₦airaland Forum

DOES the Bola Tinubu administration have an effective and coordinated security strategy for taming the chronic killings and abductions? Since its inauguration in May 2023, the administration has logged a pathetic security record.

A new report by Amnesty International awoke Nigeria to this catastrophe: in Tinubu’s first month in office, attackers killed 123 persons. Unfortunately, the figures keep cascading.

Beacon Consulting, a security management firm, said 13,346 people have been killed, and 9,207 have been abducted in the 667 of the 774 LGs since Tinubu’s inauguration.

From May-December 2023 – eight months after taking office – 5,802 deaths and 2,754 abductions were recorded. These figures worsened in 2024 when 7,544 were killed while 6,453 were abducted from January-September. These crimes were attributed to terrorism, banditry, and herders’ attacks on farmers.

Over 150 persons were slaughtered during the last Christmas Eve in Plateau State. Bandits kidnapped 287 schoolchildren in March in Kuriga, Kaduna, and demanded N1 billion ransom.

More than 300 had been abducted a week earlier in the same village. No fewer than 10 people were killed and 160 abducted in coordinated attacks by bandits in May in Kuchi, Niger State.

Major massacres have occurred in Benue, Niger, Zamfara, Yobe, Kaduna and Yobe states in this period.

Nigeria has become an insecure space where even internally displaced persons are kidnapped in droves. In March, Boko Haram captured more than 400 people in three IDP camps in Gamborou-Ngala, Borno State.

These damning reports put the lie to the claim by Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokun in July that crime rate is declining in the country.

Despite the introduction of the National Identification Number, abductors use mobile phones to call their victims’ families to collect ransom and post their activities on Instagram without being apprehended.

Of the N28.77 trillion 2024 budget, N2.03 trillion was allocated to defence, up from the N1.38 trillion earmarked to the sector of the N21.83 trillion in the 2023 budget. The disproportionate difference between the defence budget and crass insecurity is inexplicable. It raises the question of how effectively the security budget is being implemented.

There is a dearth of equipment such as radios, walkie-talkies, and phones. Police officers use their money to buy these equipment and uniforms.

Nigeria has 371,000 police officers securing 230 million people. This is grossly inadequate. Sadly, two-thirds of the paltry number is allocated to the VIPs. Shockingly, police officers are guarding clergies, musicians, and union leaders (read touts), even as communities are abandoned to be killed by criminals.

Governor Aminu Masari lamented in 2020 that only 30 police officers manned 100 villages in Katsina.

These killings will not go away without strong political will and a change in security strategy.

Nigeria has become a big den of kidnapping and an expansive theatre of killings since the incursion of insurgency. Despite the humongous allocations to defence, the country lost 53,135 to violence during the eight years of the immediate-past Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Despite the intervention of the security agencies, the insecurity still overwhelms their efforts. This calls for technology to secure the country’s vast space and people. The government must urgently do something about the porous borders being exploited by non-nationals to engage in arms proliferation, killings, and abduction.

The extant central police structure is not working. Nigeria should practice true federalism, as the other 24 federal jurisdictions globally. Therefore, the government must urgently implement the state police recommendation to ensure the effective security and safety of the people by their people who know their terrains.

The security agencies must engage in improved collaboration to put the heat on the non-state actors. The police should employ more hands. The government must adequately fund the police.

The intelligence units in the military, the DSS, and the National Intelligence Agency should drive intelligence.

Bandits have attacked Kurfi General Hospital in Kurfi local government area of Katsina state, shooting a watchman and abducting four women, including the wife of one of the health officials on duty.

A reliable source from the area told our reporter that three of the bandits who entered the hospital around 10:45am unarmed, later engaged the guardsman who intercepted them to inquire about their mission at the hospital.

“Whey they started arguing, the watchman quickly went and locked the hospital gate, unknown to him that other armed members of the attackers were outside.

“They jumped over the wall fence and shot the watch man in the stomach. It was thought that he had died but was later given first aid and rushed to a hospital in Katsina” the source said.

Daily Trust gathered that the attackers had wanted to abduct one Mustapha Hamza who is a casual staff of the hospital on duty at the time, but he luckily escaped but unfortunately his wife, who accompanied him to the hospital, was abducted in the process.

“Mustapha is an anastasia nurse and he was on call at the time to attend to a woman who would undergo a surgery.

“Usually, his wife would follow him when ever he is called because she would not be comfortable staying back home alone. And that was how she fell victim in the attack,” a source who craved anonymity said.

Kurfi was hitherto more or less a fortified town as bandits hardly gained access due to activities of local vigilante group supported by some well-to-do members of the community.

However, that fortification was broken with the collapse of the vigilante group, with some residents blaming it on political differences of some highly-placed individuals in the area.

Not long ago, a nursing mother was abducted with her twin children and the third one who is not more than four years old.

A resident of Kurfi told Daily Trust that the mother and twin children were released by their captors after the payment of N3.5m.

However, the young boy, fondly called AK, is still in captivity as the bandits have asked for an additional N1.5m for his release.

Another resident of Kurfi blamed some of the recent attacks on informants who migrated to the town when it was safer.

Though there is no official statement from security agencies, the Kurfi council chairman, Mannir Shehu Wurma, confirmed the attack, assuring that the council is on top of the situation.

Sonnobax15:

The same meal they have been serving Innoson motors since time immemorial,they have started to serve Dangote too..... But the only problem here is that Dangote has always been a part of the problem right from onset,cuz he has been feasting on the monopoly....

So let him enjoy.

During Spaces session on Wednesday, Devakumar V. G. Edwin - Vice President, Dangote Industries Limited revealed key insights into the challenges facing the Dangote Refinery and its impact on Nigeria’s fuel supply and prices:

Over 95% of petroleum product importers in Nigeria are not buying from the Dangote Refinery.

👉The Dangote Refinery struggles to sell about 29 tankers of diesel per day due to low patronage from local petroleum product importers.

👉As a result of this poor local patronage, dangote refinery exports most of its diesel and aviation fuel.

👉The Dangote Refinery has imported around 57 shiploads of crude, as local supply from the NNPC remains limited.

👉Petroleum product marketers in Nigeria have written to President Bola Tinubu, complaining that the refinery’s local diesel prices — which have dropped from N1,200 to N1,000 and now to N900 per litre — are negatively impacting their businesses.

👉Despite the challenges, 44% of dangote refinery’s petrol production capacity is sufficient to meet all of Nigeria’s local demand.

👉Currently, around 29 tankers are lifting fuel from the the depot of other importers daily.

The Palace of Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Garbai Elkenemi, and other parts of Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State were submerged by flood in the early hours of Tuesday.

The PUNCH gathered from residents that the Shehu has left his palace to the Government House where he is currently taking refuge.

A resident of Kofar Shehu said, “This is shocking! I have never witnessed this before. Even the Shehu has left his palace to the Government House.”

Our correspondent in Maiduguri gathered that areas including Lagos Street, Modugari, Post Office, and Gwange are the worst affected parts as residents struggle to rescue their properties and lives.

In an interview with one of the victims, Usman Babagana, he said there were early warnings that more water may come, but residents were adamant because they had no place to go

He stated, “We were told flood is coming. I never expected it this Way. We didn’t take it much seriously because we had nowhere to go.”

A pedestrian who was stuck by the flood around the post office area, Buba Jibril, told our correspondent, “This is the worst of it all I have witnessed since my stay in Maiduguri. I hope that this will not lead to untold hardship.”

Akpakomiza2:
APC campaigned at night in Okpekpe,Imiegba and udaba.. the people waited patiently till 11 pm for the APC train to arrive...the minister of Niger delta Hon Abubakar Momoh and his people sang together

A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has urged President Bola Tinubu not to get carried away with free access to loans from the Chinese government without considering its implications on the economy.

The professor of political science gave the warning when he was featured as a guest on Sunday’s Channels Television’s Politics Today.

His caution comes two days after the President described his official engagements with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang at the 2024 Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, China’s capital as a ‘very good and successful.

Nigeria is indebted to five global powers namely China, France, Japan, India, and Germany.

According to the Debt Management Office, China is Nigeria’s largest creditor.

The country owes China about 84 per cent of the entire $5b debt, which amounts to over $4b.

As of a few years ago, some loans have payment plans of up to 20 years with some moratoriums of up to seven years.

But Akinyemi insisted that Tinubu cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of successive administrations in the country.

He said, “Of course, we should be very careful. That is where I was going. But don’t isolate the focus on China. There are also debts we owe the United States and some medium-power countries. What we need to do is to be careful about two things. One, we shouldn’t default on that debt.

“A month before this African-Chinese summit, Nigerian sovereign goods were being impounded all around the world at the instigation of a Chinese company. So, China is not going to serve us anything on global order. We have to be careful that we fulfill our side of the bargain, not only with China but with all the other countries that we may be doing deals with.

“It is a shame on our status and pride for our sovereign goods to be seized because we are defaulting from fulfilling our part of the agreements. This leads me to the second factor. Nigeria, as a sovereign country, needs to keep an eye on the types and content of agreements being signed by what we call the sub-nationals.”

Continuing, the diplomat affirmed that states are not recognized as entities in the international global system.

He also warned against placing corrupt persons in charge of toll collections of the projects facilitated with such debts.

“Nigeria is the sovereign entity. Therefore, it is Nigeria that will be held responsible if states default in fulfilling agreements signed and if governors come to the scene and decide to cancel agreements signed by their predecessors. We should get out of that mental thinking. The emperors in Nigeria are not the president in Abuja.

“The emperors in the political system are the governors because nobody controls them. They have the assemblies and the judges in their pockets. And yet, internationally, it is Nigeria that gets into problems. So, those are the two factors. There is a third one, which is our behaviour, our DNA. Part of the problem we are starting to run into in terms of the infrastructure projects with the Chinese is that Nigerians who are supposed to be collecting money for trips (tolls) are pocketing the money.

“They bring their own POS. And if the passengers go through the right system, get the tickets directly, and when the conductor says ‘Oh, there is something wrong with what you bought. You have to buy another ticket.’ That one is going into its pocket. How are we to refund the loan on those infrastructural projects when we have corrupt Nigerians? We tend to focus on corruption at the very top.”

HandsomeSkeleto:
Wait! You have been a citizen of Federal Republic of Nigeria for how long? Since birth!

And you still want to believe that Ngelale resigned due to 'vexatious medical issues' or whatever!!! I laugh in French

While I do not dispute the fact that he might be goin' through some pressure due to the 'vexatious medical issue', I posit that it is not the MAIN and SOLE reason. How can that be? C'mon.

In my opinion (and that's also the majority opinion), 'politicking' played out, and not having learned the ropes enough and not well versed in 'palace politics', Ngelale was kicked out. Simple!

The excuse of vexatious medical whatever, while being valid, is just a ruse.

Ajuri Ngelale, the broadcast journalist who made a name for himself with his eloquence and sonorous voice, did not resign as special adviser to the president on media and publicity to tend to a “vexatious medical situation” in his family as he claimed, FIJ can report.

Instead, FIJ understands, he was fired by the presidency and only allowed to publicly resign after his repeated pleas for a soft landing.

Ngelale, who was also the special presidential envoy on climate action, stunned Nigerians on Saturday morning when he announced his abrupt exit from office, citing “medical matters presently affecting my immediate, nuclear family”.

A FACE-SAVING COVER-UP

“On Friday, I submitted a memo to the Chief of Staff to the President informing my office that I am proceeding on an indefinite leave of absence to frontally deal with medical matters presently affecting my immediate, nuclear family,” Ngelale wrote.

“While I fully appreciate that the ship of state waits for no man, this agonising decision — entailing a pause of my functions as the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity and Official Spokesperson of the President; Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen — was taken after significant consultations with my family over the past several days as a vexatious medical situation has worsened at home.”

He said he looked “forward to returning to full-time national service when time, healing, and fate permit”, and respectfully asked “for some privacy for my family and I [sic] during this time”.

But multiple highly-placed sources in and around the presidency told FIJ on Saturday afternoon that Ngelale’s exit was not triggered by a family health emergency, but rather his loss in a power tussle with Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.

LONG-RUNNING FEUD WITH ONANUGA

FIJ understands that following the election of Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s president in 2023, Ngelale did not exactly hit it off with Onanuga, largely because having been in government before Onanuga — President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Ngelale his senior special adviser on public affairs in 2019 and he served in this position until the end of Buhari’s tenure — he considered himself Onanuga’s boss.

Ngelale, 38, began his career with the Africa Independent Television (AIT) in the 2000s, while Onanuga, 67, a former Managing Director of the News Agency of NJigeria (NAN), began his career in the 1980s. There was one problem, though: while Ngelale was special adviser on media and publicity, Onanuga was the special adviser on information and strategy.

FIJ understands that civil servants found the roles confusing. This was nothing like in the Buhari administration when Femi Adesina was the special adviser on media and publicity and Garba Shehu the senior special assistant on media publicity. In the latter case, everyone knew Adesina, as SA, was senior, while Shehu, as SSA, was subordinate.

Ngelale and Onanuga both had special adviser roles; and the profolios seemed similar. However, by design, the civil service structure of the villa reported to the SA media, and that was Ngelale.

FAVOURITE OF THE PRESIDENT — AND HIS SON

“Ngelale considered himself untouchable because he had the backing of the president’s son Seyi and Femi Gbajabiamila, the president’s chief of staff,” one source who asked not to be named for fear of retribution told FIJ.

“He was fired; I became aware of this on Tuesday, but I won’t rule out the possibility that it happened earlier. When he got the letter, he started to plead to be allowed to resign as a soft landing. He was eventually given a soft landing, which is understandable. News of his sacking in public would have thoroughly embarrassed not just Ngelale but the presidency too.”

Although this source expressed regrets that things eventually got to a head, they conceded that there was no other way out, given Ngelale’s unwillingness to discuss his long-drawn-out feud with Onanuga when the opportunities were presented to him.

“The Ngelale-Onanuga feud was no secret in the villa, so several top appointees and cabinet members attempted to intervene at separate times; and while Onanuga was open to peace talks, Ngelale wasn’t,” the source continued.

“For example, Mohammed Idris Malagi, the minister of information and national orientation, called for talks four times. Onanuga was willing to attend but Ngelale snubbed them all, always claiming he was busy.”

‘BLOCKING ONANUGA’ FROM HAVING AN OFFICE

Civil servants who asked not to be named, as well as a source familiar with presidency happenings, told FIJ that Onanuga, despite being formally appointed in October 2023 “was a squatter in the presidency and did not have an office of his own until just a few months ago”.

“When Onanuga was appointed, he had no office. He was squatting in Tunde Rahman’s office,” said one of the sources. “It was just recently that he eventually got an office that belonged to either Wale Edun or Zacheus Adedeji when they were still advisers.

Rahman, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, was appointed in July 2023 — three months earlier than Onanuga’s appointment. Meanwhile, Zacheus Adedeji was appointed special adviser on revenue while and Wale Edun was appointed special adviser on monetary policy in June 2023.

While Adedeji has since become the executive chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Edun has since become minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy. Notably, all three appointments came months ahead of Onanuga’s.

These were people who had been with Tinubu for decades, unlike Ngelale, so how did Ngelale become so powerful that he got appointed earlier, blocked Onanuga from having an office to himself and all the aforementioned appointees could not fix Onanuga an office?

As written earlier, Ngelale had the backing of Seyi Tinubu and Gbajabiamila, but a third source took it even further, saying: “It was about how he got the job.”

SO, HOW?


How Ajuri ingratiated himself with Tinubu
“During the 2023 presidential electioneering, Jumoke Oduwole, the special adviser on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), introduced Ngelale to Gbajabiamila,” said the source.

“When Ngelale got there, he met Seyi. He told Seyi he would facilitate a CNN interview during which Tinubu’s presidential ambition would be discussed. Seyi thought it was impossible, but Ngelale did it. He secured the interview on CNN. He then told Seyi the time and date it would air. Seyi promised Ngelale that Tinubu would phone him if he pulled it off. Immediately after the interview was aired, Tinubu called Ngelale.

“When Tinubu won the election, Ngelale was abroad. People told him to return home but he said no; he insisted he would get his own appointment once he arrived in the country. And that was exactly what happened: Ngelale’s appointment by Tinubu was announced days after his return to Nigeria.

“Conversely, Gbajabiamila delayed the announcement of Onanuga’s appointment for at least two months. It required Chief Bisi Akande, who originally made the case for Onanuga’s appointment, to return to Tinubu for follow-up conversations. That was when Tinubu ordered that Onanuga’s appointment should be made, and that was how Onanuga came to the villa.”

THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL’S BACK

FIJ understands that villa staff and civil servants whose work related to the president’s communication strategy noticed the tension between Ngelale and Onanuga and thought if they worked with one, then the other thought they were against him.

“This meant thework of publicising the president’s progressive policies was derailed,” said the source.

“By the way, Ngelale instructed civil servants that no statement from Onanuga could go out if he had not personally cleared it. If you speak with sources across divides, they would tell you Onanuga was the more peace-seeking of the duo. But this particular order from Ngelale to civil servants annoyed Onanuga.”

FIJ understands Ngelale’s standing with Tinubu started to plummet once it was easy to pitch to the president how Ngelale’s unharmonious relationship not just with Onanuga but with the media was hindering good publicity for the president.

“He did not have a good relationship with journalists. Ask the reporters; ask the state house correspondents. And also ask editors,” added the source.

“Many people consider him disrespectful and arrogant, even the editors. You can hardly find any important editor in Nigeria who likes or regards Ngelale.”

NGELALE, ONANUGA MUM

FIJ sent a text and WhatsApp messages to Ngelale, seeking his comments, but they were not replied. FIJ also made cellular and WhatsApp calls to Ngelale’s number, but none was answered.

When FIJ repeated the process with Onanuga, the outcome was the same.