President Bola Tinubu has expressed shock and deep sadness over the passing into glory of a foremost Nigerian educationist and one of the pioneer medical doctors from Northern Nigeria, Emeritus Professor Umaru Shehu, CFR, on Monday.

Born in 1930 in Maiduguri, Borno State, the Nonagenarian was 92 when he passed away.

President Tinubu described Emeritus Professor Shehu's death as a big blow to the country, saying that his death had closed a glorious chapter of illustrious service to Nigeria, Nigerians, and humanity as a whole.

"Emeritus Professor Shehu was a giant, even among that legendary generation of pioneering indigenous professionals in our country, and the story of his life is saturated with many first, golden steps across the realms of medical practice, school administration, and humanitarian services.

"The renowned Professor of Medicine has always served Nigeria meritoriously and bestowed on all Nigerians a sense of pride with his indelible breakthroughs and innovative approaches to the administration of health and medical education around the world. Nigeria was indeed blessed to have him as both a patriotic son and as a worthy global representative in his fields of endeavour," the President gratefully stated.

Trained at the defunct University College-Ibadan, the University of Liverpool and the University of London, among others, Emeritus Professor Shehu spent a lifetime straddling Nigeria's medical and higher education institutions, in addition to several remarkable engagements on the global stage.

The legendary academician served variously as a Deputy Vice Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Sole Administrator of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; and the University of Maiduguri, respectively. He successfully taught and mentored generations of medical practitioners, both in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom, and served at different times as the Country Coordinator of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Nigeria and Ethiopia.

President Tinubu shared his profound condolences with the people and Government of Borno State, the deceased statesman's family, the Nigerian medical community, and so many others who are grieving around the world over the colossal loss of this Nigerian icon, mentor, father, son, and dedicated professional.

The President also prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased academician and statesman.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media and Publicity)

The Governorship election petition tribunal has nullified the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state, declaring PDP’s David Ombugadu as the winner.

Delivering the judgment virtually, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Ajayi declared Emmanuel Ombugadu of the PDP as the lawfully elected governor of Nasarawa State.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has lamented the ‘dollarisation’ of the Nigerian economy.

Speaking during an interview with Arise TV on Monday on the state of the country, Peter Obi stated that the Naira should have been devalued.

He added that the use of the dollar in the country has led to unproductivity.

Obi said: “Dollar has become the underground currency of our economy; it shouldn’t be. We have a currency called the naira.

“All the things people use dollars to do that are not productive should be removed.

“I can assure you that when you remove it, it can strengthen the currency. Today, even when you want to do party primaries, people share dollars. That is not our currency.

“There should be a stiff penalty in dealing with the issue. If people earn dollars legitimately, let them spend it the way they want.

“However, it has now become a means of corruption and criminality in our system.”

Peter Obi further stated that the country should work more on exports to strengthen the currency.

The United Kingdom (UK) has released new travel requirements for people wishing to come to the country.

The UK stated that Nigerians and other citizens wishing to enter the country must apply for Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

British and Irish nationals are, however, exempted from the new requirements.

The new rule comes into effect from November 15, 2023, and applies to everyone, including children.

The new travel rule states that all visa applicants wishing to travel to the UK need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) card before they enter or transit through the country.

The UK Home Office said persons who need the travel permit are those who were previously eligible to visit the UK without a visa and not already legally resident in the UK.

Also listed for ETA are those on visits shorter than six months, business people, tourism, and those visiting family and friends. Applicants are required to apply online before booking any travel to the UK. Once granted, it will be valid for multiple journeys over two years or until the passport one is applying with expires.

The UK Home Office, in a statement, further said travellers with valid visas may not be allowed to board without a valid ETA, as the ETA is digitally linked to travellers’ passports.

The statement reads: “The UK travel requirements are changing. Except for British and Irish citizens, everyone, including children who enter or transit through the UK, will soon require permission before they travel.

“This means that if you were previously eligible to visit the UK without a visa and not already legally resident in the UK, you will need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), your stay must be shorter than six months and could include tourism or visiting family and friends, transit, business, and short term study.

“You do not need to show a paper copy, but it may be helpful to prove the confirmation email for your own records while an ETA grants you permission to travel to the UK, it does not grant you entry. So, you would still need to go through passport control at the border to enter the UK.

“Make sure you show the same passport you used to apply for your ETA and that your passport is valid for the whole of your stay.”

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma defended himself against accusations of contributing to the state’s escalating insecurity, urging those blaming him to clarify their stance. He emphasized his reliance on divine grace, pledging unwavering service to God and humanity.

Uzodimma made these statements during the dedication of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church Parish in his hometown, Ozuh Omuma, Oru East local government area.

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Orlu, Most Rev Dr. Augustine Ukwuoma, underscored the dedication’s role in fostering peace and curbing violence in the region and other parts of the state.

After the service, Uzodimma expressed gratitude to attendees and maintained that neither he nor his government played a role in the killings in Imo.

Katsina varsity undergraduates murder 21-year-old colleague over female student
He described the insinuation as “evil, devilish and an attempt to smear his image and blackmail” his government.

Uzodimma reiterated that as a governor he needs peace to serve the people and urged those behind the insecurity in the state to have a rethink or be ready to face the wrath of God.

The governor said despite all the accusations and blackmail against his person and his administration, God has proven to be with him because power belongs to God.

In his homily, Bishop Ukwuoma congratulated the governor for building and donating a magnificent worship place of God to the Catholic Church.

The cleric, who said with the dedication of the church it has now become the property of the diocese and the universal church, warned against any infractions in the church.

He appealed to the leaders to lead the people well “because there is a lot of hardship in the country.”

The bishop appealed to the leaders to do everything within their power to prevent the looming strike by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) because it would not benefit the ordinary citizens but create more problems for them.

Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said the independence of the United States of America judiciary led to President Bola Tinubu’s ultimate defeat at the Northern District of Illinois court.

Shaibu stated this while reacting to the order by Justice Nancy Maldonado for the Chicago State University to release all of Tinubu’s academic records to Atiku.

Shaibu opined that Tinubu has been trying to evade justice since 1999 when the legendary human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), first blew the lid on his certificates scam.

He lamented that rather than deliver justice on the case’s merits, judges had continued to give Tinubu victory based on technicalities, claiming the development had led to over 20 dubious victories.

Shaibu said it was unfortunate that the Nigerian judiciary had failed to live up to expectations as the last hope of the common man.

He said, “Justice Maldonado, who has spent less than one year on the bench and who sat on this case for barely a month, has been able to do what the Nigerian judiciary could not do for 23 years.

“This explains why the Nigerian society is on the brink of slipping into the state of nature, which Thomas Hobbes described as short, brutish, and nasty.”

Garba Shehu, spokesman to former President Muhammadu Buhari, has insisted that his principal brought Nigeria’s economy out of crisis.

Shehu made the remark while dismissing claims that Buhari’s administration threw Nigeria into myriads of problems leading to the current hardship in the country.

In an interview with BBC Hausa Service, Shehu said no past administration found itself in economic hardship like Buhari’s.

He noted that no government in the world can solve all the problems a nation faces.

According to Shehu: “If there were hardships or problems, these should be looked into, to know how they came about.

“No administration in this country found itself in economic issues like Buhari’s because of our dependence on oil and prices, which went down.

“We also had the Coronavirus pandemic. Nations shut their doors, and the economy plummeted. But, Alhamdulillah, Buhari brought the Nigerian economy out of that crisis.”

This came after the First Lady, Remi Tinubu, noted that President Bola Tinubu inherited a damaged economy from Buhari.

She made the remarks in Abuja while speaking at the interdenominational church service to mark Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Anniversary, tagged, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

She said the Tinubu administration inherited the situation on the ground but is willing to fix things without putting blame on any administration.

“All we inherited are things that had happened many years ago; we are not here to put blame on any administration but to fix what has been damaged.

“My husband is not a magician; he is going to work and I believe and hope that we will have peace in this country; the best is yet to come to us,” she said.

The murderers of singer MohBad, according to street hip-hop artist Portable, would never experience the same level of fame.

Imole’s death, as the deceased is also known, attracted loud attention on a global scale.

Because of this, in the days that followed his “questionable” death, his musical creations unexpectedly took a positive enormous turn.

Even after his death, tremendous streaming has continued worldwide for all of his tracks, including those that were already out.

Many insist just like his alias ‘Imole’ he continues to shine even in death going by the love and support he’s been shown.

Portable, who also recently released a song, ‘Alimi’ as a tribute to Mohbad, acknowledged the greatness which the late rapper possessed.

He bemoaned the phoney love among those in the music industry citing how the legendary American rapper, 2pac was jointly eliminated by certain individuals that were jealous of gifts and illuminating future.

He said: “Even 2pac did not win a Grammy. They killed him before he could. They joined hands together to kill him because they knew that he was a great artiste. Yet his killers did not ‘blow’ like him.

“All of you that killer Imole, you will never ‘blow’ like him.

“Music industry, full of fake people, fake love. They’ll use you to get themselves to the top.”

The “Zazu” crooner also cautioned people in the habit of jeopardising the success chances of others after attaining theirs.

He added: “When you climb to the to of the ladder, don’t break it because many others need it to climb to the top it.

“Moreso, if the person that used it before you broke it; would you have anything with which to climb on?

“Stop killing our super stars, appreciate them instead.”

I attended the 18th convocation ceremony of Covenant University last Friday. In all, 1, 175 graduates received Bachelor’s degree and 204 got Master’s and Ph.Ds. My son, Emmanuel, graduated top of the class in mechanical engineering. It was the first graduation event that I have attended in decades, and I really looked forward to it. The event was well planned to every detail, commenced and ended on time, lasting just about three hours. There were no government officials to wait for. Such delays irritate me. NUC and other organizations were well represented; parents and relations of the graduating students turned up in their colours. The logistics arrangement was also flawless.

Our private universities have come a long way after the initial public skepticism and they now play significant roles in our tertiary education development. Every year, over two million Nigerians seek admission into tertiary institutions, and due to the inability of government-owned universities to cope with the increasing applications for admissions, the federal government had in 1993 enacted Decree 9 to set strict guidelines for the establishment of private universities. The guidelines entail a 14-step process, starting with submission of application and culminating in approval by the Federal Executive Council. But it was not until 1999 that Babcock University, Ilishan, Ogun State; Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State and Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State, were licensed as the pioneer universities in the country.

CU came in 2002 and has recorded commendable accomplishments in the last 21 years. Its Vice Chancellor, Prof Abiodun Adebayo announced that in the 2023 Times Higher Education World University and Impact Rankings, Covenant was rated first in Nigeria, first in West Africa and 7th in Africa. It has also won many other awards. CU owes its growth and attainments to good management and its rich sources of funding, which ensure adequate facilities, infrastructures and faculty. It is owned by Bishop David Oyedepo, who owns Living Faith Church, also known as Winners Chapel, one of the riches churches in Africa. The church provides adequate funding and the moral and spiritual undertone to the university. Bishop Oyedepo serves as the provost of the university and Chairman of the Board of Regents, which I presume, is its governing board. CU one of the few faith-based universities in the country, providing sound education and character-building teachings to our children in disciplined and conducive environments. Others are Redeemers University, owned by RCCG and Babcock University, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

These churches augment the resources of the universities and this helps in moderating the fees they charge. I am grateful to the management of CU for providing such a high-quality learning environment at modest costs to children from of ordinary families. Emmanuel entered CU as a little, shy 17-year-old in 2018, and came out as a mature, confident, well cultivated, self-assured, well behaved, well-spoken and brilliant eagle, as they call their graduates. Throughout the five years, he did not miss a class for a single day, not even for ASUU strike, which assisted in killing the public universities; and there’s never been a single day of electricity outage or water scarcity in the campus. The university generates its own electricity and produces its water supply.

As a young boy, I attended a faith-based secondary school, Lutheran High School, owned by Lutheran Church of Nigeria. Lutheran Church was founded by the German theologian, professor, pastor and church reformer, Martin Luther (1483-1546), after he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for his radical teachings. My school was established in 1925, one of the first set of secondary schools founded by the missionaries in what is now Akwa Ibom State. Hundreds of other schools across the country origin to the early missionaries and the church. Today, it is customary for many churches and church branches to establish at least a kindergarten school, either in their premises or elsewhere in the same town or village. The roles of the early Christian missionaries and the Christian faith as a whole in the promotion of education is in this country is huge and commendable.

Private universities provide good alternatives to the crisis-ridden public institutions, adding to the available opportunities in highly demanded courses like engineering, medicine, architecture, law, computer science and ICT. Given their comparatively low enrolment figures and staff-student ratio, in addition to the culture of discipline, private universities deliver better teaching and research experience in a more competitive and conducive learning environment, the reason graduates of these institutions do very well in postgraduate studies, with some winning lucrative scholarships. Even employers find them more employable. Just as Emmanuel was rounding off his degree exams, recruiters swamped the campus and interviewed some students. He was hired immediately after by an engineering project management firm. Private universities also help to stem the tide of capital flight as parents who would have sent their kids abroad now have good alternatives at home. It was private universities that introduced entrepreneurship studies into university curriculum in this country. I like the emphasize that faith-based universities place on values, character and morality in their curriculum. CU has a course known as Total Man Concept which teaches everything that builds a wholesome character. Bishop Oyedepo meets with his students regularly to teach ethics, morality and values. In the evening of the convocation day, he met with the graduates for the last time. It is the absence of these values from the fabrics of our society that has rendered Nigeria comatose today. We have become a country whose leaders are morally and ethically deficient. ‘’We cannot make progress if we do not acknowledge that when character is lost all is lost’’, writes Prof. Pat Utomi in a recent essay.

According to Prof Ayodeji Olukoju, former VC of Caleb university, Lagos, private universities are national assets that do not belong exclusively to their owners. ‘’Their counterparts in the leading countries of the world enjoy respect and occupy a pride of place in the comity of universities. Private universities have contributed to deepening and broadening the pool of human capital in Nigeria’’. There are 260 universities in Nigeria. In June, the NUC announced the approval of 37 new private universities by the federal government. Among them is Wigwe University, founded by one of the nation’s most accomplished and respected bankers, Herbert Wigwe. I understand that the plan is to make it the best in the continent, and one of the very best in the world. knowing Herbert as I do, I am convinced that he will pursue this dream with all his might.

Next month, I will be reporting from the convocation grounds of another university, from where another son of man has just graduated, also top of class, but this time, in civil engineering.

Where witches contend and exchange punches, mere men do not stand by to watch. But part of the job of a journalist is to see and report; sometimes he runs commentaries on bouts – not minding if the pugilists are gods or principalities. There is an ongoing offshore Bola Tinubu versus Atiku Abubakar rumble-in-the-jungle, a perfect heavyweight bout between power potentates. These two used to be very good friends and political soul mates. But Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar were also allies and in-laws. Yet, when it was time for Caesar to confront Pompey by crossing the Rubicon in January 49 BC, he did so without looking back. Caesar crossed that river after charging his army with the famous lines: “Let us go where the omens of the gods and the crimes of our enemies summon us. The die is now cast.” With those words, Julius Caesar determined his own fate; he sealed the fate of Pompey and altered the course of their country’s history forever.

In faraway Chicago, United States, Atiku and Tinubu spent the whole of last week panting for balance as they perched on the alien branch of the US judicial system. For whatever reasons, Tinubu has been fighting very hard to fire-proof his university records. He failed the first time; he failed the second time less than 48 hours ago. The court bout continues today over who has or does not have certificates. Tomorrow, it will be over; we will know who is a liar between the two friends; we will know if our president is a man or woman; we will know if Tinubu will be free and Atiku will be silenced forever.

In its handling of this case, the American judiciary has comported and discharged itself with admirable cleanliness. We’ve seen speed; we’ve seen so much openness, decorum, competence and diligence. We’ve seen a strict adherence to rules and facts. In the rulings, there were no abusive words, no bad grammar, no dodgy logic, no invidious, shameful technicality. There was no duplicitous dithering in delivering prompt justice; the sentences were simple, the language was plain, there were no ambiguities on what the court meant and what it said. I would recommend all that ennobling work ethic to what we have here as judiciary.

Nigerians who are following the US case are shocked at the consideration for time and respect for timeliness by the two courts that have handled the matter. Nigerian judges and lawyers surely have something to learn from those judges.

Evergreen English novelist, Charles Dickens, wrote in his ‘Bleak House’ that “it won’t do to have truth and justice; we must have law and lawyers.” I rewrite that to read: it is not enough to have law and lawyers; it is more important to have truth and justice. But you can’t have justice where the process is programmed to surrender to roadblocks and succumb to bottlenecks. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois delivered its ruling two days ago. It gave an order and remembered to give a deadline for compliance with that order. Very quickly and with an air of finality, it stressed that it would “not extend or modify these deadlines” because of the injustice that would attend its doing so. The court even told the party that lost not to bring an application for a stay of its order saying “… any request for a stay before this court will be denied.” The words of Justice Nancy L. Maldonado in making those declarations were clear and direct.

The case suffered no wicked adjournments and delays. Is that not how it should be, ordinarily? 17th century English philosopher and jurist, Sir Edward Coke, wrote on the imperative of speedy trial of cases. It is to him we owe the phrase “justice delayed is justice denied.” William Shakespeare in ‘Hamlet’ describes “the law’s delay” as the “whips and scorns of time.” Everyone, including those who do it, knows that delayed remedy is zero remedy. Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, said something similar: “Delay of justice is a denial of justice…To put right this wrong, we will in this court do all in our power to enforce expedition.” I wish I could find a phrase like that to quote from the Nigerian judiciary. A judicial system that is built on opacity of procedure and deliberately slow administration of justice will ultimately breed its own destruction. How? Victims of delayed justice feel helpless; they see the system as being rigged against them; they feel cheated, frustrated and angry; they develop their own idea of justice without recourse to the courts; they take the law into their own hands.

Chicago State University has been firmly asked to bring to court the bird in its pocket. We wait to see the colour of that bird. While every Nigerian holds their breath on how this Chicago case ends, I suggest they go back and read how the Pompey versus Caesar contest ended. We have the whole of today to do that.

Tomorrow will come and we will see the end of the Atiku-Tinubu mud fight in a foreign land. While we wait and watch the tragedy, shall we ask questions of our country and interrogate why we are where we are? This is particularly important when you know that whatever happens in that Chicago case may not have any positive impact on the life we live. We are on holiday because independent Nigeria was 63 yesterday. But I feel what we marked could not have been a celebration of the country’s’ independence anniversary; it looked more like the funeral of its promise.

We have become a country of beggars. Almost every call or text message is a desperate request for help. I am almost certain that the economic pain we feel today has never been felt by any generation of Nigerians since the country was created by the British in 1914. Apart from the power people and their friends who spawn excess, everyone else yawns in want. If the country hasn’t collapsed, tell me what has happened to it.

The United States dollar crossed the expressway and exchanged for one thousand naira last week. In simple terms, it means a bullion van of one billion naira now weighs just 100 bales of $100 dollar bills (one million dollars). What is the worth of an increasingly worthless currency?

Exactly one hundred years ago (1923), the photo of a German lady using banknotes to light her stove shocked Germany. Yet, a year earlier, some boys were shown flying a kite made of their country’s useless currency. There was, in another photo, a man using the currency notes as wallpaper because it was cheaper to use than buying “the cheapest rolls of wallpaper.” Before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the exchange rate of the German mark to the American dollar was 4.2 to one; same as the British shilling, the French franc and the Italian lira. But Germany lost the war and entered turbulence. By November 1923, the German mark had fallen to 4.2 trillion marks to one US dollar. “A wheelbarrow full of money couldn’t buy a newspaper,” a commentator reminisced, and added: “Shopkeepers couldn’t replenish their stock fast enough to keep up with prices, farmers refused to sell their produce for worthless money, food riots broke out, and townspeople marched into the countryside to loot the farms. Law and order broke down. The German attempt at democracy had been completely undermined.” Is that where Nigeria is going?

What is the future of presidential democracy in Nigeria? I do not know if our politicians are hearing what the people are saying about this question. They say it benefits only politicians and their palaces and that it has wrecked the people. Democracy has failed Nigerians and everyone knows.

Guinea’s military Head of State, Mamady Doumbouya, addressed the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, September 21, 2023. He questioned the credentials of Western democracy and the good it had done for the people of Africa. Did our leaders listen to his concern on the unequal distribution of wealth which he said created endless inequalities, hunger and poverty? “When the wealth of a country is in the hands of an elite while newborns die in hospitals due to lack of incubators, it is not surprising that…we are seeing transitions to respond to the profound aspirations of the people,” he said. Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu also told the United Nation’s Secretary General, António Guterres, two weeks ago, that to engage in talk shows while real poverty “wreaks real havoc in real time” was unacceptable: “Trace those of us here to our foundations and you will find that we have ties and links with poverty. We must not be ashamed of that history, but poverty is unacceptable. I am one of the lucky survivors of gripping poverty.” That was from Tinubu. But it is not enough for this man of means to fetishize (or romanticize) his years of want. Today’s poor do not need his story; what they need are positive actions against the demons of misery strutting the landscape. The same man, on Sunday, in his independence broadcast to the nation, announced an additional N25,000 monthly for low-grade workers for the next six months. Faced with threats of workers strike, his government later expanded the award to cover all treasury-paid workers; some hours later it jacked up the pay to N35,000. Just like that. Good. But the president has not told us what would happen to the beneficiaries after the golden six months.

With our country clocking 63 years in pain and turbulence, shouldn’t we decide now that enough is enough? Michelle Obama said during the recent US Open 2023 that “when things lie in the balance, we all have a choice to make. We can either wait around and accept what we’re given. We can sit silently and hope someone else fights our battles. Or we can make our own stand.” Some of us took a stand a long time ago: we won’t be silent or keep quiet. We won’t stop asking Nigerians to accept to be their own physicians. For members of my own generation, how many years have we lived? If things continue as they are, how many more do we have? Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ tells you to open your eyes “and look within.” And you look as commanded. And the song asks if you are “satisfied with the life you’re living?” Of course, you have looked “within” and what you see you do not want (even for your enemy) but you think you are forever helpless. It is like everyone desiring heaven but nobody wanting to die. How do we enjoy the bliss of paradise without dying?

At independence, our national anthem came with a promise that “our flag shall be a symbol/ that truth and justice reign.” The generation of Nigerians who sang that song promised “to hand on to our children/ a banner without stain.” We proceeded to ask God of all creation to grant us one particular request: “Help us to build a nation/ where no man is oppressed” so that “with peace and plenty/ Nigeria may be blessed.” We aborted that promise. That abortion was celebrated with pomp in Abuja yesterday by those in power; the poor marked it asking why they had to be hungry when their country was said to be very rich. There is so much wealth around and about us but there is also so much misery and want. Paradox is the only figure of speech that will explain that. Our situation is difficult to explain but it is not very different from an epoch strung together by Charles Dickens in the opening lines of his ‘A Tale of Two Cities’: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…” We know what the other way of Heaven is. That is where 63-year-old Nigeria is, right now.