President Muhammadu Buhari lavished encomiums on Tony Elumelu, former managing director, United Bank for Africa and the chairman Heirs Holdings, as part of the celebrations to mark the banking mogul’s 58th birthday, not knowing that the banker holds him in low esteem.
In the very warmth message released by Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, President Buhari said he respected the UBA former Managing Director because of his keen interests in creating opportunities for growth and development in the country.
“President Buhari commends the economist for his foresight and large-heartedness in setting up the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), which has consistently inspired highly talented African youths into entrepreneurship, helped many to acquire business skills, enhanced positive social networks and provided start-up funds, within the larger goal of reducing poverty.
“The President believes Elumelu, who is the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa and Transcorp, demonstrates resilience and relentlessness in dream realization, following his antecedents as a young banker who saw opportunities in the economy and worked hard to climb the ladder of success, receiving Nigeria’s National Productivity Order of Merit in 2019,” Adesina said.
Buhari said he will support Elumelu his quest for more investments in the country to create jobs. “As Elumelu spreads investments into energy, real estate, agribusiness, health care and hospitality, creating more opportunities in the real sector, the President prays for more wisdom, good health and longer life for the investor,” Adesina, Special Adviser to the President On Media and Publicity said.
As a businessman Elumelu has benefitted immensely since Buhari came to power in 2015, including his recent acquisition of major stake in SPDC which made the banker cum economist owner of one of the biggest oil blocs in the continent. Those versed in oil blocs business said the deal would have been impossible without the federal government’s nod.
TNOG Oil and Gas, owned by Elemulu recently acquired 45 per cent interest in Oil Mining Lease 17 and related assets in the Eastern Niger Delta. Buhari supporters insist that the president was in the know and did not object, as doing so would have created bottlenecks for the bureaucracy.
Whether Elumelu is prepared to reciprocate the gesture is another matter entirely, close watchers of what is going on the business sector said. They cited Elumelu’s refusal to add President Buhari as one of those he follows on social media, particularly on Twitter, as a critical point, despite the fact that former President Brackm Obama of the United States of America, USA and Paul Kegame of Rwanda are among those he follows in the American social networking service.
What could have determined the decision of Elumelu to leave Buhari out of his twitter list which also include former Minister of Education Obby Ezekwesili and Aliko Dangote, relationship experts are still left wondering considering that the banker has always harped on mentoring and role modeling as critical element for growth in Africa and globally. Could it be that Elumelu considers the president as an ordinary person that feels that Buhari does not have qualities to be emulated? Leaving out Buhari on the list that has Kegame and Obama does not actually make sense. What criteria did he use in choosing those he follows on the micro-blogging network is still in the realm of imagination,” Tife Adetola, a relationship expert in Lagos said.
President Muhammadu Buhari
The analyst said since the Delta state born banker is dedicated to mentoring others, one can conveniently say he also has mentors he looked up to.
Twitter, the American microblogging and social networking service which recently took down former President Donald Trump account for violating its rules is commonly used by global leaders and who is who in politics and business who have made it their chosen endeavors.
Social media experts say top business men use the platform to showcase personalities they admire, as part of their efforts to advance their interests. The experts say those that celebrities don’t follow on twitter are people they may have personal or business dealings with, but don’t necessarily look up to them as respected persons.
According to Elumelu’s twitter account @TonyOElumelu, President Kegame and Obama are the respected persons for him.
The fact that Buhari is missing out on the banker’s admirers on twitter, relationship experts insist, is an indication that the UBA chairman either begrudges the leader of the world’s most populous black nation or does not want to associate his business with Buhari.
“There are many reasons to explain why Elumelu shunned President Buhari on twitter; it’s either he does not support his economic blueprint or the banker does not believe that the Katsina-born soldier turned politician is qualified to be president. Either way, Elumelu is saying the leader of his country is not one of his role models.
“Elumelu is sending a strong message to other Nigerians, particularly youths that Buhari is not worthy to be their role model. This is because many of those following him on social media, particularly young people will like to take a cue from him to choose their own role models too,” Adetola said.
Speaking recently on role models, the Heirs Holdings boss said on his official twitter handle that “The world is filled with many brilliant ideas-but what we need right now is people who act to implement the many big ideas that can sustainably lift our people out of poverty and create prosperity.”
Obviously, President Buhari is not one of those that Elumelu believes can transform the world, said Frank Eke, another relationship expert, who noted that the UBA chairman has made more money since Buhari became president despite the economic problem plaguing the nation.
The billionaire is unarguably one of the richest Nigerians those privy to his enormous wealth, told the magazine.
Governor Samuel Orthom of Benue state would have been shot and killed on March 20 by, according to him, alleged Miyetti Allah killer squad. He said they laid ambush for him with the intention of snuffing life out of him over his rigid stand on open cattle grazing. But the attack was repelled by the governor’s brave security guards who whisked him into safety.
The yet to be identified assassins had attacked the governor on his farm at Tyo-mu village, along Makurdi – Gboko road. But Ortom and his security aides were lucky to escape the bullets of the suspected killers, as the governor claimed he ran about 1.5 kilometres on foot to escape the attempt on his life.
Narrating his escape Governor Ortom said “You know today is Saturday and as a farmer, I usually go to my farm, so I went to my farm along Gboko road and on our way back, we started hearing gunshots and we discovered people who were dressed in black and from experience we now discovered that these are Fulani militias.”
He said those after his life mean business. “I didn’t want to take things for granted because few days ago the media were awash with a statement from MACBAN who met in Yola, the same place they met in 2016 where they decided that they will take Nigeria and that every other person is a slave. That was when they started infiltrating the entire country.
“They came out with a statement, I was alarmed that they singled me out as the only person who is creating problems for the entire Fulani race and behind the scenes I also heard that in the meeting, I was targeted for elimination; this was the information I got that they will go after me either in my home, farm or wherever they get me,” Ortom said.
In the wake of the attack which has been widely condemned by all and sundry, there are suggestions in some quarters that the governor orchestrated his own attack in order to further drive home the point that a vested interest in the country is trying to silence him over his campaign against Fulani herders.
Governor Ortom has denied this suggestion.
“Unashamedly though, the spin masters have again followed up with their relentless efforts at tarnishing the Governor’s image. They now claim the attack was stage managed with motive at land grabbing! This latest funny claim is coming on the heels of unsuccessful attempts at denying there was an attack. In furtherance of the lie, a non-existing group (Tyo Mu Concerned Youths Vanguard) with a faceless individual named Vershima Tsebee as the group’s leader, has been credited with advancing this latest ridiculous assertion. The individual claims that the Government has done nothing about the crisis between the Kparev and Ihyarev people at Tyo Mu. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Raymond Bemseer Magen, Principal Special Assistant on New Media to the governor said.
This possibility, however, is one of the difficult knots the IGP Intelligence Response Squad, IR led by Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, will try to untie as his team tries to unmask those that are actually behind the attack on Governor Ortom, even as the magazine learnt that the Presidency is poised to get to the bottom after the state’s helmsman met President Muhammau Buhari in Aso Rock, Presidential Villa, Abuja few days after the deadly attack.
According to sources in the Villa, the President’s aides have been divided on how to handle the matter, particularly as they failed to agree on whether the governor’s claim that he was being targeted over the Fulani herdsmen issue is true or not. While some aides believe that the governor life’s may actually be in danger due to his unrelenting campaign against open grazing, others are skeptical, because they feel that the vexed problem of farmers/ herders in the state has been over dramatized by the Governor, bearing in mind that Benue is not the only state in the country where clashes have been recurring in recent times.
“That is why the President told Governor Ortom during the meeting with Ibrahim Gambari, his Chief of Staff and other top aides in the Presidency that he will keep an open mind on the matter until security agencies are able to come up with their findings. You must have also read what the President said during the meeting that the attack must not be politicized, even though he did not rule out the fact that the Governor’s life may be at risk due to the tension between farmers and herders in the state.
“The president has also directed security agencies to look on the possibility that some fifth columnist in the state may be trying to cause violence in the state by targeting some top political actors, which could lead to bloodshed and finally set the state on fire,” a top presidential aide said.
According to another Presidential aide who did not want his name to be mentioned because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, Benue state has been a flash point due to the rivalry between the major political parties, the PDP and APC, adding that the farmers/ herders issue only added fuel to fierce contest for power among the major state and non-state actors.
He said “this is not the first time that a governor of the state had been attacked. Former Governor George Akume was attacked a few years ago that led to the death of a popular person in the country. At that time, the problem of cattle grazing had not become this contested, even though there were few clashes here and there, but the government was able to put it under control because there was a consensus between the government at both the state and federal level, on how to peacefully handle the matter, without generating the furore that it has now received, partly due to the fact that the same party controlled power at both levels of government.”
He further explained that the problem continued during the tenure of Governor Gabriel Suswam but that the PDP which controlled the levers of power had made sure it did not become an altercation between the state government and the federal government.
He said this has changed since Governor Ortom came to power, particularly after he defected to the PDP from the ruling APC before contesting for a second term in office. “You will understand that Governor Ortom has become even more critical of President Buhari and his government over his belief that the Presidency has failed to rein in the deadly herders because of his Fulani ancestry. But that is not actually true if you consider, critically, the steps the president has taken in trying to bring peace to the troubled state,” he said.
President Buhari, in his reaction to the attack on Ortom, said the string of brutal attacks on individuals and communities in the state, with the latest one targeting the governor, was unacceptable to his administration. According to a statement released by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, the President has directed the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to unmask those behind the attack on Ortom, as well as individuals and communities in the state. “Let there be an open and transparent investigation and whoever is linked to it should be caught and be made to face the law,” the president said.
President Buhari who spoke on the heel of the IGP dispatchement of a team of crack investigators to the state from the Police headquarters in Abuja to unmask the attackers, has also ordered the police boss to beef up Governor Ortom’s personal security to prevent any future attacks, presidency source said.
“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has ordered full-scale investigations into the circumstances surrounding the attack and reported attempt on the life of the Executive Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Chief Samuel Loraer Ortom, at his farm in the outskirts of Makurdi, the State Capital, on Saturday, 20th March, 2021. The IGP who condemned the incident, has equally directed the Commissioner of Police (CP), Benue State Command to take adequate measures towards strengthening and improving security in the State, particularly around the Governor,” Frank Mba, FPPRO said in a statement.
He added that “The IGP has also specifically directed the CP to carry out painstaking investigations into the incident and ensure the arrest and prosecution of persons indicted in the course of the investigations. Meanwhile, in order to ensure a speedy, thorough and conclusive investigation into the matter, the IGP has ordered the immediate deployment of a team of specialized investigators from the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Abuja to Benue State to provide additional investigative support to the Benue State Police Command.
“While calling for calm, the IGP has assured the people of Benue State and the country at large that the Force will continue to do its best in stabilizing the security situation in the country. The IGP further reiterates that the Force will continue to work with relevant stakeholders to advance the fight against violent crimes and other criminal activities across the country,” Mba said.
The magazine learnt that the state Police Command had launched an investigation in the wake of the IGP’s order, but worried that the investigations could be slowed unnecessarily due to limited resources and personnel. Adamu was forced to dispatch the Abba Kyari, Deputy Commissioner of Police, team to the state to take over the investigation.
Fulani Herdsmen
The new team, Mbah said, “led by DCP Abba Kyari – a no-nonsense investigator – consists of operatives from the Tactical Investigation Units of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) and other experienced, crack detectives with specialized competencies in crime scene investigation and reconstruction, ballistics, fingerprint analysis and other core areas of forensics,” he said.
“The Team is expected to take over and consolidate all on-going investigation into the incident. The Team is also expected to investigate all angles of the reported attack with a view to ensuring that all persons empirically linked to the incident are apprehended and brought to book.”
According to Mba, the IGP has also directed the Kyari-led team to be professional and thorough in their investigations. Adding that “They are expected to liaise and work with the Benue State Police Command and other relevant members of the law enforcement community to ensure that they deliver on their mandate.”
Considering the outrage that has greeted the matter, many Nigerians expect the investigators to get to the bottom of the attack bearing in mind that this is the third time that Governor Ortom has escaped the bullets of suspected assassins.
Speaking on the latest attack, Governor Ortom said his narrow escape from those that wanted to take his life was purely by the grace of God. “I thank God for my fitness to have run for more than one and a half kilometres without stopping. It means that God has given me strength and I am grateful to God.”
At a point during the attack, the governor said, he had to run for his dear life when his personal security details engaged the suspected assassins in a gun duel, adding that his fitness really helped him in running a long distance to escape the attackers. “I appreciate the security men attached to me. They were able to repel them and they could not have access to me. And I thank God for my fitness to have run for more than one and a half kilometres without stopping. It means that God has given me strength and I am grateful to God.
In spite of the attack, Governor Ortom said he will not back down on his campaign against Fulani pastoralists as long as they continued on the destructive path. He, however, debunked suggestions that he’s against the Fulani as a people, noting that the criminals who are the subjects of his campaign must be fished out by security agencies.
DCP Abba Kyari
Ortom said “I don’t have problems with any Fulani man or Fulani race. But I have a problem with Fulani bandits who have vowed to take over Nigeria as their ancestral home. And I say no. Not when I am here and when I am governor leading my state.
“If I can’t go to farm as a governor with the entire security around me, then who else can go to farm? You can imagine the pains that we have here in Benue State.Thank God for Mr President who responded to my letter that anyone with an AK-47 rifle should be shot on sight. I’m yet to see that. Let me see it happen in Benue State. I have reported this to the security agencies and I hope that this will be done so that the land will be safe for our people to go back to farm and do their work and survive and live their lives.
“I want to call on Mr President, on the security agencies to fish these people out. They are in the forest between Makurdi and Abinse. They are living there and they are coming out to commit atrocities – rape women, kill our people, maim them, destroy our farmlands. And anytime the security agencies go after them, they run across the river and back to the forest, the governor said when he met the president on March 23 in Abuja.
Governor Ortom’s admonition comes on the heels of a statement by a shadowy group, Fulani National Movement, FUNAM that it was responsible for the attempted assassination. According to a statement released by the group on March 22, FUNAM said its aim was to kill Ortom.
FUNAM said “Our courageous fighters carried out this historic attack to send a great message to Ortum and his collaborators”, the group claimed in a statement signed by Umar Amir Shehu.
“Where ever you are, once you are against Fulani long term interest, we shall get you down. This is a clear warning. We hope those who take us for granted will get the indisputable message. Our intention is unequivocal: TO KILL HIM. That mission will one day be fulfilled and very soon too”.
It further warned that the attack on Governor Ortom is a strong warning to other persons and groups in the country working against Fulani interest that such will not be tolerated as the group will hunt them down. “We warn collaborators working against Fulani people across Nigeria: WE SHALL GET YOU irrespective of your hidden place.We state clearly, any state or individual that opposes RUGA will be confronted. Any State or individial(Sic) that opposes ranching, we shall get you. Speak against ranching and RUGA even on the internet: Our Noiseless fighters shall find and fix you.In the next few months, FUNAM will carry out attacks on strategic human and material assets of States and Non State groups or individuals known for their anti-Fulani campaigns.We shall hunt you down in your houses, in your work places, in your car, in your streets. It’s a matter of time,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the centrist Fulani social, political Miyetti Allah association has distanced itself from the attack on Governor Ortom, insisting that its members had nothing to do with the assassination attempt on the Benue helmsman. Governor Ortom is not convinced.
Reacting, the Governor had linked the assassination attempt to Miyetti Allah (Kauta Hore) Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN.
Governor Ortom claimed that MACBAN had concluded plans to assassinate him over his position on open grazing, alleging that the Myetti Allah took the decision to eliminate him during a meeting they organised recently in Yola.
The State has been on edge following the passage of the open grazing law by the state government which has been rejected by major Fulani groups in the country who consider the legislation to be against the general interests of their people, adn have vowed to resist it at all cost, including seeking legal remedy to stop the state government from implementing the law passed by the Benue State House of Assembly and signed by Governor Ortom in 2017.
The Fulani groups are particularly angry that Governor Ortom’s campaign against herders has sparked violence attacks against pastoralists of Fulani stocks across the country, including Oyo, Ondo, Ogun where Yoruba activists, led by Sunday Igboho have given Fulani herders quick notice to leave the South West. The campaign to stop open cattle grazing has also been stepped up by separatist groups in the South East, where the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of BiafraI, POB’s security arm Estern Security Network, for instance, has been attacking Fulani cattle herders who graze on farmlands of late.
Despite ongoing plan by the Federal Government in conjunction with some State Governments to establish ranches or grazing reserves, as a lasting solution to the incessant farmers/ herders clashes, analysts insist that the leadership of Fulani in the country is not happy that their people are no longer safe across the country while performing their legitimate duties. They, therefore, hold Governor Ortom responsible for being the harbinger and orchestrators of the hate attack on the Fulani ethnic group.
But analysts disgaree. According to this line of thought, Governor Ortom is not the first to speak against open grazing. Former Governors Lam Adesina and Ayodele Fayose of Oyo and Ekiti states, respectively, had at one point spoken against open cattle grazing and the need to put an end to the menace. The issue had become a big problem in Ekiti State where then Governor Fayose’s Government enacted a similar law to regulate the activities of Fulani cattle rearers, some say.
In 2001, Governor Adesina was said to have lashed out at Buhari after the latter tried to take sides following bloody clashes between herders and farmers in Oke Ogun area which led to death on both sides, when Buhari visited the State Governor in Agodi Government House.
The attack on Governor Ortom has further enlisted the herders’ menace on the frontline of national discourse as prominent Nigerians have generally criticised the incident, calling on the Buhari administration to take the security of life and property more seriously across the country.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said if the attackers had succeeded in killing Ortom, there will be “no more Nigeria.” Wike who recently settled the Benue Governor and his counterpart in Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, after the latter said fulani herders must be allowed to carry AK-47 said “If you kill Ortom, then be prepared to bury Nigeria. If anything happens to Governor Ortom, the Federal Government will be held responsible and they should be prepared that there will be no more Nigeria.”
The PDP, Governor Ortom’s party said it was shocked at the attack, urging the federal government to step up its responsibility to protect lives and property.
On its part, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF also condemned those after the Governor’s life, however, noting that most of the attacks and killings in Benue State are purely as a result of politics.
“We should not always blame what is going on in Benue State on Fulani herdsmen alone. In most cases, the Tivs also have the share of the blame of attacks and other crimes committed in the state,” ACF said.
For Governor Ortom, there is no going back on his war against Fulani herders as it is a matter of life and death for his people. “We are winning,” he said “because Miyetti Allah and MACABAN have accepted that ranching remains the best option to rear cattle.
Former Governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa says the unprecedented insecurity bedevilling Nigeria is a product of the importation of Fulanis from neighbouring West African Countries during General Elections. Having flooded the country, Udenwa said, they and the Fulani in Nigeria now to re-colonise Nigeria. Meaning that the Buhari Government is responsible for the insecurity associated with some rogue Fulani herdsmen.
Udenwa, who spoke in an in an interview with The Sun, laughed at the idea that an Islamic Scholar, Dr Abubakar Gumi, would have easy access to the bandits in the forest, while the Nigerian Military finds it very difficult to locate them.
Taking at a hard look at the worsening insecurity in the country, Udenwa said it was confusing, and had loopholes.
He said:
“The official explanations of why this is happening are not adding up. First and foremost, we learnt that a lot of people were brought into the country during the last elections and after the election, whatever that was promised to them was not fulfilled. That is part of the reason we have these herdsmen; among them are many foreigners from Niger, Mali, Chad, Senegal and the rest of them. But we know that before that, Boko Haram has been there.
I believe that this is part of the entire plan to re-colonise Nigeria; to overtake Nigeria and this is coming mainly from the Fulani. The Fulani are a big minority in Nigeria, but unfortunately they have been able to get other people to join them who are not real Fulani to tolerate them and they bring in religion into it. The issue now is not religion; I don’t know of any religion that says you must kill people. It is just part of Fulani intention to conquer Nigeria. This is the major issue. We are seeing a lot of these people coming from the Arab countries and Fulani settlements in West Africa. This means that if we don’t take time, before we know it, Nigeria will be overrun.
We have also seen that these people are aided by the security agencies. How would you explain to me that a herdsman is carrying AK-47rifle and I don’t hear of people being arrested? How did they get the guns? Who licensed them? Or are they not licensed? If they are not which means they are illegal arms. How did they get them? The whole situation is becoming more terrible every day; it is deteriorating every day. They are now everywhere in this country, which means if time is not taken, one day something very drastic will erupt in this country and we will have no answer to it.”
He also accused the Federal Government of insincerity in dealing with the situation.
Udenwa: “The government right now is not honest with us. If the government doesn’t want these people to come into the country; if the government doesn’t want these people to carry arms and move around unchecked (I don’t even hear them being arrested), then we are deceiving ourselves. It is not a question of what do we do; it is a question of, do we have the will to do what should be done? However, the government doesn’t have the will to do what should be done. What are all the security people there for?
Fulani Herdsmen
We even hear of Sheikh Gumi having meetings with the bandits; if he could know where they are and have meetings with them, why is it that our security agencies don’t know where they are? You can’t convince any right thinking person that these people are just there on their own. That is where the situation calls for more in-depth appraisal and quick action. Otherwise if action is not taken quickly, Nigeria is gone.”
He also blamed the South East Governors for not setting up a Security outfit as did their South- west counterparts. He said at a meeting of the highest Igbo Cultural Organisation, Ime- Obi – Ohaneze, with the Governors, it was decided that the South- east Governors should form the outfit, but is shocked that they discarded it in favour of Community Police.
Udenwa: “I remember last year, I was part of the Ime Obi delegation of Ohanaeze sent to relay to the governors that the South-East should have a regional security outfit. Fortunately, the governors were in a meeting the same day in Enugu. After the Imo Obi meeting, the delegation moved to the Government House in Enugu and met with them. We told them point blank what the Ohanaeze has decided and said we should inform them to carry out the action because they hold the executive powers.
“We had a very useful meeting, almost all the prominent Igbo men were there. We left and a few days after that we were surprised to hear that what they were talking about now was Community Policing, after the visit of the IGP to Enugu.
“The governors are in a better position to know what the security situation in our region looks like. If in their own wisdom they accepted community policing, but today it is not even working and cannot be compared with a regional policing outfit just like you have in the Southwest.
“You can see what the Amotekun is doing in that region. Beside the Amotekun, maybe the herdsmen would have taken over the South-West by now. I don’t know what informed their rejecting the regional security outfit to accepting community policing.”
Even though he described the Eastern Security Network, ESN, set-up by IPOB as illegal, he agreed with his interviewer that nature abhors vacuum.
“It is correct to say that nature abhors a vacuum. Whatever we say, the setting up of ESN is as a result of that vacuum, but that will not in anywhere legalise it. If the governors had set up ESN that would have been legal enough; it would have been able to carry on just like Amotekun is doing in the South-West. But this one set up by IPOB is still regarded as illegal and that is why the security agencies are fighting them. Yes, nature abhors a vacuum.
“Nobody will stay, fold his hands and watch his people being killed. After all, a man as high as General T. Y Danjuma, a former Chief of Army Staff and former Defence Minister told his people to arm themselves, that these herdsmen were being aided by security agencies and nobody has denied what he said. Yes, nature abhors a vacuum.
“I don’t know why our governors have insisted on not having a regional security system. As a result of that, IPOB set up theirs. I will say, nature abhors a vacuum and anybody who is doing anything in Nigeria today to secure himself, you will not blame him because the official security is not protecting him.
Udenwa, also, chided the Federal Government for branding IPOB a Terrorist organisation. The real terrorist Organisations, he said are the bandits and Fulani herdsmen, and wondered why they have not been so declared.
“We all know that the Fulani herdsmen are classified as the fourth most dangerous group in the world. We all know that the real terrorist groups are the Fulani herdsmen – call them bandits or anything.
“These are the real terrorist groups. IPOB in the real sense should not be classified as terrorist group because you haven’t heard them going to attack any innocent people and they were not carrying arms. That is the irony; how could you declare them a terrorist group when you have not declared the ones that are carrying arms terrorist groups?”
Many watched and listened in shock at the Ondo State Police Command, as a 30- year old woman, Blessing Jimoh, told the blood cuddling story , of how she killed her mother. Jimoh, a mother of four, said she killed her mother at a farm by cutting her neck with a cutlass.
She told her chilling story on Monday. March, 28, while being paraded alongside 12 other alleged criminals by the Ondo State Police Command for sundry criminal acts.
Her Reason: A pastor, she said, told her that her mother, Ijeoma Odoh, a native of Enugu State, was a witch.
She said: “It was something doing me that make me kill my mother. I am not happy with what I did.”
The so-called pastor is nowhere to be found.
Jimoh: I cut her neck with a cutlass. It was a Pastor that said she was a witch. I went to beg her. My mother is from Enugu State. We have been looking for the Pastor.”
Some of the other suspects were arrested in connection with raping, kidnapping, armed robbery and murder.
The state Commissioner of police, Salami Bolaji, explained that the arrest was due to collaborative efforts with other security agencies in the state.
One of the suspects, Monday Asaba, was said to have raped a 60-year old woman at Ifon early this month, while another, Rasheed Oke, was among a gang of armed robbers that forced their way into a lady’s apartment in Akure during which she was raped.
“A female resident on Custom road, Akure reported that sometime in 2020, a gang of armed robbers forced their way into her apartment through the back door, raped her at gunpoint and also took away a TecnoCamon 12 phone, valued N54, 000 naira only, another Tecno phone valued N15, 000 naira, only and a cash sum of N2,090.00 only.
“Upon the complaint, detectives of Ondo State Police Command swung into action and one Rasheed Oke, one of the suspected armed robbers is here for a parade. He will soon be taken to court.
“On February 21, 2021 at about 2230hrs, we got information that someone was attacked by a gang of three robbers who used the popular Okada in their operation on a man returning from his day’s business, got him disposed of his money and other valuables at gun point.
“Swiftly we went after them and by diligent investigation; three suspects were arrested in connection with the robbery. They have however made useful information to the Police.
“February 29, was a day operators of S.A. Filling Station, Ondo town will not forget in a hurry as their security guard was killed and about two million naira carted away from their safe, but the good news is that the man behind that dastardly act was immediately napped by our detectives who did not leave any stone unturned to see to his arrest.
“Abiodun Osuntimehin, a guard with same company was the mastermind of the act; he has confessed to the crime and will soon be prosecuted in court.
“Still on March 18, instant, at about 1640hrs, one OdohTochukwu of No.3 Adekiya Street, Ile-Oluji reported at Ile-Oluji Police Station that his mother, Mrs., Ijeoma was attacked on her way to a farm by unknown assailants.
“He further stated that he suspected the duo of Jimoh Blessing and Tope Blessing to be behind the murder. Detectives of the Division immediately went to work, where both suspects were apprehended.
“However, Jimoh Blessing, the daughter of the deceased has confessed that she killed the mother. Case is currently with the SCIID for discreet investigation.”
The Presidency has lashed out at former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, saying he had no moral right to criticise the President Muhammadu Buhari Government.
The Presidency said he was one of those responsible for Nigeria’s sorry state and, as such, lacks the moral right to criticise President Buhari over the state of affairs of the nation today.
Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, speaking on Channels Television programme ‘Sunday Politics, said Nigerians shouldn’t take Atiku serious as records of the misgovernance of his tenure with former President Olusegun Obasanjo for eight years are still in the public domain.
Adesina opined that, “The former Vice-President was in power for eight years, now he is in opposition to the government. You can’t take whatever he says as the gospel. The question is, when former vice-president Atiku Abubakar was in power with former president Olusegun Obasanjo, where did they take the country to? Where did they leave the country?”
“There are clips I have seen myself on social media where he was saying some things they promised to do especially on power, some people collected trillions and didn’t deliver. The interviewer asked him did they go after them? He said unfortunately, they didn’t go after them”.
“So, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was part of the rot this country became, so he can’t exculpate himself; he can’t begin to sit in judgement over anybody. He played his part for eight years and they left the country where they left it. so, he can’t like Pontius Pilate begin to wash his hands clean of what Nigeria has become.
“The president will always listen to what is well-founded. Anything that is not borne out of negative politicking, the presidency will always listen”, Adesina said.
Exactly one week after the demise of former Super Eagles and Lobi Football Club of Nigeria Coach, Barnabas Imenger, the nation’s Football enclave has, again, been thrown into mourning.
This time around, the cold hands of death snatched the former Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Kashimawo Laloko
Laloko died on Sunday 28th March, 2021, after a brief illness.
The death of Laloko was confirmed by his son, Adewale, late Sunday night.
“He had been feeling weak before he died on Sunday. It was as a result of weakness, not COVID-19,” Adewale revealed.
The late Laloko will be buried on Tuesday at his Gbonagun residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital.
Laloko was one of the pioneers that established the Pepsi Football Academy in Lagos in November 1992 and has produced some of the country’s brightest football talents ever since, with the likes of Mikel John Obi, Osaze Odemweingie, Joseph Akpala, Isaac Okoronkwo, Elderson Echiejile, Onyekachi Apam to mention a few.
Laloko will be greatly remembered for his impact in the round leather game in Nigeria, most especially the event that took place at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos during the African Cup of Nations tournament in 2002.
The Continental showpiece was co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana. In the quarter finals, Nigeria was playing the Teranga Lions of Senegal in a tension soaked encounter.
The Super Eagles were a goal down from the Fifth minute of the game through a striker from Henri Camara. Having tried its best to get the much needed equalizer and it wasn’t coming forth.
Laloko went to the back of the Senegalese goalkeeper to remove an object wrapped with a red cloth placed right behind the keeper in the goal Post as the match was going on.
Few minutes after removing the object, believed to be a voodoo to prevent the Nigeria team from scoring, Julius Aghahowa gave Nigeria the much needed equaliser and the winning goal to give the ferocious crowd something to cheer about.
The late Laloko was tagged the ‘Voodoo Removal Man’. Though, he was sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football, CAF, for doing such, not minding that the match was ongoing.
Former Aide to both former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, Doyin Okupe, has not hidden his ambition to Contest for the 2023 Presidency.
And not even the strongly rumoured interest of the All Progresssives Congress, APC, National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu scares him. But he admits that Tinubu is his only obstacle, and poses a threat to his Presidential Ambition.
Acknowledging that the former Lagos State Governor is a major opposition, Okupe is however optimistic of victory.
Okupe also stressed that he is the only politician from the South-West region that can defeat Tinubu, in the 2023 Presidential race.
There are strong indications that the APC National leader is eyeing the country’s number one seat but he has not declared interest yet. But different groups in the South an North have been championing the course, admonishing him to run for Presidency.
Okupe, in a series of tweets on Sunday, said Tinubu remains a formidable opponent but he can send him out of the the race.
“I believe I have a slight edge over him in that I understand national and Presidential politics more than him and in terms of intellectual resourcefulness we are at par; if I am not better.
“On my part, a great advantage is that I am the only Yoruba of note in the presidential race from the PDP,” Okupe said.
While speaking on what he believes could work against Tinubu in the presidential race, Okupe said the former governor has many antagonists in his party.
“Bola Tinubu is coming in from a wrong party where he has such powerful antagonists with the capacity to stop him. The flagrant excesses of his party to which he never reacted publicly especially with issues concerning the SouthWest have made him not to be favoured by some of his own people.
“The other misfortune is that though Bola Tinubu has spent his life and his huge resources on developing political powerful lieutenants who now occupy very high and influential offices, now at his own point of need his major challengers are virtually all from his stable.”
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Delta State Chapter has labelled the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the State, as a party of rude, disrespectful, illiterate drifters.
The PDP laid emphasis on the statement of the APC’s Publicity Secretary, Sylvester Imonina, for describing distinguished Nigerian Governors who were invited to Commission projects in Delta State recently, as “Hangers on”.
In a statement by the Delta PDP Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ifeanyi Osuoza, he lampooned APC for labelling fellow Nigerians as ‘Outsiders’ and cautioned “the leadership of the APC to seriously evaluate the mental state, intelligence, and national patriotism of those they engage as spokespersons in the State, for their genocidal rhetoric, divide and rule ideology and their crass ignorance of democratic conventions which foster national unity, harmony and peaceful coexistence, as these are fast becoming the image and reputation portrayed of APC in Delta State.”
The statement reads thus: “Our attention has been drawn to a March 25th, 2021 press statement by the factional APC in the State, titled: “Inviting hangers-on from outside Delta State for projects commissioning is wasteful, APC tells Okowa”, signed by the self-styled Sylvester Imonina, Esq., Publicity Secretary, Delta APC Caretaker Committee and it is indeed quite unfortunate that the APC will describe distinguished Nigerians as “Hangers On” just to score cheap political points.
“For the records, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Executive Governor of Sokoto State, and His Excellency Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, the Executive Governor of Zamfara State, were in Delta State on the invitation of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to Commission the ultra-modern Delta State Council of Traditional Rulers Secretariat, Asaba, the Igumbor-Otiku Secondary School, Boji-Boji Agbor and the 13.9km internal roads and drainages in Okpanam, an adjoining town within the State capital territory, respectively.
“A week earlier, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki had joined his brother and Delta State counterpart, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to commission the Otu-Jeremi-Okwagbe Road and the Effurun-Otor Bridge/Access Road.”
“By way of information to the ignorant APC Delta Publicist, here’s an abridged pedigree of these eminent Nigerians whom he has described as “Hangers On”.
“Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is a distinguished legal luminary, a member of the Nigerian Body of Benchers and a Life Bencher, he was a long-standing member of the Federal House of Representatives, where he rose to become the Distinguished Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2011-2015, before assuming office as the 18th Governor of Sokoto State in 2015 and getting re-elected for a second term in 2019, after a robust and quite impressive Presidential office bid.
“Governor Tambuwal, who has continued to be mentioned glowingly amongst the select names of potential Nigerian Presidential aspirants to unseat and sweep away the failed APC government at the centre in the next election cycle, is also the Chairman of the Forum of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors and this is not the first time he has been to Delta State to inaugurate a project, as Deltans will recall that the Sokoto State Governor was in Asaba in March 2020 to commission the 1.88 kilometers reconstructed Mariam Babangida Way in Asaba, Oshimili South Council and the 7.5 kilometers Ogwashi-Uku/Ubulu-Unor Road in Aniocha South Council Area of Delta State.
“Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle on the other hand has been a three terms member of the House of Representatives, from 2003-2011 and a multiple Commissioner in his State before becoming the duly elected 5th Executive Governor of Zamfara State in 2019.
“And need we talk about the exceptionally brilliant and globally recognized financial technocrat who has carved out a successful career in the finance industry, His Excellency, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, the distinguished Governor of Edo State, now serving his second term under the PDP Umbrella?
“Let’s just say that before becoming Governor, Godwin Obaseki had served as the Chairman of the Edo State Economic and Strategy Team inaugurated by former Governor Adams Oshiomole in March 2009, and Ex Comrade Oshiomole’s glowing description of Governor Obaseki’s credentials and outstanding capacity are well known to one and all.
“He is a proud and certified alumnus of some of the finest academic institutions both in Nigeria and globally, including the great University of Ibadan, Columbia University, and Pace University in the United States of America, amongst others. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stock Brokers, Nigeria, and an alumnus of the Lagos Business School Chief Executive Programme.
“Obaseki, who was nominated a Global Leader for Tomorrow (GLT) by the World Economic Forum in 2001, also holds post-graduate degrees in both Finance and International Business and has served as an executive board member of several private companies.
“These distinguished Nigerians and leaders, by any stretch of the rational imagination, are the personalities who Sylvester Imonina, a kindergarten lawyer who can better be regarded as a “charge and bail’ lawyer when compared to Governor Tambuwal, a member of the body of Benchers and a Life Bencher, have described as “Hangers on” “Outsiders” and “political cronies”.
“This sadly is the murky level and reflection which Nigerian politics has deteriorated into, where rude, disrespectful, uncouth underachievers and seemingly educated illiterates, will hide behind the veneer of party position to bad mouth and talk down people who have made genuine, tremendous positive impacts on the lives of their people and contributed immensely to the unity and peaceful coexistence of the peoples of our Country.
“And by the way, we are also not surprised at the cheap, nauseating lie which Mr. Imonina had dropped by insinuating that, “the Governor of Rivers State refused to be part of the deceit of Delta State Government.” Apparently, Mr. Imonina is obviously not aware of the solid bond of friendship and brotherhood between Governor Nyesom Wike and Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa. He is also quite ignorant of the political mindset of Governor Wike, who has made it abundantly clear in all his speeches, that only PDP Governors are implementing and delivering projects in Nigeria.
“We are not surprised however at such brazen attempt to surreptitiously mislead people with blatant misinformation, after all, that is what you expect from a political party and its publicity secretary, who have allegedly been well known for gathering information from noisy beer parlours and the garrulous clusters of hangers-on at various Newspaper stands popularly called Free Readers Association.
“We are very much aware that APC Governors across the country also invite brother Governors from sister States to Commission projects in their respective States and we are even wondering now if the APC publicist would have described the Deputy Senate President or another APC Governor as “Hangers on” if they were invited to Commission projects in Delta State.
“Finally, and just in case the APC is not conversant with what political brotherhood and nation-building are all about, our position has always been that no price is too little or too much to pay in our collective effort to continue to sustain and consolidate the unity, peace and existential harmony of ensuring a Stronger Delta and united one Nigeria.
Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, Executive Governor of Zamfara State summed up what we mean, after he commissioned the newly constructed Igumbor-Otiku Secondary School, Boji-Boji, Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area as well as the network of internal township roads in Okpanam.
“In a statement by his Director-General, Media and Communication, Yusuf Gusau, Governor Matawalle commended the foresight of Governor Okowa for inviting him to carry out the exercise and noted that the move has demonstrated love and the spirit of brotherliness by the good people of Delta and that Nigerians of all extractions are intrinsically good.
“Governor Matawalle also said the invitation has demonstrated Governor Okowa’s remarkable sense of patriotism and genuine love for a more united Nigeria and described his mission in Delta State as a move to strengthen the bridge-building that leaders need to appreciate in furtherance of their rich history, cultures and social environment of the disparate entities that formed the Nigerian federation, saying, “our diverse history and culture is a source of our strength.”
Senator Ifeanyi Ubah has debunked the rumours making the round that he is on the verge of leaving the Young Progressives Party, YPP, for the ruling All Progressives Party, APC.
Kamen Chuks Ogbonna, Head, Media and Strategic Communication to the Senator Ifeanyi Ubah Team, disclosed that the rumour is from the pit of hell, insisting that at no time did his Principal contemplate leaving YPP to pitch tent with the APC.
Ogbonna alluded the rumour to “a plot by mischief makers and usual pranks of a frightened opposition that is almost running out of fresh ideas, having tried several evil plots , propaganda and hatchet stories, all deliberately planted in the hope that it will reduce or whittle down the massive appeal that the Distinguished Senator currently commands in the State.”
According to him, “Unfortunately we have received several calls from our friends, political allies and well wishers all trying to find out the veracity or otherwise of the story hence this rebuttal.
“I wish to categorically state, that the Distinguished Senator, Dr Ifeanyi Ubah is the National leader of Young Progressives Party (YPP) and has no intention whatsoever of leaving the party for any other platform.
“YPP is the next vehicle that Ndi Anambra has zeroed in on, and Senator Dr Ifeanyi Ubah is the driver of that incoming status quo change, poised to trigger the economic revival of Anambra.
“One may ask at this juncture, what can a Senator, who was denied the ticket of the ruling party in the state barely two months to a Senate election, but who took up a then little known YPP and still won the Senate election with a landslide, will be looking for in another platform?
Senator Ubah, through Ogbonna, called on his teeming supporters to disregard what he termed the latest attempt by an obviously frightened opposition to trigger confusion amongst our ranks by peddling false stories .
Ogbonna stressed that “the Senator’s pact with Ndi Anambra remains sacrosanct and unshakeable and the YPP remains the vehicle for this emancipation.”
Ubah is the only YPP Senator. He is, also, the head and tail of the party in the state. During 2019 Governorship election, he campaigned, side by side with, and for APC’s Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos.
President Mohamadu Buhari has observed that the former two-term Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s acumen and influence continue to resonate round the country and beyond, years after leaving office.
This was contained in a congratulatory message to the national leader of the All Progressives Congress,(APC) on his 69th birthday.
The message, signed by the special adviser media to the President, Mr Femi Adesina, states that “President Muhammadu Buhari joins the governing party, All Progressives Congress (APC) and its teeming members in congratulating Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on his 69th birthday, March 29, 2021, sharing the joyous occasion with the former two-term Governor of Lagos State, whose acumen and influence continue to resonate round the country and beyond.
“The President rejoices with the “patriot and statesman” on the 12th colloquium, an intellectual gathering to commemorate his birthday, that had over the years turned into a veritable opportunity for discussing topical national issues, and harnessing ideas that will move the nation forward.
“Looking at the theme of the 12th Bola Tinubu Colloquium, “Our Common Bond, Our Common Wealth: Imperative of National Cohesion for Growth and Prosperity’’, President Buhari believes the choice of further highlighting loyalty to the country and the shared vision that will bring harmony and well-being to everyone is most timely, clearly reflecting Sen. Tinubu’s patriotism and benevolence.
“The President affirms that the former Lagos State Governor has inspired many leaders and continues to nurture talents for the benefit of the country, while acknowledging his role in the stability of the APC, and advocating good governance.
“The President felicitates with family, friends and political associates of the astute politician, praying that God will grant him longer life, good health and more wisdom.”
