transferred from a current account opened in Liguria to Monte-Carlo, London and Mauritius,” one report said.

He was also said to have offered them large-displacement cars and other tips.

An Italian newspaper, Il Secolo XIX, also reported that the duo paid bribes in exchange for contracts to former ministers and assorted politicians from Congo, Niger, and Benin.


In leaked documents dated April 18, 2012, from the Ministry of Transports and Road Communications of the DRC addressed to the DG, OGEFREM, Frabemar’s contract of four-year with the country was terminated.

The document which was written in French and translated to English said: “By the order of the hierarchy, justified by the concern of the national interest, I instruct you to proceed with the termination of the special mandate contract which binds OGEFREM to FRABEMAR since April 22, 2008.

“Indeed it is clear that Frabemar has seriously violated the provisions of this contract especially in its articles 2, 3, 4 and 7, by not allowing the Congolese State to benefit from its right.”

In Mali, stakeholders were quick to raise eyebrows when the former Malian head of the Council of Chargers, Ousmane Babalaye, signed a contract for the supply of Cargo Tracking Slips with Frabemar.

Local newspapers widely reported Frabemar’s fate in DRC, questioning why their government would want to deal with Frabemar especially as it concerns public funds.

The procurement process in which Mr Babalaye assented to the contract was eventually faulted.

Efforts to speak with Nigeria’s government representatives proved abortive, as the Ministry of Transport declined to speak with this newspaper.

By Shehu Umar, Gusau

Aminu Baba, a prominent businessman dealing in cars and other vehicles at Aminchi Motors Gusau, Zamfara state, has opened up on his nefarious activities.

Baba, who was arrested by the police, confessed eating and selling human parts to some unknown persons.

He was arrested last week over the killing and dismemberment of a 9-year-old boy in Gusau.

The suspect told journalists shortly after he was paraded by the state police commissioner, Mr Ayuba N Elkanah, that he has three wives and 19 children.

He said he employed two teenagers to scout for young boys to kill for him and they had done that twice, getting N1million in return.

“I paid them N500,000 for each of the killing of the two young boys. We removed penis, eyes, intestines and Esophagus and I used to eat these human organs and sell some to those who need them,” he said.

He, however, kept mum about where he raised the money he used to pay the killers and also did not disclose whether he had collaborators in the state.

The police commissioner said the other suspect, Abdulshakur Mohammad, had confessed that that was the third time he was contracted by Baba to source for human parts.

He said he got N500,000, after the first and second operations before he was arrested.

He said connived with Baba and Ahmad Tukur to deceive the victim, who was taken to an uncompleted building.

Mohammad said after killing him, they removed his intestine, Esophagus, Private part and two Eyes, which they took to Baba who in return gave them N500,000 as agreed.

Two weeks ago, the remains of the nine year old boy identified Ahmad Yakubu Aliyu was found in an uncompleted building in Barakallahu area of Gusau metropolis.

Ahmad went missing shortly after he came back from Islamiyya School in Gadar Baga area of the city.

The owner of the building spotted the decomposing body of the little boy when came to continue his construction work.

He immediately closed the site and reported the matter to the police who later confirmed that Ahmad was killed and dumped.

Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, has alleged sabotage as a mega school inaugurated barely six months ago by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was razed.

Speaking at the school premises in Muna area of Jere Local Government Area of the state, on Tuesday, the governor said it was beyond mere coincidence for a school that has no electricity to go up in flame.

He said his government will uncover the cause of the fire.

Zulum said, “This school was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari barely six months ago. Government has spent huge amount of money, but unfortunately, it has been completely razed down.

“Preliminary investigation shows that there is some level of sabotage because I see no reason why a school like this, which has not been connected to national grid, no electricity, no power generating set, and you just see fire at the last floor of the building.”

GOC hails Zulum over support for military
The school principal, Saidu Umaru, said 19 classrooms and three laboratories were razed on Monday morning.

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the national flag be flown at half-mast, effective from Wednesday, January 12 to Friday, 14 as a mark of respect for the former Head of the Interim Government, Late Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan.

Shonekan died on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at the age of 85.

Secretary to the Goverment of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, conveyed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

Shonekan was the interim head of the Nigerian Government between August 26 and November 17, 1993 when he was ousted in a coup led by late General Sani Abacha.

The one-paragraph statement by the SGF read: “Following the death of the former Head of the Interim Government, late Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan, President Muhammadu Buhari, has directed that the national flag be flown at half-mast, effective from Wednesday 12th – Friday 14th, January 2022 as a mark of respect for the former Head of State who died on Tuesday 11th January 2022 at the age of 85.”