The outgoing Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Chinedum Orji, has stated that he learnt lessons from the outcome of the just-concluded 2023 elections held in Abia and all other states.

He accused former governor, Okezie Ikpeazu of sponsoring his opponent in a rival party to thwart his bid to be elected as a member of the House of Representatives for the Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency during the recently-held National Assembly elections.

He was baring his mind against the heels of continued outbursts by critical Abia political stakeholders trailing his recent appearance and that of his father, and an ex-Abia Governor, Senator Theodore Orji, during the inauguration of Governor Alex Otti at Umuahia Township Stadium on 29th May 2023.

Orji, who represents Umuahia Central Constituency of the state, insisted that days had gone when he fought for the good political interests of close allies and friends, regretting that he was being rewarded with blackmail and propaganda targeted to dent his image.

He also clarified his recent appearance with his father and the current representative of Abia Central Senatorial District at the national assembly, Senator Theodore Orji,

“When you have a governor-elect that wrote to you or extended an invitation to you from another party, to please come and witness his inauguration; when you have a governor-elect reaching out to one of his predecessors who happened to be my own father, to please come and be a guest on his inauguration; if you are in my shoes, what will you do? I am throwing the question to you, the journalists. You will honour the invitation.

“Is it about politics or Abia State? Let me tell you something, my dear brother. The days of Chinedum Orji (Ikuku) fighting other people’s wars are over. If you want to fight anybody, come out and do the fights yourself. Don’t hide under anybody.

“I fought against the current governor twice between 2015 and 2019. You all know about it. At the end of the day, who told you those people I was fighting for? Did the person I fought for not reach out to the people I fought against? Who told you?

“All these people who were our enemies, didn’t the former governor go behind and reconcile with them? Didn’t he go and reconcile with them? Why must my own be a topic? Did he not visit President Tinubu the other day? Have you people killed him?

“It is a season of do me, I do you. I went there out of courtesy. And immediately he was inaugurated as governor, I left. And since that time, he has been naming those people who worked with him. Did you see my name? Did you see my relation’s name? Did you see the name of anybody close to me there?

“When you are hobnobbing with my enemies in the night. When you sponsored my opponent in the night, and I decided to be a statesman, and you had an issue with that. But you were sponsoring my opponents, and you want me to continue fighting your enemies for you. So that when I fight, you win. And you go by 2 am, you invite him to your place and reconcile with him. He will then tell him how bad and cankerous the boy is. He is always fighting. I didn’t send him. I didn’t do this. All those “gamji”(scam) don pass. All those gamji period don pass.

“If you want to fight, you fight. You come out and do the fighting by yourself. So, if you fight me directly, i will fight you also directly. Am a man and I’m not afraid of them. But for me, while i will doing the fightings for you and you keep quiet. So, attending Otti’s inuaguration is about Abia state”.

Recall that Theodore Orji, and the son and Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji were said to have single-handedly installed Okezie Ikpeazu as governor of the state after keenly contested gubernatorial elections in 2015 and 2019.

Ikpeazu defeated Otti twice.

However, Ikpeazu lost the bid to install his anointed successor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the just-concluded 2023 elections held in the state.

[DailyPost]

In November 2017, it emerged that the suspended governor of Nigeria’s central bank, Godwin Emefiele, had significant interests in an off-shore company registered in Bermuda, which held an account with UBS in London. UBS is a multinational investment bank and financial services company with its headquarters in Basel and Zurich in Switzerland.

Disclosures released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in the Paradise Papers revealed that Emefiele owned 49% of Oviation Asset Management since 2009 and was a director in the company from January 2013.

According to The Guardian newspaper in London: “Oviation was part of a structure that imported two jets via the Isle of Man. The latest purchase, a $50 million Gulfstream G550, arrived in November 2015. It replaced a $33 million Gulfstream G450, imported in 2013”. 15 months before the import of the second Gulfstream, in June 2014, Mr. Emefiele became governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). In this capacity, he also chaired the board of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting PLC, which is responsible for printing Nigeria’s currency.

Section 9 of the CBN Act of 2007 requires both the governor of the central bank and his deputies that they “shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the bank and, while holding office, shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation, whether remunerated or not, except such charitable causes as may be determined by the board and which do not conflict with or conflict with their full-time duties”.

This prohibition places three constraints on the CBN governor: one substantive, another procedural, and a third ethical. Substantively, it bars him from moonlighting in any other job or vocation, whether or not remunerated. Procedurally, he needs the approval of the board of the CBN before taking on any role outside the bank. Implied in this is an obligation of full and honest disclosure on the part of the CBN governor. As an (additional) ethical standard, the act precludes the CBN governor from putting himself in a position that conflicts with his full-time duties.

As the head of a public corporation (which the CBN is), Emefiele, as CBN governor, is also subject to the Code of Conduct for senior public officers contained in the 5th Schedule of the Nigerian constitution, which imposes on him standards of conduct with reference to asset disclosure, acceptance of gifts and donations, and holding of overseas interests.

For Emefiele, these standards were ornaments of convenience. Three years into his office as the CBN governor, his interests in Oviation were still intact. Contacted by The Guardian for an explanation in November 2017, Emefiele claimed that he “gave instructions for his shares to be handed back” to his former employer, a Nigerian bank, in 2014. For a central banker, this claim showed either a tendency for the cavalier or a habit of casuistry.

On or about May 4, 2022, Emefiele was a guest of President Muhammadu Buhari in the presidency. The following day, some characters claiming to be armed Niger Delta militants endorsed Emefiele for the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) promising to lay down their arms if the party were to hand the ticket to him.

Two days later, on May 6, 2022, it emerged that one Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) and two other shadowy organisations had purchased for Emefiele forms to run for the presidency on the ticket of the APC. On the same day, Reuters reported that “news of Emefiele’s presidential bid sent the Naira close to a record low”.

Reacting to these developments, Ondo state governor, himself a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Rotimi Akeredolu, put the issue pointedly: “It is difficult to imagine that a person who occupies the exalted and sensitive office of the governor of the CBN will be this brazen in actualising his ambition”.

The following day, May 7, Emefiele claimed that he was waiting for “God’s divine intervention” which he hoped to receive “in the next few days”. His political organisation, called #Meffy2023, was launched three months earlier in February 2022 by The True Green Alliance (TGA), an organisation that, bizarrely, “promotes caring for the earth and sustainable living practices throughout the societies and governments of southern Africa”. Nigeria is in West Africa.

Emefiele was nothing if not consistent in his convenient attitude to rules. As CBN governor, he maintained a ruinous regime of multiple exchange rates, sustaining a deliberate scheme of arbitrage that oiled both insider abuse and cronyism.

From taking over the management of the National Theatre (despite pending litigation) to making himself a willing instrument for the persecution of #EndSARS protesters, Emefiele got the CBN involved in schemes and scams that almost assuredly violate Section 34 of the CBN Act. Premium Times in a February 21, 2021, editorial feared that his tenure at the CBN will be remembered for having wilfully “shredded” the guardrails in the CBN Act.

In a country where consequences follow malfeasance, Emefiele should have been unemployed and in prison. In Nigeria, he longed for the presidency.

The question of Emefiele’s presidential project was, even more, of a legal issue. Two of his predecessors proceeded him into elective politics. Clement Isong, the second governor of the CBN from 1967 to 1975 became the first elected governor of old Cross River state in October 1979. Chukwuma Soludo, who was CBN governor from 2004 to 2009, is currently serving as the governor of Anambra state, having been elected on November 6, 2021. Both Dr. Isong and Professor Soludo, however, ran for office after the expiration of their terms.

But section 9 of the CBN Act makes it quite clear that the CBN governor just cannot choose to run for elective office while still holding on to office. He could, of course, have chosen to resign in order to pursue his ambition. For this, though, section 11(3) of the CBN Act required him to give “at least three months’ notice in writing to the president of his intention to do so”.

Emefiele did neither. Instead, he used the time and money of the central bank to set up a partisan bid for the presidency. As with his holding in an offshore company despite being prohibited from doing so, Emefiele wished this prohibition away as yet another inconsequential encounter with an inconvenient guardrail.

In pursuit of his presidential project, Emefiele did not encounter any guardrails that he was not willing to destroy. When citizens objected to his pursuing the presidency from the office of the CBN governor, Emefiele procured a fly-by-night order from the High Court of Delta State in Kwale to see them off. In December 2022, the Federal High Court in Abuja issued two orders, one declining the application of security agencies to question Emefiele; the other restraining anyone from touching him.

As with the launch of his presidential ambition in February 2022 and the purchase of his presidential forms in May, Emefiele managed to find another faceless NGO to be his Mother Theresa. The plaintiff in the latter case was “Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership”, registered in May 2018. The case took only five working days; they filed on Monday, December 19, 2022, and had a 22-page judgment on December 29! When the same courts encountered a suit seeking accountability by Emefiele, they ruled that citizens did not have standing to question him.

Emefiele has always been relaxed about having his fate decided by Nigerian judges, a tribe with whom he has had many favorable encounters. While he was the boss of The Mint, he could issue enough notes to buy any number of court orders he fancied. Now that he is no longer there, he can still afford the most expensive lawyers in the land and can get courts who will give him orders to send him on medical tourism whenever he wants. But if at any point he were to suffer a bloody nose, I’ll not cry for him because that will be just dessert for a man who clearly believes everything can be bought and sold.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This article updates an earlier version which appeared in May 2022 under the title “#Meffy2023: A Joke Taken Too Far”

In the last couple of years, nothing has elicited as much consensus among Nigerians as to remove our famous fuel subsidy. It was officially scheduled to go by June 30, 2023, that is, exactly one month after the inauguration of a new administration.

A few people might have imagined that because of the huge implications of fuel subsidy removal, its implementation might stretch a little later than the end of June 2023. It was also obvious that except a well-thought-out modality for handling the subject was first put in place, the confusion that would follow a half-baked procedure would be too much to contain.

Consequently, no one expected that the removal could be fast-forwarded through the instrumentality of a short sentence until it was suddenly done some 30 days ahead of schedule. The simultaneous clumsy communication of ‘subsidy is gone’ and that it is not with immediate effect while a circular on increase in prices was already in the public domain disorganized all and sundry.

In Nigeria, fuel subsidy removal could rear many contentious issues. First, of the many subsidies in different sectors of the country; is it the one on fuel that is the most problematic? Second, Nigeria is a poor country, will fuel subsidy removal halt the nation’s poverty?

Third, will the removal of fuel subsidy bring to an end, oil theft which has remained a major challenge to Nigeria’s economic growth? If these questions are appropriately interrogated, our fixation on fuel subsidy removal may pro- duce a moderated perspective that would enable us to observe that as negative as fuel subsidy has become, many people especially the poor are convinced that it is not necessarily the first and the most urgent to go. One obvious reason why it has been difficult to convince such people about the desirability of fuel subsidy removal is that statements on the subject by successive governments had been largely sincere.

Indeed, messages on fuel subsidy removal had been allowed to create a stereo-type of new singers who are permanently singing an old chorus. It has always been a cat and rat game between government and the organized labour in which government was always reneging on virtually all its promises on palliatives and in- vestments on infrastructure. In 2004 for example, it was agreed that every state would receive a grant of N100million from the federal government, to which each state was to add N200 million to flood all our cities with buses. It didn’t happen despite the aggressiveness of the labour leaders of those days who usual- ly shunned court orders stopping them from strikes. As a result, government assurances were never believed. In view of this trust deficit, it was difficult to convince the average Nige- rian that the removal of subsidy was not ‘a 419’ arrangement. The situation of lack of faith in government has not changed notwithstanding that there is hardly any option now that there is no budget to fund subsidy.

In addition, Nigerians seem to believe that the much-talked-about fuel subsidy does not really exist more so as the supposed recipients have always remained anonymous thereby reverberating the public perception that the subsidy narrative was a scam. There is in fact the story that apart from the version of officials of the foreign oil companies, Nigerians do not really know how much oil is produced and how much is lifted daily in their country. It is generally believed that after several years of oil business, oil monitoring equipment and allied facilities in the country were not and are still not controlled by Nigerians. So, why should people trust government?

Another reason why many people particularly the masses will still be hard to persuade that fuel subsidy, perhaps the only privilege of the masses should go is the failure of the proponents of the diagnosis to lead by example. Nothing in Nige- ria’s reported economic challenges shows that our leaders are denying themselves any of their own humungous privileges. The big man still maintains at public expense, a visibly unrealistic retinue of vehicles in his convoy. How is his previous budget able to cover the new reality of huge cost of fuelling official cars? We are hearing nothing about a cut in office entertainment, and other flamboyant expenditures like foreign trips. The Mur- tala/Obasanjo military government acted differently in the 70s by limiting their own official cars to Peugeot 504 to prepare everyone for pruning down official expenditures dictated by the challenges of their time.

Today’s top office holders in Nigeria especially federal legislators still earn millions of naira (they always deny) along with allowances attached to every item such as newspaper allowance that is higher than the salary of a Director in the public service. A typical former state governor earns at retirement, remuneration higher than he got while in office. Yet, many states al- ways claimed they didn’t have enough resources to pay the scanty minimum wage of the poor.

Of course, the narrative is not only irrational, it is wicked to argue that a rise in the prices of petroleum products which would necessarily raise the cost of transportation should be tolerated in the interest of the nation. Certainly, for charity to begin at home, it makes more sense to first remove the numerous privileges of our leaders. If government is pretending to be unaware of such subsidies of the rich that should be removed without hesitation, they should listen to the irrepressible Femi Falana who the other day listed 21 of such elite subsidies.

The point being made is that at this juncture of Nigeria’s development, the mismanagement of our re- sources has brought us to a level where subsidies that can crumble the nation must go. One of such subsidies is the one on fuel; so, it is time for it to go. But the subsidies of the rich must not be retained because it is only that group that benefits from them unlike the one on fuel which benefits all.

Bearing in mind that many poor citizens may not survive an end to subsidy, visible and tangible efforts ought to be made to assist the poor to withstand the resultant harsh realities. The old narrative of merely politicizing the subject must end. In this regard, different segments in society have roles to play which some are already commendably performing.

A few examples would suffice here. First, in the face of the uproar over the removal of fuel subsidy, a group of bus drivers at a meeting in Lagos quickly resolved to ensure that passengers would not witness astronomical increases in bus fares in their areas of operations. Second, the University of Jos, immediately approved the deployment of shuttle buses to transport staff and students to and from the University campuses. Third, two state governments, Kwara and Edo decided to reduce workdays for the workforce in their states to lessen the impact of the subsidy re- moval on their earnings. While ensuring that reduced hours of work do not adversely affect productivity, the federal government should emulate these gestures and improve the welfare of workers by deploying the gains of the fuel subsidy removal policy to investment in infrastructure and mass transportation to show that the aim of removing the subsidy was not to hurt workers and citizens. Government must bend backward to convince the people that the policy would better position her to ensure greater development of society.

To this end, public communication organs such as the National Orientation Agency should be equipped to sensitize the public on the gains of fuel subsidy removal. For instance, one of the hidden truths of the removal is that it is the best way of cutting off the invisible cartels that corrupt the system to siphon public funds into private pockets.

History has shown that it is such massive public enlightenment programmes that persuasively convert citizens into advocates of zero fuel subsidy for huge development of society. The only monster that remains to be tackled headlong is oil theft. The reality is that the mere fact that our oil would no long- er be cheap as before would not on its own stop oil theft. If that issue is not ad- dressed, greedy citizens with the collusion of law enforcement agencies could still quite often have a free day.

On several occasions, I had cautioned then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria GODWIN EMEFIELE at the peak of his glory when he started seeing himself as a politician and even attempted a misadventure by clandestinely making a Presidential bid. I knew he was heading to Golgotha. Now, as I envisaged, the cookies have crumbled.

Unlike those gloating over his tragic fall from grace, I will urge that he must not be treated like a victim of political vendetta. His rights must be fully respected and guaranteed under the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On this special day of the 30th anniversary of June 12, no attempt should be made to install a civilian dictatorship in our beloved country. EMEFIELE has served his country in good and bad times. Like all mortals, he must have displayed his foibles and egocentricities at some point but that cannot be enough reason to treat him summarily like a certified criminal when he's not been tried...

He should not be humiliated ahead of any intended probe or trial...

With just three days to the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, Vice President Kashim Shettima has stated that President Bola Tinubu and the NWC of APC are in support of the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the next Senate President in order to engender diversity, unity and stability of the polity. Speaking at a dinner organized by the Stability Group, the campaign platform of Senator Akpabio, Saturday evening at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, the VP stated that by zoning the Senate Presidency to the South-South zone, the party wanted to ensure that the top echelon of the government of the federation was diverse and inclusive, without compromising competence and capacity. ‘’Senator Akpabio is very competent and he has the capacity to lead the 10th National Assembly. At the same time, he is from a very important zone and he is also a man of Christian faith. So, in line with the Constitution of our country, and in conformity with the plurality of our union, the party and in deed, the President, thought it fit to support him’’, the VP said, emphasizing that these were the same sentiments he expressed earlier in the day at the valedictory session of the 9th Senate.

The dinner was organized in appreciation of all the senators who have shown support for Senator Akpabio and Senator Jibrin Barau. The two have been endorsed by President Tinubu as the next Senate President and Deputy Senate President. The Vice President, who was the special guest of honour at the dinner, said that since the President and the Vice President are Muslims, APC is careful not to present itself as a one-religion party, and that is why the party is supporting Akpabio. At a personal level, Senator Shettima noted that he had taken steps to promote diversity. ‘’My CSO is an Igbo man who had worked with me when I was governor. He has been a dedicated and loyal officer, even in the heat of the Boko Haram attacks in Borno’’, the VP said, adding that his ADC is a Northern Christian. Senator Shettima also announced, to the pleasant surprise of the guests at the dinner, that he had been campaigning privately for Akpabio and Barau and that he was leaving the dinner early to visit with some senators who are yet to register their support.  

Other dignitaries at the dinner were Senator-elect Adams Oshiomhole; Senator-elect Dave Umahi; Senator Jibrin Barau and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume. In his brief remarks, Oshiomhole, who is the Vice Chairman of the Stability Group, said the essence of politics is to promote collective interest, and that the Akpabio-Barau candidacy signifies the need for diversity of the government and stability of the federation. Engr Dave Umahi, the Chairman of the Group, said the three Senators from Ebonyi and most of the senators from the South East are in support of Akpabio and Barau. He reiterated the point that Akpabio has the capacity, competence and energy to lead the National Assembly. He noted that the dinner was organized to appreciate the over 67 senators who have written down and signed their names as supporters of Akpabio and Barau. Umahi thanked the party and the government for supporting the Akpabio-Barau ticket and promised that the duo will work to stabilize the country. ‘’Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, and so the character of our government must reflect this diversity’’, said Umahi.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, in his own remarks said that even before he was appointed SGF, he had already identified with the ambition of Akpabio to be Senate President. He noted that his experience in the executive and legislative branches of government (he was governor for 8 years and senator for 12 years) has made him to appreciate the need to build a virile country where every part belongs.

Senator Akpabio himself was full of thanks to the party, the President, Vice President and all his colleagues for their support. He said that he is sure of the support of 80 senators when the vote is taken on Tuesday.

Human life is sacred. That is why society sets boundaries. That’s also why, no matter how great a hunter is, he cannot compare himself to the government, the ultimate hunter, which exercises the power of life and death on behalf of the people.

For centuries, humanity has wrestled with the question: at what stage can the life of a fellow human being be terminated? The question has always been resolved in favour of a system of checks and balances where every angle of the matter in question is rigorously considered. That was the understanding of earthlings like us until ‘outer space’ societies like the USA invented the right to execute a fellow citizen privately under the guise of self-defence.

In Florida, it is called the Stand Your Ground law.

How many dirges shall we chant for our 35-year-old daughter, Ajike AJ Shantrell Owens, the African American mother of four shot through a closed front door by her white neighbour while she was trying to recover an iPad taken from her child in front of their home in a housing complex, in Ocala, Florida, USA? AJ was killed in the presence of her 9-year-old son by her 58-year-old female neighbour who had complained several times about Owens’ children playing outdoors and had allegedly been hurling racial abuses at them. Neighbours say that the white woman had a history of harassing children.

Will this end up as just another statistic?

One distraught commentator says Christians of the evangelical hue are now being called upon to speak up whether the God they serve excludes black people from his reassurance in the Psalms which they quote with relish:

“For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. “(Ps. 39:13-16)

It took the whole of four days and massive outcry from the public for the authorities to arrest the killer, 58-year-old Susan Louise Lorincz.  Protesters chanted, “No justice, no peace”. They carried signs saying: “Say her name Ajike Owens” and “It’s about us.”

As usual in America, the NRA gun lobby see nothing wrong in what Susan Lorincz has done. Although many of them describe themselves as Christians, they serve a white god who discriminates among his creatures. Their racist attitude is a carryover from the slavery days. Conservative whites felt they needed to be protected against their former slaves and therefore campaigned for the enactment of laws that permitted shooting under the guise of self defence. They owned the gun industry anyway; the more guns sold the better the business.

The Stand Your Ground Law has no greater defender than the NRA and conservative politicians.

The Florida Stand Your Ground Law is based on the “castle doctrine.” The idea is that an individual who is legally occupying a place—their home or car, for instance—has the right to use force if faced by an intruder or a threat in order to protect themselves. It’s an old idea that has been around for over 2000 years. When the early settlers crossed the Atlantic, they brought the idea with them.

In Florida, the Stand Your Ground law was enacted in 2005. State legislators felt that Florida’s self-defense laws weren’t doing enough to shield citizens who shoot others in self defence from prosecution. The law aims to protect individuals who discharge a firearm or otherwise harm another individual in their attempt to protect themselves when they believe they are under threat. Under the law, there is no duty to retreat.

Before the law was enacted, when a person was under threat and even afraid for their life, they had to take reasonable measures to remove themselves from the situation. This is called a “duty to retreat.” If the threat didn’t abate after that, then they could use force if necessary to protect themselves. It is claimed by protagonists that, by removing the duty to retreat, the Florida Stand Your Ground law would make it easier for Florida residents to protect themselves and their families. More than 30 states have now joined Florida in enacting their own version of Stand Your Ground law.

Some knowledgeable people had spoken out against the law even when it was in its formative stage. “It turns 250 years of jurisprudence on its head,” said Andrew Warren, a Florida State attorney. “The preliminary hearing already gave this additional protection to defendants claiming ‘stand your ground.’ Now we’re going several steps past that. It’s going to be much harder. There will be cases where the state cannot make the initial burden.”

The law has been linked to increases in homicide and violent behaviour. Notably, it has negatively impacted the ability to successfully prosecute cases in Florida. In 2012, a Tampa Bay Times investigation revealed that almost 70 percent of defendants who invoked the statute went free. A law professor at the University of Miami, Mary Anne Franks, described the law as “essentially stacking the deck repeatedly in favour of people shooting other people”.

The cold blooded murder of AJ brought to national recollection the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin  in Miami at the hands of a zealous neighbourhood watchman. The killing ignited a national outcry on issues of race and justice, inspiring social activism that paved the way for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Trayvon Benjamin Martin was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida. He was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic American. Martin had accompanied his father to visit his father’s fiancée at her townhouse in Sanford. On the evening of February 26, Martin was walking back to the fiancée’s house from a nearby convenience store when Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, reported him to the Sanford Police as suspicious. An altercation ensued and Zimmerman fatally shot Martin in the chest.

Zimmerman was injured during the altercation. He said he shot Martin in self-defense. The police said there was no evidence to refute his claim of self-defense, and Florida’s stand-your-ground law prohibited them from arresting or charging him. After national media focused on the incident, Zimmerman was eventually charged and tried, but a jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and manslaughter in July 2013.

Rallies, marches, and protests were held across the United States to protest Martin’s murder. An online petition calling for a full investigation and prosecution of Zimmerman garnered 2.2 million signatures. The media coverage surrounding Martin’s death became the first story of 2012 to be featured more than the presidential race, which was underway at the time. A national debate about racial profiling and stand-your-ground laws ensued. The governor of Florida appointed a task force to examine the state’s self-defense laws. The name Trayvon was tweeted more than two million times in the 30 days following the shooting. He was buried in Dade-Memorial Park (North), in Miami. A memorial was dedicated to him at the Goldsboro Westside Historical Museum, a Black history museum in Sanford, in July 2013.

Trayvon’s death cast national scrutiny on Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” self-defense law which has since become more robust and expanded by Republican lawmakers with support from gun rights advocates who argue that it makes the streets safer and over the objections of critics who say it only encourages “shoot first” vigilantism.

Many of us Africans viewing the American tragedy from thousands of miles away tend to agree with Democratic lawmakers  and gun control activists who have spoken out against the Stand Your Ground Law (understandably because our children are the usual victims). The lives of African Americans shouldn’t be reduced to two-a-cent.

“Shoot-first laws”, argues Shannon Watts, the founder of a gun-control advocacy group, “aren’t about standing your ground when threatened.” In her view, “They are about making murder legal, empowering people with racist or vigilante views to shoot first and ask questions later.” In terms of homicide rate per state, Florida with 2,087 deaths (9.7, per 100k) ranks number 19 in the US.

I pray for you, America. May the Nigerian-American, Ajike AJ Shantrell Owens, find peace in paradise where the colour of her skin will not make her legit game in the cross hairs of a racist’s target shooting.

Barely 48 hours to the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, top contenders for principal offices of the federal legislature have intensified campaigns against the preferred candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) .

This is in utter disdain to the appeal by President Bola Tinubu to the APC aspirants in the leadership race of both chambers to support the candidates endorsed by the governing party.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered yesterday that the opposing camps in both chambers continued their push for the top seats, setting the stage for an intense race for the position.

The Senate, it was learnt, remained divided between the Democratic and Stability groups who are still pushing to ensure one in their camps emerges chairman of the National Assembly.

In the House of Representatives, the aggrieved G-6 aspirants are poised to unveil their consensus candidate in opposition to the APC’s preferred candidate.

But intrigues surrounding the contest for the top legislative seats took a twist yesterday as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alleged plot to arrest members who are opposed to the APC’s zoning arrangement.

This comes as Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged the lawmakers-elect to place the interest of the nation above personal interests, as they choose their National Assembly leadership, stressing that the nation’s stability should be utmost on their minds as they convene on Tuesday.

It would be recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC had zoned the Senate president position to the South-South, specifically endorsing former Niger Delta minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as its candidate for Senate president position, with Senator Barau Jibrin from the North West as his anointed deputy.

In the House of Representatives, the Speaker position was zoned to the North West, with Hon Tajudeen Abbas as the preferred candidate, and Hon Benjamin Kalu from the South East as his deputy.

In the Senate former Zamfara governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari; former Abia State governor, Orji Uzo Kalu, and Senator Osita Izunaso are strongly opposed the party’s choice, while the G-6 aggrieved aspirants have also disagreed with the party in the House of Representatives.

There has been a raging opposition to the party’s zoning arrangement with particular emphasis that two presiding officers in the National Assembly cannot emerge from one geopolitical zone.

Tinubu had on Thursday night at a meeting with National Assembly members-elect insisted that the choice of Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin for Senate president and deputy Senate president, as well as Abbas and Kalu for Speaker and deputy Speaker stands.

But as the Tuesday June 13 inauguration of the 10th Assembly inches closer, the G-6 members have remained adamant.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the group which comprises the out gone deputy Speaker, Idris Wase, Muktar Betara (Borno), Aminu Sani Jaji (Zamfara),Yusuf Adamu Gagdi (Plateau), Miriam Onuoha (Imo) and Sada Soli (Katsina) were to meet Saturday night in Abuja to field one of them for the race.

A source told our correspondent yesterday that one of the plans on the staple of the power cabals is to change the venue of the inauguration at the last minute, thereby causing chaos and confusion.

“The reason they have perfected giving to the public is that the NASS complex is under renovation and that it will be dangerous to allow a huge crowd in there. We are already aware too that the likely venues being proposed secretly are the State House Banquet or the International Conference Centre.

“We are aware of all these, including the fact that Yari, Kalu, Betara and Wase have been placed on surveillance for over three weeks by the DSS and even the EFCC. Anything can happen, including that they’d be denied access to wherever the power cabals finally agree to use as an alternative venue,” the source who did not want his name in print said.

Another source close to the G-6 told this paper that the group is meeting this night in Abuja to decide on who will contest with Abbas on Tuesday.

“They have made up their minds. Even if any of them decides to back the anointed candidate, others will still feature some who will challenge that decision on the floor. The outcome of the meeting will be made public and a consensus candidate from G-6 will be unveiled,” the source said.

Wase and Betara were absent at President Tinubu’s meeting with the lawmakers from all political parties, while Jaji boycotted the parley with APC members-elect.

The deputy Speaker of the 9th House had said he would go ahead to contest for the speakership seat because it has been prophesied that he would become Speaker.

Meanwhile, a frontline member of the G-6 said he will soon make an official statement about his decision on the race for the Speaker of the 10th House.

The Plateau lawmaker, in a tweet on his official Twitter handle on yesterday said he was in talks with other aspirants on the way forward and will make an announcement as soon as consultations are concluded.

“Within the last 72 hours, have visited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu three (3) times at the Presidential villa on one on one meetings that all together lasted for more than one hour.

“The discussions have to do with my ambition of becoming the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives and the Leadership issue of the 10th Assembly.

“I thank Mr. President for this honour and unique show of love to me and to the good people of Pankshin/Kanake/Kanam Federal Constituency.  I appeal to my supporters, Honorable Colleagues in particular to remain calm as I am in deep discussions and consultations with my fellow aspirants and some national leaders.  After all deliberations, an official statement will be issued in this regard. Thank you my father and Mr. President,” he said.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Labour Party caucus in the House of Representatives, Hon. Afam Victor Ogene, said the outcome of power-play in the Senate would ultimately influence the result of the 10th Assembly Speakership race.

Ogene who is also spokesperson of the ‘Greater Majority’, a group comprising all opposition members- elect in the House maintained that they shelved their speakership ambition to prevent the APC from having a ready-made excuse for poor performance.

The lawmaker who stated this while speaking with select journalists in Abuja at the Weekend added that the endorsement of Hon Abass and Hon Kalu by the APC for Speaker and deputy was already a ‘fait accompli’.

Ogene said: “The outcome of the power-play in the Senate may ultimately influence, one way or another, the final outcome of the race.”

On why the Greater Majority dropped its speakership aspiration, he said, “Although the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria unambiguously directed, in Section 50(1)(b) that ‘Members of the House of Representatives shall elect a Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among themselves,’ I suspect that most members of the Greater Majority simply decided to adorn the toga of statesmen and women by deciding not to put forward candidates for the Speaker and deputy Speaker positions.

“This stance, I envisage, was taken to prevent the ruling APC from having a ready-made excuse in the event where the administration does not leave up to expectations.

“So, essentially, it wasn’t a case of abandoning an opportunity to present a Speaker, but rather a patriotic decision by the Greater Majority to allow the incoming government to take off on a smooth sail.

“For an Abass who in one legislative cycle of four years sponsored a total of 74 bills – 22 of which received presidential assent – and Kalu, with over 40 Bills, both men, I dare say, appear to have fulfilled the conditions precedent for their emergence as Speaker and deputy Speaker.

“Indeed, for the Abass/Kalu, the inclusion of the South East in the equation is a major master stroke. Till date, no other speakership aspirant has offered the zone anything.

PDP Alleges Plot To Arrest Lawmakers-Elect Who Oppose Zoning

Meanwhile, the PDP yesterday raised the alarm over plots to arrest members-elect who are opposed to the preferred candidates of the APC.

The national publicity secretary of PDP, Hon Debo Ologunagba, who accused some elements within the APC of being behind the plot, said the move is aimed at intimidating and harassing lawmakers-elect to choose the party’s candidate.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the PDP spokesman who decried attempts to undermine the independence of the legislature insisted that the members-elect in both houses must be allowed to elect their leadership.

Ologunagba urged the lawmaker-elect to remain steadfast in asserting their independence in the election of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He said, “Since the PDP made its position known, feelers from public discourse indicated that some elements in the APC have become agitated and resorted to plots to influence the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly outside the floor.

“Information at our disposal reveals attempts by such APC elements to intimidate, harass and threaten lawmakers-elect with the view to influencing the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly.

“Reports in the public space indicate plots to arrest individuals who are considered to be strong proponents of the independence of the legislature and the right of members-elect to elect their leadership.

“The PDP notes that the independence of the legislature is a prerequisite for a virile democracy and therefore insists that the members-elect in both houses must be allowed to elect their leadership.”

Meanwhile, as the campaign on who emerged as the next Senate President continue, South South Solidarity group has called on Nigerians especially the newly elected Senators to ensure that Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin are elected as the next Senate President and deputy.

Speaking during a press conference in Abuja, the Convener of the group, Peter Ikpen Ilefa, said the unity of Nigeria should be paramount.

“We, the critical stakeholders within the political space of the South-Southern Nigeria under the aegis of the South-South Solidarity Group have found it necessary to call on all Nigerians on the need to build a rock-solid foundation for the purposeful administration of our country under the new dawn in our body polity.

“We are here to inundate the nation on the imperatives of the emergence of the new leadership of the 10th national assembly and the focus here today as usual is to demonstrate our solidarity for the emergence of  distinguished Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio’s as the next Senate President of Nigeria and Sen Jibrin Barau as Deputy Senate President.”

Allow Senators To Elect Their Leaders, Northern Elders Insists

Meanwhile, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has called on all Nigerians to allow Senators-elect to elect who will lead them in the 10th assembly.

Chairman of the forum and former vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria, Prof Ango Abdullahi, advised that members-elect of the National Assembly should be left alone to elect its own leaders.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, Abdullahi emphasised that the National Assembly is an independent body and no external force should meddle into its affairs.

He stated:  “Now we are at a point where the National Assembly is supposed to have leaders. Each chamber of the National Assembly is independent to decide how this should be done.

“But the basic foundation is the constitution of the country which stipulates very clearly that there would be such an institution and how it will be formed. As far as we know the Constitution should be strictly adhered to, by all concerned. All concerned here is the National Assembly, on deciding who would be the Senate President, the Speaker and other positions.

“The National Assembly is an autonomous body and decides its own leadership and mode of operation as long as it is within the context of the Constitution of this country. If we should advise people who care for this nation, the National Assembly members-elect should be left entirely alone to decide who their leaders would be.

“We like to appeal to our leaders, friends and associates in parties and government that this is honest advice and that the National Assembly should be free. This is the kind of democracy we require.

“The ruling party is not in charge of the National Assembly, the NASS is an independent body. The ruling party only has members in the National Assembly and they may direct them to do their biddings but they should also allow those who do not belong to the ruling party to also exercise their rights. Their rights include demand for the leadership of the NASS. I think this should be respected.”

He further warned against religious extremism, saying that there is no religious party in Nigeria and that every Nigerian has free will to interact in whatever part of society.

S’West Media Stakeholders Back S’East For Senate President

Meanwhile, a group of seasoned journalists, concerned media managers and veteran journalists under the aegis of the South West media stakeholders has advised the APC and other stakeholders to zone the Senate president to South West.

The group noted the need for a Southeasterner to become the Senate president is necessary to heal the wounds of the past.

They added that this will help to accommodate the interests and yearnings of the Igbo nation.

The group made these disclosures during a press conference held on Saturday in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital and addressed by Mr. Kolawole Ilori, Founding Editor of Tell Magazine.

Ilori who was flanked with former Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Oyo state council, Victor Oluwadamilare and Mrs Bose Oyewole, a former NAWOJ Chairperson in Oyo state, noted that as media practitioners, it is their duty to enjoin members of the 10th National Assembly to choose the right Senate President for the sake of Nigeria and democracy.

He added that for equity and fairness, the choice of a South Easterner is sine qua non.

He said that for good governance to endure in the country, the media must have a voice of its own in the scheme of things.

Ilori further explained that the leadership of the Senate has to be anchored by a sound Senator who has a high pedigree with an unblemished record.

Stressing that the best man for the job of Senate President at this time is Senator Osita Bonaventure Izunazo from Imo state, he added that the senator remains the most consistent and reliable party faithful over the years.

“For equity and fairness, the choice of a South Easterner, is sine qua non to healing the wounds of the past and genuinely accommodate the interests and yearnings of the Igbo nation. Izunaso’s choice will be the much-needed ‘Balm of Gilead’, to douse the general tension in the South East,” he noted.

Akpabio, Kalu Fail APC Integrity Test, Says APC Media Outfit

Meanwhile, a media outfit of the APC, the APC NewsOnline, has said two of the leading aspirants for the position of Senate president didn’t pass an Integrity Test conducted on them by the media organisation.

The APC NewsOnline, in a statement issued and released to the media in Abuja at the weekend, revealed that the duo of Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu did not pass its integrity test.

The statement signed by the publisher of the multimedia outfit, Dr. Tom Ohikere, said the two senators “are unsuitable” for the esteemed position of Senate president.

Ohikere, a former two term commissioner of Information and Culture in Kogi State said the APC NewsOnline conducted the Integrity Test on only the aspirants from the South where it said, the media organization believed the Senate President should come from.

APC NewsOnline, which Dr Ohikere said was officially registered by the party and has been at the forefront of promoting the political activities and achievements of the party, consequently conducted the integrity test on the trio of Senator Godwilll Akpabio, Senator Orju Uzor Kalu, and Senator Osita Izunaso out of whom the online platform passed Senator Izunaso.

Out of the three contenders from the southern part of Nigeria, Ohikere, said only Senator Izunaso passed the APC Integrity Test.

Nation’s Stability Should Be Superior – Shetimma

Meanwhile, Vice President Kashim Shettima has said the memories of what they have accomplished will not fade away.

He spoke during the valedictory session of the 9th Assembly at the National Assembly.

According to Shettima, the 9th Senate was not the end of the road for their members, adding that the Senators should ensure that no voice was inferior.

“Let us remember that our journey has just begun,” Kashim said, stating that they should continue to serve humanity.

“The stability of the nation is superior to the stability of your pockets on Tuesday,” Kashim Shettima told the lawmakers-elect, urging them to abide by the decision of the APC leadership.

On her part, wife of the president, Remi Tinubu, said she never knew she would get to the Senate even when a journalist had asked her why she can’t start from the House of Representatives.

“But in the end, I served three terms in the Senate. I contemplated retiring to serve my family because serving the nation takes a lot of sacrifice.

“But over the years, we made a lot of friends. Nigeria is represented here and we came together, with the kind of people we had here, we have moved the country forward.

“Number 10 will give us double grace. This administration needs the support of the 10 assembly,” Remi said, urging the new Senators to ensure that they elect leaders that will help the present administration.

Also, the Senate chief whip, Orji Kalu, who is also vying for the office of the Senate president, has said that Nigeria has not been fair to him despite his contribution to nation building.

Kalu who shed tears during the valedictory session of the 9th Assembly at the National Assembly said people he gave transport fare to travel to Lagos are now living in wealth, while calling him a thief.

Kalu thanked the 9th Senate for standing by him during his difficult times, insisting that Nigeria has not been fair to him.

“When I had a problem, most of the Senators stood by me.  We went through a difficult period. Before I went into politics, I could buy anything I wanted. I am not a thief. People I gave transport money to Victoria Island (VI) are now in wealth and living as saints while I am being called a thief. This country is not fair to some of us. People who cannot explain their source of wealth are not thieves.

“I have factories in Lagos, Aba and Ota in Ogun State. They call me a thief,” Kalu said, as he broke down in tears during the valedictory session of the 9th assembly.

Even though the only order of the day in the order paper was the valedictory session, it marks the end of the 9th Senate.

LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that certificate of service, copies of legacy report and video clips were also shared to all the Senators

The rules of the Senate were suspended to invite some of their colleagues who were supposed to be part of the session, including Vice President Kashim Shettima; Uba Sani; APC deputy chairman (North), Abubakar Kyari; deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State; former deputy governor of Zamfara State, Mohammed Hassan, and first lady, Remi Tinubu.

In the Senate sitting arraignment, only principal officers are allowed to sit in the front row but the rules were suspended.

Speaking during the session, Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege said he was chosen not because he was the most qualified to be the deputy Senate president, adding that it was a great privilege.

He said the finance Act, PIA and Electoral Act were landmark laws, even as he urged Senators-elect to give the present administration the maximum support.

[Leadership]

There will be an election for our bi-cameral National Assembly leadership on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. The two critical positions that seek to alter the balance of power in Nigeria are number three and four positions according to the National Order of Precedence – the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The President of the Senate is number three citizen because he will lawfully be the Chairman of the Joint Session of the National Assembly while the Speaker, number four citizen, will be the Deputy Chairman of the Joint Session of the National Assembly. So, who ever heads the Senate as its president is the presiding officer of the Legislature in Nigeria. And instead of building inter-party consensus on how to get the best chairman and deputy chairman of the joint session of the 10th Assembly, at the moment, Nigerian political leaders and the members-elect have to deal with an ancient grudge inherent in our ticklish national question. Where the president of the Senate and Speaker of the house come from have become the issue.

As I was saying here the other day, the president’s controversial Muslim-Muslim Ticket has hauled into the fray the same national question the federal character provision in the 1999 constitution is supposed to deal with. In other words, if the core North’s (north-west) candidate sails through for the senate president and speakership, the first five citizens of Nigeria would be Muslims since the first two (president and VP) and the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) are Muslims, in this regard. And that will be deplored by a section of the faithful in the country just as it will be celebrated by another section that will regard the development as a conquest as a former governor from the same North West has been heard to have noted in a trending video evidence.

Ordinarily, that shouldn’t have been a subject of commentary for this kind of column in a significant country. We should be celebrating the dividends of an unbroken 24 years of democracy and democratisation and the change it has brought to Africa’s most populous nation and hope of the black race. Here we are, debating why particular sections of the country should produce even nincompoops as presiding officers of the National Assembly that will shape the destiny of Africa’s most significant country.

Anyway, today is another opportunity to join the groundswell of opinions to remind all members-elect and all the stakeholders who are involved in politicking and jostling for the National Assembly positions that federal characterisation of positions isn’t an excuse for recourse to election and selection of mediocrities and scoundrels for our National Assembly. Yes, it is our, not their National Assembly. Enough is enough, the world has been waiting for Nigeria to make democracy deliver development for its people. Indeed, the black people of the world have been waiting for Nigeria to allow democracy to blossom for the country to be a source of pride and confidence. The people of Nigeria have been waiting for Nigerian politicians and political leaders to nurture democracy and its processes to deliver some common good. And so because the Legislature is doubtless, the most important institution that can set the tone for processes that will trigger development through reform agenda to fight corruption, check executive and even judicial excesses and rascality, manage waste in the economy, according to our constitution, that body should not be led by mere men, who are just prominent but not significant in the country. Yes, Rick Warren, an iconic author and cleric, I have often quoted here says some people can be prominent but not significant just as some people can be significant without being prominent in the polity.

On October 17, 2021, I wrote here in an article titled, ‘2023: Let Good Aspirants Prepare For National Assembly.’ I had then noted the expediency of getting most of the presidential aspirants to leave the presidential race for National Assembly where they could also serve the country significantly. Here is an excerpt from the article:

‘…This power-to-the-people law (electoral law) has enabled me to call on all the good people who would like to contest presidential election to look before they leap this time. This is the executive summary of my submission here: let most of the presidential aspirants including governors, ministers, professionals and technocrats who think they are capable of serving Nigeria consider their strategy and platforms for the service of their country that is at the moment in a state of anomie. I would like all the powerful faces being listed by even the media not to be carried away by the prominence they freely get or procure from the media. They should consider first the feasibility and risks of their campaigns. Can those who have the resources or war chest to campaign mobilise enough votes to be president? They should note that oratory nurtured by intellectual power alone cannot give you presidential tickets on the platforms that can win presidential elections here. Let’s not speak in tongues to good people here:

Why can’t Professors Pat Utomi, Kingsley Moghalu, HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Mr. Peter Obi, Mr. Femi Falana, Fela Durotoye, Babagana Kingibe, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Professor Attahiru Jega, Abdullahi Ganduje, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Dr. Doyin Okupe, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd); Ibrahim Dankwabo, Chief Nyesom Wike, Abubakar Malami, Babatunde Fashola, and a host of other aspirants get set to be in National Assembly?

I think we should not lose these prominent people to the vagaries of presidential election aspiration alone. After all, only one of them will be elected president. Why can’t we take advantage of the new electoral law to serve Nigeria at the powerhouse of democracy? I mean here that the National Assembly is the most critical arm of government. It is the most significant training ground for leadership – just like president Joe Biden. Look at the significant impact of just one Senator from Abia State, Enyinnaya Abaribe whose legislative artistry exposed the shenanigan and peccadillo of the Senators who either voted against electronic transmission of results provisions or were deliberately absent when the vote was taken. The former deputy governor of Abia State has been one-man squad from the time he was elected to the Senate. If we have at least 40 strong voices such as Abaribe’s at the 109-member Senate, there would have been more robust legislative service and representation at the Senate. In the same vein, if we have even 50 hardworking, resourceful and research-oriented members of the 360-member House of Representatives, there would have been better service delivery even at the executive arm. The National Assembly has enormous powers to check executive excesses, fight corruption, curtail senseless borrowing for consumption if their membership foundation is strong and if they can elect their leaders freely at the inauguration of their session. Look at what the leadership of the current session of our bicameral legislature is delivering. Where in the world would presiding officers of the National Assembly proclaim to the people who elected them that they would accept without question whatever the president brings to them because they would be good for the nation?

My suggestion that most of our significant politicians and leaders who would like to serve the nation should begin from the National Assembly should not be seen an attempt to cast aspersion on their stature and knowledge power. The parliament is a citadel of representative democracy where policies through laws are made to serve common good. It is a place where appropriations or budgetary details are constructed in the language and data of development plans. If any democracy is on the brink as a result of executive excesses or mediocrity, the representatives of the people can rise up to the occasion to call the tyrannical executives to order. The U.S Congress saved their country from threat of tyranny in a bi-partisan mode early this year.

That is why most learned constitutional scholars agree that legislative power is, “the distinctive mark of a country’s sovereignty and the index of its status as an independent state…” And so if significant citizens begin to announce their readiness to get elected to the National Assembly, that will have a positive bandwagon effect as even skilled younger people with some political skills and ambition will begin to follow such footsteps and aspire to serve at State Assemblies and even Local Governments. Why should we continue to allow charlatans and never-do-wells to be in the National and State Assemblies where the majesty of democracy is supposed to be celebrated? Let’s, therefore, call on all who would like to serve the country in any capacity to begin to renew their minds: that you don’t have to be president or governor to serve your country. You can also serve significantly from your State or National Assembly…’ As I have also noted here before in another treatise on ‘Deconstructing our chaotic National Assembly,’ our 469 National Assembly members hardly care a hoot about their image before the people.

They would like to be addressed as Honourable Members and Distinguished Senators. They hardly reflect on the weight of their responsibility to the more than 200 million people they represent. From the way they carry on and speak, they don’t research on the needs of their constituents who perceive and call them ‘legislooters’ and lap dogs to the executive arm of government. They don’t know the implications of their tag as the First Estate of the Realm. They don’t believe that members of the public they serve have the right to know how much they earn. They have worked out a strange remuneration package that the economy of the country can’t cope with.  They are the most comfortable yet they receive ‘hardship allowances.’ What is worse, in their cocoon, the representatives of the people in Abuja hardly know that the people they represent know that they are not serious about the state of the nation at any time.

This is a reflection of poor leadership recruitment processes at the National Assembly at all times. This is a time to tell our representatives and leaders in Abuja and 36 state capitals that we the people are quite desperate to see development in our country. In our country, where we still grapple with basic needs, we continue to celebrate mediocrity and frivolities of our leaders.
Sixty-two years after independence, our elected leaders are still building classrooms, providing school chairs, boreholes, school uniforms and commission them with fanfare.

History shows us that tumultuous times bring change, but we have heard for too long that our change variant is a gradual process. Even as we wait for the dividends, we can interrogate some of the institutions that are designed by law to help the change process. Certainly, one institution that actually symbolises functional democracy is the legislature. That is why the election of National Assembly leaders in Abuja on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 should not be sold to bigots and sycophants who will condone executive inertia, laziness, and recklessness again. Doubtless, the leadership of the National and State Assemblies should be strong enough to protect the power, independence and relevance of that remarkable institution of democracy.

For 12 years, insecurity has been the bane of Nigeria. Since the symbolic bombing of the police headquarters in June 2011 and the UN building a few weeks later by Boko Haram insurgents, the problem has degenerated into an existential threat that has swept across the North East, turning the region into killing fields and displacing millions of people.

Despite the government’s effort to curb the problem, there has not been a respite, as other non-state actors such as ISWAP, killer herdsmen, cultists, unknown gunmen and bandits joined the fray, unleashing bloodletting on the country.

As of today, no part of the country is safe from kidnapping, and no day will pass without the sad news of killing. The South-East region, which had previously enjoyed relative security, is ravaged by the so-called “unknown gunmen” that continually unleash mayhem sporadically across states.

There is no further evidence that Nigeria is at war with itself than the disturbing fact that various military operations are going on across the country.

The failure to tame insecurity has become an albatross hanging on the necks of successive governments. In retrospect, it was what led to the electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, whose opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, campaigned vigorously on ending the insecurity siege.

Sadly, as he bowed out of office on May 29, 2023, life turned full circle, and Buhari’s biggest failure was still insecurity, despite spending over N5 trillion on defence.

The day he handed over the reins of power and returned to his hometown of Daura, the country was not any safer than it was eight years ago.

Therefore, the biggest expectation of Nigerians from the new administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the assurance of safety and security for the citizenry.

However, the first 12 days of the new government were fraught with the same old problem of insecurity, with no less than 170 Nigerians killed in various attacks and more than 160 kidnapped.

At least 50 people died in Sokoto, 49 in Zamfara, 40 in Benue, 17 in Rivers, six in Katsina, three in Plateau, two each in Kaduna, Ogun, Delta, and Oyo, while Ondo and Lagos states recorded one death each.

Some of the worst killings were recorded in Zamfara State, where over 31 villagers were slain in Janbako and Sakida villages of Maradun Local Government Area on June 3 by armed men suspected to be bandits.

Benue also recorded heavy casualties on the same day, when over 25 people were reportedly killed in an attack by unknown gunmen at Imande Mbakange and other neighbouring communities in Mbacher Council Ward of Katsina-Ala Local Government Area.

Sokoto State was also among the worst-hit states of the week, with 50 people reported killed in cold blood across two local governments by gunmen suspected to be bandits.

The spate of killings has become worrisome for Nigerians, leading to pessimism that the problem will not end anytime soon.

Speaking with DAILY POST, the President of the Eagle Crime Awareness Prevention Initiative, ECAPI, Samuel Eniola Adam, said the solution to the problem requires that citizens work in concert with the government to fight crimes.

He ascribed the failure to curb the problem thus far to the lack of credible intelligence, which in turn, he avowed, is due to the poor relationships between Nigerians and law enforcement agencies.

According to him: “Security is everybody’s business. What is the strength of the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria? We can’t put the blame entirely on security agents. We have to be part of the security―ourselves and our families have to be part of the security. Curbing crime in our society is a collective job. Many people fail to have a good understanding of law enforcement, and this is why we are having challenges.”

He avowed that security operatives are not magicians, stressing that “we in society know these bad guys, but we compromise with the criminals all because we are scared of being arrested if we report crimes to law enforcement agencies.”

He said further: “We don’t have good rapport with the security agents. I’m calling on Nigerians to be open to security operatives. You and your family members should be close to law enforcement, and then we will have a very peaceful society.

“If you ask those residents what their DPO’s number is, they cannot provide it; they don’t have contact with the police commissioner. This is where we are having issues. It is not about the law enforcement agencies.”

He summed up his position thus: “It is not the government’s problem; it is our problem, and we are the ones that can solve it.”

Security columnist Ben Okezie, in his contribution, dismissed the insinuation that the recent spate of killings across the country was orchestrated to frustrate the current administration.

“It is the same attack that has been going on; nothing is new,” he affirmed.

According to Okezie: “President Bola Tinubu needs to rejig the security system. And I think that is what he is already doing because he has already called the security chiefs and told them what he expects to see soon.

“I believe he is currently watching their performances before making some changes to bring in more vibrant and capable people that can handle the situation.”

He, on the other hand, argued that curbing the menace is in the hands of security agencies.

“I have always been advocating that whenever attacks happen, hold the security chief in that jurisdiction responsible. For instance, if there is an attack in Kubwa, the government should go straight to those in charge of security in that area; the security personnel in charge of the area should know when bad people are coming in and what is going on in that immediate community. They should be held responsible for any incident,” he stated.

Okezie expatiated further: “For instance, when you hold a Commissioner of Police responsible for an attack, he will also hold the Area Commander responsible, and he will [in turn] also hold the DPO responsible.

“By the time you are not satisfied with their efforts, you can sack them. By doing that, you will see that many of them will sit up. But in a situation where you are not punishing anybody despite whatever attack that occurs, people will keep dying.”

In the meantime, Nigerians have been watching every move of the new president, and many are optimistic that he will solve the problem.

In his inauguration speech, the president declared that “security shall be a top priority of our administration.”

Another encouraging gesture from him was his recent meeting with the security chiefs, during which he tasked them with coming up with a new template for the country’s security architecture.

Many, however, believed he has not matched rhetoric with action because of his failure to appoint the National Security Adviser (NSA), which they believed should be among his first few appointments.

Presently, there are speculations that former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, is favoured for the position, but Nigerians from all walks of life have faulted it, with various theories advanced as to why he will be a square peg in a round hole.

While most Nigerians are not mentioning names, they prefer the President to appoint someone with a military background who could bring experience and the required acumen to coordinate the fight against insecurity and put an end to the nightmare.

Other names being mentioned as candidates for the NSA include retired generals AbdulRahman Dambazau, a former Minister of Interior, and Mohamed Buba Marwa, the present Chairman and CEO of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

For now, the killing of Nigerians by various criminal elements goes on unabated, and the new government has yet to show any seriousness in tackling the problem beyond rhetoric.

[DailyPost]

New details have emerged about how President Bola Tinubu endorsed the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for the senate presidency.

Close sources that spoke with Punch revealed that this agreement was settled a day before the All Progressives Congress’s presidential primary.

In the meeting leading up to the primary, which took place in Abuja from June 6 to 8, 2022, Tinubu reportedly asked Akpabio to step down in his favour.

“Tinubu said if the former governor would agree, it would send a positive signal to the audience and other aspirants since he (Akpabio) would be the first aspirant to be invited to the podium to speak,” said one source.

Responding to Akpabio’s concern about his future prospects, Tinubu assured him that he would be supported in becoming the President of the Senate.

The source added, “Asiwaju (Tinubu) assured him that he would be supported to emerge as the President of the Senate. As they were speaking, an influential woman (name withheld) also came in. That was how the deal was sealed.”

Outgoing Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who sought Akpabio’s support during the primary, was allegedly turned down by the latter, with Akpabio citing his commitment to Tinubu.

It’s rumoured that this incident has strained the relationship between Akpabio and Lawan, leading to accusations of misconduct against Akpabio during his time as Minister of Niger Delta.

The tension is exacerbated by Akpabio’s controversial revelation in July 2020 that some contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission were given to federal legislators, a statement he was reportedly asked not to disclose by the chairman of the probe panel.