₦airaland Forum

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.”

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has reinstated Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia as a judge of the Federal High Court. The reinstatement takes immediate effect.

Channels TV’s judiciary correspondent, Shola Soyele sighted a circular of the Federal High Court notifying all judges of the court of this decision.

The circular dated Dec. the 5th was signed by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho.

He wrote, “Your Lordships are by this Circular letter notified that at the Meeting of the National Judicial Council held on the 1st of December, 2022, the Council reinstated the Hon. Justice R. N. Ofili-Ajumogobia as a Judicial Officer
”

“The reinstatement takes instant effect and there shall be consequential posting.”

The Chief Registrar of the court as well as the director of library and deputy director of finance and accounts were all copied in the memo.

In Nov 2016, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had arraigned Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia before the courts on allegations of money laundering and breach of public trust.

The courts have however quashed and dismissed all the charges against her

The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Presidential Campaign Organization has described the outing of the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu at the Chatham House, London, as disgraceful.

The PDP  Campaign said Tinubu’s outing was  a pathetic display of vacuity as he failed to perform the simplest of tasks required of a person desiring to lead the world’s largest black nation.

Spokesperson of the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, said this in Abuja, on Monday.

He said, “Nigerians including supporters of the APC Presidential Candidate were thoroughly embarrassed to watch Asiwaju Tinubu who earlier showboated with a scripted speech went blank on the world stage in tragic display of emptiness and inability to personally address questions that were put to him on economy, security and other challenges facing our nation.

“Our Campaign finds it very appalling that a candidate aspiring to be the President of a nation as complex as Nigeria exhibited an embarrassing inability to coordinate his own thought process to the extent that he could not personally think through issues and address them but had to direct questions put to him including those on his health and policies to others to answer.“

Ologbondiyan further said, “Asiwaju Tinubu has confirmed to Nigerians and the world that he has no business contesting the 2023 Presidential election; that he is grossly incompetent, completely unprepared for leadership and intends to transfer the onerous task of leading our nation to proxies and a cabal that did not seek votes from Nigerians.

“Of course, Nigerians cannot afford to have a President who cannot take responsibility to lead but intend to shift burden to others apparently to find scapegoats to blame for his inevitable failures.

“The APC Presidential Candidate ended up becoming a butt of international joke as he could not provide any lead on the critical issues of economy, security, youth development and foreign policies, despite notes passed to him at the event by his handlers.”

The PDP campaign asked Nigerians to recall that it had earlier cautioned Asiwaju Tinubu and his handlers not to embarrass our nation by exhibiting his constant gaffes on the International Stage at Chatham House.

It subsequently enjoined  Tinubu’s handlers to stop embarrassing him by always pushing him to make public appearances, even when they are aware of his many incompetence.

Ologbondiyan stressed that, “What Nigerians expect is for the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign to apologize to the nation and stop embarrassing their principal with poorly scripted appearances.

“Now that the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Tinubu has confirmed his unpreparedness and lack of capacity on the world state, we urge that he should immediately collapse his campaign, stop wasting resources, go home and rest.

“In any case, Nigerians are resolute in their support for the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who has continued to exhibit, unparalleled capacity and preparedness for leadership as also witnessed in his Arise TV Town Hall meeting.”

The PDP Campaign Spokesperson noted that Atiku personally took questions and professionally outlined his policy programs which touched on realistic solutions to the challenges brought to our nation by the failed All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

This, among many other cogent reasons, he said, makes the Atiku-Okowa PDP ticket the winning one come 2023.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has spent at least 225 days away from the country on medical trips since assuming office in 2015, Sunday PUNCH investigation has uncovered.

On February 5, 2016, eight months after assuming office, the President took his first medical trip to London, the United Kingdom, spending six days.

Buhari’s second medical trip would follow four months later on June 6, 2016. He spent 10 days treating an undisclosed ear infection after which he rested for three extra days before returning to Abuja on June 19, 2016.

On January 19, 2017, the President embarked on his second longest medical trip. Before leaving, however, he wrote to the Bukola Saraki-led Senate revealing his plan to travel to London on a 10-day vacation.

In the letter, the Nigerian leader said he would hand over to his deputy, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. Though the medical holiday was due to commence on January 23, 2017, Buhari left Abuja the same day.

He returned to Abuja on March 10, 2017, spending 50 days away.

In May of the same year, barely two months after his last trip, the President departed for London for his longest medical pilgrimage lasting 104 days.

It is still unclear what ailment he was being treated for, but Nigerians were asked to “pray” for the President.

What followed were speculations and misinformation about his health status, with some presuming him dead and replaced with a body double.

The long treatment must have helped as the President would not visit London for another medical check-up until a year later in May 2018 when he spent four days on “medical review.”

In late March 2021, Buhari departed for London again for a “routine medical check-up” that lasted 15 days.

His trip came amid a labour crisis in the health sector, which saw members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors commencing an indefinite strike over unpaid allowances.

On March 6, 2022, the President jetted out to London for a medical trip, which lasted 12 days.

Earlier, Buhari was scheduled to visit London from Nairobi, Kenya, where he was attending the United Nations Environmental Programme at 50.

He, however, returned to Nigeria on Friday March 4, but departed for London on Sunday March 6.

Earlier, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, had announced that Buhari would proceed to London from Kenya for “routine medical checks that will last for a maximum of two weeks.”

On October 31, 2022, the President departed Owerri, the Imo State capital, for London on another medical check-up lasting about two weeks. He returned to the country on November 13, 2022.

The President’s spokesman had, times without number, defended Buhari’s medical trips abroad saying he “has used the same medical team for about 40 years.”

Adesina also argued that it was advisable that the President stayed with the team that had his medical history.

Although it is not clear how much has been spent on the President’s medical check-ups, the Buhari regime has earmarked at least N33.3bn for the State House medical infrastructure in the past eight years.

This includes recurrent items such as the “purchase of health/medical equipment, drugs and medical supplies” and capital components such as the construction of the presidential wing of the State House Medical Centre scheduled for completion this month.

A breakdown of budget documents for the period under review revealed that general “medical expenses” gulped N308.26m; the State House Medical Centre took N8.35bn, while the presidential wing gulped N24.24bn.

The President had presented the 2023 appropriation bill to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja on Friday, October 7, 2022, his last.

In 2016, the State House medical budget stood at N4.84bn. In 2017, N384.76m was allocated for medical expenses and operation of the facility.

A total of N1.08bn and N850.68m was allocated in 2018 and 2019, respectively. This dropped to N634.14m in 2020.


In the 2021, 2022 and 2023 budget proposals, N693.01m, N708.75m and N476.52m, respectively were allocated to the State House Medical Centre and medical expenses.

However, the document did not reveal how much the regime spent on the President and Vice-President’s medical treatments and check-ups in the past eight years.

But a closer examination of the appropriation bills revealed that the State House earmarked N744.85m for “drugs and medical supplies” alone within that period.

On the capital expenditure side, the Federal Government budgeted N723.72m for various phases of the “completion of dental wing extension in the SHMC and outstanding liabilities on reclamation and earth filling.”

Since 2019, successive appropriation bills also allocated a total of N24.24bn for the “construction of the presidential wing at the State House Medical Centre.”

The breakdown is as follows: N395,834,810 (2019), N416,668,220 (2020), N1,064,643,299 (2021), N21,974,763,310 (2022) and N393,661,239 (2023). The facility is due for completion in December 2022.

Meanwhile, the President has embarked on at least 84 trips visiting over 40 countries in the past seven years.

These include trips for medical check-ups, regional and global summits, high-level meetings, condolence and state visits, among others.

Within that period, the Presidency earmarked N50.75bn for the Presidential Air Fleet.

Our correspondent observed from past appropriation bills from 2016 that funds were budgeted for air navigational equipment, aircraft calibration equipment, purchase of Phase 7 Avionics for AW 139 helicopters, etc.

A closer look at the countries the President visited since assuming office in May 2015 revealed the United Kingdom to be his most frequented destination.

Although this could be attributed to the summits he attended in London, medical check-ups loomed large in the nine trips and over 200 days he has spent there.

Trailing the UK is the United States, where Buhari has visited seven times, mostly for the United Nations General Assembly held annually in September.

However, some had been state visits as in July 2015 and September 2016 when he met President Barack Obama and another state visit in April 2018 involving President Donald Trump.

A further breakdown by Sunday PUNCH showed that Buhari also visited Saudi Arabia, South Africa and France a record five times each.

Ethiopia recorded four visits, with three visits to the United Arab Emirates, Ghana and Senegal, respectively.

Countries he visited thrice and twice include Niger and China, Germany, Benin, The Gambia, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Mali, Chad and Germany, respectively.

The President also touched the ground once in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Sudan, Spain, Iran, Malta, Rwanda, Qatar, Turkey, Scotland, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Jordan, Burkina Faso, Belgium, South Korea, Liberia and Japan; totalling 40 countries and 84 trips.

In an earlier interview with our correspondent, Nigeria’s former envoy to Singapore, Ogbole Amedu-Ode, said the trips were necessary as the President and Vice-President’s presence gave greater weight to the issues underlying such visits.

He explained, “In some critical situations, yes, such foreign visits are justified. A sovereign leader must undertake his diplomatic tours in order to lend the weight of his office to the issue at hand.

“For example, if there had been a state visit from a particular head of state or government to Nigeria, and diplomacy is a game of reciprocity, then in return, he (Nigerian President) should also undertake a visit to reciprocate whatever objective is to be achieved.

“You cannot say a head of state came here, then you send somebody of lesser stature in the administrative hierarchy to go back to that foreign capital. Also, there are certain critical issues that it is the presence of the sovereign that will carry the essential weight in underscoring the objective to be achieved.”

In a factsheet released on May 28, 2022, the Presidency argued that the trips had revived and strengthened fragile or broken relations with the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and other neighbours such as Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

It also said Buhari’s visit to China in April 2016 unlocked billions of dollars in infrastructure funding for road, rail and port projects.

On the security front the Presidency said the government “has mobilised international support for the war against Boko Haram, forging strong partnerships with key countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, ECOWAS, the AU, UN and others. After years of stalemate, the United States finally agreed to sell – and is selling – weapons to Nigeria (fighter aircraft).”

• Says past governors, appointees did same

• Group fumes, seeks return of looted govt assets

The Osun State All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, admitted that the immediate past governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola; former deputy governor, Benedict Alabi and other appointees of the administration took away their official vehicles after getting approval from Oyetola.

The state’s APC Director of Operations, Sunday Akere, who affirmed this during a radio programme monitored by The Guardian in Osogbo, while reacting to the directive by Governor Ademola Adeleke that the immediate past appointed officials should return government vehicles and property in their possession within 48 hours, said it had become a tradition in the state that governors and their appointees leave offices with their official vehicles.

In his revelation, the new Deputy Governor, Kola Adewusi, said that when he got to his official quarters, it was left empty by his predecessor, Benedict Alabi, as building fittings down to kitchen utensils were carted away.

Also, some documents obtained by The Guardian revealed that some principal officers of Osun State College of Education, Ila-Oragun, were given their official vehicles after N20,000 “depreciation value” was paid.

In the same vein, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs released some government vehicles to some local council officials after approval was got from Oyetola, according to a document.

But Akere, who maintained that it had become a norm in the government circle for officials to take away their official vehicles in as much such gifts were approved by the state governor, said that it is the practice in Osun State and other states as well as to the National Assembly.

On the removal of building fittings and other items from government official residences, Akere contended that such action was also right because those building items were bought to the place, though with government money, but through personal names of their occupants.

He said that the official quarters were met empty when the administration of Oyetola took over power from Aregbesola, adding that it was justifiable for the immediate past occupants to have removed what they acquired in the buildings.

MEANWHILE, a group, Good Governance Globally, has asked Akere to tender apology to the state on his admittance that the former government officials made away with government property, adding that they should return all the assets back to government.

In a statement signed by its Convener, Goke Omigbodun, said: “Akere should in fact apologise for mentioning the government of Olagunsoye Oyinlola, in which I served as Special Adviser. We all returned our official cars, and some of my colleagues were even hounded for what was not!

“I also served in Bisi Akande’s administration and returned all my official vehicles. It is almost certain that the official cars of the then Commissioner for Education, whom Chief Sunday Akere served as Personal Assistant, were also returned.

“This said tradition is new and confined to the APC administration. It is an unbearable tradition of “a heavy knee on the neck” of Osun State lean wallet.”

Aisha Buhari now wears dress meant for 3 people — Solomon Dalung

A former Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has blasted Nigerian first lady, Aisha Buhari over arrest, detention and torture of a final year student, Aminu Mohammed.

Mr Dalung, who served as minister during the first tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 and 2019, said the first lady’s size had ballooned significantly such that she wears dress meant for three people.

The former minister in a short video obtained by DAILY NIGERIAN said the detained student only echoed the reality of the situation.

“If you look at Aisha now, you would notice that she has added weight. Even the size of the jallabiya she wears now can accommodate three people.

“Is it that before now she wasn’t having the rest of mind, because there was a limit to what she could do?” he asked rhetorically.

He also accused the first lady of not speaking up for the victims of terrorism but only interested in glossing her ego and living a lavish lifestyle.

“But now, she has power, she is leaving a lavish lifestyle in the Villa without worrying about people being killed daily by terrorists.

“I backtracked from supporting her, immediately I noticed she wasn’t realistic because you would never hear her say a word demanding justice for victims of terrorism attacks in the country,” Mr Dalung added.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s nonchalance toward public criticisms of his last trip to London, United Kingdom, for a routine medical check-up speaks volumes of his unpresidential attitude and penchants against Nigerians.

Public reactions to the trip were largely constructive and predicated on the need to lift up Nigeria’s medical healthcare system from its current morass, along with the thinking that Nigeria’s health facilities should be good enough for the president and Nigerians; and that so long as highly placed public officers can go abroad for routine medical checks using state resources, they will not be motivated to provide standard healthcare at home. Those arguments are well-intended and ought not to be treated with apparent disdain by the president.

The frequent foreign medical trips of Buhari are not only unprecedented but also demonstrate his disinterest in improving the healthcare system of Nigeria. His preference for foreign, rather than local, treatment is unpatriotic and has exposed Nigeria to ridicule among the community of nations. It paints a poor picture of the country’s healthcare sector and casts doubt on the competence of local medical professionals before the world.

The sarcastic question posed by King Charles to Buhari about whether the latter owns a residential building in London is tantamount to saying, “As the President of your country, why are you always here?” This indicates that not only is the world watching, but it is also taking notes.

Buhari’s foreign trips expose the hypocrisy of an administration that purports to promote local content by banning the importation of certain foreign items and claims it would no longer provide resources for government officials to travel abroad for medical attention.

Additionally, in spite of the humongous budgetary allocations earmarked for Aso Rock Clinic every year, the hospice is reportedly still ill-equipped. More worrisome is the continuous mass exodus of Nigeria’s health practitioners abroad due to poor social safety nets and the abysmal response of the government to the same.

With barely six months left in Buhari’s administration, Nigerians are not overly hopeful of any positive change from the president on medical tourism, and this is a shame, considering he has spent almost eight years in office. Incoming political leaders should avoid this dangerous precedent. Foreign treatment by public officers should be restricted except for cases that cannot be handled in Nigeria.

The ruling All Progressives Congress has exonerated the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) from the poverty level of over 133 million Nigerians.

The APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, stated this on Monday when he appeared on Sunrise Daily, a programme on Channels Television.

While stating that he could not dispute the recent statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics, Ibrahim blamed the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for plunging the nation into a sorry state.

The NBS had in November disclosed that about 133 million people, which represented 63 per cent of Nigerians, were ‘multi-dimensionally’ poor.

The bureau further indicated that 65 per cent of the impoverished people lived up the north, while the remaining 35 per cent were represented in the south.

But the APC publicity director stoutly defended the Buhari’s regime, saying it had no case to answer when on the impoverished state of Nigerians.

He said, “I am happy the NBS did not say it was the APC that impoverished Nigerians. This poverty that has taken control of Nigeria is as a result of the misrule of the PDP for 16 years.

“The APC, since it came into power, has been doing everything to uplift the standard of living, to take people to the place of their ambitions, and it promised to provide succour, and it is doing so.”

Continuing, Ibrahim applauded the current government, which he said deserved accolades for producing more millionaire rice farmers since it was elected in May 2015.

Former Secretary to the Federal Government and chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Babachir Lawan, has said that the party will not win the presidential election in 2023 as a result of the same faith ticket.

In his interview with the BBC, Babachir said he and others supported the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to win the primary election, but they later realised he had been hiding his decision to pick a Muslim running mate from them.

He said, “I am not for Bola Tinubu now. I am not for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“It is Bola who did not want to go with us, he chose where he wants to go, and we told him that we will not vote for him if he did a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) discussed with us and they agreed to do what we want if we support them and we agreed to support them.”

PDP is fielding a Muslim-Christian ticket, with Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate while Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State is his running mate.

Babachir added that the Labour Party tried so much to convince him and other aggrieved members to work for the party.

He added, “You see the problem of the northerners, if you say you are a Christian, it is difficult for us to get a job.

“You see, of the 27 universities in the north, there are only two Christian VCs and of 27
polytechnics there are only two Christian rectors, that’s federal, but not to talk of state-owned.”

Babachir complained that the ‘discrimination’ shown to Christians in the North is too much for them, “and you still went ahead to do Muslim-Muslim ticket; that is double blows on us.”

When he was asked whether they tried to reach Tinubu to discuss the issue, he said, “No, he is the one to look for us now, I will not look for him. We have a place to go and a place to stay. But he didn’t look for us.

“If he sees that he will win the election, let see how he will win the election.”

He maintained that he is still in the APC but he and his people would not support Tinubu.

Regarding the fact that he might be accused of anti-party conduct, Babachir said he was bothered even if he would be insulted.

“If Buhari leaves politics, I will also leave because I joined politics because of him,” he added.

The Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Professor Jesse Otegbayo, has disclosed that about 661 clinical workers resigned their roles from 2020 till October 15, 2022, to relocate to other countries, a situation which has been taking its toll on the running of the hospital.

He made the lamentation, on Monday, in Ibadan, at a media briefing to mark the 65th founder’s day of the hospital.

Otegbayo said, “Every week, I receive about 15 resignation letters; there are more nurses than doctors and pharmacists. The movement of health workers will continue for a while, I must confess, but the consequences are not going to be good for Nigeria because, in the next five years, we will feel full impart.”

He, however, noted that the Federal Ministry of Health had already instituted committees to look at the retention of health workers.

According to him, the committee of CMDs of tertiary hospitals has also made suggestions on this to different committees, including asking that the government ensures full replacement of staff that left.

Otegbayo said challenges faced by the hospital in providing training, research, and health care services also included the high cost of diesel to incessant electricity supply from the national grid, bureaucratic bottlenecks in replacing existing staffing, and negative perception and high expectations from the public.

Portugal head coach Fernando Santos has released a 26-man squad for the international friendly against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

The squad will also represent the Europeans at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Manchester United forward, Cristiano Ronaldo as expected is included in the squad along with the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Rafael Leao, Joao Felix and Ruben Neves.

Ronaldo is the all-time goalscorer international football with 117 goals.

The 37-year-old has however not scored in his last three appearances for Portugal.

Veteran defender, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Andre Silva were also included in the squad.

The friendly against Nigeria will take place next week Thursday in Lisbon.

Portugal will kick off their World Cup campaign against on November 23 against Ghana

They also face Uruguay and South Korea in Group H.

Portugal squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (FC Porto), Jose Sa (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Rui Patricio (AS Roma).

Defenders: Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Joao Cancelo (Manchester City), Danilo Pereira (Paris St Germain), Pepe (FC Porto), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Antonio Silva (SL Benfica), Nuno Mendes (Paris St Germain), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund).

Midfielders: Joao Palhinha (Fulham FC), Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Joao Mario (SL Benfica), Matheus Nunes (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Vitinha (Paris St Germain), William Carvalho (Real Betis), Otavio (FC Porto).

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Ricardo Horta (SC Braga), Goncalo Ramos (FC Benfica), Andre Silva (RB Leipzig).

It is understandable why the Labour Party will withhold their presidential candidate from attending debates or similar public forums if his counterparts in the All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party do not show up. Appearing at such venues while fellow contestants get to pretend they are busy doing better things can diminish. Why fritter your worth on low-stakes engagements in a society where debates do not necessarily win you an election? Yet, the LP can do better than make Obi’s (dis)appearance a mere reaction to his counterparts. Debate forums are an essential aspect of democratic processes because they are spaces to advance and defend the ideas and ideologies that determine the fate of the nation.

Serious politicians use such platforms to coherently articulate their understanding of issues, advance their plans and projections, and highlight how they intend to deliver on their visions. That is also why you should hardly expect the APC candidate — and even that of the PDP who will take the cue — to refuse to show up. That is not how they know to win elections.

Yes, the APC presidential campaign rambled several excuses justifying the failure of their candidate, Bola Tinubu, to be at Sunday’s town hall meeting organised by AriseTV. He will possibly also avoid future gatherings where he will have to speak extemporaneously to a crowd not pre-selected for his benefit. Truth is, he would be foolish to attend presidential debates. He would be far better off being jeered for running away than risking the thorough self-demystification that will follow his appearance at those forums. There is no benefit for him to subject himself to any town hall meetings, debates, and even media interviews outside the arrangee shows his aides create for him.

[b]First, their party is incumbent, and meeting the public to canvass for votes means he would have to defend their record. Honestly, there is no winning that game if he plays it. Nobody — and I repeat, nobody — thinks Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has done a good job. Even the APC stalwarts are embarrassed about how he has turned out to be the worst leader in the history of modern Nigeria. These days, when even his minions appear on television, you can practically hear the hand-wringing in their voices when they inundate you with a litany of apologies like ‘recession,’ ‘oil price,’ ‘pandemic,’ ‘Russia-Ukraine.’ They started out in 2015 blaming every evil in Nigeria on the “16 years of the PDP” and are still not short of excuses. Tinubu, who also played a decisive role in planting Buhari into power, will have to answer for Buhari’s failures if he faces the public. Nothing about his career as a public officer suggests he understands accountability. The only language he speaks is ‘loyalty,’ not to any higher cause — mind you — but to himself alone[/b].

[b]Second, presidential debates are also a forum to put forward your record as a CV to the public and justify why they should give you a job. Of what can this jeun soke politician boast? Of course, they will mention ‘Lagos’ as his record of success, but even that is a negative. Look, no matter how many tantrums their errand boys throw on this matter, it will not stop me from pointing out how Lagos is a failure. The same political collective has ruled that state for 23 years, yet it ranks very low on every livability index. The crux of cityness is based on the quality of the public infrastructure that makes for good education, healthcare, security, mobility, leisure, hygiene, and shared community facilities. Of how many of these does Lagos boast? Recently, road transport workers in the state went on strike to complain about the extortion they suffer at the hands of the state-sanctioned louts managing their motor parks. The impunity and pure robbery that typifies the experiences of these beleaguered road transport workers are illustrative of the genius farce that runs the state. There is no real substance to all their lauded achievements; much of it is merely extractive. The only thing that works for them is the propaganda architecture that allows the papering over their daily raid of the lives and livelihood of the people[/b].

[b]The third factor is the amount of physical and mental stamina required to withstand a public forum like a debate while absorbing the hostility expected to exude from both the in-person audience and those viewing the broadcast on millions of electronic devices. Presidential debates are a space for gladiators who can endure such and still stand. They typically have some practice in the art of rhetoric, the simultaneous contestation and defence of ideas. The political debate culture was built around people who can think on their feet, not tired men who cannot recall the last time they had a fresh insight. Not enough politicians in Nigeria have been trained for the process. Many of them cut their teeth through one-way dialogues with hired crowds who throng the campaign grounds — not to listen to anything the politicians have to say — but merely wait for the right cue to break into the song of “on your mandate we stand.” The audience knows the process is a farce, and theirs is to supply the background noise[/b].

Outside those spaces, Tinubu is very vulnerable. His handlers will be smart to keep him away from scrutiny. I do not expect him to go to any debate they have not specially curated for him to shine. If Tinubu should attend a presidential debate, I can imagine how flustered he will be if he has to answer the lingering question of how he became a bagman for a drug cartel and the moral implications for the nation. For a man whose gaffes already supply comedians, skit makers, meme-makers, and TikTokers with content, he will be a self-writing joke for a whole week. He has survived his public engagements by depending on a battery of ghostwriters, speech writers, and spin doctors who pretend they can extract sense from the incoherence of a man whose political philosophy is built on the infrastructure of the stomach.

The question for the rest of us is how to proceed from here. Debates are crucial to inscribe the ethos of democracy, but what do you do when the candidates of the so-called major parties are unlikely to attend them? They are wedded to the tactics of winning elections based on the sentiments of religion and ethnicity, and public debates expose them. The PDP vice presidential candidate represented his team on Sunday but asking presidential candidates to debate the vices (pun intended, yes!) of their opponents is demeaning. If the APC/PDP candidates continue to stay away from public forums, it will be unfair to continue to ask the third-party candidates to perform the mental and physical labour while the APC and PDP reap the benefits of not getting scrutinised.

At the same time, I worry when parties like the LP calibrate the public appearances of their candidate on who else shows up or not. The point of having a third party was not to merely replicate the toxicity that characterises the supposedly big two. It was to break the stasis they represent. The goal was to depart from the standard political means — which had become wholly oppressive and entirely non-regenerative — and to begin forming new habits. Obi’s handlers should rethink how they can balance the ethical necessity of subjecting their candidate to public dialogue without risking his overexposure.

Tiffany, the fourth daughter of former US president, Donald Trump, is set to marry her Lagos-bred fiancé, Michael Boulous, this weekend.

According to Page Six, the wedding will take place at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Boulos, who is of Lebanese and French descent, grew up in Lagos, Nigeria where his father, Massad, runs Boulos Enterprises and is the CEO of SCOA Nigeria.

The spokesperson for the presidential campaign council of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dino Melaye, has said that he deserves an apology from the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, after their encounter at the town hall meeting in Abuja on Sunday.

Obi had snapped at Melaye on Sunday for picking on him. However, in a video shared on his Twitter handle on Monday, Melaye said that he was the victim, who was picked on by the presidential candidate.

He said, “Fellow countrymen and women, I am doing this video just to clarify the outburst by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party yesterday. It was not provoked, I was sitting far opposite the top seat where they were sitting. I didn’t mention his name and I was really surprised to see that type of outburst from a presidential candidate. Is that the type of president he is going to make? Just taking on people and showing unpresidential characteristics?

“The way he acted yesterday was very very… he rather called me out, because there was no way…I didn’t do anything. I didn’t call his name, I mean, where I was sitting, there is nothing I would have said that Obi would’ve heard and there was nothing, I didn’t do anything. So that outburst is unwarranted, very unpresidential, unacceptable of a leader, a leader must be matured, one who wants to govern this country must be accommodating, must have a lot of patience, must have perseverance. These are basic characteristics of leadership anywhere in the world. You want to be president of Nigeria and you are reacting in such a manner in public? This one go slap ADC for office (sic) as president.

“So I want to clear the air, that I didn’t do anything to him. He was so provoked and so carried away by the performance of Okowa, Governor Okowa, that he was saying that somebody outside is from ANPP. Does that make any sense? Is there any party like ANPP in Nigeria today? ANPP collapsed in 2014, when they all amalgamated and merged together to form APC. But he was so disorganised, so disoriented that he was saying that the person out there is from ANNP. Is there any party Iike ANPP in Nigeria today? Next time when you want to go for a debate, be as calm as Governor Okowa, be as calm as the PDP vice presidential candidate but that was very unpresidential and I deserve a serious apology. Thank you very much.”

2023: Tinubu may not attend any presidential debate – Keyamo

Mr Tinubu on Sunday avoided the presidential debate organised by Arise Television and the Centre for Democracy and Development, the latest such miss by the APC candidate.

The candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, Bola Tinubu, may not attend any presidential debates before February’s presidential election, his campaign team said Sunday night.

Mr Tinubu on Sunday shunned the presidential debate organised by Arise Television and a civic group, the latest such miss by the APC candidate.

In his reaction to why Mr Tinubu was absent at Sunday’s event, Festus Keyamo, the spokesperson of the APC’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) said Mr Tinubu did not attend to avoid “selective appearance”

Mr Keyamo, in the Sunday statement, explained that several television stations have indicated interest to host similar events. However, Mr Tinubu has no plan to attend any but prefers to speak to Nigerians directly, he said.

“Firstly, many radio and TV networks in Nigeria have indicated interest to host such debates and out of deference to other TV and radio stations, our candidate will not be making selective appearances on some networks, whilst ignoring others,” he said.

Sunday’s debate, tagged Arise News presidential town hall series, was organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Arise Television.

[I]Before Sunday’s miss, Mr Tinubu had avoided similar events by the body of lawyers, NBA, and the body of chartered accountants, ICAN. Mr Tinubu’s running mate, Kashim Shettima, attended the NBA event in his stead but the candidate had no representative in Sunday’s debate[/i].

Although the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar did not attend Sunday’s debate, he was represented by his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, who disclosed that the former vice president is out of the country.

Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) attended the Sunday event in person.

Tinubu to be fair by avoiding all debates
Mr Keyamo, in the statement, said the candidate cannot afford to attend one debate while ignoring others.

He also claimed that the candidate has other engagements and so is unable to attend the debate series.

He added that the candidate will prefer speaking directly with voters through town hall meetings and campaign rallies.

Mr Tinubu’s decision to avoid the debates prior to February’s general election is not expected to go well with millions of voters, many of whom had raised concerns of his penchant for avoiding public scrutiny. Many have taken to social media to criticise him for being absent at Sunday’s debate with one of the other candidates, Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP, taking a jibe at him.

However, the candidate of the ruling party appears unperturbed by the criticisms.

Read the full statement by Mr Keyamo below.

The APC Presidential Candidate in the forthcoming 2023 Presidential Election, ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU, did not attend the Presidential Debate organised by ARISE TV on Sunday, November 6, 2022, for the following reasons:

Firstly, many radio and TV networks in Nigeria have indicated interest to host such debates and out of deference to other TV and radio stations, our candidate will not be making selective appearances on some networks, whilst ignoring others. As President of Nigeria, by the Special Grace of God, he intends to treat all persons and businesses fairly and equally.

Secondly, the busy and hectic campaign schedules of Asiwaju Tinubu will not permit him to honour all such invitations by different radio and TV networks, hence our decision for him not to start with one TV station and later ignore others.

Thirdly, our candidate had long before now realised the importance of speaking directly to Nigerians and shortly after unfolding his Action Plan as President embarked on Town Hall meetings beginning with his interaction with the Business Community and other stakeholders in Kano followed by the Town Hall meeting and presentation by experts last week in Lagos

Tomorrow, he will be interacting with Agro and Commodity Groups in Minna, Niger State.

Whilst we thank Arise TV for the invitation, we want to assure Nigerians that we shall continue to hold these debate groups and Nigerians in high esteem. Nigerians will hear from our candidate loud and clear through other forums.

Lastly, out of profound respect for Nigerians, we urge all our party structures and supporters at the grassroots to continue to organise town hall meetings to educate Nigerians on the Action Plan of our candidate as we believe a grassroots-approach to reach Nigerians will also be more profound.

In an unreleased track on Wednesday morning, Nigerian rapper and singer John Njenga-Njeng, aka Skales, said he ‘‘didn’t know he was married to the devil’’.

The 31-year-old rapper, who married Precious Hassanity, a chef, in September 2021, shared snippets of the unreleased track, which sounded more like a diss track targeted at his wife, called her unprintable names for the third time in two weeks.

The rapper, born to a Cameroonian father, was single-handedly raised by a Nigerian mother in Kaduna who took on menial jobs to nurture him. Sadly, she died on 24th October.

The singer, who has never hidden his affection towards his mum, Martina Aiyewa, never missed an opportunity to show her love in her lifetime.

He bought her a house in 2016 and dedicated his sophomore album titled ‘The Never Say Never Guy’ to her in 2017.

The singer, who shared the video of him playing the song on Instagram, revealed he was yet to get over her death one week after. He shared vague messages on Sunday criticising his wife for mourning his mother on social media and not in real life.

He wrote, “Take this post down; show this same care in real life. Stop doing this for the gram. Don’t get me angry.”

Diss track

According to the lyrics of the song he played on Wednesday, the ‘Shake Body’ crooner revealed that his wife could have saved his mother but did not.

The grieving singer sang, “Disappointed by the one I called fam (family). This wasn’t no love, it was all for the gram. How can you be so insensitive, you could have saved my mama’s life. You were ten minutes away from the crib.”

He expressed his betrayal further. He said, “I’m in my feelings, and I don’t know how to act. You said it was better for worse, but you didn’t have my back.”

The rapper revealed in the track that he would have gone to war but would not. He prays for his mom’s spirit, gives him healing and promises to represent her legacy.

Background

Following his mum’s demise, Skales hinted about a crisis in his marriage when he sent a disturbing message advising the public not to marry a heartless person.

“In all you do, make sure you don’t marry a heartless person. Pray for my mental health,’’ he wrote.

However, the singer, currently in America, has not revealed what his wife did in detail but vaguely called her out.

Precious, his wife, has not responded to his allegations and has since set her social media handles to private.

Skales, an acronym for Seek Knowledge Acquire Large Entrepreneurial Skills, has been a songwriter since 2000. His singing career began in 2009 after winning the Zain Tru search competition in 2008.

His well-known songs include “Shake Body”, “Mukulu”, “Keresimesi”, “Komole”, “My Baby”, “Take Care of Me”, and “Denge Pose”.

After leaving E.M.E in May 2014, he established the independent OHK Music record label. He dropped his debut studio album, ‘‘Man of the Year’’, in 2015

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed says his ministry is in a very bad and difficult situation with the meager fund allocated to it in the 2023 budget proposal.

The minister raised the alarm on Tuesday in Abuja when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation to defend the 2023 budget proposal.

He said while he was complaining that the N1.072 billion capital expenditure allocated to the information sector of his ministry in the 2022 budget was inadequate, it was slashed to a meagre N345.64 million in the 2023 budget proposal.

“It is really a difficult situation and I do not know how we are going to handle it.

“In times of challenges like this, that our country is going through, we need the information ministry to be fully equipped to properly inform the public.

“This is the time the people need information and the voice of government should be heard on what we are doing in the areas of security, infrastructure and other sectors.

“We also need to tell the world what the government had done in the last seven years and we need fund for all these.

“I also believe that the 30 per cent cut in the 2023 budget proposal across board should not apply to the ministry, rather it should be increased because of the importance of information dissemination now than ever,’ the minister said.

The minister therefore appealed to the lawmakers to consider an increase in the budget proposal to enable the ministry discharge its statutory functions effectively.

The Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Danladi Sankara said the development was depressing and the committee empathised with the ministry on how its budget is dwindling.

The Senator, however said the challenge cut across all the ministries but they would look into the Minister’s position when they are considering the budget proposal.

A member of the committee, Sen Ibrahim Dambaba who was touched by the Minister’s presentation asked if the ministry would benefit from the election fund to be appropriated to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in prosecuting the 2023 general election.

When the minister responded that his ministry has never benefitted from such fund, Dambaba said he would make case for the ministry in the Appropriation Committee so that the information ministry can get part of the fund to discharge its function on voter education.

The 2023 budget proposal, N4.131 billion was proposed for personnel while N959,199 was proposed Overhead of both the Information and Culture sectors of the ministry.

• Says Tinubu only after personal interest, not welfare of Yoruba people
•Restates no alternative to independent Yoruba nation

The Leader, Yoruba Nation Self-determination Struggle, Prof. Banji Akintoye, yesterday, warned the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, against deceiving the Yoruba and stop blackmailing him because of his ambition.

Akintoye, a Professor of History, said Tinubu was using an interview he Akintoye granted to a newspaper to blackmail him, saying the APC candidate is only after his personal interest and not that of the Yoruba people.

He alleged that Tinubu is using what he told him about Alaroye newspaper two years ago to blackmail him, saying the former Lagos State governor is creating a legacy that his great-grand children would be ashamed of. These were contained in a statement made available in Ibadan by his media aide, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye.

According to him, Nigeria is not for the Yoruba people anymore. Yoruba people contesting elections in Nigeria are doing a terrible thing to their families. There is no alternative to an independent Yoruba nation.

Akintoye said: ‘’Our brother, Tinubu, you are fighting for yourself alone when your whole family is perishing. There is fire on our roof as a nation. It is unbelievable that any Yoruba man would do to his people what you are doing to our people now. You have been carrying around a video of an interview that I granted Alaroye in the campus of Obafemi Awolowo over two years ago. They asked me that if there was no struggle for self-determination and you want to recommend a Yoruba person for President of Nigeria, whom would I recommend? And I said yes! If that is so, I would recommend Tinubu, without any hesitation. But that is if the times are right. The times are not right, you know. I do not endorse any Yoruba man, Tinubu or any other person for any elected position at all in Nigeria at this time. I stand fully and without looking back, with the Yoruba struggle for self-determination. That’s the truth of the matter”

He added: ‘’Dear Tinubu, please don’t deceive yourself. You cannot deceive our people. You think you can carry that kind of video around and deceive our people? Our people are smarter than that. The world is watching you. Our history will judge that at a time when our nation needs to stand up and defend itself, you started to bring up an agenda.

“You are asking us to vote for you. We will not vote for you. Whether it is for the Presidency or the Senate or House of Representatives or whatever, we will not vote for you. We would have taken our country out of Nigeria by then. So, we advise you to return to your people. I am advising you now, return to your people and wash your soul clean. You are doing a thing that is unpardonable.

‘’Tinubu, you are destroying the Yoruba future. You are creating a legacy for yourself that your children’s children will be ashamed to know in the future. We ask you to return. You can still save yourself now and your future. We are determined to take our country. And I am standing solidly with the young people who are running around trying to take their country.

The Osinbajo Support Movement (OSM) has described as insulting, the comment of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), that he has forgiven Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

While addressing a Kano group that backed Osinbajo’s presidential aspiration in the buildup to the May presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu had said he did not have anything against the vice president.

“I have nothing against him. I have been to his house after the primaries. I saw him on the day of the goodwill message [at] the retreat organised by the president. And a man who forgives, a man who asks for forgiveness from Allah fully deserves forgiveness. If you cannot give forgiveness, how are you asking from Allah? To me, it is over,” Tinubu had said.

But responding in a statement on Thursday,  the group said while there is room for political realignment, any talk of forgiveness between Osinbajo and Tinubu is both an insult and a provocation.

The group said this in a statement signed by its national coordinator, Mr Liberty Badmus.

“While the OSM welcomes the need for the APC flagbearer and other presidential aspirants to come together, the group rejects the use of the word “forgiveness” and the implications attached to it.”

“We note just like the flagbearer stated that both the VP and himself have met at least twice since after the primaries, any attempt to take a revisionist perspective by insinuating that an offence had been committed because a sitting VP decided to run for the Office of President is an unmitigated insult, completely unnecessary and such narratives ought to be totally discouraged.

“We recall that a meeting of APC Elders in the Southwest ahead of the primaries where the aspirants had resolved the issue concluding that all the aspirants had the right to contest. It is the spirit of that meeting that should be maintained not a derogatory effort which undercuts the solidarity required to take both the flagbearer and the aspirants including the VP forward,” the statement read.

The group said support of everyone was appreciated and their new political choice is respected, but will not accept a situation where every group or individuals in the Vice President’s camp will be forced and classified “into this agenda”.

“Everyone who supported the Vice President has the right to support whoever they wish after the primary, and Vice President Osinbajo has made it clear that people are free to support the party’s candidate but no one should however ridicule us and our principal by going to beg for forgiveness, Nigeria runs a democratic democracy, and approves anyone within the legal ambit of our laws (constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the APC constitution) to seek to be elected for President and other elective offices as so desired.

“For the umpteenth time, we state that His Excellency, the Vice President has not committed any crime or offended anyone by seeking to serve his country in the capacity of President.”

The senators said none of their constituents benefited from the programme coordinated by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo.

The Senate Public Account Committee has begun a probe into the Special Public Works programme coordinated by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in 2020.

The panel has demanded a list of the 774,000 Nigerian beneficiaries that the programme was aimed at recruiting.

The committee resolved to request the list on Tuesday after some of its members disclosed that none of their constituents benefited from the programme launched in 2020

In 2020, the Nigerian government earmarked N52 billion for the Special Public Works Programme – to recruit 1,000 young Nigerians from each of the 774 local governments for three months and pay them N20,000 each.

The planned implementation became controversial when lawmakers clashed with Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for labour and employment, who was coordinating the programme.

While the minister said the lawmakers wanted to bypass him despite receiving 15% job slots in the programme, the lawmakers said the minister should not be in charge of the programme.

They passed a resolution that put the NDE as the implementing agency and accused Mr Keyamo of plans to sabotage it from the agency.

The lawmakers also urged the ministry of finance to release the funds for the implementation of the Special Public Works programme directly to the NDE. The ministry was warned against releasing the funds if it would breach the due process, Appropriation Act 2020 (As Amended) as well as the NDE Act.

Weeks later, the federal government announced the commencement of the programme and a few times, Mr Keyamo would tweet about the progress so far.

Day of reckoning

At the NDE’s budget defence on Tuesday, members of the committee present said that none of the constituent members benefited from the scheme.

Rivers senator, George Sekibo, told the panel that nobody was selected among the constituents he nominated for employment.

He complained that all names submitted by the federal lawmakers, who are the real representatives of the people, were not considered.

In the same vein, Michael Nnachi (PDP, Ebonyi South) said he could not identify a single person from his constituency that benefited from his senatorial district.

He, therefore, proposed that the NDE produce the list of beneficiaries from his senatorial district.

After the deliberation, the chairman of the committee, Mathew Urhoghide, gave the NDE two weeks to submit a comprehensive report of the beneficiaries of the scheme in the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The committee members also unanimously agreed that the NDE submits names, phone numbers and account details of the 1,000 beneficiaries in each of the 774 local government areas within two weeks.

Although the representative of the NDE, Isah Abdul, a director of the agency, requested three weeks to give the agency ample time to compile a comprehensive list, the panel declined.

The NDE is expected to appear before the committee in two weeks with a comprehensive list of beneficiaries.

Lagos drivers, under the aegis of Joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria, have threatened a boycott of roads from October 31, 2022, over alleged extortion by motor parks and garages management.

In a statement made available to The PUNCH on Friday, JDWAN called for seven days mass protest and total boycott, seeking an end to what it described as excessive extortion and harassment of drivers at various bus stops, garages and parks in Lagos, and asked the government to intervene.

They listed the points of alleged extortions to include: Badagry, Mile 2, Seme, Ogijo, Ikorodu, Ikeja, Agric Bus Stop and many parts of the state, saying they paid as high as N5000 and N7100 at some places.

The statement was signed by JDWAN’s National Leader, Chairman, Secretary and Assistant Secretary; Akintade Abiodun, Opeyemi Suleiman, Ajimatanarareje Feyisayo, and Taofeek Hassan respectively.

“This is to notify members of the public and the Lagos State Government over multiple and excessive extortions by the motor parks and garages management.

“We have been sentenced to the extortion and violent harassment by the state transport agencies – Lagos State motor parks and garages management and Lagos State caretaker committee.

“On a daily basis, we lose half of our income to the motor park boys; we pay exorbitant charges in the garages and at every bus stop where we drop off passengers; either we pick up passengers or not, we pay morning afternoon and night. Some routes have 25 bus stops which also serve as illegal tax collection avenues,” the statement partly read.

“[We crave the indulgence of the public to go through the meticulous breakdown of this unprecedented level of extortion we go through below.

“From Badagry to mile 2, we pay N3500 & N5000 apart from 25 illegal tolling/ticketing by motorpark hoodlums who collect N200 to N300 per bus.

“From Seme in their park, they do collect N7100 in the morning before loading our buses yet we are still subject to illegal collection on the highway.

“On Federal Mass & Coaster, we pay over N12,000 on each trip from Oko Afo to CMS or to Oyingbo which includes loading charges and illegal payments at several bus stops till we get to our destination.

“From Ogijo to Ikorodu, we pay over N5500 per day. Garage Ticket – N850, chairman ticket – N1700, king’s levy N200, Ita Oluwo N500, Odo Gunyon – N1200, Ile epo oba – N200. We also pay N900 for passing by, either you pick up passenger or not.

“At Ikorodu roundabout, we pay N1000 in the morning and afternoon and we pay N500 naira in the evening which makes is N2500.

“At Benson bus stop, we pay N900 for a whole day loading at 300 naira each for morning, afternoon and evening.

“At Agric bus stop, we pay N200 to eight motor park thugs, it is called welcome to Agric tax. When we stop to load for passengers at agric bus stop, we pay extra N300 which isn’t part of the N1600 welcome to agric tax.

“When we get to Aunty Kenny Bus Stop, we pay N200 before buying Lagos State ticket for N500.

At ogolonto bus stop we pay N100, at mile 12 bust stop, we pay N500 for plying the expressway and N1000 for plying service lane (for buses en route Yaba Oyingbo) .

“From mile 12 to Ojuelegba, buses pay N1500, for red coaster buses pays 2000 naira respectively.

“Red buses from korodu to Oshodi pay N5000 to motor park boys in the morning and afternoon.

“At Ketu bus stop, we pay N600 to N1000 depending on the size of the bus, for just dropping off passengers or picking up any single one.

“For buses plying Yaba to Ikeja, we pay N200 at Jibowu bus stop, total bus stop-  N100, fadeyi N100, Onipanu N200, Elediye N200 naira, Palmgrove N200, Anthony N100, and Ikeja N200; totalling N1300,” they said.

“On our way back to Yaba, Palmgrove & Onipanu is N500, Fadeyi & total N500, Yaba N200; with LASG N800 ticket, it makes total of N3300 in the morning alone. We pay N2000 each in the afternoon and evening, which makes it total of N7300 daily.

“Korope plying lyana iba-Okoko to Agbara are paying N5000 per day to motor park boys without the extra LASTMA & police department & Lagos Task Force daily extortion,” the statement added.

The drivers also lamented arrests, saying “When we resist the extortion, we get arrested and pay N10,000 for bail to the police while the motor park boys go scot free, and we also have to bail our buses separately.

“Lagos drivers also pay for entertainment, security, unit chairman’s food and many other ridiculous levy with threat of violence at any slight refusal by the drivers.

“This is the exact case of the popular parlance on exploitation of labourers, “baboon dey work and monkey dey chop”. Lagos commercial drivers work like elephants and eat like ants while the urchins under the aegis of motor park workers take a large chunk of our earnings. We can hardly fulfil our contractual obligations with our business partners, feed our family or afford maintenance or repair of our vehicles.”

They listed their demands as follows:

1. No to charging drivers three passengers money after loading in parks or garages, we are demanding it should be one passenger’s money per bus.

2. We demand that only Lagos State Government ticket should be the only ticket in Lagos, others e.g Lagos State parks & garages management, Lagos State care taker committee are not acceptable to all drivers in Lagos State.

3. We kick against paying motor park thugs at every bus stop. All illegal money paid after we leave the garages and parks should be abolished immediately.

4. Harassment by law enforcement agencies & intimidation with guns, Cutlass, broken bottles by LASTMA, task force & RRS must end immediately. They collaborate and hire thugs to attack and extort us every day without violating any law.

5. We have lesser bus stops for commercial vehicles. Most bust stops in Lagos are strictly assigned officially to brt buses only and we get arrested for dropping off passengers at existing bus stops which are known to commuters as official bus stops for decades. We demand that the Lagos State government should provide official bus stops in each community to avoid incessant arrests and stress for commuters who complain of having to trek several kilometres back to their bus stops.

They also called on the Lagos State Government to quickly respond and avert the current anomaly.

“Failure to adhere to these demands will only attract more protest and total boycott. JDWAN is resolute in pursuing justice by all legitimate and peaceful means available,” the statement concluded.

The Australian government, on Wednesday, warned its citizens to desist from travelling to Nigeria over the recent flooding that has ravaged some parts of the country.

This was contained in a travel advisory issued to Australians on the consulate’s website and obtained by The PUNCH, it read, “There have been significant casualties and widespread damage to infrastructure caused by severe flooding. Essential services may be disrupted. Follow the advice of local authorities and check the media for updates.

“The potential for terrorism, kidnapping, crime and civil unrest remains high throughout Nigeria.

The consulate further alerted its citizens to research routes and get professional security advice and support before departing to Nigeria if there’s any need to be there. 

However, the Australian consulate gave a long list of states in the country they want their citizens to avoid, including Abuja and its surrounding areas due to terrorist attacks and kidnapping threats.

“Reconsider your need to travel to Nigeria overall, including the capital Abuja and surrounding areas, due to high threats of terrorist attack and kidnapping, the volatile security situation, possible violent civil unrest and high levels of violent crime.

“Do not travel to Adamawa, Anambra, Akawa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross Rivers, Delta, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara States.

Giving tips on what to do if, in the aforementioned states (locations), the consulate advised that its citizens should consider leaving immediately or get professional security advice as their travel policy might be void.

A federal high court in Yola has nullified the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary that produced Aishatu Binani as the party’s governorship candidate for Adamawa state.

In a judgement delivered on Friday, the court also declared that there will be no candidate for the APC in the state for the 2023 elections.

Binani, the senator representing Adamawa central, defeated Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Jibrilla Bindow, former governor of the state, to win the primary held on May 26.

She was the only female in the contest for the governorship ticket of the party.

Binani polled 430 votes to beat Bindow who had 103 votes and Ribadu, who secured 288 votes.

Aggrieved, Ribadu instituted a suit marked FHC/YL/CS/12/2022.

In the judgment, Abdulaziz Anka, the presiding judge, nullified the entire primary election.

He held that the process was not compliant with the 2022 Electoral Act, the Nigerian constitution, and the party guidelines.

The judge said Binani’s victory was in clear contravention of Section 85 of the Electoral Act because there was “manifest overvoting”.

“My findings are that there’s non-compliance to the Electoral Act, as well as party guidelines and the constitution because there was manifest overvoting, which has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” the judge said.

“The first defendant (APC) cannot field a candidate for the 2023 general elections; the primary election is invalid, and the court, therefore, sees the return of Aishatu Ahmed Binani as unlawful. The plea for fresh elections is hereby refused.”

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday night, hosted Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates for the State and National Assembly elections in Cross Rivers State.

The delegation which include chairmen of the party in the various local government areas is led by the Cross River Governorship Candidate of the party, Senator Sandy Onor.

In his speech, Onor said, “Today is historic. Wike is a trail blazer for justice and equity. He speaks the truth fearlessly.”

He said the candidates were in Rivers to “thank Wike for being a good friend when Governor Ben Ayade defected to the All Progressives Congress”.

“Wike has defended us and protected us from intimidation. He has made PDP a party to beat in Cross River.

“There is nothing that Wike is asking for that is personal. All he seeks for is justice,” he noted.

Onor also announced that Wike donated 25 brand new buses for the campaigns in Cross River State.

Lagos is far from excellence, not yet working

It was not by accident that the tagline selected to capture the essence of Lagos is the Centre of Excellence. The tagline does not say, close to excellent nor does it say trying to be excellent. The tagline implies Lagos is fully settled in the midst of excellence, right at the very heart of excellence regardless of its peers.

If Nigeria was a school and states students, Lagos would be the one that always came first. Since Victorian Lagos, Lagos has been a very unique paradox unlike most states that welcome you, Lagos notifies you—This is Lagos. In the famous words of Fela “Ojo Monday Eko o ni gba baluba ooo (No nonsense in Lagos on Monday).

Lagos is the most populated state and is simultaneously one of the smallest states in Nigeria. Way too often, in response to complaints that highlight the hardship and poor quality of life that faces residents of Lagos, a myopic chorus taunts back with responses like this: ‘All the people complaining are Igbo and should go back to their own state’; ‘Can their state compare to Lagos?’; ‘They have no right to complain or criticise’.

These cheerleaders expect, no, they demand we swallow the sickening taste of mediocrity and close our eyes to the very fraudulent, mercantilist state capture that has been our governance for 21 years. Fortunately, I am exempt from taunts like that.

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism ownership of government by an individual, or a group” — Roosevelt

The wisdom of Roosevelt sums up most appropriately the present tragedy that is the lot of Lagosians. It is from its massive population that Lagos extracts its huge internally generated revenue, based on its taxation system. Whilst we commend the successive administrations that have increasingly and more efficiently extracted taxes from residents and companies domiciled in Lagos, we can only celebrate a mercantilist government for so long without asking: What about the accompanying social contract, the benefits of political order?

No other state in the South-West has been ruled from the local government level to the state government and Federal Government by one power hegemony for over 20 years. So not only has this social contract been written by this power hegemony, they have had 20 years to deliver on it.

They chant Lagos is Working but expect us to turn a blind eye to the state’s inability to supply pipe-borne water and then even worse its lack of empathy to facilitate access but would rather try to tax people in their attempt to provide water for themselves.

A state in the midst of so much water but in over 20 years the All Progressives Congress political class has failed to effectively channel such huge resources for consumption. Almost every household continues to be the creator of its own water supply through piped water, boreholes, etc. What part of the social contract says it is okay to take huge loans from the World Bank to supply water, yet the moribund Lagos Water Corporation claims to cover 35% of Lagos population within the metropolis with a shortfall of 65%. Where is the excellence in that? Where is the empathy for the citizenry?

Under the Babatunde Fashola administration, $200m was earmarked by the World Bank to revitalise slums in Lagos State. Instead, the state chose to apply brute force to evict residents of places like Badia that fell under the slum renovation plan. Till date, no substantial urban development has taken place and the practice of evicting slum dwellers without providing a sustainable housing system for the poor continues to persist with respect to the forceful eviction of OtodoGbame and Tarkwa Bay.

During the Fashola administration, accountability of the World Bank fund cannot be traced because Lagos State Government runs a very opaque financial system, without an iota of transparency or accountability. Again I ask what about the social contract with the citizenry that demands transparency and accountability.

Can Lagos be called excellent whilst its residents spend 4-6 hours in traffic every day? A US study stated that on average about six litres of petrol is burnt per hour in traffic. This cost about N3,432/day sitting in traffic; the overall cost of traffic monetary-wise, health-wise, productivity-wise and overall quality of life is very, very significant and not in an excellent way.

LASG has done a very good job with its ‘packaging’ of Lagos in 20 years; it projects Lagos to start in Ikeja and end in Lekki, a beautiful image with the Lekki link bridge to boot. Sadly from Badagry to Amuwo-Odofin all the way to Ajeromi Ifelodun, to Mushin, Apapa, Surulere all the way to Lagos-East, Shomolu and Ikorodu, the state is in disrepair and one can’t help but ponder how Alhaji Lateef Jakande built so much in four years.

How did he build so much mass housing (over 30,000 housing units located all over  Lagos e.g. Amuwo-Odofin, Ijaiye, Dolphin, Oke-Afa, Ije, Abesan, Iponri, Ipaja, Abule-Nla, Epe, Anikantamo, Surulere, Iba, Ikorodu, Badagry) and still make a huge impact in the health care system of Lagos by the construction of the General Hospital in Gbagada and Ikorodu and built about 20 health centres within the state?

He started a metroline project that was subsequently cancelled by General Muhammadu Buhari in 1983. 37 years on, a government and party that has been in power for over 20 of those 37 years have been trying to build one metro line for the last 10 years.

The contract for the Blue Line (the 27-kilometre Badagry line running from Okokomaiko to Marina via Iddo) was awarded at the colossal cost of $1.2bn compared to similar projects in other parts of Africa awarded for just a fraction of that amount. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a similar contract was awarded for a 34-kilometre and 39 stations electrified light rail network in 2012, by September 2015 it was completed.

It was constructed for $475m. LASG defends the astronomical cost by highlighting the marshland and swamp areas of the Lagos Lagoon, which required piers and foundations that down to 40 and 88 metres, also the need for relocation, reconstruction and resettlements, especially for 9km of the line.

Ok, but still the Ethiopian track is 7km longer than that of Lagos. The Ethiopian system has 32 stations, Lagos has constructed 4 stations. We could compare and contrast with other projects but it’s best to assume similar factors affect the administration of projects in Africa. So even if we take the 7km cost to compensate for all the excuses,  why would a 27-kilometre project cost $1.2bn when a 34-kilometre project cost only $475m?

Lagos govt plans to boost tech investments
Furthermore, the China Railway Construction Company, contractors of the light rail project, in its 2010 report, put the cost of construction at $182m. Are we saying preliminary works and relocation cost $1bn? 83% of the project cost?

Now because of the opaque fiscal and financial system run by Lagos, the state government has refused to release the contract papers for the project and have refused to answer any question or queries from any quarters on the project. Yet they expect us like sheep to pay our taxes but fail to yield to demands for accountability and transparency. Their responses are defensive as though they were doing the citizenry a favour by answering their questions. Then we have the N2.5bn 115-metre ramp that links Ozumba Mbadiwe road to Falomo bridge. This was built at N21.7m/meter.

As a reference, three flyovers were built in India of lengths 800m, 340m and 375m (i.e. over 1.5km in total length) at a cost of $7.5m (2007 cost). This equates to about $750,000 for 150 metres of flyover compared to over $15m for a 115-metre section of a flyover in Lagos. A 500-metre flyover in the Philippines costs $4m, this still comes to less than $1m per 100 metres. For how long will we play ostrich at the reckless waste of our state resources and clap at the political hegemony’s ability to tax and generate over N70bn a month without holding them to account on how it is spent!!!

A state that should aim to both reduce the number of cars on the road as well as increase the number of people being carried by each car (technology would go a long way to help achieve that) instead, LASG wants Uber and Bolt to pay N10m for every 1,000 cars, remit 10% of their revenue as service charge and use only cars that are three years or less. A state that should focus on mass public transportation is putting over 1,000 new cars on the roads because it wants fleece people of high commissions and award ludicrous contracts to their cronies. Leaving aside how erratic the state government policy affected tech companies, like Gokada, and its long term effect on inflows of foreign capital. Tech companies are moving out of Lagos in droves because small businesses in Lagos are overburdened with over-taxation and random levies and charges.

As opposed to seeing opportunities to reform Lagos, LASG will rather tax (squeeze and extract) because reform is too intellectually tasking and, most importantly, it would involve discipline, accountability and transparency.

Whilst the state boast of how much revenue they generate, it still is ranked one of the worst places to live in the world, directly after war-torn countries like Iraq. This shows you cannot tax your way to prosperity or hope to create wealth by strangulating businesses.

It is impossible for a political hegemony to self-reflect and self-correct; the gross inefficiencies, the wasteful spending and huge debts racked up with nothing really to show for it when considering the antecedents of Jakande.

Fiscal/wasteful profligacy can never be self-corrected, similar to what happened to the Peoples Democratic Party, between 1999 to 2015. The more politicians can get away with, the more citizens refuse to hold them accountable, the more they push the limits of what they can and cannot do. Hence why politicians and diapers must be changed often and for the same reason.

Lagos simply not working

Once promising, the state now wallows in a sickening state of mediocrity, captured by a fraudulent and mercantilist political class that has held sway for 21 years. Indeed, Roosevelt helps us understand the danger of the mercantile class when he opined thus; “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism ownership of government by an individual or a group.” Roosevelt’s wisdom sums up most appropriately the present tragedy that is the lot of Lagosians.

To start with, the wealth of Lagos is directly tied to the productivity and sweat equity of its citizens. More than 80% of Lagos’s revenue comes from income tax, consumption tax and several other forms of taxation. Hence, while successive administrations brag about increasing IGR, they have spectacularly failed to hold up their part of the social contract. Close to N10tn has been spent during the period but Lagos still ranks as one of the most unliveable cities in the world. Of what use are the trillions generated in tax revenue if it doesn’t improve the life or livelihood of the average citizen?

Lagos has one of the lowest scores of 11 major African cities on the city prosperity index. Lagos also has one of the least scores on productivity (<17%) and infrastructure. The harsh reality is that the current political elite and their cronies have not only mismanaged the commonwealth of Lagos, but they are also now dehumanizing Lagosians in several ways unimaginable. People now spend an average of six hours commuting to and from work in rickety vehicles, driving on roads in terrible conditions. Traffic robberies are now on the rise because cars must slow down on bad roads in dark spots without streetlights. It is worth mentioning at this point that more emphasis is placed on acquiring more tolling vans (which has its usefulness) than managing potholes and providing streetlights which directly benefit the people.

Why should low-income earners spend over 40% of their monthly income on transportation? Why do close to 40% of Lagosians live in slums or neighbourhoods with almost no social amenities? Why should LGAs be income-generating centres for party faithful instead of a tier of government that works to improve the lives of the people? Why are there very few investments in social housing for low-income earners? The reasons aren’t far-fetched: the current administration is set up to serve the interest of a small but greedy elite against the interest of the general public.

Recall that under the Fashola administration, $200m was earmarked by the World Bank to revitalise slums in Lagos State. Instead, the state chose to apply brute force to evict residents of places like Badia that fell under the slum renovation plan. Till date, no substantial urban development has taken place and the practice of evicting slum dwellers without providing a sustainable housing system for the poor continues to persist with respect to the forceful eviction of OtodoGbame and Tarkwa Bay. What is even more worrisome is that when these helpless settlers are forcefully evicted, they are replaced with luxury apartments sold at a premium to the rich and affluent.

Of course, I believe in free market enterprise but if luxury apartments are built on the blood of the poor, the least that the government can do is enact a policy where luxury property developers contribute to the social housing scheme.  In four years, Jakande built over 14,000 units of low-income housing, far more than the APC administration has built from 1999 till date.

Lagos is far from excellent; Lagos is simply not and we can change this ugly reality. It starts with citizens believing that they deserve better (which they do) and voting differently in the coming elections.

Rhodes-Vivour is the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Lagos