SATURDAY 6TH AUGUST 2023

Tinubu's Reforms: S&P Upgrades Nigeria's Outlook to Stable

Analysts warn country may face geopolitical risks over Niger GlaxoSmithKline’s exit, bad omen for Nigeria’s business environment, Atiku, Obi lament

Ndubuisi Francis and Gabriel Emameh in Abuja

Global rating agency, Standard and Poor's (S&P) has upgraded

Nigeria’s credit outlook to stable from negative on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s planned reforms. However, despite the improved rating, the debt assessor still scored

Nigeria at B-, six notches into junk and on par with Bolivia and Barbados.

It also warned that Nigeria may also face geopolitical risks tied to the

recent coup in neighboring Niger. This is coming as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, and his

counterpart in the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi have lamented the planned exit of the British pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), from Nigeria after more than five decades

of operation. Both opposition leaders said the

Continued on page 5

Kogi, Imo, Bayelsa Polls: We Learnt Lessons in 2023 General Election, Says INEC…

Rerun: We’ve Done

Our Calculation

Page 6

Well, Tinubu Won't Be on Ballot, LP Claims

Says president misled by lawyers and trying to hoodwink judges Tinubu’s election on shaky grounds, Atiku’s aide insists

Gabriel Emameh in Abuja

The Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation yesterday declared that with the damning evidence before the Presidential Election

Petition Court (PREPEC) in Abuja against President Bola Tinubu, he would not participate in the rerun election should the poll be annulled. Also, the Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku

Abubakar, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, said that there is palpable fear in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on the likelihood of the court upturning the election of President Tinubu.

Spokesperson and Head of Media of the organisation, Mr. Diran Onifade, told THISDAY yesterday that President Tinubu's legal team did not only mislead him but also effortlessly tried to hoodwink the

Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-man panel. President Tinubu had last Tuesday appealed to the justices of the PREPEC to exclude the presidential candidate of the LP, Mr. Peter Obi,

and his party in the event of any rerun presidential election, claiming that only he and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),

Continued on page 5

Senate Urges Tinubu to Explore Political, Diplomatic Solutions in Niger Republic

Asks Akpabio, principal officers to meet Tinubu France backs ECOWAS bid to quash Nigerien coup Atiku, PDP govs, NWC caution against war Niger’s junta seeks Russia’s Wagner group’s help to combat ECOWAS military threat

Chuks Okocha and Sunday

Aborisade in Abuja and John

Shiklam in Kaduna

The efforts by the Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to reinstate the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger Republic by military action yesterday suffered a setback as the Senate yesterday urged President Bola Tinubu to explore political and diplomatic solutions to restore democracy in the troubled country.

President Tinubu, who is the Chairman of ECOWAS, and other leaders of the sub-regional body rose from an emergency extraordinary meeting in Abuja, last Sunday with a call on the coup plotters to reinstate President Bazoum within seven days or be forced out by military action.

The ECOWAS leaders, who insisted that Bazoum was the

Continued on page 5

President Bola Tinubu (left), and Chairman, Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr, when Adenuga visited the president at the Presidential Villa in Abuja…Friday

SENATE URGES TINUBU TO EXPLORE POLITICAL, DIPLOMATIC SOLUTIONS IN NIGER REPUBLIC

legitimate president of the Republic of Niger, also mulled other decisive actions, including the imposition of sanctions at the end of the ultimatum, which expires today.

President Tinubu had in an official communication sent to the Senate on Friday, sought the support of the lawmakers for the implementation of the resolutions of ECOWAS on the

political situation in Niger Republic.

But after a two-hour deliberation behind closed doors, the Senate yesterday advised President Tinubu against using military actions to force the coup plotters out of power.

The red chamber urged Tinubu and other leaders of ECOWAS to adopt diplomacy in tackling the change of government in the

Republic of Niger.

This is coming as the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, has said that France is “strongly” in support of efforts by the ECOWAS to “defeat” the coup in the Niger Republic.

However, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general

election, Atiku Abubakar; governors elected on the party’s platform, as well as the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) yesterday cautioned President Bola Tinubu against going to war with Niger Republic.

Also, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), an umbrella body for Muslims, headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji

RERUN: WE'VE DONE OUR CALCULATION WELL, TINUBU WON'T BE ON BALLOT, LP CLAIMS

Atiku Abubakar, are constitutionally qualified to recontest the rerun election.

Tinubu, through his lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), and the counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had argued that should the justices of the court void the February 25, 2023, presidential election, Obi and his party should not be allowed to re-contest.

Olanipekun had while arguing his final written address, declared that Obi should not be allowed to participate in the rerun election because he came third in the race.

But the LP described the claim by Tinubu’s lawyers as an attempt to foist his position on the panel of justices, adding that if there would be any rerun, Tinubu would not be on the ballot based on the evidence before the PREPEC.

Onifade said Tinubu's appeal for the exclusion of Obi and the LP from participating in the proposed rerun and his last-minute effort to challenge the outcome of the election in Kano State showed that he has lost the votes allegedly stolen from Obi in Rivers and Benue states.

He said: "If there will be a second election, it will be between the top two. Tinubu will not be among the top two because all the issues we raised are enough to disqualify him. The certificate forgery, the drug trafficking forfeiture, the invalid nomination of his vice, etc. All those things would have disqualified him in the first place.

"So, he is not going to be on the ballot. All these things that his lawyers are doing are just to make him comfortable. They have misled him and are also trying to mislead and hoodwink the justices. The justices are not foolish.

"They are claiming that the constitution says that even if it's true that he has a case of forfeiture, after 10 years, you have been cleared. But that is not true. They are just being clever by half. The section of the constitution they are talking about has so many subsections and only one of them has the 10 years moratorium and it doesn't cover him.

"So, if there is going to be another election, their man would have been disqualified,” Onifade explained.

On the claim that Obi came third, he said: "We talked about the figure we put together from Rivers State and Benue State. They didn't even address those at all. When you remove what they stole in Rivers and Benue states and you add to Obi's, their own figures would have gone down and Obi won't be in the third position again.”

Asked if the figures in Rivers and Benue states would be enough to displace either Tinubu or Atiku, he said the issue was still subjudice, adding however, that for the APC and Tinubu to come from behind to challenge the results in Kano in the last minute, while on the other hand appealing to exclude Obi from a possible rerun, left a lot to be desired.

"We can't prejudge the tribunal. But let's say for the sake of your question, if you remove one million from eight million, it will go down to seven million. And when you add that one million to six million, that will amount to seven million. We have a professor that did all the calculations. It's a pity that we didn't have the time to carry out the calculations nationwide. They know it's damaging to them.

"If not, how come that a state like Kano that we are not even contesting with them, was brought to the tribunal to challenge that votes were stolen from them in Kano?” Onifade queried.

He explained that "their (APC) calculation is that by the time what they stole from Rivers and Benue states are deducted, their votes would have gone down and if the tribunal grants them what they claimed they lost in Kano, it might make up for what is deducted from them.

"Even those of us who are laymen, know that their lawyers are playing mind games because it's one thing they would say in the evidence they have tendered and it's another that their witnesses will say under oath.

"For instance, under oath, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele admitted that their man forfeited money and it's about narcotics trafficking. He admitted that under oath. The same forfeiture they have been going about saying that it's a civil case. Then again, the INEC witness even though he tendered a document that the uploading on IReV was not part

of the mandatory process, in his testimony before the justices, changed it and said the process included uploading through the IReV.

“The court document that they tendered, they said the case was about narcotics trafficking. That's the exact words in that document. And then the certificate issue. The one he presented to INEC was not issued by the university. That's a forgery,” he added.

Tinubu’s Election on Shaky Grounds, Atiku’s Aide Insists

Meanwhile, the Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku, Shaibu, has said that there is palpable fear in the ruling APC on the likelihood of the court upturning Tinubu’s election.

Shaibu, in an exclusive interview with THISDAY at the weekend, said: “Now that pleadings have been concluded in the petition challenging the February 25 presidential election, it is easy to decipher that the declaration of the APC as winner of the election is standing on shaky grounds.”

He said further that there was a high possibility that the court would upturn the purported election of President Tinubu, and strengthen electoral processes in Nigeria.

“The uneasy calm in the camp of the APC is in apprehension about submissions and admission of some fundamental facts during the adoption of final written addresses in the two major petitions challenging the declaration of Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner of the last presidential election.

“At the adoption of final addresses, Tinubu's camp conceded to two major facts that have made his key supporters across the country jittery on what may befall them in the final decision of the tribunal.

“Among other admitted and undisputed fundamental facts at the proceedings were that Tinubu actually forfeited a sum of $460,000 through the judgment of the United States of America's court for his established involvement in narcotics and money laundering related offences.”

Phrank added that another fact was the unchallenged admission of the INEC that Atiku won the February 25 presidential election in 21 states of the federation, the claim which ought to have made the electoral umpire to declare him as the lawful winner of the poll.

“Besides the two major facts, the qualifications of Tinubu for the poll may also take centre stage in the scrutiny of the tribunal following the admission of the President in his INEC form EC009 wherein he admitted having not attended any primary or Secondary School in Nigeria.

“This is in contrast to his claim to the same electoral body in 1998 where in his own hand writing, admitted graduating at a Primary School at Aroyaya in Lagos and at Government College Ibadan, Oyo State.

“Tinubu's legal team at the adoption of final address led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN conceded that the President was actually punished by an American court and was made to forfeit the $460,000 found in his bank account as proceeds of heinous crime of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

“Similar admission was made through the APC represented by Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.

“The two legal teams, however, asked the tribunal to invoke the forgiving spirit of Nigeria's 1999 Constitution to overlook the judgment of the US court on the forfeiture on the ground that the verdict was handed to Tinubu more than 30 years ago.”

He said: “It is ridiculous that the holder of the President of Nigeria will stand before an open court and be pleading for clemency for a crime on narcotics and money laundering.

“The admission by INEC that Atiku won in 21 states of the federation which, uptil now, has not been controverted by INEC itself, is another factor giving the APC sleepless night.

“At the last opportunity to rebut the claims and denounce it, the electoral body completely slept off, fuelling the belief that the electoral umpire knows what it is doing in its entirety.”

TINUBU'S REFORMS: S&P UPGRADES NIGERIA'S OUTLOOK TO STABLE

development was a sign that all is not well with the country’s business environment.

In a statement, S&P Global Ratings acknowledged that the improved outlook comes after Nigeria’s new leader scrapped costly fuel subsidies, removed the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and overhauled the nation’s exchange rate policies.

According to analysts, Ravi Bhatia, Samira Mensah, and Juili Pargaonkar, “the new government is moving ahead with a series of reforms that could, if delivered, benefit growth and fiscal outcomes.”

“We believe these measures will gradually benefit Nigeria’s public finances and its balance of payments,” the analysts added.

However, the analysts noted that Nigeria's planned fiscal spending and inflation remain high, adding that Nigeria and other countries in the West African region may also face geopolitical risks tied to the recent coup in neighboring Niger.

The World Bank had projected that Nigeria could save up to N3.9 trillion this year alone from reforms

but warned of growing short-term inflationary pressures.

S&P’s sovereign analyst, Frank Gill had last month stated that the ratings agency was closely watching Nigeria ahead of its review on August 4, adding that recent reforms were positive signs.

The global rating agency had in February maintained Nigeria’s credit rating at “B-/B” but changed its outlook to “negative”, while rival Fitch affirmed Nigeria at ‘B-’ in May.

A raft of measures taken by Tinubu soon after his inauguration on May 29, including the removal of the contentious subsidy on petrol and the unification of the exchange rate of the naira is already ruffling feathers.

Although multilateral lenders, the International Monetary Fund (IMF); the World Bank, and foreign investors, among others, have hailed the measures, most Nigerians are currently facing unprecedented hardship caused by the high cost of living due to subsidy removal.

The organised labour is currently embroiled in a face-off with the federal government over subsidy

removal without putting measures in place to cushion the impact on vulnerable Nigerians.

GlaxoSmithKline’s Exit, Bad Omen for Nigeria’s Business Environment, Atiku, Obi Lament

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 general election, Atiku, and his counterpart in the LP, Obi have lamented the planned exit of British pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), from Nigeria after more than five decades of operation, saying the development was a sign that all is not well with the country’s business environment.

Both opposition figures reacted to the development through their various verified social media handles at the weekend.

Atiku wrote: “The planned exit of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from Nigeria after more than five decades of doing business in Nigeria underscores how horrific the environment has become for both

Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, has cautioned against military action in efforts to restore democracy in Niger Republic.

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Timi Frank, has also claimed that the alleged plot by Tinubu to go to war over a coup in the Niger Republic is to enable him to declare a state of emergency in Nigeria and suspend the ongoing petitions filed to challenge his election.

Addressing his colleagues after the closed-door session, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, disclosed that the lawmakers advised the president against using military actions to force the coup plotters out of power

Akpabio also revealed that the Senate resolved that its leadership should meet with Tinubu over the resolutions of the red chamber.

Akpabio said: "The Senate commends President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and other Heads of States and Governments of the ECOWAS for their prompt response and the position taken on the unfortunate development in Niger Republic.

"The Senate recognises the fact that President Tinubu by his correspondence has not asked for the approval of this Senate to go to war as being erroneously suggested in some quarters.

"Rather, the President and Commander-in-Chief had expressed and I quote, ‘He wished to respectively solicit the support of the National assembly in the successful implementation of the ECOWAS resolutions as outlined in the said communication.’

"The leadership of the Senate is mandated to: Urge the President and Commander-in-Chief on behalf of the Senate on how best to resolve the issues.

"The Senate calls on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Chairman of ECOWAS to further encourage other leaders of ECOWAS to strengthen the political and diplomatic options and other means with which to resolve the political impasse in Niger Republic.

"The National Assembly also calls on the ECOWAS leadership under President Tinubu to resolve the political situation in Niger and return the country to democratic governance in the near future.

"The leadership of the senate is mandated to further engage the President and Commander-in-Chief on behalf of the Senate and the National Assembly on how best to resolve the issue in view of the hitherto existing cordial relationship between Niger and Nigeria.

"Finally, the Senate called on the ECOWAS Parliament to rise to the occasion by condemning this and also positing solutions to resolve this impasse as soon as possible."

responsible for this coup attempt to release President Bazoum and all members of his government, and to allow the immediate return to constitutional and democratic order,”

Atiku, PDP Govs, NWC Cautions Tinubu against War with Niger

In a related development, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 general election, Atiku; governors elected on the party’s platform, as well as the party’s NWC yesterday cautioned Tinubu against going to war with Niger Republic. Rising from a meeting held in Abuja, the PDP leaders urged Tinubu not to plunge Nigeria into a regrettable crisis.

They also noted that the 48 ministerial nominees would have adverse economic implications for Nigeria on the cost of governance. In the communiqué at the end of the meeting read by the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Governor Bala Mohammed, the PDP leaders advised Tinubu not to go into any form of war with Niger over the recent military coup in the country. They insisted that all tools of dialogue and diplomacy should be further employed to resolve the dispute.

"The meeting counselled the federal government to show leadership by cutting the cost of governance. Forty-eight ministers and several special advisers and assistants should be reduced to ensure the health of our economy," the communique.

"The meeting emphasised the need for party discipline and re-iterated zero tolerance for anti-party activities and sabotage. No individual or group of individuals will be allowed to undermine the unity of the party and its processes.

"The meeting is committed to repositioning and stabilising the party. To this end, the healing and reconciliation process is in progress and yielding results,” the communique added.

The PDP leaders reaffirmed their support for Atiku and the PDP vice presidential candidate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, to reclaim their mandate in the election tribunal.

The PDP leaders also congratulated the party’s leadership for setting up the campaign councils for the offsession elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states and urged the campaign councils to ensure victory for the party in the three states.

The meeting was attended for the first time by the members of the camp of the former Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

local and foreign businesses. Sadly, many international firms have, in recent times, sold their assets and bid farewell to Nigeria after several years of operating in our country.

“These exits have led to further loss of jobs in an environment that is already bleeding jobs. We need to do a lot more not only to encourage investors to make Nigeria their preferred destination but also to encourage companies already operating in our land not to “japa.” To this end, we must revamp our infrastructure, endeavour to enthrone a sustainable regime of energy security, and retool our fiscal and monetary policy. -AA.”

Obi, who took to his verified Twitter handle to react to the news, said GSK’s reason to quit was even more disturbing as they no longer perceive a prospect for the country as a business environment that would be anchored on.

Obi described as saddening the exit of the pharmaceutical giant from Nigeria after 51 years of operations.

Obi in a series of tweets, yesterday

France Backs ECOWAS Bid to Quash Nigerien Coup

Meanwhile, while the Senate has kicked against military action against the coup plotters in Niger, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Colonna, has declared that France is “strongly” in support of efforts by the ECOWAS to “defeat” the coup in the Niger Republic.

Colonna spoke yesterday when she visited the Prime Minister of the Niger Republic, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, at Quai d’Orsay.

The French minister was accompanied by Aichatou Boulama, France’s Ambassador to Niger.

The French minister called on the coup plotters to immediately return to democratic rule.

“France strongly and firmly supports ECOWAS’s efforts to defeat this coup attempt,” she said.

Colonna said France remains committed to the future of Niger and the stability of the entire region.

“ECOWAS gave the putschists a seven-day deadline to end their coup. It expires tomorrow (today), Sunday, August 6”.

“France solemnly calls on those

The meeting was the first to be attended by the National Vice Chairman for South, Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja; the National Vice Chairman for South-south, Dan Orbih and the National Vice Chairman for South-east, Ali Odafe, since the crisis that led to the formation of the G-5 governors started.

JNI Asks Nigeria to Halt Military Action in Niger Republic

Meanwhile, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), an umbrella body for Muslims, headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar III, has cautioned against military action in efforts to restore democracy in Niger Republic.

JNI, in a statement yesterday in Kaduna, said military intervention could have unintended consequences that may impact the peace and stability of Nigeria and Niger.

The statement signed by Prof. Khalid Aliyu, Secretary General of JNI called on all stakeholders to prioritise more diplomatic and political conciliation and collective efforts to resolve the crisis.

“The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) representing the collective voice of the Muslim Ummah, expresses its deep

PARTY AFFAIR…

Kogi, Imo, Bayelsa Polls: We Learnt Lessons in 2023 General Election, Says INEC

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa states, the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has stated that the commission learnt some lessons from the 2023 general election and promised that there would be an improvement in the upcoming gubernatorial polls.

He added that the commission was satisfied with the feedback it got during the 2023 post-election review organised by the electoral body.

Speaking during the conclusion of the three days’ reviews on the 2023 elections in Lagos, the INEC boss assured that most of the issues raised and recommendations made to improve the nation’s elections would be tested in the forthcoming polls in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa states.

Yakubu said: “We promised Nigerians that we were going to hold the election review meeting and conclude it within one month.

“We started on the 4th of July and today (yesterday) is the 4th of August, the response has been overwhelming. Remember we started with the state-level consultation with the Resident Electoral Commissioner (RECs).

“We had an engagement with the transport unions, we then met with the state collation of the presidential election in Abuja, then we had an engagement with political parties, civil organisations, among others.

“So overall, we are encouraged by the response of stakeholders across the board and the quality of the contributions they made,” Mahmood explained.

Asked about the challenges that kept popping up during the review, he said: “A number of challenges came up; technology for voter accreditation, and

Resident Doctors to Embark on Nationwide Protest on Wednesday

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) yesterday announced plans to embark on daily peaceful protests and picketing of the Federal Ministry of Health, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, as well as all federal and state tertiary health institutions nationwide.

NARD in a notice after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, jointly signed by the National President, Dr. Emeka Orji and the Secretary, Dr. Chikezie Kelechi, said the mass action will take effect from Wednesday, August 9, 2023.

The statement noted that the action has become necessary to press home the doctors’ demands, which according to them, have been largely neglected by their parent ministry and the federal government.

“We are pained that rather

than make genuine and concerted efforts to resolve the challenges that led to the industrial action despite repeated ultimatums, our parent ministry and the federal government have chosen to demonise Nigerian resident doctors instead, after all, their sacrifices and patriotism.

“We, therefore, resolved that it is time the whole world hears our side of the story – the decay and corruption in the health sector as well as the neglect the public health institutions have suffered all these years that led to repeated industrial actions.

“We believe that the government still has time to genuinely address the issues at stake before Wednesday, August 9, 2023, or leave us with no other option,” the statement explained.

The federal government had three days ago slammed a ‘No work, No pay policy’ against the striking resident doctors.

result management were part of the issues raised, and recommendations made.

“The issue of electoral logistics, so that elections can start promptly; also the production and collection of permanent voters cards, PVCs among others.

“We are harvesting all the issues and all the recommendations and those that require administrative actions by the commission would be dealt with.

“But those that require an amendment to the existing laws, whether the Electoral Act 2022 or

the Constitution, we will harvest them and approach the National Assembly for consideration.

“So, we are happy so far with the response we received and the frank discussion across the board.

“The most important thing for the commission is that we have heard from Nigerians and it will enable us to go back to the drawing board in our quest to continuously improve the electoral process.

“After harvesting the information, there’s an opportunity in the three of

circle elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states in November to implement some of the recommendations that require only administrative actions by the commission, while those that require legislation, the National Assembly has to work on the laws.

“There’s also another opportunity for us because so far, four vacancies have been declared for by-elections: Surulere 1, State constituency in Lagos; Jalingo federal constituency in Taraba State; Chibok State constituency

in Borno State; and Chikun State constituency in Kaduna State.

“So, we will keep testing some of the recommendations in the forthcoming by-elections,” he added.

Asked if results would be posted immediately from the polling units to the commission’s IREV, he said: “Did the issues resurface in the governorship elections of March 18?”

“Not only the governorship elections in 28 states, but the 993 states constituencies state assembly elections?

Atiku Suffers Setback in Bid to Subpoena Chicago State University over Tinubu

Segun James

Ahead of the presentation of judgment by the Presidential Election Petitions Court in Abuja in the petition he filed against the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in that election, Atiku Abubakar, has suffered a legal blow in the United States of America (USA).

A Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois County in the US has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the PDP candidate to get access to President Tinubu’s confidential educational records at Chicago State University.

The former vice president had filed the suit seeking to subpoena the university but later withdrew the case.

According to the Circuit Court papers, Justice Patrick J. Heneghan dismissed the case

without prejudice.

In the judgment dated July 31, 2023, the judge held that the “Petitioner’s subpoena in this case is withdrawn, and thus Chicago State University will not be deposed pursuant to the subpoena in this case.”

Ruling on the matter, Justice Heneghan said: “The case is dismissed without prejudice and resolves all matters pending before the court.”

Atiku had claimed that

President Tinubu did not attend Chicago State University. Meanwhile, a leading Chicago State official has again confirmed that the President is a long-time and distinguished alumnus of the university.

In an affidavit, the Registrar of Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg, deposed that “Bola Ahmed Tinubu graduated and was awarded a degree by Chicago State University on June 22, 1979.”

Customs CG Meets Katsina Gov, to Enforce Border Closure Compliance

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr. Adewale Adeniyi, at the weekend in Katsina State, met with the state governor, Dikko Radda, to enforce full compliance with the Jibia Border closure directive.

This was announced in a statement yesterday by the National Public Relations Officer of the service, Abdullahi Miawada.

Recall that due to the recent overthrow of a democratically elected government in the Niger Republic, the Nigerian government shut down the Jibia border.

Adeniyi in the statement said that the visit was also to solicit the cooperation of border communities.

The CGC told the governor that the president’s decision was not implemented to witch-hunt the businesses of Nigerians. He stressed that the obstruction is a temporary measure.

Adeniyi also informed the governor that the exercise did not affect the Jibia border alone.

“It is a shared decision that affected many borders within the Economic Community of West African States,” he added. He said that the service would also devote energy to sensitise members of the communities to the reason behind the decision.

In his response, the governor who was represented by his deputy, Farouk Lawal, welcomed the CGC and assured him of his unflinching support.

“I want to congratulate you on your appointment, and I wish you a successful tenure,” Farouk said.

Adeniyi also visited the Katsina-Jibia outstation of the service to examine the level of compliance with the order.

He also interacted with the residents of the border area and stakeholders.

Addressing the officers at the outstation, the CGC charged them to sensitise the community to the rationale behind shutting the borders.

“The president takes this matter seriously, and he aims to protect the democracy and peaceful coexistence in this country. Therefore, the current happenings in Niger prompted President Tinubu to take this action.

“So, we are here to evaluate the level of compliance of the directive as well as to assess the activities of the officers and men of the service in the axis.”

He emphasised that Nigerians cannot have meaningful economic development in an atmosphere of uncertainty. However, stakeholders who spoke during the meeting told the CGC they will respect and abide by the directive.

L-R: Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal; Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri; Governor of Bauchi, Bala Mohammed; presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last general election, Atiku Abubakar; his running mate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa; and Delta State Governor, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, at the end of the meeting held by leaders and stakeholders of the party in Abuja…yesterday

SPECIAL RECOGNITION IN SCOTLAND…

Edo Dep Gov off to America as Lawmakers Meet Today over His Removal Plot

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The embattled Deputy Governor of Edo State, Hon. Philip Shaibu, has reportedly travelled to the United States amid a plot by Governor Godwin Obaseki and his loyalists to use the state House of Assembly to sack him.

Shaibu’s journey to the US happened as lawmakers loyal to the state governor launched a series of meetings to perfect his removal.

The lawmakers in the governor’s camp have, according to feelers, begun a drive for signatures with which they planned to reinforce their petition and push through a resolution to set the stage for his eventual removal from office.

The governor’s camp has reportedly approached 12 members of the Edo State House of Assembly to canvass the removal of the deputy governor, according to the governor’s immediate past Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Mr. Andrew Emwanta.

Speaking in an interview on Channels TV, Emwanta disclosed that a strategy meeting of the assembly members and their sponsors had been scheduled for Abuja today to perfect the plot against the deputy governor.

As the plot is thickening, a report by gwg.com said that the deputy governor had temporarily relocated to the United States where “he is monitoring the moves against him by the camp of the governor.”

But Enwanta claimed during a television interview that “12 members of the House of Assembly were approached, and you know that among the 12, the deputy governor has one or two loyalists who leaked the plot.

“You know they need 16 members. So, four other members were to be sourced from the eight APC members but when they saw that the plot will leak once the APC people are aware, there was a final plan for a meeting to hold on the 6th of this month in Abuja where four members’ signatures would have been forged, impeachment plot would be arranged and if the deputy governor was not comfortable with whatever would have happened, he would be told to go to court.

“But you know that when you impeach a deputy governor, it is very difficult to bring him back because the judicial process is very long.”

The embattled deputy governor had, on Friday, secured an order from a Federal High Court in Abuja ordering Governor Obaseki and the State House of Assembly to stay action on the alleged impeachment plot against him.

Meanwhile, there were reports that the political feud between the governor and his deputy was not unconnected to the 2024 governorship ambition of the former.

Shaibu, from Edo North, is planning to succeed his boss in 2024; whereas the governor is not disposed to his deputy’s ambition.

The governor, it was gathered, is looking elsewhere for his successor. He is reportedly looking at Edo Central and in a worst case scenario at Edo South for his successor.

But Shaibu, from Edo North, knowing the control the governor exercises on the structure of their faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the state, is perfecting his plans to dump the PDP.

Edo State is divided into three senatorial districts – South, Central, and North. Governor Obaseki, who is from Edo South, succeeded Senator Adams Oshiomhole from Edo North in 2016, who is from the same local government area as Philip Shaibu.

A report by THE WILL said that aware of the zoning system in PDP, Shaibu went into talks with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and members of the PDP from the state, who had decamped to the APC.

Shaibu reportedly unveiled his political moves immediately after the 2023 presidential election by forming a campaign group in all the wards across the state.

An insider familiar with the development in Government House, who confirmed the feud, said Governor Obaseki had consistently maintained that it was not time for politics so that “governance does not suffer.”

According to the report, he had insisted that at the appropriate time, attention would be given to politics.

Meanwhile, facts have emerged on why Governor Obaseki has

refused to Shaibu as his preferred successor.

It was gathered that the governor is not disposed to his successor emerging from Edo North senatorial district where his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole hails from. Shaibu hails from same Estako extraction where Oshiomhole and the minister-designate, Abubakar Momoh, hail from in Edo North Sources said Obaseki plans to balance the power tripod in the State by ensuring his successor hails from Edo Central or other parts of Edo North senatorial district.

A source named Asue Ighodalo as the likely man the governor prefers

to succeed him.

Besides the issue of power balancing, the source said Obaseki does not believe Shaibu would continue with his plans and vision as spelt out in his 30-year development plans.

The source said suspicion that Shaibu may defect to the APC was confirmed when he attended the Abuja inauguration party of Oshiomhole without clearance from Obaseki.

It was gathered that the deputy governor was alarmed when he was prevented from entering the governor’s office as he was told to give prior notice before seeing

the governor.

“The governor has put certain protocols in place that he has earlier overlooked for the sake of peace. Some of the protocols included Shaibu must informed him before storming his office and ensuring Shaibu is stopped from entering State Executive Council meetings whenever he is late. Shaibu used to come late to Exco meetings but the governor has put a stop to it.

“How can the deputy governor handle revenue of a State? Obaseki gave him a long rope to operate but the governor is now setting things properly.

“Shaibu has gone round the

political wards in the state and set up structures without informing the governor. The governor himself is focusing on governance and cannot sacrifice other ethnic groups like the Akokos, the Owans, the Esan, to support his deputy who is from Estako.”

Shaibu is yet to declare his intention to run for the 2024 governorship race but his inability to get support of his boss was said to have stalled a formal declaration.

Several aides closed to Shaibu refused to speak on the issue. One of them said, ‘Oga is going ahead to contest for the governorship.’

SENATE URGES TINUBU TO EXPLORE POLITICAL, DIPLOMATIC SOLUTIONS IN NIGER

concern and censure of power from a democratically elected President Bozoum, through military coup in Niger Republic”, the statement reads.

“We firmly note the relevance of upholding democratic principles and the rule of law to fostering stability, development and steady progress within nations, which are without doubt cornerstones for good governance, because they (democratic principles and rule of law) prevent arbitrary use of force and power, ensures consistency with international human rights, norms and standards, etc.

“The JNI therefore commends the efforts so far undertaken by the Nigerian government, particularly the initiation of a dialogue process, aimed at resolving the crisis in Niger Republic.

“While this attempt may not have yielded the desired results, it demonstrates Nigeria’s commitment to peaceful resolutions.

“We acknowledge that dialogue is an invaluable tool in preventing further bloodshed and instability, within the Sahel Region, already beset with many political and security uncertainties.

“Nevertheless, we wish to raise a word of caution against the pursuit of military action as a means to restore democracy.”

The statement noted that “the interlaced landscape of the northern states of Nigeria and the Republic of Niger, it necessitates a more circumspect and thoughtful action and/or approach.”

Aliyu said, “With several Nigerian states sharing borders with Niger Republic, military intervention could have unintended consequences that may impact the peace and stability of both nations.”

The Islamic body, therefore, called on all stakeholders to prioritise more diplomatic and political conciliation and collective efforts to the crisis.”

Tinubu Seeking State of Emergency, Timi Frank Alleges

In another development, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Frank, has also claimed that the alleged plot by Tinubu to go to war over the coup in Niger Republic is to enable him to declare a state of emergency in Nigeria and suspend the ongoing petitions filed to challenge his election.

Frank, who made the allegation in a statement in Abuja, accused Tinubu of capitalising on his position as Chairman of the ECOWAS to legitimise his election mandate in Nigeria.

He insisted that the president’s planned military action over Niger is selfishly motivated as he seeks to gain political capital by legitimising his administration and securing the recognition of international bodies that hitherto have not recognised him as duly elected president.

The activist warned that the president should not lead Nigeria into war with Niger as

the consequences of such an action would result in long-term economic, political, and social devastation of the country.

Frank, who is the Ambassador of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to East Africa and the Middle East, also accused ECOWAS Heads of States and Governments of not working to deepen democracy in the subregion by ensuring good governance.

He accused the ECOWAS leaders of being silent when Presidents illegally steal the people’s mandate through electoral fraud and manipulate constitutional provisions to elongate their tenure in office.

Niger’s Junta Seeks Russia’s Wagner Help to Combat ECOWAS Military Threat

Meanwhile, there are strong indications that Niger Republic’s new military junta has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group, Wagner as the deadline nears for it to release the country’s ousted president or face possible military intervention by the West African regional bloc.

Voice of America reports that the request for Wagner’s help came during a visit by a coup leader, General Salifou Mody, to neighbouring Mali, where he contacted someone from Wagner, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center,

told The Associated Press. He said three Malian sources and a French diplomat confirmed the meeting first reported by France 24.

“They need (Wagner) because they will become their guarantee to hold onto power,” he said, adding that the group is considering the request. A Western military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, told the AP they have also heard reports that the junta asked for help from Wagner in Mali.

After his visit to Mali, run by a sympathetic junta, Mody was said to have warned against a military intervention, vowing that Niger would do what it takes not to become “a new Libya,” Niger’s state television reported Friday.

Niger has been seen as the West’s last reliable counterterrorism partner in a region where coups have been common in recent years. Juntas have rejected former colonizer France and turned toward Russia. Wagner operates in a handful of African countries, including Mali, where human rights groups have accused its forces of deadly abuses.

One can’t say there’s a direct Russian implication in Niger’s coup, but “clearly, there’s an opportunistic attitude on the part of Russia, which tries to support destabilization efforts wherever it finds them,” French foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told broadcaster BFM Friday

L-R: Wife of the Olu of Warri Kingdom, Olori Atuwatse III; Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III; and former Law Provost, City of Aberdeen, Mr. Barney Crockett; during the presentation of Sword of Faith to the monarch in Aberdeen, Scotland…yesterday

SENATE LEADER @ 60…

COAS: Sustained Democratic Rule Remains Path of Progress for Nigeria

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, yesterday declared that sustained democratic rule remained the path of progress for the nation.

He said subordination of the military to constituted authority remained the most fashionable means of promoting military professionalism.

Lagbaja said Nigerians desired flourishing and uninterrupted constitutional democratic governance.

The army chief made the declaration while addressing officer cadets at the passing-out

parade and commissioning and oath taking ceremony for Executive Commission Course 1/2023, held at the Major Bulama Biu Parade Ground, Military Cantonment, Jaji, Kaduna State.

Speaking further, Lagbaja averred that all officers and men of the Nigerian Army must be reminded that "subordination of the military to constituted authority remains the most fashionable means of promoting military professionalism."

He emphasised that the desire of every Nigerian was a flourishing and uninterrupted constitutional democratic governance that promotes national values and the interest of every well-meaning

Nigerian, irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliation.

"I, therefore, charge all Nigerian Army personnel to be proud champions of our flourishing democracy and remain apolitical in discharging their constitutional duties," he said.

He reaffirmed that the Nigerian Army remained committed to ensuring the security of lives and property across the country, stressing that the army was working assiduously to protect the territorial integrity of the nation and support relevant security agencies in ensuring the security of lives and property within the country.

A statement issued by the

Spokesman of Nigerian Army, Brig Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, said the COAS also conferred presidential commission on the passing- out cadets to the rank of lieutenant, after which the oath of allegiance was administered to them at the Lieutenant General Ihejirika Auditorium.

The 239 passing out cadets comprising 12 female and 228 male Cadets were already in service as soldiers and were drawn from various corps of the army before they were selected for executive commissioning, after three months of intensive military training, spanning May 1 to August 1, 2023.

In the passing-out ceremony,

NERC: Discos Installed 171,107 Meters in Q1 2023

Peter Uzoho

The electricity distribution companies installed 171,107 meters for consumers in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has revealed. This figure represents an increase of 6,495 meters, or 3.95 per cent compared to the 164,612 meters installed in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022.

The report indicated that only 5.36 million of the registered 12.38 million subscribers have prepaid meters.

“As of 31st March 2023, there were 12,378,243 registered customers

with 43.31 per cent (5,360,434) of them metered,” the report reads.

“For 2023/Q1, 171,107 enduser customers were metered which increased the metering rate by 1.06 percent relative to the 42.25 percent recorded in 2022/Q4. Compared to 2022/ Q4 (164,612), an additional 6,495 (+3.95%) meters were installed in 2023/Q1.”

The report also revealed that the meter asset provider (MAP) scheme covered 92.71 per cent of the total 171,107 installations in the quarter under review.

NERC noted that the scheme was responsible for the installation of 158,633 meters in Q1 2023,

considered a significant number.

In 2018, the NERC introduced the MAP regulation to new investors in the power sector to fast-track the roll-out of meters through the engagement of third-party investors and end the estimated billing regime.

In 2019, the commission issued permits to asset providers to begin the rollout of new prepaid meters by May 1, and 26 contractors were approved under the program as of December 31, 2019.

According to NERC, Ikeja DisCo had the most installations, with 46,790 meters, accounting for 15.81 per cent of the total number of customers metered

under the MAP scheme.

However, Yola DisCo did not record any installation under the MAP scheme in Q1, 2023.

In the same period, the number of customers successfully metered under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) scheme increased by 259.23 per cent from 3,831 in Q4 2022, to 9,931.

All DisCos except Eko and Yola reported a decrease in customer metering under the NMMP in Q1, 2023 when compared to Q4, 2022.

The decrease in the number of customers metered under the NMMP scheme is primarily due to the completion of phase zero of the programme.

TINUBU'S REFORMS: S&P UPGRADES NIGERIA'S OUTLOOK TO STABLE

said the company’s reason for leaving Nigeria portends a gloomy future for the country's investment climate.

"Today, I was saddened to hear that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is exiting Nigeria after 51 years of operations.

"Their reason for leaving Nigeria is even more disheartening, that they are no longer perceiving any future growth of the country, which will be anchored on productivity.

The former Anambra State governor, noted painfully that Nigeria was at the point where multinationals are leaving the country and the local ones are closing down due to the consequences of

poor management of the economy.

He noted that this has resulted in millions losing their jobs and poverty index worsening even as the country is already the world’s poverty capital.

"These multinationals leaving our country, not only create jobs but create immeasurable training that contributes immensely to our human capital development.

"GSK which has a manufacturing facility set up in Agbara, on over 25 hectares of land in Agbara, had directly employed over 400 highly technical workers like pharmacists, microbiologists, biochemists, chemists, dentists, doctors etc, and also employed over 1,000 other staff.

“It indirectly provided jobs and business opportunities for thousands of Nigerians across the nation. They are now leaving all these behind, and pushing more people back into unemployment."

Obi recalled his consistent position that "in turning our nation around, we must move the economy from consumption to production, part of which included encouraging and supporting local and foreign investments, like GSK, in the country.”

He stressed the importance of creating an environment that creates and sustains multinationals to invest in the country, adding that “this is key to our dream of greatness. In

the new Nigeria that we seek to create, the emphasis on production will encourage investors to stay and expand on our shores.”

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc had announced plans to shut down its operations in the country.

In a statement on Friday, the multinational company, whose primary activities include marketing and distribution of consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical products, said that its parent company, GSK Plc UK, had revealed its intent to cease commercialisation of its prescription medicines and vaccines through its Nigerian subsidiary.

three cadets emerged in flying colours among their contemporaries.

Cadet A Saminu came first in order of merit, while Cadet SC Nwokanta came second while Cadet OY Yahaya bagged the third position.

The Commandant of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Major General Oluyemi Olatoye, who supervised the training of the cadets, noted that they have been imbued with requisite skills to function as officers.

He pointed out that the newly commissioned officers were trained to be loyal, courageous and dedicated in their service to the nation.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of parchment of commission to the newly commissioned officers.

The COAS paid an empathy visit to officers and soldiers, who were wounded in action during operational engagements at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna.

NDIC Moves to Pay Depositors of 182 Liquidated Banks

James

Emejo in Abuja

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) said it has commenced the process to pay all depositors of 182 banks affected by the recent revocation of operating licenses by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The affected banks include 178 Microfinance Banks and four Primary Mortgage Banks. Sixtytwo of them had already closed shop, 74 were declared insolvent while 12 were temporarily distressed and the remaining six voluntarily liquidated.

The Managing Director of NDIC, Alhaji Bello Hassan, gave the assurance at the weekend while speaking during a twoday capacity-building workshop organised for senior management staff of the corporation in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) held at Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State with the theme: @Result Based Procurement: A Strategic Approach.”

Hassan who was represented by the Executive Director, Operation, Mustapha Ibrahim said that the corporation would not compromise standards and would also ensure that there would be no public panic over the safety of bank deposits.

He stated that NDIC would continue to strengthen the financial system to appropriately support the economic advancement of the nation and also contribute meaningfully to financial system stability.

“It is also pertinent to remind ourselves of the role the NDIC continues to play as a key player in the Financial Safety-Net arrangement of the country’s banking system as a Deposit Insurer; others being; the prudential Regulation & Supervision, Failure Resolution, Deposit Insurance and Lender of Last Resort function of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“These components continue to safeguard the safety and soundness of the banking system as well as promote financial stability.

“Following the recent revocation of the licences of 178 Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and four Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has since commenced the liquidation exercise with the main purpose of paying the guaranteed sum, recovery of debts owed the banks, sale of physical assets and payment of liquidation dividend on the uninsured sum

“The NDIC is hereby assuring depositors of the closed banks of speedy payment of their insured sums.”

Hassan expressed delight that the collaboration and training of Procurement Staff by BPP has facilitated waste reduction, blocked leakages, enhanced healthy competition and transparency, and by extension would make NDIC become “one of the Best Deposit Insurers in the world,” he explained.

L-R: Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Ogun State, Chief Yemi Sanusi; Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele; Chairman of Ondo State APC, Mr. Ade Adetimehin; and his Lagos State counterpart, Hon. Cornelius Ojelabi, during the presentation of gift to mark Bamidele’s 60th birthday in Abuja… weekend

New Beer Prices Threaten Relaxation

As Nigerian Breweries Plc bows to the pressure from the current harsh operating environment by increasing prices of some of its products beginning this week, there are concerns that the business decision will not only trigger similar actions from other beer producers, but it will also rob Nigerians Festus

Akanbi

Astrong indication emerged last week that alcoholic beverage consumers in Nigeria may look for alternative means of satisfying their appetite for beer as the leading beer producing company in the country, Nigerian Breweries, announced an increase in the prices of some Market watchers said the price increase has also robbed Nigerians of a veritable time unleashed by the fuel price hike

The decision to raise prices is attributed to several factors that have put immense strain on the Fast-Moving Consumer Analysts from Nairametrics noted recently, companies like NB PLC have However, there is fear that as the leading player in Nigeria’s brewing industry, Nigerian Breweries’ actions are closely watched by competitors and may set a precedent for price adjustments within Market watchers said the demandsupply dynamics in the beverage market will also come into play, with competitors facing similar cost pressures and possibly

Half Year Performance

Nigerian Breweries had announced

According to the unaudited and provisional results for the period which was Limited (NGX), the company recorded a marginal growth in the revenue compared -

A statement signed by the Companybaku, revealed that the half-year results were majorly impacted by the devaluation of the naira which led to revaluation offect of petroleum subsidy removal on cost, and the impact of the cash crunch impact of these challenges, the company

mainly by pricing, focus on premium -

rian Breweries’ latest price adjustment, analysts pointed out that the company,

costs and the ever-increasing cost of raw materials, this is said to have created a

Industry Performance

An analysis of the performance of the brewery industry showed that in

Reports showed that Nigeria Brewery, Champion Brewery recorded a dip in

costs recorded a substantial loss, result-

Market analysts said the primary driver

rise in interest rates due to continuous adjustments by the Central Bank of -

Another downside was the cost of sales billion recorded in the same period of by breweries, further impacting their

Succumbing to Harsh Operating Environment

operating environment in Nigeria whichtionary environment, devaluation of the

According to reports, the brewing industry, which relies heavily on cash and fund strategic initiatives, has been Brewers faced constraints in purchasing raw materials, and paying suppliers, The overall slowdown of the Nigerian economy and currency devaluation have

There is no doubt that with the pricesumers will begin to feel the impact of the new price regime in bars, clubs, and Already grappling with challenging economic conditions and stretched disposable incomes, consumers may on their beer consumption or seek more

who will feel the impact of the current wholesalers, retailers, clubs, joints, and

of clubs and drinking joints will be forced to close down, a development which will certainly worsen the current job situation

As brewers push prices of some of their products up, there are concerns that it also rob Nigerians of what is perceived as the last vestige of enjoyment in these

Some products of NB Plc

A typical relaxation mood in Nigeria

Polaris Bank Takes CSR to the Beach

As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability in the country, Polaris Bank, one of the leading digital retail banks in the country recently held its maiden ‘Beach Clean-up Initiative’, Sunday Ehigiator reports

Polaris Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading digital retail banks penultimate week held its maiden ‘beach clean-up initiative’ as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability in the country.

The clean-up initiative which was held at the Elegushi Beach in Lekki, Lagos was in collaboration with an environmentfocused non-government organisation, Africa Clean-Up Initiative (ACI).

Before the beach clean-up, the bank had earlier on June 5 during the 2023 edition of World Environment Day, restated its commitment to playing its quota in the actualisation of a clean, safe, and hygienic environment.

The theme of the 2023 World Environment Day was ‘Solutions to plastic pollution.’

Plastic pollution is a major environmental problem. Every year, millions of tonnes of and waterways. These plastics can harm wildlife, pollute air and water, and contribute to climate change.

of the 2023 World Environment Day, Polaris Bank took proactive measures to address challenges of waste management and plastic pollution while supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles (NSBPs) and United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI’s) Principles of Responsible Banking.

“In managing the environmental impact of its activities, Polaris Bank has made sig-

and dependence on fossil fuels. Through the use of solar energy to power security lights, some ATMs, and business locations, as well as implementing automated systems and digital alternatives to paper output, the bank actively mitigates waste generation and reduces its carbon footprint.

“To further minimise its carbon footprint, Polaris Bank has streamlined its vehicle are held virtually. By prioritising sustainable energy sources and expanding its networktions, the Bank ensures convenient and eco-friendly access to banking services,” the bank said in a statement marking World Environmental Day in June.

Speaking during the clean-up exercise at Elegushi Beach penultimate week, The bank’s Group Head, Talent, and Culture, Oyiza Salu, said the bank was demonstrating its thoroughness on the safety of the and connect freely.

“Polaris Bank has a sustainability agenda and we are following closely on delivery of same. Ensuring that we save the ocean is an initiative that the bank is partnering with relevant NGOs and other stakeholders to ensure that we live up to our value of sustainability because we are here today and we would be here tomorrow, as an enterprise. We want to leave a better life and world behind. Most importantly for us, it is team building, bonding, and connecting as individuals in the organization. As we work on driving the culture of inclusivity, and delivery on promise to customers, it is also important that we come together

as a team to add value to our communities.”

Salu while calling for improved awareness of environmental responsibilities charged Nigerians to be deliberate in their disposition to maintaining a healthy environment.

“There has to be a lot of awareness, individual responsibilities, behaviourial change not just as a nation but as individuals. We owe it to generation to come that they meet a world they can live and live comfortably in,” she said.

Also speaking, the Head, Sustainability and Customer Protection of the bank, Yemi Akinrelere said the bank’s Beach Clean-up initiative was its way of giving back to the environment.

“The Polaris Beach Clean-Up initiative is what we do in the form of giving back to our environment where we operate and also make our environment clean. The record shows that over 400 million tonnes of plastic is being generated as waste worldwide. Out of which 2.5 million is being generated in Nigeria annually. 15 per cent of waste generated in Lagos State is plastic.

“The theme for World Environmental Day 2023 is the solution to plastic pollution. How do we provide this solution? Speaking to people, talking is not just enough. So we decided to go out there and showcase what we need to do. Our ocean needs to be saved, hence our ‘save our ocean’

slogan for this clean-up exercise.

“That is why we came out today as employees of Polaris Bank to go to the communities where we operate to clean the beach and save our ocean from pollutants. And members of the communities were happy seeing us do this and I’m sure they must have learnt the importance of proper disposal of their wastes. And this won’t exercises in other communities to ensure that we drive home our message of saving our environment to a wider audience.”

According to her, the Polaris Bank is also exploring other environmental interventions apart from cleaning up beaches.

“Apart from beaches, there are other environmental issues that we’ll deal with. The Polaris Brand tries as much as possible to ensure that we reduce our diesel use. We make use of alternate energy sources such reduce burning fossil fuel and its impact on the environment which in the long run causes climate change issues. In the nearest future, we’ll partner organisations like Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) for more positive and impactful environmental interventions.”

Sharing his thoughts after the clean up exercise at the beach, the Founder and CEO of Africa Clean-up Initiative, the NGO Partner of Polaris Bank, Dr. Alexander Akhigbe, applauded the collaboration and partnership with the bank.

According to Dr. Akhigbe, “We are working together with Polaris Bank to make a positive impact on marine life and ecosystems thereby fostering a cleaner and more sustainable environment for all.”

Some staff of the bank on the beach

REFLECTIONS -01

Thisday Life Lesson Elder: Life Can Be Brutal and Unfair

For reasons I have not been able to place a handle on, I have been drawn to spending more time with two categories of individuals. The first set consists essentially of people in the twilight of their lives, elderly people who have seen it all and patiently waiting to travel to the great beyond. Spending time with this set of individuals always generates some form of reflections. The more time I spend talking with them, the more I realise that most of the things people spend time chasing in their earlier years of life pale into insignificance as they get closer to their maker. People in that category hardly talk of things; rather they talk more about spiritual things, spending time with loved ones, and making contributions in different areas of life without expecting to be paid back. Not many in that stage of life place much value on the acquisition of material things or struggling to be known. They don’t talk about investment in various instruments and such stuff.

The other set of people I spend more time with are those who were once in positions of prominence in the country but who, for one reason or the other, found themselves in the valley. They did not have to deserve it, but life dealt blows to them beyond which they could fend off. Books on success are plentiful on the shelves of many bookshops. You hardly find displayed on the shelves of bookshops books of individuals who tell the stories of their lives in the valley. We should show appreciation when we find individuals who are willing to let us into their notes while in the low levels of their lives.

One such individual, who incidentally, fit into the two categories is an elder on the THISDAY LIFE LESSONS platform, who was a prominent figure in Nigeria in the early 1980s. He was instrumental in building a national scheme that has stood the test of time and has continued to unite Nigerians. For this THISDAY LLS elder, his career in the Nigerian military would appear to have been brewed from heaven, destined to race to a great and glorious finish. Trained in the best military institutions locally and abroad, he left bold and sterling footprints everywhere he was posted. His colleagues regarded him as a model; his superiors considered him a rising star, the man with the Midas touch. In his first three years as the head of that national institution he created, our elder was described as an ‘Angel’, a man of impeccable character. But in a sudden twist, the octogenarian witnessed a reversal of fortune that saw him cascading down from the pinnacle of comfort into a jailhouse where he spent seven years and 56 days before he was released. Charged with allegations that rocked the nation, he found himself in a world that seemed far removed from hope. But little did he know this dark chapter would be the catalyst for incredible transformations and invaluable life lessons.

We have been discussing for quite a long time the possibility of his sharing the insights he gained from his time in prison. Last week when I brought up the topic again, he gave a nod. Here are the first parts of the notes he shared with me. We will run the second set next week. Please read slowly-and reflectively.

NUGGET #1: LIFE CAN BE BRUTAL AND UNFAIR

The urine stench, bedbug bites, mosquitoes, skin infections, pneumonia, malaria, hard labour, the feeling of injustice and betrayal, the isolation, watery beans, dark room, body odours, overcrowded room, torture, insults, deaths, the negative name tags, physical and emotional breakdown, the prison, especially here in Nigeria, is never a place anyone goes and return the same.

Forget the name change from Nigerian Prisons to ‘correctional centre’, if there were ever any corrections, it’s most likely to have hardened you to become more criminally minded or strong-headed to survive the hostile world. You would be returned if you lived through your jail time.

It bites harder if you were like me, jailed for an accusation you are innocent of. A thick dark cloud envelopes your emotions, and your life becomes hell when the system decides to play deaf to your innocence irrespective of how loud it screams.

The silent tears, the burning agitation to clear your good name which you have spent all your life building, stains on your integrity, the fear of losing your family during your absence, your inability to protect them in isolation, the stigma on your family name, the sleepless nights of regrets, the thirst for revenge, are few of the friends that will mostly remain stuck with you in jail, with the potential of bringing in more harmful friends. All these I survived, but how?

NUGGET # 2: TRUE FREEDOM

IS FROM WITHIN

The concept of the prison yard is to take away every form of freedom from its occupants. The restrictive high walls, the chains, the bars. All of these are to cage your physical body and mind in such a way that you end up broken and defeated. The reverse was the case for me. I saw the prison cell as an abode of God himself. To me, he was physically present in the cell,

The silent tears, the burning agitation to clear your good name which you have spent all your life building, stains on your integrity, the fear of losing your family during your absence, your inability to protect them in isolation, the stigma on your family name, the sleepless nights of regrets, the thirst for revenge, are few of the friends that will mostly remain stuck with you in jail, with the potential of bringing in more harmful friends. All these I survived, but how?

and living with him, I had a taste of heaven in the jailhouse. It could not have been better than that. Assimilate all this and take it in tandem with your idea of freedom, you could never have had more freedom than that in any part of the world.

The fact is that freedom took on a different meaning. The prison’s restrictive high walls disappeared. You saw those who sought to tame you as clowns because you lived higher above them. You became a Gulliver and they were Lilliputians. It was an irony, but it was true. Yes, lilliputians work with circus animals. It was so humorous; you had the fun of your life.

This event played out during medical checkups. Occasionally, I had to see a doctor, and that required a trip to the hospital. It provided an opportunity to explore. I never did any of that. In fact, I was always in a hurry to return to the prison yard. This surprised the warders and earned me the moniker “Sarkin Hankuri” loosely translated into English, as “the patient one” or “King of patience.”

NUGGET # 3: GOD INTERVENES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS EVEN DURING BAFFLING AFFLICTIONS

As my relationship with God grew, He started giving me revelations. One significant revelation that I received while in prison was during my wife’s visit. Given that my former employer was providing for my daily needs, I discouraged my wife from taking the tedious trip to Sokoto to visit me. It was also believed that I would soon be acquitted. But when it seemed my homecoming was taking too long, my wife decided to visit me. This was almost after a year of no visitation. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that her journey was going to be a fateful one.

I couldn’t take this. I went on my knees to plead with the Lord to remove whatever could constitute a danger in her way. When she came, I did not hide my displeasure, she ought not to have come. Besides, she used a vehicle I had warned her not to use.

We jointly prayed over her return trip, and I insisted she should go straight to Ilorin without detours. The driver was cautioned not to exceed 100 kph.

She drove off in the morning but still had an accident six kilometres from Kontagora. The car was a write-off, and no one believed a fly could have escaped from that car.

Two of my sons were in the car. The elder drove and had his seat belt on. The younger sat in the front passenger seat but was not strapped down. Their mum was in the back seat. They lost three tyres at the same time; two in front, one behind. The driver lost control; the vehicle somersaulted several times before coming to a halt.

My boy who drove had lacerations on his chest, otherwise, he was fine. His brother was thrown out of the car through the windscreen, knocked his head on the ground and was unconscious bleeding from the mouth, the ears and the nostrils. Their mum had multiple fractures; her leg was pinned down by the seat.

A good Samaritan on his way to Kontagora stopped barely 10 minutes after the accident and helped the victims to the General Hospital Kontagora. They remained there a few days before they were transferred to the teaching hospital at Ilorin where the younger boy regained consciousness. My wife chose to be attended to by local bone setters.

By the time news about the accident reached me in Sokoto, the boys had been transferred to St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos and were to be discharged a few days later.

When I went to Kontagora to recover the carcass of the car involved in the accident, a Reverend Father saw me and looking at the car, he said: “I hope that the occupants of this vehicle were given good Christian burials.” I laughed and told him, “Father, this boy,” pointing at my son, “drove the car that fateful day. His brother, now in Federal Government College, Ilorin, was in the car. Their mum, I left her at home this morning, was the third person in the car. You see, no one has been buried.”

He said, “It is incredible. This is a miracle.”

Beyond the miraculous recovery from the accident, God also revealed to me that my time in the prison yard would soon be over. I told a major who was brought in during my time there that I would soon leave the place because he was sympathetic that my exit time was uncertain. And truly, I left him in that place.

These experiences reaffirmed my trust in God that He will take care of me and never forsake me in times of trouble. Through these revelations, I learned to listen to Him when He speaks and take action when He reveals certain things to me.

We conclude next week.

Kyari: Boosting Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ Agenda with NNPC’s Independent Power Projects

WhenPresidentBolaTinubu took over the mantle of leadership as Nigeria’s President on May 29, this year, his agenda for the economy was loud and clear- to target a higher Gross Domestic Product growth rate and to significantly reduce unemployment.

To achieve this, one of the things the President listed in his inaugural speech that he would do was to pursue an industrial policy that will utilize the full range of fiscal measures to promote domestic manufacturing and lessen import dependency.

This is expected to be achieved by making electricity more accessible and affordable to businesses and homes alike.

According to Tinubu “Power generation should nearly double and transmission and distribution networks improved. We will encourage states to develop local sources as well.”

The failure of successive administrations to solve the power sector problems even with the privatisation has been a big embarrassment to Nigerians.

Like a stubborn ailment that has continued to defy treatment, the Nigerian power sector, which has undergone different levels of diagnosis and treatments appears to be resistant to the harvests of interventions from the public and the private sector since Nigeria attained its independence in 1960.

Whatever the situation, the reality today is that many Nigerians do not have access to as much power supply as they would want and when they do, it’s not reliable.

Recently, the World Bank estimated that the country would need to connect between 500,000 to 800,000 new households to electricity sources every year up till 2030 to be able to achieve its targets of universal access to electricity for its citizens.

Nigeria is endowed with large oil, gas, hydro and solar resources, and it has the potential to generate 12,522 MW of electric power from existing plants. On most days, however, it is only able to dispatch around 4,000 MW, which is insufficient for a country of over 200 million people.

But that narrative is about to change under the visionary leadership of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari.

Under Kyari’s transformative leadership, the NNPC conceived the idea of monetising Nigeria’s huge gas resources through independent power projects.

To demonstrate this commitment to transforming the Nigeria’s power sector, the NNPC spearheaded by Kyari entered into a turnkey Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to construct the Gwagwalada Independent Power Plant project.

The project which was flagged-off on Friday by President Bola Tinubu has been described as a game-changer in Nigeria’s power sector.

It is a 1,350MW Combined Cycle Power Plant with auxiliaries and Balance of Plant to be situated on 547 hectares of land already acquired at Gwagwalada, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The project is expected to generate between $700m and $800m annually within the first ten years of operations.

The GIPP was necessitated by the need for delivering gas towards additional power generation capacity in Nigeria. Under the plan, gas supply to the Plant will be through the Ajaokuta- Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline Project which is currently at its advanced stages of construction.

The GIPP’s fuel requirements will be satisfied under a long-term Gas Sales, Purchase and Aggregation Agreement with Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture (SPDC JV). The GIPP project consists up of three power

train blocks of 450MW each. Each block will include two General Electric (GE) gas turbine generators, two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), one steam turbine electric generator, one direct air-cooling condenser, balance of plant equipment and a black start diesel generator.

On completion, the GIPP Project will generate an average of 10.3 million Megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity per year for sale to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET).

The sales of the generated power will be through Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the NBET to distribution companies (Discos) under long-term agreements. and direct sale to major off-takers.

China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) will be constructing the project under a turnkey Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract and the project will be operated by an experienced company with proven track record under an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) contract.

The project will also benefit from improvements to the national transmission system, under the Federal Government ‘s long-term plan for transmission upgrade.

The nation’s gas reserves, estimated at over 200 trillion cubic feet, provide a huge opportunity for growth and development, and Kyari is determined to ensure that Nigeria takes full advantage of this potential

The President gave credence to this while speaking at the flag-off of the event when he directed the ministry of power and other relevant agencies, including the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to continue to collaborate with NNPC Ltd to give Nigerians access to affordable and reliable electricity.

The president commended the efforts of the NNPC Ltd, alongside its partners for the initiative and charged the team to ensure that the three-year project is successfully delivered on time, and within budget.

He explained that the ground-breaking was highly significant to the nation, as it marked the first bold step in his administration’s effort to establish a strong and virile energy sector and deliver uninterrupted power to all Nigerians.

Tinubu recalled that during his presidential campaign, he made a commitment to Nigerians to use all available energy sources to increase power generation beyond the current installed capacity of 12,000mw.

He also vowed to strengthen the integrity of the country’s transmission infrastructure and to ensure that all distribution bottlenecks were removed, pledging to make sure that the project is delivered on schedule.

“Nigeria cannot become a productive and industrialised economy, we cannot tackle poverty or create thousands of high paying manufacturing jobs unless we can generate, transmit and distribute reliable electricity. To accelerate our economic growth, we must remove every obstacle slowing our progress, “ he said.

Kyari said the focus of the President in ensuring energy sufficiency and security in the country will create and propel greater prosperity and bountiful harvest for Nigerians.

Referencing the recent commissioning of the 50mw Maiduguri Emergency Power plant (MEPP), Kyari said that the NNPC will continue to replicate similar viable business opportunities across the nation to ensure energy affordability.

The Maiduguri Emergency Power Project (MEPP) is a power generation project aimed at providing reliable and sustainable electricity to the city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, and its environs.

The Project was necessitated by the extended power outages experienced in the region in the last nine years. These outages, caused by vandalism and insurgency attacks on power supply infrastructure had resulted in a decline in economic activities in the region.

The power generation project, aside from providing reliable and sustainable electricity to the city of Maiduguri, and its environs will also be a significant addition to the many initiatives aimed at ensuring domestic gas utilisation.

The NNPCL sees the GIPP project as an opportunity to monetise the abundant natural gas resources by expanding access to energy, support economic growth, industrialisation, and job creation across the country.

To achieve this national aspiration, the NNPC has invested heavily in domestic gas

footprint expansion projects through the delivery of the trans-Nigerian gas pipeline projects which includes the escravos project, the Lagos pipelines system, and the AjaokutaKano Gas Pipelines.

This project is a giant step towards achieving NNPC’s gas and power mandate to add 5 gigawatts into the national power generation by 2024. Currently, NNPC and partners are delivering about 800MW to the national grid from Afam 6 and Okpai Phase I Terminal with a combined installed capacity of 1,100MW.

The NNPCL has also completed the Okpai Phase II project that will add an additional 330MW of power to the national grid and progressing with additional power plant projects, including those along the AKK pipeline.

Th ambition of the NNPC is to create 30 power plants across the country on a small scale where transmission issues will not become a major concern. The Gwagwalada IPP is among NNPC’s flagship power project along the AKK corridor.

This is part of the 3600MW cumulative power capacity, which includes Kaduna IPP, 900MW, and Kano IPP of 1250. They are all work in progress.

“The project will be delivered in collaboration with General Electric as the original equipment manufacturer and China Machinery and Engineering Corporation as the engineering procurement and construction contractor.

“Just as we have recently commissioned the 50MW Maiduguri emergency power plant NNPC will continue to duplicate similar viable business opportunities across the nation to enable access and affordability of energy across the country and they will all be commercial and they will cause no pain to Nigerians.

“We know that expanding access to energy will change the game. It creates a better investment climate and promotes economic growth, a win-win situation for the nation and for NNPC as a commercial energy company,” Kyari added.

As a national oil company, the NNPC is cooperating with its partners to solve the energy challenges facing the country. It is only through collaborative efforts with its stakeholders and partners that the NNPC can guarantee energy for the nation’s industrialization.

Onuba writes from Lagos

Ifeanyi Onuba |

Kyari

The Bull in the Villa

Lanre Alfred looks at the pomp and ceremony with which Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr’s visited the Presidential Villa in Abuja last Friday and the economic implications of the visit

The corridors are still bursting at the seams with the crowded promise of his visit. The villa grounds too. Since Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr’s courtesy call at the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock, Abuja, a lot has been said and predicted about his visit.

Such is the anticipation that heralds and succeeds his public appearances. Indeed, the Chairman of Globacom, like the rarest of his ilk commands the attention and patronage of the political class - listening senates and the presidency.

Like the proverbial titan who walks across his century and leaves the marks of his feet all over it, Adenuga rips out the entanglements on his galoshes as he traverses.

There is something about the entrepreneur extraordinaire; his charm strikes the sight, but his merit wins the soul. Ultimately he leaves you reeling under his spell.

Every thought and every deed of the trillionaire magnate resonate with a thrill that’s almost magical. It is! Thus you may be right to mistake him for a magician.

But unlike the proverbial illusionist, Adenuga lives to fulfill the promise that something torn to bits might be mended with a seam, that what had vanished might reappear if summoned by honest efforts, and that a scattered handful of doves or dust might be reunited by a humane word.

Interestingly, beneath the earnest smiles and photo ops, however, there was a heartfelt exchange of regard between Dr Adenuga Jr and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the former’s visit. Each man looks like he had done very well out of

the odds.

Between them subsists a bond of mutual respect but the Globacom understands the import of his host’s office and the magnitude of the task before him thus his undisguised deference to his agency and persona.

But for his unanticipated presence at the palace of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, when President Tinubu visited a few weeks earlier, Dr Adenuga would stay incognito even as his enterprise and charitable work continually pronounce his worth to the world.

On Friday, August 4, President Tinubu hosted the Globacom chairman cum Nigeria’s richest man , whose measured public appearances has always been a subject of fervent debate in social and political circuits, in Aso Rock. It was indeed a rare outing for the trillionaire magnate who dreads being in the spotlight.

However, the essence of their meeting has yet to be ascertained. Still, there are indications that it is a courtesy visit, or both men held conversations about a possible collaboration to boost the economy of Nigeria.

At Adenuga’s arrival in Aso Villa, a whirlwind of curiosity blew through the castle, stamping his essence into the minds and consciousness of everyone present. “The big kahuna is here,” the walls seemed to say.

Until his recent public appearances, Adenuga maintained the aura of a reclusive trillionaire who would rather be heard and have his presence felt than be seen.

A cloak of mystery enshrouded his persona, his accomplishments and his philanthropy. In recent years, there had been conjectures and speculations as to why he has completely shunned public

outings, not that he was ever a social butterfly even as a younger man with all the appurtenances of fame and fortune at his beck and call. Being unobtrusive and unseen had been his style since he worked his way to the pinnacle of prominence and prosperity.

His appearance with President Tinubu in Ijebu and subsequently in Aso Villa elicited wonderment and gasps. Spotting a greying but well-trimmed beard, Dr Adenuga cut a portrait of good health and well-being in his bespoke native agbada ensemble.

He wore his trademark toothy smile as he hobnobbed with Mr President in the Aso Villa. It would be recalled that, few weeks ago, President Tinubu, commended Adenuga for his unwavering commitment to nationbuilding. Tinubu used the occasion of Adenuga’s 70th birthday to extend his felicitation to the business mogul for his many social and economic investments in Nigeria. This was even as he described him as a ‘believer in the manifest destiny of Nigeria as a great country.’ In the congratulatory message issued on Saturday by his Media Officer, Tunde Rahman, the President-elect praised the Globacom owner’s business accomplishments in the telecommunications, oil, real estate and aviation sectors

According to him, the businessman democratised and revolutionised GSM telephony in Nigeria in 2003 with persecond billing at a time it was considered impossible to do so.

He said: “I congratulate Otunba Mike Adenuga on attaining 70. To reach the Biblical age of three scores and ten brings great joy to every human being and I thank God for making this great son of Nigeria and the world to reach the

milestone in good health.

“Adenuga is a firm believer in the manifest destiny of Nigeria as a great country. This he has demonstrated with his continuous investments in our economy, creating thousands of jobs and wealth for our people through his many businesses.

“I wish him many more years in profound health to continue adding value to our country and humanity in general.”

Their meeting at the Awujale’s palace would be their first reunion since Mr. President celebrated Adenuga on his 70th birthday. Their meeting in Aso Villa on August 4, happens to be their second.

President Tinubu and Adenuga

President Tinubu, commended Adenuga for his unwavering commitment to nationbuilding. Tinubu used the occasion of Adenuga’s 70th birthday to extend his felicitation to the business mogul for his many social and economic investments in Nigeria

NIYI OSUNDARE writes President Bola Tinubu to avoid any action that will add to Nigeria’s burden

ABORT THE SUICIDE MISSION TO NIGER

BODE OSOSAMI canvasses a comprehensive solution to eliminate poverty

ANOTHER CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT

Looking at the ministerial list we see an attempt to balance geographical, gender, age, political and technical diversity. While we wait for allocations, there are bright sparks, enough competent hands to assign to very critical ministries. There are strong hands who can steer the ship in the right direction.

However, some have called the list underwhelming, a terrible choice of cabinetadding that (in most cases) former governors tend to emerge as incompetent corrupt ministers. Also there are a few inexperienced candidates that can slow things down. The conclusion has to be that it is a list driven by some merit, laced with the regular political compromises.

What is more useful now is to focus on putting in place tools to get the best out of the choice. What do I mean?

In Chile, for example, they designed publicly monitored performance indicators for ministries and agencies. It did help despite challenges in the autocratic political system. So we need to agree and enforce performance pacts. These performance commitments must be strongly linked to the government’s agenda. As score cards are used ...ministers not seen to be performing can drop out. But even many socalled technocrats may be overwhelmed with the resistance - calling for more softer negotiation and political skills.

Dear President Tinubu,

It all began as a roadside rumour before blasting its way to the front pages of Nigerian newspapers, and the talking points of the electronic media. Now it has become a news item discussed with torment and trepidation by many Nigerians still struggling to cope with the political dysfunctionalities, socio- economic problems, and numerous anxieties of present Nigerian life.

The ‘subject of discourse’ is the coup d’etat in Niger, our neighbour to the north, and the present plan by ECOWAS under your leadership to force the restoration of democratic governance in that beleaguered country. What has got many Nigerians talking – and wondering – is the inclusion of military action in the cocktail of options under consideration by the ECOWAS leaders. And this is also the cause of my worry and grave apprehension. Military force to reverse the occurrence of rule by force in West Africa, with you, President Tinubu, the current ECOWAS President, as leader of the pack? I am both astonished and alarmed that a group of people, least of all, leaders of the West African region would contemplate the viability of military intervention as the solution to the present problem in Niger.

Dear President Tinubu, did you and your colleagues think long and deep before including this option? Did you contemplate the hazards of the action and the possible catastrophe of the consequence? Given the historical, geographical, cultural, and economic proximity between Nigeria and Niger (a Siamese closeness inherent even in the vey nomenclature), how can you do this without devastating collateral damage to Nigeria, especially her northern flanks? In a region where national borders only exist on a misbegotten colonial map, how will your ECOWAS bullet select its casualties without including Nigerians, the people you have sworn to serve and protect? Will between the two countries still continue after the ‘war’? What about the possibility of a multiple-front war, considering the solidarity already announced by a ‘league’ of other countries in the region, such as Mali and Chad and Burkina Faso? To how many fronts will the ECOWAS forces train their guns?

take my position in this brief intervention as toleration or condonement of military coups and their barbarous assault on human freedom. As a Nigerian victim of about half a dozen coups d’etat in a single lifetime, I know first-hand how brutal soldier-despots are, and how drastically they deplete our very humanity. This is why I believe military juntas have no place in a civilized polity. This is why I also believe and affirm that genuine democracy is the sure antidote to military misrule – a democracy engendered and sustained by respect for human dignity, human and environmental rights, rule of law, liberty, unvarnished integrity of the electoral process, holistic equity, and the right to life that is full, free, and abundant. These virtues are the true and efficacious coup-killers. Not military-contra- military interventions and their thoughtless prosecutions and ceaseless carnage.

So, Mr. President, go back to the drawing board – you and your ECOWAS colleagues. Think hard. Think well. Think up whatever measures could be devised to restore genuine, lasting democracy by getting the military dictators back to their barracks. Probe the cause, course, and symptoms of the present resurgence of military coups in West Africa. Find a cure for this pandemic. More important, find a cure for the plague of political and socio-economic injustices responsible for the inevitability of its recurrence. Remember the present brutish anarchy in Libya and the countless repercussions of the destabilization of that once blooming country for the West African region.

Military action in Niger may only end up complicating the Nigerien fiasco. Remember: a little fire often spirals into an uncontrollable blaze. You may know the beginning of a war; but you can never foretell how it will end. A powerful man may start a war, but it takes a hero to devise a dignifying way of avoiding it. Right now, the Nigerian people have more than enough to worry about, with so much hunger in the land and so many Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) from all manner of bandit attacks. We cannot afford to add war refuges to these crowds. You have promised to reduce the people’s burden. Avoid taking any action that will only add to it.

For the avoidance of doubt, let no one Prof Osundare is a Poet and Literary Critic

Ministers also should sign updated code of conduct commitments – covering unacceptable leverage of influence for personal gain or to reward patrons, related party interests in contract awards, limit to value of gifts, bribery, diverting resources for personal or party gain, unacceptable behaviour eg bullying and intimidation; and preagree to consequences for breaches.

The other thing is to mandate from the onset, changes to push a new culture of fiscal accountability and reduced cost of governance.

If you read former Minister of Finance - Segun Aganga’s book...which by the way is essential reading “reclaiming the Jewel of Africa”; the former minister says the system that we run is not bad ... but too expensive for our pockets. Ghana has cut down discretionary spend by 30%, suspended the purchase of foreign vehicles, placed a ban on foreign travel except in critical cases, reduced expenditure for meetings, conferences and also reduced ministers salaries by 30%. The tone is clear, costs have to come down. In Sweden, legislators are expected to use public transport for meetings and travel within the country and there is regular scrutiny requiring that any excessive expenditure be refunded. In Nigeria there is instead a corrosive culture of extravagance that still needs to be addressed.

The ministers are change and reform champions to lead Nigeria to a better future ...they should also be trained in change leadership ...so they know how to navigate bold changes, reach out to very diverse stake holders – how to communicate and carry citizens along.

So like someone said...Lets just wait and watch what they do.

The journey so far. The world bank can be a powerful enabler – bridging short and long term funding gaps with cheap liquidity; but the vision, leadership and stamina to stay the course - needs to come from Mr President. The context is tough after abolition of fuel subsidies and exchange rate reform. The four in 10 Nigerians living below the national poverty line, lacking education and access to basic infrastructure, should be the clear focus of the government. That is the burning platform of today – requiring government to sustainable and structural solution to eliminate poverty in the country.

On speeches, a biannual state of the nation address is best practice to keep citizens informed. The times call for more than good

speech delivery. It was important to clear misgivings and communicate early stages of initiatives to address obvious pains even though some of the interventions may still be work-in-progress. The recent speech did that. Nigerians also want good news. Reform can be painful but has already started yielding positive reactions. Nigeria’s credit outlook was yesterday upgraded to stable from negative by S&P Global Ratings on Tinubu’s reforms, implying investors have cause to return.

For change to succeed, using a simple framework, you need to have demand for change at both the macro and micro level (don’t assume people want change...most don’t and if they did ...there are interests ready to kill that appetite for change).

Apart from demand for change - you also need to supply interventions that make the change happen also at both the macro and micro level. Supply involves rebuilding institutions and reengineering processes entailing complex and comprehensive multidimensional programs integrating technology, out-of-the-box thinking and involvement of stakeholders. It requires piloting new ideas, reorientation, retooling, etc.

The bigger job is in the micro-level change demand and supply execution... (put plainly) changing how we regulate companies, how we pay taxes, how we interact with government services, the experiences at government hospitals, the local police station, at the airport. For instance, you can’t have a welfare system covering 80 million poor or even administer palliatives effectively without very strong tech. enablement. Micro and macro level enablement is also complicated by huge cultural and attitudinal issues. This is a doable journey but which will not be achieved accidentally nor with feeble efforts. “Business as usual” will not do the trick.

The speech by the president was helpful in supporting demand for change – selling the rationale for key actions ...but softer in supplying critical interventions which requires a more comprehensive approach, requiring more input from and testing ideas with stakeholders. Also, you cannot force pills down peoples throat ... just because it worked somewhere else. You still need to pace your agenda – for what people can digest and adapt to your context.

Finally - outcomes count – perhaps much more than effort. There must be readiness to make corrections as data outcomes reveals the need. Quarterly and monthly monitoring of statistics on poverty in states, on jobs, macroeconomic data, inputs from independent bodies like world bank ease of doing business group ... polling of citizens on whether they feel the improvements or not ... are all very important.

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA

Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

EDITORIAL

NIGER AND THE SENATE RESOLUTION

ECOWAS should prioritise diplomatic and economic measures in the resolution of the problem

Ahead of today’s expiration of the seven-day deadline given by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the coup leaders in Niger Republic, President Bola Tinubu on Friday wrote the Senate about current developments in the country. But after an extraordinary executive session yesterday, the Senate voted for a political rather than military solution to the problem. The resolution Northern Senators who favour a restoration of democracy in Niger but with the goal pursued through political and diplomatic means.

The demand last Sunday by ECOWAS is that President Mohamed Bazoum, who remains in captivity, should be restored back to power by head of the presidential guard, General Abdourahmane Tchiani who has already declared himself the new leader of the country. If this demand is not met, other necessary measures including the use of force would be taken, ECOWAS warned at their meeting in Abuja under the chairmanship of President Tinubu.

Diffa Region of Niger. The connecting bridge was constructed by Nigerian army engineers. The risk of losing already captured and stabilised areas in Northern Borno is also very high. Besides, the solidarity of Francophone countries with one of their own may weaken the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) programmes. These are strong considerations in our nation security calculations.

While ECOWAS should maintain the resolve to stifle the military junta in Niger out of power with a combination of economic sanctions and political/diplomatic arm-twisting, we endorse the position of the Senate that going to war with the country should not be an option

We restate our position that unlawful takeover of governments in our neighbourhood is not something we should condone, as we are being increasingly encircled by rogue regimes. Way back in 1991 when military adventurers held most of Africa by the jugular, the Commonwealth laid down the principles of democracy, rule of law, and human rights in its Harare declaration as the minimum requirements for good governance, and members were obligated to defend those principles. At that time, Nigeria was one of the targets of that declaration as it was then under the military. The attainment of the current democracy in 1999 was therefore not cheap. To the extent Nigeria cannot afford to fold its arms when it comes to the defence of democracy and the rule of law.

Following his election as ECOWAS chairman last month, President Tinubu democracy,” declaring that, “We will not accept coup after coup in West Africa again.

is the best form of government.” But there are so many variables that make the intervention of Nigeria in Niger, even if under the auspices of ECOWAS, quite tricky.

One, there is a growing alliance among and between former French colonies within

ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

the continent which perhaps explains why the coupists have played on the anti-France resentment to mobilise support for their action. Two, we cannot take for granted the morale of our own troops and the challenge of managing insecurity within. It is on

have had more than one tour of duty to the Northeast. Three, with the battle-tested mercenary paramilitary Wagner Group ready to be enlisted by Niger, we cannot afford to create a crisis in that country, although Nigeria can also leverage on the fact that Russia has already condemned the coup, especially considering that ECOWAS, like the African Union (AU), has refused to join the gang-up against the country in their war with Ukraine.

From the Nigerian military standpoint, there are fears that we risk a complete isolation of the units/subunits in Malam Fatori where the only access road is through Bosso in the

Meanwhile, there is no doubt that ECOWAS has a strong sense of regional identity and a track record of political cooperation in times of crisis. The deployment of regional intervention forces in Liberia and Sierra Leone are prime examples, even when Nigeria bore the brunt of the military interventions in the two countries. The decision by ECOWAS and Nigeria to take a return to military rule in the subregion is therefore commendable. The picture showing the band of countries where military coups has taken place in the last three years is worrying. We also understand the argument that drastic actions, including a swift military intervention to restore democracy in Niger, would serve as a deterrent to future coupists. However, as much as we identify with the concerns raised by ECOWAS leaders, we agree with the Senate that a military option is not necessary. A decision to commit troops to war is not a light one. People will die. Huge sums of money will be spent. Alliances and allegiances will shift, even within the subregion. And the outcome is not predictable. Despite all this, Nigeria still has many cards to play in a bid to squeeze the junta in Niger. Aside cutting electricity to the landlocked country, we can get neighbouring countries to join us in applying severe political and economic sanctions against the coupists.

As we stated last week, the more frightening feature of recent political disruptions in West Africa is the recurrence of Jihadist insurgency in the Sahel and the instability that could easily be exploited by ambitious soldiers. That the putsch in Niger is coming on the heels of similar military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Chad, and Sudan is disturbing. So, we understand all the arguments for a military option. But it is not the preferred option by most Nigerians.

While ECOWAS should maintain the out of power with a combination of economic sanctions and political/diplomatic armtwisting, we endorse the position of the Senate that going to war with the country should not be an option.

A RARE RAY AT 75

Ray Ekpu, an inimitable columnist, held sway as a journalist during the military rule, a precarious period for those who work in the media indsutry. As one of the few professionals in field who straddled different models of ownership, he has written thousands of deep, inspiring, incisive, but scathing and interesting interventions on critical issues of the season and times. As Ekpu marks his 75th birthday today, Udeme Nana says his trail still glows and refuses to be extinguished

Ekpu, an Inimitable Columnist, at 75

Some days could be bleak, cloudy, depressing, dull, sad, traumatic all at once, but once a rare ray of brilliance shines through, the whole atmosphere changes into brightness and joy. This is exactly what happens when one grabs the work of one of the few standing apostles of outstanding journalism in Nigeria at present. As a field marshal in the pen wielding forces of the world, Ray has had an impact far beyond his imagination. At least two men I know have testified publicly that Ray, by the sheer hold he has had on his readers, has disrupted relationships involving them which may or may not have become successful in the long run due to incompatibility or irreconcilable differences.

The first man, a medical doctor, poet and the author of ‘The Crumbs Eaters,’ a novel, confessed how his beautiful fiancee, then a final year student of Mass Communication in a Nigerian university, lost him. She was on a visit and during their small talk, he had asked casually if she had read the latest column written by Ray in Newswatch and the young lady blurted out “Ray? What’s that?” The man reportedly responded, “It’s not what but who!” The girl retorted, “So, who is that? Who is this Ray?” She had asked in majestic ignorance. She had thought it was a huge joke but her man could not understand why a student at that level didn’t just know the name. When she

drew blank on a question whether she had seen a copy of Newswatch ever, the young man lost his cool and appetite for all the endowments of a young lady who had nearly become his life partner. The physician had wondered how on earth a final year student ‘studying’ to earn a degree in a discipline which Ray was famous for globally didn’t know him by repute nor ever read his incisive, enlightening and oftentimes mindblowing articles.The doctor walked the girl out of his house and walked out of the relationship for good. Today, he lives happily married to a delectable woman who is a voracious reader of books, newspapers and news magazines like him.

“This one knew who Ray was instantly without long talk or arguments,” the medical doctor would say gleefully like a young man who just fell in love. “We can engage intellectually on events and ideas about any subject matter under the sun.”

The second told me about how he had exchanged blows with his room mate in the university when that mate angrily snatched a piece of paper used in wrapping groundnut which he had picked along the street and kept in the room. The piece of newspaper carried a column written by Ray Ekpu and the mast head had ‘The Nigerian Chronicle’ and the year was 1976. The friend had wondered what his mate had found so interesting in an old ‘waste paper’ which was only useful to groundnut and Akara ball sellers. That is how tight the grip one of Nigeria’s most outstanding journalists had and still has on his readers.

One is cocksure that just like the rays of the sun, this incomparable Ray from the sleepy backwoods of Ikot Udo Osiom in Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom doesn’t know

that his deep piercing stories broke down some relationships especially those who were unaware of his existence and contributions as a public intellectual spanning half a century since he first happened on the scene in 1974.

The inimitable columnist is one of the few professionals in his field who straddled the different models of ownership in the media industry. He started out in the dangerous industry during the first military rule; an equally precarious season for those who work in the sector. His sojourn in the Nigerian Chronicle, government-owned, published by then South Eastern State government where he rose to become an editor caught the sustained attention of consumers of his frank interventions and they invited him over to Lagos, the heartbeat of Nigeria and the media sector. He was to sit at the helm of Sunday Times, then, arguably the most respectable medium in Africa. Those who tapped him had thought he was wasting his sweetness in the ‘desert air’ of Calabar. His now bigger weekly platform churned out mind-stimulating and satisfying menus every Sunday and helped make forward to the publication. Circulation rose and the Audit Bureau of Circulation reported sales figures of five hundred thousand copies every week! The nonpareil Editor felt fulfilled that his ink dripped honey and attracted readers as moths to light. However, his nonconformity soon rubbed off on the wrong side of his employers who sent him ‘downstairs’ to “Business Times”, perhaps, to teach him a lesson but if that was a lesson, his articles boosted the fortunes of the Business weekly and did not diminish his stature a bit.

Given that it is difficult to ignore the sun at its brilliant best, an invitation to join the National Concord stable, a privatelyowned chain, liberated him from bowing to the expectations of politicians of the ruling party who wanted lap dogs as Editors. The son of a village court messenger even at The Nigerian Chronicle whose proprietor was a military Governor was not one to bless the mess of authority figures, their surrogates, dependants and accomplices. And that again, led to his departure, with his friends: Dele Giwa, Yakubu Mohammed to team up with Dan Agbese to establish and run Newswatch, perhaps the first experiment by a group of former Editors in Nigeria venturing into and trying to walk the tightrope of the business of journalism. They became Editor Publishers. Newswatch served to open his eyes and those of his friends that they were ‘jogging in the jungle’: in and out of prison, in and out of court rooms, being trailed by agents of government and proscription. In fact, the man still lives in shock of any thundering sound – the effect and scar of the parcel bomb blast which sent his comrade in arms, the equally legendary Dele Giwa to early death.

If there is one professional who holds dear to his heart the purest philosophical

ideals of libertarian journalism, Ray fits the bill. The 1986 World Editor of the Year, despite the rough and tumble of the seasons has stayed true and remains an uncompromising apostle of the vigilante, agenda setting and diligent date-keeping role perception of operatives in the fourth estate of the realm. He doesn’t believe that charlatans and con artists should find accommodation in the media space.

Born on August 6, 1948, Ray Ekpu, the former Chief Executive Officer of Newswatch Communications Limited, now of May 5 Media, is a recipient of several honours and awards, including that of International Editor of the Year (1987), Outstanding Young Person of the World (1988), Diamond Award for Media Excellence (DAME) Lifetime Achievement Award (2018) and Vanguard Man of the Year Award (2022).

He is also a former President of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN). However, the quintessential man of letters is enthused about two honours done to him in his home state. The first being the offer to name the Department of Mass Communication of the state-owned Polytechnic at Ikot Osurua, Ikot Ekpene after him and the most recent institution by one of his admirers, Mr Udom Inoyo, of the Annual Ray Ekpu prize for Investigative journalism worth N500,000 for journalists practicing in Akwa Ibom State. This last award seems to embody Ray’s lifetime commitment to promote excellence and ethics in media practice. He loves it because of its currency. Previous honours belong in the past. The Award on Investigative journalism is in perpetuity, a sustainable legacy to his strides and stripes in the field.

The odyssey of this rare ray that pierced through the sleepy backwoods of Ukanafun, shone through Ibibio State College, Ikot Ekpene, illuminated the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Lagos, lit up the pages of the newspapers in the Chronicle stable and who captured the imagination of an entire nation is a story of heroes. Although his country still moves “in circles”, Ray Ekpu should be satisfied that he has done his bit in the best way possible.

If Ray Ekpu were to be a bird, he would have been a nightingale – ‘the bird with the most powerful and sweet songs’. Ray has written several thousands of deep, inspiring, enjoyable but serious, scathing and interesting interventions on critical issues of the season and times.The bold activist journalist is a survivor. Although bereft of the flamboyant lifestyle of those who have compromised the high ideals of his chosen profession, his trail still glows and cannot be extinguished.

On this day of the rare Ray of Journalism, one wishes a happy birthday to an amazing ‘pen pusher’ who caught national and global attention and for whom the world beat a bush path to find.

Shine steadily and Happy 75th birthday, Raymond Amos Ekpu.

Dr. Nana, a media scholar, is the Founder, Uyo Book Club

Colloquium for Ekpu at 70 in 2018

Ekpu (3rd left), with his team in Daily Times before he left for Concord

HighLife

with KAYODE ALFRED 08116759807, E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

Dahiru Manga’s Fight with Sheriff Shagaya Gets Messier…

Businesses are generally believed to operate without sentiments. This is not often the case, which is not surprising as such corporate entities are managed by human beings. The recent contention between airline company Max Air and aviation fuel supplier Octavus illustrates this point. Given their strong stances, no resolution is forthcoming.

At the End of the Day, Is It a Matter of Selfish Interest for Wike?

Politics is a mystifying game. One could be at their wit’s end and still never understand some of the trickier matters of the game. Take the case of former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for instance. After everything he said about the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the past, he has returned to ministerial power on account of bowing the knee to the same party.

Integrity and shame can indeed form the bulk of a politician’s strength. For people like Wike, these values are also important. However, the relevance of integrity and sensitivity to shame depends on the matter at hand. Therefore, when Wike recently appeared before the National Assembly to be quizzed for his qualification to be a minister, one can guess which of the qualities had greater eminence.

Some people may have forgotten, but the internet has not. Long before the presidential election that saw the emergence of Bola Tinubu of the APC, Wike was among the most brazen politicians screaming about the corruption of the party. As a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wike’s accusations against APC were justified. After all, APC members were not quiet themselves. However, Wike was very outspoken.

Then the elections came, and Wike lost the top candidate spot to Atiku A bubakar. Then Wike started to play the ‘sharp merchant’ between PDP and APC, clearly indecisive on which party to support. At the end of the day, Wike became a force that helped Tinubu against his principal, Atiku, leaving the latter distraught and PDP at a loss for words.

Now that Wike’s ‘work’ has yielded ministerial fruit, one cannot but conclude on his intentions. Very few can claim that Wike did not do all he did for himself. He might have a bit of compass ion for the nation, but it is his personal interests that steered his decisions and actions.

According to reports, one of the aircraft of Max Air was recently grounded and findings by the company revealed that it was all because the fuel in the aircraft was contaminated.

Against the formerly held belief that Max Air had gotten rusty in its operations, the report of contaminated fuel takes the blame off the company. Of course, this fixes Octavus, the renowned supplier of aviation fuel from the household of businesswoman and socialite, Bola Shagaya, in the limelight

Adaora Umeoji: The Return of the Dame to the Zenith

The banking sector in Nigeria can be a confusing place. However, to the individual that considers it a playground of smart and influential people, everything becomes clear. To such individuals, the return of Dame Adaora Umeoji to the hallowed halls of Zenith Bank management is no surprise.

Zenith Bank has once again become the highlight among commercial Nigerian banks. This time, the reinstatement of Dame Umeoji as the bank’s Deputy Managing Director has put it in the spotlight. Given her return,

and leaves it at the mercy of public censure.

Octavus has come out to deny that it sold contaminated fuel to Max Air. The company went on to defend its integrity and experience, stating that it has supplied fuel for at least 90 per cent of Max Air’s Hajj flights. Thus, Manga’s airline company has proved itself as trusting them, so the allegation of their supplying contaminated fuel is a surprise.

It looks to be a contest between Manga and Sheriff Shagaya, the son of the Shagaya matriarch and manager of Octavus. It is not yet clear what the source of contention is. However, seeing as the matter has refused to die down, one can only assume that there is something personal hovering out of sight.

against the tyrannical and seemingly everlasting reign of top management officials of banks. With the directive adjusted, Umeoji is free to return and continue to contribute to Zenith Bank.

The truth is that many people cannot think of Zenith Bank without imagining Umeoji as an active force of operations and success. Since she rose to the position of DMD, she has helped move the institution into its current path. Even the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has hailed her as a legendary figure in the bank.

one can expect a renewed trust in the bank’s management abilities.

The return of Umeoji to Zenith Bank came as a shocker to many Nigerians, but not all. Umeoji has been away from the management circles for the last five months. Her initial decision to retire resulted from the national directive

Moreover, it is reported that Umeoji has a good relationship with Zenith Bank founder, Jim Ovia, on account of her good work. As Ovia is globally acknowledged as one of the most brilliant corporate giants in Africa, it is no surprise that he recognises the value of Umeoji and does not mind her return.

So, things are going to get exciting once again in Zenith Bank. One can expect changes to the power play at the institution as Umeoji is known for inspiring focused work and abiding by the rules.

Kings are Like Stars … as Olu of Warri Shines at Itsekiri UK Day

The monarchical system is no longer the default system of government around the world. However, it is still very popular in places such as Iwereland where the Olu of Warri bears the hope of his people. Recently, the power and influence wielded by the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, became apparent.

It is a grand era for the people of Warri Kingdom. Those overseas recently celebrated Ugbajo Itsekiri Day in the United Kingdom. Hosting the King, people from other cultures in the world got to see the Olu of Warri and his people colourfully dressed and displaying the strength of their unity.

The event, captured as the Ugbajo Itsekiri UK 10th Gala and Charity Nite, was themed ‘The Role of Diaspora Community in Strategic Health and Education Development in Rural Community’, and saw the King and his entourage attired in royal colours and prestige.

In his address, the Olu of Warri expressed satisfaction at the doings of his people abroad. However, he stressed the need to not grow weary of excellence, doing their best to

L-R- Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III and his wife, Olori Atuwatse III contribute to the social and economic development of Iwereland. He also admitted that the unity of the people greatly helped his rulership and was enough motivation for his exertion of more wisdom as the king.

The Olu of Warri’s presence definitely inspired the attendees of the event in more ways than one. For the natives of Iwereland, the

spark of hope was stirred and fanned. For outsiders, the majesty of the Warri Kingdom was established. And all of this was accomplished through the gentle but firm grandeur of the Olu of Warri. Indeed, the residents of Warri Kingdom have always shown great loyalty to their kings. With this event, those residing in the UK have demonstrated that this is also true for them.

Shagaya

Umeoji

Alleged Cold War Trails Hannatu Amuda-Musawa

and Hadiza

In matters of politics, it is not strange to see individuals ready to enter the ring to fight until one party is demonstrated as inferior. Currently, it is alleged that such a thing is true for prominent Katsina State political leaders, namely, Hannatu Amuda-Musawa and Hadiza Bala Usman. Despite being remarkably similar in their achievements, the rumour is that a cold war is brewing between the women.

In terms of appearance and accomplishments, there is very little difference between Hannatu and Hadiza. Both of them are proud citizens of Katsina State. They are also renowned members of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Recently, they were both assigned as Senior Special Advisers (SSAs) to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. So, why the rumour of a quarrel between these sisters?

According to some news media reports, there has always been some competition between Hannatu and Hadiza. However, the competition took an unhealthy turn when Tinubu recognised both of them for their contributions to his emergence as President of Nigeria and appointed them as SSAs. Although working in different areas, the comparable reward of their contributions to his emergence is believed to have caused a spark of discontent

The Trials and Triumphs of Sanwo-Olu in Government House

In terms of commerce, Lagos remains the number one state in Nigeria. Perhaps that has always been the case, but it has to be said that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu deserves some accolades for his contributions. Even now, he is hard at work, pushing to balance and even out the odds of governance against the sentiments of the people.

He may be the best-performing Lagos State governor in recent years, but SanwoOlu’s excellence has come with a price. For those informed on the sacrifices associated with governance, the progressive agedness comes as no surprise. Nevertheless, his successes cover all that, leaving unbiased observers amazed that Sanwo-Olu has managed to balance everything on the interests of Lagosians and Nigerians at large.

COVID-19 is the first big thing worth noting about Sanwo-Olu’s abilities. When the federal government initiated the lockdown across the nation, Lagos was one of the states that hurried to comply. Sanwo-Olu’s regard for authority translated into Lagos recording low

Bala Usman

between them.

But, that was only a spark. The reason this spark reportedly grew into a raging fire that is currently barely under their control is the listing of Hannatu as a ministerial nominee. Because of this appointment, it is rumoured that Hadiza feels insulted and underappreciated despite her sacrifices to see APC continue as the number one party in the country.

For informed observers, Hadiza is renowned for her role as the MD of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). She was said to have stepped on many toes in that capacity. However, analysts argue that she did so whenever the interest of her party was at stake. Therefore, her contributions to APC and Tinubu’s current status in Nigeria are not small. Why, then, is Hannatu ahead? This is the rumoured cause of the cold war.

At present, nothing is confirmed. However, knowing that quarrels are not easily settled among political figures in Nigeria, the truth will be revealed soon. And if no such quarrel exists between Hannatu and Hadiza, even better for those that care about them.

Ojukwu

At Last, It’s Happy Times for Bianca Ojukwu

The concept of wills and inheritance has caused a lot of trouble for people in different parts of the world. Nigeria is no different and even the family of the late Igbo leader, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, is not exempted. Thankfully, it seems as if Ojukwu’s family troubles have come to an end and his widow, Bianca, can rest easy now.

A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has helped to settle the matters regarding the properties left behind by Ojukwu after his passing in 2011. Tasked with reconciling the man’s family, the court judged that Bianca was the legitimate heir of the Ojukwu fortune. Compared to her, the other members of the extended Ojukwu clan had little reason to inherit anything.

deaths at the start of the lockdown. Moreover, he made ample preparations to ensure that the Lagos economy continued to function, although it was running at low power.

Then came the #EndSARS campaigns and the widespread discontent with the way the federal government was handling matters. Sanwo-Olu is the first state governor on record to join the masses to protest and gradually dissolve the flammable outcomes projected from the event. That set the tone for other governors and the matter eventually died out.

What about the more recent subsidy matters? Once again, Sanwo-Olu has shown his worth in quickly making moves to restore the lives of his people, including cutting fare prices by half. Moreover, Sanwo-Olu’s longterm solutions, such as supporting the refineries, guarantee that Lagosians are better off compared to Nigerians in other states.

It has not been easy for Sanwo-Olu, to be sure. However, the man is doing well. He has accompanied every trial with triumph and his accomplishments continue to pile up.

Friends for Life … Between Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde

The world has changed for good. Seeing two or more young ladies gathered around a table no longer suggests that they are cooking gossip or something irrelevant. If you see best friends, Chioma ‘Goodhair’ Ikokwu and Kijapa ‘Kika’ Osunde among these ladies, be sure that what they are cooking is success.

Ikokwu and Osunde are best friends. Similar in some ways and very different in others, the two ladies have an elegance rarely found in the majority of women in the present. Perhaps, this is the reason they took so easily to each other and founded the global luxury hair brand that is Good Hair Limited and Brass and Copper, the popular restaurant and bar in Lekki.

Good Hair is one of the biggest and growing brands for women that love their hair. The business has gained much traction in the last few years and is currently one of the biggest joint achievements of Ikokwu and Osunde.

Brass and Copper is a restaurant and bar in the heart of the Good Hair space in Lekki. Once again, Ikokwu and Osunde paired up here to help ensure that people have somewhere to cool down after a busy day of work. No less flourishing compared to Good Hair, Brass and Copper inherited the fortunes of its founders and is one of the best highlights of their closeness. And the name is clever.

Ikokwu and Osunde are different in

terms of backgrounds. The former was born in Lagos and was groomed to be a successful lawyer—which she is. Osunde, on the other hand, was born and bred in the UK, despite being from Delta State, and is what others might label an ‘original’ businesswoman and marketer.

Ikokwu and Osunde are so close that they are virtually sisters by this point. With more than 10 years of shared business experience, they have achieved much. Thus, they are representative evidence of what true sisterliness can birth and sustain.

The court’s judgement came after it had carefully scrutinised the matter. The bone of contention is that after Ojukwu passed, his brothers decided to take over his properties. Bianca, on behalf of her sons, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu Ojukwu, contested their claims to the properties. And that was how the issue has remained a source of shame for the entire Ojukwu clan and others that cared for the legacy of the Igbo leader.

It became very clear much later that the matter would not be easily settled when Bianca revealed that her brothers-in-law had attempted to claim her matrimonial home in Lagos. Moreover, this attempt was allegedly carried out while the Igbo leader was still alive, although he was hospitalised in London at the time. And when he eventually passed, the Ojukwu brothers reportedly made firmer moves to claim the building and other properties of the Igbo leader in Lagos.

But everything is settled now. Unless the Ojukwu brothers make new moves in court, the Lagos High Court has assigned all the properties to the possession of Bianca and her boys. Thus, the woman can rest now and help her children grow to continue the legacy of their father.

Ahmed Kuru Getting Better

The agencies associated with financial regulations in Nigeria can be said to be doing a good job. Among them, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has made significant contributions to Nigeria’s economy in recent times, allowing it to be recognized by the federal government as a great asset. But all of this is because of the work of its MD, Ahmed Kunu.

Kunu is undoubtedly one of the most dreaded names among the big debtors in Nigeria. Renowned for his acumen at all things corporate, Kunu has helped to restructure the image of AMCON in Nigeria. Currently, he has helped the debtor-engaging agency ascend to new heights, competing with agencies like the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on fairness and financial trust.

Only a few days ago, Kunu revealed that AMCON has recovered over N1.6 trillion from debtors in Nigeria. Some of these recovered funds are in the form of cash payments, while others are assets that have been sold or are awaiting sale. The main reason for the success of the agency is the systematic approach that Kunu has started to employ to bring debtors and obligors to justice.

According to Kunu, AMCON now uses flexible methods to unravel the schemes of obligors. Partnering with the judicial arm of government in Nigeria, Kunu has found it easier to enforce the recovery of funds. At a time when the country is being listed as debtloving among its peers, one can say that Kunu

is helping to change the narrative.

With people like Kunu putting in their best, Nigeria’s fortunes are bound to change. With the funds recovered from AMCON’s exertions, the federal government can accomplish a lot of things. Thus, it is only a matter of time before the citizens of the nation begin to experience favourable economic upheavals.

Ultimately, the work of Kunu might seem small, but it is helping to reduce the shame that Nigerians have from owing so much money to international organisations. Indeed, Kunu is getting better and the expectations of ordinary Nigerians are becoming more optimistic as a result.

Sanwo-Olu

Bala-Usman

Ikokwu

Kuru

FG of Reward and Compensation

Did President Bola Tinubu say that he would form ‘a government of national competence’ if elected, during the presidential campaign? That was then because what we have seen in this record-breaking ministerial list is looking more like a government of compensation and reward. A cursory look at the list will begin to make you feel that Baba was just saying “Thank you and I am very grateful for your role in this journey.”

From Wike to Matawalle to Lalong, as you go through the list you will begin to see President Tinubu as a very grateful and appreciative person. Very good qualities to have in a family or village setting but not in running a country with the kind of complexities that we are parading. The recycling is just so “one kind.” What Wike is bringing to the table no matter the portfolio remains to be seen and this is just one out of the over 60% of nominees who Nigerians believe really have no business on that list. Yes, the list has shown a very strong commitment to gender issues with a large retinue of well-bred and super-qualified females. It also panders to a very strong

academic and capacity bent with about three PhD holders and a slew of master’s degree holders; it still carries with it the odiferous feeling of a compensation package.

For me, Tinubu has found the transition from a genius political operative to a budding statesman at best very wobbly. He has not shown either in utterances or posturing that he really understands what it means to be a president and that is why we are seeing all of these policy wonks that seem to be pushing us more into economic doldrums and a possible avoidable war with a neighbouring rogue country. Anyway, let’s not look down on Mr. Tinubu’s wellknown “agbado sense.” This might just be a ruse to calm down people like Wike who “fought” for this mandate and after six months, he will sweep all of them off and bring his real cabinet and real work will hopefully start.

I sincerely hope that this is the strategy because what we are seeing is looking like a team list for a novelty match instead of a serious cabinet that should get cracking with the mess he inherited from his big brother.

NOWHERE TO RUN TO FOR MUHAMMADU BUHARI

When the news of the coup in Niger Republic hit the airwaves, my mind ran to former leader and honourary citizen of the country, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). Mbok this man unleashed the highest level of incompetence laced with stupendous arrogance on Nigeria. His eight years in power were an effort in grand larceny and “buffoonery” and when it was time to go, he was reported as saying in his usual arrogant and standoffish tone that, “If I am disturbed, I will go to Niger Republic.”

My people, we all were living witnesses to how during his unfortunate reign, Niger Republic was the most favoured “state” in Nigeria. It got roads, train stations and power.

It is no wonder that daddy screamed when the coup was affirmed and made official. Nowhere to run to with this new Tinubu government, he would be wondering. Luckily for him, the Baba that he handed over to, is still struggling with the hot potato he handed over to him that he doesn’t really have the time or mental

capacity to look well into his government which in the estimation of most authorities is the most corrupt ever fostered on any country in the whole of Africa.

BELLO MOHAMMED: TWO CREDITS AS A MINISTER?

My late father used to say that it is from the head that the fish used to start to spoil. Oh no, that is not what he used to say ooo. Sorry, he used to say, that it is the first to enter the stream that used to see the clearness of the water and that those that come behind would only see the muddied part of it.

Well by now, those of you who are reading and are wise will know where I am going with all these Ibibio parables. I don’t want to be talking with my mouth too open again. But let me just say this- you all know what we went through with Chicago State or is it Chicago University, down to the primary school on Lagos Island and even my dear old Government College, Ibadan was dragged in at some point, then you will better understand why this fellow will have the boldness to insult our intelligence with this kind of qualification seeking confirmation as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This is why I have not been watching this their so-called ministerial screening. Even my sister the ever-beautiful Rita, will be calling and asking if I am following this “charade,” I will reply and say, “My sister, you know say, I dey find money for my new show, Anonymous Nipples and all these corporates wey dey declare loss dey use nipples as an excuse to dodge sponsorship, so no be Ministerial Big Brother Naija show be my problem for now.”

But this oga’s screening could not be avoided even if I ran into a hole. Two credits? Ohhh my God! And he still had the boldness to be talking. He even was trying to tell us that he reserves the right to pick and choose what qualifications he would submit.

It is looking like Baba was passing one subject per year and had so many different certificates that he would have called a committee to help him choose which ones to present. They will say, ‘oya submit English, you passed that one in 1984. Next, submit physics, you passed that one the day Tinubu graduated from Chicago and then, lastly submit geography, you passed that one the day Akpabio was born.’ Na wa.

Only in Nigeria that a man with such an

obvious lack of educational integrity will even be given the chance to stand in the hallowed chambers to even attempt this. But why not, after all his ogas have questionable qualifications.

NO DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE

As NLC was wasting their time behaving like teenagers in brothels, one sad news trickled in. A young and extremely beautiful and brilliant doctor on housemanship had just lost her life. The fact that this was avoidable if adequate care and caution had been taken made the whole episode all the more very painful.

Dr. Vwaire Diaso was said to be rushing down to get food that she had ordered. She jumped into the elevator and that was that. What made me and most people cry was the fact that she did not die immediately, but was even crying that she did not want to die. Now, listen, she is a doctor, a strategic member of the medical community. She had an accident within the premises of a premier and very prominent medical

Buhari

Adeleke

Tinubu

facility and still lost her life because of the incompetence that pervades those kinds of places.

I really do not like joining the crowd in raining abuses at the government and authorities when things like this happen, but my people, it will really be very hard not to. There are two major issues here, the administration of the medical facility and the delivery of quality medical care at the facility.

All of this English will not console her family and friends. I got a lot of messages from my friends, whose daughters were her colleagues. One frantically said, “Edgar, she was my daughter’s classmate….”

How do you even begin to explain this kind of tragedy? Where do you start? My people, something has to give. We cannot just continue like this, something has to give. Nigeria is just one big scam, I swear.

ASARI DOKUBO TO THE RESCUE

should be wary.

SUPER

FALCONS: THE REALITY OF NIGERIA

Nobody told me. I watched it like millions all over the world. The FIFA SecretaryGeneral said that it is because of our girls that for the first time, their monies will be paid directly to the players instead of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA). Shebi we have carried our disco to the world stage once again and you will be surprised that countries that are not bigger than Akwa Ibom are banning us from entry. See, Seychelles o or what do they call them? Kai, what a shame!

Now we have carried the madness that is our football administration to a point where Arsenal great Ian Wright even put mouth. So, when the history of FIFA compensation is going to be discussed, Nigeria will be a footnote. See FIFA o, FIFA sef who are baba nla corrupt – shebi we all saw the footage of the FBI raid on them- are now standing up tall and talking to our FA as if we did not learn from them.

Anyway, I am happy that this decision has been made. Good for our girls but bad for our football because next time na girls wey “soji” go make team. Girls who understand how to pay “finder’s fee” will make the team and the glory of our female football team don die be that. Well done girls, you are doing very well. No matter how this ends, we love you and do really respect you. Thank you.

OLU AKPATA, WELCOME TO GODOT

My brother who is the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association has jumped into the fray a good one year after. When elections were going on, bros was busy with his practice and other things. Now that we are all in court looking for salvation and freedom, he has decided to jump into the political fray saying he was tired of standing by the side.

Don’t mind me, this is a very welcome decision and I support it wholeheartedly.

Mr Akpata, for me, represents a crop of fine young leaders that needs to be upfront if we are to have any hope in this our country.

His tenure as NBA President witnessed an unprecedented assault of the judiciary by the powers that be and he stood firm without fear to issue very strong statements against the mayhem. He did excellently well as NBA President and that front-row seat must have opened his eyes to the chicanery that is our politics and its leadership.

He has chosen the Labour Party, a platform that most closely represents his values. I really wish him well even as I send in my message of support. Well done bro.

ADEMOLA ADELEKE DANCING INTO TROUBLE

The Dancing Governor really needs to start taking himself seriously. This his penchant for dancing at every little opportunity makes it more difficult to be taken seriously and when you now add this his appointments into the mix, we may just start seeing a caricature of a governor.

Osun has been embroiled in confusion with people asking themselves, what exactly have they gone to buy in the elections as a governor? They have been screaming nepotism and if you ask me, there is a small reason why Osun people

Shebi they gave his brother Tompolo a contract to start catching oil thieves and he has been doing the job very well. Did you guys not see the video where they blew up the rusty ship? This has emboldened his brother to seek a bigger contract – attack Niger Republic and restore democracy.

I watched the video landing of Asari Dokubo in Abuja the other day with amazement. He would have been fine sha if he could at least lose that his tummy. He wore a blue caftan and had a very fine streak of grey beard. As he walked, his people and the crowd serenaded him and he was doing like Chinua Achebe’s Okonkwo on his way to defeat Amalinze the cat. He jumped and danced. Shook his head and made gestures which made the crowd erupt with joy. As I watched, I saw the solution to our problem in Niger Republic. Our President, sitting with other ECOWAS leaders who cannot even arm their boy scouts, went and gave Niger Republic coup plotters seven days to evacuate or else….. In response, Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso who are all parading military Heads of State

who look like people inside Big Brother house now declare that any attack on Niger Republic will be taken as a declaration of war on them and that they will respond accordingly. See toothpick heads of State talking o. Is it their fault? Is it not the maladministration of politicians all over the sub-region and horseplay by foreign powers that are throwing up these “boys” as Heads of State all over the subregion?

Well, me I am happy that we now have Asari on the case. This is very crucial so that the Nigerian Army can concentrate on routing out the more dangerous internal insurgency that has taken thousands of lives and dislocated millions of Nigerians. Asari can take the whole of Niger Republic and its partners in less than seven days. Kai, you think I am joking? Did you see the size of his gun? Even the Rivers State Governor knows na- when he open eye for that one, did you hear him say anything? Please my brother, when are you mobilising, democracy needs you. Kai.

His sister-in-law and second wife of his late elder brother who was also governor is now a commissioner under him and also his nephew who I hear is just 30 years old is also holding a very strategic position in charge of local government. I also hear that a staff in his family-owned company is holding another strategic position that has to do with finance and treasury. See, when I hear these things, I normally throw in John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy into the fray to deflate the argument against nepotism. For those of you who do not know, John appointed his brother Robert as Attorney General and together, they broke the tide of civil rights struggle in America, among other things including the Cuban missile crisis. But you will agree with me that this one happening in Osun is very far from the Kennedys. This one na the Adelekes and what they are known for na dancing and other such things. Then when you also look at the qualifications of the appointees, you do not see any meritbased justification. The realisation that the appointments are just biologically driven hits and you bend your head in utter disappointment.

I will not judge a man for his love for dancing, but these appointments are beginning to look like a move by a man that should be promoting his nephew’s huge concerts instead of running a state. Thanks.

BIOLA AYENI: A BRAVE AND COURAGEOUS WOMAN

Normally, when a man has sidestepped his marriage and even to the point of getting embroiled in a paternity scandal, his worst enemy at that point is his wife. He must literally ignore the woman who is claiming that her “community baby” is his and face the tsunami within. His wife will attack and very ferociously attempt to disembowel him. She will go at his essence, his business and his reputation. She will fight him in such a way that he will be so weakened that the woman outside will just stroll in and step on his bleeding body with disdain. But listening to Mrs. Ayeni speak, I looked up to God and said, “Please bless this woman.” She rose above her pain and stood by her man. She said this “little” girl will not destroy my home. My man is not the father of that child. He told me and I believed him.

You see, my thinking is that, if Oga had called Madam to the room and said, “Darling the child is mine,” she would have knocked him but would have said go and bring the child.

Na so we suppose be. Can someone please give this woman an award on behalf of we errand men? She must be made the poster child for our women. You see when “mistakes” happen it is not the time to attack but the time to call your man in and say “Oko mi, don’t worry, there is no problem. Are there other ones, so that we handle all at once instead of wasting energy all over the place?” Kai, when my own happened, I cannot say what Duchess used my eye to see o. I still have the scars. But it is ok, the most important thing is life. I swear. Life. Thank you Mrs Ayeni, you are a very courageous woman.

NO MORE BEER ON THE HOUSE

Reeling from a N70 billion forex loss, the giant Nigerian Breweries Plc has announced a proposed increase in their prices. Now, how that company is even surviving at these times really beats the imagination. They have reported a human capacity run of over 500 staff within the period citing redundancy and “Japa” as the main culprits. Now, this dollar matter has hit them and the only way they can survive is to increase prices. Something tells me that the inelasticity of the demand for their products will tide them over if they really support this with creative and very practical marketing support and communications.

It is really not a smooth time for business. Every sector is reeling, even the media. The cost of newsprint, delivery, etc is killing. Na wa o, wetin we come vote for like this. Na real wa.

Dokubo

Political Strategist, Samuel Sosanya, Celebrates 80th Birthday

Rumour Mongers Target Abdulsamad Rabiu’s Integrity

“Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, and treating people with respect.”

Without a doubt, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Chairman, BUA Group, is a strong believer in this immortal quote by Stephen Covey, an American author, businessman and keynote speaker.

For Abdulsamad, who is an authority in the Nigerian business sector, his word is his bond, and he wears integrity like a badge of honour. He is a businessman that does his business with a human face and will never jeopardise his rectitude for anything.

So, when the unsubstantiated rumour of his alleged involvement in illicit forex went viral, those familiar with him quickly dismissed the allegation as wicked lies by evil people.

Birthdays are not mere occasions meant for only celebrations, during which glasses filled with vintage drinks are clinked and sumptuous delicacies munched. They are also opportunities for introspection and expression of gratitude to God for the grace to be alive and be counted among the living.

For Samuel Sosanya, who turns a new page on his book of life today, Sunday, August 6, 2023, as he clocks 80, it is a rare opportunity to worship his creator for a beautiful and richlyrewarding year.

With his eyes focused on the celebration of his four scores on earth, the shrewd politician and strategist would surely begin to rise from his ornate bed with good health and behold each new beautiful day with more than one reason to be joyous. Though some young generation of Nigerians, would know him for political sagacity and contributions to the development of Lagos State, particularly in the last 23 years, many others would know him as the dogged fighter, thinker, strategist and principled man who helped to birth the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN).

A man blessed with a clear vision; Pa Sosanya was prodded early in life by the desire to leave his imprints on the sands of time. And like a colossus, he stands heads and shoulders above his peers in several spheres of our national life.

And if you ever wondered why he is heartedly attached to Lagos, where he has been a constant player in the progressives family, you are most likely going to find the answer in his birthplace.

Like most kids of his generation, he started his accountancy career after secondary school education in 1963 with a firm of accountants in Lagos, Messrs Alabi & Partners as an Account and Audit clerk.

Even at such a young age, most of his contemporaries already knew he would one day be an accountant. In the neighbourhood, if there was any need to add up some difficult figures, young Sosanya always came to the rescue.

Onyema

One would be surprised if there is anyone that still doubts Allen Onyema, Chairman of Air Peace’s genuine love and loyalty for Nigeria. The aviation top shot, for the umpteenth time, has proven that his love for his fatherland is inextinguishable.

He has been so unrelenting in his drive and determination to rescue the nation of challenges without fear or favour. This, he has been doing for years, even though some naysayers keep reading unnecessary meaning into the beautiful

It was alleged that his company engaged in illicit forex dealings with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from January to March 2016. But many of his fans knew it was an attempt to blot his hard-earned reputation.

They were right after all, as the investigation has revealed that it is the handiwork of his enemies. To further prove that the allegation was baseless, BUA published all forex transactions by banks during 2016, in all national newspapers.

A careful study of the 63-year-old consummate businessman’s life shows that he has always been driven, in his inspirational journey in life, by determination and clear vision. No wonder, his business, over the years, has been sustained on the tripod of uncommon brilliance, strategic planning and faithfulness to the vision and mission of the company.

Saheed Mosadoluwa, the CEO of Royal Crystal Aviation, is a perfect example of a down-to-earth businessman who has his hands in numerous successful ventures around the globe.

Ibile, as he is fondly called, is an industry player with over 20 years of experience in freight forwarding, cargo handling and general aviation. He has certificates on Certified Travel Industry Executives (CTIE) from Aviation International, after which he obtained the clearing and forwarding licence from the Nigerian Customs Service before approaching the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority where he obtained an Air Travel Organisers’ licence.

He also worked as the director of Operations with the defunct Kabo airline for nine years before he joined Saudis Gulf Airline, where he was made the Director of Hajj Operations for West Africa. His feat as a Hajj Operator, where he had a seamless operation in the movement of intending pilgrims from Ghana, Togo and the Benin Republic, also

acts. However, Onyema remains unperturbed, and instead, he has kept up with his flag-waving patriotism.

Last week, he silenced his critics with another act of fellow-feeling.

In a rare show of empathy, he honoured Nigeria’s sportsmen and women at a well-attended event described as an unprecedented sports initiative.

The two significant events, as gathered by Society Watch, took place in Lagos. The first was the unveiling of the historic Sports Diplomacy Wall of Fame at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA; while the other was a gathering of great sportsmen and women who shone like a million stars at a gala evening at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The honourees were Nigeria’s 1976 Olympic stars as well as members of the 1980 Green Eagles that won the country’s first-ever Africa Cup of Nations.

Onyema, in his prodigious magnanimous character, offered the sportsmen and women free domestic tickets for life and one international ticket yearly with 1.5-million-naira cash each.

further reintroduced him to the Nigerian travelling population. His flight operations have seen him enter operational agreement with Sama Airline of Saudi Arabia and White Airways of Portugal.

Ibile believes that the lack of a national carrier or indigenousowned airline that will ply most routes is part of the reasons Nigeria is facing price discrimination in the air travelling bu siness. A good example was when Air Peace started plying Abu Dhabi, it forced the Emirates Airline to reduce the cost of flight tickets by about half.

He also believes that some privileged Nigerian states like Lagos and Kano can introduce state-owned airlines, which he said may be in the form of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). According to him, this will take the bulk of the problems associated with travelling by air off the state. He’s also an advocate of a professionaldriven aviation industry which will see the regulators working with the interest of the local operators at heart.

With this, he has once again undoubtedly delivered a resounding slap to the face of his numerous doubters who insist on remaining blind and deaf to his incontestable humanity.

The Anambra State-born mogul continues to use his wealth to support helpless Nigerians. At every point, he keeps showing that legacy creation is more important than the creation of wealth for profit motives.

Many still easily recall how he came in handy when Nigerians were stranded in South Africa due to xenophobic attacks in September 2019. He sent his aircraft to South Africa at no cost to bring the distressed Nigerians back home, without collecting a kobo from the Nigerian government.

In 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, many Nigerians were stranded in many parts of the world, Onyema again dispatched his aircraft to rescue persons and deliver relief materials at no cost to the persons or government. Again in 2023, when a crisis erupted in Sudan, Onyema sent aircraft to Egypt to evacuate stranded Nigerians.

Rabiu

Sosanya

BBNaija S8 Roundup: New Twists Keep Housemates on Edge

hands of their fellow housemates from outside the game, adding an intriguing layer of uncertainty.

As the housemates continue to bond, fans are eagerly awaiting the first ‘ship’ to sail in Big Brother’s house. Speculations about a connection between Adekunle and Venita have led to the creation of the ship name “Adenita.” Meanwhile, despite sharing a kiss, it remains uncertain whether Ilebaye and Cross will end up together due to their flirtatious tendencies. Not all housemates are getting cozy. Doyin, whose birthday was on August 3, pleaded with Big Brother not to celebrate her birthday during her diary session, because she felt the housemates did not like her. Doyin was notably pained by Mercy and her efforts to cause confusion between her and Soma. She implied that Mercy had told her that Soma was interested in her but advised her not to give him a chance. But after a conversation with Soma, Doyin discovered Mercy was the one pushing Soma to ask her out and use her for his game.

Kiddwaya also got Doyin thinking about her allies in the house, having been disappointed that the Head of House did not pick her as a BFF following his win. Kiddwaya picked Uriel, Tolanibaj, Neo and Pere to join him in the exclusive Head of House lounge.

At the last live eviction show, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu announced a few twists introduced by Biggie. They are Pardon Me Please and Eviction Jury. The former played out the following day after the Head of House challenge. Biggie told the housemates that the nomination process which allows them to nominate one another is temporarily paused and replaced by the Pardon Me Please. Under this twist, housemates were required to nominate one person they believed deserved to be pardoned from possible evictions.

However, some housemates, like WhiteMoney, initially found the rules unclear and expressed confusion during their diary sessions. Soma emerged as the most nominated housemate for the Pardon Me Please twist, earning immunity from eviction. Joining him were Kiddwaya, the Head of House, and Angel, who won immunity through the Black Envelope.

The second twist, the Eviction Jury will play out on tonight’s live show. Four former Big Brother Naija housemates will form a jury and deliberate on the nominees with the least votes. The fate of the nominated housemates will rest in the

Headies Return to US a Symbol of Dynamism, Creativity, Says Consul-General

Following the announcement that the 16th annual Headies Music Awards will take place in the United States for the second time, U.S. Consul General Will Stevens has applauded the burgeoning ties of the two countries in the creative industry.

At the pre-award reception in honour of the upcoming event, Stevens remarked that the return of the Headies award to Atlanta symbolizes the Nigerian music industry’s dynamism, creativity and growing global reach. He highlighted the important role of an inclusive and sustainable creative ecosystem in advancing economic growth and strengthening bilateral people-to-people ties.

“Afrobeats is dominating the American music scene right now and we are so proud to be partnering with the Headies and the Lagos State Government to work together to continue to build on our longstanding bilateral people-to-people ties through music,” Stevens said. “We remain committed to supporting programs and initiatives that promote artistic expression, encourage cultural exchange, and strengthen the capacity of Nigerian artists and professionals in the creative industry.”

Nigerian Consul General in Atlanta, Ambassador Amina Smaila, equally noted that the upcoming 16th Headies Awards in Atlanta offers an opportunity to celebrate African culture, resilience, and creativity. “Nigerian music has truly become a global force. This demonstrates the impact of Nigerian music beyond borders and its role in shaping the global cultural landscape.”

For the Founder/Executive Producer of the Headies Music Awards, Ayo Animashaun, the

growing cultural and artistic exchanges between the United States and Nigeria is exciting. He noted that the 16th Headies provides an invaluable opportunity for U.S. artists and entertainment professionals to engage with their Nigerian counterparts, fostering meaningful connections and inspiring new collaborations. “Our goal is to continue to support the development of talent and nurture innovation in the music industry.”

Additionally, Airtel Nigeria has thrown its weight behind the music awards as a way of supporting and nurturing the Nigerian creative industry. The Headies will take place on September 3, 2023, at Cobb Energy Performing Art Centre, Atlanta, USA.

Nickelodeon August Lineup Includes ‘Epic Ninja Stunts,’ ‘Rugrats’

The hilarious ‘Sunny Side Up Stunt’ and ‘Epic Ninja Stunts,’ are some of the thrilling entertainment shows lined up for children this August on Nickelodeon.

Adding more adventure to the lineup is the ‘Danger Generation Stunt’ which features a series of crime-fighting adventures. The show will air every weekend till August 27.

The ‘Rugrats’ also promises more new baby adventures as they explore a secret fantastical world the adults can only dream of. At the same time, NickToons is offering new and timeless ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ stunt episodes.

On Nick Jnr, ‘Blues, Clues and You’ and the ‘Fast and Furious’ stunts will provide more fun and entertainment while a jumbo combination of shows of ‘Blaze and the Monster Machines,’ ‘Bossy Bear: and ‘Paw Patrol’ will be airing this August.

Other children’s favourites planned for August include ‘The Casangrades: and the ‘Best of Rubble Stunt.’

With the housemates trying to outwit Big Brother and take home the coveted N120 million cash prize, Uriel figured out that WhiteMoney intended to use the kitchen as his strategy and felt intimidated by him. The two however talked about it.

Tonight’s live eviction will determine the fans’ favourite and the first eviction of the season. The suspense is high as viewers wonder who among Frodd, Venita, Ilebaye, Neoenergy, Mercy, Cross, Princess, Uriel, CeeC, Alex, Doyin, Adekunle, Seyi, Pere, Ike, Tolanibaj, or WhiteMoney will face the eviction axe.

Bisola Aiyeola Debuts Brown Girl’s Magic Skin Care Products

Iyke Bede

In a colourful event held at the Dayton Lakes, Lekki, Lagos, Nigerian actress Bisola Aiyeola debuted her new range of cosmetic skin care products, Brown Girl’s Magic (BGM), marking a new milestone as she joins other Nigerian celebrities who have successfully established their lifestyle brands.

The launch introduced the AquaSurge product line consisting of four products: Sunscreen, Micellar Water, Body Wash, and Body Lotion. This range of products was created with people of colour in mind, to meet the high demand for skin products formulated for melanated skin.

The idea of BGM was birthed following Aiyeola’s skin challenges in November 2018 which led her to consult skin care experts. Achieving the desired flawless skin she had hoped for, she gained an epiphany to formulate BGM to help other people achieve similar results, prioritising protection through the infusion of Sun Protection Factor (SPF) to shield the skin from harsh tropical weather conditions.

“After the session with Samuel Nwatu, I had gone into my skincare routine, and one day realised we don’t really have body products that contain SPF. The ones we have are mostly for the face,” an elated Aiyeola revealed.

“I reached out to Samuel who is an aesthetician and a formulator, and then I had a brainstorming session with my daughter, Laila, for product ideas. We took so much time with the testing to make it specific to everyone of African descent, including those of non-African descent. There is magic in all of us. I want us all to embrace it, and be proud of our skin because there are so many products that aren’t formulated for the skin type. Brown is beautiful.”

The well-attended launch occasion packed with catchy games, and sumptuous treats was graced by members of her family, select friends like Abimbola Fashola, the wife of former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola; Founder, The Temple Management Company, Idris Olorunnimbe; beauty influencer Laila Rahman, as well as reality television star of the BBNaija franchise, Dorathy Bachor.

To Aiyeola, BGM is one of many baby steps for her to take as she ventures into the lifestyle industry. She hopes to “diversify into the makeup business” in the future.

Stories by Vanessa Obioha

L-R: Kiddwaya and WhiteMoney deliberate on wager task

L-R: Animashaun, Stevens, Nike Okundaye, serenaded by dancers at the pre-award reception of the Headies.

Aiyeola

Unconstitutional Government or Unconstitutional Elections: ECOWAS Sanctions Miss the Points

Again, President Bola AhmedTinubu (PBAT) must thread more cautiously and make haste slowly in the conduct and management of Nigeria’s defence and security strategy, as well as in the management of ECOWAS diplomacy of regional peace and security, especially as it relates to the coupd’étatintheRepublicofNiger.Wehavenoted several times in this column that there is the need to differentiate between military-sponsored coups d’état and coups initiated or aided and abetted by non-military actors. The Malian coup was more or less a civilian coup which started with the people’s protest, the June 5 Movement (Rally of Patriotic Forces, M5-RFP). More disturbingly are the messages from the coups in Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, and currently from the Republic of Niger.

In this regard, Malians made it clear that they were not against France as a people, but against French Government’s alleged exploitative policies. Malians complained about the long stay of French troops in Mali without being able to contain the Tuareg insurgency and terrorism.They also complained about the elected government of Mali, led by President Bah N’daw who had French support. Most note-worthily here is the fact of the leader of the coupists, Assimi Goïta, who was the Vice President. The second coup was a palace coup.

Even when the African Union (AU), the ECOWAS, and the international community condemned the coupists, and threatening hellish sanctions, Malians came out, demonstrating on the streets in support of the coup. Questions were then asked as to where the international community and the ECOWAS leaders were, when complaints about bad governance of the country under President Boubacar Keïta were raised. The issue therefore is whether the Malian question is unconstitutional change of government or democratic elections that produced misgoverning presidents that always align with foreign powers to which the people are opposed. This is the problem in Burkina Faso and currently in Niger Republic.

What really are the profound causal and ultimate factors of coups d’état in Francophone Africa? Many factors can be identified as responsible for coup-making, especially poor governance as manifested in corruption, bad development policies, ethnic jingoism, nepotism and other manifestations of political chicanery. We strongly believe that a unRepublic. It is against this background that ECOWAS sanctions cannot be meaningful.

Meaninglessness of ECOWAS Sanctions

A cursory look at the many sanctions taken by the ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) against unconstitutional governments in Africa, and particularly in theWest African region, clearly shows that the sanctions are, at best, very meaningless because they do not address the untold more critical problems: quest for reaffirmation of national sovereignty in which French influence will be reduced to its barest minimum and the stoppage of foreign exploitation of Nigerien mineral resources for the development of Europe but to the detriment of growth and development of Niger.

Besides, all the ECOWAS and AU sanctions have followed the same logic, the same pattern, the same outcome, and most unfortunately, they have also been predicated by strategic miscalculations in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, and Sudan. The sanctions have generally been closure of land and air borders, ban on flights to and fro, travel bans on coupists and their relations and officials involved directly in coups, suspension of commercial activities, etc.

In the context of the coup in Niger Republic, the ECOWAS closed the land and air borders between it and Niger.This type of sanction cannot be effective. Niger’s 1500 km of international borders with Nigeria are porous. The same ethnic communities live on both sides of the Niger-Nigeria borders. The communities are only separated by colonial frontiers. Immigration formalities hardly apply, as people walk to and from one country to the other. This means that military intervention by ECOWAS, chaired by Nigeria, cannot but be a self-attack and self-killing exercise.

For example, Nigeria is supplying electricity to Niger under a

specially negotiated agreement aimed at preventing the Republic of Niger from building a dam on the River Niger the way Cameroon built the Lagdam on River Niger. Whenever Cameroon opens the dam, Nigerians are ways at the mercy of God as their lives are always threatened by death. This is not the situation with Niger Republic. The Niger-Nigerian understanding is that Niger will not build any dam and Niger has always remained faithful to the spirit of the agreement on the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Cooperation.

Put differently, attacking the people of Niger Republic is also attacking the people of Nigeria. The ECOWAS military intervention can prompt Niger to strain ties with Nigeria and begin the construction of a dam on the River Niger in protest against the role of Nigeria in the coup plot saga. And true enough, PBAT cannot be said to be acting as Nigeria’s president in the conduct and management of the coup crisis. He spoke and threatened the use of military force in restoring the administration of President Mohammed Bazoum.The challenge here is that it is difficult to differentiate when ECOWAS and Nigeria’s policy interest are the same and not the same. ECOWAS military intervention in Niger is not and cannot be in Nigeria’s national interest at this critical material time but PBAT’s election as ECOWAS chairperson at this same critical time compels the application of ECOWAS policy decisions on non-acceptance of unconstitutional changes of government in the region.

The coup in Niger Republic is a struggle between Nigériens and the colonial cum great powers. PBAT must act in the national interest and not be simply seen as only executing the supranational instructions of the ECOWAS in the spirit of pacta sunt servanda. Fostering policies of good neighbourliness is also another desideratum that should not be taken lightly. Nigeria’s or ECOWAS closure of land borders with the Niger Republic has not prevented the opening or reopening of the borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya and Mali. Whenever a vacuum is created in international relations, many countries are always ready to take advantage and fill the vacuum. This is why PBAT must always thread more carefully so that he does not become the first instrument of disintegration of the ECOWAS. PBAT may fraternise with Emmanuel Macron, but the Francophone West Africans are increasingly moving away from France. Hobnobbing with France may be seen as anti-Francophone Africa. Thus, Niger may become another Ukraine for Russo-NATO confrontation with Nigeria being an extended theatre of war against. The mutual distrust in the ECOWAS between the Anglophone and Francophone can only be strengthened as a result. This will undermine regional integration efforts. In fact, ECOWAS military intervention will create greater opportunities for the great powers who do not want Nigeria to be powerful enough to challenge them in international politics. They prefer cutting Nigeria to size. PBAT must therefore not allow Nigeria to be cut to size and Nigeria’s good image to be tainted in Niger. National self-preservation must come before regional preservation. Tinubuplomacy and Nigeria’s foreign policy must go parri passu and beyond political

Besides, ECOWAS military intervention in Niger can also lead to an expanded war in other Francophone countries in light of the positions already taken by Mali and Burkina Faso on the Nigerien coup. Both countries have openly made it clear that an attack on the coupists in Niger necessarily constitutes an attack on them, and thus warranting collective defense. They have also warned that any foreign military intervention in Niger will be strongly resisted. By so doing, the West African region has the potential to be destabilised. Already, Niger is contemplating straining diplomatic ties with Nigeria whereas PBAT is acting primarily as ECOWAS chairman and stricto sensu as Nigerian leader.

Apart from closure of land and air borders, the ECOWAS has not only placed a ban on commercial flights to and from Niger, but has also suspended all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS Member States and Niger. In this regard, are the sanctions really a big deal? What really is the extent of volume of trade between the ECOWAS and any Member State? At best, it is insignificant. More significantly, can the ECOWAS sanctions stop countries like Mali, Algeria, Guinea and Burkina Faso from relating with Niger in all ramifications and from supporting the intransigent efforts of the coupists in Niger?

And more disturbingly, the ECOWAS has imposed travel bans on Niger’s military officials and their families involved in the coup, including any person who accepts to join the military government, and has also frozen all service transactions, including energy transactions and the assets of Niger Republic in all ECOWAS Central Bank, as well as all Niger’s state enterprises and parastatals in commercial banks. And true enough, ECOWAS has also suspended Niger Republic from all financial assistance and transactions with all financial institutions.

When these sanctions are taken together, one can still ask the quantum of development aid coming from the ECOWAS to Niger Republic. If the people of Niger Republic are increasingly becoming hostile to France and PBAT is becoming the new darling of France, one cannot but therefore expect damages in Nigeria’s bilateral relationship with Niger in the foreseeable future. ECOWAS military intervention in Niger is really not a war between the organisation and Niger but in reality a war between Niger and Nigeria. In other words, it is not the coupists that will mostly suffer from the war but Nigerians. It is not the ECOWAS troops and the coupists that will suffer from PBAT’s power cut to Niger but the very people who do not want the ousted president in Niger. These are some of the reasons why PBAT must learn how to exercise patience in engaging in a war that is not truly provoked and aimed at Nigeria.

We are not unaware of the fact that the making of the ECOWAS was at the instance of Nigeria and later Togo. We know that the responsibility of any ECOWAS chairperson requires making Member States of the ECOWAS to comply with the supranational instructions to Niger as a member State of the organisation. This is precisely what PBAT is doing. However, there is nothing to suggest that ECOWAS will come out stronger after the war successfully or not. Many protesting countries are likely to withdraw their membership. Nigeriens are united against the ECOWAS.

At the Nigerian domestic level where PBAT’s national image is already tainted by his public statement that he would continue where the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), stopped. PBAT’s public image in the West African region and particularly in Nigeria’s immediate sub-region comprising the immediate neighbours, also has the potential to be damaged as he is being seen to be playing the colonial card or the extra-West African card.

For instance, a seven-member Supreme Court, in its judgment on the suit filed by some state governors who challenged PMB’s ‘demonetisation policy’has unanimously described President Buhari as a violator of court order in Nigeria. In the words of the Supreme Court, ‘the disobedience of orders of courts by the President in a constitutional democracy as ours is a sign of the failure of the Constitution and that of democratic governance (which) has become a mere pretension and is now replaced by autocracy or dictatorship.’ If this is what PBAT wants to sustain as a legacy, the future will be extremely difficult to manage as an individual, as Nigeria’s president, and as ECOWAS chairperson.

Nigeria–Niger Relations: Making Haste Slowly

Without any whiff of doubt, what will the future of Niger-Nigeria relationship be after an eventual ECOWAS military intervention?To what extent can the ECOWAS survive if more than three members withdraw their membership of the organisation? How will the Niger-Nigerian ties be defined in the event of war against the people of Niger? Already Niger has strained diplomatic ties with Nigeria, France, United States and Nigeria.The strained relationship with France and the United States can be well understood from the perspective of their being seen as imperialists. Straining ties is more of anti-imperialism than the taking of sides in the coup controversy.

In the context of Nigeria and Togo, it can be explained from two angles: Togo and Nigeria are original sponsors of the ECOWAS in 1975 and both are also proponents of military intervention in Niger. Since Niger Republic is now anti-ECOWAS, there is no way Togo and Nigeria will not be targeted for counter-sanction. The issue now whether Nigeria will join the other three countries –Togo, France, and the United States - to fight the coupists in Niger?

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Tinubu

ARTS & REVIEW ARTS & REVIEW

In Memory of Monarch, Daughter Pays Reel Tributes

A documentary film about Kano's longest-reigning emir, the late Ado Bayero, produced independently by his daughter Zainab Jummai Ado-Bayero, is set to hit the big screen soon, Okechukwu Uwaezuoke reports

It was her mom’s idea. That is, the idea that she should give making a documentary film about her late dad a shot. So Zainab Jummai Ado-Bayero did. Add to that her lifelong passion for films, history, and novels. “I never imag- ined that I could actually direct or produce a film,” she narrates. “Last year, it was a secret dream of mine, so I decided that it was worth the trial.”

So it came to pass that several factors joined forces to spur her on to produce her over-two-hour-longsoon-to-be-released documentary film, My Father, The Emir: A Por- trait of Ado Bayero, which would serve as her formal debut motion picture.

Now, her giving it a try implied initiating a series of brainstorming sessions. And eventually, it turned out to be her mom who had the “eureka!” moment and came up with the bright idea of a narrative revolving around her dad, who was not only the longest-serving emir in Kano’s history but was also unarguably among Nigeria’s most well-known and revered Muslim leaders. “I was hesitant [at first],” she recalls. “I didn’t want my career to begin with my dad. I had more ideas, but she insisted he was a great subject.”

Still, she could have contrived no better reassuring mode of procedure than by controlling every aspect of the production. This explains why, for six months, she found herself doing virtually everything from pre-production, which included research and scriptwriting, to post-production. “It was rewarding and challenging as an independent first-time pro- ducer,” she confesses.

As for the late Emir Ado Bayero, he should ordinarily make any list of prospective subjects for documentaries as a clear favourite. Crowned the Emir of Kano on October 22, 1963, he ascended the throne as Kano’s 13th Fulani Emir and 56th ruler after the death of his predecessor, Emir Muhammadu Inuwa, whose reign lasted for only three months.

The revered monarch, who, prior to his ascension to the throne, was a successful businessman, banker, police officer, legislator, and diplomat, was a key player in the Nigerian political landscape. Born on July 25, 1930, as the 11th child of his father, Abdullahi Bayero, and the second of his mother, Hajiya Hadiya, he was a scion of the royal Fulani Sullubawa clan, which has ruled over the Kano Emirate since 1819.

As an emir during Nigeria’s first EDITOR

republic, he was not only known as one of the primary witnesses to the political turmoil that preceded the 30-month-long Civil War, but he was also praised for bringing calm and stability to Kano during this and subsequent crises. Is it therefore surprising that the busi- ness mogul and philanthropist, Dr. Okey Anueyiagu, in his Civil War memoir, titled Biafra: The Horrors of War (The Story of a Child Sol- dier), narrates how his father “recalled with anger and indignation”

an encounter with soldiers from the North who, even as fellow Christians from the North, wanted to take his life but “for the intervention of Bayero and Aminu Kano”?

Understandably, Zainab, as the emir’s daughter, may cite Bayero’s compassionate disposition and his efforts to build bridges across geopolitical and religious divisions as strong argu- ments for why she thinks

the public will adore her documen- tary film. “It digs into the history of Nigeria and the rich culture of the North. My dad’s life was filled with great moments in politics, religion, and various aspects.”

The film, she adds, targets “every age demographic—from the older generations, the middle-aged, and the millennials, my demographic, and also the Gen Z, who don’t really know about our history. I think they should know more about the great figures in our country. That’s why I shot in an entertaining modern style to appeal to the youth as well as their parents.”

As a Muslim woman who pro- claims herself as “very private, modern, and liberal” in her ideals as well as a feminist, Zainab considers this documentary film on her late dad a tool for upsetting the status quo. “As his daughter, I can portray him in the changing new world as a relic of the past century who, during his reign, ushered in new ideas in a conservative society.”

Her preference for a documen- tary over a biopic, according to her, stems from the fact that her viewers will get not only to see the real shots of her late father—as photo- graphs and archival footage—but also hear his voice. “I thought it would feel real to the audience.”

Still on the film, which she also directed, she disclosed that it was an entirely self-funded project since she received no financial assistance from anyone.

Zainab Jummai Ado-Bayero

A photo in the film

A footage from the film

Making a Case for University Art Museums

Jess Castellote

Whenweinitiallyproposed the idea of establishing an art museum at PanAtlantic University to the university authorities, I was unaware of the motto of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries: "Great universities have great museums." If I had known, my presentation would have been more convincing. I was not prepared for the answer I got from the Vice-Chancellor. He asked me to justify the need for a museum on campus. While I believed the answer was obvious, it wasn't apparent to everyone at the university. It seemed like a setback, but it University and how a future art museum could support and enhance its commitment to serving the community. Fortunately, Prince Yemisi Shyllon, whose funding and artworks would later make the museum a reality, fully embraced the idea. In less than four years since the inauguration of the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA) in a new building on the Pan-Atlantic University campus, there is now widespread agreement among important resource for both the university and society, extending beyond the boundaries of its campus in Ibeju Lekki.

There are many ways of looking at what universities are, but in broad terms they can be viewed as institutions that create and transfer knowledge, skills, and values in an organized way. Museums are also educational institutions that transmit knowledge, skills, and values, but they do it in a more informal way and mainly through experiential contact with objects. The case of university museums is special, they are educational institutions within larger educational institutions, the universities. Themes of experimentation, alliances, experiential and object-based learning, inter-departmental collaboration reverberate within the walls of university museums. While university art museums may not often possess collections of the same calibre

MUSEUMS

and scale as national or large regional museums, identifying their own capabilities and resources, and then align themselves with a clear mission. It is crucial for a university museum to regularly assess its mission and guiding principles, to develop and maintain an identity that goes beyond the learning objectives, teaching methodologies, and disciplinary university. By actively seeking out interdisciplinary initiatives and collaborative projects, a university museum can truly become an asset in service to the entire university community.

museums? I strongly think so. Museums come in various forms, each with distinct missions and objectives. For instance, the National Museum in artifacts representing Nigeria's material culture, arts, and history. While university art museums may not possess renowned masterpieces like in the National Museum, they can still boast noteworthy collections of great educational value. By engaging with collections, students and faculty gain insights into key concepts, historical contexts, and diverse cultural perspectives. These museums contribute to the cultural vitality of the campus and the wider community, acting as informal educational resources.

Campus museums have a capacity to be more innovative and audience centred than other museums

on the continent. They are in better position than most public museums to “experiment” and look developmental service. For university museums the pressure to constantly attract large numbers of visitors to validate their relevance is less strong

This commercialization has limited the space available for non-commercial or non-tourism-focused exhibitions. However, some of these exhibitions can be fascinating, enlightening, and have a profound impact. University art museums can provide the much-needed space for such exhibitions. What better place than a university to safeguard a heritage that does not solely belong to us?

University art museums are unique institutions that hold the potential to be valuable resources for a diverse range of audiences. However, they also face challenges and limitations that impact their relevance to students, faculty, and the wider community. To unlock their full potential, university art museums must establish a clear mission, robust management and governance structures, and curate programs, exhibitions, and activities that are relevant and engaging. Additionally, forging stronger connections with communities beyond the campus and seeking innovative partnerships with art market stakeholders are crucial steps towards enhancing their impact and accessibility.

When we broaden our understanding of education to encompass not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the development of soft skills, character, and civic values, it becomes evident that university museums can play a vital educational and reinforcing their host university's dual mission of serving both students and the community.

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FUJI: A OPERA Exhibition Looms in London

Yinka Olatunbosun

For Fuji music lovers in the UK, a landmark exhibition looms in London.

From August 18 to 28, this year, the Africa Centre in London will present FUJI: A Opera, a multi-dimensional exhibition that tells the story of the Fuji music genre, one of the most important in Nigeria’s cultural history.

FUJI: A Opera is a showcase of some exclusive archive footage and artefacts, exploring the belligerent past of Fuji music and its founding footprints while celebrating its rich subculture from the early 1960s to the present day.

The story woven through a visual assemblage of fascinating archival footage of previous performances, audio installations, and incredible memorabilia across the 60-year history of Fuji Music is a must-see. transports the viewer through the origins in the

EXHIBITION

Yoruba-Muslim communities of Nigeria’s SouthWest and the vision of pioneer Ayinde Barrister, who dubbed his sound “fuji” after seeing an airport ad for the famous Japanese mountain. The exhibition begins with a soundscape homage to Ajiwere, folk music for Islamic worshippers during Ramadan, and the roots of Fuji music on Lagos Island. On show will be rare instruments from Nigeria that have been played since the beginning of Fuji Music over 50 years ago. These have been donated by some iconic Fuji artists, including music pioneers Late Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, otherwise known as Alhaji Agba, and King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, who is largely credited with taking the genre to its highest heights from the early 1980s to the present day. The infectious energy of Fuji music will be experienced through a listening gallery of archive

recordings, a photography wall of album covers and live performances, and a collection of fashion pieces worn by Fuji artists across its history.

Founder of FUJI: A Opera, Bobo Omotayo, said: “Now feels like the perfect time to celebrate the and its lasting impact. Without Fuji, there would be no Afrobeats. Artists such as King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall have given so much to music; it’s time we celebrate their legacy. With London’s huge Nigerian community and close links with Lagos, I’m proud to be bringing FUJI: A Opera to the Africa Centre this summer.”

marking the longest showcase of the Fuji subculture in modern times. FUJI: A Opera will make its international premiere in the UK at the Africa Centre, which has been the home of African heritage and The Africa Centre is a UK-registered charity that celebrates the diversity of Africa and its diaspora.

Peju Alatise Launches New Book

Awarm reception was held in Lagos last week as the much-anticipated collection of short stories by the artist Peju Alatise was presented to the public at the Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi. The gathering, comprised of friends and associates of the author, was a beautiful cascade of performances and short Titled Silifat, the new book centres on the stories of Nigerian women and their struggles in a maledominated society. In her opening remarks, Alatise recounted the brief history behind the character development of the book.

BOOK LAUNCH

of the Silifat character, she decided to dedicate a whole new book to her. I wrote Silifat in 2006. It is a collection of twelve short stories about Silifat. It is the story of many young women in Nigeria of women is something many women can relate to. I wrote this book in order to redeem her and shed more light on her journey.

In a ceremony anchored by the writer and media personality, Wana Udobang, Alatishe described how the world of the book is shaped by the ambition of every girl child and how the stages of womanhood can be shaped by societal pres-

table book, Silifat contains photographs taken by Adeyinka Akingbade, a collaborator on the book

and art project.

“It is not a perfect book. But it is a story that needs to be heard. The stories are written in a way that you can add to them, and I can come in and out of the book. The stories are open-ended, and I leave it to your imagination. Someone said that there is a bit of Silifa in every household.’’

The event was punctuated by the screening of were directed by Remi Vaughan-Richards and drew upon the writer’s childhood and aspirations. Also, a dramatic sketch titled Sugarcane was staged to highlight the issue of sexuality and

the plight of women in a patriarchal society. On Sunday, July 9, a collection of paintings and photographs by Peji Alatise and Adeyinka Akingbade was unveiled at the Nike Art Gallery at Lekki Phase I, Lagos.

An exhibition at the YSMA in Pan Atlantic University, Lagos Dr.CastelloteistheDirector,YemisiShyllon

Yinka Olatunbosun

Discussants at the book launch

Omotayo

IN THE ARENA

The Dilemma of ECOWAS on Niger Coup

This is a truly challenging period for African leaders with the increasing spate of military interventions on the continent. Since 2020, armed forces have truncated democratically elected governments in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, and Sudan without much consequence. And the latest took place in the Republic of Niger on July 26, bringing the number of unconstitutional regimes to six on the continent.

Four of the affected countries - Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and the Niger Republic - fall within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), an economic and political bloc of 15 sovereign states created in 1975. Comparatively, 26.7 per cent of the ECOWAS members are now under military rule.

The early detection and apprehension of civilian and military masterminds that attempted the overthrow of Sierra Leone’s civilian administration last Tuesday prevented further descent into military rule within the sub-region.

Unlike the previous ones, the latest coup elicited highly critical responses not just from the ECOWAS, but also from the AU, EU, France, Russia, the US, and the UK. After the initial mission to convince the putschists to restore Niger’s democratically elected leader, President Mohamed Bazoum failed, ECOWAS conveyed an emergency summit on July 30 under the chairmanship of President Bola Tinubu.

The summit ended with far-reaching resolutions. Beyond imposing a series of sanctions on the Niger Republic, ECOWAS declared: “In the event, the Authority’s demands are not met within one week, take measures to restore the constitution in the Republic of Niger. Such measures may include the use of force. To this effect, the Chiefs of Defence Staff of ECOWAS are to meet immediately.”

This particular resolution has raised diverse questions about the legality of resorting to the use of force without breaching the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs. As stipulated in Article 2(7) of the UN Charter, this principle, which precludes member states of international institutions from undue interference in their domestic matters, largely defines inter-state relations at subregional, regional, or global levels.

This is different in the case of ECOWAS. All its member states agree to certain conditions within which the sub-regional institution can intervene, even militarily in the internal affairs of its member states. First, in Article 1(c) of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, all members collectively subscribed to zero tolerance to power obtained or maintained by unconstitutional means.

For former Minister of External Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, a coup d’etat is not only intolerable but also odious within the bloc. Also, under Article 3 (h) of the ECOWAS Protocol, the sub-regional institution “can constitute and deploy a civilian and military force to maintain or restore peace with the sub-region, whenever the need arises.”

Article 25 of the Protocol defines six conditions under which ECOWAS can deploy “either civilian or military force.” The conditions include the event of an overthrow or attempted overthrow of a democratically elected government and the case of internal conflict that

threatens to trigger a humanitarian disaster or that poses a serious threat to peace and security in the sub-region.

As a signatory to these Protocols, Niger Republic had consented to ECOWAS’ right to intervene in its domestic affairs under the specified conditions to restore the democratically elected government. But does the ECOWAS have the political will to enforce its resolution if the leader of the Niger coup, General Abdourahmane Tchiani fails to comply with the ECOWAS Resolution within the seven-day time limit? Experts in international affairs are divided not just about the political will to deploy force to restore order in Niger Republic, but also about the implication of such action.

For this reason, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Ibadan, Prof. Bunmi Ayoade advocated cautious optimism rather than rash militarism in response to the Niger crisis. For him, the time is not auspicious for a kinetic approach due to its implication not just for West Africa, but also for Africa. Except in the case of Nigeria and Ghana, Ayoade doubted the capacity of the ECOWAS members to successfully carry out such intervention without wider consequences on African peace and security.

Even though he believes Nigeria has the onus to get rid of unconstitutional regimes that threaten other democratically elected governments within the sub-region, the eminent scholar cited Nigeria’s internal fragility, which he ascribed to grievous economic and fiscal distortion that threaten citizens’ livelihoods, as a major constraint.

POLITICAL NOTES

Ayoade contended that the resolve of the Authority of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government to resort to the use of force might be desirable, but not advisable at this time. On his part, however, Akinyemi justified the use of force, especially at a time when four of the 15 ECOWAS members have already fallen to unconstitutional regimes.

Every policy, Akinyemi argued, comes at a cost. But Nigeria has to weigh the cost of living with an unconstitutional government as a neighbour or employing all means - diplomatic, economic, political, and even military - to save West Africa’s budding democracies.

The former minister acknowledged the significance of confronting the vagaries of intractable challenges undermining its internal stability and national cohesion. He, however, contended that Nigeria had to re-assert its leadership in the sub-region through the explicit enforcement of ECOWAS Protocols anchored to the doctrine of the responsibility to protect.

Beyond divergent perspectives experts have offered, Nigeria, obviously with the support of its counterparts in the sub-region, is rapidly ramping up strategic responses that tilt towards kinetic measures. This became obvious after the ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff met between Wednesday and Thursday and briefed its Authority about the necessity of salvaging fragile democracies within the bloc.

Now that the seven-day ultimatum has elapsed and the despots are yet to embrace its resolutions, ECOWAS has intensified diplomatic interventions obviously to work out political solutions rather than military actions. It first deployed a high-level delegation to Niamey under the leadership of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar to persuade the despotic regime against holding unconstitutionally to power.

The sub-regional institution, also, deployed another delegation to Libya and Algeria under the chairmanship of Ambassador Babagana Kingibe to discuss options before its members if the despots refused diplomatic solutions. While diplomatic interventions are being intensified, President Tinubu has already communicated with the Senate about Nigeria’s resolve to intervene in Niger consistent with its commitment to ECOWAS Protocols and Treaty.

With all these assertive responses being ramped up, despotic regimes in Niger, even in Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali, will have to weigh before them, especially when the AU, EU, France, the UK and the US condemned the Niger coup in absolute terms. But if it intervenes successfully, will this put an end to future military interference within the sub-region? Under civilian administrations, as some experts have argued, people have not been able to meet their aspirations, hence the quest for an alternative system.

Like its West African counterparts, for instance, hunger is a fundamental challenge in Niger. In 2022, Global Hunger Index ranked Niger 115th out of the 122 countries afflicted with chronic hunger. Besides, as shown in the 2022 Corruption Perception Index, Niger is classified among the world’s incurably corrupt nations.

From this perspective, as most experts have observed, military action will not eventually be a deterrence to future coups within the bloc as envisaged if the roots of social injustice, economic doldrums, and political prejudice are not decisively addressed.

Subsidy Protests: Where is Oshiomhole?

Members of the organised labour were shocked last Wednesday when they forced their way into the National Assembly complex but did not see the former governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had announced the commencement of nationwide protests, following President BolaTinubu’s decision to pull the plug on the petrol subsidy regime.

The president’s pronouncement during his inaugural speech on May 29 that the era of subsidy regime had ended had immediately resulted in a hike in the pump priceofpetrol,gallopinginflationandeconomichardship. Dialoguesessionsbetweengovernment’srepresentatives and NLC, aimed at forestalling the protests and an impending strike, yielded very little, necessitating nationwide protests.

At the commencement of the strike onWednesday, the protesters in Abuja brought down the gate leading intotheNationalAssemblyandforcedtheirwayintothe complex, while chanting solidarity songs and slogans.

Upon entering the complex, the labour leaders demanded to meet with Oshiomhole, a former labour leaderandsenatorrepresentingEdoNorthintheSenate, who apparently disappeared from the chamber.

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume; Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe; and Senator representing Anambra North, Tony Nwoye, among others, stood on the railings of the complex to address the irate crowd and calm frayed nerves.

“WhereisOshiomhole?WhereisOshiomhole?”some in the crowd thundered repeatedly as Ndume moved

to address the workers.

Oshiomhole was NLC president between 1999 and 2007. He was visibly vocal in the proverbial trenches andledseveralprotestsagainstthefederalgovernment during his tenure as labour leader.

The lawmakers were preparing to resume screening of some of the president’s ministerial nominees when the protesters stormed the complex.

With the lawmakers preparing for the screening, there was strong suspicion that Oshiomhole was in the chamber but chose to avoid them, apparently due to his new status.

Many believe that having joined the other side, the former Edo State governor is no longer on the side of the Nigerian workers whose cause he championed to rise to prominence.

The resolve of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States to resort to the use of force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger may be highly desirable, but insufficient to deter future military interventions, Gboyega Akinsanmi writes

Tinubu

Oshiomhole

BRIEFING NOTES

Making Mockery of Ministerial Screening

Senators recently organised another jamboree in the name of ministerial screening where nominees were shielded from probing questions. Ejiofor Alike writes that having demonstrated over the years that they lack the independence to interrogate nominees thoroughly and reject those with questionable credentials, senators should stop ridiculing Nigeria before the international community

Over the years, the Nigerian senators have become the butt of a joke during their ministerial screening as they make mockery of this important legislative assignment. Ministerial screening should be an opportunity for the federal lawmakers to interrogate the nominees sufficiently and probe deeply into their private and public lives with a view to disqualifying those who fail to distinguish themselves.

However, the exercise has become a mere ritual to clear whoever is nominated by the president after a public show, which in some cases, makes mockery of legislative functions and also ridicules Nigeria before the international community.

Senators who ask probing questions are overruled while public petitions are not entertained to affirm the competence or expose the incompetence of the nominees.

At every ministerial screening, the president of the senate and some incurably partisan lawmakers are always on alert to shield the nominees from probing questions, which they always view as ‘embarrassing’ to the nominees.

The President of the 10th Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio acted the same script when the lawmakers screened some of the ministerial nominees submitted by President Bola Tinubu last week.

The first screening exercise held on Monday exposed some discrepancies in the academic certificates of a ministerial nominee from Sokoto State, Bello Muhammad, which was sufficient for the Senate to disqualify him, pending when he provided the SSCE certificate that qualified him to attend the university.

Unfortunately, Akpabio shielded him and denied the public the opportunity to know how the nominee gained admission into the university with only two credits.

The Senator representing Rivers East, Allwell Onyesoh had noted that Muhammad has only two credits in his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) result and asked the nominee to explain how he attended the university with only two credits.

In his response, Muhammad told the lawmakers that he has other SSCE results in which he “passed all” subjects, adding that he did not attach them to his CV

“I have other secondary school results which I have all passed. That is not attached to my CV because we are talking of a secondary school certificate,” he said.

“I want to remind the distinguished senator, who I know very much knows that with the qualification of secondary school certificate as enshrined in the constitution, we can stand

for an election up to the presidential election.

“So, I didn’t bother you with such certificates. But I know those are the qualifications for that.”

But Akpabio rightly reminded him that there is a difference between standing for an election and being nominated to serve as a minister.

“You’re not coming to stand for election, you’re coming to be a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, which are the other certificates you concealed? Which are the other certificates you did not put in your CV?” Akpabio queried.

In response, Muhammad explained further that the result he submitted to the lawmakers is his first in which he passed with only two credits, insisting that there are other SSCEs he sat and passed all subjects.

“I sat for another examination and I have passed but I don’t want to attach another qualification,” he said.

When the lawmakers shouted in disagreement after his comments, it was an opportunity for Akpabio to dismiss the nominee, pending when he presents the required certificates.

But Akpabio chose to shield him by advising him to submit all his certificates to the clerk.

The Senate President went further to claim that all nominees must present all their certificates in totality, “including the number of children they have and the number of houses”.

He also insisted that Nigerians have a right to know the details of their ministerial nominees.

However, when it was the turn of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, on Tuesday, the Senate President demonstrated that his previous pronouncements on Nigerians having the right to know were mere rhetoric as he also shielded the former governor from answering questions on damning allegations hanging on his neck.

The lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Sunday Karimi, after El-Rufai’s presentations, stood up and told the chamber that he had a petition written against the former governor over the issue of killings in Southern Kaduna.

Raising up a brown envelope, Karimi said, “Mr. President, I have a petition written against the nominee over the issue of insecurity in Southern Kaduna when he was governor.

NOTES FOR FILE

“If I am permitted, I would like to read the petition.”

But Akpabio, who refused to take the petition, revealed that a number of petitions were submitted against some of the nominees.

He said, “This is not the place to consider petitions; we will sit with the petitions later and refer them to relevant authorities.”

Many Nigerians have wondered why the Senate should waste their legislative time conducting such a public show if they would not entertain petitions from the public against the nominees.

Akpabio also during Wednesday’s ministerial screening prevented presidential spokesman, Dele Alake, from reciting the second stanza of the national anthem as requested by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Simon Mwadkwon, who represents Plateau North.

Mwadkwon had asked Alake to recite the second stanza of the national anthem to show that he has what it takes to be the imagemaker of Nigeria if appointed Minister of Information and Culture.

But the Majority Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele from Ekiti Central Senatorial District, who spoke for the Ekiti State caucus, said the Plateau Senator has brought politics into the screening by asking that Alake recite the national anthem which other nominees were not asked to recite.

Bamidele asked Akpabio to expunge the request and the Senate President surprisingly did just that.

“We are here to do serious business on how to move this country forward and to ask the nominees what they will bring on the table to assist us to get out of the economic conundrum. It is not necessarily to sing songs,” Akpabio said.

Earlier, Mwadkwon claimed that Alake had in a statement labelled supporters of a certain presidential candidate as “wild dogs” during the last presidential election.

“Have you come across that statement? Are you aware of it? Did you say that?” the senator queried.

Many Nigerians believe that Mwadkwon’s question was in order because Nigeria’s imagemaker should not use gutter language.

However, Akpabio stopped the Plateau senator and also prevented the nominee from responding to the question.

If the senators do not have any doubt about the credibility of ministerial nominees and their capacities to handle any portfolios assigned to them, they should stop ministerial screening to avoid making mockery of themselves and the country.

Ministerial screening is irrelevant if the nominees won’t be subjected to probing questions and public petitions.

Did Abia Lawmakers Reject Innoson Motors?

If the report that members of the Abia State House of Assembly have rejected Innoson Motors Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) bought for them by Governor Alex Otti is correct, then their action is dishonourable, unpatriotic, cruel and condemnable.

The lawmakers reportedly said they could only accept Toyota Prado SUVs or the same model the governor had bought for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the assembly.

Governor Otti in his bid to encourage local manufacturers, create employment opportunities and grow the country’s GDP, chose Innoson Motors’ SUVs as the official vehicles for the state and went ahead to purchase some for members of the state assembly.

Many believe that the action of the lawmakers is not only akin to brothers rejecting brothers but also an attack on Nigeria’s economy. Many argued that if the rejection had happened in Lagos or in Kaduna, social media would have been awash with different interpretations of the action of the lawmakers.

the state assembly are all currently using different models of Innoson Motors. It is really sickening for the public office holders to reject Innoson Motors’ vehicles that are being paid for with the taxpayers’ money at a time Nigerians should patronise locally manufactured goods to create more jobs.

If the lawmakers actually rejected the Made-in-Nigeria vehicles and opted for foreign products at a time when the federal government is encouraging Nigerians to make sacrifices for the economic development of the country, then the lawmakers are not worthy of representing the good people of Abia State.

Reports available to THISDAY have it that the governor’s Chief of Staff, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Commissioners, other aides, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Obaseki

If the government which is the biggest spender does not patronise the local manufacturers, it would be difficult for them to survive. Patronising Innoson Motors, would encourage it to produce more vehicles, create more jobs for Nigerians and grow Nigeria’s GDP. The government at levels must show example by patronising Made-in-Nigeria products to encourage other Nigerians to do the same.

Akpabio

As Tinubu, Atiku, Obi Await Judgment

One of the major takeaways from the adoption of final written addresses by the various parties at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja last Tuesday was the submission of the President Bola Tinubu, and his All Progressives Congress that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, should not be allowed to participate in the rerun election should the poll be annulled because he came third in the race. Alex Enumah examines the implications of this request

After about four months of intense legal battle, the five-member panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja hearing the petitions filed by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Mr. Peter Obi, last Tuesday reserved judgment.

The presiding judge of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani told the petitioners that a date for judgment would be communicated to them. The court has until September 16 to deliver the judgment, going by the statutory constitutional provision that stipulates that election petitions must be heard and determined within 180 days from the day of filing.

While Obi filed his petition on March 20, Atiku filed his on March 21, both about three weeks after Tinubu was declared winner of the February 25 presidential poll.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on March 1, declared the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu winner of the February 25 presidential election with 8,794,726 votes while Atiku and Obi reportedly scored 6,984,520 votes and 6,101,533 votes, respectively.

Atiku and Obi had vehemently rejected the results. They later approached the court with their petitions to challenge the declaration of Tinubu winner of the election.

The two petitioners urged the court to nullify President Tinubu’s victory on the grounds that INEC failed to “substantially comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act” in its conduct of the polls.

They both asked the court to either declare them winner of the election or order a rerun.

Lead counsel to Atiku, Chris Uche (SAN) informed the court that there is no dispute that INEC reserves the discretion to adopt the technology for the conduct of the election, which it chose Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Result viewing portal

(IReV), which formed part of the new regime of election management in the country to enhance the transparency of collation. He said the substantiality of the non-compliance was nationwide, and not just a polling unit.

“The burden in the new regime, because INEC was empowered and we gave evidence that it was N355 billion, so it is left for INEC to explain to Nigerians; it was not a technical glitch, it was deliberate for the manipulation of the election,” he said.

Counsel to the LP, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) submitted that an election in which 18,088 polling units’ results were blurred is a very flawed election. Of the result sheets certified by INEC for the petitioners, he said, “8,123 were blurred, some with pictures and pictures certified by them, and how can they say they conducted an election so far?

“Any certified true copy of any document must be an exact replica, that explains why INEC couldn’t produce the originals of the result sheets because it couldn’t have been any other thing than blank sheets,” he said.

He said agreeing with the argument on the requirement of a 25 per cent score in the FCT would impose special status on a territory of the country, which would be absurd.

Tinubu: Sustain

My Victory; I

Scored 25% in Above Half of FCT

Atiku and Obi had contended that the provision in Section 134(2) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that a candidate must score at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, which only Obi polled.

At the hearing, President Tinubu told the court that he scored 25 per cent of the votes in more than half of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

APC, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) said LP failed to prove non-transmission of results from polling unit by polling unit. He said in the event of a rerun, it will be between APC and PDP.

“This is why I say that the petition is ambitious; and if they say they are meddlesome interlopers, it is also correct,” he said.

He said the judgment of the US court was not a criminal forfeiture, adding that there was no defendant and accused.

On dual citizenship, Tinubu said he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth as provided under Section 137(1) of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999.

“And on the petitioner’s summary of the evidence, we observe a lack of fidelity to the actual records, which bind parties and the court, all in an apparent attempt to augment evidential paucity and deficit”.

On the $460,000 forfeiture, Olanipekun said Section 137(1)(d) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that Tinubu is not under any fine as provided in the section.

Petitioners Couldn’t Prove Claim on Electronic Collation

of Results, Says INEC

Atiku and Obi had contended that the failure to transmit results of the presidential election to IREV directly from polling units and simultaneously with the National Assembly elections constituted substantial non-compliance to the Electoral Act and INEC Guidelines as well as created the avenue for the manipulation of the results.

But in their address, the counsel to INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) submitted that the petitioners contrived in their minds that there was a provision for electronic transmission, which doesn’t exist but only manual transmission. He added that their evidence failed to prove how the non-compliance affected the results of the election.

The INEC counsel argued that the glitch suffered in the INEC application on Amazon Web Services (AWS) was not unusual for such a new technology and was not a result of human interference. He said the 18,088 blurred results by the LP were merely for dramatisation purposes and did not impact the actual results.

His submission was made by his counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) while adopting his objections and final written address against Atiku’s petition. He said the recurring word under Section 134 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999, is “votes”, adding that a similar interpretation was also applied in Shagari vs Awolowo in 1979, maintaining that Tinubu’s total votes reflects 25 per cent of the two-thirds of the votes cast in the FCT.

Olanipekun said for the purposes of the election, the FCT is regarded as the 37th state of the federation. He added that Atiku failed to show the results, which ought to be declared in his favour, adding that the court cannot grant what was not requested by “meddlesome interlopers.”

The senior lawyer argued that uploads are not part of the collation process as they are done physically. He added that the judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja and the Court of Appeal in Lagos have ruled that INEC has the discretion to choose how to collate the results of an election, adding that the judgment is binding on all parties.

Also submitting, counsel to the

On Obi’s prayer for a rerun should the court decline to declare him president, Olanipekun argued that the LP flagbearer should not be allowed to participate in the process because he came third in the race. He said the law only provides for Atiku who came second in the contest to participate in a rerun should the court decide so.

“Assuming without conceding, even if there is going to be a rerun, Obi will not be qualified to run. May I therefore urge my Lordships to dismiss this petition. It is an expedition,” Olanipekun said.

On his part, APC’s lawyer, Fagbemi adopted the closing arguments of Mahmoud and Olanipekun in the suit. He said Obi failed to prove polling unit by polling unit INEC’s failure to transmit polling units results electronically.

“The issue of rerun is a two-horse race between the two leading contenders,” referring to Tinubu and Atiku, urging the court to dismiss the petition.

Many are wondering whether with the request, President Tinubu and his party, the APC, were already jittery that they have a very bad case.

Tinubu Atiku Obi

Tinubu’s Many Baptisms

Very few presidents get the unhappy privilege of previewing the full gamut of worries that will torment their presidency all within their first 100 days. President Bola Tinubu is lucky to belong in this rare collection. In less than a hundred days in office, he has faced challenges in the key areas that make or mar any nationalleadership.Hehashitadomesticeconomic storm over his sudden halt of a troublesome subsidy regime on gasoline and foreign exchange. That has unleashed still unfolding economic and social consequences. He has faced severe political indigestion over his tardy handling of a ministerial list that almost got him into a constitutional trouble. As if that was not enough political palaver, he has had to cast away the bumbling chairman and secretary of his wobbly ruling party and replaced the chairman with a dollar loving ex- governor. Still tohisbenefit,agroupofambitiousmilitaryofficers in nearby Niger Republic decided to boot out the fledgling democratic government of President Bazoum. That has thrown in a foreign relations angle to Tinubu’s cocktail just as he assumed the ceremonial leadership of the sub regional ECOWAS bloc.

If the world at home and abroad were to be still and at peace for his first hundred days, Mr. Tinubu would probably have concluded that being president of Nigeria is a cakewalk. But somehow, the man is lucky to have a fair sample of what lies ahead for him. These are the previews of a presidency that will be defined by unusual happenings. Each of these challenges presages an interesting time that could redefine the life of Nigerians and the future of the nation. Hovering at the background is of course the unresolved matter of the legitimacy of the Tinubu government and the integrity of the controversial February 25th presidential election now before tribunals and courts.

Onthedomesticfront,thesubsidyrelatedcrises have just begun. The impact of the hike in gasoline pump prices is in its infancy. The immediate rise in transportation costs, food inflation and escalating business costs are still unfolding. Labour unions are merely rehearsing long drawn protests and strikes that could linger for long stretches. The president has shown a perennial willingness to engage with representative of those hurt by his harsh policy options. That is a plus for the man.

Theendofthesubsidyregimewasinevitableand a matter of national survival. A national economy that is spending over 100% of its revenue on debt servicing and with an external debt burden of over 100 billion dollars has nowhere to run to for relief. Subsidy on gasoline in particular is more like a gasoline tax whose incidence falls on hapless and helpless citizens. Foreign exchange arbitrage, disguised patronage and racketeering is also a form of subsidy to users of foreign exchange which had to end. Sundry leakages like crude oil theft, illegal mining and outright pilferage from the treasury have become imperatives if the economy must survive. For Mr. Tinubu therefore, these hard decisions were national existential imperatives. It however remains debatable whether the President’s rather cavalier method of ending the subsidy regime is the best. Experts have argued that the subsidies could have been removed on a stagebystagegradualbasistocushionitsimpacts. But it turns out now that beyond the bravura of the Eagle Square off-script announcement of the withdrawal of the petroleum subsidy, little or no serious thought had gone into the consequences of the policy measure. That the announcement of the policy was made far ahead of the constitution of a cabinet and other critical bodies of the new government may indicate a government that is prone to hasty ad hoc policy measures than a rigorous approach to policy issues. Predictably, an equally hasty and lazy cash transfer measure was announced and touted as a comprehensive palliative. It turned out to be lazy, haphazard and almost foolish.

The arrangement was presumably designed to pay N8,000 a month to each of 15 million households for a six month period. When subjected to widespread public scrutiny, it turned out that the measure was not properly thought through. No one was sure of the credibility of the statistical base for the cash transfer or the authenticity of the list of projected beneficiaries. It turned out that the list that the Buhari administration had used to implement its own N5,000 per family cash transfer was adjudged unreliable and dodgy by

the National Economic Council (NEC). The pressure of public opinion and outright lobbying from cash hungry state governors forced the presidency to drop the move and return to the drawing board. Predictably, the President has now been forced by pressure of strikes and protests from labour unions to announce a new set of palliatives and relief measures. These range from food supply boosts,smallbusinesslowinterestcreditincentives to provision of buses for mass transportation. In the absence of a fully formed government and a mechanism for ensuring serious implementation of the relief measures, we are still left with a scant instrument for policy implementation. What is required is not just the good intentions of a compassionate president but the combined will of a committed government as a collectivity. More importantly, government’s communication strategy needs to be revised to inform the public that the end of a subsidy regime implies a revision of our economic model. It requires time for the economicbenefitsoftheendofsubsidytotranslate into beneficial outcomes. Most importantly, the federal government must re-direct the developmentgoalsofthenationfromlandscapedecoration and white elephant projects to massive investment in social sectors of health, education and strategic infrastructure. In his handling of the unfolding ripple effects of the end of subsidy, President Tinubu failed an elementary item in the code of presidential conduct. Presidents preside over good and bad news. But they are not supposed to break bad news. They appoint fa;; guys to carry bad news and clean the mess. The president only appears on television with the good news when the clean up is done or almost done. Tinubu should have waited to appoint ministers to manage the subsidy removal trouble and only appear to address the nation when the palliatives and relief measures are ready.

The political challenges and methods that will define the Tinubu presidency are already in full display. The president has obviously displayed unnecessary sloppiness in coming up with a list of ministers. A president that prides himself in having been long in politics and angling to lead could not readily come up with a list of 40 odd ministerial nominees over nearly a three month? The Nigerian public expected a faster delivery of the list to the

Senateincontrasttotheembarrassingdelay in Mr. Buhari’s first term. Although the list has at last been delivered, the list reads more like a telephone directory of jobless strange bedfellows. The hopes that were raised in terms of the caliber of persons and the skill set required by the nation’s current state of disrepair.

One school of thought expected Mr. TinubutoreplicatehisLagosstateemphasis on technocrats and seasoned reputable experts as against politicians. Instead, what the Senate is currently considering is a mixed bag of odd fellows. There are less than half a dozen worthwhile technocrats of any description. There are less than a dozen women, fewer than eight real youth. The rest is a mixture of former governors and opportunistic political jobbers.

Clearly, the segment of the Nigerian populace that harbored a messianic expectation of the Tinubu cabinet may be in for a rude shock. The majority of ex- governors on the ministerial list have only one major qualification: they are APC governors who helped Tinubu corner the presidential election. Other than that, they arethesamegovernorswhocouldnotsecure their states from casual bandits, who could not pay workers salaries and benefits for months on end. They are the same bunch of incompetent governors who literally sank their states in debt and shut down schools at the slightest opportunity. The only conspicuous outsider from the APC band is former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, who is being rewarded by Mr. Tinubu for betraying his party, the PDP, and pumping up Tinubu’s vote tally by all means in his state.

The internal politics of the ruling party, the APC, has now equally received Tinubu’s attention. The president has quickly moved to rejig the party machinery in line with his perceived cult of devotees. No one knows exactly what belief holds these devotees together other than crass loyalty to the president. The Adamu-led executive may have been good enough to deliver Mr.

Buhari’s succession plan or lack of it. Mr. Tinubu has now jettisoned that arrangement by forcing out Mr. Adamu and his secretary Mr. Omisore. Astute political observers have noted that Tinubu is reorganizing the party for his second term as president. The party has appointed or ‘elected’ former Kano state governor, Mr. Ganduje, as the new Chairman. The diehard Tinubu supporter has a less than attractive national appeal. He is more popular nationally for a viral video in which he was shown serially pocketing wads of dollar notes from an anonymous generous giver. The matter is still under investigation in Kano state but he now has a higher responsibility as the supremo of the nation’s ruling party.

While the ways of politicians remain forever mysterious and extraordinary, political parties remain vital national institutions for the survival of democracy. To that extent, the credibility of those who preside over and run the affairs of political parties ought to be subject to no less a rigorous integrity test and scrutiny than the very state officials periodically nominated by the parties for public offices. It may be convenient at this early stage to fill key party positions with favorites of the president. Subsequently, opposition to these questionable party officials could graduate into pockets of opposition to the political foothold of the president himself. That is usually the seed of instability in our political parties. In his political body language so far, Tinubu has been quite predictable. He is part of the old politics of assembling bad men and women to assuage a public that thrives on impressions. His cabinet selection is a mix of a few good men and a multitude of ordinary persons. They will do business as usual and disappear into the national pool of incompetent anonymity.

By far the most telling and far reaching early challenge for the Tinubu presidency is in the sphere of foreign affairs. The coup in nearby Niger Republic has come at a ‘good’ moment for Mr. Tinubu. Many Nigerian presidents serve out their tenure without experiencing a consequential foreign policy challenge. Tinubu must be grateful to the Niger coup makers for the opportunity they have given him to start out as a significant foreign policy president. Barely a fortnight after he assumed the ceremonial chairmanship of ECOWAS, the coup happened. In quick succession, the coup makers detained the democratically elected President Bazoum, suspendedtheconstitution,sackedthegovernment and garrisoned off the capital, Niamey. ECOWAS has issued a one week ultimatum for the coupists to back down and back off. But the soldiers seem to have dug in. They have been openly supported by fellow juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso as well as tacitly by Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries which is conspicuously present all over West Africa. More interestingly, Algeria, as an expression of its long standing historical anti-French sentiments has pledged support for the coupists. In open rebuff of Nigeria which is leading the sub regional pressure against the coup, the dictatorship in Niger has broken off ties with Nigeria and ordered ambassadors of Nigeria, Benin, France, the United States and EU to leave Niger. The stage seems set for a major confrontation or at least a war of diplomatic nerves.

For Nigeria, the challenge is one of diplomatic leadership in a crisis virtually next door. The implications for us are wider than many are prepared to admit. First, Niger is important to the world only because of its uranium deposits which the West is not prepared to let into the hands of rogue elements especially the Russians. For us, the location of Niger is strategically important. The ousted Niger government was a barrier against the southward spread of jihadist insurgency from the Sahel.

For President Tinubu, therefore, the management of the Niger crisis is multiply important. It is important for Nigeria’s stabilizing role in the West African region. It is important in terms of Nigeria’s capacity to partner with the West to frustrate Russia’s ambitions in the West African sub region. At a time when French influence in the region has waned, can Nigeria fill the gap as a force for regional stability? More importantly, the spread of military dictatorships in the countries bordering the Sahel poses a challenge for the sustainability of Nigeria’s democracy and those of its neighbours like Cameroun, Benin, Togo, Ghana, the Gambia and Cote d’Ivoire.

Tinubu

the medical centre “to attend to private patients in his private clinic”. Akpabio struggled to help revive his nephew but it was a lost case. He explained that he asked for the defibrillator but it did not work. They told him the defibrillator “stopped working eight years ago”. That was a federal medical centre, next in hierarchy to the federal teaching hospitals.

“I used my hand and struggled with my personal physician, but I could not revive him. I had to close my eyes and put him in the mortuary,” Akpabio said. That, by the way, is the story of the state of healthcare in most of Nigeria.

These are the heart-breaking stories that we hear every day. As Akpabio himself said, “Every other person has been a victim of medical neglect.” There is hardly any Nigerian that does not have an unpleasant story to narrate on the state of healthcare in Nigeria.

I lost my sister in questionable circumstances in September 2015 and I cried every single day for five years. Life lost meaning to me. For months, I did not wish to see the next day. The more I am told the story of her last days in the hospital, the more I am convinced she died of medical negligence. I was outside the country then and did all I could

MINISTERIAL MESS II

Days after the constitutionally stipulated deadline for the submission of ministerial list lapsed, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sent the second batch to the senate. Even neutrals were disappointed. It was a list of ex-governors, including ones with questionable records. Theatrically, a ministerial nominee arrived the national assembly for screening only to be told her name had been dropped. The senate has so far avoided tough questioning; Senate President Godswill Akpabio said that is the job of security agencies. Some things can be complex in life, such as building a rocket, but if ministerial nominations can be this messy, I’m afraid we’re not taking ourselves seriously. Annoying.

to get her good care, but the doctors and nurses were less than caring.

We are dealing with matters of life and death that we need to address holistically. While the wealthy can afford to pay millions in private hospitals home and abroad, the poor are left with no option than to be at the mercy of hospitals. In emergencies, most private hospitals will demand deposits that poor patients cannot afford, while many public hospitals will do everything to treat the patients as nuisance and make sure they are given as little care as possible. A friend of mine who took his child to a government hospital was told there was no bed space, but by the time he bribed his way through, most of the beds in the children’s ward were empty! He took pictures and sent to me. Health is on the concurrent list, which makes it the responsibility of the federal government and states. If Nigeria is a country where we learn lessons, the tragic death of Dr Diaso provides us with a golden opportunity to look deeply into revamping the health sector. There are so many bits and pieces that should ginger government to say “never again”. It starts with the lift, but that is

just a metaphor for the quality of infrastructure at the public hospitals — primary healthcare centres, general hospitals and teaching hospitals. The beds, mattresses, mosquito nets, windows, doors, toilets, bathrooms, seats and other features are unsightly in an overwhelming number of hospitals. That Diaso could not get help until almost one hour also talks directly to the quality of emergency services in Nigeria. Many Nigerians die needlessly in situations where prompt attention could have saved their lives. People die from strokes, heart attacks and cardiac arrests when, in reality, they might have been saved if our emergency services were up to scratch. Things are so bad in Nigeria that it can be taken for granted that you would die if you suffered a heart attack. The rich might even survive because they can be quickly transported to their personal physicians, but there is no chance for the poor who might not even be attended to if they manage to make it to the nearest hospital. In addition to providing proper first-class equipment for hospitals, we also have to look at the welfare system for the medical personnel. Doctors are not only overworked but they are also not well

And Four Other Things…

BY FIRE BY FORCE

Who advised ECOWAS to threaten the military junta in Republic of Niger with force?

That is a direct affront on the sovereignty of a country and we may be starting a war whose ramifications we cannot predict. The junta apparently has the support of Russia as Africa has once again become the playground for the renewed Cold War. The Nigeria military is stretched fighting insurgency and banditry on different fronts at home. Opening a new warfront is the last we need now. With Mail, Guinea and Burkina Faso also under military rule, ECOWAS is already divided. We probably want to protect ourselves from Russian influence in Africa, but we must proceed with caution. Complicated.

HOW US FUMBLED NIGER’S COUP AND GAVE RUSSIA AN OPENING

armored cars. Tchiani’s unit had stopped a coup attempt against Bazoum days ahead of his inauguration. As Bazoum built up the country’s counterterrorism forces, Tchiani’s guard lost out on resources and stature. The president had been weighing for months whether to fire the 57-year-old general, according to people familiar with the matter.

At 3 a.m. on July 26, the general’s men drove up to the presidential palace, a white stucco arabesque estate overlooking the Niger River. Inside, gazelles and goats slept in the manicured gardens, animals Bazoum and his wife brought with them when he took office.

Tchiani’s men, carrying heavy weaponry, disarmed security officers equipped only with handguns and walked past the presidential garden to Bazoum’s residence.

Bazoum fled into the safe room across the hall from his office and phoned aides to say he was confident that U.S.-trained elements of his army would rally to his rescue.

In a twist, some of the best U.S.-trained special forces among Niger’s regular army units were on counterterrorism missions in the distant desert regions of a country twice the size of Texas, with few roads.

The lightly armed units in the capital weren’t in a position to assault the palace and the chain of command broke down. Rank-and-file soldiers said they debated over WhatsApp groups what to do. They received no formal instructions from their commanders, who appeared to be waiting to see which faction had the momentum. Bazoum, who still had full control of his communications in the safe room, phoned international allies and ambassadors in Niger’s embassies in the West. He stressed over phone and video calls that the coup had no basis—it was a personnel dispute and could easily be reversed. His U.S. envoy rushed to let the State Department know what was happening.

Though the U.S. had spent hundreds of millions of dollars transforming Niger into its top military outpost in the Sahara, it didn’t have an ambassador in the country.

The Biden administration didn’t formally nominate one until eight months after the previous ambassador left, only to face opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), who has put holds on State Department appointees until the White House releases intelligence he believes could show Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese lab.

Washington also has no ambassador at the African Union or in neighboring Nigeria—or anybody in a special envoy post that it had created to deal with the region’s deterioration. The relevant Africa desk at the National Security Council was in flux, held by a short-term temporary post that was due to hand off to another temporary caretaker within days.

“This is extremely frustrating. This was not a widely supported coup—it was one unit that had its grievance for years and we should have done more to act,” said J. Peter Pham, former U.S. special envoy to the Sahel under President Trump. In the early hours, he added, “his exfiltration could have been organized relatively easily…. The golden hour has passed.”

Bazoum contacted allies in France, which had about

1,500 troops in the country. A decision would have to come from President Emmanuel Macron, who was traveling in the South Pacific, 12 time zones ahead. France’s government declined to comment.

Junta leaders headed to a state TV station and stood around a table where a stone-faced spokesman said the military could no longer “witness the gradual and inevitable demise of our country.”

If Bazoum was going to be freed, it would have to come from outside.

Guns of August

Macron had just landed in the South Pacific island of New Caledonia when he spoke to his top defense and diplomatic officials, who laid out options to free Bazoum.

For years, the French president had been briefed on a growing protest movement against France in the cities of its former West African colonies.

Young men jam-packed into those cities had come to see France’s military presence as an unwelcome imposition after years of al Qaeda attacks. Viral social-media posts and videos accused the French army of pursuing ulterior aims on Africa’s natural resources.

In Mali, then Burkina Faso, coup leaders seized power and justified their takeovers as an act of liberation from France, before turning to Russia as their protector and benefactor.

The French president ruled out sending a unilateral force to usher a democratically elected president to power—as

GSK’S BITTERSWEET EXIT

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Nigeria

Plc is ceasing operations after recording a string of losses amid serious business challenges. The producers of Augmentin, Panadol, Sensodyne, and Ventolin, etc, are finding it harder by the day to compete with Indian and Chinese pharmaceuticals in the Nigerian market. Many Nigerians were happy at GSK’s exit announcement because they see it as a good political weapon against the Tinubu administration, even though it is not a only Nigerian problem as GSK has been scaling down operations in Africa generally. My joy would be for Nigerian pharmaceutical companies to benefit from GSK’s exit by getting patent waivers. Opportunity.

France did in 2011 in Ivory Coast. Instead, he wanted to assist Nigerien armed forces that remained loyal to Bazoum, an option that vanished as the country’s military command acquiesced to the coup.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the South Pacific as well, warning the people of the island country of Tonga that China was practicing economic coercion. By the time he and Bazoum connected, the coup was complete.

Russia was in an excellent position to step into the vacuum.

Vladimir Putin was already receiving African leaders invited to a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg due to start the following day.

Bazoum had refused the invitation, but the Kremlinbacked leaders of Mali and Burkina Faso, Assimi Goita and Ibrahim Traore, gathered for meetings in the halls of the Constantine Palace. As news of the coup trickled in, their intelligence chiefs met under Russian auspices to agree on a coordinated response.

Officials in Mali and Burkina Faso didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In another room, Traore, the world’s youngest head of government, at 34 years old, told Putin that the people of his country supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The question that my generation poses to itself, if I can summarize it, is how can Africa, with so many resources under our soil, with such a natural abundance of sun and water, still today remain the poorest continent?” he told a St. Petersburg panel. “We haven’t had any answer until today. But now, we have an opportunity to form new relations.”

The junta, which included recipients of U.S. training and largess, hadn’t shown particular interest in pivoting toward Russia. The military itself let U.S. counterparts know they wanted to keep the American aid flowing, military officers said. But the Kremlin eyed an opportunity.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner mercenaries are protecting the leaders of Mali and the Central African Republic, offered to help the putschists in Niger, hailing their overthrow of a pro-American government.

“What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonizers,” he said in a voice-mail message posted in a Telegram account.

Protests, organized by an opposition movement, thronged France’s embassy in Niger. Several in the crowd waved Russian flags. France sent military planes to evacuate its citizens. The U.S. moved its 1,100 troops, sent there to fight Islamist insurgents, inside American-built drone and special-forces bases. The State Department held off on calling the upheaval a coup, a designation that could, under U.S. law, sharply restrict America’s ability to keep funding, training and equipping Niger’s military.

The stakes were becoming more serious for the African giant to Niger’s south. Nigeria was once the world’s 33rd richest country per capita, until decades of military coups and misrule left it among the poorest. Its leaders feared a domino of coups would topple

remunerated, even though I accept that conditions have slightly improved in recent years. But in a society that values human life, no incentive is too much to provide to doctors. The workload is too heavy for many doctors. They often suffer burnout. Some die suddenly. Doctors are humans like the rest of us and they too deserve all the comfort and encouragement to keep giving their best. However, there must also be consequences for those guilty of medical negligence as well.

While I pray that Diaso’s family and friends will receive divine comfort in these sad times, my hope is that her death would not be in vain. I hope it will inspire a co-ordinated, holistic reform of the heath sector, not just in Lagos but across the country. We have to be deliberate about it. We need to improve and expand infrastructure. We need to focus on setting up effective and efficient emergency services. We need to provide quality care not just for the wealthy but also to the poor and the poorest of the poor. We need to improve the welfare of medical personnel. Doctors must find other ways of making their point other than strikes. And there must be consequences for negligence.

AND FINALLY…

Since Dr Bosun Tijani, the CEO and co-founder of CcHub, was nominated for a ministerial position by President Tinubu, his old tweets have been dug up by Nigerians in what I suppose is meant to suggest that he would be a hypocrite to accept the job. The historical tweets were not just critical of Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari but the language could have been much better. Truth is, many people easily get carried away on Twitter because of clout-chasing. As you get older, you realise you could have made your point in a more cultured way. But the fastest way to gain Twitter followership is using vile language and personal insults. It always does wonders. Exuberance.

more civilian governments.

On Sunday, July 30, Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu, gathered with presidents and foreign ministers from 11 West African states, along with a representative from Bazoum’s government, in a glass-paneled building in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Tinubu, who had risen to prominence campaigning against military rule in Nigeria, said that after coups in Mali and Burkina Faso—both supported by Russia—as well as in Guinea and Chad, the one in Niger was the last straw. If they accepted this coup, more would come.

After their meeting ended, the West African leaders issued an ultimatum: Tchiani had one week to return power to the democratically elected president or face the possible use of military force.

The State Department wasn’t sure it backed the idea, senior U.S. officials said. But Washington also wanted to show support for the West African governments. Blinken issued statements of general support for the Nigerian-led idea. A Nigerian government spokesperson declined to comment.

On Wednesday, Tchiani sent one of his junta leaders on a secret flight to Mali to meet the country’s pro-Russian leader.

Defense chiefs from the West African states that oppose the coup met in Nigeria. Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer flew to Abuja to meet Tinubu, Nigeria’s president, who said the coup should not stand.

The Biden administration favored diplomacy but worried the junta intended to force Nigeria to make good on its threat of military force, concerns that came up in the meeting. Few in Washington felt confident Nigeria’s military had the capacity to pull off an intervention. But at this point, the U.S. conceded, there were few options left.

On Thursday the junta announced on state TV it had terminated military cooperation agreements with France.

From his palace, Bazoum phoned his ambassador to the U.S. to dictate an op-ed that appeared in the Washington Post calling for international intervention.

“My country is under attack and I’ve been taken hostage,” he said. “In our hour of need, I call on the U.S. government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order.”

By the time it published, parts of the country were in the dark. Nigeria, which provides some 75% of Niger’s electricity, had cut off one of its main transmission lines, plunging villages and towns into blackouts. The presidential residence lost power as well.

Bazoum’s phone remains charged, his aides said Friday. If it goes out, the U.S. could lose its ability to reach the president. “I hope he has a lot of lithium batteries,” one former official said.

• Salama and Bisserbe contributed to this article. Write to Drew Hinshaw at drew.hinshaw@wsj.com, Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com and Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@wsj.com

Culled from Wall Street Journal

General Tchiani

PHARMACEUTICAL GURU @60…

Senate Screens Ministerial Nominee Who Called ‘Sick, Disconnected Man’

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate yesterday screened one of the ministerial nominees, Dr. Bosun Tijani, who in a viral tweet described President Bola Tinubu as a sick and disconnected man.

Tijani acknowledged calling the president “a sick and disconnected man” during the screening, noting that he acted out of anger at the time he made the derogatory comments.

He made this known while answering a question posed to him by Senator Fatai Buhari (Oyo

North) when he appeared at the hallowed Red Chamber for screening yesterday

Bosun had in an old post tweeted that he didn’t appreciate the Nigerian passport and Nigeria as a nation.

Aside from the tweet in contention, a number of the nominee’s old tweets about President Bola Tinubu had gone viral since his name emerged on the ministerial list on Wednesday.

expensive tag to have against your name. Leave patriotism for a minute- that tag is a bloody waste of energy. A second foreign passport isn’t sufficient to clean that sin.”

“Is that still your position or have you changed your mindset, Nigerians need to know,” Buhari questioned.

NGE Holds Jakande’s Annual Memorial Lecture Monday

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has said the Lateef Jakande Annual Memorial Lecture will be held tomorrow at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Maryland, Ikeja, Lagos, at 10:00 a.m.

This was revealed in a statement signed by the General Secretary of NGE, Dr Iyobosa Uwugiaren.

In the statement, the guild said the lecture came under the theme, “Lateef Jakande: The Man, His Journalism, His Politics.”

According to the statement, it is both a testament to the cherished service rendered by Alhaji Jakande and an acknowledgement of the importance of having such a dialogue for the overall good of our media and our country,

Buhari, while questioning the nominee, read the exact tweet that had gone viral, saying, “Nigeria is a bloody

It explained how the guild was established on May 20, 1961 to serve as an elite club of editors through which editors as professional heads of their publications could advance their professional interests by networking to discuss common challenges and developing relationships with their various audiences in the media itself, governments, professional, and trade associations.

The statement added that the guild was originally named as the Guild of Newspaper Editors of Nigeria, but later renamed Nigerian Guild of Editors to accommodate colleagues in the broadcast media.

Forensic Recovery of Resources Key to Economic Growth, Says CIFCFIN

The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) has said Forensic recovery of resources will boost economic growth in Nigeria.

The President of CIFCFIN, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki made the remarks at the graduation of the institute’s 3rd direct membership training, induction and awards of fellowship at EFCC Academy, Abuja.

Gashinbaki frowned at the huge waste of resources being budgeted

In his response, Tijani told the lawmakers that he made that tweet out of frustration over what he experienced while trying to Nigeria.

get a visa from China. He said he had been at the forefront of displaying patriotism through the work he does for the Nigerian Youths and the the tech guru said, “Thank you, for asking that question, Senator Buhari and I will want you to listen to me as if I am your son because I will speak from my heart because everything I say today can be proved.

“I have spent the last 15 years of my life going across the world

looking for people to support people who believe they can use technology to uplift this world.

“Every time you get to the lobby of my office, you will find an artwork, and embedded in the centre of the artwork is the Nigerian flag.”

“In 2019, sequel to what I did with Google, the business I do with young people requires that they raise money and their ability to raise money relies on investors from abroad

and I did everything possible to ensure that I built an office that is fully domiciled in Nigeria.

“In the technology space, people hardly domicile their businesses in Nigeria but I domiciled my business in Nigeria.”

Tijani said: “In 2019, we decided to improve Nigeria’s opportunity to be able to raise more funds for Nigeria and we needed to do a tour of the whole world and we didn’t just want to do it as Nigeria but as Africa.

World Bank to Fund 1,000 Mini Solar Power Grids in Nigeria

Festus Akanbi

The World Bank yesterday disclosed that it would help fund the construction of 1,000 mini solar power grids in Nigeria in partnership with the government and private sector.

The President of the Bank, Mr. Ajay Banga revealed the plan during a visit to a mini-grid site on the outskirts of the capital Abuja.

At the mini-grid site, Banga told

reporters that nearly 150 mini-grids had been built, partly funded by the World Bank, to bring power to communities without access to electricity.

In a Reuters report, the president of the bank, who did not give a timeline for the power project, said: “We are putting another 300 in, but our ambition with the government is to go all the way to 1,000.

“We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that are being invested. Now the idea is not for the World Bank to be the only person putting the money. We put part of the money like a subsidy.”

Nigeria, with a population of more than 200 million people, has installed a power generation capacity of 12,500 megawatts, but produces a fraction of that, leaving millions of households

and businesses reliant on petrol and diesel generators.

Mini-grids, made up of smallscale electricity generating units, typically range in size from a few kilowatts to up to 10 MW, enough to power some 200 households. World Bank data shows that in sub-Saharan Africa, 568 million people still lack access to electricity. Globally, nearly 8 out of 10 people without electricity live in Africa.

FG to Collaborate with Wema Bank to Set up Tech Hubs in Seven States

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The federal government through the Office of the Vice President will launch a digital hub that will empower one million youths across the country with digital and related skills.

This move is in line with the President Bola Tinubu administration’s commitment to providing more digital jobs for young Nigerians.

According to a statement issued yesterday by the Director of Information in the Office of the Vice President, Olusola Abiola, the centres to be known as FGN/ ALAT Digital and SkillNnovation Hub, would open first in Lagos and Borno States with Katsina, Cross River, Anambra, Oyo, and Kano to follow afterwards.

They would be run in partnership with a leading financial institution in Nigeria,

WEMA Bank. The arrangement for the initiative was reached after a recent meeting between representatives of the bank and Shettima in Abuja.

The strategic objectives of the programme include: to empower young enterprenuers by providing them with tailored financial products, training and support to enable them build sustainable businesses that will support the growth of Nigeria’s economy.

Other objectives include: supporting tech-savvy youths with keen interest in digital innovations and aspire to drive technological advancements, by providing them with financial solutions, training and access to strategic partnerships; and empowering young employees to become an integral part of the workforce in Nigeria especially those deployed through the NYSC.

annually on abandoned government projects across the country.

He noted that effective deployment of certified fraud investigators to track such projects would lead to blockage of any future budgetary fraud to such abandoned projects, and save funds for the government.

He said some of the resources “can be recovered from oil and gas, maritime and shipping, unremitted taxes from international petroleum shipping companies operating in Nigeria while a NIN-based system would encourage tax expansion within the country.

Lagos Police Arrest Three over Doctor’s Death

Segun James

The Lagos State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of three persons over the death of Dr. Vware Diaso at the General Hospital in Lagos.

The spokesperson of the command, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police confirmed the arrest yesterday in Lagos.

Hundeyin, who did not mention the identities of the suspects,

said that the police had begun an investigation into the case.

A faulty elevator at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos, claimed the life of a medical doctor, Vware Diaso, who was working at the facility.

The incident reportedly happened on Wednesday evening when the deceased, who lived on the 9th floor of the building, wanted to meet a dispatch rider who had brought her the food she earlier ordered online.

The deceased, a graduate of Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, was said to be undergoing her mandatory one-year internship programme at the hospital and had less than two weeks to complete the programme when the tragedy happened.

Reports said the hospital elevator that killed the late Diaso crashed from the 10th floor to the ground floor.

It was also gathered that the late doctor was rushed to the

emergency ward of the hospital for treatment but eventually died.

The sources also pointed out that the elevator had malfunctioned several times before the incident, but the hospital management did not give serious attention to it.

Meanwhile, Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has vowed to get to the root of the doctor’s death through thorough investigation, as he condoles with the victim’s family.

L-R: The immediate past Chairman, Council of Legal Education, Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN); Celebrant and Chairman, GreenLife Pharmaceuticals Limited, Dr. Obiora Chukwuka; and his wife, Oby at Chukwuka’s 60th birthday held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos…recently.

Timi Frank to Tinubu

“It is clear to discerning minds that Tinubu wants to find an alibi to declare war in Niger and under that declare a state of emergency in Nigeria which will invariably lead to suspension of the ongoing sitting of the tribunal” – Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Timi Frank, raising the alarm over the alleged plot by President Tinubu to go to war over coup in Niger Republic for selfish reasons.

SIMON KOLAWOLE

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com,

Death in the Elevator

What is the value of a human life in our dearly beloved Nigeria? I don’t know. But the death of Dr Vwaere Diaso, a medical doctor, at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island, on Tuesday, offers yet another insight into why Nigeria is like this. According to various accounts, she was on the 10th floor of the hospital when food delivery arrived. She went on the elevator to receive her order but never got to the destination. The equipment crashed, leaving her severely injured and bleeding profusely. It reportedly took almost an hour to get her out during which she agonisingly pleaded that she did not want to die. She was eventually rescued but still died, partly because of inadequate emergency care.

The Lagos state government immediately “ordered” “investigation” into the “remote” and “immediate” causes of the tragedy, as is our wont in Nigeria. While we await the outcome, many questions have been troubling me since I heard of the tragedy. This must be the first time I would hear that a lift crashed and crushed the user. I would say that a lot of things happen in Nigeria that when outsiders hear, they find it hard to believe. This elevator death, even though an accident, must rank among the bizarre stories coming out of our country that end up in avoidable deaths. Other bizarre stories are containers falling on cars and people scooping petrol from a broken pipeline.

Another question is how that elevator got into that sorry state. As far back as 2020, the Medical Guild

raised the alarm. On January 12, 2020, @MedicalGuild tweeted: “FACT: The doctors quarters at General Hospital Lagos has 10 floors. It has a non-functional elevator and no running water. Doctors who live on the 10th floor including pregnant women climb the stairs multiple times daily.” In a follow-up tweet,

they asked: “Are we going to wait till someone died before things are done properly?” They tagged key government officials. It would appear the government acted because, somehow, the elevator started working again along the line. But now, we wish it still did not work!

Was there a budget for the maintenance of the lift?

If there was none, why? Who took the decision that the lift should not be repaired? If there was budget, how much was it? How was it spent? What company is in charge of the maintenance? How much was paid? Who certified that the lift had been properly maintained and approved that payment be made? We need a thorough investigation into these issues so that if a case of criminal negligence is established, some people can face the music. Unfortunately, with all the fatal building collapses in this country, how many people, including government officials, have been tried and jailed for manslaughter? And we expect Nigeria to change.

I wonder once again about emergency services. This was a hospital, a government facility at that. It reportedly took ages for Diaso, one of its doctors, to be released from the trap. When she was eventually rescued, she had lost much blood and needed to be transfused. But the bank was empty, according to yet-to-be-refuted reports. I assume that because she was a doctor and worked at the hospital, her colleagues would have made every effort to save her life but there was nothing more they could do in the face of inadequate facilities. Now, imagine what ordinary Nigerians go through when they are taken to public hospitals on emergency cases. There

are too many gory stories.

The instant reaction of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to Diaso’s death was to declare an indefinite strike in government hospitals on Lagos Island. It goes without saying that it is ordinary patients that will suffer the consequences. This again speaks to the value we place on human life in Nigeria. The problems of the healthcare sector in Nigeria are well documented and we need to adopt a new approach, outside of strikes, in trying to find a lasting solution so that we do not end up losing more lives in an attempt by doctors to make a point. I am told that “aluta” is the only language the government understands, but how many governors or commissioners have died because of strikes?

On Friday, Senate President Godswill Akpabio narrated the sorrowful story of how he lost his grandchild in 2019. The 32-year-old man, who was actually his nephew but regarded as his grandchild by custom, died because of apparent medical negligence. “My first grandchild died through bleeding in 2019 in a federal medical centre. He was receiving drip and it tissued in the night — there was no help,” he said. “No doctor, no nurse. He bled until he lost 60 percent of his blood and almost going mental… he struggled and fell on the floor. He was looking for water to drink. He rolled on the floor outside and entered the early morning dew. By that time, he had gone into a coma.”

Akpabio said the doctor that was on duty that night had an emergency in his private clinic and abandoned

Continued on page 37

How US Fumbled Niger’s Coup and Gave Russia an Opening

Vivian

Aweek of missteps and communication breakdowns pushed an important American ally toward the Kremlin.

Niger’s president hid behind a bulletproof door of his official residence and talked over a phone he assumed was monitored. To anxious French and American allies, he repeated assurances that the army would soon rescue him from an unfolding coup.

Outside the ground floor safe room Mohamed Bazoum had recently renovated to protect himself from such an event, mutineers from his presidential guard fanned out across the presidency compound, furious about a proposal to replace their longstanding commander, according to Nigerien, U.S. and European officials. Hunkered over the phone beside his wife and son, Bazoum delicately encouraged advisers to send the army’s regular units.

At around noon, his cellphone rang with a call from a former U.S. ambassador, who was about to board a flight on his vacation. The ambassador was worried one of Washington’s closest allies in Africa could become the latest in a string of regional states to fall into the hands of coup leaders sympathetic to Russia.

Everything is fine, the imprisoned president carefully intoned.

A week later, Bazoum is still imprisoned in his palace, junta leaders are seeking aid from Vladimir Putin’s regional partners and America is on the verge of losing its most important ally in a crucial and unstable part of Africa. An obscure personnel dispute within Niger’s presidential guard has now become what appears to be a geopolitical win for Russia and its Wagner Group paramilitary company in their bid to flip Western allies.

The situation could yet turn into open military conflict. Eleven West African countries, led by Nigeria, have threatened to use force to restore Bazoum to power if the coup isn’t reversed by Sunday. In return, the pro-Russian

VIEW FROM ABROAD

leaders of Mali and Burkina Faso have vowed to defend Niger. Officials in the U.S. and Europe are scrambling for ways to return Bazoum to power but concede the window is closing.

The Kremlin on Friday warned against any intervention.

The coup, if successful, could lead Russia to pick up some of America’s most important drone bases, used to fly missions across the Sahara between Libya and Nigeria. Wagner’s mercenaries have previously taken over former U.S. and French outposts in Syria and Mali.

This outcome wasn’t predestined. A week of missteps and communication breakdowns pushed the vast nation of Niger toward Russia. Nigerien, American, European and other West African security officials, as well as Nigerien soldiers, described a series of unexpected blunders that now threatens to turn West Africa into a theater for regional war.

Washington, caught without key personnel in its Africa posts, failed to anticipate what is now the seventh coup in the region since 2020—not including a failed attempt in Niger two years ago. While Bazoum sat in his safe room calling for help, America and its allies struggled to react as the conflict escalated into threats of war between Russian-backed countries and West Africa’s biggest military, Nigeria.

The U.S. has spent more than $500 million arming and equipping Niger’s military. Yet the country’s special forces, trained for nearly every counterterrorism eventuality, had no answer for Sunday’s coup—West Africa’s most enduring security threat. The forces were left chatting over WhatsApp groups over whether to intervene.

The U.S. and Europe have made Niger the centerpiece of their fight against the spread of Islamic State and al Qaeda in Africa’s Sahel, a 3,000-mile semiarid territory on the southern shore of the Sahara that also includes

Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad. They are some of the world’s poorest and fastest-growing populations, in failing states. Nearly half of Niger’s budget comes from foreign aid.

“This is your strong ally, your reliable ally, you have invested a lot and then there is a coup without any reason,” said Kiari Liman Tinguiri, Niger’s ambassador to Washington, who was fired by the junta overnight. “It’s very nice to be friends of the West, but it may not be helpful when hard times come.”

U.S. State and White House officials have said they still think there’s a narrow opportunity for a peaceful resolution that would retain Niger’s democracy.

“While we are giving diplomacy a chance and have ongoing diplomatic engagements at the highest levels, we are continuing to review all options around our cooperation with the Nigerien government,” a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council said. “Our focus is to help the people of Niger preserve their hard-earned democracy.”

Saharan Citadel

The coup began with an idea for a personnel change, mulled over months by Bazoum and his aides, to replace the leader of the presidential guard that held watch over the country’s 63-year-old commander-in-chief.

U.S. and French intelligence officers had long known about the president’s plan to reshuffle his security detail and the risks it entailed. The presidential guard felt marginalized after vast sums of military assistance poured into the country’s counterterrorism units, two people familiar with the situation said.

The French intelligence service DGSE warned Paris of the risk, but neither France nor the U.S. took significant action to defend their ally in Niamey, according to French

and West African intelligence officials.

Bazoum, elected in 2021 in Niger’s first democratic transfer of power, had been feted in Washington as a reliable partner against the twin threats of jihadist attacks and Russia’s growing influence.

In sonorous French, the former interior and foreign minister would hit some of Washington’s favorite notes. He rattled off gender-inequality statistics at events hosted by the State Department and the Gates Foundation, and regaled audiences with his efforts to educate girls in a country whose birthrate is the world’s highest, at seven children for every woman.

After coup leaders in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso shifted toward Russia, Bazoum made clear he stood with America.

Niger registered just 114 attacks from jihadist groups last year, while Burkina Faso and Mali combined registered some 2,000, according to data collected by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and analyzed by the Pentagon-funded Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

“More bases? We don’t need them,” he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal shortly after he was elected.

Some of Niger’s military leaders saw him as an interloper with an Arab background. Niger’s majority Hausa ethnic group predominates the military.

In April, Bazoum replaced the army chief of staff and the head of the national gendarmerie, hoping to place more trusted officers in their ranks, according to European and West African security officials. That stirred suspicion within his presidential guard. On July 24, Bazoum directed an aide to draft a decree to dismiss the guard’s leader.

Gen. Omar Tchiani had protected Niger’s leaders for 12 years, with a unit of some 700 elite soldiers backed by

Continued on page 37

Salama and Noemie Bisserbe

Late Dr Vwaere Diaso