Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh

Reactions have continued to trail the outburst of the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, who called one of the applicants for the ongoing teachers’ recruitment in the state “an idiot,” among other derogatory names.

The Commissioner had in an audio conversation making the rounds on social media said, “Madam, you are an idiot. You mean the computers are doing what?

Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh

“I received a report by 12 noon that you people refused to stand in line. You refused to be identified. You mobbed and you were all trying to get into the hall at the same time. You refused to be disciplined up till this moment and you have the effrontery, you this stupid woman, you have the effrontery to call me on the phone to talk rubbish.

“Will you get out of my phone, you filthy thing! You really want to be a teacher? How will you tell your students to conform to instructions when you cannot stand line in line and move into the hall?

“You came for a test that will make you a teacher and you are behaving like a hooligan. Please, I have no pity for you and I have nothing to say to you.

“I received a report that they have already examined 1,400 out of the 2,000 plus we get there. So, your result is already made. Go home and find a place where people like you are supposed to be. You are not supposed to be found in the corridors of education. You are all hooligans! Thank you very much. I hope you understand me.”

Following the conversation, many people have lambasted the commissioner on social media. Some people have argued that she has an inherently aggressive nature that is not fit for a public office holder, while others made excuses for her outburst, saying it could be a result of pressure.

However, speaking with SaharaReporters on the phone, Prof. Chuma-Udeh admitted to the content of the controversial phone conversation, saying she lost control of her emotions when the caller (an unidentified applicant) called her and started hurling insults at the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and her - the commissioner.

She said the caller was among the teachers engaged by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) under the immediate administration of former Governor Willie Obiano.

The PTA teachers had protested over their sacking by Governor Soludo and called on the governor to reconsider their reinstatements.

But the governor, while reacting to their protest, had said that “No qualified teacher in the state’s school system has been relieved of his/her appointment.”

He had said, “The affected PTA teachers who were ‘converted’ to the school system in the last days of the last administration in irregular, hazy circumstances.”

 “They were only asked to regularise their employment with the government by taking part in the online teachers’ recruitment test,” he had added.

But the Education Commissioner alleged that the PTA teachers vowed to disrupt the recruitment process. She further alleged that they were responsible for the cyber-attack that disrupted the first Computer Based Test (CBT) in the state.

The commissioner, who apologised for her choice of words during the phone conversation with the applicant, said her reaction was a result of the pressure being mounted on her by the applicants.

“The heat of the teachers’ recruitment exercise is high, trying to get things right and in the middle of it all, somehow tension may rise and one or two incidences may crack you up in a terrible way.

“I believe I was in the heat of the recruitment exercise and tension was up everywhere,” she said.

According to her, the state government has had a running battle with the PTA teachers as “they stood their ground that the recruitment exercise would never hold and in fact, it was a fierce battle, as in, like you and someone betting that this particular thing cannot happen.”

“They became a force and vowed that there must be no recruitment without the Governor accepting them as full-time teachers,” she said.

The commissioner alleged that “The first online test we had, I learnt that they were the ones that were cyber-attacking it and they were so happy saying they wanted to know how the exam would be successful. This second one, I learnt that they divided themselves and agreed that whichever centre they found themselves, they would cause confusion so that the exam would be deemed inconclusive, but we battled against it all.

“They are the ones pushing all these things, insisting that they would spoil things.”

She said it was one of the PTA teachers that called her on the phone but while she tried to calm her down, she (teacher) started raining insults on her and the governor, during which, “I flared up.”

“I know it was wrong for me to descend to her level. In fact, I am sorry for the statement I made. It shouldn’t come from me but the thing remains that somebody who is looking for a teaching job and is insulting the governor and the commissioner, how can the person get the job?

“So, I was tensed up and hearing this woman insulting the governor and everybody, I couldn’t take it. In fact, I apologise. That is all I can say.”

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The Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād says it attacked two Nigerian government vehicles in the Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The attack was the fifth to be claimed by the group in the state in the last two months.

ISWAP in a statement said two Nigerian government vehicles were burnt by “soldiers of the caliphate and then returned to their positions”.

On April 23, gunmen attacked a police station in the same Adavi LGA in the state, which resulted in the death of three police officers.

Some days later, ISWAP claimed responsibility for the attack.

On May 11, there was an explosion at a bar in Lewu Junction area of Kabba town, Kogi.

The explosion claimed three lives out of the 16 persons affected.

Two weeks later, another explosion occurred at another bar in the town, in Kabbah-Bunu LGA.

The group claimed responsibility for both explosions

Kabba is the headquarters of the Kabba/Bunnu LGA and the people speak a dialect of Yoruba called Owe.

The town is less than 10 minutes to Akunnu-Akoko and Ajowa-Akoko in Ondo State and less than 20 minutes to Omuo in Ekiti State.

ISWAP in June also claimed responsibility for the explosion that led to the death of two persons during an annual festival in the Idoji area of Okene, Kogi State.

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File Photo

A Nigerian soldier enforcing the dusk-to-dawn curfew in the Igbo-Eze Local Government Area of Enugu State as directed by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has fallen off a military patrol van and crushed to death by another patrol vehicle.

SaharaReporters learnt that the incident occurred last Friday.

File Photo

An eyewitness said the victim was with his colleagues in a patrol vehicle coming from the Aji area of the council when he fell off the vehicle.

A source said, "The soldiers were in two vehicles patrolling the area before the unfortunate incident. I was standing in front of someone's shop when the soldiers were blaring sirens. The Patrol Vehicles were on speed and suddenly one of the soldiers who was in the front vehicle fell off and the other patrol vehicle overran him.”

"Nobody knows whether he was under the influence of alcohol or anything," the sources added.

It gathered that the soldiers were returning to their bases in Imufu Low Cost house when the incident occurred.

When the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Col Abubakar Abdullahi, was contacted for reaction, he said he was not aware of the incident.

"When did this happen? I don't have information about the incident,” he said.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has said the Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, can seek elective positions without resigning from his position.
Buhari made this claim in an interview with Bloomberg published on Tuesday.

When asked if he was concerned about the debate around the Central Bank’s independence, particularly with the way the governor showed interest in running for president, Buhari said such decisions did not rest solely on him as the Nigerian president.
Speaking in the interview, Buhari said the CBN Act had not listed political participation as part of the grounds for the removal of a CBN governor.
“The CBN governor is appointed by the President. But this appointment is subject to confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.
“Ultimately, it will be for the CBN’s board of directors to determine whether a CBN governor’s actions have fallen foul of the laws in place to ensure he can most effectively carry out his duties.
“But there is a subtext to the accusations. Because the governor follows a model outside of the economic orthodoxy, he is labelled political. But the orthodoxy has proved wrong time and again.
“Instead, the governor is following an alternative economic model that puts people at the heart of policy. Nigeria should be free to choose its development model and how to construct our economy, so it functions for Nigerians."
There had been reports that Emefiele was seeking to become the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) prior to the party's primary election.
A group was said to have purchased the expression of interest and nomination forms for Emefiele to partake in the contest.
Reacting, the CBN governor said he would use his own money to buy his nomination forms when he had made a decision to run for the number one office.
The CBN governor had come under heavy criticism over the APC Presidential Expression of Interest and Nomination forms reportedly obtained for him.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project is one of the groups that called for Emefiele's removal noting that the CBN governor acted contrary to section 9 of the CBN Act which forbids CBN governors and their deputies from engaging in politics.
The same call was made by the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, and a host of other Nigerians and civic groups which viewed Emefiele’s interest in partisan politics as dangerous for someone superintending over the country’s apex bank and national economy.
Amid the pressures, the CBN governor pulled out of the race noting that he had not made up his mind to run for the office of the president.
He also withdrew his lawsuit seeking an order to run for president without resigning from the apex bank.
Emefiele had in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/610/2022 and filed on May 5 asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to declare him eligible to participate in the 2023 presidential election.
It had the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), as respondents.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Tuesday, said it has secured five convictions from the Federal and State High Courts in Ibadan, Oyo State and Osogbo, Osun State respectively.

According to a statement by EFCC's Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, one of the convicts is a final-year student of Transport Planning Management at Tai Solarin University, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, Amusa Abdulhakeem Oluwasegunfunmi.

Amusa was sentenced to eight months of community service for fraudulent impersonation.

He gave the names of the convicts as Amusa Abdulhakeem Oluwasegunfunmi, Ajisafe Sodiq Olaide, Lawal Samuel Morenikeji, Osuolale Abdullahi Abiodun, and Olamilekan Ridwan Taofeek.

The statement read in part, "They were convicted on separate one-count charges each for offences relating to cyber-fraud.   

"Upon their arraignments, they pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against them by the EFCC.

"In view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel urged the courts to convict and sentence them accordingly.

"Consequently, Justice Ayo-Emmanuel of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, Osun State convicted and sentenced Oluwasegunfunmi, to eight months of community service for fraudulent impersonation, contrary to section 22 (2) (b) (1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc.) Act, 2015.

"The sentence requires him to clean the toilets at Ataoja School of Science, Osogbo, Osun State.

"Also, the court ordered that the convict’s attendance register be kept by the School Principal and submitted on completion of his term.”

He said, "Similarly, Justice Iyabo Yerima of the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan, sentenced Ajisafe Sodiq Olaide to six months community service for obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 419 of the Criminal Code Cap 38 Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

"In the same vein, Justice Omolara Adeyemi of the Oyo State High Court convicted and sentenced Lawal Samuel Morenikeji to six months community service; Osuolale Abdullahi Abiodun and Olamilekan Ridwan Taofeek to one-week community service as their offences violate Section 484 of the Criminal Code Cap 38 Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

"The courts ordered that the convicts restitute their victims and forfeit all items recovered from them to the Federal Government."

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday, arraigned a 62-year-old retired Deputy Comptroller of Correction, Mr Kayode Raphael Odeyemi, on an alleged land fraud.

Odeyemi was arraigned before Justice M. A. Madugu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Bwari, Abuja by the city’s zonal command of EFCC.

The charge reads, “That you, Kayode Raphael Odeyemi sometime in December 2019 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, by false pretence and with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of N6,500,000 (Six Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira) from Joseph N. Emelieze, paid into your First Bank account number 2015894843, under the pretence that the said payment was meant for the purchase of a plot of land situate at Sabon Lugbe, Abuja, a fact which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act."

In count two, Odeyemi is accused of defrauding Joemelyz Global of the sum of N2,200,000 (Two Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira) which was paid into his Wema Bank account number 0121093181 for the purchase of a plot of land at Sabon Lugbe, Abuja.

A statement by EFCC's Head Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said the defendant pleaded not guilty to both counts.

According to the statement, Justice Madugu granted him bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in like sum, one of whom must be a civil servant residing within the jurisdiction of the court.

He said the case has been adjourned till September 19, 2022, for the commencement of the trial.

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The Archbishop of the Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari and his government for the unimaginable level of insecurity in the country.
Chukwuma, who spoke while addressing a pre-Synod press conference in Enugu State on Tuesday, queried the sincerity of the nation's security agencies in the fight against terrorism and other violent activities in the country.

While lamenting the current wave of Islamic terrorists’ attacks on churches without security agencies stopping them, he noted that there was no part of the country that had not witnessed various acts of terrorism.

He said, "Many Nigerian students are still in captivity years after being abducted by terrorists. Activities of killer herdsmen are causing serious famine in a country that depends so much on agriculture. Since these attacks on communities and farm settlements, the productivity has been on a downward spiral.
"It's unfortunate that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has not done enough to protect Nigerians. Under his administration, we have witnessed unprecedented number of deaths, not seen in any administration ever in Nigeria.” 
Chukwuma, however, regretted that the Kaduna-bound train attack should have spurred the government and security agencies to sit up but instead the situation had become worse.
"How can we have battalions of soldiers in Nigeria and yet terrorism continues to fester? Our armed forces and other security agencies are not doing much. There's no sincerity in their war against terrorism.
"If Nigerian government could easily arrest Nnamdi Kanu in Kenya, why is it difficult to catch terrorists, bandits and kidnappers who dwell and operate in Nigeria?"
He said the peace and security of Nigerians and Nigeria as a united entity is threatened by the menace of banditry and kidnappings for ransom.
While urging the federal government to step up actions to protect Nigerians and their communities, Chukwuma called on Nigerian youths to prepare to take a decisive decision during the 2023 election to place the country on the part of peace and prosperity.
"Nigerians have endured and borne enough of abject poverty. They have been taken too much for granted by bad leaders.
"Nigerians should be prepared not to make the mistake of the past by coming out in their numbers to change the course of history and bring the country back from the precipice. I'm happy with the zeal with which the youths are registering for PVC.
“Today our country, richly endowed with both human and material resources is occupying the unenviable position of the world’s capital of poverty due to our inability as a nation to harness and manage our resources for the common good,” he said.

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No fewer than 135 beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) on smartphone repair organised by the Nigerian government have received their starter kits in Kwara State barely one month after SaharaReporters' story.

It was gathered the beneficiaries received their kits on Monday at Queen Elizabeth Secondary School, Ilorin.

In May, SaharaReporters reported that despite N4 billion investment by the Nigerian government, 135 N-Skills programme beneficiaries had yet to receive kits to further their training in Kwara.

In January, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the restructuring of NSIP to make it more impactful on the economy and to reach citizens.

This led to the introduction of the N-Skills Programme which is based on a certification system and accreditation of practical training provided through an informal apprenticeship system anchored by Master Craft Persons (MCPs) and the formal training system including using the Community Skills Development Centres (COSDECs) in many states.

The programme aims to improve the quality and relevance of skills delivered using certification systems to ease the transition of target beneficiaries to full-time skilled employment, self-employment and/or further their education. It targets marginalised and disadvantaged populations, including those with primary or no formal education.

"N-Skills accommodate many skills-based enterprises and the Smart Phone Repairs is used to pilot the programme under the N-Power non-graduate component. The Ministry worked with technical service providers to provide the N-Skills training services to 6,475 unemployed youths across the Federation," Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, had disclosed this while speaking at the closing ceremony of the N-Skills Smart Phone Repairs training at Yaba, Lagos.

SaharaReporters gathered that the Nigerian Government split the states into different groups and claimed to have invested N4 billion in each group for this programme.

Kwara, Oyo, Benue, Kogi, Rivers, Lagos, Sokoto and Kebbi fall in the same group.

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Political parties in Nigeria are already gearing up for the next general election, coming up in the first quarter of 2023. The 2023 election will be the seventh election in succession since the civil rule was reinstated in 1999, after 16 years of military rule. The last six years of that military interregnum were politically defined by what has entered the history books as the ‘June 12 Struggle’. ‘June 12’ was a defining moment in Nigeria’s history and yet it has not received as much critical attention as it deserves. While the current government has declared June 12 ‘Democracy Day’, the underlying forces that worked to keep the June 12 struggle alive remain under-discussed.

The annulment of the presidential election held on June 12, 1993, sparked a chain of events that began with civic uprisings in Lagos and across Nigeria, saw a military coup that installed General Sani Abacha as Nigeria’s leader and concluded with the reinstatement of civilian rule in 1999. During those six years of revolution and counter-revolution, Nigeria’s socialist left was at the heart of the democracy movement that led the struggle on Nigeria’s streets and beyond.

The left organized within the human rights community, using organizations such as the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) and the  Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR). And at the arrowhead of their organizing and mobilization efforts were coalitions. The first of these was the Campaign for Democracy (CD). This coalition was formed in November 1991 and took a stand against the military-led political transition that led to the June 12 elections. It called for the overthrow of the military junta, and for the military rule to be replaced by a provisional government which would immediately convoke a sovereign national conference (SNC).

THE LEFT: RECOMPOSITION AND DECLINE

CD’s calls for popular boycott of the transition programme yielded no result. Mass anger in the wake of the annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election (presumably won by Chief MKO Abiola) presented the coalition with a political base to relate with for the first time. In the early days of the June 12 struggle, CD seized the opportunity, providing leadership for mass mobilization to realize the presumed presidential mandate Abiola had from the June 12 election.

However, CD split at its 4 February 1994 national convention. Its left-wing was of the opinion that CD’s demands for the restoration of Abiola’s mandate had become primary, over the coalition’s initial aim of transforming Nigeria with the convocation of a sovereign national conference being the proposed first step. After the split, CD gradually became irrelevant. The left-wing, which quit the coalition, formed the Democratic Alternative (DA) on 4 June 1994.

The DA’s formation marked the first step by some sections of the radical left to advance beyond pressure group politics and towards contestation for power, as political parties. The DA’s manifesto, the Liberation Charter, was modelled along the lines of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa’s Freedom Charter and set out how the DA intended to run Nigeria after acquiring power. The other section of the left, which took a similar step, was centred around Chief Gani Fawehinmi, a popular radical lawyer who had confronted several military juntas in court since 1969. Fawehinmi announced the formation of the National Conscience Party (NCP) on 1 October 1994.

Both DA and NCP operated as radical parties of protest, in defiance of a 1994 decree by the Abacha regime that banned political parties. The two parties emerged just before an ebb of the mass movement that emerged from the annulment in 1993. This was the period when Abiola was arrested. Abiola remained in detention till his death in 1998. A massive oil workers’ strike in support of Abiola’s presumed mandate was also crushed and over the next two years, the military junta ruthlessly stabilized its reign.

Reigniting the flames of resistance required the united efforts of a now clearly divided radical and revolutionary left. DA was central to establishing the United Action for Democracy (UAD) on 17 May 1997. UAD took up the gauntlet of radical mobilization by organizing a ‘5-million-man march’ in opposition to a ‘2 million-man-march’ in support of Abacha, who had taken up the reins of power in November 1993. But the Joint Action Congress of Nigeria (JACON) also emerged as a rival coalition to the UAD. It was organized around the NCP in rivalry with the DA’s UAD project.

Despite being political parties that were formed and forged in the crucible of struggle to end the military dictatorship, when Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 neither DA nor NCP, nor indeed any other section of the radical left in the 1990s democracy movement found much success at the ballot box. The civilian wing of the ruling class took over the reins of power. Or better put, retired generals-turned-politicians took off their uniforms and retained power in civilian clothes.

Traditional politicians of the sort that had been actively involved in partisan politics since independence were late comers to the democracy movement of the 1990s. This set of politicians had collaborated with the military junta at each stage in the period leading to and immediately after the annulment of the 1993 election. Several times from 1989 to 1993, the military changed the rules of the political transition programme. At such times, politicians did not raise any objections. On the contrary, they just wanted to be clear that the junta would leave power. In 1993, for instance, Abiola claimed that he had gotten clearance from the then-military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, before running for the presidency. And when General Babangida annulled the same elections, the leadership of the presumed ‘Social Democratic Party’ accepted the annulment without any objection.

It was in this context that Abiola and the leadership of Campaign for Democracy gave tacit support to the military coup of November 1993 which brought Sani Abacha to power. They were under the illusion that the junta would set things right by rolling back the June 12 annulment. In 1994, when it became clear that Abacha was keen on holding on to power, the pro-June 12 section of the civilian political class and elements of the radical pro-democracy movement around CD established the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).

NADECO adopted the ‘sovereign national conference’ slogan, which the radical left had previously advocated, but modified its underlying ideas. The earlier vision of an SNC was based on overthrowing the elites. The national question was considered secondary. NADECO made the national question primary in subsequent narratives of the SNC, reflecting elite politicians’ penchant for the political mobilization of ethnic and regional identity.

But it was not only these politicians who promoted this redefinition of the SNC agenda. Radical Yoruba ethno-nationalist groups like O’odua Youth Movement, O’odua People’s Congress and Apaapo omo O’odua were established or supported by some socialist groups. With demands that ranged from autonomy to secession, such groups became allies of the political elite in prioritizing resolution of the national question.

 

DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION AND THE LEFT IN NIGERIA

The 1940s was a period of intense anti-colonial organizing in Nigeria. The emerging socialist left played important roles in these struggles. This radical force punched very much above its weight, combining the vibrancy of multiple groups including the trade union movement, nationalist parties, and the revolutionary youth movement into a cohesive struggle against colonial rule.

By the 1950s, the trade union movement in Nigeria became divided along ideological lines. The movement had split in 1948 over continued affiliation to the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), a nationalist party. Moderates within the movement argued that trade unions should not be partisan and overturned the affiliation.

Younger radical trade unionists and likeminded youths in the nationalist movement built the Zikist National Vanguard as a revolutionary wing of the NCNC. In 1948, the Zikist movement issued the pamphlet, ‘A Call for Revolution’, which was presented by Osita Agwuna, a Zikist leader, at a well-attended public lecture chaired by Anthony Enahoro, a leading publicist of the nationalist movement. In 1949, there was an assassination attempt on the life of Sir Hugh Foot, the Chief Secretary to the colonial government at the time. This event opened the floodgates of repression and the eventual suppression of the Zikists.

The Macpherson constitution of 1951 signalled the pending exit of the colonialists. Nationalist politicians, who by now saw power on the horizons, became less inclined to pursue a revolutionary pathway to independence. They, thus, gradually cut their ties with the radical trade unions that had earlier supported them.

Ethnicity replaced in politics what had been the pan-Nigerian agenda of the preceding decade’s nationalist movement. The burgeoning indigenous bourgeois class rallied their ethnic and regional kinsmen behind the three major parties: Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), Action Group (AG) and the NCNC.

The Nigerian left established alternatives to the three major political parties, such as the United Working People’s Party, Convention People’s Party and even a Communist Party of Nigeria, but few of these parties gained much traction. It was only after Nigeria gained independence from Great Britain that party-building efforts on the organized left began to take on some level of significance.

The Nigerian left’s democratic project remained anti-imperialist in the immediate post-colonial period of the First Republic (1960-1966). The newly independent Nigerian state’s pandering to the whims of its former colonial overseers, as demonstrated with the Anglo-Nigerian Defense Pact, helped to solidify this position against Britain’s neo-colonial influence in the country.

This period also marked the beginnings of a schism between the socialists rooted in the trade unions and the academia-based Nigerian left. The trio of Wahab Goodluck, Dapo Fatogun, and S. U. Bassey emerged as guardians of the trade union left with the formation of the Nigeria Trade Union Congress (NTUC) in 1957. NTUC defined itself as a Marxist-Leninist trade union body and worked assiduously with the Nigeria Youth Congress to form the Socialist Workers and Farmers Party (SWAFP) in 1963.

SWAFP was arguably the most successful left partisan project in the country in the 1960s. It had the support of the Soviet Union, and published a bi-weekly newspaper, Advance, which was influential in Nigeria’s working-class movement. But SWAFP did not last as a united project of the Nigerian left. Within a year of its formation, there was a split in its ranks which resulted in the formation of the Nigeria Labour Party (NLP) in 1964. While the NLP was headed by Michael Imoudu, who was also a trade unionist, the majority of its leadership—including Ola Oni, Eskor Toyo and Baba Omojola—reflected the growing importance of the left outside the trade unions.

The anti-imperialist politics and democratic revolution that thrived in the 1940s and 1950s lost considerable momentum in the period beginning with Nigeria’s first republic and then onto the 1966 coup and subsequent civil war. Leftists tried to rally together after the civil war, particularly during the transition to the Second Republic (1979-1983), but they ran into immense difficulties. After a series of All-Nigeria Socialist Conferences in Zaria and Lagos from 1977 to 1978, two parties emerged reflecting the makeup of the SWAFP and NLP: the Socialist Working People’s Party (SWPP) and the Socialist Party of Workers, Farmers and Youth, respectively. But neither party successfully registered for the 1979 elections (the military junta had introduced party registration to weed out parties and candidates it disfavoured).

During the Second Republic (1979-1983), democratic principles and political, social and economic freedoms remained under attack, despite the ostensible return of the military to the barracks. The Alliance for Democratic Rights (ADR) was constituted in 1983. It included the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) and some fronts of left groups. The ADR was eventually dissolved in the aftermath of the December 1983 coup, and it was not until after the subsequent short-lived regime led by General Muhammadu Buhari that the Nigerian left would pick up the pieces of political organizing in furtherance of a democratic revolution.

 

PRELUDE TO JUNE 12: THE EMERGENCE OF THE PRO-DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime (1985-1993) governed with a mixture of disillusionment and hope, repression and co-optation, carrots and sticks. All part of a strategy to confuse his opponents, with moves such as in 1986 when he appeared to give in to popular opposition to the IMF—only to later introduce a structural adjustment programme similar to that of the Bretton Woods institution.

A similar ploy was Babangida’s creation, in 1986, of a political bureau and national discourse on the social and economic system Nigerians wanted for the future, only to suppress the report of the bureau which captured the desire expressed by Nigerians for socialism.

Repression by the Babangida regime became more widespread after the first year of his rule. Human rights NGOs sprung up to challenge the regime, beginning with the Civil Liberties Organization which was formed in October 1987. Two years later, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) was also inaugurated. (The CDHR had initially started as ‘Free Femi Aborisade Committee’, constituted to advocate for the release of Femi Aborisade, a socialist activist and editor of the Trotskyist Labour Militant newspaper.)

During this period, other broad realignments were taking place within the socialist left, many of them influenced by global events. Such events included glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union, and the eventual collapse of the union and the broader Eastern Bloc. Generational shifts also had an important impact on the shape these realignments took. The younger generation of socialists in the 1980s were more receptive to ideas that had, at best, been on the margins in the Nigerian left movement for decades such as Trotskyism and Anarchism.

The SWAFP/SWPP political tradition was not growing its membership and would soon die a natural death. The NLP/SPWFY renewed itself by drawing in new members, to become the Socialist Revolutionary Vanguard (SRV) in 1989. 

Meanwhile, however, a new academia-oriented left had emerged with the growth of universities and the radicalization of the university teachers’ union. This radicalization was marked by the transformation of the more conservative National Association of University Teachers (NAUT) to the Academic Staff of Universities Union (ASUU) in 1978. ASUU activists gave birth to the Socialist Congress of Nigeria (SCON) at its founding congress in Sokoto in 1986.

Revolutionary socialist left groups outside the Marxist-Leninist mould also flourished. The Trotskyist Labour Militant, the Anarchist Awareness League (AL) and the International Socialist May 31st Movement (M31M) were all formed in this period.

Elsewhere in Nigeria, the continued environmental degradation and economic extraction of the Niger Delta was challenged by local communities in the region. The most celebrated and best organized of these efforts was the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), led by the writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa. MOSOP led protests and organized campaigns against Shell, the major international oil company in Nigeria. MOSOP held a deep reservoir of support among the Ogonis and exercised this support in several ways, including by organizing a boycott of the 1993 election.

By 1990, Alao Aka-Bashorun, a radical activist and former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, declared that the Babangida junta had ‘a hidden agenda’ behind its transition programme. The actual intent, Aka-Bashorun suggested, was for Babangida to transform into a civilian president. Echoing those concerns, the Nigerian left rejected the legitimacy of Babangida’s transition programme. In line with similar sovereign national conferences that were common across West and Central Africa when the countries in those regions experienced their own democratic transitions, the Nigerian left demanded the dissolution of the military government and the convoking of an SNC.

As a means of institutionalizing its social-democratic agenda, an umbrella coalition of various left-wing groups was formed in 1991 under the name ‘Campaign for Democracy’. While SCON was the dominant group within this coalition, it nonetheless brought together different elements of the democratic resistance to military rule in Nigeria. The human rights committee was involved, with Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti of the CDHR becoming the chairperson of CD. Organizations of radical ethnic minority groups like MOSOP were also affiliated with CD, with Ken Saro-Wiwa elected to the umbrella group’s national leadership.

During the period between its formation in 1991 and the June 1993 presidential election, CD declared three times that it would convoke an SNC, with all such declarations failing to materialize. For the most part, CD’s visibility was confined to releasing press statements and hosting symposiums. CD needed a moment like June 12 to inject the dose of momentum it needed to become a mass movement. But the June 12 movement itself might not have emerged as an organized force in 1993, if a body like CD was not already available to amplify June 12’s revolutionary potential.

THE SIX-YEAR REVOLUTION AND ITS DISCONTENTS

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC) were the only two political parties Babangida’s regime allowed to contest in the June 12 presidential election. Both parties, including SDP, accepted the eventual annulment. But it was CD, which had unsuccessfully called for a boycott of the elections, that seized the moment to roar into action.

CD called for mass protests on 5 July 1993 to demand a reversal of the annulment. CD leaders expected anything between 5,000 and 10,000 people on the streets in Lagos. But the numbers of people that joined the demonstration far outstripped this.

The next six years could best be understood as three unequal phases: 1993-94 were the heady days of uprising. This wave was countered by the General Sani Abacha junta which consolidated itself in the 1995-96 period. Then 1997-99 saw a shaky new balance of power that was resolved effectively with the deaths of Abacha and Abiola, within a month of each other. 

It must be noted that there was no singular radical left agenda. On the contrary, the diverse elements of the Nigerian left were split down the line in the wake of sharp debates on what the strategic approach to the conflict between the pro-June 12 political elites and those backing continued military rule should be.

One of the key areas of disagreement on the left was the degree of support the left should lend to Abiola—the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election. Some on the left argued for unreserved support of Abiola, while those within the Trotskyist-Labour Militant camp argued for a more restrained ‘critical support’. But this position lost sight of the fact that Abiola was deeply conscious of his class position. He was not ready to align himself with a revolutionary movement that could upturn the system he had benefited from and helped to build, simply because he wanted to be president of the country.

For instance, Abiola chose to meet with Babangida overnight rather than await the arrival of protesters to his house on 5 July 1993. It was only after the insistence of the crowd that Abiola briefly showed up to address us (I was one of the protesters). In November 1993, Justice Dolapo Akinsanya judged that the interim national government was illegal and, consequently, there were pro-Abiola demonstrations. But Abiola asked students to return home. He was, instead, in cahoots with Abacha, supporting a putsch as the way to reclaim his mandate.

Uncritical support for Abiola’s mandate as a Yoruba politician also paved the way for the formation of O’odua self-determination groups, including the O’odua Youth Movement, in September 1994. Over the next few years, similar movements—including the O’odua People’s Congress and the O’odua Liberation Movement—emerged as the Abacha regime, which had seized power in a November 1993 coup, consolidated its hold on power. The argument for democratic revolution and socialism was slowly replaced with one for self-determination, including secession.

Fissures within the various left groups were reflected in the splintering of the Campaign for Democracy in February 1994. The factions committed to broader goals beyond the validation of Abiola’s mandate left the Campaign for Democracy and later formed the Democratic Alternative (DA), a party modelled after South Africa’s ANC. The DA aimed to gain power through the ballot or organized civil disobedience. Chima Ubani was a central figure in the DA and its politics. He was a tireless organizer with an amiable disposition who was respected across the different divides of the left. He helped build CD from the scratch as the coalition’s General Secretary. While he led the faction which left CD in 1994, he maintained relatively cordial relations with many of those he left and was thus able to win some of them to join in forming UAD in 1997. The National Conscience Party was formed by Chief Gani Fawehinmi and his supporters on 1 October 1994. It stood in defence of the Abiola mandate but declared itself interested in power as well, presenting a ‘10-Care Programme’ as its manifesto to fulfil its motto: ‘abolition of poverty’.

Before these splinter groups could develop some momentum, however, the Abacha regime sprung into repression, beginning with the breakup of the 1994 oil workers’ strike.

By 1997, when Abacha’s civilian transition programme was well underway, the need for realignment of radical left forces, if the democracy movement was to realize its goals, was palpable. This led to the formation of new coalitions: UAD and JACON. The DA was the inspiration behind UAD, while NCP was the primary organization in JACON.

But neither of these two parties or any other formations on the left would benefit from the democratization that ushered in the Fourth Republic (1999-present).

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE LEFT; WHAT NEXT?

Many factors explain the rise and fall of the left with ‘June 12’. Infighting and a lack of lasting unity was definitely a major factor. But much more than this was the fact that, even when left-wing organizations were formally reconstituted as parties, they found it difficult to muster resources and adequately seize political opportunity structures.

Some arguments in this same direction would reduce the contest for power to the electoral realm. But even those would lose sight of the fact that winning office does not necessarily amount to winning power. Radical parties cannot reduce their struggle for power to electoral contests. But they need to see protests as one aspect of building nationwide political structures. Electoral contests might not be sufficient to consolidate democracies, but they are necessary for building power to bring about an alternative system through mass action.

The left is yet to adequately address the challenges posed in the June 12 period. In 2019, one-tenth of the 73 parties on the presidential election ballot were arguably on the left. And yet their cumulative votes did not account for up to 0.2 per cent of the total votes. At best, the Africa Action Congress led by Omoyele Sowore secured around 0.1 per cent of the votes. The AAC is also the only leftist party that has been able to mobilize for protests on the streets in several states of Nigeria.

As Nigeria heads towards the 2023 election, there will likely be several leftist candidates’ names on the ballot. But such candidates will not have a meaningful impact on the country’s politics if they do not have a critical mass base. Genuine efforts at building programmatic unity would be invaluable for building such a base.  

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Baba Aye Disable advertisements : 

File photo used to illustrate story.

The Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād faction of the Boko Haram fighters has appointed Ameer Hassan as its new “governor of the Mandara Hills” in Borno State.
A counterinsurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, disclosed this in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

File photo used to illustrate story.

The new governor, Hassan was said to have replaced Ummate Ma also known as Muhamma after he was eliminated along with some of his fighters in a rival clash with the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP), in June 2022.
The appointment was announced by the Boko Haram Ameerul Fiyah Mallam Ali Ngulde, the overall leader of the terror group leading the Mandara Hills in the Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State, Makama said.
Ngulde is one of the notorious terror leaders of the Boko Haram and has been on the most wanted list of the Nigerian military for the past six years.
“In April 13, 2022, Ngulde was rumoured to have been killed when troops of the Special Forces of Operation Hadin Kai dismantled his stronghold killing some of his fighters and forcing many other Jihadists to surrender to the Nigerian troops.
“Findings from some of the surrendered insurgents revealed that Ndulde was still alive noting that during the deadly encounter with troops, he escaped through the axis of Cinana Gwoshe, Barawa and Agaba before crossing over to Cameroon axis where he is currently hiding.
“The new appointment and leadership of Amir Hassan was expected to trigger a wave of planned and directed attacks against soft civilian and military positions especially in the route between Banki to Gwoza town,” Makama said.

Boko Haram Terrorism News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

President Muhammadu Buhari has again called on western allies to designate the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation.

Buhari disclosed this in his written responses to questions posed by Bloomberg News.

The President accused IPOB of pipeline and infrastructure vandalism.

“Criminality and terrorism in oil-producing regions hamper production, and it would help if our western allies designated IPOB as a terrorist group, given their complicity in damage to pipelines and infrastructure,” he said.

“We have invested in our security forces, including the $1 billion military deal with the U.S. for the acquisition of A-29 Super Tucano aircraft.

“These efforts are making an impact: wells that had to be closed due to criminality have now re-opened. With these efforts, OPEC has raised our quota for next month.

“We urge those same international partners to take additional steps costing them nothing, by proscribing another group – IPOB – as a terrorist organisation.

“Their leadership enjoys haven in the West, broadcasting hate speech into Nigeria from London, spending millions lobbying members of the US Congress, and freely using international financial networks to arm agitators on the ground. This must stop.”

In 2017, the Nigerian government proscribed IPOB, designating it a terrorist organisation.

In recent times, the proscribed group has been accused of perpetrating violent attacks in the South-East in order to achieve its secession agenda but IPOB has repeatedly denied being behind the attacks.

Insecurity Insurgency Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

A former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, has said that the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, should not waste his time and resources in contesting for president.

According to Aliyu during an interview on Channels TV on Tuesday, Tinubu should have supported a younger candidate like the Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi to win the party’s presidential ticket.

“Bola Tinubu a good friend, I don't think he should waste his time now, and I think he should reserve his resources for another thing and I thought that it would have been better for him to have sponsored younger people into this win. He has the governor of Ekiti, Fayemi, he has other young people that he could have sponsored and allowed it happen, no matter what he thought he could do to Nigeria, these people would do it better,” Aliyu said.

Aliyu also reiterated that the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, would have been the best candidate for the APC presidential ticket because he had learnt enough lessons as the Vice President.

"His (Tinubu’s) outburst in Abeokuta; I don't think any person can say in Nigeria of today of 200million people, this is my turn. It is never your turn; even if you want to say, it's the turn of the people or of your own, let's even put it that way, then put all what that's has happened given all the ethnic groups in Nigeria, the North-East, North-Central, South-East has never had a presidency in Nigeria, even if that's a claim to be made; these are the zones that could make such a claim but for you to think because you have helped somebody to be and therefore it must be your turn, agreement was not written. There was no evidence that there was an agreement that was written for somebody to say it's my turn.

“If it's your turn in the APC that's your own problem but that's not for Nigerians. Nigerians will come to decide what is best for them given what we have gone through,” Babangida noted.

Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

A United States college basketball star identified as Darius Lee was killed and eight other people were injured in a mass shooting in Harlem, Manhattan on Sunday night.

The US police revealed that they had not made any arrests in relation to the incident.

Darius Lee was a 2018 graduate of St. Raymond High School in the Bronx. He was set to graduate from Houston Baptist University next year.

Lee made his family, friends, coaches, and teammates proud, and they honoured him Monday night in Harlem and Houston.

The victim's family members were pictured holding each other in agony Monday, to mourn the deceased.

The police confirmed that people were out having a barbecue, and a group was also filming a music video when investigators believed some kind of dispute broke out between two rival gangs.

According to an eyewitness, the gunshots echoed along the Harlem River Drive and West 139th Street.

"Many in rapid succession; around 40 or 50 shots in such a short span of time," he said.

Then he said he saw almost 100 people fleeing, running like a stampede.

The police further disclosed that a gun was recovered at the scene, but it was unclear if it was one of the weapons used to carry out the mass shooting.

Darius Lee was one of the nine people shot overnight on Fifth Avenue and 139th Street. The scene was very close to where Lee lived.

His sister heard the shots and instinctively feared the worst.

“She called. He didn't answer. She called again. He didn't answer. His best friend called his mom and said, 'I'm sorry.' She said 'Sorry for what?' He said, 'I'm sorry, Darius was shot,'" Eric Lee, his brother said to CBS2.”

International News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

Fredrick Nwabufo

The unravelings of the past seven years should jolt us to sombre reality, if for any reason we are still in the thrall of propagandised political chicanery. Any candidate who makes his election campaign about fighting corruption without antecedented commitment to this end and without a clear plan and strategy is thoroughly lying. Fighting corruption takes grueling years of institutional and attitudinal reforms – beginning from the very top to the bottom. And it takes gravitas and the tearing down of the current system.
President Muhammadu Buhari came to power on a broom flight to clean up the much-noised miasma of corruption in the Jonathan administration. Settling in, the Buhari government quickly applied itself to pseudo-reformist proselytising. The government caterwauled over how the Jonathan administration magicked the public treasury into exclusive pockets. The biggest news headline at the time was -- STOLEN $2.1bn ARMS FUND.
Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA), was the first casualty of the Buhari anti-corruption blitz. The government accused him of being the wheel from where corruption in the Jonathan administration gyrated. His office was accused of diverting $2.1 billion earmarked for arms purchase.
The Buhari government incarcerated Dasuki illegally, denying him the right to defend himself in court. And days segued into months and months into years – they held him. It became clear that the administration’s war was not against corruption but against perceived adversaries. It also became obvious that the anti-corruption crusade was only to excite Nigerians and to deflect citizens’ interrogation from the government’s failings. The arms probe has now gone the way of others before it – to the netherworld of hypocrisy – where all probes go to die.
Also, as those accused of partaking in the communal sleaze under Jonathan were put in the dock, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under Ibrahim Magu, dispatched its utilities to securing conviction in the media instead of the court. The arraignment of ex-public officers was well-noised to whet the appetite of Nigerians who were hungry to see those who stole from them chalk up time and penitence in jail. But it ended there – just noise. Some of the ex-military officers whom the anti-graft agency charged for allegedly tucking into the $2.1 billion arms ‘scam’ are free men today, and even the so-called loot has been reportedly re-looted by the hirelings of the current government.
We exist in a Dickensian society. Those entrusted with securing citizens against public theft are themselves crooks in Messianic raiment. The watchdogs are themselves bloodhounds and vampires.

Fredrick Nwabufo
Where is Babachir Lawal? The case of the former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) has been sputtering to asphyxiation in court. Lawal was accused of awarding contracts worth over N500 million to himself, but the disgraced former SGF is back in the political highlife, giving lectures on ‘’good governance and corruption’’ and campaigning for politicians seeking elective office.
In October 2021, the Pandora Papers Project led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published grubby details of sleaze involving Nigerian public officers.
Nigerians, both current and former public officers, were named ignominiously in reports revealing how the Nigerian elite evade tax, perjure, loot, and shore up questionable wealth in tax havens.
A public servant who was recently appointed as the head of a critical government agency by the Buhari administration was reported to have purchased a piece of property worth 475,000 pounds in London, UK, after he was appointed as an executive director at the agency in 2017. The asset is said to be his largest single investment in the UK property market. This public officer was initially appointed in acting capacity, but President Buhari approved his appointment as substantive managing director of the agency in February 2022 – despite the revelations by the Pandora Papers.
The EFCC recently announced it arrested Ahmed Idris, suspended accountant-general of the federation, over alleged misappropriation of N80 billion. Idris is alleged to have purchased a stretch of property in Abuja and Kano while in office. But the trajectory of this case is clear. It will go the way of others before it – to the netherworld of official compromise and collusion.  
Nigeria’s corruption respects diversity and federal character. Resources and public goods may not be equitably distributed among all Nigerians, and even political offices could be sectionalised, but on corruption, there is always a geographical balance. There is always a perfect ethnic representation at the table of loot. Where true democracy is at play among the Nigerian elite is on corruption. On corruption, there is common ground. Corruption is the centrifugal force pulling all together in the council of interests. Democratised corruption.
The reality is corruption cannot be fought without institutional and attitudinal reforms as well as personal example, sincerity, commitment, clear plan and strategy by members of the highest level of leadership and those at the subnational level down to the residual rung. Any Nigerian leader who seeks to dare the undared must be willing to be unpopular.
Nigerians must beware of candidates who come in the name of fighting corruption – without any visible strategy. They know it will excite the people. But beware.
By Fredrick Nwabufo; Nwabufo aka Mr OneNigeria is a writer and journalist.

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Fredrick Nwabufo Disable advertisements : 

If care is not taken, Labour Party candidate Peter Obi will degenerate from the darling of the 2023 election to a comic relief fit only for punctuating our elongated predicament.

I’m seriously warning any serious-minded Nigerian who cares to listen that this seemingly serious former Anambra governor could turn out to be a serious joke.

Visit INEC registration centres and see how young Nigerians are lining up under harsh weather conditions to get enlisted for voter cards. The candidates these young men and women have seemingly decided to pitch their tents with must repay that energy with a serious presidential campaign.

Obi’s current run of form reeks of unseriousness. And his latest interview, the one he had on Sunday with Oseni Rufai, was indicative of this flippant trajectory.

Our favourite presidential candidate was commended for his brilliant ideas and asked if he’d be articulating them in a policy document, aka ‘manifesto’. Obi’s response drew my laughter and I began wondering if his entire campaign wasone big joke many were yet to appreciate.

“When people talk about my manifesto and my this, I’ve done it somewhere. I don’t need to go and start putting glossy papers,” Obi said when Rufai pointed out that people were asking to see his manifesto.

Obi said people should go to Anambra and see what he has ‘practicalized’ there and consider it a precursor to what he would do if elected president. He then outlined some of Nigeria’s problems. When asked how he would fix the problem, Obi said ‘go to Anambra’.

“But you’re still going to give us a document,” Rufai insisted. Obi continued to insinuate that such would not be necessary because those who provided manifestos in the past did not deliver on their promises.

“How are you going to fix it,” Rufai asked about the problems Obi outlined regarding education. “Of course, go to Anambra,” Obi said. They did a back and forth until Rufai, I want to assume, decided it was better to allow the candidate hang himself.

A repercussion of Obi’s laughable disdain for a policy document was exposed when the candidate was asked about restructuring and state police. Instead of providing a coherent answer, he just rambled from one anchorless idea to another.

Obi becomes president tomorrow and says we should just trust him and let him run the country without a constitution? If you think that is an exaggeration, you didn’t follow the political campaign of Nigeria’s worst president.

Nigerians were disillusioned with the Goodluck Jonathan administration, and rightly so. But Muhammadu Buhari and his package managers from the South were able to misdirect that public discontent behind a Cinderella candidate who has now been in Aso Rock for almost eight years without publishing a single manifesto. We are the consequences.

When Buhari began implementing his ‘unmanifestoed’ agenda, his own wife had to cry out that her husband had been hijacked by two men who were swimming against the tide of the ruling party’s platform.

If we don’t start holding Obi accountable now, we won’t be able to do if he is elected president. And a manifesto provides us with an avenue to begin evaluating the ideas of a president wannabe before they are implemented.

If Obi’s insistence on the irrelevance of a manifesto is a joke, he needs to come out within the week and make that clear so that we can start taking him for a clown. Any failure to commit to releasing a manifesto before next year’s poll would amount to an insult on the millions of young Nigerians who are sacrificing flesh and blood to register to vote just because Obi is on the ballot.

All he needs to do is sit down with his team of experts and put some coherence into his ideas, and then put those ideas on paper. Any serious candidate who isn’t a placeholder for either of the monster political parties would not find this task unneeded.

Obi should be very careful. The anger on the streets has, thankfully, been converted into the political energy we all have been calling for. Young Nigerians are ready to vote. If Obi messes this up, the love many have for him can easily morph into its antithesis.

Congratulations to him for performing excellently well as a two-term governor. But Nigeria is not Anambra. You cannot run a country as complex as ours on ‘go and verify’. If that’s all you’d say to those asking for a manifesto, then there is no difference between you and the ancestor who holds sway in Lagos.

Any crowd that doesn’t see the merit of this argument may be suffering from another variant of Buharideenism. And the stakes in 2023 are too high for that kind of deadly joke.

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Rotimi Akinola Disable advertisements : 

The Osun State chapter of the African Action Congress (AAC), has advised the youths to resist advances of wicked politicians in the state to use them as political machinery for ballot box snatching, vote-buying in July 16, Governorship Election.
A statement by the party's state Publicity Secretary, Akinlade Babatunde, issued on Tuesday, said that youths were known as nation-builders and architects of good society and not "mere four-year-based political tools in the hand of businessmen and profiteers who call themselves politicians."

Babatunde said, "While we appreciate the progressive participation of our Youths in the affairs of the state and Nigerian society as a whole, we also caution our future leaders from being used as a political machinery by rogues, corrupt and wicked-minded politicians of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the weakest opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state for any kind of political insincerity like snatching of ballot boxes, vote-buying, among others."
The party, however, admonished the people of the state to collect their Permanent Voter's Card (PVC) at their respective INEC centres and to come out on the election day to decide the next governor of "our dear state.”

"We therefore urge workers, artisans, farmers and all individuals either participating in the upcoming governorship election or not to remain law-abiding and peaceful in the processes. Law enforcement agents are also tasked to take responsibility.

"As for us in AAC, we believe that the legitimacy of re-election and genuine victory at the poll can only be achieved by a ruling party via its achievements and performances recorded so far while in office and also on people's acceptance and not by buying votes from electorates using stolen public funds and unleashing terror at the polling units to disrupt the peaceful process as in the case of the just concluded Ekiti State governorship election.

"However, the genuine victory of an opposition party at the poll is measured by how much the party has struggled for and with the mass of the people affected by  policies in time past and present as the current Oyetola led government is known for giving fake promises and convincing lies to woo electorates to its  side.

"It is therefore, the constitutional responsibility of the Osun people to vote for candidate of their choice after many years of PDP and APC drama. AAC as an ideological based political party remain committed to fielding corrupt- free candidate now and in the future elections, it's now important that Osun State people vote for AAC and its candidate Olufemi Eniolapo Johnson (SOGBADERO) come July 16. This is necessary to save the future of the state and that of the people from the profiteering politicians who has turned our dear state to a political playing-ground where they come and display their political antics to steal public funds.

"Finally, as political parties are campaigning and holding campaign rallies for their candidates and parties squarely, we call on the law enforcement agencies, INEC and other election stakeholders to genuinely provide security for lives and properties and ensure free, fair, transparent and credible election for the people of Osun State."

  News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, new York Disable advertisements : 

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, has slammed President Muhammadu Buhari for hailing the ranking of the Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, as the best in Nigeria.
The Times Higher Education World Rankings had adjudged ABUAD the best varsity in Nigeria and 400th best in the world.

Buhari had in a statement by Femi Adesina on Monday lauded the university’s guiding principles of discipline, industry, determination, service, integrity, sound education and quality leadership.
The president had also said the Times Higher Education World Rankings further validated the resourcefulness of hardworking academics, particularly in research, and the diligence of students, who continuously stretched their bodies and minds to make history.
Responding to the remark, Sowore said it was unfortunate that the Buhari government would be commending the heroics of a private university when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was still on strike and public universities shut since February.

This is one of the most gut wrenching statements you could read from the President of any country. Here @mbuhari is praising a private university owned by an individual while Nigerian universities are on strike and none had attained any global standards since his coming to power! pic.twitter.com/qhpHbkVSea

— Omoyele Sowore (@YeleSowore) June 21, 2022
The AAC candidate also tackled the president over his inability to revamp the Nigerian university sector to attain any global standard since he came to power.
Sowore said, "This is one of the most gut-wrenching statements you could read from the President of any country. Here @mbuhari is praising a private university owned by an individual while Nigerian universities are on strike and none had attained any global standards since his coming to power.”
ASUU has been on strike for over four months to press home its demands.
The striking lecturers’ demands include funding for the revitalisation of public universities, Earned Academic Allowances, use of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.
Also, the non-teaching staff of universities including Non-Academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, SSANU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have embarked on industrial actions after the failure of the government to meet

Education News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, new York Disable advertisements : 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the All Progressives Congress House of Representatives candidate in the Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, Lanre A. Sanusi over alleged fraud.
SaharaReporters gathered that Sanusi was arrested following a petition against him by a logistics company, 4runner Limited.

He was also said to have allegedly diverted COVID-19 materials, hand sanitisers and face masks worth millions of dollars from Dallas City Government Hospital in the United States with the aid of two of his friends who were truck drivers and in charge of the materials.
SaharaReporters learnt that Sanusi in 2019 was disqualified from being a commissioner by the Lagos State House of Assembly for presenting a fake academic certificate allegedly issued by a university in the United States.
A petition to the anti-graft agency by 4runner Limited had read, “Lanre Sanusi engaged 4runner Limited through Mr. Femi Dada to source for Four(4) shipping containers of 40 feet to load Covid-19 materials such as face masks, an hand sanitisers, to ship it from the United States of America to Nigeria. To also, among other things, provide drivers, haulage companies with such containers specifications. To load the material from its location in Dallas down to the port where it will be finally shipped to Nigeria and Lanre on the other hand would take charge of the clearing and administrating the offloading in Nigeria.
“All this discussion and service agreement was made electronically through WhatsApp chats and calls (copy of the print out of the WhatsApp chats between Mr, Lanre Sanusi and Femi Dada is herby attached as Appendix A). While all this process was ongoing, the bill of charge accrued to $33,000.00 (Thirty Thousand American Dollars) as agreed sum that Mr. Lanre Sanusi would pay 4runner Limited through Mr Femi Dada. The breakdown of which was agreed to by both parties is on WhatsApp chat. All appeared to be well, containers were at the loading location, drivers too were available. We started loading the materials with Mr. Lanre Sanusi also assisting as every step being taken were carried out in his presence.
“He was physically involved all along till after two containers were fully loaded and moved to the port. Things begin to heat up when after the loaded container left United States of America for Lagos- Nigeria and Lanre was nowhere to be found. We made frantic efforts to reach him through all means available but it was to no avail. For days, our calls were not returned, chats sent to him were read and not replied. We became impatient and frustrated as the company’s reputation was being dragged in the mud. Our capital was also tied down as we have expended fund in this project, only for Lanre to abandon the project and disappeared into thin air after we had rendered the service, he engaged us for.
“Monetary commitment paid to us was even by his friend, Adebayo Godson ($1700.00 USD). At a time, we went confrontational with him but yielded no positive outcome. Subsequently, a request for payment was sent to Mr. Lanre Sanusi as well as invoice to properly demand for payment of the service rendered. (The copy of both herein attached as AppendixC). All this was done to ensure we recoup the capital and to know if he wished to continue with the project or otherwise.
“Consequently, Mr. Lanre Sanusi fraudulent, deceitful activity, unprofessional attitude and misrepresentation of fact on the whole project led to us carry out a background check of him amid investigate reasons why he abandoned the project midway, breached his agreement with us and unfortunately put our reputation and relationship with foreign contacts in jeopardy. Alas, our finding and discovery was very disturbing and alarming. We got to know that Mr. Lanre Sanusi fraudulently misrepresented facts about the project to us which is a criminal offence in Nigeria where our company is situated.
“The Covid-19 materials, hand sanitisers and face masks worth millions of dollars were actually diverted from Dallas City Government Hospital in the United States with the aid of two of his friends who are truck drivers and in charge of the materials.
“It should interest you to know that not only did Lanre abandon the materials shipped and the ones due to be shipped to Nigeria as he was campaigning to be a House of Representatives Member, representing Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency because his intention was to use it as campaign souvenirs, he intentionally set fire on the other materials; that is, those he has no capacity to ship to Nigeria. (Picture of the burnt materials is hereby attached as Appendix D). Reason for this act was because he got information that Covid-19 protocols in Nigeria has been relaxed and the uses of such materials as election souvenirs will not be much appreciated. This made him to discontinue the project without proper notice and bill of settlement.
“Our initial agreed invoice was $33,000.00 USD (Thirty-Three Thousand American Dollars) but the the huge demurrage and other service charges on the 3rd and 4th containers, coupled with the high exchange rate in Nigeria, the bill of charges is at present $51, 870.00 USD (Fifty-One Thousand, Eight Hundred and Seventy American Dollar).”

  News AddThis :  Original Author :  saharareporters, new york Disable advertisements : 

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Enugu State chapter, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Nigerian Army to fish out its personnel that reportedly killed, Master Eneh Chinemerem, a senior student of the Command's Secondary School.
The students' body warned that after the expiration of the ultimatum, if the culprit wasn't brought to face justice as the law demands, they would shut down the school and the 82 Division of Nigerian Army.

SaharaReporters had reported that a soldier, identified as Lieutenant Nweke, allegedly flogged Master Eneh, an SS1 student several times on the head and inflicted severe injuries on him for not cutting his hair.
Shortly after, his head reportedly got swollen and he was moved to several hospitals before he died as a result few days later.
His mother, Adaeze Chibuzo had taken to Nkanu People of Enugu State Nigeria Facebook platform to share the news with the pictures of the deceased showing a swollen head before his demise.
The Nigerian students’ body, in statement on Tuesday, described the degrading treatment and military brutalisation that led to the death of Master Eneh as uncalled for and unacceptable in a modern society, while demanding a thorough investigation.
NANS in the statement signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Comr. Ikechukwu Emmanuel Obi and Comr. Chinonso Emmanuel respectively regretted that the dreams and aspirations of the young boy had been dashed by the unprofessional conduct of a Nigerian soldier.
The statement partly reads, "It is with bitterness and utter disappointment that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Enugu State frowns at the inhuman actions meted on Master ENEH CHINEMEREM which later claimed his life.
"The suspect, Sir Nweke (as the students fondly called him) is a staff of Command Day Secondary School Enugu. It was reported that the deceased, Master Chinemerem Eneh - an SS2 Student of the same school was caught by the suspect on the 19/05/2022 for not having a clean haircut, brutalised the student with a stick.
"Chinemerem is a Nigerian student probably the future Samuel Chukwueze. Probably, this boy would have been the future SUG President of the almighty University of Nigeria, or probably the next Senator Representing Enugu West Senatorial District, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi or the next Bill Gates.
"But all his dreams and aspirations have been dashed into the thin air by the unprofessional conduct of Sir Nweke.
"At this point the National Association of Nigerian Students [NANS] Enugu State demands from the GOC 82 Division and the Government of Enugu State to immediately bring the culprit to law and visit the deceased family for immediate considerations and consolations.
"NANS Enugu also makes it bold here to state that over 30million Nigerian Students will have no option than to mobilise and shut down 82 Division if the GOC and the Government of Enugu State delay within seven working days to respond to this sad reality as we have demanded above."

 

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President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a list of ministerial nominees meant to replace the ministers who resigned their positions to contest for president and other positions in the 2023 general elections.
The Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, read President Buhari's letter on the Senate floor on Tuesday.

According to the letter, President Buhari said “In accordance with Section 8 Subsection 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, I hereby forward the underlisted ministerial nominees for your confirmation.”
The letter listed the nominees to include Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh from Abia State in the South-East region of Nigeria; Umana Okon Umana from Akwa Ibom State in South-South region; Egwumakama Joseph Nkama from Ebonyi State in the South-East region, Goodluck Nnana Opiah from Imo State in South-East region; Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub from Kano State in the North-East region; Ademola Adewole Adegoroye from Ondo State in the South-West region and Odum Odih from Rivers State in the South-South region.

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