Dino Melaye, the Governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 11, 2023 Kogi Governorship election has issued a warning to the All Progressives Congress.

According to Dino, he will win the Governorship election in the state come November, 11.

Speaking at the inauguration of the National Campaign Council for Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states as well as the presentation of certificates of return to the party’s three governorship candidates in Abuja on Wednesday, Melaye said he has expertise in taming lions.

Melaye said the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), will fail on November 11.

“I just want to announce that as far as this election is concerned in Kogi State, APC is history. APC has gone to oblivion.

“PDP is the party to beat in Kogi State and I assure the people of Kogi State, that my name is Daniel and Daniel is used to taming lions. I befriend lions, I kiss lions and subdue lions,” Melaye said.

Acting National Chairman of PDP, Umar Damagun, in his remarks said the chances of the party emerging victorious were brighter than ever.

“We will have Bayelsa, we will have Imo and we will have Kogi. These are PDP states. Somehow, they slipped away but Bayelsa has always had a PDP governor. I want to challenge everyone in this country to look at the states governed by PDP governors viz-a-viz the other parties. We have always excelled,” he said.

Speaking in solidarity with the contestants, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, said, “The chances of the PDP in the three states are very great because we are bringing light all the way and you know when the light comes, darkness vanishes.”

Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party have expressed optimism that the party will emerge victorious in the upcoming governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa States.

The party leaders spoke at the inauguration of the National Campaign Council for the three states as well as the presentation of certificates of return to the party’s three governorship candidates, in Abuja, on Wednesday.

Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagun, in his remarks described the inauguration as historic noting that the chances of the party emerging victorious were brighter than ever.

He said, “We will have Bayelsa, we will have Imo and we will have Kogi. These are PDP states. Somehow, they slipped away but Bayelsa has always had a PDP governor. I want to challenge everyone in this country to look at the states governed by PDP governors viz-a-viz the other parties. We have always excelled.

“Today marks another historic day for the PDP in its political development. As we inaugurate the National Campaign Council for Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States, I want to say a few things to members of these campaign councils.

“You’ve been carefully selected to go into these states and saddled with the campaigns. We don’t expect less from you because before you were selected, you were found very capable and we expect nothing other than victory.

“You are going in at a time whereby the country as it is, everybody is feeling the burden of the mistakes that have happened in this country.

“What is expected of you is go there and remind them that this is not what we bargained for and that there is a time God in his infinite mercy, always give us to change the course of history, and this is the time.

“To you that are going to Kogi and Imo states, remind them that it has not been like that before they made a mistake to where they are today. There are times and opportunities to change and there’s no better time than now.”

Damagun also charged members of the committee to go out and “conquer.”

Speaking in a similar vein, the party’s National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, who also spoke shortly after the presentation of certificates of return to the three candidates said, “We are here to present certificates of return to our three candidates for Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa States.

“The party is sure of coming victorious. As you are aware, we are presenting Gov Duoye Diri for Bayelsa State; our own National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu for Imo State and My own brother, Senator Dino Melaye for Kogi State.

“As you heard yesterday at the court, the judge said Nigeria needs a lot of prayers. We need prayers for these three candidates to win this election.”

On his part, Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, who is seeking reelection on the party’s ticket said, “PDP is very sure of victory in Bayelsa State. We don’t have any internal crisis in the PDP in Bayelsa State.

“This is a governorship election in Bayelsa State and so, we are well organized. We have more members of the opposition coming into PDP in Bayelsa State.

“Those are no issues in Bayelsa State. Bayelsa PDP is very strong, vibrant and poised the win the election.

“If I should give you a scale, it would be like 80-20. Bayelsans have resolved unanimously that PDP as exemplified by me, you don’t need to change players in a winning team. Bayelsans are very resolute about that and I just want to say thank you. We will do it again.”

The party’s candidate for the Imo State election, Sen. Sam Anyanwu, in his remarks said, “Imo is traditionally PDP State. What you have there now is a product of the court. I am back to reclaim the mandate of the PDP.”

The National President of Heavy-Duty Drivers Association, Mr Uchenna Nebuwa, says members of the association and other drivers no longer use the second Niger Bridge because of security concerns.

Nebuwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Onitsha that criminals have taken over the route, including Obosi-Owerri axis of the road.

According to him, hoodlums, armed robbers and kidnappers now operate along the bridge.

“Drivers are afraid because there is no adequate security on the second Niger bridge, Federal Government should provide security to secure lives and property.

“Another worrisome one is the failed portions of Obosi-Owerri road, as our trucks fall on the road on daily basis, we have lost over N20 billion worth of vehicles and goods on that road.

”We are begging Federal Government to help us fix the failed portions of Obosi-Owerri road as this will encourage drivers to be using the second Niger bridge”, he said.

Also speaking, the Chairman, Great Tippers Association of Nigeria, Anambra Chapter, Mr Chukwuemeka Olekpe, expressed concern about the security situation, saying armed robbers and kidnappers have scared them away from using the bridge.

On his part, a commercial bus driver, Paul Osakwe, who plies Asaba-Owerri road, said drivers avoid the area because the bridge has become lonely and insecure.

“The bridge is not secure, it’s too lonely, you can’t even try to use it at night, even you inside the bus will be scared, government should at least install light on the bridge, maybe that will help”, he said.

Mr Seyi Martins, the Engineer in charge of the bridge, attributed its low usage to the security challenges in the South-East, adding that their mandate was to construct the bridge and open it to ease traffic.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr Mahmuda Mamman, had while inspecting the vandalised part of the bridge on Monday, urged security agencies to beef up security on the second Niger bridge and surrounding areas.

The chief executive officer of Convvy Estates Limited, Samuel Oni has lamented the current cost of labour and building materials triggered by removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government, saying it is affecting the cost of housing units in the country.

The Convvy boss, who disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos, revealed that the cost of labour and building materials have skyrocketed, saying he has been working around his finances and work’s ethics without compromising standards.

He said: “within the estate, we do some basic things by ourselves. Let me let you know that the cost of labour has also gone up. A mason or carpenter now collects N7,000 instead N3,500. We have to go back to the drawing board to look at our operation, then scale it down so that we will be picking it gradually. We are not stopping work, we are progressing but our activities are based on scale of preference.”

Due to these challenges, he said, the prices of the housing units have been affected, adding that the increase in price is tied to the present economic challenges.

“Housing units’ prices ranged from N55 million for outright purchase. The same unit can’t go for that in the next 12 months. When we started, the price was N48 million. The fuel subsidy removal is affecting our bottom line if you look at it very well,” he said.

He disclosed the 2025 deadline for the delivery of all the housing units, pointing out that, one uniqueness about the estate was that, immediately you subscribed and made payment, subscribers got all their documents immediately.

He added that lack of transparency in the area of documentation remains one of the reasons Nigerians in Diaspora are wary of investing in housing back home.

Oni said:” When we showed interest in investing back home in Nigeria, we said we wanted all the documents to be perfected before selling any of the property. And that’s what we are doing in Convvy Estate. As you subscribe to our estate and make full payment, you get all the documents.“

Having spent two years in putting Convvy Estate in shape, Oni is of the opinion that Nigerians, wherever they are either at home or in the diaspora, should be able to buy land, subscribe or get their home conveniently without any hassle, without omo-onile’s crisis, without the issue of documentation.

“Documentation is the most common thing that is really a hindrance to people living abroad from investing in real estate back home. For people living abroad, there is this kind of distorted information, process that you have to get this, you have to buy this, and at the end of the day after paying for some certain documents, developers would still go back to them that they still need to pay for one kind of document that does not really exists.

“I am a Nigerian and I live in Canada, I have witnessed how things are done over there in Canada, South Africa and other parts of the world. I am also bringing this to Nigeria and that is the basis of Convvy Estates,” he said.

A data and intelligence company providing subscription-based data and insight to global businesses and professionals, Stears has conducted a poll to understand public sentiment in the wake of a storm of policy reforms implemented by the current administration.

In the poll, the intelligence company has rated president Bola Ahmed

Tinubu’s policy approval rating better than former president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The newly introduced Stears Approval Rating (SAR) revealed that despite multiple policy changes, Tinubu’s policies have received twice as many approvals from respondents compared to those of the previous administration.

The inaugural Stears Approval Rating sampled 519 respondents across Lagos’ 20 local government areas.

The SAR is built from responses to 25 questions about socioeconomic policies, living conditions, institutional trust and voter status. Interviews were conducted in English, Pidgin English, and Yoruba, and lasted an average of 10 minutes.

“After Stears’ proprietary estimation model correctly predicted the outcome of the 2023 presidential elections, we wanted to continue to build on the application of data in governance and beyond. Particularly, we’re excited about how the SAR captures subtle fluctuations in consumer sentiment,” explains Tokunbo Afikuyomi, Economist at Stears.

Senior Governance Analyst, Joachim MacEbong, expressed the importance of paying attention to the survey results. He stated, “The Stears survey offers a valuable glimpse into the concerns of Nigerians, and it is clear that urgent action is needed to ease the cost burdens on citizens. Our poll showed that 42% of Lagosians are pessimistic while 32% said they were optimistic about the country’s direction.”

A United States-based financial expert, Kalu Aja has warned that Nigeria may not be able to sustain the war it is starting with Niger Republic.

President Bola Tinubu in a leaked memo ordered the Nigerian Army to proceed to Sokoto State and enforce a no-fly zone in Niger.

The Chiefs of Defence Staff of Togo, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Guinea, Gambia, Cote’Divoire, Cabo Verde, and the Republic of Benin held a meeting on Wednesday in Abuja over the matter.

The order by Tinubu was in response to the coup which took place in Niger Republic last week that ousted Mohamed Bazoum, the country’s elected president.

The Niger coup plotters however warned against ‘military intervention’ by ECOWAS.

Aja in his analysis said Tinubu does not have a fund appropriated by the National Assembly to fund a war.

He said considering economic realities, the country does not have the financial capacity to enforce a no-fly zone in Niger.

He said in his analysis seen by THE WHISTLER, “I don’t believe the President has this authority without NASS appropriation of funds for this action which will cost a lot of money.

“I personally know Nigeria does not have the means or financial resources to enforce a no-fly zone in Niger Republic, where is the aviation fuel?

“Last year bandits inside Nigeria shut down a Nigerian fighter jet, yet we are prepping to cross an international border? With fighter jets?”

Tinubu is facing an internal crisis. The fuel subsidy removal has induced hardship in Africa’s biggest economy leading to a national protest.

The country borrowed $800m from the World Bank as a palliative for subsidy removal.

According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s total debt was N49.85trn as of March 2023, excluding the Ways and Means of N22.7trn.

Also, the country is battling with Boko Haram terrorists in the North as well as farmer-herder crisis. In the South Eastern region, it is faced with separatist agitations.

Aja explained, “Nigerian farmers do not have safe access to farms, this insecurity has led to high inflation in Nigeria caused by high food costs. Similarly, oil exports have been muted due to illegal oil theft inside Nigerian waters.

“A President that has told the Nigerian Labour Congress he inherited a mess and pleads with Nigerians still earning N30,000 as month minimum wage should focus on Nigerians, not Nigeriens.”

Tragedy struck on Tuesday in Akure following the over 24 hours’ rainfall which led to part of a building collapsing and causing the death of a man.

Eyewitnesses told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that the incident occurred at 3.00 pm, at Itedo Eledumare Street, Oba-Ile in Akure North local government area.

Mrs Elizabeth Columbus, a tenant in the collapsed bungalow, said that a section of the building wall collapsed on Mr Titus Adega and his five-year-old son , Kizito Adega, causing the death of the former.

The widow of the deceased, Mrs Margaret Adega, said the wall of the back section of the building suddenly fell on her husband and son, who were outside, during the rainfall.

“I heard the loud cry of my son from deep in my sleep and I rushed outside to discover him under the rubble of the collapsed wall of the building.

“I tried to extricate him and discovered the unconscious body of my husband on top of him. I believe my husband used his body to protect our son when the wall fell.

“I called out to neighbours who assisted me to extricate them from the rubbles and rushed them to the maternity centre in the neighborhood.

“There we were asked to take them to the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, but when we got there, he was confirmed dead on arrival.”

The widow said that the corpse had been deposited at the mortuary while their son, who had a fracture on the leg and slight bruises on the face, was receiving treatment.

Margaret Adega said immediately her son was discharged from hospital, her husband’s corpse would be taken to Benue for burial.

Mr Gabriel Folahan, the head of the Children’s Emergency Room, said Kizito Adega was brought in at 4.52 p.m., with bruises on the face and a leg fracture.

Folahan said the child would be referred to the orthopedic ward for traction today

The Adamawa State House of Assembly has screened and confirmed 23 commissioner nominees to form Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s cabinet.

Six of the 23 commissioner-designates are former commissioners and two are women.

The confirmation followed the completion of the screening exercise of the last batch of commissioner nominees in the House.

Speaker Bathiya Wesley, who directed the clerk to communicate the House resolution to executive governor for further action, commended his colleagues for the successful exercise.

Wesley said the exercise was enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, adding that those slated for appointment to serve as members of the state executive council ought to be screened and confirmed by the legislature.

The Assembly earlier screened the first batch of the commissioner Nominees on August 1, 2023 while the remaining batch of the nominees were screened on August 2, 2023 as scheduled by the House leadership.

The exercise was based on the track records, experience and qualifications of the nominees.

The commissioner nominees screened in the second batch include Ibrahim Mijinyawa (Yola North); Barr. Wali Yakubu (Madagali); Musa Mahmud (MayoBelwa); Usman Abdullahi Lamorde (Mubi South); Mrs Wunfe Brina Anthony (Guyuk); Dr Umar Garba Pella (Hong); and Barr. Bello Hamman Diram (Yola South).

Others, who scaled the screening exercise, are chief Felix Tangwami (Demsa); Titus Solomon (Lamurde); Anthony Garba Pindimso (Toungo); Mrs Neido Geofrey kofulto (Numan); Ibrahim Haruna (Shelleng); and Ayuba Audu Tanko (Mubi North)

When money is involved, there should be a contract or a legal agreement binding all the parties even if the parties are Siamese twins, siblings, husband and wife, childhood friends, family members, church members etc. No matter how closely related you are, once there is money involved and parties have to work together, pull their resources together, and invest their time, resources and energy together in other to make money or to earn some profits, there should be a legal contract spelling out the responsibilities and duties of the partners or the parties involved, spell out who contributed what and how the profit or the return on investment should be shared amongst the parties once the profits start rolling in. 

Why it is important to have a legal agreement or a contract drawn up even if you are going into business with your blood relative or long-time buddy because talking from experience, I have seen childhood friends turn into enemies through the course of their business dealing and they started dragging themselves in court over who gets what. Immediately one of the parties feels cheated, it will lead to resentment and sometimes leads to a court battle and it becomes complex to handle when there is no pre-existing contract that spelled out who gets what. 

I have handled a series of briefs where the parties involved were ex-husbands and wives. They started a business together and when their relationship went sour since there was no contract in place regarding the business they started together they engaged themselves in a legal battle as to who gets what. 

There is this popular airline in Nigeria, they have the popularity for being the cheapest airline to fly with currently in Nigeria (I am intentionally leaving out the name of the airline but you should know them). The founders are childhood friends, born and raised in the same village but they are currently dragging each other in court over who gets what in the share and profit of the business. The case has been in court for years now and it’s not looking like it will not end anytime soon. The reason why they are fighting in court is that they placed their existing relationship as childhood friends in front and failed to draw up a legal agreement as to how to pool their resources together, fund the project and how they will be entitled to their return on investment. Their legal battle is having a serious impact on the company and if not resolved soon it will force the airline to be shut down. 

The easiest way to avoid all these is to at least create a partnership agreement. This partnership agreement should contain the following; 

Name of the partnership or the business 

Names of the partners and their details 

Purpose of forming the partnership/ business 

Responsibilities/ job requirements of partners 

Financial contribution of partners 

How and when proceeds or return on investment are to be shared amongst partners (who gets what and when). 

Process of adding a new partner or removing an existing partner

How dispute is to be resolved amongst partners when a dispute arises 

Duration of the partnership and how the partnership will be dissolved of the project is time bound

Agreement as to openness for the acquisition of the business, etc. 

Once there is an agreement containing at least the above information, if there is a dispute or disagreement which is bound to arise, the partners will always refer to the agreement as a rule book, standing as a reference or guide so as see how to navigate the ship during the storm and if the disagreement becomes unresolved amongst the partners and it ends up in court, the court will always refer to the partnership agreement in settlement of the dispute. 

Consult a lawyer today to draw up a partnership agreement or a contract for you and your partners before you invest or join that project. 

Apart from the worn-out reasons of “deteriorating security and poor economic and social governance” given by the coup plotters, other familiar reasons have ranged from jihadist insurgencies to corruption and poverty; and from high birth rate to desertification.

Not only are military coups becoming frighteningly frequent in West and Central Africa, virtually all of them, it appears, also speak French.

For the fifth time in three years in West Africa, soldiers struck again in Niger, Nigeria’s Northern neighbour, where former President Muhammadu Buhari had teasingly longed for refuge from Nigeria’s hostile press.

With the recent turn of events, however, it appears that Buhari’s speed train to Maradi, Niger’s ancient city, may have to find another destination.

It’s the fifth successful military coup in that country since 1960.

Apart from the worn-out reasons of “deteriorating security and poor economic and social governance” given by the coup plotters, other familiar reasons have ranged from jihadist insurgencies to corruption and poverty; and from high birth rate to desertification.

As Nigeria’s president and new chairman of the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, rallies the subregion to confront what is now called “Africa’s coup belt”, he would find that the problem in the region’s largest landlocked country, which shares the longest land border with Nigeria, is far more complicated than it appears.

It is heartening that the UN and the AU have condemned the coup and that the US and France have also lent their voices to the call for the soldiers in Niamey to return to the barracks.

Tinubu would find, however, that beneath the veneer of foreign concern lies a web of vested interests and powerplay involving the US, but particularly France and China, that make other well-known complications in Niger look like small potatoes.

Once upon a time – and that was about one and a half decades ago – it was widely assumed that after multi-party democracy was introduced in that country in 2010 following the coup that removed President Mamadou Tanja, Niger would finally have a chance to reset.

In fact, the man who took office after the brief spell of military takeover, Mahamadou Issoufou, acquitted himself so well after two terms in office that he received the Mo Ibrahim Prize for good governance.

President Mohamed Bazoum, widely expected to build on Issoufou’s fragile record, had only been in office two years before soldiers removed him on July 26.

Tinubu would find, however, that beneath the veneer of foreign concern lies a web of vested interests and powerplay involving the US, but particularly France and China, that make other well-known complications in Niger look like small potatoes

However tempting it is to resist the trope of looking for foreign scapegoats, it’s fair to say that the snake of Niger’s problem has its hand buried in the womb of the unfinished problems of Tanja’s confrontation with France.

That confrontation, which finally left Tanja in bed with the Chinese over Niger’s uranium and mineral deposits and, in fact, also produced a refinery built by the Chinese, became compounded by other factors, a number of which were, sadly, self-inflicted, over the years.

Tanja, a former colonel, was on the verge of serving out his constitutional two-term limit of five years each, when he instigated an extension.

When the process appeared doomed to fail, he not only scrapped the constitutional court that ruled that his attempt was illegal, but also scrapped the parliament. But that’s only part of the story.

The other important part was Tanja’s confrontation with French state-owned atomic energy group, Areva, which had enjoyed a de facto monopoly of the country’s rich uranium, a strategic resource for France’s nuclear power.

Areva’s profit from uranium is twice Niger’s GDP.

In a multi-million-dollar deal with China in which Tanja did not mind cutting Niger’s nose to spite the face of France, he pulled the plug on Francophone Africa’s most significant player, making the French play second fiddle to the new Chinese bride.

When the tables turned following Tanja’s ouster, Paris was more than happy to dance on his political grave. But the story did not end there.

According to Tom Burgis in his no-holds-barred book, The Looting Machine, Niger spent $47 million from the proceeds of the uranium deal on arms to suppress the Tuareg rebels; and when a further $300 million came later from signature payment by China National Petroleum Corporation, to develop an oil block, the question was no longer whether Tanja could afford to make trouble, but how much.

“The military coup against Tanja,” Burgis wrote, “deepens fears in Africa that China’s competition with the old powers for the continent’s resources was giving rise to a new and ruinous rivalry like that of the Cold War which had allowed dictators to play Communist and capitalist suitors against one another.”

With the avalanche of light arms flowing out of the broken North African country, it was not too difficult for power hungry soldiers in Niger to topple Tanja’s corrupt government in 2010, ushering in a brief spell of military rule.

Deposed President Bazoum, who was elected only two years ago, steered Niger back to warm relations with Paris which, obviously, is one of the main grouses of the soldiers.

In a viral statement credited to coup leader, Major General Abdurrahman Tchiani, he accused the president of taking orders from France before deciding what to do with terrorists, without regard for the lives of Nigerien soldiers “falling at the fronts.”

And added, for good measure, that regional leaders with dubious electoral records had no moral right to challenge the coup.

The coup is a huge embarrassment for ECOWAS, yet from its record, the likely failure of the one-week ultimatum to the soldiers in Niamey would only compound the misery of the regional body.

Already, the military governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea, have lined up behind Niger, threatening to quit any regional group that enforces sanctions against Niger.

Apart from Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone and perhaps also in The Gambia, not once in the last nearly 30 years or so has ECOWAS been able to reverse a military takeover in any country.

And sadly, for the region, the Niger coup is coming at a time when its chairman and president of the regional powerhouse, Tinubu, is facing a perfect storm at home: protests by Labour and widespread economic discontent as the president struggles to fix the country.

It does not help also that while ECOWAS is tightening its noose around Niger, the Wagner mercenaries, that French nightmare with Russian roots, is expanding its footprint on the continent, lurking in the shadows and hoping to do for the Nigerien coup plotters what it did for their Malian cousins.

If the regional body manages to chase away the Nigerien soldier kites, it might also have to return to warn the numerous straying democracy chicks across the region, to mend their catastrophically prodigal ways

Of course, ECOWAS must do what is necessary to prevent the contagion of military coups, reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s.

But the coup in Niger also highlights the increasing failure of periodic elections and Western-style democracy to deliver value for the swathes of citizens chafing under flawed elections and corrupt governments.

The swift response of the regional body is commendable as it is a clear message that it would not be business as usual for soldiers.

Yet, with foreign interests prowling the region and waiting to pounce, it is improbable that the soldiers in Niamey would trade off what appears to be fairly widespread support and return to the barracks with their tail between their legs.

French legacy of namby-pamby in Francophone West Africa well past its usefulness, except for France, appears to have come back to haunt Mère France with a fury.

ECOWAS may have to review its ultimatum and adopt a negotiated exit, with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s example in Sao Tome in 2003, as guide.

Since ECOWAS was founded in 1975, only one country, Mauritania, has left.

Tinubu cannot afford to be the president that lost three ECOWAS countries in two months.

If the regional body manages to chase away the Nigerien soldier kites, it might also have to return to warn the numerous straying democracy chicks across the region, to mend their catastrophically prodigal ways.