₦airaland Forum

Following Federal Government’s suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria, some banks have followed suit by suspending the micro blogging platform’s support for their online products.

One of the banks, notified their customers via email that it has suspended the Twitter support for two of its products.

Part of the mail read: “We have suspended Twitter support for… so unfortunately we won’t be available to respond to enquiries and feedback via Twitter.

“We understand the inconvenience this may cause, however you have nothing to worry about as we are still available via our other channels below: Facebook Instagram E-Mail

A woman died after an ex-security guard at a Pakistani hospital posed as a doctor and performed surgery on her, police said Monday.

Shameema Begum, aged 80, died on Sunday, two weeks after Muhammad Waheed Butt attempted to treat her back wound at a public hospital in the eastern city of Lahore.

“We can’t keep up with what every doctor and what everyone is doing at all times.

“It’s a large hospital,” explained an administrative official from Lahore’s Mayo Hospital, who did not want to be named.

He said it was unclear what type of surgery the imposter had performed in the operating theatre, where a qualified technician was also present.

Pakistan’s public hospitals, where patients are required to pay some money towards treatment, can often be inefficient and chaotic.

Begum’s family paid Butt for the operation, and two further home visits to dress her wound.

But when the bleeding and pain worsened, her family returned her to the hospital, where they discovered what had happened.

Her body is being kept for an autopsy to ascertain whether her death was a result of complications from the botched surgery.

“The guard has been charged and is in police custody,” Lahore police spokesman Ali Safdar told AFP.

“Butt had posed as a doctor and made home visits to other patients in the past also.”

Mayo Hospital staff said Butt was fired two years ago for trying to extort money from patients.

Earlier in May, a man was arrested for posing as a doctor at Lahore General Hospital and extorting money from patients in the surgical ward.

In 2016, it was revealed a woman posing to be a neurosurgeon conducted operations for eight months alongside qualified doctors at Lahore’s Services Hospital, the second-largest health facility in Pakistan.

As the federal government discussed the indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, power supply was suspended — not for one or two minutes, but for ten minutes!

It may be an extreme case of technical fault or compliance with the ‘suspension’ galore, but while the jury is still out on that, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) “took the light” midway into the government’s meeting with some envoys at the federal ministry of foreign affairs headquarters in Abuja.

Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, had invited envoys of the US, UK, Ireland, Canada and the European Union after they all condemned the federal government’s decision to indefinitely suspend Twitter in Nigeria.

Forty-five minutes into the parley which was holding behind closed-doors, the media was invited to be briefed on its outcome.

But the lights flashed off just as camera lights danced through the room as journalists struggled to take photos when the briefing commenced.

The power outage occurred at 1:01 pm to the shock of many, even with one journalist retorting, ‘Naija!’

Window blinds to the rescue

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Before the light ‘disappeared’

For the next ten minutes from 1:01 pm when light was snatched from the minister’s conference room, there was no sign of light except for the rays of sunshine sneaking in through the window blinds.

Staff of the ministry hurried to open more blinds to ‘clear the way’ for light and perhaps, air.

Journalists and others standing by the windows had to make way for natural light, just as Onyeama, accompanied by Zubairu Dada, minister of state for foreign affairs, struggled to hide their feelings about the situation.

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Window blinds to the rescue after light went off

1:05 pm. Still no sign of light.

The minister continued with his remarks anyway, speaking on how Nigeria values its relations with the US, UK, Canada, Ireland and EU, hence the need for the meeting.

By then, some of those in attendance had lost hope that the power supply will be restored before the curtains — read ‘blinds’ — fall on the event.

The envoys — all five of them — sat back and watched as the darkness unfolded.

1:11 pm. Up ‘NEPA’!

The bulbs eventually roared back to life again to the relief of the entire room courtesy of the PHCN — or was it an alternative power supply?

“And we are asking for them to also support us as we confront all these challenges,” Onyeama’s voice echoed from the speaker as his eyes regained touch with the faces present in the room.

At least 180 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators nabbed by security operatives for alleged link to terrorism financing paid N900 million in penalties before they returned to their businesses, Daily Trust reports.

This comes as BDC operators and other traders rounded up by security agents in March, on suspicion of involvement in financing of terrorism have remained in detention, almost three months after their arrest.

Families and associates said the suspects are being kept incommunicado without access to their families, despite lack of judicial process.

On a few occasion recently, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has stated that the federal government will put in about 400 suspects on trial for financing terrorism,

“I am happy to report that arising from the wider coverage investigation that has been conducted in Nigeria, a number of people, both institutional and otherwise, were found to be culpable, I mean on reasonable grounds for suspicion of terrorism financing,” Malami had told State House correspondent last month.

Ahead of the planned trial Daily Trust yesterday gathered that agencies handling the cases have begun contacting families to nominate lawyers to stand in for their relatives.

In April, Daily Trust reported a high level security operation leading to massive clamp down on some BDC operators and other businessmen who allegedly dealt with Boko Haram and other criminal groups.

The operation, which security sources say is ongoing, is being coordinated by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Department of States Services (DSS), with financial intelligence support from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unity (NFIU).

Bank accounts frozen

Hundreds of suspicious bank accounts have also been frozen as part of the operation, which tracked over N300 billion, according to a security source involved in the operation.

The CBN and the NFIU, Daily Trust gathered, have sent out series of “post no debit” letters to commercial banks leading to freezing of dozens of personal and corporate accounts. The apex bank has also obtained court orders directing freezing of dozens of accounts flagged for suspicious transactions.

A security source familiar with the operation confided in our reporter that the operation started last year with massive gathering and analysis of financial intelligence and drawing uplink analysis, leading to initial marking of some 60 businesses and individuals.

A source disclosed to Daily Trust that an initial list of 957 suspects comprising bureau de change operators, gold miners and sellers, and other businessmen is being acted upon.

Already, according to the source, over 400 persons have been arrested in a series of arrests in Kano, Borno, Abuja, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara.

CBN slams N900m fine on 180 BDCs

Speaking in an exclusive chat with Daily Trust, President of the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe, said each of the 180 BDC operators was made to pay N5 million penalty to CBN, amounting to N900m.

“After engaging with the CBN and appealing to them, we were able to clear about 180 of our members who were asked to pay N5 million each as penalties. They have complied and are now returned to their legitimate business,” Gwadabe said.

He said the clampdown activities are not new as “they started in 2020 as a result of the new intelligence gathering mechanisms” of the apex bank.

The association’s president said the incidents are largely due to the carelessness of its members who engage in a transaction with someone they don’t know.

“It is a KYC (Know Your Customer) issue, it is not that they are directly involved in the illicit use of foreign Exchange. Painfully, this is happening at a time that we are contending with sweeping generalisation and criminalisation of the activities of our members,” he said.

Gwadabe said the activities of his members constitute a financial subsector providing over 25,000 employments and the association is doing everything within its means to change the narrative.

Many attempts to reach the CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, to ascertain the total frozen accounts and the affected banks, were not successful.

However, a senior staff at the CBN said the information was too sensitive to divulge as the lives of even some CBN staff could be at risk.

“I can assure you that hundreds of accounts have been put on watch lists and several others are being flagged daily as the need arises. It is safe to leave it at. If you require additional information, it’s safe to speak to the security agencies in charge of the crack-down. They might help because they know how to protect themselves better,” he said.

Families cry out

Some families with relatives in detention lamented what they called lack of transparency and excommunication of the detainees.

A woman in Gusau whose husband was arrested in mid-March, told Daily Trust that she and her family are in hardship following long detention of her husband, a gold marketer.

Sani Ali, whose two brothers are in custody, said the family had been contacted to provide a lawyer to stand-in for the suspects.

He however said aside the lawyer no one was permitted to see the two brothers who are being detained in undisclosed location in Abuja.

A business partner of one of the detainees, Isiyaku Mohammed, said they were called on the phone and asked to provide legal representation for their friend in detention.

“It is still shocking to us the way they are treating these people. Why will you keep someone indefinitely if you have nothing against the person? Even if there are culpable person among them many of them are innocent but they have been traumatized and dehumanized,” he said.

Lawyers differ on continued detention

Lawyers have expressed divergent views on the continued detention of 400 persons linked with financing terrorism in Nigeria.

A lawyer, Sagir Gezawa, described the prolonged detention of the suspects as illegal, since they are not on remand by a court of competent jurisdiction.

He said the orders often sought by law enforcement agencies from magistrate courts, as provided by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), is limited to 35 days only.

“The law says an order can be obtained for 14 days, and another 14 days, and additional seven days, but nothing more, and even the days are discretionary as the court can give lower number of days. Anybody being detained for longer time, other than on remand orders by a court is being detained illegally,” he said.

In his reaction, Malachy Nwaekpe Esq stated that Section 35(4), paragraphs A and B of the Nigerian Constitution provides that the suspects can be detained for three months in cases which are not ordinarily bailable.

He said since Malami belongs to the executive and not the judiciary, he is not responsible for the current strike in the judiciary.

“Therefore, to keep them is not an unreasonable decision based on the present circumstance,” he said.

Also speaking, E.M.D. Umukoro Esq disagreed with the excuse given as reason for keeping the suspects.

“They can be released on bail pending when the president is ready. When they are given bail, they are to ensure that the surety is always available and that the suspect don’t abscond- that is why they demand for ranks like director as surety.

“They can’t hide under the guise of strike action to deny them bail,” he said.

On Saturday morning between 11 am and 12 pm, as Nigerians woke up to the reality of a Twitter ban, and downloading Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access Twitter, the Nigerian government, through the office of the Presidency, reached out to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) to discuss plans to build an internet firewall, FIJ reports.

The government officials present at the meeting include Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to the President, and Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture.

The internet firewall is a way of having a separate network for the Nigerian Internet that will give the government control over social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

This is similar to the internet filtering system China operates, called the Great Firewall.

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters learnt that Nigeria loses over N2 billion to Twitter shutdown in the country on a daily basis.

This was disclosed by NetBlocks, which put the total cost impact of the shutdown at $6, 014, 390 and it naira equivalent at N2, 177, 089,051.

The NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool (Cost) estimates the economic impact of an Internet disruption, mobile data blackout or app restriction using indicators from the World Bank, ITU, Eurostat and US. Census.

Meanwhile, the estimate is for one day, meaning the country has lost over N4 billion since the ban on Friday.

Nigeria's unemployment rate increased to the second highest on a global list of countries monitored by Bloomberg recently.

The jobless rate in Nigeria rose to 33.3% in the three months through December, according to a report published by the National Bureau of Statistics on March 15.

It went up from 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020.

Experts have noted that a good number of Nigeria's youth population earn their livelihood through Twitter and that such incomes will be affected by ban. will be lost no thanks to the ban.

According to CFR, “the Great Firewall, is the centre of the government’s online censorship and surveillance effort. Its methods include bandwidth throttling, keyword filtering, and blocking access to certain websites.”

The Reporters Without Borders states that the firewall makes large-scale use of Deep Packet Inspection technology, an advanced method of examining and managing network traffic. The Nigerian government seeks to establish the Nigerian Internet, which it will also control likewise.

A digital security expert told the newspaper that China is the only country that deploys total Deep Packet Inspection over its cyberspace. The technology involves making use of lots of manpower.

The internet firewall will also give the Nigerian government power to block VPN, which many Nigerians are using to access Twitter. The CAC is the central internet regulator, censor, oversight and control agency for China and answers to the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, headed by Xi Jinping, China’s President.

Since its existence, the CAC, which also gives approval to data by Chinese companies outside of China, regulates usernames on the Chinese Internet, licences news information services, and bans comments that “harm national security” or “harm the nations honour interest”.

Wall Street Journal reported that People.cn, the online arm of the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, offers content moderation as a service. The chairman of People.cn predicted that censorship in China will grow to a $70 billion industry.

The Nigerian government has in the past few years sought a way to control freedom of expression online. Towards the end of 2015, the Frivolous Petition Bill targeting online and print media as well as regulating social media posts was introduced into the Senate just 10 months after Buhari’s ascent to power.

In 2019, lawmakers introduced two bills: the National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speech bill and the Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and other Related Offences bill, prompting public outcry that meant they were not passed into law.

This was however not the only effort the Nigerian government made in controlling online speech and spying on its citizens. In November 2017, 21 pro-Biafra websites were taken down on the orders of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). FIJ learnt that the government had explored using Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) between 2018 and 2019 to track down Biafra agitators and supporters, as well as government critics on social media. Intelligence agencies make use of OSINT to track people or events. The Nigerian government had reached out to Bellingcat investigators, a British investigative journalism website that specialises in OSINT, but they declined to work with the Nigerian government.

FIJ learnt that Bellingcat was approached to give OSINT training to the Nigerian intelligence community to develop local capacity for Open Source Investigation.

The Nigerian government had sold the angle of national security and fighting terrorism to Bellingcat, but that wasn’t at the top of the government’s priority. Bellingcat later discovered that the purpose of the training was to hunt down civilians and those who spoke negatively against the government, and not Boko Haram terrorists as claimed by the Nigerian government. The terrorists, in this case, were pro-Biafra supporters. Bellingcat has been reported to say what the US intelligence can’t, which includes exposing Russian activities.

“The government needed a legal framework through which it could carry out its actions,” he said.

“That legal framework would serve as a justification for their actions. Mostly, the rhetoric the government uses, including Friday’s suspension of Twitter, was around Nigeria’s unity and national security,” FIJ quoted a source as saying.

A 2020 report titled Running in Circles Uncovering the Clients of Cyberespionage Firm Circles by The Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto showed that Nigeria’s Defence Intelligence Agency had recruited the services of Circles in 2015 and 2017 to spy on its citizens and track down government critics.

Nigeria’s surveillance capabilities rank high on the continent. In 2018, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) was allocated $12.8 million for Stranvisky Project 2. Other budget allocations intended to increase the surveillance capabilities of both the ONSA and the Department of State Services (DSS) included a ‘Social Media Mining Suite’, ‘Wolverme Next Generation SDRIMSI’, ‘Surveillance Drone’ and ‘Mobile Surveillance Facilities’.

Freedom House, a US-based advocacy group, revealed that the surveillance projects such as Stranvisky Project 2 still received allocation in the 2019 and 2020 budget proposals.

The Citizen Lab, meanwhile, reported that Circles, a surveillance firm, exploits weaknesses in the global mobile phone system to snoop on calls, texts, and the location of phones around the globe. Circles relies on inside sources and open sources intelligence and customers can purchase a system that they connect to local telecommunications companies.

Circles merged with NSO Group in 2014, an Israeli surveillance company that sells surveillance equipment.

A 2016 investigation showed that in 2010, Rotimi Amaechi, the former Governor of Rivers State, was the first government official to make contact with Circles to deliver internet surveillance equipment. Though the deal fell through, it highlighted the direction Nigeria was going.

Internet shutdown has become a tool that African leaders are more inclined to exercise during protests and elections. In 2017 in Cameroon, for example, the Anglophone regions had internet shutdown for over three months, and it was only restored on the orders of their sit-tight President, Paul Biya.

A report published by the World Street Journal claimed that Twitter banned President Muhammadu Buhari, a development that led to Nigeria suspending the online medium in Nigeria.

Verdict: False. The report that Twitter banned President Buhari is false. It is also false that Nigeria banned Twitter. The site removed a tweet it considered a violation of its policy. Nigeria suspended the site indefinitely.

Full text
On June 4, 2020, the World Street Journal, @WSJ, reported that Twitter banned Nigeria’s president from its platform. The Journal reported that Twitter cited violations to its policies as the justification for the ban.

The medium stated that the development led to Nigeria’s decision to also suspend Twitter.

Tweeting via its official handle, @WSJ, by 7:45pm on June 4, the Journal claimed, “Twitter banned Nigeria’s president from its platform, citing violations to its policies. Now, Nigeria says it’s banning Twitter.”

Twitter’s ban policy

The site’s rules provide a ban for any account with the risk of incitement of violence.

A ban is the punishment for any account that goes against the company’s policy against glorification of violence.

Twitter’s chief financial officer, Ned Segal, explained that once banned from the site, you cannot open another account in your name or authorise a third party to operate an account to spread your information in whatever guise. For instance, former U.S President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter, where he had more than 88 million followers, and multiple other social media platforms following the siege of the U.S Capitol by his supporters.

Also, the company suspended several accounts that were set up to share statements from a new part of the former U.S President Donald Trump’s website, saying they broke its rules against evading an account ban.

But how true is the report that Twitter banned President Buhari from the site?

Verification

A review of Twitter’s action taken against President Buhari showed that the company deleted the president’s tweet deemed a violation of the site’s policy.

President Buhari had on June 1, via his verified Twitter handle, @Mbuhari, referenced Nigeria’s civil war of 1967 in a statement on the ongoing confrontation between the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and security agencies.

He tweeted, “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian civil war. Those of us in the field for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”

Many Nigerians reported the president’s tweet, leading to its removal by the company.

In a statement, Twitter noted, “In line with our global policies, we have removed a post from President Buhari’s Facebook page for violating our Community Standards against inciting violence. We remove any content from individuals or organisations that goes against our policies on this platform,” Facebook stated on Friday.”

Twitter also deleted the video where the president made the speech, which was posted on the handle of the Ministry of Information and Culture.

On June 5, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension of Twitter.

Though Mohammed did not mention the reason for the ban in a statement, he pointed out “the persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

A check on the president’s Twitter account on June 5, four days after his tweet was deleted, showed that the account was not banned.

According to Twitter, if you are banned from the platform, you are removed from the site and will not be added. For instance, shortly after former President Trump was banned from Twitter, the company’s chief financial officer, Ned Segal, said during an interview on CNBC that once you are banned from the site your tweeting privilege would be withdrawn for good.

“The way our policies work is that when you are removed from the platform you are removed from the platform, whether you are a commentator, CFO, former or current public official. Remember, our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence, and if anybody does that, we have to remove them from the service and our policies don’t allow people to come back,” Segal said.

In the case of President Buhari, his Twitter account was not removed and his tweeting privileges were not withdrawn.


Conclusion

The report that Twitter banned President Buhari from its platform is false. It is also false that Nigeria banned Twitter. The site removed a tweet it considered a violation of its policy. Nigeria suspended the site indefinitely.

President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and 98 other individual Nigerians and organisations may lose 160,289,500 followers on account of Federal Government’s ban on Twitter, according to figures obtained on Saturday.

But the organisation appeared unperturbed by the ban, offering to help its Nigeria-based users to bypass the ban.

It said it had commenced efforts to restore access to its platform for Nigerians following the blocking of access to it by telecommunication companies in the country.

Many Nigerians immediately sought an alternative route via Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Downloading the VPN app appeared difficult on Saturday.

Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami warned that violators of the ban would be prosecuted, even as more condemnations trailed the Twitter suspension.

The United States yesterday told the Federal Government that its suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria is capable of sending wrong signals to investors and businesses.

The Presidency, in its first comment on the temporary ban last night, dismissed suggestions that it was in response to the social media’s recent deletion of Buhari’s tweets.

According to Rosbena.com, Buhari with 3 million followers and Osinbajo with 2.6 million rank among the 100 leading crowd pullers on Twitter.

The others include ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; a former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki; the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote; ace Musician David Adedeji Adeleke (Davido); a former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Temi Otedola; another highly rated musician, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (Wizkid) and the winner of Grammy’s Best Global Music Award, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (Burna Boy).

The suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria may also deny some Nigerians and institutions robust following.

These include the Presidency, the Nigeria Police Force, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Army, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; Pastor Sam Adeyemi; a former Vice President of the World Bank Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; Sen. Dino Melaye; Sen. Shehu Sani and Femi Fani-Kayode.

According to investigation by Rosbena.com, the identified 100 top Nigerians have dominated Twitter in the country.

The link says: “Rosbena compiles the list of most followed Nigerian accounts on Twitter.

“Unlike the most followed Nigerian accounts on Instagram which comprise mostly musicians and actresses, the list of most followed Nigerian Twitter accounts comprises mainly musicians, politicians, radio stations, newspapers and banks.

The breakdown of some of the 100 ranked accounts and their followers is as follows: President Muhammadu Buhari (3m); Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (2.6m); Bukola Saraki (2m); Davido (6.8m); Aliko Dangote (880,200); Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun aka Wizkid (6.3m); Don Jazzy (4.5m); Tiwa Savage (3.9m); Channels Television (3.7m); Burna Boy (3.2m); Dapo Oyebanjo aka D’Banj (3.1m); Olamide Gbenga Adedeji aka Olamide (3.1m); Banky W. Banky (2.9m); Peter P-Square (2.5m); Ice Prince Zamani (2.4m); Ali Baba (858,600); and Genevieve Nnaji (2.1m).

Others are musician Simi (2.1m); Wande Coal (1.9m); Comedian Basketmouth (1.9m); Blogger Linda Ikeji (1.9m); Governor Nasir el-Rufai(1.7m); Presidency of Nigeria (1.7m); Tony Elumelu (1m); Sen. Dino Melaye (1.6m); INEC (1.5m); D.J. Cuppy (1.5m); Nigeria Police Force (1.2m); EFCC (904,300); Temi Otedola (1.2m) Sen. Shehu Sani (1.2m); Pastor Enoch Adeboye (1.1m); WTO Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala (1.1m); Oby Ezekwesili (1m); Funke Akindele (1m); the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu (978,300); and a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode (956,200).

The Federal Government’s suspension of the operations of Twitter in Nigeria has triggered condemnations.

The sanction against the microblogging and social networking service is indefinite.

Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, in a statement on Friday, cited the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.

The government directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations.

The President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s action followed the deletion of the Nigerian leader’s tweet.

Buhari had warned those destabilizing the South-East that his government would embark on an offensive against them.

There have been several attacks on government personnel and facilities by “unknown gunmen”.

As at press time, the presidency, ministries and agencies still have their Twitter pages active. It remains to be seen if the government will order their deactivation.

The ban was also posted on the Federal Ministry of Information’s Twitter account.

Twitter users are shocked and are reacting angrily. They are accusing the authorities of being high-handed.

@Sambrojbr tweeted: Thank God No be Naija their office dey

@jamiuesho: By now, I expect Twitter to bring down all Twitter accounts of FG agencies and its officials.

@OruhNC: The first step should be for the Presidency and all MDAs to deactivate their Twitter accounts.

@Biraphil: This is the same twitter y’all cried when they setup their headquarters in Ghana instead of Nigeria. Government would’ve locked their headquarters up for hate speech by now.

@MrIsony: I hope all APC and BMC members will deactivate their twitter accounts?

The federal government has urged young Nigerians to stop renouncing their citizenship in pursuit of greener pasture.

The Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, said the trend was worrisome and counterproductive.

He assured that the federal government would put mechanism in place that would keep young Nigerians busy in productive activities.

He urged them to stop renouncing their citizenship.

Aregbesola spoke during the Ministerial Alignment Meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Deliverables for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.

A statement issued yesterday by Mr. Towoju Raphael on behalf of the Director of Press in the Ministry, Mrs Lere- Adams, said the minister was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore.

Aregbesola said a committee would be set up in the Ministry with stakeholders to oversee the operations and implementation of the deliverables.

He announced that the committee would be chaired by the Director, Planning Research and Statistics (PRS) in the Ministry, Mr. Kabiru Ayuba, with representatives of the four Services under the Ministry and other relevant officers.

The pervasive atmosphere of uncertainty in the country as a result of the rising levels of insecurity, may have forced politicians and their associates to temporarily put on hold, political discussions and moves about the 2023 election, especially in the public sphere. According to the timeline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the presidential election is expected to hold on February 18, 2023.

However, the electoral body is expected to conduct the Anambra State governorship election in November and a couple of other off-season governorship elections next year, before the 2023 general elections.

Lately, the upsurge in insecurity in the country has raised concerns and fuelled tensions in many quarters, necessitating some stakeholders to express fears that the 2023 general elections may not hold unless government nips in the bud, the scourge.

According to data by the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), a project of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa Programme, in the first six weeks of 2021, lives of no less than 1, 525 persons were lost across the country. On Saturday, Ahmed Gulak, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was shot dead by gunmen while returning to Abuja from Owerri, the Imo State capital.

The killing of the former presidential aide sparked outrage across the country and also forced the House of Representatives to postpone the planned zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution scheduled for Owerri on June 2 and 3. And 72 hours after Gulak’s murder; the Senior Special Assistant to the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Security, AIG Christopher Dega (rtd), was shot dead in Jos, the capital of Platue State. Dega, a former Commissioner of Police in Borno and Edo states, was said to have been murdered by three yet to be identified gunmen in an isolated restaurant at Bukuru, Jos, at about 8.30pm, having just arrived from Makurdi in Benue State only a few hours earlier.

Since the March 31 attack on a campaign rally by one of the leading candidates in the Anambra guber election, Prof. Charles Soludo, in which three policemen were killed, the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor has virtually ‘disappeared’ from the campaign trail.

Speaking with New Telegraph, a Senior Aide to a 2023 presidential hopeful from the South-West said the nation is bleeding and it will be insensitive to go fullthrottle in politics at touchy period of insecurity in the country.

He said: “First, you must know that INEC has not opened the space for political campaign, but all that is being done are behind-thescene meetings and followups. “Some of the meetings may have to be limited especially as it concerns physical meetings because nowhere is safe again, not even Abuja where the next door neighbour, Niger, is already crying.

“We have few scheduled physical meetings and events, but I doubt if we will honour it because one needs to be careful and sensitive as well,” he said. Speaking with New Telegraph, President, Rights Monitoring Group and Centre for Convention on Democratic Integrity, Mr Olufemi Aduwo, said the current situation in the country is not conducive for open political conversation for 2023. He said: “We are in a very trying period in this country and all hands must be on deck to find solutions to these challenges that aimed at throwing us under the bus as a nation. “I think it is too early in the day, though, some have started moving around, but it might be insensitive on their parts to do that.

Can anyone go to Benue to consult for 2023 when women, children are being killed and harassed by herdsmen there?” Some of the gladiators, hoping to succeed President Buhari within the APC and PDP folds, have mainly announced their ambitions through campaign posters sponsored by either cronies or support groups on the various social media platforms.

As the process of amending the 1999 Constitution is ongoing, the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has called for a unicameral legislature for the country.

Specifically, the governor said the upper chamber of the National Assembly should be scrapped while the Assembly should be on part-time basis to reduce the cost of governance.

Akeredolu stated this at the Akure Centre of the South-West Zonal Public Hearing on the review constitution, held at the International Cultural and Event Center, Akure, the state capital, on Tuesday.

Represented by his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the governor said the position of the state was for the Federal Government to be reduced in weight and responsibilities.

He said, “The position of the Ondo State Government has been made public. We advocate for a Federal Government largely reduced in size and scope of engagement. We want to see a Constitution that will enhance the performance of public office holders at all levels.

“It is possible to have a government that will serve the people in deed and truth. The law of the land must aid this realistic expectation. We must reduce the cost of governance and shift attention to service delivery in this trying period.”

He added, “The country may consider dropping the current bicameral structure of the National Assembly and adopt a unicameral legislature. The membership of the Assembly should be part time. No member should earn allowances not known to the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Committee and, more importantly, people they claim to serve.

“Legislators should earn under a uniform salary structure. Allowance peculiarities must not be about obscenity. The Senate should be scrapped. The House of Representatives too should not be unwieldly. A maximum of four representatives should come from each zone.”

He mentioned the position of the state to include, creation of state police, devolution of powers, state control of resources, decentralization of supreme court among others.

By Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu
The dissolution of the Zamfara State executive council on Tuesday is part of Governor Bello Matawalle’s preparations for defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC), a source close to the governor has told PREMIUM TIMES.

According to the source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the development, Mr Matawalle will formally declare for the APC on June 12, as part of the ceremony to mark Democracy Day.

The source said the governor dissolved his cabinet because some members, including the deputy governor, Mahdi Aliyu, are reluctant to make the journey to the ruling party with him.

For a while, it has been rumoured that the governor has been harbouring plans to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even though some leaders of the APC in the state do not want him in the party.

On Tuesday, he sacked the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Bala Bello, the 23 commissioners, his Chief of Staff, Bala Mande, and the Deputy Chief of Staff, Bashir Maru.

Following the development, sources who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said the governor will finally dump the PDP on June 12.

Mr Matawalle wants to be in the APC before the National Conventional of the party in June. To participate in the convention, he needs to register with the APC in its on-going membership revalidation and registration exercise.

Mr Matawalle was declared governor on May 24, 2019, after the Supreme Court disqualified all the APC candidates in the state in the general election of that year over the failure of the party to conduct valid primaries.

The apex court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to cancel the votes secured by the APC in all the elections and decide the new winners from the remaining valid votes.

APC had swept the poll in the state by winning the presidential, governorship and all the federal and state legislative seats while PDP candidates trailed in the second position.


Resistance within

However, the governor’s fresh move to join the APC is allegedly being challenged by some members of the dissolved cabinet and the deputy governor, Mr Aliyu.

This was cited as the major reason the governor decided to dissolve the cabinet, sources said.

Mr Aliyu, who is a son of a former Minister of Defence, Ali Gusau, was said to be opposed to moving into the APC, arguing that the court awarded the electoral victory in 2019 to also the PDP and not just its candidates.

However, the governor’s plan to join the APC is allegedly being backed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

All the 24 members of the state House of Assembly, including the speaker, Nasiru Magarya, were said to have also agreed to join the governor in the APC.

But PREMIUM TIMES could not ascertain the stands of the federal lawmakers from the state who are also members of the PDP.

When contacted, the governor’s spokesperson, Yusuf Idris, said Mr Matawalle has the right to decide which political party to align with and that he would take a decision that is good for Zamfara State.

“I am yet to be briefed on whether he is leaving PDP or not, only time will tell,” the official said.

“The governor has been in politics for long and has been elected to several positions, so he can decide to be in any political party he wishes. People should not rush to conclusion; the governor is most concerned by the security of Zamfara.

“You can see, when he came on board, he introduced the peace dialogue initiative, which has helped in reducing killings and kidnappings in the state,” Mr Idris said.

The death toll in herdsmen attack on three communities of Ebonyi-Benue borders at the weekend has risen to over 50.

The Nation had reported herdsmen on Saturday morning invaded Odoke Ishieke, Obakota Ishieke and Ndiobasi Ishieke communities in Ebonyi local government and killed over 30 persons.

It was further gathered some of those killed include pregnant women and nursing mothers.

The communities share common boundaries with Ardo local government, Benue state.

Since the attack, security agents have been recovering dead bodies from bushes in the affected areas.

A resident of one of the area, who simply gave his name as Nwegede, told our correspondent that 31 bodies were recovered in Ndiobasi Ishieke, 6 in Odoke Ishieke and 15 bodies in Obakota Ishieke.

Many victims of the attack are still receiving treatment at Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki 2(FETHA2) and a health centre close to the scene of the incidents run by AMURT.

Commissioner for Capital City Development, Onyekachi Nwebonyi, who hails from the area, said over 30 bodies have been evacuated from bushes around the affected communities.

He said: “it is a very unfortunate situation. We got a very sad news yesterday morning that armed herdsmen invaded Izzi land particularly in a place called Ndiobashi and killed so many of our people.

“We quickly alerted the security agencies to come to their aid but unfortunately, the Benue state government who claimed ownership of the area could not respond positively.

“But we commend the Governor of Ebonyi state who upon hearing the incident, swung into action even though the land is in dispute and sent the security agencies to repel the attacks.

As I speak to you, over 30 bodies have been evacuated and as I talk, the soldiers are still evacuating more dead bodies in the bush.

“ I visited there yesterday and the victims narrated their ordeals but of a truth, the area is in disarray.

“People are in panic but we have been able to encourage them to complement the efforts of the security agencies to beef up security in the area so that the ugly incident doesn’t reoccur.”

Yoruba nation agitators defy FG, open Idiroko border, snatch gun from security operative

Some Yoruba nation agitators have stormed Idiroko in Ogun State and forcefully opened its land border.

DAILY POST reports that Idiroko is a border town between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin.

The land border has remained closed since 2019 when the Federal Government directed that all importations be done through the seaports.

But, the Yoruba nation supporters invaded the border community on Saturday and forced open all the gates at the international frontier.

A video on social media showed a gun being snatched from an Immigration officer.

A man in a yellow T-shirt was also seen shooting the gun into the air to the admiration of others at the scene.

Different voices were heard in the video calling on the soldiers and other security agents to come out and shoot.

A young man, who was accused of trying to record the incident with his mobile phone was attacked and beaten to stupor.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service Ogun 1 Area Command, Hammed Oloyede, said the situation was under control.

”There was no attack on our patrol bases or checkpoints. Those guys are just doing their own. They tried to attack one patrol point but it was repelled. The situation is under control. There is no problem.”

Meanwhile, the spokesman to Sunday Adeyemo Igboho in a video commended the actions of the agitators, saying the Federal Government shut down Yoruba States borders while those in the north were open.

Mrs Arinola Oloko is the woman captured in a viral video objecting to being called a ‘thug’ by Senator Oluremi Tinubu at the venue of the public hearing on constitution review. In this interview with KAYODE OYERO, Oloko, an educationist with a master’s degree in Public Health who veered into politics, speaks about her encounter with Mrs Tinubu


Tell us about yourself.

My name is Arinola Oloko. I am an educationist and a politician. I like to say that I am the new face of politics.


Can you explain what you mean by ‘the new face of politics?’

I’m a younger version (of politicians), a more vibrant version that brings transparency, accountability, responsibility, responsiveness to the table. I am not the version that tells people I want to empower them; rather, I want people to be part of the government, knowing that they are the ones in charge of governance. I want a Nigeria that we have not had in the past. Gone are the days when people have power and feel like they can do anyhow they want. So, I am the new face of politics; this is what politics is going to look like going forward. It is not going to be like before.


When you say you are the new face of politics, are you saying the faces we see in politics today are old faces and should be pushed out?


If they are not prepared to do things differently, they should start thinking about it because the world is evolving and right now, Nigeria is evolving. Nigerians are tired of the same thing; they are distressed. There is so much poverty in the land, so much insecurity, they are tired, and they want people (politicians) that are ready to represent them, people that are ready to serve them, and people that are interested in making a difference. Nigerians want people who are in touch with the reality. For instance, women and youths are the most valuable assets that we have but what are we doing with them?


What was your intention for attending the Senate constitutional review hearing in Lagos?

I ran in the last election in 2019 and I know all the discrepancies and the things that we saw. I know for a fact that we are never involved in what is happening and that was what led me to the review. I made concerted efforts to be at the review with my colleagues so that we could present a paper to contribute to national public consultation on constitutional reform.


Can you tell us what really transpired at Marriot Hotel in Lagos between you and Senator Oluremi Tinubu?

Well, I do not want the issue to overshadow the major issues confronting us as a country. The issues we have in Nigeria are greater than what happened on Wednesday. It is not a personal thing. Let us leave it and let it go to sleep but we need to concentrate on the fact that every process must be thought out thoroughly. You cannot invite people to certain things and you do not sort it out; you need to make it (environment) conducive and accessible. If they cannot, on their own, manage it, they should have employed the services of those who do that for a living, to create and manage the process. Marriot Hotel was not an appropriate venue for a public hearing. 250 seats do not represent Lagos, Oyo and Ogun. It is a South-West hearing and not Lagos only. Even if it was Lagos only, Lagos has a population of 20 million people and counting and what percentage is 250?


What venue would have been appropriate for the hearing?

It was advertised as the TBS (Tafawa Balewa Square). It was at the last minute that it was changed to Marriot Hotel and the excuse for changing it to the place was that they were trying to observe COVID-19 protocol. I do not see how they were trying to observe the protocol when the seats were arranged closely, (with) no social distancing and the place was enclosed. TBS is an open place and we would have been able to observe social distance and it would have been better.


What did you do at the hotel that made Senator Oluremi Tinubu take you on?

Senator Oluremi Tinubu is my senator and I respect her as my senator. I have tremendous respect for authority. We were at the venue, standing in a queue, only for us to get to a point and they said registration had closed. They did not say from the beginning that they had a certain number that they were restricting the hearing to. If so, they should have made us register online, so that we would have known that on getting to the centre we wouldn’t bother trying to enter. Also, we saw (other) people coming in; senators were coming in, governors, local government chairmen, government officials and a few other people who came to present papers (were coming in) but it didn’t look like a proper representation of the people.

Everybody says the constitution is faulty. They (government)said we cannot get a new constitution; but we can get a review. Now, to present our contributions, we can’t. I was expecting a proper hearing for the Senate constitutional review. I was genuinely interested in the hearing. I was talking with those at the entrance, asking them to be fair and allow us to enter. I don’t know what happened but the Senator came out and started saying, ‘Call that woman! Come here!’

By default, I responded and went to her (Mrs Tinubu). I told her my name and told her I am in her constituency and that she is my senator and that we had been in the queue like forever.

I tried to recount everything that had transpired to her. In my mind, I thought she would say, ‘Oh, this is wrong and all of that.’ But she said, ‘Shut up! Shut up! Call the security to take this thug away.’ At that point, I told her, ‘Ma, I am not a thug; I don’t look like a thug. I am not being violent and I don’t look a criminal. That’s the qualification of a thug. That was all that happened.


What does your family think about the incident, particularly as a video of it went viral on the Internet?

They acknowledge the fact that I was not rude; I was only assertive. That stood out.


In the viral video clip some people at the hearing asked the senator to apologise to you but she said she was not going to apologise. How do you feel about this?

Actually, you cannot make someone do what they don’t want to do. If she feels it is not necessary to apologise, it is really up to her. I know who I am and I know the way I was brought up. I know the right thing and I will do the right thing. It is a lesson for everyone to learn to be humble, to understand that even when you are in power, you are there to serve the people.


Has the senator reached out to you after that encounter?

No, she hasn’t. She has said she was not going to apologise.


Were you eventually able to make your contributions at the hearing?

No, myself and my colleagues were not able to make our contributions at the hearing on Wednesday. And I did not bother going the following day (Thursday). People were already calling me not to come. Some told me to lie low while some said I should have come and make my presentation, but I have submitted the document containing our presentation.


What is the content of the document you submitted at the hearing?

First (point) is that we do not believe in a review or an amendment. What we want is a new constitution that is borne out of true consultation with all Nigerians; we want everyone to be represented in the constitution, especially with respect to certain areas like power, accountability, universal right to basic education and we want the girl-child to be well-educated and that the government must respect the rule of law. These are some of the things in the document.


Do you feel threatened after that encounter with the senator?

Nobody has threatened me and I don’t want to be threatened. I feel I have not stepped on anybody’s toes; I only stood on my rights as a citizen and I have demanded accountability from those in government.


You said you are a politician. When did you start your political journey?

I joined politics in 2018. I am a member of pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere. I attend meetings and contribute my quota. Afenifere is non-partisan and not based on any political party; it is a group that wants the best for the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Afenifere is passionate about social welfare, education, amongst others.

After being a member for a while, I decided to put my money where my mouth is. It is just like watching a football match at home and you say, ‘Oh, that footballer didn’t kick the ball well,’ when you are not on the field. I registered with a party then but the registration was short-lived. I later joined the Social Democratic Party. After a year or so, I decided to pick up the ticket contesting for Lagos State House of Assembly, Eti-Osa Constituency 2 in 2019. I won at the primaries. I got the ticket but I didn’t win the election.


Why do you think you lost the election?

The 2019 election took almost everything from me; it was the most difficult thing I have ever done aside from childbirth. That is the problem with women and politics. The people are hungry and there is so much poverty in the land. People are ready to sell their votes for whatever it is. On the day of the election, people were saying, ‘Mama, even if it is N500, give me.’ I went from door to door during my campaign and rally. I met people and spoke with people. Throughout my campaign, I never gave anyone money and I told the people, until we change the narrative, our children won’t be able to contest election in this country. We cannot continue to use money to contest elections in this country because you do not stand a chance and your children do not stand a chance. So, I lost because I was not from the ruling party and because I didn’t give out money to the people.

The mindset of the people is that election comes once in four years and they need to get all that they could get from you. Also, they can’t read your mind and they cannot differentiate between you and the others.

By Muideen Olaniyi


The Presidency, on Friday, said when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari breasts the tape in another two years, the applause would be resounding, even from the worst of sceptics.

A presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said this in a statement titled ‘The Buhari Administration at 6: Counting the Blessings One by One’.

The statement catalogued the achievements of the incumbent federal government led by President Buhari in the last six years.

Adesina said the administration had recorded giant strides in various sectors of the economy that would be recognised by “those who are dispassionate and fair-minded, not beclouded by political partisanship and undue cynicism.”

The statement read in part: “The Muhammadu Buhari administration clocks six years May 29, 2021.

“This milestone affords the opportunity to reflect, and recount the impact that has been made (and is being made) on different sectors of national life.

“From infrastructure, to finance, education, healthcare, sports, anti-corruption, human development, housing, oil and gas, foreign relations, and many others, the administration is recording giant strides, enough to make Nigerians proud.

“That is, those who are dispassionate and fair-minded, not beclouded by political partisanship and undue cynicism.

“Some people claim: ‘We don’t see what they are doing. We don’t hear about it.’

“When the Administration breasts the tape in another two years, by the grace of God, the applause will be resounding, even from the worst of sceptics.

“Facts are undeniable, and always remain so. They are stubborn things.”

The employment of some job seekers into different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) by the Federal Civil Service Commission in 2019 has brought them pains and sorrow.

The news of their employment had been a dream come true for many as some had done various menial jobs to pay their bills before getting the job.

However, DAILY POST gathered that two years after they were employed, they are yet to be paid salaries.

Speaking to our correspondent, the employees expressed frustration, saying if the situation is allowed to continue, their productivity will be affected. Expectedly, many of them complained of rising debts.

One said, “My debtors are continually on my tail and the situation is causing me sleepless nights I tell you.”

Another, posted to a Federal Unity College, said “Things have been very hard for us. A lot of us could hardly feed, talk more of extending a helping hand to those looking unto us. We really wish the government would release our salaries this month.”

DAILY POST, in the course of investigating the matter, gathered that the COVID-19 pandemic is partly responsible for the delayed salaries.

It was also revealed that those employed from the south are yet to be captured into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) due to the pandemic.

A source in the office of the Head of Federal Civil Service said, “It was discovered that names were fraudulently smuggled into the list of those officially recruited and that a large number of fake appointment letters were discovered in some Ministries. As a result, the Head of Service, Mrs Folashade Yemi-Esan, decided to halt processing the payment of wages for the newly employed staff until investigations are concluded by a committee set up in February to look into the matter.”

However, the affected employees are pleading with the government to urgently look into their plight and fast track payment of their outstanding wages.

One of them suggests that to cushion the effects of the incessant delay experienced by new employees in the various MDAs, the government should develop a “new staff adaptability scheme” whereby the newly employed are given monthly stipends by their various MDAs’ pending when their salaries are regularized. This, he said, would go a long way to win their trust and give them a sense of belonging.

Some of the affected employees posted to schools commended their college principals for coming to their aid while others complained bitterly that theirs have done practically nothing to help them.

“Our school Principal has been making an effort to assist and cushion the effects of this nonpayment of salaries. He gives us N10,000 monthly stipends and also grants us a loan if we request. He also gave us 10 mudu of rice each and 2kg of vegetable oil during Ramadan. Sincerely he has been very kind to us. May God Almighty bless him more and more and may he be given higher positions of leadership.

“Our prayer is that God should favour and lift such Principals up and make them Permanent Secretaries very soon. These are the type of people we need as leaders! Lord bless them, bless their school and their homes. Ameen!” One of them said.

“O Lord, when will my principal do this kind of thing? Touch his heart, Lord and let him remember us o Lord. It is not easy,” another lamented.

“Where I came from, my principal cannot do such a thing. He can’t even give from the PTA, very heartless,” another affected teacher said.

“I really wish the remaining Principals of schools who are not cooperating in helping to cushion these effects of nonpayment of salaries emulate their colleagues who have taken the lead in doing so even if it means signing an agreement with the affected staff to pay them stipends that they will pay back once they start collecting salaries.”

There was rowdiness on Thursday during a house of representatives public hearing as Uzoma Abonta, a member from Abia, accused his colleague, Buba Yakub, from Adamawa, of plagiarising his bill.

The public hearing was organised by the house committees on anti-corruption and commerce to look into the bill to establish the ‘Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners’.

The bill, sponsored by Yakub, passed the first and second reading in March and April respectively.

Abonta had earlier sponsored the ‘Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professional of Nigeria’ bill and it was passed by the house — but yet to be assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking at the hearing, Abonta said the provisions of Yakub’s bill are not different from the one he sponsored.

TheCable has not independently examined the contents of the two bills.

Abonta said: “We have rules we follow in the national assembly. National assembly is a hallow chamber, we don’t have to cause confusion — we solve confusion.

“What is now surprising now is that this bill now being considered… I authored the other forensic bill. This bill is word for word with the bill I authored. That is plagiarism.”

At this point, Abonta was interrupted by Yakub who raised a point of order.

Benjamin Sekpe, legal adviser to the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals, while making his presentation, said the “bill is a photocopy”.

“We only got to know about this public hearing this morning that is why we are unable to make proper presentation and submission,” he said.

“May I bring to the attention of the committee that a bill to establish the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria was passed into law by this same house on the 19th day of May 2021 and what is surprising is the fact that the bill under public hearing at the moment is more or less a photocopy of our bill.”

He was interrupted by Yakub who raised another point of order, again denying the allegation of plagiarism.

Yakub demanded that Sekpe be placed under oath before continuing with the presentation.

He said: “Point of order Mr chairman. Mr. chairman, I will not sit here to take such an insult. My bill is entirely a different bill and then, you cannot come here to say my bill is similar to what it is… Mr chairman, you have to take up the matter. It is a serious matter.

“This bill has gone through the first reading, has gone through second reading in the house, this is the public hearing. So he should be put on oath before he makes his speech so that whatever he said, he should be held accountable for it.”

The committee, however, allowed Sekpe to continue with his presentation.

Sekpe said: “The bill that is under public hearing today is more like a rehash of our bill. If the house may take note, the same bill was passed by the eighth assembly but due to gray arrears, the president could not assent to the bill and the bill came back and it was passed by this same house.”

He added that allowing the bill to be passed will be a “duplication and multiplication of law”.

Following his presentation, the house committee ruled that the allegation will be looked into.

A bus driver has been physically assaulted by a Nigerian military man for stopping on the highway for schoolchildren to cross in Lagos. In a video posted by Instablog9ja on Thursday, the soldier in military camouflage got down from his motorcycle and asked the commercial bus driver to get down from his vehicle.

A bus driver has been physically assaulted by a Nigerian military man for stopping on the highway for schoolchildren to cross in Lagos.

In a video posted by Instablog9ja on Thursday, the soldier in military camouflage got down from his motorcycle and asked the commercial bus driver to get down from his vehicle.

He was seen beating the driver with his hands and kicking him, as the helpless man got off his bus and tried to beg him.

The driver and passengers pleaded but their pleas were futile.

After the military operative drove off, a passerby asked what transpired between the duo, and he explained that his offence was waiting for the children to cross to the other side of the road, adding that the military man accused him of applying brakes unexpectedly.

“I waited for students to cross the road because I could not hit them. That was why he came to start beating me. He said I applied the brakes suddently because he was behind me on the lane,” the assaulted driver said.

Passengers and onlookers were seen in the video hurling abuses at the soldier as he zoomed off after he realised he was being filmed.

There are at least 10 Major-Generals from the 35 and 36 Regular Courses still in the Nigerian Army according to records.

About 10 Nigerian Army Major-Generals may have to retire from the service following the emergence of Major-General Farouk Yahaya as the 22nd Chief of the Army Staff.

President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Yahaya on Thursday to replace the late Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, who died alongside 10 other military officers in a military plane crash in Kaduna last Friday.

SaharaReporters learnt that Yahaya, who until his appointment was the Theatre Commander of Operation Hadan Kai (formerly Lafiya Dole) in the North-East is from 37 Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy while his predecessor, the late Attahiru was from the Course 35.

There are at least 10 Major-Generals from the 35 and 36 Regular Courses still in the Nigerian Army according to records.

Some of the senior military officers from Regular Course 35 include the current army’s Chief of Policy and Plan, Major General Ben Ahanotu. Although he is from Anambra State, he is very fluent in Hausa language.

Also, the army’s Chief of Administration is Major General A.M. Aliyu of Regular Course 36 is from Gombe State.

Yahaya, now 55 years, was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on September 22, 1990. There are also Yahaya’s course mates such as Major General Ibrahim Yusuf of Regular Course 37 from Yobe State.

He is the army’s Chief of Operation and former Force Commander Multinational Joint Taskforce.

When Buhari appointed the present crop of service chiefs only in January, no fewer than 20 generals from the three services who were members of courses 34 and 35 were retired to pave way for them.

They were course mates with the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor from Course 34; late Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Ibrahim Attahiru from Course 35; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral A.Z Gambo, and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao, also from Course 35.

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria MACBAN, says, instead of the blanket ban on open grazing by the Southern governors, that a middle course should be taken to douse tension in the area

The middle course according to the group is coming together of leaders of the South and the North to chart the way forward for an improved and more modern mode of livestock keeping.

“It will douse tension and the heightening tension across the north and south and give sufficient room for a gradual adjustment that will be beneficial to the generality of Nigerians.

Neither the northern nor the Southern political leaders should call the bluff of the commoners, whose surface interpretation of the situation, has the tendency of brewing misgiving, rancour and avoidable friction across the board,” MACBAN said.

The Chairman of Miyetti Allah in the Southeast, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, made this known to The Nation Thursday in Awka, adding that the rising state of insecurity in Nigeria had increasingly fanned the embers of suspicion among the different ethnic nationalities in the country.

The MACBAN leader said, “In recent times, however, the Fulani ethnic nationality has suffered greater hate and blanket condemnation by most of the other tribes in Nigeria.

“Because of the nature of Cattle rearing the herders are more on transit and so always interfacing with multiple cultures amongst their host communities.

“They are equally exposed to the wanton camp infiltration by often migrant fellows who are criminally minded and who do not spare the law-abiding herders the venomous effects of their criminal acts for their lawless acts, the entire Fulani suffers odium, unfortunately.

“I always insisted that the government and the statutory security and law enforcement organs should and must not shirk from their primary responsibility for security of live and properties of law-abiding citizen of Nigeria.

“Recently, the southern Governors met and placed a blanket ban on open grazing in a collective response to the demands of their people.

“I have interacted closely with some of these political leaders and understand the persistent pressure on them to take the stand they just recently took.

“Our people have lived harmoniously with the tribes in the south, but very recently the awry activities of migrant Fulanis have provoked unhealthy suspicion and attitude against people that have for aged enjoyed the warmth of neighborhood of their occupation.

“There is, therefore, need for a functional engagement to deconstruct the growing hate narration against Fulanis.

“I sincerely do not think anybody or group should be quick in rising to condemn the political heads of the south in this decision

“I rather think that the political leaders of the north, particularly those of them who are of Fulani stock or who understand the dynamic of livestock rearing, should put heads together and constructively engage their colleagues in the south for the good of all,” Siddiki said.

Buba Galadima, a former ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, has denied his affiliation with any of Nigeria’s two dominant political parties.

Mr Galadima, at a webinar tagged “Intra-Party Democracy in Nigeria: Challenges and Solution,” said he has ceased being a member of either the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the country’s main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

At the webinar organised by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), he presented himself as the National Chairman of the breakaway of the APC called Reformed All Progressives Congress (rAPC) adding that ”the rAPC is coming back to take Nigeria’s political space by storm”.

“I want to make the biggest correction, I am not, I am not a member of the PDP. I am not. I am the national chairman of the breakaway rAPC and I remain so,” Mr Galadima clarified.

“I want the nation to know that very soon, Nigeria will hear from us in the political environment with a big bang.”

The rAPC broke away at the peak of the crisis which rocked the APC in 2018, accusing Mr Buhari-led government of underperformance and inability to live up to its promises for good governance three years after winning the first election.

Mr Galadima, a former National Secretary of defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), was one of the signatories to the merger that birthed the APC.

In his contribution as one of the four panelists at the Wednesday webinar designed to interrogate Nigeria’s intra-party democracy since 1999, Mr Buhari’s former ally said the country’s politicians, himself inclusive, had failed to learn lessons on the subject.

He, alongside three other panelists, agreed that Nigeria’s intra-party democracy ”remains crawling as money politics and candidate imposition had continued to rule political parties rather than true democratic tenets”.

“One could have thought that internal party democracy would be our watchword. If you cannot do justice to members of your party, how do you expect God to do justice to you. We must access the issues of electoral reform in Nigeria. It is only the people that have the right to choose who will represent them,” Mr Galadima said.

While he condemned the lack of internal democracy within the ruling APC and the PDP, other members of the panelists said minor parties in the country are also guilty of similar deficiencies.

Ezenwa Nwagwu of the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), raised the need to end this trend which he argued was ushered into the system by President Olusegun Obasanjo after the country returned to democratic governance in 1999.

“We need to find a way to disrupt this inglorious decisions. If people don’t own these political parties they cannot be stakeholders,” he said.

In her assessment of the parties since the country return to democracy, the Director of Centre for Democracy (CDD), Idayat Hassan, posited that Nigeria’s political parties have undermined “their function as a school of democracy.”

At the event sponsored by the European Union, the panelists advocated more open democratic system within individual party as well as more coordinated approaches from Nigeria’s electoral body, INEC.

Students of the College of Health and Technology, Ijero-Ekiti on Wednesday went on rampage after 100 of their colleagues collapsed for allegedly inhaling chemicals during a fumigation exercise on the campus.

The Nation gathered the students collapsed while writing their examinations after inhaling chemicals when operatives of the Federal Fire Service were undertaking a fumigation exercise.

An eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our correspondent no fewer than 100 students slumped and were rushed to hospitals outside the campus for medical treatment.

It was learnt some of the hospitalised students were said to be asthmatic and developed complications as a result of the leaked chemicals inhaled during the exercise.

Enraged by the development, the teeming students mobilised and besieged the institution’s administrative unit to demand explanation from the management.

The protest later turned violent as the administrative building, lectures’ rooms, vehicles of lecturers and other properties worth millions were destroyed by the rampaging, forcing lecturers and other staff to scamper for safety.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Banji Filani, confirmed the incident, saying the situation was under control and normalcy had been restored.

“Earlier today I received a call from the provost of the College of Technology as regards the situation in the institution. What we understand was that the school has received a memo from the Federal Fire Service that fumigation will be done.

“The fumigation was carried out today but unfortunately the immolation created panic and more than that was adverse effects on over 100 students who were hospitalized at the Ijero state Specialist Hospital.

“While 64 have been discharged and about 34 of them still in the facility. Most of them are in good condition. We had sent two to the FETHI for close observation and to ensure that they are in good state and one is undergoing investigation in the Afe Babalola Teaching Hospital.

“We are monitoring the situation in order to ensure everyone is safe. We have mobilized additional doctors and nurses, oxygen cylinders to the hospital to make sure that everybody is safe,” he said.

Filani disclosed some operatives of the Fire Service that undertook the fumigation exercise have been arrested for thorough investigation.

President Muhammadu Buhari is opposed to open grazing of cattle, the presidency said yesterday in an apparent effort to douse the rising critique of its statement on Monday, quoting the president as querying the legality of Southern governors’ ban on open grazing.

Presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, while fielding questions on ARISE NEWS CHANNEL, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said many people misconstrued Buhari’s views on the Southern governors’ resolutions at their May 11 meeting in Asaba, Delta State as an endorsement of open grazing.

Hours before the clarification from the presidency, the Monday statement had drawn flaks from the Southern governors; the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere; and some senior lawyers.

The presidency statement by Shehu had questioned the legality of the Southern governors’ resolutions, in which they, among others, banned open grazing of cattle in the South.

The statement quoted Buhari as dismissing the ban, while accusing the 17 Southern governors of not proffering any solution to the intractable farmer-herder conflicts, largely driven by open grazing of cattle.

The presidency announced Buhari’s approval for ranching and revival of grazing reserves nationwide.

But the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum and Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, yesterday fired back at the presidency, warning that no land in the South will be ceded to those he described “as a band of invaders masquerading as herdsmen under any guise.”

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) also maintained its earlier stance that the ban on open grazing was in the best interest of all Nigerians.

But Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, yesterday kicked against the presidential decision to revive grazing reserves, saying that the reserves, created when Nigeria had a population of 50 million have since been taken over by airports, schools, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure.

Some senior lawyers also faulted Buhari’s opposition to the open grazing ban, alleging ethnic bias.

However, in an effort to douse tension generated by his statement, Shehu told ARISE NEWS Channel that Buhari would want to see an end to the archaic practice of open grazing of cattle.

He added that the objective of the president and that of the governors fully align.

However, he stated that the only difference between the positions of both parties is the approach to achieving the aim, adding that the president is insistent that it should be done in an organised manner.

He said: “The president wants to see an end to open grazing; he wants to see ranching; but he wants it in a way that’s organised and he has a plan for it and the plan will take off in June.”

According to him, all the ongoing attacks on the president are from people who are in the mood for a public fight.

He said states that were able to meet the minimum requirements would be encouraged to embark on ranching, and expressed optimism that those opposed to ranching will change their minds when it becomes fully functional.

Shehu said the president viewed open grazing as old-fashioned and was looking forward to a replacement for the medieval practice.

But he reiterated that banning open grazing without an alternative is not a good approach to the issue.

He said the president was worried about the crisis generated by the matter, adding that the generalisation of every herder as criminals is not the right thing to do.

While admitting that the ranks of the nomads had been infiltrated with people now bearing AK-47 rifles to kill and maim, Shehu called for calm as the issue won’t be solved by public show of strength.


“Let us stop this shadow boxing. You just brought one or two people here who said things that nobody said from our own end. Did the president say he didn’t support…? He’s opposed to the way the governors have chosen to do it,” he said.

On state policing, Shehu said the president was initially concerned that governors who are unable to pay salaries to their workers want to give guns to police set up by them, adding that if it is what Nigerians want, the president would have no option but to support it.


“You hire a policeman. Give him a gun and for one year, you don’t pay salaries, like you are doing to your teachers, that’s a problem,” Shehu stated.

Besides, he added that to implement state policing will require amending the 1999 Constitution, and Buhari has never rejected constitution amendments.

On restructuring, he stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) wasn’t against devolution of power, as that is the work of the legislature to do.

He also dismissed speculations that Buhari was interested in extending his tenure, saying that those raising doubts over whether or not elections will hold in 2023 are doing so because they are unelectable.

Shehu also said he was not aware of any shoot-on-sight order against Igbo, adding that the rumour is meant to provoke unnecessary public anger.


Southern Govs Insist No Land for Invaders

The Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum and Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, yesterday faulted Monday’s presidential statement querying the legality of the governors’ ban on open grazing.

Akeredolu, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant, Special Duties and Strategies, Dr. Doyin Odebowale, said Shehu could not be representing the presidency with his positions on issues of national concern.

He said: “Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man (Shehu), as well as his fellow travellers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy cannot but conclude that he works, assiduously, for extraneous interests whose game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the peoples whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria.”

He added: “Shehu cannot continue to hide under some opaque, omnibus and dubious directives to create confusion in the polity.

“The declaration that the recommendations of the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, a mere political appointee like Garba Shehu, are now the ‘lasting solutions,’ which eluded all the elected representatives of the people of the Southern part of the country, exposes this man as a pitiable messenger who does not seem to understand the limits of his relevance and charge.

“Mr. Garba contends that ‘their announcement is of questionable legality’, referring to the 17 governors of the Southern states, but the decision of certain elements to take the ancestral lands of other people to settle their kinsmen, including the ‘gun-wielding ‘killer herdsmen’ and their families, and provide ‘veterinary clinics, water points for animals, and facilities for herders and their families, including schooling through these rehabilitated reserves’ for which ‘the federal government is making far-reaching and practical changes allowing for different communities to co-exist side-by-side’, does not appear to him as a comprehensive plan for land grabbing, a precursor to internal colonialism.”

Akeredolu said Shehu wanted to revive forest reserves “but seems particularly uninterested in the current position of the same law that he and his cohorts often misinterpret to serve parochialism and greed.”

“Governors no longer have powers over the lands in their territories. They must take instructions from appointees of the federal government on such matters,” he stated.

While noting the rights of all Nigerians to move freely in all parts of the country as guaranteed by the constitution, Akeredolu said it was clear that Shehu seemed to have issues understanding the difference between licentious criminality and qualified rights under the law.

He said: “It is our duty to continually nudge him off his current state of cognitive dissonance. His pronouncement betrays dubiousness and mischief.

“Most traditional families in Nigeria have occupations. Pastoralism is not an exception. Any ethnic group still trapped in anachronism may be assisted to embrace modernity.

“Dispossessing communities of their ancestral lands, encouraging denizens of the forests to overrun lands belonging to other people and forcing alien bands of migrants on the local populace to live ‘side-by-side’ with other communities cannot be for the purpose of animal husbandry.

“It raises suspicion on a grand, deliberate, persistent and insidious design to use naked force to subjugate the real owners of the land. Mr. Garba Shehu is a major supporter of the current pervasive anarchy in the land.

“May, we warn Mr. Garba Shehu and his cohorts to desist from hurling insults at the elected representatives of the people. He lacks the authority to make policy statements for the federal government, unless directed, expressly. His acts are clearly those of an agent provocateur.

“No inch of the space delineated and known, currently, as South-west, and indeed the whole South, will be ceded to a band of invaders masquerading as herdsmen under any guise.”

By Tordue Salem


The Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris has disclosed that the controversial £4.2m looted by an ex-governor, has since been transmitted to Delta state government.

The Chief Accountant of the federation, made the revelation before the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on “Assessment and Status of all Recovered Loots Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002-2020 by agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective Efficient Management and Utilization”.

He was responding to posers from the legislators on the difference between the Federation and Consolidated Revenue Fund Accounts of the Federation, and the desegregation of Recovered Assets and funds.

The 17 Southern Governors in the country have replied the Presidency after it described their resolution to ban open grazing in the region as unconstitutional.

The governors lambasted the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu and accused him of creating confusion in the polity.

Reacting on behalf of the forum, the Chairman of the South West Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, said, "No inch of the space delineated and known, currently, as South West, and indeed the whole South, will be ceded to a band of invaders masquerading as herdsmen under any guise."


Akeredolu, in a statement titled 'Mr Garba Sheu; On the Trail of An Agent Provocateur' and signed by his Senior Special Adviser on Special Duties and Strategy, Dr Doyin Odebowale, said Shehu "cannot continue to hide under some opaque, omnibus, and dubious directives to create confusion in the polity".

It also accused the Presidential aide of serving interests different from those of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The statement said, "The easy recourse to mendacious uppity in pushing a barely disguised pernicious agendum is well understood.

“The declaration that the recommendations of the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, a mere political appointee like Garba Shehu, are now the 'lasting solutions' which eluded all the elected representatives of the people of the Southern part of the country, exposes this man as a pitiable messenger who does not seem to understand the limits of his relevance and charge."



It continued, “He also attributed a unilateral decision to the President who 'clears the way for ranching and revival of forest reserves' as part of the 'permanent solution' to the frequent clashes between them, as well as the associated problem of the gun-wielding 'killer-herdsmen'.

"Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man, as well as his fellow travelers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy cannot but conclude that he works, assiduously, for extraneous interests whose game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the peoples whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria.

“Mr Garba contends that their announcement is of questionable legality, referring to the 17 Governors of the Southern States, but the decision of certain elements to take the ancestral lands of other people to settle their kinsmen, including the 'gun-wielding' 'killer herdsmen' and their families, and provide 'veterinary clinics, water points for animals, and facilities for herders and their families including schooling through these rehabilitated reserves' for which 'the Federal Government is making far-reaching and practical changes allowing for different communities to co-exist side-by-side', does not appear to him as a comprehensive plan for land grabbing, a precursor to internal colonialism.

"He wants to 'revive forest reserves' but seems particularly uninterested in the current position of the same law, that he and his cohorts often misinterpret to serve parochialism and greed. Governors no longer have powers over the lands in their territories.

"They must take instructions from appointees of the Federal Government on such matters.

“lt is superfluous, and that is being charitable, for anyone to remind us of the constitutional right of bona fide citizens to enjoy rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 states (and FCT)-regardless of their state of birth and residence”.

"There has never been any contention on this provision. It is clear that Mr Garba seems to have issues understanding the difference between licentious criminality and qualified rights under our law.

“It is our duty to continually nudge him off his current state of cognitive dissonance. His pronouncement betrays dubiety and mischief.

“Most traditional families in Nigeria have occupations. Pastoralism is not an exception. Any ethnic group still trapped in anachronism may be assisted to embrace modernity.

"Dispossessing communities of their ancestral lands, encouraging denizens of the forests to overrun lands belonging to other people and forcing alien bands of migrants on the local populace to live 'side-by-side' with other communities cannot be for the purpose of animal husbandry.

“It raises suspicion on a grand, deliberate, persistent, and insidious design to use naked force to subjugate the real owners of the land. Mr Garba Shehu is a major supporter of the current pervasive anarchy in the land.

"May we warn Mr Garba Shehu and his cohorts to desist from hurling insults at the elected representatives of the people.

“He lacks the authority to make policy statements for the Federal Government, unless directed, expressly. His acts are clearly those of an agent provocateur. Other closet dreamers, aspirers to colonial fantasies, must be weaned off their delusion."

By Saawua Terzungwe And Abdullateef Aliyu
There are more cracks in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over governors’ declaration that the 2023 presidential ticket is open to all party bigwigs across the six geo-political zones to contest.

Controversy is raging over zoning of the party’s presidential ticket and chairmanship between the North and the South ahead of the 2023 general poll.

Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Kebbi State Governor, Senator Atiku Bagudu, in a statement, last Friday, declared that all party members from all zones were free to contest any position in the next general election.

But credible sources in the APC confided in our correspondent yesterday in Abuja, that some APC governors and other party stalwarts were not comfortable with the development.

One of the sources said the governors, especially those from the South, were not comfortable with the statement alleging that there was no official meeting of the governors where the issue of zoning was extensively deliberated upon and decisions reached before the statement.

It was also learnt that some groups in the party were mobilising to revolt in the event the party’s “zoning formula” was jettisoned as they claimed the move was for the North to retain power.

Some stakeholders are arguing that power had resided in the North for a long time, and while the South-West had produced Olusegun Obasanjo as president for eight years, the South-South served for six years, hence the need to zone to the South-East for fairness and equity to prevail.

An elder statesman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, told Daily Trust in a telephone chat yesterday that the APC would hit the rocks if it jettisoned zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket.

Okorie, a former presidential candidate and chieftain of the APC, said the APC should respect the sensibilities and sentiments of Nigerians in order not to crash.

“Jettisoning zoning will not be in the best interest of the party. Of course, zoning is conventional and not constitutional; any political party that has subjected itself to the conventional approach to rotation of power, especially the presidential office, will only have to blame itself at the polls if it does not do the right thing,” he said.

A member of the APC National Caucus, Chief Sam Nkire, in a telephone chat with Daily Trust yesterday, said, “I’m sure that no Igbo governor will be part of that. I don’t believe that is going to be the position of the party. It is not written in the constitution but this is a gentleman agreement.

“I believe the governors will change their position and not disgrace people. I don’t believe the matter is closed yet,” he said.

A chieftain of the party, Chief Jackson Lekan Ojo, told one of our correspondents yesterday that, “If we want to be fair enough, I think the presidential ticket of the APC should not go to the North, and should not go to the South-West, because Obasanjo has done eight years from the South-West; Jonathan has done six years from the South-South. Let the South-East take it.

“Secondly, when they said there was no zoning, they were just deceiving people; doing that to lure the aggrieved members to stay put in the party. So there must be zoning,” he said.

An aspirant for the position of the APC National Chairman, Mohammed Bello Mustapha, also said the ruling party must respect the zoning formula that was agreed upon at the inception of the party to enable it survive beyond 2023.

Mustapha, who is a lawyer, human rights and pro-democracy advocate, said based on the accord reached when the party came on board in 2013/2014, power should rotate between the North and the South.

This he said means that the presidency of Nigeria should go back to the South in 2023 and the party chairmanship should go to the North.

This, according to him, is important for the nation to remain united and peaceful.

Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee CECPC of the ruling Meanwhile, the APC National Caretaker Committee has said it is ready to hold the national convention of the party in June or at any time approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and other stakeholders of the party.

National Secretary of the Committee Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe disclosed this on Monday in Abuja shortly after an emergency meeting of the committee.

Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, yesterday said he was paying N30,500 as minimum wage for the more than 101,000 workers on its payroll in the state. The governor, who was represented by a former state Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in the state and the current Special Adviser on Labour Matters, Bayo Titilola-Sodo, made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen at the state secretariat of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Mokola, Ibadan, the state capital. Noting that when compared with five other states in the South-West, the administration of Governor Makinde was second to Lagos State in the payment of the minimum wage.

Titilola-Sodo described Governor Makinde as the most workerfriendly governor when compared with previous administrations in the state. He further hinted that the state government had paid over N13 billion as gratuities for retired workers in the state. The special adviser explained that the state had never had it so good when the issue of minimum wage would be arranged noiselessly without any rancour with the state government. “As a worker-friendly governor, Engr Makinde pays minimum wage for the workers in the state. I have never seen a government which arranged the issue of minimum wage without any noise.

Two weeks after your wedding, you were kidnapped; how did it happen?

I got married on November 14, 2020 and two weeks after my wedding, I was transferred from Zamfara State to Zaria, so I went back to pack my few things remaining in Zamfara. On my way coming back between Funtua and Giwa (LGA in Kaduna State) at about 7.30pm, we heard gunshots. Our driver had to stop, then I opened the door in a bid to escape. Immediately, a bright torchlight was flashed on my face and they (kidnappers) came and took all of us into the bush.

What was the first thing that came to your mind then?

I thought they were policemen, but I was wrong, they were kidnappers. When they fired the first shot, our driver didn’t stop until they fired the second one. He stopped and tried to reverse so we could escape but as soon as he turned, we saw two of them right behind us, so the drive had to stop. When he parked, they came and collected our phones and other properties; they searched our bags and took any valuable they found and then led us into the bush. We started trekking from about 7.30pm and didn’t get to their camp until around 6am the following day. When we got there, they blindfolded us and we couldn’t see them. We met six other captives, so we became 13. They each checked our phones to know the kind of people we were and went through the pictures on our phones, to know if we are living a comfortable life and have money or just managing life. They also checked our hands to see if they were smooth or not. Then they checked our text messages for bank transactions.

After that, they started beating us. As they did that, they told us how much they wanted from each person. If anyone said they didn’t have that kind of money, the kidnappers would beat the person the more and they would call the person’s relations so that they would hear the person crying. The following day, they called our relatives and began to negotiate the ransom.

In my case, they first demanded N50m. For some, they demanded N15m, some, N10m, others, N20m and that was at the beginning of the negotiations. What added to my own problem was the fact that some alerts came into my phone while it was with them. So, the guy who read text messages would tell them how much entered into my account. The first alert was for N120,000, then they pointed a gun at me and forced me to give them the pin for my ATM card, which had been with them. Someone went and withdrew everything. Then, another alert of N190,000 came in, they went and did the same. All these were my company’s money; they were payments by clients I had supplied goods to. Because of these alerts, they assumed that I was a very rich man. They insisted that my family would pay N500,000 as ransom. My cousin brought the money to them, after I had spent three weeks with them. By that time, they had released everyone except two of us. Some were released after paying N100,000, some N200,000, two brothers were released after paying N600,000. They released everybody but they held a Customs officer and me.

The Customs officer brought N3m yet they refused to release him. When my brother brought the N500,000 as my ransom, they kidnapped him also and brought him to where I was.

How did your brother locate where you were?

They gave him direction on the phone. They directed him to a place close to where we were. As he was approaching the place, they were looking at him but he couldn’t see them. When they met him, they collected the money and as he was leaving, they stopped him and forced him to come with them. They brought him to the forest where I was, and asked us if we knew each other and we said we were brothers. Then, they chained his legs to mine and a fresh negotiation with my family began. We stayed there to the point that we lost hope.

While there, a Nigerian Air Force aircraft used to hover around the forest on Wednesdays and Sundays, sometimes shooting randomly in the forest and sometimes releasing bombs. In fact, a bomb was released and it exploded very close to where we were. One day, the aircraft came very close, shooting heavily. Our captors ran away and left us. They hid where they could see us but we couldn’t see them. It was when they ran away that we were able to pick the keys to our chains.

After the shootings and bombings subsided, the kidnappers came back to us and since we had the keys to our chains, we started thinking of how to escape. Usually they stayed awake till 4.30am guarding us but that day, by 10.30pm, they slept off. By 11pm, the three of us used our keys to open our chains and then we escaped. My brother, who was brought to the forest in the afternoon, was able to remember the major road to Birnin Gwari. We walked till about 6am when we got to the first village called Galadimawa where we saw a mosque and entered it. We told them what happened to us, so they took us to the village head, who also took us to the police station there. They took our statements and also took us to the Area Command in Zaria. There, our statements were also taken. From there, they took us to the police clinic in MTD Barracks, and after that, we went home.

Who were these kidnappers and how many were they?

They are pure Fulani. Six of them kidnapped us and when we got to the forest, more Fulani came to see their visitors and from there, they took us to where we were tied down and they left us there with three persons that were keeping watch over us. The people who abducted us were different from those guarding us. Whenever they succeeded in kidnapping anyone, they would take the victim to the camp and hand him over to those who would guard him or her. Their boss was the negotiator and when he finished his negotiation and it was positive, a different person would go and collect the ransom.


What were they feeding you with?

I didn’t eat any other food apart from rice which they brought from nearby villages. They gave us food and water once in two days. They gave five people one litre of water and that would be it. There was a stream where they got water.

Did they allow you have a bath in the six weeks that you were with them?

Not at all; we didn’t even wash our faces. And when the food was brought we had no water to wash our hands, so, we ate with dirty hands. We were only concerned about the water to drink and not water to bathe or wash our hands.

What kind of weapons did the kidnappers carry?

They had AK-47 and AK-49 riffles. On where they got the weapons from, they told me that “gwamnati ke bamu su, Muna da kudin sayan su ne?” meaning: “It is the government that gives us the weapons; do we have the money to buy them?” They were young people and I think the oldest among them would be about 27 years old.


Did they threaten to kill you?

Yes, and for me, I believe, their aim was to kill me because the Customs officer was with his brother in the vehicle when we were kidnapped and they shot and killed him, the Customs officer was also shot. When we got to the camp, another person was shot on his leg because the money they demanded was not complete. In my own case, after I had spent three days, they called my uncle and asked my brother to speak with me and they told my people that I was dead. My uncle asked them what happened to me, they told him that I was sick and they never took care of me and they woke up in the morning to find me dead. They told my people to come and pick my corpse. My uncle asked them where they would get my dead body and they described the place to him. But as they were talking, my brother sensed that it was a ploy to kidnap more people.

What was going through your mind while you were in captivity?

I was more than afraid. I was just seeing myself as a dead man, I thought that I wouldn’t leave that place alive because they freed some people after paying N100,000 and N200,000 ransom, while they held onto me even after paying N500,000. So, I felt they had another plan. Again, I was the only Christian among those kidnapped; so, I felt maybe they were waiting for a particular time to kill me. When they first saw me, they thought I was a military man, they said it was because of my hairstyle and they directed someone to go and shoot me. Another thing was that I have an identity card of the barracks, and when they saw it, they were convinced I was a military man. They asked me to pull off my shirt which I did. There was a big hole and they would ask their victim to stand close to it and the moment they shot, the person would fall inside it and that would be it. But God helped me and I was able to convince the guy that I was not a military personnel and to God be the glory, he understood and believed me and went back to explain to their boss. That was how God saved me.

Can you describe the condition under which you were kept?

We were outside in the cold and I was there without any shirt on. I had only my trousers on. At night, there was nothing for me to cover myself despite the cold; I slept on the bare ground.

This incident happened just two weeks after your wedding when you were supposed to be having your honeymoon. How did that make you feel?

In that condition I was in, I wasn’t even thinking about anything like honeymoon; the only thing I was thinking about was how to leave there alive. When I got home, I could not stand straight, I could not lie down on my back because of the beatings and the trek, I couldn’t walk normally.

How much did you pay in total before you escaped?

They collected a total of N1.4m.

Was it easy for your family to raise the money?

It was very difficult, my brother had to sell his farm produce to give his part of the contribution.

Do you have any advice for Nigerians?

I want to advise Nigerians not to use their major SIM cards as the line they use in getting bank alerts and the reason is that, in my own case, my MTN is my major line and that’s what I use in getting alerts. And it was that SIM that they removed and put in their phone. If it was my other line I used to get alerts, they wouldn’t have gotten seen the alerts that came in while I was there. People should be more careful also about the kind of pictures they have on their phones.

Friends and family members of a Nigerian Air Force pilot, Flt Lt Taiwo Olufemi Asaniyi, are grief-stricken at the moment as the young officer, who was about to wed, died when a Beachcraft 350 aircraft crashed at the Kaduna International Airport on Friday.

Asaniyi was the pilot of the ill-fated jet which also claimed the lives of his co-pilot, Flt Lt Alfred Ayodeji Olufade, newly appointed Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, and eight others.

Friends and associates of Asaniyi have since taken to the social media to mourn the youth.

A tweep, @_victor_kings, wrote, “Flight lieutenant T.O Asaniyi. He flew the plane, we had his introduction in March. I was going to be his best man.”

“Ahhh, no now, not Mr Asaniyi. Still saw his WhatsApp status update this week. Dear Lord!” @blessnoyiz expressed shock.

“May their soul rest in peace. My condolences,” @bcube234 tweeted.

The PUNCH reports that at least 20 military officers have lost their lives in the last three months in three crashes involving Nigerian Air Force jets.

On Sunday, February 21, 2021, seven NAF officers died onboard a Beechcraft KingAir B350i aircraft when the jet crashed in Abuja.

Also, on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said an Alpha-Jet aircraft involved in the anti-terror war against Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province lost radar contact in Borno State.

Two officers were onboard the missing jet which was later declared crashed and the whereabouts of the two airmen unknown till date.

Many residents and passengers are currently stranded in Oshodi, Lagos State, as soldiers have taken over major places in the area.

Daily Trust gathered that the military personnel stormed the area on Thursday morning to avenge the death of an officer of the Nigerian Air Force, who was allegedly mobbed to death by hoodlums.

Many vehicles, especially commercial buses have been destroyed, while some persons were assaulted by the aggrieved security operatives.

Some residents heading to work were trapped in the ensuing violence while students have fled back home.

Traders cleaning up their stores on the day of the weekly sanitation also fled just as some transporters abandoned their vehicles.

Soldiers targeting hoodlums are currently marching across the streets.

The situation has compounded the traffic woe in the cosmopolitan city as there is currently no movement in and out the part of Oshodi where the rampaging soldiers are.

Oshodi links other major parts of Lagos and a major bus terminal is in that part of the state.

Muyiwa Adejobi, Police Public Relations Officer in the state, was not available for comments as of the time of filing this report as he neither responded to calls nor replied the text message sent.

A 47-year-old woman, Olanshile Nasirudeen has allegedly stabbed her husband to death for impregnating another woman, DAILY POST reports.

The suspect, our correspondent gathered, was the fourth wife of the 51-year-old deceased husband. The duo were co-butchers at an abattoir in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

The woman was arrested following a distress call received by the DPO of Obalende divisional headquarters, Ijebu-Ode.

The Ogun State Police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi told DAILY POST that Olanshile saw the woman recently impregnated by her husband at the abattoir, and started questioning the woman on why she had an affair with her husband.

This, Oyeyemi said, led to a hot argument between her and the deceased.

In the course of the melee, Oyeyemi said, “the suspect picked a knife, stabbed the deceased at the back joint of his left leg, thereby, cutting one of his veins.”

He said “the man was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital for first aid, and later transferred to Ijebu-Ode General Hospital where he eventually gave up the ghost due to excessive bleeding.”

The suspect, who ran away after stabbing her husband, was later arrested as the DPO of Obalende division, SP Murphy Salami, and his men trailed her to a hideout at Mobalufon area of Ijebu-Ode.

“On interrogation, the suspect, who happened to be the fourth wife of the deceased, claimed that it was her husband who first slapped her simply because she asked his new wife her mission at her market stand.

“The corpse of the deceased has been released to the family for burial in accordance with Islamic rites after the autopsy had been conducted on it,” Oyeyemi stated, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun has ordered the transfer of the suspect to the homicide section of the state CIID.