Some youths have trooped to the streets of Niger State to protest the ongoing cost of living crisis in Nigeria.
They wielded placards such as ‘Enough is Enough’; ‘Stop Anti-Masses Policies’; ‘We Are Not Slaves In Our Country’; ‘Hardship Is Unbearable’, ‘Fuel Subsidy Must Be Back’, among others.
The protesters marched on the streets as they chanted anti-government songs.
Our correspondent saw some of the protesters on Abuja-Kaduna expressway and attempted to speak with them but they declined.
The Federal and State governments had made several efforts to stop the protest, saying it could be hijacked by hoodlums and enemies of democracy.
Last week, Governor Mohammed Bago had wooed residents of Niger with welfare packages to prevent the protest.
He had announced a N20,000 wage allowance for state and local government civil servants, ordered the immediate release of 50,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains to be sold at subsidised rates to mitigate the current economic hardship.
“We have over 100,000 metric tonnes of food in our reserves, out of which we will be releasing 50,000 metric tonnes to be sold at 50% of its present price. Before the end of the year, we will slash food prices by 90%,” he had said at a townhall meeting.
To show appreciation for their efforts in combating banditry, insurgency, and other criminal activities, the governor announced a gift of one Prado Jeep to each head of security agency in the state.
Facebook deletes Dauda Rarara’s account as northerners mass-report him for claiming Tinubu solved Nigeria’s poverty in new song
The Facebook account of Dauda Kahutu Rarara, a popular northern APC praise singer, has been deleted due to mass reporting by his followers after he posted a song praising President Bola Tinubu.
The musician’s official Facebook account, Dauda Kahutu Rarara, with over one million followers, could not be found after Facebook deleted it on Saturday.
Amid economic hardship characterised by spiking food prices, Rarara uploaded a song praising Mr Tinubu for making Nigeria great and saving northerners from “hunger and insecurity.”
“Tinubu has made Nigeria great. Northerners have said goodbye to hunger, insecurity and poverty,” said Rarara in the song.
Rarara’s song comes in the wake of planned nationwide protests to begin August 1 over heightened economic hardship that has seen food prices surge by over 100 per cent.
Though Rarara, in his controversial song, claimed northerners are free from insecurity and hunger, his mother was recently kidnapped by bandits in Katsina last month. She was later freed after some days in bandits’ den.
The development comes even as the government had said it would deploy thousands of police officers to different states of the federation to quell the protests.
Some hoodlums and cult members have been mobilised by agents of the Lagos State government to disrupt the August 1-10 #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest which is expected to be significant in Lagos and other key states.
SaharaReporters learnt on Saturday from top sources that the cultists hired to scuttle the planned protest had also been lodged in several hotels, and were awaiting further instructions.
In an audio alert exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, it was gathered that the cultists had been given marching orders by elements in the Lagos State government to attack the peaceful protest and turn it into a violent scene to enable the police and other security agencies move in.
“The government elements have mobilised cultists to Lagos State and they are going to be lodged at hotels. Their job is to ensure that the protest does not hold peacefully” it was stated in the audio.
The development comes even as the government had said it would deploy thousands of police officers to different states of the federation to quell the protests.
This is just as the Take-It-Back movement, one of the organisers of the protests had written to the federal capital territory minister, Nyesom Wike, seeking the use of the Eagles Square for the protests.
The letter was signed by the Director of Mobilisation, Take it Back Movement (TIB), Damilare Adenola.
Adenola said they needed the Eagle Square for the duration of the protest till August 10, 2024.
They also sought that Wike ensured the provision of a 24-hour power supply, toilet facilities, water, and security for the convenience of Nigerian citizens who will be camped out at Eagle Square.
The letter stated; “In short, we ask that the protesters are accorded the courtesy accorded to foreign and local official dignitaries who have frequently used the space. In addition, we request that the outer wire mesh barrier facing the Aso Rock Villa be removed in the meantime, as protesters may decide to visit the Presidential Villa during the protest.
"It is our sincere hope that this request will be granted expeditiously."
Yam sellers at Yan Doya, a popular market in Kaduna, have been lamenting low patronage because of high cost of yam which goes for as high as N10,000 per tuber.
Traders say 100 yam tubers will cost a prospective buyer N1 million. Our correspondent, however, reports that a small-sized tuber cost is sold for at least N5,000.
Many residents said they had already taken Yam off their menu because of its rising cost. Though new yam has begun to flood the market, the price is beyond the reach of many
Vincent Iroegvu and Maryam Sanusi both yam sellers at the market decried low patronage as prospective customers deserted the market.
The living cost crisis has taken its effect on many households, forcing many to change their meals. On Wednesday, multiple citizens who spoke to Daily Trust across various states of the Federation said Bread is no longer a staple food as it has been priced beyond reach.
According to those interviewed by our correspondents in Gombe, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and Taraba, millions of Nigerians are now reeling under the rising cost of living exacerbated by inflation.
Some of the respondents said they are now seeking other relatively cheaper alternatives to bread, as the country struggles through rising cost of food and other household items.
Bread used to be on the breakfast menu of many families across social strata, but its rising cost has added to the difficulties that many families are going through in recent times.
Labourers at construction sites, drivers at motor parks, students, among others, who hitherto see bread as the cheapest and surest way to start their day no longer afford it.
In light of his planned astronomical hike in petrol prices euphemistically called “subsidy removal” in 2023, which his opponents also promised to implement and caused Nigerians embrace as inevitable and desirable, I foretold the imminent social convulsion that is gathering momentum across Nigeria now.
“I can assure Tinubu that if petrol price hikes deepen people’s misery, he’ll have a tough time governing,” I wrote in my April 29, 2023, column. I followed this up with more than half a dozen columns on the same theme.
When you remove subsidies from an all-important product like petrol that literally regulates every facet of life in a country like Nigeria, which also has the dubious honor of being in perpetual competition with India for the status of the world's poverty capital, and then follow it up with a massive devaluation of the national currency even when the country is hopelessly import-dependent, you unleash existential demons that compel vast swaths of people to choose between life and death.
False assurances that the mass agony in the country is only temporary, or that the pains people are grappling with are mere precursors to future gains, or even that there is light at the end of the tunnel only aggravate people’s angst. There are two reasons for this.
One, most people know that based on past experiences in Nigeria (notably during IBB’s ruinous SAP, which Tinubu merely repurposed and renamed) and elsewhere in the developing world where the IMF and the World Bank dictate economic policies, there has never been a single example of these sorts of pains ever transforming into gains for the masses of the people.
Second, people outside the circles of power and privilege realize that the pains are being borne only by the poor. Tinubu, for example, bought a new presidential jet worth millions of dollars even before the spineless National Assembly had a chance to rubber-stamp it, as is now their wont, among other profligate expenditures amid a biting economic downturn.
People who are visiting darkness on the poor in the name of a deferred light at the end of the tunnel are glowing in incandescent bulbs of illumination. And the people are intelligent enough to know that what awaits them at the end of this disconsolate tunnel isn’t light. It’s an inferno. It’s a dreary snake pit of doom and gloom.
When people come to this realization, no one needs to “sponsor” them to protest. The pangs of hunger they feel is sufficient to sponsor them to protest. The sensation of hopelessness that overcomes them is a bigger motive force for protest than the political machinations of any politician.
But even if it’s true that opposition politicians are taking advantage of the mass discontent in the country to cripple the government and delegitimize it for their self-interest, that’s not illegal. It’s an intrinsic element of democracies for opposition parties to seize on the missteps of incumbents to displace them.
President Tinubu is in power today precisely because he mastered the art of instrumentalizing the missteps of incumbents to advance his political aspirations. As recently as 2012, he “sponsored” a disruptive protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan that led to the deaths of protesters—for precisely what he is doing to Nigerians now.
No amount of persuasion or financial inducement of traditional rulers, religious clerics, union leaders, or activists will get people to make peace with needless suffering occasioned by a self-centered, hard-hearted implementation of vicious economic policies that snuff the life out of the people. Even if the planned protests are aborted, the predictable is only being postponed.
The only way Tinubu can retain legitimacy and earn the trust of the people is to reverse the deep, stinging hurt his policies have caused to the vast majority of our people. People are no longer interested in progress or the renewal of hope. They just want Tinubu to take them back to where he met them, which was not an enviable state. And that’s not too much to ask.
In a February 10, 2024, column titled “Hunger Protests: Why Tinubu Can’t Govern Like Buhari,” I said the spontaneous, hunger-induced eruption of seething communal anger in Minna, Suleja, Kano, and Osogbo were “a warning sign” that Tinubu couldn’t afford to ignore. He ignored it.
He is probably following the Buhari template of enacting unpopular policies and relying on the blind support of his worshipers to shield him from the consequences of his actions. But Tinubu has no such following, and I am glad he doesn’t, which is why I would hate for someone like Peter Obi or Rabiu Kwankwaso to be president.
They are political cult leaders with unthinking, fanatical followers who lose their damned minds if you as much utter the mildest critical remark about their gods, however factual it may be. Like Buharists, they have abdicated their senses to their political gods.
I reproduce here a portion of the column to remind Tinubu why he can’t benefit from the kind of immunity Buhari enjoyed:
“Had the current president been Muhammadu Buhari and not Bola Ahmed Tinubu, chances are that the worst that would happen amid the adversity people are going through now would be suppressed, barely audible murmurs. It’s because Buhari is a political cult leader with a firm grip on his followers who worship him and surrender responsibility for their lives over to him. Tinubu has no such appeal.
“A psychologist by the name of Steve Taylor came up with a concept he called ‘abdication syndrome,’ which he said disposes people to invest total, child-like trust in a political figure, a cult leader, an opinion molder, etc. in ways that mimic how children idealize and idolize their parents as unblemished paragons of perfection.
“According to Taylor, ‘abdication syndrome stems from the unconscious desire of some people to return to a state of early childhood, when their parents were infallible, omnipotent figures who controlled their lives and protected them from the world. They’re trying to rekindle that childhood state of unconditional devotion and irresponsibility.’
“Buhari is lucky to benefit from abdication syndrome in Muslim northern Nigeria, broadly conceived, which explains why he got away with murder for eight years. When he increased petrol prices by a steep margin in 2016, for instance, there were protests in Kano, Bauchi, and other places in SUPPORT of the increase and AGAINST people who planned to protest the increase. Nigeria had never seen anything like that before.
“Even protests against the unabating descent of northern Nigeria into a theater of bloodshed and abduction on Buhari’s watch provoked counter protests from people who have abdicated the use of their brains in the service of Buhari.
“Tinubu not only does not have the benefit of abdication syndrome anywhere in Nigeria, but he also has the misfortune of having to contend with a peculiar character of Muslim northern Nigeria: we feel the pain of, and react violently to, bad policies only when the policies are hatched and executed by people who have no filiation with our natal region.
“It’s no surprise that the hunger protests against the Tinubu administration started from and spread in the North.
“A powerful indication of Tinubu’s lack of firm emotional support base emerged when Osun, his state of birth where he lost the last presidential election to PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, became the first southern state to join the hunger protests. Should the resistance to his punishingly heartless neoliberal economic policies ignite a nationwide convulsion, the Southwest is unlikely to constitute itself as his bulwark.
“In fact, I hazard a guess that should Tinubu’s unfeeling policies activate the sort of destabilizing national upheaval that we saw in 2012 during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the Southwest won’t be aloof. It is likely to join in.
“And, of course, Tinubu is deeply unpopular in the Southeast, the South-south, and Christian northern Nigeria. In other words, Tinubu is essentially floundering into the most treacherous of social quicksands.
“His only fortification against danger is not just good governance but compassionate governance. The release of thousands of metric tons of grains is a good first step, but it’s not nearly enough to stem the tide of mass rebellion that is brewing in the country. At best, it will only delay the inevitable.
“The truth is that Nigeria can’t survive a total withdrawal of petroleum subsidies without an adequate, systematic, well-planned public transportation system. To do away with petrol subsidies, the government must first create conditions where car ownership and patronage of commercial transportation are a luxury.”
Organisers of the upcoming nationwide #EndBadGovt protest have warned security agencies that there will be consequences if any of the protesters is attacked.
According to the protesters, they will demand the resignation of President Bola Tinubu and his entire cabinet, if any of them is attacked in any part of the country.
The Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, State Security Service and other security agencies have been threatening protesters against going ahead with the exercise.
The security operatives hinged their warning on the deaths and destruction that marred the October 2020 #EndSARS protest, Kenyan uprising, expressing worry that the #EndBadGovt protest may turn out the same.
However, in a flier circulating on social media, advertising the upcoming protest contained a 10-point agenda, the intending protesters, in turn, warned security agencies that, “During this protest, if one protester is killed, maimed or arrested, we will not back down until Tinubu and his entire cabinet step down.”
Despite the threat and claims by government officials that the protest was sponsored by foreign mercenaries, organisers resolved to go ahead with the protest on August 1, 2024.
According to the organisers, the protest is against hunger and hardship in the country caused by the harsh economic policies of President Bola Tinubu since his assumption of office on May 29, 2023.
I was equally disappointed with the purported extermination of the Nupe tribe so cheaply. We are known for being warlords and very strong to be slaughtered like chickens. In fact, historically, around 1535, the Nupes invaded the Oyo empire and conquered it, making the Alafin to flee the palace and seek refuge in the kingdom of Borgu.
Also, I wonder who could have played a perfect role as a Nupe war leader if not Ibrahim Chatta who is originally a Nupe man and could have added really good effect to the movie compared to the role he played.
Finally, the portrayal of Zainab as “Nupe witch” with no single demonstration of witchery or expression of Nupe language aside saying “Eyagi” was poor. Someone from Nupe origin would have played that role so perfectly well. Even the Emir of Ilorin with two or three scenes spoke Hausa throughout (lol), compared to Zainab who appeared in several scenes.
Conclusively, Zainab isn’t an indigenous Nupe name and having one would have been superb.
President Bola Tinubu says he and others in his generation have much to teach young Nigerians to be responsible and patriotic citizens while he condemns those sponsoring planned August protests as unpatriotic, claiming to hold foreign passports.
When he hosted a delegation of Islamic leaders led by Sheikh Bala Lau at the State House on Thursday, Mr Tinubu said the future of Nigerian children should be a priority in the minds of the older generation.
“What should be uppermost in our minds is the future of our children. We have a lot to teach them on what it takes to be a good citizen and what it takes to be a responsible citizen,” Mr Tinubu.
Berating sponsors of looming August nationwide protests over economic hardships unpatriotic, Mr Tinubu said, “The sponsors of protests do not love our country. They have no love for the nation. They do not understand citizenship. They have alternative passports.”
However, Mr Tinubu’s public image, dented by corrupt enrichment, certificate forgery, identity theft, ownership of a diplomatic Guinean passport, and involvement in narcotics trafficking, raises questions about his moral rectitude to teach young Nigerians how to be responsible citizens.
Mr Tinubu’s involvement in a drug trafficking case that saw him forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in the 1990s resurfaced shortly after he declared in 2022 his interest to run for president.
In 2022, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois released fresh documents holding Bola Tinubu’s encounter with American authorities over allegations of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
In June, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C, fixed a new date to advance a motion to release or withhold Mr Bola Tinubu’s records by its security agencies, following a FOIA request by Aaron Greenspan teamed and Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin.
The duo in 2022 requested in the FOIA that the FBI release Mr Tinubu’s case files under their control, particularly his role in a narcotics-trafficking ordeal that had him forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993.
In 2022, Peoples Gazette published a series of damning reports on how Mr Tinubu, who was Lagos governor between 1999 and 2007, corruptly enriched through questionable Lagos tax administration via Alpha Beta.
The newspaper also uncovered how Mr Tinubu’s Alpha Beta siphoned billions to shell companies.
President Bola Tinubu’s government has admitted that Nigerians are suffering difficult times and their purchasing power has been badly weakened due to its policies.
A media aide for Mr Tinubu, Dada Olusegun, in an article on Thursday, said Mr Tinubu’s economic policies, fuel subsidy removal and floating of the naira, triggered economic hardship characterised by spiking food prices in the country.
“It is undeniable that Nigerians are currently passing through difficult times characterised by high prices of food and other consumer goods. The increase in general consumer prices has not been anywhere near commensurate with the rise in the income levels of an average Nigerian. This weakened the purchasing power of a lot of our people,” Mr Olusegun said.
He added “The trigger for these, of course, is the very necessary decisions taken by the Tinubu administration at the onset to tackle the fuel subsidy conundrum as well as bold monetary reforms to reconfigure our foreign exchange market as well as the value and stability of the naira.”
According to Mr Olusegun, these measures were necessary steps that we had to take to guarantee the continued survival of our economy. It is instructive that a lot of economic experts and even the major 2023 presidential candidates accepted that these tough decisions must be taken urgently.
Mr Olusegun’s admittance validates public outrage against Mr Tinubu’s government as Nigerians plan nationwide protests over economic hardship caused by Mr Tinubu’s economic policies.
In an editorial piece on July 17, Financial Times said Mr Tinubu’s “disjointed” economic policies have pushed “tens of millions” into misery and would not end Nigerians’ hardships.
“In the nearly 15 months since Bola Tinubu became president, he has forced his 220mn fellow Nigerians to swallow some bitter medicine. He removed a generous fuel subsidy, one of the few benefits citizens receive from their inefficient and corrupt state.
“He allowed the country’s currency, the naira, to enter freefall, fuelling imported inflation and triggering the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. These measures have pushed tens of millions of already impoverished people deeper into misery,” Financial Times said.
The criticism from the Financial Times echoes earlier assessments from international media outlets.
In June, the New York Times reported that Nigeria is enduring its worst economic crisis in decades under Mr Tinubu’s leadership, characterised by spiking inflation, a declining national currency, and widespread food insecurity.
The Grade ‘A’ Customary Court, Ibadan, on Thursday, sentenced 24-year-old Olamide Mudasiru to two weeks imprisonment for stealing a pot and a firewood stand worth N35,000.
Mr Mudasiru was charged with stealing, to which he pleaded guilty.
The court president, Mrs Mojisola Aworemi, sentenced Mr Mudasiru to two weeks’ imprisonment at the Agodi Correctional Centre, Ibadan, with a one-week community service as an option.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Philip Amusan, told the court that the convict committed the offence on Sunday, at about 11:00 p.m., at Sango, Ibadan.
Mr Amusan said the convict stole a pot and firewood stand belonging to a woman, Aderinkola Oladunmomi.
He said the offence contravened Section 390(9) of the Criminal Laws of Oyo State, 2000.
Youths, if elders like Femi Falana are unwilling to join your protest, you should wisely stay at home.
Otherwise you will end up in trouble while the elders will be "supporting" you from afar in air-conditioned TV studios.
Your regime change fantasies aren't coming to life.
To prevent protesters from being killed in August, The police must equip their officers nationwide with: 1) Tear gas: to disperse violent mobs. 2) Rubber bullets: to disable dangerous individuals. 3) Shields: to block stones. Peaceful protesters must NEVER be molested.
Joe Biden quitting the American presidential race to focus on seeing out his tenure is a straightforward decision most conscientious leaders take at some point; there will be that moment when national interest supersedes the personal. In functional countries and for selfless leaders, that is.
Not in Nigeria.
And not for leaders who will rather oversee the crumbling of their country due to their own physical frailties, as long as their lifelong presidential ambition remains undamaged.
@GoziconC
Dear Alh. Atiku Abubakar,
We urge you to emulate President Joe Biden and drop out from contesting for President every four years.
Please step down from losing election every four years and handover to another viable and sellable candidate. Thank you sir.
Some residents of the communities affected by banditry in the Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State on Saturday urged the government to intensify efforts to protect their lives and property.
The people made the call during a peaceful protest to show their concern about how bandits were recurrently perpetuating their nefarious activities in the area.
The residents blocked the ever-busy Marabar-Kankara to Katsina and Kano State road, which linked Malumfashi to Funtua and Kaduna State.
One of the residents, Muhammad Sabiu, said they wanted the government to hasten tackling the problem ”because what is happening in these areas is bad.”
He listed the most affected areas as Malumfashi West, Burdugau, Unguwar-danguna, Yar-teba, Dangume, up to Yargoje.
“Right now, there are corpses of people killed by the bandits in the bush, and they have prevented us from evacuating them.
“The killings happened three days ago. That is what is happening day and night in our communities,” Mr Sabiu claimed.
He urged the state and federal governments to hasten measures to curtail the menace.
“They have even prevented some of us from farming, so life in those places has become extremely difficult,” he said.
Another resident, Salmanu Yusuf, said, “Most of the children around us are orphans, and they don’t have food to eat, so we need urgent support.”
On his part, Sagir Sa’ad also decried the high rate of insecurity in their areas.
“Right now, there are over 12 corpses of people killed by the bandits that have not evacuated,” he bemoaned.
When contacted, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Nasiru Muazu-Danmusa, said, ”It was over, and the protesters were already addressed by the Galadiman Katsina, district head of Malumfashi.”
The North-West Governors’ Forum and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently organised a security summit to address the lingering insecurity in the zone.
The two-day summit, held in Katsina on June 24, had the theme: “Regional Cooperation for securing lives and livelihoods”.
Governor Dikko Radda, the forum’s chairman, stressed the importance of confronting the menace collectively, saying,” because it is a concern to all.”
Mr Radda said their goal was to provide peace and ensure the security of lives and property in the region.
The people made the call during a peaceful protest to show their concern about how bandits were recurrently perpetuating their nefarious activities in the area.
The residents blocked the ever-busy Marabar-Kankara to Katsina and Kano state roads as well as the road linking Malumfashi to Funtua and Kaduna state.
One of the residents who gave his name as Muhammad Sabiu, said they wanted the government to hasten tackling the problem, lamenting, ”because, what is happening in these areas is bad.
“The most affected areas include Malumfashi West, Burdugau, Unguwar-danguna, Yar-teba, Dangume, up to Yargoje.
“Right now, there are corpses of people killed by the bandits in the bush and they have prevented us from evacuating them.
“The killings happened three days ago. That is what is happening day and night in our communities.
“We are calling on the government and the authorities concerned to hasten intensifying measures to curtail the problem.
“They have even prevented some of us from farming, so life in those places has become extremely difficult,” he said.
Another resident, Alhaji Salman Yusuf, said: “We blocked the roads to show our sadness over the high rate of insecurity in the communities.
“Most of the children around us are orphans and they don’t have food to eat, so we need urgent support”.
On his part, Sagir Sa’ad also decried the high rate of insecurity in their areas.
“Right now, there are over 12 corpses of people killed by the bandits that have not evacuated,” he bemoaned.
When contacted, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Dr Nasiru Muazu-Danmusa, said, ”It was over and the protesters were already addressed by the Galadiman Katsina, District Head of Malumfashi.”
It would be recalled that the North-West Governors’ Forum and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently organised a security summit with a view to addressing the lingering insecurity in the zone.
The two-day summit, held in Katsina on June 24, had the theme: “Regional Cooperation for securing lives and livelihoods”.
Governor Dikko Radda, who is the Chairman of the forum, stressed the importance of confronting the menace collectively, saying, ”because it is a concern to all.”
Radda said that their goal was to provide peace and ensure the security of lives and property in the region.
Various stakeholders discussed the problem extensively and proffered solutions.
Etim may have committed perjury by lying under oath, a crime punishable by imprisonment, considering Barrister Owube’s revelations.
Nnamdi Ukpabi, the marketing officer of Gran Imperio, was contacted for comments, as his name had appeared on many documents seen by FIJ. “I was just an employee, go and ask the drectors what they did with the company and don’t call me again,” he said aggressively.
For months, accusations that top management officials of Gran Imperio defrauded investors, lingered. Even the Ooni of Ife was not spared. Unlike many investors who did not have direct access to Ogunwusi when he became King, a subscriber, Oluwaloni (not real name), used his contacts in Nigeria’s federal Government and the diplomatic community to put pressure on the Ooni. He said that the project was an “elaborate scam”.
“Ogunwusi himself explained to me that he had sold the company to the management of the company, when he became the Ooni of Ife,” said Oluwaloni, who had paid N6.7million but got only N1million as refund.
“If I was a novice in finance that would fly, but what I saw that happened was that he was trying to remove his name from the board so all he did was he just sold off the company in a sort of way that makes it look like he was no longer the owner but he was still the owner.
“After they discovered that they could not pay us, they started selling the plot again to other unsuspecting people — to make payment to old people. At a point, they were telling me that if I could get someone that would subscribe to the project, they would be able to pay me.”
THE OONI ENCOURAGED INVESTORS TO PAY BALANCE DESPITE KNOWING PROJECT WAS DISTRESSED
Ooni Ogunwusi knew about the problems investors had with his company, as a letter to all subscribers shortly after he became the Ooni showed. The letter, signed by the Ooni, stated his position as Chairman and was co-signed by Taiwo Akintayo. It was written on January 2016.
It began with an apology for “slow pace of work” and continued by listing some challenges. He further urged investors, many who neither saw land nor building on the supposed estate, to “support with your payment (if you still have any due) to enable us deliver as soon as possible”.
“I want to assure you that Gran Imperio Group remains a going concern and I am still committed to drive [sic] the vision of the company to even greater heights more than ever before,” Ogunwusi wrote.
EVASIVE GRAN IMPERIO STAFF
Efforts to get comments from Gran Imperio were unsuccessful. A lady who answered the call to one of the phone numbers on the firm’s letterhead, claimed it was a wrong number. A call to the second number was answered by one Humphrey Obadjere, who claimed to be an accountant that had left the company.
“My job was to accept money and keep accounts; I can’t speak about the matter; talk to sales people who interface with the subscribers,” Obadjere said, declining to tell FIJ’s reporter the current address of Gran Imperio.
Tayo Ibironke, the Sales Manager of Gran Imperio at the time the alleged fraud occurred, questioned why he was contacted as he no longer worked at the firm. He dismissed questions and asked to be contacted after an hour, but subsequent calls to him after the hour did not connect.
Tayo Akintayo, a director at Gran Imperio, neither answered multiple calls to his number nor replied text messages. Calls to other persons in charge of the company as of when hundreds of investors were allegedly defrauded, including Isaac Etim, Head of Sales, and Sylvester Oyewole of the Finance and Accounts Department, did not connect.
The Ooni of Ife could not be directly reached for comments. His Personal Assistant, Tomisin Olawale, refused to explicitly state Ooni Ogunwusi’s connection to Gran Imperio. He said questions should be directed to Gran Imperio’s staff dealing with the daily operations of the company.
“He (Ooni Ogunwusi) would not be able to answer even if you were in front of him; he would still tell you to go and meet the MD of the company,” Olawale said, parrying other questions.
A NONEXISTENT COMPANY
FIJ tracked Gran Imperio to three locations on Lagos Island. No one on Plot 33 Jay Jay Oladimeji Close, Lekki Phase One, had heard of the company.
At Lake View Park One Estate, it was gathered that the company has an office at Lake View Park Two, where buyers of properties go for verification. The security men at Lake View Park Two Estate would not clearly state whether the company that owns the property they work for has an office in the estate. They also denied FIJ access to the company.
FROM LAGOS, OONI’S CASE FILE SUDDENLY TRANSFERRED TO ABUJA
Shortly after James Offiong reported Ooni Ogunwusi and his company’s directors to the Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the loss of his mother’s gratuity to a bungled real estate investment, N4 million was refunded within one year. The remaining N13,967,000 was never recovered.
“After a while, we went back to the EFCC to keep pushing and then they said the file had been sent to Abuja; who will go to that place to fight this?” James asked. “Although they did not tell us that there was nothing they could, it showed on their faces; everybody was just looking at us with pity.”
When contacted, Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC’s spokesperson, declined to confirm whether a complaint file against Ooni Ogunwusi was transferred to Abuja to frustrate the case. He requested that documents should be sent to him before he would give comments.
Two days after Oluwashina wrote to the Consumer Protection Council (now the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission) in 2016 requesting assistance in recovering his money, he got a reply from Joshua Nggada, the head of the Lagos office of the agency, informing him that investigation had begun.
But that was the last he heard from the agency. Oluwashina neither recovered his money nor received a feedback on the progress of the investigation.
Both the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and its Director General, Babatunde Irukera, did not respond to requests through multiple channels for comment about why the Commission went quiet on the petition for many years.
‘THE LAW IS RIGGED TO FAVOUR THE POWERFUL’
Years after, investors are pained that no one has been held accountable.
“A lot of people in this country believe they have the law enforcement in their pockets, collect money from people and not deliver… in other countries, subvert the law and you go to jail, no matter who you are,” said Abu.
Despite the controversies his companies are enmeshed in, Ooni Ogunwusi has not publicly made comments. The directors of the companies have disappeared; some have started their own real estate firms.
“If Gran Imperio is the Nigerian entity involved in the alleged fraud, it is not impossible to lift the veil of incorporation to discover the individuals behind the company and hold them accountable,” said Abimbola Ojenike, a Lagos-based lawyer and FIJ’s Legal Adviser.
“Directors of the company or persons in the effective control of the company cannot hide behind the corporate veil to avoid liability especially if they are the ‘humans’ involved in the specific incriminating conduct for which the company has been accused.”
In their quest to get justice, frustrated investors described the process as “rigged to favour the powerful”, forcing them to almost give up on Nigeria.
“On a personal note, I think it’s necessary for us to have values as a country and there should be justice,” said James.
“Ensuring justice is how you provide equity to people who are at the bottom and how you can hold people at the top accountable. We don’t take the issue of justice and pervasion of justice seriously in this country.”
How Ooni Ogunwusi’s Companies Executed the Biggest Fraud in Nigeria’s Real Estate History — and Got Away With it
After his companies allocated apartments and land that existed only on paper to hundreds of investors, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi became the Ooni of Ife, making him highly connected culturally and politically and somewhat above the law. As if emboldened by the proverbial saying that ‘a king has dominion over all things’, hundreds of investors were never refunded. Gran Imperio Group’s multi-million-naira Essential Homes scheme is described by many as the biggest fraud seen yet in Nigeria’s real estate history.
In October 2014, Mrs Offiong (not real name) received some documents from Metropole Interproject Limited introducing the sale of a “one unit of three-bedroom corner piece bungalow apartment at South Pointe II Estate” at Ajah, Lagos, for N17,967,000 million. She was instructed to pay 50 percent of the cost if she accepted the offer.
Retiring at the top cadre in the civil service after 30 years, she did not hesitate to invest her gratuity because the supposed estate was in a prime location: the building’s specifications and the estate’s facilities as stated in the contract looked top notch; the delivery date was less than a year away in August 2015.
Shortly after paying the initial deposit of N8,983,500 million to Metropole Interproject Limited and a receipt bearing the name of its parent company, Gran Imperio Group, was issued to Mrs Offiong. On a scheduled visit to the site, Gran Imperio Group took subscribers to South Pointe One, instead of South Pointe II.
“They told us that South Point II was not ready yet, so they took us to South Pointe One to show us what two would look like when it was ready,” said Mrs Offiong’s son, James (not real name), who went with his mother to the site. “There was a bit of confusion that day. We suspected that something was not right but we calmed down when they told us about another estate that would be completed before South Pointe II.”
In a letter to subscribers in February 2015, Adiukwu Kechi, an official of the company, notified subscribers of the need to pay their next instalment. To get them to commit to completing their payments, although no land was shown to subscribers during the site visit, Kechi added: “We have been magnanimous to move you to a site that is beside South Pointe II and will be completed earlier than South Pointe II too, which is Golden Leaf Estate, and a final allocation will be issued too.”
FINAL DEPOSIT YET NO HOUSE
On the day Mrs Offiong made the final deposit of N8,983,500 million, she received a letter from another staff of Metropole Limited, Nnamdi Ukpabi, notifying her of the allotment of ‘Block F Unit 1’. But on the delivery date of August 2015, Mrs Offiong and hundreds of other subscribers found out that what they had were buildings and land on paper; they had been defrauded by companies headed at the time by Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, a man later crowned the Ooni of Ife in December of the same year.
Many investors, citing fear of backlash from the monarch, declined to go on record, but they accused the company of defrauding them. FIJ managed to track five people who agreed to provide documents and correspondences with the companies’ officials on the condition that their identities were not revealed. Visits to the locations of the supposed estates, revealed that the estate schemes never materialised.
Main Gate of the property identified as Golden Leaf estate. The security guard did not allow access beyond this point. There are no 380 apartments on the land after seven years. Photo credit: Adeola Oladipupo/FIJ Gran Imperio Group’s subsidiary companies, including Howard Roark Limited and Metropole Interproject Limited, were involved in ‘Essential Homes’, an ambitious scheme to build and deliver 1,000 affordable bungalow houses to middle and low income earners by the end of 2015. Launched in 2014, six estates — Lakeview Park I and II; Mid-Land Court; South Pointe I, II; Golden Leaf Estate; Y’hello Estate — were reportedly created by the company.
FIJ’s check on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) portal of real estate companies with links to Ooni Ogunwusi revealed that Gran Imperior Group of Companies was registered in November 14, 2013, while Howard Roark Limited was registered in 2008. They have inactive status on the portal, which possibly means that they had not filed tax documents in a long time. Metropole Interproject Limited did not appear on the CAC portal.
Investigations by FIJ confirmed that Ogunwusi and 13 others are directors of Gran Imperio Group of Companies. The Ooni of Ife also sits as director on the board of Howard Roark Limited.
ESSENTIAL HOMES: CUTTING CORNERS BY BUILDING WITH FAKE MATERIALS ON ENCROACHED LAND
“…We will work towards satisfying our subscribers…,” Ogunwusi said in 2015.
“We like to distinguish between completed development and successfully completed development. For us, a project is successfully completed when it is fully occupied.”
But some estates in the Essential Homes scheme were not successful. While many units in South Pointe One were built with substandard materials, others were built on a land that does not belong to Gran Imperio. Golden Leaf Estate did not materialise and South Pointe Two does not exist!
“Fortunately, I got my house, though in a sub-standard state. I did what I needed to do and moved on with my life,” replied an investor in South Pointe One, asked by FIJ to be interviewed for this investigation. “Those that I think need your story more are those who paid but didn’t get anything and those whose houses were built on land that doesn’t belong to the Ooni.”
Indeed, for other investors, it was not just substandard buildings; they do not have title deeds recognised by the Land Bureau, a problem tying down their investment, making them unable to sell the properties.
“Apparently, Gran Imperio trespassed into some of the Ojomu land and did not have the right to build my two units on in,” said Mrs Ajenifuja (not real name), an investor in the South Pointe One and Lakeview Park Two. “I have tried now for four to five years with no luck with the Ojomu family as they claimed they were still having issues with Gran Imperio.”
Investors who paid as much as N30million for a unit told FIJ that many of the apartments built in Lakeview Park Two and South Pointe One did not meet the specifications stated in the contract. They had to spend more money to make the apartments habitable.
“For South Pointe one, I had to do the finishing myself. It was like demolishing and building a new house,” said Ms Mallama (not real name), who paid N11 million deposit for Golden Leaf the same period she invested in South Pointe One. “I took them to court over the delay and substandard building and was given a judgment against them and awarded damages which they haven’t paid. I just left it.”
The buildings were also delivered late — as much as nine months after the stipulated delivery date — a breach of agreement that should have made Gran Imperio liable to paying a default fee of 2.5 percent of the deposit received. But investors never got that payment.
NO PROPERTY, NO REFUND. ESTATE PROMOTED BY THE OONI DOES NOT EXIST
In 2015, Ogunwusi stated that Golden Leaf Estate, a 380-unit apartment developed in collaboration with the British American Tobacco Company (BATC), was undergoing construction and would be delivered in a year.
Subscribers were required to make an initial deposit of 30 percent of the offer price, 40 percent at roofing stage and 30 percent upon completion. Six years later, hundreds of subscribers neither got apartments nor refunds.
Mr Jonathan Abu (not real name) was one of them. He initially subscribed to South Pointe Two but agreed to be moved to Golden Leaf Estate because of the ‘boys quarters’ attached to the bungalow and its proximity to his work place on the Island.
After he made the first deposit of N6,139,800 in March 2015, nothing happened on the land and he never heard from Metropole Interproject Limited until August 2016, nearly a year and a half after. In a letter signed by two directors of the company, Taiwo Akintayo and Isaac Etim, the company stated that it did not meet delivery schedule because of “unresolved land acquisition issue”. It said a relocation of the project to another site was in consideration.
‘I WOULD SAY I WAS DEFRAUDED’
Abu had had enough and he wanted his money back, but he never got it. The company, again, breached a provision in the contract that monies would be returned 90 days after a request was made.
“I would say I was defrauded,” he said. “Besides money, I have to stay in traffic for two hours, the impact on my health in terms of the wear and tear and cannot be quantified.”
FIJ also gathered that employees of the BATC who invested in Golden Leaf estate through the company’s cooperative society did not get properties or refunds. BATC did not respond to FIJ’s request for comments.
More Investors Onboarded to Already Distressed Projects
In a sworn affidavit by Isaac Etim, one of the directors of Metropole Interproject Limited in 2016, in response to a winding up petition written by an investor, the company blamed the country’s economic crisis for failing to deliver projects. But investors argued that Nigeria’s economy only began slowing in growth in 2016.
The director made claims that Metropole could refund the investors and that it had assets. A lawyer to some investors found these claims to be untrue.
It is not clear when economic downturn began affecting the real estate project; nevertheless, analyses of documents received from subscribers showed that many times in the two years preceding the 2016 economic recession, the company continued accepting money from investors and promised different delivery dates. In February 2015, the media reported Ogunwusi promoting the real estate scheme.
After telling investors that economic downturn was why they could not deliver the projects, directors of the company shifted blame to land acquisition challenge. Correspondence to investors by directors of the company also blamed land acquisition issues for the delay. A reason not many believe; they accuse the firm of not doing due diligence before collecting billions of naira from investors.
Some investors pondered why new subscribers were onboarded when the project was supposedly undergoing challenges that would make completion difficult, and why the promoters could neither show proof of land nor uncompleted buildings if truly the project was started but stalled by economic recession.
A letter to all subscribers by Bamidele Arowolo, Gran Imperio’s Chief Operating Officer, assuring them that all “hindrances” had been resolved and apartments would be delivered from May 2016 turned out false.
The company subsequently relocated to an unknown location and staff members stopped replying mails and answering phone calls, investors lamented.
BILLIONS COLLECTED BUT NO PROPERTY, NO REFUNDS
Having seen Ooni Ogunwusi rub shoulders with politically powerful peole, including President Muhammadu Buhari, who many times said that no acts of corruption would go unpunished in his administration, some investors, at the time, got discouraged and simply “handed the matter to God”. Others who frantically headed to court soon found that it was an exercise in futility.
With multiple law suits, Ogunwusi’s company selected court hearings to attend and failed to honour out-of-court agreements and judgments, FIJ was told. While some were refunded a fraction of the money they invested, others got nothing.
“So when we went to court and they never showed up, I just knew nothing would come out of this. They probably would just kill the case,” said Oluwashina (not real name) who lost N5,010,000 to the South Pointe Two scheme and was not refunded. It was the first major project he started with his wife.
Receipt issued to Oluwashina after the second tranch of the initial payment was deposited. In addition to suspicions by subscribers that Ooni Ogunwusi was using his influence to frustrate the court cases against his companies is the question: is the company financially capable of paying hundreds of investors it owes millions of naira?
Isaac Etim, one of the directors of Metropole Interproject limited, claimed in a sworn affidavit that the company was “solvent” and in “good financial standing”, adding that “the sum being requested by the petitioners cannot be compared to total assets and worth of the respondent” — a claim that did not result in refunds to the investors.
The petitioners’ lawyer, Mr Lawrence Owube, told FIJ that the case could not “proceed beyond getting a liquidator to take over the supposed assets of the company because we could not even find it anywhere”.
“They have nothing to recover,” he said. “The company was more or less like a shell company; they have no asset, nothing physical to recover from them.”
A Hausa socio-cultural group under the umbrella of Hausawa Tsantsa Development Association (HTDA) has raised an alarm alleging that some Fulani people are plotting to instigate protests against President Bola Tinubu’s government.
The group, which made the allegation in a statement dated July 9 and signed by Kalthoom Alumbe Jitami, warned all Hausa youths across Nigeria against participating in the alleged planned protests, asking Hausa youths to be wary and vigilant of the plots.
The statement read, “By this call the youths are enjoined to shun every entreaties at them to join in the protest.
“This is so because the motive is self because the Fulanis are not the ones in control of power at the presidency now.
“It was this same tactic they employed to ruin the then government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and to bring Buhari to power.
“Over 7 million of Hausawa were killed within the 8 years rule of Buhari. They forbid protests against Buhari's when Nigerians genuinely called for it, citing Islam that it was unIslamic to protest against the government or its leaders!
“Has the same Islam now permitted protests against the government? This we must not forget!
“The Hausawa Tsantsa is hereby dissociating itself from this protest in all its ramifications.
“That they want to use hunger in the land and LGBTQ as a basis for the protest is hypocritical because it was the unabetting attacks on farms and farmers that caused food shortages.
“We have nothing to do with it whatsoever and we are calling on all native nationalities of Nigeria to similarly dissociate themselves from these evil plans against our dear native land.
“We once again pledge our loyalty to the federal government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and pray for God's guidance and protection over him, his family and the government of Nigeria.
“We equally pray for the Chief of Defense Staff and teams of his military for more wins on their side as they tackle terrorism, banditry and all manner of felony against the Nigerian state. We pray for the peace and well-being of Nigerians.”
SaharaReporters recently reported that a former federal lawmaker and human rights activist, Senator Shehu Sani, had alleged that there were plans by northern political forces to use former President Muhammadu Buhari to undermine the government of President Tinubu.
During an interview with Arise News TV, Sani alleged that there are indications of a political realignment underway in the North, aimed at mobilising support against President Tinubu's government.
He claimed that certain political forces are seeking to exploit President Buhari's influence as a rallying point to galvanise opposition and potentially destabilize the current administration
Sani said, “It is a tradition, a culture, a norm or a ritual that each time you have a Sallah celebration, prominent people do visit the former President of this country, but I must clear the air by making a point.
“First of all, there is evidence of rallying of forces, regrouping of political forces from the North trying to use former President Buhari as a rally point in order to evict the government of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu."
Until last Saturday, the country had forgotten that suicide bombers once held the northern part of the country hostage. For some years, suicide bombing was almost a daily occurrence as terrorists carried out suicide attacks using women and children even as the military continued to engage them until the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari declared that it had technically degraded the terrorists’ capabilities. Suicide bombing then ceased.
However, last Saturday, multiple suicide attacks were carried out in Gwoza community, Borno state leaving more than 30 persons dead and 100 others injured. Concerned northern elders and other stakeholders in the region have expressed
Resurgence of suicide bombing has brought fear, confusion —Rev Hayab
According to Rev John Joseph Hayab, the immediate past chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Country Director of the Global Peace Foundation Nigeria (GPFN), “the resurgence of suicide bombing at the time of serious pains and hunger in the country has sent fear and confusion in many quarters in our region. The death toll of that incident itself shows that the perpetrators took time to plan before executing their evil agenda. We are back to the era of our worst nightmare. How will our people cope with poor leadership, hunger in every home and every city with the fear of suicide bombers also.
The Federal Government and our security agencies must triple their effort before citizens are pushed to the wall.
A hungry man is known to be an angry man but what will happen if his anger and hunger are further threatened by serious security threats? Northern Elders and religious leaders must also come out to mobilize the people to support government and security agencies to fight evil in the region. We should not only be specialists in mobilizing our people to vote for the candidates of our choice during elections and not mobilizing them to double their efforts to make our region safe and peaceful.
Northern Youths should not only form associations to attack political opponents of their favorite candidates, they should be seen and heard to be exposing evil elements amongst them and helping government and security agencies to track down sponsors and promoters of the evil that is ravaging our region.”
Gwoza incidents shattered our hope —Shettima
Similarly, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the President General of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum ( AYFC), said “suicide bombing has been a devastating and horrifying tactic used by extremist groups for many years, causing tremendous loss of life and spreading fear and uncertainty in communities around the world.
In recent years, many believed that suicide bombing was becoming less prevalent, as security measures and counter-terrorism efforts seemed to be making progress in preventing such attacks. However, the last incident in Gwosa, Bornu state, shattered hope when multiple suicide attacks occurred, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others injured. Suicide attacks not only disrupt the daily lives of residents but also hampers economic growth and development in the affected areas.
Businesses may be reluctant to invest in regions prone to suicide bombings, leading to unemployment and poverty among the population. In the long term, this can contribute to social unrest and instability, creating a vicious cycle that perpetuates the conditions conducive to terrorism. In addition to addressing the immediate security concerns, Northern leaders and elders must also focus on long-term solutions to permanently discourage suicide bombing.
Building resilience within communities and promoting social cohesion are key factors in preventing individuals from being radicalized and recruited by extremist groups.
This can be achieved through grassroots initiatives that empower local leaders, religious figures, and community organizations to promote tolerance, inclusivity, and peaceful coexistence. By fostering a sense of belonging and identity, communities can become more resistant to the influence of extremist ideologies.”
Resurgence of suicide bombings in Gwoza political —MBF
On its part, the Middle Belt Forum, MBF, has alleged that the recent Gwoza suicide bombings in Borno State could have political undertone. The National President of MBF, Dr. Bitrus Pogu noted that the fact the incident came when efforts were in top gear by the Federal Government to return the over 120,000 Gwoza indigenes taking refuge in neighbouring Cameroon created much room for suspicion.
His words: “On the Gwosa suicide bombings I can tell you that up till now there are a lot of the insurgents on top of the Gwoza hills who have not been flushed out. The fight against insurgency is being stalled by political interests who put pressure on military commanders not to do anything. And these boys are from one particular tribe mainly, they are called Duwhade and the majority of them are butchers. It is the people from this tribe that are mainly insurgents on top of the Mandara mountains which is an extension of the Gwoza hills. Because of insurgency, as we are talking, about 120,000 people from Gwoza Local Government, mainly behind the hills have found refuge in Cameroon as refugees.
There are serious efforts, especially when this government came on board, to bring these people back to their ancestral land as promised by the President. But some political interests, who believe that the people will not vote for them because they are predominantly Christians, do not want them to return home. And I believe they are creating this unnecessary insecurity through attacks and suicide bombings so that these people will not be brought back to Nigeria to their ancestral land.
“So the political leaders particularly the Governor and the Senator from Southern Borno should explain why these things are happening at a time when there is objection to the coming back of the people for political reason. Efforts to bring back IDPs and refugees to their ancestral homes by the Federal Government are being undermined and I believe that what has happened in Gwoza was purely political.
“On the issue of suicide bombings, I don’t believe somebody would blow himself up because of religion, no. I believe the criminals would tie explosives on the people and tell them you either do what we have directed you to do or we deal with you and the victims would go in fear and somebody somewhere may be the one detonating the bombs. So, it may not be that the bomb carrier wanted to commit suicide and blow others up”.
The terrorists merely went underground to regroup — Anthony Sani
Former Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr Anthony NZ Sani, said “the resurgence of suicide bombing in Borno state underscores the fact that the immediate past administration merely tamed the terrorists but did not exterminate them permanently. As a result, they merely went underground to regroup.
This resurgence also vindicates the view that military might alone cannot exterminate terrorism permanently. Only by addressing the underlying causes can we permanently put them to rest.
The causes are poverty which comes with ignorance and unemployment. So, to defeat terrorism permanently, the government should apply both punitive and preventive measures. The punitive measure is the provision of enough and properly equipped security personnel who are well motivated to secure the nation while the preventive measure is the prioritization of education and health of the people.
This is because the current out-of-school children, if left unchecked would become terrorists of tomorrow. This requires a long-term commitment from all stakeholders, including governments, civil society, and the private sector, to address the root causes of terrorism and extremism and build a more peaceful and prosperous future for all.”
Economic opportunities provide viable alternatives to joining extremist groups —Northern Elders Forum
Also, Mallam Suleiman Abdul-Azeez of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), said, “This alarming trend has reignited concerns among Northern leaders and elders, who recognize the urgent need to address the root causes of suicide bombing and the general and pervasive insecurity to prevent future attacks.
The attacks in Gwosa have highlighted the need for improved coordination among law enforcement agencies, intelligence services, and military forces in detecting and preventing such attacks.
I believe one of the key factors driving suicide bombings in the region is the lack of economic opportunities and widespread poverty.
Many of the individuals recruited by terrorist groups are motivated by financial incentives or promises of a better life. To combat this, it is essential to create sustainable economic development opportunities that provide viable alternatives to joining extremist groups.
Improving security and intelligence capabilities is another crucial aspect of addressing the threat of suicide bombing. Furthermore, it is important to strengthen border security to prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups and the smuggling of weapons and explosives. Fostering community resilience is also essential in preventing future attacks.
This involves building trust between communities and security forces, as well as empowering local leaders and organizations to play a proactive role in countering extremism.
By promoting dialogue and cooperation among different ethnic and religious groups, communities can become more resilient to the divisive tactics of terrorist groups. Engaging with religious leaders and institutions can be a powerful tool in combating the misuse of religion for extremist purposes.
Interfaith dialogue and collaboration among different religious communities can also foster mutual understanding and respect, strengthening social harmony and countering divisive ideologies.
Promoting social cohesion is another important strategy in preventing the spread of extremism. By addressing underlying grievances and promoting inclusivity and tolerance, it is possible to reduce the appeal of extremist ideologies.
By working together to address the complex and interconnected challenges posed by suicide bombing, Northern leaders and elders can help create a safer, more secure, and more prosperous future for their communities.
It is a huge disgrace that journalists in Nigeria cannot even speak, to the point @MobilePunch is deleting articles made by them just to please a Criminal drug baron.
This is why the system can wake up in the morning and indiscriminately arrest journalists because you people have no balls to even do investigations and stand by it.
How many journalists and investigators can we boast of in Nigeria today?
How many journalists have been indiscriminately arrested in Nigeria this year alone?
It is a shame that journalism in Nigeria is as good as dead and @MobilePunch is just showing the World once again that they are a tool.
Nigerian judges and magistrates received the highest amount of bribes among public officials in 2023, surpassing the police, customs, and military personnel, a report by the country’s national statistical office said.
The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its corruption pattern and trend in Nigeria for 2023, ranked judges as first among collectors of cash bribes among other public officials.
“There are large variations in the size of bribes paid by citizens, according to the types of public officials who receive them,” NBS said in the report released Thursday.
“Among all types of public officials for which there was sufficient data, with an average of NGN 31,000, the largest cash bribes were paid to judges and magistrates, followed by customs or immigration service officers (NGN17,800) and members of the armed forces (NGN16,600).”
It added, “By contrast, much smaller average amounts were paid to doctors, nurses and midwives (NGN 6,000), public utility officers (NGN 4,600) and other health workers (NGN 2,900).”
The survey also records a staggering N721 billion in bribes collected by Nigerian public officials, adding, “Average cash bribe paid in Nigeria in 2023 amounted to NGN 8,284.”
The survey uncovers a troubling hierarchy of corruption in Nigerian public institutions, with judges entrusted with upholding justice being receivers of the largest bribes, echoing the public perception of a corrupt judiciary.
This revelation follows recent comments from the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, who lamented that the judiciary is no longer the hope of the common man, but “it is also, or majorly now, the last hope of the big shots.”
Before the release of the NBS report, in 2023, retired Justice Muhammad Dattijo, in his valedictory speech, condemned the judiciary as corrupt and responsible for public disillusionment.
“It has been in the public space that court officials and judges are easily bribed by litigants to obviate delays and or obtain favourable judgements,” Mr Dattijo asserted.
The House of Representatives has rejected Samoa agreement, asking the Federal Government to suspend implementation until all controversial clauses are spelt out.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Rep. Aliyu Sani Madaki (NNPP, Kano) and 80 others at the Plenary, on Tuesday.
Madaki had drawn attention to the clause highlighting gender equality, saying it is “a Trojan horse” which could violate the morals of the country.
In his contribution, the House Minority Leader, Rep. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), said the parliament was not carried along in the process of the signing the agreement which has generated controversy.
He wondered why Nigerians were kept in dark about what the agreement was all about.
Similarly, the House Chief Whip Rep. Usman Bello Kumo (APC, Gombe), said the House would never support any agreements that are contrary to the belief, norms and culture of Nigerians.
The movers of the motion therefore urged the House to thoroughly investigate the agreement.
The House adopted the motion and referred it to its relevant committees for further legislative action.
If there were more people who were willing to tell the truth at all cost in 1981, maybe it wouldn't have taken another 20 years for us to have telephones in Nigeria, and another 30 years to have widespread internet access.
Instead of telling the truth, our parents chose to genuflect and hobnob with the MKO Abiolas of this world. We went to school with their children and grandchildren, and when we asked our parents questions, they told us to just mind our business and face our books. They chose to drink the Kool-Aid, or they just didn't want trouble.
As a result of their path of least resistance, Nigeria's digital economy was delayed by about 30 years, and the cost of not wanting that trouble can be measured today in the hundreds of billions of dollars in missing GDP and thousands of formerly middle class Nigerians forced to emigrate to Europe and North America to work at IKEA and DPD.
Those of us who are satisfied to not want trouble like our parents will someday have to answer some very hard questions from our kids when they find out that their Irish, British and Canadian passports don't entitle them to the same treatment as the historical inhabitants of those places.
Don't forget to drink that Kool-Aid very well. Telling and acknowledging the truth is only for mad people like that stupid Hundeyin boy with his big mouth and Kunta Kinte shirt.
Misinformation thrive when you make information that should be readily available look like secrets. In a country where more memos leak than the information made for public consumption, you're doing a bad job.
You and the NOA have failed to see that we have a high level of headline readers, unintelligent and deliberate saboteur amongst us to itemise complex information in layman's terms to avoid misrepresentation of facts. It is very sad.
Most of those fighting these continuous attacks and pushing back false narratives are not those saddled with the responsibility to do it. These are just lovers of the President.
When you fail to be proactive, you will always end up being defensive. Do your job before they make it worse. Good policies without good communication are disasters to any government. I will never support who I can't criticise.
Britain's Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has come under fire for failing to publicly thank his Nigerian counterpart, Mr. Peter Obi, whose tweet of endorsement ended 14 years of right-wing conservative rule. This supernatural feat has left many scratching their heads, especially since Obi couldn't help himself win the 2023 Nigerian presidential election, though supporters blame election rigging.
"This is sad. After all that Peter Obi has done for him, he couldn't even say 'thank you'," said an angry-looking Chukwudi, sipping a cup of garri in his 2-by-2 shop in Abia. "For 14 years, they couldn't achieve anything. It took Obi a single tweet to end the conservative run. But what did Obi get in return? Such an ungrateful fellow!" Chukwudi continued, as he updated his Twitter bio to "Expert at Installing Governments."
Meanwhile, local tomato hawker Chimamanda found the situation even more tragic for democracy. "I supported Starmer's Labour because Peter Obi instructed us to. I campaigned for the party with all my strength here in Awka. I gave away free tomatoes to the people of Anambra with Starmer's picture on them to show my support. Nothing says 'Vote Labour' like a juicy tomato with a British politician's face on it!. They won because of our support. The least they could do after emerging victorious was to appreciate our efforts and thank Peter Obi. But because we're black, they didn't find us worthy. Bunch of racist betrayers!"
However, some observers suggested that it might be too early to draw conclusions, speculating that Starmer could have thanked Obi privately. "Guys, I don't think it's right to conclude Obi was betrayed just yet," said Pastor Ogbu. "It's true Obi endorsed him publicly, and Starmer ought to appreciate and thank Obi publicly as well, but it's possible he already did that in private and Obi is fine with it. Obi hasn't even complained. Let's wait for instructions and avoid the temptation of premature conclusions," he added, while checking his phone for any new secret endorsement deals on Twitter.
In an unexpected twist, reports have emerged that supporters of North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, are now wooing Peter Obi for an endorsement to help the dictator win his next "election." "We have seen the power of Obi's tweets," said a North Korean spokesperson. "If he can end 14 years of conservative rule in the UK with one tweet, imagine what he can do for our Supreme Leader. We are willing to pay him in nuclear warheads or unlimited bottles of Hero beer, whichever he prefers."
The UK elections is over. Labour has won convincingly and Rishi Sunak has conceded defeat. The dynamics of this UK election show that the dynamics of UK politics has changed for some time to come.
How?
1. The Power of Immigrants: Peter Obi tweeted "Vote Labour" and an avalanche of African votes moved to Labour. Remember when David Cameron attended an RCCG crusade in the UK and Pastor Adeboye laid hands on him in front of the audience? Well, that act galvanized support from Africans broadly for the Conservatives. With the new realities in Nigeria and the silence of Adeboye in the face of "political realities" in Nigeria, the mantle of influence has now moved to Peter Obi, who enjoys broad support among Africans. Conversely, Rishi tweeted support for a flawed Nigerian election and then tried to stem legal migration for Africans. Well, it is safe to say that he got the middle finger from immigrant votes. Even the Indians were astounded as to how he would have pushed forward the current immigration bill barring dependents from coming to the UK.
2. Global Politics: In Europe and North America, global politics and happenings now have a say in internal elections. The current ones; Israel-Palestinian and Russia-Ukraine were dominant topical issues. For instance, citizens and non-citizens from Eastern Europe resident in the UK, could not fathom the dwindling support of the UK for Ukraine when they could see how Boris Johnson galvanized support for Ukraine. It is not actually Rishi's fault, the UK couldn't just keep sending money and weapons to a war that couldn't be won. Who says politics is a rational thing? Thus, many voted on emotions and sentiments to send Labour to Number 10. Furthermore, the Muslims who are obviously angry at the Conservative's support for Israel in the ongoing battle against Hamas, simply switched to Labour.
3. Home Alone Don't Matter Anymore: With more than 10 political parties in the fray (yes the two dominant ones are Labour and Conservatives, but there are others), home votes (UK citizens) can no longer be depended upon to win an election. Africans, Middle Easterners, Eastern Europeans, Indians now form a "Swing Vote". I guess the conservatives didn't see this coming. Additionally, thousands of home vote who traditionally vote for conservatives swung towards labour after what they did to Boris Johnson (The man who helped them smash the Red Wall).
Well, cheers to New Beginnings in the UK under a Labour Party. Aside cost of living and economic hardships, what made you vote labour? Lets have your comments.
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