OLU AGUNLOYE IS WANTED BY THE EFCC

Dr. U Agunloye is wanted by the EFCC. You know his whereabout? Please don't hesitate to inform the EFCC or the nearest Police Station.

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Jaye Lo: Dancing in front of mosque not provocative, don’t apologise, Soyinka tells Davido

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said that no apology should be offered by popular Afrobeat artist, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, to some Muslims who are requesting that he apologise over an alleged offensive video clip posted on his social media pages last week.

Recall that the DMW owner had posted a 45-second long video clip of his signee, Logos Olori’s new song, ‘Jaye Lo,’ on Friday, July 21, promoting the song ahead of the official release. The video caused controversy as it portrayed men dressed as praying mallams, dancing in front of a mosque in a scene, rather than engaging in prayer.

Tribune Online reports that the ‘Fem’ crooner, after coming under heavy criticism, bowed to pressure and deleted the video on Monday.

While weighing in with his view on the controversy, Soyinka in a letter released Tuesday and titled “Davido Video,” dismissed the claim that dancing in front of a mosque is an act of provocation, insisting that it is an “affirmation of the unified sensibility of the spiritual in human.”

Reacting to the calls for an apology to the Muslim community by Senator Sheu Sani and some other aggrieved Muslims, Soyinka said, “It should come as no surprise that I equally and absolutely disagree with Shehu Sani if indeed, as reported, he has demanded an apology from Davido on behalf of the Muslim community.

“No apology is required, None should be offered. Let us stop battening down our heads in the mush of contrived contrition – we know where contrition, apology, and restitution remain clamorous in the cause of closure and above all – justice.”

Although Soyinka stated that he is yet to see the clip in question, he, however, maintained that dancing around a religious setting is a fundamental freedom all artists should be entitled to.

He said, “I have not seen the clip, but I insist on the right of the artiste to deploy dance in a religious setting as a fundamental given. Such deployment is universal heritage, most especially applicable in the case of Islam where a plot of land, even without the physical structure, can be turned, in the twinkling of an eye, into a sacral space for believers to gather and worship in between mundane pursuits.

He continued, “Dancing in front of a mosque cannot therefore, on its own, be read as an act of provocation or offence but as an affirmation of the unified sensibility of the spiritual in human. Let us learn to read it that way. Those who persist in taking offence to bed and serving it up as breakfast should exercise their right of boycotting Davido’s products – no one quarrels with that right. However, it is not a cause for negative and incitive excitation.”

Soyinka emphasizes that the lynching of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a student at Shehu Shagari College of Education, by her peers in Sokoto over alleged blasphemy, along with the mistreatment and imprisonment of atheists like Mubarak Bala, are incidents that should provoke the anger of every member of society.

“It was not Davido’s music that lynched Deborah Yakubu and continues to frustrate the cause of justice. Nor has it contributed to the arbitrary detention of religious dissenters – call them atheists or whatever – such as Mubarak Bala, now languishing in prison for his 38th month. These are the provocations where every citizen should exercise the capacity for revulsion. “

Catalytic converters: How mechanics, dealers, panel beaters are ripping off car owners

Nigerian car owners and buyers of used cars have bemoaned the increasing rate of stealing and cannibalization of vehicle catalysts by mechanics, used car dealers and vehicle importers in recent times.

Most of the car owners who lamented their ordeals to Vanguard said that road side mechanics steal the catalytic converters when the vehicles are brought in for repairs without the car owners knowing that the catalyst had been removed.

The catalyst is located underneath the car, attached to the exhaust pipe. Essentially, catalytic converter filters out harmful byproducts in the exhaust gas and burn them up. It reduces emission and improves the vehicles’ efficiency.

Though it has been argued that it does not affect fuel consumption but the fact remains that it affects the overall performance of vehicles, hence mechanics and car dealers are cashing out on it.Vanguard investigations revealed that over 80 percent of imported used cars in the market presently do not have catalysts.

The most affected are the small and mid-sized cars like Corolla, Civic, Accord and Camry which are in very high demand in the country.

The big cars are not left out either, as further investigations have shown that most of them don’t return to their owners with the catalyst intact if the vehicles stay overnight in mechanic workshops.

The removal is usually carried out by panelbeaters in connivance with the mechanics and sold at exorbitant prices ranging from N150,000 to N350,000 depending on the make of the car. It might surprise you that even the dealers remove the catalysts and sell them before taking the vehicles to the market for display since used car buyers may likely not find out that it had been removed.

The clearing agents too are not left out. While taking the cars to the owners (importers), they sometimes divert to some dubious workshops, where they remove the catalyst and weld back the exhaust.

The trend has also gone international as some businessmen, having discovered how lucrative the business has become, travel aboard to bring catalysts in bags from cars that are billed to be brought into the country and other neighboring African countries.

The saving grace at the moment is that some traders having discovered that they could make much profit from it have resorted to bringing china-made catalysts which cost about N70,000, but the disadvantage however is that this Chinese made catalysts don’t last long before they burn out.

But most car dealers see it as a cheap way to replace the original one that comes with the cars which could cost as much as N350,000.

Speaking to Vanguard on the issue, a motor parts dealer at Trinity Spare parts market, Olodi, Lagos who wouldn’t like his name in print said that the business is booming presently as you could hardly find a corolla with its catalyst intact.

What most people do is to buy the catalyst for their car and get a mechanic to fix it.

He said “I can bet you if you go round the used car markets, eight out of every ten cars on display are without catalysts. They have been removed and sold to spare parts sellers who await the new buyers to cough out several thousands of naira to purchase them.”

Most car owners who have had their catalysts removed said that they are helpless especially if they have visited different mechanic workshops. In this case, they would not know who to hold responsible for the missing catalyst or if it had been removed from the source of purchase of the vehicle.

A car owner told Vanguard that he recently decided to check if any of his three cars still had catalysts as the cars fuel consumption was increasing but he was shocked to find out that there was none.

According to him, it is a very difficult thing to checkmate the roadside mechanics from stealing catalysts as he queried: “Are you going to stay with them when your car is being repaired?”What if the car has to stay overnight in the mechanic workshop?”

Usually, when the catalyst is removed, the car displays “check engine” sign on the dashboard but this is not only the reason the check engine sign pops up. There are many other reasons this sign could trigger up.

This makes it difficult to checkmate the problem. But the easiest way to know is to run a diagnosis on the engine concerning the check engine sign but who has the resources to do this continuously?

Mr Ikechukwu Obinna, owner of a vehicle workshop said that in his workshop, he had been approached severally by all kinds of people to join in the ‘ business’ but he had turned down the request knowing that it is ungodly to do so. Dealers, importers and even clearing agents have been involved in the racket.

According to him, this has been the practice for many years but people are beginning to discover it now because they are looking for how to save fuel due to the removal of fuel subsidy.

It was drama in Warri as a Sienna car driver (name withheld) bit off the ear of a Vehicle Inspection Officer, (VIO) identified as Papu Prosper during a heated argument, while they were on patrol in Warri, Delta State.

The incident occurred during an argument over expired particulars in the early hours of Friday, along Eagle Roundabout, by Federal Government College, in Warri.

According to Prosper, “I am a Vehicle Inspection Officer, VIO. We went for a patrol in Warri, Delta State, where we apprehended a driver whose car particulars have expired.

“In the process, my boss told me to follow him to our office in Warri to confirm whether his particulars are up to date or not.

“While following the man, he said he will kill me, that the VIO has done a lot. So he brought out a dagger and was trying to butcher me into pieces.

“I struggled to get out of the vehicle as it was on speed. In the process, I fought him, and he bit off my ear,” He stated.

Speaking further, Prosper said the Sienna driver spat out his (Proper’s) ear, which fell on the ground, left his vehicle and ran away.

While the Sienna is in the custody of VIO, Prosper thanked God for saving him as he beseeched the government to do justice if the Sienna driver is caught.

“I give God all the glory for keeping me alive. And for the man, let the law do what has to be done,” he stated.

Jandor challenged the integrity of the sudden appearance and upload of Sanwo-Olu’s WAEC result on the verification portal and subpoenaed WAEC to come and tender the said 1981 WAEC certificate under oath in court.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has failed to tender the original certificate of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu before the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

The tribunal has therefore ordered the examination body to submit its result verification portal back-end server and other information technology infrastructure for forensic analysis of Sanwo-Olu’s results.

The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal issued the order based on the request of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Abdulazeez Adediran, that Sanwo-Olu lied on oath in his 2023 form EC9 by presenting a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2019.

A review of Sanwo-Olu's 2019 Form CF001 found that the stated statement of WAEC result he claimed he sat for in 1981 in Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School, Ogun state, was verified to be invalid on the WAEC result verification portal, according to a statement sent to newsmen on Monday, June 26.

The statement partially read: “While responding to Jandor/ PDP petition, Governor Sanwo-Olu didn’t attach the purported WAEC certificate to counter Jandor/PDP claims, but the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the 4th respondent attached a printout from the same WAEC portal which hitherto confirmed Sanwo-Olu’s purported WAEC result to be non-existent.”

Jandor challenged the integrity of the sudden appearance and upload of Sanwo-Olu’s WAEC result on the verification portal and subpoenaed WAEC to come and tender the said 1981 WAEC certificate under oath in court.

The WAEC representative who was bid to be in court last week in the oath of witnesses deposed to and sighted said: “I am unable to tender the duplicate copy of the May/June 1981 G.C.E. ‘O’ Level certificate of one Sanwo-Olu Babajide Olusola.”

The witness added that WAEC did not produce counterpart copies of candidates’ certificates nor retain duplicate copies of candidates’ certificates.

The statement added that: “However, a check on the WAEC website revealed that in the event of loss of the WAEC certificate, the council issues an attestation in the form of a CTC, but none of such was issued by WAEC to ascertain the claim of Babajide Sanwoolu, hence the order of the court that WAEC should submit it back end-server and other information technology infrastructure for forensic analysis. This exercise will expose the date and time the sudden appearance of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s purported 1981 WAEC result was uploaded, as the same result wasn’t there as of APRIL 7th, 2023 when Jandor/PDP filed their petition at the tribunal.”

The Secretary to the Kano State Government, Baffa Bichi, has given more reasons behind the demolition of the government house roundabout monument by the administration of Governor Abba Kabir-Yusuf.

DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the demolition of the roundabout, built by the Abdulahi Ganduje administration to commemorate Kano’s Golden Jubilee, had sparked condemnations across the state on Wednesday.

Reacting to the criticism, the governor, through his Chief Press Secretary, Sanusi Dawakin Tofa, had said the structure was substandard and may collapse in one year.

But speaking on Freedom Radio Kano monitored by DAILY NIGERIAN on Wednesday, the SSG said the roundabout also carried a large Christian cross, which, according to him, is against the doctrine of Islam.

Mr Bichi added that the structure was also obstructing the view of drivers accessing all routes linked through it.

“The roundabout is obstructing the view of motorists, and secondly, if you use a drone camera, you will see that the roundabout has large design of a cross on top of it.

“And over 9.99 or 100 percent of Kano indigenes are Muslims. So you can’t have a structure with a large inscription of the cross on it. It’s against Islamic values.

“Our clerics told us that whenever our beloved Prophet Muhammad saw anything, no matter how little, with a sign of cross on it, he would ensure that such a thing is destroyed.

“So any picture of Kano you snap, you would see a large sign of the cross on it, even the Muhammadu Buhari underpass in Hotoro has a similar design, and I can assure you that plans are underway to make sure those symbols are removed from the bridge.”

Speaking further on the ongoing demolitions across different parts of the state, Mr Bichi said the structures were illegally acquired by officials of the previous administration.

He maintained that the government would only pay compensation to people with genuine documents of proof of ownership.

“Anyone who is defending the encroachment of public institutions like hospitals, schools and Eid grounds is sick and needs medical attention.

“If you encroached on government land and the government collected it back, there is no way you could claim any compensation.

“All these structures we are demolishing were illegally acquired and shared among officials of the outgone administration.

“So, anyone demanding compensation should go and meet the person that sold the properties to them, because the monies were never remitted into the government account.

“If government collects your property to build infrastructure for the masses, it is obligatory that such individuals would be compensated but that’s not the case here,” Mr Bichi stressed.

The SSG also disclosed that the administration would equally recover government assets and property sold outside in the state.

PHOTO NEWS: Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, demolishes a roundabout built by the Ganduje government.

UK-Based Nigerian Pastor Breaks Silence After Release By DSS

A United Kingdom based-Nigerian pastor, Tomi Arayomi and his wife, Tema, have broken their silence following their arrest in Abuja on Friday, April 7,2023, by the Department of State Services and subsequent release.

The pastor in a statement shared on his Instagram account on Sunday said his personal assistant, Emmanuel Ezerika,who was arrested with him and his wife, is still in DSS detention.

He wrote, “Prophetess Tahmar and I would like to express our gratitude for all your prayers and international support during Fridays ordeal with The DSS. We can confirm that on Good Friday 7th April we arrived at Abuja to visit one of our branches when we were picked up by about 6 armed agents who did not identify themselves as DSS or any law enforcement agency.

“My wife, myself and my aide Emmanuel Ezerika were forced to surrender our mobile phones and enter the vehicles where we were taken at considerable speed to what we later learned were DSS HQ. The officers, some of who wore balaclavas were not immediately recognisable as DSS.

“ Our pictures were taken, finger prints and data collected and we were locked inside a room with no real knowledge as to the grounds for our arrest. After a lengthy interrogation, it appears media and social media pressure forced DSS to release my wife and I.

“My aide still remains under DSS custody and thus far, DSS have been elusive as to his exact whereabouts. We will not divulge the particulars of the investigation at this point as we are still awaiting the safe release of my aide.

“ Out of concern for my young children and my wife’s well being, we made the unfortunate decision to leave Nigeria abruptly. This decision did not come lightly but with considerable prayer and counsel from our board, trustees, colleagues in the ministry and respective families.

“I can confirm that we are safe and will continue to work and pray for a new Nigeria. We remain resolute that we will return to the Nation that we have grown to call our home but for now we will continue to press, pray and give God no rest until Nigeria becomes a praise in the earth.

“[We did not come to Nigeria under any illusion of comfort. We came to serve the Lord, fully aware of the danger. We want you to know that Tahmar and I remain strong and unwavering in our commitment to Nigeria and the many great leaders we have encountered during our time there.

“We want to thank every leader and friend who reached out, called, texted, posted. We are so grateful. This is not goodbye. This is see you soon! In a new and better Nigeria.”

Don’t buy Tinubu’s parasitism - Abimbola Adelakun

Abimbola Adelakun

Since the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu made his infamous speech about saboteurs trying to scuttle his election in Ogun State, recently the airwaves have been agog with conspiracy theories. Of course, he did not name anyone but he gave speculators enough homework when he lamented that the protracted fuel crisis and the ongoing Naira redesign exercise were contrived to frustrate him. Nigerians that get excited by conspiracies have spilled a lot of ink trying to determine the nature of the rift between him and incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari. Yet, when you really look at his jeremiad closely enough, what you see is a presidential candidate taking the parasitism for which his party is well known another notch by feeding on the pain and trauma of Nigerians.

Politicians who have subjected Nigerians to suffering due to corruption and administrative incompetence are not ready to let up. Rather than them keep quiet—since they have no clue how to resolve the problems they caused—they are still stealing people’s pain to shore up their uninspiring candidacy. For Tinubu to turn the multiple failure of an administration he sponsored into power into a conspiracy against his personal ambition is selfish, narcissistic, and outright manipulative behaviour. This is merely a self-seeking campaign by a politician trying to make himself a victim of the failure of his cohort of politicians. Do not buy it.

Whatever is between him and Buhari will be resolved (or not, who cares?) Their issues predate the coming election and contribute zero to alleviating the realities of everyday Nigerians whose sweat, blood, and toll are serially extracted to keep these dead woods alive. Tinubu’s wife, Remi, once said during a television interview that Buhari used her husband to win elections and then thrashed him. Do not let the people who otherwise do not see you turn the coming election into a narrative of triumph at your expense. Let the dead bury their dead.

The people who have been steadfastly blind to all these years of Nigerians’ suffering are suddenly realising that the conditions in the country are severe enough to jeopardize their election. Those of us who have complained about the hardship for years have been attacked for it. Now that they see how it will affect them, they want to acknowledge that people are truly suffering. Tinubu wants to turn the hardship around in his favour by asking people to consider defying the circumstances to vote them into power—again—as an act of revolution. But what exactly will be revolutionary about voting people who have spent two terms gaslighting you other than sustaining you enjoyed the suffering they inflicted on you? To vote a government that has performed so woefully back into power again is to affirm that you deserve to suffer.

It is funny seeing Tinubu’s errand boys running with the conspiracy theory to mobilise opinions in favour of their paymaster. Even eminent lawyer Itse Sagay echoed the sentiment when he said, “…when people in responsible positions begin to create hardship and annoyance and anger in the population which will be directed against the government, just before an election, the effect of that is that the government is going to be blamed by the voters and they may decide out of anger to vote for another party. It will drive away votes from the ruling party which they will blame for the conditions and circumstances being created by these very dangerous people.” Sagay’s head must be so deeply buried between the thighs of his APC friends that he thinks the sentiments that will drive voters against them is simply about the recent development of the naira redesign. All these while we have endured insecurity, inflation, serial fuel crisis, 98 power grid breakdowns, power abuses, shrinking economic opportunities, multi-dimensional poverty, unemployment, extended ASUU strikes, and overall diminished quality of life but it only just occurred to him that disaffected citizens cast disaffected votes? Under which rock has he been living?

[b]One other thing you must have noticed about the APC campaign is how stuck they are in the defensive mode. They have spent a good part of their corporate existence as the ‘opposition’ party and they cannot shed that bogus identity. It is how they know to campaign. Even while in power, they cannot function unless they pose to be the embattled party. Especially now that little to show for their eight years in power, they need an abstract force to demonise so as to take the heat from them and direct it elsewhere. For instance, the same Tinubu took his campaign to Makurdi, Benue State, only to start blaming the PDP for the fuel shortage! Perhaps seeing how much of Buhari’s irritation he must have incurred with his earlier speech in Ogun, he was so desperate to find another agent to take the blame that he reached for their favourite hobby horse. It did not matter that the PDP that left almost eight years ago and half of their members have defected—and were heartily welcomed—into the APC. Given how badly the Peoples Democratic Party has been diminished since 2015, it takes another level of ineptitude for the APC to still be so vulnerable to their machinations. They should find better lies to tell; their imagination is stale[/b].

Tinubu is not the only one in the race but he is the one who pathetically whines each time things are not going his way. How many of the governorship candidates or those running for the legislature at state and federal levels have been crying that the currency redesign is a conspiracy against them? There is a consistent pattern of him making himself look like a poor lamb about to be devoured by the big bad wolf of strongmen politicians. It rings insincere to the discerning. If the man ever becomes president, you already know his standard excuse when he cannot fulfil his campaign promises.

If not for the election, would it have mattered to them that they dealt Nigerians a bad hand all these years? After all these years of turning deaf ears to the cries of Nigerians, they have suddenly realised that the architects of our misfortune are ‘very dangerous’ people summoning disaffection against them. Nigerians faced serious crises of insecurity they were quick to play down in the name of politics. When the daughter of an Afenifere leader, Funke Olakunrin, was killed, Tinubu could not directly confront the circumstances of her death. He was too cowardly to offend those who would hand him power so he more or less made light of her death. His response to #EndSARS was similarly pathetic. Now that he wants votes, he is throwing a pity party. He is making the raging hardship in the land into the grounds for which his political ambition becomes necessary and which would culminate in moral victory if he wins.

His appropriation of the punishment they have inflicted on Nigerians and making it about himself is parasitical. Those who are easily swayed by such cheap tactics will go to the polling booths believing they are standing against some oppositional force. These people have nothing in store for anyone. They did not need you before the election and they will not need you the moment they win. The defiant vote you should cast should be one that asserts that you are not too impoverished by the suffering of the last eight years to say “enough!” to their nonsense.

Nigerians Suffering Needlessly, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde Laments After Two Years In US

Nollywood veteran, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has lamented the suffering that Nigerians go through in the country.

The actress, who is fondly called 'Omosexy' said that living in the United States of America opened her eyes to see that Nigerians were suffering needlessly.

She posted this via her Instagram Story on Thursday, saying, "After living in the US now for about 2 years. Not just visiting but living and changing systems. I now see many things we managed and let slide is just pure craziness.

"I'm deeply frustrated at the depth and volume of the needless suffering Nigerians go through. We are too intelligent a people to suffer like this. Suffering is not lessons to brag about...it's evil.
Why must people suffer to get anything done? Why?!"

Hardworking teen loses her $37,000 life savings in an instant as she falls for sophisticated phone scam - here's how to avoid it happening to you

. She received a text that looked like it was from her bank

. The number said her account has been hacked

. She transferred money into the scammer's account

A hardworking teen that balanced three jobs to save up for her dream home has lost her entire life savings after falling victim to a sophisticated phone scam.

Aurora Casilli, 18, has been saving every cent possible since landing her first job four years ago in her Western Australia south coast home in Albany.

But all her hard work went down the drain in early December when she received a text message warning her someone was trying to access her bank account .

The text message seemed to come from her National Australia Bank and appeared in the same chat as previous legitimate messages.

Ms Casilli realised she'd been scammed after transferring her money from a NAB account to a Commonwealth Bank account

Ms Casilli realised she'd been scammed after transferring her money from a NAB account to a Commonwealth Bank account.

The frightening technique is known as 'spoofing' and is used by scammers who change their caller ID number to look as if they are the genuine companies

Panicked she was going to lose her savings, Ms Casilli quickly called the freephone number given in the text.

'If it was from a random mobile number, I wouldn't have believed it. But it seemed so real,' she told news.com.au.

Ms Casilli said she was put on hold for an hour before she could finally get through to the number, all adding to the apparent authenticity of the scam.

The scammer pretended to be a NAB worker and told Ms Casilli her account had been accessed by an unknown person and told her to transfer her funds into a new account he'd created for her.

The 18-year-old completely bought into the man's words and transferred all her $36,561 life savings into the new account.

Ms Casilli (left) claims both NAB and Commonwealth Bank said they're unable to help her retrieve her money

Ms Casilli (left) claims both NAB and Commonwealth Bank said they're unable to help her retrieve her money.

It was only after she hung up that she'd realised her money had been transferred into a Commonwealth bank account.

'I felt sick, I just got this gut feeling that something was terribly wrong,' she said.

She tried to call the number back but the 'NAB worker' on the other end quickly hung up once he realised Ms Casilli had worked out his scamNow, Ms Casilli wants to share her story so others can avoid the heartache of having their life's saving stolen from them.

'While my friends were going out and buying nice things like makeup and clothes, I was saving. I was saving for my future,' she said.

'Now I have nothing. I have to start all over again.'

Both NAB and Commonwealth Bank told Ms Casilli they are unable to retrieve her money because she authorised the transfer.

NAB has reminded customers to call the bank's official phone number if they received a phone call request, even if it appears to be from a trusted number.

Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state said the Second Niger Bridge executed by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is enough for the Igbo people of the South-East geopolitical zone to vote for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in 2023.

Uzodimma made this assertion during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.

He said, “Senator Bola Tinubu is the presidential candidate of the APC, the party in power. From 1970 when the civil war ended, the Igbos asked for the Second Niger Bridge, and government after the government came with promises that were not fulfilled.

“The last Christmas was greeted with jubilation; Igbos coming from outside the South-East using the Second Niger Bridge. That is even enough for the whole Igbos to vote for Buhari’s legacy to continue.”

Uzodimma, who is the coordinator for Tinubu’s campaign in the South-East, also said most of the federal roads in the zone have received sufficient attention and budgetary commission and commuters no longer suffer as they use to before.

“It is not about whether Bola Tinubu is from the same place with me; it is about the programmes, to the extent that the manifesto of our great party has convinced and endeared the people. I’m very confident that the party to beat in Nigeria is the APC,” he said.

Uzodimma also said he is running a unified campaign for all APC candidates in the South-East, expressing confidence that all the party’s candidates from the governorship, House of Assembly, House of Representatives to Senate seats will be elected.

Federal Government on December 15, 2022, temporarily opened the bridge to traffic to ease the experience of travellers during the Yuletide break pending the final completion of the project.

The 1.6 kilometres long bridge links Anambra and Delta states.

The Second Niger Bridge was first proposed during the 1978/79 political campaign by then-candidate Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

Makinde’s Aide, Taye Currency, Others Campaign For Atiku In Ibadan

Taye Currency is a Special Assistant to the Oyo State Governor on Entertainment.

The seeming cold war between Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday, appears to be fizzling out as one of the governor’s aides, Taye Adebisi, popularly known as Taye Currency led the entertainment of mammoth crowd during a “Freedom Walk for Atiku, in Ibadan

The crowd, consisting of supporters of Makinde and other notable candidates of PDP, in Oyo namely, Bisi Ilaka (Oyo Central Senatorial District), Joseph Tegbe (Oyo South Senatorial District) and others converged around Total Garden, Ibadan at 8.15 am.

Before the party supporters moved in a long convoy guarded by security agents, including the Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, one of the PDP chieftains in Oyo, Mr Gbenga Babalola, chanted solidarity song in support of Atiku, Makinde, Ilaka, Tegbe, Wole Kanle and other candidates of the party.

The PDP leaders, who are currently trekking through Agodi Gate, Oje Market, Isale Afa, Labiran areas to the ancient Mapo Hall, include former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Jumoke Akinjide, former deputy governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi, erstwhile chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Engineer Jide Adeniji, Chief Wole Oyelese, among others.

Among many gaffes made by the top political office contenders, here are top 10 that trended across the country.

2022 was an eventful year in Nigeria's political space with activities ranging from primary elections at presidential, governorship and National Assembly levels, Continuous Voters Registration exercises, pre-campaign rallies, campaigns and a few presidential debates.

SaharaReporters recalls that each of these events came with a mixture of tension and entertainment, emanating from both political position contenders and their supporters at the low and high echelons.

Whereas political attacks and killings by members and supporters of various political parties heightened the boiling point of insecurity in the country within the year, some presidential candidates intermittently entertained Nigerians with their political gaffes.

Prominent among these candidates who made gaffes that trended and are still trending include the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peopels Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

Among many gaffes made by the top political office contenders, here are top 10 that trended across the country.

1: “Bala Blu, Blu, Bulalaba”

The APC presidential candidate and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu on Thursday November 17, 2022, while addressing his supporters in Imo State struggled to pronounce a word believed to be “hullabaloo” and ended up saying “Bala Blu, Blu, Bulaba.”

2: "Vote for A…PDP"

The former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, while speaking at a political rally in Jos, Plateau State capital, wanted to ask his supporters to vote for PDP but goofed and said, vote for A… I mean PDP.

Atiku who spoke in Hausa Language said, “For God’s sake and for the value of this place, ensure that you vote for A… I mean PDP this time around."

3: “Nasarawa is big…it is a great country”

The former governor of Anambra State and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Thursday October 13, 2022, referred to Nasarawa State as a big country.

4: “God bless PD…APC”

While Atiku and Obi goofed, the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, has made most notable gaffes in his political engagements in 2022.

On November 15, 2022, during his official flag off of his campaign in Jos, Plateau State capital, Tinubu goofed as he inadvertently prayed God's blessing for the opposition PDP before he quickly corrected himself.

While trying to pray for his party, Tinubu mistakenly said, “God bless PD…APC.”

5: El Rufai turned a rotten situation into a bad one

On October 15, 2022, Tinubu goofed again at the seventh Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KADInvest) when he claimed that the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai turned a rotten situation into a bad one.

Tinubu said, “Some people need to understand idioms. when I said he turned a rotten situation into a bad one, it is an achievement.”

6: Calling APV instead of PVC

In another instance, Tinubu on Saturday November 26, 2022, while addressing his supporters in Lagos State, charged them to make sure that they collect their “APV”, meanwhile, he meant to say PVC which stands for Permanent Voters Card.

7: "Prevent Church rat from eating poisoned holy communion"

On October 17, 2022, Tinubu during a meeting with Area stakeholders in Kaduna State goofed while responding to a question on Nigeria’s adherence to global climate change advice.

He said climate change “is a question of how do you prevent a church rat from eating a poisoned holy communion?”

8: Tweeting on WhatsApp

Tinubu made another gaffe in April 2022 when he said that social media users could tweet on Whatsapp.

“Do you know how many of you are tweeting on WhatsApp right now?”

Meanwhile, tweeting is only done on Twitter which is a microblogging social media platform while Whatsapp is just a free instant messaging app.

9: Calling Delta State "Niger Delta State"

In another instance, Tinubu on November 25, 2022, during his campaign in Oporoza, Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State, said that the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege would be the next governor of “Niger Delta” while he meant “Delta State.”

10: Calling Plateau State Governor Solomon Dalong instead of Solomon Lalong

Tinubu at the campaign rally in Jos, Plateau state capital, when referring to the party's presidential council Director-General and state governor, Solomon Lalong, called him Solomon Dalong.

Meanwhile, Solomon Dalong is a former Minister of Youth and Sports Development from Plateau state while Solomon Lalong is the incumbent state governor and APC Presidential Campaign Council Director-General.

Tinubu, having made most gaffes, has had several questions and concerns raised about his mental health and his ability to rule Nigeria if voted into power in the 2023 general elections.

Report evil, concocted – Military

An international news agency, Reuters, has accused the Nigerian Army of running a programme where forceful abortions were carried out on female victims of Boko Haram/Islamic State in West African Province.

The report claimed that the Army carried out the abortions without the persons’ consent and that at least 10,000 pregnancies had been illegally terminated.

These were contained in an investigation published on Wednesday.

The probe, according to Reuters, was based on the accounts of 33 victims, hospital staff, and security officials, as well as documents gathered.

The report partly read, “Since at least 2013, the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic, and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast, terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants, according to dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed by Reuters.

“[The abortions were mostly carried out without the person’s consent—and often without their prior knowledge, according to the witness accounts. The women and girls ranged in age from a few weeks to eight months pregnant, and some were as young as 12 years old, interviews and records showed.

“This investigation is based on interviews with 33 women and girls who say they underwent abortions while in the custody of the Nigerian Army. Only one person stated that she freely consented. Reporters also interviewed five civilian healthcare workers and nine security personnel involved in the programme, including soldiers and other government employees such as armed guards engaged in escorting pregnant women to abortion sites. In addition, Reuters reviewed copies of military documents and civilian hospital records describing or tallying thousands of abortion procedures.”

The report quoted a guard and a health worker as saying women who resisted were beaten, caned, held at gunpoint, or drugged into compliance.

The investigation linked the abortion programme to a belief widely held within the military and among some civilians in the northeast that the children of insurgents are predestined, by the blood in their veins, to one day take up arms against the Nigerian government and society.

Military denies allegations

However, the military denied infanticide allegations, days before it was published, and accused the news agency of ‘wickedness.’

The Defence Headquarters described the report as false and concocted by Reuters in a statement issued by the Director of Defence Information, Major General Jimmy Akpor, adding that the news agency team behind the story is “cruel.”

He stated that children were among the 82,064 Boko Haram terrorists that surrendered to troops, adding that none of them was eliminated.

The statement partly read, “It took Reuters 13 solid years to craft an allegation of infanticide against the Nigerian military and the Nigerian nation. This shows that a news agency as “renowned” as Reuters is itself complicit in failing in its mandate to draw attention to and inform the public about supposed occurrences that violate not only the laws of armed conflict but also international humanitarian law.

“Let us analyse the period from July 2021 to November 2022. A total of 82,064 Boko Haram fighters and family members have surrendered to Operation Hadin Kai troops. Out of this number, 16,553 were active male fighters, 24,446 were women, and 41,065 were children. The Borno State Government is camping and accommodating them family-by-family, as per households, without having to separate the children from their parents.

“In the same camp are thousands of pregnant women and nursing mothers. A total of 262 babies were born within 4 months (94 in July, 98 in August, 60 in September, and 11 in October 2022). This figure comprises 150 female and 112 male children. The children were neither aborted nor yanked from their mothers.

“Hmmm! wickedness really runs in the veins of some people, and it surely runs deep in the veins of the Reuters team that concocted such evil for interrogation.”

CSO rejects report

Meanwhile, a civil society organisation, North East Advocacy for Peace, accused Reuters of trying to truncate the newly found peace in the region.

The group attributed the return of peace to ongoing military operations in the region and described as an unethical and failed mission the attempt by Reuters to use its medium to undermine national security.

The president of the group, Abdul Monguno, in a statement on Wednesday, said “Reuters is going petty in a concocted plot to smear the image of the Armed Forces of Nigeria with fake propaganda and unsubstantiated claims.”