First City Monument Bank, FCMB Limited has appointed, Bismarck Rewane as a non-executive director and chairman of its board of directors of the commercial bank, according to a statement issued by the lender which said the appointment has been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The bank is a member of the FCMB Group.
The statement described Rewane as a respected economist and experienced leader with over 40 years in Nigeria’s financial sector, saying bis experience spans the areas of macroeconomic research, strategic management and investment banking.
“Rewane is the managing director at Financial Derivatives Company Limited, a top financial advisory and economic research firm. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Economic Society and has held leadership roles at International Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited and First National Bank of Chicago,” the bank said.
“He graduated from the University of Ibadan with a degree in Economics and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Bankers of England and Wales.
“Mr. Rewane has served on the boards of blue-chip companies and multinationals, including Guinness Nigeria Plc., British American Tobacco, Henkel Nigeria Limited, Top Feeds Nigeria Limited, and Africa Infrastructure Plus Partners. He was a member of the Presidential Steering Committee for the Resolution of the Global Economic Crisis.
“He has completed executive management programmes at top business schools, including the Oxford International Capital Markets programme, the Euromoney Institute of Finance, and IMD Lausanne, Switzerland. The Board of Directors of First City Monument Bank welcomes Mr. Rewane. The Bank is confident that his expertise in macroeconomics, corporate governance, and strategic management, together with the Bank’s stronger capital base, will strengthen its leadership and help drive the next phase of growth while continuing to deliver value to stakeholders.’’
“It is sad that Kenneth Okonkwo has decided to live his life literally as a gun for hire, a professional character assassin. He is on a mission for his paymasters even when that mission is a deliberate attempt to denigrate Ndigbo… But the good thing is that quislings end up badly. History shows that they are ultimately discarded by the very people they served and permanently despised by their own people. Kenneth Okonkwo won’t be an exception. Ndigbo will remember in the fullness of time, and woe betide anyone who plays the collaborationist role of a quisling against them.”
During World War II, a Norwegian military officer and politician, Vidkun Quisling, helped facilitate the Nazi invasion of his own country and led a domestic collaborationist regime loyal to Führer Adolf Hitler. For his infamous role, he was executed for treason in 1945, and his surname became synonymous with ultimate betrayal.
The Norwegian traitor’s perfidy reminds me of Kenneth Okonkwo, the actor turned-politician, who has proven to be an Igbo quisling extraordinaire. He is not in government. He hopes to be if his principal, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, wins the 2027 presidential election. That is a legitimate ambition.
But in so doing, he is actively sabotaging the equally legitimate aspiration of Ndigbo, as evidenced in his virulent attacks on Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). He has every right not to support Obi’s political ambition.
That is the beauty of democracy because the principle of choice is the heartbeat of a democratic society. And in deciding not to throw his weight behind Obi’s aspiration, he is not alone. Politics is a game of interest and it is not often that people subsume their personal interests into an overarching collective interest.
But what he has no right to do is to continuously lie against Obi and impugn his character at the behest of those who do not wish Ndigbo well. Granted, Obi is not an Igbo candidate. He brings to the table competence, character and a sense of purpose. But he is, nevertheless an Igbo who has the right to aspire to the presidency just like any other citizen. It is left for Nigerians to make their choice and live with the consequences because elections have consequences, a point poignantly made by the irrepressible Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere leader, lawyer, politician and activist, in his February 13, 2023 interview with TheNiche where he said that if Nigerians failed to vote right in that year’s presidential election, the consequences will be dire, even as he would probably be in his grave enjoying himself. He died on February 14, 2025, exactly two years after that interview. The jury is already out on the correctness of his assertion.
So, if democracy offers the people the opportunity to choose, particularly in an election where there are multiple candidates, why is Okonkwo bent on destroying Obi?
Appearing on Sunrise Daily, an interview programme on the Channels Television, on Monday, June 8, Okonkwo alleged that Obi and the South-East caucus of the NDC demanded bribes from House of Representatives and Senate aspirants. Not only that, he claimed that Obi personally compiled a list of the party’s candidates from a room at the Johnwood Hotel, Abuja.
Calling Obi a criminal, he further alleged that the former Anambra State governor scammed the aspirants and is in the habit of travelling abroad to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians in the name of politics.
These are weighty allegations, which as Obi’s lawyers noted on Tuesday “were not mere political commentary,” but words that “crossed the permissible bounds of fair comment and constituted a direct assault on his person, integrity, image and reputation.”
Okonkwo, a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) claimed that one Obunike Ohaegbu, NDC aspirant for the Nnewi North/Nnewi South Ekwusigo Federal Constituency ticket in Anambra, alleged that Obi collected N10 million bribe from him.
On Tuesday, Ohaegbu appeared on the same Channels Television programme to deny ever making such allegation against Obi. The N10 million, he said, was paid into the NDC bank account on the mandate of the party’s national secretary, Ikenna Enekweizu. While as he claimed that a list of party candidates was allegedly being compiled at the Johnwood Hotel even as the primaries were going on, he denied accusing Peter Obi of perpetrating the act.
Thereafter, Obi threatened a lawsuit against Okonkwo over the defamatory comments. In a pre-notice letter through his lawyer, Alex Ejesieme, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), he demanded that Okonkwo publishes an unreserved apology letter over the “extremely grave, damaging and reckless imputations of bribery, extortion, fraud, financial dishonesty and criminality” against him.
Insisting that the comments were “false, baseless, malicious, reckless, defamatory and wholly unsupported by any fact,” Ejesieme said “they were made with the clear intent and purpose of lowering our client in the estimation of right-thinking members of society, exposing him to hatred, contempt and ridicule, and injuring his hard-earned reputation as a man of unquestionable integrity, a statesman and political leader” and demanded a retraction and payment of N5 billion “as general, aggravated and exemplary damages for the grave injury occasioned to his hard-earned reputation.”
But anyone who expected Okonkwo to offer an apology must be delusional.
Why?
Because he is an agent who is acting a script written for him by the powers-that-be with a barely disguised anti-Igbo agenda. As the legendary novelist, Chinua Achebe, would say, “A boy sent by his father to steal does not go stealthily but breaks the door with his feet.”
Okonkwo is acting with extreme audacity, knowing that he has protection.
Though he claims to be working for Atiku, and Atiku is running against President Bola Tinubu, the president and his political camp are perhaps more determined to see Obi destroyed politically than Atiku. So, it is a classical case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” – two opposing political interests – Atiku and Tinubu – uniting against a shared adversary – Obi, with Kenneth Okonkwo acting as their mannequin.
So, it was not surprising when, rather than apologising, he took to the social media on Wednesday to present his fabled evidence against Obi.
In a rant on X, he wrote, “If Peter Obi is looking for money to campaign, he should privately ask me for assistance, not come from extortion, and I will help him.” And then the subtle blackmail: “Let me sound this note of warning, the Lawyers must take responsibility for any information I may have to divulge, which I acquired as a spokesperson… Anyone who decides to sue his former spokesperson for defamation is indeed very unwise.”
Really?
When did blackmail become a proof of evidence? The payment receipt which apparently was sent to him by Ohaegbu showed that the N10 million was paid into the party account. Obi, though the presidential candidate, is not a party official. So, how did that amount to him being a scammer?
Ohaegbu said he was told that while they were at the primary venue, some unnamed people were in a hotel room compiling list of NDC candidates. He didn’t mention Obi’s name. Assuming, without conceding, that is true, how did Okonkwo conclude that the person in the hotel room was Peter Obi?
When Ohaegbu sent him a text on WhatSapp to “read how the party blamed HE Peter Obi for the charade called primaries,” rather than asking, as a lawyer, who “the party” that blamed Obi is, he jumped at what he saw as the smoking gun to nail his bête noire: “Please send the message so I can use it for interview tomorrow. I intend to use your name and message as evidence to prove that PO is responsible for this fraud. I believe that PO will find a way to start refunding you people your money after the interview.”
Who does that?
It is weird for a 57-year-old man who holds not only a Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree but also Master’s in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Nigeria, to be so fatuous. But that is what happens when a man is consumed by lucre-induced hatred.
Ikechukwu Amaechi
Ohaegbu has challenged him to point out specifically where he referred to Obi as a criminal or wrote that he asked him to pay a N10 million bribe. Okonkwo could not because those words were his, not Ohaegbu’s. In any case, even if Ohaegbu made those allegations, are they enough justification to go on television and call Obi a criminal without the courts pronouncing him guilty? Shouldn’t his professional training and responsibility as a lawyer act as a leash on his drunken, idiotic impulse?
The fact that Okonkwo is resorting to blackmail, a tool of the weak and desperate, rather than providing the hard evidence he boasted about, shows how pathetic and dishonourable he is.
On Wednesday, Kenneth Okonkwo, the quisling extraordinaire, tweeted, “It will be a shame to Peter Obi and his lawyers if they do not take this case to court.” As I am writing this, someone called to say he hopes the case would be given accelerated hearing. Truth be told, it will not in a judiciary that has become a parastatal in the presidency. That is why Okonkwo could be so disdainful. Those bankrolling his ignoble mission own the judiciary. That is how quislings roll.
It is sad that Kenneth Okonkwo has decided to live his life literally as a gun for hire, a professional character assassin. He is on a mission for his paymasters even when that mission is a deliberate attempt to denigrate Ndigbo.
Peter Obi’s crime is his audacity to actively seek the presidency of his country and his seeming invincibility despite the banana peels strewn on his way. If he decides to throw in the towel today and go back to business, he will be hailed as a patriotic Nigerian because the only good Igbo man is one who has no ambition or whose ambition does not challenge the post-civil war social orthodoxy and power calibration in the
country.
But the good thing is that quislings end up badly. History shows that they are ultimately discarded by the very people they served and permanently despised by their own people.
Kenneth Okonkwo won’t be an exception. Ndigbo will remember, in the fullness of time, and woe betide anyone who plays the collaborationist role of a quisling against them.
The Department of State Services, DSS has foiled the attempt by some members of the proscribed Eastern Security Network, ESN to kidnap scores of students during the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination in some states in the south east.
The operation, according to a statement issued by the DSS on Thursday was carried out alongside the Nigerian Army.
ESN is an affiliate of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB whose leader, Maxi Nnamdi Kanu was jailed last year by the federal government. The group has been blamed for the violent crimes in the region, including the abduction, killings of innocent residents in the five south east states.
According to the statement issued today by Nigeria’s Secret Police, the suspected ESN members have targeted three states in the region; Anambra, Enugu and Imo states for their latest operation, but failed after the DSS and soldiers, acting on credible intelligence foiled the attack.
The DSS stressed in the statement that following the arrest of the suspected ESN members, some automatic weapons, including AK-47 and rounds of ammunition were recovered from them, noting that the criminals had planned to dress in the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC uniforms to carry out the nefarious attack.
“The raid led to the recovery of a cache of high-calibre arms, including eight AK-47 rifles, 12 AK-47 magazines and 323 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition. Also recovered were one smoke grenade launcher, two teargas canisters, 10 NYSC trousers, eight NYSC T-shirts and four NYSC lanyards,” DSS said.
“Intelligence further revealed that members of the terrorist organisation were to attack selected schools in the Southeast region to create the impression that bandits had invaded the region.
“Several members of the organisation were reportedly arrested. Earlier on Tuesday, a team comprising DSS operatives and soldiers, around the Garki area of Enugu, raided another ESN armoury.
“Also recovered by the team were six AK-47 magazines, two handheld grenades, one teargas gun, a baton, two teargas canisters, 270 rounds of NATO 7.62x39mm ammunition, 478 rounds of 7.62x39mm special ammunition, a bandolier and a baton.”
Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has pleaded with the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC to take a second look at the concern raised by some members of the National Assembly who lost in the just concluded primary elections.
According to Akpabio, some APC members in the Senate and House of Representatives who failed to secure their party’s nomination have developed “hypertention” over the issue, urging the party to take to consider those with genuine cases.
The former governor of Akwa Ibom state made the remark on Wednesday during the inauguration of APC National Campaign Council for the forthcoming Ekiti state governorship election.
The magazine reports that no fewer than 50 NASS members have failed APC nomination, and will no likely participate in the 2027 election under the APC banner.
Some lawmakers who lost during the primary elections, and are now at logger head with the party include the current Leader of the House of Representatives, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere , representing Owan Federal Constituency, Senator Representing delta North in the Senate, Ned Nwoko among others.
Akpabio, however, stated that situation could have been different if the losers did their home work thoroughly before going into the primaries, saying it’s not the fault of the APC that they lost.
The APC has yet to release the final list of its candidates for next year’s election, even as some analysts insist that the party will likely tinker with the outcome of the primaries, with a view to slot in their proffered candidates ahead the election.
Akpabio stressed that the party to carry should carry the leadership of the National Assembly along before the final list is released.
The part should “Ensure that they are carrying all the National Assembly members along,“ Akapbio said, blaming state governors as reason why some of his colleagues failed to secure their return ticket to NASS, adding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also has the right to influence the selection of lawmakers coming into the Assembly next year.
“ And for the governors, yes, they say the assembly is going to be working with you. You have the absolute right to choose anybody you want.
“Then for the president of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR he also has the right to give him imputs. But when anybody has lost the election on the ground, please don’t expect me, as chairman of the National Assembly, to come and plead with you to put the person. It simply means the person has lost,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has notified political parties in the country that the commission will open, on June 26, the official portal for them to upload the list of their candidates for next year’s election.
You remain my friend, and nothing has changed in that regard.
However, I must confess that I am shocked by the game of deflection you appear to be playing. Kindly share the full message in issue and also point out specifically where I referred to His Excellency Peter Obi as a criminal.
Please also point out where I wrote that His Excellency Peter Obi asked me to pay a bribe of N10 million. I challenge you to reproduce any statement from me in which I made such an allegation. Equally, kindly identify where I referred to him as a criminal. If you cannot do either, then you should acknowledge that you are attributing to me words I never used.
I cannot be drawn into any cut-and-join narrative, particularly as His Excellency is already pursuing legal remedies in court. In Nigeria, even persons standing trial for armed robbery are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law. That is a fundamental constitutional principle to which I fully subscribe.
Therefore, even if I had hired and paid you to appear on national television and call Peter Obi a criminal, would your professional training and responsibility as a lawyer permit you to do so without regard to the law and the consequences of such a statement?
Kenneth Okonkwo
I thought you said you had proof from me which justified your position. If that is the case, why are you now threatening to deploy information allegedly obtained while serving as Peter Obi’s spokesman? Public discourse should be based on facts and evidence, not threats or insinuations.
Blackmail is the weapon of the weak and the desperate; men and women of honour rely on facts, evidence, and the strength of their convictions. But perhaps this has become fashionable in our politics. After all, the Asiwaju-led Federal Government has demonstrated remarkable tolerance for political conversions and reinventions, as reflected in the appointment of individuals such as Reno Omokri and Femi Fani-Kayode to prominent public positions. So, I suppose anything is now possible in our political space.
The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF has called on the federal government to set up special court to try suspected terrorists, kidnappers and bandits in the country, saying this will ensure that criminals and non-state actors responsible for the current security problems face speedy trial.
The Forum also also condemned the current administration in the country for prioritizing the 2027 election above the protection of life and property, noting that the situation has plunged the country into chaos, poverty, insecurity and fear.
SMBLF made the admonition in In a statement signed by some of its leaders,including Oba Oladipo Olaitan Leader, Afenifere, Dr. Bitrus Pogu President, Middle Belt Forum, Worldwide and Ambassador Godknows Igali, National Chairman, PANDEF and Senator John Azuta-Mbata, President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The call came amid recent upsurge of kidnapping and terrorism across the country, even as security agencies struggle to contain the problem.
Earlier in the week, suspected Boko haram terrorists attacked a military base in Borno state, killing soldiers and razing down the base.
The terrorists were also believed to be behind the abduction of score of children and students in Borno state and oyo states.
The government said it’s on top of the situation but not a few Nigerians have expressed serious concern that the terrorists have yet to be contained despite government repeated assurances.
According to the SMBLF, a swathe of territories in the country are currently under the control of the terrorists, a situation the leaders said have turned many Nigerians into Internally Displaced Persons, IDP in their country, adding that the insecurity situation has also prevented farmers from going to farm, saying this will worsen food shortages and poverty in the country.
“At the moment, large portions of Nigerian territory in the North West, Middle Belt and North East are now effectively under the control or influence of terrorists and bandits.
“Even in parts of the South West, several once-thriving communities have been deserted as frightened residents flee repeated attacks and kidnappings. Millions of Nigerians are now internally displaced persons (IDPs), living in hunger, uncertainty and trauma in camps or with relations in communities across the country,” SBMLF said.
Participants in the planned Kano mass wedding programme has been warned against embarking on any frivolous, and reckless divorce efforts.
Although, considered as their personal choices, the Kano state Shariah police, Hisbah Board, has however, insisted that intending couples in the forthcoming Kano State Government-sponsored mass wedding are to seek its input, and advisory before walking out of their marriages.
The Hisbah warning is coming against the backdrop of growing incidents of marriage break-up among couples in the recent past, a development which has resulted in an astronomical increase in the number of divorced women.
Speaking during an inspection visit to the Kano State Agency for the Control of AIDS, one of the pre-marital screening centres, the Commander-General of Hisbah, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, maintained that beneficiaries of the mass wedding programme must inform the Board before any divorce.
According to him, the Kano State Government which invested heavily in the marriage programme, as part of its corporate social responsibility, is, in turn, expecting the unions to not only endure, but serve as good reference points.
The Hisbah boss emphasized that the Commission has established enough internal mechanisms for conflict resolution which intending couples must explore before going for the divorce option.
“We don’t encourage any frivolous divorce. Any couples who want divorce for any reasons, must approach Hisbah since this were the marriages it contracted.
“We have a reconciliation Committee in place, which job is to sit down with couples, and try to amicably resolve issues, before the divorce option is considered”, Daurawa maintained.
According to him, the measure is aimed at both protecting marriages, as well as the huge investment being made to actualise the unions by the state Government.
He cautioned against abusing or undermining the good intentions behind Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf’s decision to ameliorate the difficulties the less privileged pass through in their bid to get married.
“Some people sell their land, motorcycles, and even take loans in their bid to get married.
“But the Governor, in his wisdom and rare display of compassion has decided to sponsor 1,500 couples .
“Under the initiative, the State Government will provide furniture, wedding boxes, clothings, food items etc with each couple receiving cash gift of N200,000 representing money for the payment of dowry ,and business start-up.
“This is an investment of over N 250,000 per couple”, the Hisbah Commander-General noted .
Over ,3000 persons are currently being screened by relevant agencies to ascertain their health status before the mass wedding programme.
Arthur Svensson International Prize Award Presented to Comrade President Joe Ajaero in Oslo, Norway.
On Wednesday, June 10, 2026, Comrade Joe Ajaero, President, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, stood tall in Oslo, Norway, even as he was weighed down by the burdens of Nigerian Workers and the underprivileged, when he was given the prestigious Arthur Svensson International Award which proud 2026 Recipient he is.
Following is the emotional and gripping speech he delivered to the high profile international attendees, all of whom were wrapped in absolute silence by its contents, and brilliant delivery.
“That teacher who was kidnapped and beheaded in Oyo Forest and all the children in terrorists’ captivity with their teachers! We carry their blood, their sweat, their unbroken spirit to Oslo tonight”
Protocols!
Your Excellencies, comrades of the global working class, trustees of the Arthur Svensson Foundation, leaders of the Norwegian labour movement, leaders of Stryk, sisters and brothers especially comrade Alex Yarashuk!
I stand before you today not as a man, but as a symbol, a true symbol of millions of Nigerian workers who wake up every morning not just to the smell of tear gas, the sound of sirens, and the cold silence of a state that preys on its own people but who go to work hungry and come back hungrier more emasculated than before they left for work.
I receive this Arthur Svensson International Award; not as a trophy, not as a ribbon to hang on a lapel. Not at all. I receive it as a weapon, a weapon forged in the memory of a great Norwegian militant, Arthur Svensson, a man who knew that trade union rights are human rights, and that international solidarity is the only shield against the whip of rampaging multinational capital.
Arthur Svensson International Prize Award Presented to Comrade President Joe Ajaero in Oslo, Norway.
Let me sound it clearly and let it echo in every corner of this hall and across the Boardrooms in the world; the ruling class does not give you freedom. You take it; bloody-knuckled, with your lungs full of tear gas and your heart full of rage. At the back of our mind remains the cries and the pains of oppressed Nigerian workers.
I want to thank the Arthur Svensson Foundation from the depths of my scarred lungs. Thank you for your thoughtfulness! Thank you for refusing to look away from the Global South! In a world where capital moves at the speed of light while workers crawl under the weight of debt, you have chosen to spotlight those who fight in the trenches in the forgotten corners of the world. You have reminded us that the international working class is not a metaphor; it is a family. And tonight, that family has wrapped its arms around Nigeria. And, we can feel the warmth! To say I am deeply honoured is to put it lightly.
However, let me be honest with you, comrades, I had no idea that the Trustees of the Arthur Svensson Foundation were taking note of what was happening in Nigeria.
In Nigeria today, to defend a living wage is to become a target of the state. To demand that a worker should not die of hunger in a country swimming in crude oil is to be labelled an enemy of the state. I and my comrades, have been arrested like common criminals. I have been dragged before state agencies for questioning on trumped-up charges; charges of terrorism financing, Cybercrime, criminal conspiracy, Subversion and treasonable felony, of all things! Me, a trade unionist, financing terror? No! The only terror we finance is the terror that grips the heart of every exploiter when workers unite.
Our journey since 2023 has been harrowing; my home in Lagos was visited by unknown fire which razed the building down with all my personal belongings; I was abducted, detained and brutalized by the government for insisting on the implementation of an agreement that protects the rights of workers; I was harassed and arrested while on my way to Britain to attend a TUC UK conference to stop me from telling the world what we were going through in Nigeria; I have been invited for questioning repeatedly and just few weeks back, I was once again an unwilling guest of the nation’s secret Police and I have been placed on constant surveillance both passively and electronically sometimes trailed by unknown vehicles whose motives were clearly not charitable.
Our picket lines have been broken by security forces armed to the teeth. Our offices were raided on the 7th of August, 2024 while a detachment of security personnel was left to occupy our national secretariat forcing an evacuation of the offices by staff members. Our members have been sacked for demanding a minimum wage in the midst of hyperinflation. I have been detained illegally, questioned for hours, threatened in dark rooms; all because we refused to bow, because we refused to tell Nigerian workers that their suffering is normal. They have the jails, the guns, and the instruments of fear. However, we have the power; the power to stop the world, because we move the world. We create wealth! We are workers!
Yet, here I stand and not because I am strong! But because the working class is invincible walking and working together. Every time they silence one voice, ten thousand rise. Every time they tear down a picket line, two more appear. That is the law of labour. That is the dialectic of struggle. Arthur Svensson understood this. He stood against fascism, against capital’s exploitation, against the lie that workers are replaceable. Tonight, we say to the oppressors; you have not silenced us. You have only deepened and sharpened our resolve.
This award is not an end, it is a launchpad. It tells every driver, every teacher, every health worker, every woman selling tomatoes by the roadside under the scorching sun; your suffering is not in vain and can never be mute. Your resistance is not invisible. The world is watching. And more than watching, the world is ready to act in solidarity.
Let me be clear to the multinational corporations sucking the blood of our export processing zones, to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank whose loans are chains, to the Nigerian politicians already scheming for 2027, Nigerian workers are watching. Accolades do not pacify us but, they propel us. This award is not water on the flames; it is fuel for the fire.
We accept this honour on behalf of every Nigerian worker who has been tear-gassed, every union activist who has been victimised, every Nigerian worker who becomes poorer the more he works; every mother who has fought for her child’s future in a factory with no union. That teacher who was kidnapped and beheaded in Oyo Forest and all the children in terrorists’ captivity with their teachers! We carry their blood, their sweat, their unbroken spirit to Oslo tonight.
And we leave here with a promise; We will not rest; the Nigeria Labour Congress will not rest. We will deepen our organising among informal economy workers, platform economy workers, and the unemployed. We will resist every anti-labour law. We will expose every violation of ILO conventions. And we will win; because history is on our side.
As Marx said, the emancipation of the working class must be the act of the workers themselves. So let us go back to our picket lines, our factories, our streets. Let us organise. Let us struggle. Let us win.
Comrades, the struggle continues; and now, it continues with a new weapon; the Arthur Svensson Award in one hand, and the unbreakable solidarity of the global working class in the other.
In struggle, we trust. In solidarity, we conquer. Dare to struggle! Dare to win!
“OUR BLOOD IS NOT WATER: IT IS THE SEED OF A NEW WORLD”
The Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi, has again decried the deteriorating security situation in the country, describing as sad the fact that Nigerian school-children are being turned into pawns in the emerging deadly ransom economy created by bandits.
Obi commented in reaction to the attack, Wednesday, on a school in Kogi State by bandits during which the Vice Principal and three others, a six-year old boy included, were killed.
Lamenting the situation on his X handle same Wednesday, the former Anambra State Governor said, “It’s heartbreaking to report yet another bandit attack in a school, three weeks after over 40 school children and their teachers are still languishing in the forest.
“The security situation in Kogi State shows a brutal bandit attack at the Government Secondary School, Iluke (Kabba-Bunu LGA). Armed bandits disguised in military uniforms invaded the school during an ongoing WAEC examination, killing the Vice Principal, Mr Gani Anifowose, two others and attempting a mass abduction of students.
Reports on the ground indicate that some local security forces and vigilantes actively pushed back and frustrated their abduction attempts.
“Making educational institutions a soft target is a direct assault on the nation’s future. It creates a psychological barrier to school enrollment that worsens Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis, disproportionately forcing young girls out of formal education permanently due to fear.
“There is nothing more heartbreaking for a nation than an inability to protect its children.
My heartfelt condolences go to the family of the Vice Principal who lost his life while gallantly defending children entrusted to his care. May God grant his soul eternal repose.”
The ambition of Ikenga Ugochinyere, the Honourable Member representing Ideato Federal Constituency of Imo state to become the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives has finally collapsed.
The collapse was not because of the weight of any rival contest, but to an affirmation of the House rule which effectively shut our first -timers from holding Principal Offices.
The Source reports that a document in circulation, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, had indicated that 61 out of the 81 opposition members of the green chamber of the National Assembly nominated and endorsed Ugochinyere as their choice for the vacant position of the Minority Leader.
His endorsement resulted from the vacuum created by the resignation of the erstwhile Minority Leader, Hon Kingsley Chinda, shortly after the announcement of his defection to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.
However, while raising a matter of privilege during plenary on Thursday, June 4, 2026, House Deputy spokesperson Hon Philip Agbese , representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue state denied appending his signature to the document purporting to have endorsed the Ugochinyere for the Minority Leadership position.
According to him, his signature was forged and applied for a purpose not originally meant for, insisting that he only became aware of the endorsement document when it surfaced online and filled the social media space.
Expectedly, the development triggered heavy uproar and sharp disagreement with Lawmakers loyal to the Ugochinyere project insisting that Hon Agbese, just like others, willingly signed up to the endorsement document.
Operating under the aegis of the ” G-60 members,the Minority Caucus, while calling on the leadership of the House to respect the expressed wishes of the overwhelming majority by avoiding the initiation of a fresh selection process for the vacant position of the Minority Leader, also, called for an official verification of the signatures contained in the endorsement document.
The Caucus emphasized that a transparent verification exercise will no doubt conclusively establish the authenticity or otherwise of the earlier nomination process that threw up Ugochinyere.
But at plenary on Wednesday June,10, the House considered and passed a resolution to the effect that only Lawmakers with the requisite “cognate legislative experience will be eligible to vie for, and occupy Principal Offices of the House.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by the Lawmaker representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State, Hon Babanimi Benson which sought to clarify Order 7, Rule 15 of the Standing Orders of the Legislative Body.
According to the order, only members of the House with cognate legislative experience as members (ranking members) shall be eligible for appointment as Principal Officers.
Presenting the motion entitled: “Need for a precise definition of Order Seven , Rule 15 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives”, Hon Benson argued that parliamentary tradition, globally, acknowledges and favours experienced Lawmakers for leadership positions.
Referencing the 10th Senate’s interpretation of “cognate legislative experience”, Hon Benson submitted that the law clearly refers to “Senators and House members who have completed, at least, one full term at the National Assembly.
The motion which was seconded by Hon Peter Uzokwe representing Nnewi North/ Nnewi South/ Ekwusigo Federal Constituency of Anambra State was, thereafter, adopted by the House, a development that effectively put paid to Ugochinyere’s ambition, being a first timer to the House.
