Whether real or imagined, none of the metonyms for “Lagos boy” is complimentary. The “Lagos boy” moniker once came up in the late 1980s. Commodore Olabode George, then Military Governor of Ondo State, had just been removed from office after spending two years. The African Concord magazine then did a post-mortem of his turbulent rule. Newly purchased boats for the coastal part of the state were alleged to be second-hand. By then, for analysts writing about the George years, rigor-mortis hadn’t set on another uproarious component of his time in office. It was his wife, Feyi George’s “Queendom.” So she came up for examination, too. Her Excellency was quarrelsome and garrulous, something that was strange to people in that part of the country, no matter how high they climb. In the hinterland, even if your yam seedling flourishes beyond measure, yielding a big harvest, native wisdom asks that you shawl it from prying eyes with your two palms. But Feyi was the wife of a “Lagos boy.”

Shortly after her arrival as the First Lady, Feyi met grey-haired market women, old enough to be her mother in the Erekesan Market of the state capital. Singing her praises and dancing to welcome her to their midst, Mrs. George’s Lagos spirit suddenly clambered over. Why are Lagos top-shots fond of being descended upon by spirits? Then she said; I paraphrase, “you are older than me but today, I am your mother.” Later, on an official tour, Feyi George went ahead to openly slap Mrs. Tola Ajayi, a Permanent Secretary and wife of a judge. The woman did not allow the slap thaw. She handed Her Excellency multiple hot slaps. So when George was asked what he would want to be remembered by and he said, “…that a ‘Lagos boy’ passed through this place,” African Concord summed it up that George had used “Lagos sense” for the people of Ondo State.

“Lagos sense” and “Lagos boy” connote so many things about the Lagosian. Writers like Cyprian Ekwensi drew the picture of a dreadful Lagos. The “Lagos Boy” could mean smartness, suavity, celebration of inanity, fraudulence, erecting facades on dross to make it look real, and so on and so forth. Even before the colonialists came, Lagos, once known as the “Venice of West Africa,” was dreaded by inhabitants of the hinterland. It was surely the city to make quick bucks. A city once described by Matthew Gandy (“Learning from Lagos” New Left Review, 2005) as “a smoky expanse of concrete and shanty-towns, sprawling for miles across the islands, waterways and onshore hinterland of the… Lagoon,” Lagos was home to money-doublers and soul-scarred gamblers. It was where you could make quick money through mere hubris. Some other writers have described Lagos as “a place of desperation to make it by hook or crook,” with some others giving it the fitting description of “a huge Dickensian space full of heartbreak.” Paul French, in his Lagos: Africa’s capital of Noir, said Lagos had popularly been described as “the capital of crimes such as 419 and internet fraud also known as the ‘Yahoo Yahoo’”.

Lagos was and is however not all about con. It is a land of bravery and unmatched can-do spirit. Historically, it is a representation of boldness and venturesome traits. Indeed, the Ibadan cognomen as where the robber’s superior argument acquits him, at the detriment of his accuser, will seem to be more appropriate as a metaphor for the daringness on the streets of Lagos. Lagos could not stand bad rulers. This was demonstrated, first by Madam Alimotu Pelewura, the lyalode of Lagos. On December 16, 1940, Pelewura gathered over seven thousand “angry and overburdened women” who represented every branch of petty traders in Lagos to protest the Income Tax Ordinance of 1940/1941 on the female gender. The protesters closed all markets with over a thousand mobilized women milling round, particularly Broad Street, Bourdillon and Marina. Pelewura led the women to petition the office of Sir Bernard Bourdillon, Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. One hundred and ninety two women signed that petition drafted by lawyer and statesman, Oged Macaulay, son of Herbert Macaulay, a prominent Lagosian and nationalist known by the sobriquet, Ejo N’gboro – the snake on the Street.

Lagos’ fight of injustices and inequity was myriad. Lagosians fought the “Battle of Salt Water” called Ogun Olomiro. They rose against the king of Lagos, Oba Akitoye, for his inability to tame the monster of water scarcity. They did not mind the fact that the Oba’s own army too couldn’t get water as the soldiers drank salt water from shallow wells which they dug by hand. It led to the 1851 dismantling of Lagos by the British who deployed canons to level the city to the ground. It was also a precursor to the signing of the treaty with Oba Akitoye, as well as the ceding of Lagos to the British by Oba Dusunmu. The intransigence and daringness of Lagos are reflected in one folksong composed by indigenous Lagosians. They sang: “The British leveled Oluwole/(Oyinbo wo Oluwole); Lagos kept silent/(Eko o wi nkan); The British stylishly took over Marina/ (Won f’eso, won gba Marina); They now said they would dismantle Lagos Island/ (Won tun ni awon mi a wo Isale Eko); They must have thought we were dumb!/ (Won sebi kurumo ni wa!). Late Yoruba Fuji musician, Sikiru Ayinde Balogun (Barrister) later popularized this folksong of Lagos’ resistance to British colonial lords.

Travelers to Lagos, long before independence, through the petro-dollar years and even till today, are handed stern warning to be wary of Lagos and Lagosians. They are sleek, ephemeral and unreal. Perhaps because of its daily infiltration by strange persons of different persuasions, the Lagosian has come to be classified as immune to some of the traits associated with a Yorubaman. He didn’t totally represent the gentlemanly Omoluabi ethos that undergirds the value system of the children of Oduduwa. A trustworthy Lagosian is as scarce as a hen’s teeth. He would grab and run with what doesn’t belong to him. It was repeatedly said that a Lagosian would sell particle to you as an article.

Bola Tinubu is the Lagosian who occupies the highest office in Nigeria today. Ex-Senator, two-term governor of Lagos State and currently president of Nigeria, he has come to approximate the character trait of Lagos. He is the Lagos posterboy and in this case, one who personifies the “Labelabe” leaf. This leaf is a sharp-edged plant that grows by river banks. My people thus say that it is almost impossible for worshippers of the water goddess to pay obeisance to their goddess without the connivance or abetment of the Labelabe. Due to its lacerating sharp edges, the leaf is also used in preparation of potion for protection from evil doers. While chanting incantations on the potion, the reciter chants, “If anyone runs into the Labelabe leaf, they will be soaked in blood.” If Tinubu lost some votes of his Yoruba people in the 2023 presidential election, it may not be too far from the truth to say that his morally prude Yoruba kinsmen from the hinterland who believed that anything Lagos was fraud were the ones who withdrew their votes.

I went into this long epistle about Lagos to situate the recent tirade against the Tinubu government by ex-Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar. Abubakar’s grouse is with the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway recently awarded by the Tinubu government to the president’s known friend, Gilbert Chagoury, owner of Hitech Construction firm. Atiku made us aware that Tinubu awarded the contract at a whooping sum of N15.6 trillion, an amount almost the total of all Nigeria’s 36 states and FCT budgets for 2024 of N15.91 trillion. This is against the backdrop of the known fact that the lengthiest highway in Africa, which runs from Cairo in Egypt, to Cape Town in South Africa, is going to cost the sum of $1.6 billion. The road is 1,156 kilometers. Atiku has received knocks for raising the shroud off this stinking corpse. Many people have asked whether Nigerians expected Tinubu to award the road contract to his enemies. Some equally submitted that even Atiku had promised to sell Nigeria’s refineries to his friends if elected the Nigerian president. So when David Umahi, Minister of Works, went on a converts-winning evangelism to media houses last week to seek Nigerians’ buy-in into the prudence and fidelity in the road project, the dead body he and Tinubu buried in a shallow sepulcher still left gaping tell-tales.  

Gradually, Atiku has led Nigerians by the helm of their garments to see the sickening level of the putrefaction oozing out of the project. For me, Atiku’s greatest submission on the project is that a contract of such magnitude was awarded without any competitive bidding. Where is this ever done in any sane part of the world? As much as Umahi attempted to cover it by showing that such practice was a construction custom, the minister would need to cover his face in shame for this lame defence. How can a road contract the size of the budgets of all Nigerian states be sealed without bidding? To worsen it, the contract was awarded to a known business crony of the president, a fraternity which, before his presidency, Tinubu openly gloated over. Add these two together and you get a fertile ground for grand corruption.

You may not like Atiku’s face and the constancy of his cantankerous politicking but if you are bothered about how corruption has become the necklace on Nigerian governments’ necks, Atiku’s arithmetic should worry you. He seems to be saying that, for Bola Tinubu, the monkey, a known banana glutton, was on the verge of jumping at the banana tree again. Umahi’s waffles and the ill-logics of his defence of the wobbly legs of the humongous contract are sickening and worrisome. From the Umahi waffles, it is obvious, as Atiku alleged, that government only began to think about the percentage of counterpart funding after the project award. He provided evidence. There were so many shameful anomalies that Atiku’s eagle eyes sighted on the road contract. Though Umahi deployed a number of engineering bombasts to convey the quality of the road the Tinubu government has on its hands in the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, he couldn’t ward off the army of wriggling maggots that have made this project their dormitory.

Another very fundamental aspect of Atiku’s toothcomb examination of the N15.6 trillion project is that the Nigerian parliament was too engrossed in a slumber to know that incongruities were passing by its backyard. So when the president, a couple of weeks ago, told the world that the parliament’s “integrity is intact” and going ahead to deride “those who are talking about malicious embellishment in the budget” as people who do not “understand the arithmetic,” Nigerians can now understand the quid pro quo chemistry behind Nigeria’s executive and legislature’s dalliance. Among a litany of questions, Atiku had asked why the National Assembly approved N500m for the road project while the Tinubu administration released N1.06tn, a figure over 200 times the amount in the Appropriation Act.

If anyone thought Atiku was embarking on this verbal pugilism because he loves the Nigerian people, in the words of Americans, they have another think coming. In Nigeria, both government in power and the opposition are like the discomfiting and excessively big “Ipa”, (scrotal lymphedema) a disease that makes a man’s scrotum swell disproportionately. Yoruba will ask what good the “Ipa” does for the buttocks. Nigerians are the palm kernel and Nigerian politicians are the two stones, one underneath and the other on top, which are both attempting to access the fruit of the kernel. The two stones don’t like our palm kernel. It is a ploy to mouth the edible seed.

Some people have said that the Tinubu government is just acting true to type by aping the paterfamilias of some governments before it. It is being said that, in the so-called Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Aso Rock just wants to help its business partner link a road from Lekki to its hotel corridor. If some few billions of Naira get drowned in the process, so be it. Simplicitas. As Atiku asked, if they must piss on us, they should, at least, cover it with some pearls and sequins by calling it rain!

Adebanwi’s Guggenheim

We live in a world where virtually all news that emanate from Nigeria are depressing stories of bloodshed, banditry, government’s insensitivity, corruption and all-what-ought-nots. Thus, when news of Nigerians who go outside the perceptional loop flows in, it does the reverse.  One that hit the airwave last week was that of Nigerian professor, Wale Adebanwi, who bagged the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. The fellowship was said to have been awarded on the awardee’s trajectory of prior career achievements and exceptional promise. Adebanwi is the Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies and Director of Centre for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, U.S. In a pool of thousands of academics, Adebanwi was finally chosen as one of the 188 winners of the 2024 awards.

Anyone who knew Adebanwi decades back as he burnt the midnight candle would not be surprised about what he has made of his life. I first got to know him around 1989 as he sneaked into Prof Alaba Ogunsanwo’s crowded class at the University of Lagos. I later learnt he was combining stringing jobs in Ibadan with the Tribune with some other tabloids, even as he schooled in the Mass Communication Department of the university. We were to later meet again in 1994 at the University of Ibadan as graduate students of the Political Science department. He finished tops in our Master’s class with a CGPA of about 72 per cent. He was to later hold two Ph.D degrees in Political Science from the University of Ibadan and another in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar.

Wale was instrumental to my eventual career path as a journalist with the Tribune and has since been a lifelong advisor. If you use Wale’s life as a guiding path in any endeavour, you seldom would come to grief. But for him, a life of academy would have been for me a mirage. The Guggenheim Fellowship was spot on in the choice of Adebanwi as a scholar who is generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture. I can testify.

Once on a visit to his Oxford University office where he served as first African ever to be appointed as the Rhodes Professor of Race Relations and Director of the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, I was proud of my Nigerianness.

All the above, however, pale into insignificance when compared to Adebanwi’s humanity and humaneness. Perhaps borne out of his upbringing as son of a clergy, Wale’s life personifies piety and goodliness. This is to say congratulations to the Iresi, Osun State-born scholar who makes my generation very proud.

The 15-year marriage between comedian Ayo Makun and his estranged wife Mabel has finally come to an irreversible end after years of trying to patch and thread it together. Both sides have declared in separate declarations that their marriage is finished.

Even while the messy marriage may have garnered attention on social media in the past and caused some controversy, other celebrities who have separated amicably and with great animosity and even open conflict can teach us something.

By making their declarations, Ay and Mabel have demonstrated that marriage is not a “do or die” situation with unintended consequences for the couple, their friends, and family.

While acknowledging their shortcomings in preserving the relationship, both parties refrained from assigning blame or changing their dirty laundry in front of the public. They said that it was in the best interests of their two beautiful girls that they chose peace over violence.

If there’s one thing that life has taught us, it’s that the promise of “forever together” is a fabrication. Mabel and Ay comprehended this memo thoroughly. There won’t be a protracted divorce mess, no backbiting, and maybe even no custody disputes.

Recall that AY acknowledged his marriage was about to fail in an Instagram post last Sunday.

Yes, he continued, “I have found myself doing things I am not proud of today without compromising my family.”

It is one thing to watch my 20-year relationship and marriage fall apart, but it is quite another for the people involved to know how to assign blame in an environment where most women are expected to constantly play the victim and come out on top.

“I can tell you for free that no one is completely innocent enough to cast stones. I love how lies about me in all these blogs travel faster than the truth. But my painful truth will eventually beat away all the lies.”

He claimed that his character and skills support the idea that he is past the point where he can entertain the public while dealing with intensely private family matters.

“They just might be too much concerning the individuals involved, not even when I have a grown-up daughter with access to social media. Her mental health needs to be protected from seeing things she can not be proud of online.

And the ex wife seems to have towed the same line of choosing peace over drama and even wishing her ex husband well.

Hear her: “I want to express my sincere gratitude for the supportive messages that I have received from everyone.

However, my silence should not be misunderstood and also the father of my children whom I have been with for some years deserves a certain level of respect and privacy from me and all the concerned parties. Most importantly because of our children whose mental health and general well being should be prioritized.

Many lies have been peddled against me and attacks orchestrated on the social media space but I will honour my kids with my silence and not address any of these lies.

Although my dreams of a lifelong marriage have taken a different direction now, I’m committed to moving forward with grace and resilience. I have faith in a brighter future for both myself and the children. Despite the rumors or opinions, I find comfort in the belief that all will be well.

While it’s unexpected for things to end this way, I quietly ask for guidance from my faith as I step into this new chapter of life. Also as we navigate this change,I ask for your help in creating an atmosphere of respect and understanding. This is a challenging period, and I ask for privacy and consideration as we (my ex-husband and I) find our own path forward.”

[OpinionNigeria]

Nigeria is a nation with a long history of perennial challenges of public power supply. The country seems to have unfortunately accepted the anomaly as part of its national life. Since one came of age, the power sector bears the trade mark of inefficiency. The problem of insufficient power supply has remained unchanged. The old reasons adduced for poor performance in the sector more than two decades ago are not different either. Despite the poor supply situation, citizens still pay through their noses for an underperforming power sector which delivers little or no quality services. Many Nigerians cannot remember a time when they enjoyed constant public power supply up to 15 hours per day. A lot of money has been spent and much more still allocated to the power sector but no remarkable progress was made. 

However, what ordinary Nigerians constantly experience is poor service outcome, routine tariff increase and general inefficiency. The latest assault on Nigerians is the announcement of new tariff regime and classification of customers, currently placed on new categories of bands A-E. The citizens had no input when decisions were taken on this band classification. Effective from April 3, the charges of selected customers on Band 'A' has increase to over 300%. Days after, federal government has hinted on extending similar measures to other band categories.

The unit cost of electricity for those placed on Band A was jacked up from ₦68 per kWh to ₦225 per kWh excluding VAT. Those on other bands are denied electricity supply in a failed attempt to meet up with the obligations of band A customers. The prevailing lie in government circle was that the increment only affected a small percentage of Nigerians and that government still subsidises electricity. Officials implementing government policies are often economical with the truth regarding the impact of anit-people policies. In this case, the only thing that matters to them is saving without considering the economic impact of such savings on the well-being of the people. 

Government failed to understand that industrial customers whether big, medium or small placed on Band A will factor in the cost of fuel, diesel and the increase into the prices of the goods and services they provide. Therefore, whether customers are placed on Band A or other categories with or without electricity, the burden of every company's expenses is transfered to the ordinary people - the customers/consumers.

When will government concede to the mood of the nation and inputs of the masses before taking any decisions on issues directly affecting them?  Pundits say the band idea is a ploy to assist the cash-trapped DiSCos to raise fund. This is happening in a country where power outages last more than 24 hours daily or even days in most places. It is also happening in a country where the national power grid had collapsed more than 58 times between 2017-2023. How could government remove subsidy on electricity but goes on to subsidise hajj fare to the tune of over N90bn? Is Nigeria ready to move from a poor nation to a developed one?

Nations occupying the front row in industrial growth and development attain such feat with serious investment in power supply. There is no gain saying the fact that, access to uninterrupted public power supply has become a tall dream in Nigeria. The more money is spent on the sector, the worse it becomes. Bogus contracts entered into by government with industry players like Siemens to remedy the situation has suffered several set-backs and the end is not yet in sight. The long wait for remedy continues while government officials have often admonished citizens to keep hope alive. Both past and present governments do not seem to have a grasp of the fundamental problems bedeviling the power sector. If they do, Nigeria cannot be shamelessly talking about 4,500mw of electricity since 1960. 

One major problem facing the sector is the appointment of people without requisite knowledge and experience. The endemic corruption in the sector and lack of purposeful goals have also contributed to the obvious failure. Almost all ministers of power since 1999 except Engr. Bello Suleiman were/are square pegs in round holes. They were/are green horns occupying compensatory political positions earned on recommendation or political party affiliation. As novices, they come on board bereft of ideas or blueprint to drive government agenda. It is a disservice appointing an accountant or a lawyer minister of power.

Policies often put in place by these appointees to address the challenges are mostly badly thought out; externally influenced or geared towards inflicting more pains. Since year 2000, tariff increase has been the only visible item dominating and governing the Multi-year Tariff Order (MYTO) while other germane issues like customer privileges are relegated to the background. In fact, Nigerians wake up to multiple tariff upward reviews every two to four years without additional power infrastructure to support the aging ones or addressing the needs of several rapidly expanding communities. 

There is no home grown solution to the intractable problems of power except borrowed directives handed down by World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These borrowed ideas deepen and worsen the economic woes of the poor citizens. A country where little children always jump up in excitement and shout "Up Nepa" when public power supply is restored after days of black out has no business increasing the cost of electricity or services not adequately rendered. Those in charge should go back to the drawing board, comprehensively work hard to improve on the sector instead. 

The power sector was painfully balkanised, claimed and annexed in favour of some highly placed individuals just like the Europeans did to Africa in 1885 Berlin Conference. The companies were shared as business status symbol serving the interest of a few. Provision of excellent services for Nigerians was secondary on the power sector reforms agenda. How could a country allocate such all-important national asset to incompetent, non-experts in government or their associates whose interest only hinges on making quick money. The Nigerian bidding system is so magical that one wonders how these ill-prepared investors schemed their ways through the processes without anybody flagging their glaring incompetence. The process deliberately accorded certain privileges to bidders/owners who cannot differentiate between a fuse and feeder pillar.  

The country should as a matter of urgency innovate and diversify in areas of power generation. This could be regionalised based on the corresponding resources within every geographical zone. The north east is blessed with potentials in solar energy. The north-west is endowed with the blessings of hydro-electricity and wind. The north central can boast of a good level of coal deposit and resources for hydro-power supply. The south east is blessed with little water, gas and abundant coal deposit. The south-south and south west have resources in hydro-power and gas. The world is going green and Nigeria has to run with the idea together with the world. 

Unfortunately those at the helm of affairs and friends of people and institutions close to the corridors of power have only succeeded in allowing the sector to thrive but generally restricted it from flourishing. They have succeeded in bringing the sector down on it's knees and resorted to untenable ideas and prescriptions not peculiar to Nigerian circumstances. With the enormous human and financial resources invested in the power sector, after 64 years of existence, Nigeria has no business being in the league of nations lacking adequate power supply. 

This electricity tariff increase is ill-conceived and equally ill-timed. It should be halted. Let Nigerians breathe.

Sunday Onyemaechi Eze is a Media and Development Communication Specialist.

Being Press Statement Presented by Prof Usman Tar, Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Borno State, at the NUJ House, Maiduguri on Saturday 13 April 2024 in memory of the 10th Anniversary Abduction of Chibok Girls and general security situation in Borno State

Members of the fourth Estate of the Realm, a very good afternoon to you all. On behalf of the Borno State Government, let me thank you profoundly for honouring our invitation for this Press Briefing.

This press briefing will cover the following issues: the abduction and rescue of Chibok girls; the management and resettlement of IDPs and matters arising; the Borno Restoration Project; and the Borno Peace, Reconciliation and Development Programme (Borno Model). With me are colleagues from the Representatives of the l key branches of the Government and strategic MDAs.

1. On the Abduction of Chibok Girls and Matters Arising

Ten years ago, the Boko Haram insurgents criminally abducted 276 innocent girls at their hotels at Government Girls Secondary School Chibok. This painful date is engrained in our collective memory and we shall not rest on our oars until the last of our innocent girls are back home with their families. On this auspicious occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the abduction of Chibok Girls, the Borno State Government identifies and sympathises with all those who are affected by abduction. The Government wishes to inform the public that we shall continue to struggle to salvage our abducted girls on behalf of the parents and relatives of the Chibok girls who are still in captivity. The Borno State Government is committed to rescuing and reuniting the remaining Chibok girls and reuniting them with their families. We understand the pain and anguish that the families of those still in captivity are going through, this is our sorrow!

We also wish to use this occasion to take stock of the rescued girls and provide an update on how the girls are coming to terms with adjusting to normal life after captivity, and efforts of the Borno State Government to sustain the momentum on the rescue of the remaining girls. So far, out of the 276 abducted Chibok Girls,187 have been rescued and reunited with their families. Most of the rescued girls have, over the years, been enrolled in different schools or graduated under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. A number of the girls have been enrolled into local and foreign scholarships or empowerment programmes. Many have since been reunited with their immediate families and are continuing to receive psychosocial support to reconcile them with normal life. Furthermore, 16 recently rescued girls are being rehabilitated by the Borno State Government and attending the 2nd Chance School where they learn skills in various vocations that will provide them with sustainable livelihoods, while their kids are also placed in nursery schools. Four rescued girls have voluntarily decided to return to their parents.

We remain hopeful and determined that, with the combined efforts of our security forces, intelligence agencies, and community support, all abducted persons will be safely returned.

The Borno State Government will not rest until every missing person is found and returned home safely. We call for unity and support from all citizens as we navigate these challenging times together.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the abducted Chibok girls and, indeed, all missing persons. We will continue to stand together during this difficult time.

2. On the Return of IDPs to their Ancestral Homes, Fire Outbreaks and Matters Arising

The Borno State Government is fully committed to the return of all IDPs - both those in formal and informal camps - back to their ancestral homes. So far, over 90% of active IDP Camps have been decommissioned and the displaced persons resettled, while the balance shall be resettled within 2024 In Sha Allah. The dismantling of each IDP Camp and resettling of the displaced persons is normally preceded by the restoration of security, clearance of farmlands initially within a 5 kilometer radius and restoration of vital infrastructure especially schools, water systems, electricity and mobility. This, village-by-village; town-by- town; and household-by-hold our people are being resettled with military precision and meticulous logistic engineering. We thank the agencies of the FGN, especially the armed forces and security agencies, for their unflinching support in this regard.

In addition to the domestic IDPs, we are also dealing with the issue of Nigerian refugees who are seeking asylum in Niger, Chad and Cameroun. The Borno State Government is deeply grateful to our neighbouring countries and our neighbourly kiths and kindreds for their magnanimity and hospitality in accommodating our citizens in their territories. The relocation of Nigerian refugees is in the radar of the Federal Government. Recently, the Executive Governor of Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum had sought an audience with the President CnC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, on the issue of relocation of Nigerian refugees to their ancestral homes within Nigeria. The President has pledged to support this process, and provide the federal might that is needed to ensure a seamless return of our people back home after a decade of stay as refugees. This process requires patience on the part of our people. The return of our teeming displaced citizens require careful logistic work and restoration of security and vital infrastructure as a precursor to the actual relocation and resettlement. We urge our people to exercise patience while the state and federal governments find sustainable solutions to our security and developmental challenges.

The Borno State Government is not oblivious of the extant challenges that may be associated with the relocation of the IDPs and refugees. While we relocate our IDPs and refugees, we also have a solum duty to maintain law, order and security in the remaining camps. We are dealing with the risk of attacks by unscrupulous elements and the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgency, and the rising cases of crime and criminality in our active IDP Camps. A case in point is the recent breach in security and issues surrounding the missing IDPs near Ngala town. Certain narratives suggest that these IDPs numbered between 200 and 300 were abducted.

It is important to clarify that while there have been cases of missing internally displaced people, the number, according to the available data, stood at 106 boys and girls, and so far 8 have since returned to their respective camps. On March 3, 2024, these youth left their camps to look for firewood in the bush far beyond the distance that security agencies permitted and considered secure. These IDPs may have come into contact with violent non-state actors in the bush.

The Borno State Government is working closely with the Federal security agencies to safeguard the lives and property of the citizens in the state. In particular, the government is working on the rescue of the missing IDPs and all others in captivity. The Government calls on all stakeholders, including the media, humanitarian partners, and the general public, to approach this issue with sensitivity and understanding. We must work together to address the root causes of displacement and provide support to those in need.

The Borno State government is also not ruling out criminals who take advantage of the security situation to commit atrocities. However, security forces are on the trail of these criminals. Meanwhile, investigating is ongoing on alleged cases of crimes, and we urge citizens to exercise patience while we deal with this all alleged crime. Our citizens should be rest assured that anyone or agency who is found culpable shall face the fill wrath of the law.

Despite the recent challenges in Ngala, the Government wishes to confirm that peace has gradually returned to Borno state, and the "Build Back Borno Better Project" is on course. We would also like to state that about a million IDPs have returned to either their local government headquarters or ancestral homes. The reconstruction and rehabilitation of destroyed communities and public infrastructure is ongoing, and the public's trust in our government and security agencies remains high.

The Borno State Government is working tirelessly to improve conditions in the IDP the camps, enhance security measures, and facilitate the voluntary return and reintegration of displaced persons into their communities.

While fully cooperating with security agencies to carry out the kinetic approach against the insurgents, the Borno State Government is also investing heavily in non-kinetic measures, particularly the mass clearance of farmlands for agriculture and the involvement of community leaders and traditional rulers in alternative dispute resolution.

3. On the Borno Restoration Project and General Security Situation in the State

The Boko Haram insurgency is its final days of extermination, degradation and decimation. Our gallant troops have worked tirelessly to weaken, degrade and downgrade the insurgency through a relentless counter-insurgency operations. The officers and men of the Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) have given a good account of themselves. They have established a firm and effective presence in all territories that were hitherto disturbed by the insurgents. Today, our gallant troops have maintained a full presence in all the 27 LGAs of Borno State.

In the same vein, while supporting the kinetic operations, the Borno State Government has given considerable attention to non-kinetic operations which includes, the battle for hearts and minds, community-driven dispute resolution mechanism and massive investment in rural and urban infrastructure.

The policy foundation of Borno of the Borno State Restoration project is the 25 year Development Plan and 10 year Strategic Transformation Initiative; the Borno State Agricultural Transformation Agenda and the Borno State Infrastructure Transformation project, among others. The 2024 budget contains a bouquet of key development projects to be accomplished this fiscal year, building on previous budget cycles. Within the tenure of the Gov Zulum Administration, the Government's key development deliverables shall be delivered inshaa Allah.

4. On the Borno State Government Peace, Reconciliation, and Development Project (Borno Model)

The Borno Model is a programme for voluntary reception, processing, rehabilitation and reintegration of those who are affected by, or trapped in the embroglio of the Boko Haram Insurgency. The Borno Model was erected to provide a constructive solution to the vacuum created by the demise of the Boko Haram Kingpin, and terror leader Abubakar Shekau.

The Borno State Government established this platform to provide a sub-national space for a non-kinetic solution to the vestiges of Boko Haram Insurgency, without prejudice to the FGN DDRR infrastructure and the "Operation Safe Corridor" - a federal platform for the rehabilitation of ex-combatants. We know that terrorism is a federal crime and any initiative to counter terrorism and insurgency must conform with federal rules and norms of engagement.
There are kinetic and non-kinetic approaches to preventing and countering terrorism. For the past one decade, the FGN has deployed federal troops under different code names to fight terrorism with mixed results. It is worthy of note that putting boots on the ground exclusively had its limitations; the wholesome application of kinetic approach has so far not yielded the desired result. The efficacy of non-kinetic approach has become imperative. This includes the battle for the hearts and minds of the people, Psychological operation (Psyops), dialogue, reconciliation, mediation and peace-making.

The Borno Model is a child of necessity. It was borne following an opportunity created by the demise of one of the factional commanders of the BHT Abubakar Shekau and following a combat stand-off between the Al-Bamawi and Shekau factions. A vacuum was therefore created by the leadership and command crisis within the BH sect.
On 29 August 2021, the Borno State Government called a meeting of relevant stakeholders which led to the establishment of a special purpose vehicle for reconciliation known as the Borno Model to provide a corridor for willing repentant insurgents to return and surrender unconditionally to the Government of Borno State. The surrender process is a complex process involving initial surrender to military formations serving as the initial point of submission, transportation of the returnees to holding and processing facility at Hajj Camp Maiduguri where the returnees are received, profiled, processed and subjected to intensive programme of deradicalisation, civic education and entrepreneurship training.

The Borno Model is designed to be consistent and conformant with the federal code for law and order. There is an ongoing broad-based consultation between the Borno State Government and Federal defence/Securty establishments to harmonise the Borno Model with the FGN DDRR. As a sub-national entity, the Borno State Government is keenly interested in harmonsing the Borno Model with with Federal DDRR. The Borno State Government is deeply committed to ensuring that the Model meets the expectations of diverse partners and stakeholders. But as a local solution to a national problem, the BOSG reverses the right to take ownership and leadership of the Borno Model. Nevertheless, we look forward harmonising the Borno Model with DDRR will hopefully yield a hybrid model that will meet both national standards and our local reality.

“We regret voting for Tinubu in 2023. We won’t repeat such a mistake again, say Northern Elders”. That was the banner headline carved out by the media from the latest intervention of the Northern Elders’ Forum, NEF, in Nigeria’s political space.

I chuckled. It’s an old trick. Mother Fowl knows what to do when it wants more corn.

The struggle for domination in the business of selling political-spare-parts is older than Nigeria’s flag independence. In every corner of the political space, there have always been self-styled  Elders, Youths, Professionals, Critical Stakeholders, Vanguards, Progressives, Custodians and all sorts of unelected persons elbowing each other for prime access to the media space.

Northern Elders

The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), founded eleven years ago by Prof. Ango Abdullahi, former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, is one such contraption. It claims to speak for the entire northern region of Nigeria and has vigorously pursued whatever agenda it sets itself in the geopolitics of Nigeria. There are many such elite interest groups scattered all over the country; so, NEF hasn’t really done anything wrong.

I do not grudge the NEF their right to freely associate. It’s a free world where other ethnic nationalities in the country are also entitled to cobble out their own special purpose vehicles for political patronage or other self serving fallouts of programmed activism.

Until recently, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed was the most visible face and spokesperson of the organisation. In the recent past, he has been the chief of staff to Senate President during the tenure of Dr Bukola Saraki. He is now a Special Adviser On Political issues in the office of Vice-President Kashim Shettima. There is something to be said for media visibility in the political space, especially when you give the impression that your exertions are altruistically based on the common good. Nigerians recognise a selfish quest even when disguised as heroism.

Last year, the NEF controversially declared that the presidential race should still be open to candidates from the Northern part of the country because the North had a deficit of four years in the Nigerian power roulette: “Since 1999, the South has ruled the country for 14 years and the North for 10 years” it said.

Many people have, over the years, wondered which North the NEF claims to be speaking for when its silence or equivocation over serious heists that have bedevilled the Middle Belt area of the region has been louder than a thunderclap? Can it truly claim to speak for every section of the North in the same way that the Ohaneze speaks for the Igbos?

Arrogance

The arrogant presumptuousness that attends some of its pronouncements is remarkable. During the campaigns last year, it claimed that no region had ever suffered under any leader than the North did under the Buhari administration and no region benefited from more undeserved advantages than the South did. That was at a time when nepotism had become a defining stamp of President Buhari’s government and the children of political bigwigs were unfairly smuggled into juicy public appointments, thereby distorting the federal character composition of many parastatals and agencies.

NEF’s claim that, at the right time, it would advise Northerners on who to vote for, was seen by analysts as proof that the elderly members of the organisation were still living in the past.

I don’t play ethnic games, nor am I interested in ‘politricks’. I insist, however, that if we must navigate our way out of our serious national problems, we have to re-interrogate our assumptions, shun the “We-Vs-Them” attitude that brought the First Republic to grief, and reject blackmail as a negotiation tool.

To say all this is to reassert my right to love the North and other parts of Nigeria as I do, and help the area achieve its great potentials without pulling down the larger household. If Nigeria must exist, then it must work for all Nigerians, not just a section of it.

The Forum’s recent claim that President Tinubu has failed to secure the country, and that the northern part of the country has been the most hit as a result of the president’s incompetence was downright laughable, considering that, measure for measure, Buhari who hailed from the North had a poorer record (within an 11-month timeline) than the incumbent president in many areas of governance. For example, it took Buhari six months to appoint ministers. He fiddled most times while Nigeria burnt. His statements during crises were divisive. Indeed, ethnic killings became rife under his administration. Remember the Naira recolouring scandal? What about the eventual bastardisation of the Ways and Means procedure?

NEF was largely silent when it mattered most in the eight years of the Buhari government. That fact in itself does not disqualify the Forum from commenting on public affairs; it only means that it should use its tongue to count its teeth before doing so.

According to NEF’s new spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the fact that the criminals were ‘allowed’ to kidnap the school children was a sign of serious security lapses.

“It is unacceptable for Nigerians, particularly those in the northern region, to continue living under such insecure conditions. Unfortunately, just months into the Tinubu administration, there have already been clear signs of failure in providing the vital aspects of security of life and property to citizens.”

Many netizens are now asking NEF, where were you when the list of terror sponsors of Northern origin was released? What is your comment on the development? What solutions do you proffer?

Ncef

And talking about solutions, another unelected body which describes itself as a coalition of statesmen in Nigeria under the aegis of the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), has blamed foreign invaders masquerading as religious extremists for the spate of killings and bloodshed in the country.

“Nigeria is facing a racial and cultural domination agenda disguised as religious intolerance… In Plateau and Kaduna states the owners of the land have been driven into IDP camps while the names of the villages have been changed to Fulani names. In Plateau State, over 102 villages were reportedly taken over by Fulani invaders while in Kaduna State, over 109 villages have been dislodged. The owners of the land are in IDP camps”, says NCEF.

To reset the country on the path of normalcy, the NCEF recommends the following:

Immediate implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference.

Immediate ban of nomadic cattle rearing and abolishment of the RUGA project mooted by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Dismantling of terrorist cells and infrastructure.

Any business investor that requires land should apply for land like other citizens.

Preferential treatment should not be accorded any group in Nigeria.

The ethnic nationalities should assert their right and ownership over their ancestral land and assert the dominion of their thrones in Nigeria.

The ethnic socio-cultural groups should consider these issues in greater detail. The demand for devolution of power should be intensified by the ethnic nationalities.

President Tinubu should appoint a Special Investigator to conduct a Commission of Inquiry into the causes, as well as expose the actors, in the various acts of terrorism and religious insurgency that overwhelmed Nigeria since 2009.

The Forum called on the various indigenous ethnic nationalities to come together to renegotiate Nigeria.

It appears to me that, going forward, anyone who wants to be politically relevant and ‘appointable’ will have to ventilate a larger, more all-encompassing vision rather than the same atavistic tricks in the service of narrow agendas which have kept the various regions of the country, especially the North, on their mendicant knees.

Congratulations, Pelumi

Hearty congratulations to the travel content creator who is the first woman to solo drive a car from London to Lagos, and now Lagos Tourism Ambassador, Pelumi Nubi. As they say in cyberlingo, Naija no dey carry last!

Exploring the highs and lows of fame, we delve into the turbulent world of Nigerian celebrities whose marriages have succumbed to the pressures of public scrutiny.

From dazzling weddings to heartbreaking splits, these stars navigate the complexities of love in the spotlight, shedding light on the challenges faced by those living under the glare of fame.

In this article, LEADERSHIP Weekend highlights celebrities whose marriages have crashed.

AY

Last week,social media was awash with news of the separation of popular Nigerian comedian, Ayo Makun, popularly known as AY, and his wife, Mabel.

The comedian confirmed the development in a post on his Instagram page last Sunday.

He said he had reached a stage where he could no longer entertain the public with “deep personal family issues.”

Also, in a post on her Instagram page Mabel Makun confirmed that her marriage to comedian Ayo Makun, aka AY, has ended.

A post shared on her instagram page read,

”Although my dreams of a lifelong marriage has taken a different direction now, I’m committed to moving forward with grace and resilience. I have faith in a brighter future for both myself and the children”

”Despite the rumors or opinions, I find comfort in the belief that all will be well” she said.

Ayo and Mabel got married in November 2008, and they are blessed with two children.

Bolanle Ninalowo

Many fans were left speechless when Ninalowo, in a post via Instagram in September, announced that his 17-year-old marriage to his wife, Bunmi, had ended and the split was for the best of everyone involved.

Yomi Gold

Yoruba Nollywood actor cum producer producer, Yomi Alore, popularly known as Yomi Gold, announced the end of his second marriage to his wife, Meenah, in January 2023.

The movie star took responsibility for the marriage crash, describing his wife as a good person while announcing the split.

BRed:

The marriage of Nigerian singer, Adebayo Adeleke, also known as BRed, to his wife, Faith Johnson, crashed in June amidst allegations of domestic violence and infidelity.

Wunmi Toriola

In January, the movie star, in a post via Instagram, announced that her marriage had crashed and debunked allegations of being violent while the union lasted.

In a recent interview with New Telegraph, Wunmi said her marriage ended because her ex-husband always rubbed her fame to her face during arguments.

Isreal DMW

Davido’s Logistics Manager, Israel Afeare, popularly known as Isreal DMW, in a post via Instagram last month (November), announced the end of his marriage to his wife, Sheila Courage.

Israel DMW revealed that Sheila left their home on August 8, 2023, despite his substantial support and acts of generosity since their marriage.

He also claimed that his wife accused him of being a ‘slave’ to his boss, Davido.

Stella Damasus

Veteran Nollywood actress, Stella Damasus, confirmed the crash of her third marriage to movie producer, Daniel Ademinokan in October. Stella said she found out about the end of the union on YouTube, adding that Ademinokan has moved on with another lady.

The news of their crashed marriage caught many fans by surprise, considering when the going was good, the couple often engaged in public displays of affection.

Faridah Sobowale

Popular Lagos socialite, Farida, made headlines when news of her attempted suicide surfaced online in August. The Lagos socialite tried to commit suicide at the third mainland bridge following the crash of her two-month-old marriage to Demola Odulaja over infidelity.

However, Odulaja, in an interview with Yoruba social commentator ArewaTopeFamous, claimed Sobowale’s promiscuous way was the reason the marriage ended.

Damola Olatunji

Popular Yoruba Nollywood actress, Bukola Awoyemi, popularly called Arugba, separated from her ‘husband’ and colleague, Damola Olatunji, over alleged infidelity, but the latter denied the allegation.

Announcing their separation via her Instagram page, Bukola claimed she was never married to Damola, but they only had kids together.

Many fans were left speechless when Ninalowo, in a post via Instagram in September, announced that his 17-year-old marriage to his wife, Bunmi, had ended and the split was for the best of everyone involved.

[Leadership]

If a roll call of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s performing Ministers is made today, the likelihood is that the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, will make the list. The former governor is one of those we can call a square peg in a square hole. I have followed the way he has been going about discharging his duties. His on-the-spot assessment of projects under his ministry has revealed the canker-worms of corruption and abuse of office that have eaten very deep into the fabrics of our society. For anyone familiar with the system, civil servants are, perhaps, the most corrupt section of the society. They are the engine room of corruption but undue attention is, unfortunately, devoted to politicians. Not that those ones, too, are not corrupt but the system works in such a way that without the connivance and active participation of civil servants, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for politicians to steal a dime. Who teaches the politicians how to steal? Who shows them the way? Who leads the way to the common till? Who knows where the pounds and pennies are stored? Who prepares the papers and helps the politicians to cover their tracks? A thieving civil service is the bedrock of corruption in Nigeria.

In one video of Umahi I watched inspecting a road construction project under his watch, the Minister lampooned the site engineer for incompetence, unprofessional conduct, disobedience of lawful orders, connivance at the application of substandard materials, manipulation of relevant information and cover-up – all of which were tailored towards cutting corners to save costs and achieve poor quality delivery to feather the nest of contractors and the collaborating civil servants. Good quality materials are quoted but poor quality materials are used instead. Quality and quantity are compromised and the country is thereby ripped off to the tune of millions, even billions, in local and foreign currencies.  What is creamed off is shared between the collaborating and conniving contractors and civil servants.

We pay through the nose for good quality jobs but end up getting poor quality jobs. We lose on both ends. Contracts here are usually inflated. The cost of five, six or even 10 projects elsewhere is the cost of one here. After which we end up with poor quality jobs and get no value for money. A road that is meant to last, say, 10 years hardly lasts ten months – or even weeks! Infrastructure is decrepit here because of over-invoicing and poor quality delivery.  In every sector, we should have more to show for the quantum of resources poured into it. Take, for example, the billions in hard currencies that have been poured into power supply, only for us to sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay of power outages!

Sabotage, occasioned usually by those saddled with the onerous but sacred responsibility of watching our back, ensuring that the right thing is done and that we get value for money, is the reason we hear of trillion Naira budgets year-in, year-out but do not see commensurate results. Much of the money budgeted ends up in private pockets. Budget padding is just a tip of the iceberg. Budget round-tripping is worse than budget padding. What this means is that the same projects are circulated in the budget each year, money is voted and the money so voted is collected and shared but no sod is turned on the said projects. Year-in, year-out, the same ritual is performed. Like Prof. Wole Soyinka’s “Abiku”, such projects keep coming repeatedly, sowing tears and sorrows in the polity while a few elements smile to the bank with looted funds.

Umahi is a politician but it would appear he has a sense of duty. The way he interrogated the site engineers and contractors in one of the videos I watched gave me the impression he did not want to compromise professionalism on the altar of filthy lucre. He may not be an angel but, as they say, there ought to be some honour even among thieves. Honour appears to be glaringly missing among Nigeria’s teeming, thieving population. And this is where the First Republic politicians – and civil servants, to boot – were better, far, far better, than their current counterparts.

Corruption is everywhere but its colouration, texture and intensity differ from place to place. A story is told during COVID-19 to show how the same corrupt act was more damaging to Nigeria than Ghana: A group of foreign investors travelling to both countries forgot to take their COVID-19 vaccine. At the point of entry in Ghana, Ghanaian officials demanded a bribe from the foreigners, after which they were led to the appropriate vaccine centre to take the vaccine before being allowed into the country. On the Nigeria side, the foreigners were allowed to romp into town after settling the officials without being compelled to take the necessary vaccine. The foreigners were the ones demanding to be allowed to take the vaccine but the Nigerian officials insisted there was no need. “God will protect us”, they told the foreigners, and waved them on!

What went wrong? Is it poor workmanship? The contractors used were some of the country’s best; so, what went wrong? Is this a question of poor quality or substandard materials? A case of cutting corners? The usual Nigerian factor? What exactly went wrong? Is it inappropriate usage that is the problem? The indiscriminate traffic and parking of heavy duty vehicles constitutes a menace not only to other road users but also to the road itself. Every road is built to specification and failure to adhere can ruin such roads before their life span expires. Who exercises such control on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway?

The novice that I am on this subject, I ask questions, like Peter Abelard, so that I may get answers. Said Abelard: “Nothing can be believed unless it is first understood” And I have the confidence Umahi will be willing to look into this matter and offer illumination, like he did on the Lagos – Calabar expressway. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway is said to be the busiest road in the country. Often, our problem is also the lack of maintenance culture. We allow matters to get to a head before we act, whereas it is said that a stitch in time saves nine. The Ibadan-Ife expressway is another road that Umahi should take a look at. As it is today, that road is a dead trap. Efforts to rehabilitate it has woefully failed. Ditto the Ife-Ilesha junction axis of the same stretch of road.  Once a road expires, such as these ones have, the right thing to do is scrap them and lay new asphalt, and not waste money doing patch-patch work that does not work.  The cost of bad roads – in lives and limbs, time lost, maintenance and repair of vehicles and inconveniences suffered generally – cannot sufficiently be quantified in Naira and kobo.

Are contractors who do shoddy jobs made to face the music? Are their godfathers called to question? Site engineers who compromise on quality ought to be fired and not given a slap on the wrist like Umahi did to the ones in one of the videos I watched. Until people get punished for doing the wrong thing, we are going nowhere in this country!

• Says group are lightweights who should be ignored

Minister of State for Defence Bello Mattawalle has described the Northern Elders’ Forum as a political burden to the region, saying that they do not speak for Northerners.

He said the threats issued by the group against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is “reprehensible and naïve”.

Mattawalle said in a statement that it is preposterous for a group of people seeking political relevance to overburden the system and create political disunity among Nigerians.

He described the forum as a political paperweight trying to embark on a destructive journey that will bring the North to disrepute for personal and selfish gains. 

Mattawalle said: “This NEF is more of a political burden to Northerners. The group is seeking to erode other people’s rights in order to be recognised or made relevant in the scheme of things despite the failure of their sponsored candidates in the 2023 general elections.

“Inasmuch as many have overlooked them in respect of their utterances, it is pertinent to underscore their overbearing attitude on issues that affect political unity and cohesion. 

“They cannot offer any positive idea or thought about the future of Northern Nigeria or, indeed, of Nigeria and its unity and togetherness.

“We all know President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR won the February 2023 presidential election convincingly. So, who is NEF to want to undermine the President’s victory and even threaten to unseat him?

“This same group of people has intentionally shied away from their responsibility of engendering unity in the North by appreciating the incremental development being brought to the region by Ministers appointed by President Tinubu from the North, especially North West.

“The NEF has not deemed it fit to seek audience with Mr. President to discuss issues affecting the Northern region despite the numerous challenges facing the North as rightly highlighted by the President and being addressed by him.”

He added: “The group is yet to visit any of the ministers dealing with issues of security, agriculture, water resources, police affairs, education, health, budget, foreign affairs, or any head of security agencies in the country so far for firsthand knowledge of government programmes and actions. 

“The majority of them are more interested in faulting the government so as to be recognised or accorded some relevance.

“Our region, the North, is united, disciplined and politically-driven enough not to listen and accept being teleguided by any group of elites who had fed fat in the past on the North’s resources and opportunities which had retarded development in the region and nation due to their selfishness. 

 “President Tinubu is poised to do a lot for the North as President of Nigeria, elected by the people of Nigeria, not by one ethnic group or the other.

“Therefore, anyone mistakenly seeing President Tinubu as a failure or a weakling is making a mistake and should rethink.

“Such a person or group is either blind or misguided and unable to see the new Nigeria that is emerging.

“Therefore, the NEF statement allegedly expressing regret for voting for President Tinubu is unfortunate.

“NEF is not more than a group that has refused to accept reality and is living in delusion.

“The truth is that the North is proud of its support and vote for President Tinubu and will continue to be proud of her relationship with the President given the enormous change and development his government has brought to the region.

“My advice to NEF and others alike is to support the present government and join hands with President Tinubu, GCFR in order to further move the country forward.”

[TheNation]

The National Identity Management Commission has revealed that the new national identity card is a single, multipurpose card and not three separate cards.

The Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, Kayode Adegoke, disclosed this on Friday in a note titled “Key Facts About the Proposed New General Multipurpose National Identity Card”.

On April 5, the commission announced that it had collaborated with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System to launch a new card with payment functionality for all types of social and financial services.

Part of the note read, “The new national ID card is a single, convenient, and general multipurpose card, eliminating the need for multiple cards—not three.

“The single GMPC has multiple use cases: payments/financial, government intervention/services, travel, etc.”

According to the commission, only applicants for the card will have to request it with their NIN through the self-service online portal, NIMC offices, or their respective banks.

It added that the card would be issued through the applicants’ respective banks in line with existing protocols for the issuance of debit and credit cards.

“The card can be picked up by holders at the designated centre or delivered to the applicants at the requested location at an extra cost to be borne by the applicants,” it stated.

Earlier, the commission disclosed that the card, which would be produced according to ICAO standards, was positioned as the country’s default national identity card.

According to NIMC, the card shall enable eligible persons, especially those who are financially excluded from social and financial services, to have access to multiple government intervention programmes.

[Punch]

•No aid, no drug, no food – villagers lament plight in the bush 29 days after
•What we told panel – Okoloba Chair

INFORMATION that the Military Board of Inquiry, headed by Air Vice-Marshal David Ajayi, gained access to the Okuama community, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, locked down by soldiers on cordon-and-search operation since March 14, when 17 military personnel lost their lives in the riverside settlement, has sparked curiosity.

The concealed visit of the AVM Ajayi-led Board of Inquiry, constituted by the Defense Headquarters, Abuja, to Okuama before it commenced sitting last Wednesday in Warri, attracted more than a passing attention because the Army had earlier deprived the Governor of Delta State, who is the Chief Security Officer, CSO, Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, entry to the community.

Besides the governor, the Army practically barred the Commissioner of Police in the state, Olufemi Abaniwonda, from accessing Okuama.

The stopover of the military board has activated concerns about the neutrality of the Army in the inquiry it has appropriated, which many stakeholders have interrogated.

AVM Ajayi had told Oboreverowi a few days before the commencement of the sitting that the board was in the state to investigate the unfortunate incident that happened at Okuama.

His words, “We are here on a fact-finding mission and not to apportion blame. We are here to gather facts from security agencies, community leaders, and community dwellers.”

Why I did not visit Okuama-Oborevwori

Governor Oborevwori, who met with security heads at Bomadi, headquarters of Bomadi Local Government Area, and expected to have taken a speedboat to Okuama, some kilometres away, four days after the incident, to personally see things flew to Abuja the next day, Tuesday, March 19, to brief President Bola Tinubu on what happened.

He told reporters in Abuja that he was yet to meet with the people of Okuama, as the place was deserted. This was five days after the incident.

According to him, “When something happens like this, it is always not easy to manage tension. Yesterday, I was in that local government; I was in Bomadi for security meeting, to get full details and a briefing.

“So, some of those issues are security issues that you cannot discuss publicly. That is the truth, and we are managing the situation. Therefore, the issue of whether a place has been burned down or people have been killed; this has happened, but what is the way forward?”

Musa, CDS, modifies reason

Speaking on a television program earlier in the month, the Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Musa, gave a dissimilar reason. He stated that Oborevwori and residents of Okuama had no access to the community because security agencies were carrying out a “cordon and search” operation.

“We are currently conducting a cordon and search in the community. Cordon-and-search operation means we are searching every nook and cranny within the community because they have a lot of illegal funds from crude oil theft. They have bought a lot of weapons”, the CDs said.

“It is for us to thoroughly clean the community to ensure that no weapon no explosive is left in the community. I can tell you that at the end of the operation, residents of the community will always go back.”

However, the “cordon-and-search” operation was still on when the authorities that denied Oborevwori’s right of entry granted the military board of inquiry access to the community.

Police commissioner speaks for himself

In his case, the state police boss, Abaniwonda, said on a television programme: “We have not been able to move into this community (Okuama). Yes, it is our responsibility as the primary line of defense in internal security. However, when you have another sister agency conducting an operation, the reasonable thing to do is to wait for them to finish.
“We have not been able for now to get into Okuama because of the volatile nature of what is presently ongoing around that environment.

” Efforts are being made to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are brought to justice. We are working in conjunction with other security agencies and I can assure you that we are making progress.”

Abaniwonda, who acknowledged that the major line of defence in internal security was the responsibility of the police, said, “In the Okuama incident, we have an ongoing military operation there. We have been on the ground, and we have been supportive. We have not been missing in action. Technology has been an integral part of present-day policing. These individuals are being tracked.”

Objection

However, there is no question about the propriety of the military panel visiting Okuama to find facts. The question is why the same military deprived the governor of visiting a community in his state where such a tragic incident that warranted the people fleeing the town occurred.

It was highly unconvincing that Oborevwori’s visit to Okuama on March 18, when he visited Bomadi, would have interfered with the cordon-and-search operation by soldiers. The military, obviously, has another reason for stopping the governor.

The Army did not even respect the words of the governor, who guaranteed after his closed-door meeting with Tinubu that soldiers would not carry out reprisal attacks.

Oborevwori told reporters: “What is happening now is something that we did not bargain for, but we want to assure everybody that there will be no more attacks on the villages, if there’s been anyone that has happened in the past…”

If they denied the governor access, which is objectionable, why also deny entry to the head of the security agency principally responsible for the investigation of such an incident in the state?

Invasion continues

Up till Thursday, the military has not ceased attacks on villages in Ughelli area over the killings; the most recent was Olota community, 50 kilometers from Okuama, but the Army authorities confirmed that the soldiers who arrested some people recovered arms and ammunition.

Twenty-nine days after the villagers, including mothers and children, fled their homeland and took refuge in the forests, aid agencies have not been able to reach them with food, drugs, and other relief materials, essentially because of the fear of soldiers who are busy invading communities and harassing residents in the name of the cordon-and-search operation.

A leader of Okuama, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, said the Army had levelled virtually all the houses in the community, except schools and churches.

They also alleged that the military brought in caterpillars and other earth-moving equipment to dig the ground to bury their dead, which was the reason it has continued to deny the governor and residents access to the community.

The community rebuffed appearing before the military panel, citing impartiality on the part of the Army, which they termed the accuser, investigator, prosecutor and judge.

Military panel purportedly ruffled by the level of destruction

Informants, who preferred anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard last week that the level of destruction on the ground rattled members of the military panel when they visited Okuama community before coming to the Government House Annex, Warri, for sitting on Wednesday.

They whispered that the panel shut out reporters from the sitting because of what they saw.

“We read they met for over five hours at the Government House Annex, Warri, before reluctantly allowing stakeholders from Okoloba to meet them. They announced through a civilian government official on security to the journalists that they do not require their presence,” one of the informants said.

“What is the military hiding? Why shut out the media from the place? In the past panel of inquiries, with the governor and others, principal officers of the military lead media houses to see and explain what happened.

“In Rivers State for instance, when the Army destroyed houses in Yeghe community in search of repentant militants, they still took journalists there to explain their actions.

“In the era of Governor Chibuike Amaechi, he came with the army and journalists and the community, before the military and governor narrated their losses, and even provided pictures of those killed.

“In this case in Delta State, they shut out the media and kept stakeholders who came at 10 am and waited till after 3 pm. One would like to ask what the panel members were discussing for that long, if not what they beheld traumatized them.
“They should just open the community to natives and allow the people to pick the pieces of their lives; after all, they have razed their homes and identified the killers of their men, who are not even from the community.

“The only offence of Okuama people is that they committed the crime on their soil, but is it those mothers and children who are suffering in the forests that killed the soldiers? Why should they make them pass through such difficulties for more than one month running?”

What we told military panel—Koki, Okoloba chair

The chair of the Okoloba community in Bomadi Local Government Area, Mr. Clement Koki, whose age-long land dispute with Okuama culminated in the March 14 massacre, led his community’s delegation to the military panel.

The panel rounded off inquiries and hearings from the community leadership around 6.45 pm.

Koki, speaking to one of our reporters after the meeting, disclosed that it was all about asking questions to know how trouble started between the two communities, and what led to the ill-fated incident at Okuama.

His words: “They asked us how the misunderstanding between the two communities started, and we told them everything. We gave them the information they wanted to hear from us. More so, we presented all the necessary documents to them”.

We will speak after conclusion of findings —Uzor, Special Adviser

The Special Adviser to Governor Oborevwori on Peace and Conflict Resolution, Chief Edwin Uzor, also said, “The process is still ongoing and we will speak to you after findings are concluded”.
Expectedly, by last Friday, according to media reports, the panel would have proceeded to Bayelsa State, in continuation of its investigation.

Vanguard News Nigeria