By Gideon Njoku
The Department of State Security, DSS, has arrested Comrade Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.
Ajaero, reports say, was arrested Monday morning, September 9, 2024, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
He was on his way, allegedly, to the United Kingdom for an official assignment.
He was billed to attend a Conference in London of the Trade Union Congress.
By Suleiman Anyalewechi
Former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Chris Ekpenyong has blamed the present prostrate condition of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on the deviation from its founding principles.
This is even as he noted that Nyesom Wike, the Federal capital Territory, FCT, Minister, does not have the required wherewithal to derail PDP and its vision.
Epenyongrepresenting who addressed the media on Sunday September 8, 2024 in Uyo said the dysfunctional state of the PDP has given individuals, including Wike and Governors to become “taller than the party”
Senator Ekpenyong spoke against the backdrop of Wike’s threat to destabilize States which Governors are perceived to be now, supporting his estranged political godson, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, to, according to Wike, erode his PDP structure in the State.
“Asking me about a very young man who peradventure, came to be initiated into a political party and grew from the ranks of being the chairman of a Local Government through the instrumentality of his boss, Dr Peter Odili, and became what ever he became.
“He now says he wants to fight the stem. You know, everything has a stem. I will not join issues with him but I think he is taking advantage of the fact that our party has deviated from what was supposed to be the vision and mission of its founding fathers.
“Otherwise, you would not see anyone who became a Governor of the PDP, now becoming taller than the party. It would not have been, but I am yet to see how he will fight.
“It will be a surprise to say whether PDP is alive or not. PDP has gone into a cocoon, it is yet to be revived. But even at that, Wike does not have the oxygen to fight the PDP. I think he does not.”
The Former Akwa Ibom Deputy Governor blamed the slide in the fortunes of the party on the fact that after deviating from its founding principles, it has also allowed state Governors to be calling the shots.
According to him, “with Governors, in charge, the PDP abandoned its toga as party devoted to the promotion of social justice and fairness, to assume the status of a platform that embraces imposition.
” PDP is a national party which you can find in all nooks and crannies of the country. It is a party that is predicated on social justice and fairness and that means you cannot just hand-pick, you must go through a process, and you must be the people’s choice.” Senator Ekpenyong stated .
He insisted that the PDP lost focus the very moment imposition became the rule, with state Governors becoming taller than the party.
But he expressed the optimism that with the required leadership and political will, the PDP could recreate and rediscover itself .
FBN Holdings Plc is no longer the owner of FBNQuest Merchant Bank.
The Group sold the bank to “the highest bidder” despite its impressive gross turnover of over 43 percent to N35.5 billion in the 2023 financial year, analysts say.
But the Nnamdi Okonkwo-led FBNH said the sale was in line with its strategic objective to minimize the portfolios under its control.
The development, analysts say, followed the legal battle for control between the financial services provider and some shareholders, a situation that prevented FBNH from holding its Annual General Meeting, AGM, initially scheduled for September 3, 2024.
Announcing the change of ownership at the weekend, FBNH Acting Company Secretary, Adeware Arogundade stated that the company with the highest bid got the bank.
According to the statement filed with the Nigeria Exchange Limited, NGX, the Holder said EverQuest Acquisition LLP a consortium comprising Custodian Investments Plc, Aion Investments, and Evercorp Industries emerged the winner after a competitive bidding process.
The sale, the statement said, is part of the company’s strategy to minimize portfolios under its control.
The Group said, “By the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Rulebook, we at this moment notify the Nigerian Exchange Limited and the investing public that FBN Holdings Plc (“the Company”) has entered into a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement to divest its 100 per cent equity stake in its wholly owned subsidiary, FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited. This sale aligns with the Company’s strategy to optimize its portfolio within the Group.
“Following a competitive bid process, EverQuest Acquisition LLP (comprising Custodian Investments PLC, Aion Investments and Evercorp Industries) was selected as the preferred bidder. The completion of the sale is subject to approvals from the relevant regulatory authorities.”
The Nigerian Army says soldiers are free to voluntarily disengage from the Armed Forces, saying recruitment is not by “conscription.”
Maj Gen.Onyema Nwachukwu, Director, Army Public Relations made the remark in his reaction to the controversy that has trailed the mass retirement of soldiers from the Force.
According to checks, over 1,000 soldiers have resigned from the Nigerian Army in the last four years, from 2020 to 2024.
Reports claimed that close to 60 soldiers had retired from the Nigerian Army in 2023 alone, while in August this year, 196 soldiers resigned from the Nigerian Army.
Further checks indicate that those that disengaged from the Army had not attained the retirement age or mandatory years of service before the exited.
Suggestions are that the disengaged servicemen decided to leave because they were dissatisfied with what is going on in the country’s Armed Forces.
While some soldiers have alleged high level of corruption against the Armed Forces management, others have expressed their dissatisfaction with the way the war on insurgency and banditry has been prosecuted in the northern parts of the country.
Instructively, the core of the allegation is that the top echelon of the Military are among the sponsors of insecurity in the region.
How ever in his reaction to the mass retirement Gen Nwachukwu, said soldiers who wish to leave the service cannot be compelled to remain.
He explained that several factors are responsible for soldiers disengagement, including medical and personal reasons, adding that this is in line with international best practices.
Onyema said, “Though I do not have the exact details of yearly retirements or discharge of personnel currently, I can say that officers and soldiers are processed for retirement or discharge by time, based on laid down criteria and provisions of the terms and conditions of service of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, especially those who have served out their mandatory 35 years of service.
“A few retire or discharge on medical grounds, while very few seek discharge voluntarily for personal reasons. Retiring or discharging from active service is, therefore, not a strange phenomenon, as this is also obtainable in other local and international security and civil organisations. I must add quickly that service in the Nigerian Army is not by conscription.”
Meanwhile, not a few Nigerians insist that the mass retirement of soldiers is a vote of no confidence on the Nigerian Military which is currently struggling to contain insecurity across the country. The development, they say, will further demotivate serving personnel.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ally Joe Igbokwe has appealed to the president to intervene in the cost of electricity tariff being charged by DICSOS in the country.
Igbokwe, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Lagos state made the appeal in a message he shaared on his Facebook page on Sunday.
According to him, the high cost of electricity tariff currently being paid in the country by individuals and companies is capable of destroying businesses.
He urged Tinubu to use his powers as president to bring the cost of electricity down so that businesses can thrive.
Igbokwe, in the post, lamented that N20,000 worth of units only lasted him for just a day, praying Tinubu to “review” the tariff in the interest of Nigerians.
He said: “PBAT, please look into the new electricity tariff in Nigeria. It will kill businesses if the government does not act as quickly as possible. I have a small office in Surulere with about about 7 units of AC.
“We used to buy 300 plus units for N20,0000. Yesterday we bought N20,000 worth of units and it lasted for just one day. They call it band A group. I pray that we review this”.
The Adebayo Adelabu-led Ministry of Power has come under attack from not a few Nigerians for increasing electricity tariff in the country by over 200 percent of the cost being paid before he came into office.
The minister justified the hike saying the former cost was not sustainable.
De Renaissance, a group representing the indigenous people of Lekki has dragged the Lagos State Government to court over a $100 million allegedly paid by Dangote Refinery to acquire a piece of land where the petrochemical plan was cited.
In the suit at the federal high court in Lagos, the group is praying the court to compel the state government to release information about whether or not Aliko Dangote paid the sum to the state government.
The magazine reported that Africa’s Richest Man and the promoter of the Refinery claimed last month that he paid the state government $100 million to acquire the huge expanse of land where he cited the refinery.
The revelation had raised serious controversy among not a few Nigerians who initially thought that the land was acquired free from the state government.
The De-Renaissance, in the suit, is now seeking from the state government a detailed account as to how such huge amount of money in hard currency was collected in exchange for the poor Ibeju-Lekki people’s land, and why the issue was kept away from the public until recently.
The account in which the money was paid should also be made public, the group told the court.
The request is contained in an originating motion, brought under 1. Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended; 2. Sections 1,3, 4, 7, 20 and 24 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 and 3. Inherent jurisdiction of the Honourable Court in the matter of application by 1. De Renaissance Patriots Foundation and 2. Ibeju-Lekki Peoples Forum, who are the Applicants, joining 1. Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 2. Attorney General of Lagos State, 3. Accountant General of Lagos State, 4. Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Lagos State and 5. Lagos State Government, who are the Respondents.
The motion, filed and registered by the court with Suit no FHC/L/CS/1603/2024 on at 1:20pm on Friday September 6, 2024, is seeking the court for an Order of Mandamus to be issued against the respondents with a view to compelling the Lagos State Government to release the information required by the applicants.
Speaking immediately after the filing of the motion at the weekend, lead counsel to the applicants, Barrister Yakubu Eleto Esq, said the entire livelihood of the people of Ibeju-Lekki were destroyed by the mere fact of the siting of the Dangote Refinery without any affected resident/host communities compensated.
He said, “Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), as sitting Governor in 2015, using a public address said that they brought Dangote to Ibeju-Lekki in good faith to assist governance, to assist the Lagos State economy, that they gave him the land for free and that he didn’t pay anything for it.”
He said that was what the Lagos State government at the time used to cajole the people until recently, nine years after that, Dangote cried out saying the land he used to build his refinery was not for free but that he paid $100 million for it.
The Justice Action Alliance, JAA, has called out the Dangote Refinery to be transparent about its dealings, especially on petrol, saying that Nigerians are tired of the confusion trailing the availability and pricing of the product from the private refinery.
Dangote Refinery had, on Tuesday, revealed that the Federal Executive Council would be the one to determine the price for the petrol produced in the refinery. The FEC, it declared, was already working on a new pricing arrangement for petrol produced from the facility.
It equally announced that its 650,000-barrel-per-day installation officially had unveiled its refined petrol, announcing that the product would be in filling stations in the next 48 hours (Thursday).
Asides this, the refinery also, in a statement by its spokesman, Anthony Chiejina, alleged that some marketers were planning to boycott petrol from the facility, maintaining that the private refinery could be forced to export its petrol.
But the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, dismissed claims suggesting that it was the sole off-taker of petrol from the Dangote refinery.
Puncturing claims that the government would be the one to determine the price for petrol produced by Dangote refinery, the NNPC Ltd. added that prices of petroleum products, including those from Dangote Refinery, are dictated by global market forces.
In its reaction to the development, JAA, in a statement on Sunday, lamented the back-and-forth going on with Dangote’s refinery and its petrol availability for Nigerians.
Consequently, the Group urged Dangote Refinery to stop dilly-dallying and put an end to perennial delays on its petroleum product.
The statement signed by the alliance Executive Secretary, Benjamin Udechukwu, which was made available to journalists, read,
“We, the Justice Action Alliance (JAA) are calling out Dangote Refinery to stop confusing Nigerians at this critical time of hardship in the nation. So, as a matter of urgency, we challenge Dangote Refinery to immediately fulfil its promise on the availability of petrol.
“Initially, Dangote said the Federal Executive Council FEC, would decide the price. Later, it announced that NNPC would be the sole offtaker. But in its reaction, NNPC stated that market forces would determine the price.
“This confusion has sparked frustration among Nigerians, who are eagerly awaiting the introduction of locally refined fuel from Dangote Refinery into the market.
“Truly speaking, we feel it is absurd and unacceptable to claim that NNPCL will determine the price of his product as a private entity or become the distributor for any entity in a free market environment.
“Some believe that this infusion will lead to a crash in fuel prices. It is clear that Nigerians are eager for transparency and consistency in fuel pricing.
“But it appears that the Dangote Refinery is not being sincere and transparent with Nigerians. It’s time for Dangote to provide clear answers. Where is the promised petrol, and what’s the real price? Nigerians deserve transparency and consistency on this matter.
“It is a pity that after numerous delays and missed deadlines, the Dangote Refinery is still deceiving Nigerians despite several assurances that petrol from its refinery would be available in all parts of the country.
“If the Dangote refinery truly cares for Nigerians, it should begin to sell its products even at a lower price, as it and any other domestic refinery are free to sell directly to any marketer.
By Ayodele Oni
It was a bloody Sunday in Niger State as a tanker explosion in the Agaie Local Government Area of the State led to the death of over 30 people and the burning of 50 cattle.
The explosion took place around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday along the Lapai-Agaie road, approximately two kilometers from the Dendo community in Agaie.
It was learnt that the incident occurred when a petrol tanker loaded with PMS collided with a trailer truck loaded with travellers and cattle from Wudil in Kano state heading to Lagos. Two other vehicles, a crane truck and a pickup van traveling on the road were also caught when the PMS loaded tanker exploded
The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, confirmed the incident, adding that the NSEMA Rapid Response Team responded to the call after the explosion, adding that 30 bodies had been recovered from the truck and confirmed dead.
Arah said that his team were still at the scene of the incident and was still conducting search and response operations as there were more bodies trapped inside the trucks.
By Akinwale Kasali
The Nation’s Female Under-20 Team, the Falconets, have booked a place in the knockout phase of the ongoing Female FIFA Under-20 World Cup in grand style, annihilating their South American opponent, Venezuela 4-0.
Goals from Amina Bello, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, Flourish Sabastine and substitute Joy Igbokwe was all Nigeria needed to make a smooth passage into the Round of 16 against Venezuela in Cali,Colombia.
The victory ensured that the Falconets came out Second in the Group behind football powerhouse, Germany.
Bello guided home a cut-back by the irrepressible Okwuchukwu for the first goal against the South Americans in the 16th minute, before Okwuchukwu turned goal-scorer in the 28th minute when she met a corner kick with a bullet header to make it 2-0 for Nigeria.
Okwuchukwu, who scored Nigeria’s only goal in their 1-3 loss to Germany on Wednesday night, was at it again in added time of the first half, when she assisted Flourish Sabastine with a pull-out that the latter converted to put daylight between both countries.
Substitute Joy Igbokwe made it four, four minutes into added time, with the result effectively steering the Falconets to the Round of 16 of the competition.
Victory earned the Falconets six points and a plus three goals difference in their group D campaign, with their Round of 16 game to come up in Bogota on Thursday, next week
By Akinwale Kasali
Ambassador John Adekorede Aderibigbe, the National Chairman, National Agricultural Commodities Projects, NACP, has described Nigeria as a bleeding Country.
He has, therefore, called on the President Bola Tinubu-led Government to rescind policies that are not economically friendly to the citizens.
Aderibigbe, who also doubles as the Country President, Universal Institute of Professional Management, UIPM, stressed that increase in fuel pump price has further worsened the means of livelihood of hundreds of millions of Nigerians, particularly, small households in the rural areas, informal sector of the economy, as well as the Agricultural hub.
He queried that the increase in the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 has become meaningless, puting into consideration the astronomical rise in the price of fuel, which has metamorphosed into hike in food items, household daily groceries, health sector, transportation and every facet of life.
The United Nations ECOSOC Special Consultative Status Member added that it is time for the President to put aside politics and address issues that bothers on the realities of its citizenry as the country sits on a keg of gunpowder.
He added that this may lead to the revolt of the masses against his government. That would spell anarchy.
“If food is no longer at reach of the common man, next is revolution. For the nation not to go the way of Sri Lanka, Greece, Burkina Faso, Mali and the likes, President Tinubu needs to call for National Intervention Schemes, where he would address Government agencies, Ministries and Parastatal Staffs on implementation of policies and how it should be interpreted.
“He needs to put the right peg in the right hole. Policies should not just be made, but needs to see how policies are been implemented. At the moment, nothing is working in the country, and nothing can be identified as his achievements in the last one year.
“The truth needs to be told, the masses are suffering with no hope for a better tomorrow in sight. Interventions are giving to wrong people, it is so bad. This is a time bomb waiting to explode, if President Tinubu doesn’t act fast and retrace his steps and stop this anti people policies, then anarchy looms”.
Proffering a solution, the Peace Ambassador said that no government is run by itself without the support and inclusivitiveness of key stakeholders in major sectors of the economy.
For example, in the Agricultural Sector, Health, Real Estate and the likes, who are critical stakeholders for decades and are familiar with peculiar issues in the industry, the President Tinubu administration ought to carried them along and give them a sense of belonging, but since he came on board, reverse has been the case.
There is need for this government to engage this stakeholders, certainly, there will be positive wind of change in the economic situation of the country.
