Nigerian Newspapers
Tribute to Wole Awolowo
called him ‘My Publisher.’ But he was more. He was a brother, an inspiration, and a boss. A kindred spirit of the pen. Even years after my tour of duty in Nigerian Tribune, he never ceased telling me that ‘Folu, this is your paper o. Anything you can do to help its continuous growth is welcomed, any day and any time.’
That was Uncle Wole Awolowo for you. You can then imagine my shock and sorrow when the terrible news began to filter in that hot and windy Wednesday of March 27, 2013. Uncle Wole is dead! The news swept in like a blaze ignited by a rampaging tornado. It hit the heart with the heart and soul with the force of thunderbolt.
A call from a younger professional colleague in the Premium Times Online that I fondly call Idris made the sad news a vivid reality. “Good evening sir,” he said as I stepped out of a meeting that hectic day. “There is a news item on twitter that Chief Oluwole Awolowo has passed on.”
I asked him what he had just said. He repeated it. I told him I would call him back. I never did. I didn’t remember to return the call because almost immediately he dropped, another call came in. It was from the newsroom of the Nigerian Tribune, confirming my worst fear.
I was already in transit for a week retreat and could not call off the trip to dash to Ikenne. Like millions of Nigerians who love the Awolowo Family, I was devastated. But I was somewhat comforted, later, by the outpouring of emotions and sympathies expressed by Nigerians, at home and in the diaspora, over the passing of Uncle Wole. Condolence messages and sympathy visits to Mama H.I.D. Awolowo have been pouring like a deluge for the painful loss of her only surviving son.
I immediately composed my tribute thus:
‘The passing away of Uncle Wole during this passion week for our Lord Jesus Christ came to me like a thunderbolt. I’m still in shock, trying desperately to bring myself to confront the reality. I’m yet to come out of the shock. To me, his death will continue to be a pain that will be difficult to heal in my heart. He was an uncle, a boss and brother that impacted so much on my life. I spent over 20 years working with him closely. Those were years of sweet and, sometimes, sour memories. Mama always sees us as two brothers brought together by accident of history. ‘Anytime I came to see mama she would first ask me whether I had seen my brother, Wole, and whenever I was with Uncle Wole, he, too, knowing how much mama loves me, would ask: ‘have you seen Mama?’
‘Uncle Wole, may your gentle soul rest in perfect peace. And for Mama, although we know the pains of losing Uncle Wole, who was always around to fix things for you, will be extremely heavy for you to bear, who are we, mere mortals, to query God? But like the Omniscient says in His Holy book, rather than query Him, we will continue to praise His holy name for He knows why He permitted this sad loss at this time. Mama, it is well with you, body, soul and spirit.’
Reminiscences: Wole Awolowo and I
I joined the Nigerian Tribune at a very early stage of my life in 1972 as a cub reporter under the tutelage of Alhaji Lateef Jakande who later groomed me into a crack reporter.
Papa Awolowo noticed my zeal for hard work and I found myself as one of his favourites that he picked me to cover his electioneering campaigns in 1979 and 1983 respectively.
During this period, I did not see much of Uncle Wole. He was a little distanced from the flurry of activities of Papa Awo. Though he had his own political philosophy, Uncle Wole was into various economic businesses. However, the fact still remains that he was Papa Awo’s son.
Uncle Wole was a free-minded person whose friends and associates cut across political lines. He took a shot at an elective office at Apapa Constituency during Papa Awo’s second bid for the Presidency.
Papa Awo at first did not to bother himself with Uncle Wole’s political ambition but had to change his mind knowing that the political fortune of his son or otherwise would impact on him too. Papa Awo went full blast to campaign for Uncle Wole and he won convincingly. Uncle Wole needed the press and that assignment fell on me and gave me the opportunity to have my first close contact with him. He looked simple but under this seeming simplicity hid a strong and principled character.
Papa Awo passed on to glory in 1987 and the mantle of overseeing Nigerian Tribune titles fell on him. Uncle Wole knew how close I was to Papa and Mama Awo and accorded me that respect to freely ply my trade in the establishment.
I edited the Sunday Tribune for six years, Nigerian Tribune for six years, became Executive Director Operations for three years overseeing the production, advertisement, circulation and transport sections. Later, I was moved to head the editorial department as Executive Director Publications.
In all these assignments, Uncle Wole gave me a free hand. He was also passionate with the survival of the paper to the extent of having sleepless nights. Not only that, we travelled together to almost all the key cities of the world attending one seminar or the other in search of making the Nigerian Tribune titles the flagship of newspapers in Nigeria.
These trips took us to almost every part of Africa, Europe, Far East, South and Central America and, of course, the United States of America.
Uncle Wole always made sure he factored me with any of these trips abroad. In most cases, he would go to the banks, arrange for my traveling allowances, and would just call and inform me of the date of the trip. He ensured I did not lack anything whenever I was on a trip with him.
In early 1990s, we were on a trip to South Africa to attend the International Press Institute (IPI) annual conference and there was this chance meeting with the then President-elect, Dr. Nelson Mandela at NICON Hotel in Cape Town. Uncle Wole was introduced to him at the lounge and Mandela’s eyes brightened and he warmly shook the hands of Uncle Wole, saying “Your father was a great politician”. I caught that moment with my camera and celebrated it on the pages of Nigerian Tribune newspapers.
Another moment of note was when we travelled to Granada in Spain for another yearly confab of IPI. Our first port of call was Barcelona. We did not know we still had another 24 hours to travel by train to Granada. It was a tortuous trip. However, Uncle Wole kept his cool.
He told our coordinator, the late Mr. Niyi Oniororo, that he would like to share his cabin with me. It was a journey I saw the true person of Uncle Wole as a caring and humane man. In that cabin was an iron bed with a passable mattress. I told my publisher that I would not mind staying awake all night so he could have the comfort of the bed. He refused my offer, gave me the bed and stayed awake all night, watching over me! It was the same scenario on the return trip.
An incident happened when I was the Executive Director Of Operations. He gave me an assignment to travel to London twice and Germany once to meet credible suppliers of printing machine. On my return from these trips, I had a meeting with our senior accountants on how we could save enough without going to the banks for loan. I was told that our accounts were in the red. I did not believe them and made some comments. But to my surprise, words got to publisher and my comments were twisted to mean I was prying into what should not be my concern. That day, I was in Lagos and I had to call on Uncle Wole on my way to Ibadan.
I knew Uncle Wole. He was not a pretender. As soon as he saw me, he flared up and said, “Folu, what is your concern about finance in The Tribune”. I took my time to explain that he gave me an assignment to source for funds for a new machine and I thought we should look inward first. If we were making daily sales, it won’t be too much to start saving five million naira every month, and in six months we would have something substantial as deposit. When he heard my explanation, his anger evaporated. He smiled and said he had been misinformed and he was back to his normal self almost immediately.
Another rumour was about me having a house in London. It took Uncle Wole to travel with me to London on an official assignment to know the truth that I was, indeed, staying with my bosom friend, Professor Okanlawon Onagbesan. He also confirmed that I had no other place I spent my yearly holiday in London than with this my friend.
Ten years after I left The Tribune, my love for him never waned. I am in close touch with some of his children who see me as their uncle too.
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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. A DisNaija.Com network.
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•Deploy more personnel as army chief vows to wipe out terror group
•Security beefed up at N’Assembly
Deji Elumoye and Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power, is under a massive security cordon following threats of attacks by insurgents and the increasing wave of banditry in the contiguous states of Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger States, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.
There has been a wave of kidnappings in the outskirts of the federal capital, notably Pegi, Tuganmaje and Kuje among others, which the police have battled in recent times.
The security situation in and around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was heightened by the pronouncement of the Niger State Governor, Mr. Sani Bello, that Boko Haram fighters who he said sacked 50 villages in the state and hoisted the terror group’s flag, were about two hours drive away from the FCT.
Security has also been beefed up at the National Assembly as operatives, yesterday, thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
The deteriorating security situation nationwide prompted the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, to warn that the 2023 general election may not hold, demanding the declaration of a state of emergency as well as the convocation of a national conference.
However, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, yesterday restated the Nigerian Army’s determination to annihilate Boko Haram.
But the Governor of Katsina State, Hon. Bello Masari, cautioned against declaring a state of emergency, saying doing so isn’t the solution to combat the security challenges facing the country.
The security of the nation’s airports was also in focus yesterday as the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said there was no threat to them.
THISDAY’s investigations showed increased presence of troops, police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel and intelligence operatives at the three strategic entrances to the city notably, Keffi, Zuba and Gwagwalada.
More checkpoints were also mounted around Gwagwalada and Keffi.
THISDAY also observed increased intelligence deployment at the entrance and the borders of FCT with contiguous states.
Beyond the borders, there were more deployments and police patrols inside the city and increased intelligence deployments as well.
Security sources told THISDAY: “There are deployments here and there but they are routine. Alertness is key to a secure environment.”
It was also learnt that security agencies were involved in frenzied meetings throughout yesterday.
The meetings, coordinated by the office of the Chief of Defence Staff under the new joint operational strategy of the armed forces, were aimed at coordinating a joint response to possible threats of attack to the FCT.
“I understand the security teams have been meeting for some days now and if you look around you, you will notice that there are increasing patrols and numbers of security personnel. The threats are not been taken lightly,” a source said.
National Assembly workers, lawmakers and visitors also had a harrowing experience accessing the legislative complex due to heightened security in the area.
Security operatives thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja, impeding both human and vehicular traffic.
The Sergeant-at-arm of the National Assembly and other security agencies supervised the operations, leading to huge traffic build-up inside the complex.
Legislative staff, visitors and lawmakers were seen patiently waiting for their cars to be searched so that they could go ahead with the business of the day.
Some staff and visitors at some point got tired of waiting and were seen alighting from their cars to trek from the gate to the complex.
Meanwhile, the ONSA has said there is no threat to the nation’s airports.
A statement by the Head of Strategic Communication, Mr. Zachari Usman, said the reports of threats to the airports were an internal correspondence of security threat assessment misconstrued as security threat to the airports.
PDP Demands State of Emergency
In a related development, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday demanded the declaration of a state of emergency, warning that the 2023 general election might not hold if the federal government failed to tackle insecurity.
He called on the federal government to summon a national conference to address the spike in insecurity.
Secondus added that the national caucus of the party will meet today to discuss the state of the nation.
Addressing members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja, Secondus said: “We are worried Abuja is not even safe. It is no longer politics. We got alert of plots to bomb and burn down our airports.
“We urge the federal government to declare a national state of emergency in security. There is the need to call a national conference to discuss the insecurity in the country.
“There may not be any election in 2023 in Nigeria due to insecurity. This government must listen to the people. The Buhari government should call a national confab to discuss security and state of the nation. It is no longer politics. This time we are not playing politics. Let’s keep politics aside and move the nation forward.”
He said the country had been grounded, regretting that there had been no matching response from the federal government.
Secondus said in the past, terrorism in the North was confined to the North-east, but with the report of Boko Haram occupying villages in Niger State, terrorism had spread to the North-central
“Herdsmen are also menacing in the West; gunmen causing havoc in the East; and the militants in the South; all killing, looting, raping, maiming and burning down homes. The situation is bad; Nigerians all over are living in fear,” he said.
The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the problem of Nigeria was outside of the PDP headquarters, while pledging the support of the Senate to the declaration of state of emergency in security.
Abaribe said he deliberately decided not to speak on the floor of the Senate but to allow the APC senators to speak so as to avoid being accused of giving a partisan colouration to the issue of insecurity.
He stated that only electoral reforms would give victory to the opposition party in the 2023 general election and ensure a democratic defeat of the APC-led federal government.
Also, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, commended the NEC and the PDP leadership for their collective efforts at resolving the House leadership crisis.
The NEC meeting adopted the position of Secondus, calling on the federal government to convoke a national conference to discuss the state of insecurity in the country, according to a communiqué read by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan.
Army Chief Vows to Wipe Out Boko Haram
The army yesterday reiterated its commitment to wipe out Boko Haram.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, told reporters in Maiduguri, Borno State that Boko Haram had been defeated in many encounters and would continue to be defeated until it’s annihilated from Nigeria.
“We will take on Boko Haram decisively, and we are committed to the focus of the operations, which is the total annihilation of Boko Haram from Nigeria,” he said.
The COAS, who was visiting the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri for the fifth time since his appointment four months ago, said the visit was to boost the morale of the troops, reassure them and listen to any issues affecting them.
Earlier, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Farouq Yahaya, lauded the visit, which he said had continued to boost the morale of the troops.
“We are honoured, we are grateful, we are encouraged by those visits. You provided us guidance, logistics and other things we required. We are most grateful for those visits,” Yahaya said.
State of Emergency Won’t Solve Security Challenges, Says Masari
Katsina State Governor, Hon. Aminu Masari, has, however, said declaration of a state of emergency won’t solve the security challenges facing the nation.
Masari, who spoke yesterday with journalists after meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari at the State House, Abuja stated that he was against the recent call by the House of Representatives for the declaration of a state of emergency in the security sector as it would not solve the problem.
According to him, declaring a state of emergency will not achieve the desired effect as the security structure and personnel to be used to execute the emergency are already overstretched in a bid to safeguard lives and property.
Sourced From: THISDAYLIVE
Tribune Online
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 62 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 165,110. The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Friday. “55 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Lagos-21, Yobe-19, Ogun-6, Akwa Ibom-3, Kaduna-2, Plateau-2, FCT-1, Rivers-1.” YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE COVID-19: Nigeria Recorded […]
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Tribune Online
Sourced From: Tribune Online
By Olasunkanmi Akoni
The people of the South East region have been urged to explore the power of negotiation and mutual settlement in the face of ongoing killings and security challenges in the zone because the east can not afford another war at present.
Stakeholders from the South-East geo-political zone made the remark on Thursday, at the unveiling of the book, “Igbo, 50 years after Biafra,” written by Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage Services, Joe Igbokwe, held at Ikeja G.R.A.
Speaking at the unveiling of the book, the chairman of the occasion, Mr. Cutis Adigba,
urged the people of the South-East to learn to build bridges across the country, so that they can realise their ambition of producing the next president of Nigeria.
Adigba urged leaders from the zone to discourage the move and agitation by some youths in the South East to go to war and secede out of Nigeria.
Also read: Banditry: Disregard viral video, Niger State gov’t urges residents
He said that Igbo have always found it difficult to rule Nigeria because they refused to build bridges across the six geo-political zones that made up Nigeria.
While describing the agitation as uncalled for, Adigba noted that after two decades that Nigeria returned to civil rule, the Igbo has predominantly identified with only one political party.
He maintained that remaining in one party can not advance the cause of the people of South East and cannot make them realise their objective of producing an Igbo man as president.
He maintained that the publisher of the book, Igbokwe played politics outside his state, so that the Igbo race can be integrated with one another race.
Adigba said the failure of the Igbo to reintegrate with other ethnic nationalities politically was responsible for the retrogression of the race in Nigerian politics.
Igbokwe, also addressing guests on the occasion, maintained that the Igbo are not advancing politically because they refused to be integrated into National politics, lamenting that, despite their success in business, they are not successful in playing politics at the national level.
Corroborating Dimgba, Igbokwe noted that there was the need for the Igbo people to stand up and build bridges so that their objective of producing the next president of Nigeria could be realised.
According to him: “I have decided to raise my voice, I hope my people will hear me while trying to quell the effect of the war, our people are spoiling for another war, mayhem is being unleashed in Igbo land, and there is palpable fear.
“Those who could speak have lost their voice, mindful of the consequences of their actions, I am calling on all Igbo leaders to speak up because all actions carry consequences, consequences of the silence will be too dastardly to sustain.
“Those silently supporting the wild wind should be careful or else they hand over to their children,” he said.
Igbokwe urged those spoiling for war to jettison their plan and embrace dialogue, urging them to learn from the South West region that despite the challenges faced after the annulment of the June 12, 1993, election, they did not go to war, and the region had the opportunity of producing two of her sons for presidential position in 1999.
“You have to build bridges to become president of Nigeria, but it is unfortunate the Igbo are burning bridges.”
Speaking at the event, Chief Uche Dimgba who is the coordinator of Igbo in All Progressives Congress, APC in Lagos, described Igbokwe as “a Frank, fearless and reliable leader, who based his views on issues and stand by his opinions, and we the Igbo have confidence in him and believe he can lead us aright.”
“He is a leader we Igbo believe in and we will follow him. If he can serve all the governors produced in Lagos State since 1999, he is a better man to follow because he possesses all the experience that can be of benefit to Igbo both at home and in the diaspora.”
The post Attacks on S’East: We must explore all options of negotiation — Stakeholders urge Igbo appeared first on Vanguard News.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
The government said that no worker should stay back beyond 6:00 p.m. within premises of buildings undergoing construction.
The post Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
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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