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MUSINGS ON PREDATORY TRENDS ON HALLOWED GROUNDS

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By Tunde Olusunle

 

Back in 2005 or thereabouts, a good friend of mine shared with me the challenge his wife was encountering in her place of work in one of the uniform-wearing security services. His wife, he informed me, was being harassed by one of her bosses. According to him, the more senior officer was in the habit of extending invitations to his wife requesting that they meet in the “officers’ mess” of the organisation, or in some hotel. The lady in question resorted to making jokes of every invite by her potential predator. She would diplomatically retort by reminding the officer that his faith allowed him the latitude to take four wives. In her own case, however, her husband had only her as wife and was stuck with her. I would later be told that a signal was spontaneously generated from headquarters of the organisation where she worked, kicking her to Keffi in Nasarawa State. Here was a nursing mother happily resident in Abuja with her family, who had responsibility for getting her children set for school everyday, dropping them off before heading to work. She had to redesign her routine which included waking up much earlier to get the kiddies set. Her husband hired a driver who took the young ones to school everyday and brought them back, while his wife headed to Keffi everyday, returning in the evening.

As if that was not enough, the *oga at the top* in question ensured she was officially queried for “misconduct” and the document filed in her records at the headquarters. She subsequently lost seniority in her place of work, a development which can be most harrowing for workers in the uniform-donning services. Banks, investment concerns and financial institutions have been known to impose unattainable credit targets on their employees, particularly the females, as part of their official responsibilities. They are compelled to cultivate plastic relationships with their customers, typically of the masculine gender. They are prodded to don provocative attires, see-through clothing which leaves nothing to the imagination, in their officially demanded seduction plot. Elsewhere, statutory entitlements are denied subordinates, typically the ladies, by their superior. Promotions are clamped upon, trainings opportunities for professional enhancement are denied. Except of course if such employees subscribe to being part of the luggage of the guys in the “VIP” cubicle on their local and foreign binges and rendezvous. Sexual harassment has been particularly prevalent in our tertiary institutions over time. Pluri-dimensional instances have been recorded in our colleges of education, schools of nursing and midwifery, polytechnics, monotechnics and universities. It seems to feature more in public institutions than in private citadels many of which are physically overseen by their proprietors. The trend of solicitation for sex in exchange for good grades, has been most worryingly dominant overtime.

It has provoked as much puzzlement as it has indeed triggered academic inquisitions, intent on unearthing the root causes of the affliction, especially within our own context. The media in recent weeks has highlighted multiple incidents of sexual harassment. You would imagine that with the advent of telephony and its infinite potentials, this trend would be on the downward slide. But no. Indeed, it seems to be on the ascendancy. Universities have been specifically notorious for perpetrating this unwholesome trend. In March this year, a professor of law at the University of Calabar, (Unical), Cyril Ndifon, was arraigned at the Federal High Court in Abuja. There were complaints of sexual harassment against him by students of his institution. He reportedly requested a diploma student in his class to send ponographic images of herself to his telephone. The case was brought against Ndifon by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, (ICPC). Last April, Mfonobong David Udoudum a lecturer in the general studies department of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN), was captured in a video clip, allegedly harassing a female student. In this specific instance, Udoudom was videod in his underwear, implying that he was most probably on the cusp of amorous entanglement with the said student. Ndifon and Udoudom have been summarily suspended by their employers who restated their total abhorrence for sexual misconduct. Back in 2018, a female student of philosophy at the University of Benin, (Uniben), alleged that one of her lecturers, Anthony Asekhauno, raped her. In her narrative, Asekhauno reportedly ensured she failed a course he taught, “logic,” three times.

He allegedly took advantage of her on one of her visits to his office to discuss her serial failure of Asekhauno’s course. Three years later in the same university, a final year student accused a senior lecturer in the department of English of raping her. She posited that she went to submit her final year long essay when the lecturer locked his office and ran through her severally. A 2022 survey suggested that 14 very senior academics including four professors, were fired by the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) and the University of Abuja, (UniAbuja). Such is the grand and global scale sexual carnivores prey upon the innocent in the university system. A correspondence dated May 24, 2024 and signed by Yusuf Mallama Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister has been trending for a few days now. I’ve had cause in the past to interrogate the naivety and carelessness of the post-2015 leadership of Nigeria in managing official documents. Beginning from the Muhammadu Buhari era in 2015, before a sneeze exits the nostrils, its sound would be reverberating the streets. The Olusegun Obasanjo administration which I served, had much more tighter control of official communications which could not be found on the trays of *akara* sellers. Tuggar’s letter is addressed to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, (HCSF), Folashade Yemi-Esan. It is headed: *Re: Official Complaint Regarding Sexual Harassment of Mrs Simisola Fajemirokun-Ajayi by Ambassador Ibrahim Adamu Lamuwa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.* The one page, three paragraph mail conveys the official letter forwarded to him by Mrs Ajayi, alleging she is being hunted by Lamuwa, a very senior government official and diplomat to wit. Tuggar notes in his letter that in view of the gravity of the allegation, he is constrained to request the intervention of the HCSF in the matter.

The foreign minister assures that he will be available to assist the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in the processing of the complaint, if his attention is required. Tuggar wrote in response to a letter from *Falana and Falana’s Chambers,* which has the renowned attorney, Femi Falana as principal partner. The correspondence from Falana’s chambers was dated May 29, 2024 and signed by Adebayo Oniyelu and it detailed and dated several instances when Lamuwa attempted to take advantage of Fajemirokun-Ajayi. Specifically, she cited October 7, 2023 and November 10, 2023 as occasions Lamuwa made lurid overtures to her. In the course of the second incident, Fajemirokun-Ajayi stated that the foreign affairs permanent secretary baited her with a “life-changing getaway with him to Hong-Kong.” Lamuwa it is alleged, had previously threatened, harassed and intimidated female officers in the foreign affairs system, dropping the names of “stubborn” people from trips and postings. Falana and Falana Chambers prayed Tuggar to investigate Lamuwa for serial unethical conduct inconsistent with the expectations of a bureaucrat at his level.

There has not been, in my view, an incident of sexual indiscretion in the supposedly hallowed corridors of political authority so publicly and embarrassingly ventilated in recent times. That that is coming from the foreign ministry, Nigeria’s primary mirror to the whole wide world makes it all the more disturbing. Lamuwa’s profile presents him as a well-heeled diplomat. He read economics at the University of Maiduguri, (UniMaid) and joined the foreign service in 1993. He has had broad-based diplomatic training and experience through a 31-year career traversing Senegal, India, Hong-Kong, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania, among others. On paper, the diplomat who hails from Gombe State, is a gentleman. By some coincidence, he comes from a state which is next-door to Tuggar’s in Bauchi State. Minister Tuggar has followed due process in escalating Mrs Ajayi’s complaint to the Head of Service, the *Numero Uno* civil servant. It is worth remarking that Tuggar has not played a *parapo* or *na mu, na mu* tune here by shielding his “countryman” from the North East from investigation. One is hoping here that there are not undercurrents in the relationship between the minister and the permanent secretary. Nigerians expect a very dispassionate and forensically thorough inquisition into this incident.

This is very critical to ascertaining the crux of the matter. It is too early to be judgemental at this point while the incident is being examined. The system, however, must develop safeguards for our women across board. The molestation of our mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, nieces must be reined in. Blood hounds must be themselves be bloodied to protect the innocent. We look forward to the airing of findings into the Ibrahim Adamu Lamuwa’s inquest hoping that this begins a new era in the manner our women are treated.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA)

Gov Adeleke, Timi of Ede, Force Secretary grace AIG Abass son’s wedding

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By Ebinum Samuel

The Executive Governor of Osun State, Senator Adenola Jackson Adeleke, the Timi of Ede, Oba Murideen Adesola Lawal and the Force Secretary, Yetunde Longe , last weekend in Lagos, graced the wedding ceremony of the son of AIG Adewale Abass, Afeez with his heartthrob, Romenikeji.


The well attended walk-up -the- aisle event held at Whitestone Event Center in Oregun industrial hob of the state, attracted important dignitaries, top echelons of the Nigerian Police Force, other security agents, top business executives and traditional rulers.


Gov Adeleke stormed the event with his beautiful wife, Eleru Ngozi and top government functionaries to add glamour to the occasion. Adeleke’s Chief of Staff, Mr Hakeem Akinleye and no fewer than three commissioners were present as a mark of honour to the groom father, AIG Abass.


The event availed the young ones to gyrate pyrotechnically and headbanged to Davido’s awe-inspiring masterpiece. At this point, Adeleke, the star-legend (Davido) uncle’s nodded his head frequently with great enthusiasm.


Top police officers present at the occasion ,the AIG in charge of Zone 2, Mr Olatoye Durosonmi, AIG Ishola Ilori, AIG Dare Ogundare, the Principal Staff Officer to IGP, CP Johnson Adenola and the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Femi Abaniwonda.  Retired Police officers not left out includes DIG Adedayo Adeoye, AIG Ngozi Onadeko, AIG Tunji Akingbola, CP Patrick Kehinde Longe, CP Titilayo Kayode and CP Samuel Kayode.

BREAKING; House of Reps pushes to create additional State in South-East

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The House of Representatives have on Thursday, approved a bill aiming to create a new state called Orlu State in the southeastern region.

The bill, sponsored by Hon. Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, a member representing Ideato North South Federal Constituency of Imo State, along with other lawmakers, passed its first reading.

If the bill becomes law, it will change the 1999 Constitution, increasing Nigeria’s number of states from 36 to 37. Orlu State, with its capital in Orlu city, would be formed from parts of Imo, Abia, and Anambra states.

The proposed state would consist of 28 local government areas, including places like Orlu, Orsu, and Ideato North, Ideato South, Njaba, Nkwerre, Nwangele, Isu, Oguta, Ohaji Egbema, Onuimo, Ihiala, Uga, Uli, Ozubulu, Akokwa, Arondizuogu, Umuchu, Umunze, Umuaku, New Ideato North, Nwabosi West, Nwabosi East, Owerre Nkworji, Alaoma, Amaifeke, and Owerrebiri Umuowa.

Hon. Ugochinyere, the bill’s main sponsor, encouraged his fellow National Assembly members to support the legislation during its second reading.

He suggested that establishing Orlu State could lead to Ideato becoming a senatorial district. Unlike other parts of Nigeria, the Southeast has only five states instead of the usual six in most geopolitical zones.

NEMESIS AS SHORT DISTANCE RUNNER

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By Tunde Olusunle

When he flung Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (SLS) out of the window of the Emir’s palace in Kano four years ago, Abdullahi Ganduje would have least imagined what is playing out today. Ganduje was the “Lord of the Manor” in Kano State, the all-powerful chief executive. Recall video clips of Ganduje allegedly stuffing wads and packs of crisp, mint-fresh dollar bills into the bottomless pocket of his *babanriga* ahead of the 2019 general elections. They were reportedly gifted to him by some contractor ally of the erstwhile Kano governor who was repaying a good turn. Graphic and unassailable as that short motion picture was, former President Muhammadu Buhari who rode into office on the camelback of now suspect integrity in 2015, volunteered a baffling defence for Ganduje.

He swore Ganduje was most probably participating in a *Kannywood* movie, the way the film industry up North is described. Buhari who has never been known to operate a tablet, nay a notepad, suggested that advanced technology could actually simulate what we all saw in that short clip! Ganduje was the prototype *alagbara ma m’ero* as we say in Yoruba. This interpretes as the “maximally muscular, minimally reasonable.” He fought a few other prominent Kano leaders during his heydays in Government House. Recall he carried his unabated squabbles with one of his predecessors, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the State House, Aso Villa, during the early weeks of the Bola Tinubu government. Told on one occasion that Kwankwaso was in a particular section of Aso Rock same time as he was in the complex, a vexed Ganduje said Kwankwaso should consider himself fortunate. He said he, Ganduje would have slapped Kwankwaso if he sighted him in the Villa! That would have caused a scene in Nigeria’s seat of power. I’m now just imagining how Tinubu would be trying to restrain Ganduje, in the forecourt of the office of the President, while Vice President Kashim Shettima will be pulling at Kwankwaso’s *agbada* in a bid to manage the situation.Ganduje reportedly considered Sanusi too independent-minded and outspoken for a natural ruler. Sanusi was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), before being appointed Emir in 2014. He had always had a radical streak about him which culminated in his suspension as CBN head in 2014 for blowing the whistle on the theft of $20 Billion in accruals from crude oil sales. As Emir he considered aspects of the religious and cultural practices of his emirate repugnant.

He opposed the “ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam” in some parts of northern Nigeria, which discouraged girl-child education, family planning, even inoculation against potential healthcare afflictions. He had reservations about the style of Ganduje as governor and didn’t put a veil over his dislike for the return of Ganduje to Government House in 2019. He believed Ganduje shouldn’t have made it back if the poll was fairly and transparently conducted. March 9, 2020, Ganduje upended Sanusi. He was accused of negatively impacting the sanctity, culture, tradition, religion and prestige of the Kano emirate, and disrespecting the governor’s office. He was also alleged to have disposed of property belonging to the state and the misappropriated of the proceeds. It was a case of digging several manholes for a prey in a bid to ensure he falls into one of the several traps. He was summarily banished to Nasarawa State for effect. Sanusi sought reprieve in the courts which ruled it was an overkill to fling him to a remote community faraway from his family and more accustomed home in Lagos. Within a few days, Nasir El Rufai, Sanusi’s longstanding friend who was governor of Kaduna State, personally enforced the evacuation of Sanusi from Awe local government area in Nasarawa State. For whatever his contributions were to the emergence of Tinubu as president after the 2023 polls, Ganduje believed he would be compensated with a ministerial slot in the former’s regime. Like Nyesom Wike, David Umahi, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Atiku Bagudu, Simon Lalong, former governors of Rivers, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kebbi and Plateau states, Ganduje dusted his curriculum vitae to pitch for a slot on Tinubu’s federal executive council. His five colleagues in the “2015 – 2019- 2023 class of governors” made the cut, not Ganduje. Tinubu spontaneously made him chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC], the vehicle which delivered him as president. Abdullahi Adamu his predecessor and former governor of Nasarawa State was, as has become standard practice in Nigeria’s notorious political rule book, schemed out and compelled to resign from office. If Ganduje ever thought his chairmanship of the APC was going to be a walk in the park, he was thoroughly mistaken. Indeed, he’s grossed sufficient experience in his present office to know that there are sharp differences between wholesale insulation in Government House, and the inevitable overexposure of party leadership. Last April, a faction of the APC in Ganduje’s primary “Ganduje ward” in *Dawakin Tofa* local government area of his home state, Kano, suspended him from the party. Haladu Gwanjo, legal adviser of Ganduje’s ward led some party leaders to pronounce the suspension. They advocated the return of the national chairmanship of the APC to the north central zone, where Ganduje’s predecessor, Adamu, hails from. The young Turks canvassed due process in party administration, consistent with the “renewed hope” mantra of the APC. Ganduje made a hurried recourse to the law courts for momentary reprieve. Thursday May 23, 2024, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was reinstated as Emir of Kano by Ganduje’s successor in Kano State, Abba Yusuf. His cousin and successor, Aminu Ado-Bayero, was unceremoniously removed from office.

The splinter emirates created by Ganduje in his bid to whittle down Sanusi’s authority as prime monarch in Kano, were similarly dissolved. The edifice which Ganduje built four years ago was apparently built of straw and spittle. Governor Abba Yusuf is a product of the *Kwankwasiya* political tendency in Kano politics, a creation of Rabiu Kwankwaso. Those who know a little about Nigerian politics will recall that Kwankwaso’s emergence in our politics, predates the fourth republic. He was an ardent student of the *talakawa* political orientation, pioneered by the venerable Kano-born leader, Aminu Kano. Kwankwaso was Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives of the Ibrahim Babangida political experimentation of 1992 to 1993. Whereas the *Kwankwasiya* movement had long been entrenched, it was not until the run-up to the 2023 elections that Kwankwaso adopted a new platform, the Nigeria National People’s Party, (NNPP), on which he is espousing the populist philosophy of the *Kwankwasiya* brigade. Abba Yusuf rode to office on the back of this invention. It was the same way Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu the famous *Biafran* war lord, established the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA) in Anambra State. The party has remained a force in the politics of the state and indeed the south east. It has produced three Anambra governors in succession, notably Peter Obi, Willie Obiano and the incumbent Chukwuma Soludo.

Abba Yusuf has made no pretences about his disdain for Ganduje and everything he represents. Much as some of Yusuf’s early actions in office were generally perceived as wasteful, he nonetheless brought down as many edifices in Kano as bore the imprimatur of Ganduje. The “Kano golden jubilee roundabout” built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of Kano State and structures built inside the *filin sukuwa,* (Kano race course), were hewn on Yusuf’s orders. The *hajj camp* which was reportedly bastardised by Ganduje who allegedly parcelled parts of it to his friends and associates was equally felled. There were suggestions that the value of the demolitions carried out by Yusuf could be in excess of N200Billion. Such is the anti-Ganduje sentiment in contemporary Kano State. The way and manner the legacies of Abdullahi Ganduje are unravelling in Kano State should serve as a lesson to the shortsighted, incapable of seeing beyond the bridges of their nose.

History is replete with the deconstruction of many leaders after their rulership and indeed keeps repeating itself in our sociopolitical experience. Those who are not circumspect, however, are too distracted by the allure and bliss of their immediate office, to think. They continue to drift, blunder and flounder, unmindful that time is their ultimate nemesis. Ganduje is just one year out of office, yet many of the decisions he made while in power for eight years are being unmade and thrown at his face like rotten tomatoes. Until I joined him on the table he was seated at a wedding reception we both attended in Lagos a few weeks back, Rotimi Amaechi, governor of the oil-affluent Rivers State for eight years and Transportation Minister for another eight years was a lonely man.

It turned out we flew back to Abuja on the same flight same evening after the event and sat not too far from each other. He opened the overhead locker atop his seat to bring out his luggage himself. Is anyone following the Yahaya Bello saga? He mindlessly trampled upon the hapless heads of his constituents in Kogi State for eight unbroken years? He left office last January and life has not been the same again. He has been declared wanted by at least one anti-graft agency. He will be arraigned in the rectangular, wood-panelled cubicle of the courtroom in a fortnight. A lesson for all.

*Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA)*

PLAUDITS FOR OTTI, SOLUDO AND BAGO

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By Tunde Olusunle

A video clip which is just about two and half minutes in duration has been trending on the social media in the last few days. It captures the moment top officials of the Abia State government, arrive for a meeting of what could pass as a state executive council meeting, (ASEC), the sub-national variant of the federal executive council, (FEC). The faces of a few of my friends and colleagues indeed stroll past in the short clip. They include Kingsley Agomoh, an Assistant Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC) who is on leave-of-absence to help the new administration in Abia and Kazie Uko, my colleague in the old Daily Times. Iheanacho Obioma, (we call him Chomen), a former federal parliamentarian, also appears in that recording. The curious and discerning will easily know that the venue of that converge is not the designated executive council chambers of Government House, Umuahia.

From the lacquer on the fence of the facility, to the interlocked driveway, and thenceforth to the improvised conference room where the meeting was held, it is obvious this is a private property. I’m indeed told it is the country home of Alex Otti, in Isiala-Ngwa, Abia South senatorial zone. The official address of the governor in Umuahia is probably undergoing renovation. And for Otti that is no reason to negatively impact the course of governance. Each senior Abia State government functionary, secretary to government, chief of staff, commissioner, adviser, technical assistant who walk past in the said video, carried their essentials themselves. They hauled their files, folios, notepads, laptops, handbags, backpacks, to the meeting themselves. There are no squirming, stampeding aides and security details needlessly occupying space, shoving people aside to make way for their principals. And you could see smiles on the faces of some of the officials an attestation to their subscription to the new administrative regimen. Otti, governor of the state himself arrived without fanfare, without ceremony in the said video, holding his mobile phone.

The Alex Otti regime in Abia State is barely one year in office. But the incumbent administration has compelled national attention and admiration to the state for the novel to governance championed by Otti, a former helmsman of the erstwhile Diamond Bank, which has since coalesced into the mega Access Bank. A few months ago, the 141 megawatts Aba Integrated Power Project, (AIPP), was commissioned by Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima. Reputed to be the first of its kind in Nigeria, it will produce uninterrupted electric power for nine local government areas of the state which is about half the entire Abia State. True it was work-in-progress before Otti’s advent dating back 20 years by the governor’s own admission, the eventual consummation and operationalisation of the initiative was courtesy of the former banker. Critically, the infrastructure will liberate the infinite potentials of Aba, the Enyimba City which is the folkloric socioeconomic hub of the state.

Aba’s direct competitor in Nigeria’s South East is Nnewi in Anambra State, an equally vibrant nexus of multilevel entrepreneurial ingenuity. Since he became chief executive of the state two years ago, Chukwuma Soludo the globally recognised economist has worked hard to redefine governance and administration in the state. Soludo came into the job with a virtual truckload of competencies and experience. First, he is a class professor of economics who was called up by the Olusegun Obasanjo/Atiku Abubakar regime to serve first as economic adviser. He was soon after appointed governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), a position from which he superintended over the recapitalisation of Nigerian banks which facilitated their competitiveness in the global financial market. The exercise shrunk the nearly 100 banks, some wobbly and breathless, to 25 solid entities, a process which entailed partnerships and absorptions in many instances.

Soludo signalled his faith in home-made brands when he rode a sports utility vehicle, (SUV) built by the Nnewi-based indigenous vehicle production outfit, Innoson Motors to his inauguration in March 2022. The various components of his regalia to his swearing-in ceremony derived from various parts of Anambra State. He inherited a state which had previously assumed worldwide notoriety for large-scale violence. Faceless murderers branded “unknown gunmen” had free reign prawling contiguous streets of communities in the state hunting the innocent like game, in the full glare of the afternoon skies. Abductions, cannibalism, arson were rampant before Soludo’s coming. I had reason in 2021, to engage with the worrying issues in two public discourses, Unknown Gunmen, November 6 and the Epidemic of Bloodletting and Gun Smoke from the East. It seems the horrendous trends have been on a gradual downward slide, since Soludo’s coming.

Soludo is equally pursuing an aggressive infrastructural development programme. First, he is concerned about congestion in Awka the state capital and Onitsha the commercial capital of the state. His administration is poised to build three new cities. Masterplans for Awka 2.0, Onitsha 2.0 as well as the Anambra Mixed Industrial City are being concluded. While those are in the works, Soludo has embarked on a very ambitious road development programme. This encompasses 400 kilometres of roads in the present phase and aims to facilitate seamless commuting by road users. Remediation of failed portions of existing road infrastructure is a regular chore, handled by statutory departments of government and contracting firms. The Soludo government has also been credited with remarkable fiscal prudence, the stuff of the prototype economist.

I began to take studied note of the enterprise of Mohammed Umar Bago the governor of Niger State when I followed his courageous works in the agricultural sector. I was once his guest a few years ago in his Maitama, Abuja home when he was in the House of Representatives. I visited him in company of a mutual friend, Bimbo Daramola who was in the “Seventh Assembly” with Bago. He is a tea aficionado by the way. He is also a dog lover which is a point of mutual convergence between us. Bago began this year by clearing one million hectares of arable land, preparatory to the approaching rainy season. Food security for his constituents is paramount on his agenda. His government has procured a record 500 mega-capacity tractors, as well as irrigation equipment, tillers, water and solar pumps among other accessories, to drive his agricultural vision.

True, Bago ruled against the shipment of truckloads of produce from his state to others earlier this year, in the face of inflation and imminent famine. He is fully cognisant though of the fact that his state has headwind advantage over many others in the country, in the agricultural sector. He is willing to do legitimate, mutually beneficial business. The landmass of Niger State is larger than that of Sierra Leone, by the way. If Niger State was a ravenous python, the belly of the state would effortlessly swallow Gambia and Togo put together! Bago’s administration is willing to partner with other states in agricultural development and exchange which informed the memorandum of understanding, (MOU), signed between Bago and his Lagos State counterpart, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on behalf of their entities.

Governor Bago has also been unyielding in the battle against sundry criminalities which have held his people helplessly captive over the years. Kidnappings for ransom, routine invasions, occupation of communities by vagrants and wanton banditry, have headlined the security situation in Niger State in recent years. Bago has been at the fore of the mitigation of the situation vis-a-vis increased collaboration with, and support for the security sector in his state. His administration has provided support in terms of motor vehicles and equipments to the various security agencies, to enhance their performance. There is said to be motorised patrol by joint security services which has brought sanity to the state, notably the very important Suleja-Paiko-Minna road.

Bago has also directed the redesignation and remodelling of the moribund Shiroro Hotel in Minna as the new Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Teaching Hospital. The Niger State leader who spots a strikingly luxurious black beard and was a notable banker like the older Alex Otti before his political journey, is redeveloping Minna the state capital, as well as Suleja and Bida into model towns. His fiscal shrewdness evidenced by the fact that he saved N10 Billion from leaking valves within his first four months in office has loosened funds for investment in needy departments of statecraft. Among these is the ongoing construction of roads in all the local government areas of the state to ensure unimpeded movement by commuters and by extension the evacuation of agricultural produce to the secondary markets.

It is instructive that Alex Otti, Chukwuma Soludo and Mohammed Bago belong to different political tendencies, namely: the Labour Party, (LP); the All Peoples’ Grand Alliance, (APGA) and the All Progressives Congress, (APC). What this implies is that if democracy is allowed to grow and fruit without unobtrusive impunity and high-handedness from political high commands, Nigeria can be availed of some of its best across board. Enyinnaya Abaribe the senator representing Abia South for instance, is in the parliament for the fifth successive time for instance. Muscled out of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP’s) ticket by the immediate past governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, Abaribe contested on the platform of APGA and won! Soludo himself had his own share of gravitation from the PDP to the APC before pitching his tent with APGA which ensured his pathway to his present office. Let’s hope that party politics in Nigeria is gradually throwing up some of our best albeit from unanticipated platforms.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA)

Fani-Kayode Makes Suspicious Claim About The Cause Of Death Of Iran President

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Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation, expressed reluctance to dismiss any possibility, including involvement by MOSSAD, in the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, given the unusual circumstances of the crash.

“Whichever way, the whole thing is a terrible blow to those that are interested in world peace and particularly to those of us that believe passionately in the cause of the people of Gaza and Palestine,” Fani-Kayode wrote on his social media handle on Monday.

In his statement, Fani-Kayode urged caution against readily accepting the bad weather narrative as the cause of the crash, advising people to stop, think, and not be gullible or naive.

“Many are asking whether MOSSAD was involved and whether this was yet another black ops operation? This remains to be definitively determined but given the strange circumstances of the ‘crash’ I would not be too quick to rule anything out,” he said.

Raisi’s death, along with that of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others, is considered a tragedy of monumental proportions and a significant loss to the world, according to Fani-Kayode.

“There was no individual that was more committed to the Palestinian struggle than Ebrahim Raisi. May his soul and the souls of those that died with him rest in peace,” he concluded.

1,115 applicants seek adoption from Lagos govt in 1yr

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LAGOS—THE Lagos State Government, yesterday, disclosed that 1,115 applications were received for adoption of children in the last one year from prospective adoptors.


During the period under review, it also issued approvals for adoption of 172 rescued babies across the state.

The Commissioner for Youths, Sports and Social Development, Bolaji Ogunlende stated this during the 2024 ministerial press briefing to mark the first year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office, held in Alausa, Ikeja.


Ogunlende stated that between April 2023 and March 2024, the state government rehabilitated 753 beggars, destitute and mentally challenged persons across the state.


His words: “During the period under review, a total of 1,115 applications were received, 995 for local adoption, 54 for international adoption, 28 for relative, and 38 for revalidation of approvals.
“Two adoption panels were conducted during the period under review and 332 applications were approved.


“38 children were released for bonding to prospective adoptive families. 36 were for local while one was for international adoption as stipulated in the Child’s Rights Law of Lagos State 2015.”


Speaking on the menace of begging in the state, Ogunlende said: “The ministry is working closely with the House of Assembly, through the Committee on Youths, Sports and Social Development, to tighten up laws prohibiting begging so as to ensure that punishments and penalties based on extant laws serve the purpose of deterrent.”


According to him, 90 men and 35 women involved in drug abuse and addictive substances were admitted into the state’s Rehabilitation and Vocational training centres in Ajah and Isheri.


The commissioner further disclosed the ministry empowered 39,564 in basic life skills training, 40, 922 in life planning counselling 5, 051 leadership, advocacy skills while 5, 044 benefitted from livelihood skills.

Adoption and Out-of-School Children

A sociologist, Mrs Cecilia Abiodun, decried the poor response and view of Nigerians to adopting children..
“It will save childless couples a lot of trouble. Couples having difficulties having their own biological children would save themselves needless hassles by adopting children. Also, since most of the children that are put for adoption were either abandoned by their parents at birth of afterwards, their future would be guaranteed by those who adopt them as they are screened thoroughly before being handed those children.


“Also, the number of Out-of-School children would be reduced if we take to adoption of abandoned children. Such children would be able to contribute their quota to the development of the Nigerian society,” she said.

Obasanjo, Sanwo-olu, Makinde, Abiodun others storm Osun for Adeleke’s 64th birthday, chieftaincy installation

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From Lateef Dada , Osogbo Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun and Seyi Makinde of Oyo states, yesterday, stormed Ede, Osun State, for the chieftaincy installation of Governor Ademola Adeleke as the Asiwaju of Edeland and his 64th birthday ceremony.
Former governor of the state, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and other eminent personalities, also attended the event, while the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, led other traditional rulers to the town. Speaking on behalf of other governors, Makinde applauded Adeleke for the infrastructure put in place in Osun.

He said: “I thank God for my brother, Governor Ademola Adeleke. When he came in as the Governor of Osun State, he challenged me that he would compete with me in infrastructure as I am doing in Oyo State.

When I came today, I have seen that work is ongoing in the state.” Speaking, Adeleke reiterated his commitment to turning the state around for the better, saying that the federal constituencies of Osogbo, Ile-ife, Ikirun, Ila-Orangun, Iwo and Ilesa, would be turned to cities.

He described the event of his birthday and the chieftaincy installation as historic, saying that becoming Asiwaju of Ede after his late brother while his father was Balogun of Ede is significant. “The event today is historic for many reasons.

The first is that it marks a family tradition, as my late father was the Balogun of Edeland, while my late brother was the former Asiwaju of Edeland.

Here I am today being honoured with that same title. “On behalf of my family, I thank Kabiyesi, his royal highness, the Timi of Ede land, and the entire people of this ancient town for keeping faith with my family.

Kabiyesi, we note that this conferment is a commendation for the contributions of my family to the development of this town. It is equally a further call to service. “I vow to be a front-liner (Asiwaju) of development and growth in Edeland and Osun State as a whole.

I will carry the light of positive transformation from towns to villages and from cities to rural areas across our dear state.” The event was also used to raise fund for the building of ultra-modern palace for the Timi of Edeland as Alhaji Aliko Dangote and other personalities promised to donate generously to the project.

Chieftaincy title: Why Adeleke was chosen as Asiwaju of Ede – Planning committee chairman

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Ede, Osun State, is currently hosting a star-studded event on Monday as Governor Ademola Adeleke is set to be installed as the Asiwaju of Ede Land.

According to the Chairman of the Central Planning Committee, Senator Olalere Oyewumi, the decision to confer the Asiwaju title on Adeleke is an acknowledgement and recognition of his contribution to the growth and development of Ede and Osun State at large.

“What informed this decision to confer on Governor Adeleke, the Asiwaju of Ede title, is in the acknowledgement and recognition of his contribution to the growth and development of Ede land and Osun at large,” Oyewumi stated during a press conference at the Timi of Ede’s palace on Sunday.

Oyewumi further revealed that the Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Lawal, also took into consideration the immense contributions of the entire Adeleke dynasty to the growth and development of Ede, Osun State, and Nigeria as a whole. “It is just to show appreciation, not only to the governor but to the entire Adeleke dynasty,” he added.

However, the installation ceremony has not been without criticism.

“Governor Adeleke’s decision to accept a chieftaincy title on a Monday morning raises serious questions about his priorities as the state’s leader,” he said.

The traditional chieftaincy ceremony will witness the presence of notable dignitaries, including Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, business moguls Aliko Dangote and Folorunsho Alakija, among others.

Tariff hike: Falana backs picketing of NERC, DISCO offices

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