Tuesday, March 14, 2023 Edition

L R: Chief Judge, Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Tsoho; President Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice, Monica Bolna’an Dongban-Mensem; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and Administrator, National Judicial Institute(NJI), Hon. Justice Salisu Garba Abdullahi at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Hybrid Refresher Course for Judicial Officers held at the National Judicil Institute, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Governorship, Assembly polls: Reps extends plenary resumption by one week

By Christiana Ekpa

Following the upcoming gubernatorial and state Houses of Assembly elections scheduled to hold Saturday, March 18, the House of Representatives has extended its plenary resumption by one

week. The governorship election, which was initially scheduled for Saturday, 11th March 2023, was postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by one week, to enable the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation

System (BVAS) machines.

The Clerk of the House, Dr Yahaya Danzaria, who announced the plenary resumption postponement via a notice sent to all the members, said: “This is to inform all Honourable Members and the general public that the House

of Representatives will resume plenary on Tuesday, 21st March, 2023 at 11:00 am as against the 14th of March earlier announced.

“This change is intended to allow members to partake in the rescheduled gubernatorial elections. All inconveniences are highly regretted.”

HYPPADEC inaugurates operations office in Kogi

The Hydro-Electricity Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) on Monday in Lokoja inaugurated its operational office in Kogi.

The office was donated to the commission by the Kogi Government to assist HYPPADEC to execute its assignment to the 10 flood proned local government areas in the state.

Inaugurating the facility, Representative of the commission’s Governing Board, from Kogi, Alhaji Isa OziSalami, described the occasion as laudable and heartwarming to the entire people of Kogi.

“What we’re doing here today is facilitating capacity building and to enhance communication between the commission and the people of Kogi.

“What HYPPADEC is doing across the six benefiting states across the country is serving humanity as many lives, particularly the poor masses, are being touched and uplifted.

“Thanks be to God for the man behind the Commission’s success story in the person of Alhaji Abubakar Yelwa, the Managing Director, who is a genius in service to humanity,’’ he said.

Yelwa, in his speech, thanked Gov. Yahaya Bello’s administration for providing the operational office for the commission, describing it as an encouraging gesture that can create the enabling environment for better service.

The HYPPADEC boss said that the commission would use the edifice for five years after which it was expected to

build and move into its own permanent office.

“As we appreciate this government for this gesture, as Oliver Twist, we are asking for a piece of land on which we can build our permanent office in the state.

“In the area of health, we intend to carry out another round of medical outreach programmes for the benefiting 10 flood affected LGAs in the state immediately after the Ramadan fasting.

“We have got approval from the governing board to provide electricity to over 200 communities in conjunction with the state government,’’ he said.

Yelwa said that the commission would do more for the youths in the areas of empowerment, scholarship

and capacity building as they are “our future leaders and deserved to be assisted to fulfill their destiny”.

Bello described HYPPADEC as a household name in Kogi considering the quantum of assistance it had rendered to the people of the state.

Represented by the State Environment Commissioner, Mr Victor Omofayle, the governor promised to continue to partner the commission to ensure that lives of people of Kogi were improved.

NAN reports that youths from the 10 benefiting LGAs, who were in the venue with placards of various inscriptions of praises, honoured the managing director with an award for his outstanding performance.

(NAN)

President Muhammadu Buhari with his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, at President arrives Abuja from Daura, yesterday.

Photo: State House

Security necessary for peace —Adamu

By Maryam Abeeb

As Nigeria joined 55 other nations to celebrate the 2023 Commonwealth day, Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu said the Prosperity, peace and security of Nigeria remain a collective responsibility and perseverance of all citizens.

The Minister said this in Abuja while declaring open the occasion of the 2023 Commonwealth Day Celebration in Nigeria.

According to the Minister, the year 2023 Commonwealth Day commemoration in Nigeria is a re-awakening call on the essence of unity, love, peace and prosperity as the foundation of development for the country in particular and the body of commonwealth nations in general.

The existence of peace in any space of human aggregation or nation translates to progress, wealth and tranquility. It enhances positive outcomes in trade, investment, human rights, democratic governance, quality education, digitized

learning and most importantly entrenches equity and equality, which in Nigeria and most Commonwealth, empowerment of youths, women and the girlchild.

“We should always remember that the sustenance of peace and the determination to make life better for one and all through collaboration and harmonious co-existence remains the fundamental DNA of the Commonwealth group of Nations.”

Nigeria’s Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Zubair Dada, reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to realising the ideals of the Commonwealth.

Dada added that over the years Nigeria had contributed to the success of the Commonwealth while looking forward to future programs of the Commonwealth Nations.

Reading the first message of King Charles III On the Occasion Of 2023 Commonwealth Day, Mr Nnanlue Tobechukwu, identified that this week of Commonwealth celebration marks the tenth anniversary of the Charter of the

Commonwealth, which gives expression to the defining values – peace and justice; tolerance, respect and solidarity; care for the environment, and for the most vulnerable among member Nations of the Commonwealth.

He added that the significance is to act, and to make a practical difference in the lives of the 2.6 billion people who call the Commonwealth home.

“Ours is an association not

just of shared values, but of common purpose and joint action.

“Whether on climate change and biodiversity loss, youth opportunity and education, global health, or economic cooperation, the Commonwealth can play an indispensable role in the most pressing issues of our time In this we are blessed with the ingenuity and imagination of a third of the world’s population, including one and a

half billion people under the age of thirty. Our shared humanity contains such precious diversity of thought, culture, tradition and experience. By listening to each other, we will find so many of the solutions that we seek.

“Let ours be a Commonwealth that not only stands together, but strives together, in restless and practical pursuit of the global common good.”

Meanwhile, the Royal Commonwealth society in Nigeria conferred the award of excellency on Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu for his support to activities of Commonwealth society in Nigeria and as well as longest serving Nigeria’s Minister of Education.

The Commonwealth celebration in Nigeria was characterized by Commonwealth theme song, poetry recitations, dance drama and cultural dance that translated the message of this year’s celebration in different forms.

The Commonwealth now accommodates about 32 small states, including Island countries and it has expanded its membership to non-British colonised countries.

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has restated its commitment to social protection for its citizens, while working towards establishing an agency and trust fund to actualise the policy.

The Focal Person, Kaduna Social Investment Office (KADSIO), Mrs Saude Atoyebi, made the commitment while speaking at a one-day citizens engagement on the Kaduna State draft social security bill.

The engagement was organised by Civil Society Open Government Partnership (OGP) Technical Working Group (CSTWG) on social protection, in collaboration with KADSIO and the Ministry of Justice, supported by Partnership to Engage,

Reform and Learn (PERL)

a UK-supported governance programme,

According to her the government had in 2016, subscribed to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), to entrench its commitment towards promoting fiscal responsibility, access to information and citizens’ engagement.

Atoyebi, represented by Mrs Rebecca Padonu, Special Assistant to Governor Nasir El-rufai on Social Investment Programmes, said the state government in 2021, developed its second Action Plan (2021–2023) hinged on five commitment areas of the OGP.

She said the establishment of an agency for protection and a social security trust fund, which were part of the OGP action plan,

could be made possible through the Social Security Bill.

She noted that the goal of the Social Security Bill was to establish and concretise the social protection system, to care for the poor and vulnerable people through targeted benefits embedded across programmes and schemes.

“A draft of the SP bill had been in existence, predating the SP policy itself; this reveals that the Kaduna State Government has always shown commitment in the area of SP, “Atoyebi said.

She, however, said that it became expedient to start on a new note, based on the need to thoroughly capture the essence of the SP policy to include setting up of the trust fund, which the initial draft didn’t capture.

Atoyebi explained that Gov

El-Rufai gave directives that the SP bill should harmonise all SP programmes for the formal and informal sectors of the state.

This paved way for Gabon and Togo to join the Commonwealth in 2022 as her newest members. in Kaduna State.

“He specifically directed that the bill should have provisions that establish the agency and define its powers.”

It should “then incorporate pensions, contributory health insurance, the proposed SP implementation programmes and other SP interventions under the purview of the agency.

“Interestingly, January this year, the Social Security Bill was approved by the State Executive Council for forwarding to the State House of Assembly”, Atoyebi said.

The Focal Person noted that having such kind of engagement would deepen understanding of the bill and further strenghten SP

Kaduna Govt. restates commitments to social protection of citizens NNPP governorship candidate promises 18,000 scholarships in Cross River

Amb. Wilfred Bonse, the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Cross River, has promised to provide 18,000 scholarships to tertiary institution students in the state.

Bonse said this at a news conference ahead of the March 18 governorship and House of assembly elections in the Sate on Monday in Calabar.

He said that his team had secured

an international partnership network, a very robust scholarship arrangement for deserving students of the State.

The governorship candidate said the scholarship would be evenly spread across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state, with 1,000 students per a local government benefiting.

The governorship candidate stated that the scholarship programme would benefit students in tertiary institutions without

discrimination.

He said that as an advocate of good and qualitative education, he will ensure that students are given all the support to ease their schooling experience.

“The only way to attain advancement for the state and the country at large is through education, especially science and technology.

“The destination University is Weldios University in Benin Republic where

Earlier, Citizens’ Co-chair, OGP Technical Working Group on SP, Mr Philip Yatai, said the objectives of the engagement was to provide citizens the opportunity to participate in the development of the bill for ownership in line with the OGP principle of co-creation.

He added it was to provide a platform for citizens’ accountability groups to engage the draft bill, make observations and seek clarifications where necessary.

Yatai also said the engagement was to create awareness on the provisions of the bill among civil society organisations, to clearly understand the role of every stakeholder particularly in the implementation of the bill, if passed and signed into law.

scholarships arrangements have been perfected for 18,000 students from the State.

“The programme has being fully paid for and no money needs to be paid by the parents or guardians of these deserving students.

“It is verifiable. It is authentic and not a campaign stint. Otherwise, we would have talked about 100, 200 or 300 persons,“ he said.

Adamu Adamu

CSOs warns against inciting public

ACivil Society Organisation, Global Network for Sustainable Development( GNSD), has called on Civil Society Organisations and other youth platforms to desist from acts of public incitements, describing the calls for the arrest of Enenche as tyrannical.

The National Coordinator ,GNSD, Mr Phil Roberts, made the call in a statement on Friday, in Abuja.

Robert said that such groups were hired to silence the voice of reason “and render our nation a tyrannical and dictatorial enclave .

“A society where citizens live in perpetual fear and bondage.”

“It is advised that such groups should stop further acts of public incitements against the person of Dr Paul Enenche, their actions so far are tantamount to a gross abuse of his fundamental human rights as a free citizen

“A certain provocative and inconsequential call by a faceless self-acclaimed Civil Society group, Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER) for the arrest of Dr Paul Enenche and Pastor Sarah Omakwu is such that threaten national security.

“The fact that they make such calls especially regarding” the arrest of Dr Paul Enenche in particular, in spite of the fact that he is not the only one calling for electoral probity and justice, makes their motive questionable,” Roberts said.

According to him, other renowned clerics from both Islamic and Christian faiths drew the attention of the government to the irregularities that characterised the recent elections, yet these faceless groups are bent on calling for the crucifixion of one man.

“The conduct of these groups is antithetical to democracy and freedom of speech, they represent the worst enemy of the Nigerian nation as they are out to sabotage the efforts of both the state and the citizens in building a more tolerant, progressive and inclusive society.

“One wonders if these individuals masquerading as a civil society groups understand what civil society advocacy stands for, how can you call yourself ‘civil’ while you are brazenly advocating for tyranny and dictatorship?

“How can you be advocating

NASS leadership: No decision on zoning yet – APC

The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged its National Assembly (NASS) members-elect to play down on issues of zoning and leadership of the 10th Assembly.

Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker, House of Representatives, and Ali Ndume (APC BornoSouth), spoke with State House correspondents on Monday after the meeting of the APC leadership with lawmakers-elect at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.

The meeting was chaired by the Vice-President-elect, Sen. Kashim Shettima.

The duo said that the party’s leadership urged the lawmakerselect to focus on the forthcoming governorship election.

Gbajabiamila said that the meeting was to bring the National Assembly members-elect together to celebrate the party’s victory.

He said the meeting was to assure members that in spite of all the odds against the party, it was

able to overcome.

“On the issue of zoning, yes, we did talk about it; it is neither here nor there yet; we have another election coming up this weekend and we want to make sure that everybody goes back home, roll up your sleeves.

“It is not hurray yet; we are not there yet; we need to complete the victory and our joy before we talk about the National Assembly; and that’s basically what it was about,” he said.

He said that the absence of the president-elect of at the meeting did not affect the outcome.

According to him, question of zoning should be put on hold until the election is over.

He explained why he was not available to pick up his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 7.

“All I heard was that I didn’t come here last week to pick up my certificate and because of that somebody conjectured that must

be because I didn’t care about it or something about chief of staff.

“It will interest you that I was in Lagos; I couldn’t leave Lagos because I was campaigning for my party.

“It will also further interest you that I was not here four years ago to pick up my certificate because I couldn’t make it; I didn’t think it was anything significant.

“I will pick my certificate today or tomorrow,” he said.

On his part, Ndume said that the meeting was to evaluate the party’s performance and go back home and complete the victory.

He said that Nigerians had spoken and elected APC, adding that there would be usual ups and downs in every electoral process.

“And the party, as expected also, appealed to the members of the National Assembly-elect to play down on the leadership issues and concentrate so that we take the election battle to the end; and that is to ensure that we win our states; and that is exactly

what we are doing.

“The party has already strengthened us and we agreed that interactions like this should be frequent so that we will be going in the same direction instead of having issues by the experience of 2015 and 2019 to some extent.

“The issue of zoning did not come up; the president-elect is a parliamentarian; he has more experience than most of us and coincidentally, the Nigerian government is going to be National Assembly government.

“The president-elect was a senator; the vice president-elect was a senator; the party chairman was a senator; the secretary of the party was a senator; I believe that this time around we are going to have a rancor-free relationship,” he said.

He said that the National Assembly should produce its leadership based merit while also considering justice, fairness and equity. (NAN)

L-R: First Deputy Vice President, ICAN, FCA,Chief DCS Alaribe ; ICAN President, FCA, Mallam Tijjani Musa Isa ; Country Senior Partner, PwC Nigeria, Mr Uyi Akpata, and ICAN Vice President, Dr Innocent Okwuosa, FCA, during a courtesy visit by the ICAN President to PwC Nigeria’s Lagos Office, yesterday.

AYCF fumes over call for INEC Chairman resignation

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has rejected a call by some Nigerians on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Yakubu Mahmoud to resign from office following alleged irregularities associated with the presidential election.

In a statement on Sunday, the national president of AYCF, Yerima Shettima said such call are forces of destabilisation of democratic processes.

“We shall resist all the forces seeking to undermine the current democratic process as being upheld by INEC. We make bold to say that we are key stakeholders of the current Democratic because of our history of struggle to end military dictatorship and sow the seed of civilian government. We are also

aware that the forces working against the INEC leadership do not mean well for Nigeria and we are prepared anyday, to stop them from their destabilization agenda.

“INEC must be allowed to deliver on their mandate without any hindrance. We are also prepared to ensure that peace is preserved under a democratic atmosphere because we gave our mental and physical abilities to ensure that democracy is where it is today. No one should date truncate this democracy.

“We commend the doggedness of INEC election officials for delivering on their assignment. We reject any deliberate ploy to cause a crisis in the name of unsubstantiated allegations of rigging.

We urge the civil society to be careful about acting, the script of candidates who have lost the justconcluded elections and are trying to engineer thuggery, killings and

arson. We all have a duty as Nigerians to be patriotic enough to speak the truth and stand by peace, unity and national stability.

“We very closely observed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and all the management of the election process from the period before and after the Presidential and National Assembly so far. We are convinced that there are forces opposed to the commendable effort of INEC and we are aware there is a deliberate ploy to distract the electoral umpire.

“INEC has given the 2023 elections their best shot by training and retraining of election officials, using the BVAS successfully in 90% cases.

“As with elections anywhere in the world, INEC couldn’t have done a perfect job because in reality they cannot be completely infallible

“We say no to the forces of

destabilization of Nigeria who have been calling for the resignation of INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu without any cogent reason.

“For those who are crying wolf over election rigging, they need to have a rethink because APC’s Bola Tinubu lost in his immediate Constituency of Lagos and Labour party won many areas. PDP’s Atiku Abubakar lost his immediate Constituency of Adamawa. It is very clear that this is comparatively the most free and fair election since 1999. It is pointless crying foul where there is none.

“We call on men and women of good conscience to support the efforts of INEC to bequeath a good electoral legacy for the country. Imagine holding elections under a cashless policy, when there rural areas without banks and ATM machines or non-existent internet infrastructure.

We’ve nothing to hide, we’ll make documents available -INEC tells LP

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is willing to make available all necessary documents on the Feb. 25 presidential election for inspection by interested parties.

Prof.Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman, INEC, said this when he received a team of lawyers from the Labour Party (LP) led by Dr Livy Uzoukwu,a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in Abuja on Monday.

Yakubu acknowledged the receipt of a letter from the LP dated March 6, notifiying it that the team would visit for inspection of election materials.

He said that the letter also requested the commission to get in touch with its Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) across the 36 states and the FCT to make the documents available for the prosecution of the LP’s petition.

Yakubu said that INEC had scheduled a virtual meeting with all the RECs to discuss among other issues, the matter of providing Certified True Copies (CTCs) not only to the LP but to all other litigants.

“ I want to assure you that the commission will not hide any document from anybody and will make available any document that they have requested.

“Please be assured that INEC has nothing to hide;whatever you are asking for will be made available to you.

“There are two categories of documents those that are in possession of the headquarters of INEC we will easily make these documents available to you.

“Specifically the EC8Ds from the states and the EC8DA, which is the collation at the national collation centre by the commission itself.

“The EC8DA, the declaration, so many documents ,a total of I think 39 documents, this we can easily certify and give you almost immediately,’’

he said. Yakubu said other documents being sought for were at the states level, saying that INEC would work out a schedule to know when the team would visit the states ,so as to easily facilitate not just certification of documents, but also the inspection requested for each of the documents.

“The other one is accreditation data from the back end. This will also be made available to you. Remember that the accreditation data covers over 176,000 polling units.

“We have to print them physically certify them, and give them to you ,so the tall and short of what I am saying is that you will get this document speedily,” he said.

Yakubu urged the LP legal team to interface with INEC’s legal team immediately to work out things.

Speaking, Uzoukwu,a

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Lead Council to the LP Presidential Legal Team, said the visit was to prepare ground for the inspection of the materials for the presidential election.

“As you all know, election petition is time sensitive,we have 21 days to file a petition on behalf of our clients and out of that 21 days we probably have about 10 days to go and up till now we have not received any documents.

“We have written to INEC requesting for documents apart from that,the Court of Appeal made an order on the March 3, ordering INEC to release those documents to us but we haven’t received any hence requested for a meeting with the chairman of finance.

“ INEC graciously granted that audience within a very short notice, and he has

given us assurance, concrete assurance on record that all documents we require will be made available and if possible, some of them will be made available to us today,’’he said.

Uzoukwu said the team believed that INEC would respond as promised adding that “we are leaving here rest assured that at least we will leave with some documents,the rest can then come from tomorrow and so on and so forth.

“At least if we get some of them today that is indicative that we’ll get some other documents from tomorrow, next tomorrow to enable us fight this petition,’’he said.

Dr Tanko Yusuf, Chief Spokesperson for Peter Obi/ Datti Ahmed presidential campaign council, said that the party gave an ultimatum for INEC to make available the

documents failure of which it would mobilise its members to demonstrate against INEC nationwide.

Yusuf said that graciously the chairman of INEC haven read that particular statement granted them the opportunity to come and liaise with him and he has assured the team of lawyers to present these documents.

Yusuf said however, that the INEC chairman granted the party’s request for its lawyers to assess the documents. “So we want to wait and see the responses of our legal team,it is the legal team that will give us the marching order. “When they are satisfied with what they’ve received from INEC so that our members nationwide and worldwide will be satisfied that we are doing our job and they are ready to prosecute this case accordingly,” he said (NAN)

IGP orders commands to handover case files to INEC for prosecution

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has directed Commissioners of Police in charge of State Commands to ensure that investigations in all cases of violations against the 2022 Electoral Act during the February 25th 2023 Presidential and National Assembly electioneering

process are swiftly concluded and the case files forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for prosecution.

The IGP in a statement issued yesterday by force PRO, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the order was in a bid to ensure all-inclusive election security management and accord Nigerians benefits/leverage of active participation,

to achieve free, fair, and credible Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections on 18th March, 2023, the IGP has tasked Strategic Police Managers to engage stakeholders in their respective jurisdictions through town hall meetings and other viable avenues.

The statement added that the Inspector-General of Police has therefore urged well-meaning members of the

public to collaborate with the Police and other law enforcement agencies tasked with election security management, to ensure a hitch-free security architecture for all and sundry particularly the electorates, accredited observers, INEC officials and materials so that all citizens can exercise their franchise without molestation, harassment and security threats.

L-R: Administrator, National Judicial Institute(NJI), Hon. Justice Salisu Garba Abdullahi; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and President Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice, Monica Bolna’an Dongban-Mensem, at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Hybrid refresher course for Judicial Officers held at the National Judicil Institute, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

By Maryam Abeeb

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) has shifted the 2023 MockUTME earlier scheduled for Thursday, March 16, 2023 to Thursday, March 30, 2023.

A statement signed by the Board’s Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, stated that the shift in date was partly owing to the change in the date for the Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly Elections earlier scheduled to hold on Saturday,11th March, 2023 but now moved to 18th March, 2023.

“Candidates, who registered early and indicated their willingness to take the MockUTME, would be notified as to

Election: JAMB shifts 2023 mock UTME

when to print their Mock-UTME notification slip, which would contain their centres and other details,” the statement said.

The Mock-UTME is an optional examination introduced by the Board to provide opportunity for candidates to have hands-on experience with the system as well as afford the Board an opportunity to ascertain its readiness and that of its partners for the main UTME, which is scheduled to hold between April 29, to May 12, 2023.

The Board in the statement also announced that this year’s UTME would witness some

groundbreaking innovations aimed at addressing observed infractions and centre failures.

“For instance, in the new regime, if there is a delay of up to one hour before the commencement of a particular session, that session stands cancelled and would be rescheduled along with the candidates.

“By the same token, no examination can be started one hour after the scheduled commencement time. The session will be scheduled for any Vacant or Available slot. The Board has made it mandatory that

candidates must be notified of their new scheduled session or centre, as the case may be, before they leave their centre. In addition, no candidate would be allowed to spend less than one hour before submission of responses during the UTME. Similarly, the new regime would make it impossible for candidates to login after one hour of activation of examination.

“If for any reason, an examination session is cancelled or cannot hold, candidates are not to panic as they will simply be scheduled for the next available session, which could be that same

day. What such candidates are expected to do is to quietly leave the hall and move to the Holding Area to await further instruction.

“Furthermore, they are not to leave the examination centre until they have been notified of the day and time of their rescheduled examination,” it said.

The statement added that any rescheduled examination is strictly meant to accommodate only those whose examination session could not hold on account of one reason or another not for those who were marked ‘Late’ or ‘Absent’ for their session.

Be peaceful, play politics according to rules, Culture advocate advises politicians

Save Our Heritage Initiative (SOHI), an Abuja based NGO, has advised Nigerian politicians and voters to be peaceful and play the game of politics by the rules.

Ms May Ikokwu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the group gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.

Ikokwu urged them not to allow their personal ambitions jeopardise the unity and peace of the country especially during the forthcoming governorship and state assembly elections .

She appealed to the political class not to exploit the country’s diversity negatively to advance their personal ambitions.

“We should emphasise those things that unite us more than the ones that divide us.

“Politics is a game that will come and go but Nigeria remains, so let us prioritize Nigeria’s unity and harmony above personal ambitions.

“Clean politics is part of our heritage and a legacy that we should aspire to leave for the future generations,’ she advised.

The Culture Advocate who warned against political violence and animosity, said that it was alien to Nigeria’s indigenous political culture.

She urged politicians to close ranks among each other

in accordance with Nigeria’s culture of brotherly love.

Ikokwu also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to restore confidence of the electorate by

allowing votes count. She explained that only transparent and credible election would truly reflect the will and wish of the people.

According to her, Nigeria

should demonstrate their position as giant of Africa by conducting peaceful, credible gubernatorial elections.

Ikokwu however commended Nigerians for their commitment

to stronger democratic process.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria’s Gubernatorial elections would be conducted on March 18. (NAN)

L-R: President, Global center for leadership ànd Good Governance, Comrade Ogedengbe Ayodele Monday, Country Director, Vote Must Count international Initiative (VMCII), Dr. Barry Avotu Johnson, National Co-ordinator Movement of Conscience for a better Nigeria, Engr Daniel Balarabe and the President, African Emancipation Movement for Good Governance , (a support group for Obidatti presidency), Hon. Lucky Obiyan, during the VMCII World press conference on the 2023 election, calling on INEC to Obey court decision on the inspection of elections materials by the legal team of the Labour party Presidential Candidate, held yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Better days are coming to my constituency, says Sen. Jibrin Isa

The Senator representing Kogi-East Senatorial District, Sen. Jibrin Isa has assured his constituents of more infrastructural development.

Isa, popularly known as Echocho, who gave the assurance while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Monday expressed gratitude to God and member of his constituents for the victory at the polls.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Independent National

Electoral Commission (INEC) had on March 7, presented Certificate of Return to Isa alongside 97 other senators.

The senator promised better days for the people by sponsoring bills and motions that would have direct impact on them.

“I will focus on projects that will be of direct benefit to the people of Kogi-East and the state at large.

“I have done a lot and a lot more will

come from me during this second tenure especially at harnessing the raw materials Kogi is endowed with.

“I will want to believe that a lot more will come from me. In my first tenure, I have been able to set up two rice processing plants, a cashew processing plant, cassava processing plant, oil palm processing plant and skills acquisition centre among others,’’ he said.

He further said that his contribution to

the development of the constituency was the only way he could appreciate them for the opportunity given to him for the second term.

Isa also urged the senators to live above board by upholding national interest above personal interest.

The lawmaker, however, appreciated Gov. Yahaya Bello for his support, saying that he would do his best to attract federal presence to the state.(NAN)

Osun Guber: Appeal court reserves judgment on Adeleke, Oyetola’s appeal

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The Abuja Division of Court of Appeal, has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state, challenging the January 27, 2023 decision of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that sacked him from office.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)winner of the governorship poll held on July 16.

A 3-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Mohamed Lawal Shuaibu reserved judgment on the appeal by Adeleke after parties adopted their addresses.

The Appallant, had through his counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN Adeleke prayed the court to set aside the decision of the tribunal for lacking in merit.

The Appallant insisted that

the tribunal in its judgment erred in law in returning Oyetola as the duly elected candidate without due regard to the enormity of the voters in the units where the results were cancelled for over voting.

Arguing his brief, Ikpeazu maintained that the tribunal exhibited bias against the appellant with its reference to his dance at his inauguration as governor of Osun state.

According to the senior lawyer, his client’s dancing prowess was never an issue before the lower tribunal.

“By referring to the appellant’s personal eccentricity for dancing, the lower tribunal derided and mocked him in a manner suggesting that it was biased against him.

“The appearance of bias manifests in the reference to the Appellant’s proclivity for dancing and particularly the Buga song, has rendered the decision of the lower Tribunal a nullity.

Meanwhile, the panel has reserved the judgement on the matter for a later date which will be communicated to the parties.

Not satisfied with the outcome of the poll, in August 2022, Oyetola, the former Osun governor and his party, the All Progressives Congress(APC) petitioned the tribunal to challenge the victory of Adeleke Oyetola submitted that Adeleke did not qualify to contest the election and that there was over voting in 749 polling units across 10 local government areas of the state.

In the judgement, two out of the three-member panel of the tribunal held that Oyetola could prove that there was indeed overvoting in some of the polling units.

The tribunal in a split document of two to one is declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to

Polls: Students endorse Bauchi APC guber candidate

Adeleke and issued same to former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola

The majority judgement which was read by the Chairman, Justice Tertse Kume said Oyetola scored the majority lawful votes of 314,931 against Adeleke’s 290,266.

Consequently, the tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and issue a fresh one to Oyetola as the duly elected governor of Osun.

Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared the winner of the governorship poll held on July 16. In August 2022, Gboyega Oyetola, former Osun governor, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) petitioned the tribunal to challenge the victory of Adeleke on the grounds that Adeleke did not qualify to contest the election and that there was overvoting in 749 polling units across 10 local government areas of the state.

From: Ahmad Saka, Bauchi

The Amalgamated Union of Bauchi State Students

Union’ of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has assured gubernatorial candidate of the (APC) in Bauchi State, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (rtd) of massive votes from generality of the students of Bauchi State origin.

The assurance was given by a students pressure group.

The group made their position public at an interactive meeting with all the 20 LGA executive members in Bauchi.

The group through the Campaign Director of Students’ Affairs to Ambassador Sadique , Comrade Farouk Saleh Toro, Jamilub Mato and Abdurrahman Shuaibu said that Bauchi state students have now shifted their loyalty to the Governorship candidature APC.

APC group urges security agents to caution Labour Party against protests

The Support Group Cordination of the APC Presidential Campaign Council has urged security agencies to caution Labour Party’s activities.

Secretary of the group ,Tosin Adeyanju, made the call in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Adeyanju alleged that the leadership of the Labour Party had threatened to truncate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) activities with protest over inability to inspect election materials of the last Presidential election.

He described the act as mischief making and warned them to desist from any protest.

‘We have uncovered plans by some groups of persons who want to, in the name of protest, unleash violence, instead of addressing their grievances to the tribunal.

Benue govt frowns at Fr. Alia’s comments over mismanagement, diversion of relief materials for IDPs

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Benue State government has frowned at accusation and allegation of mismanagent and diversion of relief materials meant for IDPs in the State.

Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency

Dr. Emmanuel Shior at a press

briefing on Monday in Makurdi, decried the allegation made by the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, describing it as ‘false’ and ‘unsubstantiated’.

Dr. Shior challenged Fr.Alia to show proof of mismanagement of funds, regretting that a man of

God will play politics with lives and engage in mud throwing on peoole to make them dirty which is highly’unacceptable’.

“He has not shown any concern or condemn killings of Benue people neither has the Minister for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs Sen. George Akume done same.

“He(Alia) lacks knowledge of what Benue government is doing in catering for the IDPs. Rather than make disparaging comments, he should come forth and do what others have done like Taraba, Rivers State in assisting the IDPs. He should come to my office and I will brief and take him round the camps”.

“We hereby warn these groups/ persons to shelve their planned violence or have us to contend with.”

“Therefore, parents and guardians are advised to warn their children against participating in the planned protest slated for tomorrow across the country.”

Adeyanju alleged that Labour Party was sponsoring protests and warned that they should desist from such unpatriotic plans.

“We call on Security agencies, to as a matter of urgency, take proper action against these enemies of democracy.”(NAN)

APC, Senator-Elect Michael Opeyemi Bamidele; Abdulaziz Yari; Ali Ndume, and Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, during the President-elect meeting with the Senators-Elect, and member-elect, held at State House Conference center in Abuja yesterday

Property developer arraigned over alleged electricity theft

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The federal government has arraigned a property developer, Mr. Cecil Ezem Osakwe before Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, over electricity theft.

Osakwa pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge and was granted bail by the court.

Justice Nyako granted him bail in the sum of N1 million and threatened to revoke his bail, if he fails to show up for his trial.

The prosecutor, Mr Baba Ali, an Assistant Director in the ministry of justice, described the decision of the court as a welcome development, adding that the prosecution of the defendant will serve as deterrent to others.

Osakwe had through his counsel, Mr Victor Giwa, told the court that he had a motion for a stay of the arraignment of his client

He drew the attention of the court to a pending suit challenging the legality of the panel that investigated his client and appealed to the court for stay proceedings

But the court overruled him and asked that the charge be read to the defendant.

The court fixed the matter to May 2 for trial.

At the last adjourned date, Justice Nyako threatened to issue a bench warrant, if Osakwe fails to appear in court for his arraignment.

On about two ocassions, he failed to appear in court for his arraignment which prompted justice Nyako to threaten him with arrest, should he fail to appear in court.

In the charge, Osakwe was said to have tampered with electricity metre which resulted in the loss of N11m revenue to the federal government.

Osakwe was said to have been

caught by the officials of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, allegedly stealing electricity at various properties including his residence at 11 Aso drive, Abuja.

According to the officials of the power company, the scale of electricity theft by Osakwe at a number of other properties he manages is still under investigation.

Apart from the fresh charge of theft filed against him, Osakwe, the managing director of Abeh Signature Limited, is also facing a criminal charge of N130m fraud before a High Court of Justice of the Federal Capital Territory.

He failed to appear before Justice Idris Mohammed, for his arraignment. He claimed he was not served with the charge sheet.

At the last adjourned date, Justice Idris returned the case file to the Chief Judge of the court. The police claimed they were unable to serve him with the charges.

The case has however, been

assigned to Justice Mohammed Madugu of the FCT High court.

In the fresh charge signed by Baba Ali, assistant director in charge of prosecution in the ministry of justice, Osakwe was said to have interfered with electricity supply which resulted in loss of revenue to the federal government, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 1(10) of the miscellaneous offences Act.

The two count charge dated 2nd of August, 2022 read: “That you, Osakwe Ezem Cecil, sometimes in the month of September 2021 at No 1, Mekong Close, Maitama, Abuja, FCT, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, unlawfully interfered with supply of electricity by converting same which led to the losses of revenue and that in naira value about N11, 000,000.00 thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 1(10) of the miscellaneous offences Act.

Omeife’ll boost learning, aid effectiveness — Group

The Uniccon Group says the first African humanoid robot ‘Omeife’ will boost learning and aid effectiveness in digital literacy in the country.

The group’s Chairman, Dr Chuks Ekwueme, said this at the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uniccon on Monday in Abuja.

Ekwueme said that the technological framework (Omeife) that would be deployed to achieve this goal had been designed and customised by Africans, for Africans.

He said this would aid effectiveness, unlike other forms of imported technology that tended to lack adequate consideration of Africans in their development and deployment.

Ekwueme expressed gratitude to the DirectorGeneral of NITDA for encouraging local technology content in Nigeria.

He commended the agency for its vision to achieve 95 per cent digital literacy rate in Nigeria by 2030, which was currently the highest target as compared to other African countries.

Ekwueme added: “Omeife as a Service (OaaS) will make

learning easier when integrated with the agency’s Learning Management System (LMS).”

Mr Inuwa Kashifu, Director-General of NITDA, represented by Mr Garba Ya’u, Director, National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), said that the relationship was to assist in achieving 95 per cent digital rate in Nigeria by 2030.

Kashifu said the agency and Unnicon would leverage on the technical aspect to bring the project to reality.

He said that they were all thrilled with the indigenous technology thnat properly fell into the local content drive.

Kashifu added: “We have

paid a visit to Unnicon group sometime ago and we had some discussions, they showed us some of their projects apart from Omeife.

“The DG directed that we work with the group to leverage Omeife in deepening the digital literacy content of NITDA and the ministry.

“We are going to leverage on four languages majorly spoke in Nigeria, which are: Pidgin, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.

“We want to show absolute inclusion, where no Nigerian will be left behind on the idea.

“Very soon, we will be going into the technical aspect to see how we can bring this to reality.” (NAN)

*That you, Osakwe Ezem Cecil, at No 1, Mekong Close, Maitama, Abuja, FCT, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, unlawfully interfered with electricity fittings, metres and appliances knowing and that you are converting supplying of electricity illegally, you thereby committed an offence contrary and punishable under Section 1(10) of the miscellaneous offences Act.

Southern Kaduna killings: SOKAPU, CMMRC calls for calm

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) and Conflict Mitigation and Management Regional Council (CMMRC) on Monday called for calm over the recent attacks in Unguwan Wakili, Zango Kataf Local Government Area (LGA) of the State.

A statement signed by the Spokesperson of SOKAPU, Luka Binniyat said “today, women, children and the aged can be seen leaving Unguwan Wakili, Majuju and neighbouring villages out of fear of more attacks.

“Thousands of lives were wasted and not less than 245 communities displaced as a result of herdsmen and bandits attacks.”

Dangote graduates 50 trainee truck drivers

The Dangote Articulated Truck Driving School has graduated 50 trainees who have passed through a specially designed and rigorous educational curriculum.

The articulated truck driving school at Obajana in Kogi State is Nigeria’s first and only accredited truck driving academy.

The school was commissioned last year by the former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Dr. Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi.

Oyeyemi described it as a significant step towards taming the menace of auto crashes involving articulated trucks in Nigeria.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Divisional Director Transport (DDT), Mr Ajay Singh, said the new Batch C graduates have only qualified and graduated from classroom instructions.

He said that they will now be exposed to practicals through attachments for an additional six months.

Singh gave the assurance that the school would not only reduce the rate of crashes by articulated vehicles but also positively impact other road users.

The director said the ultimate objective was to achieve zero accidents for all subsidiaries in the Dangote Group.

On his part, the Manager of Dangote Articulated Truck Driving School,

Dangote Cement Transport (DCT)

Obajana, Mr Daniel Akuso, said the intensive training was carried out in collaboration with the FRSC and Fantique Driving Training Centre of South Africa.

According to the Manager of the school, the three months training programme has helped change the orientation of the trainee drivers.

“This is the only articulated truck driving school in Nigeria where the students are paid stipends, trained, tested, certified, licensed, and employed.

”Our products are not only for Dangote Cement but for all subsidiaries of the Dangote Group in Africa,” Akuso

said.

Speaking, Deputy Road Commandant, (OC Instructor) of the FRSC attached to Dangote Driving School, Mukhtar Umar, said the agency plays a significant role in training and certifying old drivers and newly recruited trainees.

“We teach them defensive driving, road signs, responsibilities of the driver, driving culture, and then certify them,” Umar said.

The Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said that the board was partnering the Dangote Cement Plc in the execution of the school’s programme.(NAN)

Niger-Delta group lauds military onslaught against oil theft

The Niger-Delta Safe Environment Group (NSEG) has lauded the Nigerian military on its increased operations aimed at curbing oil theft in the region.

This is contained in a statement on Monday by Mr Ombo Princewill and Felicia Akpabio, President and Secretary of the group, respectively, in Abuja.

The duo said that long years of illegal oil bunkering had caused severe damage to environment and health of people in the region.

They lamented that several residents were afflicted with illnesses as a result of massive environmental degradation caused by the activities of oil thieves.

The officials, however, said that military onslaught by troops of Operation Delta Safe had weakened the activities of the criminals.

According to them, the activities of the Armed Forces, under the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, have helped to protect the environment and save huge resources for the country.

“Just last week, the Defence Headquarters announced that it discovered and destroyed 74 illegal refineries and arrested a total of 71 criminals terrorising the zone.

“In addition, the troops have also recovered 209,000 litres of crude oil, 145,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 4,500 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, 27 variety of weapons, 468 assorted ammunition, 2 speed boats, 2 outboard engines, 8 vehicles and 4 motorcycles.

“We commend the AFN for operations conducted at the creeks, waterways, high sea, towns and cities of Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, which yielded appreciable results.

“For long, misguided elements in our region have put our health at risk in their quest for illegal wealth. Women with pregnancy are affected, there are incidences of lung cancer.

“Not to be mentioned is the manner our sources of livelihood, fishing and farming, have been greatly affected,” the officials added.

They urged people of the region to cooperate with the military in tackling those degrading the environment, causing health hazards and bleeding the country’s economy.

(NAN)

80 CSOs demand action on Edo State draft FOI Bill

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Eight Civil Society Organisations and Trade Union in Edo State have written to the Edo State governor,

Goodwin Obaseki, urging him to revisit the draft Edo State Freedom of Information Bill, with a view to presenting the bill to the State House of Assembly for consideration as an executive bill.

This was contained in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna yesterday.

The Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ,

Rev David Ugolor, draws the governor’s attention to the draft bill and appealed to him to revisit it so that Edo will be one of the States in Nigeria that has domesticated the FOI Act.

Coalitions calls for cancellation of Lagos West Senatorial election

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Agroup under the auspices of Truly and Fully Arewa Movement of Nigeria has called for the cancellation of Lagos West senatorial elections. While reading a text of the press conference yesterday signed by the President Truly and Fully Arewa Movement,

Ismail Mohammed, the national President of Unity & Peace Awareness Initiative, Dr. Marcus Nacheson said the election was disrupted in 7,000 polling units across 10 Local Government Areas of Lagos State.

The President who was represented by Prince Elijah Jibrin, noted that the

election was marred by a lot of irregularities, thereby calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the Lagos West senatorial election.

“We are calling for cancellation of the election by INEC, setting aside a new date for fresh election in the entire 7,000 polling units across the

LGAs.

“We are also calling on the local and international observers to draw the attention of INEC with immediate effect”.

“Hoodlums destroyed BVAS machines and thereby disrupting the entire process. Electoral materials arrived at the most of the polling units at about 12 noon”.

Group empowers 32 women to mark Int’l Women’s Day

The Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN), Abuja Chapter, has empowered 32 widows, single mothers and young girls with relevant start-up materials to be self-employed and eventually employers of labour.

Chairperson of the association, Miss Joy Esu, in Abuja said that the gesture was to also mark the 2023 International Women’s Day.

Esu said that the Society had carefully put together the programme to celebrate and empower the women folk on this all-important event focusing on gender equity, embracing diversity and inclusion to help forge an equal world.

She added that the beneficiaries were carefully selected from different sub-urban settlements within the FCT and its environs, adding that every one of them truly deserved the empowerment scheme.

“This was made possible

through their engagement in skill-acquisition training and we assistance them with start-up capital.

“The next phase is a Skill Acquisition Programme for the beneficiaries.

“This is with the view of empowering them with relevant skills and seed capital to help them to commence a Business and to be able to sustain themselves and their families economically.

“This is planned in anticipation that we will be able to raise the desired financial support from our partners/supporters,” she said.

She further explained that the beneficiaries would be train on book keeping, accounting and financial management to help them manage the financial records for their Businesses.

According to her, SWAN is an arm of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), whose membership is open to female members of the Institute.

She explained that the Society served as an integral part of the Institute to meet the yearnings and aspirations of women for recognition, creating opportunities and an enabling environment for the promotion of socio-economic development of women.

“We have carried out sensitisation programmes and career talks in six secondary schools within Abuja and its environs.

“The aim is to elicit the interest of the young ones to embrace Accountancy as a Career Path and also inculcate in them self-dignity, discipline and integrity.

“We have also organized sensitisation lectures to undergraduates in Four Tertiary Institutions within FCT and environs on the Career Path of becoming a chartered accountant,” she added.

She further listed other projects executed by the organisation

to include medical outreach, orphanage visitation, hospital visitation, prison visitation and anti-corruption advocacy, among others.

Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, the Managing Director, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) commended SWAN Abuja Chapter for the laudable gesture, urging other states to key into such scheme in order to empower more women in the society.

Adesugba, who was represented by Dr Martins Odeh, Head, Corporate Communication, NEPZA, said that education was very important for a woman, adding that, “but if you do not have a formal education skill acquisition like this is very important.

“There is no society without assistance and there is no society without a woman because it has been measured that a woman’s management ability is much more than that of a man.

L-R: Country Director, Royal Common wealth Society Nigeria, Mr. Blackson Olaseni Bayewumi, Second Counsellor, Rwanda High Commission in Nigeria, Mr. Vianncy Robagunya, India Deputy high Commissioner in Nigeria, Vsdl Surendra, Minister of State for Education, Rt Hon. Goodluck Nanah Opiah, First Secretary High Commission of the republic of Namibia, Ms Mavis Tungulu and the Director, Education Support Services, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Lydia Giginna, during the 2023 Common wealth day celebration, held yesterday in. Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo.

Niger CAN urge members to vote competent guber candidates

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Niger state chapter has urged the Christian faithful in the State to vote for only credible candidates at the governorship and legislative elections come March.

The Christian body in a statement stated that such candidates should be those who would ensure development and peaceful co-existence among the citizens.

According to the statement, “we enjoin everyone to vote for candidates of your choices, who must ensure quality education and free healthcare for the people”.

The statement added that candidates and parties have done their own, it is the turn of the electorates to know the differences between day and night, insisting that their votes must count.

The State CAN has decided that his members must consider candidates’ character, competence, capacity and policies before deciding on who to vote for.

PDP governorship campaign council decries dismantling of security check point in Gombe

From David Hassan, Gombe

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) management council in Gombe state has decried the dismantling of all security check points within Gombe environs by the Gombe state government.

The spokesman of Gombe state PDP campaign management council Mr. Ayuba M. Aluke made this known while briefing Journalists in Gombe on Friday.

He said the dismantling of security check points in the state ahead of the Governorship and state House of Assembly schedule for 18th of March was ploy to clear the way and grant free movement for political thugs.

It is imperative for Gombe state government to reverse the directive and reinstate the security check points for peace and security of Gombe state residents during and after the forthcoming elections.

Stakeholders task African leaders on human capital development

Some stakeholders in Africa have tasked governments and politicians on the need for human capital development to prevent the continent from being vulnerable to attacks.

The stakeholders spoke on Friday at a Pre-Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development High-Level Dialogue (Pre-COM 2023 Dialogue), which was held virtually.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the webinar was organised by the Economic Commission for Africa Subregion for West Africa (ECA/ SRO-WA).

According to the stakeholders, improved human capital will lead to a decline in vulnerable communities’, especially groups, women and youths.

Prof. Fatou Sarr, the Commissioner in-charge of Human Capital and Social Affairs, ECOWAS, said wealth creation was key to breaking

societal vulnerability.

Sarr said: “Wealth creation can only be done if we strengthen the capacity of these young people and women to have the skills and access the wealth.

“And of cause, they also need training and education. Social safety networks are indeed very important, but they are only transitory.

“ So, we need to ask ourselves what kind of Africa we want in 25 to 30 years and set up the infrastructure to undertake that today.

“Therefore, beyond the training, the expertise and the skills, we also need to have the means. And those are very critical aspects.”

The professor underscored the need for an improved communication network on the continent, saying that all developed countries moved through energy and communication channels.

She said these are critical areas enabling the continent to

move up the ladder and have better access to education and health.

Sarr urged collaboration among member states to enable the sub-region and continent make progress that would yield desired outcomes.

Mr Mainassara Assouman, the Director-General, Planning, Ministry of Planning, Niger, said that the issue of insecurity was beyond the Sahara.

According to him, it goes all the way to the border with the Gulf of Guinea and other Gulf countries.

“There are no miracle ingredients in dealing with insecurity. We do not have magic solutions. The issues of security must go hand in hand with issues of development.”

According to him, about 70 per cent of the people of Niger are young, and one of the solutions for insecurity is employment for the youth.

“The first thing, therefore, is to develop human capital and align

it to employment or consider the social aspect of employment for the youth.

“And to associate that with issues related to development, issues of development are very important, and they offer a response to issues of life for people in the different areas, ” he said.

Also speaking, Dr Abdoulaye Zonon, the Director-General, Planning, Ministry of Planning called for implementation of the right policies.

Zonon said: “If we look at what happened in South-West Asia, we know we can get out of poverty and vulnerability if we implement the right policies.

“One of the key issues we can ask is, who are the poor? Who are those affected by vulnerability on the continent?

“ If you look at the poor people on the continent, most of them, about 70 to 75 per cent are from rural areas and are farmers, and only 20 to 25 per cent are found in urban areas”. (NAN)

Buratai congratulates Tinubu, drums support for APC governorship, assembly candidates

Former Chief of Army Staff retired Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has congratulated Nigerians on the election of Sen. Bola Tinubu as the Presidentelect, saying his victory was a clear reflection of the will of the people.

Buratai, who is the immediate past Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic and a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), made the call in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

He also called on Nigerians to vote all APC candidates in the March 18 Governorship and

House of Assembly Elections across the country.

Buratai commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for presiding over an election in a country with the largest democracy in the African continent.

According to him, it is a job well planned and professionally executed.

He stated that the vote of all Nigerians had the power to make a difference and consolidate on

the wise choice made during the presidential election.

“At this juncture, I say with all sense of responsibility that our collective future is assured under the renewed hope vision and mission of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

“I believe the President-elect is a man of capacity, empathy, vision, and all that it takes to lead Nigeria to the promised land.

“Therefore, I encourage all Nigerians to vote for the APC in the forthcoming governorship elections at the states levels so that the APC can have a majority

at all levels.

“Do not be part of the minority opposition as we already have the APC at the Centre.

“Continuity has been achieved at the Federal level with the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the PresidentElect from the APC.

“Therefore, for effective policy implementation, progress’ security and development of our country, also vote APC at the states levels. Nigeria shall be great by the Grace of God,” he said.

(NAN)

L-R: Country Director, Royal Common wealth Society Nigeria, Mr. Blackson Olaseni Bayewumi, Second Counsellor, Rwanda High Commission in Nigeria, Mr. Vianncy Robagunya, India Deputy high Commissioner in Nigeria, Vsdl Surendra and the Minister of State for Education, Rt Hon. Goodluck Nanah Opiah, during the 2023 Common wealth day celebration, held yesterday in. Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

International Women’s Day: Stop the flattery and tokenism

By Florence Ozor

Demands advance our cause, guarantee we get results, and enable us to measure our progress. We shall applaud the demands that have been satisfied on the upcoming International Women’s Day, reject corporations and institutions with unmet demands, and denounce those who continue to support displays of tokenism. Women, let us say enough to the flatteries that encourage responsibility escapism.

After the excitement of the annual International Women’s Day (IWD), which has been celebrated around the world since the 1900s and was recognized by the UN in 1977, has subsided, perhaps we can here and now have a serious conversation about why today’s celebration is now rooted in unsustainable glee by women and blatant tokenism by organizations, institutions, businesses, and governments, costing them nothing, a sobering departure from the intention and importance of the day by its visioners.

In the 1900s, women saw the need to designate a day to call attention to the injustices they had to deal with, including the exclusion of women from voting, property ownership, education, economic disparity, and the subjection to racial and gender discrimination. As an act of resistance and non-conformity against the state, women spearheaded these protest movements; they fought for the notion that women were equal to men and deserving of equal advantages and protection as men.

To their credit and our absolute gratitude, they ensured that women today have the majority of rights enjoyed by men, such as the right to vote, own property, exercise our agency, and own our voices, and are not merely considered chattels of the men. However, as we all know, even though these movements have evolved and succeeded in securing more rights for women, the fight is far from being won. Women are still globally protesting their inalienable rights.

Based on this foundation of rich history, it concerns me that every year on March 8th, we have become complacent in our demands for a just and equal society and accepting of mediocre gestures wrapped in fleeting excitement and a distracting torrent of empty words unsupported by measurable and sustainable legislative changes, economic reforms, government initiative, and organizational policy interventions that advance our cause as women.

Today, a deluge of JPG advertisements celebrating International Women’s Day saturate print and social media with sycophantic homage to the resilience, perseverance, and arduous achievements of women. We are aware of our innate strength; and are sick of being praised for it when we have no choice but to get stronger to survive, be respected, and feel safe. We’re fed up with battling to topple patriarchal structures that were built to oppress women of all ages.

When we are dealing with issues like sexual harassment and assault, gender pay disparity, female commodification, domestic violence, reproductive rights and autonomy, direct and indirect political exclusion, cloaked invisibility at tables dominated by men, and beauty standards pressures fuelled by the fantasies of aesthetically flawed men. We do not want hypocritical praise from those who have the power to make a real difference.

We don’t need praise singing when women in Afghanistan are still fighting for the right to education; when women of South Korea with their 4B movement are still fighting against femicide, spy-cam sex crimes, revenge porn, and a right to live in a safe society, when women in the US are still fighting for reproductive rights and stricter gun laws so they can stop being killed or burying their loved ones, and when worldwide women are still being raped, murdered, trafficked, and exploited through corporate prostitution, sex for grades, jobs and career advancement.

In Africa, laws remain discriminatory, culture remains oppressive, the workplace is still anti-women, income inequality

persists, maternal mortality is growing, and domestic violence is increasing. Despite this, we giddily organize and sit in seminars recapping issues, rehearsing solutions, and having feel-good discussions while bemoaning how things continue to deteriorate. We scream ‘I exist,” but we exist in chains indulged by yearly themes and the hands-crossing of artificial solidarity.

The more we applaud their performative behaviours and tokenism, the more things get worse for us, such as when an abuser brings flowers after an assault. Dreadfully, we are enamoured by the flowers, perishable as they are. We discredit the sacrifices the IWD’s framers and visionaries made by straying from what they intended. For future generations to not question our contribution to the struggle, this piece is a call for us to retrace our steps.

Our agenda is straightforward: we make demands. Demands that several legislations that support women before the house be passed into law. Demand that corporations and businesses advertise their scorecards of tangible, verifiable, measurable, and sustainable actions they have taken to advance gender equality, such as pay equality and transparency, reasonable maternity leave, sexual harassment help lines, creches, sanitary provisions in bathrooms, upskilling, timely promotions, and flexible work schedules. Demand that the government and its agencies adopt and implement women-friendly policies.

Demands advance our cause, guarantee we get results, and enable us to measure our progress. We shall applaud the demands that have been satisfied on the upcoming International Women’s Day, reject corporations and institutions with unmet demands, and denounce those who continue to support displays of tokenism. Women, let us say enough to the flatteries that encourage responsibility escapism.

Florence Ozor @florenceozor

Russia’s dreamy love for Europe turns soar

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

With the current geopolitical developments and the new processes of re-configuration, seriously affecting the landscape of economic cooperation, the basic question many researchers and observers are monitoring is to understand why Russia after the Soviet collapse aspired to transform into an European country. Russia wanted to develop and extend Europe down to the Pacific. In linguistics, phrases appeared in the direction, such as “developing solid economic cooperation from Lisbon to Vladivostok” and transform the entire vast region into European.

On different occasions, Kremlin has held several exclusive interactive meetings with European corporate business people. Those meetings raised various issues of fundamental importance for broadening economic cooperation. Throughout the 2000 to 2010, and at one point, Russian and EU business-people called on the Russian and EU authorities to resolve the issue of Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and begin work on a new basic agreement. President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, took part in the discussions.

Interesting and worthy to note that during his presidency, Dmitry Medvedev sent his greetings to the participants in the second European-Russian Forum held on December 8, 2008. The message read in part: “This big event has an important part to play in resolving issues concerning Russia and Europe. I am sure that this forum will help to bring Russia and Europe closer together and create opportunities for promising new business and humanitarian projects.”

Participants in the forum, which took place in Brussels, included associations of Russians living abroad, Russian public organisations, and also representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council. The forum’s theme was ‘The European Union and Russia: New Challenges’.

As far back on November 24, 2006, President Vladimir Putin and the European Union leadership held an extensive meeting with participation of the members of the RussiaEU Business Cooperation Council. Taking part in the meeting with Russian and EU business community leaders were Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, and Javier Solana, secretary general of the EU Council and EU high representative for the common foreign and security policy.

The meeting between Putin, the European Union leadership and the business leaders took place behind closed doors just before the start of the Russia-European Union summit. The Russia-EU Business Cooperation Council was created in October 2005 and brings together the Russian and EU business leaders most interested in developing economic relations between Russia and the EU.

The Business Cooperation Council acts as a coordinator for practical action to develop new forms and vectors for cooperation between Russian and European businesspeople. The Council sets the objective of ensuring that the business community plays an active part in work to draft a new basic agreement between Russia and the European Union to replace the current partnership and cooperation agreement that expired in 2007.

The Council is responsible for coordinating work by industry and business associations to implement the project for creating a common economic space between Russia and the EU and advancing major forward-looking projects that can have a considerable impact on the structure and level of economic relations between Russia and the European Union.

Projects of this kind include cooperation in the energy sector, joint operation of satellite communications and navigation systems and the formation of mechanisms for cooperating in sectors such as aviation, car making, metals production, energy and machine building.

The Business Cooperation Council is a ‘union of equals’ and has no strong link to any one organisation. The principles on which the Council is formed enable it to expand and involve interested parties in its work. At that time, the Council was co-chaired by Anatoly Chubais, chairman of the board of RAO Unified Energy Systems, for Russia, and by Jukka Harmala, head of Finnish company Stora Enso, for Finland.

Back in 2015, Vladimir Putin took part in the plenary session of the Delovaya Rossiya celebrating the 10th year Russian Entrepreneurs’ Day, praised European business presence in the Russian Federation.

Precisely that year on May 26, Putin said “Entrepreneurship has come to be considered one of the most important factors of Russia’s confident development. We clearly need to ensure the influx of the largest possible number of self-motivated business-minded people to production companies, people who are ready to take on responsibility for both the work of their companies and their employees. Society and the state are interested in the appearance of a large number of successful, promising foreign companies. Their creation will become a worthy

response to the challenges that are currently facing the Russian economy.”

Nevertheless, it would be important to note that during these years both Medvedev and Putin spoke at the plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. In these platform, Medvedev and Putin have paid special focus on European businesses compared to Asian counterparts. In fact, Africa was completely not known those earliest formative years of SPIEF.

Not long ago on June 17, 2016, Putin at the plenary session of the 20th St Petersburg International Economic Forum emphasized that the platform served as a venue for discussing strategic issues. In his views on Russia in the changing world, he explained the systemic problems that are besetting the global economy and practically all countries.

According to him, the world’s leading economies are looking for sources of growth, and they are looking to capitalise on the enormous existing and growing potential of digital and industrial technologies, robotics, energy, biotechnology, medicine and other fields. Discoveries in these areas can lead to true technological revolutions, to an explosive growth of labour productivity. This is already happening and will happen inevitably; there is impending restructuring of entire industries, the devaluation of many facilities and assets. This will alter the demand for skills and competencies, and competition will escalate in both traditional and emerging markets.

Putin underlined the fact that it was necessary to proceed from a network of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that envisage a varying pace, extent and level of interaction and the extent of market openness, depending on specific national economies’ readiness for teamwork, with understandings on joint research, educational and high-tech projects. All these agreements should be futureoriented and provide the basis for harmonious joint development resting on equal and effective cooperation.

“As early as June we, along with our Chinese colleagues, are planning to start official talks on the formation of comprehensive trade and economic partnership in Eurasia with the participation of the European Union states and China. I expect that this will become one of the first steps toward the formation of a major Eurasian partnership. We will certainly resume the discussion of this major project at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in early September. Colleagues, I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you to take part in it,” he said at the forum.

Kestér Kenn Klomegâh is an Int’l Affairs Analyst.

Issues on national burner for the In-coming President

By Abu, I. Michael

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election. Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu is the President-elect according to the declaration made by the Chairman of the country’s electoral body, Professor Mahmood Yakubu at the early hour of Wednesday, March 1, 2023 after a counting process that lasted nearly 5 days. According to the pronouncement, he polled the highest number of votes ahead of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku (PDP); former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi (LP) and one time Speaker of the House of Representatives, former Minister, and Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (NNPP) who were the major contestants.

I am not oblivious of some of the hecklings being thrown on INEC over alleged riggings; the cases are for the courts to decide hence some of the contestants who alleged foul play by some officials of INEC have affirmed their intentions to seek redress in the courts. This is a welcome development hence it is part of the democratic principles put in place in addressing electoral disagreements; it is better than toeing the path of violence that will do damage to all of us and the country.

However, by my personal analysis, the votes cast so far reflected the will of the people beyond primordial sentiments, religion and tribal bigotry. The government can build a strong foundation on this to evolve an all-inclusive sociopolitical culture in order to further advance our democracy and boost our ego at regional and international domains.

As a democrat and visionary leader, the President-elect, Senator Tinubu has in sagely mien extended an olive branch to his co-contenders, and this for me is a sign for a rebuilding

process that demands the participation of all Nigerians; we cannot afford to shy away from this handshake as fellow citizens. After all, we are still one, members, of the great union called Nigeria. We are duty-bound to work for her good and therefore we must see whatever discordant as that of the teeth and the tongue, both occupants of the same mouth.

Some persons have called on the President-elect to form a Government of National Unity (GNU); conversely, some others especially of the ruling APC rejected this. For me, every step taken for healing process, rebuilding of our democratic system and reuniting the people is chiefly and upmost of options because what is paramount for us as a people is peace; and peace is inevitable to effective governance and advancement of our socioeconomic development.

I am aware that election of this magnitude generate serious emotions and thus seen as sacred; and its sanctity must therefore be preserved by every relevant institution and authority in order not to obliterate its legitimacy. Election is a social battle, and the bitterness that supervened must not last to the evening otherwise it becomes poisonous. Further to this, I have 2 appeals to make: the aggrieved contestants and their supporters in their quest for amends of alleged impairment on the election must not forget that they are also in the boat with the INEC-declared winner and his followers, and the winner and his supporters must exhibit a high sense of maturity in their celebrations, comments and reactions not to fuel the ember. None is immune to the devastation of violence directly or indirectly, therefore, we must guard against its despicability.

On his part, the President-elect must see himself first and foremost as a father and leader of all Nigerians irrespective of party affiliation, religious and ethnic inclinations. The

political parties only provide platforms for contestants and if you like, help to define the activities of elections, once elected, the interest of the president becomes national and for common good. He must for these reasons among others use the privileges available to his office to build bridges across the length and breadth of the country for the promotion of national unity. Ask me, I will suggest that there is the urgent need to convene a National Conference on Peace to deactivate our national life of ethno-religious and primitive sentiments that have polarize the country, and each day pulling the people away from one another. Side by side with the efforts toward etching peace in our national life is the need to take a good sweep at our security architecture in order to develop a structure with maximum use of geospatial technologies for a robust security system.

It is not out of place to also advocate that on assumption of office, the president should ensure that political positions and other public offices reflect various shades and the geopolitical zones of the country in a way that will douse the unnecessary tension and sense of insecurity that is renting our political atmosphere. People from every part of the country will also have a sense of belonging and warrant participatory in the governance; this is apt to discourage apathy in the system especially when it comes to government’s policies and programmes that demand the cooperative and support of every Nigerian.

To succeed, the President of Nigeria must shun bigotry, avoid ally whose advice is biased, self-centered as against national unity, sociopolitical reconstruction and sustainable development.

Michael is the Head of Press and Public Relations, Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation

International Women’s Day: Remembering women victims of witch persecution in Africa

By Leo Igwe

On March 8, the world marked international women’s day. On this day, there was a reenactment of the achievements and contributions of women, a remembrance of the challenges that women faced, and a focus on gender equality, and human rights, including violence and abuse against women. But as in past celebrations of the event, there was an omission, and a failure to remember a set of women, mainly African women. A category of women did not get attention or recognition. These women, forgotten and overlooked, were barely mentioned or referenced. These were women sufferers of witch persecution. These were women who languished and still languish behind a wall of silence, forgetfulness, prejudice, and patriarchy.

To mark this year’s International women’s day, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) draws attention to African women victims of witchcraft accusations. We remember the case of Mary Njoki and Jane Wambui from Muranga county in Kenya. Both women were attacked, beaten, and subsequently, lynched in February for witchcraft. No arrest has been made. This tragic incident was attributed to lapses in security. As in many cases of witch persecution, nobody would be held accountable. The perpetrators would likely not be brought to justice. We remember other women who have suffered similar fate and violence, other women victims of a miscarriage of justice, witch bloodletting and misogyny.

We also remember the case of Nwasude from Nigeria. Recently an advocate made a post on Facebook recalling her persecution which took place in Delta state decades ago. In her case, a family member was declared missing and she was accused of being responsible. A local witch hunter, Titi Ugegbe, divined stating that she was a witch, and the one responsible for the disappearance of this relative. A local mob abducted and took her to a village square in Ishieke. They tortured and humiliated her. They forced her to seat on a stool under an orange tree. Recalling the incident, an advocate who, as a child, witnessed this maltreatment noted in a post that she could feel the pain in the heart of Nwansude and the innocence in her tears: “No privilege of fair hearing was given to her. She dared not plead to be guiltless, or she would be stoned to death. The magic mirror of Titi Ugegbe’ the Isheagu-born witch doctor, could not tell lies. All they wanted to hear was a narrative on how she and her cohorts killed the boy with their evil powers”. The mob forced her to confess and admit guilt. As the advocate stated: “Isieke became a center of attraction. The crowd increased

by the day as the news went around. She was brought out every morning to face daily tortures. I wondered if she slept there under the tree or if she was taken inside the house at night. She was wooed, jeered, and beaten by the youths until she started ‘confessing’. I heard she acknowledged being a witch. They also said she admitted to killing the boy. Me, I didn’t hear her speak, nor did I see her open her mouth. I only saw her mumbling with her closed lips like a praying Imam”.

The narrator recounted how this trial of Nwansude spiraled into torture and persecution of other suspected witches in the community: “She was beaten black and blue by the youths without any regard or respect for her age. They cared not one bit about her ailing health as they lashed out their anger at her. Strained and exhausted from the inflicted pains and endless wait for help, she struggled to stand up from the stool where she was seated. And as she managed to walk a few steps further, a sudden excitement stirred amidst the crowd. “She is taking us to the homes of her partners in crime”.They screamed”. The mob followed her and that was how other vulnerable women fell victim: “The crowd followed behind as she counted and threw her crooked steps ahead of her. Instantly and unexpectedly, some youths among the crowd moved ahead, dashed into a house, and dragged a woman out. She didn’t point at the house, and neither did she mention any name. They only acted on a previous rumor and took advantage of her vulnerable condition. My people, that very day, I witnessed a vicious oppression of the defenseless, the poor, and the childless. With my naive mind, I began to view the aforementioned as the attributes of witchcraft. “Onyebulu ogbei, orbulu amosu” (If you become a poor person you become a witch). This narrator further stated: “It didn’t end that day, They went into other homes to fish out other women. Those who were lucky to have nephews and nieces who stood by their side were safe. Others whose relatives had already sold out were made to dance to the music. Daily, they were brought out to eat ignominy and excrete shame. Brutalized by their own kinsmen and family members without brotherly feelings and human sympathy. Indeed I saw the thickness of blood reduced below the opacity of water”. Nwansude tried seeking refuge at her maternal home. But her relatives rejected her. Fortunately, a local catholic priest intervened and provided her a shelter where she spent the rest of her life. As this advocate noted: “Misfortunes happen everywhere, but when it happened inside Isieke, it would be tagged the “handiwork’ of witches”. The AfAW urges Africans to take the opportunity of International women’s day to remember

the likes of Mary, Jane, and Nwansude, and so many innocent women who have been attacked, tortured, lynched, or banished for witchcraft in different countries.

The narrator recounted how this trial of Nwansude spiraled into torture and persecution of other suspected witches in the community: “She was beaten black and blue by the youths without any regard or respect for her age. They cared not one bit about her ailing health as they lashed out their anger at her. Strained and exhausted from the inflicted pains and endless wait for help, she struggled to stand up from the stool where she was seated. And as she managed to walk a few steps further, a sudden excitement stirred amidst the crowd. “She is taking us to the homes of her partners in crime”. They screamed”. The mob followed her and that was how other vulnerable women fell victim: “The crowd followed behind as she counted and threw her crooked steps ahead of her. Instantly and unexpectedly, some youths among the crowd moved ahead, dashed into a house, and dragged a woman out. She didn’t point at the house, and neither did she mention any name. They only acted on a previous rumor and took advantage of her vulnerable condition. My people, that very day, I witnessed a vicious oppression of the defenseless, the poor, and the childless. With my naive mind, I began to view the aforementioned as the attributes of witchcraft. “Onyebulu ogbei, orbulu amosu” (If you become a poor person you become a witch). This narrator further stated: “It didn’t end that day, They went into other homes to fish out other women. Those who were lucky to have nephews and nieces who stood by their side were safe. Others whose relatives had already sold out were made to dance to the music. Daily, they were brought out to eat ignominy and excrete shame. Brutalized by their own kinsmen and family members without brotherly feelings and human sympathy. Indeed I saw the thickness of blood reduced below the opacity of water”. Nwansude tried seeking refuge at her maternal home. But her relatives rejected her. Fortunately, a local catholic priest intervened and provided her a shelter where she spent the rest of her life. As this advocate noted: “Misfortunes happen everywhere, but when it happened inside Isieke, it would be tagged the “handiwork’ of witches”. The AfAW urges Africans to take the opportunity of International women’s day to remember the likes of Mary, Jane, and Nwansude, and so many innocent women who have been attacked, tortured, lynched, or banished for witchcraft in different countries.

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches

Group urges Buhari to sanitise judicial system

The Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sanitise the judiciary by removing corrupt judges reinstated by the National Judicial Council.

This is contained in a statement by CSNAC Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, on Sunday in Lagos.

Suraju said that the reinstatement of Justices Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, James Agbadu-Fishim and Nasir Yinusa was a sabotage on the war against corruption in the judicial system.

He said that Ofili-Ajumogobia was arrested and investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corrupt practices and abuse of office.

“The President approved her

Minna residents lament incessant youth attacks on communities

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

Residents of Minna

metropolis and environs have lamented over the incessant attacks by the youths on the people and communities, leaving many injured and property destroyed.

Youths in their groups have continued to unleash havoc on the innocent citizens in various streets of Minna.

Areas affected included; Barkin Sale to Kpakungu, Stadium road, Limawa and Mobile roundabout among others.

Reports revealed that due to the current attacks many people were injured, maimed, harassed and intimidated while property were destroyed.

According to findings, the well coordinated youth groups who are identified as political thugs usually came out for operations without the required counter attack from the security operatives appropriately.

When contacted, the Niger State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Wasiu Abiodun said the four of the youths have been arrested in two locations of Morris and Stadium road in connection with the attacks, adding that police personnel have been deployed to the identified black spot areas in curbing the menace in Minna and environs.

dismissal from public service, but the National Judicial Council reportedly reinstated her as a Judge of the Federal High Court despite her dismissal not being overturned by any court in Nigeria.

“Similarly, the National Judicial Council also reinstated Justice Agbadu-Fishim as a judge despite his arrest and investigation by the EFCC for alleged corruption and subversion of justice.

“The National Judicial Council had recommended his

dismissal to the President for judicial misconduct, but later decided to reinstate him as a judge of the Council.

“Despite previously indicting him for gross misconduct and recommending his retirement to the President, the Council had placed Justice Nasir Yinusa on suspension, pending the approval of the recommendation, but surprised many by reinstating him,” the statement said.

According to the coalition, the Judicial Council has no legal right to reinstate judges who

were previously indicted for misconduct.

The coalition added that the Council had overstepped its bounds by ignoring the recommendations to retire the judges, but rather proceeded with their reinstatement.

“The President is required by law to accept or reject the recommendations made by the Council, and that the Council does not have the power to unilaterally reinstate judges who have been indicted for misconduct,” Suraju said.

He noted that the coalition had written to the President to approve the retirement of Justice Nasir Yinusa on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council and direct the Council to reverse the illegal reinstatement of Mrs Rita OfiliAjumogobia and Mr. James Agbadu-Fishim as judicial officers in Nigeria.

He added that copies of the letters were sent to the Vice President and Attorney General of the Federation. (NAN)

Women commissioner bags Gov Sule for second term bid

From Gambo Ahmed, Lafia

Nasarawa State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development Hajiya

Aisha Ruffai lbrahim has drummed support for the re election of Governor Abdullahi

Sule for the second term in office, calling on women and eligible electorates in the state to vote for him massively.

Aisha who made the call while speaking in an interview with newsmen on the re election of Governor Sule in lafia, adding that governor Sule deserves

second term because of his tremendous contributions to the upliftment of women through empowerment as well as other infrastructural development on ground.

She added that Governor Sule has identified with women in his administration through

various political appointments to women compared to other governors in the country, hence the need for women and electorates generally to support him for continuity in order to achieve more democratic dividends in the state.

APC, Senator-Elect Abdulaziz Yari; Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and Orji Uzor Kalu, during the Presidentelect meeting with the Senators-Elect, and member-elect, held at State House Conference center in Abuja yesterday

FCCPC wants hospitals, health stakeholders to strengthen patients care regulation

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has emphasised the need for hospitals and stakeholders in the health sector to strengthen their patients’ care regulation.

The Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC, Mr Babatunde Irukera said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

Irukera was reacting to the verdict of a Corona inquest into the death of a Lagos-based chef, Mrs Adepeju Ugboma, after undergoing hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) at Premier Medical Centre, Lekki, Lagos State.

Irukera welcomed the verdict of the Coroner in the case given by Chief Magistrate Mukaila Fadeyi on March 9.

He said the Commission upon the death of Ugboma, opened an investigation with the expectation that consumer protection issues associated with standard of care would be addressed.

“The coroner’s conclusion that Premier failed to exercise due diligence prior to the procedure from a corporate responsibility standpoint shows the importance of FCCPC’s role in this case and other medical case.

“It also emphasised infringed Rights 11 of the FCCPC’s Patients’ Bill of Rights (PBoR).

“The PBoR 11 reiterates the right to quality care in accordance with prevailing standards and other provisions of the FCCPA.”

According to Irukera, the conclusion that Premier failed in the duty of care it owned to a patient underscores the role and

need for strengthening patient care regulation.

“This is in addition to and apart from individual practitioner professional regulation.

“The FCCPC is grateful to Lagos State and the coroner in this case, and other parties to the inquest such as Evercare Hospital for the commitment demonstrated through this process,” he said.

NAN reports that the Chief Magistrate in his verdict, said that Ugboma’s surgery lacked due diligence on the part of the physicians who performed it.

Fadeyi said that autopsy carried out on her revealed that the deceased died from massive inter-abdominal bleeding, as 500ml of blood and 900ml of clotted blood were found in her abdomen.

He said that the deceased’s

medical history was poorly documented, adding that doctors of Premier Medical Centre failed to involve appropriate surgeons.

According to him, absence of vital machines and unwillingness of the doctors to address the issues immediately after surgery were questionable.

NAN reports that Ugboma died on April 25, 2021, in a bid to remove fibroids.

The surgery was done on April 23, 2021, at the Premier before being transferred to Evercare Hospital due to complications from the surgery but was pronounced dead shortly after.

NAN reports that FCCPC had set up a panel of public enquiry to probe the death of Ugboma while the corona was set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate the case. (NAN)

Obi pledges 100% support for candidates of labour party nationwide

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi said on Monday that his support for Labour Party governorship and National Assembly candidates for Saturday’s election is total and 100%.

Obi who spoke in answer to a question at Arise Television Program said emphatically that all Labour Candidates who got the ticket through the normal process enjoy his total commitment and support and he is urging the people to vote for them on Saturday.

He mentioned in particular states like Enugu(Hon. Chijioke Edeoga), Lagos (Gbadebo Patrick RhodesVivour ), Abia Alex Otti, Delta (Deacon Ken Pela), Kaduna, (Johnathan Asake) Plateau (Dr. Sunday Patrick Dakum) among others whom he is urging Obidients in these states to give them maximum support on Saturday because with them a foundation for a new Nigeria of our dream will be realized.

The LP flag bearer also disclosed that in some states where Labour Party has no flag bearer, the Obidient should identify and vote for competent persons in other parties who have character and capacity and who share in the aspiration of a new Nigeria.

He said that there are still some Nigerians in other political parties who believe in the Obidient aspirations, pointing out that such people should be fished where we have no candidate and vote for them.

Battle for 10th Reps Speaker toughens as Gagdi, Kalu, Babajimi join race

By Christiana Ekpa

The battle over who emerges the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives is getting tougher and more competitive as there are feelers that the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Gagdi has joined the race to emerge the principal Presiding officer of the Green Chamber.

Peoples Daily gathered that, Rt. Hon. Gagdi, a member representing Pankshin/Kanke/ Kanam Federal Constituency of Plateau State could stand a better chance for the race if Zone to the North Central, as there are hits that the All Progressive Party (APC) leader and the President Elect, will give him their Support over other Candidates from the zone.

Gagdi, a Deputy Speaker of his State House of Assembly before winning the election into the 9th Assembly,

it was gathered has done a lot of consultation with those that matter that matters among the ranking member of the Present Assembly.

Some of the previous offices held by Rt. Hon. Gagdi include; Legislative Aide to Deputy

Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly between 2003 and 2006; Member of Plateau State Library Board 2012- 2014 and Chairman of Federal Board, Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority (LBRBDA Makurdi 2012 – 2014.

The astute parliamentarian also served as Chairman of Special Committee on peace, security and reconciliation Plateau State 2015; Chairman Special Committee on Peace, Security and Reconciliation Plateau State 2018; as well as Financial Secretary of PDP Plateau State 2012 – 2014.

Also the Speakership Position race is Hon. Benjamin Kalu (APC, Abia)

If the party leadership in a bid to pacify the Igbos having missed out from the presidential contest, zones the speaker or deputy speaker position to the South-east, most likely to declare interest is the House Spokesman, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.

Kalu (APC, Abia) who won his second term reelection bid is representing Bende Federal Constituency. In 2019 he was appointed Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs and official spokesperson of the Ninth House by the Speaker, Hon. Femi

Gbajabiamila.

As Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, he launched the first ever magazine publication of the Assembly called, “The Green Chamber Magazine”, which according to him would be a tool of transparency for reporting all activities of the House.

In the past three years, his innovative approach towards legislative activities through bills and motions has ranked him as one of the top 10 members of the House by bill sponsorship. He also attracted various projects to his Bende constituency including road rehabilitation, construction and rehabilitation of schools and medical centres, and distribution of educational material.

Hon. Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) who represents Ikorodu federal constituency, is among the ranking lawmakers that will likely declare interest to contest for speakership if it’s zoned to Southwest.

The lawmaker who won his third term reelection bid, served in several key committees of the House in the 8th and 9th Assembly. These include Chairman, House Committee on

Banking and Finance, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Habitat, Deputy Chairman, Committee on Delegated Legislation and member of Committees on Works, Justice, Housing, Environment, Treaties and Protocol.

He currently chairs the House Committee on Defence, and have through bills and motions canvassed ways to aid the security agents in carrying out their duties more efficiently and effectively in the fight against insecurity. One of such efforts towards enhancing defence capabilities, led him to sponsoring a Bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Armed Forces Support Fund.

He’s a known supporter of President elect Bola Tinubu and campaigned massively for him.

Another top contender if the position is zoned to Northwest is Hon. Aminu Jaji from Zamfara State. He was the Chairman, House Committee on Intelligence and National Security in the 8th assembly.

Jaji who was also a governorship aspirant in 2019 in Zamfara was also the Director of Contact and Mobilisation for the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council for the North West zone.

Borno guber: LP candidate accuses Gov Zulum of making unhealthy utterances

By Ochiaka Ugwu

The gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party in Borno State, Cpt Ibrahim Mishelia had accused the executive governor of Borno State and the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship candidate in the forthcoming March18 Gubernatorial election in the state of making unhealthy campaign utterances capable of disturbing the peaceful ambiance of the state.

Mishelia in a press conference addressed in Abuja Monday stated that during his (Zulum) campaign in Biu, Southern Borno, which happens to be his senatorial zone, the governor was publicly inciting the citizens

to take to violence should the APC candidates lose at the polls.

While strongly condemning the unhealthy utterances, he noted that it was capable of breeding unimaginable consequences and a governor should not be seen to promote election violence.

His words, “I am peace loving and I have been running my campaigns based on real issues and not issuing threats to opposition parties like the governor has done.

“The clandestine agenda of some agents of political instability have perfected plans to turn the forth coming elections to a battle field and are just waiting to unleash violence. They think, this

is the only way to railroad themselves into victory. They must be stopped.

“We have gathered on good authority that, having received the shock of their lives in the last elections wherein the people expressed their discontent with the lingering shenanigans in governance, through their votes.

“As law abiding citizens, we have decided not to lock horns with the rejected and the desperate but rather walk the path of peace to assured victory.

“We therefore call the attention of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mohammadu Buhari, and all the relevant security agencies to ensure

Capt Ibrahim Mishelia

the full protection of lives and property in the coming elections by ensuring that there is a credible election, devoid of manipulations and violence” he concluded.

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Ten days to the expiration of the legally allowed timeline to file a petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal over the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, lawyers to Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have warned that the continued refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow it access to election materials stored on the BVAS

Ahead guber election, four PDP chieftains dump party in Ondo

Aformer Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in the 2020 Ondo State governorship race, Banji Okunomo, has dumped the party.

Okunomo’s resignation from the PDP was via a letter dated March 13, sent to the party’s chairman at his Etikan Ward in Ilaje Local Government Area.

In the letter made available to newsmen on Monday in Okitipupa, the governorship aspirant said: “With effect from March 13, I wish to notify the party of voluntary resignation of my membership.”

Also, Mr Solomon Bitire, a former Caretaker Chairman, Okitipupa LGA in the state, also resigned his membership from PDP in a letter dated March 13 addressed to his Ward Chairman in his Ayeka/ Igbodigo/Erinje Ward.

Other members of the party and the 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Jossy Eganosi-Ehinmore and Mr Francis Malo-Olorunwa, also tendered their letters of resignation at their Ugbo Ward I in Ilaje LGA.

In a separate telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, both Okunomo and Bitire confirmed their resignation from the party in Ondo South.

They also said that their next line of action and the party they were migrating to would be communicated at the appropriate time to their supporters and the press.

(NAN)

BVAS/IREV inspection: Obi lawyers warn INEC of calamity over server access denia

and IREV may lead to a national calamity.

The lawyers led by Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), also said that “not making the documents available will create the impression that INEC is deliberately frustrating us. That’s just the impression it will create to make sure that we cannot prosecute this petition”.

LP had engaged the services of at least 20 senior advocates of Nigeria to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election on behalf of its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

In a meeting with the INEC Chairman, Yakub Mahmood, at the Commission’s headquarters

in Abuja, on Monday, Uzoukwu lamented that the legal team is yet to receive “any electoral stocks for inspection on behalf of our clients, and as you all know, election petitions are time sensitive.

“We have 21 days to file a petition on behalf of our clients. Out of those 21 days we probably have about 10 days to go and up till now we have not received any documents.

Addressing the group, the INEC Chairman, Yakub Mahmood, disclosed that the commission was served a letter by Peter Obi’s lawyers requesting it “to get in touch with our resident electoral commissioners across the 37 states of the Federation

to make the documents and information available for the prosecution of their petition”.

He said that the umpire has therefore scheduled a virtual meeting with its Resident Commissioners at 3pm on Monday where it will “discuss among other issues, this matter of providing CTCs not only to the Labour Party, but to all other litigants as well.”

He also assured the guests that INEC “would not hide any document from anybody and will make available any document that they have requested.

“There are two categories of documents: those that are in possession of the headquarters of INEC will easily make these

documents available to you. Specifically the EC8Ds from the states and the ECD A, which is the collation at the national collection centre by the commission itself.

“The EC8E, the declaration, so many a total of I think 39 documents, this we can easily certify and give you almost immediately.

“As for other documents that we are asking for they are at state level, so we need to work out the schedule so that we know when your team is going to which state and On which date so that we can easily facilitate not just certification of documents, but also the inspection that you requested for each of these documents.

Sanwo-Olu took Lagosians for granted – Kenneth Okonkwo

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Famous Nollywood Actor, Kenneth Okonkwo has alleged that the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is seeking reelection on March 18 took the people of the state for granted by ignoring gubernatorial debate.

Okonkwo, who was a spokesperson for the Obi/ Datti Campaign Council in the just concluded presidential election, stated this in tweets on Monday.

According to him, prior to the presidential election, Sanwo-Olu had believed power comes “from Bourdilion.”

The actor who called on

Lagos residents to vote for the Labour Party candidate, Gbadebo Chinedu RhodesVivour for better governance, said it is time to liberate the state from “bullion van instigated democracy.”

He wrote: “Sanwo-Olu was too big to join other contestants in Lagos State gubernatorial debate. He took

Lagosians for granted because he thought that power comes from Bourdilion.

“He will learn on March 18 that power comes from the people. His recent voluntary humility of visiting every nook and cranny of Lagos to solicit for support must be disregarded as an exercise in hypocrisy.

Anambra South belongs to YPP – Reps candidate, Uzokwe

By Christiana Ekpa

Candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) for NnewiNorth, South and Ekwusigo federal constituency in the just concluded February 25th National Assembly elections, Amb. Uzokwe Peter Ifeanyi, says the entire Anambra-South senatorial district is strictly for the Young Progressive Party (YPP).

Uzokwe who stated this during an exclusive interview with journàlists in Awka, maintained that there is nothing the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, Labour party or other political parties can do about it because the south senatorial zone is the stronghold of the Young Progressive Party.

Uzokwe who is the immediate past PresidentGeneral of Ozubulu, in Ekwusigo local government area of Anambra state, said the Senator representing Anambra South

currently in the Senate and Senator-elect Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Uba is of the Young Progressive Party.

He said it is not only an assertion but a reality on ground that YPP is in charge in AnambraSouth senatorial district and that the party and its members are determined to deliver all the House of Assembly candidates of YPP in the zone come 18th March, 2023.

He said already, YPP has a House of Representatives member-elect for OrumbaNorth and South in the person of Hon. Princess Chinwe Nnabuife, adding that he won the election for Nnewi-North, South and Ekwusigo federal constituency, but it was rigged; hence he is heading to court to recover his stolen mandate.

Uzokwe, in the interview revealed that March 18th will indeed be a turning point in the political history of Anambra state because he believes YPP will return her candidates to the

House of Assembly.

He also disclosed that Hon. Uchenna Okafor who contested Oyi/Ayamelum federal constituency election on the platform of the Young Progressive Party is already in court to recover his own mandate, stressing that YPP and Labour party are about taking over Anambra state and according to him, there is absolutely nothing APGA or other political parties can do about it.

Uzokwe said, ” After March 18th, YPP is taking over Nnewi-South constituencies one and two. Of course, we have a member in the House of Assembly already, Hon. Johnbosco Akaegbobi who decamped from PDP to YPP.

It is only in Anambra-South that Peter Obi’s Labour party couldn’t penetrate. How can anyone say Anambra is APGA when they don’t even have one senator ? Sen. Ifeanyi Uba, Uche Ekwunife and Stella Oduah are

in the 9th Senate but APGA has none.

I am one of the founding fathers of APGA and I brought APGA to Ekwusigo local government area. They are just making noise. After all, Soludo is not a member of APGA. He was drafted in to come and contest for the position he is occupying now like Obiano did too.

So APGA has always been fond of bringing people to come and vy for Governorship position on its platform. I repeat, Anambra-south is YPP and YPP alone.

By the grace of God, I will get my stolen mandate back because during the election, cultists were unleashed on my ward, Ozubulu ward 3 and the election was stupendously rigged in favour of the APGA candidate. In Ozubulu ward 5, whoever voted for YPP was beaten blue and black.

They chased away all YPP agents and started showing people where to thumb print. Is that election ? “

18th March:

•As Yakubu tells legal team to interface with relevant departments

Presidential, NASS polls: Imo PDP saboteurs did anti party –Anyanwu

By Musa Baba Adamu

National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu on Monday expressed displeasure over the existence of saboteurs in the party in Imo State, adding that all their efforts are tailored towards the liquidation of PDP in the state.

Anyanwu said the primary objective of the alleged saboteurs during the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections was to starve the party and its members of funds earlier approved and released as election intervention funds.

The PDP scribe stated this in a statement, signed by the Special Adviser (Media) to the National Secretary of PDP, Ikenna Onuoha, made available to journàlists in Owerri, Imo State capital.

He regretted that all entreaties, appeals and convictions to release the funds approved to appropriate authorities in line with the national template to enable them to deliver candidates of the party were flagrantly ignored, noting that the ulterior motive of the saboteurs was to frustrate PDP by ensuring that its candidates lose the election.

According to him: “After hijacking the election intervention funds released to the party in Imo State, some of the saboteurs turned against candidates of PDP and played anti-party [politics] in order to justify the deal they had with leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

The PDP national scribe, therefore, called on the party’s candidates and other aggrieved members who were betrayed by saboteurs to remain calm, assuring that all legal means shall be utilized to bring those directly and indirectly involved to book.

Osun Guber: Oyetola, APC insist on Adeleke’s disqualification for forgery

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved judgement in the appeal filed by Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the judgement of the tribunal declaring Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the valid winner of the July 16, 2022 governorship election.

This is even as Oyetola and the APC prayed the appellate court to hold that Governor Ademola Adeleke was unfit to run for the office of the governor, having established a forgery case against him by the Tribunal.

The panel, led by Justice Muhammed Lawal Shuaibu reserved the judgement on Monday after taking arguments from counsel to Adeleke, PDP and INEC, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, Alex Izinyon, SAN and Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN respectively and counsel for Oyetola and the APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.

In all, the court listened to four different appeals, including the cross appeal filed by Oyetola and the APC.

Arguing the cross appeal, counsel for Oyetola, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN) noted that the tribunal erred in law when it held that Adeleke was qualified to contest for the election, even after being found to have submitted a forged certificate. To this end, it prayed the Appeal court to hold that Governor Adeleke was not qualified to stand for the election in the first instance.

Counsel for the appellants

had argued that the failure of the tribunal member 2, Chief Magistrate Basiru Rabi to make pronouncement as regards the lead judgement other than signing it render the decision nullity.

Justice Shuaib at this point challenged the Adeleke’s counsel to explain the interpretation of the Chief Magistrate Rabi’s signature on the judgement and the use of “we” in the majority judgement. But Ikpeazu insisted that signing of the judgement was not enough.

On the issue of BVAS report upon which Oyetola challenged the election, they argued that assuming the tribunal had found that there was over-voting as shown on the report, it should have applied the principle of the Margin of Lead and order a rerun election in the affected polling units.

The INEC counsel also in his arguments admitted that the INEC witness indeed admitted overvoting on the polling units upon which she was cross-examined, but it was not enough to nullify the election.

In response to the arguments of the appellants, counsel for Oyetola, Fagbemi, SAN said, there was confusion among the appellants’ submissions, as they had produced three different BVAS reports, which justified the position of the tribunal that there was indeed over-voting in that election.

“INEC claimed there were over-voting in over 1, 000 polling units, the implication is that the 744 polling units we challenged fall within the said over 1,000 polling

units. We are only concerned about 744 polling units and we built our case around those areas. They can keep the rest, we concentrated on what we need,” Fagbemi added.

He argued further that the issuance of another BVAS report and production of BVAS machines in court after a petition had been filed based on the earlier BVAS report issued to the respondents (Oyetola and APC) was nothing but an afterthought.

According to him, though the INEC produced the BVAS machine and the boxes containing the machines were opened, but the machines were never operated to authenticate the claims made by the so called expert, who was hired by the first appellant (Adeleke).

Fagbemi, SAN, further submitted that since the said report from the inspection of the

BVAS machine did not emanate from INEC, which conducted the election, the first appellant who was the beneficiary of the return made by INEC, cannot come up with a report other than that of INEC.

He said the respondents (Oyetola and APC) who were the Petitioners at the tribunal had proven over-voting and the tribunal was right to have so held.

On the issue of application of Margin of Lead being canvassed by the appellants, Fagbemi averred that the they did not make any pleading to that effect, and no evidence was led on specific polling units.

In the cross-appeal filed by Oyetola and the APC on the forged certificate by Adeleke, Olujinmi argued that since the tribunal had found that he forged the certificate he ought to have been disqualified from contesting the election.

He said that the document tendered which the tribunal relied on to found him qualified for the election were documentary hearsay that could not be relied upon.

He argued that the judgement of the Court of Appeal relied on by the cross-respondent could not exonerate Adeleke as the arguments canvases and evidence tendered in the previous case were not the same with the ones before the tribunal. He, therefore, prayed the court to allow the cross- appeal. After listening to all the arguments of counsel, the panel reserved judgement in all the four appeals, which it noted would be communicated to parties at a later date.

Obasanjo, Abiola got highest votes from S’East – Obi says over attacks on Igbos

By Christiana Ekpa

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, has reacted to the ethnic strife brewing in some states, especially Lagos, following the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections and the upcoming governorship and state assembly polls.

There have been anger and disagreement in Lagos since Obi defeated the All Progressives

Congress, APC, candidate and former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the state.

Peter Obi’s Labour Party and his Obidient movement are also working towards unseating the incumbent Governor of the State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in the March 18 governorship election and for this reason, there appears to be a clash of interest between the Igbo and Yoruba in the state.

Just last week, properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed

following a fire incident alleged to have been orchestrated by suspected political thugs in a market predominantly occupied by Igbo.

Obi recalled that past presidents, such as Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and MKO Abiola, all recorded their highest votes in the SouthEast during their respective elections, insisting that politicians are trying to pit the Yoruba against the Igbo.

The Obidients’ leader said that the ethnic strife is the handiwork of

politicians who are bent on creating trouble where there is none, adding that those who voted for him in Nasarawa, Lagos, Plateau, Abuja and other states where he claimed victory were people from all across the country and not just Igbos.

“People are just trying to hide in what does not exist to cause confusion. There’s no such thing. The vote I got in Lagos State cut across everybody in Lagos. Call it Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas, Ijaws and all the tribes that are resident in Lagos.

I’m the Governor, I can arrest anybody – Abiodun warns Amosun, Adebutu

By Christiana Ekpa

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun

State has boasted that he is still the Chief Security Officer of the state and he can arrest anybody, no matter how highly placed.

Abiodun, who is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), sent a cryptic message to his opponents in the gubernatorial race.

In a veiled reference to former

Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Hon. Ladi Adebutu, Abiodun reminded them that his gentility must not be mistaken for cowardice.

While Amosun has been going about the State to campaign for Biyi Otegbeye of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Adebutu is the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ahead of Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections, Abiodun threatened to order the arrest of anybody

who tries to intimidate his supporters on election day.

The governor told his supporters not to allow anybody to intimidate them, saying he is in charge of governance in the state.

Addressing his supporters at his country home in Iperu-Remo, Ikenne Local Government Area of the state in a short video clip, Abiodun said he could order the arrest of anybody.

Abiodun and Adebutu, his main rival in the governorship race, both hails from

Iperu.

The governor alleged that his opponents have started importing political thugs into the Iperu township ahead of Saturday’s election.

Speaking in Yoruba, he said: “Don’t allow anybody to intimidate you on election day. I am sure you know that I am the governor, I am the governor of this state. I am the Chief Security Officer of this state and I can arrest anybody, anybody!

Adeleke

•As Appeal Court reserves judgement

Old naira notes remain legal tender in Lagos –Sanwo-Olu

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide SanwoOlu, on Monday said the old naira notes remain legal tender in the state.

Sanwo-Olu, in a statement signed by the Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, called on business owners, especially retailers, to accept the old N500 and N1,000 notes in line with the Supreme Court judgement that the currency remains legal tender until December 31, 2023.

Recall that the Supreme Court had invalidated the naira redesign policy initiated by the Federal Government on the grounds that it was not done with due consultation and in line with constitutional provisions.

Consequently, the apex court ordered that the old naira notes shall continue to be used side by side with the new naira notes till December 31, 2023.

In line with the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Lagos State Government also asked all its agencies not to reject the old notes.

The statement read, “The Lagos State Government has noted the hardship sparked by the naira redesign policy, which has affected business and commercial activities. There is no reason to reject the old notes, going by the Supreme Court judgement delivered on March 3, 2023.

“The apex court declared that ‘no reasonable notice was given as required by Section 20(3) of the CBN Act’, noting that the public only became aware of the policy through press remarks, which cannot qualify as a notice to the public.

“The court maintained that the policy has impeded the functions of State governments, pointing out that the directive that stops the use of the old notes is illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.

“I call on business owners, especially retailers, to accept the old N500 and N1,000 notes in line with the Supreme Court judgement that the currency remains legal tender until December 31, 2023. It is illegal to reject the notes.

“All agencies of the Lagos State Government are advised not to reject payments made with the old currency by the public.”

CBN clears air on acceptance of old Naira notes

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria has cleared the air on directing commercial banks to dispense and accept the deposit of old Naira notes amid the raging currency crisis.

Governor Chukwuma

Charles Soludo of Anambra State, who is a former CBN Governor, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finally directed commercial banks to dispense old currency notes and to also receive same as deposits from customers.

The Anambra Governor said tellers at the commercial

banks are to generate the codes for deposits and there is no limit to the number of times an individual or company can make deposits.

Soludo said the CBN Governor gave the directive at a Bankers’ Committee meeting held on Sunday, 12th March, 2023.

Buhari MUST obey Supreme Court ruling on naira redesign

“The Governor, Dr Godwin Emefiele, personally confirmed the above to me during a phone conversation on Sunday night. Residents of Anambra are therefore advised to freely accept and transact

their businesses with the old currency notes (N200; N500; and N1,000) as well as the new notes,” Soludo added.

He called on residents to report any bank that refuses to accept deposits of the old notes.

“Anambra State Government will not only report such a bank to the CBN, but will also immediately shut down the defaulting branch.”

But reacting in a statement on yesterday,Dr Isa Abdulmumin, Acting Director of Corporate Communication CBN, said there is no statement from the apex bank telling commercial banks to dispense

and accept the old N500 and N1000 notes from Nigerians.

He said, “Governor Charles Soludo’s statement emanates from him, not the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Central Bank has not issued any statement directing banks on a collection of old naira notes. I am sure sometime in the future; the bank will issue a statement”.

CBN’s silence 10 days after the Supreme Court ruling validating the old naira notes has continued to unsettle economic stakeholders amid Nigerians’ hardship over the naira crisis.

Despite naira scarcity, e-payment falls to N37.67tn

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

Cashless transactions fell to N37.67tn in February 2023 as Nigerians had to grapple with failed and delayed cash transfers.

This was a 4.83 per cent fall from the N39.58tn that was recorded in January according to new data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System on Monday.

The data revealed that e-payment gateways were used 901.46 million times, a 41.29 per cent increase from the 638 million times they were used in January. Despite an increase in usage, the total value of cashless transactions fell in February,

indicating an increase in the number of failed transactions.

The NIBSS has not updated its efficiency platform portal, which states the number of failed transitions and more, since 2020.

As the major payment switch in the country, the NIBSS records cashless transactions from the Nigeria Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals. In February, the total NIP (instant payments) fell to N36.79tn from N38.772tn in January.

The data from NIBB showed continued patronage of PoS terminals as the value of PoS transactions grew from N807.16bn in January to N883.45bn in February.

Since the Central Bank of Nigeria announced its naira redesign policy and withdrawal limits, in 2022, Nigerians have had to adopt electronic forms of transactions.

While announcing its policy, the apex bank said, “The maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawals across all channels by individuals and corporate organisations shall be N500,000 and N5m respectively.”

It added, “Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (Internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/POS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.”

However, the pressure of

increased electronic payment has overwhelmed the banking sector, leaving many customers stranded. Many bankers have suggested that some of these failures have been because the NIBSS didn’t increase its capacity for the increase in the volume of transactions.

Some experts have also stated that a lot of failing transactions are a result of poor network infrastructure.

The President of the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria, Dr Uju Ogunbunka, recently told journalists that , “You know the banks do not provide network services. Based on what we found out, there was a failure in the network system.”

From Abubakar Y Ojimaojo ABUJA

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) says the Nigerian economy has lost an estimated N20 trillion to the current naira scarcity.

Mada Yusuf, chief executive officer (CEO) of CPPE, spoke on the impact of the naira redesign policy in a Statement shared with Peoples Daily yesterday.

Two weeks ago, the supreme court had invalidated the naira redesign policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over a defective timing and implementation.

A seven-member panel of the apex court held that the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

Peoples Daily had reported that some banks have started dispensing old notes to customers (over the counter and automated teller machines) following the court order.

However, some Nigerians are rejecting the old notes for transactions as they await an official

Naira scarcity: N20trn lost to reduction in economic activities, says CPPE

announcement from the federal government and CBN to determine the next course of action.

There are reports that banks are also refusing to accept deposits of old notes despite the court order.

Speaking on the development, Yusuf said the protracted acute cash scarcity has not only crippled economic activities in the country, but has also become a major risk to the livelihoods of most Nigerians.

“Millions of citizens have slipped into penury and destitution as a result of the disruptions and tribulations perpetrated by the currency redesign policy, especially the mopping up of over 70 percent of cash in the economy. Nigerians have not been this traumatised in recent history,” the statement reads.

“The economy is gradually

grinding to a halt because of the collapse of payment systems across all platforms. Digital platforms are performing sub-optimally because of congestion; physical cash is unavailable because the CBN has sucked away over 70 percent of cash in the economy; and the expected relief from the supreme court judgement has not materialised. The citizens are consequently left in a quandary.

“The banks claimed that the CBN has not officially communicated the supreme court judgement to them for any actions; the President has maintained a worrying muteness on the judgement; the market women and men are waiting to hear from the President Buhari or the CBN governor on the legal tender status of old currency notes.”

Yusuf said there is an apparent reluctance by the federal government and the CBN to comply with the supreme court judgement, saying it is “very disturbing and inexplicable”.

“Meanwhile, Nigerians continue to groan in the adversity inflicted by the acute cash shortage amid rejection of old currency notes by market operators, refusal by banks to accept the old notes, silence by the presidency on the supreme court judgement; and absence of official pronouncement by the CBN on the issue,” he said.

“Retail transactions across sectors have become nerve-wracking and distressing as payment system challenges persist. Since the onset of the cash crisis, the Nigerian economy has lost an estimated N20 trillion.”

The CPPE CEO said these losses

arose from the deceleration of economic activities, the crippling of trading activities, the stifling of the informal economy, contraction in the agricultural sector and the paralysis of the rural economy.

“There are also corresponding job losses in hundreds of thousands,” he added.

“Evidently, president Buhari did not seem to appreciate the gravity and enormity of the suffering and pain that Nigerians have been experiencing since the onset of the currency redesign policy.

“We again plead with the president to immediately intervene to put an end to the devastating and traumatic outcomes of a repressive, poorly conceptualised and badly implemented currency redesign policy.”

Edo refinery orders 150,000 barrels of oil from Oza field to meet demand

From

Abubakar

Yunusa Abuja

The Edo Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited (EPRC) has ordered the supply of 150,000 barrels of crude oil to meet the demand of its growing clientele base.

The Edo state government made this known in a statement by Crusoe Osagie, its special assistant on media projects, on Sunday.

It said the crude would be sourced from the Oza oil field, an onshore conventional field, on dry terrain, in the northwestern part of oil mining lease (OML) 11, approximately 30 kilometres south-west of Port Harcourt which is part of Abia state.

The oil field is operated by Decklar Resources Inc. and Millenium Oil and Gas Company Limited.

“Decklar and Millenium are at an advanced stage of executing a new 150,000 bbls crude oil sale and purchase agreement with ERPC, which is expected to include terms for invoicing and payment after the delivery of each cargo of 10,000 bbls of crude oil,” the Edo government quoted Sanmi Famuyide,

chief executive officer (CEO) of Decklar Resources Inc., as saying.

“We are very pleased that payments for the sale of crude oil from the Oza field continue to be received.

“Deliveries to ERPC in Edo state are ongoing on a consistent basis, and the anticipated doubling of the contracted truck fleet is expected to enable the

company and our co-venturer, Millenium, to increase the volume and consistency of deliveries of oil to market.

“The additional trucking capacity is also expected to create opportunities for additional delivery of crude oil to other potential customers in the near term.”

The Edo refinery is a 6,000 barrels of oil per day modular

refinery located in the IkpobaOkha local government area of the state.

It was constructed by two Chinese firms: AIPCC Energy Limited and Peiyang Chemical Equipment Company Limited.

According to the companies, the refinery project is executed in two trains of 1,000bpd and 5,000 bpd, selling refined products such as diesel, naphtha,

and low pour fuel oil (LPFO).

It is expected to produce 50 percent of diesel (500,000 litres), 25 percent of naphtha (300,000 litres) and 20 percent of fuel oil (200,000 litres) from its feedstock.

The modular refinery commenced production in January with its first supply of 10,000 barrels of crude feedstock.

Maintenance work: FAAN to close Lagos int’l airport runways for eight weeks

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says it will close runways 18R and 36L at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos for maintenance.

FAAN disclosed this in a tweet on Monday.

The agency said work on the runways will span for eight weeks.

It also assured that normal airlines’ activities would not be affected, as the taxi way B-18L would be used for all flight operations.

“This is to notify the public that runway 18R/36L of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos has been

closed for 8 weeks for Maintenance work to carried out,” the statement reads.

“Taxi way B-18L will be used for all flight operations.”

Checks on NOTAM, a notice containing information essential to personnel concerned with flight operations, shows that the runaways have already been closed and scheduled to be opened in May 2022.

In June 2022, the agency had closed runways 18L/36R of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), for renovation for 90 days.

During the period the runways were closed, airline operators said they incurred huge losses due to the shut down, despite assurances by FAAN that operations would not be affected.

Naira redesign: CBN has no reason to disobey Supreme court order -Presidency

By Egena Sunday Ode

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has no reason not to comply with the Supreme Court order on the validation of old N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender under the guise of waiting for directives from the President.

The presidency stated this yesterday in a statement reacting to mounting criticisms of President Muhammadu Buhariled administration over the alleged poor implementation of the current CBN cashless policy.

Recall that following the introduction of the new naira policy by the nation’s regulatory bank, some state governors approached the Supreme Court and obtained an order compelling the CBN to allow the old currency notes circulate side by side with the new notes.

However, President Buhari in a nationwide broadcast a day after the Supreme Court order legalizing the old currency notes, ordered that aside the new naira notes, only the old N200 notes should be accepted as legal tender till April 10.

The non compliance of the CBN with the court order has led to conclusions that the bank was deferring to the presidential order contained in the broadcast, thereby causing untoward hardships to the hapless citizens.

But in the statement issued on Monday, the presidency rejected the insinuations that President Buhari was behind the refusal of the Attorney General of the Federal and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele to obey the Supreme Court order.

The statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu noted that Buhari did not at any time instructed Malami and Emefiele to disobey any court order.

Shehu also said President Buhari has not done anything knowingly and deliberately to interfere with or disrupt the administration of justice.

He also dismissed suggestions that President Buhari lacked compassion, arguing that no government in the country had done so much to help the economically marginalised and vulnerable Nigerians as the Buhari administration.

Accordingly, the presidency described as unfair what it called “negative campaigns and personalised attacks” against

President Buhari, saying that no court order had been issued or directed at him.

The statement read: “The Presidency wishes to react to some public concerns that President Muhammadu Buhari did not react to the Supreme Court judgement on the issue of the N500 and N1,000 old currency notes, and states here plainly and clearly that at no time did he instruct the Attorney General and the CBN Governor to disobey any court orders involving the government and other parties.

“Since the President was sworn into office in 2015, he has never directed anybody to defy court orders, in the strong belief that we can’t practise democracy without the rule of law and the commitment of his administration to this principle has not changed.

“Following the ongoing intense debate about the compliance concerning the legality of the old currency notes, the Presidency therefore wishes to state clearly that President Buhari has not done anything knowingly and deliberately to interfere with or obstruct the administration of justice.

“The President is not a micromanager and will not, therefore, stop the Attorney General and the CBN Governor from performing the details of their duties in accordance with the

law. In any case. it is debatable at this time if there is proof of willful denial by the two of them on the orders of the apex court.

“The directive of the President, following the meeting of the Council of State. is that the Bank must make available for circulation all the money that is needed and nothing has happened to change the position.

“It is an established fact that the President is an absolute respecter of judicial process and the authority of the courts. He has done nothing in the last eight or so years to act in any way to obstruct the administration of justice, cause lack of confidence in the administration of justice, or otherwise interfere or corrupt the courts and there is no reason whatsoever that he should do so now when he is getting ready to leave office.

“The negative campaign and personalised attacks against the President by the opposition and all manner of commentators is unfair and unjust, as no court order at any level has been issued or directed at him.

“As for the cashless system the CBN is determined to put in place, it is a known fact that many of the country’s citizens who bear the brunt of the sufferings, surprisingly support the policy as they believe that the action would

Emefiele

cut corruption, fight terrorism, build an environment of honesty and reinforce the incorruptible leadership of the President.

“It is therefore wide off the mark to blame the President for the current controversy over the cash scarcity, despite the Supreme Court judgement. The CBN has no reason not to comply with court

orders on the excuse of waiting for directives from the President.

“President Buhari has also rejected the impression that he lacks compassion, saying that “no government in our recent history has introduced policies to help economically marginalised and vulnerable groups like the present administration.””

Presidency to observers: Feb 25 election marked improvement on past polls

By Egena Sunday Ode

The presidency has said, the criticisms over logistics notwithstanding, the February 25 Presidential election was a marked improvement on previous exercises, insisting that Bola Ahmed of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, won the contest.

In a statement reacting to the observations by elections monitors, the presidency noted that only losers in the competitive race are shouting foul.

The statement by the presidency spokesperson, Garba Shehu noted said the country will learn from the observed lapses as is the case with all elections, urging true friends of the country to support the process as it moves on.

The statement read: “The Presidency thanks former Ambassadors Mark Green and

Johnnie Carson - along with other foreign observers - for their concerns over the logistics of the recent general election in Nigeria and their work as observers on the National Democratic Institute/ International Republican Institute Election Observation Missions.

“It is worth setting their comments in context. No one has disputed the result of the election, except the candidates that fell short. The biggest and the most competitive presidential election in the history of Nigeria has been won by one man: Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The US State department congratulated President-elect Bola Tinubu of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC and the people of Nigeria on the outcome of the “competitive election.” British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was

also quick to congratulate the winner, on this victory. And so did many others in ECOWAS and the African Union.

“Though it is true there were some delays and technical faults in the process that we can learn from – as is the case in any election the world over – the vote progressed and consolidated democracy in Nigeria. The integrity of the Electoral Act of 2022 was strengthened. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System cut out ghost, unauthorised or multiple votes to stem fraud. The election may not have been pluperfect, but due to the steps the government has taken, it is an improvement on previous polls. That achievement should not be overlooked. The next step is for the Election Commission to ensure transparency in collation.

“Adverse reactions as received from some quarters are themselves a part of the learning process for everyone. Elsewhere, the world had been treated to epic lies, obfuscation, jingoism and hate, and told by global media to expect a different outcome. Nigerians shocked the world by refusing religious hatred and sectarian politics.

“All true friends of Nigeria should join the people in proceeding forward for sustainable peace.

“APC victory in the presidential election, underscored by the nationwide wave of support in the National Assembly results is clear mandate for the party to retain power for another term of four years.

“This election is an improvement on past elections and due credit should be given to the government and people of this country.”

....Says President didn’t instruct them to disobey court decision

•insists APC’s Tinubu won

FCTA resumes demolition, clears squatters settlement at Old Fed. Secretariat

By Stanley Onyekwere

In a clear move signalling the resumption of its reinvigorated efforts to improve sanitation and security, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has removed a popular makeshift market and squatters settlement behind the Old Federal Secretariat, Area 1 Garki, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). The removal exercise on Monday was carried by the FCT Ministerial Joint Task Force comprising of the City Cleaning committee, Development Control Department, Abuja Environmental Protection Board

(AEPB), Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), security and para military agencies.

It was gathered that the exercise was necessitated by wave of insecurity threatening the peaceful existence of the Secretariat’s occupants and other residents within the environs.

Explaining the exercise, Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Development Authority ( FCDA) Engr. Shehu

Ahmed, who is also the Chairman of the Ministerial Joint Task Force, said the operation was to ensure security around the old Secretariat, which still houses critical Federal Ministries and

Agencies.

Ahmed decried the spate of criminalities that have taken over the large expanse of the land, behind the Secretariat, originally designed to be road and train transit corridors.

He disclosed that on the interim, the administration would create a temporary car park and a food court, as a measure to keep illegal occupants and criminals away from the place.

On his part, Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Ikharo Attah reiterated that the operation was long overdue, notices having

been dispatched to the affected victims.

Attah noted that security reports showed that the removed illegal structures constituted threats to the old Federal Secretariat where several Ministries are still being accommodated.

According to him, FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello has continued to condemn residents attitude of not obeying the laws made to guarantee peaceful coexistence in the city.

He revealed that following Ministerial directives, city sanitation will be sustained through aggressive exercises and enforcement of the laws.

Warning that the exercise will continue throughout the week, he assured that the taskforce will continue to respect human rights in all its operations.

“We were here one week ago to warn them and asked them to park, some of them have parked, but those who are stubborn remained , thinking that we are not serious.

“ The Minister has insisted that we can’t have wanton illegalities, gruesome contraventions and a rape of Abuja’s Masterplan in the heart of the city.

“ This exercise will continue for the rest of the week”, he stressed.

Some of the displaced persons in the area.

FCTA officials directing the bulldozer at the site

Some affected persons searching through the demolished structures

Silicon Valley Bank: Biden says US banking system is safe

The US will do “whatever is needed” to shore up banks after a string of failures raised fears about financial stability, President Joe Biden said.

His comments came after the US guaranteed all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which both collapsed last week.

The US is trying to stop people taking out funds from banks after SVB collapsed amid a rush of withdrawals.

Americans should “rest assured that our banking system is safe”, Mr Biden said.

People and businesses who have money deposited with SVB - the country’s 16th largest bank - would be able to access all their cash from Monday, he said.

Taxpayers will not bear any losses from the move, which extends protection beyond the $250,000 (£205,000) in deposits typically insured by the government. The cost will instead by funded by fees regulators charge to banks.

“Let me also assure you we will not stop at this. We’ll do whatever is needed,” Mr Biden said.

How did Silicon Valley Bank collapse?

SVB - which specialised in lending to technology companies - was shut down by regulators on Friday. It was the largest failure of a US bank since the financial crisis in 2008.

It came after SVB had scrambled to raise money to plug a loss from the sale of assets affected by higher interest rates. Word of the troubles led customers to race to withdraw funds, leading to a cash crisis.

Authorities on Sunday also took over Signature Bank of New York, which had many clients involved in crypto and was seen as the institution most vulnerable to a similar bank run after SVB.

As part of their moves to restore confidence, US regulators unveiled a new

way to give banks access to emergency funds, making it easier for banks to borrow from it in a crisis.

But there is concern that the failures, which came after the collapse of another bank, Silvergate Bank, last week, are a sign of troubles at other firms.

US financial markets were roughly flat in early trading on Monday, but shares of many banks were under pressure.

Shares in First Republic bank, which is based in San Francisco, plunged roughly 70% before trading was halted.

Elsewhere, HSBC said it was buying the UK arm of SVB for £1, while authorities in Canada took temporary control of the assets of SVB’s branch in the country.

Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said the US authorities had “acted aggressively to prevent a contagion developing”.

“But contagion has always been more about irrational fear, so we would stress that there is no guarantee this will work,” he added.

Bailout debate

The US measures have re-ignited debates - similar to those seen following the 2008 financial crisis - about how much the government should do to regulate and protect banks.

Mr Biden called for tougher rules and emphasised that investors and bank leaders would not be spared.

“They knowingly took a risk... that’s how capitalism works,” he said.

Still, Republican Senator Tim Scott, seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2024, called the rescue “problematic”.

“Building a culture of government intervention does nothing to stop future institutions from relying on the government to swoop in after taking excessive risks,” he said.

Once again people are worried about

banks. Once again there is intense debate about bailouts. But this isn’t 2008.

Following the global financial crisis, the focus was on reforming banks considered “too big to fail”. Today’s problems are centred around medium- and smaller-sized banks.

Both of the banks that collapsed - Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank - had the same thing in common: their business models were too concentrated in one sector and they were over exposed to assets whose values came under pressure from rising interest rates.

The criticism is that they should have foreseen this and they didn’t. US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has gone to great lengths to signal the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates.

Since most banks are well diversified and have plenty of cash on hand, the assumption

is that the risk to the rest of the banking sector is low. That won’t stop regulators looking into what went wrong and what rules need to change.

And the pressure on small- and mediumsized banks hasn’t gone away. What happens to the US economy and the fight against inflation also remains to be seen.

SVB started as a California bank in 1983 and expanded rapidly as the tech sector boomed. A crucial lender for early-stage businesses in the industry, it was the banking partner for nearly half of US venture-backed technology and healthcare companies that listed on stock markets last year.

The firm came under pressure last year, as its customers increasingly drew on deposits, because higher interest rates were making it more difficult to bring in new money through private fundraising or share sales.

Willow Project: US government approves Alaska oil and gas development

US President Joe Biden has approved a major oil and gas drilling project in Alaska that faced strong opposition from environmental activists.

The company behind the Willow project, ConocoPhillips, says it will create local investment and thousands of jobs.

But the $8bn (£6.6bn) proposal faced a torrent of online activism in recent weeks, particularly among youth activists on TikTok.

Opponents argued it should be halted over its climate and wildlife impacts.

Located on Alaska’s remote North Slope, it is the largest oil development in the region for decades and could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day.

According to US Bureau of Land Management estimates, that means it will generate up to 278 million metric tonnes of CO2e over its 30-year lifetime - the equivalent of adding two million cars to US roads every year.

CO2e is a unit used to express the climate impact of all greenhouse gases together, as if they were all emitted as carbon dioxide.

Monday’s approval comes one day after the Biden administration imposed limits on oil and gas drilling in 16 million acres of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean, a compromise of sorts with anti-Willow activists.

Environmentalists had argued Willow is inconsistent with President Biden’s pledges

to lead on climate action.

More than one million letters of protest were written to the White House, and a Change.org petition calling for Willow to be halted drew more than three million signatures.

“It’s the wrong move and will be a disaster for wildlife, lands, communities, and our climate,” environmental charity Sierra Club said on Monday.

Sonny Ahk, a young Iñuipat activist from Alaska who campaigned against Willow, said the development would “lock in Arctic oil and gas extraction for another 30 years and catalyse future oil expansion in the Arctic”.

“While out-of-state executives take in record profits, local residents are left to contend with the detrimental impacts of being surrounded by massive drilling operations,” he said.

But all three lawmakers who represent Alaska in Congress, including one Democrat, pushed for the project’s approval, touting it as a much-needed investment in the region’s communities.

They also argued it would help boost domestic energy production and lessen the country’s reliance on foreign oil.

“This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation,” added ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance on Monday.

The US energy giant, which is already Alaska’s largest crude oil producer, will

enhance energy security, create good union jobs and provide benefits to Alaska Native communities, he said.

So why has a president who has embraced strong action on climate change just approved a project dubbed a “carbon bomb”?

It’s because Willow is all about politics and the law - and not the environment.

While running as a candidate back in 2020, Joe Biden promised that there would be “no more drilling on federal lands,

period”. That promise was broken last year when the administration announced plans to sell drilling leases, under pressure from the courts.

The White House will likely say that the role of the courts has also influenced the Willow decision.

Oil company ConocoPhillips have held the lease since 1999 and would have had a strong case to appeal if their plans had been turned down.

Source; BBC

Joe Biden spoke Monday to reassure Americans that the banking system was safe

Activists called for the Willow project to be halted over its climate and wildlife impacts

Kais Saied: Why Tunisia’s president picked on sub-Saharan African migrants

When in trouble, blame the migrants or ethnic minorities. That is a tried and tested tactic used by populist politicians or authoritarian leaders to win elections or shore up waning popularity.

This type of populism appears to be the most likely explanation for February’s outburst by Tunisian President Kais Saied against sub-Saharan African migrants in his country.

Mr Saied made the extraordinary remark that these people were part of a conspiracy to change the demographic composition of the North African country, which has a predominantly Arab-Muslim culture.

As history clearly demonstrates, it is a dangerous tactic that often leads to violence. And that was precisely what happened in Tunisia.

Following the comments, black African migrants felt the full force of the fallout. Some were afraid to leave their homes out of fear of random violence or verbal abuse.

A student from southern Africa who has been in studying in Tunisia for the past five years painted a harrowing picture of how Mr Saied’s remarks affected black Africans in Tunisia.

She told the BBC Africa Daily podcast that some had their houses set on fire while others were beaten up, and that she no longer felt safe in the country.

This resulted in many black Africans heading to their embassies to organise repatriation.

Ivory Coast Foreign Minister Kandia Camara (second left) welcomed migrants who flew home on a repatriation flight earlier this month

The Tunisian government has defended the president, arguing that his speech was aimed at those who had come to the country without permission and not those in the country legally.

There are an estimated 20,000 subSaharan migrants in Tunisia, which has a population of 12 million.

But Tunisian rights researcher Kenza ben Azouz told the BBC: “This is not a matter of legality or illegality. It’s about being black in this country”.

She added that black Tunisians, who make up around 10-15% of the country’s population, suffer discrimination because of the colour of their skin. This is an issue picked up by a BBC News Arabic survey last year.

The problem of sub-Saharan Africans who travel to North Africa hoping to make it across the Mediterranean into Europe is not new. It has long been a bone of contention between North African states and Europe.

What is new this time, though, is the language Mr Saied used to address the issue. It seemed designed to stir up fear and nationalist fervour - to rally the masses around a cause of some kind at a moment when Mr Saied’s woes have continued to pile up.

Economically, Tunisia is in a very bad shape. It has never recovered from the years of political turmoil that followed the overthrow of President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali in 2011.

Tourism was hit badly by terror attacks and the downturn was further

compounded by the covid pandemic and then the war in Ukraine.

President Kais Saied dissolved parliament in 2021 and has re-written the constitution

Politically, things are not going the president’s way either.

Ever since he sacked the cabinet and dissolved parliament in the summer of 2021 and announced a road map that he promised would put the country on the path to stability and prosperity, his plan has suffered one bruising setback after the other.

The committee that he handpicked to draft a new constitution withdrew its support after he made drastic changes to the draft they had submitted. He effectively gathered all the levers of power in the hands of the presidency and emasculated the legislature and the judiciary.

Then, the online public consultation over the draft attracted only a few hundred thousand people out of an electorate of nine million.

The poll itself was effectively boycotted by some 70% of those eligible to vote.

His plan did not fare any better at the next step: the parliamentary election held late last year.

The turn-out was a record low, 11%, prompting Mr Saied to say the people did not want a parliament.

With his frequent tirades against the media and the political class, accusing them of corruption and abuse of power, the president has in effect anointed himself as the saviour of the nation - the only man untainted by politics and the pursuit of power.

That is why floating the idea that Tunisia is facing an existential threat from sub-Saharan migrants appears to be a convenient distraction.

But the xenophobic discourse is not entirely invented by the president.

Take the small political party that supports Mr Saied, the Tunisian Nationalist Party. It has been peddling xenophobic views - strikingly similar to those of anti-immigrant far-right parties in Europe, and campaigning for the expulsion of black migrants.

The party claims that the sub-Saharan Africans are settlers who will eventually dispossess the Tunisians of their land, and it draws a parallel with Israel and the Palestinians.

Supporters of the Ennahda party organised demonstrations last year calling on the president to resign

Playing the nationalist card has emerged as a convenient tactic across North Africa and the Middle East to counter the pervasive influence of political Islam, which is basically a transnational ideology, and whose supporters in Tunisia still represent Mr Saied’s biggest political opponents.

Nationalism can be benign or veer into dangerous territory in times of crisis. Mr Saied has repeatedly denounced his political opponents as “traitors”.

This polarisation is not unique to Tunisia.

Mr Saied seems to have taken a leaf from the strategy deployed by the Egyptian government of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to undermine the hold of the Islamist ideology on society and political discourse.

It has sought to re-awaken a sense of unique national identity as an antidote to the transnational ideology of Islamism, where faith comes before country.

And like Tunisia, Egypt too has seen a rise in the anti-black rhetoric voiced by ultra-nationalists, who see the presence of black African migrants in Egypt as a threat.

Reacting to events in Tunisia, an ultranationalist group in Egypt, calling itself Nationalist Revival, expressed support for

The group claims that Egypt has been overwhelmed by Sudanese and sub-Saharan immigrants, calling on the authorities to stop the influx and expel them.

The same people recently campaigned against a scheduled performance in Egypt by American stand-up comedian Kevin Hart because of the artist’s support for Afro-centrism - the belief, among other things, that ancient Egypt was a black civilisation.

That of course infuriated many Egyptians, the vast majority of whom, like many Tunisians, try to differentiate themselves from sub-Saharan Africa.

The performance was seen as part of a wider conspiracy to dispossess the Egyptians of their own culture and land, while also invoking the Palestinian situation, in ways reminiscent of the Tunisian Nationalist Party.

The show was subsequently cancelled, but the organisers gave no reasons why. That was regarded as a victory for the Egyptian nationalists.

In response to the international outcry, Mr Saied has made some conciliatory remarks in the past few days, emphasising that Tunisia was an African country and that he has relatives married to black Africans.

And the government has announced some measures to reassure the black African community, such as setting up a hotline for complaints and cancelling fines for those who have overstayed their visa.

But it was all a bit too late.

The damage to the country’s image has been done.

Once the nationalist genie has been let out of the bottle, it can develop a life of its own. In extreme moments, foreigners or ethnic minorities can be the first victims.

Source: BBC

Mr Saied.

A si A

Ukraine war: Heavy losses reported as battle for Bakhmut rages

Ukraine and Russia have reported inflicting heavy losses as the battle for Bakhmut rages on.

Moscow has been trying to take the eastern Ukrainian city for months in a grinding war of attrition.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces had suffered more than 1,100 deaths in the past few days, with many more seriously injured.

Russia said it had killed more than 220 Ukrainian service members over the past 24 hours.

The BBC is unable to verify the numbers given by either side.

Analysts say Bakhmut has little strategic value, but has become a focal point for Russian commanders who have struggled to deliver any positive news to the Kremlin.

Capture of the city would bring Russia slightly closer to its goal of controlling the whole of Donetsk region, one of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine annexed by Russia last September following referendums widely condemned outside Russia as a sham.

Ukrainian commanders, who have committed significant resources to defending the city, say their strategy aims to tie Russia’s forces down and prevent Moscow from launching any further offensives in the coming months.

“In less than a week, starting from 6 March, we managed to kill

more than 1,100 enemy soldiers in the Bakhmut sector alone, Russia’s irreversible loss, right there, near Bakhmut,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

He added that 1,500 Russian soldiers were wounded badly enough to keep them out of further action.

Russia’s defence ministry said Russian forces had killed “more than 220 Ukrainian servicemen”.

The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was attacking his troops from several directions in a bid to break through defences and advance to the central districts of the town.

The paramilitary organisation is at the heart of the Russian assault on Bakhmut. Its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has staked his reputation, and that of his private army, on seizing Bakhmut.

He said on Sunday that the situation in the city was “difficult, very difficult, the enemy is fighting for every metre”.

“And the closer to the city centre, the fiercer the fighting,” he said in a voice recording published on Telegram.

After his envisioned capture of Bakhmut, “we will begin to reboot” and “will start recruiting new people from the regions”, he said.

And on Saturday, the Institute for the Study of War - a US think tank - reported that Moscow’s offence was stalling.

“Wagner Group fighters are likely becoming increasingly pinned in urban areas... and are therefore finding it difficult to make significant advances,” it said.

There were about 70,000 people living in Bakhmut before the invasion, but only a few thousand remain. The city was once best known for its salt and gypsum mines and huge winery.

Those who remain in the city risk a hazardous existence, with four people injured in Bakhmut on Monday, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Like Russia, Ukraine has also given Bakhmut political

significance, with President Zelensky making the city an emblem of resistance.

When he visited Washington in December, he called it “the fortress of our morale” and gave a Bakhmut flag to the US Congress.

Western officials estimate between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured so far in and around Bakhmut.

A draft law introduced in the Russian parliament on Monday aims to push back the age bracket for compulsory military service, from the current 18-27 years to 21-30.

Reuters reported that, due

to the transition period between the old legislation and the new, 2024 and 2025 would see the conscription age span 10 or 11 years rather than the usual nine - meaning more men would be eligible to fight.

Russia’s previous attempt to draft thousands of new recruits into the Ukraine war met with some resistance. In September the announcement of a partial military mobilisation saw long queues form at border crossings as men of draft age sought to flee the call-up.

The Kremlin said reports of fighting-age men fleeing had been exaggerated.

Nobel prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe dies

The Nobel Prize-winning Japanese author Kenzaburo

Oe has died at the age of 88.

Strongly influenced by French and American literature, he was known for his powerful accounts of the atomic bombing of Japan and coping with his son, who has learning difficulties.

He won the Nobel Literature Prize in 1994, with judges praising his “darkly poetic” novels for their “disconcerting picture of the human predicament”.

His death, on 3 March, was due to old age, his publisher Kodansha said.

Born in a village on Japan’s southern island of Shikoku, Oe came from a family of wealthy landowners who lost most of their property due to a land reform imposed after the Second World War.

Oe was 10 when the war ended, and his early life was overshadowed by the conflict.

At school, he was asked if he was willing to die for the Emperor every day, and he remembered feeling shame in bed at night when he decided that he wasn’t.

After Japan’s surrender in 1945, he became fascinated by the democratic principles espoused by the occupying forces, and later became a fierce critic of what he called Japan’s military and economic aggression.

“The humiliation took a firm grip on him and has coloured much of his work,” the Swedish Academy said. “He himself describes his writing as a way of exorcising demons,” with his novels frequently depicting a world knocked off its axis by dark, disturbing forces.

Oe entered the University of Tokyo in 1954, where he studied French literature and began writing plays.

By the time he graduated in 1959, he had already made his literary debut with The Catch, about an American pilot who was shot down and imprisoned by rural Japanese villagers.

The story won the prestigious Akutagawa prize for new writers, with Oe hailed as the most promising young writer since Mishima Yukio. It was later turned into a film by Nagisa

Oshima.

He attracted international acclaim in the 1960s with Hiroshmia Notes, a selection of essays about the victims of the atomic bomb, and the valiant efforts of those who cared for them.

At his request, it was published on the same day as Kojintekina taiken (A Personal Matter), a darkly humorous account of a new father’s struggle to accept the birth of his brain-damaged child.

It was inspired by his own life. In 1963, Oe’s son Hikari was born with a brain hernia and the ensuing surgery left him with learning difficulties.

He said the two books were inextricably linked.

“I wanted to re-construct myself, my family, so I wanted to consider the Hiroshima people who wanted to re-construct their lives after the disaster,” he explained.

“I was always encouraged by the doctors at Hiroshima fighting against their death.”

As a teenager, Oe had become deeply involved in the

radical student movement, and his writings often angered the political establishment.

The murder of the Chairman of Japan’s Socialist Party in 1960 by a right-wing youth inspired two short stories, which drew heavy criticism and threats of violence from right-wing organizations.

He was also sued for defamation over a passage in Okinawa Notes, in which he asserted that thousands of people had been coerced into suicide by the Japanese military at the end of World War Two, by telling them that advancing American troops would rape, torture and murder them.

The long trial was seized upon by right-wing politicians who wanted references to the military’s involvement erased from school text books. But a judge ultimately concluded in Oe’s favour in 2011, ruling that: “The military was deeply involved in the mass suicides.”

Writing about dignity

Oe once declared that Japan was, morally, a third-world country, and called his style a

rebellion against “the sacred territory” of other Japanese writers, such as Junichi Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima, “who reflect beauty and power of which Tokyo is the centre”.

His vivid, aggressive works often highlighted the struggles of rural Japan, notably in The Silent Cry, an existentialist novel which tells the story of two brothers returning to their ancestral home after decades of separation.

Against a backdrop of personal crises, one brother leads a rebellion against “the Emperor of Supermarkets,” a Korean brought to Japan as a slave during the War, who wants to buy the family’s property; while the other picks apart the secrets of his own family’s past.

“At first glance it appears to concern an unsuccessful revolt, but fundamentally the novel deals with people’s relationships with each other in a confusing world in which knowledge, passions, dreams, ambitions and attitudes merge into each other,” said the Nobel Academy. BBC

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, speaking in Bakhmut in a video released on 3 March

Tinubu and HRG: Going Forward with Healthy Nigeria

By Yakubu OzohuSuleiman, PhD

One reason I respect Nigeria’s Presidentelect – Bola Ahmed Tinubu is his respect for merit. His leadership and political histories are clear on this. For those who have observed over the time, it is easy to validly hypothesise that Tinubu’s political success and leadership impact in Nigeria have largely been due to his prioritization of merit in recruiting human resources for governance (HRG). Simple, when he was Lagos state Governor, he surrounded himself with people who are very intelligent and driven by productivity with proven record. We all have continued to see the impact of his leadership of Lagos state till today.

Tinubu understands that being in the forefront of leadership does not necessarily mean that you are the best to think out all that you are responsible and would be held accountable for. So, he ensures that only those who have proven capacity to deliver are recruited to positions of responsibilities. Of course, he is also aware that ‘capacity to deliver’ is a product of opportunity. Therefore, he as well watches from the side of his eyes for inopportune persons who have the potentials to deliver.

Like any other political leader, Tinubu also needs loyalty from his political disciples, but, perhaps, he thinks that the loyalty is for his benefit as an individual, while the capacity to deliver, which requires merit, is for the benefit of the people. So, he cleverly integrates merit and loyalty in selecting the people to work with him. Not only has his respect for, and prioritization of merit in recruiting human resources for governance made his leadership job easy for him over the years,

it has also endeared him to many Nigerians in different parts of the country who supported him when his time of need came in 2023. To me, this is a doubleedged investment anyone may wish to consider in his or her own interest and in the interest of our dear country.

For the past fourteen years, I have been a researcher, observer, supervisor, and worker in the health sector development. The sector does not only require disciplinary expertise to lead and to deliver services to the people, but it is also, unknown to many, the most intricately linked to the performance of the other sectors anywhere in the world. A simple way to explain this is to say that if you are not healthy, you might not be able to eat; you cannot work; you might not be able to think well; and you might even not be able to worship! If this makes a sense, it is my opinion that His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu should pay very close attention to recent history in our health sector development, especially at primary level where our indices are most poor, in taking decisions on whom to work with as he prepares to assume office in May 2023.

While it is reasonable to admit that a good foundation is crucial for a building and its roof to be stable, a badly delivered roof can bring the entire building to ruin. Nigeria spent decades fighting war against polio. It was only recently in 2016 that our most aggressive response came and brought down the last wild polio virus (WPV) in the country! The country skilfully kept WPV at zero until 2020 when its official certification as WPV-free was issued by the World health Organization. Even the post-certification circulating variant polio virus type 2 (cVPV2) has

been effectively brought under control in the country! Again, we saw how our Ebola response was effectively coordinated in 2014, and the virus was forced to surrender to the health of the Nigerian people within a short time. The most recent, and most challenging in contemporary world history – Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), was also brought under control within a time that is relatively shorter than one would have expected of a highly controversial disease like it in Nigeria. I am aware that Nigeria has fully vaccinated more than 60 percent of its nearly 112 million eligible population against COVID-19. What this simply means is that

the country is very close to attaining herd immunity against the disease, and when this happens, there would be yet another cause to celebrate the hard work of some leaders, who have spent their days and nights in the war room strategizing and coordinating the response. Considering the scale and strength of misinformation and disinformation, mis-theorization, and compound infodemic that accompanied COVID-19, I personally never thought that there was anything our country could have done to get the people to voluntarily accept the vaccine as much as current data is showing, but this is done because we have in the positions of leadership the people who merit the job.

How many of us are aware that 145 women die every day in Nigeria due to preventable pregnancyrelated causes? Same way, our country loses 2,300 children under 5 years old everyday due to causes that are significantly preventable. It was not until 2019 that a state of emergency was declared on maternal and child health in the country. The declaration was immediately followed up with the setting up of a program implementation unit in the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) known as National Emergency Maternal and Child Health Intervention Centre (NEMCHIC) to serve as a national coordination platform on Reproductive, Maternal, Newburn, Child and Adolescent Health plus Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) in Nigeria. The declaration of a state of emergency on maternal and child health in Nigeria has attracted the attention of national and international stakeholders and development partners, who believe in, and are supporting the ongoing high impact interventions to reduce preventable maternal and child deaths in the country.

It is not by chance that people are not falling on the streets and dying of diseases and frustrations, it is because there are workers and leaders in the health sector who are genuinely committed and are sacrificing their right to family hours to ensure that people are healthy. In the interest of the collective wellbeing of Nigerian people, I strongly call on our incoming President – Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come along with his tradition of respect for merit, look for these people, involve them and let’s go forward with healthy Nigeria.

Suleiman is Consulting Communication for Development Specialist

It is not by chance that people are not falling on the streets and dying of diseases and frustrations, it is because there are workers and leaders in the health sector who are genuinely committed and are sacrificing their right to family hours to ensure that people are healthy

Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu

How the search for Iraq’s secret weapons fell apart

Twenty years after the invasion of Iraq, controversy still rages over the existence of the “weapons of mass destruction” (WMDs) which provided the UK’s justification for taking part. New details about the search for WMDs have emerged as part of a BBC series, Shock and War: Iraq 20 years on, based on conversations with dozens of people directly involved.

“Crikey.” That was the oneword reaction from a senior MI6 officer when told by a colleague in late 2001 that the Americans were serious about war in Iraq.

CIA officers also recall the shock of British counterparts. “I thought they would have a heart attack right there at the table,” recalls Luis Rueda, head of the CIA’s Iraq Operations Group. “If they weren’t gentlemen, they would have reached across the table and slapped me.”

The message soon reached Downing Street. It would be spies rather than diplomats who would deliver it.

“I was probably the first to say to the prime minister, ‘Whether you like it or not, get your ducks in a row because it looks as though they’re building up to an invasion,” the then-head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, and a frequent visitor to Washington, tells the BBC in a rare interview.

MI6 - the UK’s foreign intelligence service - was about to become deeply embroiled in one of the most controversial and consequential episodes in its history.

For the US, the issue of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), were secondary to a deeper drive to overthrow the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. “We would have invaded Iraq if Saddam Hussein had a rubber band and a paperclip,” says Mr Rueda. “We would have said, ‘Oh, he will take your eye out.’”

The BBC’s security correspondent Gordon Corera seeks to find new answers to why the Iraq war happened, what it meant, and its legacy today.

Listen at 13:45 BST each weekday from Monday 13 March, or stream or download all 10 episodes on BBC Sounds

For the UK, when it came to selling Iraq to an uncertain public, the threat supposedly posed by Iraq’s WMDs - chemical, biological and nuclear weapons - was central.

It has sometimes been alleged that the UK government made up the claims about WMDs. But ministers from that time say they had been assured by their own

spies the weapons did exist.

“It’s really important to understand the intelligence I was getting is what I was relying on, and I think I was entitled to rely on it,” former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair tells me. On the eve of the invasion he says he asked for - and was given - reassurances from the Joint Intelligence Committee. He declines to criticise the intelligence services for getting it wrong.

Other ministers say they had doubts at the time.

“On three occasions I questioned Richard Dearlove about the provenance of this intelligence,” says the then foreign secretary, Jack Straw. “I just had an uneasy feeling about it. But Dearlove assured me on each occasion that these agents were reliable.” However, Mr Straw says that it is ultimately for politicians to take responsibility, because they make the final decisions.

Asked if he looks back on Iraq as an intelligence failure, Sir Richard’s answer is simple: “No.” He still believes Iraq had some kind of weapons programme and that elements may have been moved over the border to Syria.

Others disagree. “It was a major failing,” says Sir David Omand, then the UK’s Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator. He says a confirmation bias led government experts to listen to fragments of information which supported the idea that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, and discount any that did not.

Some inside MI6 say they also had concerns. “At the time I felt what we were doing was wrong,” says one officer who worked on Iraq, who has never spoken before and asked to remain anonymous.

“There was no new or credible intelligence or assessment which suggested that Iraq had restarted WMD programmes and that they posed an imminent threat,” says the former officer, speaking of the period of early 2002. “I think from the government’s point of view it was the only thing they could find…. WMD was the only peg they could hang the legality on.”

Existing intelligence in the spring of 2002 was patchy. MI6’s long-standing agents in Iraq had little or no information about WMDs, and there was a desperate hunt for fresh intelligence from new sources to bolster the case, particularly when a dossier was planned for September.

Another insider recalls decoding a message saying there was “no more important role” for the intelligence service than persuading the British public of

One Iraqi scientist later revealed that they had disposed of a deadly compound that western intelligence agencies said was unaccounted for, by pouring it into the ground. But they had done so near one of Saddam’s palaces, and they feared that owning up to this fact would have got them killed by the Iraqi leader. The result of all this was that Iraq could never really prove that it no longer had weapons.

the case for action. They say that questions were raised if this was appropriate, and the message was deleted.

On 12 September, Sir Richard walked into Downing Street with news of an important new source. This person claimed Saddam’s programmes were being restarted and promised to deliver new details soon. Even though this source had not gone through the full checks, and their information was not shared with experts, details were handed to the prime minister.

Sir Richard dismisses accusations that he got too close to Downing Street as “ridiculous” but will not comment on the details of the case or specific sources. But in the coming months, this new source never delivered and was ultimately deemed to have been making it up, other intelligence sources say. Quality control was breaking down, they argue.

It was likely some of the new sources were making information up for money or because they wanted to see Saddam overthrown.

In January 2003, I met a defector from Saddam’s intelligence service in Jordan. He claimed to have been involved in developing mobile laboratories to work on biological weapons, out of sight from UN inspectors.

His claims made it into US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the UN in February 2003, even though some within the US government had already issued a “burn notice”, saying that the information was not to be trusted. Another source codenamed “Curveball”, whom the US and UK relied on, was also making up details about the labs.

It is worth remembering that Saddam did once have weapons of mass destruction. A few weeks before the 2003 war, I visited the village of Halabja in Northern Iraq, and heard locals describe the day in 1988 when Saddam’s army had dropped chemical weapons on them. The truth about what happened to those weapons would only emerge after the war.

Saddam had ordered the destruction of much of his WMD programme in the early 1990s after the first Gulf War in the hope of getting a clean bill of health from UN weapons inspectors, one of Iraq’s top scientists later told me. The Iraqi leader may have hoped to restart the programmes at a later point. But he had destroyed everything secretly, partly to maintain the bluff that he might still have something he could use against neighbouring Iran, with whom he had just fought a war. So when Iraq was later asked by UN inspectors to prove it had destroyed everything, it could not.

One Iraqi scientist later revealed that they had disposed of a deadly compound that western intelligence agencies said was unaccounted for, by pouring it into the ground. But they had done so near one of Saddam’s palaces, and they feared that owning up to this

fact would have got them killed by the Iraqi leader. The result of all this was that Iraq could never really prove that it no longer had weapons.

By the end of 2002, UN inspectors were back in Iraq looking for WMDs. Some of those inspectors, speaking to the BBC for the first time, can recall looking at sites where intelligence tip-offs from the West suggested mobile labs might be based. They found

only what one calls a “glorified ice cream truck” covered in cobwebs. The public at the time never learned that as war approached, with sources failing to deliver and inspectors drawing a blank, there were concerns. “Panicky” is how one insider describes it. “My future is in your hands,” Mr Blair said, half-jestingly, to Sir Richard in January 2003, as the pressure was growing to find proof of WMDs.

Source: BBC

Sir Richard Dearlove, pictured in 2008

MI6’s headquarters in central London

PUBLIC NOTICE

ELDER SIMON ACHENEJE HELPING HAND FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. ACHENEJE MOSES SIMONCHAIRMAN

2. ALIYU ISAH

3. SIMON OJODOMO GODDAYSECRETARY

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1. TO EMPOWER VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN THE SOCIETY THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME.

2. TO EMPOWER THE YOUTH THROUGH SKILL ACQUISITION PROGRAMME

3. TO HELP THE LESS PRIVILEGED ON EDUCATIONAL ORIENTATION AND SCHOLARSHIP.

4. TO PROVIDE ENLIGHTENMENT ON ATTITUDINAL AND BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE AMONG YOUTHS, WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE SOCIETY.

5. TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE NEEDY AND THE LESS PRIVILEGE ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE LIGHT BEARERS CLUB, OBBO-AIYEGUNLE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1.OLAWALE TEMITOPE JOSHUA

2.OLAREWAJU FEMI

3.OLUJIDE ROTIMI SAMUEL

4.ADU OLUSEUN ADEBAYO

5.ADELODUN JAMES OLUGBENGA

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1.TO FACILITATE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF OBBO AIYEGUNLE COMMUNITY

2.TO EMPOWER THE YOUTHS OF OBBO AIYEGUNLE COMMUNITY THROUGH YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES

3.TO UPHOLD THE CULTURE AND HERITAGE OF OBBO AIYEGUNLE COMMUNITY TO PARTNER WITH OTHER ASSOCIATION’S THAT HAVE THE SAME VALUE WITH OUR ASSOCIATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

DORCAS CORNER CHARITY FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT (CAMA 2020).

TRUSTEES:

1. OMALE NELSON MATTHEW - TRUSTEE/CHAIRMAN

2. SALIFU OGUCHE- TRUSTEE/SECRETARY

3. DURUEKE VICTOR CHIJIOKE - TRUSTEE

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

1. TO CATER FOR THE WELFARE OF WIDOWS, ORPHANS AND THE LESS PRIVILEGE

2. TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ORPHANS, WIDOWS AND THE LESS PRIVILEGE

3. TO ASSIST IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTED LESS PRIVILEGED CHILDREN BY PROVIDING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES BASED ON SKILLS THROUGH EDUCATIONAL SPONSORSHIP ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198 MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION.

SIGNED: CHAIRMAN

CLASSIFIED

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE MARVGALLUP CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. NKECHINYERE VICTORIA NWEZE -CHAIRMAN

2. CHIJIUBAH IFECHINEMEREM JESSICA SECRETARY

3. DAMILOLA OBISESAN- TRUSTEE

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1.TO GUIDE AND COUNSEL TEENAGE AND SINGLE YOUNG MOTHERS

2.TO PROVIDE SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT TO THE LESS PRIVILEGED.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

31 JANUARY 2023

THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA ABUJA

DEAR SIR, NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF LIQUIDATOR OF SVENSKA NIGERIA EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION LIMITED I, INAM WILSON OF 5TH FLOOR, THE OCTAGON, 13A A.J MARINHO DRIVE, VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS HEREBY GIVE NOTICE THAT I HAVE BEEN APPOINTED LIQUIDATOR OF SVENSKA NIGERIA EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION LIMITED BY VIRTUE OF A SPECIAL RESOLUTION OF THE COMPANY PASSED ON 31 JANUARY 2023.

I HAVE ACCEPTED TO ACT AS LIQUIDATOR OF THE COMPANY FOR THE PURPOSES OF ITS WINDING UP AND WILL DO SO TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITIES AND WITHIN THE PRECINCTS OF THE LAW.

PLEASE BE REST ASSURED OF MY HIGHEST PROFESSIONAL REGARD.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

SPACE FOR SALE

READ WITH CYNTHIA FOUNDATION

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1.IHANDEN AMENAMUON CYNTHIA - CHAIRMAN

2.IHANDEN PAUL FRIDAY - SECRETARY THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO BECOME ENGAGED IN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES, SUCH AS BOOK CLUBS AND OTHER COMPETITIONS.

5. TO CREATE A SAFE AND ENCOURAGING LEARNING ATMOSPHERE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

6. TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO STUDENTS IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE FOR TUITION AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL EXPENSES.

7. TO COLLABORATE WITH PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN ORDER TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE FOR STUDENTS IN NEED.

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS UMAR ALI YAKUBU.

PUBLIC NOTICE

DIVINE CORNERSTONE PRAYER AND DELIVERANCE MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1.REV. JEREMIAH BAKO NYIZOMA

2.PAST.(MRS) NYIZOMA LADI

3.GWATANA ISAIAH RIZAMA

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF THE LOSS OF ORIGINAL RIGHT OF OCCUPANCY (R OF O) IN RESPECT OF PLOT NO: 1373 CADASTRAL ZONE B19, KATAMPE EXTENSION DISTRICT ABUJA WITH FILE NO: OG60148 MEASURING 1370.09SQM ISSUED BY AGIS (FCDA) DATED 5TH SEPTEMBER, 2008 BEARING THE NAME SARAFADEEN TUNJI ISOLA GOT MISSING.

ALL EFFORTS MADE TO TRACE THE SAID DOCUMENTS HAVE PROVED ABORTIVE. IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN TO THE NEAREST POLICE STATION, AUTHORITY CONCERNED AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

MRS. CHIDINMA

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS. CHIDINMA NNEOMA OKWUBUNKA. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS MRS. CHIDINMA NNEOMA CHINEDU. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

AISHA

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS AISHA IBRAHIM NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS AISHA IBRAHIM ABDULLAHI. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

DIVINE CORNERSTONE PRAYER AND DELIVERANCE MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1.REV. JEREMIAH BAKO NYIZOMA

2.PAST.(MRS) NYIZOMA LADI

3.GWATANA ISAIAH RIZAMA

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

MRS. OKEKE-EZUMEZU

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS OKEKE CHIAMAKA PEACE NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. OKEKEEZUMEZU CHIAMAKA PEACE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

TIJANIYYA YOUTH ASSOCIATION KOGI CENTRAL

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1.IBRAHIM SADIQ OJIVO--CHAIRMAN

2.MUHAMMAD AHMAD RUFAI--VICE CHAIRMAN

3.ABDULSALAM BASHEER OWUDA--SECRETARY

4.MUHAMMAD SANNI NASIR--SPEAKER

5.SALL IBRAHIM BABA--PRO

6.ABDULSALAM OMENESA SHAIBU

7.LAWAL KAMARUDEEN MUHAMMED

8.SHAIBU ABDULAZEEZ

9.ISAH ZAKARIYAU

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1.TO ASSIST THE LESS PRIVILEGED IN THE SOCIETY

2.TO CATER FOR THE WELFARE OF MEMBERS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

IBRAHIM

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS IBRAHIM UMAR NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS IBRAHIM UMAR DANDINA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

MR OLUBOYE

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MR FAKUNLE EMMANUEL SEGUN. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS MR OLUBOYE EMMANUEL SEGUN. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

MRS OLUBOYE

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MRS FAKUNLE JOY OLUSEUN. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS MRS OLUBOYE JOY OLUSEUN. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

MRS. ISAIAH

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS IGBOZURUIKE CHIKWADO BETTY NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. ISAIAH CHIKWADO BETTY. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

TIJANIYYA YOUTH ASSOCIATION KOGI CENTRAL

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020). THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1.IBRAHIM SADIQ OJIVO--CHAIRMAN

2.MUHAMMAD AHMAD RUFAI--VICE CHAIRMAN

3.ABDULSALAM BASHEER OWUDA--SECRETARY

4.MUHAMMAD SANNI NASIR--SPEAKER

5.SALL IBRAHIM BABA--PRO

6.ABDULSALAM OMENESA SHAIBU

7.LAWAL KAMARUDEEN MUHAMMED

8.SHAIBU ABDULAZEEZ

9.ISAH ZAKARIYAU

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1.TO ASSIST THE LESS PRIVILEGED IN THE SOCIETY

2.TO CATER FOR THE WELFARE OF MEMBERS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

IBRAHIM

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MUHAMMAD IBRAHIM GARBA NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS IBRAHIM MU'AZU. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

ASSOCIATION DES FRANÇAIS DE L’ETRANGER IN NIGERIA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. PEYSSON ROMAIN OLIVER-CHAIRMAN

2. PATUREL NANA FATIMA-SECRETARY/MEMBER

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1. TO PROMOTE FRANCOPHONE CULTURE AND PRACTICES.

2. TO BE NON-POLITICAL, NON-RELIGIOUS, NON-GOVERNMENTAL, NONPROFIT MAKING AND NON-RACIAL.

3. TO OFFER SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY TOWARDS THE INTEGRATION AND RECEPTION OF ALL FRANCOPHONES PERSONS.

4. TO PROMOTE RECEPTION, INFORMATION AND INTEGRATION OF PEOPLE ESPECIALLY NEWLY ARRIVED FRANCOPHONES FAMILIES IN NIGERIA.

5. TO AFFILIATE AND CO-OPERATE WITH OTHER SISTERS ASSOCIATIONS WITHIN AND OUTSIDE NIGERIA FOR THE PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEREST OF THE ASSOCIATION

6. TO ORGANIZE AND HOST COCKTAILS, PROGRAMS INCLUDING MEETINGS AIMED AT ENHANCING INTER-PERSONAL CONTACT AND COMMUNICATION.

7. TO CARRY OUT ACTIVITIES, PROJECTS, AND PROGRAMS TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT AND ATTAINMENT OF THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSOCIATION. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

UFEDO ENYO OJO GLOBAL EVANGELICAL MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1.SUNDAY AMEH

2.SUNDAY OJONE

3.SUNDAY JOSEPH

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE :

1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

MRS. ISAIAH

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS IGBOZURUIKE CHIKWADO BETTY NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. ISAIAH CHIKWADO BETTY. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

ASSOCIATION DES FRANÇAIS DE L’ETRANGER IN NIGERIA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. PEYSSON ROMAIN OLIVER-CHAIRMAN

2. PATUREL NANA FATIMA-SECRETARY/MEMBER THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1. TO PROMOTE FRANCOPHONE CULTURE AND PRACTICES.

2. TO BE NON-POLITICAL, NON-RELIGIOUS, NON-GOVERNMENTAL, NONPROFIT MAKING AND NON-RACIAL.

3. TO OFFER SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY TOWARDS THE INTEGRATION AND RECEPTION OF ALL FRANCOPHONES PERSONS.

4. TO PROMOTE RECEPTION, INFORMATION AND INTEGRATION OF PEOPLE ESPECIALLY NEWLY ARRIVED FRANCOPHONES FAMILIES IN NIGERIA.

5. TO AFFILIATE AND CO-OPERATE WITH OTHER SISTERS ASSOCIATIONS WITHIN AND OUTSIDE NIGERIA FOR THE PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEREST OF THE ASSOCIATION

6. TO ORGANIZE AND HOST COCKTAILS, PROGRAMS INCLUDING MEETINGS AIMED AT ENHANCING INTER-PERSONAL CONTACT AND COMMUNICATION.

7. TO CARRY OUT ACTIVITIES, PROJECTS, AND PROGRAMS TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT AND ATTAINMENT OF THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSOCIATION. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

KUNWE

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS KUMSE FLORENCE JUMAMAI NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS KUNWE JESSICA KUMSE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Former Super Falcons coach, Ismailia Mabo Dies At 80

By Amaechi Agbo

Aformer coach of the Nigeria senior national female football team, the Super Falcons is dead.

Mabo died on the early hours of Monday, March 13 in Jos , Plateau State, aged 80.

He was born on July 15, 1944.He was Super Falcons coach from 1999 to 2002.

Ismaila was the head coach of the Nigeria women’s national team at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics.

He led Nigeria to the quarter-final of the World Cup, the team’s best record ever at the global women’s football

Before his demise, he was the president of Nigeria National League, NNL side, Mighty Jets FC Jos. He was also the pioneer captain and Coach of the club

His 1999 quarter-final World Cup record has not been bettered subsequent Super Falcons coach.

NFF, Plateau United, Mighty Jets mourn

The Nigeria Football Federation has expressed deep sorrow over the death on Monday morning of former Nigeria defender and an accomplished Head Coach of the Senior Women’s National Team, Super Falcons, Pa Ismaila Mabo. He was 80.

Reports said Mabo died in the early hours of Monday after a protracted illness.

“The death of Pa Ismaila Mabo came to me as a huge shock. Again, we have lost a great man and an accomplished trainer-oftrainers in the Nigeria Football fraternity, and my heart goes out to his immediate family and the other loved ones he has left behind.

“Mabo laid down a big marker for other coaches when he steered the Super Falcons to the quarter-

finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the USA in 1999. Yet, he was simple, humble and humane. We will miss him, but we are consoled that he left giant footprints in the sands of time and pray that God will grant him eternal rest,” President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau said on Monday.

NFF described him as “a gifted central defender, Ismaila Mabo started as a schoolboy international with the Nigeria academicals team that broke the chain of Ghana’s constant whipping of Nigerian teams, when they defeated Ghana’s academicals 1-0 in Accra on 13th February 1966. It was the first time any Nigerian team would defeat a Ghanaian football team on Ghanaian soil.

“Six days later, the Nigerian boys again defeated their

Ghanaian counterparts 2-1 in Lagos. His team-mates included Peter ‘Baby’ Anieke, Tony ‘World 2’ Igwe, the illustrious Sam Garba Okoye and Eyo Essien.”

After that accomplishment, Mabo joined Mighty Jets of Jos and was part of that club’s famous squad of the late 1960s and 1970s. He also featured for the senior national team, making his debut in a 1972 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Congo in Brazzaville on 22nd November 1970.

Mabo would later go into coaching, and was in the dug-out as Head Coach when the Super Falcons defeated North Korea 3-2, lost to USA and defeated Denmark 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999. The team stretched Brazil at that quarter-final stage before

losing by a golden goal in extra time in Washington DC on July 1, 1999.

Also, the Chairman of Mighty Jets International Football Club of Jos, Chief Alexander Noel Wukari is overwhelmed with emotion following a series of calls and messages of condolences he has received on behalf of the club and the family of the Late Alhaji Ismaila Mabo who passed on Monday

In a statement signed by the club’s direvtornof communication, Mbum M, Ferdinand, it noted that Chief Wukari is, therefore, thanking Nigerians for their enormous show of concern and is thanking everyone for the show of support.

Meanwhile, the management of Mighty Jets has paid its last respect to the famous athlete,

coach, and administrator, Alhaji Ismaila Mabo, who dedicated his entire life to the development of sports in Nigeria.

“He was recuperating from an accident that took him to the hospital where he spent more than a month before he was discharged when he had a relapse he couldn’t recover from this morning. In between these times, he lost his dear wife.

“At the time of his demise, he was the President of Mighty Jets FC of Jos, a club he co-founded alongside some of his famous friends in 1969, and he was also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Plateau State Sports Council.

Alhaji Mabo was buried earlier on Monday at the Zaria Road cemetery in Jos in accordance with Islamic rites.

Late Ismailia Mabo

Rangers vow To Defeat Rivers United as birthday gift to Secretary

Players of the ‘Flying Antelopes’, Rangers International F.C have promised the club’s Administrative Secretary, Barrister Ferdinand Ugwuarua, a grand birthday present with an outright win in their rescheduled match day 8, Group B, NPFL 2022/2023 Abridge season fixture against reigning champions, Rivers United F.C in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

Captain of the side, Uche John, while reacting to an address by the young football administrator whose birthday is on Monday, March 13, before the team departed for the ‘Garden City’, Monday morning, wished the administrator a warm birthday celebration with a promise of returning with the maximum points at stake in the fixture.

“On behalf of the players, I wish you a wonderful birthday celebration laced with a bountiful blessing from God just as we promise to present you with a grand birthday present after our game in Port Harcourt on Wednesday. Like we did last year in Uyo, it shall happen in PortHarcourt against Rivers United. It shall be a double celebration after the match,” stated the hard-as-anail defender.

Earlier, while addressing the match day squad before they departed the Coal City for PortHarcourt, Monday, Barrister Ugwuarua charged the players to go all out and get the needed result that would send a message to other contenders in the league that Rangers was back to challenge for its proper position on the log.

“I challenge you to go to PortHarcourt and show the real stuff that you are made of. They are the champions but we have what it takes to reclaim our position in the league of club football in the country. It will be a perfect birthday present for me just as you did at my last celebration in Uyo.”

Recall that the league organizers, I.M.C had rescheduled this fixture for Wednesday, March 15, 2023, inside Adokieye Amiesiamaka Stadium, PortHarcourt with kickoff fixed for 16.00 hours due to Rivers United’s participation in the CAF Confederation Cup, 2023.

Enyimba FC defeat Ahudiya FC To Retain

Enyimba FC retained the Abia State FA Cup trophy with a 4-1 spanking of flamboyant Ahudiya Nnem FC of Abiriba in an entertaining encounter at the Enyimba Stadium.

The Abiriba-based side had gone on a media tour and boasted about what they were “cooking” for the People’s Elephants, a hype spree which made fans troop out to see the team which beat Abia Warriors in the semifinal.

Enyimba started well and took the game to Ahudiya Nnem and their first chance arrived in the 10th minute when Moses Omoduemuke set up Ikenna Cooper but he shot wide.

Ahudiya Nnem came close to getting the opener in the 12th minute through Emeka Boniface but Enyimba captain, John Noble dived to full stretch to deny Boniface a goal, to the relief of the bench and the players. Enyimba’s persistence almost paid off in the 14th minute when John Noble’s long kick met Obioma who beat his marker and shot wide.

Ahudiya Nnem raised their game and took the challenge to Enyimba but could not make anything out of their adventurous forays into the Enyimba area. Ikenna Cooper watched as his shot came off the woodwork in the 19th minute after Uche Nwobodo spilled Eze Ekwutoziam’s cross. Eze also watched as his own shot came off the posts in the 29th minute as Enyimba

piled pressure for an opener, amidst missed chances.

Enyimba finally broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute with a perfect counter attack. Uwana Asuquo found Eze running down the right flank, the winger beat his marker and sent a pass to Obioma who quickly went past his marker and floated in a cross to Moses Omoduemuke, the striker nodded past Uche Nwobodo. In the second half, Enyimba started from where they left. In the 50th minute, Emeka Obioma got a fine pass from Nzediegwu, came face-to-face

with Uche Nwobodo and tried a chip but Nwobodo saved it effortlessly. Obioma got his goal in the 53rd minute when he nodded Uwana Asuquo’s cross home and three minutes later, the impressive Ikenna Cooper scored a beautiful goal after beating the goalkeeper and some defenders.

Enyimba took over possession and had some chances but did not convert them. Emeka Boniface hit the woodwork for Ahudiya Nnem in the 79th minute as they battled for redemption and he almost got a goal two minutes

later when he cut in from the right and shot on goal but John Noble saved his effort. Ahudiya Nnem’s consolation goal arrived in the 88th minute when Maxwell Ijoma stole the ball from Alalibo Somiari and then chipped the ball over Noble. Moses Omoduemuke responded two minutes later with a well taken shot to bring the score to 4-1.

In the third place game, Abia Warriors failed to honour the game and Uchecharia FC were awarded the game through walkover.1

Ekene Adams dedicates House Rep

victory to Remo Stars’ chairman,

Sports Administrator, now members-elect of the House of Representatives, Ekene Abubakar Adams has given glory to God as he specially thanked the President of Remo Stars Football Club of Ikenne, Honourable Kunle Soname.

Adams will represent the good people of the Chikun/ Kajuru Federal Constituency in the 10th National Assembly and clinched his ticket under the platform of the (Labour Party) in the elections of the lower legislative chamber, held alongside the presidential on Saturday 25 February.

Adams, who was General Manager of Remo Stars before he clinched the ticket could not

hide his delight after he and other 324 members-elect of the Green Chamber were presented their certificate of return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

While speaking when he presented his certificate of return issued him by INEC as a member-elect to Soname, Ekene Adams showed encomiums on the billionaire gentleman, business mogul, philanthropist and passionate football lover.

“I give glory to God, my family and the good people for giving me the mandate to serve them in the Green Chamber. All credit goes to Soname for his father’s

election

Soname

role in my political growth.

“I must from everything that I have learnt from him (Soname) in the many years I have been with him, serve humanity. Without him, we wouldn’t have been talking about this feat that I just achieved.

“Soname is not keen about ‘God-Fatherism’ but he is my political ‘godfather, as he’s a government despite not holding any position in government, he doesn’t have a tribal or religious bias as he sees every Nigerian as one.

“Our philanthropic gesture is what we learnt from him as it knows no bounds. At KADA City in the NPFL four years ago, he single-handedly paid monthly

salaries and other logistics, regardless the club was based in Kaduna.

“As a branch of his good works, we must emulate him by making this new government better for the common good of all Nigerians.

“We have nothing to offer Soname than to extend the hands of goods to people. My prayer to God is to keep Soname alive for Nigerians

“Without much ado, I had to come to present my certificate of return to him, as a member-elect in the 10th National Assembly.

“I want to state here clearly that others and I, are his products and will remain his product.”

Enyimba FC players celebrating their victory

World football governing body (FIFA) has allocated a staggering USD 100 million (over Rwf100 billion) budget to ensure a successful implementation of the “Football for Schools (F4S)” programme in Rwanda prior to its official launch on Monday, March 13, in Kigali.

The programme’s official launch comes just 72 hours before the 73rd FIFA Congress convenes in Kigali on March 16.

The project seeks to make football more accessible to both boys and girls around the world by incorporating football activities into the education system, in partnership with relevant authorities and stakeholders for it to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of children.

The programme, which targets to reach out to more than 4,000 schools in Rwanda with the aim to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of around 700 million children around the globe.

The launch day will contain more than 100 kids and 40 teachers/coaches in a very visual event. A lot of FIFA stakeholders including the Director of the Program, Fatimata Sidibe, will be in attendance.

The Football for Schools Programme has been designed to promote targeted life skills and competencies through football and contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other priorities.

In April 2019 in Kigali, FIFA delegates held a meeting with then Sports Minister Esperance Nyirasafari together with the State Minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education and discussed the football development program.

In Rwanda, the program will be implemented through a partnership between MINISPORTS/MINEDUC and Rwanda’s football governing body (Ferwafa).

Schools remain the most effective and efficient avenue in which to engage young people in sport. While FIFA, and its Member Associations, provide support to countless local associations and clubs that compete in leagues, FIFA, in collaboration with UNESCO, is committed to ensuring that children at school receive opportunities. This is especially important in countries that do not have an effective club structure.

The F4S Programme aims to ensure that football is accessible to all learners, without discrimination. Anyone who wants to play football must know that it is possible to do so through their school or community, using the facilities available in the country. While

the main remit of this programme is to support the provision of football coaching and equipment to schools, FIFA encourages its member associations and incountry partners to recognise the importance of engaging with outof-school youngsters.

Given that many schools lack equipment and qualified personnel

to deliver football activities, FIFA will provide equipment (footballs) through its MAs as well as this online learning platform and a mobile application that provides easy-to-use content for training sessions. It is hoped that the platform will help educators, coaches and parents to better support, deliver and manage F4S

activities in their schools and communities.

The Football for Schools Programme can enable schools to tackle a range of social issues, while providing an attractive vehicle in which to engage and educate learners, and even motivate educators too.

The Programme is not

FIFA to invest $100 Million in football among Rwandan schools Pogba injured again!

designed to detract from teaching or classroom time, and it is in fact intended to complement the efforts of educators and advance education outcomes, thus assisting governments. Football is capable of playing a vital role in the education system and acting as a “school of life”.

Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba is set for another layoff after suffering a thigh injury while taking free-kicks.

The 29-year-old will be out for about three weeks and will miss the start of France’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

After being dropped for Juve’s Europa League win over Freiburg last week, he missed Sunday’s 4-2 win over Sampdoria.

“This morning Pogba was taking free-kicks and felt a twinge in his adductor,” Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri said after Sunday’s game.

A club statement said that Pogba underwent a medical test on Monday and that he has suffered “a low-grade tear to his right thigh adductor”.

“He has already started with the rehabilitation process aimed at resuming competitive activity,” it added.

Juve have the return leg against Freiburg on Thursday, with Pogba having been dropped for the first game after being late for a team meeting last Wednesday.

Pogba has only made two

substitute appearances since rejoining Juve from Manchester United last summer, with the first of those coming on 28 February. Pogba’s previous appearance was for United in April 2022, when he suffered a calf injury in a 4-0 defeat at Liverpool which ruled him out for the remainder of last season.

The 2018 World Cup winner then suffered a knee injury in preseason but initially opted not to get an operation, fearing it would rule him out of last year’s World Cup.

But he was later deemed to need surgery anyway and, although he returned to the Juve squad in January, he suffered another muscular problem that further delayed his return to action.

France will begin their Group B fixtures against the Netherlands at the Stade de France on Friday, 24 March, before the World Cup runners-up visit the Republic of Ireland three days later.

Juve’s first game after the international break is at home to Hellas Verona on 1 April.

Plateau State Governor mourns Mabo

Plateau State Governor, Simon Bako Lalong says he received with shock but total submission to the will of God, the death of Coach Isma’ila Mabo, whose departure was announced on 13th March 2023..

In a release signed by his Press Secretary, Makut Simon Macham, Lalong said the death of Coach Mabo is a great loss not only to his immediate family but to the entire people of Plateau State and Nigeria at large considering the impact he made in his sporting career and football in particular.

He said “Coach Mabo in his playing days devoted his strength, energy and talent playing for many great clubs including the famous Mighty Jets Football Club of Jos and the national team, Green Eagles.”

According to the Governor, as Coach, Isma’ila Mabo is credited

with discovering and mentoring young talents, grooming them and exposing them to great clubs in the State, Nigeria and the world thereby enhancing the sport.

“We remember fondly his exploits as the Head Coach of the female national team, the Falcons during the FIFA 1999 Women’s World Cup; 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympic Games; as well as the Quarter Finals of the World Cup among others. During his lifetime on earth, Coach Mabo loved people and promoted peace, unity and oneness irrespective of ethnic, religious or political considerations” he said.

Lalong said he has lost a personal friend and mentor who did not only offered him support during his football days, but also offered him advise on enhancing the game of football when he became

Governor.

The Governor on behalf of his family, the people and Government of Plateau State, prayed God to grant his soul eternal rest and comfort the family.

Similarly, Plateau United FC have expressed shock over the death of of the octogenarian.

According to a statement by the Media Officer of the Club, Albert Dakup , described the death as a great loss not only to the state , but Nigeria as a whole in view of his invaluable contributions to the growth of female football in the country and the world at large.

The late Coach Mabo who was the pioneer Head Coach of the Super Falcons , took the senior female national team to the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games , a record yet to be equalled by his successors.

“We are saddened by the

passing away of coach Samaila Mabo. He impacted positively on female football in Plateau State and Nigeria and the vacuum he left behind, will difficult to fill” the statement said.

The Statement urged the family to accept Coach Mabo’s death in good faith , stressing that one cannot question the will of God and prayed for the repose of his soul.

The late Coach Samaila Mabo played for the famous Mighty Jets Football Club of Jos and the Super Eagles before venturing into Coaching where he became the pioneer Super Falcons Head Coach that led the team to the maiden edition of the female World Cup held in China.

Until his demise, he is the Board Chairman of the Plateau State Sports Council, Jos.

Paul Pogba on the turf

Hoodlums burgle Mo Salah’s villa in Cairo

Operation return Gov Sule

Going by results of the February 25, 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections in Nasarawa state, one may be tempted to say, on the surface, that the re-election bid of Governor Abdullahi Sule is hanging in the balance Fact of the matter however, is that the dynamics of Saturday’s gubernatorial election is different from that of two weeks ago. The presidential election result for Nasarawa state showed that Peter Obi got 191,361 votes to beat APC’s Bola Tinubu who had 172,922votes; PDP’s Atiku placed third with147, 093votes. This state had always been an APC state especially since it habours some powerful politicians, among them, Senator Abdullahi Adamu (its first democratically elected governor) now APC national chairman and Senator Tanko Almakura(the immediate past governor). So, it came as a surprise to some that APC lost to LP in the presidential poll.

By VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO

LP did not have a good showing generally, in the National Assembly election in states where it won the presidential poll. SDP clinched two of the senatorial seats in Nasarawa and PDP one. Internal wrangling arising from alleged imposition of candidates during the primaries that saw some erstwhile APC politicians defecting to other parties, a tinge of ethnic sentiments and sabotage were contributory factors.

so to speak. This is because the factors that played out in the February 25 polls would not be same for the governorship and State House of Assembly election. It will be a different scenario, a different ball game. The traditional voting pattern would resurface.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah’s villa in Cairo was burgled while he was in England, local media re orted.

TV receivers were stolen from inside the house and police investigations are ongoing. A security source told Egypt’s Shorouk newspaper on Sunday that no jewellery was taken.

No one was in the villa at the time of the incident.

Egypt captain Salah, 30, is due to visit his home country next week as he will lead the national team in a double-header against Malawi in African Nations Cup qualifying, a home game on March 24 and the away match four days later.

Salah last week became Liverpool’s all-time top scorer in the Premier League with 129 goals.

The reason for the presidential loss is majorly religious sentiment and the increasing elite population of urban towns like those in Karu local government. Nasarawa state is the most contiguous to Abuja, the federal capital territory. Some 70 per cent of those that work and do business in Abuja live in the Karu axis and Keffi. It’s a mixed population of people from other parts of the country who are hooked to the internet so to say. Thus, the LP candidate won in urban elite places like Lagos, Abuja and surrounding places where this population had spilled out. Somehow, the elites had spun the narrative that the ‘sufferings’ in the land is caused by APC national government and that voting for APC would be a continuation of the ‘sufferings’. This was easily bought by some, especially social media buffs.

Embarrassingly, APC also lost all three senatorial seats in Nasarawa including Almakura’s and Adamu’s zones. However, the voting pattern was different. Indeed except for the south east zone,

The candidacy of APC’s flag bearer for the western senatorial district became a matter of litigation for months. Amidst this distraction, the SDP candidate for that zone, Ahmed Wadada, himself a grassroots mobilizer and core politician; former PDP and APC faithful, one time Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on capital market, was forging ahead and strategising. It was no surprise therefore that he won hands down ---96,488 votes to APC’s and PDP’s 47,717 and 46820 votes respectively.

In the northern zone, Godiya Akwashiki (SDP) a onetime deputy speaker of the House of Assembly defeated retired executive secretary of the National Judicial Commission, Danladi Envulanza (APC) who was contesting for the first time---44,471 to

32,058. Former governor and incumbent senator, Almakura was defeated in the southern district by one-time Speaker of the State House of Assembly and current member, House of Representatives, Ogoshi Onawo who had remained in the PDP all along. He scored 93,064 while the senator scored 76,813 votes. Here, it was a case of the Alagos (the largest ethnic group in that zone), siding with their son rather than the former governor. But how come they did not side with their son when Almakura contested and won in 2019? There are speculations that sabotage may also be involved here.

For the House of Representatives election, APC fared a little better -- winning three out of the five House of Reps seat in the state. The SDP won the other two, namely, Lafia/Obi federal constituency and Karu/Keffi/Kokona federal constituency. Ordinarily, the ruling APC in Nasarawa should be clearing all five seats, winning four in the least. Expectedly, Nasarawa PDP had been gloating over the loss of Adamu and Almakura in the last elections and talking up its chances in Saturday’s gubernatorial poll. It is premature for PDP to rejoice nor should they write off APC big politicians as spent forces

For the House of Representatives election, APC fared a little better -winning three out of the five House of Reps seat in the state. The SDP won the other two, namely, Lafia/Obi federal constituency and Karu/Keffi/ Kokona federal constituency

Certainly, all of Nasarawa’s APC leaders from the national chairman down the ladder are expected to buckle up and unite for ‘operation return Sule’, lest they further damage their political standing with loss of the governorship contest. Already, a big rally was held for Sule’s re-election in Keffi, headquarters of the western senatorial district attended by APC bigwigs in that zone. It was gathered that the zone had decided that no one from the zone would contest for the governorship post as a pledge of their support for Governor Sule. And so Wadada, leader of the SDP in Nasarawa state is backing the governor and will accordingly direct his numerous supporters to vote APC come this weekend. This is a game changer of sort.

A technocrat from the corporate world, Governor Sule has performed creditably in management of the state’s meagre resources as well as attracting some big investors to the state in his industrialisation drive, among other achievements. His co-contesters are relatively inexperienced. So, notwithstanding his party’s rather embarrassing loss on February 25, I expect Governor Abdullahi Sule and APC to triumph on Saturday.