The immediate past Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, has ahead of the 2023 Eid-El-Kabir celebrations, donated N200 million to some citizens of the state.

Muslims will celebrate this year’s Eid-El-Kabir on June 29, 2023.

A statement, however, made available to newsmen on Saturday through the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman in Zamfara State, Alhaji Tukur Danfulani, confirmed Matawalle’s donation for the festive event.

Danfulani, who serves as the Chairman of the distribution committee, said that the beneficiaries included the members, stakeholders of the party, women, youth groups and associations.

“Other beneficiaries were orphans and the less privileged, Islamic scholars, media practitioners, and social media handlers, among others.

“The gesture is aimed at assisting people to celebrate the upcoming 2023 Eid-el-Kabir festival with ease.

“The committee had already started the distribution of the money to all the beneficiaries,” the party’s State Publicity Secretary, Malam Yusuf Idris, quoted Danfulani.

Danfulani thanked Matawalle for the gesture, describing it as timely as it will cushion the economic hardship among the citizens in the state, especially at the grassroots.

The party’s Chairman assured that the committee would ensure that all the targeted beneficiaries receive the gesture before Wednesday.

It was the cat that stole the fish but the police arrested the dog, a situation that made the baboon take to his heels. “Why are you running?” Forest dwellers asked him. “I know that the dog’s arrest is a decoy; the chains held by the police are designed for my waist.

When Russia started its aggression against Ukraine, you would have thought that Africans have nothing to do with their ancient quarrel and the politics of supremacy being played by the US and Russia. You were wrong. At the slightest opportunity, both Ukraine and Russia will demonstrate their unseemly side by descending with venom on the convenient whipping boy, Africa.

I don’t know who advised the African leaders to visit Ukraine and Russia to try and mediate in the ongoing conflict. Yes, blessed are the peacemakers in another context, not this one in which both parties have dug in, espousing irreconcilable positions. In any case, you can only mediate when the parties have some measure of respect for you. The AU delegation comprising Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuly, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, President of the Union of Comoros Azali Assoumani, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema, actually meant well. But good intentions count for nothing where the intercessor is perceived as a perennial mendicant.

It took the undiplomatic comment of Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to trigger the inner revulsion of Ukrainians to the visit. Magwenya had said that he had not heard any explosion nor witnessed a missile attack in Kyiv while he was in the city with the African delegation. But the Kyiv Post, countered with a claim that its reporters, including “every other media organisation present in the city – saw and heard the missiles in the skies over the capital and witnessed several loud explosions as they were intercepted.”

The Ukrainians interpreted Magwenya’s statement as a ploy to deny the devastation caused by Russia. The Ukrainian presidential advisor and negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, quickly said the  African leaders had no business poking their noses into European affairs. He said African leaders had neither the capability nor the power to get involved in matters they knew nothing about, adding that this was beyond their understanding. He added that Africa and its leaders were using the failed trip to achieve their geopolitical goals in favour of Russia, which provides Africa with food supplies.

Said Podolyak, “The African delegation had no goal of settling the conflict or finding a solution. Obviously, this is not their task. It is not at their level or competency. They just want to be on the misinformation agenda and resolve their own issues, like the increasing resources they receive from Russia, including food supplies.” 

Podolyak, who is one of the advisers to the Chief of Staff of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the trip was a mere fishing expedition for information on behalf of Russia. Obviously, the Ukrainians are not enthused by South Africa’s membership of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), the acronym used to describe the club of fast-growing economies that hope to collectively dominate the global economy by 2050.

President Zelenskyy was more diplomatic. However, he all but said the African leaders were on a futile mission. He declared that talks with Russia would be possible only after Moscow withdraws its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory. He said he couldn’t understand what the African leaders hoped to gain by meeting with the Russian leader.

“To allow any negotiations with Russia now while the occupier is on our land is to freeze the war, to freeze everything: pain and suffering,” Zelenskiy told a joint press conference with the delegation. “We need real peace, and therefore, a real withdrawal of Russian troops from our entire independent land.”

I must confess that I’m an admirer of the uncommon tenacity and youthful vigour with which Zelensky has been discharging his  duties as the Ukrainian commander-in-chief. It is difficult to believe that this is the same lawyer and comedian of yore. Having said that, I must assert my right to self-love. We, Africans, have historically always been at the receiving end of all sorts of insults no matter what we bring to the table. If we don’t stand our ground, every Vladimir and Volodymyr will treat us as foot-mat.

At the onset of the war, Nigerian students were at the receiving end of racism in both Ukraine and Poland. I recall that even in refugee camps, Africans were treated as dirt. There was the well known case of the Ghanaian student who said he had left the refugee camp he was placed in after fleeing Sumy in northeastern Ukraine because of  discrimination. His story: a Ukrainian man had complained to camp officials that sleeping beside a black man was traumatising. The student was then moved to another space within the camp.

African envoys spoke out strongly at the mistreatment of African nationals trying to flee Ukraine during a special session of the United Nations General Assembly.

African nationals, mostly students, have accused Ukrainian security forces of racially profiling them, and of stopping them from getting on trains. The reports of discrimination have caused uproar and left a bitter taste in Africa.

Over social media, several African students said they had been bypassed to allow Ukrainians and other European nationals to cross the border into Poland first. They said they were made to spend hours and days in freezing temperatures without food or sanitation facilities. “We echo here the outcry of African students who are fleeing the war in Ukraine and are facing discrimination in their exodus in search of shelter. This situation is unacceptable”, said Baudelaire Ndong Ella, the Gabonese Ambassador to the UN.

With the plethora of problems bedevilling Africa, why have our leaders not concentrated their efforts on resolving the conflicts on our continent first? I’m sorry, I don’t believe in peace vending at all costs. To be looked down on, talk down on and discriminated against by people whose only claim to superiority is hinged on the iniquitous appropriation of Africa’s resources over the centuries, is totally unacceptable, more so when our leaders have to travel to receive those insults instead of paddling the canoe of the various challenges on our continent. If you can see the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob in what is going on, then you’ll understand why our leaders should stay home and fix this blessed continent.

Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Northern Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Cameroon’s north-west and south-west regions are African conflict hotbeds. Ethiopia’s conflict has since escalated. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front and its allies have their eyes on the capital Addis Ababa. A humanitarian crisis is apparent in many parts of the country. African Union (AU) mediation, led by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, is ongoing. In the mean time, people are dying. South Sudan has its own daunting challenges. With the fight for power between rival forces in the Republic of Sudan, refugees are heading south, thereby compounding an already bad humanitarian situation.

The Central African Republic (CAR) has been embroiled in an intractable cycle of violence for several years. The country desperately needs a new approach for sustainable peace. The conflict in north and south-west Cameroon has not received the attention it deserves from regional and continental actors. The situation has degenerated from protests over poor governance and marginalisation to a deadly insurgency. Many people have died; many more are displaced.

The ever-present threat of violent extremism and terrorism in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin (LCB) regions, East Africa and the Horn, and Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado, is also hovering over the coastal countries of West Africa. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, particularly, have seen continuing attacks.

The terror attack in Uganda reflects the threat that violent extremism will continue to pose to Central Africa, East Africa and the Horn. Reports of possible collaboration between the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces and al-Shabaab are alarming. The Cabo Delgado extremist insurgency has been ongoing since the end of 2017.

The spread of the threat from the Sahel to West Africa’s coastal countries is best evidenced by the resurgence of attacks in northern Cote d’Ivoire near the border with Burkina Faso. Cote d’Ivoire is now suffering repeated attacks, and the fear is that violent extremism could affect other parts of the country and neighbouring states such as Ghana, Benin and Togo.

With all these problems at home, what are African leaders doing in Kyiv trying to quench another man’s fire?

As this piece was going to bed, word came that an attempted ‘coup’ of sorts was unfolding in Russia. See why we should maintain our lane for now?

On Tuesday, 13 June, 2023, I was at the University of Ibadan where I delivered a public lecture titled “The task before Nigeria’s 16th Head of State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu” at the 31st Anniversary of the Resurrection Morning Star Society, Chapel of Resurrection of the university. Following is an abridged version of the lecture:

“Tinubu is an enigma. To borrow from the words which the self-styled “evil genius” and self-conceited military president-cum-dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), employed while describing the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Tinubu has been “the issue” in Nigerian politics since the current Fourth Republic kicked off in 1999. The return to democracy did not come on a platter but was forged in the crucibles of fire. The rallying cry was for the military to return to the barracks – that military rule had become an aberration worldwide. Tinubu was a senator under Babangida’s planned-to-fail Third Republic, having won election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Babangida’s “a little to the left” political contraption. When MKO Abiola threw his hat in the ring to contest the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Tinubu was in Abiola’s corner. Abiola won the election judged both locally and internationally as free and fair and the most credible in the history of elections in this country; but the results were annulled by IBB. Thus began an epic battle to have the election de-annulled, thereby throwing the country into what came to be known as political impasse or logjam that did not  come to an end until the military heeded the cry to return to the barracks and the country returned to civil rule on May 29, 1999.

Tinubu played a prominent role in the pro-democracy group called the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) that fought the Babangida and, later, Gen. Sani Abacha dictatorship to a standstill. When the soil of Nigeria became too hot for the pro-democracy activists due to the mindless assassination, arrest and detention of leading June 12 activists, many of them, including Tinubu, relocated abroad to continue the struggle to liberate Nigeria from the jackboot of military dictatorship. The struggle achieved its goal on May 29, 1999 but not before the death of Abacha in unexplained circumstances on 8 June, 1998 followed closely by that of Abiola in controversial circumstances on 7 July, 1998. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar succeeded Abacha and initiated a return to civil rule programme that birthed the ongoing Fourth Republic, so far the longest-running in the history of the country. Tinubu participated in the process under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and was elected the governor of Lagos State. He ruled the country’s most important state for two uninterrupted terms of four years each (1999 -2003; 2003 – 2007).

The momentous events that signposts Tinubu’s unforgettable years as the governor of Lagos state include his epic battles with the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, first in the 2003 General Elections when Obasanjo, leveraging on the ubiquitous “Federal Might”, uprooted all AD governors in the South-west with only Tinubu escaping the political tsunami! Obasanjo’s action was not only precipitated on earning himself a second term in office but also to avenge what had come to be referred to as “the shame of 1999” when he lost scandalously in his home geo-political zone of the South-west to his rival, Chief Olu Falae. The second leg of Tinubu’s tango with Obasanjo occurred in 2005 when, on account of the Lagos governor’s creation of more local government areas in the state, and justifiably so, Obasanjo seized Lagos State’s local government’s federal allocation, an action capable –and, perhaps, actually meant – to financially strangulate the state and force Tinubu on his knees. However, rather than back down and kow-tow to the president, Tinubu stood his ground and engineered a tax system that geometrically shot up the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Lagos from a measly N600 million per annum in 2005 to the N51 billion per annum that it is today. That quantum leap in revenue generation makes Lagos state, perhaps, the only state in the country that can sustain itself without relying on Federal allocation.

Necessitated by what some say is vaulting ambition while others counter that it is survivalist instincts, Tinubu soon broke ranks with his political godfathers in the AD/Afenifere camp and charted his own course with the formation of the Action Congress (AC), which later became the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Archimedes it was who said: “Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world” Lagos and ACN became the “place to stand” in Tinubu’s scantily-concealed quest to master Nigeria’s political landscape and bear rule over its people. He took a quantum leap forward in 2014 with the cobbling together of an alliance (the All Progressives Congress, APC) that no one had given a chance of success going by the country’s antecedents. The APC, however, defeated the sitting president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and his ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the General Election of March 2015.

Tinubu’s mastery of Lagos politics since 1999 has not been in doubt. He saw off the AD/Afenifere leaders not only in Lagos politics but also in the elective political leadership of the entire South-west. He has since firmly ensconced himself in Lagos in particular as the man who decides “who gets what, when and how”, to quote Harold Lasswell. As a politician in Lagos, you disagree with Tinubu at your own peril! He saw off two deputy governors (Senator Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor and Olufemi Pedro) and has installed Babatunde Raji Fashola, 2007 – 2015; Akinwunmi Ambode; 2015 – 2019; and the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 2019 to date. When, in 2019, he decided that Ambode would not go for a second term in office, no Jupiter, as they say, could change it despite the outcry against the decision.

For Tinubu, however, it has not all been a bed of roses. Virtually everything about him is steeped in controversy: His name, parenthood, state of origin, age, schools attended and academic qualifications attained and, no less so, the source or sources of his immense wealth. His case, however, can be likened to that of the palm frond that luxuriates in the midst of thorns. Controversy and opposition appear as energizers that fire Tinubu to mount with wings as the eagle and overcome adversaries and adversity. Nothing demonstrates this better than the last presidential election where he had to fight tooth and nail to win the presidential ticket of his party.  Tinubu’s famous “emilokan” and “o lule” statements at Abeokuta, Ogun state attested to his frustration and desperation as the stakes appeared stalked against him and his “life-long” ambition to rule the country seemeth in tatters. But like the phoenix that rose victoriously from its ashes, he eventually got the ticket and went on to win the last presidential election. Interestingly, like MKO Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Tinubu lost the last election scandalously in the South-east geopolitical zone, whose voters voted overwhelmingly for son-of-the-soil Peter Obi. Tinubu had, fittingly, couched his Renewed Hope 2023 campaign after MKO Abiola’s Hope ’93 campaign 30 years earlier.

Now that Tinubu has achieved his life-long ambition of ruling Nigeria, it remains to be seen what he will make of it. If anything, our sour experience with Buhari has shown that it is one thing to thirst after an office; it is another to get into the office and perform. Buhari got into office after four attempts but messed up real time. A quotation once hung on the office wall of a friend; it reads: “O Allah, when you have prepared a place for me; prepare me for the place” It was obvious Buhari was ill-prepared for office but can we say the same of Tinubu?

Popular columnist, Dr. Reuben Abati, set out eight tasks for Tinubu, namely: removal of fuel subsidy (which Tinubu achieved in his first day in office); widening of the country’s revenue base; enthronement of true federalism; according a special status to Lagos; sanitizing the budgeting and procurement processes; taking a look at the foreign exchange regime (which Tinubu has also done); empowerment of the security agencies, particularly the police (he just changed the Service chiefs, including the IGP); respect for media freedom and the demands of Nigerian youths.      Another way of understanding the task before President Tinubu is to identify what the people wanted but which his predecessor, Buhari, failed to do. According to a former Kaduna state senator, Shehu Sanu, Buhari failed to secure the life and property of Nigerians; therefore, security of life and property is one of the tasks Nigerians expect President Tinubu to perform. Sani also said Buhari promised restructuring but failed to deliver. Since Tinubu himself also promised to restructure the country, he is expected to deliver on this promise. Sani accused Buhari of granting waivers to the rich while impoverishing the poor. Tinubu will be expected to pursue policies that will close the yawning gap between the rich and poor and not further widen it. Sani accused Buhari of building magical rice pyramids that disappeared after three days! We all saw the political rice pyramids but they did nothing to bring down the price of rice and other foodstuffs, which kept skyrocketing despite the billions of Naira allegedly sunk by Godwin Emefiele’s Central Bank of Nigeria into the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. Food security, therefore, is one of the urgent tasks before Tinubu for, as they say, a hungry man is an angry man! When hunger enters a stomach,nothing else finds its way therein!

Yet, another way to approach this question is to attempt a comparative analysis of the situation of Nigerians pre-Buhari and post-Buhari and use that to set a template for President Tinubu, if only as a point of departure. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that in 2014 before Buhari took office, the inflation rate oscillated between 7.7 and 8.5 per cent. By 2015 when Buhari took office, it averaged 9 per cent but under Buhari, the inflation rate hit a 16-year high, in the midst of increase in prices and poor purchasing power. In 2016, inflation rose to 15.68 per cent; 16.52 per cent in 2017 but dropped to 12.09 per cent in 2018 and 11.40 per cent in 2019 before it resumed its upward climb again in 2020 to 12.2 per cent, closing at 16.95 per cent in 2021. In 2022 the inflation rate climbed to 21.34 per cent and now to 22.04 per cent . President Tinubu and his economic team are expected to adopt measures that will not only reduce the inflation rate to the single digit it was under Jonathan but also improve on it.

The unemployment rate when Buhari took over power in the second quarter of 2015 was 8.2 per cent; it rose to 9.9 per cent in the third quarter of that year but between then and May 2021, Nigeria’s unemployment rate has more than tripled. National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data shows that currently, the country’s unemployment rate is projected to rise to 41 percent this year! At the 33.3 percent that it was earlier, the World of Statistics had already rated Nigeria as having the highest unemployment rate in the world! The NBS poverty survey also shows that 63 per cent of Nigerians, about 133 million people as opposed to 53 per cent before Buhari took over in 2015, are multi-dimensionally poor. The Multi-dimensional Poverty Measure is an index that measures the percentage of households in a given country deprived along three dimensions – monetary poverty, lack of education, and lack of basic infrastructure services.

The question must then be asked: The trillions of Naira that the Buhari administration reportedly spent fighting poverty in the country, where did it go?

(TO BE CONTINUED).

The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dissociated itself from calls from certain quarters in the party to the immediate past Governor of the state, Nyesom Wike to defect to the APC to provide leadership for the party.

The former Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Chairman, Tinubu Presidential Campaign Rally in Rivers State and National Chairman of the Protocol/Logistics Committee (TSGICC), Tony Okocha, on Tuesday called on the former Governor, Nyesom Wike to dump the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) for the APC.

Okocha said APC needed the value of the former Governor and appealed to him to come over and lead the party.

But in a reaction on Saturday, the APC described the calls as by imposters who are sponsoring amorphous groupings acting as fronts for Wike, that APC in Rivers State was calling on him, Wike to join the same party he had characterised as suffering from cancer.

“We wish to unequivocally dismiss any such rumour or sponsored story planted in any medium that Rivers State APC had at any forum invited Mr Wike to join our party none the least calling on Wike to take over leadership of a party he never campaigned for”, the party said in a statement signed by its spokesman, Darlington Nwauju.

He went on: “Nothing can be more preposterous than this kite being flown by minions of Wike working hard to justify their pay cheque.

“We dare anyone to provide video evidence of any campaigns where Mr Wike openly campaigned for the APC. The terror unleashed on our party members in the cause of his eight years maximum rulership alone is enough evidence to confirm that Wike has no business with Rivers State APC. Asking him to come and take over is asking an enemy to come and finish off his victims.

“We are aware of his schemes to escape justice over the looting of the collective patrimony of Rivers people which is the major reason for his romancing top APC members.

“For those who may be suffering from amnesia, a non- APC member cannot be cheerleader for the entry of Wike into APC. Nobody can decree his membership of a political party through radio or newspaper publications. All vexatious attempts at distracting our party in Rivers State will keep failing.

“For the avoidance of doubts, the APC in Rivers State has a legally recognized state office where all official businesses are conducted. We do also have standard procedures for convening our meetings according to our party’s constitution. Therefore, it is expedient for the public to be aware that village meetings or gatherings cannot equate with a stakeholder’s meeting of APC in Rivers State, especially a gathering that took place at a hotel belonging to such a non-APC member.

“We therefore disassociate the leadership of our party from any so-called stakeholders meeting suggesting that our party be handed over to Mr Wike. We reiterate our party’s resolve to lend 100% support to the policies and programmes of the Federal Government under the indefatigable leadership of our President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR.

“We warn blackmailers and ‘conflipreneurs’ to desist from the shameless tradition of using the name of our party to curry favour from desperate politicians seeking relevance at the centre”.

Okocha justified his call by saying that some of those who did not work for the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Rivers State were currently sending their credentials and claiming entitlements for the new administration.

He said; “At the point we are now this persons should be playing secondary roles and not primary roles. We are told that they have begin to assemble CVs from their supporters and promising them that they have the connection that they are Tinubu’s son and first daughter that they have the capacity to make them take the position that is due Rivers State and we are here to tell the world that it’s against natural laws. Natural laws are the only thing that is fixed”.

“We also want to rekindled and emphasis the fact leadership is as old as creation that in the leadership of the Tinubu’s family in Rivers State that we are pleased 100% with you His Excellence Nyesom Wike as our leader in Rivers State because he who pays the piper detects the tune.

“When it was difficult when even the national could not oblige us funds for the national rally when some group of persons made it impossible for money to move for the campaign in the State but Wike made it possible to fund our agents in the 6868 polling units in the State and do some background works and thereafter make it possible for us to win the election.

“As a demand because we won the election, Rivers State is one of the states that delivered Tinubu outrightly and even in South South it’s in Rivers State that Tinubu won outrightly so we have the right of entitlement.

“Our demand is that nobody should rob Peter to pay Paul. Our own share of the butty should be given to us; it should be handed over to be handed over to Governor Wike.

“We are confident that as soon as the bootie gets to him he knows those who worked for Tinubu and it should get to us. It’s only natural that that’s how it should go”.

He said as a party, there will be election in the next couple of months or years. There will be another election in Nigeria. Truly, APC in Rivers State is bleeding. It does appear to us that the leadership of PDP in Nigeria do not appreciate, understand the pidegree of of Wike.

“It does appear to us that PDP does not know what they have in Wike and we are calling on Wike to come over to APC and lead us”

The 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi has described the recent flooding at Trademore Estate in Abuja as heartbreaking.

He described the incident as a major disaster, noting that it is not the first time it is happening.

It would be recalled that many residents were reportedly trapped in Trade Moore estate in Lugbe, Abuja, following a heavy rainfall on Friday which flooded the area.

Videos making the rounds online showed that several houses and vehicles were submerged under water.

Taking to his Twitter page to react to the sad development, Obi wrote on Saturday: “The flooding incident at Trademore Estate in Lugbe, Abuja, which has resulted in the loss of lives and properties worth millions of Naira is a major disaster and is very heartbreaking. Reports have it that the estate had suffered similar incidents in the past.”

Meanwhile, Naija News earlier reported that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has appealed to all those living in flood-prone areas of the estate to evacuate to a safer place.

A NEMA official who spoke with newsmen after Friday’s flooding said, “If you know you live in a house built in a flood-prone area, kindly move to a safer place even if for nothing but to save a life. Properties can go.”

Says, “We Messed Up The Altar, We Defiled The Altar Of The Most High God”

The Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has apologised on behalf of the bishops, priests and pastors for using the church of God as political arena during the 2023 elections.

Mbaka expressed sadness that the church was turned into a campaign centre and place of politicking.

The priest, who made a veiled reference at the Labour Party (LP), said that the priests were teaching people who to vote for in the church, and how to vote.

He added that priests were telling people that the mother, father and child logo represented God, the father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Mbaka also said that the power of God was buried behind political forces and hawks.

He said: “As a prophet and man of God, I apologise on behalf of the whole men of God – the whole pastors, the whole priests, the whole bishops. I am not worthy to apologise on behalf of the bishops, but I’m apologising.

“Let the mercy of God descend because what we did within this political moment – a lot of indescribable political brouhaha, a lot of political jingoism and a lot of atrocities we manifested.

“We buried the power of the sacrament beneath political forces, political hawks and vultures. They want to vulturise the church, turn the church into campaign centres, into a place of politicking. We messed up the altar, we defiled the altar of the most high God.

“How do you want power to move from such an altar that has been defiled? We cannot continue with such iniqui-tactics. We offended God.

“They were teaching people who to vote for in the church, and how to vote. Telling people that the mother, father and child picture represents God, the father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Giving God’s glory to man, then God’s anger descended on us, but I’m begging for God’s mercy. I pray that God will forgive us.

“Forgive us, oh Lord! Forgive your church. Forgive Christianity in Nigeria. We have gotten it wrong this time. Amen! Just let it be like this. If you want to misunderstand it, that is your business. I am apologising to God.”

Says Attacks Over Alleged Cropping Of Tinubu From Paris Photo Unwarranted

The Director-General, World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has called on Nigerians to relax and stay united, noting that the attacks on her over her picture with President Tinubu were unnecessary.

She noted that the controversy surrounding why her picture with President Tinubu was posted late on her Twitter account shows how polarised Nigerians are.

Okonjo-Iweala was reacting to comments on social media about her pictures with other world leaders at the just concluded Paris Economic Summit as well as her picture with President Tinubu.

Some Nigerians called out the WTO leader for not posting a picture of President Bola Tinubu in the pictures of her meeting with some other nations’ presidents on her Twitter handle on Friday.

She later posted her picture with Tinubu on Saturday morning.

Reacting, the WTO boss said the controversy has exposed how polarised Nigeria has become.

She tweeted: “Nigerians, please relax! Re Paris, Interesting attacks from both sides. This sadly shows the depth of polarisation in our society.

“I post photos in the order received by accompanying staff or colleagues. Reading more into it is unwarranted. Let’s unite to build our country, not attack.”

The Paris summit, convened by President Emmanuel Macron, afforded President Tinubu the opportunity of projecting, on a global stage, his advocacy for widening the fiscal space, economic justice for Africa as the world accelerates the pace of energy transition and the urgency of addressing the pressing issues of poverty and climate change.

A former Managing Director of the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, has said the removal of fuel subsidy is the best interest of Nigerians.

Naija News reports that President Bola Tinubu had announced the removal of fuel subsidy in his inaugural speech on Monday, May 29.

Speaking during an appearance on Arise News’ Morning Show on Saturday, Usman said she doesn’t consider the removal of fuel subsidy as suffering the Nigerian masses.

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Coordination said the subsidy removal is a reflection of the current reality in Nigeria, adding that the notion of the government subsidizing fuel for them is misleading.

Usman also added that the federal government cannot be subsidizing petrol other countries.

He said: “I don’t consider the removal of subsidy as ‘suffering’ the masses. It’s a reflection of the current reality in Nigeria. It’s important for Nigerians to note that the notion of the government subsidizing them is misleading; the government was subsidizing other countries.”

Speaking on the student loan scheme, Usman said the purpose of the initiative is to provide some form of benefit to Nigerian students in higher institutions.

She added: “People may say that student loan scheme isn’t primarily designed to benefit the poor but it aims to provide some form of benefit to Nigerians. Although it may not specifically target the poor, it does offer opportunities for a significant segment of Nigerians.”

The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Olukayode Egbetokun, has said the Nigeria Police will establish a Quick Intervention Squad to tackle the menace of crimes and criminality.

Egbetokun said this on Friday in Abuja during his inaugural conference with Strategic Police Managers, consisting of officers from the rank of Commissioner of Police and above.

“The Nigeria Police Force under my command, in its quest to stamp out violent crimes and their detrimental and debilitating effects on the security and safety of our society, will forge ahead to tackle the menace of crimes and criminality head on,” he said.

“This will be done with the establishment of a specialised Quick Intervention Squad, which will comprise combat ready Police Mobile Force personnel with effective and enhanced training in crisis de-escalation and violent crime reduction strategies.”

“This will lead to a review of the engagement patterns of the Police Mobile Force in a bid to restore the days of glory of the Police Mobile Force as a punching arm of the Police,” he said.

The IG said his administration would embrace innovation and technology as powerful allies in the fight against crime.

According to him, the world is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and so the Nigeria Police should adapt to the evolving landscape of crime.

He said criminals were presently more sophisticated, more organised and more ruthless than ever before.

Egbetokun said the Nigeria Police would leverage cutting-edge tools, data analytics and intelligence networks to stay one step ahead of criminals, seeking to disrupt the peace of the country.

The IG said this would be achieved through a robust and effective human and technical intelligence-gathering process to enhance the capacity of personnel.

(NAN)

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is considering stern actions against some of its well-known members for aligning with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu, contrary to party policies.

According to reliable sources that spoke with Punch, the PDP is contemplating expelling key members of the “G-5” group, comprising governors elected under its banner, who didn’t support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25, 2023, presidential election.

The former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike and an ex-governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom could face expulsion due to their affiliations with Tinubu and the APC, which the PDP considers a serious breach of party loyalty.

The PDP has warned that if these ex-governors accept any appointments from President Tinubu and the APC, immediate expulsion from the PDP will ensue.

As for the remaining “G-5” members, their fate is still uncertain. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State remains in the PDP fold, while the former governors of Abia and Enugu states, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, seem politically adrift after losing their Senate bids.

An earlier judgment from a Federal High Court in May 2023 confirms the party’s right to suspend or expel any member, including Wike, if such action aligns with the law. This ruling further bolsters the PDP’s intentions.

In the judgment, Justice James Omotosho emphasized that suspending or expelling a member must be done in accordance with the party’s laws, ensuring the accused member’s right to defend themselves is not infringed upon.

While the PDP has warned its members about the repercussions of joining the APC-led government, the party has also stated that it hasn’t been approached by the ruling party for any potential collaboration.

Despite party lines, both Makinde and Wike have publicly appreciated President Tinubu’s initial steps in office, especially the removal of subsidy on petrol.

Wike, in particular, has continually criticized the PDP for failing to zone the 2023 presidential ticket to the South after eight consecutive years in the North.