The Department of State Services (DSS) on Monday announced that the agency has uncovered plans by politicians to recruit students, youths and aggrieved groups to stage violent protests across the country.

The DSS disclosed this in a terse statement signed by its spokesperson, Peter Afunnaya.

The DSS noted that the plan by the organisers is aimed at discrediting the Federal Government and security agencies over sundry socio-economic matters.

“Intelligence reports have indicated that the plotters include certain politicians who are desperately mobilising unsuspecting student leaders, ethnic-based associations, youth and disgruntled groups for the planned action.

“Meanwhile, the Service has identified the ring leaders of the plot as well as sustained monitoring around them in order to deter them from plunging the country into anarchy,” the DSS said.

Consequently, the agency urged University Vice-Chancellors and Heads of Tertiary Institutions to discourage their students from engaging in acts capable of derailing public peace.

It also advised parents and guardians to admonish their children and wards to shun the lure of participating in inimical behaviours or conduct against law and order.

“While the DSS is aware of the Government’s efforts and determination to resolve some of the challenges confronting the nation, it warns those desirous of subverting national security to retrace their steps.

“This is more so that it will not hesitate to legally come against persons and groups behind the devious plans,” it added.

The Presidential Election Petition Court, sitting in Abuja, has granted permission for live telecast of its judgement on the three petitions that are seeking to remove President Bola Tinubu from office.

The court, in a statement that was signed by its Chief Registrar, Mr. Umar Bangari, said the decision was to ensure transparency and openness in its proceedings.

It, however, warned that only accredited individuals would be granted access into the court room on Wednesday which it has slated for the judgements.

“In a bid to promote transparency and openness, these judgements will be televised live by interested Television Stations for the public to follow.

“Access to the court premises will be strictly on accreditation. Only accredited individuals, including counsel and representatives of political parties will be granted access into the courtroom.

“Interested members of the public are advised to watch proceedings from their television sets,” the statement read.

The three petitions marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023, CA/PEPC/05/2023 and CA/PEPC/04/2023, were lodged before the court by the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi, a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as well as the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, respectively.

The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the court had on August 1, okayed the cases for judgement, after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has flagged off commercial operations of the Blue Line rail in the state.

The governor who arrived at the Marina train station at about 9.55 am, is currently onboard the train heading to Mile 2.

For the first four weeks, the rain will run only twelve trips with the locomotive system.

After one month, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) will commence electric-powered train operation with 76 trips, with an estimated passengers between 150,000 and 175,000, from 5.30 am to 11 pm on a daily basis.

Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is to be probed by a faction of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for allegedly misappropriating the sum of N1 billion.

The planned probe of the NNPP presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election is the latest development in the crisis rocking the party.

The NNPP faction led by Acting National Chairman Major Agbo, which announced the decision to probe Kwankwaso and some of his loyalists said the misappropriated sum was realised from the sale of nomination forms.

The Agbo-led faction had last week suspended Kwankwaso, and the Abba Kawu Alli-led National Working Committee (NWC) for six months.

However, the NWC, which is loyal to Kwankwaso, had earlier announced the expulsion of Agbo and chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT) Dr Boniface Aniebonam.

Both camps are accusing each other of engaging in anti-party activities.

But the crisis has taken a new twist with the Agbo-led faction accusing Kwankwaso of misappropriation of party funds.

The statement released by factional National Publicity Secretary, Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq, after a meeting at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja, said security agencies would be involved in probing the alleged misappropriation.

“The NNPP will conduct a thorough probe into the mismanagement of well over one billion naira raised from the sale of forms to aspirants from March 2022 to date.

“The meeting resolved to invite relevant security agencies to properly examine the accounts of the party with a view to demanding explanations from the party’s presidential candidate, the party’s chairman who left in March 2023, the sacked acting chairman, and the National Secretary.

“This is to restore the confidence of party members and candidates who came forward with their hard-earned money to purchase forms.”

The Agbo-led faction, in the statement, further accused a member of the Kwankwaso camp, Buba Galadima, of imposition of candidates and other acts of corruption.

The statement noted that Kwankwaso’s private residence was used as the party’s Situation Room during the election, in contravention of party rules.

“The party also queried the rationale for the location of the Situation Room in the presidential candidate’s personal residence.

“It noted that the illegal location created room for massive corruption and manipulation leading to the imposition of candidates by Buba Galadima and his co-travellers and resolved to set up a committee to launch a probe into it. It therefore called for written complaints from aggrieved candidates who were short changed after making payments for forms into the party’s account.”

The Agbo faction, in the same vein, alleged that other prospective aspirants were denied forms for the party’s presidential primary election, paving the way for Kwankwaso to emerge as the candidate.

“The party also resolved to query the rationale behind the denial of other presidential aspirants the right to purchase form and participate in the primary election that illegally produced Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso insisting that it was against the spirit of fairness and equity which our great party preaches.

“The party called on its numerous members and supporters to remain calm in the face of this brazen assault of the Kwankwasiya movement whose members were erroneously made to believe the party is sold to them and called on all aggrieved and displaced members who left for whatever reason to return home. The party resolved to overhaul its structures across all levels nationwide in the coming days and weeks,” the statement added.

In an exclusive interview with THE WHISTLER, Agbo had alleged that Kwankwaso did not bring any money to the NNPP.

“I haven’t seen Kwankwaso bring in any money. If he has, I am not aware of it,” Agbo told THE WHISTLER.

Agbo, who accused Kwankwaso of high-handedness, also said the former senator was planning to hijack the party from its founders, led by former chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) Aniebonam.

But Agbo also declared that the original owners of the NNPP have taken back their party, and as such, Kwankwaso and his group are on their own.

The authorities of the Nigeria Police Academy have maintained a deafening silence amid the controversy, and accusations of negligence and maltreatment surrounding the demise of A.S. Jika, a cadet from Adamawa, a member of course Nine at POLAC in Wudil, Kano State.

Jika, the son of Senator Alhaji Haliru Jika and former chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on police, died on the campus on Saturday.

The tragedy has sparked outcry on the running of POLAC, and the treatment of cadets. Some cadets and staff of POLAC who spoke to DAILY POST on condition of anonymity on Sunday, alleged that Jika’s death was caused by the negligence of the academy’s medical staff.

According to them, POLAC failed to take swift action when Jika, a cadet from the Department of Computer Science, complained of deteriorating health.

And they pointedly accused POLAC’s Commandant, AIG Sadiq Idris Abubakar of highhandedness in administering the Academy.

They told DAILY POST that cadets with health challenges are often scared to seek medical attention at the academy’s clinic because they fear they’ll not receive appropriate treatment, and they could also get dismissed from the academy..

One of the cadets revealed, “POLAC is not being truthful with what happened to Jika. This is because Jika would have lived if he got proper medical attention.

“Here in POLAC, the Commandant, AIG Abubakar, makes sure that any cadet that goes to the Academy clinic, for any other minor health reason is dismissed, or placed on indefinite suspension to avoid litigation.

“He terms such a cadet as a weakling and expels him. So, for this reason, cadets who are sick will, out of fear, conceal their illness until it gets out of hand.

“They (POLAC) claimed they treated Jika when he complained of ill health, but the truth is that there are no drugs, and no facility in the clinic,” the cadets told DAILY POST.

AIG Abubakar was also accused of being inhuman in his treatment of POLAC staff and cadets.

“Some of the things the Commandant has done is that he reduced the feeding ration of the cadets; he closed the academy market where the cadets buy food to augment their feeding. The market now opens only on Sundays.

“He has stopped the cadets’ allowances. The cadets are supposed to earn some allowances monthly, but where that did not happen, they are supposed to get cumulative money when they pass out from the Academy.

“But the latest ones that just passed out since August 12 this year have not been given anything up till now,” a POLAC staff revealed.

Another cadet also said, “We cadets are forbidden from using phones, (handsets), even when we are writing their projects; in this modern age that we are supposed to be exposed to high-tech information gadgets, many cadets have been dismissed over the use of phones.

“As at the last count, the Commandant has dismissed not less than 150 cadets since he assumed office in less than a year. He engages us in unnecessary strenuous training, and any cadet found with water after such exercise is also sent away from the school,” he lamented.

A source also alleged that the POLAC Commandant stretches them beyond working hours most of the time.

The source further alleged that, “The backline staff of senior staff, like personal/office assistants, cleaners, numbering not less than 300 have been sent out of the academy accommodation.

“If any senior staff of the school, particularly police officers, whether you are a Commissioner of Police, AC, CSP, etc, complain about your apartment, maybe the roof is leaking, he will simply ask you to use your salary to repair it.

“Jika’s death was caused by the carelessness with which they run POLAC”, the source lamented.

Meanwhile, POLAC authorities say the the cadet passed on after a brief illness.

This was contained in a statement issued on Sunday by Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Hussain Suleman on behalf of the Commandant of the academy, AIG Sadiq Abubakar.

He said that Jika, a cadet from the Department of Computer Science and native of Adamawa State, came down with an ailment, was treated and discharged at the academy’s clinic before he was admitted for the second time on the fateful Saturday where he eventually passed out.

“On 29th August, 2023, he sought medical attention at the Academy Clinic due to an ailment. Following a diligent course of treatment and his gradual recovery, he was certified fit and discharged by the Medical Doctor on call the next day, and tasked to return at regular intervals for checks which he adhered to.

“However, fate took an unforeseen turn. On 2nd September 2023, he was once again admitted to the clinic for further examination and care following a complaint of restlessness. Though his vitals were normal upon examination and all necessary medical steps were taken, we regrettably report his untimely passing.

“The Commandant of the Nigeria Police Academy, AIG Sadiq Idris Abubakar, extends his deepest condolences to the grieving family, friends, and loved ones of Cadet Sulaiman Jika.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this period of profound sorrow. May God Almighty grant them the strength and resilience to bear this heavy loss,” he said in the statement.

The authorities have remained silent on the allegations against the commandant.

And DAILY POST’s attempts to get a response from POLAC spokesperson, Suleman, were abortive as his phones remained switched off as of the time of filing this report.

[DailyPost]

“The fight in Lagos is not because the people are suffering; it is because politicians want to continue to eat. Before Obasa’s televised speech surfaced online, a member of the House had explained the philosophy of the politics of the Assembly and the reason for rejecting the “technocrats.” The member dipped deep into the pouch of esotericism to answer those who may be asking why politics would trump sound professionalism. He said “Babaláwo kò t’orí Orunmila se’fá (Babalawo did not procure his Ifa divination assets because of Orunmila)”. In plain language, what the gentleman said is that no one is in this business of politics because of God or man. It is for the self. The video of what that legislator said is online; the gentleman is quite lucid, you can listen to him.”

The people of Lagos should thank their stars that their state is not a country. If it were, it would have seen worse times than Gabon of the Bongo family. Even without being a country, Lagos already has big and small Bongos with each of them exacting worship from wayfarers and home-sitters. One of them is Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the state House of Assembly who was “seized by courage” last week while discussing the rejection of almost half of the commissioner-nominees submitted to him for confirmation by his “colleague”, the governor. Obasa said calmly that his House had “said no and it remains so.” I watched his video with a lot of sorry. Very regal Obasa winked into the cameras and in his royalty asked all of us to look into his eyes. “Do I look like someone who can be threatened?” He asked that question and smiled. He then warned “the man living in the glass house not to throw stones. If he throws stones, the glass will be shattered.” The Lagos State governor’s office is the “glass house.” The man who ‘lives’ there is Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

On July 25, 2023, Governor Sanwo-Olu submitted 39 names to the House of Assembly for screening and confirmation as commissioners. The Obasa-led House sat and rejected 17 of the nominees; it confirmed 22. I am not interested in the rejection or confirmation, success or otherwise of any of the nominees but I am interested in the rhetoric of the rejection and the sole coded reason for the rejection of the rejected: politics. The speaker dropped that information. He said by not confirming those 17, he was protecting his party. His words: “I am trying to protect my party and I will continue to do that. We are not going to sacrifice service to our people in the name of technocrats, no. We have said no and it remains so…” Then he asked us to “get this right”, that he and his people had their “constitutional responsibility” and had “exercised the responsibility by clearing some and denying some.” He said his House had its “reasons for saying no” which “people making inputs left and right do not know.”

The enemy of the House of Assembly is on the social media but Obasa spoke of his aversion to the social media. He, however, said he uses WhatsApp and then mentioned “back book, Facebook, Twitter and the rest.” He warned “fourth columnists” to stop their mischief. He said there was no basis for him to fight the governor: “The governor is a brother, is a friend, is a colleague in serving the people of Lagos State.” If you doubted the speaker’s superior pedigree to the governor’s, listen to him: “The governor has been around for long. He was SA to the former deputy governor, Otunba Femi Pedro. While he was serving as S.A. to the former deputy governor, I was in this House, (as) chairman, House Committee on Rural Development. He was S. A. Establishment, Pension; I was chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts (Local Governments). And when he was heading LSPDC, I was Chairman, House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget… (then) I was the speaker of this House. And, when he became the governor, I remain the speaker.” What Obasa did not say was louder than what he said. He is 50 years old, sixteen of those years as a lawmaker; he has been elected five times into the House of Assembly. Lagos has a mortar and pestle situation; you don’t use the pot to cover its cover. Lagos did; something will crack – or “will be shattered”, to use the speaker’s words.

Who really is the captain of the Lagos ship? Was that long story about who was what before now necessary? Is the fact of Obasa’s long years in the House of Assembly enough to put him at par with the governor? If all the governor had been in politics was a special adviser here and there, should that diminish him in the eyes of the lower rung of Lagos political ladder? Did our ancestors not say that admission into the sacred grove is not a criterion for becoming an elder? What I mean here is better said in Yoruba: kò d’ìgbà tí a bá wo igbó’rò k’a tó d’àgbà awo.” In any case, when a child has been invested with the sacred costume of his family masquerade, he has become an elder and must be accorded all the respect and reverence which that status demands. Why would Obasa use the eyes of yesterday to look at Sanwo-Olu, his boss and governor? Or is the governor of a state no longer the state’s number one citizen and the speaker number three?

Obasa had no apologies for being a politician and for promoting politics over competence and he said so: “They said we are placing politics ahead of technocrats. What technocrats? What do you mean by technocrat? Who is more technocrat than (we) in this hallowed chambers?…It is not about qualifications; it is not about experience. It is not about exposure. We are the representatives of the people; the mouthpiece, the ears and the sight of the people. So, we know what we looked for. You may have this degree, you may have that degree; it may not be enough. We are given a responsibility by the constitution and we have done what we believe was the best in deciding…They talked about so many people, technocrats, technocrats; what do you mean by technocrats? I am a politician and I will remain a politician. I am not going to deny that. We must understand what a political party is. It is about a group of people who aspire to gain power, so we have the power since 1999 and we have to sustain it. We must protect our party. We’ve had technocrats in the past and these would come and go but we will remain…”

You’ve heard Speaker Obasa speak dismissively about degrees, learning, qualifications, experience and professionalism. You heard him when he asked who else could be “more technocrat” than himself and members of the House. Lagos calls itself ‘Centre of Excellence.’ And, I also ask: What can be more excellent than being ruled by the knowledgeable? Lagos is a core part of Yorubaland, Nigeria’s pacesetter in matters of education and human capital development. In the whole of the 19th century (1800-1899), the entire area now called Nigeria produced eight medical doctors; seven of the eight were Yoruba. And, in case, you want to argue this point, I give the names of these pioneers in medical practice: There was William Davies who bagged the M.R.C.S. of England at King’s College, London in 1858 and became a medical doctor. There was Nathaniel King (1874), Obadiah Johnson (1884), John Randle (1888), Orisadipe Obasa (1891) and Akinsiku Leigh-Sodipe (1892). The last in that century was Oguntola Sapara who obtained the L.R.C.P. and S. of Edinburgh in 1895. He and the earlier six were all Yoruba. Africanus Horton (1858) was the only doctor who wasn’t Yoruba in that century. He was Igbo (see Adelola Adeleye’s ‘Some Early Nigerian Doctors’, in ‘Medical History’ ; 1974, vol. 18). The author, Adeleye himself, was a professor of Neurological Surgery. He was the second Nigerian to qualify as a neurological surgeon. The first in that field was Professor Emanuel Olatunde Alaba Olanrewaju Odeku. Both of them were Yoruba. In fact, Odeku was the first African neurosurgeon to be trained in the United States. He established the National and West African Postgraduate Medical Colleges. The same Yorubaland that produced all the above is now the proud producer of a Lagos State House of Assembly which has unabashedly elevated politics above education. Obasa said: “We are not going to sacrifice service to our people in the name of technocrats, no.” What is the meaning of “service to the people”?

The fight in Lagos is not because the people are suffering; it is because politicians want to continue to eat. Before Obasa’s televised speech surfaced online, a member of the House had explained the philosophy of the politics of the Assembly and the reason for rejecting the “technocrats.” The member dipped deep into the pouch of esotericism to answer those who may be asking why politics would trump sound professionalism. He said “Babaláwo kò t’orí Orunmila se’fá (Babalawo did not procure his Ifa divination assets because of Orunmila)”. In plain language, what the gentleman said is that no one is in this business of politics because of God or man. It is for the self. The video of what that legislator said is online; the gentleman is quite lucid, you can listen to him.

We are learning from Lagos. Everyone is in the racket of Nigeria for himself. What the House members were voted to protect is “the party”, not the people. Even then, I feel like asking them: How do you use this crisis, the self-disgrace to protect your party? It is like killing a person because you love them. It happened to a lineage in Yorubaland. Some oríkì lose their beauty in translation. One of such is this lineage with an ancestor who loved his wife so much he vowed that the rains must never beat her. He was on the farm with the wife, the skies were pitch dark and certain to rain. There was no tent, no hut to run into. Lover looked at his lady, at her beauty and her hairdo and remembered his vow. The rains may beat other parts of her body but not the head. What did the husband do? He neatly cut the head and put it in a pot, safe from the torrential rain. The rains came and ended but the wife’s head would no longer stand on the wife’s neck. You should remember hearing this in Ayinde Barrister’s elegy for Moshood Abiola: “Omo òjò sú/ l’a m’órí ìyàwó bò oko;/ Òjò dá tán,/ Orí ìyàwó ò dúró l’órùn mó…

Someone said Obasa and the House are confident in their politics because they believe the leaders of Lagos might be behind them. But has Obasa heard this proverb before: “A bá ni dá kìí bá ni dé’bè…(the one who encourages one to sin never follows one to answer the charges).” During the (Yoruba) Kiriji War of 1877 to 1893, an indulged slave of Aare Onakakanfo Momodu Latoosa insulted an Ibadan war chief. The war chief’s mother in Ibadan sent her son’s delicacy of èko to him at the war front. Aare Latoosa’s slave snatched the food from the messenger, ate it and damned the consequences. The slave had everything going for him because the Aare Onakakanfo was his boss. What happened to the impudent, insolent slave? I quote directly from Samuel Johnson’s The History of the Yorubas: “Unfortunately, the Aare took the matter lightly. Instead of dealing out sharp punishment to the slave, he left him to dispute the matter with the Seriki. He even attempted to shield him before the culprit was forcibly brought forward. The Seriki then asked him: “Did not the messenger tell you the things were mine”? He answered “Yes, he did, but how am I to know that he was speaking the truth when he said ‘it is the Seriki’s? I thought he was deceiving me.’ There was no apology made, his master looked on amused. The Seriki thereupon arose, unsheathed his sword, and with one sweep severed his head from his shoulders in the very presence of his master….All the war chiefs present neither moved nor said a word…The meeting was immediately adjourned” (see page 501-502). The slave was rude because he was aware that his boss loathed the war chief. But his death, Samuel Johnson said, left the Aare “imperturbable as usual.” The lesson there is encased in the proverb at the beginning of this paragraph.

In case the speaker thinks the House is wholly his in this matter, he should read the story of a Baale of Ibadan who lost all in 1914. Baale Irefin was pressured by his chiefs to write a petition against the Resident, Oyo Province, Captain Ross, and the Alaafin. He wrote and they all affixed their thumbprints to their text of complaints. But the chiefs later met the government and wrote a counter-petition disowning Irefin and his letter. They said the Baale forced them to put their thumbprints on the offensive document. Irefin lost his throne and his life. In that same Ibadan, there was also Balogun Ola who thought other chiefs were with him in the fight against negative colonial actions in Ibadan affairs. Ola had gone too far in the battle before he realised that he was alone; his colleagues had withdrawn from that cause. The Balogun lost his title and his life. He was asked to kill himself or leave the town. The one who preferred death to shame put himself to sleep one bad day in 1917. Ibadan’s history is a composite account of all manners of intrigues politicians are capable of. The records say so and that is why I cited those two cases as a sermon to the feuding strongmen of Lagos. There may be no winner in their fight.

I know that what the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly said elevates politics above learning, but
the members (and other politicians in all other states) will help their career by reading some books and articles of history. They should read: Oba Isaac Akinyele’s Iwe Itan Ibadan (1916/1981); Samuel Johnson’s The History of the Yorubas (1921/1966); Toyin Falola’s, The Political Economy of a Pre-colonial African State (1984); and his ‘Politics and Economy in Ibadan’ (1989). They should also read Ruth Watson’s ‘Civil Disorder is the Disease of Ibadan’ (2003); read Olufunke Adeboye’s “Iku Ya J’esin” (2007) and all others from Bolanle Awe, J.A. Atanda, R.C.C Law to J.D.Y. Peel and William Bascom. Reading a few pages in these texts may be their journey to Damascus; they may agree that playing politics is good but providing good governance is better. My final point is that politicians and their backers can take care of their party men without slamming the door on what Speaker Obasa sneered at, blindsided and called “qualifications, experience and exposure.”

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal is expected to pass its verdict on the February 25 presidential election in which Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) this September.

Naija News understands that there is so much anxiety across the country even as state tribunals are expected to also, in September, pass judgment on the petitions challenging the election of 25 state governors in the last poll.

Recall that governorship elections were held across 28 states on March 18, 2023. However, of the overall results of the polls announced by INEC, elections in 25 states are being contested.

In this regard, the tribunal panels are expected to deliver their judgments this month.

This publication understands that the tribunals sitting in Lagos, Sokoto, Delta, Kano, and 21 other states, as well as Abuja, had reserved their judgments after the parties concluded their hearings and adopted their written addresses in line with the Practice Direction for the election petitions issued by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen.

Some of the candidates and their political parties, who are apprehensive about the outcome of their petitions, are said to have resorted to prayers, while others issued cautionary words and admonitions to the courts to do what is right.

However, there are expectations that the Tribunal (s) may give their verdicts on the petitions on September 6.

It could be recalled that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, had in November 2022 sworn in 307 justices to handle the 2023 election petitions while an additional 39 justices were inaugurated on May 25, 2023, totalling 346, and they were expected to deliver judgments before September 16.

The PUNCH, in a recent publication, observed that By law, the 346 justices sitting on the panels were mandated to hand down their judgments 180 days after the filing of the petitions by the aggrieved candidates.

The publication quoted Section 285 (6) of the 1999 constitution, which provides that “an election tribunal shall deliver judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of filing of the petition.”

“The battle to free the LGs from the apron string of governors has been on for ages. The governors are reluctant to let go of the LGs. Interestingly, many of the LGs were also seen voting to retain their servitude to their State governors; thereby rejecting and compromising the efforts of the Federal Government and the National Assembly to set them free. Unless you understand how the awkward federal system that we operate here functions, you will wonder why! The battle to accord financial autonomy to LGs – and the Judiciary – has been thwarted by State governors and, interestingly, the Federal Government respectively. The reason for this is obvious. The Federal Government fears a strong and independent Judiciary even as State governors prefer pliant LGs that will be at their beck and call. State governments leverage on the funds shared for the LGs directly from the Federation Account. In addition, they appropriate the sources of IGR of LGs as well as usurp their functions to feather their own nest while stripping the LGs naked and leaving them at the mercy of State governors. It is said that the easiest funds to embezzle by State governors are LG funds.”

In many States of the Federation, the story is the same: State governors treat Local Governments as appendages and not the independent third tier of government that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) proposes them to be. The three tiers of government in the awkward Federal system that we operate are the Federal, State and Local Governments, each of which are supposed to be independent of each other, the head of which is supposed to wield executive powers; perhaps, it is to emphasize this fact that many of us still affix the needless “Executive” to presidents and governors! Thus we have “Executive President”; “Executive Governor! Embedded in “President” and “Governor” already is the notion of executive powers but to make assurance doubly sure, we still call the governor especially “Executive Governor”. A Local Government chairman also is an “Executive Chairman” since, he, too, like the president and governor, is vested with executive powers by the Constitution. Therefore, the Executives in the three tiers of government (Federal, State and LG) derive their powers from the same source. But that, unfortunately, is where the good news ends for the LGs. Whereas they are meant to be independent and free to run their show as they deem fit, everywhere they are shackled by the State governors.

The battle to free the LGs from the apron string of governors has been on for ages. The governors are reluctant to let go of the LGs. Interestingly, many of the LGs were also seen voting to retain their servitude to their State governors; thereby rejecting and compromising the efforts of the Federal Government and the National Assembly to set them free. Unless you understand how the awkward federal system that we operate here functions, you will wonder why! The battle to accord financial autonomy to LGs – and the Judiciary – has been thwarted by State governors and, interestingly, the Federal Government respectively. The reason for this is obvious. The Federal Government fears a strong and independent Judiciary even as State governors prefer pliant LGs that will be at their beck and call. State governments leverage on the funds shared for the LGs directly from the Federation Account. In addition, they appropriate the sources of IGR of LGs as well as usurp their functions to feather their own nest while stripping the LGs naked and leaving them at the mercy of State governors. It is said that the easiest funds to embezzle by State governors are LG funds.

Local government chairmen are handicapped because, in most cases, they are appointees of the governor. One of the very first actions of governors as they assume office is to dissolve the LGs and appoint Caretaker Committees. How can such appointees raise their voice against the appointing authority? In like manner, they dare not raise their head when the Oga at the top is chopping! They must wait patiently for the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. This is said to be one of the reasons why there is hardly any development in the local government areas that the LG chairmen can boast of. So, when a State governor tells you that he is the one “helping” or giving “subvention” to the LGs to bring development to their locality, know that it is just a fraction of Abu’s money that is being used to entertain Abu! In case you didn’t know, it is not only would-be governors that are taken before Okija shrine to swear to oaths of allegiance; many prospective LG chairmen are also made to swear on whatever – their mother or father’s grave or have their spouse and children or whatever is dearest to them placed on the line. That way, how can anyone hear a whimper from them? Even where elections are held, how many LG aspirants can make it without the backing of the governor? Remember what Satan told Jesus Christ in John 6:15!

Last week, however, one LG chairman dared to be different; he wrote a damning letter, not directly to the governor but to an elder of their party who also had been a two-term governor and someone who is touted to have the ears of the president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Was I surprised when I found out who the enfant terrible of a letter-writer was? No, not at all! Wale Adedayo, the LG chairman of Ijebu East, is as hard as nails. He did not meet me at PUNCH newspapers but his friend and one of the BB Boys, Mike Awe (bless his soul, O Lord!), brought him to my office at Ikeja Shopping Plaza one day and it cannot escape you that he has a charming and engaging personality. I understand he was one of the best Political Editors that PUNCH newspapers had. Our path crossed again years later when I was invited by my professional colleague, Kayode Samuel, to help with the repositioning of The Westerner newsmagazine. Kayode was Chief of Staff and later Commissioner of Information in the Otunba Gbenga Daniel (OGD) administration. I took up the task simply because of my love for Kayode, whom I respect as one of the best columnists of our time. I keep wondering that he chose to retire so early. As I prepared old Vanguard newspapers in my library for binding on Thursday, I came across some of Kayode’s flaming articles of yore. I will sit back and enjoy them again after this time out!

Wale Adedayo aka Babalawo was so helpful to me when I was the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Westerner newsmagazine and he the Chief Press Secretary to OGD; together with Awofolaju (bless his soul, O Lord!), Protocol Officer to the governor, whom I taught English Language in Form Two at Osogbo Grammar School, they helped me in every way they could. Wale availed me with his wealth of experience as an insider; I regret not making use of some of the nuggets of street-wise wisdom he offered me! He was a professional who had to imbibe the ways of politicians the hard way. I was a professional who stubbornly refused to learn the ways of politicians. Wale was touted to be very close to OGD; even at that, he was practical enough to know his limits as a minority in the cut-throat competition of cabals. All the same, he fell apart with OGD. Their relationship soured to the extent that Wale reportedly had to seek refuge at Bourdilion. All that is now history! The cat and dog relationship between Bola Ahmed Tinubu and OGD has given way to an enduring relationship of collaboration and partnership.

Wale, too, must have bounced back into reckoning to have become a LG chairman. Why did he decide to square up to Gov. Dapo Abiodun at this point in time when the governor is still at the crossroads? Is he fighting solo or are there unseen hands directing affairs from behind the scene? I must confess that I have no answer but two things I have learnt about politicians; nay three. One: Don’t take sides when they seemingly are fighting. They fight in the morning and settle at night. Two: No matter how altruistic or nationalistic politicians may pretend to be, there is always selfish interest at the base of most of the actions they take. Three: When a politician denies something, fix your gaze at that very something because there must be some truth in it for, as they say, there is no smoke without a fire. Or when a politician mounts the rooftop to accuse another politician of planning to commit a crime, know that he himself has just perfected his own plan to commit the same crime – or even a more heinous one! He is accusing the other fellow just to divert attention from himself!

So, in all of this, who is right and who is wrong: Wale accuses Gov. Abiodun of starving Ogun LGs of funds; the governor says there is no iota of truth in that. The other Ogun State LG chairmen have sided with the governor to say that Wale lied; and that they have not been starved of funds. In addition, they have all gone to the governor to apologise (for the embarrassment, I guess) that Wale’s (unfounded?) allegation might have caused His Excellency. For effect, Wale’s Ijebu East councillors have met and have pronounced him suspended for three months on allegations of maladministration and financial mismanagement. Responding, Wale has maintained that his LG received no such funds that his colleagues said they received and has asked the LG chairmen who went to beg to account for the funds they said they received from the governor. He has also called on the EFCC to step in and investigate the matter. In addition, Wale and his family are said to have gone into hiding, fearing for their life and safety. Protests – are they for or against? – are also said to have rocked the embattled LG.

This is not the right time for this kind of “rofo-rofo” fight from politicians, especially with military coups happening all around us. What if some people here, taking a cue, are already compiling their own excuses? I am sure you understand what I mean! So, let the Ogun politicians caution themselves. Failure, let higher authorities read them the Riot Act. This is not the right time for “two fighting”, as they say! Did you watch the video of the Ogun State LG chairmen prostrating to Gov. Dapo Abiodun? Regal and magisterial, the governor looked on as the third tier of government that is supposed to be independent, grovelled before him like errant school children before a village headmaster! It was a pitiable, horrible and appalling sight! What kind of characters are these? What leadership properly so-called can any one of these charlatans offer? Please tell me, is this democracy in action?

A man should be free to criticize his leader; that is the very essence of democracy. If he is wrong, say so and present the facts; that’s all! You don’t run him out of town for exercising his democratic right of freedom of expression. Or is Wale playing politics with his going into hiding? You don’t endanger a man’s life and put his entire family in jeopardy simply for speaking out. In fact, you should jump at the opportunity his speaking out offers by defending yourself with facts and figures and shining with it. If the Ijebu East councillors who took this material time to find out that their chairman is guilty of “maladministration and financial recklessness” are Yoruba, then, they should have little difficulty understanding that the witch that cried yesterday is the one that killed the child that died today! As our people would say: “Ejo l’owo n nu”!

Senior civil servants umbrella organisation – the Trade Union Congress (TUC) – will not join the strike call by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).

Naija News reports that the NLC is reportedly mobilizing for a two-day warning strike – for tomorrow and Wednesday – to protest against the federal government’s delay in implementing measures to cushion the hardship that resulted from fuel subsidy removal.

NLC President Joe Ajaero had on Friday said the decision was taken at its NEC meeting with the possibility of a “total shutdown” after 14 days.

The NLC explained that the decision followed the “failure of the Federal Government to dialogue and engage stakeholders within the organised labour on efforts to cushion the effects of the removal of petrol subsidy on the poor masses.”

Recall that the NLC and the TUC jointly staged protests in Abuja and state capitals over the subsidy removal on August 3.

But the TUC decided at its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Sunday that it would continue with dialogue with the government to ease the pain of petrol subsidy removal.

The TUC source, a NEC member, told The Nation that the union reasoned that the planned strike is “premature,” adding that joining the NLC in the strike would further put the interest of the masses at risk.

“The TUC feels there is no need to embark on a strike because we are still discussing with the Federal Government on the issue of palliatives for workers,” he said.

The TUC senior member berated the NLC leadership for slowing the pace of discussion between the Organised Labour and a Federal Government team led by Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.

The source said: “The TUC is not joining the NLC on that planned warning strike. The reason is because we are reaching out to the Federal Government. The government has already released palliatives to the states, and we are also expecting the government to release the one for federal workers.

“When we met with the Senate, the statement by the NLC that they don’t have confidence in the Chief of Staff to the President-led committee led to the suspension of that committee because the man (Femi Gbajabiamila) felt if the NLC doesn’t have confidence in him why should he be leading the committee when the outcome will not be palatable? That stalled the work of the committee.

“Now, there is a Minister of Labour and Employment (Simon Lalong), who is supposed to be the leader of the government team. There is an ongoing effort to interact with us to get results.

”We feel that it is not the right time to go on strike. When you go on strike, we will be putting the masses at the receiving end because the government has a way of navigating out of such matters.

”Again, the issue of strike should not be one-sided. It should be a joint effort by the two labour centres to agree before issuing a strike notice. One centre cannot claim superiority over the other centre. It is not done anywhere.

“You cannot announce a strike and then decide to bring us in. It is supposed to be a decision taken by the two centres.

”The NLC is free to go on strike on its own. We are different unions.”

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has won in all 18 Local Government Areas in the Edo State local government election held on Saturday, according to results released by the state independent electoral commission.

The election was held in all the 18 local government areas of the state covering Edo North, Edo Central and Edo South senatorial districts.

Apart from the PDP, other major political parties that participated in the election for Chairmanship and Councillorship of all the wards include the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP).

See full results below:

PDP: 16077

APC: 2519

LP: 2536

Ovia South West

APC: 5361

LP: 3216

PDP: 10,721

Total Registered: 89,897

Accredited: 21,442

Invalid: 429

Uhunmwode Local Government

Adodo O. Kenneth of PDP Declared

APC: 2317

LP: 1436

PDP: 15,615

Total Registered: 68,474

Accredited: 19,461

Valid; 19,431

Invalid: 27

Owan West Local Government

Ahonsi Dickson Idojemu of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 3825

LP: 2365

PDP: 13, 171

Total Registered:

Accredited: 19

Valid:

Invalid: 63

Akoko Edo Local Government

Tajudeen Alade Suleiman of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 5369

LP: 2083

PDP: 21,417

Total Registered: 95,711

Accredited: 28,957

Valid: 28, 957

Invalid: 10

Etsako East Local Government

Ato Benedicta of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 4076

LP: 1711

PDP: 16, 428

Total Registered:

Accredited:

Valid: 22, 269

Invalid:

Etsako Central Local Government

Obomigie Imokhae Solomon of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 7, 896

LP: 4, 606

PDP: 30, 594

Etsako West Local Government

Zimbiril Marvelous of PDP is Declared Winner

APC: 29, 445

LP: 23, 832

PDP: 98, 046

Total Registered:

Accredited:

Valid:

Invalid:

Ikpoba-Okha Local Government

ERIC IYOBA OSAYANDE of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 3, 085

LP: 3, 857

PDP: 27, 768

Total Registered: 166,035

Accredited: 38,566

Valid: 37, 795

Invalid: 771

Ovia North East Local Government

Collins Osamede Ogbewe of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 636

LP: 617

PDP: 4, 869

Total Registered: 50, 554

Accredited: 6, 176

Valid: 6, 165

Invalid: 11

Igueben Local Government

Asueleme Clement of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 557

LP: 660

PDP: 5, 262

Total Registered: 63, 473

Accredited: 6, 551

Valid: 6, 540

Invalid: 11

Esan Central Local Government

Iyoha Paul of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 23, 885

LP: 14, 331

PDP: 47, 771

Total Registered: 129, 850

Accredited: 97, 299

Valid: 95, 942

Invalid: 1911

Orhionmwon Local Government

Ugiagbe Newman Oghomwen of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 1616

LP: 1737

PDP: 14, 904

Total Registered:

Accredited:

Valid: 18, 317

Invalid: 21

Esan West Local Government

Aigbogun O. Collins of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 1, 665

LP: 2, 183

PDP: 11, 963

Total Registered: 83, 811

Accredited: 15, 875

Valid: 15, 866

Invalid: 9

Esan South East Local Government

Imadegbeho Luis of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 1344

LP: 791

PDP: 16072

Total Registered:

Accredited:

Valid: 15, 866

Invalid:

Esan North East Local Government

Inegbe Paul of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 5550

LP: 3298

PDP: 20, 702

Total Registered: 101,006

Accredited: 29,680

Valid:

Invalid: 16

Owan East Local Government

Prince Aminu Kadiri of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 12, 203

LP: 7695

PDP: 35, 380

Total Registered:

Accredited:

Valid:

Invalid:

Egor Local Government

Hon. Eghe Ogbemudia of PDP Declared Winner

APC: 8, 308

LP: 10, 188

PDP: 70, 293

Total Registered: 347, 076

Accredited: 92, 554

Valid: 91, 047

Invalid: 1506

Oredo Local Government

Dr. Obaseki Tom Osazee of PDP Declared Winner

[NationalDaily]