Each time any of my younger siblings was rude to me or sometimes attempted to smack or slap me and then run away, my mum would wiggle her finger and warn them, ‘ma fi abara kekere gba nla’. Meaning, Funke’s palm is bigger than yours and so her slap will hurt more than the one from your smaller palm. That was the scenario that came to my mind when the Supreme Court smacked Governor Sim Fubara and Rivers State with that judgment that sent all the Local Government Chairmen back home  to the wives. After reading through the story, I heaved a sigh, not of relief but of exhaustion. I said, wow, after all that drama and tension that preceded and followed the election, is this how it will all end? Remember that Governor Fubara was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but somehow the Action Peoples Party, APP, won leadership of 22 out of the 23 councils. Not PDP, his party. Think of the millions or billions that was expended on that election. And now this Supreme Court has trashed and thrashed both the money and the effort. A few strong men have decided that the votes counted and discounted mean nothing and Rivers people would have to go and look for more money, more billions to conduct the election that the courts, judges and law would approve. All that strain and stress and grandstanding just to lose to the court, not to the opposition party, PDP. What a shame. What a waste of time and deflation of ego.

So what are the lessons here? If your palm is small, do not slap the person with a bigger palm. His Excellency, Sim Fubara looks like he has taken on a bigger man or men. His palm is smarting but it looks like the man he slapped did not even wince. The slaps the governor has been dealt are enough to relocate anybody’s two ears to the same side of the head and I am not sure he has received the last slap yet. His fight with Minister Nyesom Wike has been, sad, bad and mad. It is not a fight that should have started in the first place but the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of that fight is a subject that is ripe, not only for deep study but one for national debate. Those who want to quote the Bible or democratic tenets here are definitely not Nigerians. The godson and godfather politics, the I-will-choose-my-successor mentality of governors and the oppression and betrayal that follow are so totally incorrigibly Nigerian. That one godson is being slapped in 2025 does not mean prospective godsons are not lining up for endorsement. Indeed, Fubara will produce his own godson who he most likely will also slap into deafness. Nigerian politicians are unteachable like that.

Could Fubara have handled this better, more effectively? The answer would depend on where you are standing. If you are standing with the Rivers people whose funds, including the ones that will be withheld, you will see that they are the grass being trampled by all the elephants in this fight. They are the ones who voted a PDP governor and also voted APP local Government executives. Only God knows which party will win the next round.

The next lesson is do not accept and submit to godfatherism if you have no intention of following the tenets of the concept. A man does not become a godfather overnight. He knows things. He is capable of things. If he can suspend democratic tenets for you, he can suspend them again to un-father you. You cannot expect to enjoy the prize of being a godson without paying the price. If some peoples’ ambition and aspiration were discountenanced to favour you and you wore your godson robe proudly while pretending to be a democrat, weep not when the day of reckoning arrives.

Am I in support of Wike and making fun of Fubara? Far from it. The godfather-godson thing shortchanges me, you, the people, democracy, everybody. The only people who profit from it are the godson and his godfather. If they did not fall apart, would we have known some of the details of their alliance? And when politicians align, the people are hardly included in the equation. Or you think when they hold those closed door, nocturnal meetings, they discuss how to build new dams to generate more megawatts of electricity or make irrigation a national policy? No, they discuss a different kind of power, power sharing. They review who got what and will get what. It is when what brought them together separates them that they call in the lawyers, rush to the courts and generally entertain us for a while. The lawyers are cashing out from the bloated egos of the political actors while the judges are gradually establishing ‘judicracy’ – we vote, they decide who rules.

For now, let us wish Governor Fubara the fortitude to ride out this storm. I know he is not sleeping well. Who can, when people who are holding brooms are chasing you all night, only for you to wake up to find a fierce-looking umbrella-wielding one breathing fire by your bedside?   

 ------------------------

A sick North and its leaders

Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State has a PhD in Agriculture and Rural Sociology. Nasir Idris, Kebbi State governor holds a PhD in Education. The governor of Sokoto State, Ahmad Aliyu also holds a doctorate in Business Administration. Dauda Lawal, Zamfara State governor has a 1992 Masters Degree in Political Science/ International Relations. Governor Gawuna Yusuf of Kano holds a Bachelors Degree in, wait for it, Biochemistry. So, how did a North with governors this educated end up with a strange, obnoxious, nasty and distasteful directive that shuts schools for Ramadan? How did the North get here and how will the region ever get out of this cesspit of affliction?

 Please are the children and grandchildren of these helmsmen attending the schools that are going to be shut down for Ramadan? Are the children and grandchildren of the Senators, Representatives, all political office holders and indeed the elites of the north all affected by this sit-at-home-during –Ramadan schools closure in the North? Are the schools in Saudi Arabia also closed for Ramadan or it is just Northern Nigerian Muslims that are holier than those whose womb birthed the holy Prophet? 

Why are we not seeing or hearing protests against this sad holiday? The Muslim community is quiet. The affected parents are going about their businesses as if this is okay. The Muslim clerics’ silence is the most shocking.

The schools that were shut, are there Christian students there? Will the teachers be paid for the month they are fasting and not working? That last question brings me to the biggest question of all; this closure of Northern schools for Ramadan, was it the initiative of the governors? What exactly were they thinking? Did they hold meetings with all stakeholders in this matter and how did they justify the move? How do Northern leaders sleep at night, really?

 I have always been suspicious that the many social diseases that are afflicting the North are the fault of their leaders. This confirms it. Northern leaders and elites like a sick north. It works for them. They like a North West with almost nine million out-of-school children and a North-East with more than five million. Or what else is the reason why every statistic with negative figures in education domiciled in the North and then some governors  still go ahead to give this kind of directive? Exactly in whose interest is this no-school-during Ramadan holiday, the teachers’, the students’, the parents’ or whose?  

These governors, these Northern leaders, where do they see the North in Nigeria, in world equations in 10 years? Do they think producing Nigerian Presidents regularly is what gives the North power? Me, I think if Nigeria has an Hausa or Fulfude- speaking President for 20 unbroken years where the North still does what it presently does, the region will still not catch up with the rest of Nigeria. Anyway, it looks like those who are beaten are not crying while people like me are swallowing ‘panadol’ for a Northern headache.

The federal government through the Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment of six new Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs).

Naija News reports that this was made known in a statement on Tuesday by PSC Spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani.

The newly appointed DIGs include: Sadiq Abubakar, who currently serves as the Commandant of the Police Academy, Wudil, Kano; Benjamin Okolo, the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of the Department of Information Communication Technology at Force Headquarters, Abuja; and Williams Adebowale, the Commandant of the Police Staff College, Jos. Others are Bzigu Bali, AIG at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Enugu; Idegwu Basil Ukuoma, AIG of Zone 14, Katsina; and Adebola Ayinde Hamzat, AIG of Zone 16, Yenagoa.

Ani also announced the promotion of Kanayo Uzuegbu, Commissioner of Police for Enugu State Command, to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police.

“CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, Commissioner of Police Enugu State Command promoted to the next rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police was a former Assistant Commissioner Operations Zone 9, Umuahia; Area Commander, Owerri; Area Commander Karu, Nasarawa state; Commander Switch Operation Switch, Portharcourt; Deputy Commissioner Finance and Admin Edo State Command, DCP, state CID, Osun State and Commissioner of Police Operations, Communication, Force Headquarters, Abuja,” Ani added.

The commission also approved the appointment of new Commissioners of Police (CPs) for Oyo and Enugu State Commands.

He said: “CP Ademola Johnson, Principal Staff Officer to the Inspector General of Police, was appointed CP Oyo State.

“He was also a former Deputy Commissioner of Police Delta State Command. CP Mamman Bitrus Giwa was appointed CP, Enugu State, to take over from newly promoted AIG Kanayo Uzuegbu. CP Giwa was former DCP Operations Kaduna and Imo State Commands; ACP Police Mobile Force, Force Headquarters Abuja; and CSP A, Commissioner of Police Mobile Force, Force Headquarters, among other postings in the Police Mobile Force.”

Additionally, Ani revealed that the PSC had approved the promotion of eight Chief Superintendents of Police to the rank of Assistant Commissioners of Police.

“They are Abdullahi Kamba Usman, Sani Abdu, Ifeanyi Owo, Vincent Orole, Elisha Atikinkpan, and Margaret Okonkwo. Others are Alhasan Aliyu Guga and Imo Owinizi Ezekiel.

“The newly promoted senior Police Officers were subjected to written examinations and interactive oral interviews,” he said.

PSC Chairman, retired DIG Hashimu Argungu, encouraged the newly appointed DIGs to work closely with the Inspector General of Police to strengthen the Nigeria Police Force’s ability to maintain law and order.

“The Chairman of the Commission, DIG Hashimu Argungu retd, charged the new DIGs to give the Inspector-General of Police the required support and cooperation to ensure that the Nigeria Police Force would be in a good position to secure the Nigerian space and ensure that law and order are maintained,” he said.

[NaijaNews]

Former Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, David Shikfu Parradang, has been reportedly killed by kidnappers.

Reports indicate that the deceased was killed after being abducted in Abuja on Monday night.

The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Police Command is yet to react to the unfortunate incident.

Efforts by DAILY POST to reach the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, were not successful at the time of reporting.

CG David Parradang spent over 30 years in public service at the Nigerian Immigration Service, having worked across the country in Kano, Lagos, Kwara, Enugu, and the Federal Capital Territory.

[DailyPost]

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Shamsedeen Babatunde Ogunjimi as the new Accountant General of the Federation, following a rigorous and merit-based selection process. 

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, his appointment takes effect on March 7, 2025, the same day the incumbent, Oluwatoyin Madehin, is set to retire.

Ogunjimi, 57, was first named as Madehin’s successor in December 2024. 

His selection was later confirmed through a competitive process, overseen by a dedicated committee. 

The evaluation process included a written assessment, an ICT proficiency test, and oral interviews, with only the most qualified candidate emerging at the end.

The president’s decision underscores his administration’s commitment to transparency, excellence, and competence in key public service appointments.

Ogunjimi brings a wealth of experience to the role, holding a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a Master’s in Accounting and Finance from the University of Lagos. 

He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.

Congratulating the new Accountant General, President Tinubu urged him to carry out his duties with integrity, professionalism, and dedication to national service.

Ogunjimi’s appointment is expected to further strengthen fiscal accountability and efficiency in government financial management, in line with the administration’s commitment to good governance and economic reforms.

[TheNation]

The House of Representatives has directed Multichoice, the operator of DStv and GOtv, to halt its planned subscription rate increase, citing the prevailing economic hardship in the country.

The Pay-TV provider had recently announced a price adjustment effective from March 1, with the DStv Premium package rising from N37,000 to N44,500, while Compact+ subscribers would pay N30,000 instead of N25,000. The Compact bouquet would also increase from N17,000 to N19,000.

The directive followed a motion moved by Esosa Iyawe, an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Edo State, during plenary on Tuesday.

Iyawe said, “Multichoice recently announced a hike in subscription rates across all its packages, citing rising operational costs. However, this marks the second increase in less than a year, with the last adjustment made in May 2024.”

He noted that the previous hike triggered widespread public outrage, with many Nigerians, already grappling with economic challenges, abandoning their decoders due to a lack of competition in the pay-TV sector.

“Multichoice’s dominance in the market means any price increase has a widespread impact, putting consumers under undue financial pressure,” he added.

Following the adoption of the motion, the House resolved that Multichoice should suspend the proposed hike pending a thorough investigation.

The lawmakers also mandated the Committee on Commerce to probe the recurring increases in subscription fees, to ensure cost-effective policies for Nigerian consumers.

The committee was given four weeks to submit its findings.

[Punch]

Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu on Monday, March 3, 2025, joined the Kano State chairman of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) Hashimu Dugurawa and residents of the state to break the third-day Ramadan fast.

During the fast-breaking occasion, which took place at Al-Furqan Mosque in the Kano metropolis, Tinubu unveiled a feeding programme for the less privileged in the state. 

The programme is said to be part of Seyi Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Youth Engagement initiative for vulnerable groups.

While unveiling the initiative Tinubu emphasised the importance of social welfare particularly during the Ramadan period, and also stressed his commitment to initiatives that uplift the less privileged and foster national unity.

Earlier, the President’s son had paid a courtesy visit to the Kano-based business mogul, Alhaji Aminu Dantata at his residence.

He also paid a visit to the State Governor, Abba Yusuf, after which he broke fast with residents of the state at the Amani Event Centre.

Vanguard News

United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to halt federal funding for colleges, schools, and universities that permit “illegal protests”.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump also warned that protesters could face imprisonment, while foreign students involved in demonstrations risk deportation.

He said protesters who are American students would be expelled from the school based on their offence.

“All federal funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote.

“Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The announcement has sparked widespread debate across the US political landscape.

Supporters argue that the measure will help maintain order on campuses and prevent disruptions, while critics warn it could undermine free speech and disproportionately target specific groups.

The White House has not yet provided further details on how the policy would be implemented or what constitutes an “illegal protest”.

[TheCable]

I was initially going to predicate this piece on notable developmental milestones I’ve followed in recent weeks and months, in some states in Nigeria’s South. Indeed, in two separate treatises, I’ve interrogated the endeavours of Chukwuma Soludo, Alex Otti and Umaru Bago of Anambra, Abia and Niger states. I’ve been enamoured by reports of advancements in sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, investment and security among others, coming from the nation’s global South. You often get this feeling of positive peer rivalry between some states especially those below the Niger and Benue rivers, as they strive to improve the lots of their constituents, while also etching their imprimatur on the sands of time. It became imperative, however, to restructure my thoughts in the wake of certain very contemporaneous happenings, especially in the North, and juxtapose them with news from the South.

In August 2024, I wrote a piece titled The North of Nigeria after the Protests. It was my reaction to the thoughtlessness and idiocy manifested in parts of the North during the 10-day “hunger protests.” Internet videos and visuals are replete with the mindlessness which characterised youth outings those few days of insanity. Multibillion naira public properties and private investments were wilfully attacked, looted and vandalised. Road infrastructure including concrete pallets laid over public drainages were chiselled with axes just to steal the steel meshes binding and solidifying the platters. About a dozen fatalities were recorded between Borno and Niger states, as security personnel attempted the containment of the ensuing mayhem. Elsewhere, the Nigerian Police received plaudits for its demonstrated professionalism in the management of the fracas, mitigating injuries and minimising casualties, even as swarms of brigands held sway those days of utter madness. You watched these jarring scenes on national and global television and couldn’t but ask yourself: What ends were such barbarity, such primitivity meant to serve?

The hunger protests were also observed in parts of the South. But there was greater circumspection and decorum than was witnessed in many theatres of bedlam in the North. Indeed, governments in many states in the South were proactive. Authorities cautioned before the dates scheduled for the protests, that lawlessness in the form of unruly and riotous protests and processions will not be condoned within their boundaries. The October 2020 #EndSARS protests which snowballed into shootings of the processions by the Nigerian Army, remain fresh in popular consciousness. Amnesty International reported at least a dozen deaths from that incident, despite rebuttals by the Lagos State Government and the military authorities.

The government of Kano State in its 2025 budget, has made provision for the conduct of mass weddings. The sum of N2.5 Billion has been earmarked for the quarterly mass wedding programme across the 44 local government areas of the state. The administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, invested N854 million on the mass wedding of 1,800 couples in 2023. Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, recently committed N54 million on the wedding of 300 couples in his state. Budget and Economic Planning Minister, Atiku Bagudu who attended the programme, availed each couple N50,000 as “startup.” Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Yobe State, has also accommodated mass weddings as a major project in the 2025 budget of his state. Immediate past President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan who is also from Yobe State is also reputed to have sponsored mass weddings in his catchment area, ostensibly as part of his “constituency projects.”

Ahead of the Ramadan fast which began Saturday March 1, 2025, a number of state governments in the North, shut down educational institutions, especially primary and secondary schools. The closure is for a period of five weeks which is the duration of the fasting season. Beginning with Bauchi State in the North East, states in the North West including Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Zamfara, have promptly followed suit. The various governments have proffered that the closures are to ensure focused and unimpeded observance of the Ramadan by the entire gamut of the peoples and populations of their various entities. These school closures have not taken into account the conveniences of non-Muslim students who are also students in these various states.

Before the wholesale mismanagement of Nigeria’s sociocultural diversities by particular leaderships, especially the eight-year regime of former President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians had always been very adventurous. They quested socioeconomic opportunities beyond the perimeters of their traditional origins. This has been said to have accounted for the flattening of Bola Tinubu in his home state of Lagos during the 2023 presidential election which brought him into office. Indeed, a specific settler-ethnicity in Lagos, was fingered for that near electoral humbling of the President. The academic calendars of many of the northern stares under discourse, have reportedly been tweaked to ensure the reopening of schools after the Ramadan-induced forced break.

While parts of the North are prioritising the observance of a religious obligation over and beyond every other consideration, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), reminds us that the core North has the highest numbers of out-of-school children. Urchins, more famously known as almajiris in tens of thousands are permanently resident on the streets of several northern towns and cities, clutching begging bowls. The North is equally notorious for the high prevalence of child marriages, where clearly and visibly underage girls are married off to men old enough to be the age of their grandfathers. This accentuates the very high occurrence of Vesico-Vaginal Fistula, (VVF), among young northern females. Even if comprehensive health education were to be available for young girls, pervading illiteracy remains inimical to orientation and reorientation to stem the trend.

Nigeria’s core North remains averse to the trade and consumption of beverages of certain brands. Yet they desire the perpetuation of the fiscal allocation status quo, which privileges them higher dividends from national Value Added Tax, (VAT), than southern states which actually generate the chunkier taxes. Members of the Hisbah corps which enforces the Shariah are videoed regularly destroying huge consignment of alcoholic drinks, crippling the businesses of traders in such beverages. This is just as Saudi Arabia the global exemplar of Islamic religion, has relaxed its laws on alcohol. Non-Muslim diplomats can now procure and savour alcohol stuff. This is a major shift from the total ban on alcohol, which has been in place since 1952. The original law against alcohol provided for the prosecution and incarceration of offenders, while foreigners were summarily deported.

Down South, many governors and governments are pursuing visionary projects to impact on the well-being of their people. Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos and Seyi Makinde are investing massively in agricultural development to ensure sustainable food sufficiency and security. Surpluses will be warehoused in silos and storages, while overflows will be sold. Among other initiatives, Lagos State is partnering with the Origin Tech Group, to develop a five-year agricultural strategic plan. For starters, the partnership has initiated a Food Logistics Hub in Epe, Lagos State. Part of the plan is to gradually develop 4.2 million square metres of an agricultural village. A 60-kilometre network of roads are to be built in the settlement out of which about 30% is ready. It is a measure of the seriousness behind this plan, that a five-storey administrative block; a sprawling parking area capable of taking 1,500 trucks per day; a weighbridge, cold and dry storage areas, are already in place.

Makinde has revisited the hitherto moribund Fashola Farms Estate which used to be the epicentre of agricultural development in the primordial Western region. The luminous project which runs into several kilometres, sits between Oyo and Iseyin, Makinde has rechristened it the Fashola Agricbusiness Industrial Hub. Investors are expressing interest in cultivating a myriad of crops, notably cassava, maize, soybeans, cowpeas, tomatoes, banana and even dairy production. Well over N11 Billion has been committed to revamping the primordial farm with the provision of road infrastructure, factories and warehouses, among other structures. At least a dozen companies have already been established in the agribusiness zone, including Friesland Campina West African Milk Company Ltd, (WAMCO), and Brown Hill Farms Ltd, which is cultivating vegetables by deploying the Green House model.

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, has identified over 12,000 hectares of arable land in his state, out of which the cultivation of 200 hectares last year, returned exponential yields. Abiodun at the harvest of rice from the demonstration farm located at the Magboro rice farm in Obafemi Owode local government area, boasted that Ogun State could conveniently feed the whole country. The pilot project yielded 1400 metric tonnes of rice, equivalent to 20,000 bags of milled rice, capable of gifting farmers with returns of N1Billion naira every quarter of the year. A cargo airport has been developed by the Abiodun government and approval secured from President Tinubu for the physical area of the airport to serve as a Special Agro-Cargo Processing Zone and a Free Trade Zone. The project has the potential to create about 50,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Who will grow or provide on a sustainable basis, the food which will feed the newly weds in Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and elsewhere? Who will cater for the almajiris, dan iskas and yan dabas being bred like rabbits out there, who have unwittingly become human furniture on northern streets? Mass weddings, early marriages, school closures for the observance of religious rites, freewill breeding of children without a plan for their futures, are not the pathways to socioeconomic progress. True, members of the elite like the senior parliamentarian representing Doguwa/Tudun Wada federal constituency in Kano, Ado Doguwa, may have four wives and 28 children. He is a fifth-term member of the legislature who has been Chief Whip and Majority Leader, respectively. Not everyone from his part of Nigeria, however, is as fiscally fortunate as he is.

As things stand today, the core North cannot aspire to catchup with, let alone overshoot the multisectoral mileages already attained by the South. It needs pursue immediate, intentional and conscientious rethinking, reorientation and recalibration, to get off the starting blocks.

Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), is an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Abuja.

Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies surged Sunday after President Donald Trump announced plans for a U.S. crypto reserve that would include XRP, Solana, and Cardano. His initial post on Truth Social did not mention Bitcoin, leading to speculation, but he later clarified, stating, “And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable cryptocurrencies.” Bitcoin briefly neared $95,000, while Ethereum surpassed $2,500.

By Monday, the market rally had faded. Bitcoin dropped nearly $4,000, falling below $90,000 before recovering slightly to $90,529. At one point, it hit $86,366, down 5.69%. Ethereum slipped to $2,192, Solana to $148, and XRP to $2.47. Cardano, down to $0.90, remained one of the few cryptocurrencies in the top 10 showing gains over the past week, rising 24% in seven days.

The sell-off coincided with broader declines in traditional markets. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell amid concerns over Trump’s trade tariffs, which are set to take effect Tuesday on Canada and Mexico, with additional measures targeting China. Nvidia’s stock dropped more than 6%. Gold, in contrast, gained 1.66% to $2,895. Inflation worries and trade policy uncertainties contributed to the downturn, overshadowing Sunday’s crypto surge.

Mark Connors, chief investment strategist at Risk Dimensions, suggested that Trump’s comments may have been an attempt to set a positive tone ahead of a White House crypto summit scheduled for Friday. “Last month’s poor market sentiment remains unchanged,” he said, pointing to ongoing macroeconomic pressures.

The sharp price swings triggered $661 million in futures liquidations over 24 hours, wiping out $517 million in long positions. Bitcoin saw the largest liquidations, at $220 million, followed by Ethereum at $131 million. Solana, XRP, and Cardano were also heavily impacted.

Dogecoin, which was not included in Trump’s crypto reserve plans, also dropped, losing 9% to trade at $0.206. The overall crypto market is down 8% in the past day as excitement over Trump’s reserve announcement gave way to concerns over broader economic challenges.

[Coin Market Cap]