THE human slaughter going on in Israel and Palestine are horrendous. In the first five days of the conflict, over 2,500 human beings were slaughtered. That is 500 per day. The Israelis tried to find their feet with many taking shelter in bunkers while the Palestinians whose food, fuel, water and electricity supplies have been cut off, have plenty supply of bombs from the skies.

Such a time of mass suffering and sorrow calls for empathy and demands of all to work for peace. Tragically, this is the time chosen by some political and religious leaders to take sides in the conflict and pour petrol in the raging fires. 

The Bible proclaimed in Mathew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” It is a declaration that anybody who wants to be Christ-like must work for the peaceful resolution of conflicts whenever they occur. The peacemaker is the one working to reconcile human beings with others and with God. It is an emphasis that He we serve is “The God of peace” (Romans15:33). While men like Pope Francis mourned the many killed and prayed for their families, and the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, took a similar line for peace, men of God like Dr. Enoch Adeboye who leads the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, took sides, praying for one of the sides in the conflict to triumph.

Adeboye with a PhD in Mathematics said he and his followers are praying for the victory of their ”Beloved Brothers in Israel”. What gibberish is this? Who are his beloved brothers in Israel; the 73.6 per cent that are Jewish, the 18.1 per cent that are Muslims, 1.9 per cent that are Christians or the 1.6 per cent Druze? Who told him that Israelites are Christians or that it is a Christian State? Adeboye prayed that: “The Almighty God, the only one of Israel will give you absolute victory and give you permanent peace from now…” Can there be permanent peace anywhere? In all these, I am ashamed that Adeboye did not consider the Palestinians or rather, does not think they and their children are human beings. 

With thousands dying and many more injured, Adeboye said: “We are praying we will get very, very good results very soon…” What good results can he be praying for? The annihilation of the Palestinians? Can the mass slaughter of human beings over land and politics bring ”good results”? Adeboye needs to ask for forgiveness and pray for peace for all humans impacted by this unnecessary conflict, be they Israelis or Palestinians.

He should also realise that as the General Overseer of the RCCG, his words carry weight, therefore, he needs to weigh  before uttering them. These were times that call for statesmen who can work for a quick ceasefire, bring both sides to the table and fashion out a programme to end the 80-year conflict. Tragically, what we find mainly are leaders whose primary objectives are taking sides and stocking the fires.

When renewed hostilities broke out on September 7, 2023, the first reaction of President Joe Biden was not how to bring the conflict which is eight decades old, to an end, but how to further prolong it. He assured Israel of rock solid support and military supplies. An old man like him ought to have learnt the good lessons of one of his predecessors, President Bill Clinton for whom the eruption of fresh conflicts between the two sides meant that there was little or no time to resolve the conflict. That was why he convened the 2000 Camp David Peace negotiations.

One of the men stoking the fires is American Republican politician, David Bog whose mainly false claims “Five times Palestinians rejected Israel’s olive branch –Time to rethink?” have gone viral. He purports to be a researcher but  his main book ‘Standing With Israel’ has been found to be quite unreliable.  In a review of the book in the Journal of Church and State, Nikolas  K. Gvosdev wrote that the book: “suffers from the fact that its author wants to make definitive statements on a variety of issues while ignoring inconvenient details.”

In the said video, Bog claims that Israel has offered the Palestinians a state of their own five times and that five times have the Palestinians turned it down. He claimed the first time was in 1936 when Arabs rebelled against the British colonialists who had seized the areas from the Ottoman Empire. If the areas were colonised by the British, and there was no Jewish state, how could the Jews have been in a position to offer the Palestinians a state of their own?

The second instance he claimed, was in 1947 when the United Nations suggested a two-state solution. In other words, such an offer came either from the UN or the British colonial masters, certainly not from Israel. Any one conversant with the history of the Middle East knows that at that time, Jewish immigrants who came from Europe and were trying to set up a Jewish State, were involved in armed conflicts against their Palestinian neigbours and the British colonialists. One of the most infamous acts of this group was the July 22, 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in which 91 died, including 25 Britons, 41 Arabs and 17 Jews. The bombing was by the Irgun terror group led by Menachem Begin who became the Prime Minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983.

 At the time of the bombing, the hotel’s southern wing housed the headquarters of the British Colonial administration. The bombing was part of the attempt by the Jewish group to force the British out. So how could Israel have offered the Palestinians a state and how could the latter have declined the offer? He said that after the 1967 war, the Arab states ruled out negotiations with Israel. How does this tantamount to an offer and rejection of statehood by Palestinians.

Bog claimed the fourth time was the Camp David Accord. Anyone can google this. There was no agreement at Camp David so there could have been neither an offer nor rejection of statehood. The only Bog claim that is correct is that in 2008, Israel offered the Palestinians statehood, but their leader Mahmoud Abass declined on the basis that he should be given the chance to study the map produced by Israel before accepting the offer. This to me was a sensible demand.

It is not surprising that Iran supports Hamas. Can this be a justification for Britain, which created the problems in the Middle East, to support Israel? Children, women, the elderly are dying in this conflict; the immediate task of humanity is to stop the slaughter.

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of new Chief Executive Officers, CEOs, of several agencies and parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale on Saturday said the appointments were in line with his resolve to base Nigeria’s economic revival on the foundation of trade expansion through small, medium and large scale industry facilitation in the country.

The new CEOs are : Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN, Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, Afiz Ogun Oluwatoyin, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Kamar Bakrin, National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) and
Olufemi Ogunyemi, Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA).

Others are, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) — Nonye Ayeni, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) — Aisha Rimi, Oil & Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) — Bamanga Usman Jada, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) — Charles Odii.

The President also appointed Ifeanyi Chukwunonso Okeke as CEO Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Rabiu Olowo, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), Anthony Atuche, CFA,
Nigeria Commodities Exchange (NCE);

“Veronica Safiya Ndanusa, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFCMB), Lucia Shittu, Tafawa Balewa Square Management Board (TBSMB) and Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC).

The statement further said, “In view of the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration, President Bola Tinubu expects all new appointees in this critical sector to optimally deliver in accordance with new key performance indicating benchmarks as established by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

“By this directive of the President, all of the above listed appointments take immediate effect.”

[Vanguard]

The ex -Governor of Ekiti state, Dr. John Oluwakayode Fayemi, from Isan Ekiti has admitted what we knew all along, that liberal democracy is not working in this country.

He has previously served as governor of Ekiti state between 2010 and 2014 and also served as Minister of Solid Minerals Development under President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR from November 11, 2015 to May 30, 2018 before he resigned to contest for a second term as Governor of Ekiti state. He handed over as governor to his chosen successor, Mr. Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji(55) on October 16 last year.

 At present, he is a lecturer at Kings College, University of London, his former school. After completing his studies at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, he joined THE GUARDIAN newspaper, before venturing into academics and later into politics.

On Tuesday September 5, this year, he made the admission on liberal democracy while delivering a key note address at a national dialogue organised to celebrate the 60th birthday of Prof Udenta Udenta, founding national secretary of Alliance for Democracy (AD).

While speaking at the event, the ex-governor criticised the “winner-takes-all” nature of Nigeria’s democracy stating that the nation’s current challenges could not be effectively addressed without adopting proportional representation, where election rewards are distributed among contestants based on their share of the vote.

“Today, I read former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s interview in The Cable saying our liberal democracy is not working and we need to revisit it, and I agree with him. We must move from the political alternatives. I think we are almost on a dead end of that.”

“What we need is alternative politics, and my own notion of alternative politics is that you can’t have 35 per cent of the vote and take 100 per cent. It won’t work! We must look at proportional representation so that the party that is said to have won 21 per cent of the votes will have 21 per cent of the government. Adversary politics bring division and enmity,” he said.

On a personal note, while I was working in Ibadan secretariat in the Ministry of Works and transport, Western state, his father’s office was opposite mine, the then Ministry of Information. When I switched to Journalism in early 1972, while working in the Nigerian Tribune, I used to visit his father, who took me like a junior brother.

His father was then working under Chief Festus Oladipo Shadare from Akure, who was then the Chief Information Officer in Western state. His dad’s colleagues at that time included my late friend, Femi Olurin from Ilaro in Ogun state, Chief Adewole Atandeyi (84), from Akure who retired as Chief Information officer in Ondo state, Mr. John Fademi (82) from Ijebu Ijesha in the present day Osun state and others.

General Yakubu Gowon (88) GCFR appointed Brigadier General Christopher Oluwole Rotimi(88), governor of Western state on April 1, 1971, likewise Brigadier Rotimi appointed Chief Samuel Kolawole Babalola(1931-2020) from Ipoti Ekiti as Commissioner for Health.

Dr. Fayemi’s father, Chief John Fadeyi Fayemi served as Information Officer under late Chief S.K Babalola. Dr Fayemi’s parents were then living at Agodi in Ibadan.

 Chief Fayemi retired as a zonal information officer when Ekiti state was created. He died in 2009 at 86, just before his son became governor.

My keen interest in Dr. Fayemi grew when he went into politics in this republic and fortunate enough he has had his own share in serving the people, both at the national level and the state level. No one can predict his political future. What he has said deserved some commentary. The question I will like to ask, is who gave us this liberal democracy we are practicing?

Out of office, if these two men (Dr. Kayode Fayemi and former President Olusegun Obasanjo) are today questioning the validity of our liberal democracy, we should be worried. Afterwards empiricism in the philosophy of science emphasizes evidence, especially as discovered in experiments. It is a fundamental part of the scientific method that all hypotheses and theories must be tested against observations of the natural world rather than resisting solely on a prior reasoning, intuition, or revelation. Empiricism, often used by natural scientists, says that “knowledge is based on experience” and that knowledge is tentative and probabilistic, subject to continued revision and falsification”. Empirical research, including experiments and validated measurement tools, guides the scientific method.

It is often said that it is those who wears the shoes that know where the shoes pinches.

If former President Obasanjo, who was part of the Supreme Military Council that imposed on us this Presidential System of government is part of those complaining today about liberal democracy, we have to note that something is wrong. You may not like the messenger but you must examine the message.

Except for the President, the governors, legislators and their aides including Ministers and Commissioners and probably friends, no one is benefitting from the liberal democracy. The people are getting impoverished everyday. It is no exaggeration that there is extreme poverty in the land irrespective of who is leading us. I wonder why we are sticking to this type of democracy that is not yielding results and making us more miserable. Is there no alternative? And why must we recite every script on liberal democracy? Can’t we adopt another system of government that will be beneficial to us all? We have to admit that the liberal democracy is not working in our interest at all.

 Nigerians are of the few people in the world who have never had a say in how they are being governed. What has happened in Nigeria and what is presently happening is enough to bring a revolution in other parts of the world. Everything has been imposed on us.

There are other alternatives to liberal democracy. We have Noocracy- a democracy in which only the wise and competent are allowed to stand and vote, Sociocracy- a democratic system of governance based on consent decision making, circle organization, subsidiarity and double-linked representation, New Democracy- Maoist concept based on Mao Zedong’s “Bloc of Four Classes theory in post-revolutionary China, Market democracy– another name for democratic capitalism, an economic ideology based on a tripartite arrangement of a market-based economy based predominantly on economic incentives through free markets, a democratic polity and a liberal moral-cultural system which encourages pluralism.

Others are Participatory democracy – involves more lay citizen participation in decision making and offers greater political representation than traditional representative democracy, e.g., wider control of proxies given to representatives by those who get directly involved and actually participate, Semi-direct democracy – representative democracy with instruments, elements, and/or features of  direct democracy and Grassroots democracy – emphasizes trust in small decentralized units at the municipal government level, possibly using urban secession to establish the formal legal authority to make decisions made at this local level binding.

Let us look at what liberal democracy means. According to Wikipedia, “Liberal democracy, substantive democracy or western democracy is a form of government that combines the structure of a representative democracy with the principles of liberal political philosophy. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into different branches of government, the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society, a market economy with private property, universal suffrage, and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights,  civil liberties and political freedoms for all people. To define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either codified or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. The purpose of a constitution is often seen as a limit on the authority of the government. A liberal democracy may take various and mixed constitutional forms: it may be a constitutional monarchy (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom) or a republic (France, India, Ireland, the United States). It may have a parliamentary system (Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, the United Kingdom), a presidential system (Indonesia, the United States), or a semi-presidential system (France). Liberal democracies are contrasted with illiberal democracies and with dictatorships.

Liberal democracy traces its origins—and its name—to the Age of Enlightenment. The conventional views supporting monarchies and aristocracies were challenged at first by a relatively small group of Enlightenment intellectuals, who believed that human affairs should be guided by reason and principles of liberty and equality. They argued that all people are created equal and therefore political authority cannot be justified on the basis of noble blood, a supposed privileged connection to God or any other characteristic that is alleged to make one person superior to others. They further argued that governments exist to serve the people—not vice versa—and that laws should apply to those who govern as well as to the governed (a concept known as rule of law). Some of these ideas began to be expressed in England in the 17th century. By the late 18th century, leading philosophers such as John Locke had published works that spread around the European continent and beyond. These ideas and beliefs influenced the American Revolution and the French Revolution. After a period of expansion in the second half of the 20th century, liberal democracy became a prevalent political system in the world.

Liberal democracy emphasizes the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and a system of checks and balances between branches of government. Multi-party systems with at least two persistent, viable political parties are characteristic of liberal democracies. In Europe, liberal democracies are likely to emphasize the importance of the state being a Rechtsstaat, i.e. a state that follows the principle of rule of law. Governmental authority is legitimately exercised only in accordance with written, publicly disclosed laws adopted and enforced in accordance with established procedure. Many democracies use federalism, also known as vertical separation of powers, in order to prevent abuse and increase public input by dividing governing powers between municipal, provincial and national governments (e.g. Germany, where the federal government assumes the main legislative responsibilities and the federated Länder assume many executive tasks). The characteristics of liberal democracies are associated with increased political stability, lower corruption, better management of resources, and better health indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality.

John Locke was the first to develop a liberal philosophy as he coherently described the elementary principles of the liberal movement, such as the right to private property and the consent of the governed. The Agreement of the People (1647), a manifesto for political change proposed by the Levellers during the English Civil War, called for freedom of religion, frequent convening of Parliament and equality under the law

Liberal democracy traces its origins—and its name—to the European 18th-century, also known as the Age of Enlightenment. At the time, the vast majority of European states were monarchies, with political power held either by the monarch or the aristocracy. The possibility of democracy had not been a seriously considered political theory since classical antiquity and the widely held belief was that democracies would be inherently unstable and chaotic in their policies due to the changing whims of the people. It was further believed that democracy was contrary to human nature, as human beings were seen to be inherently evil, violent and in need of a strong leader to restrain their destructive impulses. Many European monarchs held that their power had been ordained by God and that questioning their right to rule was tantamount to blasphemy.

These conventional views were challenged at first by a relatively small group of Enlightenment intellectuals, who believed that human affairs should be guided by reason and principles of liberty and equality. They argued that all people are created equal and therefore political authority cannot be justified on the basis of noble blood, a supposed privileged connection to God or any other characteristic that is alleged to make one person superior to others. They further argued that governments exist to serve the people—not vice versa—and that laws should apply to those who govern as well as to the governed (a concept known as rule of law).

Some of these ideas began to be expressed in England in the 17th century. There was renewed interest in Magna Carta, and passage of the Petition of Right in 1628 and Habeas Corpus Act in 1679 established certain liberties for subjects. The idea of a political party took form with groups debating rights to political representation during the Putney Debates of 1647. After the English Civil Wars (1642–1651) and the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Bill of Rights was enacted in 1689, which codified certain rights and liberties. The Bill set out the requirement for regular elections, rules for freedom of speech in Parliament and limited the power of the monarch, ensuring that, unlike almost all of Europe at the time, royal absolutism would not prevail. This led to significant social change in Britain in terms of the position of individuals in society and the growing power of Parliament in relation to the monarch.

By the late 18th century, leading philosophers of the day had published works that spread around the European continent and beyond. One of the most influential of these philosophers was English empiricist John Locke, who refuted monarchical absolutism in his Two Treatises of Government. According to Locke, individuals entered into a social contract with a state, surrendering some of their liberties in exchange for the protection of their natural rights. Locke advanced that governments were only legitimate if they maintained the consent of the governed and that citizens had the right to instigate a rebellion against their government if that government acted against their interests. These ideas and beliefs influenced the American Revolution and the French Revolution, which gave birth to the philosophy of liberalism and instituted forms of government that attempted to put the principles of the Enlightenment philosophers into practice.

When the first prototypical liberal democracies were founded, the liberals themselves were viewed as an extreme and rather dangerous fringe group that threatened international peace and stability. The conservative monarchists who opposed liberalism and democracy saw themselves as defenders of traditional values and the natural order of things and their criticism of democracy seemed vindicated when Napoleon Bonaparte took control of the young French Republic, reorganized it into the first French Empire and proceeded to conquer most of Europe. Napoleon was eventually defeated and the Holy Alliance was formed in Europe to prevent any further spread of liberalism or democracy.

However, liberal democratic ideals soon became widespread among the general population and over the 19th century traditional monarchy was forced on a continuous defensive and withdrawal. The Dominions of the British Empire became laboratories for liberal democracy from the mid 19th century onward. In Canada, responsible government began in the 1840s and in Australia and New Zealand, parliamentary government elected by male suffrage and secret ballot was established from the 1850s and female suffrage achieved from the 1890s.

Reforms and revolutions helped move most European countries towards liberal democracy. Liberalism ceased being a fringe opinion and joined the political mainstream. At the same time, a number of non-liberal ideologies developed that took the concept of liberal democracy and made it their own. The political spectrum changed; traditional monarchy became more and more a fringe view and liberal democracy became more and more mainstream. By the end of the 19th century, liberal democracy was no longer only a liberal idea, but an idea supported by many different ideologies. After World War I and especially after World War II, liberal democracy achieved a dominant position among theories of government and is now endorsed by the vast majority of the political spectrum.

Although liberal democracy was originally put forward by Enlightenment liberals, the relationship between democracy and liberalism has been controversial since the beginning and was problematized in the 20th century. In his book Freedom and Equality in a Liberal Democratic State, Jasper Doomen posited that freedom and equality are necessary for a liberal democracy. In his book The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama says that since the French Revolution, liberal democracy has repeatedly proven to be a fundamentally better system (ethically, politically, economically) than any of the alternatives, and that democracy will become more and more prevalent in the long term, although it may suffer temporary setbacks. The research institute Freedom House today simply defines liberal democracy as an electoral democracy also protecting civil liberties”.

When the colonialists arrived in our land years ago, they brought the bible and this thing called liberal democracy. We never resisted. They took away our tradition and stripped us naked. We retained the Bible but the colonialists have abandoned the Bible for us.

 We married the parliamentary system of democracy until the ARMY terminated it January 15, 1966. The military then imposed the Presidential System of government on us, we did not resist it. The military on their own terminated it on December 31, 1983 and they restored it on May 29, 1999. Since then, we have been fumbling and wobbling with this system of government.

I am happy Dr. Fayemi described our democracy as “winner takes all democracy”. We all know what a winner takes all, entails.

In the Middle East, what is being practiced is no more democracy but autocratic pragmatism. They are no longer following the rules and dictates of the so called western democracy.

In an article published by the British magazine, THE ECONIMIST, in its September 15 to 22 edition, it was quoted as saying “If you thought the Middle East was stagnant, think again. The gulf economies are among the richest and most vibrant on the planet, helped by a Brent crude oil price that rose back to over $90 per barrel this week. A $3.5 trillion fossil-fuel bonanza is being spent on everything from home-grown artificial intelligence models and shiny new cities in the desert, to filling the coffers of giant sovereign-wealth funds that roam the world’s capital market looking for ideals.

As for the cash flows in, the chaos shows signs of receding, thanks to the biggest burst of diplomacy for decades. Saudi Arabia and Iran have negotiated détente in a rivalry that has lasted since the Iranian revolution in 1979. Civil wars in Syria and Yemen are killing fewer people, as their sponsors seek de-escalation. Following the Abraham accords between Israel and some Arab governments, Saudi Arabia is considering recognizing the Jewish state, 75 years after its creation. The region’s global clout is rising— four countries are about to join the BRICS club of non-aligned powers that want a less Western-dominated world.

As our briefing explains, these shifts begin a new chapter in the Middle East marked by fresh opportunities and new dangers. The region’s leaders are testing ideas that have caught on in much of the world, including embracing autocratic pragmatism as a substitute for democracy, and multipolar diplomacy instead of the post-1945 American-led order. The Middle East is also a place where threats that will menace the world in the 2030s may play out early, including nuclear proliferation, extreme weather and even greater inequality, as weak countries fall further behind.

Many occupants of the White House have left office wishing they could forget all about the Middle East. But whether you run a super-power or a small business, it matters as much as ever. Although it has only 6% of the world’s people, it has a chokehold on the global economy. As the lowest-cost oil producer, its share of crude exports is 46% and rising. Its share of exports of liquefied natural gas, in great demand since Russia’s pipelines to Europe shut down, is 30% and going up, too. Thanks to its location, 30% of all container trade and 16% of air cargo passes through the region. With $3trillion of assets, its sovereign-wealth funds are among the world’s largest. Its wars and disorder often spill across borders; its refugees affect politics as far away as Europe.

The past two decades have been miserable in the Middle East. Democratic project ended in failure and bloodshed, in Iraq after the American-led invasion of 2003 and in several countries after the Arab spring in 2011. Islamic State sought to kill its way to creating a caliphate, while in Syria Bashar al-Assad doused his own people in chlorine and nerve agents.

Yet now, as the fighting ebbs, three big changes are visible. First, the region is having to take more responsibility for its own security, as America’s appetite to intervene militarily has evaporated. Alongside this, trade patterns have become multipolar: the IMF reckons 26% of Middle Eastern goods exports exports to China and India, almost double the level in 2000 and roughly twice the share headed for America and Europe. Recently, the geopolitical alignment has led to a desire to de-escalate conflicts.

Second, the energy transition creates an urgent need to escape the familiar patterns of oil booms and busts. Instead there is a powerful incentive for the Gulf to lift fossil-fuel production in the next decade before demand dwindles permanently, and spend the proceeds on diversifying local economies.

The final shift is a weariness in public opinion. Political experiments, whether democratic or islamist, are tarnished. Instead, people across the Middle East yearn for economic opportunity. Forget Canada or Sweden: polls show the country young Arabs  admire most is the UAE, with its stability and thriving economy under iron-fisted dynastic rule. At the same time, less Western involvement in security and trade also means less pressure for human rights or democracy”.

There is a Yoruba adage that says “no one will tell the blind that the market is over until he or she hears no sound”. This liberal democracy is ruining us.

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of new Chief Executive Officers of several agencies and parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, in line with his resolve to base Nigeria's economic revival on the foundation of trade expansion through small, medium and large scale industry facilitation in the country:

Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) — Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN

Industrial Training Fund (ITF) — Afiz Ogun Oluwatoyin

National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) — Kamar Bakrin

Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) — Olufemi Ogunyemi

Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) — Nonye Ayeni

Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) — Aisha Rimi

Oil & Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) — Bamanga Usman Jada

Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) — Charles Odii

Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) — Ifeanyi Chukwunonso Okeke

Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) — Rabiu Olowo

Nigeria Commodities Exchange (NCE) — Anthony Atuche, CFA

Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFCMB) — Veronica Safiya Ndanusa

Tafawa Balewa Square Management Board (TBSMB) — Lucia Shittu

National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) — Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin

In view of the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration, President Bola Tinubu expects all new appointees in this critical sector to optimally deliver in accordance with new key performance indicating benchmarks as established by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

By this directive of the President, all of the above listed appointments take immediate effect.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

October 13, 2023

The Labour Party has dismissed claims by one of its expelled members, Abayomi Arabambi, that the party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has discrepancies in his certificates.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, in a telephone interview with Vanguard on Thursday, said, “Arabambi, is obviously doing the bidding of his paymasters who are desperate to destroy our party and distract Nigerians from further querying the less than transparent credentials of President Bola Tinubu.

“He should try something else. Our candidate, Peter Gregory Obi, is a known figure whose parentage, birth, schools attended and record of public service, has never been in dispute.

“Like our candidate himself said publicly yesterday, some of his mates at the University of Nigeria Nsukka are alive. In fact, they are holding high office in the management team of the University today, this can be verified.

“His certificates are in public domain and can be scrutinized by any interested Nigerian.

Obi has not and will not hire a battery of lawyers to try to block the release of his academic records- he has released them himself. We challenge Arabambi’s principal to do the same and save our nation further embarrassment.”

The Parish Priest of St. Joseph Catholic Jootar, Ukum Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Faustinus Gundu has allegedly been killed by thunderstrike.

Details of the incident, which was reported on the Facebook post of a social media influencer known as Mbee and several others, is still sketchy but it was gathered that the incident allegedly occurred Thursday afternoon in Jootar.

The Catholic Priest popularly known as Fr. Albino was reported to have allegedly suffered a heart attack after thunder struck in the area.

He was said to have rushed out to pick a towel outside his residence when it started raining but fell and remained motionless in the rain until he was discovered by servants who rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was confirmed dead.

At the time of this report no official statement has been issued on the matter by the Church in Benue state and no one was willing to volunteer information on the issue.

Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene who confirmed receiving information on the issue said she could not confirm if the Priest died as a result of thunderstrike.

She said, “I received the report but they alleged thunder. It is until we investigate before that would be concluded.”

The deceased was said to have served in different parishes across the state and Katsina-Ala LGA in particular before being posted to serve at St. Joseph Church, Jootar in Ukum LGA of the state.

Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro has admitted that the Eagles will face a tough test against Saudi Arabia when both sides clash in an international friendly at the Estádio Municipal de Portimao, Portugal on Friday (today).

The three-time African champions also play Mozambique at the same venue on Monday.

The Eagles and the Asians have met just once, another friendly that ended in a 0-0 stalemate in 2010 in Austria.

Interestingly, Peseiro was in the opposite dugout as coach of Saudi Arabia in that encounter but he says they have a better squad now under new Italian manager Roberto Mancini.

Speaking exclusively to PUNCH Sports Extra, Eagles coach Peserio said the game against the Green Falcons would be a good test for his side as they prepare for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers next month.

The Eagles begin their World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in November.

“It will be a good preparatory game against a good team, which will be very useful for my team’s qualification for the World Cup,” Peserio said.

“The Saudi Arabian team has players with technical quality, who like to play an associative game and are now stronger than when I coached them.

“Saudi Arabia was the last team to defeat Argentina, so it will certainly be a tough game, which we will use to improve our organisation.”

The Indigenous People of Biafra has secured a court victory for about seven supporters of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, said to have been arrested and illegally held in various detention centres by security agencies.

Kanu’s counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said the court did not only discharged the IPOB supporters but also awarded N130m in damages in their favour against security agencies.

According to the lawyer, in the charge marked ‘FHC/ABJ/CR/475/2021, Justice M.O. Olajuwon of the Federal High Court in Abuja discharged Maria Ezediaro “of all frivolous criminal allegation/charge brought against her before the court.”

Ejiofor said, “She was arrested on February 26, 2021 when she visited the State CID, Owerri, Imo State Command to give food and medication to her friend who was detained there, and was subsequently transferred to the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team detention facility in ‘Abattoir’, Abuja, where she was subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment, severe torture and degradation.

“However, following the refusal of the police to release her or charge her to court, we filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit on her behalf before the Federal High Court Abuja.

“Still on our application, she was granted bail by the court on April 21, 2022 and consequently released to us upon perfection of the bail conditions.

On October 10, 2023, following our application and submissions before the court, the Federal High Court, Abuja per Hon. Justice M.O. Olajuwon struck out the four counts of terrorism filed against Mrs Maria Ezediaro and consequently discharged her.

“Also Justice V.S. Gaba of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja discharged the Pastor of the Holy Trinity Sabbath Church, Orlu Imo State, Cletus Nwachukwu Egole; his wife, Ifeyinwa Egole; a prophet of Jewish Faith, Michael Uba, Ugochukwu Samuel; and Raphael Idang. The court also granted them N100m compensatory damages against the police.”

They were said to have been arrested and subsequently paraded by the Imo State Command of the Nigeria Police on March 21, 2021, and subsequently transferred to the IGP Intelligence Response Team detention facility in “Abattoir”, Abuja.

“Justice Z.B. Abubakar of the Federal High Court in Abuja also ordered the release of Ngozichukwu Ada-Dav and awarded N30m compensatory damages in her favour,” he said.

“Ada-Dav was arrested in June 2021 by a team of fully-armed operatives of the Nigeria Police Force and thereafter taken to the IGP/IRT located in Ikeja GRA, where she was detained in unlawful custody till July 3, 2021, when she was transferred to the Garki Command of the Nigeria Police, notoriously known as the Abattoir.”

Nigeria will begin their quest for a fourth Africa Cup of Nations title in 2024 against tournament hosts Ivory Coast alongside Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau.

The draw, which was conducted at at a colourful ceremony inside the brand-new Parc Des Expositions in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Thursday was hosted by global music star, AKON.

A heavyweight quartet of Africa’s biggest current and former football superstars, Didier Drogba, Mikel Obi, Sadio Mane and Achraf Hakimi supported the Confederation of Africa Football as draw assistants during the pairing.

The Super Eagles were seeded in Pot 2 following their drop in the FIFA rankings released in September.

By their seeding, the three-time African champions knew they faced the task of coming up against one of the top-seeded teams on the continent.

While they avoided a confrontation against the North African sides, Jose Peseiro’s men were, however, handed a tricky start to their campaign with a game against the Elephants.

The match at the 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan is one the most highly anticipated of the tournament’s group stage fixtures.

Ivory Coast have won the tournament on two occasions, first in 1992 and later in 2015.

Both sides were also in the same group in 1980 when Nigeria hosted the football showpiece with the game ending goalless.

In the other groups, record winners, Egypt were paired in Group B alongside Ghana, Cape Verde and Mozambique.

Group C has champions Senegal, 2002 winners Cameroon, Guinea and The Gambia.

Algeria will slug it out with Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Angola in Group D.

In Group E, Tunisia face Mali, South Africa and Namibia, while Group F has Morocco, who are ranked number one in Africa, DR Congo, Zambia and Tanzania.

Next year’s edition of the AFCON will take place from January 13 to February 11, 2024.

The host cities are Abidjan, Bouaké, Korhogo, San Pédro and Yamoussoukro.

Nigerian Mixed Martial Artist, Kamaru Usman, will face Sweden’s Khamzat Chimaev at the co-main event of UFC 294 scheduled to take place on October 21, 2023, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The late substitution was announced by UFC President, Dana White, on the championship’s social media handles Wednesday evening.

Usman nicknamed the Nigerian Nightmare, was not originally part of the UFC 294 fight card. The event was billed to feature Chimaev against Brazil’s Paulo Costa.

Following tests conducted on the fighters ahead of the Abu Dhabi showdown, Costa was deemed ineligible to compete due to an elbow injury.

Usman, who competes in the welterweight division, is now expected to make weight within the next ten days to fight Chimaev, who competes in the middleweight class.

The Edo-born mixed martial artist had impressed since signing with the UFC in 2015, going on a 19-match winning streak that saw him capture the welterweight title.

On August 20, 2022, Britain’s Leon Edwards scored a knockout with a head kick in the final minute of round 5 to end Usman’s long reign as champion in the division at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. The loss ended Usman’s 19-fight winning streak that extended over nine years.

Usman has not been in any in-ring competition since losing his rematch against Leon Edwards on March 19, 2023.