Senator Rochas Okorocha, a 2023 presidential aspirant, on Wednesday disclosed that only people like him can decide if the country would disintegrate to pave way for the actualisation of Biafra.
The former governor of Imo State, who made this known in an interview with BBC Pidgin, noted the members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB lack the ability to separate the Igbo from Nigeria as being agitated.

He affirmed that the decision was not for their children to make, stressing that what they (the elders) see while sitting down, the children would not see it even if they stand.
He said, “Only people like us can decide whether Igbos will leave Nigeria. The decision is not for our children to make because what we see while sitting down, they won’t see when they stand.
“These agitators are our children and what we ought to do is to make them understand what they need to know. It will be impossible for me to deny these children and say I don’t know them.”
The lawmaker said he decided to run for the office of the Nigerian president because of the economic crisis ravaging the country.
“Passion and vision brought me into the presidential race, I’m not happy with the way Nigerians are suffering and the poor people cannot feed themselves,” he added.

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The Nigeria Police Force operatives in Lafia, Nasarawa State, have colluded with a Vigilantes Commander to arrest and detain nine young Nigerians after framing them as cult members, SaharaReporters has learnt.

It was gathered that they were arrested from a bar and afterwards tortured on April 12, 2022 at Nyanya Gwandara, Karu Local Government of the state by the police anti-cult squad from Lafia.

SaharaReporters was told that the police had refused to charge them to court but instead subjected them to torture and inhuman treatments.

They have also denied them access to their lawyers and family members.

The young men who are into music video and makeup are; David Oladimeji, Musa Ali, Ahmed Umar, Auwal Sofiyanu, Gideon Gambo, Daniel Michael, Fala-Fala, Acha Lawrence and Jesse Olakayode.

They are currently languishing in a detention facility in Lafia.

It was gathered that they were framed by a vigilante commander, popularly called Kawu, after they refused to give him a bribe which he always demanded from the people in the community.

Findings by SaharaReporters revealed that Kawu had been extorting money from the criminals in order to shield them but arrest and hand over those who refused to do his bidding including innocent people.

He was said to have connived with the police to implicate the young men and tagged them as cultists that had been terrorising the community.

Armed policemen were said to have stormed the area and arrested the young men without any incriminating evidence against them.

Kawu who is an ex- convict owns a security outfit in the community and he was said to have been chased away while his office was destroyed by the residents few years ago when he was accused of raping a girl in the community.

A source who spoke to SaharaReporters said few years ago he was also accused of killing a commercial motorcyclist after claiming the deceased stole a mobile phone.

Many residents who spoke to SaharaReporters said since Kawu is back in the community, he has started terrorising the residents while the police feign ignorance but rather connive with him to unleash terror on the people living in the area.

The young men were initially detained at Nyanya police station before taken to Nasarawa

State Criminal Investigation Department ( CID ) on Sunday April 24 – a situation that has become a source worry and concern for their families as all efforts made to see them were unsuccessful.

Efforts by SaharaReporters to get reaction from the state police spokesperson, Rahman Nansel, were unsuccessful as his mobile phone was not reachable.

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The Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate, Ibrahim Danbaba, has defected from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The lawmaker’s decision to join to the APC was conveyed in a letter read at the start of plenary by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday.

Danbaba, who represents Sokoto South in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, was nominated by the PDP on July 15, 2022, for the position of Deputy Minority Whip, following the defection of the former Deputy Whip, Senator Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u, representing Zamfara North from the PDP to the APC.

Danbaba’s defection brings the total number of APC Senators in the upper chamber to 71, and PDP 37.

The lawmaker, in his letter, explained that his decision to leave PDP was informed by the lingering and multifaceted crisis at the zonal level.

Senator Danbaba’s letter reads, “I write to formally inform you and distinguished colleagues of my decision to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

“My decision is anchored on the continuing multifaceted crisis that has bedevilled the PDP, especially at the zonal level which has created not only credibility problems, but has undermined party discipline, cohesion and focus.

“The situation at the state level has not helped matters either as depicted by lack of political sanity, focus and credible leadership. I have in APC, the political ideology in consonance with my personal political philosophy. This Ideology also seems the best suited to meet the expectations and aspirations of my constituents.

“While thanking you, Mr. President, please, accept the assurances of my highest consideration.”

Attempts by Senators Philip Aduda (PDP, FCT) and Lilian Uche Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra Central), to rely on point of orders to stop Danbaba’s defection were unsuccessful as the Senate President ruled them out of order.

Senate Ekwunife, while relying on the provisions of Section 68(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), requested that Danbaba’s seat be declared vacant.

The Senate President, however, ruled her out of order, explaining that the reasons advanced by Senator Danbaba were valid and excusable under the law.

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On a daily basis, we are confronted with more valid reasons why women should be allowed to take the front seat in setting policies and making decisions that help shape our nation Nigeria.

Only recently, I was privileged to hear of the penal code, which applies to the northern part of Nigeria and I was in shock as to how these people feel a woman (wife) should be "caged" and "corrected", yet their herds of Cattles should be given freedom befitting princes in a 5 star treatment and allowed to roam royaly on grazing routes.

 

Section 55(1)(d), subject to customs that have been recognized as lawful, allows a husband to “correct his wife” as long as it does not amount to “grievous hurt.” Section 55(2) goes on to state that the correction must be reasonable in kind or degree with regards to the age, physical, and mental conditions of the person being corrected. Grievous hurt is defined in section 241 as “(a) emasculation; (b) permanent deprivation of the sight of an eye, of the hearing of an ear or the power of speech; (c) deprivation of any member or joint; (d) destruction or permanent impairing of the powers of any member or joint; (e) permanent disfiguration of the head or face; (f) fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth; (g) any hurt which endangers life or which causes the sufferer to be during the space of twenty days in severe bodily pain or unable to follow his ordinary pursuits.”

 

Abuja being where she resided and of course part of the North, I can't help but wonder how many women like Osinachi would have looked or are probably still looking at the code and thinking, no permanent damage has been done to my sight yet or the law says I have to be in pain for 20 days but I was in pain for just 10, so this man hasn't committed a crime.

What happens, if Like Osinachi these women are just in pain for 5 days, before eventually passing away?

Does that exonerate the man? After all, it wasn't up to 20 days.

 

How can we expect men who agree that women should be "corrected" in a manner not fit for animals to agree to the bill for gender equality?

How do we expect to see the change we want and desire if we as women do not get one of our own to not only represent us, but to also speak for us?

For years, we have had our country deteriorate because wisdom has been lacking.

 

The book of Proverbs constantly talks about wisdom and its importance.

One thing that interests me is that wisdom all through the book of Proverbs, is given a feminine pronoun and was often referred to as "She"

So, it would suffice to say, that Nigeria from 1960 till Date, Nigeria has never had wisdom rule her.

You would expect that King Solomon, the wisest man in history, would have given the Mighty King David accolades for all the experience gathered, but rather we can see clearly from proverbs 31:1 that he learnt a great deal from Bathsheba (his mother) than he did from David.

 

Women have the capacity to prepare destinies for the throne, and Nigeria is yet to harness this depth of wealth.

From Deborah the Judge, an advocate of her people, to Abigail who turned the wrath of King David away from her "foolish" husband, to Queen Esther who understood that she was prepared for such a delicate season, to Mary the mother of Jesus who knew that redemption was hers to birth, to the numerous list of women who have broken the bias and have made the "First woman to list" 

 

Just as it is seen as an act of fairness and balance, to have a Muslim and Christian represent their people at the Presidential and Gubernatorial level, that fairness and balance needs to be extended, to have both genders represented.

In the words of our First Lady, Aisha Buhari “it is high time women were adopted as running mates at all levels, considering their voting strength and active involvement in political processes. As we approach the 2023 elections with greater hope, I am confident that Nigeria will continue to grow from strength to strength on the pedestal of our democratic tenets.”

 

Here is to having a Female Vice President in 2023, Here is to ending "osinachism"

Here is to having wisdom as our second in command, it may be all we need for the height we so dearly desired.

Here is to a greater Nigeria.

Opinion AddThis :  Featured Image :  Original Author :  Shiloh O. Akinyemi Disable advertisements : 

I have a neighbor who constantly needs a prompt before she throws Udoka’s ball back into our backyard. It is not just a prompt; the woman wants a thank you each time she does that. And that could be a lot of times in one weekend alone. I don’t really blame her. The white picket fence separating our yard from hers is not high enough for Udoka’s basketball to stop flying over whenever he plays outside.

 

 

 

For a long while, this woman’s propensities troubled me. I am a quiet and calm person, but somehow I feel irritated. In “Quiet Night Thought,” Li Bai wrote, “We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.” I did not want that to be my faith. Each time I contemplated what to do, I hear Jalal al-Dim Rumi say in Masnavi-ye Ma’navi (Spiritual Verses), “Raise your words, not your voice. It is the rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”

 

 

Over the years, I have done well with neighbors but not with this woman. Pablo Neruda wrote, “to feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life.” The opposite is a nightmare that dims our dreams. Once in that situation, the only thing to do is a reversal. And that was what I faced. I was at the precipice of the people T.S. Eliot called “The Hollow Men.” With this woman, I was confronting the shadow.

 

“Between the idea

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow…

 

Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion

And the response

Falls the Shadow…

 

Between the desire

And the spasm

Between the potency

And the existence

Between the essence

And the descent

Falls the Shadow…”

 

This is a story about the day I borrowed my neighbor’s wife.

 

I have so many touching stories like this. I don’t tell them because you people are too judgmental. You will not even wait for the story to finish before forming your opinion, judgment, and condemnation. You abuse people you do not know, or even if you know, you do not know their true life conditions and how these conditions made these people make some uncommon decisions.

 

I have tried to find out, but I could not fathom where you people got that habit. I guess it is the fault of these foreign religions that you have embraced. I do not think that our forefathers had this absolute image of right or wrong. Think about it very well. Deep inside the philosophy of life that saw our ancestors thrive for generations was realizing that things are not just black and white. They recognized the grey areas. Achebe writes in Arrow of God that “a man may worship Ogwugwu to perfection and yet be killed by Udo.” Those grey areas are where most of the actions that move the world forward happen. The African world stalled when we started playing in the white or black arena.

 

So, I have these neighbors. They are white. I don’t see the husband very often, I guess he works two jobs or travels a lot. But I see the wife. What? I can see what you did with your head. You shook it just to say you were not surprised. That is the problem always. You were already profiling and stereotyping my neighbor’s wife. You did not learn anything from Chinua Achebe, who noted that "Stereotypes are not necessarily malicious. They may be well-meaning and even friendly. But in every case, they show a carelessness or laziness or indifference of attitude that implies that the object of your categorization is not worth the trouble of individual assessment."

 

That my neighbors happen to be white does not mean that they couldn’t have been black. And that the story that I am trying to tell you involves borrowing my neighbor’s wife does not instantly mean that they must be white. There are black men who let you borrow their wives. It was not as if I borrowed her for a week or two. It was just for one day only.

 

As full disclosure, I have a problem. It is a problem that has haunted me for a very long time. I could not define it. I tried to talk to several therapists, but they could not get their fingers on what it was. I sit down on their couches, and they yak and yak about the Oedipus complex, interference, unconscious bias, lack of emotional intelligence, Henry Harlow’s avoidant attachment theory, and countertransference. None of that was of any help to me. One even suggested that my problem was that my mother did not hug me enough when I was a child.

 

 

I followed their 12 steps and tried all the recommended coping mechanisms, but nothing worked. The other day, one $30 an hour therapist said my intelligence quotient was low. That was the day I stopped therapy. I concluded that there are two types of therapists, those with cognitive dissonance and those with a narcissistic personality disorder.

 

From the therapist’s office, I went to a library nearby. I wandered around for a long time. I ended up in the poetry section, where I flipped through books of poetry. I have always known that poets are the closest to madmen and women that one can find in any society. I once noted in an unpublished novel that “a poet who looks back becomes a mad man while a mad man who looks forward becomes a poet.” Sasha refused to tweet it out because she said that it did not address poets who are women and their relationship with mad women. Of course, I had no time for Sasha’s didactic feminist post-traumatic stress disorder and her ongoing borderline personality disorder.

 

As I was saying, I picked up several books of poetry. I started with some of Robert Frost’s poems. I like him. Whenever I feel stuck at a dead-end, I read “The Road Not Taken.” I glanced at the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. I stopped at the poem, Annabel Lee, read it and made the sign of the cross. I flipped through the pages of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson’s collections. When I got to T. S. Eliot and Langston Hughes, I felt as if I had been offered bitter leaf soup and pounded yam. I skipped Rudyard Kipling. Because of what he did to Sylvia Plath, I skipped Ted Hughes. I grabbed Emily Bronte, Maya Angelou, Christopher Okigbo, Ezra Pound, Niyi Osundare and Ralph Waldo Emerson. On my way to find a desk, I stopped by the shelf that had Rumi. I love Rumi and I visit him when I want to be at home with my feelings. That was where I found John Milton, John Donne, Lord Byron, and some other dead old white men. I skipped them and picked Pablo Neruda. And it made all the difference.

 

That same night, when I got home, my neighbor’s wife talked about dying slowly. She was in her early thirties. For her to be talking that way really troubled me. It was a mere greeting that I sent her way. Mundane and senseless talk about the nice weather and she went off about how she was dying slowly with the pandemic and life in the suburb. As she spoke, I could see that she was losing her grip on her dreams. Langton Hughes wrote, “if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

 

 

Her cry for help quickly triggered my inner John Donne. It said to me, “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; for it tolls for thee.” It was a strong draw as powerful as Niyi Osundare’s “Not My Business.”

 

The good news was that I had had communion in the library with Pablo Neruda earlier in the day. I had read his poem, “We die slowly.” It provided me with the proper ammunition needed to rescue my neighbor’s wife.

 

The last lines of the poem kept ringing in my head.

 

“You start dying slowly

If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,

If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,

If you do not go after a dream,

If you do not allow yourself,

At least once in your lifetime,

To run away from sensible advice…” 

 

That was how, for the first time in my life, I ran away from sensible advice and borrowed my neighbor’s wife for a day. And as Robert Frost said in “The Road Not Taken,” “it made all the difference.”

 

 

Now when Udoka’s ball falls into her yard, she throws it back to us without needing a prompt or a thank you for the act of kindness. I tell you, John Milton was right after all. “What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.”

 

 

Happy Poetry Month. Now go and read a poem. Please. It doesn’t matter if it is seen or unseen poem. Just any poem will do.

 

 

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo teaches Post-Colonial African History at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is also the host of Dr. Damages Show. His books include “This American Life Sef”, and “Children of a Retired God.” 

Opinion AddThis :  Featured Image :  Original Author :  Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo Disable advertisements : 

A former Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, has declared his intention to contest for the 2023 Presidential election.

Amosun, who is currently the Senator representing the Ogun Central Senatorial District, made his intentions known in a letter to the Senate.

The letter was read on Wednesday during plenary by the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, Vanguard reports.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) currently has about eight presidential aspirants.

Former governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu broke the ice in January and declared his intention to run for the presidency when he visited Aisha’s husband, Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Villa, Abuja.

The Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, followed suit, and in a similar fashion, visited Buhari to inform him of his intention to run for the coveted number one position in the country.

It did not take long for others like a former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Kalu; ex-governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha; Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State; and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to declare their interest in the presidency on the platform of the APC.

Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has also joined the race.

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The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned Rivers State Governor and Presidential hopeful, Nyesom Wike, to stay away from the South-East region.

The group, in a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful said Wike was not welcome in the region as he had declared in the past that he had no affiliation with the Igbos during the Obigbo Massacre.

IPOB condemned the visit of the governor to the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, in Anambra as it warned traditional rulers, chiefs, elders, governors and others against inviting Wike to any part of Igbo land so as not to attract the anger of its members.

A statement from the group reads, We, the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by Nnamdi KANU, condemn the recent visit by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to Obi of Onitsha Igwe Alfred Achebe in Anambra State. The visit is part of the reasons the youths are not happy with Igbo leaders.

“IPOB will not take it lightly on any person who intends to host Wike in the hinterland after the genocide he committed in #Obigbo and he declared that he is not an Igbo man. Wike is a genocidist and should not be forgiven.

“His father took over Igbo propperty in the name of abandoned property and he trained Wike with the money he accumulated from abandoned property he collected from Igbo people in Igweocha after the war of genocide against the Igbo people in 1970, that moved Wike to hate anything associated with Igbo but he should not come for Igbo vote. We are warning him.

“Gov Nyesom Wike committed genocide against the people in his state claiming he is not Igbo man and today he became an Igbo man because of political interest and votes he needs from Igbo land, Wike refused to understand that a time like this will come in his Iife. Wike should be ashamed of himself because he could be openly begged Igbo people one vote in election.

“Is Wike coming to urinate on the graves of the Igbo youths he slaughtered in Obigbo during the #EndSARS protests? His visits to any Igbo state are highly provocative because some of the Igbo youths taken into several security cells in the Northern states are yet to return.

“Wike and his advisers should stop daring IPOB and Igbo youths. Wike’s family, friends and associates should advise him to stay off any state in Igbo land because it may consume him, anybody who knows him should let him know that.

“We are equally warning any traditional ruler, PG, Chief, elder, Governor or anybody who will invite Wike in any part of Igbo land to tread with caution because that amounts to challenging Igbo youths and IPOB members.

“Those hosting Wike now, where were they when Wike was ordering the killing of Igbo youths at Obigbo? They all maintained criminal silence then. Are they now rewarding him for killing Igbo youths? Love for money has enslaved elders and traditional rulers who should know better but we won't tolerate that anymore. Wike cannot be going about celebrating in Igbo states which he denied having any links with after ordering the execution of Igbo youths and suspected IPOB members. This is iniquity against the innocent victims of his wicked actions.”

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The family of Nnamdi Kanu, detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), have criticised the United Kingdom government's perceived silence over the continued detention of the agitator.

Kanu's brother, Kingsley ‘Kanunta’ Kanu, made the position of the family known in a post on his Twitter handle on Wednesday.

In the tweet, the agitator's brother vowed that the indifference of the United Kingdom's government to separatist agitation in its former colony and its citizen, Kanu, would not stop the mission to achieve an independent state of Biafra.

“The UK should be guiding Nigeria on how to hold #Referendum on #Biafra independence Cos, any decision concerning Biafra self-determination does not rest with @MBuhari or @FCDOGovUK, it’s a matter for the Biafran people alone. Silence on Kanu’s case can’t stop what #MNK started,” Kanu wrote on his known Twitter handle.

Kanu is being held by the Department of State Services (DSS) at its headquarters in Abuja, after the Nigerian government repatriated him from Kenya in June 2021, an action his lawyers termed “illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional extradition.”

He is standing trial on charges bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism before the Federal High Court, Abuja.

 

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The member representing Michika Constituency in the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Ayuba Kwada, has been sacked, SaharaReporters can report.

Kwada's seat was declared vacant by the Speaker of the Assembly, Aminu Iya-Abbas on Wednesday, following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

File Photo

Addressing journalists after the action, the House Committee Chairman on Information, Japhet Kefas, who is also the member representing Gombi Constituency, said Kwada's defection had contravened section 109 of the constitution.

 

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A supporter of the presidential campaign of human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has been reportedly attacked by state-sponsored political thugs in Osun State. 

 

The campaigner, simply identified as Ayo was brutalised by thugs loyal to a notorious political thug, Asiri Eniba, while returning to his house with campaign posters, a statement by the Take-It-Back Movement noted. 

According to the statement, signed by Samson Tola, the Osun State TIB Coordinator, the victim, Ayo, went to Osogbo on Tuesday to collect some campaign materials to take to his domain in Ikirun. 

 

While on the bus back to his house, some of his fellow passengers queried him about the posters, unknown to him that a thug in the vehicle had already mobilised other thugs to assault him. The thugs were said to have dragged Ayo out of the bus and brutalised him. 

 

The TIB called for the immediate prosecution of the thugs who brutalised Ayo while demanding a stop to state-sponsored thuggery and vote-buying.

 

A statement from the group reads, "We demand arrest and prosecution of state-sponsored political thugs and call on Osun youths to desist from being used for electoral violence and other selfish purposes by corrupt politicians in the state!

 

”The Take It Back Movement, TIB, Osun State Chapter decries the aggravated assault of one of Sowore For President campaigners, Mr Ayo, at Osogbo while going back to his hometown Ikirun, by some thugs loyal to one popular political thug, Asiri Eniba. 

 

“We equally call upon the police to arrest and prosecute the lawbreakers accordingly. 

 

“The assaulted Ayo, came to Osogbo in the early morning of today to meet the leadership and members of Osun TIB/AAC for the collection of campaign materials like posters, banners and other needed materials for his domain in Ìkìrun. Immediately after he left, a report came to us that Mr Ayo was attacked, dragged out and mercilessly beaten by thugs while already in the bus conveying him back to Ikirun. 

 

“We found out that some of his fellow passengers in the bus were asking him about the Sowore For President campaign posters he was carrying and he told them about it not knowing that one of the passengers had made a telephone call to some individuals who later came and assaulted him at that spot. 

 

“We want to reiterate our position that the law allows citizens to associate with and campaign for any political party or candidate of their choice devoid of undue interference. 

 

“More importantly, we demand halt to state-sponsored attacks on human and democratic rights of innocent citizens, electoral violence, and vote-buying during elections.”

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Gunmen suspected to be assassins have killed a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State, Sunday Frank-Oputu.

The deceased was said to be a strong supporter of a suit contesting the legality of the recently conducted ward, local government and state congresses of the party at the Bayelsa State High Court.

According to Tribune, Frank-Oputu who is an indigene of Igbomotoru Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state was killed in execution-like style around 11:50pm on Tuesday at his Bay-Bridge residence, Yenezue-gene, Yenagoa.

A member of his community confirmed the incident.

He however promised to give further details after a meeting of the family of the deceased is concluded later on Wednesday.

It would be recalled that the Frank-Oputu vehemently condemned the attack of a State High Court where the presiding Judge, Justice Nayai Aganaba, was stoned with plastic bottles by the hoodlums, an incident he vowed to follow up to a logical conclusion before his untimely death.

 

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House of Representatives

Officials of the Ministry of Trade and Investment have been summoned by House of Representatives over alleged N2.6trillion capital allowances granted MTN.

The House Committee on Public Accounts chairman, Oluwole Oke, summoned the officials on Tuesday during the resumed investigative hearing into the audit queries on tax evasion.

House of Representatives

The query was issued by the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, indicating that the documents relating to the N2.6trillion capital allowances were allegedly forged.

She added that the committee invited MTN over tax evasion, adding that the Auditor-General Office, in its report, observed that Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) accorded value to the telecoms company.

According to the statement, in some cases, it was without certificates and evidence of capital allowance issued by the trade ministry, reflecting the whole assets procured by the company.

“We have issues in this country where funds are not adequate for government to carry out policies and programmes. Which is why we had to borrow even though there are massive revenue leakages,” he stated. “MTN has also made appearances where N2.6trillion was seen as the taxable value for assets of the company.”

He also explained that Nigerians had the right to know the implications of MTN taking a certificate of N2.6 trillion to FIRS for tax waivers on the economy.

“The parliament simply wants to know whether it should sustain the query raised by the auditor-general or absolve the company of the allegations of tax evasion,” he said.

He added that it would be wrong to accuse it of such if the records tally with the company’s submission.

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The lawmaker representing Owo constituency 1 and the Majority Leader of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Oluwo Ogunmolasuyi, was on Tuesday attacked by his constituents.

SaharaReporters gathered that Ogunmolasuyi was attacked and chased away from his home town, Iloro community, Owo Local Government Area during a consultation tour for his second term ambition.

Trouble started after angry youths booed him, saying “it won’t be well with you, we don’t want to see you here again; all of you are thieves.”

They accused the lawmaker of poor representation and abandoning his constituents and that he recently started showing up because of the 2023 elections.

They were said to have also stoned his convoy out of the town.

The lawmaker however escaped unhurt because of his security guards.

Reacting, the lawmaker said he wasn’t attacked by his constituents but the thugs mobilised by an influential personality to discredit his long built credibility.

According to him, he has been actively involved in the issue of his constituency since he emerged in 2019 and has delivered to his best ability.

“We will like to clarify that it is nothing but fake news and lies from the pit of hell concocted by political miscreants to dampen my campaign movement. For more than one month, I have been in my constituency, making consultations and attending to issues concerning the people. Even before then, my constituency members and conscious people know of my activeness in responding to duty from my constituency,” he said.

“However, what happened was due to an acclaimed, influential personality making erratic demands for his selfish gain, which I was still making consultation over. I decided to visit Iloro, which happened to be my own place to make consultations with excos and prominent people.

“To my disappointment, the acclaimed, influential personality had mobilized thugs to attack our campaign team and me in order to discredit our long built credibility.

“Despite the attack and threat over my life, the security operatives under my instructions ensured no one was harmed because I know well that they are part of the people I am representing at the ODHA.

“Furthermore, I will also like to elaborate that the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Aketi, has not imposed me over the people. For those who seek clarity, check the result of my first term election. If I enjoy a good relationship with the Governor, it is because of my ability to offer intellectual solutions to critical issues concerning the state. Where we are today is a result of God’s grace, the people, and support from important personalities who trusted me with the ability to represent properly.

“Since I emerged, I have been actively involved in the issue of my constituency. Without trying to glorify myself, I have delivered to my best ability.”

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A Muslim rights advocacy group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has called on the Nigerian Army to vacate the Muslim praying ground at Obalende, Lagos, which has been encroached upon by the Nigerian Army.

The group claimed that the land, which is littered with military hardware, is the same land on which thousands of Lagos Muslims observe their festival prayers.

This was made known in a statement on Wednesday, by the director of MURIC, Prof Ishaq Akintola, urging the state governor to issue a certificate of occupancy to the Lagos muslim community without delay.

The group said that the land was originally given to the Lagos Muslim Community by the fourth colonial governor general of Nigeria, Sir Donald Cameroon (1931 – 1935), via an Indenture on 9th August, 1931 “to HOLD the same unto, and to the use of the Grantees forever, free from all encumbrances.”

The statement reads in part: “A 3.11 acre piece of land belonging to the Lagos Muslim Community is now a subject of controversy. The land which is situated at Obalende is now littered with military hardware. This encroachment has constituted an impediment because it is the same land on which thousands of Lagos Muslims observe their festival prayers.

“MURIC regards this as an attempt to subtly commandeer the piece of land. It is open strangulation of Allah-given fundamental human right, a threat to freedom of religion as stipulated in Section 38 (i) & (ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and an invitation to anarchy.

“The land was originally given to the Lagos Muslim Community by the fourth colonial governor general of Nigeria, Sir Donald Cameroon (1931 – 1935), via an Indenture on 9th August, 1931 ‘to HOLD the same unto, and to the use of the Grantees forever, free from all encumbrances’.

“As a colonial heritage given to Lagos Muslims, it is a dis-service to the historical background of the city of Lagos and an attempt to distort the records for any institution to wrench the property from its original owners. The press statement issued by the Muslim Community of Lagos State on 29th March 2022 has revealed the long struggle to retain ownership of the land.

“It was General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) as military head of state who first showed interest in the land when he requested for a little portion of it to widen a section of Ribadu Road in front of his office and it was graciously granted by the Muslims. This was in the early 1970s. Unfortunately this opened a floodgate of encroachments by the army who littered the grounds with military hardware and construction equipment.

“Several efforts have since been made by the Muslim Community of Lagos to get justice from the authorities but all to no avail.

“It is our strong belief that Obalende Praying Ground is part of Ikoyi Land Law of Lagos State and since LASG became the owner of all lands situated within the state by virtue of the transfer of Crown Land Act Chapter 45, 1958 on the creation of Lagos State on 27th May, 1967, LASG has the power to exercise authority over the landed property.

“People who endeavor to engage government but who meet a brick wall on each attempt are prone to frustration. Youth among such people are most likely to become uncontrollable. Most importantly, a situation in which thousands of Muslims assemble for their festival prayer but cannot find a suitable place to perform it is most volatile and unpredictable. It is worse when they are aware that the place they had been using before has been commandeered.

“We therefore appeal to LASG to do everything within its power to ensure that Lagos Muslims are not denied the use of Obalende Prayer Ground at any point in time especially as the Salah day of the ongoing Ramadan season of 2022 is fast approaching.”

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No fewer than 92 children, aged between seven and 13, have been trafficked to different parts of southern Nigeria by proprietors of fake missionary schools in Adamawa State.

SaharaReporters learnt that some of the children are orphans while others are under the care of single parents, all from Madagali Local Government Area, formally occupied by the Boko Haram terrorists.

As gathered, the vulnerable children were taken from their ancestral homes in Madagali by a cartel of child traffickers who promised them better lives in the city.

The cartel, hiding under the guise of missionary schools proprietors group, allegedly contacted the “Eklisiyan Yan'uwa a Nigeria” (EYN) Church; also known as the Church of the Brethren in Madagali; and offered to help educate the children.

The kids were taken to Jos, the Plateau State capital, from where they were distributed to willing buyers across the country, with states in the South-East, taking majority of them.

The police have however rescued 42 of them and apprehended four suspects in connection to the crime. They are; Dakam Peter 'm' 30yrs, Nicolas Vishe 'm' 29yrs, Luka Yarima 'm' 49yrs and Yusuf Garwa 'm' 35yrs.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Sikiru Akande, confirmed the rescue of the children.

He said, "We are able to trace some underage children (boys and girls) who are indigenes of Adamawa State that had been taken for child labour across Nigeria. Presently, 24 of them are in our custody; they were rescued from different parts of Nigeria.”

Narrating their experiences, some of the children said they provided labour on farms across the South-East and Kaduna State.

Elizabeth, 13, said, "I attended school in a makeshift environment during my first two weeks in Enugu, but afterwards I was engaged on a cassava farm.”

Jennifer, who was given Chiamaka as her new Igbo name said she was doing domestic chores in Umuahia. "I was not enrolled in any school at all", she said.

For seven-year-old Bala Adamu, "they took seven of us from Madagali to Jos, from there we were collected by another man who conveyed us to Kaduna and since then we've been working on his farm.”

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Governor Dapo Abiodun

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has said his arrest in the United States over credit card fraud and forgery in 1986 is not sufficient grounds for his disqualification by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Abiodun disclosed this while responding to a petition submitted by an APC member, Ayodele Oludiran on behalf of Oluwatobi Sofela of Ogun Bibire Unity Forum to the National Chairman of the party, Abdulahi Adamu.

Governor Dapo Abiodun

Sofela had warned that the party might lose the governorship seat in Ogun due to Abiodun’s criminal history and its concealment from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) despite swearing an oath.

He also cautioned that the discrepancies in the governor’s educational qualifications might also cause opposition parties to question his eligibility for re-election bid, swaying the electorate to their side.

“If action is not taken, the chances of our great party, the APC, retaining the governorship seat in Ogun State shall be in jeopardy as previously seen in Bayelsa and Zamfara states,” Sofela said.

According to People’s Gazette, responding, Abiodun said that his probable arrest was not a conviction and hence was not answerable to the laws that applied to criminals.

He added that even if he was convicted in 1986, the Nigerian constitution only disqualifies ex-felons from contesting political offices if their sentence was less than 10 years before the election date.

“An aspirant or candidate will only be disqualified by the court if the false information he gives relates to a constitutional requirement of eligibility. APC is not a court of law. Accordingly, it cannot disqualify our client,” the governor’s lawyer, Afe Babalola wrote in a letter to Adamu, citing section 29(6) of the Electoral Act 2022. See Also Exclusive EXCLUSIVE: How Ogun Governor, Dapo Abiodun Was Jailed For Credit Card Fraud In Florida, USA 0 Comments 1 Month Ago

“In any event, assuming but not conceding that our client was even convicted in 1986, he would still not be affected or caught by Section 182 (1) (e) of the CFRN because the CFRN requires that the conviction which would disqualify a person from the position of the governor must have occurred ten years before the date of election to the office.”

SaharaReporters had in March published the criminal record of how Abiodun was jailed in 1986 for credit card fraud in Miami Dade Florida, USA.

The governor was said to have used a pseudo name (Shawn Michael Davids) with the aim of concealing his criminal identity.

The record revealed that Abiodun was jailed for committing criminal offences which bordered on credit card fraud, petty theft and check forgery.

He was arrested on November 7, 1986, for fighting and injuring a police officer in an attempt to resist arrest.

While being processed at the station, his fingerprint was run through the crime database and it was discovered that the Adedapo Oluseun Abiodun being processed for detention was the same as Shawn Michael Davids.

His criminal record and history were thus cemented and he was jailed.

According to some documents obtained by SaharaReporters, Abiodun's jail number was 8600B9436.

In 2015, while contesting for the Ogun East Senatorial seat against the late Buruji Kasamu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he applied for the redaction of his criminal records in Miami Dade, Florida.

This act of concealment meant he could lie on his Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) forms that he had no prior criminal records; a perjury offence that could have disqualified him from ever holding an appointive or elective office in Nigeria.

The redaction was granted in August 2015.

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Two young men have been declared missing in Calabar, Cross River State, after visiting a lady they met on popular social networking platform, Facebook.

 

Identified as Henry Agbo and Wisdom Ofri, the young men are said to be employees of a logistics company located along the Murtala Mohammed Highway in Calabar, the state capital.

It was gathered that they decided to visit the female Facebook friend after a series of chats on the online platform at the Ekorinim 2 area of the city last Saturday, according to The Parchment.

 

A friend of the missing young men, Uforo, while giving more insight into the development, said, “They have been chatting through Facebook messenger with the girl. On that day, I was supposed to follow them to Ekorinim 2 where the girl asked us to come and see her but they left before I could come out of the house. They thereafter took a tricycle to meet with the said lady.

 

“That was the last time we heard about them. We kept trying their (phone) numbers but they have remained switched off. They have also not returned home since then. The incident happened on Saturday.”

 

Another acquaintance of the missing young men, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that they had searched for them at police stations and other places without any trace of them.

 

He said, “At first, we thought it was a case of kidnap but we have been to all the police stations in the state capital including the Anti-Cultism/Kidnapping squad at Cultural Centre, Zone 6, and even the police state headquarters and have not found them. They have not returned home since then and all their numbers have remained switched off.”

 

The spokesperson for the police command in Cross River State, Irene Ugbo, told SaharaReporters on Wednesday that she was not aware of the incident. 

She, however, promised to follow up on the case and get back with full details later in the day.

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Desperate Instagram celebrities are destroying the Nollywood industry by doing everything to become popular like genuine actresses, Kanayo O. Kanayo, an actor and producer, Kanayo O. Kanayo, has lamented.

The veteran actor disclosed this on Sunday when he appeared as a guest on the online talk show “90MinutesAfrica,” hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah.

Kanayo O. Kanayo, who starred in the breakthrough Nollywood movie, “Living in Bondage,” said, “When they introduce themselves as actresses, we know they are not actresses. We know what they are doing is impersonation. It is when they steal the dollars of these politicians that we get to hear about it. And what you will hear then is, all these actresses na thieves. And that is where we say, no.

"Or generally, they will say all these Nollywood girls na ashawo. We still have very responsible, fine Nollywood girls, but the worst thing that has happened to Nollywood is the infiltration of Instagram stars into Nollywood. The girls who are popular on Instagram but are not rooted to the ground. They are the worst thing that has happened to Nollywood.”

Kanayo, who is also a lawyer, said these Instagram celebrities “are the ones giving Nollywood a bad name; because they can do anything to become Genevieve Nnaji. They can do anything to become Omotola. They can do anything to become Rita Dominic. They can do anything. They are just popular on Instagram. You cannot rate them on anything.”

Responding to questions, the veteran actor who recently published a legal thriller, The Testator, said many beautiful girls were desperately throwing themselves into Nollywood for the benefits.

“What most of these girls do is to ensure that those who design the jacket of movies put their faces. So, she will act in Asaba, take that jacket design to Abuja and see a top politician. When she is asked, “What do you do?” She will say, “I am an actress.” So, instead of giving her two hundred thousand or one hundred thousand after a night, the man gives her two million. That is one benefit.

“You will see a man take a girl from Nigeria to one island and she comes back with a Range Rover just because she is an actress, and that is not good. So, you see, the benefits are many just to mention that you are an actress; and the men are the ones stoking this fire,” he noted.

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Abba Kyari

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has marked six residential houses and a shopping plaza belonging to the embattled suspended Intelligence Response Team leader, Abba Kyari, in Maiduguri, Borno State, as being under investigation.

The multi-million two-storey shopping plaza, Assurance Plaza, located along the Giwa Barracks Road in Maiduguri, has about 100 stores while the six residential houses are all located at the Maiduguri New Government Residential Area.

Abba Kyari

This is coming a few days after NDLEA arrested a suspected billionaire drug baron, Chief Afam Mallinson Emmanuel Ukatu, who is allegedly behind the N3billion tramadol deal involving the suspended officer.

Ukatu came under watch in 2021, a year after five cartons of Tramadol 225mg were seized from his staff on 4th May 2021.

He had sent them to sell to undercover police officers (unknown to Ukatu), from the then Kyari-led IRT, in Lagos.

The price of a carton of Tramadol was negotiated at N17million each as against the then black-market value that ranged between N18million and N20million a carton.

Meanwhile, after the arrest of Ukatu’s staff, Pius Enidom and Sunday Ibekwete, Kyari’s men were led to Mallinson’s warehouse at Ojota in Lagos where 197 additional cartons of Tramadol 225mg were seized by the IRT.

The monetary value of the 202 cartons of Tramadol seized from Mallinson in one day was over N3billion.

Three weeks after the seizure, the Kyari’s IRT team transferred only 12 cartons of the Tramadol with one truck and a suspect to the Lagos Command of the NDLEA, leaving 190 cartons unaccounted for.

After over eight months of following the lead, anti-narcotic officers of the agency eventually arrested Ukatu at the Lagos airport on 13th April 2022.

Meanwhile, Kyari and four top members of his team are already facing trial for a different but similar offence at a Federal High Court in Abuja.

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The ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) new electoral guidelines released on Tuesday stated that all political appointees who aspire to participate in its primary elections at all levels must resign at least 30 days before the conduct of the primaries.

Section 3(i) of the APC’s guidelines for the conduct of primaries, states: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for the purpose of the nomination of candidates.

“Any political office holder interested in contesting for an elective office shall leave Office 30 days prior to the date of election or party primary for the office sought.”

According to the APC primary election’s timetable, the presidential primary is scheduled to hold between May 30 and June 1.

Governorship, senate, federal and state assembly primary elections to select APC candidates for the general elections, according to the timetable, will hold between May 18 and 23, meaning that appointees for such positions who refused to resign between April 18 and 23 would have lost whatever was left of their chances to contest in the primaries.

Both the Ministers of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and that of Labour and Productivity, Chris Nigige, have declared their intent to run for president.

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio who was said to be nursing such ambition, has however denied that he is interested in the presidency.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami, had also been reported to be interested in governorship position in his home state of Kebbi.

With the guidelines and timeframe for resignation, Malami may no longer have a chance to contest.

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