A former member of the House of Representatives, Barrister Sani Mohammed Takori has condemned the recent utterances of the Vice President, Kashim Shettima over the Senate President contest.
The Vice President Shatima has declared that, in the current dispensation, “the worst and incompetent Southern Christian was better than the Northern Muslim in the senate presidency.
Takori in a statement, described the assertion as a direct attack to the North and particularly, North West, Senator-elect, former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdul’Aziz Yari.
The former lawmaker, while condemning the position of the Vice President, quickly, urged him to retract his word and ask for forgiveness of the northerners.
He added, We felt aggrieved by this assertion as it comes directly from no other person but the Vice President who is our own, it was quite unfortunate.
Takori, a lawyer, urged President Tinubu to disregard such sentiment as a true democrat and allow free and fair contest in the chamber.
He reminded President Tinubu of the efforts he and other compatriots made in the struggle for the survival of the current democratic dispensation.
He added, We are quite aware that President Tinubu is a true democrat, so he would never succumb to undemocratic posture, especially, in the election of National Assembly leadership.
According to him, any attempt to deny Yari from contesting for the Senate Presidency was a clear denial of the right of the entire northern people.
He called on senators-elect to reject any act of imposition by the government and elect leadership of their choice, as that would ensure independence of the parliament.
He added, As Senators-elect, don’t allow a stooge to lead the Senate if at all you want true democratic development to strive in the country.
June 12 broadcast: Tinubu threatened judiciary, plans to run autocratic govt – Atiku’s aide
Editor 1The Special Assistant on Public Communication to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu has described President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day broadcast as a veiled threat to Nigeria’s judiciary.
Shaibu said Tinubu had no constitutional power to determine what an illegal or legal court order
Tinubu had said, It has become imperative to state here that the unnecessary, illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.
Reacting, Shaibu said it was funny that Tinubu, who had been one of the biggest beneficiaries of court orders, could turn around to threaten the judiciary now that he has found his way into power.
In a statement he signed, Shaibu said Tinubu’s speech had exposed his plan to run an autocratic government.
According to Shaibu, What is an illegal court order? Is it an order that Bola Tinubu finds unfavourable?
Is it within his powers to determine what order to obey and which one to disregard? This is a man who rode to power after several applications were dismissed based on technicalities.
This is a man who just last week obtained a court order in order to stop the Nigeria Labour Congress from going on strike.
However, now he suddenly realises that unnecessary so-called illegal orders used in truncating democracy would no longer be tolerated when his minions in Lagos deprived non-indigenes from voting. What a hypocrite.
Tinubu wants to impose the leadership of the legislative arm of government. He also wants to force the judiciary to bow to his will. Does he want to turn Nigeria into a dictatorship?
There is confusion in Ogun State as the House of Assembly suddenly postponed the inauguration of the newly elected lawmakers.
The inauguration of the Ogun tenth Assembly was initially scheduled to hold June 13.
Our correspondent reports that the members-elect and their loyalists were already prepared for the inauguration ceremony, even as those from far away constituencies were on the way to Abeokuta for the all-important statutory event.
However, the Clerk of the House, Deji Adeyemo, suddenly announced the postponement of the programme, with no reason given.
According to him, the inauguration of the tenth Assembly in Ogun would now be held on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
The Holding of the First Session of the Tenth Assembly of the Ogun State Legislature has been postponed to Tuesday, 20th June, 2023.
This is according to a release by the Clerk of the Assembly, Mr. Deji Adeyemo, stating that any inconvenience caused by the postponement is regretted.
As there was no reason given for the postponement, Ogun people have begun to wonder what could have led to the postponement.
With the rescheduling of the event, Ogun State will be without functioning lawmakers till June 20.
INTERVIEW: Peter Obi’s actions may cost LP victory in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi – Bauchi Party chair
Editor 1The Chairman of the Labour Party in Bauchi State, Hussaini Saraki in this exclusive Interview with Oluwatimilehin Owolabi shares his thoughts on the crisis rocking the party at the national level. He explains why the presidential candidate of the LP in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi should extend the olive branch to warring parties. Excerpts!
As the Chairman of the Labour Party in Bauchi State, can you tell Nigerians the faction you belong to?
I don’t belong to a faction. I belong to the Labour Party under the leadership of Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa who is the acting National Chairman of our party as it is presently.
It’s believed in some quarters that the internal crisis may consume your party. What do you have to say about that?
I don’t want to believe that it will consume the party because it is part of politics. Just like APC and PDP have their challenges and I don’t want to believe that it is insurmountable.
Things like this will come and go. I believe it will even deepen democracy because when one or two people come together, conflicts are bound to happen. It is part of human nature that no matter what, you cannot say you belong to a political party and that party will stay for years without having Its conflict.
How many State Chairmen are with the Lamidi Apapa-led faction?
I think I’m the only state Chairman that is with the Apapa’s camp, other chairmen are with the Julius-Abure-led faction.
However, after the NEC meeting held in Delta, the National Working Committee, NWC, led by Baba Apapa had to suspend all the other chairmen and more so because their tenure had expired, they now formed another fresh channel in all the states of the federation. So as far as I’m concerned, I don’t have any grudges or any problem with the other side. All I’m saying is that let us follow the due process and being a lawyer, I have to be very careful with whatever I am doing.
The fact that they are on the other lane doesn’t mean I should just blindly follow them. As you are aware, Barr. Julius Abure is my very good brother because he is a lawyer and I’m a lawyer too. I have been supporting him come rain come sunshine. I have been on his side all the time. The only time we parted ways was when the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) barred him and three other national executive members of the party from parading themselves as national officers of the party.
Even when the working committee suspended him, I was with Julius Abure in Edo State to show him solidarity. I said that decision cannot hold water.
However, when there was a court order restraining him, that was when the issue came up. I said if there is a court order no matter the love I have for Abure, the court order needs to be obeyed.
As you know, we are having an election season coming up in Bayelsa in Imo and Kogi state. So is it because I have a love for Abure, I should just forget about due process and follow Abure at the detriment of the 6 million people in Imo State, 7 million people in Kogi, and 4.5 million people in Bayelsa? If I do that I didn’t do justice. We advised that since there is a court order, let another person constitute the committee that would conduct our primaries in those states but Abure refused.
He (Abure) appointed me as the Chairman of the Appeal Committee in Imo State but if I had gone there I would not be doing justice to LP. So, I told them categorically that I am not going to go and I came back to the side of Baba Apapa because the constitution under section 15 of our LP says that ‘If the Chairman is absent, the Deputy Chairman shall be there to act in an acting capacity”. So I now look at it, I said if I participate in Abure’s primaries, anything we do within the period of that court order would be a nullity and at the end of the day, all that APC and PDP will do if we win the election in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa is just to go to the tribunal and the court will take away our winning because of this avoidable circumstances.
So why should we venture into it when we know that even if you know what you are doing and you are on the right track, facing PDP and APC in court is not an easy thing, talk more when you know you have a skeleton in your cupboard. So I think Barr. Julius Abure should have put aside his interest and looked at the interest of the people of those states and the party.
It’s also believed in some quarters that Apapa is being sponsored to cause disaffection in the party…
We are not talking about whether Baba Apapa is sponsored by the APC, APGA, or PDP. I don’t care about that because it is not something that has been established but the court order against Abure has been established, and it’s something that I can touch and see but the accusation about Baba Apapa, I have nothing to show that he has been hobnobbing with the APC or he is with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It is a mere rumour because there is no single evidence, not to talk more of pictures, or videos that show Baba Apapa mingling with APC or Tinubu.
Even the allegation that he has not been with the party is not true because Abure is the longest-serving officer of the party. He has been with the party for 23 years. He is the oldest elected Deputy National Chairman we have.
But won’t the crisis affect Peter Obi’s chances in court?
This case has nothing to do with the Tribunal because already tribunal issues have been joined. Though Peter Obi the other time was saying that he believes that Baba Apapa has been used to cause problems for him in the tribunal. But with due respect to him, Obi as a leader has not done much in terms of standing firm to resolve the crises of the party as he is the father and national leader of the party.
Obi hasn’t done much in terms of standing firm to resolve the crisis in the party. He should have called both parties. For instance, look at Atiku, even though he had problems with Wike. I can’t count how many times he held meetings with Wike both within the country and outside the country. I believe it won’t take Obi up to an hour to resolve the LP crisis. It’s just for him to go to the Transcorp Hilton hotel and hold meetings with the aggrieved leaders and before you know it, this matter will be resolved but he has not done that. The only thing he does is to make accusations that someone is working for APC.
This is not the best way to go as a leader and a lot of people are saying that if he cannot resolve the micro crisis in the LP, how can he resolve the complex problem of the Niger Delta, IPOB, or Boko Haram in the north. So it is a kind of a test for Peter Obi and the chance is still open for him to make sure that he calls for dialogue and resolves all this crisis because I believe they are not insurmountable.
More so, another thing that deepened the crisis was when the acting chairman, Apapa was attacked at the tribunal. Though I wasn’t there, they said Peter Obi was in court, Abure was there and they saw how Apapa was being maltreated but he (Obi) could not place a call to him, he could not even condemn the act of obedience on his Twitter handle.
You remember when Wole Soyinka said something about Peter Obi, the Obidients insulted him and the LP presidential candidate had to go to his house to apologise on behalf of them. So this has also deepened the crisis to the extent that people like Abayomi Arabambi, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP vowed that except Peter Obi apologised for what happened to Baba Apapa, he will not stop challenging him openly and you can see, in many newspapers, Arabambi has been attacking Obi left and centre. Let me tell you, between me and my almighty God, we have held a series of meetings where Baba Apapa and everyone were present.
We’ve tried to talk to Arabambi not to join issues with Peter Obi because he is our presidential candidate and the product that we are all selling but Arabambi kept on saying that he will not stop because of what happened to Baba Apapa at the tribunal after they were all attacked.
If Obi had called a meeting to broker a truce this would not have degenerated. The other time I called the LP Vice Presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed. I advised him to call for a meeting no matter what and I know Baba Apapa to be a very simple man, he will attend it.
The fact remains that if something is not done, at the end of the day, no matter what, there could still be this kind of problem here and there and our political rivals will be happy with the development because the Labour Party is trying to become a force to reckon with.
Do you foresee Obi leaving the party in the future?
Well, that’s his own decision to make but I think the party that appears to be more palatable or inclined by Obi’s ideology and everything is the LP. I think he will remain in the party to see how he can make things happen because you can see this is somebody that came to the party in less than a year but as God would have it, look at the kind of goodwill the LP has received as a result of the coming of Peter Obi.
So it will be a bad calculation for him to say he is going to change his political party at this material time. I think what he needs to do is to use his wisdom as somebody who is internationally recognized as a leader of high repute, to put all machinery in place, put all sentiment aside, and look at the interest of the party and nation at large.
He should call all the warring parties together, let’s sit down, and believe me within 2 days, this matter will be over, but up till now, Peter Obi has not called for that meeting, which is very unlike him.
Are you saying that Obi deliberately doesn’t want to settle this crisis?
No, I can’t say that he deliberately doesn’t want to settle it and I can’t say what his reason is.
But is he taking sides with any faction?
Already he has taken sides with Abure and it is not helping matters because you remember even when there was a court order, Peter Obi participated in the Delta NEC meeting, and that caused a lot of issues in the party. If not because of the respect that people have for Peter Obi, they wanted to initiate a contempt proceeding and that would have been so bad.
And that is even what informed my resolve to believe that Baba Apapa has not been sponsored by the APC. Let me tell you something, there is a Supreme Court authority that says that a person in disobedience of a court order cannot be heard. It’s an authority. If you are disobeying a Court order you will not be heard in the court of law. It’s a Supreme Court authority and all those on the side of Baba Apapa are aware of this authority but nobody is of the view that such a case should be filed against Peter Obi because he is one of us.
The only problem they have is Abure and the way he (Obi) is taking sides with him. Hence, the reason some people are coming out to attack him openly. They have seen that Peter Obi has already made up his mind that no matter what, he will be with Abure.
So what advice do you have for Peter Obi now?
It will be a good development if he tries to manage the crisis in the LP and resolve it because it is a signal to him that he will be a good leader. One of the fundamental problems Nigeria faces today as a nation is lack of security, so if you cannot resolve a micro problem in your party, people will laugh at us outside and say look at your Peter Obi, he cannot resolve a simple crisis and you want us to carry a whole country and give to him?
We won’t do that and it will be a slap on us. So my advice to Peter Obi is ‘please no matter what the people say to him about Baba Apapa and co, he should give us a fair hearing’. Let him hear from us and the other party. Then come to the centre and resolve this matter amicably. The Labour Party is bigger than all of us.
Emefiele May Have Sponsored Peter Obi’s Election – Apapa’s Faction Fires Labour Party For Tackling Tinubu
AdminThe Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) has slammed the Julius Abure-led faction of the party for condemning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the suspension of controversial Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Naija News reports that in a statement issued by the spokesman of the faction, Dr Abayomi Arabambi, the party congratulated the President for sustaining June 12 as Democracy Day in honour of the democratic sacrifice of late Chief MKO Abiola.
It called on Nigerians to continue to support the good intentions of the Tinubu-led Federal Government and also give condemnation where necessary.
Arabambi said, “We congratulate Nigerians for witnessing the first democracy day under the present administration of President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. We salute your excellency’s doggedness and commitment to ensuring that our democracy is sustained along the religious, economic and political lines. Labour Party identifies with various reforms going on in the country, the declaration of June 12 as a National Holiday and so many other reforms ongoing.
“Chief MKO ABIOLA’s slogan was Hope 93, and Now we have ‘A renewed Hope 2023’ Even though both were on the platform of Muslim-Muslim tickets but the variation precedent was the zeal and commitment of both MKO and PBAT to a new Nigeria which is not a symptom of religion. We called on the people to continue to support the good intentions of the government, while also condemning rightly when necessary.”
Emefiele
Arabambi stated that Abure’s factions decision to condemn the sack and arrest of Emefiele means the rumours that the suspended CBN governor was part of those that sponsored the Presidential bid of Peter Obi may be true after all.
The LP faction stated that any government official who abuses his office as Emefiele did by running for the seat of the president and inflicting hardship on Nigeria through his ill-timed new Naira redesign policy should be made to face the full wrath of the law.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the Peter Obi-Abure-led faction of the Labour Party Spokesperson, Obiorah Ifoh where he irresponsibly claimed that the suspension approved by the president is unconstitutional, vindictive and not in good taste. Peter Obi’s faction out of deliberate falsehood and ignorance even accused the new Chief of Staff to the President Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila of complicity for not speaking up since he is now with the Government.
“We were all living witnesses to the travails of Nigerians to the different anti-masses policies rolled out to Nigerians by the embattled CBN Governor, and as a responsible Party, we will not just sit down and condemn a lawful inquiry into the years of the inglorious and corrupt reign of Emefiele, but rather called on the relevant security agencies to properly look into the action and deeds of the ex-governor. It is on records that Peter Obi and Julius Abure criminally appropriated to themselves an illegal labour party campaign fund to the tune of N12b and $15m the fund they had access to during the inglorious days of the grossly incompetent stints of the suspended CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele through the deliberate affliction of pain and agony on the generality of Nigerians.
“The Obiorah statements are laced with tribalism, egocentrism and nepotism, and what this tells us is that all the rumours that Emefiele was part of those that sponsored the Presidential bid of Peter Obi may be true after all. How do we explain that people with sane minds will be supporting somebody that kept millions of Nigerians on their knees for almost nine years with records of impunity, poorly-executed fiscal and monetary policies? For the first time in Nigeria’s history, a sitting Central Bank Governor was seen dabbling into politics, yet Obiorah never sees the reason why he must be investigated and prosecuted if found guilty.
“Also during his tenure, we were informed how DSS accused Emefiele of terrorism financing. He was accused of funding the activities of the proscribed pro-Biafra group, IPOB and others. As a party, we will not support any acts of witch hunting, nor support any move to suppress good moves at getting to the root of Nigeria’s economic crisis under Emefiele. We, therefore, called on DSS and other security agencies to distinctly carry out their investigation workout any hindrance and inform the public of their findings as Nigerians are waiting patiently to know why they were so impoverished under the policy reel out by Emefiele.”
When contacted for a reaction by The PUNCH, LP National Publicity, Obiora Ifoh, declined to speak much on the matter.
“We don’t want to be reacting to anything today. The moment we speak, we are giving them undue publicity. Virtually everybody knows they are impostors by now based on what they keep saying. We are interested in speaking on issues of national importance and not reacting to these miscreants.
“But in this case, it is like giving them oxygen,” Ifoh said.
Concerned Parents of Chibok Girls have written to President Bola Tinubu to help facilitate the release of 92 abducted girls still in Boko Haram’s captivity.
This was just as the affected parents congratulated Asiwaju Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima on their assumption of office as president and vice president of Nigeria respectively.
The appeal was made in a letter issued on behalf of Concerned Parents by Yana Galang (mother to Rifkatu Galang still in captivity) and Zanna Lawan (father to Aisha Lawan still in captivity).
The parents, in the letter, begged President Tinubu to help them in releasing the remaining girls still in captivity, pointing his attention to the predicament they had been in since “2014 when 276 of our daughters from Chibok Government Secondary School were abducted.”
“It has been years of pain and agony for us and we are disheartened that nine years later and a few months before the end of the immediate past administration, 92 of these girls remain in Boko Haram captivity, subjected to unimaginable ordeal and abuse at the hands of their captors,” they said.
They said in Tinubu’s inaugural speech, despite not making a direct pledge, particularly regarding their plight in Chibok, the president pledged to make security a top priority.
“It is on this premise, therefore, we the concerned parents of Chibok humbly seek Your Excellency’s attention to once again beam a searchlight to the recovery of the remaining 92 of our kidnapped daughters,” the parents said.
The parents, while making the appeal, noted that former President Muhammadu Buhari in his own inaugural speech on May 29, 2015, said his administration could not claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing Chibok girls, recalling that a statement dated April 14, 2021, titled: “Chibok Girls Still on Our Minds” was also released and further reminded them of the former president’s promise and reassured them that all their girls would be rescued and reintegrated back into their communities.
“With the baton changing under the same political party now in 2023, history will no doubt be kind to you, your family, your government and your party if these statements from your predecessor are achieved under you, more so, with our son, Vice President Shettima.
“Mr President, we seek you to be the light that will illuminate our darkness, end our writhing pains, dry our tears, and free us from the shackles of sadness, sorrow, and anguish this trajectory has brought into our existence.
“When we marked the ninth year’s remembrance of the abduction this year, we didn’t think we would hold any more commemoration, and the truth is that we don’t want to, but, regrettably, so it seems, except you come to our rescue and give us succour, another sober commemoration knocks. We wait patiently for this succour as our acceptable alternative,” the parents stated.
The new Board Chairman of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Abdulhakeem Abdullateef, has condemned the passage of the NDIC Act, 2023.
Naija News recalls that the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari signed the NDIC (Repeal and Reenactment) Bill of 2023 into law on May 26, 2023, and repealed the NDIC Act, of 2006.
In a Facebook Live session on Monday, Abdullateef accused the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and his cohorts of misleading Buhari to sign the bill into law.
The NDIC chairman alleged that the bill assented to by the former president had certain sections that were not included in the version passed by the National Assembly.
The former Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs stated that the NDIC should be a fully independent agency, not under the thumb of the CBN Governor who has the responsibility to appoint the NDIC Managing Director.
Abdullateef, who wept during the session, said the president is not allowed to appoint a managing director for the agency under the new law, and asked President Bola Tinubu to probe the passage of the NDIC Act, 2023.
He said: “NDIC stinks. There is a lot of rot going on. They say ‘When you fight corruption, corruption fights you’. This is the purported new act of the NDIC and I tell you for nothing that this is ‘Emefiele’s act’. Here, they have taken away the powers of Mr President in respect of the NDIC. This document that was signed is materially different from the vote and proceedings of the National Assembly that passed it.”
“I want Mr President not to act on this law until it is probed. Probe the passage of this law. Probe the inclusion of section 7 which takes away the right of the Ministry of Finance, which takes away the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and replaced it with two directors from CBN.
“Probe why what is passed is fundamentally different from what was assented to. Probe what happened between the time the Senate passed it and the House of Representatives passed it and there was no divergence.
“Under the law, do you know the status of this new act? It is null and void. Anytime Mr President assents to a bill that is materially different from what was passed by the Senate and the House of reps, it means there was a material omission and the law was not matured for assent.
“There is a need for the new administration to return this act to the National Assembly when it is proclaimed. They should investigate it and allow National Assembly members to debate. Mr President, don’t act on the new NDIC Act.”
Most Of You Had Free Education, But Now Plan To Tie Students Down With Loans – Sani Knocks Tinubu’s Govt
AdminFormer Kaduna Central lawmaker, Shehu Sani has reacted to the newly signed 2023 Student Loan Act.
Naija News recalls that President Bola Tinubu had signed the bill into law on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, as part of measures to boost educational access and delivery at the tertiary level.
The bill was passed by the 9th National Assembly but assented to by Tinubu.
A senior aide to the President, Dele Alake explained that the act will ensure indigent students access the loans to further their education.
According to Alake, the loan initiative was part of what Tinubu promised during his electioneering campaigns.
“Today, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has just signed the Student Loan Act. This is just in fulfilment of his promise during the electioneering campaigns, where he promised that students would access loans to go to school,” he said.
Reacting to the development via his verified Twitter account, Sani insisted that tying down student with loans is unconscionable.
He argued that most of those occupying positions of power were once beneficiaries of free education and scholarships.
He wrote, “Most of those occupying the positions of power and authority were beneficiaries of free education and free scholarships.Tying down students with loans is unconscionable.Let’s not forget that We are still a developing country.”
The student loan bill signed into law on Monday by President Bola Tinubu came with some benefits for the beneficiaries that Nigerians should know.
The students loan act signed into law will enable indigent students to access federal government loans to fund their educational pursuits or career.
The bill was signed into law today after passing a second reading at the House of Representatives on May 25, 2023.
What Nigerians must know about the student loan bill:
- The Act provides an interest-free loan for indigent students in which beneficiaries will only pay back the exact amount they collect.
- The Act offers loans for poor students seeking higher education in public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.
- The Act enables all indigent students to have equal rights to access the loan without any form of discrimination arising from gender, religion, tribe, position or disability of any kind.
- The Act stipulates that the loan shall be granted to indigent students only for the payment of tuition fees.
- The Act states that there shall be the creation of a Nigerian Education Bank with the aim to offer education for all Nigerians in matters pertaining to loans.
Ekiti-based chef, Adeparusi Dammy, has broken the 100-hour cooking record of celebrity chef, Hilda Baci, while on a 120-hour cook-a-thon challenge to emerge a holder of Guinness World Records.
Naija News reports that Dammy, who has cooked several meals including eba, beans with corn, amala, pounded yam, and rice on Monday night hit 100 hours in her determination to set a new record.
The video shared online captured her supporters and kitchen assistant jubilating over the new feat.
However, Adeparusi has been under backlash following the cook-a-thon challenge barely a few weeks after Hilda Baci’s unofficial 100-hour.
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Tête de reliquaire, Fang, Gabon, late 19th century
Private Collection of Hélène Leloup, Sotheby’s, Paris, 21 June
Estimate: around €4m
The Fang people of Gabon, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea historically believed that ancestral relics hold great spiritual power. After the death of significant elders, their skulls were conserved in cylindrical bark containers and guarded by carved wooden heads or figures, such as this example. The fibres of this “Fang byeri” sculpture have been impregnated with a bituminous sludge to give it a black patina. Its hairstyle, with braids and incisions, as well the Adam’s apple, confirm that it depicts a male ancestor figure. Described by scholars as a leading example of 19th-century African statuary, it has been exhibited at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris numerous times, and had its image reproduced most notably for an exhibition at the Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, in 1992. While Western colonisers used the Fang obsession with dead bodies to paint them as violent and backwards, justifying their enslavement and subjugation, this aspect of their culture and the art it produced also provided huge inspiration for European avant-garde artists of the 20th century. The latter was the focus of the prolific dealer of African art, Hélène Leloup, who was the first female dealer in the category when she opened her Paris gallery in 1956. She acquired this work from Helena Rubinstein, herself one of the most prominent collectors of “arts negres”, as the category was termed when she was actively buying. This work leads the first sale of Leloup’s private collection; a second volume of this sale will take place at Sotheby’s New York in 2024.
Raoul Dufy, La baie de Sainte-Adresse (1906)Courtesy Bonhams
Raoul Dufy, La baie de Sainte-Adresse (1906)
Alain Delon: 60 Years of Passion, Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 22 June
Estimate: €600,000-€800,000
This Fauvist depiction of the French coast, by Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), comes to the block from the collection of the French actor and sex symbol Alain Delon. Delon won critical acclaim both in France and around the world for now-classic films such as Le Samouraï (1967) and The Leopard (1963). The landscape in La baie de Sainte-Adresse (the bay of Sainte-Adresse) was also a longstanding source of inspiration for Monet, who painted the tiny Normandy commune at least 14 times. Dufy painted this area of France repeatedly, and an abstract version of the same beachscape sold for £187,500 at Christie’s Paris in 2020. Of all his variations on this theme, this painting is the “most accomplished”, says Arnaud Cornette de Saint Cyr, the chief executive of Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr. Delon’s collection has been built up over 60 years, beginning with the purchase of his first painting in London at the age of 24. This cross-category and cross-period offering of sculptures and drawings includes works by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Eugène Delacroix. The total collection, comprising 81 lots, is estimated to sell for between €4m and €5m.
Alberto Giacometti, Tête de Diego au col roulé (1951)Courtesy Sotheby’s
Alberto Giacometti, Tête de Diego au col roulé (1951)
Face Off, Sotheby’s London, 27 June
Estimate: £4m-£6m
Depicting arguably Giacometti’s most enduring sitter, his brother Diego, this sculpture is one of around a dozen examples of a painted bronze by the artist to have ever appeared at auction. It was previously in the collection of Adrien Maeght, who acquired it directly from the artist. Maeght is the chair of the Fondation Maeght in France, established by his art dealer and publisher parents Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, who helped to shape the careers of 20th-century titans such as Giacometti and Picasso, artists who, in turn, helped to create the foundation. The sculpture was also formerly owned by Jan Krugier, a Polish-born Swiss collector who was one of the most prominent dealers of the last century. Stylistically, the catalogue entry notes, it “epitomises the transition within Giacometti’s style after the Second World War from elongated, stick-like figures towards more naturalistic and substantive depictions of human form”. Here Diego is shown wearing a thick roll-neck jumper, reflecting the studio’s ascetic conditions and also the artist’s renewed sense of realism. This work is included in the inaugural Face Off auction at Sotheby’s London, a curated evening sale focusing on portraiture from antiquity to the present day.
Wisteria table lamp, Tiffany Studios (around 1903)Courtesy Christie’s
Wisteria table lamp, Tiffany Studios (around 1903)
The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection: Temple of Wings, Christie’s, New York, 14 June
Estimate: $400,000-$600,000
The second instalment of the Ann & Gordon Getty Collection, focused on 19th- and 20th-century furniture and design from the couple’s Greco-Roman-inspired Berkeley Hills home, the Temple of Wings, comes after a first instalment last year that totalled $150m. Included in the three-part sale is this lamp from Tiffany Studios. The market for Tiffany’s work has seen “upward momentum for the past eight to ten years”, says Victoria Tudor, specialist and head of sale at Christie’s. The world’s most expensive Tiffany lamp sold for $3.3m at Christie’s in 2018. While it is unlikely to break any auction records, the Wisteria model—designed by Clara Driscoll—is a notable example of early-20th-century decorative art by a woman artist, many of whom were overlooked in their time.
Alexej von Jawlensky, Mädchen mit Zopf (1910)Werbefotografie
Alexej von Jawlensky, Mädchen mit Zopf (1910)
Evening sale, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, 9 June
Estimate: €3.5m-€4.5m
Mädchen mit Zopf (girl with braid) by the Russian painter Alexej von Jawlensky was last sold in 2007 at Christie’s New York for $5.1m against an estimate of $3.8m-$4.5m. It is now offered at roughly the same price range, when adjusted for inflation, suggesting a softening of Jawlensky’s market, for which the $18.6m auction record was made in 2008; no sale from the past five years has made the artist’s top 20 prices at auction. Nevertheless, this oil painting, executed on “thin cardboard”, bears a significant provenance. Most notably it comes from the collection of Clemens Weiler, who wrote the first biography on Jawlenksy. Moreover, it was created in Jawlensky’s most in-demand period, between 1908 and 1911, when he was a pivotal member of Der Blaue Reiter (the blue rider), the artist group formed in Munich that was a founding strand of the German Expressionist movement.
[theartnewspaper]
Barring any last-minute change, 469 federal lawmakers will, today, elect four presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has issued a proclamation letter for the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly in line with the 1999 Constitution.
In the Red Chamber, 109 senators will pick The Senate president and deputy Senate president; while 360 House of Representatives members will elect the House Speaker and deputy speaker.
The race for the Senate presidency and speaker’s seat has been intense, with major contenders intensifying campaigns a few days to the inauguration.
The two contenders for the Senate Presidency are former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio and former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari.
President Tinubu and the APC leadership have picked the duo of Akpabio and Senator Jibrin Barau (Kano North) as preferred candidates for Senate president and deputy, respectively.
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from Abia State dropped his bid for the Senate presidency and formed an alliance with Yari to contest for the deputy Senate president’s position.
The camps of Akpabio and Yari are each claiming to have secured the support of a majority of senators to win the Senate presidency.
In the House of Representatives, the front runners are Tajudeen Abbas (Kaduna), the party’s preferred candidate and Ahmed Wase (Plateau), the immediate former deputy speaker.
Abbas and Benjamin Kalu are favoured by APC for speaker and deputy respectively.
Others still in the speakership race are Aminu Sani Jaji (APC, Zamfara), Sada Soli Jibia (Katsina) and Miriam Onuoha (Anambra).
Access Bank has unveiled two new consumer credit cards: the Access Bank American Express Gold Card and the Metal Platinum Card.
These are the first American Express cards to be issued in Nigeria and West Africa.
By launching these cards, Access Bank has improved its overall offering to its retail and private bank customers, who can now enjoy the membership rewards loyalty programme and a wide range of travel and lifestyle benefits.
Speaking at the launch in Lagos, Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director, Access Holdings, said the cards will be available by request and invitation and customers who have signified interest will begin to enjoy the usage immediately.
He said, “We do have a wide network and with this partnership, AMEX will have 60 million customers supporting this partnership. It is a massive endorsement for us to work with AMEX in this partnership.
Roosevelt Ogbonna, Managing Director and CEO of Access Bank, said: “The launch of American Express Cards in Nigeria is another milestone in the continued development of a vibrant and fast-growing payments industry. Customers want more than transactions; they want real value.
“With American Express, we can provide valuable card benefits, strong loyalty rewards, and a real reason to use electronic payments instead of cash. By diversifying our services to facilitate payments, we can connect more consumers to the SMEs and retail businesses across the country who we know are the engine of economic growth.”
The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele will no doubt remain indelible in the minds of Nigerians, perhaps for bad or good reasons.
From June 2014 to June 9th 2023, when Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration suspended him, Emefiele oversaw Nigeria’s monetary policies, by extension, the economy.
However, economic experts have rated Emefiele low in achieving the critical objectives of the CBN.
CBN’s primary objective is to ensure economic and price stability; issue legal tender currency in Nigeria; maintain external reserves to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency; promote a sound financial system in Nigeria; and act as Banker and provide economic and financial advice to the Federal Government.
Rising inflation
Under Emefiele’s watch, Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index, known as the inflation rate, increased by 241 per cent, the highest compared to his predecessor Sarah Alabi who had 3 per cent during her short stay as CBN governor.
It is on record that Emefiele’s tenure has the worst inflation rate since 1999. For instance, during Joseph Sanusi’s reign from May 29th 1999, to 2004, inflation increased by 80 per cent, and Charles Suludo’s reign from May 29th 2004, to 2009, had an inflation rate of 68 per cent. Meanwhile, during the Sanusi Muhammed Sanusi regime, from June 3rd 2009 to 2014, inflation rate increased 62 per cent.
Despite consistent hikes in the Monetary Policy Rate to tackle inflation, Nigeria’s inflation continued to rise under Emefiele’s supervision. While May’s inflation figure is yet to be released, the Country’s April inflation is 22.22 per cent, and interest is 18.5 per cent.
Naira depreciation
DAILY POST reports that Multiple exchange rates were a major setback for Emefiele’s administration. Nigeria witnessed a dual exchange rate regime. The Official and black market rates are also known as the parallel markets. Based on the parallel market rate, the Naira depreciated from N167.2 in 2014 to N765 to the US dollar.
Legal Tender Management
An analysis of Nigeria’s legal tender management under Emefiele’s reign as CBN governor showed that Demand Deposits stood at N5,884,873 but increased to N20,498,1143; Credit to the Private sector increased from N16,927,983 to N44,100, 132. Meanwhile, Currency in Circulation decreased from N1,496,742 to N2,379,072.
Emefiele’s naira redesign policy which led to the scarcity of the country’s currency in the first half of 2023, has been heavily criticised for inflicting pain on Nigerians.
Capital Imported to Nigeria
From 2014 to 2016, capital imported to Nigeria dropped from $21 billion to $5 billion. Meanwhile, there was an increase from $12 billion in 20217 to $24 billion in 2019. But the imported capital dropped from $10 billion in 2020 to $5 billion in 2022.
Emefiele’s political involvement
Emefiele will go down in the annals of history as the most politically involved CBN governor.
Recall during the build-up to the primary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Emefiele obtained a nomination form in a bid to contest the Presidential election. After falling out of favour, Emefiele returned to the apex bank.
However, his decision to mix politics with handling the country’s apex bank has been heavily criticised by Nigerians.
Speaking with DAILY POST on Monday, an Accounting and Financial Development Don at Leads University Ibadan, Prof Godwin Oyedotun, said Emefiele had failed in key monetary policies.
He noted that Emefiele could have done better in his approach to curbing inflation, foreign exchange administration, interest rate regime and the poor implementation of the Naira redesign policy. According to him, one biggest mistake of Emefiele is his involvement in politics.
He added that apart from suspending Emefiele, heads of other agencies instrumental to the economic progress of the Country should be reviewed.
He said, “The truth is that Godwin Emefiele’s regime as CBN governor was a disaster. Nobody in the history of Nigeria had governed the apex bank the way he did. When you try some monetary policies that are not working, you drop them and listen to the people.
“However, Emefiele never did this. History has shown CBN’s measures to cut down inflation have failed. Nigeria’s economic problem has defiled all economic theories; hence, an unconventional approach is needed to end the challenges. When Prices go up in Nigeria, it hardly declines.
“I wonder why Bola Ahmed Tinubu will ask the immediate deputy to continue acting as CBN governor. All the deputies are supposed to be suspended together with Emefiele because it was their regime.
“It is high time we allowed people who are not biassed to any commercial bank to be CBN Governor. When a CBN governor is laced with political influence and godfatherism, the result is what we have seen under Emefiele.”
Also, the Chief Executive Officer of SD & D Capital Management, Mr Idakolo Gbolade, said the suspension of Emefiele had been long overdue following his injurious handling of Nigeria’s Economy.
He stated that key policies of Emefiele hurt the country’s economy and Nigerians.
Gbolade claimed that Emefiele is the worst CBN governor in the history of Nigeria.
He added that Tinubu’s government must kick the ground running by immediately implementing its key economic policy of trust.
“The suspension of the former CBN governor is expected at this time if the new government wants to move swiftly with its policies which were necessitated by the dangerous handling of our economy by the former CBN Governor. Mr Emefiele’s policies benefited the rich and hurt our economy and the people of Nigeria.
“The former CBN Governor administered our economy without listening to reason, and the Economy bled under his watch. Despite all his efforts to tame inflation which failed, he still went ahead to engineer the Naira redesign policy, which was poorly implemented.
“The former CBN Governor was the worst CBN Governor and the most politicised in Nigeria’s history.
“Tinubu’s administration needs to start implementing his policy trust as announced in its inaugural speech by ensuring that after subsidy removal, far-reaching measures are taken to provide adequate palliative to the populace.
“The exchange rate policy should also be immediately implemented so that there would be exchange rate convergence to stop profiteering and the continuous weakening of the Naira.
“We have seen that the economy has started responding positively to the new administration’s policy direction, and if more proactive measures are taken, then Nigeria could be on the road to recovery”, he stated.
[DailyPost]