IF on Judgement Day, the Lord asks me what I did while the Palestinians were being exterminated like flies, I will say, I stood up to protest, to campaign against the genocide. I will say I wrote against the world leaders who want an-eye-for-an-eye, a tooth-for-a-tooth.

“My Lord,” I will say, “ I tried to expose the false prophets who claim that the land of Palestine, peopled for millennia by different nationalities, was given to a group of Europeans to build a colony and a monument to inhumanity.” I will say even when they, like the Pharisees say, ‘Touch not the anointed men of God’, I denounced them for bearing false prophesy against you; that the Europeans and their North American first cousins who seized the Palestine and made a peaceful land hell on earth, are “God’s Chosen People”,

I will say I told the General Overseers that we are all God’s children. That all human beings are God’s Chosen People; be they Jews or Gentiles, Judaists or Buddhists, Christians or Moslems, believers or non-believers.

I will tell the Lord that I explained to the preachers that the ‘Promised Land’ is not the physical land of Palestine. After all, as we are told in First Corinthians 10:26: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

I will tell the Lord that to justify the pulverisation of Gaza and its inhabitants, some who claim to be ‘Men of God’ opened the Holy Book to Amos 1:6-8 which reads: “Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him that holds the scepter from Ash’kelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish. Says the Lord God.”

I will say, I told these Holy Men to proceed to Chapter 2: 6-16 of the same Book of Amos which reads: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver,“and the needy for a pair of shoes— they that trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same maiden, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar upon garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

 “Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,“whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was as strong as the oaks;“I destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you 40 years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? Says the Lord.

 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine,“and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’ Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down. Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life; he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life; and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day. Says the Lord.”

I will add that I enlightened those ‘Men of God’ that the Gaza, Prophet Amos referred to, is not the same Gaza of today nor are their inhabitants the same, just as the Israel he referred to is not the same Israel as that of today nor are their inhabitants the same.

I will report to The Lord that in 30 days of renewed conflict, 1,400 Israelis tragically lost their lives while the Palestinians lost 9,700, over 4,000 of them babies and children. I will complain that most of the victims would have been alive if only the United Nations, established in 1945 to end wars, could agree on a ceasefire. But that old men like Joe Biden, insisted on war without end. That tragically, as the casualty figures mounted, Biden as President of ‘God’s Own Country’ – not God’s Chosen people – said he had “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using”. For him, the issue is not about the thousands dying, but the exact number.

On Judgement Day, I would have asked the Lord: “Will people like Joe Biden also be docked?” But I am reminded that even when the Lord witnessed Adam and Eve committing the Original Sin, he still gave them the benefit of doubt and allowed them the right to be heard. So, people who commit mortal sins would still have their day in court whether on earth or in Heaven. I would ask that Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant who declared: “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly”, stand on trial with Biden.

I will bear true witness that the sins of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are not as grievous as Biden’s. I will tell the Lord that on October 23 after over 5,000 Palestinians had been killed, Mitsotakis told Israel: “We will continue to be able to support you and to hope that whatever happens, happens without too much of a humanitarian cost.” In my opinion, Mitsotakis main sin is not in putting a cap on how many more Palestinians Israel can still kill that would not amount to “too much of a humanitarian cost”, may be 30,000 to 50,000?

I will also bear witness before the Lord that the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman is not as sinful as Biden. I will explain that when I appeared on a television programme with Freeman on October 9, that is two days into the renewed conflict, I had reminded him that Israel had earlier in the year, killed over 250 Palestinians. He had claimed that the Palestinians his country had killed months before the Hamas attack were “terrorists” and I had retorted that those were indeed, unique ‘terrorists’ as they included two and four-year-old children, he did not disputed the facts.

On Judgement Day, I will say, I stood for humanity.

The Defence Headquarters says the anti-terror fight is now focused on eliminating commanders of terror groups and bandits.

The DHQ also said the infrastructure of these terrorist and bandit groups and their foot soldiers would not be spared across the various theatres of operations.

Speaking during the bi-weekly briefing on the activities of the military across the country on Thursday in Abuja, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, said the terrorists and bandits were already counting their loss.

He said, “There is no doubt that these groups must be defeated and are indeed being defeated. It is for this reason we are inflicting severe damage on the terrorist, insurgents, and violent extremists through our operations across the country.

“Accordingly, we are targeting their leadership, infrastructure, and foot soldiers. The coordination between the air and ground forces is like never seen before and is yielding amazing results and achievements. “

Buba said no fewer than 113 terrorists were killed and 300 arrested in the last week.

He said, “The operations of the last one week resulted in 113 neutralised terrorists with 300 of them arrested. Troops also arrested 25 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 91 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of N571,793,350.00 only.”

Buba added that troops recovered 129 assorted weapons and 717 assorted ammunition.

Buba, however, warned troops on the frontline against human rights violations.

He said, “It is important to highlight that the AFN is a disciplined well-trained force that conducts its operation within the ambit of laws governing human rights and that of armed conflict. We have rules of engagement that are followed in the course of our actions. Nevertheless, there are standing court martials to put on trial any erring personnel that is found wanting during operations.”

For a nation to achieve concrete foreign policy objectives, two key actors are required, an active President and an active foreign Minister. Of course a buoyant economy will also be required. We had all these in the past.  Suddenly, we got lost on the global radar. All these, could be traced to our internal problems or maybe our poor economy. We have to think now whether to become part of the world and make our presence felt or we withdraw from the world and let the world move on without us.

Sadly in the past few years, we have not been lucky in terms of leadership.

We have had outstanding foreign Ministers in the past that helped us achieve concrete foreign objectives and they made us proud. With the likes of  Dr. Jaja Wachukwu (1961-1965), Nuhu Bamali( 1965-1966), Dr. Okoi Arikpo(1967-1975), Major General Joe Nanven Garba(1975-1978), Major General Henry Adefowope(1978-1979), Professor Ishaya Audu( 1979-1983), Chief Emeka Anyaoku(1983), Professor Ibrahim Gambari(1984-1985), Professor Bolaji Akinyemi(1985-1987), Major General Ike Nwachukwu(1987-1989),Babagana Kingibe(1993-1995), Professor Joy Ogwu(2006-2007), Sule Lamido(1999-2003), Ignatius  Olisemeka(1998-1999), Ambassador Olugbenga Asiru alias Asa(2011-2013) and others, we could be proud of our foreign policy objectives.

We also took part in global peace efforts. From 1960 till 2000, Nigeria took part in United Nations Operations in the Congo (ONUG), 1960-1964, United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia (UNTAG), 1989-1990, United Nations Angola Verification Mission II (UNAVEM II) 1991-1995, United Nations Angola Verification Mission III (UNAVEM III) 1995-1997), United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), 1997, United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), 1991- and United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) 1993-1995.

Others are the United Nations Operations in Mozambique (ONUMOZ), 1992-194, United Nations Assistance Mission of Rwanda (UNAMIR), 1993-1996, United Nations Aouzou Strip Observer Group (UNASOG), 1994, United Nations India-Pakistan Observer Mission (UNIPOM), 1965-1966, United Nations Security Force in West New Guinea(UNSF), 1962-1963, United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTA), 1992-1993, United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT), 1994-, United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFR), 1992-195, United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia (UNCRO), 1995-1996 and the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in Macedonia (UNPREDEP), 1995.

The lists included the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), 1995-, United Nations Transitional Administration or Easter Slovenia, Baraja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), 1996-1998, United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), 1996-, United Nations Civilian Police Support Group, 1998-1991, United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UN IKOM), 1991-, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), 1978 and the  United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in Sierra Leone, 1999.

There was a desk office in the then CABINET office, Lagos manned by Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar from Kaduna state, Permanent Secretary, CABINET office, Dr. Niyi Adedeji from Ilesha, Osun state, Ambassador Timothy Ayodele Olu Otunla also from Ilesha, Mr. Bisi Ogunniyi from Iree in Osun state and others, established purposely by Generals Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo, for the sole purpose of assisting African states in their liberation struggles.

With the approval of the then Supreme Military Council then, Brigadier Ibrahim Ahmed Bako(N/548) (5 March 1943-31 December,1983), from Kaduna state trained freedom fighters in Libya and Somalia.

Brigadier Ibrahim Bako led the Nigerian Army contingent that facilitated the transfer of about 100 former guerrillas from the Zimbabwean bushes (after the liberation struggle) for selection and training at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna in 1980. Those 100 former guerrillas formed the pioneer corp of the post-independence Zimbabwe National Army, leading Nigeria’s assistance to other Southern African countries like Angola and South Africa in their fight against apartheid and colonialism.

There was the South African relief fund, an offshoot of the Federal Government, established by General Olusegun Obasanjo, first headed by Dr. Aina from Kwara state and later by Evelyn Omawunmi Urhobo, which provided assistance to freedom fighters of South Africa. At that time every Federal Civil Servant was obliged to donate to the fund. Nigeria donated four rooms at the National Theatre Iganmu, Lagos to serve as operations centres for the liberation struggle in South Africa. Both the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and the African National Congress (ANC) shared the offices then.

Dr. Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (81), who later became the President of South Africa from 16 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, used one of those offices at Iganmu. He was then the head of the African National Congress (ANC) in Nigeria. At that time Lagos was like the capital of freedom fighters in Africa. It is no exaggeration that we carried Africa’s burden.

In fact, a commercial street in Freetown, Sierra Leone, is today named after the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha GCFR (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998)

Listing the assistance that Nigeria has given to some African countries from independence to date, is like counting the planes that land daily at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, USA-too numerous.

My late cousin, Dr. Ayo Akinbobola(11th December 1942-19th April, 2008) JIMEKENLA from Idanre in Ondo state, attempted it in his book titled, REGIONALISM AND REGIONAL INFLUENTIALS-The Post Cold-War Role of Nigeria in African Affairs. Dr. Akinbobola was a Ford Foundation Fellow at Howard University, Washington D.C., U.S.A.; a research fellow at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Lagos; a visiting scholar to the University of Oxford, 1979 and to the University of Michigan.

In 1972, Nigeria and Benin Republic embarked on a N7m cement project. The Nigerian Government provided a N2 million 35 years interest free loan with 30% equity. Both countries also have a joint sugar project. The Nigerian government has 45% equity shares in the project while Benin Republic holds 49% with expatriate companies’ enjoying 5% of the shares. Both projects are based in the Benin Republic.

The Nigeria government also invested in uranium mining in Niger and petrochemical concerns in Senegal.

In September 1972, Nigeria signed an agreement with Guinea to invest $350,000 (5% of the shares) in the Mifergui Nimba and Simandou Company of Guinea, which is charged with the exploitation and sales of the country’s iron ore resources. Under the agreement, Nigeria was guaranteed one million tons of quality ore yearly for its steel production at Ajaokuta.

Nigeria provided electricity to Niger from Kainji Dam. She also granted Dahomey (Benin) $2 million to pay for imports from country. Nigeria entered into agreement with other African states to contruct a 6,530 kilometre trans-Africa highway running from and Kenyan port of Mombassa to the Nigerian port city of Lagos and passing through Uganda, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), Central African Republic and Cameroon.

In 1972, Nigeria granted an interest free N1 million loan to Dahomey to rehabilitate the Idiroko- Porto Novo road. By the time the road was opened in 1973, the Federal Government had spent a total of N2.7 million on it. The Federal Government also undertook the construction of the 92-kilometre Sokoto-Illela and Birnin Konni (both in Niger Republic) roads at the cost of N2.2 million.

On February 24, 1975, at the ministerial meeting of the Economic Commission for Africa in Nairobi, Nigeria announced that it would make crude petroleum available to any African country that required it, at concessionary rates. The leader of the Nigerian government delegation, Mr. Victor  Adeyeye Adegoroye from Akure in Ondo state who made the announcement spelt out two conditions for this: such countries must have their own refineries; and the crude oil sold to them must not be re-exported to third world countries.

Nigeria also played an active role in the funding of African Development Bank (ADB). The Renowned economist, Dr. Pius Nwabufo Charles Okigbo (February 6, 1924 — September 13, 2000) from Ojoto in Idemili South local government of Anambra state, was the head of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) team that carried out the feasibility study on it in 1961. On November 4, 1964, the Nigerian Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa  (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) presided over its inaugural board of governors’ meeting in Lagos. Nigeria’s major on-going multilateral assistance involved the bank. It has the highest block of shares in the bank. This comes to 159,751 shares, about 15.6% of the total shares and some 10.5% of the weighted voting power.

Nigeria contributes 32.5% annually to the ECOWAS budget (multilateral assistance). In June 1980, it settled the outstanding rent of the Community’s secretariat amounting to N80million.

In 1970-1971, Nigeria increased its contributions to the OAU budget to N150,000, 47% over the 1968-1969 contributions, making it the third largest contributor to the organisation’s annual budget. In 1978, the Federal Government gave Mozambique N5million to cope with problems associated with the closure of its borders with Sothern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe. Nigeria played a major role in the establishment of River Niger Basin Commission and the Chad Basin Commission. Both of which have potentials as investment. In 1979, Nigerian contributed N30,000,000 million to the Lake Chad Basin Development Fund.

Nigeria’s military assistance to other countries has generally taken the form of contributions to troops and equipment to peacekeeping missions in countries having internal conflicts. The country was yet to become independent when it became involved in the UN Congo mission. Its generally effective and widely acclaimed participation in that peacekeeping mission laid a foundation for later involvements in several other peacekeeping missions since then, including those in Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia. Apart from the Congo mission, Nigeria has been the player in the Liberian peacekeeping operations. Nigerian troops served in Sierra Leone as part of the peace agreement to end that country’s civil war. They also served in Tanzania to restore order following army mutiny of January 20, 1964. Military officers of a number of African countries undergo training in some Nigerian military schools and colleges.

Shortly after Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) the then Prime Minister proposed that a fact finding mission be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo where open rebellion had broken out, the UN on November 5, 1960, set up the Congo Conciliation Commission made up of 15 Afro-Asian states. Nigeria’s foreign Minister, Mr. Jaja Nwachukwu was elected chairman of the commission. Before independence, Nigeria had put the Kano airport at the disposal of the UN for the transport of troops and materials to the Congo. Two platoons of the fifth Battalion of the Royal Nigerian Army were detailed to work with UN troops during their stopover in Kano. 

Later, at the request of the UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjord, Nigeria agreed one month to its independence to contribute troops to the UN force in the Congo and immediately dispatched the general officer commanding the RNA to conduct a reconnaissance mission in the troubled republic. The full Nigerian contingent itself left for the Congo between November 18 and 22, 1960. It involved five battalions deployed in four of the country’s six provinces, namely Kassai, Kivu, North Katanga and Leopoldville. The contingent was assigned the primary duty of assisting the Congolese authorities in maintaining law and order and preventing minor clashes and large-scale war among the various factions. Among other things, the Nigerians contingent helped to reduce inter-ethnic and inter-factional clashes; protected Congolese and foreign administrators as well as public utilities workers: and performed guard duties at installations such as power stations, airstrips, mines, factories, waterworks, railway stations and public buildings.

Nigeria troops helped with the distribution of food and medicine to schools, refugee centres and hospitals. They participated effectively in the UN operation that led to the complete liquidation of Katanga rebels and the termination of the secession of the province. The Nigerian contingent was also instrumental in the completion of the UN military disengagement from the Congo.

Nigeria troops were part of the 3,000 UN troops that remained in the country until June 1964. Brigadier Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe(8 September, 1924-November 20 1979) from Ago Iwoye in Ogun state was the Chief of Staff of the remaining UN forces that stayed until December 31, 1963. Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi GCFR (3 March 1924 – 29 July 1966) from Umuahia in Abia state then took over as the commander of the Congo. Among his accomplishments was persuading 3,500 Kassai natives to return to their homes abandoned as a result of terrorists activities. The Nigerian Police Force was itself part of the Congo peacekeeping operations. Its involvement followed an urgent request from the UN Secretary General to the Nigerian government for 300 policemen to assist the UN force to maintain law and order. December 21, 1960, a contingent of 400 officers and men left Nigeria under the command of Mr. Louis O. Edet(1914-1979) from the famous Edet Essien and Gerald Orok family in Calabar then a Deputy Commissioner and later became the first indigenous Inspector General of Police, to replace a detachment of the Ghanaian police which had withdrawn after a six-month service. The Nigerian contingent was stationed in Leopoldville, Luluabourg, Stanleyville, Bukavu and Kindu. Apart from regular patrol duties, the contingent carried out the administrative re-organisation of the Congolese police force, and organized a refresher course for Congolese’s police officers and a long-term comprehensive training programme for recruits at the police college in Leopoldville. It spent a total of five years in the Congo.  

On the whole, the initial cost to Nigeria arising from the operations in the Congo, between 1960 and 1961, amounted to $1.800,000. In addition to this, Nigeria also paid salaries and allowances of all Nigerian troops and policemen during their three and half years of service. This cost a total of $12,300,000. The cost of maintaining the 400-man police contingent that served for five years was $29,580,000. In June 1964, Nigeria contributed $626,000 to the UN Congo special fund. The total estimated cost to Nigeria of the Congo operations is $44,366,000. This does not include its $1,000,000 subscription to the UN bond issue inaugurated in 1962 to alleviate UN financial burdens in the peacekeeping operations.

On January 20, 1964, Tanganyika soldiers mutinied and took over Dar es Salaam in protest against poor pay and the continued presence of British officers in the army. The mutiny spread to other towns. Six hundred British royal marines, flown in at the request of the government, disarmed the mutineers. The entire army was also disbanded. At the OAU Council of Ministers meeting in Dar es Salaam, it was agreed that troops be reconstituted. In March 1964, following an agreement between Nigeria and Tanganyika, Nigerian troops replaced the British troops, assisting the Tanganyika government in maintaining internal security. They served for six months.

In 1983, Nigeria spent N50million to finance its participation in an OAU sponsored peacekeeping mission in Chad, following a rebel invasion from Libya to overthrow the government of Hisene Hibre.

Nigeria’s most elaborate peacekeeping effort has been in Liberia. On Christmas Eve, 1989, following years of violent and chaotic rule by the government of Sergeant Samuel Doe, rebel forces led by Charles Taylor, Doe’s former Director of General Services, invaded the country, entering the Nimba County through Cote d’Ivoire. The Talor forces made rapid progress. However, their onslaught and the counter reaction to it from the Doe government and other insurgent groups led to a bloodbath, carnage and a refugee crisis unprecedented in the history of the sub-region. By August 1990, Doe’s government had lost control of the country. Meanwhile, the refugee problem worsened as relief ships refused to enter Liberian territorial waters because the Lloyds of London refused to issue them insurance.

The initial response of sub-regional leaders came in April. At the urging of President Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Gambia established a Standing Mediation Committee (SMC) to resolve the conflict peacefully. After failing to secure co-operation for the peace efforts, especially from Taylor whose forces were on the verge of taking over Monrovia when the SMC was formed, the SMC on August 7 created the Economic Community of West African States Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). ECOMOG’s mandate  combined peacekeeping and peace enforcement, namely: to conduct military operations for the purpose of monitoring ceasefire, to restore law and order to create the necessary conditions for free and fair elections; and to aid the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of war.

On the whole, Nigeria has supplied about 70% of ECOMOG’s men and material during the first five years of its operations. This includes 15-armed helicopters. Since the removal of the force’s Ghanaian Commander, General Arnold Guainoo, it has been led by Nigerian Commander. SMC also set up a special emergency fund for the war-torn country to deal with refugee problems, among others.

Shortly after Federal Government accorded it recognition in November 1975, the MPLA government in Angola sent a delegation to Lagos to request for military and financial assistance. In December, the government gave the Angolan government an outright grant of $20million and set up a military committee headed by the Minister of Defence, Major General Illiya Bisalla to determine how best Nigeria could meet the needs of the Angolans.

The committee was able, by January 1976, to assembly uniforms, combat boots, steel helmet and some weapons which Nigeria Air Force planes used to fly to Angola. Still significant was the role of General Murtala Mohammed (8 November 1938- 13 February 1976) who almost single-handedly swayed the OAU into according to MPLA recognition as the sole government of Angola. Many African commentators considered Murtala’s action as psychological boost for African liberation movement because of its impact on the US position on African decolonization.

Nigeria played an active role in the struggle against apartheid and white minority rule in South Africa; remaining throughout that struggle, Africa’s leading opponent of the South Africa apartheid regime. For many years, Major General Joe Nanven Garba(17 July 1943- 1 June 2002) served to galvanise international opinion against apartheid.

In 1976, the Mozambican Liberation Movement, (FRELIMO), received N150million from the Federal Government. Nigeria Air Force planes moved to Dar es Salaam from where they carried supplies to the Patriotic Alliance forces based in Mozambique and Zambia to accelerate the independence struggle in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In addition, Zimbabwean liberation group received N150million in 1976 and N640,000 in 1979 from the Nigerian government.

Nigeria provided the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), the main liberation, substantial amount of money to move its main base in Southern Zambia to Southern Angola in order to gain a firmer foothold in the liberation struggle.

From 1968, when it became known that South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal were secretly supporting secessionist Biafra, the Nigerian government began pressing for increased contributions to the special fund of the OAU liberation committee to which Nigeria contributed N150million in 1973.

In February 1969, the Nigerian government spokesman at that year’s OAU Council of Ministers meeting announced that Nigeria was ready to grant “additional funds to the liberation committee apart from its regular allotted contribution.” In 1970-1971, Nigeria held the chairmanship of the OAU defence commission. General Yakubu Gowon (89) in June 1971 asked African leaders to work to ensure the liberation of at least one colonial state in the continent. He promised that the OAU should assign specific African countries responsibility for liberating particular colonial territories.

Also in June 1971 Nigeria’s external affairs commissioner, Dr. Okoi Arikpo (20 September 1916- 26 October 1995) severely criticized the budget of about $1million approved for the liberation movements with bilateral assistance, military hardware, trucks, and medical supplies since 1968. Thanks to these efforts, the Rabat(Morocco) OAU Heads of State and Government Summit increased member state’s contributions to liberation committee by 50%. Also in 1971, Nigeria succeeded in persuading the OAU Council of Ministers to open a sub-regional headquarters for the Particido Africano da Independencia da Guinea Capo Verde (PAIIGC) in Conakry, capital of Guinea. Nigeria’s regular contribution of $84,000 per year was raised by the government to $126,000 in 1981.

In April 1980, I was part of the Federal Government advance team to Salibury now Harare that witnessed the independence of Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe. At that time selected journalists were usually made to be part of the Federal Government delegation. My room at Mekles hotel Harare was next to that of Dr Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo(17 December 1941-25 September 2003), the then special adviser to President Shehu Usman Shagari(25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018) . The advance team visited Masvingo, Victoria falls, before we finally settled down in Harare. Bob Marley and other musicians played on the eve of Zimbabwe’s independence. It was during that time that Samora Machael of Mozambique described the new country as the “jewel of Africa which must not be tarnished”.

The Federal Government gave us specific instruction to dress in Agbada or buba and soro. The then Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe became emotional when President Shehu Shagari (25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018) GCFR donated 10 million dollars to the new country. During our stay, we were treated like superstars. That was then.

As stated earlier, an active President and an active Foreign Minister will be required to design and implement outstanding foreign policy objectives. I don’t know what President Bola Tinubu GCFR, hope to achieve in foreign affairs. Most people believe he will be pro-west because of his background, notwithstanding that his Vice President, Kashim Shettima(57) and his foreign Minister, Alhaji Tugger are both Muslims.

 In the early 70s while we were in Ibadan with the likes of Oladunnin Ayandepo, Joe Abiola alias atuma, Tayo Kehinde, Soji Alakuro, Folu Olamiti, Toye Akiyode alias agusko, Sanya Ogunlana alias SOSOELE and others, he never embraced socialist policies or be allowed to be called Comrade or aluta continua which were popular clichés during that period. In Ibadan then he was just a GOOD FELLOW struggling to survive like everyone.

President Bola Tinubu GCFR left Ibadan for Chicago, United States of America to study. Among his classmates at that time in Chicago was Chief Kunle Adedayo(75) alias BABA YUNGBAYUNGBA, from Ila Orangun in Osun state, now the Chairman of Tastee Fried Chicken in Lagos.

President Bola Tinubu and Chief Kunle Adedayo were both living in the same apartment at 7959 South Phillips,Chicago,USA.

When Chief Adedayo got married in Chicago in 1976 to his alluring Ijebu Ode lady, Yinka Pamela, Bola Tinubu was one of his groomsmen at the marriage event. When their son, Bunmi, was born in 1977, President Bola Tinubu was the godfather.

When President Tinubu returned to Nigeria, he was employed at Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Bookshop House, 50/52, Broad Street, Lagos. His co-workers at that time were Chief Pius Olu Akinyelure, Barry Fadase, Segun Fatusi (MY MAIN MAN), Dayo Jolaoso, Sola Ogunsola, Mr. Sijuade, Akin Doherty, Adekunle Ali, Akin Fatunke, Olu Onakoya, Akin Leigh, Emmanuel Adesoye, John Nnadi, Nwachukwu Okonkwo, Moses Olabode, Adenike Williams, Sunday Essien, Olumide Ajomale, Olusegun Ojo, Oloye Femi Olugbende, Bath Mou, Kola Fajuyigbe and others.

At lunch time, he was always at MUMMMY’S PLACE (Mrs Adebanjo) on 12, Lewis street, Lagos Island, which was also attended by Dayo Shobowale, Joke Sanyaolu, Yinka Guedon, Tola Animashaun, Remi Agbaosi, Dele Adeola, Biyi Badejo, Prince Bola Ojora, Tunde Duale, Prince Makinwa Ademiluyi(MAKAAY), Akin Sanwo-Olu, Winnie Ojei, Ranti Aborowa, Tunde Adebanjo, Remi Odukoya, Supo Ali Balogun, Egbon Ladi Rasaki, Tunde Babayale, Gori Thomas, Roy Abiodun, Femi Akiyode, Dr. Okubanjo, C.K. Roberto, Lamidi Albert, Eddy Obaseki and others.

At that time his close associates included Afolabi Salami, Kasali Abayomi alias Baba Sandra and they usually go to Abe Igi joint in Surulere.

During his NADECO years in exile, he was in London, seeing almost on daily basis, that polished urban gentleman, Dapo Durosinmi Etti OMO EKO PATAKI.

He is not radical. He is not fanatical. He is not revolutionary. Even if he wants to be now, age is not on his side.   He is not likely to be anti-WEST like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela (28 July 1954- 5 March 2013) or Colonel Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (7 June 1942 – 20 October 2011) of Libya or Salvador Allende (26 June 1908- 11 September 1973) of Chile.

Since he became President on May 29 this year, we have seen his hand in Niger Republic following the coup in that country on 26 July as the Chairman of ECOWAS, which is a rotational position. We are yet to see more of him in foreign affairs. As for his foreign Minister, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar(56), we read his timely statement at the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war, calling for the de-escalation of the war. In August 2017, he was appointed Nigerian Ambassador to Germany by President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR.

Yusuf Tuggar represented Gamawa from Bauchi State in the  House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011. He served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Procurement, regulating government spending in the oil and gas industry, education, health and water resources, the committee worked on separating the president’s cabinet from affairs of awarding contracts.

He also oversaw the creation of the National Council on Public Procurement, and was the member of the house committee that worked on Local content bill with a focus in oil and gas. He was also as a member of the house committees on foreign affairs and was the deputy chairman of the house on Public Petitions.

During his ambassadorship in Germany, Tuggar played a key role during the 23rd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He also facilitated the state visit of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Nigeria in August 2018.

In March 2020, Tuggar attended a meeting held with Siemens in Germany over projects in the Nigerian power sector, the chief of staff to the president Abba Kyari who tested positive for COVID-19. Tuggar ordered the closure of the embassy in Berlin, and himself was tested negative. Kyari later died on 17 April 2020.

As Ambassador, Tuggar initiated the repatriation of lost Benin artefacts from the German government leading to the return of 22 Benin Bronze looted artefacts valued at over 100 million pounds

I knew his father, Alhaji Abubakar Tuggar very well.

Alhaji Abubakar Tuggar was the publicity secretary of the Northern Peoples Congress between 1956 and 1966 during the first republic when Alhaji Ahmadu Bello (12 June 1910- 15 January 1966) was the President General of the party and the then Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa from Jere ethnic group- a branch of the Hausas, was first Vice President of the party, Alhaji Tuggar was the spokesman of the party.

Other principal officers of the party then were Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu(1910-1965),from Balala in Adamawa state second vice president, Abba Mohammadu Habib(General Secretary), Alhaji Aliyu Makama Bida(General Treasurer), Alhaji Isa Kaita(General Financial Secretary), Mallam Ibrahim Musa Gashash(North Regional President), Mr Michael Audu Buba(North Regional Secretary), Mallam Habib Raji Abdallah and Mallam Mohammadu (Principal Organising Secretary) and Mallam Garba Abuja(Administrtaive Secretary).

In 1977, Alhaji Abubakar Tuggar was elected to represent Jama’are/Shira in the Constituent Assembly. The other members who represented Bauchi state in that Assembly then were Alhaji Uba Ahmed(Tangale Waja), Alhaji Tatari Ali (Katagum/Gamawa), Alhaji A. Bununu (Dass/Tafawa Balewa), Alhaji A. Kari (Darazo), Dr. Suleiman Kumo(Ako), Alhaji Magaji Mu’Azu(Gombe/Dukku), Alhaji A. Rufai(Misau), Dr. I. Tahir(Bauchi/Alkaleri) and Mr. Maikano Tilde(Ningi/Toro).

At the Constituent Assembly, Alhaji Abubakar Tuggar was the spokesman for the Northern caucus which championed the Sharia cause.

In 1979, Alhaji Tuggar was elected to serve Gamawa Constituency in the House of Representatives. He was one of the major sponsors of Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke (8 September 1935 – 1 August 2011) from Nnewi to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, following the NPP/NPN accord. He voted along with 245 members to defeat Mr. Hamza Ngadiwa, who had 201 votes to emerge as the Speaker. He conceded to make Mr Yunusa Kaltungo(Tangale-Waja South) to be the leader of the House of Representatives. He was later made chairman of the House committee on creation of states by Chief Ezeoke. Other members of the committee were O.O. Oreh, Honourables E. Ojogu, B. Kantoma,Y. Paiko, B.M. Mabrama Jen, Mrs Abiola Babatope, Tunji Abolade, S.M.C. Ihekweazu, M.A. Agbamuche, Sule Abubakar and Hamza Ngajiwa.

The Senate had the following members for the committee on the creation of states. They are Senators D.O. Dafinone, A. Muazu, I. Dimis, Hassan Zuru, F.O.M. Atake, D.O. Oke, Adeyiga Ajayi, Onyeabo Obi, E.P. Echeruo, Umaru Lawan Bama and Barkin Zuwo.

On June 22, 1983, a joint conference was held at the National Assembly premises Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos to pick the chairman of the National Assembly committee on the creation of states. The conference commenced at 11.30a.m. with an open address by the President of the Senate, Dr. Joseph Wayas (21 May 1941 – 30 November 2021) accompanied by the Speaker of House of Representatives, Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke.

Dr. Wayas reminded the Conference of the need to harmonise the conflicting resolution of both Houses and determine which of the requests for creation of New States should go for Referenda. After enjoining members of the Conference to deliberate on the issue at hand calmly and wishing them fruitful deliberations, the President of the Senate withdrew.

Soon after the withdrawal of the President of the Senate from the Conference, Senator Dafinone moved for the nomination and election of a Chairman for the Conference. Senator Ibrahim Dimis nominated Honourable Abubakar Tuggar, Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Creation of States. This was seconded by Senator Bama. Another motion nominating Senator Jalo Waziri (17 December, 1926-12 November, 1984) the Waziri of Gombe, Senator Bauchi East,was moved by Senator Oke and seconded Senator F. Atake. A third motion nominating Senator Dafinone was proposed by Senator Ajayi. Senator Dafinone however, declined. At this juncture, Senator Barkin Zuwo raised a point of order that the Conference Committee had not mandated Senator Dafinone to conduct the election of a Chairman for the Conference. He called on the Senate President to preside over the election of the Conference Chairman.

The point of order was unanimously adopted by a majority of the members present. Thereafter, the Senate President presided over the election of the Committee’s Chairman. A fresh nomination was called for by the Senate President whereby Honourable Abubakar Tuggar and Senator Jalo Waziri were again nominated. Voting on the two candidates took place and returns were declared as follows-Honourable Abubakar Tuggar-13votes and Senator Jalo Waziri-9 votes. The Senate President accordingly declared Honourable Tuggar elected as the Chairman.

Honourable Abubakar Tuggar took the chair and then called on Senator Waziri to say the opening prayer.

In October, he was elected Senator from Bauchi state. Now his son and President Tinubu are taking us on a foreign adventure and we are not sure where the voyage will lead us to.

On the same day the 26th Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 26) earnestly kicked off in Glasgow, the first day of November 2021, an abandoned oil well in the bowels of Nembe territory in Nigeria’s Bayelsa State blasted out like a reservoir of toxic champagne, gushing throughout the duration of the global party in Scotland. From dual valves on Santa Barbara Well 1, one of many Shell Petroleum legacy wells lately handed over to the domestic operator, Aiteo, a lavish fountain of crude oil flooded the creeks onto the coastline distantly downstream for thirty-eight days running. By the time the splash stopped on 8^th of December 2021, several hundred thousand barrels of petroleum had been released into the Nembe environment and a crude Christmas was assured for the creek dwellers. Two years and two COPs later – the second barely two weeks away – not an inch of the terrain has been cleaned up.

Using the Niger Delta and its epicenter, Bayelsa State, as the focal locus for this discussion, and the 1999 return to civilian rule as a cut-off, it can be safely said that four Nigerian Presidents (Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan – an indigene, and Buhari), four Bayelsa Governors (Alamieyeseigha, Jonathan – again, Sylva, and Dickson) and one institution, the Niger Delta Development Commission, have so far lost the chance to make history on the environment, beyond a few PR gimmicks. President Bola Tinubu and Governor Douye Diri still have the opportunity to be the firsts, by dint of their incumbency in office, to seriously remedy the biggest plague of the region. Perchance, former President Goodluck Jonathan may still enter that restitutive hall of fame if he would make the small sacrifice of investing his extraordinary post-office goodwill in attracting a solution.

But, first, back to November which is becoming an annual nightmare in the Nembe and Niger Delta Peoples’ relations with Big Oil. One November before COP 26, the chiefs of the affected kingdom, Opu Nembe, dressed in all-black regalia, addressed a widely televised national press conference: to demand justice for the oil operator’s obsession with dehumanizing the community. Two Novembers after, another kingdom of the Nembe-Ijaw People, Okpoama, home of Nigeria’s immediate past oil minister, is buffeted with oil oozing out from another abandoned, un-decommissioned, wellhead owned by another operator, a subsidiary of the national oil company, NNPC Ltd. The wellhead at Okpoama had been spilling oil for about two weeks before efforts reportedly commenced on the ground to stop the spill.

From the 2021 blowout at Santa Barbara River to the 2023 discharge at Bendick-kiri in Okpoama domain, both of which are reprises at the exact same spots, this pollution footprint presents many metaphors for social realities in Nigeria’s Delta, and for as many intersections between the themes that have marked its political-economic relations from pre-colonial times through post-colonial Nigeria.

In December 1998, before climate change became such common parlance, a mass of Ijaw youths converged to resoundingly protest that enough was enough in the Niger Delta. Drawing a line in the sand, they bravely proclaimed an Operation Climate Change with effect from 31st December that year, to reclaim the trampled upon dignity, property and environmental rights and terminally threatened destiny of the Ijaw People within Nigeria. Like a first among equals, Oronto Natei Douglas was the face of the struggle’s leadership. Reminiscent of the American Declaration of Independence, though not an instrument of secession, the youths under the banner of a newly formed Ijaw Youths Council made the historic Kaiama Declaration, asserting the inalienable right of Ijaws to own and control the natural resources God embowelled in their land, and to manage their delicate environment in a sustainable manner that preserves it for ensuring intergenerational equity. That was to break from the unrelenting ecological destruction of the region by the Nigerian State in joint venture with the multinational oil industry, for which Royal Dutch Shell was poster boy in a fiendish bid to drill all the hydrocarbon in the Delta and leave it terminally perforated and prostrate.

Mostly in their borderline thirties then, Oronto and his comrades such as Felix Tuodolo, Isaac “Sankara” Osuoka, Bubaraye Dakolo (now a 1st Class King and author of the book The Riddle of the Oil Thief) and other Delta eggheads, example Nnimmo Bassey and Ike Okonta, went on to emblazon the Ijaw and Niger Delta identity on global consciousness, taking the baton from Ken Saro Wiwa who with his Ogoni compatriots had resumed the freedom relay for the Delta’s ethnic nationalities in the 1990s before he was judicially murdered, one sad November too. They enacted an intellectual ferment and environmentalism movement that took them to capital cities and parliaments across the globe to voice the plight of their people in the feudalistic pretension of federalism and curious brand of republicanism practised by Nigeria. As the country’s military rulers and hurriedly arranged civilian successors failed to heed reason, more hot blooded youth leaders in the region emerged and launched a brutal militant campaign that pulverized the life blood of the national economy: oil mining.

Fast forward to December 2012. Oronto, now an Adviser to his fortuitously enthroned kinsman (President Goodluck Jonathan) had lost his dad, and the cream of the country headed to his stupendously oil-endowed hometown, Okoroba in Bayelsa State, for the funeral. I rode in a boat with some of Nollywood’s faces. As we waltzed through the undulating rivulets and contours in the creeks from Nembe to Okoroba, my co-travellers from Lagos and Abuja oohed and aahed to the pulsating sea waves, bemoaning Nigeria’s indolence in not harnessing our riviera as a tourism haven like the Bahamas or Barbados.

But the Santa Barbara swamplands had an unusual traffic of tourists in the weeks between COP 26 and Christmas 2021. Thanks to the prolonged blowout at Santa Barbara Well 1, there was an equally long flow of pollution tourism to Opu Nembe and its fishing settlements. A trending drone shot taken on the day the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, visited the still-belching site produced an image that could have been of an erupted volcano, molten magma and all in luminous golden hues. The disaster is such that a natural setting for ecotourism suddenly attracted visiting dignitaries for its catastrophic spectacle.  

Ijawland of which Nembe country is part, and by extension the Niger Delta, was already that part of the planet most bastardized by oil pollution and gas flaring. Soon after its discovery in commercial quantity in then Oloibiri Province of present Bayelsa State, Nigeria’s crude oil became a curse to its natural owners, while a bonanza for the rest of the country. This accentuated pre-Independence grievances of the ethnic minorities, whose neglect throughout the colonial period and fears of majority domination in the impending post-colonial polity caused the soon departing colonial government to institute the Willink Commission of Inquiry to douse their desire to quit or be autonomous in such a Nigeria as they were apprehensive of. One of other national plans to give them a sense of belonging was the Okarki-Nembe-Brass Road proposed around 1946. Seventy-five years later, when the epic Santa Barbara spill occurred, it was still a proposal. The state government, not the federal, awarded a contract for the Nembe-Brass section in 2022.

As the paradox of poverty and pollution from petroleum hit home to compound their existing woes, an Ijaw intellectual firebrand, Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, mobilized a small guerilla army in 1966 to launch the country’s first secession attempt, declaring a Niger Delta Republic which was later quelled by military might. Adaka (Ijaw name for tiger) Boro was the biggest Ijaw hero of the 20th Century. He followed the footsteps of a Nembe-Ijaw forebear, King Frederick William Koko, who led an armada from war canoe houses of Nembe kingdoms in January 1895 to sack a pre-colonial British conglomerate – precursor of the UACs and Royal Dutch Shells – that persisted in breaching Nembe’s territorial integrity in international trade. That bloody clash was one of the triggers for Britain’s formal colonization of the entities that were eventually merged to form Nigeria.

At the time of the Nembe-British duel, also known as the Akassa Raid or Nembe Youmi (the Nembe War), the British described the area as the Oil Rivers Protectorate, after the export trade in palm oil transacted via its rivers. Since 1956, those waterways could have been renamed the Crude Oil Rivers. Aiteo’s well blowout (some experts call it loss of containment) in Nembe country brings back into vivid relief that the waters of Nembe and the Niger Delta are indeed now rivers frothing on the surface with crude oil.

The Aiteo-Santa Barbara blowout was a catastrophe waiting to happen. When earlier warnings by the oil well went unheeded, the blowout became avoidably inevitable. Sometime in September 2019, a whole two years and more earlier, the same Santa Barbara Well 1 burst open, spewing crude oil for a week. Reports were made to the spill control agency, NOSDRA (National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency) and other regulators. Experts representing affected communities engaged with NOSDRA and Aiteo, demanding for cleanup, compensation and safeguards against recurrence. None of those was enforced. So an entirely foreseeable and preventable disaster recurred.

Like most regulatory bodies in the sector, NOSDRA is rendered ineffective by a combination of poor funding, possible insensitivity to pollution victims due to its head office location a thousand miles away in Abuja, sheer leadership complacency and a steady supply of lazy excuses. It took a year of constant haranguing for the agency to lead a post-spill assessment of the 2019 spill. What is more, the Nigerian court system is almost a no-go for environmental justice. Communities are nervous about endless court delays, the heavy cost of hiring experts to conduct forensic studies that will prove pollution and its impacts, and a systemic addiction to technicalities while pollutants percolate deeper into the communities’ ecology. With the help of NGOs and foreign law firms, a small cluster of determined rural dwellers are resorting to foreign courts for justice. Many of them die before succor comes from offshore.

The last decade has seen a series of divestments of oil blocs from international oil companies to Nigerian firms, with zero environmental due diligence. In the double guise of energy transition and Nigerian content enhancement, the IOCs are taking flight from legacies of humongous environmental liabilities. Oilfields, with several rickety facilities that are as safe as landmines or time bombs still un-decommissioned, are auctioned off at windfall prices to domestic moguls, amidst otherwise climate valuable but now oil-battered mangroves and altered ecologies. Abuja-bound regulators turn a blind eye. A classical case is where Nigeria got its first oil from, in 1956: Otabagi Community of Bayelsa State, within the same OML 29 as the Santa Barbara oilfield, handed by Shell to Aiteo. Located barely a few minutes’ drive from former President Goodluck Jonathan’s village, crude oil still steadily seeps out to the surface around oil wells abandoned by Shell decades ago, unattended till date. A forecast of the fate of Jonathan’s kinsfolk is unlikely to be pretty.

Bar one or two, the domestics are fast proving to be worse than their bad predecessors. They find no compelling incentive in the local regulatory and legal climate to be of good oilfield conduct. Many communities are defeated, divided and heavily induced into proxy conflicts of mutual destruction. There are tomes of reports and recommendations on what to do to adorn the Delta’s millions of ecologically traumatized and livelihood-displaced dwellers with some redress and respect. A recent one commissioned by the Bayelsa State Government took four years to compile, covid-19 and paltry executive attention counting amongst the setbacks. With the telltale title of “ENVIRONMENTAL GENOCIDE: The Human and Environmental Cost of Big Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria”, it put the volume of oil spilled in the last fifty years in the state at 110-165 million gallons, tantamount to 10-15 times the volume of the Exxon Valdez spill disaster (11 million gallons), a per capita spill impact of one and half barrels for the state’s population of 2.5 million people, and 16,000 infant mortalities within a month of birth from pre-natal exposure to oil spills. Five months after it was finally released in May 2023, the report has not been put to any use. The earlier UNEP Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland took two years to prepare and four years to stay on the shelf. Afterwards, it has faltered in implementation for eight years and counting.

As this November ends, this year’s climate change fest, COP 28, will commence in Dubai. Before COP 28 disperses in December, Ijaw youths will mark the 25^th anniversary of their Operation Climate Change and Kaiama Declaration. Bayelsa State would have had a governor announced for a new four-year term. But Bayelsans and Deltans in their millions will be getting set for another crude Christmas in the creeks, like previous Yuletides, from Worikuma-kiri at the ground zero of the Santa Barbara mega spill to Bendick-kiri to Lasukugbene to Ikarama to Fantuo and back to Nembe Creek. This because, with scant exceptions, no president, nor minister of oil or environment, nor governor, nor regulator, nor traditional ruler has cared two hoots to roll up their sleeves on the subject.

Going by that sad roll call, it would take a passionate President, an inspired governor, a conscientized international system, or a galvanized community citizenry to bring climate change to Christmas in the creeks. But any pleasant surprise from regulators and majesties will be welcome; and from Chevron, Shell, Aiteo, Neconde, Eni/Agip, Oando and NNPCL too. Let’s choose hope, but active in the awareness that equity aids the vigilant, not the indolent, and faith without works is dead. Who knows if Pope Francis, who is billed to attend COP 28 due to his priority on the environment, will plead with President Tinubu and Big Oil this December in Dubai to start a Niger Delta wide cleanup and restitution programme?

Quadri Aruna has been listed as the 15th player to qualify for the season-ending World Table Tennis Finals for the top 16 players in the world.

The Nigerian will be making his third appearance at the WTT Finals after he was confirmed on Thursday November 9, as the latest qualifier among the top 16 that are expected to compete at the event taking place in Doha, Qatar.

The WTT Finals is regarded as the peak of the WTT Series, and it provides the opportunity for the best 16 men’s players in the world to battle for a share of $340,000 prize money at stake as well as ranking points to shore up their rating for their qualification for Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Aruna remains the only African player to have featured in the WTT Finals having competed at the maiden edition in Singapore as well as the 2022 edition in China.

In his maiden outing, the Nigerian caused a major upset after beating world number eight Liang Jingkun of China 3-1 to hit the quarterfinal while he was beaten by Brazil’s Hugo Calderano to exit the tournament.

At the 2022 edition in China, he exited in the first round after losing 3-1 to world number eight Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju.

For the third consecutive edition, Aruna will be making a return to compete against the world elite players from January 3 to 5, 2024, while the Nigerian holds the record as the first African to hit the quarterfinal of the tournament.

In the list of confirmed players made public by WTT, Aruna has been included as the latest qualifiers to join the squad heading to Doha.

Players that had already booked for spots at the tournament include Fan Zhendong (China), Wang Chuqin (China), Ma Long (China), Hugo Calderano (Brazil), Liang Jingkun (China), Lin Yun-Yu (Chinese Taipei), Felix Lebrun (France), Lin Gaoyuan (China), Jang Woojin (South Korea), Lin Shidong (China), Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany), Dang Qiu (Germany) and Darko Jorgic (Slovenia).

The battle for sole slot will be between Anton Kallberg (Sweden) and Marcos Freitas (Portugal) while the only option for Freitas to steal the spot from Kallberg is if he reaches the final of WTT Feeder Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal later this month.

Doha, renowned for its record of hosting world-class international sporting and WTT events, will host the best 16 men’s singles and eight men’s doubles pairs at the Lusail Arena as the stars of WTT compete for the 1500 ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking Points on offer and the chance to be crowned season-ending champions.

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, on Thursday said his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike remains his principal.

The governor stated this in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the rededication service of the 2023/2024 Legal Year of the Rivers State Judiciary that was equally attended by Wike. The event was held at the Saint Cyprian’s Anglican Church, Hospital Road in the state capital.

The moment Governor Fubara and Wike met at the rededication service of the 2023/2024 Legal Year at the Saint Cyprian’s Anglican Church in Port Harcourt.

He described the recent political crisis in the state as a thing of the past, calling again for peace in the oil-rich state. Fubara noted that Rivers State can if the actors and their supporters are peaceful.

“My oga remains my oga. Whatever that has happened is in the past. I have not sent anybody to malign anybody,” the governor said.

He said that although it has been a trying time for the state, the current phase of political misunderstanding will pass and the promises his administration made to the people will be delivered.

The governor also warned those pledging support for him to stop using abusive words on perceived opponents, saying that he did not authorise them to malign anybody.

According to him, in trying to attain development, the devil will always attack, but that what is most important is to “identify the devil and push it out”.

It was the first time the two politicians who were the major characters in the recent political fight would be meeting each other in public in the state.

Wike who is the FCT Minister arrived at the church service almost at the end and had a handshake with his successor before sitting on the same row with him while the service lasted.

At the start of his speech, Governor Fubara jokingly appealed to the congregants to suspend the recognition of guests in order not to commit another impeachable offence.

The Peoples Democratic Party has issued a warning to the All Progressives Congress, urging the party to abandon any plans of rigging as the governorship elections in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi States draw near on November 11.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Thursday, said they have mobilised the people of the three states to go to every length allowed by the law to protect their votes.

He restated that the PDP will never allow anybody, no matter how highly placed, to manipulate the electoral process in the governorship election in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa States.

Ologunagba, who declared that anybody who attempts to manipulate the election will have to deal with the legitimate wrath of the people, cautioned Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State and Yahaya Bello of Kogi State to accept the decision of the people.

The PDP publicity scribe also said that all indices from several entrance polls indicated that the party’s candidates are leading and will sweep the governorship election in the three states.

Ologunagba warned that any electoral trajectory that does not reflect the clear tide of the will of the people at the polling units will be firmly resisted.

The statement read, “Meanwhile, the PDP cautions that the delay by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to redeploy the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Sylvia Agu, is heightening tension and capable of pushing the people to resort to self-help.

“We are in a democracy and INEC must respect the wishes and aspirations of the people and stakeholders in the electoral process. The people of Imo State have spoken clearly in demanding that Prof. Agu must not participate in any capacity whatsoever in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Imo State, given her antecedents in favoring the APC in previous elections.

“The PDP is marching to victory with the people of Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo States notwithstanding the antics of the APC.”

 The full ramp up of Africa’s largest oil refinery, a landmark moment for crude and fuel markets both regionally and beyond, is still a long way off.

The Dangote plant in Nigeria just concluded a deal to receive six million barrels of crude from December, an indication that commercial activity is close to getting underway. However, the facility is still several months from full-scale production of fuels including of high-quality gasoline, according to analysts tracking the refinery’s development.

A Dangote official said ramp-up would happen faster than that.

Built by billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote, oil market watchers have followed construction of the 650,000 barrel-a-day facility through years of delays. Its enormous size means the refinery will have wide-reaching consequences for crude and fuel markets — though precisely when remains to be seen. 

“The refinery is likely to be started up in a phased fashion, with the crude distillation unit being the first unit,” said Ronan Hodgson, an analyst at Facts Global Energy.

The consultancy expects several months of production of fuel oil and other lower-quality petroleum products, with Euro V — a reference to European emissions standards — gasoline not forecast until the second half of next year.

Close to Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub, the refinery was officially opened back in May by former President Muhammadu Buhari amid uncertainty about how fast it would really be able to ramp up.

That same month, Nigeria’s state oil company almost tripled the pump price of gasoline after the new President, Bola Tinubu, said he’d fulfill a pledge to scrap domestic fuel subsidies.

“During the initial phase, yields will be highly dependent on feedstock choice,” said James McCullagh, executive director at Citac Africa Ltd., a firm specializing in the continent’s downstream oil industry. “But there will likely be exports of some straight-run products, namely fuel oil and naphtha.” 

The plant’s financiers include numerous banks and it is “too big to fail, so it is a question of when, not if, it will begin commercial operations in some form,” he said.

Several traders said they were unclear about the timeline for Dangote’s full ramp-up, but that they weren’t counting on it happening in the next few months.

Devakumar Edwin, group executive director of Dangote Industries Ltd., said it would be incorrect to assert that a full ramp up will take months, or that that first phase would entail mostly naphtha and fuel oil.

“As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” he said.

The facility is building up crude stocks in order to carry out test runs, but the start of commercial production remains unclear, according to two officials from NNPC who asked not to be identified. NNPC is the main supplier of domestic crude to the refinery.

While the plant should be able to run a full range of crude grades, its initial intake is expected to include major Nigerian streams such as Bonny Light, Forcados and Egina, the two officials said. 

There’s not likely to be “substantial, useful product” from the Dangote refinery in December, Hodgson said. Looking further forward, gasoline should make up to half of the refinery’s product yield.

[Bloomberg]

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun on Wednesday presented cheques of different amounts worth forty-two million, three hundred and fourteen thousand naira, and eighty-one kobo (₦42,314,145.81K) to families/next of kin of the deceased police officers who died while in active service in Katsina State.

The State Commissioner of Police, CP Aliyu Musa, while presenting the cheques at the Command Headquarters, Katsina on behalf of the IGP said the gesture is part of the IGP’s Family Welfare Insurance Scheme, which is given to families of the deceased police officers.

CP Musa appreciated the efforts of the Inspector-General of Police in improving the welfare of the officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force, urging the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the money for their own benefit.

One of the benefiting families, Philip Paul, who spoke on behalf of other beneficiaries, also thanked the Inspector-General of Police for the welfare package, promising to use the money judiciously.

[Channels TV]

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, says the 2023 supplementary budget is a bold and pragmatic response to address the current economic challenges.

Idris stated this in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr Rabiu Ibrahim, on Thursday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Bola Tinubu on Nov. 8, signed the 2023 supplementary budget into law.

However, Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, claimed that the 2023 supplementary budget was insensitive.

The Minister admonished Obi to take the time and effort to acquaint himself with the details of the N2.17 trillion 2023 Supplementary Budget.

He said that highlight of the budget captured allocations for essential sectors including security; agriculture and food security, works and housing, wage increase for workers, student loan scheme, social safety nets, among others.

“All these aimed at strengthening the country’s economic foundation and improve the living conditions of Nigerians.

“The broad provisions in the supplementary budget is a reflection of President Tinubu’s strong desire and eagerness to support the vital functions of government.

“These include addressing urgent security needs, and fast-track the country’s recovery process from the economic impact occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy,” he said.

Idris urged the oppositions to be informed and balanced in the exercise of their right to differing opinions and refrain from misrepresentation of facts for political gains.

He said the supplementary budget was derived from the active engagement and consultations with relevant stakeholders who ensured that the budgetary provisions aligned with the needs and expectations of Nigerians.

“In line with President Tinubu’s inclination to accountability and transparency in government expenditure, all items in the supplementary budget have been meticulously scrutinised to ensure efficient utilisation of public funds”.

(NAN)