₦airaland Forum

Popular actor, Lateef Adedimeji, has said he is prepared for any backlash that may come his way for acting as politician and the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.

Adedimeji, who is currently in a soon-to-be-released biopic on the set of the movie titled, ‘Last Man Standing’, told Saturday Beats, “There will be a lot of misconceptions, especially with everything that is happening now. However, I am prepared for whatever may happen because I am only doing my job. May God see me through.

“When I was told about this project, my first response was that I was not interested in playing the role. Politics can be scary, and it is something I have always tried to avoid. Tinubu is not a mere politician. He is very popular and well regarded. Also, there are many controversies happening at the same time, and this biopic will be released at the peak of all these.

“But, I also believe it will be another stretch for me as an actor. I am taking this because I want to challenge myself again. I want to see how far I can push myself again.”

Noting that he believes the role will be one of the defining moments of his career, he stated that though he had never met Tinubu in person, he had done a lot of research on him and was ready to give it his best. He added, “Acting as a real person that is still living is always scary. It is a different ball game if the person is no longer around. But, this is somebody that is alive. He would most likely watch one act as him and if one does not get it right, he would say so eventually. It is a lot of work. I had to study his mannerisms, the way he talks, the way he moves and even how he smiles, and try to replicate that.”

The actor also urged people to watch the biopic with open minds. He said, “People will always have diverse opinions. But, I feel it is important for people to know that terrible things can be said about a person but they should take time to find out the truth about that individual.”

The newly married actor also stated that his wife and colleague, Adebimpe Oyebade, aka Mo’Bimpe, is his biggest supporter and critic. He said, “My wife is my ‘hype person’. I critique myself a lot, and when I do, she is the one who encourages me. When it’s the other way round, she also does not mince words.”

The biopic is produced by Seun Oloketuyi’s Ultimate Communication.

If Russia invade Finland, i am picking up gun and will fight them. I am trained for that and I am a military reserve, so it will be a honour for me to pick up arm and fight in defence of Finland. I can’t fight for Nigeria rather I will help the enemy of Nigeria for sake of Biafra

Although I have said in the past that next year’s presidential contest will be a short in the dark in light of the continually shifting political variables in the country, the auguries for Bola Ahmed Tinubu to clinch the nomination of APC aren’t looking pretty.

Unless something really dramatic happens between now and the next APC convention, Tinubu seems headed for an inexorably catastrophic political fall in the party he helped to form, fund, and get to power. It is now obvious to even a casual observer that the people who control the levers of APC want neither Bola Tinubu nor Yemi Osinbajo to be their party’s nominee for president in 2023.

There seems to be a coalescence of opinions in the upper reaches of APC’s hierarchy in the North that the party’s nominee should come from the South-South because they imagine that only a weak, politically rootless candidate from the region will guarantee their influence and continued access to the public till.

A section of APC’s northern power brokers wants former President Goodluck Jonathan to be APC’s standard-bearer not only because they think he is easily manipulatable but also because he would be a lame-duck, term-limited president who would hand power back to them after four years.

Although “Constitution Alteration Bill Number 16,” which Muhammadu Buhari signed into law in 2018, makes it unconstitutional for vice presidents and deputy governors who complete the first terms of deceased or impeached and removed presidents and governors to run for election twice, many people pointed out that it can’t be applied retroactively to Jonathan.

Nonetheless, in a January 2012 ruling against Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto, Ibrahim Idris of Kogi and Liyel Imoke of Cross Rivers, the Supreme Court said no Nigerian can constitutionally occupy an executive position for more than eight years.

So, were Jonathan to be elected president in 2023, he can’t constitutionally seek another term in 2027. That’s appealing to the rapacious APC vultures who are circling around and feeding fat on the carcass of power in Aso Rock.

Another northern APC faction wants Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele to be APC’s nominee because of his deep embeddedness in the labyrinthine network of high-level corruption that the Aso Rock cabal has been enmeshed in since 2015.

Plus, as a Delta Igbo man who was born and raised in Lagos, it is expected that he would be a political orphan in all the political regions of the South and would be dependent on his political benefactors in the North for survival. Not being a “core Igbo,” he can’t be “owned” by the Southeast and being “Igbo” in the South-South, he’d be a minority among minorities. Of course, that is an extremely naïve political calculation.

Although Buhari had mysteriously entertained the idea of endorsing Timipre Sylva as his successor, his preference didn’t seem to have had any buy-in from his own political operatives.

Ekiti State governor Kayode Fayemi is another dark horse. Certain powerful political forces in northern APC think he is tame, mild-mannered, and politically unrooted enough to not upset the apple-cart should it become inevitable that power should be transferred to the Southwest to compensate the region for providing the crucial support the APC needed to win— or successfully rig— the last two elections. Again, that is naïve reasoning.

But what has become obvious is that the two main criteria that honchos at APC have deployed to determine who will get their party’s nomination for president are guarantees of unfettered post-election access to the seat of power and vulnerability of the political base of the future president, which would require a contingent linkage with northern politicians for purely existential reasons.

Tinubu doesn’t fit the bill. He is fiercely independent, sees himself as an institution, is thoroughly rooted in the Southwest, has one of the most formidable political structures in the country and, most importantly, frames his presidency as an ethnic project.

The cabal knows that Tinubu’s ascendancy to the presidency will effectively draw the curtains on their reign. As George Orwell reminds us in 1984, “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end.”

With the nixing of direct primaries in APC, it’s now almost certain that Tinubu doesn’t stand even a snowball’s chance in hell of emerging as his party’s flag bearer in 2023. Nor, of course, does Yemi Osinbajo, who has no political machinery to propel his campaign to begin with.

This awareness will cause Tinubu to bring it all down in APC. He is already leaving broad hints that he will either swim with the party or sink with it.

He signaled this at the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo when, according to the Vanguard, he said, “No amount of intimidation can stop me. I am ready to get dirty. I am out to become President of Nigeria. We are at the crossroads.”

His media aide issued a statement denying the accuracy of this sentiment. He quoted Tinubu to have instead said, “Kabiyesi, all I have come for is to beg you to continue to pray for me, the entire Yoruba race and the country.

“I am out to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and there is a wise saying that if you want to wrestle with the pig, be ready to get dirty and deal with the poo-poo.

“I am ready to get dirty. No intimidation, no blackmail, no sort of insult will get me angry to the extent that I will say ‘no more, I don’t want again.’”

Apparently, Vanguard’s and Tinubu media aide’s renditions of what Tinubu said are different because Tinubu originally spoke in Yoruba, not in English, but I don’t see any substantive difference between the first quotation and the “clarification” that came after it. They both encapsulate a sentiment of desperation, of an acute self-awareness of an imminent loss of control, and of a desire to bring the house down if all else fails.

Tinubu is now undertaking what a friend in the Southwest has characterised as a “subversive tour” of Yoruba land where he takes subtle and not-too-subtle potshots at the Aso Rock cabal. He has reduced his desperation for ascendancy to the presidency as the quest for a “Yoruba presidency,” perhaps in response to the artfully ethnic character of the Aso Rock cabal’s succession politics.

He longer even cares to pretend that he wants a pan-Nigerian presidency, which is interesting given that had said in 1997 that he didn’t believe in one Nigeria because he wasn’t having his way.

And during a visit to the Ooni of Ife this week, he made it clear that Buhari is obligated to requite his support for him in 2015 and 2019.

“We went around the country in 2013 [sic] to campaign for Buhari,” he said. “Again in 2019, we stood with him, and he won. He will soon finish his tenure. I am saying they should not just leave the post; they should hand it over to me. I cannot demand it alone. I must seek your assistance.”

I don’t recall ever seeing this level of wildly desperate entitlement in any Nigerian politician in my lifetime. I think it’s a telling foretoken for how Tinubu will react when— not if—he officially loses the nomination of his party.

He will not support a South-South APC presidential candidate and will certainly give his all to scuttle APC’s chances in the Southwest in 2023 should that happen. However, should Fayemi become APC’s nominee, Tinubu’s resistance in the Southwest would be hampered by the ethnic solidarity of the Yoruba electorate, which would constitute a really brutal blow to him.

If PDP weren’t the disorganised, undisciplined party that it is now, it would take advantage of the dissension in APC to get back to power. Outside of Atiku Abubakar, who appears too financially hamstrung to launch another successful presidential run, I don’t see anyone in the party with a vast national appeal who can win a national election.

That is why it increasingly looks to me like a third party might win the 2023 election—if the election is free and fair, that is—and if my prognosis of APC’s Tinubu problem holds up.

I commend General Buhari for signing the Electoral Act into law. By this act, General Buhari has shown some commitment to democracy. Buhari has taken a number of irresponsible actions over the years, for which I opposed him. But on this, he deserves kudos. Well done

#TableShaker

If General Buhari does well, he will get my praise. But if he doesn’t, my table shaking will continue. Stay in Nigeria. Build hospitals for yourself and Nigerians, especially Nigerians who urinate in public, and I will not embarrass you with #HarassTinubuOutofLondon

#TableShaker

The national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to hand over power to him when he leaves n 2023.

The former Lagos governor had openly declared his intention to contest for President in 2023.

During his visit to the palace of the Ooni of Ife and Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, in Osun State, to seek their support, Tinubu said he stood with Buhari ahead of the 2015 election when he was contesting to be President.

“We went around the country in 2013 to campaign for Buhari. Again in 2019, we stood with him and he won,” he said.

“He will soon finish his tenure. I am saying they should not just leave the post; they should hand it over to me. I cannot demand it alone. I must seek your assistance.

“If monarchs in the region unite and ask for it, if we ask for the presidency gently that they should hand it over to us, I am ready to take over.

“I am competent, capable and fit to pilot the affairs of the country to greatness.”

They didn't allow the nigerian male students pass through.

My sister made it to one of the borders and they are not allowing Nigerians into Poland without Visa. MALE OR FEMALE!!!

1. U.S
2. Russia
3. China
4. India
5. Japan
6. S. Korea
7. France
8. U.K
9. Pak
10. Brazil
11. Italy
12. Egypt
13. Turkey
14. Iran
15. Indonesia
16. Germany
17. Australia
18. Israel
19. Spain
20. Saudi
21. Taiwan
22. Ukraine
23. Canada
24. Poland
25. Sweden
26. South Africa
27. Greece
28. Vietnam
29. Thailand
30. North Korea
31. Algeria
32. Switzerland
33. Norway
34. Iraq
35. Nigeria

Fresh Video Evidence of Bola Tinubu’s Mental Decline Emerges


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsMC-41M0cY

Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior, has mocked ailing National Leader of the All Progressives Congress and former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu.

Speaking in the Oriade Local Government Area of Osun on Monday, Aregbesola while castigating Tinubu said, “Won ti n to ara” which is translated in English “they’re already urinating on themselves.”

This is coming days after the APC National Leader was seen in a viral video with suspected pee stains on his cloth during a visit to a monarch in Ogun State, the Awujale of Ijebuland.

Tinubu, who was seated on a black leather couch alongside some other party stalwarts had risen to give a speech but his attire had soaked from behind, particularly at the butt area.

The politician's security aide was seen constantly holding his nose while looking at the wet area as another woman immediately wore her face mask as the Asiwaju rose up to speak.

This has piqued the interest of many Nigerians who insisted the wetness of the attire at the spot was urine. Others, however, argued that it might be sweat resulting from the long period of sitting on a leather couch.

In a 45-second video, Aregbesola narrated how Tinubu promised that Gboyega Oyetola would be a loyal successor, only for this not to turn out to be the case.

“That was what the person (Tinubu) who brought him (Oyetola) to me told me. As I’m saying now, it will be hurting him that he said so. Has he done so?” Aregbesola added before a cheering crowd at the rally. Then, a faint voice from the crowd jeered: “Won ti n to ara.”
“Won ti n to ara,” Aregbesola also chimed. Then the compere at the event re-echoed Aregbesola’s “Won ti n to ara.”

SaharaReporters had reported that Tinubu, amidst his ambition for the 2023 presidential race to succeed Muhammadu Buhari, spent over four months patronising hospitals in France, the United States and the United Kingdom where he underwent several surgeries.

He was flown out of the country some days to Christmas in 2020 to Paris, France.
The APC leader returned to Nigeria on January 24, 2021, after a month absence from Nigeria.

He also went for a medical check-up on Thursday, June 10 to France and was conspicuously absent from the one-day working visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Lagos State.

Tinubu, amidst death rumours, was forced to return to the country on Tuesday, June 15. SaharaReporters also reported that Tinubu was hospitalised in Maryland, the United States in July 2021.

On August 9, the APC leader had another knee surgery at the John Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, the United States.

The APC chieftain, it was learnt, left the US for the United Kingdom on crutches, a few days after the surgery.

Sources close to Tinubu had told SaharaReporters that he wanted the surgery in Paris, France but changed his plan over rumours of his death.

In August, President Muhammadu Buhari paid a visit to Tinubu in London and the latter was seen with a walking stick during Buhari’s visit, confirming SaharaReporters’ story that he underwent a second surgery in the United States.

We have entered the liberation phase of Biafra Nation & we are not taking orders from our leader who is incarceration. Our duty is to do everything to secure his unconditional release, and to restore and liberate Biafra from Nigeria. Our freedom from Nigeria is nonnegotiable @UN

Self-styled autopilot and disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, Simon Ekpa, has accused the leadership of Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) of snitching on the Eastern Security Network (ESN), which resulted in the brutal death of its nine operatives in Imo State.

The Finland based activist in a series of statements via his official Facebook page said the Directorate Of State of IPOB which is the highest decision making body of the movement cannot longer be trusted by the people.

Ekpa who however vowed to fight what he described as pigs and criminals sabotaging the effort of Nnamdi Kanu said that the DOS divulged important information about Eastern Security Network to the security agencies.

He said, “Chinasa Nworu and DOS succeeded in snitching against ESN in Imo state leading to the death of 9 ESN personnel few days ago.”

Meanwhile, NewsBand on the 14 of January exclusively reported how Simon Ekpa boxed the leadership of the Indigenous People Of Biafra to a very helpless corner and assume complete control of group’s structure.

Confirming NewsBand report, Ekpa in a statement said that “The ESN no longer take order from the criminals in DOS”.

Do you blame the Taliban for not wanting the Western lifestyle? Who is more backward between them and those who believe polygamy is barbaric, but gay marriage is civilised? Let the West not confuse moral decay for moral high ground because they have military power!

Imo State residents on Monday went about their various businesses but with fear that enforcers of sit-at-home order of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, could lunch attacks as it was reported last week Monday, in Mbaise and Orlu axis of the State.

Vanguard moved round the Owerri metropolis, it was observed that traders were in fear as they gradually open their business premises.

The reason for the delay in the opening of shops at about 09:30 am, they told Vanguard that they would not want their shops, vehicles burnt or killed by supporters of the frontliners of the sit-at-home order.

The situation was not different when Vanguard visited the streets of Wethedral, Tetlow, Douglas, Mbari, Ikenegbu, Rotibi, Port Harcourt and Onitsha road.

Also, Akwakuma, Concord and World Bank areas. However, at the time of filing this report at about 11:40 am, Supermarkets, filling stations, eateries, major markets of Eke Ukwu and Relief markets have all started bubbling with activities.

It was observed early hours of the day, motorists scrambled for passengers while some persons were seen trekking a short distance before they could get buses to convey them to their destinations.

The banks were not left out, as many of them could not open exactly by 08:15 am, only a few of them opened along Bank road, Wethedral and Port Harcourt roads in the State. When Vanguard asked one of the officials of one of the banks, he said: “Let us finish security surveillance at least by 10:30 am we will fully open for business.”

Also, transport companies offered skeletal services recalling that the transport sector in Imo State, recorded the highest casualties in the last sit-at-home order, as some of the companies saw their vehicles burnt by hoodlums suspected to be enforcing the sit-at-home order.

However, despite the cancelled sit-at-home order, fears have taken over in places as Orlu and Mbaise areas where reports of the issues of agitations have generated ugly results.

It should be recalled that last Monday Sit-at-home order was partially obeyed in Owerri but witnessed bloody outcomes in Aboh Mbaise and Orlu Local Government Areas of the State.

There were incidents where no fewer than seven commercial buses were burnt, not less than four persons lost their lives including the burning of houses.

Traders at Douglas and Mbaise streets on Monday.

Is this part of your win-win agenda? May Almighty Allah save Kano and Nigeria from this

At least four workers of Lee Engineering Company have been confirmed dead after gunmen ambushed them on Monday morning in the Assa community in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.

Our correspondent gathered that the oil workers were on transit to their oil plant in the Assa community when the hoodlums opened fire on them.

While four died on the spot, others were severely wounded with gunshots.

A village source told our correspondent that the oil plant in the community was under construction by the oil company.

The national president of Congress of Ohaji Youths, Emmanuel Ugorji, confirmed the attack to our correspondent.

He said that some community leaders and security agents, including himself, have visited the scene.

Calling on the government to beef up security in the area, the youth leader said that gunmen were terrorising the area in recent times.

The enraged youth leader said, “The first attack by this group was attacked on Oil Serve company and second was the kidnapping of the Cluster Development Board Chairman, Godswill Uzomba, whose whereabouts remained unknown since three months now and followed by burning of ZEROC equipment at Watersmith industrial park by a known criminal gang.”

The president-general of the Assa autonomous community, Bartholomew Obodo, also confirmed the attack to our correspondent.

He called on the federal government to come to the rescue of his people.

The police spokesperson in the state, Micheal Abattam, when contacted, promised to get the details and revert to our correspondent but he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

Here is a screenshot of a Facebook post from a politician aspiring to be an APC gubernatorial candidate in 2023, celebrating Taliban take over in Afghanistan. Save this before he starts blaming youthful exuberance for supporting extremists as if he is less than 50 years old today.

When I said some politicians are supporting extremists because they are only thinking of how to win the next election, these kinds of politicians were on my mind. They join radicals in manipulating the minds of people by showing them as if extremism is solution to their woes.

There is a mosque in Kano named Kandahar, after the former capital of the Taliban. The mosque is still there and I don’t think they’ve changed its name because they are not in power to start excusing breeding extremism with political naivety and youthful exuberance. Hmmn!

Now, in Kano state, its already a sin to have an alternative religious views. If you dare to think differently or to speak up you’ll be labelled a blasphemer! There are many alternative voices and religious minorities currently under constant harassments for airing their views.

Some are currently in prison, Abduljabbar Kabara is one of them, but even @AmnestyNigeria is yet to condemn how our state governments is destroying our democracy and abusing our basic human rights to think and air our views differently.

Are human rights organisations watching us as we continue continue slipping into the clutches of extremists? It seems our people don’t really know what it means to be under extremists! Boko Haram has taught our people no lesson.

Usman Dagona, a 200 level Chemistry student at the Federal University, Gashua, Yobe, has invented a mini spying wireless car.

The car is currently ranked third with 274 points on the voting scoreboard of the 2021 Create the Future Design Contest sponsored by COMSOL and Mouser Electronics.

In an interview with NAN in Damaturu on Thursday, Dagona said, “my robot spying car is a rechargeable normal wireless device with 5-6 microcontrollers.

“Besides recording audio and video, it also has internal memory for saving data. The car doesn’t operate using only hand controllers; it can move with the direction of my voice and orders,” he said.

Dagona said although the car could only recognize his voice at the moment, it could be enhanced and utilized by the intelligence community in the country.

“This robot spying car is a counterpart of my just concluded mini spying drone. The two devices can assist in providing efficient and accurate intelligence gathering,” he said.

Dagona, a National Certificate of Education (NCE) holder, had in November 2020, beat 1,749 others to emerge the winner of the Imagine National Chemistry Competition in Abuja.

He, however, came second to Prof. Adalet Adam of Turkey, when he represented Nigeria at the Imagine Chemistry International Akzo Nobel Competition 2020/2021 held in the Netherlands.

In recognition of this rare feat, the Yobe Government offered him automatic employment into the civil service on GL 7 but has yet to offer him a scholarship as earlier promised.

Human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has called for the immediate release of vlogger, Israel Balogun, by the Nigeria Police Force.

On Wednesday, the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (FCIID) detained Balogun for criticising Suleiman over the cleric's claim that he commanded angels to deposit money in the bank accounts of some members of his congregation.

Counsel for Balogun, Barrister Inibehe Effiong disclosed this on Wednesday shortly after he accompanied Balogun to the FCIID at Area 10, Garki, Abuja over a petition written against him by Suleman on alleged criminal defamation and cyberstalking.

Reacting, Sowore stated that the Nigeria Police Force is being used by non-state gangsters, citing similar cases of abuse of power by the police.

Sowore queried the rationale behind the arrest of Balogun and called for the release of the detained blogger.

He said, "It is a shame that Nigeria Police Force would offer itself up to be hired for personal hit jobs on behalf of gangsters instead of going after the gangsters in government as well as non-state gangsters.

“How do you detain a YouTuber for criticising scams known as 'miracle money alerts?' The IGP (Inspector-General of Police) must release Israel Balogun immediately! He’s not committed any offence known to law against Apostle Johnson Suleman.

“In recent weeks we’ve seen how the Police was used by a former Attorney General, Bello Adoke to go after Olanrewaju Suraju for exposing his corruption, a former minister, Femi Fani-Kayode deployed the police against his estranged wife, Precious Chikwendu and now a clergy has procured the police hierarchy to hunt down free speech.

“Yesterday, I heard a former Governor Of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim also used the police at the FCIID against an estranged mistress.

“The Katsina state Gov. Bello Masari a few months ago used the FCIID to hound a whistleblower Shehu Mahdi for allegedly defaming him.

“These cases are some of the many cases of abuse of police power that is notoriously rampant. We must stop the police authorities now before they provoke another #EndSARS! #RevolutionNow.”

The Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council has outlawed girl-child marriage and other forms of gender-based harmful practices in the state.

This is contained in a communique issued at the end of a multi stakeholders’ strategic conference between the council and WomenAid Collective.

The conference was organised in partnership with the Ford Foundation with support from Enugu State Ministries of Gender Affairs, Chieftaincy Matters and Justice and the 50/50 Action Women of the state.

The communique, signed by the Chairman of the council, Igwe Lawrence Agubuzu, stated that the council was committed to the abolition of the obnoxious practice of sacrificing the girl child to shrines.

Agubuzu said the council condemned all forms of violence against women and girl child and was committed to their empowerment in the state.

He further said the council was committed to the abrogation of harmful traditional widowhood practices, including disinheritance of widows.

“We are committed to implementing the Supreme Court judgment that females have a right to inherit property from the family estate, whether married or not.

“We are also committed to actions to codify communal laws and regulations that will protect women and girls,” he said.

The royal father said the council supported the inclusion of women in the process of decision making on issues that affect them.

He also said the council encouraged the inclusion of women in community leadership.

According to Agubuzu, the traditional institution would, henceforth, mediate in human and women’s rights’ cases, in line with state, national, regional and international human rights laws.

He said the council had begun to sensitise residents of the state to do away with anti-human customs that still existed in Southern Nigeria.

“Subsequently, we will have an Enugu State that is free from all forms of violence against women and girl child,” Agubuzu said.

Various items with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N54 million have been seized.

The items were confiscated from June 2031 to date by the Zone B of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), comprising Kano/Jigawa axis.

The coordinator of the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) Strike Force Zone B, DC Oseni Aliyu-Olorukoba, while briefing newsmen of its achievements listed the items seized to include five vehicles, two motorcycles, 20 bales of second-hand clothes, 50 jerry cans of foreign vegetation oil, 279 bags of foreign rice, 675 cartons of foreign tomatoes and 1,517 cartons of foreign soap.

He called on traditional rulers in the area to sensitize their people on the danger of smuggling, saying that it was an act that sabotages the nation’s development and revenue drive.

He added, “Pursuant to the CGC’s zero tolerance policy on smuggling, the CGC Strike Force, Zone B, is here to carry out the CGC’s order to ensure that we stamp out any manner of smuggling along Kano/Jigawa axis.”

Aliyu -Olorukoba warned any would-be smuggler to put a stop, assuring that there was no place for them to hide, saying that such people would not only lose their investments, but also be arrested and charged to court for prosecution.

He expressed concern with the incessant attacks on NCS personnel while on duty by suspected smugglers and urged the media to intensify their efforts at enlightening the public on the dangers associated with smuggling.

The Department of State Security Services, DSS invited a former governor of Adamawa State, Jibrilla Bindow over a controversial audiotape where some APC executives were criticising the President.

One of the executives was even heard wishing for the President’s death.

Bindow alongside five others namely Kabiru Mijinyawa, Abubakar Umar Sirimbai, a former commissioner, Yusha’u Adamu, former speaker Adamawa house of assembly; Sulaiman Adamu, the acting APC chairman Yola south and Mustapha Barkindo, former adviser to Bindow.

DSS operatives grilled them for hours.

Speaking on the situation, Bindow’s media aide, Sadiq Abdullateef, who also confirmed the DSS invitation, disclosed on Wednesday afternoon that his principal has since condemned the statements against the President.

The statement read in part: ”Former Adamawa State Governor, Senator Muhammad Umar Jibrilla Bindow was invited to a party meeting because some members of the party were aggrieved about the just concluded primaries, which he attended as an elder of the party,”

”It’s worthy of note that, there was no program in the said meeting, he went there and sat and listened to the aggrieved members’ complains, and there was an unwarranted outburst from some members which he cautioned, it’s sad that some people are using that outburst with a recording to malign the former governor.”

“The said recording was doctored and if you listened to it very well, there are some conversations that were skipped, Senator Bindow cautioned the members making those unwarranted utterances thrice in the meeting and even threatened to walk out.”

“His words were, ‘please this is not right, you don’t wish anybody death because of political reasons, talk less of our leader and father, the president. Let’s make progress please, or I am leaving’.”

The air and ground components of Operation Gama Aiki (OPGA) of the Nigerian military have eliminated several bandits in Niger.

The two-day offensive on the criminals’ hideouts led to the death of scores.

The operation followed intelligence on the location of camps at Jasuwan Garba-Urege axis in Niger.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) deployed Agusta 109 and EC 135 gunships to the area.

The aircraft took turns in engaging the targets with rockets, while fleeing bandits were fired with cannons.

A military source told PRNigeria that about 70 bandits and logistics bases were destroyed.

“The operation occurred on August 5. Similar operations were executed on 6 August 21 by the air component at Kwawu and Uzawo in Niger State”, he said.

A legal luminary, Prince Christopher Muo, on Tuesday, said the disruption of the National Examination Council, NECO, Mathematics Examination in the South-East zone may keep students at their homes for the next four years.

Muo said this to newsmen in Owerri, while reacting to the inability of students to write their NECO Mathematics Exams, as a result of the Sit-at-home order declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in the Zone on Monday.

He added the failure of the students to write their examinations could be an impediment to the educational development of the children in the region.

However, the Lawyer [called on the Igbo leaders to quickly intervene and urged the NECO’s management to reschedule the Mathematics examination for all the students in the South East.

According to Muo, “I have been the Chairman of a missionary school management committee for over five years and I am still serving in the said capacity. As chairman of a school management committee, I have seen first-hand what the disruption of the school calendars and school attendance does to children. It is often a lifetime disruption of the child’s development path.”

“To miss out on mathematics examination in Nigeria may keep some of those children at home for the next four years. They will form the recruiting mass for the emerging militia of angry jobless youths attacking the Nigerian society.

“On this note, I urge all of us to lend a voice and ask NECO to reschedule the Mathematics examination for all the candidates in South-East states of Nigeria,” he said.