– Says UK Issued 325,000 Visas To Nigerians In One Year

British High Commissioner to Nigeria Richard Montgomery says the UK government’s new policy on the restriction of foreign student visas is aimed at managing the pressure on social services for scholars.

Montgomery, who said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, explained that the policy was not aimed at discouraging Nigerian students studying in the UK.

According to him, at the moment in the UK, Nigerians desiring to study in the UK have 97 per cent visa approval rate.

He urged Nigerians to see the new visa regime in the UK in a bigger context, a thing which he said is “really a positive for Nigeria and the United Kingdom”.

“Three years ago, there were 20,000 Nigerian students in British higher education institutions, and last year, the number increased to 127,000.

“So, we had a five-fold increase in the number of students from Nigeria coming to UK universities.

“We are delighted that UK universities continue to attract the best and brightest from Nigeria.

“And in the wider context, last year, the UK granted three million new UK visas of various types including students and other visitors.

“Nigerians alone received 325,000 of those 3 million visas.

“So more than 10 per cent of the visas from the UK are to Nigerian citizens which is fantastic.

“It goes back to the fact that the UK and Nigeria have strong people-to-people links.

“The policy change is about people who are doing non-research degrees coming to the UK as undergraduates, or for a one-year master’s degree programme, and who decide to bring their dependents.

“We have had a very significant rise in the number of people coming from all around the world, not just from Nigeria.

“This has caused some strain on the UK.

“Sometimes it is difficult to find good accommodation as a student and there is real pressure on housing and social services for students.

“If you looked at it three years ago, only 1,500 dependants of students were coming to the UK from Nigeria, but now it was 52,000 last year.

“I am just trying to put it in proper context, that this is an adjustment.

“The words that are being used in the media to describe the situation are misrepresenting. We are making an adjustment that enables us to manage the demands on services in university towns and elsewhere.

“Nigerians are very successful in acquiring visas. We have a 97 per cent approval rate and so that is the big context,” Montgomery said.

He expressed the UK’s pride in its research institutes and higher education which, he said, were listed among the top hundred universities in the world.

The higher institutions, he said, are very open to students going to study in the UK.

He expressed the belief that Nigerians stand to gain massively from the international exposure and international networks offered by studying in the UK.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the UK Home Office in May announced that from Jan. 2024, undergraduate and master’s students would no longer be allowed to take their dependents along with them to the UK.

The restriction does not apply to students in research programmes.

By Samuel Olanrewaju Bill

Aboru, Abose, Abosise! Has two meanings, literally meaning and meanings according to Odu Ifa(Ifa Corpus).

Literally meaning and the layman's definition;

Aboru (Ebo Aru) meaning May sacrifice be successful.

Aboye (Ebo Aye) meaning May sacrifice be accepted.

Abosise (Ebo adi sise) meaning may sacrifice do what it was intended to do.

So Aboru, Aboye, Abosise literally means May sacrifice be successful, may sacrifice be accepted, bring life and may sacrifice do what it was intended to do. That is according to the common man(Non initiate).

What is Ebo? Ebo means sacrifice, oblation, offering or something offered to God/gods to appease him or beg him or to seek favor and mercy. We also use it to plead to God/gods, It can also be termed as a praise offer to God/gods that is Ebo ope(Sacrifice of praises), it is also a religious ritual.

What is the real meaning of Aboru, Aboye, Abosise according to Ifa priest and devotee? It is a greeting used by initiates and practitioners of Ifa divination such as a babalawo and Iyanifa It is usually responded with the greeting ogbo ato. It is an appropriate and acceptable way of greeting Ifa priests.

In Odu Ifa (Ifa Corpus) precisely 'Odu Ifa Ogunda Meji', narrated the stories of three women; Aboru, Aboye, and Abosise who were believed to have rendered special assistance to Orunmila. In order to see Olodumare these three wonderful women were said to be like an intercessor and ombudsmen that need to be appeased. Orunmila made sacrifices to these divine women and obtained their favor, kindness and had an easy passage to Olodumare.

Orunmila later marries the three women and loves them dearly. In honoring these powerful women, Orunmila declared and commanded that anyone who wants to see or greet any Ifa priests (Babalawo or Iyalawo) must first pay homage to Aboru, Aboye, Abosise and that is how it becomes sacred words and greetings amongst Ifa devotees and before you greet the Babalawo himself, you must first greet this three important women by saying "Aboru, Aboye, Abosise". And the Babalawo or Iyalawo will reply with "Ogbo ato o!"

According to the interpretation of some other Ifa priests as regards to 'Odu Ifa Ogunda Meji'. Aboru, Aboye and Abosise were said to be three important women that helped Orunmila when he was in despair and hopelessness. Whatever the narration or interpretation, these women were kind to Orunmila and played an unforgettable role in his life adventure.

Back to Tope Alabi, based on literal meaning, she says "Aboru ni mi, Aboye ni mi, mo di Ebo" That is, I am Aboru, I am Aboye, I am the sacrifice. Then she may not be wrong as many think. She is metaphorically saying she is the Sacrifice "Ebo" offering to Olodumare, Ebo in this context stands for praise offering "Ebo Ope" and herself as a vessel used in offering sacrifices to Olodumare through praising. She was convinced the praise(Ebo) was successful, this is "Ebo ru/Aboru" and that Olofumare accepted the praises (Ebo) 'Ebo ye/Aboye" and that is why she call herself "Aboru and Aboye"

If Tope Alabi call herself Ebo.(Sacrifice) she is very right after all the bible says in Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. King David always offer God praise offering and that is reason the Bible calls David “a man after God's own heart”

Likewise praising Olodumare and offering praise is not alien to Yoruba traditional religion. Before the foreign religion came, our father always offered praise to Olodumare before anything we did or said, we started Iwure (prayer) with thanking and praising Olodumare. No religion came to Introduce our father to Olodumare but they only came to introduce their own culture and try to kill ours.

According to Odu Ifa Irete-Ofun, which says:

"Nje won ni ope nii pe ni s'aiye, Awo ile Alara.

Iyin nii yin ni sile alaaye, Awo ode ijero.

A dia fun Oromodimodi;

To n fojoojumo beere oore.

Sugbon, ti kii f'ojo kan dupe……."

-Thanks brings life, the divination of Alara.

Praise makes us alive, the divination of Ijero.

Make a divination for Oromodimodi;

That asks for goodness daily.

But never for a day say thanks…..

The above Odu Ifa shows how important it is to praise and thank Olodumare.

On the other hand, These women were powerful, saints and divine beings according to the narrative of Odu Ifa. So if we can see a man named Micheal, Gabriel, Rafael and other names after angels and saints then nothing wrong if Tope Alabi too calls herself these reverent names. We have names like Moremi who were named after the heroine/gods that liberated Ile-Ile, we also have uncountable Yoruba names that were tagged after Yoruba deities and gods. So if she decided to adopt these beautiful titles then nothing wrong.

Some claim the words used are strictly means for the initiates and ifa devotees, these words are Yoruba greetings and a way to greet Babalawo or Iyalawo just as we say "Arepa ni ti ogun/Arepa ogun" to hunters, "Aroko bodun de'' to farmer, "Oju gboro o/eku ewa o" to hairstylist, "Awaye o/Oko are fo" to drivers. Even we greet the pastor/prophet as "Eku ise oluwa o, oluwa yi oso agbara di otun" Yes, the words Aboru, Aboye, Abosise originated from Odu Ifa. Just as all Yoruba proverbs and sayings have origin. We have what we call "Itandowe/Itan di owe"(History turned proverbs), those are proverbs that have their roots from a particular history. Aboru Aboye Abosise can also be tagged as "Itan di Ikini" (History turn salutation) that is greetings or salutations that had his root from history. Until recent Yoruba history has had two sources; oral history that is from mouth to mouth, from a generation to generation and second source is Odu Ifa(Ifa oracles). Aboru, Aboye, Abosise was not the only Yoruba history traceable to Ifa as majority of our history was in Ifa account. What I am saying is that no one should demonize these beautiful and reverent names/words as they have done to many Yoruba words and names such as the translation of "Esu, laaroye, olola ilu'' to Satan. Yoruba names are not demonic but meaningful and beautiful.

Tope Alabi is a blessing to Yoruba race as a whole being a Christian, Muslim or Traditional religion practitioner. Her deep knowledge of Yoruba language and literature beyond elucidation. She is the best of its version and style. Her rendition is obviously conspicuously unique. He has promoted the beautiful Yoruba language far and wide and deserves our accolade.

She is so rich in words, her lyrics are delighted to the soul, deep in thoughts, philosophical in composition, stands out amongst all and she is beautiful to behold. She is second to none in using Yoruba figurative speech, master in usage of 'Iforo-dara, Iforo-sere, Iforo-yaworan, Ifohun-dara and Akanlo ede. Tope’s lyrics are deeper than sea, her choice of Yoruba words are astounding and prodigious. Her phenomenal way of praising Olodumare is mind-blowing, dumbfounding and no one close to her in that aspect. Tope Alabi has aggrandize herself to the highest level of Yoruba literature idols. In her own line she does it better.

My encomium and laudation is not to say she is beyond correction, criticism and condemnation but on this current issue there is no reason for denunciation, opprobrium or disapprobation of her. Let her breath and allow her to continue the task Olodumare assigned to her, let us give her the adulation and panegyric she deserves in order for us to see more of her. We need more beautiful names of Olodumare from her. Let her play her roles without hindrance while we continue to be blessed by Olodumare through her.

Aboru, Aboye, Abosise to all Ifa priests and my homage to all elders.

Note! I am not an Ifa priest nor a pastor. The write up is just my own personal opinion and basic knowledge.

Samuel Olanrewaju Bill.

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Vast crowds of robed pilgrims made solemn circles around the Kaaba, the black cube at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, on Sunday as the biggest hajj pilgrimage in years began in the heat of the Saudi summer.

Islam’s holiest site is expected to host more than two million worshippers from 160 countries during the annual rites that could break attendance records, with 1.6 million foreigners already arriving by Friday evening.

The hajj began early on Sunday with the “tawaf” – the circumambulation of the Kaaba, the large cubic structure draped in black cloth with gold trimmings that millions of Muslims pray towards every day.

“I am living the most beautiful days of my life,” said Abdel-Azim, a 65-year-old Egyptian as he performed the ritual.

“The dream has come true,” said the retiree, who saved up for 20 years to pay the $6,000 fee to take part.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be undertaken by all Muslims with the means at least once.

A series of rites are completed over four days in Mecca and its surroundings in the west of oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday night, pilgrims will start moving to Mina, about five kilometres (three miles) from the Grand Mosque, ahead of the hajj’s climax at Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his final sermon.

‘Great blessing’

Outside the Grand Mosque, thousands prayed on colourful carpets that adorned the pavement, with male pilgrims wearing a simple white robe. The area was dotted with ambulances, mobile clinics and fire trucks.

The hajj poses a considerable security challenge and has seen several disasters over the years, including a 2015 stampede that killed up to 2,300 people.

There have been no major incidents since, and catastrophe was the last thing on pilgrims’ minds.

“I cannot describe my feelings,” said 25-year-old Indonesian student Yusuf Burhan.

“This is a great blessing. I never imagined that I would perform the hajj this year.”

This year’s summer timing for the hajj, which follows the lunar calendar, will test the endurance of worshippers during the mostly outdoor ritual.

Carrying white umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun, policemen in the mountainous city have conducted foot patrols and set up checkpoints to inspect hajj permits.

Others splashed water on pilgrims as temperatures climbed towards 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

Inside the Grand Mosque, thousands of paramedics stood on standby. Saudi authorities said more than 32,000 health workers will be on hand to help fend off heatstroke, dehydration and exhaustion.

‘Not a single vacant bed’

The hajj, with its hefty fees, makes billions of dollars a year for the world’s biggest oil exporter, which is trying to diversify its economy beyond fossil fuels.

This year’s will be the biggest since 2019, when about 2.5 million people took part. Only 10,000 were allowed in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, rising to nearly 59,000 in 2021. Last year’s cap of one million has been removed.

Saudi businessman Samir Al-Zafni said all his hotels in Mecca and Madinah are at full capacity until the first week of July.

“This year there is not a single vacant bed in our group of 67 hotels,” he told AFP from his office.

The hajj also demonstrates social reforms in the deeply conservative country. This year’s pilgrimage will be the biggest since Saudi Arabia scrapped rules in 2021 that banned women who weren’t accompanied by a male relative.

Leaving the Grand Mosque after evening prayers on Friday, Ramot Ali from Niger struggled to describe the feeling of performing hajj for the first time.

“I am very happy,” she said.

Former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has asked President Bola Tinubu to courageously allow a full-scale probe of the “plunder” that occurred under the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The former lawmaker demanded that the investigation should begin with former President Buhari, his ex-ministers, his service chiefs and the cabal wing of his Government.

Following Tinubu’s assumption of office, he removed Godwin Emefiele as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Abdulrasheed Bawa as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Sani in a tweet on Sunday said redesigning the Naira is not the only economic Crime perpetrated under the Buhari administration and urged Tinubu to “courageously allow a full-scale investigation of the plunder that occurred under the Buhari administration, beginning with Buhari, his ex-ministers, his service chiefs and the cabal wing of his Government.”

“The President should not also shield former Governors who are now at liberty, even waiting for political appointment as entitled men. One or two persons in the cage can’t answer for the crime perpetrated by others in the last eight years. The current investigation can easily be stained as selective if the probe net is restricted.

“The simple question is; what about others who also contributed to ruining the economy? Or maybe some of us are just too impatient because of lack of knowledge of what is ahead.”

President Bola Tinubu says a naval officer once slapped him for overcharging him unintentionally when he was a taxi driver in the United States.

The president made this known as his shared stories of humble beginning in a biography published on the back page of a national daily.

The biography titled, ‘Tinubu: My life as gypsy cab driver in the US’, was authored by Nigeria’s seasoned journalist, Mike Awoyinfa.

According to Tinubu, in the story, he worked as an unlicensed taxi driver in Chicago, the US picking passengers from the airport to their destinations.

The president said the driving job was embarked on in order to sustain him financially before he went to school.

He narrated, “We got an unregistered used car commonly called Gypsy, which we ran as a taxi. We operated at the airport where we picked passengers, and not anywhere else, like the hotel because it was forbidden for unlicensed cab drivers to do so.

“We did that for a while to raise some money. Bolaji went to Tennessee, while I headed for Chicago.

“I was supposed to have started schooling in April. I deferred it till September in order to have more money. Immediately I got to Chicago, I went straight to Richard Daley College. It was very interesting.

“I was able to pay for my apartment and tuition fees at Chicago State University. I supplemented that by doing different menial jobs like door guard and security man.”

Speaking further about the incident, he said the naval officer he picked at the airport slapped him because he overcharged him, as his destination was nearby.

“As a cab driver, one experience I will never forget was when I over-charged a naval officer who was returning to the country. It was not intentional,” Tinubu said.

“Apparently, I didn’t know the direction. There was no GPRS in those days to locate directions. So, he gave me the direction to his house in a Virginia suburb.

“I gave him the price and the man responded with a slap to my face. He said I should know the correct price to charge to the location he mentioned. He slapped me and gave me the money.”

British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, has stated that the UK government’s new policy on the restriction of foreign student visas is aimed at managing the pressure on social services for scholars.

Montgomery, who said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, explained that the policy was not targeted at discouraging Nigerian students studying in the UK.

According to him, at the moment in the UK, Nigerians desiring to study in the UK have a 97 per cent visa approval rate.

He urged Nigerians to see the new visa regime in the UK in a bigger context, a thing which he said is “really a positive for Nigeria and the United Kingdom”.

Montgomery said, “Three years ago, there were 20,000 Nigerian students in British higher education institutions, and last year, the number increased to 127,000. So, we had a five-fold increase in the number of students from Nigeria coming to UK universities.

“We are delighted that UK universities continue to attract the best and brightest from Nigeria. And in the wider context, last year, the UK granted three million new UK visas of various types including students and other visitors.

“Nigerians alone received 325,000 of those 3 million visas. So more than 10 per cent of the visas from the UK are to Nigerian citizens which is fantastic. It goes back to the fact that the UK and Nigeria have strong people-to-people links.

“The policy change is about people who are doing non-research degrees coming to the UK as undergraduates, or for a one-year master’s degree programme, and who decide to bring their dependents.

He continued, “We have had a very significant rise in the number of people coming from all around the world, not just from Nigeria. This has caused some strain on the UK. Sometimes it is difficult to find good accommodation as a student and there is real pressure on housing and social services for students.

“If you looked at it three years ago, only 1,500 dependants of students were coming to the UK from Nigeria, but now it was 52,000 last year.
I am just trying to put it in proper context, that this is an adjustment. The words that are being used in the media to describe the situation are misrepresenting. We are making an adjustment that enables us to manage the demands on services in university towns and elsewhere.

“Nigerians are very successful in acquiring visas. We have a 97 per cent approval rate and so that is the big context,” Montgomery said.

He expressed the UK’s pride in its research institutes and higher education which, he said, were listed among the top hundred universities in the world.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) branch in Benue State has praised Governor Hyacinth Alia for his choice to uphold the state’s ban on open grazing of livestock.

The state’s former governor, Samuel Ortom, signed the Prohibition of Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law in 2017, and it was intended to operate as a strong barrier against the inflow of herdsmen.

Remember that the governor said the bill will be examined when he took office, causing concern that his administration may repeal the measure.

His administration has, however, adopted the law as a way of tackling the security crisis bedevilling the state.

Reacting, PDP in a statement issued on Saturday by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, welcomed Alia’s final stand on the matter.

The party urged the governor to create an enabling environment for the herdsmen who are willing to embrace ranching to do so, saying those who are unwilling should be chased out of the state.

Part of the statement reads, “We welcome the governor’s stand and urge him to back his words regarding his new stand with action by getting those herdsmen willing to embrace ranching to take to the practice immediately while those unwilling to do so should leave the state.”

A Federal High Court sitting in Awka , Anambra State, on Wednesday, 21st June, ruled that the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning is never permitted to deduct the statutory allocation from the Federation Account that is owed to a State in a suit brought by the Attorney General of Anambra State against the Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning alongside the Attorney General of the Federation who was joined as a party to the suit.

The Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account Etc) Act clearly states that the portion of funds from the federation account due to States and Local Governments shall be paid to the State who should then manage same for the benefit of their local governments. Accordingly, the learned justice Dimgba has posited that:

“Section 162 of the Constitution and the Allocation Of Revenue (Federation Account, Etc.) Act, 1982 does not permit any bilateral interaction between the Federal Government represented by the 1st Defendant and LGCs under a State. Section 162(5)(6)(7)(8) of the Constitution make it clear that any amount standing to the credit of LGCs must be allocated to the States who will in turn remit it to the State Joint Local Government Account and distribute them in the terms and manner approved by the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly. In the event, any direct distribution of funds including refunds from the Federation Account to the LGCs in my view will be an infraction of the Constitution.

“And as I have held earlier, violation of law by a party is not one that is solved by resort to self-help by another party, or by a countervailing breach of the law by the activist party in a knock-for-knock or tit-for-tat formula. Violation of law by a party, where police powers have not been provided or granted to another seeking a remediation, can only be solved through judicial intervention initiated by the activist innocent party.”

His Lordship further added that “neither the Constitution in Section 162 nor the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account Etc) Act gave the 2nd Defendant (Attorney General of the Federation) any role in the allocation or sharing of revenues accruable to any of the tiers of Government in the federation account. I see no reason therefore why the 2nd Defendant should pick up the cudgel and start fighting for local governments in Anambra State when none of them has invited it to do so, and also when neither the relevant statute nor the Constitution given it any role in the relevant legal field.”

The Attorney General of Anambra sort amongst other reliefs had asked the court to hold as follows:

A DECLARATION that upon a proper construction of the provisions of Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), read along with Sections 2 (2) and 3 (1) of the said Constitution, the 1st Defendant cannot appropriate any money standing to the credit of the Federation for any purpose, other than, for the purpose of distribution to the three tiers of government, namely; the federal government, state governments and local governments.

A DECLARATION that by virtue of the provisions of Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), read along with Sections 2 (2) and 3 (1) of the said Constitution and Sections 1 & 3 of the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, Etc) Act, 1982, the 1st Defendant cannot make deductions from the statutory allocation to which the Plaintiff is entitled from the Federation Account for the purpose of crediting the Local Governments of Anambra State through the State Joint Local Government Account.

A DECLARATION that having regard to the provisions of Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), read along with Sections 2 (2) and 3 (1) of the said Constitution and Sections 1 & 3 of the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, Etc.) Act, 1982, the Defendants cannot, on behalf of the federal government, authorize the direct remittance of any funds to the Local Governments of the Plaintiff from the Federation Account.

Justice Dimgba said in delivering his verdict has said that, “In my view, there is no basis for the 1st Defendant to deduct the funds and retain them transitorily, that is, in escrow, Even sending the money directly to the local governments has no basis. As I alluded to before, doing so would be clearly illegal under both the Constitution and the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account Etc.) Act, as none of them established any provisions for a direct transfer of the 1st Defendant’s entitlements from the federation account to local governments”.

Earlier the defendants had challenged the court’s jurisdiction, contending that the suit constitutes a dispute between the Federation and a State (Anambra) of which the Supreme Court has exclusive original jurisdiction by virtue of Section 232(1) of the Constitution.

While warning against swamping the Supreme Court with every matter that has an agent of the federal government as a party, Justice Dimgba held:

“By virtue of Section 251(1)(r) 1999 CFRN, the Federal Government or any of its agencies can be sued in this Court for a declaration or injunction affecting the validity of any executive or administrative action or decision by the Federal Government or any of its agencies. And in this case, the Plaintiff is challenging the administrative action or decision of the 1st Defendant (a Minister of the Federal Government in charge of Finance) to deduct from its monthly statutory allocation and either withhold or directly remit same to the Local Government Councils (LGCs) as their share of the Paris Club Refund…

“It certainly cannot be that whenever a State has concerns in relation to the manner in which a federal official such as a minister or a federal agency such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) exercises its responsibility that affects that State adversely, then that activates a dispute between the federal government and the state in which only the Supreme Court will have original jurisdiction. May that day never come in which the apex court gets reduced to a magistrate court entertaining all sorts of sundry original matters simply because a state and federal officials are involved…”

The sack of Service Chiefs last week by President Bola Tinubu has provoked harsh words over their performance in office, with many lamenting that they presided over the needless death of more than 22, 000 citizens.

With high-profile killings, abductions and other crimes, their era was regarded as a period of inefficiency, leading to the sigh of relief that welcomed Tinubu’s action.

Since they came in at a time the nation was under the grip of bandits, kidnappers and ritual killers, there were high expectations from Nigerians. But the hope turned into a nightmare as non-state actors operated with reckless abandon across the country.

Though their removal was not surprising given the emergence of a new leader of the country, many saw their exit as overdue.

The President had, last Monday, relieved the Chief of the Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, Chief of the Army Staff, Farouk Yahaya, Chief of the Naval Staff, Awwal Gambo, Chief of the Air Staff, Isiaka Amao, and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali of their duties.

Of the attacks that took place during their tenure, many were quick to point at the Abuja-Kaduna train attack, the Owo massacre and Kuje jailbreak as their lowest points.

Apart from questioning the capacity of Nigerian security personnel, the incidents exposed many fault lines in the nation’s security architecture.

Security architecture

The human and material losses that accompanied the incidents are countless as many victims are licking their wounds while the victims died for no crime of theirs.

On March 28, 2022, bandits ambushed an Abuja-bound train in Kaduna, bombing the rail track and killing eight passengers.

No fewer than 168 persons were taken away in the attack which was largely attributed to the failure of intelligence.

Security experts had accused the authorities of failing to act as the incident happened a few days after unidentified gunmen invaded the Kaduna airport, killing an official on the runway.

There was also the Owo massacre of June 2022, which saw bandits attacking Saint Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, killing no fewer than 70 worshipers.

The state police command said the attack was carried out by gunmen at about 11:30 a.m., while the church service was ongoing.

Eyewitnesses said the gunmen threw explosives into the church and started shooting as the worshippers scampered for safety.

On the heels of that incident was a deadly jailbreak in Kuje, the heart of the Federal Capit6al Territory, FCT, Abuja.

No fewer than 400 inmates escaped in the attack the Islamic State in West Africa Province, ISWAP, claimed responsibility.

Four inmates, several attackers and a security guard died in the incident, which happened less than 47 kilometres from the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power. About 1,000 inmates were in the facility when the attack took place, according to officials.

The event increased the number of prison escapees in Nigeria, which was over 5,000 at the time.

They’ll be remembered as inefficient

These, however, led to the conclusion that the outgone Service Chiefs would be remembered for high-profile attacks and deaths of countless citizens.

Coordinator General, Access to Advocacy and Rights of the People, Mr. Akintunde Adedeji, said: “We all witnessed the spate of insecurity under President Buhari. It was unchecked. History will remember them as being inefficient. It will remember them for displaying gross ineptitude as they were unable to reduce the spate of insecurity to the barest minimum. We were all living witness to the allegations of corruption that permeated the military bodies.

“History won’t record anything good about them. It is one thing to be the head of a military organisation, it is another thing to have the will, the patriotic zeal to be exemplary in the discharge of duties. This has to do with a disposition towards addressing or tackling insecurity. The body language of the Commander-in-Chief who is a retired general was not the best. It rubbed off on those Service Chiefs. As the saying goes when the head is rotten, the whole body is useless.

“As a former military man, the Commander-in-Chief did not measure up in ensuring that he put the Service Chiefs on their toes to reduce insecurity to the barest minimum. The lack of will and patriotic zeal to address it was responsible for the inefficiency of the service chiefs.”

Nigerians’ expectation

Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, on his part, said: “Every administration wants to be unique. Whatever the Service Chiefs did wrong was not obvious because it was not significantly different from what their predecessors did. The truth is just that Nigerians are dissatisfied with the state of security and intelligence gathering in the nation.

“In most cases, preventable security breaches do occur, especially in areas prone to terrorist attacks. And that is a minus in the way law enforcement and intelligence agencies do their work. That might be the reason they were removed. Maybe the new administration wants to inject new blood or invigorate the security architecture to send a signal to those that are coming in.

“History will remember them as people who passed through and did their best, which wasn’t good enough for the aspirations of the Nigerians. In Nigeria, you can’t say citizens are well-secured because kidnapping happens always. Inexplicable killings go on in several parts of the country. There are massacres in various states such as Kaduna and Plateau.

“ It could be that during their tenure there was a failure of intelligence. It is either the intelligence gathering was flawed or the means through which they obtained intelligence was awkward. This could have led to the killings and the attack on the railway, the kidnap of passengers and the pogrom that happened on farmlands and several villages in different parts of the country.

‘Nigerians are not happy’

National Coordinator, Activist for Good Governance, Mr Declan Ihekaire, comment on the issue, said: “Rather than say they were sacked or removed, I will say they were relieved of their duties based on the change of guard, which is at the discretion of whoever is at the helm of affairs in every country. We can say that they have not done well in their duties, but it is not to say that they didn’t do their best. Though they did their best, the fact remains that the security situation is still very porous, so porous that the government of today must do so much to give hope and assurance to the citizenry that security will be better.

“I will urge the current administration to endeavour to have a conference of past and present Service Chiefs where questions on what has resulted in the current situation can be asked. Through those questions, they can proffer solutions. Before the service chiefs came in under Buhari, banditry and killings had been in existence. During Jonathan, Yar’Adua and Obasanjo’s administration, insecurity was there. Now, the question should be why hasn’t it reduced drastically? Is it because Nigerians are not happy with themselves? Is it that external forces are fuelling the crisis? Is it that we don’t have the resources to combat the criminals? Is it that there was no money to carry out operations? These questions should be asked.

“The current administration should be able to broaden its knowledge of governance because when they do so, they can capture where the previous administration failed and what will be done differently to get things right.”

Worse

Also speaking, acting National Chairperson, Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, and Oyo State Coordinator of Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights, CDWR, Mr. Abiodun Bamigboye, said: “The job of the Service Chiefs, which is to ensure adequate protection of lives and properties of Nigerians was defeated, not only under the Buhari administration even under his predecessors. The failure was so much under the Buhari-led administration. It showed that they failed in their responsibilities.

“Under them, insecurity got worse. What we used to know under Jonathan was Boko Haram; under Buhari, we began to have banditry, insurgency and herder-farmer clashes. While kidnapping became a big business, youth restlessness doubled. All of these are the scorecard of the service chiefs.

“I don’t think relieving them of their duties is a wrong decision, although it won’t strengthen the security network in the country even though they are replaced with the best. I say this because at the root of insecurity in this country are also economic issues. For instance, what is the population of unemployed Nigerians? It is so massive than the population of many European countries combined.

“The poverty rate is so massive too. When this is looked at, it will be understood that it is not about changing the Service Chiefs but paying attention to the root of insecurity.

“Any government that wants to end insecurity must ensure that the economic root is tackled. It is not just having a general as a president, the rate of unemployment and poverty also fuels insecurity. Without a government that would tackle unemployment and poverty among others, there is nothing that Service Chiefs can do that would translate into improvement in security.”

Six Nigerians have died in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while performing this year’s pilgrimage.

The deceased were among the 95,000 Nigerian pilgrims who made the annual journey to the holy land for this year’s hajj exercise.

The head of the Nigerian medical team for the pilgrimage, Dr Usman Galadima, made the disclosure in Makkah on Saturday night.

He also revealed that 30 persons underwent psychiatric evaluation.

Speaking during a pre-Arafat meeting with stakeholders, he said two of the deceased pilgrims were from Osun State; and one each from Kaduna and Plateau.

He said of the them died of cardiac arrest; and others, of illnesses he did not disclosed.

Galadima, whose presentation was tagged ‘Vital Events as of June 24, 2023’, said the team attended to 30 pilgrims with mental health challenge.

He, however, assured that the patients would perform hajj as they “are now in a stable condition.”

He said seven pregnancies were recorded among the pilgrims; two from Sokoto State and one each from Adamawa, Kwara, Yobe, Plateau and Katsina.

Galadima also disclosed that two miscarriages were recorded; while a diabetic pilgrim had his leg amputated.

He said his team offered consultations to a total of 15, 860 Nigerian pilgrims and referred about 100 to Saudi hospitals.

Earlier, the chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikirullah Kunle Hassan, said all the 95,000 Nigerian pilgrims had been airlifted for the exercise.