Fidelity Bank Plc at the weekend clinched the award for Commercial Bank of the Year at the 2020 edition of BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards held in Lagos. The bank won the award in recognition of its support for economic activities in the real sectors of the Nigerian economy, particularly for its consistency in enhancing the development and competitiveness of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Receiving the award on behalf of the bank at the presentation ceremony which took place at the Lagos Continental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, Fidelity Banks’s Executive Director, Corporate Bank, Mr. Obaro Odeghe dedicated it to the bank’s teeming customers, whom he said were central to the bank’s overall strategic intent.
“The reward for hard work they say is more work. We are encouraged to continue to do more for the benefit of our customers and the overall economy” he stated.
Also, on that night, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo was honored as the banking sector CEO of the Decade for “transforming Fidelity Bank into one of the fastest growing and most trusted financial services brands in Nigeria”.
The organizers specifically noted some of his key achievements to include the rebranding project which drove an increased youth appeal; revamping of the bank’s performance management culture to instill a culture of performance; technology refresh and digital transformation in furtherance of the digital retail strategy he implemented.
Leveraging on the realigned and repositioned operating structures, re-energized workforce and a more appealing brand, the bank recorded a consistent growth in financial performance under his leadership. Specifically, PBT growth of 236% from N9.0bn to N30.4bn in 2019; RoE rose from 5.5% to 13.3%; Customer Deposits grew by 68% from N806.3bn to N1,352.3bn and Savings Deposit rose by 275% from N83.3bn to N312.1bn.
Other notable achievements of the Fidelity CEO include Net Loans and Advances growth of 174% from N426.1bn to N1,165.8bn; Customer Base increase by 121% from 2.4 million to 5.3 million and Digital Banking penetration improvement from 1.0% to 50.1%, accounting for 28.4% of total fee income.
The award was received on behalf of Mr. Okonkwo by the bank’s Executive Director, Operations and Technology, Mr. Gbolahan Joshua, who dedicated it to all stakeholders including, customers, shareholders, Board of Directors, Executive Management and staff.
“This comes as a crowning glory to the contributions of Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo to Fidelity Bank, the banking industry and the entire Nigerian economy. As you may be aware, he is retiring as our CEO, after the completion of contract tenure, by December 31, 2020. He has asked me to dedicate this to all the stakeholders of the bank, including his family and mentors. According to him his modest achievements and contributions would not have been possible without their unalloyed support and help” said Joshua.
BAFI Awards, organized by BusinessDay Newspapers, seeks to identify and celebrate organizations, teams and individuals that have achieved excellence in the delivery of financial services across the entire client and customer spectrum.
Established 7 years ago, BAFI cuts across banking, insurance, fintech, capital markets, markets infrastructure and technology, investment management, pension fund, trustees, registrars, stockbroking, private equity and digital currencies.
In 2015 Yemi Osinbajo slammed former President Goodluck Jonathan over his government’s failure to rein in insurgency in the northern part of the country, insisting that the National Assembly could impeach the former president for the insecurity in the country.
Osinbajo, a professor of law and former Attorney General of Lagos state was at the time the running mate of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
“If the president says I’ve lost the capacity to guarantee the security of lives and property, it’s certainly an impeachable offence,” Osinbajo said.
Since the President Buhari and Osinbajo came to power five years ago, insecurity has reached feverish level, the latest being the massacre of over 100 farmers in Borno state last week end by Boko Haram insurgents.
The victims’ throats were slit in a dastardly manner that signals the imprimatur of the vicious terrorists’ organization, and their bodies dumped in their farms.
Following the incident, some Nigerian said the right thing to do is for the president to take a honorable part by resigning from office, citing Osinbajo’s statement in 2015.
The issue has been trending on twitter where Nigerians are demanding the Senate and house of representatives to commence impeachment proceeding against the president.
Asokore E Daniel @darlingboy said “You cannot mock God. This is their statements against Goodluck Jonathan government. Senate should act now.
Demon $iam_noahjoseph said “why can’t the PDD lawmakers at least move for impeachment.
On his part Elvis Patriach @ABganasquare said “if the C-in-C says he’s lsot the capacity to guarantee security….it’s an impeachable offence.
Akim Reid Ado @ReidAkim said “You see? When a man talks unfoundedly, he talks himself into ridicule. Are we still wailing?
Whie Amadasun @Whiteama said “More than enough reasons for the vice president and his principal PMB to resign voluntarily. However, they will never contemplate resigning, even if 1Million Nigerians are massacred by Boko Haram and other terrorists’ groups. They just love being in power and nothing else matters,.”
Olayinka @olayinkaaji11 referring to Osinbajo comment five years ago said “Since you know the right thing can you please resign.
Comrade Briggs @PA_BRIGG said @mbuhari and @ProfOsinbajo “must resign since they’ve failed to guarantee security in the state.”
Tier two lender Fidelity Bank Plc has disclosed the purchase of 5 million additional shares, worth over N12 million by the bank’s managing director/ chief executive officer Designate, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe.
Onyeali-Ikpe was appointed in July to take over from Nnamdi Okonkwo who’s expected to retire from the bank by the end of the year.
According to the notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE and signed by the Bank’s Secretary, Ezinwa Unuigboje, the transaction occurred in five tranches with an average share price of N2.56 per unit.
Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe was appointed the Executive Director, Commercial and Consumer Banking, Lagos and South Directorate in July 2015.
She has been in charge of the Commercial, SME, Consumer and Public Sector businesses of bank in the six South states and Lagos.
In July 2020, she was appointed the Managing Director/CEO by the board of the bank effective January 1, 2021.
She has worked in top money banks in the country, including Standard Chartered Bank, Zenith Bank and Citizens International Bank.
Anyim Pius Anyim wielded enormous power as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, during the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, so much so, that he used his influence to ensure the emergence of Dave Umahi as governor of Ebonyi state, against the wishes of other PDP stalwarts in the state.
Five years down the line, the former political allies are at loggerheads over the decision of Governor Umahi to defect to the All Progressives Congress, APC the ruling party. To cap it all Anyim is now accusing the governor of trying to kill him.
I want “to notify the public that I fully understand that what Umahi meant by *“this will be the last fight I will fight”, is that he will kill me so that I will not live to fight again*. While I invite the security agencies to note this plan, I want to assure Gov. Umahi that my blood is not available for him in pursuit of his ambition,” Anyim said in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Umahi left the PDP penultimate week in pursuance of his ambition to contest the presidency in 2023, which he felt cannot be achieved in the PDP, as the party has so far failed to zone the office to any part of the country.
But the former SGF and other PDP chieftains refused to join him in his new party to the angst of Governor Umahi who’s said he was betrayed after Anyim had earlier agreed with him to defect.
The governor has fired back at his political enemies, accusing them of trying to use his defection to cause mayhem in the state.
“I want the media to note, that I reported an allegation that some Ebonyi people are engaging cultists and according to them some IPOB Members to start killing and causing crisis in Ebonyi State in the name of fighting Ebonyi State Government and the governor.
“Their leader is Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and their members are Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, Mr. Ali Odefa and others. The same Senator Anyim Pius Anyim fought the former Governor Sam Egwu and many people were killed,” the governor said at the State Security Council meeting, last week.
Anyim: Umahi Trying to Kill Me
But while responding to the allegation, Anyim said the state’s helmsman decided to join the APC on his own accord without consulting other stakeholders in the state.
The Ebonyi governor, the former SGF said, is after his life because he failed to follow him to the APC, describing Umahi as a greedy and over ambitious politician.
In the open letter titled “Governor David Umahi on his wild, infantile, and utterly senseless accusations against my person,” Anyim said Umahi has made the biggest political mistake of his life by defecting to APC.
The letter was addressed to the President, Inspector –General of Police; Director – General, State Security Service and Chief of Defence Staff.
Anyim said “Gov. Umahi is pitiably delusional. He is a prisoner of his greed and inordinate ambition. Here is a drowning man looking for who to drag down with him. Gov.
“Umahi has made his worst mistake after his latest misadventure by taking on me and other noble and respectable sons of Ebonyi State who have served and continued to serve our dear State with resolute commitment, dedication and integrity.”
He said there was no time he agreed with the governor to defect to the APC.
“The case at hand is his defection to APC on the 19th of November, 2020. The discerning public knows that he has been on the plan for a long time and when he decided to consummate it, he suddenly concocted an accusation against PDP, that PDP was not willing to zone Presidency to the South-east.
“People who know Gov. Umahi know that he normally starts this way whenever he is hatching a sinister plan. He raises dust, makes wild allegations and accusations against people just to divert the attention of the public before he strikes.
“It is public knowledge that Gov. Umahi had been planning his defection to the All Progressive (s) Congress, APC for a long time. In his delusion, he believed his own lies that he is the only man who matters in Ebonyi State. He did not consult with anybody notable before consummating his defection to APC. After his defection, no person of note followed him.”
Anyim said the governor has now realized the folly of his decision when it has become too late, adding that Umahi is a drowning man trying desperately to take other people in the state down with him.
According to him “Unable to contain and manage the unsavory reactions from the public he ran to my home in the company of some high-profile people, on the 20th of November 2020, and pleaded with me to defect to APC, saying that if I do, others will follow suit.
“I pointed out to him that his approach has made it almost impossible for anybody to defect. He pleaded with me that if I cannot defect now, I should not attend any PDP meetings, and I said no, I must attend PDP meetings as long as I am in PDP.
“He realised that he could not persuade anybody when he saw the crème of Ebonyi Elders and citizen that gathered for the inauguration of PDP Caretaker Committee. He could no longer sleep and declared war on every one who has refused to defect with him.”
“I would not have taken his present spew of baseless allegations seriously, but because I suspect he is under a spell and perhaps something is pursuing him.
“He may have been told that he will need to kill before he would achieve his present enterprise and so to build up a scenario for him to kill, he will need to spew allegations of killings even when they make no sense.
“I have no doubt that Governor Umahi may have been told that he needed blood to accomplish his present enterprise, otherwise how can a man in his 6th year as Governor of a State suddenly realise that a former President of the Senate, a former Governor of the State and two-time serving Senator Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, two time serving Senator, are now cultists and IPOB members.”
The, usually, taciturn former Senate President/ former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Pius Anyim, has opened Ebonyi State Governor’s pandora box.
In a damning letter copied to the President, Muhammadu Buhari, the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the Directorate of State Security, and the Chief of Defence Staff, Anyim painted a gory picture of the character that is Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State.
Both men hail from the same State. Until a couple of weeks ago, both men belonged to the same political party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, under which their profile rose to high heavens.
Umahi is serving his second term as Ebonyi Governor. Both terms he got under the PDP. it was common knowledge that Anyim backed him both morally and financially to become the Governor of the State, one of the rare times a Deputy Governor became a Governor.
But in the past couple of weeks, things have not been the same between the two men. The problem started on 19th November, 2020 when Umahi defected to the All Progressives Congress for some inexplicable reasons.
Since his defection to the party, a move which has been criticised by many in Ebonyi State, Umahi has been firing from all cylinders. His main targets have been almost all high profile PDP members in the state, especially Anyim, a former two-time Governor of the State, Sam Egwu now, also, a two-time Senator, Dr Sam Egwu. and Senator Obinna Ogba, and more.
He has accused them of sponsoring IPOB, and planning to destabilise the state; he accused them of being angry with him, because he visited the President, alone, without them; he said all of them planned to defect to the APC together, but that he out-smarted them; he has threatened blood and fire, he said he would fight them to a finish; he said he would expose their deals, and much more.
But in Anyim’s damning letter, dated Noember 30, Anyim told a different story, and painted a picture of Umahi, a couple of which and frightening.
Following is Anyim’s letter, entitled, Open Letter To Governor Umahi On His Wild, Infantile And Utterly Senseless Accusations Against My Person which he personally signed.
“In a widely circulated media briefing on the 27th November after a formal Ebonyi State Security Council Meeting, Governor Umahi stated as follows:
“I want the media to note, that I reported an allegation that some Ebonyi people are engaging cultists and, according to them, some IPOB members to start killing and causing crisis in Ebonyi State in the name of fighting Ebonyi State Government and the governor, and their leader is Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and their members are Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, Mr. Ali Odefa and others. The same Senator Anyim Pius Anyim fought the former Governor Sam Egwu and many people were killed.
“I have also directed Security Agencies to ensure the implementation of policies on tinted glasses of vehicles in the state, the use of a siren and then their police escort. If they try to fight the State, this will be their last fight, they will not fight again”.
“1. I would not have bothered to respond to this gibberish by a sinking man but for the compelling need to put the records straight, and forewarn the public about the sinister plans of a man who personifies everything ignoble, shameless and despicable.
Gov. Umahi is pitiably delusional. He is a prisoner of his greed and inordinate ambition. Here is a drowning man looking for who to drag down with him. Gov. Umahi has made his worst mistake after his latest misadventure by taking on me and other noble and respectable sons of Ebonyi State who have served and continued to serve our dear State with resolute commitment, dedication and integrity.
No Capacity
The case at hand is his defection to APC on the 19th of November, 2020. The discerning public knows that he has been on the plan for a long time, and when he decided to consummate it, he suddenly concocted an accusation against PDP, that PDP was not willing to zone Presidency to the South East.
When he spews these allegations, he would not even mind whether they make sense or not. He did not have the mental capacity to reason that no party in less than two years into a new term would bring the next election unto the front burner. That even in APC where he has gone to, the issue of next election is not yet on the table as doing so would distract the government.
People who know Gov. Umahi know that he normally starts this way whenever he is hatching a sinister plan. He raises dusts, makes wild allegations and accusations against people just to divert the attention of the public before he strikes. It is public knowledge that Gov. Umahi had been planning his defection to the All Progressive Congress, APC for a long time. In his delusion, he believed his own lies that he is the only man who matters in Ebonyi State. He did not consult with anybody notable before consummating his defection to APC. After his defection, no person of note followed him.
Dave Umahi
Umahi Came To Plead With Me
4.Unable to contain and manage the unsavory reactions from the public, he ran to my home in the company of some high-profile people, on the 20th of November 2020, and pleaded with me to defect to APC, saying that if I do, others will follow suit. I pointed out to him that his approach has made it almost impossible for anybody to defect. He pleaded with me that if I cannot defect now, I should not attend any PDP meetings, and I said no, I must attend PDP meetings as long as I am in PDP. He realized that he could not persuade anybody when he saw the crème of Ebonyi Elders and citizen that gathered for the inauguration of PDP Caretaker Committee. He could no longer sleep and declared war on every one who has refused to defect with him.
Umahi Under A Spell To Kill He Needs Blood
I would not have taken his present spew of baseless allegations seriously, but because I suspect he is under a spell and perhaps something is pursuing him. He may have been told that he will need to kill before he would achieve his present enterprise, and so to build up a scenario for him to kill, he will need to spew allegations of killings even when they make no sense. I have no doubt that Governor Umahi may have been told that he needed blood to accomplish his present enterprise, otherwise how can a man in his 6th year as Governor of a State suddenly realise that a former President of the Senate, a former Governor of the State and two-time serving Senator Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, two time serving Senator, are now cultists and IPOB members. Something is wrong somewhere.
It is obvious that either something is pursuing Governor Umahi or that he is pursuing something.
For those who know him well, please notice that his lips have shifted out of shape and his eye balls shrinking. Something is pursuing Gov. Umahi.
Gov. Umahi’s modus operandi are well known and his moves are easily predictable. The three examples below will elucidate this point:
How He Framed His Pastor, Ephraim Ononye, Destroyed Him, Caused Death
Pastor Ononye was the pastor to Gov. Umahi’s campaign organization in 2015. Midway into his term, he requested the pastor to start praying for the next term. The Pastor declined to be part of his second term agenda. He was so enraged that he walked the pastor out. The following day he accused the Pastor of murder and that he was running an illegal school. He unleased security agents against the pastor. The Pastor’s school with about 900 pupils was closed till today. On the 2nd of June 2017 while the Church was having a night vigil with some widows, he sent security agents to go and close the Church. They manhandled and threw the women out into the rain and seven days later, one of the women died. That wicked act has continued to hunt Governor Umahi till date.
It is obvious that the spirit of error has come upon him. Gov. Umahi was told that the only way he could win the election was if he ate on the street.
Umahi’s Ritual Dinner And Harvest Of Death
Governor Umahi quickly organized a State Banquet on the street at Udensi roundabout and Ebonyi people attended without knowing that it was a ritual dinner. Only Gov. Umahi knows how many Ebonyians that have died mysteriously after that dinner.
Gov. Umahi is the only governor in Nigeria that organizes dinner on the street. Since I got to know the reason behind the street dinner, I stopped attending his functions. After he won the election, he arranged for his close associates to reconcile the Pastor and himself. When he was asked why he did not keep his promises, he replied that he was not God that keeps promises.
2 The case of Prof. Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh; How The Prof. Dared Him
Professor Odo was the first of the three SSGs he has had so far. When Prof Odo could not fit into his various schemes, he decided to resign with a widely publicized resignation letter. Governor Umahi was so offended and hit back by setting up a committee to probe the Agric loan disbursement committee which the former SSG chaired. The former SSG responded by writing to EFCC to thoroughly and properly investigate the Agric loan saga as he was ready to provide all information relating to the purported loan transactions. When Governor Umahi realized that the former SSG was not intimated but ready to spill the beans, he backed down and nothing till today is heard of that committee. He had since reached out to the former SSG for a truce but the man rebuffed him. The public should be aware of Gov. Umahi’s use of wild allegation as a weapon. I’m sure if the former SSG had agreed to a peace meeting he would have apologized and if you ask him why do you lie, he will say that he is not God that speaks the truth.
How Umahi Maimed Charles Otu
Charles Otu is a journalist in Abakaliki. He wrote an article that was offensive to the Governor. On the 3rd of June 2017 while he was at a newspaper stand, a bus with the inscription “Akubaraohia Youth Vanguard” pull up and at gun point he was dragged into the bus and taken to one corner of Government House, Abakaliki where he received severe beatings until he passed out and they dropped him on the street, up till today, Mr. Otu is yet to regain his full composure. When Gov. Umahi boasted to the two journalists, he accused of offensive articles that “if they think they have the pen that he will show them that he has KOBOKO”. Charles Otu’s treatment is what Gov. Umahi meant by KOBOKO. The two journalists, Mr. Chijioke Agwu and Mr. Peter Okutu should thank their God that the public outcry that greeted the Governor’s outburst saved them from the Koboko treatment, who knowns whether they would have come out alive as many never did. But for lack of space, the examples can go on and on.
Why The Alert: When I Picked Him He Was Not LikeThis
The purpose of this response is to alert the public and the security agencies in particular on the schemes of Gov. David Umahi so that they will read him upfront and be wary of him and his allegations. Accordingly, all concerned should note as follows:
I believe that Gov. Umahi needs help. He was not in this shape when I picked him. His present behaviour is certainly not normal. His behaviour and utterances are strangest whenever he puts on the costume for the new enterprise – an oversized white Agbada and an elongated red hat that over-sizes his head. I want to advice his brothers to seek psychiatric and psychological help for him before it is too late.
Why He Is Planning To Kill
The only offence we committed is that we refused to follow Gov. Umahi in his political adventure. We do not know when belonging to parties of one’s choice has become an offence against a Governor, or means fighting a Governor.
It is clear that Gov. Umahi may have been told that he needs to kill a high-profile person in order to achieve his mad ambition. Ebonyians should be wise and those he is preparing to use for the killings should know that after using them he will also plan to kill them to cover his track. Examples abound.
Security agencies, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Judges should note that Gov. Umahi had boasted as follows:
– That one of the gains of his defection is that he has been promised absolute use of the security agencies for all that he desires to do.
– That the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation is his friend and will soon visit Abakaliki the second time and that he will use him to deal with those opposed to him using the EFCC.
– That he will extensively use the courts to not only make it impossible for PDP to function in the state but also to frustrate those opposed to him including sending them to prison. My advice is that all those concerned should be wary of Gov. Umahi so that he will not taint their soul and ruin their careers, because all his actions and schemes have black sides.
To notify the public that I fully understand that what Umahi meant by “this will be the last fight I will fight”, is that he will kill me so that I will not live to fight again.
While I invite the security agencies to note this plan, I want to assure Gov. Umahi that my blood is not available for him in pursuit of his ambition.
To assure the street dinner Governor that no amount of blackmail or intimidation will compel any of us to follow him.
Mysterious Deaths
Gov. Umahi should know that there is a record of those who died mysteriously, violently, and those who just disappeared since he became governor of Ebonyi State.
On my own part, I will continue to pray for him to recover from his delusion.
God bless Nigeria.
ANYIM, PIUS ANYIM, GCON
Former President of the Senate
Former Secretary to Government of the Federation
Less than a week after the death of World football legend, Diego Maradona, the Soccer World has been thrown into mourning, as former Teranga Lion of Senegal midfielder, Papa Bouba Diop died.
The former Fulham, West Ham United, Portsmouth Football Club of England player died at the age of 42 years, after a protracted illness.
The gangling midfielder was part of the Senegalese generation of players that took the world by storm, getting to finals of the Mali 2002 African Cup of Nations tournament, but losing to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on penalties.
Papa Diop represented Senegal at its first World Cup in 2002 where the West African country reached the quarter-finals, losing to Turkey 1-0, courtesy of a Hakan Sukur extra time goal.
Papa Diop scored the only goal of the match against the then star-studded defending champions, France. Senegal won that match to the shock of the world.
France then boasted the likes of Thierry Henry and other top players who won the 1998 World Cup.
Born on 28 January, 1978, Diop’s preferred position was defensive midfield but he could also play as a centre back, where he previously played at Lens.
The late Papa Diop was considered a strong and aggressive player. His playing style and ability drew comparisons to Patrick Vieira.
Papa Diop got his first call up to the Senegal national squad in 1999, at the age of 21, while playing for Neuchâtel Xamax in the Swiss Super League.
He, was, perhaps best known for scoring the first goal of 2002 FIFA World Cup against France, which resulted in the 1–0 defeat of the then reigning World champions and ultimately, their early elimination from the tournament, during which Senegal reached the quarter-finals.
The late footballer ended as his team’s best scorer of the tournament with three goals, having also scored twice against Uruguay. Diop had played 63 times for Senegal scoring 11 goals.
He began his club career with junior team Ndeffann Saltigue before joining ASC Diaraf of the Senegal Premier League in 1996.
Diop left Senegal for Switzerland, where he spent a few months with third-tier club Vevey before signing as a professional for Ligue Nationale A club Neuchâtel Xamax in the 2000 close season.
In December that same year, he joined fellow top-flight club Grasshoppers, whom he helped to the championship title in his first half-season and made his first appearance in UEFA competitions the next.
The former Senegalese footballer moved to France in January 2002 to join Lens of Ligue 1 on a five-and-a-half-year contract.
Papa Diop also played for Portsmouth, West Ham United, AEK Athens and Birmingham City.
Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has erased speculations that he is bent on running for the 2023 Presidential Election under his new Party, All Progressives Congress, APC.
The Governor, who recently joined the ruling APC from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, reiterated that he did not defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest for Presidency in 2023.
Umahi made the declaration on Sunday during the first APC stakeholders meeting he was superintending over since his defection to the party.
According to him: “Who dash monkey Banana? I did not negotiate with the presidency or anyone to contest the position under the APC.
“My next line of action after my governorship is in God’s hands, and there is nothing God cannot do.
“Anyone wishing to contest for the Presidency or Governorship of the state should meditate and pray that God should not send him if God’s spirit is not with such person.
“This is because it is going to be very tough and we are really in the end time,” he said.
He remarked that the leadership of the state would never come from outside its shores, stating that his meekness should not be mistaken for weakness.
“We will not allow the PDP to die in the state but still assist its executives to survive.
“I am still the father of the state and those fighting me for joining the APC should not cross the line.
“I will never confront a sitting governor but try being his friend because the powers of government are enormous.”
Umahi announced the nomination of the immediate past APC state Chairman, Mr Nwachukwu Eze, as a Commissioner, in conformity with the agreement reached before the dissolution of the party’s erstwhile State Executive Committee.
“We should set up committees at the wards and Local Government Areas to aggressively pursue our membership registration process and the disbursement of palliatives to our people in December,” he said.
Chief Mike Okoro, an industrialist and APC Stalwart in the State, commended the Governor for implementing an all-inclusive policy since joining the party, and urged him not to derail in that regard.
Prof. Mike Awoke, another party Chieftain, read the communiqué after the meeting, highlighting that stakeholders had resolved to work towards strengthening the party in the state.
The communiqué condemned the maligning of the Governor by some persons over the defection, insisting that it was in the interest of the state and South East zone.
There has been political tension in the State since his defection. But this has, however, heightened with Umahi throwing jabs at, almost, all the high profile PDP members in the State.
The Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, after a hard look at the Imo State University, IMSU, dismissed the institution as huge fraud. Decrying the moral decadence at the Imo State University, Uzodinma said “the development is impacting the citadel of learning negatively.”
The Governor: “IMSU has the highest bureau fraud, worst student enrolment fraud, unforgivable academic fraud, and, worse still, inexplicable certificate falsification.”
Consequently, the Governor has called for fervent prayers from all well meaning Imolitees, for the school, if they are really interested in having a University.
Speaking at the Silver Jubilee Priesthoodcelebration of Rev. Fr. Gerald Njoku of Imo State University Chaplaincy Owerri, at the weekend, the Governor said the moral standard, indiscipline, behavioral pattern and everything about the University management, staff and student is something to worry about.
Governor Uzodimma said the result of the recent automation on IMSU by his administration shows that the school “has the highest bureau fraud, worst student enrolment fraud, unforgivable academic fraud, and worse still, inexplicable certificate falsification.”
To avoid losing the citadel of learning, the Governor pleaded with the Priests at the University and others in the state to join hands in prayers and supplication to recover the school which he said “was once the pride of Imo State.”
He emphasized that part of the reason he pleaded with Bishop Lucius Ugorji, the Bishop of Umuahia Diocese and Administrative Bishop of Ahiara Diocese to head the Governing Council of the University was because of the rot he saw at the place, saying he believed that if Bishop Ugorji is given all required, he and his team will be able to recover the University from total collapse.
The Governor reminded his audience that there is no other time to tell Imo people the truth about what is happening in every facet of the state than now, saying: “The State has left the leftist side and moving to the right side of successto change the wrong narrative of yesteryears.”
Governor Uzodimma congratulated the celebrant, Rev. Fr. Njokuon his Silver Jubilee Anniversary and wished him well in his continued work in the vineyard of God, while calling all Christians to continue to support the Church to help our faith to grow.
Former Governor Emeka Ihedioha, on assumption of office, set up a Visitation Panel on IMSU. Uzodinma, on assumption of office, after the Supreme Court declared him the Governor, inherited the Panel which was headed by a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Chinedu Nebo.
The Panel had, while submitting its report to Uzodinma, dismissed IMSU as rotten.
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has revealed that he planned his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and National Assembly members from the state. He has also promised to expose other deals he had with them, including awarded contracts.
Speaking at an APC stakeholders meeting in Abakaliki, Umahi said Anyim backed out of the plan because he (Umahi) did not take Anyim with him when he went to see President Buhari over the defection plan. “Anyim wanted to go with me,”, Umahi declared.
Umahi who revealed that the only grievance of the NASS members and other leaders was that he joined APC before them, added that the plan was for Anyim and other leaders to join him in APC two weeks after he must have successfully defected.
“They were planning to ambush me, but it is difficult to catch the air.”
On allegation of Anyim giving him N5bn to pursue his dream of becoming Governor of Ebonyi state in 2015, Umahi said it was a loan, for which he sold his properties to repay.
Umahi: “I was a deputy Governor, somebody occupying the highest position from the Southeast (referring to Anyim) went and arranged for a N5bn loan for me to prosecute the presidential election for his Government. I had to sell many of my properties to pay back that money.”
He also alleged that those attacking him now also fought former Governor Martin Elechi.
Umahi: “Let me tell you, I’m not afraid of anybody, but I respect everybody. But I have said that if God sent me, this will be the last fight in this state.
“All these people that came together to fight me, they collect contracts, they collect monthly pay, they collect vehicles. And when they are asked to bring people that worked for us, they will bring their wives, children and relations.
“Now, they are dressing words for us. We are in chapter one, in Chapter two, I will publish all that I have done for the leaders of this state.
The Chinese say blessings rarely come in pairs; misfortunes never come singly. In one single day last week, a lot happened to our country: Nigeria was again named the third most terrorized country in the whole world; Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar said his north is the worst place to live in Nigeria; bandits left villages for cities and universities to abduct for ransoms; gunmen murdered an Oba in Ondo State; armed robbers attacked a bank in broad daylight in Ondo State; Nigeria to lose $493 million we paid for Tucano Fighter jets because our Air Force’s runway can’t carry the planes.
Our Abuja-Kaduna train, bought with loans less than three years ago, broke down and will be shipped back to its maker in China for repairs. Since that very bad day, worse calamities have befallen Nigeria. The latest, as I write, was the mass murder of, according to the United Nations, over 110 farmers in Borno on Saturday.
If you live in Nigeria and you are not tired, as in TIRED, you must be an extra-terrestrial being.
Nigeria presents a curious case in the study of violence, repetition of violence and violence of repetitive tragedy. It is a conundrum. Like COVID-19, it is a different, novel kind of tragedy. You can’t find it in philosophy books or in history or in literature. We record mass murder without mass outrage. The fatalist in our corridor of death say the dead had to die because it was their destiny to so die.
The murder of over 110 poor rice farmers in Borno happened on Saturday; dust simply went to dust on Sunday morning and life went on. But we know it wasn’t the worst that has happened to the north. Very many like that go unreported because the north lives in pretense that all is well.
The Sultan said something like that: “A few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in one day. I was there alongside the governor to commiserate with the affected community.” That is what the sultan said. You would want to ask that after visiting the community, what else then happened apart from the living burying the dead and moving on, waiting for the next massacre.
The sultan also accused the (southern) media of not reporting the horrific events happening daily in the north. But is the north itself wailing over the killings? He said: “Unfortunately, you don’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the north. We have accepted the fact that the north doesn’t have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.” That accusation itself is a tragedy; it does violence to truth – and science in this age of ‘democratic’ social media.
Even then, the allegation is not true. What is true is that the media report the north’s illnesses and routinely get abused, harangued and accused of being anti-Buhari and his government of performers. It takes courage to weep in the north or to report the ripping-apart of humanity there. The Northern Elders Forum weekend celebrated the sultan for “summoning courage” to speak on the insecurity in his north.
Wherever truth is despised, and telling it suicidal, there is no more hope. I hope that by crying out, the Sultan himself won’t soon be accused of hysteria – or of even working against the government. I hope he has not crossed the redline.
Where I come from, we say if you keep quiet, the disease in your body will lay quiet with you. Until the Sultan spoke on Thursday, it was a taboo to speak ill of the north as the insecurity capital of Nigeria. Any attack on bandits and kidnappers was an attack on the north and its government of angels.
The Sultan’s statement was a confession, an admission of unwellness, a surrender, an SOS, a call for help. President Buhari posted a reaction to the murder of the Borno farmers. His last line was that he had “given all the needed support to the armed forces to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory.”
The commander-in-chief’s last word on our security simply passed the buck to the armed forces. If the armed forces can’t also help, then let the north draft their super-effective Hisbah to the war front. Amidst all the horrible, horrific occurrences ravaging the north, we hear Hisbah (sharia police) now move house to house, door to door in search of beer-drinking sinners. Fortunately, terrorism, banditry, murder and kidnapping are all crimes under sharia law. So, draft them to Borno to police the place against Boko Haram. Or is Hisbah’s mandate just about breaking beer bottles and threatening radio stations over programmes and their choice of words?
Sultan Abubakar’s speech deserves more than a passing reading. He said pointedly that “the north is the worst place to be in this country.” It is a place where “bandits go around in the villages, households and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is challenging them. They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed.” This coming from the sultan is enough to conclude that the north has become a colony of bandits. In fact, the wise in the north, according to the sultan, now “keep provisions at home,” day and night, to pay off and appease kidnappers whenever they come.
This last part interests me. It reminds me of an old narrative that the elite in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital are immune against all the attacks because they have long understood the protective powers of appeasement. Or apart from General Muhammed Shuwa who was murdered in Maiduguri on November 2, 2012, has Boko Haram ever tinkered with another big man or with a hut in the GRA in that city? It is the poor who get killed.
Sultan Abubakar has a lot to do beyond the alarm. His north is classic egbinrin ote; as you strike down a shoot, it sprouts ten. The south cannot help him. The government, which itself needs help, cannot help anyone. The sultan should deploy his education, his exposure and his experiences as a battle-tested, well-trained General of the Nigerian army to mobilize the North to root out the problem, starting from its anti-education, Boko Haram culture.
It is not only the APC and the PDP that are conjoined at heart; illiteracy and fanatic banditry are also Siamese twins. Frightening illiteracy and poverty in the north will keep breeding many whose way of life manifests in violent colours. Scholars who doubt direct, causal impact of poverty on terrorism, banditry and violent crimes generally should come to Nigeria to get wisdom. It is starkly gutting to see generational poverty wedding terrorism in the north.
There are about fourteen million children out of school in Nigeria; about 10 million of them are from the far northern states. The more uneducated you are, the more unlikely for you to escape poverty. This should explain why as Nigeria sinks deeper in misery, its profile on the terrorism table keeps rising. In 2006, our country was 22nd on the Failed State Index ranking; that same year, it was 12th on the Global Terrorism Ranking; ten years later in 2016, Nigeria had fallen to number 13 on the Failed State ranking and had become the third most terrorized nation on earth. Since that year, we have proudly held on to that position, with Iraq and Afghanistan stubbornly refusing to yield the first or the second position to us.
That dubious position we occupy is principally courtesy of the north and its very bad ways.
The choices we make determine our fate. A recent survey result showed that if your household size is just one person, the chance of you being in poverty is 3 percent; if you have 2-4 persons, the chance of poverty is 18 percent; if 5-9, chance of poverty is 41 percent and if the size of your family is 10-19 persons, your chance of being mired in poverty is 67 percent.
Yet, mass procreation and mass weddings are wantonly celebrated and financed by the governments of the poor north. Who will convince ‘our people’ that the old Yoruba logic of omo beere, osi beere (many children, much misery) is an eternal truth? The poignancy of the problem is in a recent survey report published by StatiSense on Nigerian women of between the ages of 15 and 49 years who are in polygamy. Our North West has 24.5 percent; North East, 19.2 percent; North Central, 14.6 percent; South West, 5.4 percent; South South, 1.8 percent and South East, 1.6 percent.
A similar trend was reported for men of same age bracket with at least two wives in the six zones. Experiences like these teach us new things about the true meaning of tragedy.
Our challenges of state fragility, terrorism and violent crimes generally will worsen unless illiteracy-induced poverty is tackled frontally. The poorer the north gets, the more it puts security pressure on the entire country. The heat is on; it may get worse. Boko Haram and kidnapping have become thriving businesses for their operators.
A total of 1,570 persons were kidnapped between January and last week Friday, according to a Daily Trust report. The report said these victims, majority of them from the north, paid over N311 million as ransom. That is the state of the nation. I do not know how much of the details the government has. Whatever government has done with the power we gave it has tragically not helped anyone. Five years ago, General Buhari promised to buy fighter jets for the military to prevent the kind of mass murder that happened in Borno on Saturday.
The president, in fact, announced later that he had paid for the jets with borrowed funds and asked us, including the terrorists, to wait for the delivery. Now we are being told that the delivery may never happen. Why? Our runway can’t take the big planes we paid for. This fighter jets’ case with the threat of forfeiture because of inadequate runway is particularly galling. It tells the story of our tragedy and of our mental impotence.
Did we not read the contract papers, the terms and the conditions before we signed them? Even primary school children read instructions before putting pen to paper in exam halls.
*Olagunju wrote this for the Nigerian Tribune of Monday, 30, November, 2020.
