Agbaje Picks Wife of a SAN as Running Mate

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November 1, 2018

By Uche Mbah

Peoples Democratic Party governorship hopeful, Jimmy Agbaje, finally decided on a First Bank Director, Mrs Haleemat Busari, as his running mate.

Busari, a graduate of Law from the University of Lagos, is currently a serving Director of First Bank, Sierre Leone, and a former Director of Zain Nigeria, (now Airtel)

According to the Director of Media and Publicity of the Jimi Agbaje Campaign Organisation, Felix Oboagwina, the decision was arrived at after exhaustive consultations with stakeholders and party leaders.

“Mrs. Oluwayemisi Haleemat Busari came highly recommended and widely endorsed. Stakeholders all agree that without any iota of a doubt, the Jimi-Haleemat combination is a winning ticket on every count. “Mrs. Oluwayemisi Haleemat Busari came highly recommended and widely endorsed. Stakeholders all agree that without any iota of a doubt, the Jimi-Haleemat combination is a winning ticket on every count. Stakeholders all agree that without any iota of a doubt, the Jimi-Haleemat combination is a winning ticket on every count,” he said.

Busari was born in 1964, to late Ahmed Giwa, a businessman and Vice President of Jamatul Islamiyya of Nigeria from Epe, and the late Mrs. Mujibat Giwa (nee Shonibare), a princess of the Kosoko royal family from Isale Eko.

Her Husband, Teslim Busari, is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

Agbaje has been accused of contesting governorship elections and relapsing into silence immediately he loses at the polls. He has been a regular face as PDP candidate in Lagos state. It is said that the new running mate will bring to bear her business expertise and genealogy to play in the run up to the 2019 elections. Meanwhile, it is believed that the schism between the APC National leader and Governor Ambode may give an advantage to the PDP candidate.

His choice of deputy may also be seen as laying out funding groundwork.

Oladapo, Agboarumi move up the Corporate ladder in NAHCO, SAHCOL

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Uche Mbah

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November 1, 2018

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By Uche Mbah

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (nahco aviance) has sent a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, (NSE), notifying them of the appointment of Mr. Sehinde Fadeni Oladapo, ,the founder and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of GMT Energy Resources Limited, as the new Chairman, Board of Directors of the Company. He took over from Arc Usman Arabi Bello, who resigned from the position on Thursday, October 25, 2018.

In a similar development, the Board of Skyway Aviation Handling Company, Limited,SAHCOL, has announced the appointment of Mr Basil Agboarumi as their new managing director and chief executive officer. He has already been inducted into the prestigious Institute Of Directors.

.NAHCO also announced Mr. Salam Taofeeq Oluwatoyin as their new Non-Executive Director. Oluwatoyin filled in the vacancy created by the exit of Mr. Ahmed T. Uwais on the board.

Oladapo, an experienced hand, sits on the board several companies including MCI FZE Yard Development Limited, a joint venture between MCI FZE and Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria where Total Upstream Nigeria Limited and her partners integrated their EGINA FPSO’s 6 topside modules; the Badagry Ship-repair Maintenance Engineering Consortium (BSMEC) and Elect & Chosen Limited. Elect and chosen is an interior design and furniture supply company.

Mr. Oluwatoyin himself belongs to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), International Bar Association, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and Institute of Directors (IOD), and serves as the Managing Partner of Canary Legal, a corporate and commercial law firm. He heads the firm’s corporate governance as the company secretary and legal adviser to the group.

According to a statement by SAHCOL recently, “Agboarumi joined SAHCOL, then a subsidiary of the Nigerian Airways Limited, as a pioneer staff/head of the Public Affairs Unit. After the privatisation and subsequent takeover of Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited by the SIFAX Group in 2009, he was appointed the Head of Corporate Communications, with a mandate to spearhead the rebranding of the new Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited. He was later elevated to the position of general manager in 2014 in charge of Corporate Communications and Information Technology Department, providing leadership for the day-to-day operations of the unit until his recent appointment.”

Other directors were also appointed by the Company.

On the Move Again! Okorocha dumps APC, Plots its destruction as Party Validates Uzodinma’s Candidature

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The Source

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November 1, 2018

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By Chidiebere Onyemaizu

Top functionaries of Imo state government and some chieftains of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC close to the Governor, Rochas Okorocha, have spoken of a grand plan by the governor’s faction of the party to dissolve into Action Alliance, AA to enable his Son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, realise his threatened governorship ambition. It is not clear whether the governor who has repeatedly warned that APC faces dire consequences in the South east should his Nwosu be denied the party’s guber ticket, will also immediately declare for AA.

There are also feelers that the Social Democratic Party, SDP is on the card. The Magazine gathered that some of Okorocha’s loyalists are mounting pressure on him to opt for SDP which they consider a better and more marketable platform than AA. The Governor is however, said to be more inclined towards AA but could have a change of heart and settle for SDP if convinced with superior logic. Okorocha’s exit from APC will be the seventh time he has switched parties since 1999.

Credible sources inform that the Imo state number one citizen who is also the APC senatorial candidate for Imo West is weighing two options: Get his faction of APC, loyalists, including members of his cabinet, state lawmakers among others, to move to AA enmass while he stays back in APC to realise his senatorial ambition but at the same time work for the election of Nwosu on AA’s platform, and that of President Muhammadu Buhari, or have a clean break with APC by dropping the party’s senatorial ticket and moving to the AA alongside his camp where he will now run still run for the senate.

The magazine gathered that the move followed the refusal of the APC national leadership to accede to Okorocha’s request that Nwosu be recognised as the authentic Imo APC gubernatorial candidate for next year’s governorship election. Multiple sources close to the APC National Working Committee, NWC confirmed to The Source that in obedience to Court order, the party has validated the candidature of Senator Hope Uzodinma and will accordingly submit his name to the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC as APC governorship flagbearer for Imo.

Imo APC parades two factional governorship candidates – Nwosu and Senator Uzodinma. Senator Uzodinma who represents Imo West in the Senate emerged candidate in a primary conducted by Ahmed Gulak. However, that exercise became a subject of dispute when Okorocha’s faction rejected its outcome, describing it as Kangaroo.

The heat generated by Uzodinma’s victory and Gulak’s alleged partisanship later forced the national leadership of the party to pronounce the primary cancelled and organised a fresh one which all other aspirants, including Uzodinma and the state’s Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere boycotted. Gulak has since denied any partisan role in the exercise but rather accused Okorocha of an attempt to manipulate the process which he resisted.

Dissatisfied by APC’s action, Uzodinma headed to an Abuja High Court where he got a favourable judgement. The Court had asked the party to show cause why his name should not be forwarded to INEC as the duly elected candidate. Apart from his Court victory, Uzodinma’s hand was further strengthened by the decision of all the aspirants who contested the ticket with him to write to the APC national leadership, not only acknowledging that the Senator indeed defeated them at the primary but also to endorsed him as the bonafide candidate.

Okorocha’s last ditch effort to force APC’s hand saw hundreds of his supporters protesting in Owerri, the state capital, on Wednesday, demanding that the Adams Oshiomhole led APC NWC submit Nwosu’s name to INEC.

Meanwhile, Okorocha’s alleged choice of AA as an alternative platform for his Son-in-law, this magazine has been told, was informed by his previous romance with the party. AA was one of the parties Okorocha fraternised with during his political prostitution. A founding member of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Okorocha left the party following his failure to grab its gubernatorial ticket for the 1999 Imo governorship election.

In the run up to the 2003 general elections, he berthed in the defunct All People’s Party, APP; contested the party’s presidential ticket but lost to Buhari. Okorocha’s next port of call was the AA where he became almost the sole financier. His presence in the party gave it a semblance of popularity, especially as he had announced he would contest the 2007 presidential election on its platform.

However, many were shocked in late 2006 when Okorocha appeared at the Eagle Square, Abuja, venue of the PDP national convention to select its presidential flag bearer for the 2007 presidential election, as one of the party’s presidential aspirants.

In 2011, the outgoing Imo state governor yet ditched PDP. This time around, he pitched his tent with the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, which at that time, because of its nexus with the late Head of State of the defunct Republic of Biafra, General Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was a mass movement in the South east. In circumstances that are still hazy, Okorocha effortlessly grabbed the APGA gubernatorial ticket, displacing the leader of the party in the state, Chief Martin Agbaso who had also declared interest for the ticket.

Waving Ojukwu’s portraits at every campaign, Okorocha won the 2011 Imo governorship election, defeating the incumbent, PDP’s Ikedi Ohakim. However, in February 2013, he left APGA to join the then fledgling APC.

NLC rejects N22,500 by govs, Indefinite Strike Begins Nov 6

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The Source

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October 31, 2018

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the N22,500 proposed by the state governors as the New National Minimum Wage for workers in the country.

Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, said this while briefing newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) had issued a communique after its meeting claiming that state governors can only pay N22, 500, as the new national minimum wage.

“We wish to reiterate our position adopted at our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Oct. 23 that any figure below N30, 000 will not be accepted by us.

“We call on our members to continue to mobilise in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on Nov. 6, if by then necessary steps are not taken to adopt the recommendation of the Tripartite Committee,” Wabba said.

The NLC president also said that the NGF was not a negotiating body but merely a party in the negotiation for the convenience of state governors.

He also noted that the Tripartite Committee from inception sent letters to each state government to send their memorandum as their contributions to the new national minimum wage negotiating process.

The President, however, said that 21 states sent in their memorandum quoting figures.

“Second, the demand of organised labour is not N30, 000. Our initial demand is N66, 500. N30, 000 is the compromise figure arrived at the end of negotiations by the tripartite partners, which are the governors, employers and organised labour.

“The new minimum wage was a product of intense negotiation that lasted for almost one year,” he said.

He also noted that the governors had six representatives on the tripartite committee; one state governor represented each of the geo-political zones.

He said that the representatives of the state governors were part and parcel of the negotiating committee from the beginning to the end.

Wabba said, “It is important to note that the National Minimum Wage is not an allocation to workers but a product of negotiation by the tripartite partners.”

He said that the unilateral pronouncement by governors is an abuse of every known principle of industrial relations, laws, processes and international best practices.

“Third, the NGF, erroneously, stated that the population of salaried workers is five per cent of the general population in Nigeria.

“This five per cent represent the nation’s workforce including teachers, health workers, police personnel, military men and women and among other workers labouring for the development of our country.

“Of what benefit are roads, rails and bridges without human beings to run them?

“Fourth, we are also very concerned about the huge pressure being brought upon the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to compromise their stand on the N30, 000 New National Minimum Wage.

“This pressure by enemies of the Nigerian people was what led to the recent statement by NACCIMA that sought to cast aspersion on an already negotiation on the New National Minimum Wage.

“I have spoken to the Head of NACCIMA and she has disputed what has been published by many newspapers.

“I am also aware that the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) will also issue an official statement, “Wabba added.

He explained that labour demands that the constitutional, legal and morally right step to be taken at this point is for the Chairman of National Minimum Wage Tripartite Negotiating Committee to submit the report of the already concluded negotiations to Mr President.

He also advised all the governors to return to their respective states and gather their workers and tell them reason they cannot pay N30,000 not just coming to Abuja to announce they cannot pay. NAN

Hadiza Ali Dies Of Years Of Undisclosed Sickness, Throws Customs Officers Into Mourning

By

Steve Ubana

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October 31, 2018

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By Stephen Ubanna

It was unexpected that Hadiza Jumai Ali, a 53 year-old wife of Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel, and Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, will die on Monday , October 29, 2019. This is because there had never been any rumor from the rumor mills that she was sick and thus, receiving treatment in any of the known Hospital at Abuja.

Ali, the Customs Comptroller General , was said to have been going about his official duties without worry of having a sick wife to attend to at home or in the hospital, fueling speculations that all was well with him. Unknown to many the Customs Comptroller General was undergoing pains but had refused to allow it show on his face or his work.

It would be recalled that on Monday October 21, 2018, he was at the Seme border as one of the advance team of President Muhammadu Buhari, for the official handing over Ceremony of the European Union Commission, EUC, multi-million naira built Seme-Krake joint border between Nigeria and Republic of Benin.

Prior to the handing over Ceremony on Tuesday, October 22, 2018, he was said to have held a close-door meeting with some of his Area Comptrollers in the south west. Officers who saw the Comptroller General at Muhammed Uba Garba, the Seme Command Comptroller’s official residence said he was calm and talking sparingly. His usual jokes with journalists was missing.

He was said to have been escorted to the Ikeja airport by Adamu Aliyu Mohammed, Comptroller Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, to aboard the next available flight to Abuja to join his family on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. Insiders told the Magazine that he may have rushed back to Abuja to attend to Hadiza, his sick wife. She was said to have been suffering an undisclosed sickness for years. The source was told that Ali, the Customs Comptroller General, had taken her to different hospitals both within and outside the country for diagnosis and treatment but that was how far he could go.

Barely two weeks after Buhari and Patrice Talon, his counterpart in Republic of Benin, performed the official handing over Ceremony of the Seme-Krake joint Border, Hadiza, who had been with him in his trying years of his military Career and who served as a one- time Kaduna state First Lady, when Ali was the state military Administrator between 1996 and 1998, died on Monday, October 29, 2018. The death of the 53 year -old Hadiza, may have thrown the Customs Headquarters into total confusion as officers who knew about her sickness but kept it a closely guarded secret were forced to relocate to Ali’s residence .

Customs sources told the Magazine that when the information about her death was finally confirmed, the Customs Headquarters was locked down for operations on Monday, October 29, 2018. Her death threw the officers and men at the Zonal and Area Commands into mourning. This is evident going by the way most of the officers holding key positions in the Zonal and Area Commands, abandoned the treatment of important clearing documents on their tables to board the next available flight on Tuesday, October 30, 2018 Abuja to join their Colleagues at Ali’s residence in mourning the late Hadiza. . Most of the ineffective Area Comptrollers, who never had any opportunity of facing the Customs Comptroller General , saw the death of Hadiza, as opportunity to see him face to face. Some Deputy and Assistant Comptrollers, who were at Abuja, from the Zonal and Area Commands who were at Ali’s residence to give late Hadiza a befitting burial , according to a source, were busy parading themselves to be seen by the bereaved and Mohammed Buhari, a Brigadier General and his Principal Staff Officer, PSO.” It was a parade of sycophants”, an officer remarked. Unknown to them, Ali and Buhari, the Brigadier General may not have bothered themselves about the officers that show up at the family house or the burial ground because of their military background .

The death of Hadiza, according to Joseph Attah , a Deputy Comptroller and the Customs National public Relations Officer was a ”big loss to Ali and the family. Hadiza, had been a major pillar in the Customs Comptroller General implementation of the Presidential mandate for the reform , restructure and improving the revenue generation of the Services over the last three years. Given her alleged support, Ali was said to have taken the Customs anti-smuggling war to a new dimensions as trucks load of foreign parboiled rice and exotic vehicles had continued to be seized by the officers, particular, officers of the Operations and Lagos Roving team headed by Riks Lura, a Chief Superintendent of Customs, of FOU, Zone A, and the Strike Force team in Lagos.

A visitor to Idiroko, Ogun state, between last Monday and Tuesday, would be surprised that the officers at the various Customs Checkpoints along the Sango-Otta -Idiroko road decided to put in their best to stop rice smugglers as a way of paying their last respect to Hadiza, the late Comptroller General’s wife. The officers , armed with long walking sticks , like traditional herdsmen , were said to be using the sticks, as weapons to stop suspected vehicles instead of using their AK 47 to avoid accidental discharge. There was a confirmed incident where a tipper driver was said to have loaded scores of 50Kg bags of rice on the tipper but us white sand to cover it to give the impression that the tipper hired to deliver the sand to a Customer at Otta. Acting on information , the tipper was said to have been intercepted and transferred and to the warehouse at Idiroko where the foreign parboiled rice was discovered. The officers were said to have also made one or two pickups load of scores of 50kg bags of rice on Tuesday, which were transferred to the Idiroko Customs warehouse.

The Magazine learnt that the only time officers along the Sango -Otta -Idiroko road had made such spectacular seizures of rice, was when information filters out that Agbara Ojobo Michael, Comptroller ,Ogun Command , would be visiting Idiroko.

There are over 83 illegal routes used by smugglers of foreign parboiled rice and exotic vehicles in Ogun State , alone. Most of the unrepentant smugglers, within the Seme and Owode axis, were said to have relocated to Ogun to take advantage of the numerous illegal routes in the state to smuggle. Their case was said to have been made worse at Seme axis, by Muhammed, the former anti-smuggling Czar of FOU, Zone A, and now the Comptroller of Seme Command, who had tightened up the noose against the smugglers that they have no escape route. This is because there is only one long stretch route , that is the Lagos- Seme route or the Creeks that could be used to smuggle Contrabands into the Nigeria markets.

Confusion As Federal Government Rejects Governors’ Minimum Wage

By

Oji Odu

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October 31, 2018

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By Oji Odu

In what can best be described as a surprised twist, the Federal Government has rejected the N22,500 minimum wage which Nigerian governors’ said they could pay their workers. To many, this absence of a united front by both federal and state governments confirms the alleged untrustworthiness of government by organised labour in the quest for a new minimum wage regime.

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, said that Federal Government has rejected the N22,500 minimum wage proposal by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). “The governors have not even done enough. I told them that this N22,500 is even rejected by the Federal Government,” he said.

The Labour and Productivity Minister’s comments that the amount is below the N24,000 agreement by the Federal Government comes about 24 hours after NGF unanimously agreed to pay Nigerian workers N22,500 as the new minimum wage as against the current N18,000.

Chairman of NGF and Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’Aziz Yari, had explained that the decision of the governors was based on the current realities on the ground.

Ngige, however, assured that all parties on the ground would resume back on negotiations to resolve the issue and ensure that the welfare of the workers is met, although Chairman of the Tripartite Committee, Amal Pepple has been outside the country since two weeks on health grounds.

Further, the Minister stated: “The national minimum wage is a national legislation being driven by the Federal Government of Nigeria in pursuance to item 34 of the Exclusive Legislative list. But you don’t go and make a law which people will disobey at the initial.

“If you make a law and hoax a figure that is not agreeable, which people don’t have the capacity or ability to pay because the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says in those negotiations, the principle is the ability to pay.”

He added that any industrial action being embarked on the aggrieved workers to press for the N30,000 minimum wage would not resolve the issues at stake.

But labour is standing on its N30,000 demand, saying that the governors’ offerof N22,500 which is N7,500 short of its demand for N30,000, was a futile exercise, warning that the strike scheduled for Tuesday next week would proceed as planned.

“The N30,000 figure is not adjustable,” Denja Yakubu, Assistant Secretary (Information), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Headquarters, Abuja said, and none of the tripartite stakeholders, including government, organised labour and organised private sector, could vary the figure he said had been agreed upon.

“We agreed to the N30,000 figure as the minimum wage at our last meeting. Sixteen of the governors were at the meeting, where the agreement was reached. Whatever they are saying now is a joke and self-deceit,” he added.

In a chat with Okafor Madumere, a labour expert, he said: “ It is rather unfortunate that strike seems to be the only language Nigerian governments understand before they do the needful. Unfortunately, it is only during election periods that government is forced to do the right things or the country can be shut down by labour.

“ Nobody should blame labour’s actions because after the election, it would be difficult for them to get anything from government. This, history has shown.”

Madumere regretted that a lot of private sector businessmen seem uninterested on the issue. “ What can labour do? After all, they are working to enrich their pockets,” he quoted a trader who is bitterly complaining of poor sales at Idumota.

“ But how will they continually buy his goods if their minimum wage is nothing to write home about? How can they buy when the prices of goods and services continue to rise on daily basis?,” he asked.

It is six days to November 6 doomsday. Labour is not backing down to shut down the nation in the nationwide strike. Do Nigerians have the capacity to cushion the increased suffering that stares them in the face?

As Labour and Productivity Minister, Chris Ngige labours to avert the strike which will definitely do the country more harm, many pray that his labour will not be in vain.

The Black Mafioso: How Lagos Indigenes Reel under the Vice Grip Of Game of Thrones

By

Uche Mbah

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October 31, 2018

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By Uche Mbah

Lagos has, for years now, become a classic example of a state under the grip of different political mafia groups that has been fighting over the control of its vast resources-it is by far the richest of all the states in Nigeria. With a huge war chest of internally generated revenue (it hit N103.4 billion in the first quarter of 2018, which is the combined IGR of 31 states of the Federation) and Federal Allocations (N9.1billion in March alone) it is no wonder that many who are privileged to be at the helm of affairs need only scratch the revenue by the surface to give a semblance of activity under his reign. Most people that have ruled the state make all efforts to build personal political structures that will put them at vantage point in any political negotiation.

Since the former governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, rode into the government house on the back of political activism, he became a formidable godfather that installs others after him. He has allegedly transformed himself into a kind of black Alphonso Capone wannabe, a real life enactment of Mario Puzo’s Godfather-and a reversal of the truism that Art Imitates Art. With him, the reversal completes the cycle: Life Imitates Art. He was said to have built a veritable empire of capital and human resources, through labyrinthine proxies. The leadership of Agberos-a local euphemism for the barely literate but vicious leadership of the transport workers union-is said to be completely under his firm control. Just like Don Cornieli, the fictitious Godfather in Puzo’s book, he survives by doing favors to those who become beholden to him.

A typical example wills suffice. The story is told of how he once saved Judge that was terminally ill and flew him overseas for treatment. The Judge was back hale and hearty, and somehow a case that he has an interest in came up in his court. The judge was said to have told him that he owes him his life and that he will do everything to help him. And he won the case.

Even if the story is not true, such is the mythical whispers under which his tale is told. Currently, it is said that all the Obas in Lagos and environs are settled via proceeds from the toll gates that generates hundreds of millions monthly. Then enter Fashola.

Babatunde Fashola’s ascendancy to the throne is said to have been reward for loyalty. When such loyalty was tested and found to be wanting, he was blacklisted and was on the way to being removed when some prominent members of the Cosa Nostra pleaded on his behalf and his sins were forgiven. He had embarked on a legacy of beautification of Lagos, built many bus terminals and brought in the Bus Rapid Transit. With all these, he was also building his own empire and structures to position himself for negotiations. And he got that when President Buhari appointed him a super Minister in what analysts referred to building alternative base that will weaken Tinubu’s influence on the South west. This has paid off: During the runoff campaign for Osun governorship election, Fashola strolled in late and was not wearing the party jacket. Tinubu has to remove the one he was wearing and gave to Fashola before an aid brought another one for him. His influence sure has become noticeable in the politics of Lagos. But Ambode has not been that lucky.

The current Lagos Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, succeeded Fashola and proceeded to dismantle all Fashola’s legacies. The decorative Masquerade trees, the bus stops-mostly dismantled and the whole of Lagos turned into a huge construction site. He was like a chicken that was scratching the ground with both legs, and was soon to hit the ground with his beak. The man called Emperor of Alausa lost the favor of the godfather. In his quest to build his own structure, he stepped on toes that even those who could have pleaded on his behalf were against him. Now he has become a one term governor.

In all these, the masses suffer. All Lagos roads are in terrible shape. Potholes and gullies have taken over the roads while endless constructions go on that makes commuting hell. Fares have skyrocketed. Indigenes are overtaxed. The Computer Village, for example, is said to remit about N2 billion every month. According to sources, anytime that government wants extra cash, they will threaten to relocate the village. Market women are over taxed by the Iyaloja, who incidentally is Tinubu’s daughter. Now government policies are decreed.

When Tinubu sleeps, Lagos has gone to bed.

Srivaddhanaprabha: Leicester City’s Visioneer Tragic End

By

Akinwale Kasali

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October 30, 2018

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Death is no doubt a necessary end. But it reminds the living of his/her own mortality. No one predicted that it would be end of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. Even the sky gazers never knew Vichai would be the world farewell so soon.

The author of Leicester City’s Football Fairytale bidded the world farewell in one of the saddest and ugliest circumstances, goal keeper Kasper Schmeichel said, during his speech and tribute to the Thailand business tycoon.

the Thai billionaire owner of Leicester City who died after his helicopter crashed outside the Premier League club’s stadium on Saturday, is the author of one of football’s greatest fairytales.

Also a polo enthusiast, Vichai, 60, endeared himself forever to Leicester fans when the unfashionable club broke the grip of English football’s traditional giants to win the Premier League in 2016 – the first topflight title in their history.

The title win, priced by bookmakers at 5,000-1 odds before the season began, put the city in England’s Midlands on the global sporting map and brought glory to generations of long-suffering fans.

The Foxes have been unable to reach the same meteoric heights since, finishing 12th in the following season and ninth in 2017-18.

But they are now firmly established in the Premier League unlike when Vichai took over in 2010 with the club languishing in the Championship, English football’s second tier.

“He made the club from second division up to first division winners and made the club a big Premier League club today,” said former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, the first Leicester manager hired by Vichai in 2010.

Leicester were promoted to the topflight by winning the Championship in the 2013/14 season just two years before shocking the world by winning the Premier League.

Unlike many foreign owners of English clubs seen as having little connection to local fans, the bespectacled Thai was known for his unerring common touch.

Fans were treated to a free beer to celebrate his birthday ahead of a match against Newcastle in April this year.

Season-ticket prices have been frozen for the past four seasons, while Vichai also donated £2m to help build a local children’s hospital in the aftermath of the club’s title triumph.

“They’ve been wonderful with the fans but they’ve been wonderful with the wider community,” said Matt Davis, vice-chairman of the Foxes Trust fans’ group.

“They are not your average businessman (and his family) that attend a handful of games a season, they are here every game and this that’s unfolding is just a total tragedy.”

Despite his popularity, Vichai remains an enigmatic figure, rarely giving interviews, and preferring to let his son Aiyawatt, known as “Top”, act as the family frontman.

The sight of him arriving and leaving from matches in his helicopter from the centre-circle of the pitch was a common sight.

It was from there he was believed to have boarded and taken off after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham before the helicopter crashed in the car park directly outside the stadium.

Shrewd investment

Leicester supporters quickly warmed to him after he bought the then Championship strugglers for an estimated 40 million pounds.

The devout Buddhist is a firm believer in the power of karma, flying in Thai monks to bless Leicester’s pitch and give their players lucky amulets.

And while pumping tens of millions of pounds into the team, club infrastructure and reducing debt, Vichai spent judiciously.

Leicester’s title triumph was built on an exceptional scouting network that plucked star striker Jamie Vardy from non-league side Fleetwood Town and N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez from the French second division.

“He (Vichai) is a successful businessman and he tried to challenge himself to get something done,” Top, Leicester’s vice-chairman, told AFP in Bangkok in 2016.

Royal connections

Known for rubbing shoulders with celebrities, his surname, meaning “light of progressive glory,” was bestowed by Thailand’s late king Bhumibol Adulyadej.

2019 Polls: Buhari Woo PDP Governors

By

Akinwale Kasali

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October 30, 2018

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By Akinwale Kasali

As the 2019 polls draw closer, President Muhammadu Buhari is not leaving any stone unturned to remain in power beyond 2019. The Daura born president has come out of his shell, and as began strategizing with less than five months to the 2019 presidential polls.

Four key governors in the South-South, under the platform of the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are currently having a closed door meeting with President Buhari inside the Aso Rock villa in Abuja.

The governor are; Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State and Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

These governors are the strength of the PDP in South-South region. The reason for this meeting is not yet pronounced, but sources from the seat power informed the magazine that the reason for this meeting is targeted at the 2019 polls.

Mikel Obi In Limbo

By

Akinwale Kasali

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October 30, 2018

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By Akinwale Kasali

John Obi Mikel is yet to dorn the green and white jersey since the Super Eagles were booted out at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia at the group stage of the mundial. Since then, Obi is yet to feature for the Gernot Rohr tutored team.

Obi ruled himself out of the 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Seychelles in Victoria and the double header against Libya early this month.

Reason for Obi’s absence was that he needed to concetrate more on his club career in China with Tiajin Teda Football Club, where he has been made captain of the team.

Though, soccer analysts are of the opinion that Obi hasnt been missed from the Super Eagles fold, as Ahmed Musa, Ogenyi Onazi and Troost-Ekong has filled the vacuum of the playmaker, as the team had won three staright games to sit on top of the AFCON qualifiers table with nine points ahead of their closest rival, the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.

The Super Eagles team spokesman, Toyin Ibitoye has come to the defense of the former Chelsea midfielder saying that he hasnt quit the national team as speculated by some section of soccer enthusiasts.

“Mikel has not retired from international football,” said Ibitoye. “He remains the captain of the national team.

“But the reality of it is that he is not getting any younger. And the positive (from this) is that other players now have a chance to step up in his absence.”

Mikel, 31, made his debut for the Super Eagles in 2005 and has represented the county at Under-17, Under-20 and Olympic team levels.

He has played in two World Cups, in 2014 and 2018, and has featured in four AFCON tournaments since making his debut appearance at the African showpiece in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2013.