Nigeria News
Dele Momodu: A Brotherly Advice to Governor Akpabio
By Dele Momodu
Chief Dele Momodu
Your Excellency, I find it necessary to write this open letter to you in order to let you know what I had always wanted to tell you as an admirer and keen watcher of your activities and commendable performance in the oil-rich State of Akwa Ibom. Let me confess that I was one of those who felt you were a media creation, all hype and gas, without any solid substance. Your hyperactive nature makes it natural for people to conclude that you are a noise-maker, attention-seeker and publicity-grabber.
However, I had the opportunity and privilege of visiting Uyo, the beautiful capital of Akwa Ibom, early in 2011, a few months to the Presidential election in which I humbly participated. It was not part of my original plan to visit your magnificent Government House. But man proposes and God disposes. I had hoped to quietly spend quality time at the wedding of my young friend, and the then President of a large chunk of the fratricidal National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Mr Ini Ememobong. I was pleasantly surprised when you breezed in half-way into the colourful ceremony and electrified the atmosphere. Your arrival and participation took the youthful wedding soiree to a crescendo and I was gratified by your effortless connection to the young folks.
I observed your friendliness and affability. When you saw me, you were extremely warm and you told me you had to accord me the protocol which befits a Presidential candidate visiting your jurisdiction and invited me over to dinner later that evening at your home. I was quite impressed that our politics was no longer that of bitterness. I saw hope in you and your tribe of new-breed politicians. My dream for Nigeria had always been for us to climb up to a stage where we can all work for the good of our country no matter our different persuasions.
I honoured your invitation and visited your ultra-modern palace, which is the true description of the high-tech edifice. The dinner you laid out was elaborate and fit for a king. Of course, the powerful Commandant of the Nigeria Defense College, Rear Admiral Thomas Jonah Lokoson was on a visit and he was your special guest that night. Also present were some Senate members of NANS who came along to taste your exceptional hospitality. I was particularly impressed about your eloquent oratory. You spoke passionately from the heart and reeled out the endless achievements of your government and stewardship. It was difficult not to be enraptured by your sweet rhapsodies and sonorous melodies.
My conclusion as I drove out of your official residence that night was that a few of the bright PDP Governors might end up being the saving grace and the handsome face for the grossly incompetent monstrosity called the Federal Government. Your party had wielded enormous power and spent humongous budgets in 12 years with nothing to show for it. Those campaigning for Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had assured Nigerians of a breath of fresh air if he was sworn in as substantive President. How I wished Nigeria as a whole could witness the type of development, albeit sporadic, that I saw on ground in Uyo. I truly wondered why you did not seek to be the President with your apparent larger-than-life vision. Why is it that conservative parties in Nigeria can’t see the common-sense in fielding some of their outstanding members? I could never fathom why our avuncular President, General Olusegun Obasanjo could not support the charming, modern and forward-looking Governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke, when he was brewing the ugly mess that has led us to where we are today.
This was the stream-of-consciousness that raced through my thought-process as I returned to my hotel that night. I secretly prayed for you to see the wisdom in raising your ante by seeking a bigger role sooner than later. In other climes, it would have been possible for you to challenge the incumbent President to a rigorous duel but not in our dear country where the omnipotent leaders practically use their talismanic scanners to read the minds of ambitious colleagues ahead of time. I did not know my innocuous wishes for your type would later come to haunt one of Nigeria’s most energetic Governors, Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi who has virtually become a pariah in your party today.
This is the crux of my epistle to you. I have not been very pleased with the assignment you’ve been given or awarded to yourself since the beginning of this unfortunate imbroglio. You’ve been sending wrong signals to your great fans like me. The impression from certain quarters is that you view Governor Amaechi as your arch-rival and you are all out and determined to run him out of town. If the truth must be told, it is beginning to show you as someone who would do anything and everything to damage and destroy any form of competition. This is very unnecessary and extremely tragic. Indeed that was not the view of you that I formed and took away from that chance encounter in Uyo. I saw you as a man who wanted to live and let others live.
You were elected to serve and promote the best interests of Akwa Ibom and not to run errands for the Federal Government. You can do your job very well without getting involved in the pettiness being foisted on our nation from the very top. What shall it profit the Presidency if it achieves its crooked ambition of removing Amaechi as Chairman of a social club called the Nigeria Governors Forum? More importantly, what shall it add to your own curriculum vitae if Amaechi is eventually impeached as the Governor of Rivers State?
I believe you have gone too far and too deep into this matter that it would seem there was a personal animosity between both of you when there may not be any. However perception is key and public opinion even more so. There is no reason, whatsoever, for you to get involved in a matter that concerns one of your colleagues. The Federal Government is big enough to fight its own battles. It has Ministers, Special Advisers and many hangers-on who are willing to act as cannon fodder or even suicide bombers. You are too big and far too important to be used as a human King Kong. You stand to lose more than what you can gain if you persist and continue on this dangerous road to perdition. What I can see very clearly is that you’re eroding and wasting your excellent equity on a worthless venture.
Please, permit me to refresh your memory a bit. Once upon a time, there were Governors that were supposedly close to President Olusegun Obasanjo. They included `Diepriye Alamieyeseigha, Joshua Dariye, James Ibori, Peter Fayose, Olusegun Osoba, Gbenga Daniels, Bukola Saraki, Peter Odili, and several others. They wielded stupendous powers, or so they thought! What happened to them? One by one, they were cleverly elevated to a point where they felt comfortably secure before being surgically removed and clinically eliminated. It is not in the character of our leaders to entrust power in more competent and charismatic subordinates. They always promote the dregs of society whom they believe lack ambition, vision and ultimately, the grit to challenge them. Popularity and fame are veritable sources of irritation to such leaders. This is why you should be very careful.
No matter how much you portray yourself to be humble and absolutely loyal to the Him-on-High in Abuja, it is a wasted effort. Your future ambition screams from afar. Anyone discerning enough would know you’re heading somewhere and don’t President Jonathan is fooled about your voluptuous desire. You’re an irrepressible soul, and when the time comes the Nigerian Mafia will try to cut you down to size. Your aura is such that is so sharp and palpable. Take it from me; the forces that control our nation would never go to sleep with two eyes closed while you’re around. Right now, what they are thinking is that you’re just pretending to be with them in order to achieve a pre-determined mission. That was how your predecessors ran into troubled waters. Most of them were used and dumped. I cannot see your case being any different.
Governor Alams was particularly close to President Obasanjo and was called the Governor-General at the height of his power and glory. President Obasanjo wrote two eloquent letters to him at different times testifying to the giddy success of Alams’ administration in the space of a few years because of the developments that he had witnessed in Yenagoa on both occasions that he had visited. All it took to hack him down was a rumoured romance with the then Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Chief Olusegun Osoba and President Obasanjo are of the same Egba tribe. I remember the wedding of Kofoworola Obasanjo in London, Aremo Osoba was the father of the day. He wore the same Agbada with the President and they looked very chummy together, blood brothers on a mission only they were privy to. However, one thing led to another and Obasanjo decided he needed to grab the South West to prove his manhood to the PDP. In this calculation, Osoba was expendable. His interest was inconsequential, notwithstanding whatever pact Akinrogun imagined that he had extracted from the Generalissimo. No consideration was given to his feelings and he was simply squashed underfoot and erased from the equation.
The case of Dr Peter Odili was particularly instructive. He worked assiduously and traversed the whole nation promoting his Presidential dream. At a stage, everything looked promising and it was just a matter of time before his mission would be accomplished. That was when the axe-man moved in and sliced him to pieces. Even when he was promised the Vice Presidential slot, it was merely a ploy to buy time and pave the way for a man they foolishly thought was stupid but later turned out to be smarter than his sponsors, Dr Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who was the Governor of Katsina State at the time.
Let me take one more example out of so many that I can assemble. The story of Chief Ibori was more dramatic. Somehow, he was able to out-manoeuvre the fox and made himself one of the most prominent kingmakers in Nigeria. But the principalities never left him totally out of sight and when it was time they moved in on him. What was strange was it was a President from the same geographical zone who smoked him out of the hole that eventually exposed him to a couple of years of detention in Dubai and a long prison sentence in London. If anyone had foretold all these tragedies would befall the ‘Ogidigborigbo of Africa’ some years back we would have called the person a fake prophet of doom.
I have laboured to write this epistle because I adore your capabilities and positive energies. If I were you, I will dream bigger than you are doing presently. I will remove myself from the present mess and mind my own business. There are bigger targets to fix your gaze on beyond the shores of Nigeria. Forget about going to the Senate and forcing your way through. You don’t need such distraction. As a matter of fact, such moves have become the trend and are just too predictable.
As one of the better materials we have in Nigeria today, you should climb the world stage as a Statesman and not as a local champion. I expect to see you teaching Leadership courses in Harvard and propounding practical theories. The world should be able to benefit from your wealth of experience. You have the chance of also joining world figures as global Ambassadors and can earn a decent living from speaking engagements and by so doing turn your back on the plundering of the nation which doubles for governance in these parts of the world.
I’m seriously pleading with you to change how we do things in our around here and help to open new vistas and set new standards in public life. I pray you will see the sense and sincerity in my brotherly advice and act accordingly.
If you do, I’m sure you will find yourself on the threshold of honour. It is not too late to achieve this possibility.
Stay blessed as the future beckons…
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: Citizens Platform
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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