…as Reps plan zonal town hall meetings

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen has reaffirmed the commitment of the parliament to transparency, accountability, good governance and citizens engagement.

Speaking at a dinner to mark the end of the end of the first ever Legislative Open Week, the Speaker disclosed that in response to calls for grassroots engagement, the House will soon roll out citizens’ engagement town hall meetings across the six geopolitical zones in collaboration with the Ford Foundation.

The Speaker stressed that in the face of declining interest and trust in democracy, transparency and regular citizens’ engagement have become more crucial than ever as transparency ensures that government actions are open to public scrutiny and fostering accountability.

He argued that regular engagements with citizens empowers them to voice their concerns, participate in decision-making processes, and feel a sense of ownership over their governance as such mutual interaction strengthens the social contract, rebuilds trust, and revitalizes democratic values.

He said, “Over the past twenty-five years, there have been challenges in ensuring accountability and engagement from leaders and democratic institutions, resulting in a sense of disconnection, cynicism and even distrust among the populace.

“However, through activities like the Open Week, we have a unique opportunity to strengthen our commitment to good governance and re-establish a robust connection with the citizens.

“In the face of declining interest and trust in democracy, transparency and regular citizens’ engagement are more crucial than ever. We strongly believe that transparency ensures that government actions are open to public scrutiny and fostering accountability.

“Regular engagements with citizens, such as we have witnessed this week, empowers them to voice their concerns, participate in decision-making processes, and feel a sense of ownership over their governance. This mutual interaction strengthens the social contract, rebuilds trust, and revitalizes democratic values.

“Our constitutional amendment process will also adopt a citizen-inclusive approach. The onus is now on citizens to actively engage with their representatives. I urge everyone to seize this opportunity to ask questions about governance, participate in public hearings, constituency engagements, town halls, and other forums for engagement. As the saying goes, eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

“As we look ahead, let us reaffirm our commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance. The spirit of openness and engagement that defined this week must continue to guide us in all our endeavors”.

Speaker Abbas said the open week has vividly demonstrated the vibrancy and strength of the nation’s evolving democracy and reaffirmed the commitment of the House of Representatives to uphold transparency and accountability.

He described citizens’ engagement as the cornerstone of any effective legislature, adding that the 10th Assembly has embraced the ‘OPEN NASS’ Project, which enhances not only oversight and law-making, but also the transparency of the National Assembly itself, saying “as we hold other branches of government accountable, we must equally welcome scrutiny from the public.”

He maintained that through the House Open Week, the House is reclaiming the legislature for its rightful owners, namely, the citizens and the constituents.

The Speaker said “Over the past few days, in line with the commitments of the House, we have opened our doors to the public, inviting them to witness the workings of the House firsthand. We have engaged in meaningful discussions, welcome feedback, and showcased our dedication to serving the Nigerian people.

“We addressed critical issues such as gender mainstreaming in governance, economic growth and diversification, inclusive political participation, and the constitutional role for traditional rulers. The diverse attendance demonstrated the people’s keen interest and high expectations from the People’s House.

“Our presentation of the House’s performance scorecard in its First Session reassures Nigerians that our commitment to transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement is not merely a duty but a guiding principle of our actions as elected representatives.

“The various activities and discussions during the House Open Week have provided valuable insights into the concerns and aspirations of our people and nation. As highlighted in our scorecard, the essence of representative democracy is that it empowers citizens to choose their leaders and demands those leaders to give a satisfactory account of their stewardship.

Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto was a Guest Speaker at The Platform Special Edition held on June 12 and organized by Poju Oyemade under the auspices of The Covenant Nation in Lagos. Held under the theme, Democracy and the Free Market Economy, Kukah spoke on Nigeria’s 25 years of unbroken democracy and the way forward for the country. However, he said Nigeria’s democracy is in recession. Excerpts:

On using technology to fish out those stealing Nigeria’s money and stashing it in banks

I am in full support if such technology exists. If there are drones that can go around and find out those who have what… There must be a way of resolving this problem.

On the sorry state of Southern Kaduna

Talking about the demand side of economics, I come from the southern part of Kaduna State and we have been demanding for Southern Kaduna State since Kaduna State was created because, across the whole of Southern Kaduna, there is not a single sign of federal presence.

On Labour, FG & minimum wage

The Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Rt. Rev Godfrey Onah, told me a story, it is a common story that animals gathered. I don’t know whether it was an elephant that died and they gathered to share the elephant and the tortoise came from somewhere and said “I must get the thigh of this elephant” and other animals looked at him and the lion said “who made that demand?” Other animals said it was tortoise and lion replied: “You are asking for the thigh? If you get the intestine, that is what we are going to give you”.

The tortoise said “actually that’s what I wanted but if I didn’t ask for the thigh I would not even get the intestine”. My friends in Labour are asking for the thigh by asking for 1 million naira minimum wage and the President has already committed himself to solving the problem as he said in his speech on Democracy Day. And coming from the background of Labour I think with himself (president) and people like Senator Adams Oshiomhole (former NLC President and erstwhile governor of Edo State) and a few other labour activists, our problems should be on the way to being solved. But let me read out a quotation which will surprise you: “There is indeed worldwide economic recession. “However, in the case of Nigeria, the impact was aggravated by mismanagement.

“The situation could have been avoided if our legislators were alive to their constitutional responsibilities.

“The legislators were preoccupied with determining their salary scales, fringe benefits and unnecessary foreign travels.

“As a result of our inability to cultivate financial discipline and prudent management of our economy, we have come to depend largely on internal and external borrowings to execute government projects.

“The corrupt, inept and insensitive leadership in the last years have been a source of immorality and impropriety in our society, but we should do our best to settle genuine payment of salaries to which government is committed including the backlog of workers’ salaries”. I will give $1 million which I don’t have… but I will give anybody who can tell me who said this? This is taken from a speech delivered by General Buhari on the 31st of December 1983 (when he seized power from civilian President Shagari). 41 years ago. I’m not disappointed that you don’t remember because Nigerians don’t remember anything and that is why we are where we are today, we don’t remember anything.

On 25 years of uninterrupted democracy

We are celebrating the fact that we’ve had 25 years of “uninterrupted democracy” and we are anxious about the things we’ve not done and we’re also anxious about why we’ve not succeeded. American elections are coming up in November and there’s a lot of anxiety perhaps even more than there is in Nigeria and yet it is exactly 245 years since America elected their first President in 1789. It is to make the point that democracy is not an event; democracy, the way we understand it, I mean there’s a lot of anxiety across the board. I prefer to take a fairly historical view because too many of us are too careless about our expectations and it’s legitimate to have expectations, but those expectations must be founded on reality. Professor Huntington, the famous American professor who was actually my teacher, he did say something that there were three waves of democracy.

There is the democracy of the 19th century which is the wave that took America and other countries to where they are and then the post-World War II wave which took most of the countries in Europe to where they are today. And then, of course, the third wave happened in 1970 that saw Africa, Asia and Latin America becoming democratic or at least embracing the principles of democracy. But as you can see, across Africa, democracy has manifested in different shapes and in different forms.

Nigeria’s democracy pays little attention to intellectual conversation

I think what is missing in our conversation is that, unlike Europe where the principles of democracy were founded on the thinking of several philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and John Locke, etc, the whole lot of our democracy has paid very little attention, it’s not been the subject of a very serious intellectual conversation. We have been involved in intellectual conversations about democracy but modern western liberal democracy, as we understand it today, benefited extensively from the work of people like St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. It is also quite significant that (US President) Joe Biden, even in his presidential address, had to quote St Augustine and it means, therefore, that it is the teachings, the philosophies and the theology of some of these scholars that laid the foundation for what we call democracy today.

On why Nigeria’s democracy is in recession

Unfortunately, our democracy is in recession, is in decline, precisely, because it is evident to us that what we are working with is not something that has come from our own historical, cultural or even anthropological experiences.

But, having said that, even after embracing democracy, it must be clear to us that there are different ways of talking about democracy, there are different models of democracy. The British left us with the Westminster parliamentary system; we quarreled with it and then we decided we wanted the American presidential system. Of course, I was Secretary of the Political Reform Conference in 2005 when the discussion went on about term limits; there was so much anxiety almost like there are all kinds of anxieties that Nigerians have. Nigerians can’t think beyond a particular period. Right now our obsession with politics is 2027. If you tell Nigerians about what might happen in 2040 or 2050, Nigerians don’t want to hear that, so all our plotting, all our scheming is what is going to happen in 2027.

On China’s 100 years plan to rule the world

I read a book earlier in the year which, I think, if you can find it, please read it, the title is: ‘100-Year Marathon’, with the subtitle ‘China’s Secret Plan To Rule The World’. It’s a fascinating book because it talks about the fact that after the Communist Party won elections in 1949, the Chinese now decided to put a plan in motion in which the plan is 100 years old from 1949 to 2049. And China, within that period, is to be the greatest nation in the world. I don’t have to tell you where China is now.

Nigeria’s democracy needs clarity, long-term plan

It was very interesting I flew Air Peace (airline) yesterday and it was very nice to see a Chinese air hostess speaking very good Nigerian English; that tells you that if we are going to go on the path of democracy, there needs to be some kind of clarity about what are we looking at now while we are debating term limits.

For example, I remember that Tony Blair was British Prime Minister for 10 years, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister for 11 years, Lee Kuan Yew, people would speak eloquently about Singapore, but Lee Kuan Yew became Prime Minister, I think, 1958 or 59 or thereabouts and he remained so consistently. He conducted elections and won elections, the party he founded, People’s Action Party, is still the party in power today.

What people don’t remember about Lee Kuan Yew, which also speaks to other issues, is that Lee Kuan Yew studied in Cambridge and got a First Class; his son, who just stepped down as Prime Minister, went to Cambridge and he too got a First Class; Lee’s wife went with him to Cambridge and she also got a First Class. Imagine the quality of his imagination and, immediately he became Prime Minister, the first thing he did was to go to Harvard where young people like Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State) were just young lecturers, he established a relationship with them and from there they led him to Washington.

But one of the critical things that Lee did, which, I think, should speak to the reason why democracy is failing so badly in Africa is that Lee Kuan Yew identified the Public Service as the most important vehicle of governance, and so, if you got a First Class in Singapore, you went into the Public Service and he so incentivized the Civil Service that it became the place to go.

The salaries of civil servants in Singapore were 80% more than what people were getting in the private sector. Now, in Nigeria, if somebody wants to marry your daughter and your daughter tells you “the guy I want to marry is working in the ministry”, I’m sure you know that is a no-brainer, it’s most likely your prospective father-in-law will look the other way.

On corrupt Civil Service corrupting good intentions of the government

Every governor, President is full of good intentions. (But) the question is, what is the quality of the container, the quality of the conveyor belt for carrying the good wishes of the government? Because we have a thoroughly corrupt Civil Service, the result is that no matter the vision, no matter the dream because we tend to focus on what the President is not doing and what the governor is not doing, we forget the quality of those who are conveying the intentions of government.

It is to make the point that when somebody like Lee Kuan Yew stayed and conducted elections, he won elections over 30 years. Putin has over 20 years as President; we don’t know when he’s going to go. Museveni, we are celebrating 25 years of his being in power for about 38 years in Uganda; it started in 1986; we have no idea when he’s going to go.

Nigerian elite are shameless

Nigerians are quite shameless, especially the Nigerian elite. I don’t know what Nigerians were thinking when they started visiting South Africa for holidays and they probably have houses in South Africa, but which South Africa are you adoring? Is it the one that was built by apartheid or the South Africa of today? Criminals have so much money; they’ll go anywhere they hear there is a good place. Nigerians are now shamelessly going to Rwanda and they come back telling stories about Rwanda, but which Rwanda do you want to be in? Is it Rwanda in which you can contest the election? Here in Nigeria, you can fight, you can go to the Supreme Court, but tell me, who has stood in front of (Rwanda leader) Paul Kagame and is still standing to talk? We need to make a point about what exactly we want. Paul Biya has been President of Cameroon since 1982. Mbasogo has been President (of Equitorial Guinea) for 43 years now and he’s still president. Saso Ngusseo (leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo) is still there since 1979, he has been in power for 38 years.

Correlation between stability & development

I think somebody made the point that there’s a correlation between a certain kind of stability and development. It depends though, but the volatility in our system suggests that we need to be a little bit calmer. The situation in which we are all quarrelling with the quality of the tools that we are working with doesn’t address the issue. Martin Wolfs, who worked with the Financial Times, wrote a very beautiful book, ‘The Crisis Around Liberal Capitalism’, and he makes the point that the beauty of the economy is that it is a “Marketplace and a Marketplace is beautiful because it’s a place of choice”.

But the truth of the matter is that Adam Smith made the point about the ‘Invisible hand of the market’ where only spirits are invisible, but it also speaks to the fact that the invisible hand cannot regulate the market. Wall Street, which is really the temple of the world economy, after its collapse, hundreds of millions of Americans became homeless, it’s impact reverberated across the world, but the very interesting thing is that nobody, not one single person from Wall Street is in prison. Now, Michael Douglas talks about the glory of greed and this is the challenge for many countries in Africa beginning with Nigeria.

On the need to restrain the greed of political elites

How do you restrain the greed of the political elite, and not only the political elite but also the greed and the appetite of ordinary Nigerians because it is feeding this beast that has made it impossible for this country to grow? And, of course, you know that Labour is asking for N516, 000 minimum wage and government says it’s unable to pay.

Economist talk about what they call incentive compatibility, we cannot talk about people being corrupt when it is clear to us that the incentives for doing the right thing don’t exist. On the discussion of what economic choices to make, are we to be socialist or capitalist? Nigeria is neither and it’s not a choice of either. China has demonstrated very clearly to us that we don’t have to make those kinds of choices.

The monkey story

There is the story of a woman, she came back from the market and she had a set of twins. She came back with a small cake. When she brought out the cake, she had a monkey and the mother was about to give the cake to the twins and the monkey said, “Look, you are a mother; you cannot give this, you know you are going to create problems for your children. How will they share this cake? I am a neutral person; so, let me share the cake”.

The monkey collects the cake; he breaks the cake into two and discovers one is bigger than the other. Because they are twins, he bites it off in order to equalize it and, in biting it, this one became bigger and he continues this and then the children are waiting for the cake and they’re looking and by the time the monkey turns around the cake is finished. That is exactly what we have before. Socialism has not worked for us, but it doesn’t mean that capitalism will work for us.

It means that there has to be something internal in the heart. It’s very interesting we don’t like to talk about religion and the people say religion has become so abused. There’s no amount of abuse they have not heaped on religion. But the point is that it is religion that stops the poor from killing the rich.

Papa encyclicas relating to economics

What we are debating now about wages, Pope Pius the 13th (1891), let me read out what the Pope was saying at that time. He said: “Today, working men, all over the world, are allowed in their demands that they shall, in no circumstance, be subjected to arbitrary treatment as though devoid of intelligence.

And freedom working men insist on being treated as human beings with a share in every sector of human society in the social economic sphere in government and in the realm of learning and culture.” In (1963), Pope Paul the 6th came out with an encyclical called: ‘Pacem in Terris; Peace on Earth’.

And one of the things he said is: “It is only by labour of working men that states grow, rich, justice therefore demands that the interest of the working class should be carefully watched over by the administration so that they who contribute so largely to the advantage of the community may themselves share in the benefits which they create.”

On way out: Democracy Ideals & Intellectuals

Nigerians talk about “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop”. The challenge before us is not so much a question of how the market works. The challenge is that the human person in Nigeria must become the thermometer for gauging whether systems are working or not working.

We have provisions in the Nigerian Constitution and I think that the challenge before us is that the National Assembly and the government must go back to the Constitution. I hear the criticisms against the Constitution but there is enough in our Constitution to give us the things we are asking for. If you just go through Chapter Two of the Constitution, of course the frame has said that the issues we are asking for there are fundamental as to how Nigeria is going to grow. There are provisions there, for example, encouraging us to inter-marry, encouraging us to form association, encouraging us about religious freedom. But a lot of these issues are operated in their breaches. For example, when you look at the United States of America, when their Constitution was made, they didn’t anticipate the Constitution was essentially for white men who were rich and with property, but, within three years, by 1865, America realized mistakes had been made.

They couldn’t have foreseen everything, so, the 13th Amendment in 1865 said that there will be no more slavery and nobody should be engaged in forced labour and they tried to make it happen. The 14th Amendment, which followed almost immediately, allowed people, American common citizenship was established. Achievable? Maybe not, but a system of inclusion was beginning to develop. The 15th Amendment gave people, including black people, the right to vote.

And guess what? All the conversations we’re having now about gender and so on didn’t start with Nigeria; it’s not as if Africans don’t like women. Actually, with all these amendments, women still could not vote.

Black people could vote in America but women could not vote including white women; it was not until the 19th Amendment in 1920 that women were now free to vote, so women have travelled a very long journey. I know you still have a long way to go, but it’s important to know how you have come to where you are today. In fact, a writer has said that, in reality, American democracy did not come on stream until 1965.

A lot of our women, I hear women say “we want to be like Rwanda because Rwanda Parliament is full of women”, but I said “hey, talk slowly because you need to lose many of your husbands as men died in the Rwanda genocide”. What is very interesting in all of this is that we work for one generation to be better than the next.

But the problem with the Nigerian situation is that we today want to make sure if life is not good for us then life is not likely to be good at all. Moving forward, and by way of conclusion, is to go back to some of the things that have been articulated here. What does it really mean to be a Nigerian irrespective of your economic status? These are the things that Chinua Achebe spoke about eloquently; you know he spoke about his people because he always insisted that Igbo must not allow these people who have money miss road to take over their communities.

When you talk about the elite, Nigerians measure elitism by the size of your house or the size of your car. It doesn’t matter whether you are educated or not educated.

I was here in Lagos for a wedding and the groom was so well dressed; beautiful, so when we now went through the ritual, I said: “Say I Thomas”, the guy replied, “You said I Thomas”. And I kept going on and on. It was quite embarrassing.

I didn’t know the man was a stark illiterate, but he was marrying this gorgeous woman who must have married him for whatever reasons. Love, if it happens, but at least there were things that were obvious.

On democracy ideals

I think we must redefine what it is to be a Nigerian, we must also make sure that the elite claim this argument and claim this space because I have not seen anywhere illiterate people have built a civilization.

It is important that we understand that democracy has its ideals but those ideals must be enunciated by intellectuals. There needs to be a much firmer foundation and finding a place for the moral guardrails that can protect our people. Otherwise, those who dismiss religion forget that even if religion didn’t exist, it will be invented because there are so many things we cannot explain in life. But in the final analysis, people need to be reminded constantly that this world is going to end. The Catholic Church teaches a principle that it calls ‘the Universal Destination of Goods’, and Pope Francis wrote an eloquent encyclical called Laudato Si in (2015) to make the point that everything God created is for a purpose. It is not for the greedy, it is for all his children. Those of us in the religious business, let me put it this way, have to continue to refine the arguments, we have to continue to hold certain ideals because what we need is not necessarily empires or emperors. What we need is a clean society; where we measure our progress not by the presence of the rich but by the absence of the poor.

And finally, the only way democracy can work is that democracy has to be an instrument of development and, if we use democracy to develop, then we will be developing democracy.

A man identified as Femi on Saturday in Osogbo, Osun State jumped into Osun river, not long after he complained about the hardship facing him.

A source close to the scene said Femi stood on the Gbodofon bridge located along Osogbo/Gbongan road around 10:30 am and jumped into the river.

A vulcaniser, working close to the scene, who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons, said he observed a man walk down from the Old Governor’s Office end of Osogbo/Gbongan road and stood for a few minutes in the middle of Gbodofon bridge before he took a plunge into the river.

He said, “I was at a spot close to the bridge working on a customer’s tyre when I looked towards the Gbodofon bridge and I saw a man walking down from Old Governor’s Office end of the Osogbo/Gbongan. 

“He stood right in the middle of the bridge and took a plunge into the Gbodofon river. People around were seized with fear after the incident.”

During an interview with The PUNCH, the spokesperson of Osun State Fire Service, Ibrahim Adekunle, said operatives of the agency were called for an emergency rescue operation when the victim jumped into the river around 10:30 am

“We responded, but the river is overflowing at the moment. We made efforts and we are still looking for the person, but we are yet to recover the body. From what we were told, the person involved is a man,” Adekunle said.

Also commenting, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Osun State Command, Kehinde Adeleke, identified the victim as Femi, adding that he had earlier made an attempt to commit suicide, but was chased away by some people who suspected his movement on the bridge.

Adeleke further said, “On July 6th, 2024, at exactly 10:30 am, a man identified as Femi, the only son of his parent and a native of Ilesha jumped into Gbodofon River.

“According to an eyewitness, before he jumped into the river, he kept saying that a group of people had beaten him mercilessly at a (fast food joint) in the OgoOluwa area, which led him to decide to end his life.

“During the investigation, we interviewed a man who witnessed the incident. He mentioned that Femi initially attempted to commit suicide, but was chased away. He later came back, saying he was tired of life. Shortly after, he went to the top of the Gbodofon Bridge and jumped into the river.

“As of Saturday evening, the body of the said man has not been recovered but the effort is ongoing.”

The Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has advised Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to beg the Nigerian government to secure his freedom.

Primate Ayodele warned that the embattled IPOB leader would die in detention if he refused to beg the Nigerian government for his freedom.

Ayodele gave the advice during the launch of his 30th “Warning to the Nations” at his church in Lagos on Saturday.

Recall that Kanu is currently locked up by the Department of State Services, DSS, on the orders of the Nigerian government.

This is coming when Southeast governors and senators had agreed to meet President Bola Tinubu to seek a political solution to Kanu’s continued detention.

The IPOB leader has been detained since June 2021 when he was re-arrested in Kenya and repatriated to Nigeria.

Since his repatriation, courts have granted Kanu bail but the Nigerian government refused to release him.

However, the popular prophet also disclosed that Nigeria would break up and neither Kanu nor Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Igboho would be responsible.

He noted that Nigeria will break up without a bloodbath, adding that the country will break up from the North.

According to Ayodele: “Nigeria will break but not through Nnamdi Kanu or Sunday Igboho, Kanu should beg the government before he is released or else he will die in jail.

“He should hands off because he lacks the capacity to carry the agitation. The country will break without a bloodbath, it will be a natural cause.

“Prayer and fasting will not stop it because the spirit of existence is tired. The spirit of our forefathers like Tafawa Balewa is not happy. Nigeria’s break up will start from the North.”

Calls on women to lead food security campaign

First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has urged women to take the lead in the food security campaign, emphasising the importance of individual contributions to addressing food insufficiency.

Unveiling her own vegetable garden at the State House Residence, First Lady Tinubu encouraged first-time women farmers to participate in the Every Home A Garden Competition.

A statement issued by her Senior Special Assistant on Media, Busola Kukoyi, said the competition, open to women across Nigeria, aims to promote smart gardening and enhance communal living.

The First Lady’s garden, featuring seven vegetables, showcases the potential for individual efforts to make a significant impact.

The vegetables in the First Lady’s garden include spinach, water leaf, bitter leaf, ewedu, lemon grass, scent leaf and okro.

She emphasised that every small contribution can collectively drive the food security campaign forward.

The First Lady said: “This little garden will be able to provide healthy vegetables enough for my household and I would definitely be able to let some of my staff have as well.

Read Also: Blackout in southeast as national grid collapses again
“The solution to any problem lies in everyone contributing their own quota to getting that solution. As a leader, I must show example and plant my own garden.

“This will also enhance communal living and help drive the food security campaign of the Federal Government. The vegetables are medicinal and the garden is to lead by example for other women to embrace smart gardening.”

She showed off the garden to the Wife of Imo State Governor, Chioma Uzodinma, and Wife of the Minister of State for Defence, Mrs Aisha Matawale.

The competition, which closes on September 25, 2024, and offering a N25 million prize for the winner, is open to first time women farmers all over Nigeria

The statement said entries must be submitted in a 30-second video format to the Office of the Wives of State Governors.

Many persons, including operatives of the Ondo State Security Network a.k.a. Amotekun, have been injured by herdsmen in Akure North Local Government Area.

The attack took place while Amotekun personnel were trying to enforce the anti-open grazing law at Igoba, a community on Ado Road.

The armed Fulani herdsmen were said to be grazing their cows on some farms when they attacked the officers with guns, bottles, cutlasses and stones.

Spokesman for the Ondo Amotekun Corps, Jimoh Adeniken, said in a statement that the corps surveillance team was led to the farms by their owners where they met more than 120 cows ravaging the farms but no herder was seen with them.

Adeniken said the Amotekun operatives moved the cows out of the farms but were attacked by the herdsmen.

He said: “The assailants continued to throw stones and bottles till they invaded the main road and hacked one of the Amotekun officers into coma even as they attempted to disarm officers and men of the Amotekun corps.

“Other officers sustained varying degrees of injuries during the attack and they are currently receiving medical attention.

“The owner of the cows has been identified while investigation by the corps continues.

“Government will continue to ensure strict compliance with the law with a view to ensuring that efforts of farmers would not be truncated through destruction of their farmlands by herders and their cows.

“Officers of the corps will continue to carry out its legal functions of protecting the people of the state as well as their property.”

The Netherlands scored twice in the second half to complete a come-from-behind win over Turkey in their European Championship quarter-final encounter at the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Saturday.

Ronald Koeman’s side fell behind in the pulsating encounter and had to wait until later in the second half to overpower the Turks, thanks to two quick goals within six minutes.

Turkey were without Merih Demiral, their two-goal hero in the last-16 following a two-match ban, and his defensive solidity was sorely missed on a night they matched the Netherlands for long spells before the eventual capitulation.

Despite is absence, Samet Akaydin scored in the 37th minute with a header from Arda Guler’s cross to put The Crescent Stars in the lead at the interval.

The Dutch worked their way to the equalizer on 70 minutes with Memphis Depay crossing for Stefan de Vrij to power home a header from a shot corner. Fans regained their voice and the Netherlands went ahead for the first time in the match six minutes later, when Mert Mulder bundled a cross into the net for an own goal as Turkey crumbled.

The Netherlands held on to claim a deserved victory that put them in the last-four stage where they will face England. The Three Lions had needed a 5-3 shootout win over Switzerland following a 1-1 scoreline after 120 minutes.

Manuel Akanji saw his kick saved while Trent Alexander-Arnold converted the winning kick.

The Dutch became the second country after Portugal in 2016 to qualify for the semi-final after finishing the group stage as one of the four best losers.

Abdourahamane Tiani, Niger Republic’s military leader, says the people of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have “irrevocably turned their backs” on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Speaking on Saturday at the first summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) held in Nigerien capital city Niamey, Tiani accused ECOWAS of not doing enough to combat jihadist violence.

The AES was set up after the three Sahel nations pulled out of ECOWAS in February.

The military-run states fell out with the West African regional bloc following the coup d’etat which brought Tiani to power in Niger in July 2023.

 

ECOWAS imposed sanctions — including border closure and halt of the export of electric power to Niger — against the junta-led countries as part of efforts to reverse the coups in the nations.

The sanctions were however lifted in February, and few days later, the countries pulled out of ECOWAS. 

“Our people have irrevocably turned their backs on ECOWAS,” Tiani said.

The AES also alleged that ECOWAS is being manipulated by former colonial ruler France, with Tiani calling for the AES to become a “community far removed from the stranglehold of foreign powers”.

The countries said they would instead turn towards Russia, Turkey and Iran — their “sincere partners”.

“The AES is the only effective sub-regional grouping in the fight against terrorism,” he said.

Meanwhile, ECOWAS is due to hold a summit of its heads of state in Abuja on Sunday.

Part of the agenda to be discussed at the summit is the issue of relations with the AES.

A nationwide power outage has hit Nigeria as the national grid experienced system collapse again on Saturday.

Emeka Ezeh, the Head, Corporate of Communications at Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, disclosed this in a notice on Saturday.

According to the notice, the National Grid Collapse occurred around 15:09 hours on Saturday. 

Consequently, bulk electricity supply from the Transmission Company of Nigeria National Control Centre has been disrupted.

EEDC said the situation is the reason for the loss of power supply in the Southeast states – Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.

“This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the network.

“Due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.

“We are on standby awaiting detailed information of the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo,” the notice reads.

The development comes days after TCN announced that electricity generation declined to 4,723.30 megawatts peak on July 4, 2024, compared to 4800mw in May.

In 2024 alone, Nigeria has recorded at least three system collapses. System collapse has occurred about 227 times in the last 14 years, according to TCN.

This comes amid the April 3 and July 1 2024 electricity tariff hike for Band A customers, who are supposed to get 20-24 hours of power supply.

The electricity tariff for Band A rose to N206.80 per kilowatt-hour from N66 kWh.