Former BBNaija housemate, Venita Akpofure has opened up on how she misses being intimate and having someone close to talk to.

She said the connection that comes with having a partner is lacking.

The mother of two revealed this in her latest interview with Aura magazine while discussing her personal life.

Speaking about the emotions associated with her relationship history, Venita noted that she misses the intimacy that comes with having a man in her life.

The actress also talked about raising her kids as a single mother

“I do miss the intimacy of having someone to talk to about everything.

” However, the children’s father hasn’t significantly contributed to their lives. So, whether he’s present or not, it wouldn’t affect what the children need,” she said.

[TheNation]

Our educated elite, often driven either by greed for power or appetite for mischief, are the scourge of our nation. This was perhaps why Obafemi Awolowo took one look at his colleagues in the run up to independence and concluded that ‘given a choice between Nigerian educated elite, the traditional rulers and the colonial masters, Nigerians would choose in reverse order because with the latter, Nigerian are assured of justice.”

The death of Prof Ben Nwabueze, one of our most celebrated constitutional law scholars, last week at the ripe age of 94 provides another opportunity to once again examine the travails of Nigeria and Nigerians in the hands of those who were supposed to be the nation’s pathfinders.

From the onset, our challenge as a multinational and multicultural society was  how to fashion out a federal constitution whose essence is ‘unity in diversity’ (Preston King 1981), using ethnic groups as building block as opposed to geographical diversity. To tackle the challenge, our founding fathers and the colonial masters  embarked on various pre-independence constitutional re-engineering efforts culminating in the  1922 Clifford Constitution which introduced elective principles that encouraged formation of political parties, the 1946 Richard’s Constitution which promoted national unity by  bringing together the north and  southern Nigeria  for greater participation in the discussion of their own affairs for the very first time since  1923;  and 1951 Macpherson constitution which introduced House of Representatives with regional representatives of 68 members from the north and 34 each from the west and east.

There was also the Oliver Lyttleton 1953 inspired London Conference that institutionalised federalism and regionalism, 1954 Lagos Conference which recommended the regionalization of public service and judiciary and resources allocation based on derivation, the 1957 London Independence constitutional conference which granted self-government to the west and east and recommended the setting up of the 1958 Willink Commission to look into the complaints of minorities’.

Despite these giant strides in constitutional development, the first republic collapsed because of constitutional crisis initiated by a segment of the elite who in an effort to outfox each other contrived the military coup that dragged our ill-equipped and less educationally endowed soldiers into politics.

In power, they developed a messianic complex. And limited by the nature of their training, the military command structure, and handicapped by their little knowledge of how to manage society, their antidote to what they perceived as excesses of the strong regions was a strong centre even in a multi-ethnic society. Regarding themselves as custodians of a constitution abused by the political elite, they assumed they could fashion out a vision of a new and better society. We have since been moving in circle because the closer they moved towards that vision the farther the vision receded.

One man that could have prevented the tragedy of May 1966 was Professor Ben Nwabueze. He was one of Nigerian most accomplished students of society. He has been described as a constitutional colossus, an accomplished intellectual who according to Professor Williams “dazzled everyone by the amazing fecundity of his mind and imagination, the sheer forensic brilliance of his argument, the dialectical rigour of his submission and the rousing aplomb and finesse with which they are put together.”

Unfortunately the brilliance of Nwabueze, credited with the drafting of military unitary Decree 34 that in one fell swoop frittered away the gains of 44 years of constitutional engineering by our colonial masters and our founding fathers, did not reflect positively in the affairs of Nigeria or that of his Igbo people who have had to pay huge price for Ironsi’s 1966 folly.

If the first republic collapsed because Nwabueze and his fellow Nigerian leading elite’ greed for power, their role in frustrating efforts to return to “Nigerian path to freedom” through other constitutional reforms since the seventies have not been any less treacherous.

Gowon’s 12 state structure based on major ethnic groups aligned with Obafemi Awolowo’s concept of state creation as a philosophy for development and unity in diversity, but that changed with the 1975 take- over of power by Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo who immediately foisted a 19-state structure without rhyme on the country.

It was to get worse with the country increasingly becoming federal  only in name but unitary in reality especially with Ibrahim Babangida’s creation of eleven states (Akwa Ibom and Katsina) on September 23, 1987, and  Abia, Enugu, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Osun, Kogi, Taraba and Yobe on August 27, 1991. Abacha’s with the creation of six additional states: Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Gombe and Ekiti, in 1996, took the total number to an unwieldy and unviable 36 sates.

A journey through memory and by his own admission shortly before his death, Nwabueze admitted he was closely linked to the nation’s self-inflicted tragedies. His intervention in 1966 led to the July 1966 revenge coup, the attendant pogrom on the streets of northern cities and the civil war in which his Igbo people paid heavy toll.

His advice to Babangida according to Prof. Omo Omoruyi’s “The Tales of June 12” led to the annulment of MKO Abiola’s pan-Nigeria 1993 mandate and the foisting of interim contraption by Babangida and Obasanjo on the country as well as Abacha’s five years’ war against Nigeria and the Yoruba led NADECO opposition.

It is also on record that with Nwabueze as Abacha’s Minister of Education, Nigerian universities were shut down for about nine months during which lecturers received no salaries. And as Abacha’s confidant, he was also said to have made some inputs into the 1989 constitution often dismissed as Abdulsalami’s Decree 24 that has made the country ungovernable since the beginning of the 4th republic.

Nwabueze equally admitted that as a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee set up by the military government in 1978, he was not “only a member but chairman of one of the sub-committees that produced Chapter 2, the fundamental objectives and one of the cardinal flaws in the constitution is the concentration of powers in the centre.”

With no lesson learnt from the 1966 forced unity fiasco, Nwabueze claimed he and his colleagues at the Constitution Drafting Committee were so overwhelmed with “this patriotic feeling that we needed unity and the most effective way to achieve unity of the country is by having a very strong central government”.

For this reason, he claimed they “took away 50 per cent of the items on the concurrent list and gave it to the centre…We looked at the residual matters, these are matters exclusive to the states, we took a large part of it, close to 50 percent; we took it away from states and gave to the centre and the result is the almighty Federal Government”.

Prof Ben Nwabueze, the nation’s most celebrated constitutional scholar, more than anyone else knew that the concept of ‘an almighty federal government’ in a federal set up was an aberration.

He was the chairman of The Patriots, a group of eminent Nigerian citizens. He was a Nigerian elder statesman and ‘a constitutional colossus loved for the sheer forensic brilliance of his argument’. Back-tracking on some issues he once held dear did not diminish his standing among those who literarily worshipped him. Interrogating the end of his many crusades that brought only disaster to Nigeria and his Igbo people is therefore not designed to spoil the joy of those who believe he was beyond reproach but merely as record of history.

This will be hard to see through in Nigeria, but it is an idea worth exploring: the families of the two sisters employed by the Lagos Waste Management Authority and crushed to death on Monday by a motorist trying to escape from officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority should sue the Lagos State Government for vicarious liability. They should not only demand hundreds of millions of Naira in punitive damages but should also insist that the state make sweeping environmental management reforms to protect the road sweepers they subject to the hazards of the Lagos-urban dysfunction.

Now, I have been Nigerian for long enough to know how this new tragedy will go: top state officials will make all the right noises about how they regret the deaths, vow to prosecute the offender (and will probably do), and wait for the next incident so they can repeat the platitudinous spiel. The state lawmakers too will go into an overdrive with summons issued left and right but will get nowhere at the end of the knee-jerky vituperations. Like the executive, the legislative body will murmur complementary condolences and move on.

Now, I am not exonerating the reckless driver from his alleged crime, but the invisible hand that operated in the siblings’ unwarranted deaths is that of Lagos State. Between LASTMA and LAWMA, two government agencies that urgently need to revise their methods in the light of the casualties resulting from their operations, the unfortunate victims of Monday’s accidents hardly stood a chance.

As various news media have reported, the two LAWMA women (not yet named) were working at the Charley Boy section when a yet-to-be-identified motorist speeding away from extortive LASTMA officers lost control of his vehicle and ran over them. The two women, reportedly in their 60s, were also siblings.

Despite eyewitness accounts, LASTMA has washed its hands clean off the unfortunate incident by saying their men were uninvolved. First, there are too many cases of their officials causing mayhem on the road for them to be vindicated merely on account of their innocence plea. Second, there will likely be footage from several CCTVs in the area. Can they retrieve them to prove their men have nothing to do with the unfortunate incident?

In a society that values dignity and life, the inane practice of subjecting people to sweep the highways would not even exist. There is no cruder means of ensuring a clean urban environment than deploying thousands of men and women to sweep highways while dodging an unending stream of cars, trucks, and motorbikes daily. It is perilous employment; those not crushed or maimed by rogue vehicles spend all their working hours inhaling fumes, dust, and stench from Lagos’ polluted air and clogged drains.

When I pass the streets and see people—mostly women, and in the older age bracket too—sweeping the highways that even pedestrians are sometimes otherwise forbidden to cross for the riskiness, all I see is crass exploitation of poverty. The state directly exposes these people to death and disability on its ill-contrived road network. Sometime around 2012, then managing director of LAWMA, Ola Oresanya, disclosed that at least 57 street sweepers in Lagos were crushed to death by vehicles while doing their jobs between 2007 and 2010.

The Monday incident also recalls the similar deaths of Kikelomo Bamidele (who was also pregnant), crushed to death by a petrol tanker and “Bisi” who died when a vehicle reportedly driven by a military officer had a burst tyre and somersaulted several times before knocking her off the Third Mainland Bridge. There have been documented deaths in the highbrow districts (e.g. Osborne Road in 2018) as well as lowbrow ones (e.g Ojuelegba, 2019). Death comes fast and furious to the street sweepers, no matter the neighbourhood.

Those fortunate enough to survive a ramming by a vehicle suffer lifelong injuries and disabilities that might lead to them losing their jobs. Meanwhile, these are citizens who barely earn enough in the first instance. Multiple media reports have reported on—and emphasised—how these sweepers are poorly paid despite the hazards of their jobs. Those not rammed by oncoming vehicles pray daily against such eventuality while inhaling damaging dust and fumes. If these people eventually suffer health problems due to the nature of their jobs, what provisions are available for them regarding healthcare facilities, insurance, and disability claims?

One wonders: it is 2023, why have the managers of the so-called principal city of Nigeria not come up with less precarious means of street cleaning? Machines have long been invented for this task. They not only mitigate the risk to humans, but they are also far more efficient. Well, it turns out that Lagos State once came up with the idea of mechanised street cleaning under the Akinwunmi Amobode administration. Both the N576m allocated for the project and the noble intention of moving human sweepers to access roads instead of the highways went down a dark hole of corruption, inefficiency, and the sheer lack of accountability that typifies much of our public service.

LASTMA maintains a crude operational tactic of chasing fleeing cars (where they have an operational vehicle). So oppressive are their practices that when men of the Nigerian Army brutalised some of their officers months ago, many of those who commented on the incident could not look past their abuse to elicit some fellow feelings for them.

A wise man once said that where purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable. In the case of LASTMA, their catalogue of abuse stems from how they misconstrue their purpose. They tend to act as if ensuring the smooth flow of traffic across the state is secondary—or merely incidental—to sadistically extorting drivers and turning traffic offences into a key source of revenue. They are less concerned about tailoring their operations to produce the conditions that will ensure efficient traffic management; they just want to punish.

For a concrete jungle with a poor road network, lack of urban infrastructure, and a perennial dysfunctional management of facilities, Lagos punishes traffic offences too severely. They do not even factor the consistent diminishment of purchasing power into their charges. What they bill you for traffic offences, even the state itself cannot pay its equivalent as minimum wage.

So severe is Lagos’ punishment for traffic infractions that they proceeded to auction impounded vehicles last year. There are many heartless things that our leaders do every day to worsen life for the people they have already impoverished, and that was one of them. So morally unjustifiable were their actions that they backed down after facing much criticism. In March, when the governor was so desperate to be re-elected that he turned himself into a vote carpetbagger, they returned some impounded vehicles to the owners. For them to have buckled under the blowback that met their policy meant that they did not quite think it through, and they probably cannot connect the law that empowered them to auction vehicles to any reasonable procedure for ensuring traffic compliance. We are unlucky to be ruled by sadists who cannot invent enough means of making people cry.

While they pulled back on that one extreme action, the punitive order they have systematically constructed remains intact. What Lagos has facilitated with its traffic management is a system whereby the punishment is so severe that people would rather risk limbs and lives to escape their officials. The multiple recorded instances of people causing accidents because they were fleeing LASTMA officials have included LASTMA officials themselves. All the various incidents of accidents should have been enough for them to evolve their traffic management methods to be more humane, but no, they cannot think outside the small box of subsisting on people’s tears, sweat, and blood.

At the height of the Naira Redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which eventually unravelled as a ‘Naira Confiscation’ exercise in April this year, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a ‘Trade and Development Report’ on the situation across Africa, with special reference to Nigeria. “A shortage of cash, triggered by the replacement of the highest denominations of the country’s currency, hobbled the economy, especially the informal sector,” the report stated, warning of the implications for food security in the country. We are already there. No fewer than 26.5 million Nigerians are projected to grapple with high level of food insecurity in 2024, according to a joint statement last week by the World Food Programme (FAO), UNICEF, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.  

Several factors, including removal of fuel subsidy and the exchange rate Yo-yo, may account for this challenge. But, as we experienced, the negative impact of the shortage of Naira notes is also huge, particularly on rural dwellers who produce most of the food we eat. That lesson should not be lost on Abuja authoriities. While perhaps not yet a big issue, those who deal in cash transactions are aware that accessing Naira notes is becoming very difficult across the country. And when you do manage to obtain them, they are likely to be dirty and stinking, expired or/and mutilated notes, even from the banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATM) machines. Meanwhile, I fail to understand the meaning of the explanation provided Daily Trust by the CBN Director, Corporate Communications, Isa Abdulmumin that “The seeming cash scarcity in some locations is due largely to high volume withdrawals from the CBN branches by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and panic withdrawals by customers from the ATMs.” 

In Nigeria, as I wrote in my column in March this year, “when you create incentives for bad behaviour in the public arena, the problem hardly goes away.” I added: “I hope the CBN has not created a new industry for Naira cash sellers within the banking industry and their collaborators who could still make life difficult for the ordinary people in pursuit of illicit gains.” Sadly, that ‘prophesy’ is now being fulfilled. Although we have since had a change at both the presidency and the apex bank, it is now a fact that a ‘Naira market’ has been created for unscrupulous Nigerians, to the detriment of the people. Unless President Bola Tinubu and his CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, put on their thinking caps, many Nigerians may experience another bleak Christmas as Naira notes increasingly vanish from circulation.   

Let me state upfront that I endorse the encouragement of more electronic-based transactions in the system, essentially because it may help to instil transparency in financial dealings. But because we have a way of compromising every process in Nigeria, it is also no surprise that kidnappers, armed robbers and other criminal cartels now operate with Point of Sale (PoS) machines. Two weeks ago, in the highbrow Guzape district of Abuja, a church member lost all his savings to these night marauders who came with PoS machines and demanded the ATM cards of their victims. Each person was then ordered at gunpoint to insert their PIN numbers for the electronic transfers. I am naïve enough to believe such criminals would be easy to trace but instead of any genuine efforts in that direction, the robbery victims are now being extorted at the police station to which they reported the case.

Introduced in 2012 by then CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who later became the 14th Emir of Kano, the cashless policy commenced in 2014, and was supposed to be implemented in phases. Nigerians gradually bought in to it until last year when former Governor, Godwin Emefiele, decreed what turned out to be a fiasco—ostensibly in a bid to reduce ‘excess liquidity’ in the system and move towards a cashless economy. What some fail to understand is that the idea that any country could do completely away with cash is an illusion. Even in the developed world. The point here is that nobody should criminalise cash transactions, especially for legitimate businesses. And it is within the rights of depositors to demand their money in cash within the legal limits, as happens in most countries.

A publication by ‘Cash Matters’, funded by the International Currency Association (ICA) recently disaggregated the 2022 Global Payments Report and I found it interesting that in majority of the countries we are trying to ape, the volume of cash transactions within their economies is huge. Even in the United States, according to the report, “Cash continues to be a vital part of the PoS mix, accounting for 17.9% of transaction value (over US$8.3 trillion) in 2021.” In March this year, a Bloomberg report led with this headline: ‘More US Homebuyers are paying in cash, sweeping a majority of sales in some markets…All-cash deals share above 50% in 13 cities, including Atlanta’.  

The import of the foregoing is that cash is critical in every economy and even more so in ours that is driven mostly by the informal sector. The CBN can therefore not be cavalier about the problem that is now spreading across the country. Cardoso and his team must come clean with the real volume of currency in circulation and what exactly is going on to cause the current scarcity of Naira notes. It is curious that the cashless policy, in place for so long, has resulted in such a high demand as to make the national currency a commodity in and of itself. The ‘cash rationing’ that banks now use as an excuse to deny customers their money seems rather odd. The only plausible explanation is that some people are playing games with our national currency, as they did earlier in the year.  

Since collective amnesia is a rampant disease in our country, I will not be surprised if many have forgotten what Nigerians went through from last December to March this year before the Supreme Court intervention. From schools to offices and hospitals, there was no sector that did not feel the negative impact of the ill-digested CBN policy. The weakest and most vulnerable of our society were the worst hit. Despite concerns by economists, the policy, of course, had the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari who claimed that “People with illicit money buried under the soil will have a challenge with this but workers, businesses with legitimate incomes will face no difficulties at all.”

If President Buhari believed that fantasy, to borrow from a James Hardley Chase novel title, then he will believe anything. Tales abound of fatalities in hospitals and health facilities across the country because people could not access their money in cash. The situation was worse in rural communities where few have access to bank accounts or the required mobile phones and internet for such transactions. The loss to the economy was enormous. Many could not make sales because their customers didn’t have cash to pay. Market people selling perishable food items like tomatoes, pepper, fruits etc. had distressing tales to share of how those products ended up in refuse bins. Newspaper vendors, roadside sellers of maize, plantain and yam who barely eke out a living were sent out of business. Mechanics, vulcanizers and other artisans became destitute as PoS operators made a killing from the misery of others since bank transfers were erratic at the time.

PoS merchants are now everywhere because we have opened a new business line for them. May be that is not bad, except that the people we see in street corners are just mere retailers and small players. The high rollers are at the CBN, the banking halls and the National Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC). Today, while the few available Naira notes in circulation we scramble to get have outlived their usefulness, middlemen and commission agents are in custody of the new notes which they then sell at premium. So, having created merchandise of Naira Notes, we may have unwittingly added the scarcity of national currency to our legions of problems.   

As an aside, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed yesterday that headline inflation rate in the country increased to 27.33 per cent in October (last month). According to the NBS Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for October, the figure is 0.61 per cent points higher compared to 26.72 per cent recorded in September. More significantly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in October was 6.24 per cent higher than the rate recorded in October 2022 at 21.09 per cent. But perhaps more concerning is that food inflation rate in October increased to 31.52 per cent. On a year-on-year basis, that is 7.80 per cent higher than the rate recorded in October 2022 at 23.72 per cent. These are enormous economic challenges already. We cannot afford to compound them with a shortage of Naira notes.

In the absence of an explicit CBN policy, I am willing to concede that the scarcity may be a reflection on operational inefficiency in cash management and distribution rather than a deliberate action. But even that could only have happened because someone did take eyes off the ball. Whatever the reasons, Cardoso and his team must find a solution. Especially as we inch towards the Christmas and new year holiday when people, quite naturally, need Naira notes. Yes, the CBN has extended the validity of the old N1000, N500 and N200 notes indefinitely. But beyond availability of the currency, I do not know for how long the apex bank will keep the current stinking Naira notes in circulation that are no longer fit for purpose. It says so much about our country that we cannot even produce decent currency notes for citizens, residents, and visitors.  

Goodnight, Pastor Theo Martins 

Outside the Insurance industry where he became renowned as founder and CEO of a thriving company, Mutual Assurances, before leaving everything for full time ministry as a Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), not many may have heard about Theophilus Babatunde Martins. Yet, his passage at a relatively young age of 64 has touched millions of people across the world. In the past one decade, Pastor Theo Martins (as he was known) chose to be a roving missionary to different countries, preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But for me and my wife, the loss is more personal. He was to us a beloved uncle, a reliable counsellor and a man of God who was authentic in his relations with others and generous with everything he had. ‘Oloye’, as he was fondly called, also personified humility and was humorous to the very end. Above all, he was one of those few people who, if he said, “I will continue to uphold you in my prayers”, you could take it to the bank that he indeed would. There was an uncommon genuineness about his faith that endeared him to so many people and made him very special to my family. 

Having taken my wife almost like his daughter from the first moment she went to work as a student intern in an insurance company where he was a senior management staff in 1992 (we were not married as of that time, but I got to know him about four years later), it came as no surprise that Pastor Martins’ death would hit her so hard. But it is reassuring for us that he has only gone home to rest. We thank God for the memory and example of Pastor Martins. Many of us will always remember him for his integrity, his generosity of spirit, and his kindness. To his wife, auntie Kate and children, Judah and Funmi, may God grant you the fortitude to bear this huge loss. And may God continue to comfort all of us who knew, and loved, Pastor Theo Martins. Goodnight Oloye! 

President Bola Tinubu has said his administration is committed to steering Nigeria towards self-reliance and reducing dependency on others. He said the administration envisions an unprecedented level of industrial activity, marked by the establishment of unique industrial hubs tailored to the strengths of each region in our great nation.

“Our commitment to ending poverty is deeply intertwined with our focus on economic growth and job creation,” Tinubu said, acknowledging that sustainable development can only be achieved by fostering an environment where job opportunities abound, ensuring food security, and eradicating poverty. Those indicators are currently negative in Nigeria.

President Tinubu gave the assurance at the 55th International Conference & Exhibition and Emerald Jubilee celebration of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) with the theme, Sustainable HR, Business and National Development.

Represented at the event by the minister of state for labour and employment, Nkiru Onyejeocha, Tinubu said his administration will prominently feature women and youth in all its endeavours, recognising them as integral contributors to our nation’s success in line with its vision to ensure exclusivity.

He told the HR practitioners that their role is crucial in moulding, and effectively managing people to become catalysts for economic resurgence in an increasingly competitive and changing world.

“I implore you to continually ensure that the bar is raised for impactful people management and organisational development, to ensure a skilled workforce that is in tune with the 21st Century workplace.

“I therefore invite you to partner with us in the continued quest to shape minds that will chart a better course for the future of tomorrow bringing progress and prosperity to our nation while eliminating poverty.

President Tinubu said his vision for the Nigerian workforce is one where every citizen who wishes to be, is gainfully employed and able to take care of themselves and their family. Together, keying into this vision, we will banish poverty.

President and chairman of the governing council of the CIPM, Mr Olusegun Mojeed said this year’s theme is apt. Mr Mojeed said now more than ever, HR is charged with the responsibility of shaping a progressive organisation and nation.

He said sustainability is all about people, businesses, the nation, and performance. “Sustainability is not a fad or a buzzword. A trend? Yes. But it’s a trend that’s worth understanding and considering for your people, businesses, and the nation.”

He stated that most industries in today’s ecosystem are experiencing rapid and exponential bouts of change triggered by disruptive technologies and generally increasing the agile nature of the external market.

“Sustainable people practise is a strong catalyst for cultural, national, and infrastructural development amongst others. Talent supply will play a major role in creating and shaping the conditions in which organisations and nations will operate,” he stated.

A record number of 61 recipients of the institute’s highest grade of membership was recorded in the ongoing conference for the fellowship grade. Mojeed said they have been assessed and certified by the membership committee and the board of fellows.

The senator for Edo North and former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Adams Oshiomhole, on Wednesday, recounted a moment of assault at the hands of Department of State Services (DSS) operatives during his tenure as the labour leader between 1999 and 2007.

Oshiomhole, who appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, narrated his experience in light of the recent assault on current NLC president Joe Ajaero in Imo State, prompting an indefinite nationwide strike which began on Tuesday.

“I had a similar experience… I was on my way to Delta State and I went to the airport,” he said.

“The then director of SSS ordered that I should be arrested and stopped from travelling because we had given an ultimatum to the then Federal Government headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo.”

According to him, the ultimatum had to do with resisting the attempt to withdraw fuel subsidy because of our fears of the consequential increase in the cost of living.

“They dragged me on the tarmac and I had my cuts all over the place. They forcefully prevented me from flying and took me back to the DSS director general’s office — then Col. [Kayode] Are,” the former labour leader stated.

“He offered to take me to their own hospital and I said, ‘No, I can’t even trust a government that has inflicted this kind of wound on me to treat me. They might as well poison my blood.’ I said I wasn’t going to do that.”

Oshiomhole added that he ended up in detention after being “taken away” for two days.

“[For] at least 48 hours, the NLC couldn’t locate me. When eventually I was let out, the bandage on my arm with the blood and all that, I told my colleagues, ‘This blood would rather reinforce and whet my appetite for the struggle for justice,’” he said.

Nollywood actress, Etinosa Idemudia has disclosed that she will be doing a surgery soon to take off her womb. 

Etinosa who disclosed this while responding to a follower's comment on her earlier tweet on “life being the primary cause of death”, stated that she's taking off her womb so her children won't have to come to this world to wait for death. 

Controversial cleric Anthony Kahura Mwangi alias Pastor T who raised eyebrows when he claimed that he slept with HIV-positive women and still remained HIV-negative, has offered a clarification.  

Pastor T had claimed earlier that his confession was misinterpreted. He also disclosed that the incident happened while he was in a secondary school. The cleric also said that his wife is not bothered by the conversation on social media in regard to his confession as she already knew about his past. 

 He said; 

"That was a story that happened while still in high school. I have a problem with bloggers picking certain bits from my teachings just to get views. I have children and the context of the message I was delivering was misinterpreted because they just uploaded a small video and not the whole message.

“She already knows my past, and she understands my story. We decide what to check on social media."

APC chieftain, Joe Igbokwe, has advised Nigerian graduates who are yet to secure a job to to go and learn skills like painting, laying ties, laying irons and others. Igbokwe gave the advise on his Facebook page today November 15. 

He said that if graduates are waiting for paid jobs, they may wait till the “end of age.”

Read his post below…

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye has stated that it is wrong to label all Nigerians as corrupt in financial or other dealings.

Speaking at the Behaviour Change Conference and Exhibition 2023 in Abuja, on Wednesday, November 15, Owasonoye said experience has taught him that not all Nigerians are corrupt.

He said;

“At one of the recent Policy Dialogues organised by the ICPC, two very vocal participants boisterously but erroneously maintained that Nigerians who are not corrupt are those who have not had the opportunity to abuse, or collude in the abuse, of public office, authority or position.

“This erroneous belief by relatively few people that all Nigerians are corrupt can be considered in the light of the traditional anti-corruption interventions in Nigeria and the recent efforts towards expanding the focus of anti-corruption interventions to include the behavioural change approach.

“From my experience in leading the anti-corruption fight at PACAC (Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption) and the ICPC, I can tell you categorically that not all Nigerians are corrupt.”