The member representing Ideato North/South federal constituency of Imo State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, has congratulated Senator John Azuta-Mbata on his emergence as the new President-General of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.

Azuta-Mbata, who is a former Senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District, emerged on Friday during the selection of new executives for the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, held at the Old Government Lodge in Enugu.

Reacting to the development, Ugochinyere said the emergence of Azuta-Mbata from Rivers State as Ohanaeze President has shown that Igbos were one united and indivisible people anywhere they belong across the country and beyond.

The chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), in a statement he personally signed on Saturday, urged the new president to lead Igbos to a new economic dawn.

“I heartily congratulate and identify with Distinguished Senator John Azuta-Mbata on his emergence as the new President-General of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.

“His (Azuta-Mbata) emergence as President though from South-South geopolitical zone, other than the South-east, is a testimony and affirmation of the fact that Igbos are one united and indivisible people devoid of regional colouration.

“I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that as a former lawmaker of the National Assembly’s Red Chamber, the new President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has impeccable credentials and requisite credentials to steer the affairs of the prominent Igbo socio-cultural organisation.

“I, therefore, appeal to Senator John Azuta-Mbata to deploy his wealth of experience and political cum leadership acumen to lead the Igbo race to a new economic dawn; fostering unity and peace.

“Accept, Distinguished, on behalf of the good people of Ideato North/South Federal Constituency of Imo State who I represent, the assurances of our support to enable you succeed in this critical role you have assumed for the unity, peace and prosperity of Igbo race,” Ugochinyere stated.

The South East Senate Caucus has endorsed and congratulated Senator Azuta Mbata on his emergence as the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide.

In a statement in Abuja on Saturday, the leader of the Caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said Senator Mbata’s victory at the election during the Ohaneze General Assembly in Enugu, marks a milestone in the history of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation.

The caucus, he said, has firm confidence in Mbata’s pedigree and leadership qualities that are solid enough to steer Ohaneze to achieve the much desired unity and development in Igboland and command the ability to also reach out to similar associations outside Igboland to enhance good relationship for the unity of Nigeria.

“We as a caucus have the confidence that Ohanaeze as constituted under the leadership of Senator Mbata would weave the entire Igbo race cohesively together in unity, peace and make Ohanaeze a veritable rallying point for Ndigbo wherever they may be.

“Such trajectory we believe would no doubt encourage, instill confidence and reinvigorate the ability of our people to pursue their individual and collective goal to achieve sustainable development for the overall benefit of Igboland and Nigeria.

“The caucus also lauds the delegates at the general assembly and the political leadership, particularly the state governors for their unwavering commitment to support the new Ohanaeze leadership to succeed,” Abaribe said.

The caucus congratulated the outgoing PG Nze Ozichukwu for leading Ohanaeze to hand over the reigns of leadership to Senator Mbata in a peaceful election.

The caucus enjoined Ndigbo to give Senator Mbata and his executive full support in carrying out his mandate to restore the dignity and prosperity of Alaigbo.

[DailyPost]

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, has approved the posting/appointment of some senior officers to various command, staff and instructional positions.

Army spokesman, Maj.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, who announced this in a statement on Saturday, January 11, explained the posting/appointment was part of the COAS strategic moves to enhance operational effectiveness and administrative efficiency of the Nigerian Army.

Maj.-Gen. Nwachukwu said the redeployment also underscores Nigerian Army’s commitment to ensuring robust and dynamic leadership structure capable of addressing emerging security challenges.

He said the redeployment cuts across Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) at the Army Headquarters (AHQ), General Officers Commanding (GOCs), Corps Commanders, Commandants of Army training institutions, Brigade Commanders and other key positions. 

Some of the senior officers appointed as Principal Staff Officers at the Army Headquarters, according to the army spokesman, are: Maj.-Gen LA Fejokwuw who is moved from National Defence College to Department of Army Administration and appointed Chief of Administration (Army); Maj.-Gen GU Chibuisi, from Nigerian Army Resource Centre to Department of Civil Military Affairs and appointed Chief of Civil Military Affairs and Maj.-Gen AS Ndalolo, also from the Nigerian Army Resource Centre to Department of Army Training and appointed Chief of Training (Army). 

Others are: Maj.-Gen OS Abai, from Department of Army Training to Department of Army Transformation and Innovation, appointed Chief of Transformation and Innovation and Maj.- Gen JH Abdussalam from Headquarters 6 Division to the Department of Special Services and Programmes and appointed Chief of Special Services and Programmes. Maj.-Gen EI Okoro has been redeployed from the Department of Army Logistics to the Department of Military Secretary and appointed Military Secretary (Army).

The senior officers appointed as General Officers Commanding (GOCs), according to Maj.-Gen.Nwachukwu include Maj.-Gen OT Olatoye from Nigerian Army School of Infantry to Headquarters 82 Division/Joint Task Force (JTF) South East Operation UDO KA (OPUK) as GOC 82 Division/Commander JTF OPUK and Maj.- Gen EF Oyinlola from Department of Military Secretary to Headquarters 3 Division as GOC 3 Division/ Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN (OPSH). 

The Army spokesman said that the COAS has also confirmed the appointment of Maj.-Gen AGL Haruna as GOC 7 Division/Commander Sector 1 JTF North East Operation HADIN KAI and Maj Gen IA Ajose as GOC 8 Division/Commander Sector 2 JTF North West Operation FANSAN YANMA, respectively have been confirmed substantive in the recent redeployment.

He said: “Other senior officers redeployed are Maj.-Gen GO Adeshina from Headquarters Nigerian Army Signals to Nigerian Army Heritage and Future Centre and appointed Director General while Maj.- Gen GM Mutkut is posted from Nigerian Army Heritage and Future Centre to Headquarters MultiNational Joint Task Force Njamena as the Force Commander.

“The redeployment also featured Maj Gen MC Kangye from Headquarters Nigerian Army Corps of Artillery to Defence Headquarters as the Director Media Operations.  

“Senior officers appointed as Corps Commanders include Maj.-Gen OC Ajunwa from Nigerian Army Heritage and Future Centre to Headquarters Nigerian Army Armour Corps and appointed Commander, Maj.-Gen HT Wesley from the Department of Special Services and Programmes to Headquarters Nigerian Army Ordnance Corps, appointed Commander and Maj.-Gen TT Numbere from Nigerian Army Heritage and Future Centre to Headquarters Nigerian Army Engineers and appointed Commander. Others include Maj.-Gen NC Ugbo from Department of Civil Military Affairs to Headquarters Nigerian Army Signals and appointed Commander, Maj.-Gen ZL Abubakar from Department of Army Transformation and Innovation to Headquarters Nigerian Army Corps of Artillery and appointed Commander and Maj.-Gen AP Oguntola from Nigerian Army College of Education Science and Technology to Headquarters Nigerian Army Education Corps and appointed Corps Commander. 

“Other senior officers also affected in the redeployment are Maj.-Gen JO Sokoya, appointed Commandant Nigerian Army Training Centre, Maj.-Gen UM Alkali appointed Commandant Army War College Nigeria, while Maj.-Gen FS Etim from Department of Army Transformation and Innovation is redeployed to Nigerian Army School of Infantry and appointed Commandant. Maj.-Gen AB Mohammed has been redeployed from the Department of Army Operations to Depot Nigerian Army and appointed commandant. 

“Other newly appointed senior officers are Maj.-Gen IE Ekpenyong now Commandant Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering and Maj.-Gen AO Adegbite appointed Commandant Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport, while Brig.- Gen AM Umar is redeployed from Army War College Nigeria to Warrant Officers Academy and appointed Commandant, among others.”

Maj.-Gen. Nwachukwu said the COAS charged newly appointed senior officers to bring renewed vigor, dedication and commitment to their duties, “particularly while ensuring the sustenance of the ongoing onslaught against terrorism, insurgency and other threats to national security.”

“He equally charged them to ensure that the welfare of troops remain paramount as they assume their new appointments,” he said.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s stunning strike lit up Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley to cruise into the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday as Chelsea thrashed Morecambe 5-0.

Brentford were the only Premier League side to fall to lower league opposition as Plymouth, who sit bottom of the Championship, stunned the Bees 1-0 thanks to Morgan Whittaker’s late winner.

There was never any hint of an upset at Anfield despite Arne Slot making eight changes for Liverpool.

Alexander-Arnold was named captain in the absence of Virgil van Dijk and led by example after being criticised for his display in a 2-2 draw against Manchester United last weekend.

A mammoth 86 league positions behind Liverpool in the 92-team English league system, Stanley held out for nearly half an hour.

Diogo Jota was left with a simple task to tap in from Darwin Nunez’s low cross to open the floodgates.

Alexander-Arnold stepped forward to double the lead with a sumptuous hit into the top corner from outside the box.

Jayden Danns made the most of just his second appearance of the season to fire in the third 14 minutes from time.

Federico Chiesa’s Liverpool career has so far failed to get going due to injury problems.

But the Italian took advantage of some rare game time to net his first goal for the club with a long-range strike off the far post.

“It is definitely a good first step, but as much as I liked the way Accrington Stanley played, we have to take into consideration that we’re talking about League Two level,” said Slot on Chiesa’s second-half cameo off the bench.

“It is good to have him back on the pitch. He was a threat, but let’s not get carried away.”

Joao Felix was the star of the show for Chelsea as he got a rare chance to deputise for Cole Palmer.

The Portuguese international and Tosin Adarabioyo both scored twice, while Christopher Nkunku made up for missing an early penalty by netting his 13th goal of the season.

Only Liverpool have taken more points at home than Brentford in the Premier League this season, while Plymouth had not won away from home all campaign.

Yet against the odds, Argyle, who sacked former England captain Wayne Rooney 12 days ago, held out and hit Thomas Frank’s men with a sucker punch when Whittaker blasted in from outside the area nine minutes from time.

High-flying Nottingham Forest continued their excellent season with a comfortable 2-0 win over Luton.

Brighton were 4-0 winners at Norwich as Georginio Rutter struck twice.

Bournemouth shrugged off the loss of strikers Evanilson and Enes Unal to long-term injuries this week to roar back from 1-0 down to hammer West Brom 5-1.

Leicester went one better by hitting QPR for six in a 6-2 thriller at the King Power.

– Man City face former Utd greats –

Manchester City face fourth-tier opposition later against Salford City, who are owned by a group of former Manchester United greats.

Investments from David Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt have helped Salford rise through the non-league ranks since their involvement began in 2014.

Another celebrity co-owner in the lower leagues of English football is already into round four as NFL legend Tom Brady’s Birmingham beat Lincoln 2-1.

Wolves’ bright start under new boss Vitor Pereira continued as early goals from Rayan Aït-Nouri and Rodrigo Gomes secured a 2-1 win at Bristol City.

AFP

Beninese-American actor Djimon Hounsou has opened up on his financial struggles, despite having two Oscar nominations and a career spanning two decades in Hollywood.

Hounsou disclosed this on CNN’s African Voices Changemakers, and went ahead to reveal that he is underpaid and struggling to make a living. 

“I’m still struggling to make a living. I’ve been in the filmmaking business for over two decades, with two Oscar nominations and many blockbuster films, and yet, I’m still struggling financially. I’m definitely underpaid,” he said.

He also spoke about facing racism in Hollywood, and recalled being excluded from an Oscar nomination despite receiving a Golden Globe nod for the same role

“I was nominated for the Golden Globe, but they ignored me for the Oscars because they thought that I had just come off the boat and the streets. Even though I successfully did that, they just didn’t feel like I was an actor to whom they should pay any respect.

“This conceptual idea of diversity still has a long way to go. Systemic racism won’t change like that anytime soon.” He said

Hounsou starred in “Blood Diamond” and “In America” for which he got his two Oscar nominations. He was also in Gladiator, Amistad, Constantine, Guardians of the Galaxy, Aquaman, and Furious 7.

[Vanguard]

An Ibom Air flight, inbound Abuja from Uyo, was reportedly cancelled after a passenger’s disruptive behaviour.

In a video seen by TheCable, irate passengers questioned the airline’s officials over their failure to deboard the individual who prevented the flight from taking off.

Narrating the incident in a post on X on Saturday, Michael Achimugu, director of consumer protection and public affairs at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), said the flight, set to depart Uyo by 5:30 pm on January 8, was delayed after the passenger refused to travel without her checked-in luggage.

He said the passenger’s luggage was offloaded due to weight restrictions.

“Her actions (captured below by other irate passengers) ensured that 89 other passengers on board lost valuable time, money, and opportunities,” Achimugu posted.

“She also caused Ibom Air millions of naira plus a serious scheduling conundrum.

“All passengers had been informed during check-in that, due to weight restrictions, some or all of their luggage may not arrive on the same flight.

“Passengers with luggage above 20kg signed indemnity forms in this regard, while those whose bags were in the region of 20kg were informed verbally that their bags would arrive on the next scheduled flight. They agreed, including this passenger.”

After boarding, Achimugu said, the passenger noticed that her bag was not among the luggage loaded into the bowels of the aircraft.

“She angrily stepped down from the aircraft and insisted that her bags be loaded. Otherwise, Nobody was going to fly,” the NCAA official said.

“Even the intervention of FAAN AVSEC and the pilot did not let her budge. The pilot offered to carry her checked-in bag in the cabin, but the size did not fit.

“All the while, the pilot was taking note of the time because Uyo was a sunset airport, and the airspace would be shut down any moment.

“AVSEC then explained to the angry passenger that she would have to be deboarded if she refused to travel without the bag.

“She asked to be allowed to pick her handbag from the cabin, only to get in there and block the aisle, insisting that the flight would not depart without her bags.

“Among the 89 other passengers was an infant and a chef who was travelling to provide paid service to a big client in Abuja.

“Despite all pleas, she held the plane hostage until the airspace was closed. Consequently, the pilot had to announce a cancellation of the flight.

“It was at that moment that other passengers became irate. Had AVSEC and Ibom Air personnel led by Amaka Echetabu not been on top of their game, the unruly passenger would have been lynched.”

Achimugu said the passenger claimed that her luggage was delayed in December.

“She didn’t want a repeat of that situation. Ibom Air did, in fact, deliver her bags to her. They ensured that they got to her all the way in Aba,” he added.

“If the airline has proven its efficiency by bringing your luggage to you in a city where there was no airport just last month, by what antecedent do you insist they’d not deliver to Abuja this time?

“Why agree to this at the check-in counter, only to become unmanageably unruly during boarding?”

‘FLIGHT OPERATIONS HAVE WEIGHT RESTRICTIONS’

The NCAA spokesperson also explained that flight operations have weight restrictions, adding that in festive seasons, people often travel with more luggage than they normally would.

“Airlines are allowed to short-land baggage so long as: a. They inform the passenger and, b. Passengers are paid their first needs compensation on arrival, c. The bags arrive on the earliest possible flight,” he added.

“The regulations state firmly that no provocation justifies violence at the airport. Certain acts, especially holding up the movement of an aircraft through means of violence, could be interpreted as terrorism depending on the severity (to be determined by the police).”

Achimugu, however, said the passenger is being prosecuted in court.

He also appreciated the timely intervention of the aviation security officers in saving the passenger’s life.

“The airline had to provide immediate refreshment, transportation for passengers who were resident in Uyo, and hotel accommodation for those who came from out of town at great and avoidable cost,” he said. 

“This means that the airline would have catered twice for the same flight.”

Achimugu said the NCAA would continue to educate stakeholders about unruly behaviour and the concomitant penalties.

[TheCable]

President Bola Tinubu’s one-day visit to the Southeast, his first of 2025, was not just a routine event. It was laden with symbolisms, from the enthusiastic reception to the subsequent positive comments. The import of this visit, with its many remarkable aspects, was not lost on anyone. While many have spoken favourably and commended the visit, it equally throws up some questions.

Is President Tinubu’s January 4, 2025 visit to Enugu, the old capital of the Southeast region, during which he inaugurated Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah’s landmark projects and made important pronouncements a new level in his relationship with the Southeast geopolitical zone?

Is the President’s visit across the Niger a game changer and a subtle indicator of what lies ahead between him and the people of the South East? 

The Southeast’s posture towards President Tinubu has not been enthusiastic, just as it was with President Muhammadu Buhari. Of course, the results of the 2015, 2019, and 2023 elections reveal the political aloofness of the zone towards the two leaders. 

The Southeast was particularly lukewarm towards Tinubu’s presidential aspiration following developments in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election and the results that had arisen from it. In the run-up to the election, the Southeast put all its political eggs in the basket of homeboy Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor, who had broken ranks with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to emerge as the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate.

The boisterousness of the Obidients –as Peter Obi’s supporters had christened themselves – had somewhat captured the imagination of the Southeast. Any Igbo who sang a different tune in the 2023 election was, more or less, seen as an outcast.

Peter Obi himself did not allow the kind of amity that should prevail. He campaigned based on his Igbo ethnicity and overtly promoted his Christian faith to reap electoral benefits. When the election came, the Igbo voted en masse for him, signposting a strong correlation between region, religion and elections in Nigeria.

As a geopolitical breakdown of the 2023 presidential election results shows, Obi and his LP polled 1,952, 998 votes from the five states of the Southeast, representing a massive 89.62% of the total votes in the region. President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress polled 127,370 votes, a paltry 5.85% of the votes from the area while the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, got 90, 698 votes, amounting to a meagre 4.16%.

Although Obi recorded impressive results outside the Southeast, like winning Lagos, Nasarawa, Edo, Delta, Plateau, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, his 2023 presidential challenge was essentially a Southeast affair.

After the election, he and his ethnic supporters remained in their cocoons—or the alternate reality they had built. They acted like Obi had won the poll but denied victory. It seemed that the Obidients would rather not hear the name Asiwaju Tinubu, let alone President Tinubu. This trend continued even after Obi’s petition against President Tinubu’s victory in court failed. Any move of the President was criticised and condemned.

On assumption of office, President Tinubu made overtures to the zone in key appointments such as the appointment of Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, who hails from Enugu, and through key ministerial appointments like those of Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi from Ebonyi State, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Hon. Uche Nnaji, and the first Minister of Trade and Investment, now Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, among others.

Remarkably, when the President reshuffled his cabinet in October last year, he brought in, among others, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, wife of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. She got the portfolio of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. President Tinubu also established the Southeast Development Commission, a significant move to promote and accelerate the region’s development.

A top journalist who is a friend from the Southeast zone and a staunch Obidient who had never masked his dislike for Tinubu said those two appointments were sufficient to forgive President Tinubu’s perceived sins against the Igbo.

It was against that background that President Tinubu accepted Governor Mbah’s invitation to inaugurate some of his projects in the New Year.

At the inauguration of Governor Mbah’s projects and during an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu made significant statements that gladdened the hearts of the Igbo.

At the inauguration of the Command and Control Center, the President emphasised the importance of cooperation and collaboration between the Federal Government and the sub-nationals to drive development.

“This (Command and Control Centre) is a profound demonstration of what we can do together. It reassures me that more revenue going to the sub nationals and local governments is not a waste; it is for development.

“We have committed leaders like Peter Mbah taking Enugu on the path of 21st-century development, taking Enugu to greater heights, and building our tomorrow today.

“I cannot forget the sight of those children I just met at the Smart Green School. I have seen the gadgets and vehicles with 21st-century technology. You are indeed working for today, tomorrow and the future.”

The President inaugurated the GTC Smart Green School, New Haven/Bisalla Road, the International Conference Center, the Command and Control Center, and 150 patrol vehicles with surveillance cameras. He also inaugurated other notable projects virtually at the Enugu State Government House.

Later, at an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu promised that his administration would complete the Eastern Rail line connecting Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and support the development of the Anambra Basin as a significant energy reserve estimated to hold up to 1 billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic feet of gas. He made the commitment while responding to the requests made by former Minister of Power Professor Chinedu Nebo and an Enugu State indigene, Chris Ugoh, at the interactive session.

After commending the Tinubu administration for completing the Port Harcourt to Aba section of the Eastern rail line, Nebo had appealed to the President to prioritise the completion of the remaining portions of the rail link to facilitate exports of non-oil products and catalyse development in the region.

Dignitaries who attended the session included governors, traditional rulers, captains of industry, and serving and former presiding officers of the National Assembly from the zone, including former Senate President Ken Nnamani.

With the Enugu visit and the importance he attached to the invitation by PDP Governor Mbah, President Tinubu demonstrated political maturity and his commitment to supporting developmental strides from any part of the country and by any governor or stakeholder. The visit was a bold testament to his nonpartisan inclination and willingness to put the country first. He was full of commendation for Governor Mbah for demonstrating “an irrevocable commitment to human development.”

In the same vein, sighting Abia State Governor Alex Otti at the Enugu event, President Tinubu said: “I don’t care which party you come from; you are my friend. Alex Otti of Abia State is also doing very well. It is not about the differences in languages and place of birth.

“None of us has control of the mother tongue. God created us, and you can find yourself in Enugu, Onitsha or Lagos. We are all members of one huge family called Nigeria, but we live in different rooms in the same house. We must build this house to satisfy our immediate and future needs.”

Speaking before the inauguration of his projects, Governor Mbah had described President Tinubu as a true federalist committed to Nigeria’s development.

“Your Excellency, your credential as a true federalist stands out brightly, and the legacies thereof will long earn you resounding accolades.

“In signing the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, you liberalised electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. That singular act will consistently rank as an enduring legacy,” he said, adding: “It is noteworthy that Enugu State was the first sub-national to which the NERC ceded regulatory oversight of the local electricity market. That reflects how swiftly we are pursuing our goals.”

On the Southeast Development Commission, the governor said the commission would address infrastructure and ecological challenges in the region while complementing the many development strides unfolding across the state.

Development and governance may have been the overarching themes of the visit. Still, analysts reckon that given all that transpired during the visit, a new chapter in the relationship between President Tinubu and the Southeast geopolitical zone may have been unwittingly opened. This rapprochement, they observe, may signpost other important things to come for President Tinubu from the zone, particularly going into the next election in 2027.

President Bola Tinubu’s one-day visit to the Southeast, his first of 2025, was not just a routine event. It was laden with symbolisms, from the enthusiastic reception to the subsequent positive comments. The import of this visit, with its many remarkable aspects, was not lost on anyone. While many have spoken favourably and commended the visit, it equally throws up some questions.

Is President Tinubu’s January 4, 2025 visit to Enugu, the old capital of the Southeast region, during which he inaugurated Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah’s landmark projects and made important pronouncements a new level in his relationship with the Southeast geopolitical zone?

Is the President’s visit across the Niger a game changer and a subtle indicator of what lies ahead between him and the people of the South East? 

The Southeast’s posture towards President Tinubu has not been enthusiastic, just as it was with President Muhammadu Buhari. Of course, the results of the 2015, 2019, and 2023 elections reveal the political aloofness of the zone towards the two leaders. 

The Southeast was particularly lukewarm towards Tinubu’s presidential aspiration following developments in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election and the results that had arisen from it. In the run-up to the election, the Southeast put all its political eggs in the basket of homeboy Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor, who had broken ranks with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to emerge as the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate.

The boisterousness of the Obidients –as Peter Obi’s supporters had christened themselves – had somewhat captured the imagination of the Southeast. Any Igbo who sang a different tune in the 2023 election was, more or less, seen as an outcast.

Peter Obi himself did not allow the kind of amity that should prevail. He campaigned based on his Igbo ethnicity and overtly promoted his Christian faith to reap electoral benefits. When the election came, the Igbo voted en masse for him, signposting a strong correlation between region, religion and elections in Nigeria.

As a geopolitical breakdown of the 2023 presidential election results shows, Obi and his LP polled 1,952, 998 votes from the five states of the Southeast, representing a massive 89.62% of the total votes in the region. President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress polled 127,370 votes, a paltry 5.85% of the votes from the area while the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, got 90, 698 votes, amounting to a meagre 4.16%.

Although Obi recorded impressive results outside the Southeast, like winning Lagos, Nasarawa, Edo, Delta, Plateau, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, his 2023 presidential challenge was essentially a Southeast affair.

After the election, he and his ethnic supporters remained in their cocoons—or the alternate reality they had built. They acted like Obi had won the poll but denied victory. It seemed that the Obidients would rather not hear the name Asiwaju Tinubu, let alone President Tinubu. This trend continued even after Obi’s petition against President Tinubu’s victory in court failed. Any move of the President was criticised and condemned.

On assumption of office, President Tinubu made overtures to the zone in key appointments such as the appointment of Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, who hails from Enugu, and through key ministerial appointments like those of Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi from Ebonyi State, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Hon. Uche Nnaji, and the first Minister of Trade and Investment, now Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, among others.

Remarkably, when the President reshuffled his cabinet in October last year, he brought in, among others, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, wife of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. She got the portfolio of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. President Tinubu also established the Southeast Development Commission, a significant move to promote and accelerate the region’s development.

A top journalist who is a friend from the Southeast zone and a staunch Obidient who had never masked his dislike for Tinubu said those two appointments were sufficient to forgive President Tinubu’s perceived sins against the Igbo.

It was against that background that President Tinubu accepted Governor Mbah’s invitation to inaugurate some of his projects in the New Year.

At the inauguration of Governor Mbah’s projects and during an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu made significant statements that gladdened the hearts of the Igbo.

At the inauguration of the Command and Control Center, the President emphasised the importance of cooperation and collaboration between the Federal Government and the sub-nationals to drive development.

“This (Command and Control Centre) is a profound demonstration of what we can do together. It reassures me that more revenue going to the sub nationals and local governments is not a waste; it is for development.

“We have committed leaders like Peter Mbah taking Enugu on the path of 21st-century development, taking Enugu to greater heights, and building our tomorrow today.

“I cannot forget the sight of those children I just met at the Smart Green School. I have seen the gadgets and vehicles with 21st-century technology. You are indeed working for today, tomorrow and the future.”

The President inaugurated the GTC Smart Green School, New Haven/Bisalla Road, the International Conference Center, the Command and Control Center, and 150 patrol vehicles with surveillance cameras. He also inaugurated other notable projects virtually at the Enugu State Government House.

Later, at an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu promised that his administration would complete the Eastern Rail line connecting Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and support the development of the Anambra Basin as a significant energy reserve estimated to hold up to 1 billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic feet of gas. He made the commitment while responding to the requests made by former Minister of Power Professor Chinedu Nebo and an Enugu State indigene, Chris Ugoh, at the interactive session.

After commending the Tinubu administration for completing the Port Harcourt to Aba section of the Eastern rail line, Nebo had appealed to the President to prioritise the completion of the remaining portions of the rail link to facilitate exports of non-oil products and catalyse development in the region.

Dignitaries who attended the session included governors, traditional rulers, captains of industry, and serving and former presiding officers of the National Assembly from the zone, including former Senate President Ken Nnamani.

With the Enugu visit and the importance he attached to the invitation by PDP Governor Mbah, President Tinubu demonstrated political maturity and his commitment to supporting developmental strides from any part of the country and by any governor or stakeholder. The visit was a bold testament to his nonpartisan inclination and willingness to put the country first. He was full of commendation for Governor Mbah for demonstrating “an irrevocable commitment to human development.”

In the same vein, sighting Abia State Governor Alex Otti at the Enugu event, President Tinubu said: “I don’t care which party you come from; you are my friend. Alex Otti of Abia State is also doing very well. It is not about the differences in languages and place of birth.

“None of us has control of the mother tongue. God created us, and you can find yourself in Enugu, Onitsha or Lagos. We are all members of one huge family called Nigeria, but we live in different rooms in the same house. We must build this house to satisfy our immediate and future needs.”

Speaking before the inauguration of his projects, Governor Mbah had described President Tinubu as a true federalist committed to Nigeria’s development.

“Your Excellency, your credential as a true federalist stands out brightly, and the legacies thereof will long earn you resounding accolades.

“In signing the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, you liberalised electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. That singular act will consistently rank as an enduring legacy,” he said, adding: “It is noteworthy that Enugu State was the first sub-national to which the NERC ceded regulatory oversight of the local electricity market. That reflects how swiftly we are pursuing our goals.”

On the Southeast Development Commission, the governor said the commission would address infrastructure and ecological challenges in the region while complementing the many development strides unfolding across the state.

Development and governance may have been the overarching themes of the visit. Still, analysts reckon that given all that transpired during the visit, a new chapter in the relationship between President Tinubu and the Southeast geopolitical zone may have been unwittingly opened. This rapprochement, they observe, may signpost other important things to come for President Tinubu from the zone, particularly going into the next election in 2027.

Rahman is a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media Matters.

My December 21, 2024, column titled “Kemi Badenoch’s Yoruba Identity Meets Inconvenient Truths,” where I set out to show that contrary to Kemi Badenoch’s claim, the Yoruba and the “North” have had and still have a lot in common, hurt the ethnic susceptibilities of many Yoruba nationalists who misunderstood me as creating a hierarchy of historical and cultural dominance in which the Yoruba are inferior.

That was not what my column was about. If it comes across that way, it’s because people are gazing at the past with the lenses of the present. Historians call that presentism. Presentism animates the sort of defensive, ahistorical, knee-jerk, decontextualized, and emotive reactions that some people gave to my column.

Notions of collective identity with definite ethnographic boundaries are relatively new all over the world. I made this clear to Dr. Lasisi Olagunju who wrote a 3,526-word response to my column last Monday in which he cherry-picked evidence from the self-comforting presentist fantasies of certain Yoruba historians to countermine my arguments. Here’s my response to his response.

Dr. Olagunju took issue with my restating of a well-known, uncontested socio-historical fact: that “Yoruba,” the collective name for the people of western Nigeria, is an exonym that traces etymological provenance from what is now called northern Nigeria and that it originally referred only to people from Oyo and not other subgroups such as Ijebu, Ondo, Ijesa, Egba, etc.

It explains why  Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland, still says the Ijebu are not Yoruba and are not even descendants of Oduduwa. It also explains why, as I pointed out in my October 26, 2019 column titled “Fulani and Origin of the Names ‘Yoruba’ and ‘Yamuri’,” Nigeria’s first modern newspaper, called Iwe Irohin fun awon Egba ati Yoruba (Yoruba for “newspaper for the Egba and Yoruba people”) indicated from its name that the Egba and the Yoruba were different ethnic groups who nonetheless belonged to the same linguistic group.

In other words, as of 1859 when the newspaper was set up, the Egba didn’t call themselves “Yoruba.”

That the name Yoruba is an exonym from the North of Nigeria for the people of Oyo is so settled in the literature that I am befuddled that anyone would contest it with mere implausible conjectures and self-created oral histories.

For example, in his 1984 article titled “Yoruba Ethnic Groups or a Yoruba Ethnic Group? A Review of the Problem of Ethnic Identification” published in África: Revista do Centro de Estudos Africanos, Professor Biodun Adediran argued that the term Yoruba wasn’t native to Yoruba and was, in fact, a word first used for Oyo people by northerners.

He said, “the term first appeared in Arabic sources and in European accounts based on information from the Hausa country,” arguing “It was probably the Hausa who first gave the name ‘Yarribah’ to their Yoruba-speaking neighbours. Since the Oyo were the sub-group the Hausa came most frequently in contact with, the name easily became synonymous with ‘Oyo’” (p. 62).

Adeniran also argued that the term “Yoruba” initially remained confined to “the dictionary of those who invented it” (p. 63) and gained broader use only in the early 19th century due to increased interactions between the Yoruba and their northern neighbors. During this period, local wars fostered sub-group pride, leading many non-Oyo groups to reject “Yoruba” as a foreign name.

It was only toward the end of the century, when Europeans insisted on its use and referred to the Alaafin as the King of the Yoruba, that even the Oyo (to whom the name originally referred) began to embrace the term (p. 63).

In his 2019 book, Partitioned Borgu: State, Society and Politics in a West African Border Region, Dr. Hussaini Abdu investigated it further and found that the Hausa themselves borrowed the term Yariba (or versions of it) from the Baatonu people of Borgu, known to the Yoruba as Bariba, Baruba, or Ibariba, who are Oyo’s northwestern neighbors. The Baatonu, as I argued before, refer to the Oyo people as “Yoru” (singular) and “Yorubu” (plural), with “Yoruba” used in third-person references.

Abdu traces the name’s spread to Songhai-Borgu interactions, later reinforced by interviews with Baatonu slaves in Sierra Leone and popularized through European travelers and missionary records, such as Samuel Johnson’s 19th-century writings. This theory aligns with the historical and cultural links between Songhai, Borgu, and Oyo, including the spread of Islam to both Borgu and Yoruba land by Songhai-speaking Mande from ancient Mali, reflected in the Yoruba term for Islam, “imale.”

This is consistent with collective naming practices all over the world. Immediate neighbors typically name each other, which others then adopt. Olagunju cited the examples of “Hausa” (which came from the Songhai) and “Fulani,” which came from the Hausa.

The older Hausa name for Yoruba people was Ayagi (see my August 19, 2022, article titled “‘Ayagi’”: Earliest Nupe-Influenced Hausa Name for Yoruba People” based on my review of Professor Rasheed Olaniyi’s work), not Yariba, which strengthens Abdu’s research about the Borgu origins of the name Yoruba.

Of course, Katanga, the name of the old capital of the Oyo Empire was, according to Professor Stefan Reichmuth, the “Hausa name for Old Qyo,” adding “This term which might even be originally a stranger’s name of northern origin was in the late nineteenth century coming to be accepted as an overall ‘national’ name not only by the Oyo themselves but by other related groups as well.” (p.157).

However, in his 1934 book titled A Hausa-English Dictionary and English-Hausa Vocabulary, G.P. Bargery defined Katanga as the Hausa word for a “wall of a house or compound” (p. 583).

Well, in their 2015 article titled “‘Lucumi, ‘Terranova’, and The Origins of the Yoruba Nation,” published in The Journal of African History, Henry B. Lovejoy and  Olatunji Ojo point out that all the collective names by which the Yoruba people were known are exonyms. They also agree that “Yoruba” came from the North.

Most importantly, they found that the term “Yoruba” does not appear in European slave records, slave-owner documents, or early self-references by the Yoruba people themselves before the 19th century. So, Olagunju’s argument that the Baatonu people might have imitated the name from Oyo people whose Alaafin sought refuge in their land seems highly unlikely.

Yoruba isn’t the only exonym by which the “Yoruba” people were known. A common name in slave records that historians have found is “Lucumi” (or Lukumi). Lovejoy and Ojo found that while the term could mean “my friend” in Yoruba, or “female lover” or “concubine” in the Owo dialect, it was the name Bini people called people in eastern Yorubaland.

They said it originated as a pejorative Edo term for foreigners, likely slaves, who spoke unintelligible languages, including Yoruba. In Edo, they pointed out, oluku means “young animal,” while mi or mie translates as “that” or “to have.” The term’s dual meanings in Yoruba and Edo, they said, suggest an ironic basis for its later identity formation.

“Nagô,” a self-appellation of the Anago subgroup of Yoruba, became the dominant term in Brazil for enslaved Yoruba speakers. Fon-speaking Dahomeans adapted this term as “Anagonu” to refer broadly to Yoruba-speaking groups (p. 355)​

“Aku,” derived from the Yoruba greeting “eku,” was also used to identify Yoruba-speaking recaptives in Sierra Leone following British anti-slavery efforts in the early 19th century.

Nonetheless, as I pointed out in my 2019 column, which Lovejoy and Ojo supported with more scholarly evidence, the people of Western Nigeria aren’t called “Yoruba” today because the Borgu people called them so, or because they were identified by a version of that name by Songhai, Hausa, and Fulani people. They self-identify as “Yoruba” precisely because returnee slaves of Yoruba descent chose the name, popularized it, and encouraged people in the region to embrace it. More significantly, though, it was because colonialists insisted on it even when other subgroups protested its imposition.

To put it cheekily for Kemi Badenoch, the same Europeans who stitched the North and South together to form Nigeria were the ones who insisted on calling her Ondo and Ijebu kin “Yoruba,” a northern label originally meant for the Oyo, a group her people weren’t even part of. Oh, the irony!

Dr. Olagunju reproduced passages from his favorite Yoruba nationalist historians to dispute specific claims about Borgu’s immersion in Oyo’s history but dismissed the claims of the well-regarded Akinwumi Ogundiran’s well-received book, The Yoruba: A New History, which supported some of my claims, as suspect because he “did not cite any authority to back this claim.”

Never mind Dr. Olagunju’s unsupported claim that I. A. Akinjogbin said Borgu was under Oyo “until 1783.” Well, he made no such statement. What he actually wrote was that Oyo’s “tributaries included at least parts of the Nupe and the Bariba countries” (p. 450). How “parts of” a territory paying tribute translates to the entire country being under Oyo’s rule is beyond me.

Nonetheless, later Yoruba historians have challenged the exaggerated narratives of Oyo’s rule and reach and undermined claims such as Akinjogbi’s and the predecessors that inspired him. For example, Professor Olayemi Duro Akinwumi, in a 1992 article titled “The Oyo-Borgu Military Alliance of 1835: A Case Study in the Pre-Colonial Military History published in Transafrican Journal of History wrote:

“The extent of the Old Oyo Kingdom had been a subject of debate among the professional and non-professional historians. Crowder, for example, had given the impression that Oyo at its peak of glory extended far and wide to cover north, south, west and east of the kingdom…. Among the states incorporated into the Kingdom was Benin on the east, and Dahomey on the west. Samuel Johnson (1960:179) went further by including a portion of Nupe, Borgu and Dahomey. It is now certain that the Kingdom did not embrace all the Yoruba and the non-Yoruba states as claimed by many authors” (p. 160).

Dr. Olagunju doubted that the Bashoruns of the Oyo empire were of Borgu origins even when Professor Ogundiran pointed it out in his book. Well, they were more than bashoruns. According to Professor Babatunded Agiri, whom Dr. Olagunju quoted in his response to me, “This process, by which the earliest Yoruba dynasties lost their political power to an invading Borgawa group, is also found in the Save area (now in Dahomey). Here the invasion probably took place sometime in the seventeenth century or slightly earlier. That the ruling dynasty in Old Oyo was non-Yoruba is also supported by the existence of a relic of an extinct (and probably Yoruba) dynasty in the lineage of the Basorun” (see “Early Oyo History Reconsidered” by Babatunde Agiri (1975) History in Africa, 1975, p.7).

Agiri also pointed out that, “The Oranyan dynasty was from Borgu and the traditions of its origin in Old Oyo emphasize this link. The conquest of Old Oyo by the Borgawa dynasty must have occurred well before the fifteenth century” and that Borgu “established satellite dynasties in the Yoruba towns in the area, including Oyo, replacing the former Nupe influence there” (p. 10).

He said Alaafin Abipa owed his success in reestablishing his dynasty at Old Oyo to the large following of warriors from Borgu who accompanied him and that some of these warriors were rewarded for their services by being permitted to replace the rulers of some former Yoruba settlements such as Kishi, Igboho, and Igbetti.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has rejected N40b earmarked for it as 2025 budget estimates.

It tacitly got approval for the N126b it proposed to the National Assembly through its joint committee on INEC and Electoral Matters.

Rejection of the N40b yearly budget envelope for the electoral body was made by its Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu to the joint committee during budget defence session.

The INEC boss in his presentation before the joint committee chaired by Senator Sarafadeen Alli (APC Oyo South) said elections in Nigeria have become huge burden requiring adequate funding.

“Our proposal for the 2025 budget, the provision requires the sum of over N126 billion.

“We have the document that has provided details line by line on how we intended to spend the 126 billion.

“We would like the support of the National Assembly to enable us to achieve our responsibilities in the first line charge and most of these responsibilities are constitutional.

“In a nutshell, the N40billion budget envelope given us for 2025 will not cover 1/3 of projected expenses which totally amounts to over N126billion.

“Aside the off-cycle elections for 21 constituencies to be filled through bye-elections and the Anambra Governorship election this year, personnel cost alone on account of the new minimum wage will eat up the N40billion budgetary envelope”, he said.

He added that the inadequacy of the N40billion budget envelope made the electoral body to get intervention funds of N10.5billion for Edo and Ondo elections in 2024 and another N500million for bye-elections on affected constituencies in 2024.

Apparently convinced by the proposal of INEC, members of the joint committee one after the other assured the electoral body that the proposed sum shall be appropriated for in the 2025 budget.

Specifically, Senator Ireti Kingibe (LP FCT) said “the situation at hand is not about looking for the N126billion for INEC in 2025 fiscal year but providing it”.

The joint committee thereafter went into closed door session with the INEC Chairman and the Federal Commissioners on how to source for the fund and appropriate it in the 2025 budget.

[DailyPost]