The Oyo State Government has condemned the deliberate attack on Oyo State Sports Council Chairman, Gbenga Adewusi by hoodlums on Sunday.
During a visit to the victim at an undisclosed Hospital, Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Seun Fakorede described the incident as unfortunate and a threat to the peaceful atmosphere already being enjoying at the Pacesetter State.
He further declared that all the culprits will be brought to book and made to pay for their misdeeds.
The State Sport Council Chairman, who was attacked at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex Adamashingba by hoodlums after a match between Shooting Stars football club and Mountain of Fire (MFM) Football Club of Lagos has been receiving treatment, after sustaining severe injuries on different parts of his body.
Hence, Mr. Fakorede urged Shooting Stars fans and the entire citizenry to put their mind at rest, assuring them that mensures have been put in place to ensure the existing peace in different spots and Oyo State at large is not tempered with.
The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has asked the Muhammadu Buhari government to release Mrs Ukamaka Ejezie, popularly known as “Mama Biafra” from the detention of the Department of State Services, Abuja.
According to Kanu, Mama Biafra, a septuagenarian, was arrested during the IPOB leader’s last court appearance in Abuja on May 18.
Kanu, who spoke from the DSS detention, also expressed rage over the spate of bloodletting and insecurity in the South-East.
Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, relayed the message on Monday evening in an interview with Vanguard after visiting the IPOB leader in detention.
Kanu also told his brother (Prince) that he was saddened by the reports of killings across the South-East.
The IPOB leader added that the detained Mama Biafra had been acting as his mother since his parents died.
He said that the old woman committed no crime for coming to Abuja to solidarise with him at the court when she was arrested.
“I saw her at the DSS detention cell after her clothes were washed and spread on the wall. I demand that she be released because she committed no crime. She is an old woman and since my mother died, I have taken her as my mother. The DSS should release her,” Kanu was quoted as saying.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on May, 23, 2022, secured the conviction of a former member of the House of Representatives, Chief Chuma Nzeribe before Justice Yusuf Y. Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama. Abuja.
Nzeribe was first arraigned by the EFCC on October 16, 2020 on a four count charge bordering on possession of fraudulent document, forgery, using as genuine and cheating by personation, punishable under section 6, 8(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under section 1 (3) of the same Act.
As several adjournments and the failure to bring the defendant to court, the trial judge delivered judgment in which he convicted the defendant in absentia and restituted the nominal complainant, Ishaya Baba, his Land situated at Plot 1306 Cadastral Zone A05, Maitama Abuja.
Justice Halilu however deferred the sentencing of the defendant until the EFCC or the Inspector General of Police apprehend and bring him to court, in compliance with Section 321 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Section 11of the Advance Fee Fraud Act and Other Related Offences Act 2006, and Section 78 of the Penal Code Act.
UK Investigators Trace N1.5 Trillion, $9 Million Looted Funds to NIMASA Boss, Bashir Jamoh’s Personal Account
United Kingdom investigators have bursted another corruption scandal in the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration involving the Managing Director, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, where various sums including N1.5 Trillion and another $9,557,312.50 have been traced to his personal accounts.
Shockingly the Fidelity account with N1, 505,890,450,000.67 has Hamza Ibrahim Jamoh with BVN 22151837650 and Cell phone number 08034517410. While the BVN number revealed a different identity, the cell phone linked to the account is linked to the DG of NIMASA, Jamoh.
Further investigations revealed that the N1.5trillion was after few months cleared from the account to avoid investigations on the lodgment of such huge amount.
In a four page document titled due diligent report on Bashiru Yusuf Jamoh, the Director-General NIMASA, the report exposed another lodgment of $9,557,312.50 into Access Bank account 0710814478 also belonging to him.
The investigation also exposed other infractions by the agency’s boss which also include award of contracts to companies which he has interest in.
The investigation, according to the report focused on fraud, money laundering and breach of the Nigeria code of conduct act. This same investigation, it stated spans across all the Agencies under the Ministry of Transport having started with the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.
GLOBAL INVESTIGATORS UNITED KINGDOM, the investigation agency that signed the report investigated the bank transactions of Alhaji Jamoh focusing on inflows/Credit and Debits on his bank statements.
It found the transaction’s records of BASHIR YUSUF JAMOH showing the payment of $9,557,312.50 (Nine million, five hundred and fifty-seven thousand, three hundred and twelve dollars and fifty cents) into his personal accounts from Central Bank of Nigeria in violation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA.
“Most baffling is that CBN transferred millions of dollars into the personal account of BASHIR YUSUF JAMOH.
“Records shows the withdrawal of $5,425,200.00 (Five million, Four hundred and twenty-five thousand and two hundred dollars only) by CASH WITHDRAWAL from ACCESS Bank, Burma Road, Apapa, Lagos.
“BASHIR YUSUF JAMOH set up a company TALENT EXPERTISE INTL. LIMITED with RN: 1488830 to solicit for jobs from NIMASA. Being the director of a company and awarding contract to own company in violation of the code of conduct act section 3 part of the Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and code of conduct for public officers involved in procurement, Part X1, section 57, Sub-section (2) of the Procurement Act, 2007.”
According to the report, BIXBY OIL LIMITED has also paid money into his account, and the following payment into the account of the company was captured.
There are strong indications that the All Progressives Congress may field a northern candidate that can compete with the Peoples Democratic Party if the opposition party picks its presidential standard-bearer from the North in 2023.
It was gathered on Monday that although the APC was interested in zoning its presidential ticket to the South, the outcome of the PDP’s presidential primary scheduled for May 28 and May 29 would determine its final decision.
It was also learnt that the chieftains of the party in the North had started shopping for a strong presidential candidate from the region if the PDP’s candidate is picked from the North.
The speculation that a northern candidate emerging at the presidential primary of the APC on May 30 have continued to rise due to the possibility of the opposition PDP to present a northern candidate.
Currently, the majority of the APC presidential aspirants including its national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; the Ebonyi State Governor, Dr Dave Umahi and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, are from the South except a few like the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, who hails from the North-Central.
The APC’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, had in an interview with State House correspondents on Friday, said the party had yet to zone its presidential ticket.
But a member of the party’s National Working Committee, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, “The presidential ticket can go anywhere. In fact, we will get a strong northern candidate that can defeat the PDP if it zones its presidency to the North.”
Efforts to reach the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, were unsuccessful as he failed to answer the calls made to his phone.
But in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday, a founding member of the APC, Mr Osita Okechukwu, confirmed the possibility of a northerner emerging at the party’s presidential primary.
He said the party was fine-tuning its strategies on the 12 million vote bank of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
The APC had in 2015 claimed that Buhari had strong support base in the core North, where 12 million voters, which the party referred to as the President’s 12 million vote bank, would always vote for him.
It added that the 12 million voters consistently supported him in 2007 and 2011. According to the party, the President won in 2015 with additional support from the South-West.
On Monday, Okechukwu said the APC had been watching with studied interest “the desperation of the PDP to prey on President Muhammadu Buhari’s 12 million vote bank.”
According to him, as a political party, the APC has to fine-tune its strategies for the general elections.
Okechukwu said that although it was doubtful that any politician in the PDP could sweep Buhari’s 12 million votes away, the PDP’s desperation to break into Buhari’s 12 million Vote Bank explained APC’s indecision.
He stated, “Although one is not holding the brief of our distinguished national Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, one’s little understanding is that the leadership of our great party is watching closely the desperation and antics of our elder sister political party, the PDP.
“They want to capture power by all means, indeed using Machiavellian tactics. We all know that PDP is famished, thirsty and desperate to win the Presidency in 2023. They loathe the loss of their slogan, ‘Share the Money’, through their absence from power at the centre for seven going to eight years.”
Presidential ticket: APC adopting cat and mouse game with PDP, says VON DG
Explaining why the PDP should be blamed if the South failed to get the presidency, Okechukwu said it was unconscionable and despicable that the opposition party should breach the zoning convention, which helped in no small measure to unite and harmonise the country.
The “PDP,” he said, “is aware that President Buhari will not be on the ballot in 2023, therefore, for them there is a void to fill. They must have reasoned that the Buhari’s Vote Bank would be up for grabs if they go north.
“The PDP’s calculation is a desperate one, and selfish to the extent that they breached their own constitution and their age-long die-hard supporters in the South, especially the South-East.
As a corollary, the APC seems to have adopted the cat and mouse game, because if the PDP adopts the terra firma or doctrine of realpolitik, which places electoral victory above their constitution, the moral high ground and ethics of their members and supporters in the South; the APC wants to do the pragmatic thing. That is going back to the drawing board.”
Okechukwu also explained why the ruling party was shifting away from implementing the party’s earlier zoning format of swapping offices between north and south, as declared by Governor Nasir El-Rufai before the March 26 National Convention.
He stated, “If at the end of the day the zoning fails, we should blame the PDP’s desperation, because we have been advocating a repeat of the chiefs Obasanjo/Falae; Yar’Adua/Buhari and Buhari/Atiku models of 1999, 2007 and 2019.”
“To be frank, my take on the matter is that the swap option is still open, because some of us from the South are still arguing that we have dormant votes, especially Igbo votes which will augment APC members’ votes from the North,” he added.
On his part, a former Governor of Benue State and current Minister of Special Duties, George Akume, on Monday said the APC would arrive at a zoning arrangement that would be acceptable to all party stakeholders.
Akume disclosed this to State House Correspondents shortly after he joined at least 100 guests on Sallah homage to the President at the New State House Banquet Hall.
Presidential ambition: God will show us the way, says Lawan
There were reports on Monday that the President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, and some northerners would join the presidential race.
But Lawan, in an interview with State House Correspondents, said the reports were speculative.
According to him, such political ambitions remain secondary as they can only thrive when the country and the economy are stable.
He stated, “If we stabilise our economy, we stabilise our country, then people can contest, but for now everything is speculative and I believe that God, in His infinite mercy, will show us the way.”
Claim on Buhari’s 12 million vote bank insulting – PDP spokesman
In its reaction on the VON director-general claim, the PDP spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, in an interview with The PUNCH, said it was insulting to say Buhari had 12 million vote bank.
He said, “That’s the impunity with which they deal with Nigerians. It means even when they (Nigerians) are being killed, they will continue to vote in that manner because they are a bank, just like sperm bank where you go to if you need a baby.
So among the 12 million voters, nobody has died? It is consistent with the mindset of the APC and Buhari that people can be a dot in a circle just like he described the whole of South-East Nigeria which is very critical to this country.
“It is nauseating to describe people as vote bank. Many of those people have died due to the rudderlessness of this country. Do they mean that none of those people has been killed by terrorists who were imported by APC in 2019 for elections?
“Are you telling me that those people don’t deserve the leadership of a president who should be sympathetic and have empathy on the people that are suffering? You see, this is the madness we encounter under this government which doesn’t see citizens as anything but a product that can be purchased and dumped at will.
“Human beings are now vote bank? Can you believe that? If a person voted in a particular way the last time, can’t he or she vote differently this time around? What he’s saying is that those people are his cows and that their votes are with him. That’s it, because he has a cow mentality.”
The Convener, Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution, Dare Ariyo-Atoye, reminded the ruling party that the votes gotten by one candidate could not be transferred to another.
He said, “I think it’s important that the people of Nigeria are not taken for granted by the ruling and failed All Progressives Congress. Let it be on record that President Buhari doesn’t have 12 million votes for himself nor the APC. It is true that there are still some Nigerians, especially in Katsina and a few other states, who are still painfully loyal to the President. But without a popular candidate who can win election on his own and possibly benefit from the vast structure of the APC in different states of the federation, the APC may lose the forthcoming election because the party has performed poorly and has failed to give Nigerians a good representation.”
On his part, the National Coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, Emmanuel Onwubiko, reminded the APC that many who voted for the President had openly regretted the action.
He said, “Human beings are not machines. Some of those voters might have died or travelled out of the country. To a lot of people, the 12 million is an illusion, it is fake. Let’s even assume that it is real, it is not possible that the APC will get such again.”
The Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, Okechukwu Nwanguma, told The PUNCH during a telephone interview on Monday that in a free and fair electoral environment, Buhari would not likely get 100 votes from his own village
However, the Executive Director, Journalists for Democratic Rights, Mr Adewale Adeoye, explained to The PUNCH that there was a possibility that millions would still vote for the APC due to a lack of viable party alternative.
You can’t kill zoning, Afenifere, Ohanaeze tell northern elders
Meanwhile, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has warned political parties and stakeholders in the political circle not to tinker with the issue of zoning and power rotation offices especially for the Presidency in the 2023 elections.
The organisation warned that doing so would further threaten the unity of Nigeria.
The SMBLF which comprises Ohanaeze, Afenifere, Pan Niger Delta Forum and the Middle Belt Forum, said the recent comment by the APC national chairman that the party had not decided on the zoning of the Presidency, with about 30 days to the Presidential primaries, “amounts to outright dishonesty and chicanery.”
While calling on northerners to “stop their trickery”, because “enough is enough!”, the SMBLF said, “We cannot have a northerner President for eight years and then welcome another Northern President for another eight years or more. That is unacceptable to us.”
The organisation therefore, strongly cautioned “all our governors, former governors and top politicians not to accept the Vice Presidency nomination from any Northern presidential candidate.”
The SMBLF was particularly reacting to a recent statement credited to the chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, that zoning was “dead and buried.”
The organisation described as “rather unfortunate and absurd that Ango Abdullahi and his Northern Elders Forum would make such twaddle.”
The SMBLF said, “Are they now ready to dissolve the country? What has happened that zoning, which has been a sine qua non in the nation’s political progression has now become a ‘dead and buried’ issue, in the irrational contemplations of Ango Abdullahi and his co-travelers? Could it be due to the incapacity, insipidity and disastrous performance of the Buhari administration or the narcissistic desire to perpetuate Hausa/Fulani hegemony?”
APC will violate its zoning principles by denying southern candidates ticket—Analyst
A public analyst, Victor Giwa, said the APC would be violating its constitution and zoning principle if it gives its presidential ticket to a northern candidate.
The lawyer and activist argued that the party has the responsibility to be fair and equitable in the primary by giving its ticket to a southern presidential candidate.
Giwa stated, “If the APC decides to give its ticket to a northern candidate, it has violated the principle of fairness and equity; two, it has violated its principle of zoning and three, it has shown to Nigerians that it is a party that does not keep to its own constitution and it does not have political conscience.
‘’Nigerians will also determine, in the final analysis, that they do not want a party which does not respect those principles and which does not have political conscience.’’
Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, in Abuja, advised those planning to rig the 2023 general election to dismiss the idea.
This was as he vowed to use every legitimate means to protect the votes of Nigerians.
Buhari spoke during an Iftar dinner he organised in honour of members of the Diplomatic Corps at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, the President said, “Those planning to rig the forthcoming elections should think twice because I intend to resolutely protect and defend the sacred will of the Nigerian people, to be expressed through the ballot box.”
President Buhari also cautioned against foreign interference in the forthcoming elections saying ‘‘As you are all aware, the tenure of this administration ends on May 29, 2023. Typical of election years all over the world, the tempo of political activities is often high.
‘‘That is the nature of democracy. I am committed to bequeathing a stronger culture of credible elections to Nigeria than I met.
‘‘As Nigeria goes through this trajectory, I urge our friends in the global community, represented by the Diplomatic Corps, to adopt a positive role that reinforces the doctrine of respect for our internal affairs and respect for facts and devoid of preconceived notions and bias.”
Addressing the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Buhari called for greater consideration for humanitarian conditions in the affected areas in the ongoing crisis, warning that the conflict would get worse if an immediate resolution is not found.
‘‘The war has lasted too long, cost so much, and hurt too many people, well beyond the immediate theatres.
‘‘The rest of the world is progressively facing the impact of the conflict and this will certainly get worse, if an immediate resolution is not found, not least in the area of food security,” he said.
He welcomed the recent initiative of United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Gutteres, of visiting Moscow and Kyiv, commending his efforts in search of a ceasefire, as a prelude to other enduring solutions.
‘‘The United Nations must continue to actively lead the way for engagements that could ultimately unlock peace through diplomacy,’’ he said.
Citing the holy month of Ramadan, Buhari urged the Muslim community to use the solemn and rewarding period, especially these last days of the fast, to intensify prayers for de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the return of peace to the world.
Former presidential aide and author, Reno Omokri, has said that it is better for an individual to be polygamous than adulterous.
Omokri made the comment on Wednesday in reaction to the news of Nollywood star, Yul Edochie who announced his marriage to a second wife, his colleague Judith Austin.
Edochie who shares four children with his first wife, May Edochie, welcomed a baby boy with Judith in 2021.
Yul posted the photo of his new son and mother on his social media accounts on Wednesday and it has attracted numerous reactions.
Omokri who had kept mum over the matter was asked for a comment by one Uche Chuta who asked, “Oga Reno[Omokri], can we still say Yul is a Christian for doing this(marrying a second wife) especially as the Bible specifically says one man to one woman in the NT if I may add.”
Reacting, Omokri said, “In my personal opinion, I don’t think Polygamy is a sin. Scripture is crystal clear that God Himself gave David many wives-2 Samuel 12:8. Abraham, Jacob, and many Godly men were polygamists, and it was a regular way of life in Scripture amongst everyday people. For instance, Samuel’s father, Elkanah, was a polygamist-1 Samuel 1:2.
“Polygamy is only forbidden for Bishops, overseers and elders in the church-1 Timothy 3:2. Monogamy is a Western construct, not a Christian one.
“The modern marriage vow we use in Black Africa is a curse. It is not Scriptural. If you, Uche, can show It to me in Scripture, I will give you $50,000. And you know of my financial ability more than most people. It was adopted from Europe. It is very hard for a single woman to satisfy the libido of a normal man. And this is the reason we have such a high rate of what we call cheating in our society. Compare the rate of cheating in Europe and America, with that of Saudi Arabia and Jordan and my point becomes clear.
“Sadly, Black Africans have accepted this Western construct as a Christian one. Which is why we are now becoming tolerant of same-sex marriage, and are very intolerant of polygamy. Meanwhile, you find polygamy in Scripture-Exodus 21:10, and the very thought of the other is abominable according to Scripture-Leviticus 18:22.
“I will not counsel any man to marry more than one wife, but I will say that polygamy is by far better than adultery and fornication. But, these are my personal views.”
It was in 2018, we moved around the nooks and corners of Nigeria. We visited our markets, schools, farms, hospitals, our work places, roads, waterways. There was a particular engagement while we were enroute Jalingo from Yola that struck some cords in me. I met a herder who told me pointedly that his cattle tending occupation could be made better if he only he was given a fighting chance in a ranch built and operated to modern standards. It became clearer than before, to me right there that the issue was not his being a herder, the issue was the terrific terrorists Boko Haram was busy recruiting herders into their fold, tapping into the crises of resolutions on the Lake Chad crisis occasioned by climate change, as well as the ruinous ambition of islamic fundamentalists. We can’t shy away from this fact.
Nigeria today is bedeviled with rulers who live fake lives in order to steal the original lives of millions of our people. The aspiration of that herder is yet fulfilled till date while the issues bordering on herder- farmer crisis has gone far worse. In addition to physical insecurity, millions of Nigerians are perpetually going hungry in the midst of plenty. Tens of millions of youths are unemployed and some government rogues still insult our graduates as “unemployable”. The Nigerian ruler, Muhammadu Buhari even had the temerity to call Nigerian youths lazy”. What can be most embarrassing for a rulership that existed from 1960 till date thab the fact that they’ve never been able to satisfy the people with real governance, not even for once?
So, we are done lamenting. We have since the last elections been consulting with the masses. We started immediately after the 2019 elections by standing with the people against their oppressors who had just manipulated their rogue cabals back into government through through all crooked means they referred To as election. We never allowed undue moral sentiments to deter us from doing the needful- showing people the way to go, in defending the civic space, media space , and the political space in its entirety; the space we promised in 2018 to disrupt.
In consulting with the masses, we took the bull by the horn by setting the barricades through the declarations of #RevolutionNow. Some thought we were joking when it all started. Others thought we went too far. But how can anyone be sane in this atmosphere that has lost all modica of serenity? A system that has stripped our people of humanity.
From July 2019, weWe started mobilizing for a democratic uprising that came to head on August the 5th. We declared to undertake rigorous campaigns that would make the people of Nigeria to take their own destinies into their own hands. And by August 1st, the megaphone of #RevolutionNow was reverberating from the streets in villages, towns and cities to the market places, work places and expressways. We got over 5 million Nigerians search the word “Revolution” on the internet. Nigerian people themselves gave multi-million backings to our call and must have been rudely shocked when I was arrested in a gestapo manner, in the night of August 3rd, 2019.
Thinking that Omoyele Sowore was just a lone voice in the wilderness, the legendary failures who were arrogantly forced down our grudging throats never knew they had murdered sleep by keeping me illegally in detention. Our great comrades continued consulting with the people. They went from house to house, factories, to shops, to markets to explain to Nigerians why I had to be hounded by those who never want Nigerians to live better. Our comrades spoke with old and young from the North to the South. They occupied the DSS headquarters in Lagos and Abuja, as well as making sure the typically reticent and complacent lawmakers were forced to discuss my unlawful incarcerations from time to time. Their consultations reached the poor, the vulnerable, artisans and especially the informal workers. In Osogbo, far away from Abuja where I was detained, an old woman in her 70s popularly called “Iya onifufu” because of her trade, heard our comrades speaking in the face of police brutality. She dropped her goods and followed the protesters, where she too suffered gross brutality in the hands of Nigerian police officers. Such has been the way the masses of Nigeria take our case so seriously.
Our comrades fought so hard to #FreeSowore. And I too did all the needful by standing with the uncompromising ethics and letters of our historic struggles, rejecting all perks waved at me. We continued to discuss and engage in massive consultations with all the strata of our people’s aspirations for a saner and better country. We consulted with the Shiites in the face of the massacres from Kaduna to Abuja and some other parts where the followers of El Zakzaky were being persecuted, arrested, maimed, and murdered.
We have been consulting with our great people in Biafraland who since the civil war have continued to be trampled upon by a wicked cabal that has incorporated Igbos inIn both the ruling and business classes to not only betray but gruesomely victimize the legal and moral struggles for self determination. We believe that a people have a right to negotiate and decide their own liberty without attacks and genocides like the Buhari murderous government have been doing from Orlu to Obigbo. We keep standing for the unconditional release of my friend Mazi Namdi Kanu who is being unjustly detained by the Buhari government. We have also been consulting with the Middle Belt in its daily struggles against the scourges of war that have been both silently and loudly perpetrated by the rapacious and conquering business class who, running from terrorists in the North East, have been forced to be using brutes to take over the farms and settlements of people in the North Central.
From Benue to Southern Kaduna, mass killings and destructions have been going on unabated with a session of the Nigerian hegemony siding with the killer herders. So many of the instigators of these violence are deciding members of this wicked government. And it is in memory of our legendary battles that I remember our late patriot who was Deputy Governor of the CBN, Mr Obadiah Malafia. We have been consulting with the people in the core North in their historic wars against both Boko Haram and ISWAP but most importantly a near total ineffective commander in chief who’d practically abandoned them to their fate. The insecurity in the Northeast and NorthWest were brought upon our people by the long irresponsibilities of our rulers who have no other interests other than milking dry our hard earned resources. Their only expertise is in turning the war on terror to a multi-billion naira business that continue to make Generals and politicians dirty billions over the blood of our people. In consulting with the North, we engaged with the #NorthIsBleeding campaign from Adamawa to Sokoto top Minna. This particular consultation created a lot of queries about our intention in this campaign. But we patiently explained to the queriers that we are all one; those of us who are victims of this oppressive state. We continue to let our people know that only the self-security of the people, alongside a well-oiled military machinery can stop the terrorists groups in the North. A clueless regime cannot fight for the long suffering people of the north.
We have been consulting with the working class in organized and informal labour. The Nigerian economy has been shattered and shuttered through the instrumentality of the Adjustment Program (SAP) that was jointly imposed on the people by the Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida military junta. We have participated fervently in all workers’ strikes and actions so far. We played prominent roles in the great January Uprising Against Fuel Subsidy Removal in 2012. We have also been involved in all struggles of workers at the sectoral and informal levels; putting on the ground all of our supports for those who have had no other choice than to engage in self trade as well as self-employment in this majorly informal economy.
The production system has since been destroyed. Hundreds of industries from textiles to automobile, gone. Our selfish rulers sheepishly take dictations from IMF and World Bank. They impose all sorts of wicked and ruinous policies of deregulation and devaluation of the Naira on our people. They mouth fake policies and tell us lies of Foreign Direct Investments that do not exist in the real sense of it. And to satisfy their Western and Asian masters, they have killed all social securities, amenities and social welfare like education and health care services. They have murdered the naira and continued to make mockery of our collective patrimony by reversing all the subsidies that the people enjoy. They are currently working hard in collaboration with marketers to increase the price of fuel after making sure they destroyed the production power of the refineries. They do everything to make sure our economy does not work for the Nigerian people. They take all our raw materials abroad and bring back finished products for us to buy. The example of crude oil shows that those ruling us are worse than prodigal kids. It is sad that Nigeria remains the only member of OPEC that does not have working refineries.
We continue to consult with self-determination agitators, by defending their rights to express their dissatisfaction of the unwholesome unitary system, disguised as a federal democracy. While we believe our goal is to build the whole of Africa as a country of abundance and advancement, such would never be done by forcing people to live together. However, we are against all those who are against simple democracy where people cannot raise common agitations. It is in this vein that we call for the immediate release with apology, of our brothers Sunday Igboho and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who have been unjustly kept in the Benin Republic prison and DSS Abuja facility respectively.
We have consulted with women and continue to battle against all subjugation and systematic oppression that characterize the Nigerian womenfolk. We are not like those who believe women are just objects. We continue to fight for women as members of the oppressed class. We believe in Thomas Sankara’s principles of empowering the women while also encouraging them to fight for their rights. To be part of the process and not an after-thought. We believe that the freedom of women is germane in examining the level of the growth and development of our society.
A major consultation we have concertedly done is the one with our youths and students, who today are the most marginalized. We have a generation of youths that never enjoy any dividends of government, but wanton package of brutalities. Our youths grow everyday with little or no hopes for the future. As I speak, ASUU is on strike and what the government is doing is to give same excuses and sponsor fifth columnist to espouse same nonsense on pages of newspaper. This strike is the 15th in 23 years. How can a government flagrantly disregard agreements ? How can anyone support our wicked rulers who destroy public education while sending their kids abroad? How can education workers continue to live on such meagre salaries while useless lots in the Senate do nothing, yet earn tens of millions? I call on all students to stand with ASUU and all other education unions who are for the revitalization of public education. We are one of the few old guards who initiated and participated in the EndSARS. We are proud today that we led the first protests to the Force Headquarters in Abuja and that singular action spiraled into several efforts that emanated from different cells of the Nigerian youths, towards the great movement to #EndBadGovernance. We owe no one apologies for fighting for our future. We owe no one apologies for being part of a festival of the oppressed that has put the Nigerian youths in the great pages of world history. The largest concentration of black youths shook the world to its foundation in 11 days. EndSARS helped to snatch the gear of history from the grip of our oppressors.
It is in the lights of the consultations we have shown thus far that we would be standing today, bearing our conscience to tell the world of our intentions to write yet another page of moving forward with speed. The Nigerian people can not afford to lose another four years to cluelessness.
First, we propose aA Nigeria without the current documents of woes that are not meant for real citizens. We propose to abolish the 1999 constitution that was imposed on us by the military and civilian oppressors. In its place, we will have a people’s constitution that would come on board within six (6) months from the streets, towns, villages, and cities. Our own constitutional conference would see that the masses themselves participate and not just representatives that do not represent the people’s interests.
We are very keen on free, functioning, and quality education at all levels. We will immediately meet with ASUU and all education workers on harmonizing and advancing the current demands. The question would not be the implementation of agreements. It would rather be on how massive are the current agreements, for we want to build education policies that would see 70% Nigerians truly educated to higher levels within three years. We will not settle for any standard that does not set world class records.
We will create a health care system that would locate Primary health care centers in the space of five streets in our towns. The health sector of our government won’t encourage brain drain- where nurses and doctors are condemned to run abroad in search of greener pastures. We would water the pasture here. In addition to providing best welfare packages for our health professionals, we will build health institutions that would attract other health professionals all over the world. We would make standing laws on medical tourism to make sure that Nigeria becomes the bus stop of medical interventions. The era of not having a “syringe” even in the Aso Rock Clinic is gone.
Politics, of course, is concentrated on economics. To the extent that our politics is centered on the collective majority, our economy must beBe people-centred. We will not accept all those anecdotes of failures that the IMF and World Bank are wont to imposing on Nigeria. We do not believe in greed and power. We believe in redistribution of wealth and collectivisation of benefits.
We will build an economy that will be centred on massive industrialisation and production. We will never accept that our crude oil will be refined abroad. We will revive the refineries on ground and start to build three more refineries within two years. We are interested in all the components of the crude oil to build a great energy Industry that the world would be proud of. We will take the power of pricing away from the greed of the oil marketers. We will return pricing to the prerogative of state production. We will have zero tolerance to loans. We are determined not put our future into debt management. We want to be the country that the world would be owing!
We will build with the informal economy that isIs today the largest but the most victimized. we have a great relationship with informal workers and their organisations. We will build an economy that would be self-dependent and also be able to guarantee self and collective abundance. To do this is to formalize all small and medium scales trading. We will care for all business innovations and build a grand technological networking that would protect, expand, and organize the business acumens that would make the country the most conducive trading centre in the world.
As for the fact that Nigeria is not safe, we have been so clear about what is to be done. There cannot be physical security without social security. No one can be safe when the majority are hungry. Does theThe moral parlance not say that a hungry person is an angry person?
When we win, Africa will truly take its place in in the world economies and politics. We would not be trash cans again. Rather, Africa will be the ocean wherein the globe drink the water of life!
So, I call on Nigerians to rise. We can do what has not been done before. Just like we did in January 2012, and also at the EndSARS inIn October 2020; we need that massive and collective spirit and actions to vote for a candidate that is far different from those who have destroyed our past. We need a candidate that can build the future. I have spent the adult years of my life not dreaming but actively fighting for real alternative and true changes. I strongly know I am well prepared to lead this necessary movement for total freedom. We are in aA period where we cannot go back again but to take back the country. Nigeria belongs to the peoples. And only a truly caring Nigerian that is deeply engrossed in fighting and building for a new Nigeria can lead this generational advancement.
I appeal to Nigeria workers in all the sectors because a living wage is coming your way. To Nigeria students, because free and qualitative education with bursaries, grants, and scholarships are coming your way. To the unemployed I could only tell you, jobs, jobs, jobs because we shall turn Nigeria into a brand new construction site. To the army of Nigerian youths, we promise you a bright future where you can live your dreams in a decent country you could call your own. To the Nigeria traders and others in the informal sector, we promise an economic system that let you access opportunities like shops, loans with little interest rates. To Nigeria women, first it is equality’ and a system that legitimises your full rights at the work place, hospitals for proper maternal care, and a full healthcare and economic system that guarantee your health and future.
To retirees in Nigeria, let me first apologise to you all for the way you’ve been treated all these years. No country should treat its senior citizens this way. Going forward, your entitlements will be promptly paid and a burdensome economy won’t be waiting to swallow the entitlements. The religious leaders and faithfuls in Nigeria, Nigerians in diaspora, Nigeria parents, Nigerians in struggle for self determination as a result of historial injustices, patriotic men and women in the security services, professionals, the media and all the oppressed people who genuinely are desirous of good things of life, help has arrived.
I am Omoyele Stephen Sowore. I believe in the unity of all oppressed Nigerians. I call on all fighting groups and individuals to be part if this new dawn. It is a revolution that can not be postponed anymore. Our total freedom is no other time but now! A new Nigeria is very possible!!
A Russian commander has been reportedly captured by Ukrainian solders.
The Ukrainian military made the claim on Saturday.
The military also provided photo evidence of the commander and chief of staff of Russia’s tank battalion, 35th Motor Rifle Brigade after the capture.
Russian Major Schetkin Leonid Petrovich, along with his photo identification, military insignia and other personal belongings were photographed in Ukrainian custody and the photos shared by Ukraine’s Operational Command North.
The Ukrainian military said Petrovich was captured after Ukrainian forces attacked a Russian tank unit, in which Petrovich “miraculously survived.”
The capture marks the highest-ranking Russian forces captured by Ukraine so far.
Video shared to social media by the Ukrainian military shows numerous charred tanks in the aftermath of an attack.
On Thursday, the top Ukrainian commander wrote in a statement that “Russian invaders” from Russia’s 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade surrendered to “Ukrainian defenders.”
“Russian invaders, facing the total resistance of Ukrainian defenders, surrender themselves to captivity. Under Chernihiv, a whole intelligence unit of 74 motorcycle rifle brigade surrendered,” the Ukrainian commander stated, adding that the Russian soldiers “thought they would return home” and that they were “collecting information” instead of fighting.
During a press briefing, Ukraine Ambassador Markarova also confirmed the surrender, saying the Russian troops “didn’t know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians. That they thought they were doing something else there.”
As of Saturday, Ukraine said they’d imprisoned 200 Russian troops, and imprisoned 200, saying the Russian troops didn’t expect Ukraine to put up a fight, so they surrendered.
Ukraine claimed on Sunday that in the first three days of battle, it killed 4,300 Russian forces, destroyed 27 airplanes, 26 helicopters, 146 tanks, 706 armored vehicles, and more.
As of Saturday, Ukraine’s health minister also claimed that 198 Ukrainians were killed, including three children, by invading Russian forces, and another 1,000 people were wounded.
U.N. officials said that more than 150,000 Ukrainians had fled Ukraine, and an estimated 4 million could evacuate if the fighting continues.
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Defense said in the previous 24 hours, it had observed “more than 250 Russian missile launches, mostly short-range ballistic missiles.” Additionally, it said more than half of Russia’s 150,000 troops amassed around Ukraine had been mobilized inside Ukraine, with the rest still waiting along its borders.
On Friday, President Joe Biden authorized $350 million worth of U.S. weaponry to Ukraine, including anti-armor, small arms, various munitions, body armor and similar equipment. With the latest installment, the U.S. has now provided Ukraine with $1 billion in security assistance over the past year alone.
Germany also provided anti-tank grenade launchers and stinger missiles to Ukraine over the weekend.
A Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Yaba axis of Lagos has ruled that a chieftain of the National Union of Road Transport Worker (NURTW), Adekunle Lawal, popularly called Kunle Poly, be remanded at the Kirikiri correctional centre pending when allegations leveled against him on the clashes that occurred in Idumota would be determined.
The judge said that Kunle Poly should be remanded at the centre, as allegations brought against him on the clashes that claimed lives and resulted in the destruction of property were yet to be proven untrue.
Kunle Poly was remanded on Monday during the court proceedings oversee by Chief Magistrate Linda Balogun, barely two days after the Nigerian Police granted him bail following the expiration of a 30-day custody appeal granted to the law enforcement agency.
Confirming outcomes of the court proceedings, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, Hauwa Laraba, told News Men that the NURTW has been remanded by the court.
Hauwa further disclosed that the magistrate has adjourned the case to Tuesday, March 1st, 2022, for further hearing of allegations levelled against the transport union member.
It would be recalled that Kunle Poly, and two others were under the custody of the Nigerian Police, Zone 2, and they were Idowu Johnson and Agboola Akeem popularly called Okoro.
In previous ruling, the magistrate had said that the Idumota clashes resulted in a breach of peace across the country’s commercial capital and it put residents of the axis under fears and disrupted commercial activities within the state.
Balogun said that keeping the NURTW members under the police custody would help unravel other hidden facts on unrests that led to the loss of lives and destruction of property worth millions of Naira.
According to her, the three defendants are to be remanded in the facility of the Nigeria Police Zonal Monitoring Unit, Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan-Lagos, for the next 30 days, to enable the police to conclude investigations.
Earlier, Animashaun, while presenting the case before the Magistrate, told the court that the application was pursuant to sections 264(1), (2), (3), (4), and (6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, 2021 (as amended).
The Counsel added that the request was also in line with sections 4 and 10 of the Police Act, 2020, and sections 6(c), 35(1)(C)(5), and (7)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 199 (as amended).
He told the court that the application sought, was to enable the police to conclude investigations of a case of threat to life and property, violence, cultism, mayhem, and conducts likely to cause a breach of peace, unlawful possession of firearms, conspiracy, and murder against the three men.
Peak News 
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