The Nigerian Senate resumed plenary Tuesday in a sombre mood, with very scanty attendance following the tsunami that resulted in the loss of re-election bid by many Senators.
But most importantly, some Senators, including both majority and minority leaders, crossed carpets from their respective parties to virgin grounds.
The Senate is sitting for the first time in six weeks-from May 11, 2022-after it adjourned plenary to enable Senators participate in the ongoing primary elections of various parties.
During this period, as was reported by this Magazine, Majority Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, Kebbi North, decamped from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Also the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, left PDP to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
Besides, it is estimated that not more than 30 per cent of the Senators may be returning to the red Chamber.
According to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, who himself will not be returning to the Senate, he attributed Abdullahi’s resignation as Senate Leader to his defection.
He read the resignation letters of both Principal Officers to the Senators.
Lawan also read a letter from the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Senator Adamu Aliero, Kebbi Central, who has defected from the APC to the PDP.
With Abaribe’s defection, APGA is now represented in the Senate.
Three Governors of the ruling All Progressive Congress, (APC) have donated N75 million to assist victims of the terrorists attack at Owo in Ondo state.
Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos; Dapo Abiodun, Ogun; and AbdulRahman Abdulrasaq, Kwara, announced the donations on Tuesday in Akure when they came to symphatize with their counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu over the Terrorist attack on St Francis Xavier Catholic Church Attack.
While receiving them, Governor Akeredolu again warned that the people of the South-west will not tolerate another unprovoked attack on the Region under any guise.
According to him, the people of Ondo State and South-west Region, at large, have always come to the country in peace and unity.
The immediate past Governor of Ogun state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, also joined the entourage.
Members of the State Executive Council led by the Secretary to the State Government, Princess Oladunni Odu, joined the Governor to receive the visitors.
Governor Akeredolu, who described the Owo attack as one too many, noted that the people of the South-west region have always maintained peace and unity of the country.
He thanked the Governors for their solidarity while describing their visit as not just symbolic but important.
“We are part of this country and we have always come to this country in peace and we have maintained peace.
“We have been trying everytime to maintain Nigeria because we believe in Nigeria. Let someone point to an incident in which we left our enclave or we left this peaceful environment and went to cause problems in other places.
“Let them tell us. We have come to this country in peace, and now people want to visit us with war. You want to maim and kill us; it is not easy.
“It is a dreadful assault. I said to people that if we were at war and we were armed and faced ourselves, in one day 40 poeple would not die from our side. But this is not war, we were not at war.
“This is an assault on us, on our psyche. We cannot continue this way. We believe in this place, we believe in South-Western region, we believe in Yoruba. Is Yoruba part of the Nigeria we believe in? Yes.
“But I thank you for your solidarity. You have come all the time and we have always worked together, all of us.
“If you get to the scene, I’m sure it will bring tears out of your eyes. These criminals, these animals in human skin, what they did was horrendous.
“They did not come to kidnap, they did not come to steal, they took no dime. They went into the church and shot at everything within their sight.”
Earlier, Ogun state Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who spoke on behalf of the Lagos and Kwara States Governors, said the attack was not just on the good people of Owo and Ondo State, but the entire South-West region.
The Governors announced the donation N25m each, totaling N75m for the victims of the attack.
The Governors disclosed that the region would soon meet to take a position to further consolidate and improve security architecture in the zone.
“We have come this morning to commiserate with His Excellency and the good people of Owo and of course, Ondo State by extension.
“We come on behalf of our families and people and governments of Ogun, Kwara and the Lagos States on the very dastardly event that happened on the 5th of June, 2022, at the Catholic church in Owo.
“The news filtered in on the evening of the 5th and it came as a shock to all your brother Governors across the length and breadth of this country, but in particular those of us that come from the South-West zone.
“We find this attack not just an attack on the good people of Owo, or the good people of Ondo State but the entire people of the South-West zone.
“Of course we have met and we have condemned this act which we find as most unfortunate. Your Excellency, this is an attack too many.
“We know that you have been at the vanguard of ensuring peace and security for your poeple. In fact, you are the champion of the Amotekun in the South-West.
“We your brothers wonder if this is more personal because of the role you have played in ensuring that our zone is secured.
‘One wonders if there is a particular reason this attack was launched in your hometown of Owo. We are deeply pained, we deeply saddened and we commiserate with you.
“We pray for the lives of the departed, we pray that the almighty God forgives their sins and accept their souls. We commiserate with their families, we sympathize with those that are still in the hospitals.”
Telecommunication Giant, MTN, has come under strong criticism from the Private Telecom Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PTECSSAN, over the failure of the Company to respect Labour Laws.
The Group alleged that MTN has failed to implement its employees Exit Package as an item in their collective bargaining agreements, urging the Federal Ministry of Labour to take necessary measures to defend her labour laws.
In a press statement signed by Francis Ude, an Executive, in the Union noted that an organization like MTN cannot claim to be Investors In People, IIP, and refuses to care about what happens to an employee who spent all his/her youth within the organization.
In the statement, the Union recalled that, on March 1, 2022, both MTN and PTECSSAN were in Abuja on the auspices of the Ministry of Labour which invited both parties on the prompting of MTN that the Union wanted to disrupt its activities in Nigeria and alleged that the Union refused to obey the agreement entered into by both parties in a Procedural Agreement (PA) entered and signed by both parties.
“It is needful here to state that the said PA entered and signed by MTN and the Union (PTECSSAN) on the 9th of October 2020, states in paragraph (d) of the preamble that;
“This agreement shall constitute the sole record of the understanding and agreement between the parties relating to its subject matter and CANCELS and OVERRIDES any prior verbal or written communications relating to such subject matter, whether express or implied including letters or memorandum of understanding.”
The union noted that, MTN in total disregard of this clause, refused to further the negotiation of the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) presented by the Union, holding that MTN had concluded everything about “Exit Package” in a document entered into before the SIGNING of the Procedural Agreement and the clause mentioned above.
However, in deciding the dispute the Ministry having the full grasp and understanding of paragraph (d) as above, held that MTN cannot reprobate and approbate at the same time, stating that having signed the Procedural Agreement and the clauses contained therefrom, MTN in all intents and purposes, is bound by such agreement and therefore out of place to claim that the union does not respect the agreement.
The Union also noted that MTN has continually refused to commence meeting to conclude the CBA as directed by the ministry, even when the Nigeria Labour Congress on the 14th of April wrote to MTN on this seeming recalcitrant nature of MTN to obey the extant laws of the land and obey labour laws, and stop having the management’s employee council as a parallel union in the organization.
It however expressed worries that the Ministry of Labour, till date, has refused to transmit MTN’s appeal to the arbitration panel as it bound to do under the circumstance.
While the Union has continued to follow due process to resolving any industrial dispute with MTN, MTN has continually used all controls within its powers to scuttle every effort of PTECSSAN and cause disunity within its fold.
The Union said, MTN cannot claim to be IIP certified and not have something as basic as EXIT PACKAGE for its employees. The body noted that, whatever MTN claim to have for its work force, is enjoyed by her senior staff and only a very little fraction goes to the lower levels:
According to the Union, MTN pay EXIT PACKAGES to its Senior Staff but refused to do same to the lower cadre.
It was revealed that All Exited/Sacked Executives have all been paid huge sums Exit Packages, but frowns at the lower cadre, despite claims by MTN that it is an IPP.
It was also alleged by the Union that Senior Staff enjoy $15,000 as Life Style Benefit, at the expense of the lower cadre who are been denied.
The Union also alleged that MTN Pays School Fees for the Kids of the Executives, Fuels generators of its Executives but frowns at the Union talking about inflation and fuel price increase for the lower staff.
“MTN PAYS 80% OF THE EXECS TAKE HOME AS BONUS, WHILE THE LOWER CADRE TAKE ONLY 20%. INSPITE OF ALL MTN HAS DONE FOR IT WORKFORCE INCLUDING THE EXECS, THE TOTAL STAFF COST TO REVENUE IS BARELY 3.5% WHICH IS SO LOW COMPARED TO OTHER ORGANISATIONS AND BANKS IN NIGERIA WHO ARE DOING WELL ABOVE 6-9%”.
The Union expressed dismay that a labour ministry of a country would refuse to take necessary measures to defend her labour laws and bring recalcitrant employers to obey international best practices, adding that all union members are asking for now, is the an EXIT PACKAGE as item in their collective bargaining agreement.
The hijab crisis rocking Kwara State, North Central Nigeria may not be over yet following the demand from Muslim community in the State that the names of all schools formerly owned by religious institutions be changed.
The Muslims insist that this is the lasting solution to the crisis that have been plaguing the State for years. The religious crisis worsened early this year after Christians in the State tried to stop Muslim students from wearing the Islamic head covering to schools formerly owned by Christian Missionaries.
The Kwara State Government had just re-opened the Oyun Baptist High School, Ijagbo, the school at the centre of the recent crisis for students to resume academic activities, four months after it was shut to avert confrontation by the parties.
But the muslim community in the state said the lasting solution to the issue is to change the names of schools formerly owned by both Christians and Muslim missionaries.
Many of the schools in contention are owned by Christians even though they are being funded by Government. The State is predominantly Muslim.
In a letter addressed to the State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Muslims recommended six actions to be taken by the Government toresolve the issue of hijab-wearing by female Muslim students in all public schools in the State.
The letter dated June 7, 2022, with reference number KWS/MS/01/22 and signed by Alhaji Ishaq AbdulKareem (Chairman) and Professor Ibrahim Abikan (Secretary), demanded among other things compensation for their members affected in the violent hijab crisis.
According to the letter, “The Kwara State Government should change the names of all schools formerly owned by both the Muslim and Christian proprietors by adding’ Government’ into them, e.g, Ansarul Islam Government Secondary School, Ilorin, Bishop Smith Memorial Government College, Ilorin,” the community stated in the letter.
“The Kwara State Government must build a new school mosque for Muslim students/ teachers of Bishop Smith Memorial College, Ilorin to replace the one demolished.
“The Kwara State Government should appoint a new Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, while the permanent secretary in the ministry should be moved to another ministry.
The Kwara State Government must enforce freedom of worship in our schools by ensuring that separate devotions are held for Muslim and Christian students at the school assembly, and no external Imam or Pastor should be allowed to participate in morning devotion aside from the school teachers.
“The Kwara State Government should ensure, henceforth, that appointments and postings of Principals into all schools should be based on merit and seniority and should be the sole responsibility of the Kwara State Teaching Service Commission instead of former Proprietors as it is being done now,” the Muslim community said.
Meanwhile, close watchers of events in the State insist that renaming the Schools could lead to fresh religious crisis in the State, particularly, as Christians may resist any attempt by the Governor Abdulrahman administration to change the names of Christian Missionary Schools.
“This would be interpreted as the Government pandering to the whims and caprices of a particular religious community in a plural religious state. It will send a dangerous signal that could lead to a very dangerous dimension of the current crisis,” a politician in the State who does not want his name mentioned told the magazine on Tuesday.
The President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has borrowed over N19 trillion from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN since it came to power in 2015. As at April this year the total debt to CBN stood at N19.1 trillion, according to checks from the apex bank.
The information is contained in a CBN data which also showed that the administration increased the debt to the apex bank by close to N2 trillion within the first four month of the year.
The development came exactly a year after Fitch Ratings, a US based ratings agency warned the government to stop borrowing from the Governor Godwin Emefiele-led CBN.
International development partners such as the International Monetary Fund, IMF and the World Bank have also disavowed government’s borrowing from the apex bank.
The IMF for instance, had in February this year cautioned the Buhari’s administration from taking overdraft from the CBN to fund its proposed N2.55 trillion petrol subsidy
Fitch, had in a report titled ‘Nigeria’s Deficit Monetisation May Raise Macro-Stability Risks’, said the government is complicating the nation’s total debt problems by borrowing from the CBN through Ways and Means, W&M.
According to the CBN Act, the federal government is allowed to take an overdraft from the CBN, not more than five per cent of the current year’s Budget. But the administration has flouted the Act consistently by borrowing more from the apex bank and not paying back as provided in the Act.
In the Fitch report, the rating agency said borrowing from the CBN has many consequences attached to it, including the risks to macro-economic stability. The agency had advised the Buhari’s administration to look for other means of borrowing funds, warning also that it’s better not to borrow at all, particularly when the debt is used to finance Budget Deficit.
The agency said the corona virus pandemic which slowed a larger part of the world’s economy has slowed down, and there’s no longer need to borrow.
The report said, “Sustained use of direct monetary financing could raise risks to macroeconomic stability – given the current weak institutional safeguards – but we expect the FGN to reduce its use of the facility in 2021.
“The FGN directly borrowed 1.9 per cent of GDP from the CBN to fund its fiscal deficit in 2020, estimated by Fitch at 3.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
“A number of emerging markets resorted to central bank deficit financing in 2020 against a background of urgent spending needs and temporary market dislocations associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
“However, the use of central bank financing in Nigeria predates the pandemic shock.”
Section 38 of the CBN Act provides for the apex bank to advance loans to the federal government. The overdraft, the Act said must not exceeds five per cent of the Budget of a financial year.
“The total amount of such advances outstanding shall not at any time exceed five per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue of the Federal Government.
“All advances shall be repaid as soon as possible and shall, in any event, be repayable by the end of the Federal Government financial year in which they are granted and if such advances remain unpaid at the end of the year, the power of the bank to grant such further advances in any subsequent year shall not be exercisable, unless the outstanding advances have been repaid,” the Act said.
The significance was not lost on the hundreds of people gathered. It couldn’t have. Nobody could have done it better, or shown a better example than His Grace, Archbishop Anthony Obinna, the retiring Catholic Archbishop of the Owerri Ecclesiastical Province.
His patriotic action was, at once, subtle and punchy. Its impact, immeasurable and unbeatable.
Since the masses suddenly became aware of their electoral power, their power to change the fortunes of Nigeria for the better, their power to change a bad Governnent, their power to vote out their non- performing rogue representatives, their power to take their money (why not, it is public money), and still vote against them, nothing has remained the same. And not a few rogue professional politicians are afraid. They are afraid of what tomorrow will bring. They are afraid of this sudden awakening of the youths. A political revolution is afoot.
In their millions, the youths are registering to get their Personal Voter’s Card, PVC. They are having a ball – singing, dancing, jiving for a change. Not a few of them have turned emergency musicians, emergency actors, emergency commendians just to drive their message home. Go get your PVCs let’s reshape our future, let’s give these politicians a red card. That is their chorus. Their weapon is their PVCs.
His Grace, Archbishop Anthony Obinna
Traders are shutting down markets, their shops, and losing millions of Naira to the bargain just to get their PVCs. Imagine shutting down Alaba International Market, Lagos, where they make about $40b a month. They don’t care. They want a bit of the action. Bad governance is evil, they chorus. We can do something about it, they add.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is overwhelmed, so overwhelmed it has created more centres in Lagos and the South-east – a first in the South-east. Hope rising. It will be difficult to see youths turning streets and market squares into football fields on election days, especially, on the day of the Presidential election. That’s gone. It has become history.
Churches are not left out in the PVC “madness”. Priests have become, the three, at once, the Federal Minister Minister for Information and National Orientation, the Public Affairs Director of INEC, and the Director General of the National Orientation Agency. They are harassing their Parishioners over the PVC. They are forcing them to get their PVCs. To them, it has become a ticket to salvation, to heaven.
To achieve that, some of the Priests have gone to the extreme.
On Sunday, June 12, at least, two Catholic Priests crossed the borderline. They embarked on “Operation show your PVCs or go home.” Don’t enter the Church. You will not be allowed to take the Holy Communion. They sent Parishioners home. The action of one of them in particular was more dramatic and ridiculous.
Apparently, the Head of a Roman Catholic Tertiary Institution, he not only stopped his students without PVCs from going into the Church, he told them that any one of them without a PVC would be failed in his/her examination. He said he had told them earlier that any student without PVC would have a “carry-over.” Meaning that student could even repeat a class over PVC.
Some of these Priests want to play God. They think the Cassock they wear is a license to say anything, do anything, talk to anybody anyhow. A number of them think they have the power of life and death. The key to Heaven. They don’t. Their job is to guide the weary, guide our footsteps so we don’t falter, to intercede for us, to uplift the spirit of the weary. It is not to treat us as a village headmaster would a pupil who failed “one plus one.”
The two Catholic Priests should be cautioned by their Diocesan Bishops, and the others warned never to send their Parishioners home over PVCs. That’s an overkill. It is a civic responsibility. As their Priests, their job is to explain how important it is, and persuade them to go and register and get their PVCs.
The Priest who threatened to fail students, especially, should not only be cautioned, he should be sanctioned. He is not fit to head a school. He should be removed from office. Otherwise, Parents and students should watch out for him. If any student without a PVC fails, the circumstances behind the failure should be thoroughly investigated. The paper should be re-marked by an uninterested party.The Priest has confirmed he is capable of corrupting the system, just like some politicians.
But, back to Archbishop Obinna. His Grace is both a Priest and an activist. Every administration in Imo State knows that. As the saying goes, the fear of Obinna is the beginning of wisdom. He does not spare them. He does not condone bad governance, and he tells the Governors off to their face. He is not the “Your Excellency, Your Excellency” type. He cannot be bought. He holds a strong opinion on governance. When he talks, it is from a moral high ground.
On Thursday, June 9, 2022, Archbishop Obinna, as usual, effortlessly, stamped his moral authority on the political freedom of the people. He did so at the Jubilee Hall, Owerri, venue of a reception in his honour.
It was his day. The crowning glory to his decades as a Priest of the Roman Catholic Church. His Golden Jubilee celebration. 50 years as a Priest. It also marked his retirement as the very influential Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province.
Hundreds of people thronged the venue. The crowd was expected. The mighty and the low.
Present, expectedly, were scores of Priests. Scores of Reverend Sisters. The who- is-who in the Catholic Province’s hierarchy. All those were expected.
What was not expected, however, was what Obinna did. His action. As he was being ushered into the Hall by the galaxy of Priests, amidst drums and cymbals, and joyful songs, led by two young girls dressed in their cultural outfit, dancing, His Grace was expected to dance and sing along. You know, swing to the soul-lifting tunes.
He did not.
Instead, he pulled off a revolution. A patriotic revolution. A silent revolution. He showed the way to go.
As he walked in, broad smiles playing on his face, he brought out his weapon of revolution. His weapon for the emancipation of the people. His PVC.
He didn’t need to talk. He didn’t need to make any statement. He did not threaten anybody. He did not ask those without their PVCs to get out of the reception Hall. He did not ask them not to take part in the reception activities. He did not stand by the door of the Hall like a tax collector. Or a toll collector. What he did was disarmingly ordinary. Yet, it carried so much weight. And resonated.
As he marched into the Hall to the glory of God, he waved his PVC, enthusiastically, at the cheering crowd. It was more than words could do. More than any “gra-gra” by any Priest or anybody could do. Without saying a word, he pointed at the way forward. The way to go.
May His Grace, even in retirement, continue to be the moral standard bearer of the people. And may he continue to show the way to go – in good health.
Dr Kingsley Moghalu has resigned his membership from the African Development Congress, ADC. And the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, did not resign quietly.
Moghalu raised a storm, and dismissed the Party under which he wanted to run and occupy the office of Nigeria’s President as “obscenely corrupt.”
Moghalu resigned following his shock defeat in the ADC Presidential Primary by Dumebi Kachikwu. Kachikwu, a younger brother of the former Minister for State, Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu scored a total of 978 votes to Moghalu’s 589 votes.
In his resignation letter to the National Chairman of the Party, chief Ralph Nwosu, said: “I have resigned because the process and conduct of the party’s presidential primary on June 8, 2022, at Abeokuta revealed a fundamental clash of values between me and your leadership of the party.”
Moghalu’s resignation takes immediate effect.
His strongly-worded resignation letter reads:
“Dear Mr. Nwosu, I am writing to hand in my resignation from my membership of the African Democratic Congress, effective immediately.
“I have resigned because the process and conduct of the party’s presidential primary on June 8, 2022 at Abeokuta revealed a fundamental clash of values between me and your leadership of the party.
“Despite the circular you issued a few days to the primary committing the party to providing transportation and accommodation for delegates to, and in Abeokuta, and which as we agreed would provide a level playing field for all the Presidential aspirants, the party under your leadership failed to do so.
“Some aspirants, including myself, made donations to the ADC party account as requested by the party for this purpose. This failure, which appeared intentional, created room for massive abuses of the electoral process including delegate capture and financial inducement of delegates.
“This is only one of numerous inconsistencies and the absence of transparency and predictability in the management of the party that I had progressively complained about.
“As you are well aware, I have consistently resisted pressures to join the APC or the PDP precisely to avoid “cash-and-carry” politics. For me to remain a member of the ADC, therefore, after what thousands of party members participated in at Abeokuta, would be to endorse political corruption of a most obscene order.
“I joined the ADC in October 2021 with the best of intentions. Since then, I have put my entire team to work on growing and improving the party, including raising the party’s visibility on all media platforms, recruiting more than 10,000 new members to the party, and providing new offices for various state chapters of the party at my expense.
“It is deeply regrettable that other inducements appear to have played more important roles in determining the outcome of the primary than loyalty to the party.”
When Moghalu addressed the delegates before voting started, he had boasted that he would defeat both Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu, candidates of the PDP and APC respectively, in the 2023 Presidential election.
Surprisingly, he was defeated at his own Party’s Primary by Kachikwu, the founder of Roots Television.
Moghalu was the Presidential candidate of the Young Peoples Party, YPP, in the 2019 Presidential election. He made no impact in that election. He quit YPP in October 2019, and joined ADC in 2021.
In a space of one week, former Governor of Imo State, has had two political loses.
Fresh from losing, woefully, his N100m deposit in the All Progressives Congress Presidential Primary where he scored zero votes, Okorocha has again been dealt a heavy political blow by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The Apex Court has affirmed Dr MacDonald Ebere, as the authentic Chairman of the Imo State Chapter of the APC.
By this judgement, the Court has pulled the rug from under the feet of the Okorocha-backed factional Chairman, Dan Nwafor, and thrown out the judgement from the lower Courts which declared him Chairman.
This followed its unanimous judgment setting aside an earlier ruling by an FCT High Court which recognised Mr. Dan Nwafor as the Chairman.
The Supreme Court judgment read by Justice Adamu Jauro on behalf of four other justices, held that the FCT High Court lacked jurisdiction to have heard the suit abinitio.
“The trial court lacked the territorial jurisdictional competence to have entertained the suit in the first place, hence rendering the decision it reached a nullity.”
The Supreme Court further held that: “The law is settled that a suit should be filed in the High Court of the state in which the facts constituting the cause of action occurred; that is the High Court of the state in which the events occurred.”
It further held that for the first respondent to have left Imo State where the events in dispute occurred, and rushed to Abuja to file the suit amounted to “forum shopping and a gross abuse of court processes.”
The Supreme Court therefore struck out the appeal.
“The suit together with the processes filed right from the trial Court are hereby stuck out. Parties are to bear their respective costs.”
The other Justices who presided over the matter are Olukayode Ariwoola, Amina Adamu Augie, Uwani Musa Abba Aji and Abdu Aboki.
Heightened tension occasioned by continued bloody clashes among supporters of candidates of political parties in the June 18 Governorship election in Ekiti state has forced traditional rulers to invoke the spirits of their ancestors.
The State Council of Traditional Rulers called on the gods of the land, and rained curses on any person or group that engages in activities that can disrupt the peace of the State.
The action of the Royal Fathers is sequel to political crisis in itaji and Ado Ekiti at the weekend which led to the death of some persons while several others sustained serious injuries.
Sporadic gunshots still continued Monday morning in Ado Ekiti, but armed Military Men that have been put on alert were quick to abate the situation before it leads to bloodshed.
The Monarchs who took their turn rained the curses in Ado Ekiti during a meeting held with members of political parties, leaders of driver unions and concerned citizens of the state.
Speaking at the meeting, Chairman of Traditional Rulers Council, Ekiti State and Onisan of Isan Ekiti, Oba Gabriel Adejuwon, expressed dissatisfaction over the recent political crisis in the State and cautioned those behind such to stop or face the wrath of Ekiti ancestors.
Also, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, called on leaders of drivers and Okada riders to call their members to order.
Some of the major candidates contesting the governorship election including Mr Biodun Oyebanji of APC, Asiwaju Segun Oni of SDP and Erelu kemi Elebute Halle of ADP who were present at the meeting promised to maintain peace during and after the poll.
Investigations reveal that more Soldiers arrived the State on Monday, preparatory for the election.
Identified spots prone to violence, such as atikankan, Ijigbo, Okeyinmi, especially, in the state capital, are being guarded by the Soldiers.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria has recorded its second victory in the ongoing 2023 CAF African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Jose Peseiro-led Super Eagles team humiliated their São Tomé and Principe by a whopping 10-0, to record one of its heaviest victory in its history.
Victor Osimhen scored Four goals, while his striking partner, Terem Moffi, scored a brace, with Ademola Lookman, Moses Simon, Emmanuel Dennis and Oghenekaro Etebo scoring one goal each to send their host to one of its heaviest defeat in history.
The match played at the Agadir Stadium In Morocco saw the Super Eagles starting the game with Francis Uzoho In goal; Oluwasemilogo Ajayi, Zaidu Sanusi, Olaoluwa Aina and Calvin Bassey starting in the defense line.
Alex Iwobi, Moses Simon, Oghenekaro Etebo and Ademola Lookman playing in the midfield, while Victor Osimhen and Terem Moffi led the attack.
Osimhen gave the Super Eagles team the lead in the ninth minute, with Simon doubling it in the 28th minute before Moffi added the third goal in the 43rd minute for the visiting team to take a 3-0 lead into the halftime.
On resumption of the second half, Osimhen scored his second goal for the team following an assist from Lookman.
Shortly after, Etebo scored the fifth goal of the match to mark his first start for the team under new coach, Peseiro.
Ahmed Musa came in for substitute, Simon, and played a role in the Sixth goal converted by Moffi.
It didn’t take long before Lookman added the Seventh goal, with Osimhen adding his third and fourth goal of the match in quick succession.
Lookman was replaced by Emmanuel Dennis who completed the goal feast for the Super Eagles with the team’s 10th goal of the match to go top of Group A.
With the victory, Nigeria have recorded an 100 percent record in the qualifying series, with victories against Sierra Leone and São Tomé, the Three Time African Cup of Nations Champions now have Six Points from Two games with +11 goal difference.
This is the second victory in four games that Portuguese tactician would record since taking over the saddle as Super Eagles Coach.
Said a football enthusiast, Agatha Egbujor, “This is basketball. I guess they wanted to score 11 goals to “dash” the players one goal each. But, on a second thought, they spared the Goalkeeper. His deserved gift is 12 strokes of the cain from his people for shamelessly conceding 10 goals within 90 minutes.”
