Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has, again, in an open letter, advised President Muhamadu Buhari not to handle the issue of insecurity with a kid’s glove.
Obasanjo said that rather, “the President must be seen to be addressing this issue with utmost seriousness and with maximum dispatch and getting all hands on deck to help.
In the latest open letter, the former President pointed out that “if there is failure, the principal responsibility will be that of the President and no one else.
“We need cohesion and concentration of effort and maximum force – political, economic, social, psychological and military – to deal successfully with the menace of criminality and terrorism separately and together.
“Blame game among own forces must be avoided. It is debilitating and only helpful to our adversary. We cannot dither anymore.
“It is time to confront this threat headlong and in a manner that is holistic, inclusive and purposeful.”
The former Nigerian leader maintained that insecurity should not be ignored by any leader as it has become an issue of life and death.
“This issue can no longer be ignored, treated with nonchalance, swept under the carpet or treated with cuddling glove. The issue is hitting at the foundation of our existence as Nigerians and fast eroding the root of our Nigerian community.
“I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to hold danger at bay.
“Without being immodest, as a Nigerian who still bears the scar of the Nigerian civil war on my body and with a son who bears the scar of fighting Boko Haram on his body, you can understand, I hope, why I am so concerned.
President Muhammadu Buhari
“When people are desperate and feel that they cannot have confidence in the ability of government to provide security for their lives and properties, they will take recourse to anything and everything that can guarantee their security individually and collectively.
“Herdsmen/farmers crises and menace started with government treating the issue with cuddling glove instead of hammer. It has festered and spread. Today, it has developed into banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and killings all over the country.
“The unfortunate situation is that the criminality is being perceived as a ‘Fulani’ menace unleashed by Fulani elite in the different parts of the country for a number of reasons but even more unfortunately, many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who are friends of Nigeria attach vicarious responsibility to you as a Fulani elite and the current captain of the Nigeria ship.”
On way forward and how Nigerians can exit the security quagmire, Obasanjo suggested that “government should open up discussion, debate and dialogue as part of consultation at different levels and the outcome of such deliberations should be collated to form inputs into a national conference to come up with the solution that will effectively deal with the issues and lead to rapid development, growth and progress which will give us a wholesome society and enhanced living standard and livelihood in an inclusive and shared society.
“It will be a national programme. We need unity of purpose and nationally accepted strategic roadmap that will not change with whims and caprices of any government. It must be owned by the citizens, people’s policy and strategy implemented by the government no matter its colour and leaning.
“Some of the groups that I will suggest to be contacted are: traditional rulers, past heads of service (no matter how competent or incompetent they have been and how much they have contributed to the mess we are in), past heads of para-military organisations, private sector, civil society, community leaders particularly in the most affected areas, present and past governors, present and past local government leaders, religious leaders, past Heads of State, past intelligence chiefs, past Heads of Civil Service and relevant current and retired diplomats, members of opposition and any groups that may be deemed relevant.”
I was not going to pay any attention to Sheikh Abubakar Gumi until he began his missionary journeys to forests. In our unfortunate state of insecurity, he has become the most important person in our lives; the man who gorges, dissects, and relays to us, the thoughts of our tormentors, and why they are justified to torment us.
Gumi is not like one of your run-off-the-mill Clerics. He is not just a Muslim Cleric, he is an Islamic Scholar.
In Nigeria, there are hundreds of thousands of people, men and women who say they are Clerics. They are of both Religions – Christianity and Islamic Religions. They dot everywhere, just as Worship places do. They carry the Holy books – the Bible and the Koran around. They preach. They proclaim God’s name. And do all kinds of things in His name. With their numbers, and the number of Worship places, one just wonders why we are the way we are. Why our country seem so God-forsaken – filled with many bad, cunning, lying, evil-filled, and devil-driven people.
But there are Clerics I pay attention to. Extremely few. When they speak, they speak to my heart and soul.The other multitude? I am so used to theur antics that I just laugh when I read them. Or hear them talk. I dismiss them as court jesters, magicians, businessmen, smart alecs, and more.
Gumi read Medicine. Until I found out, I thought he was one of those Nigerians who prefix their names with Dr., without earning it.
As you know, Nigerians like titles. Give a Nigerian an honorary Doctorate degree, and that’s it. It automatically becomes his/her prized title. It doesn’t matter how illiterate one is.
But not Gumi. He is a medical doctor. Had a stint in the Military, but threw all that away, and decided to be an Islamic scholar. The pull and conviction must have been very strong.
I picked interest in him the first time he offered himself the dangerous job of entering forests occupied by bandits to talk with them.
You know what the bandits do. You know who they are. They are dangerous. They are killers. Murderers. They carry dangerous guns around – AK 47s. They live in the forests. From there, like Boko Haram insurgents, ( What’s the difference between them by the way?), they raid communities. They make the roads dangerous. They have gradually, graduated to kidnapping people here and there. And have since raised the bar. They now raid schools, and abduct students in their hundreds. They make plenty of money from ransoms paid. Tell the marines the story that the Government pays not a Kobo to them to secure the release of our students. If not for money, why do they do it? It is a risky venture.
Unlike Boko Haram, however, they have not told us that Education is “haram.” That education is an abomination, a sin. But, they have done their best to scare away our children from school. From Katsina, Yobe, Kaduna, Sokoto, Taraba, Niger to Zamfara, they reign supreme. In the past three months, they have raised the bar, and abducted students in their hundreds in Katsina, Niger and Zamfara. They have killed dozens of people.
They are a combination of everything evil.
So, you wonder why a medical doctor- turned- soldier-turned Islamic Scholar would sacrifice all, including his safety to roam the forests, looking, for bandits.
The forests are no fun. I have not been to any in all my adult life. But in my early years in life, I entered a couple of them. My father was a Headmaster when teachers were very respected and adored by the Communities where they were posted. In one of those communities where we lived, Okwu, Orodo, in the now Mbaitoli Ikeduru LGA, I used to follow the girls who lived with us, in company with the natives, to my mother’s disapproval, in the night, to look for, and pick snails, local lamps in hand. We lived with three girls then, and between us, we usually came back with over 200 snails. The natives don’t eat the cream-shelled snails. “Mbele”, they call it. For them, it is a taboo. So, all those, they gave to us.
Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi (second from right).
I remember how terrifying those forests were. Once, we saw a python which had swallowed a stray goat, and couldn’t move. Three people ran back to get big boys who killed the python, and took it as their trophy. It marked my last night for snail-hunting.
Now, the Orodo forests are a child’s play compared to the forests Sheikh Gumi goes to “in search” of bandits. It is not a pleasure trip. It is dangerous. Large snakes. Wild animals. Harsh weather. Unfriendly (?) company.
So, why does the Sheikh leave his comfort zone for such discomfort?
Why does he make this sacrifice? And free of charge. No strings attached.
The good Sheikh says he is doing it for the love of country. He says he wants to save lives. He is a peace maker When he goes to the forests, a good Muslim, he carries the Holy Koran as his banner, and badge of honour. With that, he tells the bandits to forgo their wayward lives, and embrace peace. Hmmmm.
The first time Gumi embarked on his peace mission, I admired him no end. This man is refreshing, I said. He is not just talking from the comfort of his home, or Mosque, he is in the war front. Fearless.
He is spreading love and peace. And I invoked a Bible passage upon him.”Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God,” – Matthew Chapter 5, verse 9.
But, now, I don’t know. It is not that I am revoking the peace of God I had invoked upon the Sheikh. No, it is just a couple of things about him no longer seem right to me. It does not add up.
I have caught myself, a number of times, asking no one in particular, if the Sheikh is the peace maker he says he is. I have also been wondering what his actual mission is.
The Sheikh has become talkative. And some of the things he has said do not recommend him as a peacemaker.
He says bandits are no criminals. He says we should not call them criminals. He says calling them criminals aggravates them. He blames Journalists for that, and dared call Journalists criminals for not glamorourising those who abduct innocent citizens, including women and children. He called Journalists criminals for not painting abductors, and murderers and rapists in flattering colours; for calling a spade by no other name but a spade. He said we should embrace bandits with love, and plant kisses on them for abducting our children in boarding schools, for making our roads dangerous, for killing us, and for raping women. Everything considered, Gumi says it is better for the bandits to abduct students than raid villages and kill everybody. Perhaps, but as long as the students are safe. In Kagara, they killed a student in the school compound.
Sheikh Gumi calls for a general amnesty for them. He says they should be provided with accommodation, and given monetary gifts, and jobs. He dared equate them with Niger Delta militants, and other “freedom fighters”, whatever that is.
The good Sheikh says bandits have their grievances. That we have hurt them too. That they had been killed as well. That when they come out from the forests they are killed. He wants our security personnel to shake hands with, and pat on the back, AK 47 totting bandits. Just make them happy, he admonishes. Great.
I don’t know about you, but Gumi makes no sense to me here. What I understand is that he is encouraging them. What I understand is that in the name of making peace, he is worsening the situation. The questions to ask are:
Is this Sheikh with us or against us? Is he not knocking the heads of Christians and Muslims together? Is he not exposing our soldiers to danger?
In a leaked video, Gumi was heard telling the bandits that they were being targeted and killed by Christian soldiers. He has, till now, not denied it. He has not dismissed the video as fake. But thinking about it, we missed the real Gumi from the beginning. We were so eager for peace that it never occurred to us to wonder why it is so easy for him to locate the bandits, all the time, when it has been difficult for Federal Troops to locate them. It is simple. Gumi knows them. He has their contacts. And discusses with them from time to time.
With the benefit of hindsight, peacemaking does not sit properly on Sheikh Gumi. There are pointers to that.
In 2004, Gumi infamously said he was after “beer drinkers.” He said they should be killed. For a number of times, around the same time, his preaching in Mosques were very fiery and inciting, and divisive.
A leopard never changes its spots, we are told.
With his recent pronouncements Gumi has not changed. Unfortunately, Nigerians forget easily. Otherwise, how could we have been sold so easily on Gumi’s mission, on his relationship with bandits? How come we took no look at his past utterances?
But that is us all over. That is why, Yahaya Bello, Governor of Kogi State, a man who publicly says there is nothing like COVID-19, who calls it fraudulent, who says it is a conduit pipe for corruption, and discourages his people from taking the vaccine, is seriously considering running for the office of the President in 2023. What will he tell world leaders about COVID-19 at a Round table? That is why Pastors who are divorced from their wives, over scandalous incidents, would look us in the face, and tell us about the sanctity of marriage. That is why Apostle Suleiman, would tell his congregation, many of them, impoverished, that he purchased his THIRD private jet during the pandemic lockdown when people were begging for palliatives.
That is why anybody would look us in the face and, actually, tell us that insecurity was worse years back than now. That is why anybody would say that in 2015, 18 Local Government Areas in Borno State were under Boko Haram, with their flags, hoisted. So, you wonder how the APC won elections in all the LGAs – Presidency, National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly.
I don’t have anything against the immediate past Service Chiefs. I believe they put in their best. But our attitude is why the Senate would confirm them as Ambassadors, after the same Senate had, on at least two occasions, dismissed them as incompetent, and asked Mr President to fire them as Service Chiefs.
It is why those who supported Boko Haram, encouraged them, and called Military action against them ethnic cleansing, now tell us something else.
But back to Gumi. He really now takes himself, sees himself, as the bridge between the Government and the bandits. He has become an authority on bandits. Government officials listen to him. He negotiates between the Government and the bandits.
But here’s the problem.
The more he negotiates with them, the more people they abduct. They release and abduct.He has reasons for that. “They are not the group I met and discussed with”, he retorts.
How many groups are they?
This charade has become one huge profitable business, a money spinner.
But perhaps, it is because the Sheikh has not been officially appointed as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Bandits in the Forest. Or a Special Adviser on Banditry. He would command more respect, from them, with an official appointment letter in hand.
So, when will Sheikh (Dr) Abubakar Gumi get his appointment letter as Nigeria’s official Negotiator with bandits?
Apostle Johnson Suleiman, the General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministry, has stirred the hornets’ again despite many controversies trailing him as one of Nigeria’s popular Pentecostal Pastors.
Barely one month after a Pastor in his Church accused him of sleeping with his wife, the Auchi, Edo state born Clergyman put himself into trouble with many Nigerians, after boasting that he acquired another private jet despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Suleiman had, while preaching in his Church, three weeks ago, revealed that “In Covid I bought my third jet,” a statement considered by many Nigerians to be insensitive to the general mood in the country where poverty is very common. To make things worse, Suleiman said he would make more money if the pandemic persisted.
The deadly virus has killed many people, and still counting as the government struggles to contain the pandemic.
The source of wealth of Suleiman, who was once an Assistant Pastor in the Armor of God Church in Lagos, before he established his own Church in 2004, is still unknown. But a popular magazine recently classified him among the richest Nigerian Pastors with net worth estimated to be over $10 million.
Apart from being a Pastor, Suleiman is said to have made huge fortunes from oil and gas, estate management and stocks. The magazine cannot independently verify these claims.
Responding to Suleiman’s boast, a Nigerian lawyer residing in Japan, Barrister Emeka Akaolisa, blasted him for living in opulence in the midst of poverty in the country, adding that Auchi, his hometown, is one of the poorest places in Nigeria. He said Suleiman is one of the Pastors deceiving the members of the Church when truly they don’t care about their welfare.
Akolisa said, ”My dear Pastor Suleman, you bought first jet, second jet and then the third jet during Coronavirus, when people are dying.Pastor Suleman, you have three private jets while Auchi is one of the dirtiest places in the world while Nigeria is one of the poorest places in the world and you have mind to buy the first jet, second jet and the third jet during Coronavirus pandemic when people are dying.
“What is wrong with Nigerians? When will our mumu do? I am asking this question? These men are just deceiving people. If you talk to a Japanese man about Heaven he will ask you what is heaven? Because these people understood the truth while we are brainwashing our people that they are going to heaven to enjoy what they can enjoy here, that is the most wicked thing I have ever seen.
“During Coronavirus when people are dying, no food. I and my family had to send the money that the government of this country gave us, to my village to buy palliatives for them and to buy medicine and you used your own money to buy private jet. Pastor Suleman, shame onto you!”
Pastor Enoch Adeboye
A few days ago, at once, ashamed and embarrassed of himself and utterances, following angry reactions from members of the public, he apologised. He said he mis-spoke on Coronavirus, and admitted his choice of words were inappropriate. He said what he said was not what he meant; that he meant to say that the virus brought families together.
However, he was not apologetic over buying a third jet during the lockdown. “On that, I have no regrets”, he said. A couple of days later, though, he went on a charm offensive, handing over envelopes of money to a number of youths in Warri. Not many people were impressed.
His image has, recently, been on what a member of his Church, who pleaded anonymity, described as “self-inflicted free-fall”
In January, Suleiman was enmeshed in a controversy after Mike David, a former Pastor of his Church, took him to the cleaners, accusing him of having an amorous relationship with his wife of many years. The infidelity allegation against Suleiman includes that he slept with Pastor David’s wife, Ruth, in a hotel room in the presence of her baby.
The matter has become so messy that many are still wondering whether the ‘private jet boast’ by Suleiman was intended to slow down the public angst that has greeted the marriage scandal.
Davids who parted ways with Suleiman in 2019 after their relationship broke down, said his former employer has been threatening him since he revealed the love affair between the latter and his wife.
He did not only accuse Suleiman of breaking his marriage, he said the General Overseer has rented an apartment for Mrs Davids in Abuja where she now lives with their three children and has prevented him from gaining access to his kids.
The estranged Pastor said: “Apostle Suleman has damaged my life. I have not seen my wife and children for two years, and Apostle Suleman says if I ever go near them, he will have me taken out. I have a video where he said he will make me disappear. I don’t want to lose my life.”
David’s wife has, however, dismissed her husband’s allegation, accusing him of abandoning the marriage; a situation she said made her suicidal. She accused her husband of deliberately trying to destroy the reputation of the Clergy man.
On his part, Apostle Suleiman dismissed the allegation saying his estranged Pastor is a drowning man; that he never had any love affair with his wife and had never slept with her.
The matter took a dangerous dimension after the angry Davids petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to investigate Pastor Suleiman for adultery. The IGP has since directed that the matter be thoroughly investigated so as to get to the root of it.
The IGP’s order was sequel to a petition written by V.C Ezenagu & Associates on behalf of Pastor Davids who accused Apostle Suleman of threat to life and preventing him from seeing his three children.
In a letter titled, ‘Re: Criminal Petition Against Apostle Johnson Suleman for Enticement of a Married Woman; Adultery; Unlawful Criminal Restraint to Access Children and Threat to Life’, the IGP said “I attach herewith a copy of a letter dated December 30, 2020 with its attachments received from V.C Ezenagu & Associates on the above underlined subject. The Inspector-General of Police directs that you treat. Accept the assurances of my esteemed regards please.”
According to the petition to the police boss, Davids said he met Apostle Suleman in 2003 while he was in school, after which they became very close and he was eventually ordained a Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries on June 9, 2006 by Apostle Suleman and served the Church for over 15 years before his exit in 2019. He attached his pastoral certificate with licence number 125 to the petition.
Davids said he introduced his wife-who was his fiancée at the time, to Apostle Suleman, whom he regarded as his spiritual father in 2008, and she told him that Suleman had been making advances at her and once invited her to Reliance Hotel, Benin, but he never regarded it as anything serious.
The angry Pastor said his marriage started crumbling when he was posted to Osun State in 2010, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Michelle, in November 2009.
Davids said, “My wife was a staffer with NTA Iruekpen, so Apostle Suleman reached out to her that they will need her to build Celebration TV and Rhema for Living. She would have to shuttle between Osun State and Auchi.
“She came back from Auchi to Osun State and said she wanted to talk to me, that her conscience was pricking her. I asked what it was, and she said that while in Auchi, Apostle Suleman lodged her at Uyi Grand Hotel and he came there and slept with her.
“And the moment she said that, the first thing that came to my mind was my daughter. I asked where was Michelle when this happened and she said Michelle was on the bed, pushed aside and I asked, ‘You mean you slept with a man with my daughter on the bed?’.
“I had to let it go because there was nobody I could tell and I couldn’t fight with Apostle Suleman. I forgave her but the amorous relationship continued. One thing I know is that my wife was hypnotised. This is not the woman I got married to, who I knew for 11 years,” Davids said.
But in a post Monday, January 25, 2021, Suleiman denied the allegation, noting that the report that he’s being investigated by the Police was a joke. Suleiman said “IGP orders probe on me? Where, when? Maybe my ghost. Just reading stories now. Please discard. There is no such thing. Bad press really sells fast.”
This has not deterred the angry pastor who seems poised to fight his former boss with everything he has. Davids has now petitioned the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC to sack Suleiman as the Chief Executive Officer of Omega Fire Ministry for ruining his marriage and corrupting the Church.
In a letter dated February 12 and titled “Petition for the immediate investigation and removal of Apostle Johnson Suleman, a trustee of Incorporated Trustee Of Omega Fire Ministry and for closure of Church and appointment of interim managers to manage the affairs of Church,” Davids said Suleiman should be removed as the General Overseer of the church, because he has lost all moral justifications to remain in the position.
Detailing his allegations to include the adulterous relationship Suleiman is having with his wife, misappropriation of Church funds and others, Davids urged the CAC to “cause an immediate Investigation and Removal and/or Suspension of Apostle Johnson Suleman (Trustee) Of Incorporated Trustee Of Omega Fire Ministry It/No: 21739.”
He said the Commission should “cause an immediate investigation into the improper use of church funds in Omega Fire Ministries with a view to ascertaining deep rooted financial rascality by the very persons who are supposed to be managers of God’s money,” asking the Commission to ensure the “closure of the Church and/or appointment of interim managers to manage the affairs of the Church.”
David’s Unearths Otobo’s Scandal
Pastor Davids has added salt to Suleiman’s injury by, also revealing that the controversial Pastor used his influence and money to cover up another sex scandal with a Nigerian born Canada based Stephanie Otobo. She had, in 2016, accused the Pastor of dumping her after a prolonged love affair that lasted for many years.
Apostle Johnson Suleiman
That year, Apostle Suleiman became an object of a sex scandal after Otobo also known as Kimora, released a set of damaging snap chat shots on the internet allegedly of herself and the Pastor, whom, she claimed, impregnated and dumped her.
The dancer said Suleiman started an affair with her in 2015 after telling her that he was divorced and wanted more male children. Their affair came to a sour end when Stephanie discovered she was pregnant in September 2016, and informed the Pastor. She said she lost the pregnancy after she was allegedly given a concoction to drink by Suleiman.
To prove her point of the affair she had with Apostle Suleiman, Otobo disclosed her bank account details, where the man of God had allegedly been sending money, even though the Pastor has been denying the affair. As a further proof the dancer also uploaded a video clip online, detailing a series of huge deposits allegedly made by the Cleric into her account.
Otobo initially retracted the allegation, saying some top officials in Government forced her to make the gory allegations against her lover for being critical of the administration of President Muhamamdu Buhari. She later claimed that she was forced to do so.
But speaking on the Otobo saga, Davids said he was part of a team of PR Managers assembled by Suleiman to help him clear the dust raised by the scandal , adding that they bribed Otobo, and some members of her family in Nigeria, including her mother, to prevail on their daughter to eat her words that the Clergy man had anything to do with her.
If Suleiman managed to have his way in the Otobo saga, not so with many Nigerians, including Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, who is now avoiding him like a leper. Adeboye recently refused to attend a Church programme organized by Suleiman.
The magazine learnt that the RCCG Pastor refused to honour the invitation to attend the programme in Benin, even though he had been informed months earlier.
When asked why he failed to show up at the event, a very close associate of Pastor Adeboye said “the respected man of God is not a controversial person and will not want anything to dent his God-given image. We hope the organizers of that programme will understand that Pastor Adeboye is a man loved by many, and as a father, he must take some hard decisions he believes are good for the body of Christ.”
Many Nigerians said they no longer take Suleiman seriously after the scandals involving women. They are demanding accountability from the controversial Pastor, who is also known for his controversial and careless political comments.
Suleiman became a butt of jokes, four years ago after he predicted that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state will die following the passage of a law that Suleiman considered inimical to religious freedom in the state.
Four years later, El Rufai is still alive, and has been taunting Suleiman to tell him the day he will die.
The questions people are asking are: Will Pastor Suleiman ever change? Or will he finally self-destruct?
Senator Smart Adeyemi, the Kogi Senator who inexplicably called Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, a drunkard, on the Senate floor, a few days ago, is still coming under the slammer from shocked members of the public.
Adeyemi had, while making contributions to an unrelated subject on the floor, surprisingly, veered off course, insulted almost all the leaders in the State, and called Ikpeazu “a champagne drinking Governor.”
The irony is that Ikpeazu, a Seven Day Adventist, does not drink alcohol. Reactions to Adeyemi’s unparliamentary outburst have been coming like claps of thunder.
Governor Ikpeazu, a former mrmber of the House of Representative, called him a mad man, while the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, decried Adeyemi’s indecent language. And so have many other people.
Monday, was the turn of the South-east Zone of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. At an emergency meeting, the Zone, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Augustine Elochukwu Okeke, took an exception to Senator Adeyemi’s unprovoked outburst against Governor Ikpeazu.
It said it frowns, and condemns it, and gave the Kogi Senator a seven-day ultimatum to apologise to the Governor.
The statement reads in part:
“… the ZWC, reviewed the recent unprovoked and misguided verbal attack on the Governor of Abia State, His Excellency, Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD), by Senator Smart Adeyemi.
“For clarity, below are the exact words of ‘Distinguished’ Senator ‘Smart’ Adeyemi:
Gov Okezie Ikpeazu
“Mr President, in some states of Nigeria today, where you have ‘highly intelligent’ people, ‘highly educated’ people, ‘highly enterprising people’ like Abia, they are governed by drunkards. The governor of Abia is a champagne drinking man. He has done nothing for his people; roads are not constructed in Abia. Mr President. Abia people are impoverished more than ever before. Abia people are unfortunate to have him as their governor…Abia is governed by a man who is a drunkard…He is a champagne drinking man..”
“South East PDP wonders why Senator Smart Adeyemi, a non-indigene, non-resident, who arguably owns no property or investment in any part or territory of Abia state could resort to such untoward and derogatory language to qualify a citizen of Nigeria, not less a Governor of a state elected not once but twice by the indigenes and residents of Abia state.
“For someone whose name is Smart; for someone whose status is (supposedly) preceded with the appendage ‘distinguished’, such hollow utterances from the congress man from Kogi – full of hatred, dereliction, opprobrium, contempt, bile – which has nothing smart or distinguished about it, is an unconscionable desecration of the hallowed red chambers of the National Assembly, which if left unchecked may lead to the misconstruing of the senate chambers as a breeding ground for the use of gutter language.
“It would have been understandable, albeit inexcusable, if there were any iota of truth in the allegations that Senator Adeyemi leveled against the person of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as the incumbent governor of Abia State.
“South East PDP considers Senator Smart Adeyemi’s outbursts as an unbridled defamation of the character of His Excellency, Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD), a highly placed member of PDP of South East extraction, and by consequence a slight and an affront to the people of PDP in South East.
“South East PDP, unequivocally frowns at and frontally condemns this unprovoked disrespect of the person of His excellency, Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD), the government and people of Abia state and the entire members of PDP in South East zone.
“Consequent upon this, the Zonal Working Committee of PDP, South East Zone hereby demands that Senator Smart Adeyemi should publicly apologize to Governor Ikpeazu – within seven (7) days – for this unprovoked defamation of character.
“Failure of Senator Smart Adeyemi to do this, would leave the ZWC of PDP, South East zone with no other option than taking every necessary measure to seek redress, including but not limited to instituting a libel suit against Senator Adeyemi.
Unfortunately there is nothing much they can do since the Senator’s pronouncement on the floor of the Senate is not subject to legal actions.
In 2014, I and several other Nigerian University graduates had been shortlisted to write the Presidential Special Scholarship (PRESSID) designed exclusively for First Class Nigerian graduates who wanted to pursue both Masters and PhD in any top 25 Universities in the world.
President Goodluck Jonathan had set the scheme up, and the idea was to build a strong team of brilliant Nigerians who will come back to serve the country years later.
There were a little above one thousand of us who wrote the exam at CHAMS, Abuja.
At the time, I was already lecturing in UNN, so most of my friends (who were also my colleagues) enrolled.
16 of us in total.
It was a computer-based test, so we knew our fate instantly.
I had scored 94% in the exam. In fact, 15 of us from UNN scored between 80 and 97%. Man! We came out of the exam hall completely joyous. We were so sure we had got the scholarship. And we were right.
Sometime in February 2015, the list of 101 successful candidates was shortlisted in the National Dailies.
Fifteen of us were on that list. I had applied to Princeton University, Imperial College London and University of Toronto already. That phase of our lives was glorious.
Fast forward to March 2015, Goodluck lost the elections to Mr. (Muhammadu) Buhari. That was where things started to take a new turn.
Shortly after Mr Buhari was sworn in, he had(allegedly) recalled the list and complained, (allegedly), that there was no single Northerner on it. He believed it was an agenda of the South.
Right before our eyes, meritocracy was short-changed for Federal character. It was first like a joke, but we all lost that huge scholarship.
It was worth about $250,000 per person (tuition and living expenses inclusive across 5 years).
Before then, I had little faith in the country. But when this happened, I became weary of the country.
Thankfully, later that year, I got a full scholarship from University of Toronto for my Masters and PhD (6 years in total). Of those other 14 friends of mine, 13 of them have also moved since then – US, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Japan etc.
Obviously, we moved on, but truth is, the life we have now was afforded to us by the Government of another country, many of which will seduce you with permanent residency, and citizenship afterwards.
Any nation that shortchanges merit for anything else will fall.
Nigeria has the brightest people, yet, we are where we are (in Osibanjo’s voice).
These people will corroborate my story as they were also winners of the PRESSID scholarship:
*Odoeze Jideofor Okagu *Ogadimma Olikagu Sylvia *Chisom Hyacinth Ali David *Chukwuma Izuogu Samuel *Olisa Chima Eke and others.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has raised the hope of agitators of more polling Units as it announced creation of additional voting centres ahead of future elections.
According to the Commission, wide consultations have been made with various stakeholders on the need to create more polling units.
Director of Voter Education and Publicity of the Commission, Mr Nick Dazang disclosed on Monday in Akure, at the opening ceremony of the INEC/IFES Voter Education Manual Review/Validation and Training of Trainers Workshop.
The INEC official stated that “the inadequacy of polling units was one of the problem of Nigeria voting system, saying since 1996, the number of polling units in Nigeria had not increased while the population has increased.
“The Commission is intending to expand voters access to polling units. This is because the existing polling units were created in 1996, many of the voters today were not born at that time and what it means is that some of them won’t have access to where they can vote now.
“Also many towns and villages have come up while some have expanded.
“So many existing polling units cannot serve all the people now, that is why on election day, you see a lot of congestion at the polling units and some people would be pissed off and with that voter, apathy would occur.
”So the only way to ameliorate the problem is to create additional voting points.
“So we have started consulting the stakeholders, so far we have consulted with the leadership of political parties, CSOs, PWDLs, the media, Afenifere, ACF, Middle Belt Forum, Ohaneze among others to make them see the need for the creation of the additional polling units.”
The Commission, also, said there was a need for the voters’ education for the people of the country so as to give room for free, fair and credible future elections in Nigeria.
In his remarks, the Resident Electoral Commission in Ondo State, Dr Rufus Akeju, said the Commission at present, was making concerted efforts to engage with stakeholders to buy into the intention of the commission to make polling units more accessible to voters nationwide.
“It is believed that this task would have been completed before the commencement of the Continuous Voters Registration.”
Akeju said that the fact that voters in Nigeria are still culpable in various electoral offences indicate that our voter education drive is yet to achieve the desired result.
In a move to curb excesses of touts at motor parks and reduce transport fares in Ondo state, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Monday ordered National Union of Road transport workers, (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria, (RTEAN) officials to vacate motor parks in the state.
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties and Strategy, Dr Doyin Odebowale, who made the announcement, said the suspension was with immediate effect.
According to the Governor’s aide, the suspension was as a result of the recent crisis within the Unions over leadership tussles.
The SSA directed the leadership of both NURTW and RTEAN to vacate motor parks across the 18 local government areas of the state and to stop collecting money from taxi drivers and other motorists.
Dr Odebowale, who also directed Taxi drivers to revert to the old price of fifty naira, explained that new tickets would be purchased directly from Government.
He pointed out that every attempt to make life difficult for the masses would be restricted, adding that security agencies had been notified to effect timely arrest and prosecution of the defaulters.
Fare for intra-city shuttle was recently increased by 100 per cent by the leadership of NURTW in the state.
The NURTW leadership, under the Chairmanship of Mr Jacob Adebo, also hiked prices of tickets for commercial vehicles in the state, which has led to astronomical increase in prices of foodstuffs.
For the records, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has described Senator Smart Adeyemi, representing Kogi West Senatorial District, as a mad man.
Governor Ikpeazu made this statements at the unveiling of a book written by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, titled: “Made in Aba”, where he was the Special Guest of Honour. He noted that there was no need to begrudge a mad man.
The Abia State Governor was responding, personally, for the first time, to Senator Adeyemi who called him a “drunkard” on the floor of the Senate last week.
The Governor quoted the evergreen words of Professor Chinua Achebe who famously admonished that “if a mad man picks the clothes of a man taking his bath and runs away, if the man runs after the mad man, nobody will know who is mad.”
Ikpeazu told the audience that he does not drink nor does he begrudge those who drink.
Adeyemi had come under the hammer by many people because of his unguarded statement on the floor of the Senate, which had nothing to do with the subject under discussion.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) officials in Ondo state, while nosing for drug related substances, have discovered two dried human heads in a vehicle.
The NDLEA officials, on a routine checks along Akure/Owo highway discovered the human heads inside a car boot.
The driver of the vehicle has been arrested with two heads concealed in a brown cartoon.
The Agency gave the name of the owner as Hassan Saka, who was paraded before journalists, in Akure on Monday.
The State Commander of the Agency, Haruna Gagara, explained that the suspect would be handed over to the police for prosecution.
In the history of modern democracy in France, former France President, Nicholas Sarkozy will be the second Ex-President to be convicted for Corruption after Jacques Chirac.
A Paris Court has sentenced Sarkozy to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence.
His conviction is sequel to him being found guilty of corruption and influence- peddling.
The 66-year-old politician, who served as President from 2007 to 2012, was convicted on Monday for having tried to illegally obtain information from a Senior Magistrate in 2014 about a legal action.
This came to light, they said, while they were wire-tapping conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog, after the former left office. The wire-tapping was carried out in relation to another investigation into alleged Libyan financing of the same campaign.
The Court said Sarkozy, a lawyer himself, was “perfectly informed” about committing an illegal action. His two co-defendants were, also, found guilty and given the same sentence.
Sarkozy had denied any wrong-doing, saying he was the victim of a witch-hunt by financial prosecutors who used excessive means to snoop on his affairs. He now has 10 days to appeal Monday’s ruling.
Taking into account the two years suspended, the sentence of one year jail means it is unlikely Sarkozy will physically go to prison, a punishment that in France usually applies to jail terms of above two years.
The court said Sarkozy will be entitled to request to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet.
Sarkozy will face another trial later this month along with 13 other people on charges of illegal financing of his 2012 presidential campaign.
