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A move by President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, his deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege, and other leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to frustrate the prosecution of Stella Oduah, a senator embroiled in corruption cases, has been uncovered.

Oduah is also a former Minister of Aviation. 

On August 27, 2021, Oduah was received into the fold of the ruling APC party at a brief ceremony held in Abuja.

National Chairman of the APC caretaker Committee, Mai Mala Buni; Omo-Agege; Atiku Bagudu, Chairman of the Progressive Governors' Forum (PGF), and Hope Uzodinma, Imo State governor, were present at the event.

SaharaReporters had exclusively reported in April that Oduah’s trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over N9.4 billion fraud may gradually be scuttled going by her secret plot with Lawan and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. See Also Corruption N5bn Scandal: How AGF Malami, Senate President Are Frustrating Stella Oduah's Trial 0 Comments 6 Months Ago

SaharaReporters had learnt that the trial of Oduah could not proceed in February because the co-defendants and the ex-minister failed to appear before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The judge had given the prosecution additional weeks and slated April 19 for the continuation of trial, but the case of the former minister again did not come up as scheduled.

It was gathered that Oduah met with Lawan and Malami to frustrate her case with the EFCC. 

“February 22 has passed but she was not arraigned. April 19 has also passed. She is working very hard, using Senate President and AGF to either scuttle arraignment or frustrate the trial. Alternatively, they are planning to water down the trial through the prosecution via the EFCC chairman.

“Another way is through the prosecutor, Dr Hassan Liman, a close friend of Lawan and the AGF,” a source had revealed to SaharaReporters.

SaharaReporters reported on February 22 that the EFCC had earlier planned to re-arraign Oduah over fraud involving funds totalling over N9.4 billion that same day but her co-defendants failed to show up in court as part of the plot. See Also Politics N5Billion Fraud: Court Threatens To Issue Arrest Warrant On Stella Oduah, Others For Failing To Appear 0 Comments 2 Months Ago

Oduah was scheduled to be arraigned on 25 counts of money laundering alongside Gloria Odita, Nwobu Emmanuel Nnamdi, Chukuma Irene Chinyere, Global Offshore and Marine Limited, Crystal Television Limited, Sobora International Limited, and the China Civil Engineering Construction Company Limited.

When the case was mentioned, the prosecuting counsel, Dr Hassan Liman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, informed the court that the commission had tried every means possible but was unable to serve the fifth and sixth defendants with the court processes.

He, therefore, applied for additional 14 days to serve them.

Speaking to SaharaReporters on Wednesday, a source at the Presidency said there are concerted and subtle efforts by Lawan and Omo-Agege to “frustrate, sabotage and compromise the EFCC, its witnesses and prosecution team and Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja.”

He added, “There are concerted and subtle efforts by Deputy Senate President and Senate President to sabotage President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption stance by mounting undue pressure on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and also Justice Ekwo of Federal High Court Abuja for them to frustrate, compromise and sabotage the prosecution and trial of Sen Stella Oduah, former Minister of Aviation.

“This well-orchestrated plan has been perfected by the above-mentioned highly placed Nigerians.

“Nigerians, especially civil society organisations are enjoined to campaign and mount pressure on relevant individuals and agencies namely the National Security Adviser, Chairman of EFCC, Director General, Department of State Services (DSS), and Attorney General of the Federation to prosecute diligently and unravel the reason for the delay and hindrance in prosecuting this case into which the EFCC had finished investigation since 2 years ago.

“Ensure that not only will justice be done in this matter, but also that justice will be seen to have been done. Ensure that nobody no matter how highly placed (in Executive, Legislature and Judiciary) derails, sabotages, compromises or frustrates the long arm of justice as it concerns prosecution and trial of Stella Oduah.”

SaharaReporters had in September 2017 uncovered how Oduah bought a house in London for $1.2 million, disguising it in the robes of a foreign-registered company to avoid detection. See Also Breaking News How Stella Oduah Bought $1.5m House In London Using A Company Registered In Guernsey To Hide Ownership 0 Comments 4 Years Ago

The transaction, which had been kept secret, was blown open when Mrs. Oduah decided to rent out the house. 

She engaged the services of a real estate company, Daniel Ford and Company Ltd, for that purpose.

SaharaReporters had also reported in February 2018 that the EFCC had commenced the investigation of Oduah, over her involvement in the N9.4 billion contract for the supply of security equipment to 22 airports across the country.

Recently, Pandora Papers, one of the biggest leaks of financial documents in the world, uncovered how Oduah secretly acquired mansions in London.

One of the properties is said to be in her name, two through her Nigerian-incorporated firm, and four secretly through her Seychelles offshore company.

International Trading and Logistics Company Limited (ITCL) was incorporated in Seychelles, a commonly used secrecy and tax haven, with Oduah as the ultimate beneficial owner.

She reportedly used the company to acquire the four London properties worth a total of £6.7 million between October 2012 and August 2013.

At the time, Oduah was a minister in the government of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

She served as Minister of Aviation between 2011 and 2014, when she was fired over a massive corruption scandal.

Oduah was indicted by two panels, which probed the purchase of two bullet-proof cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), an agency under her supervision, for N255 million in violation of Nigeria’s public procurement and appropriation laws.

According to the UK Land Registry records, on October 19, 2012, ITCL bought a house at 23 St Edmunds Terrace, London, NW8 7QA for £5.3 million.

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The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has issued a strong warning to his colleagues to talk less while speaking with journalists.

 

He noted that Senators should rather discuss among their colleagues if they are dissatisfied with what is happening within the country or in the National Assembly, before talking to journalists.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan

Lawan disclosed this on Wednesday while reacting to a motion on a Point of Order by the Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege during plenary.

 

The Senator representing Abia South Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe had in an interview on Channels Television, alleged that senators in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) conspired to short-change oil-rich communities in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

 

However, the Senate President, Lawan, denied that the Senate voted along party lines with regards to the three percent equity share approved for oil-rich communities in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

 

Groups in the South-South regions had demanded a minimum of five percent equity, if their wish for 10 percent equity could not be met. 

 

Lawan said, “Senate, as far as I can remember never voted along party lines not even Clause 52(3) of the Electoral Act.

 

“We had the majority of APC voting and even two senators from the PDP voted along a line that appeared to be the one that carried the day.

 

“As politicians, ours is to lobby, is to engage our colleagues each time there is an issue that we feel very strongly interested in an issue that we feel can make life better for those that we represent.

 

“If you are not able to get what you campaigned for, there will always be another day and that is the spirit.

 

“I will encourage us to talk less to the press on ways that will give the press the wrong impression. We should concentrate more on talking to our colleagues.”

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The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has issued a strong warning to his colleagues to talk less while speaking with journalists.

 

He noted that Senators should rather discuss among their colleagues if they are dissatisfied with what is happening within the country or in the National Assembly, before talking to journalists.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan

Lawan disclosed this on Wednesday while reacting to a motion on a Point of Order by the Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege during plenary.

 

The Senator representing Abia South Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe had in an interview on Channels Television, alleged that senators in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) conspired to short-change oil-rich communities in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

 

However, the Senate President, Lawan, denied that the Senate voted along party lines with regards to the three percent equity share approved for oil-rich communities in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

 

Groups in the South-South regions had demanded a minimum of five percent equity, if their wish for 10 percent equity could not be met. 

 

Lawan said, “Senate, as far as I can remember never voted along party lines not even Clause 52(3) of the Electoral Act.

 

“We had the majority of APC voting and even two senators from the PDP voted along a line that appeared to be the one that carried the day.

 

“As politicians, ours is to lobby, is to engage our colleagues each time there is an issue that we feel very strongly interested in an issue that we feel can make life better for those that we represent.

 

“If you are not able to get what you campaigned for, there will always be another day and that is the spirit.

 

“I will encourage us to talk less to the press on ways that will give the press the wrong impression. We should concentrate more on talking to our colleagues.”

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The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has issued a strong warning to his colleagues to talk less while speaking with journalists.

 

He noted that Senators should rather discuss among their colleagues if they are dissatisfied with what is happening within the country or in the National Assembly, before talking to journalists.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan

Lawan disclosed this on Wednesday while reacting to a motion on a Point of Order by the Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege during plenary.

 

The Senator representing Abia South Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe had in an interview on Channels Television, alleged that senators in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) conspired to short-change oil-rich communities in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

 

However, the Senate President, Lawan, denied that the Senate voted along party lines with regards to the three percent equity share approved for oil-rich communities in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

 

Groups in the South-South regions had demanded a minimum of five percent equity, if their wish for 10 percent equity could not be met. 

 

Lawan said, “Senate, as far as I can remember never voted along party lines not even Clause 52(3) of the Electoral Act.

 

“We had the majority of APC voting and even two senators from the PDP voted along a line that appeared to be the one that carried the day.

 

“As politicians, ours is to lobby, is to engage our colleagues each time there is an issue that we feel very strongly interested in an issue that we feel can make life better for those that we represent.

 

“If you are not able to get what you campaigned for, there will always be another day and that is the spirit.

 

“I will encourage us to talk less to the press on ways that will give the press the wrong impression. We should concentrate more on talking to our colleagues.”

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A Nigerian Teacher, Dr Peter Ogudoro, has been honoured by the social media giant, Facebook.

He won an award, as one of the world’s amazing virtual community managers for developing a “most helpful and engaged educators’ platform called Nigerian Teachers.’’

This was revealed in a statement released on Wednesday by the platform, Nigerian Teachers to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The award by Facebook makes Ogudoro a member of the multinational corporation’s elite group of 131 outstanding community managers in the world, the platform noted.

According to the statement, the platform focuses on online teacher-training and attitude modification, has over 240,000 teachers from around the world, and provides free continuous professional development opportunities to them.

“The platform is a peer-support community for teachers, who use the platform to follow trends in teaching, classroom management, and school leadership.

“Parents also use the platform to learn effective parenting styles that enable them to collaborate with teachers for global competitiveness of young people.’’

The statement explained that the award was given under Facebook’s Community Accelerator Programme, under which the awardees receive resource support to scale their operations and promote engagement within their communities for a better world.

The Community Accelerator Programme was designed to guarantee about one year of sustained support for the award winners’ communities by Facebook.

Ogudoro created the group in 2016 as a positive response to the frustration he experienced while trying to get education policymakers in Nigeria to adopt and promote learner-centred approaches to teaching and effective career management systems, the statement noted.

The platform added that Ogudoro’s methods could save the country billions of dollars and make Nigeria a net exporter of educational services.

Ogudoro revealed that he was scaling up the platform to help governments around the world to train and retrain teachers for globally competitive education, while expressing gratitude to Facebook for the Award. 

“Through globally competitive education, we can deliver the pace of development that will banish poverty, and guarantee a more inclusive, prosperous, and harmonious world.

“I am excited about the fact that a powerful tool for the promotion of functional education in the world has come from Nigeria, a country that has been facing enormous development challenges for decades.

“The award will provide me the platform for a one-month learning tour of the Scandinavian countries including Finland with a focus on their education system.

“The objective is provision of the intellectual tools that will help Nigeria and the rest of the developing world achieve the demographic dividends they need to lift millions of their citizens out of poverty within the next few years through result-oriented pedagogy,’’ Nigerian Teachers quoted Ogudoro as saying.

Ogudoro is an alumnus of the University of Reading in the United Kingdom where he earned a PhD in Education with emphasis on Career Management, Attitude Modification, and Diffusion of Innovations in Education. He has benefitted from elite education development experiences at over 10 research-intensive institutions across the world, the platform revealed.

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A Nigerian Teacher, Dr Peter Ogudoro, has been honoured by the social media giant, Facebook.

He won an award, as one of the world’s amazing virtual community managers for developing a “most helpful and engaged educators’ platform called Nigerian Teachers.’’

This was revealed in a statement released on Wednesday by the platform, Nigerian Teachers to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The award by Facebook makes Ogudoro a member of the multinational corporation’s elite group of 131 outstanding community managers in the world, the platform noted.

According to the statement, the platform focuses on online teacher-training and attitude modification, has over 240,000 teachers from around the world, and provides free continuous professional development opportunities to them.

“The platform is a peer-support community for teachers, who use the platform to follow trends in teaching, classroom management, and school leadership.

“Parents also use the platform to learn effective parenting styles that enable them to collaborate with teachers for global competitiveness of young people.’’

The statement explained that the award was given under Facebook’s Community Accelerator Programme, under which the awardees receive resource support to scale their operations and promote engagement within their communities for a better world.

The Community Accelerator Programme was designed to guarantee about one year of sustained support for the award winners’ communities by Facebook.

Ogudoro created the group in 2016 as a positive response to the frustration he experienced while trying to get education policymakers in Nigeria to adopt and promote learner-centred approaches to teaching and effective career management systems, the statement noted.

The platform added that Ogudoro’s methods could save the country billions of dollars and make Nigeria a net exporter of educational services.

Ogudoro revealed that he was scaling up the platform to help governments around the world to train and retrain teachers for globally competitive education, while expressing gratitude to Facebook for the Award. 

“Through globally competitive education, we can deliver the pace of development that will banish poverty, and guarantee a more inclusive, prosperous, and harmonious world.

“I am excited about the fact that a powerful tool for the promotion of functional education in the world has come from Nigeria, a country that has been facing enormous development challenges for decades.

“The award will provide me the platform for a one-month learning tour of the Scandinavian countries including Finland with a focus on their education system.

“The objective is provision of the intellectual tools that will help Nigeria and the rest of the developing world achieve the demographic dividends they need to lift millions of their citizens out of poverty within the next few years through result-oriented pedagogy,’’ Nigerian Teachers quoted Ogudoro as saying.

Ogudoro is an alumnus of the University of Reading in the United Kingdom where he earned a PhD in Education with emphasis on Career Management, Attitude Modification, and Diffusion of Innovations in Education. He has benefitted from elite education development experiences at over 10 research-intensive institutions across the world, the platform revealed.

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The World Health Organisation has endorsed the RTS, S/AS01 (RTS, S) malaria vaccine for children in Africa.

 

This was made known by the director-general of the agency, Tedros Ghebreyesus, who announced it at a media briefing on Wednesday.

BBC

The recommendation followed a two-year vaccine programme that involved children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.

 

He expressed optimism that the vaccine will improve efforts on malaria prevention in Africa.

 

He said, “This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.

 

“Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.”

 

Malaria, according to the New York Times, is among the oldest known and deadliest of infectious diseases. It kills about half a million people each year, nearly all of them in sub-Saharan Africa — among them 260,000 children under age 5.

 

The new vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, rouses a child’s immune system to thwart Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of five malaria pathogens and the most prevalent in Africa. The vaccine is not just a first for malaria — it is the first developed for any parasitic disease.

 

In clinical trials, the vaccine had an efficacy of about 50 per cent against severe malaria in the first year but dropped close to zero by the fourth year. And the trials did not measure the vaccine’s impact on preventing deaths, which has led some experts to question whether it is a worthwhile investment in countries with countless other intractable problems.

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The Federal Secretariat building in Abuja is currently on fire. 

The complex houses major government offices in in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

According to a Facebook user, Adamu Idris Ahmed, no fewer than 20 cars have been affected by the fire incident.

He also said fire fighters are at the scene to put out the fire.

Similarly, in January, no fewer than 100 shops were razed in a fire incident at one of Abuja’s largest furniture markets situated in Kugbo.

The fire destroyed furniture items, materials and machines estimated at millions of naira.

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The Federal Secretariat building in Abuja is currently on fire. 

The complex houses major government offices in in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

According to a Facebook user, Adamu Idris Ahmed, no fewer than 20 cars have been affected by the fire incident.

He also said fire fighters are at the scene to put out the fire.

Similarly, in January, no fewer than 100 shops were razed in a fire incident at one of Abuja’s largest furniture markets situated in Kugbo.

The fire destroyed furniture items, materials and machines estimated at millions of naira.

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Google plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to support to fast and cheaper internet. 

 

The tech giant will also back startups to support the continent's digital transformation, it said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

The unit of US tech company Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) made the announcement at a virtual event where it launched an Africa Investment Fund, through which it will invest $50 million in startups, providing them with access to its employees, network and technologies.

 

Nitin Gajria, managing director for Google in Africa told Reuters in a virtual interview that the company would among others, target startups focusing on fintech, e-commerce and local language content.

 

"We are looking at areas that may have some strategic overlap with Google and where Google could potentially add value in partnering with some of these startups," Gajria said.

 

In collaboration with not-for-profit organisation Kiva, Google will also provide $10 million in low interest loans to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa so they can get through the economic hardship created by COVID-19.

 

Small businesses in Africa often struggle to get capital because they lack the necessary collateral required by banks in case they default. When credit is available, interest rates are usually too high.

 

Google said a programme pioneered last year in Kenya in partnership with Safaricom that allows customers to pay for 4G-enabled phones in instalments would be expanded across the continent with mobile operators such as MTN, Orange and Vodacom.

 

Gajria said an undersea cable being built by Google to link Africa and Europe should come into service in the second half of next year and is expected to increase internet speeds by five times and lower data costs by up to 21% in countries like South Africa and Nigeria.

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Google plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to support to fast and cheaper internet. 

 

The tech giant will also back startups to support the continent's digital transformation, it said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

The unit of US tech company Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) made the announcement at a virtual event where it launched an Africa Investment Fund, through which it will invest $50 million in startups, providing them with access to its employees, network and technologies.

 

Nitin Gajria, managing director for Google in Africa told Reuters in a virtual interview that the company would among others, target startups focusing on fintech, e-commerce and local language content.

 

"We are looking at areas that may have some strategic overlap with Google and where Google could potentially add value in partnering with some of these startups," Gajria said.

 

In collaboration with not-for-profit organisation Kiva, Google will also provide $10 million in low interest loans to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa so they can get through the economic hardship created by COVID-19.

 

Small businesses in Africa often struggle to get capital because they lack the necessary collateral required by banks in case they default. When credit is available, interest rates are usually too high.

 

Google said a programme pioneered last year in Kenya in partnership with Safaricom that allows customers to pay for 4G-enabled phones in instalments would be expanded across the continent with mobile operators such as MTN, Orange and Vodacom.

 

Gajria said an undersea cable being built by Google to link Africa and Europe should come into service in the second half of next year and is expected to increase internet speeds by five times and lower data costs by up to 21% in countries like South Africa and Nigeria.

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It is always the same thing - the same motivations, the same passions, the same ambitions that drive them.

The way they talk about religion, you would think that spiritual matters and thoughts of the after life would be more important than the search for power. The way they promote their ethnic groups and identity, you would think that they are ready, at any time, to protect their people and region. 

What a shock to discover that they are neither interested in the tenets of their faith nor in the protection of their own people. 

IT IS THE SEDUCTIVE LURE OF POLITICAL POWER THAT DRIVES THEM

Political power acquisition in Africa and Nigeria is the all in all. It is the gateway to 'paradise.' opening the way to untold and unquantifiable riches. The doors of the mighty are opened and their words become law. If you are privileged, through whatever means, to get to power, you can raid the treasury of the state at will, in full view of the people and a table of honour will be prepared for you. You can undermine the institutions of state or transcend them because you can become the state, and the state can become you. In the words of Louis XIV of France (1643-1715:

"L ètat c'est moi"

You do not care for God and His religion, but you will use deceitful religious sentiments to mobilize your people along ethnic and religious lines for the purpose of acquiring political power. You are not interested that the various peoples in your community, state, and region have always lived peacefully with one another for decades. Not you! Their peaceful coexistence is troubling to you since such harmony will not help your cause. You want to be the champion of your people. And the only way you can be their champion is to inflame passions, to tell them that they are different from one another, and to sow discord. And when the evil seeds you have sown germinate, and the inevitable crisis begins, you quickly rise up in defence of your people and become their champion. 

Igbo versus Hausa, Yoruba versus Fulani, minority versus majority, Tiv versus Berom. This is your trademark. You are never happy whenever there is peace among them. 

You lie and spread falsehoods about other people from other ethnic and religious groups who have done nothing wrong to you. You spread fear and create anxiety among your own people and tell them that the other people should not be trusted. You and your types are masters in the act of segregation and division. 

People would think that when you and your co-travelers eventually attain your ill-gotten objectives, you would use part of these benefits to better the lives of your own people - the same people you mobilized for your own purposes. 

But no! The truth is that the welfare and Safety of the ordinary citizens do not figure much in your priorities and those of the political elites in our country. The citizens are cannon fodder and very inconsequential when it comes to sharing the benefits of democracy. They are to be used to achieve certain political goals - that's all. 

AND THEY DO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS, AS PRESIDENTS, GOVERNORS, AND ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES

And having satisfied their political goals, you would also think that they would stop. But no! The only way they can continue to retain control and influence over their people is to continue to reinforce the idea of them versus us. The presidents have done this with their dot on the circle statements, and the governors have followed suit with no less obnoxious divisive statements. 

But their behaviour is far worse.

Have we not seen what they did with the Covid 19 palliatives all over the country in 2020? For months, while the pandemic ravaged the land, and hunger ruled the country, palliatives meant for the people worth billions of Naira remained locked up in warehouses in Lagos, Abuja, Oyo, Plateau, Enugu, Zamfara, and all over. And because it is a truth that nothing stays hidden forever, soon enough, the people discovered the secret warehouses and rightly decided to help themselves to what was rightfully theirs - but diverted by very venial, unscrupulous, and unconscionable mercenaries masquerading as government functionaries. 

But it is not as if they never do anything for the people. They do! They take large chunks of the meat from a fattened cow and throw the bones to us, the people. They run down social infrastructures such as hospitals and schools and leave us to our fate, while they embrace western healthcare infrastructure and schools on behalf of their children with our money. 

THIS IS WHAT THEY DO WITH THE POWER THEY OBTAIN BY MANIPULATING US.

They do not seem to realise, following their many acts of malfeasance and those of their predecessors, that the traditional, centralised power structure in the country is broken irredeemably and that power is now diffused. As a result, what we have is a scramble or scavenging for the little power still left in the country.

No wonder they are refusing to allow Nigerians talk about the basis of their present and future.

NOW SOME PEOPLE ARE PROMISING HELL AND BRIMSTONE COME 2023 IF THEY DO NOT RETAIN POLITICAL POWER.  

But what have they done with the power they have exercised for decades:? 

Answers:

A country on the brink of disintegration

A comatose economy

A broken and desponded people

Weakened state institutions

Nepotism and parochialism as statecraft

The poverty capital of the world

Cessationist agitators everywhere

Terrorists, bandits, and dangerous herdsmen

Broken down and non-existent social infrastructure

Are these the purposes of political power? Are these the reasons why our discredited political elites will mobilize their people along parochial religious, ethnic, and geo-political lines to fight a battle that they only, benefit from? Is that why they do nothing about education for their people - why they produce the greatest numbers of out of school children in the world? Why insecurity is no longer confined to one geo-political zone, but has now spread to the entire country - killing over half a million Nigerians in ten years?

The ordinary people that are dying, whether in the north or the south are our people - because they are Nigerians. And even if they are not Nigerians, they would still be our people because they are part of our humanity, our universe - creatures and creation of the same God we proudly and sometimes, insincerely proclaim as our God.

The search for, and acquisition of political power is to produce positive outcomes that are beneficial to the people. If the product or output of political power is misery and despair, then the wielders of such powers must be thrown out at the most opportuned time through a process agreed by all. 

But what if they refuse to abide by the dictates of that process? 

Then the inevitable truism of that statement rings true;

"Those who make peaceful change impossible, will make violent change inevitable."

How foolish can a people be - to continuously fight other people's battles without anything to show for it. 

Power is truly nothing without control. Indeed, it is dangerous. 

As we have seen!

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The Concerned Igbo Stakeholders Forum (CISF) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari's administration to consider dialogue in resolving the crisis in the South-East rather than a military operation.

Reacting to the recently launched military exercise in the South-East, code-named 'Golden Dawn', the spokesperson for the group, Chukwuma Okenwa advised the Nigerian government to learn from history and explore dialogue as an option to winning back the hearts of Southeasterners. 

Nnamdi Kanu

In a statement made available to SaharaReporters on Wednesday, he said, "For the records, what we have in the South-East is agitation and not an insurgency, as such the right key would be to assuage the legitimate grievances of the South-East. 

"How do you beat a child and expect the child not to cry?" 

The statement identified "lack of critical Federal Government interventions in the South-East, exclusion of the region in key appointments," and not having an Igbo man in the Presidency as confirmation that the region is being marginalised. 

Okenwa said the recent announcement of a military exercise in the region further confirmed the administration had failed to learn from the past.

He said, "We know that insecurity became a concern in the South-East after the Operation Python Dance and why will the President follow the same ill-advised path when the current situation in the South-East is within the capacity of what the Nigeria Police can handle?

"This idea of preferring the Army above the police in matters of civil unrest is like adding salt to the injury, and it paints a war situation for which the military is designed to engage.

"A nation at war continually with itself does not have the capacity to make reasonable progress.

"The eyes of the South-East are also on the President with respect to 21st October 2021, the said day that the embattled leader of IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is expected to appear in court. 

"Should the DSS (Department of State Services) fail to present him for a fair trial on the said date, it will confirm the fear that certain individuals are trying to use the cloak of governance to fuel violence in the South-East. 

"Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should be presumed innocent until otherwise proven by a court of competent jurisdiction. 

"Let it be on record that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu never jumped bail, rather his hometown, Afara Ukwu was invaded by the military, and this resulted in diverse casualties, including the loss of his parents.

"Finally, we advise the South-East Governors to wake up from their slumber and stand up for the people who they have sworn to protect. 

"Southeasterners are peace-loving people." 

 

Insecurity News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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