Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 2nd October 2021

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 2nd October 2021

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 02/10/21

REVEALED: Face Of Boko Haram, ISWAP Operational Commander Who Masterminded Killing Of Nigerian Soldiers, Civilians

A picture of the dreaded commandant of the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jam?’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jih?d in Borno State, Abubakar Dan-Buduma, has been released.
SaharaReporters had in July 2021 reported that Dan-Buduma was appointed Operational Commander, Timbuktu Triangle by the group’s Interim Council during an emergency meeting which was attended by Wali (Leaders), Qa’ids (Chiefs), Commanders and all other structures of both ISWAP and Boko Haram.

He is said to have killed so many Nigerian soldiers and civilians during different attacks by the terrorist group.
Unconfirmed report has it that Dan-Buduma was recently arrested by the Nigerian Army in Sambisa forest, Borno State.

Investigation: How Cross River State Magistrate Pervates Justice, Exploits His Office For Personal Gain

Barrister Mba Ukweni, SAN (file copy).
N30,000 alert refunded by the Registrar to Mrs. Scholastica after he opened up to be pally with the judgment debtor, Mr. Isiaka.
Court order that arose from the motion Mr. Isiaka filed (IKM/MISC/164/2020) which went in favor of Mrs. Scholastic and his judgment debt increased to N725,000 only, six months after the judgment in Suit No. IKM/1/2020.
Evidence that the Toyota Camry that was sold doesn’t belong to Loveday, judgment debtor but Edim Samuel Okpa.
Confirmation of receipt of N150,000 from Mr. Loveday Eke.
Judgment in favor of Mrs. Scholastica in Suit No. IKM/1/2020 dated 28th September, 2020.
Judgment that Mr. Loveday Eke is indebted to.

A Cross River Magistrate forcefully seized, impounded and sold a car belonging to a defendant’s friend in order to recover money owed by the defendant.
The defendant in the case with suit No. IKM/RTM/12/2019, Mr. Loveday Eke had driven his friend’s car to the courthouse on May 10, 2019 when his friend’s car was seized, impounded and sold despite the car belonging to Mr. Edim Samuel Okpa.

On Wednesday, 27th March, 2019, judgment was given in Suit No. IKM/RTM/12/2019 in favor of Mrs. Florence Innocent that, Mr. Loveday Eke pay her “N400,000 being arrears of two years rent, mense profit of N16,000 per month from January 2019 until possession and N15,000 for cost of action.”

Judgment that Mr. Loveday Eke is indebted to.

Unable to meet up with the judgment, Mr. Loveday’s properties valued at over N1.2 million, his friend’s car (Toyota Camry, 2007 model) valued at N3.4 million was auctioned to recover the sum of N463,000. This action was taken despite the landlady agreeing to the pleas of the defendant by reducing the amount demanded to N200,000. Despite the agreement the Magistrate still auctioned off Mr. Loveday’s properties, seized, impounded and sold Mr. Loveday’s friend’s car.
Essentially, the action was taken to recover a balance of N50,000 from Mr. Loveday. People familiar with the nefarious activities of Magistrate Bassey Nsidieti Bassey, Registrar of Ikom Magistrate’s Court told our correspondent in anonymity that this was his usual practice.
Magistrate Bassey who led the gang to forcefully takeover and sell the car belonging to the budding businessman’s friend, Mr. Edim is shielding another judgment debtor from paying Mrs. Scholastica Bisong N725,000.
Mrs. Scholastica got a judgement in her favor against one Mr. Isiaka Adeleke but couldn’t enforce it because the defendant is the mechanic of the corrupt Court official, Magistrate Bassey.

Judgment in favor of Mrs. Scholastica in Suit No. IKM/1/2020 dated 28th September, 2020.

In a attempt to radicle the Court, Mr. Isiaka filed a motion asking that he be permitted to service his judgment debt of N725,000 by N15,000 every month.
In 2018, the Registrar of Ikom Magistrate’s Court was made a Magistrate, since then, he has played the role of a Magistrate (without a Court) and a Registrar, side-by-side. There are three Magistrate Courts in Ikom and three Magistrate manning them.
Selective Judgment Enforcement
“I couldn’t pay my rent and my landlady gave me quiet notice on a certain weekend that I was not at home, I was called that Court Administrative staff were in my house, I rushed back home and was told they have an order to bring my properties to Court.” Mr. Loveday Eke narrates his ordeal to CrossRiverWatch.
He ran to plead with Magistrate but he refused to call his men off. While in the Court pleading for the release of his friend’s car just impounded, his home was forcefully entered and swept clean of all valuable.
Everything in his well furnished 3 bedroom apartment valued at over N1.2 million was swept away leaving him with just the trouser, shirt and footwear he was putting on. “I ran to a friend and borrowed his car to run around, I raised N150,000 and took to him (Bassey), he directed I hand it over to the lawyer incharge of the property and I did, he gave me receipt for the N150,000 I paid, base on the agreement between me and my landlady.” He revealed.

Confirmation of receipt of N150,000 from Mr. Loveday Eke.

Recounting how the Registrar deliberately intended to milk him, the young businessman disclosed that: “He said the money I have to pay is about N380,000 and must be in cash, when paying to my landlady, if she says her money is N200,000 the Court keeps the balance. I went there about a week later, he threatened me never to come there again else he will arrest me, my friend’s car I drove there was impounded, two phones and other items in it were seized.”
The car and other properties valued at over N4.5 million was auctioned because he questioned why he is to balance N230,000 instead of N50,000. The car was sold to a staff of Eco Bank, Jackson and he was arrested, the Registrar and his gang sold the car to someone else from Cameroon and instructed to move the car at once.

Evidence that the Toyota Camry that was sold doesn’t belong to Loveday, judgment debtor but Edim Samuel Okpa.

“I tracked the car to Cameroon, the person in possession of the car was arrested. Monday morning on reaching there with proof of ownership, I saw a lawyer (Barrister Ateke) with Court papers defending the suspect, I was rather arrested and detained in Cameroon for two days, I spent close to N120,000 before I got my freedom. That is how the story of the car ended,” he said as tears wrinkled his eyes and he added after a pause, “I went to a lawyer outside Ikom, he was threatened severally to drop the case. I tried by petition after filing a motion in Court on 17th of May, 2019 and it never came up, when it was scheduled finally for 30th May, 2019 and 13th June, 2019, it was never heard.”
Furthermore, Mr. Loveday said: “He (Registrar Bassey) eventually confessed (to the crime) and called for a dialogue, he said he will get another car and told us that, the lawyers incharge of the property (Dennis and Mgboki) are part of the deal. He gave us a time frame to return everything but he has failed to do so.”
February 8, 2019, Mrs. Scholastica Bisong paid Mr. Isiaka Adeleke N1,855,000 for a car, Toyota Camry, 2009 model. “When he brought the car I rejected it because it was scrab. He went to Gboko and refurbished the car, sold it to the Registrar of Magistrate’s Court Ikom, Bassey Nsidieti Bassey at N1.4 million and was paid to me in instalment.” She told CrossRiverWatch.
“When the balance was not forthcoming I arrested him (Isiaka),” she narrated adding that “after several failed promises, I took Isiaka to Court.” His Worship, Solomon Ikongshul who presided over the case in suit No. IkM/1/2020 gave judgment on Monday, 28 September, 2020 in her favor.
The defendant was instructed to pay N455,000 being debt owed her from the balance of the initial sum of N1,855,000 for the purchase of the car. That N200,000 be paid as damages for breaching contract, while the sum of N50,000 as cost of action.
The Court directed that the sum amounting to N705,O00 should be paid in three installments: N235,000 per month, commencing from October, 2020 to December, 2020.
After execution of the judgment was long overdue, on Monday, 22 March, 2021, Mr. Isiaka (judgement debtor) filed a motion praying for an order for installmental payment of the judgment sum of N705,000 only, in equal installments of N15,000 monthly. And an order for stay of execution in KM/1/2020.
The Court presided by His Worship, S. O. Oji ordered the applicant (Isiaka) to comply with the earlier judgment and pay the entire sum of N705,000. According to the Court, “Going by the Judgment Order, Exhibit A, it is my view that the Motion of Applicant was intended to delay payment, therefore the entire sum herein is due and payable forthwith. Cost is awarded at N20,000.” Thus, making the total money owed Mrs. Scholastic N725,000 only.

Court order that arose from the motion Mr. Isiaka filed (IKM/MISC/164/2020) which went in favor of Mrs. Scholastic and his judgment debt increased to N725,000 only, six months after the judgment in Suit No. IKM/1/2020.

“On Tuesday, 30 March, 2021 Registrar Bassey called me to his office that Isiaka brought N110,000, he collected it and handed over to me that by ending of April, he will pay the balance.” She told CrossRiverWatch revealing that, “When Court resumed in June after the strike, I went back to the Registrar and he demanded for N30,000 for execution, I paid.”
Weeks, months passed, no word from the Registrar and when she approached him only to be told that, “Isiaka is his (Registrar) mechanic, he repairs Barrister Ojong and Barrister Eyong car as well, so they cannot enforce the judgment, he then told Isiaka to go and bring N50,000.”
This investigation revealed that, the N30,000 the Registrar collected from her to aid enforce the judgment was transferred back (Thursday, 15 July, 2021) which confirms that, he won’t execute the judgment. The next day, Friday, Mr. Isiaka brought the N50,000 which made it N160,000 of N725,000 he owed Mrs. Scholastica in judgment.

N30,000 alert refunded by the Registrar to Mrs. Scholastica after he opened up to be pally with the judgment debtor, Mr. Isiaka.

The hope of getting justice by the two vocal victims and others who were too afraid to speak up has been dashed.
‘Play Ball Or Have It Hot And Be Transferred’
Several Magistrates confided in CrossRiverWatch that in Ikom, you either play ball with the Registrar, His Worship, Bassey Nsidieti Bassey or have it hot and be transferred. Their identity are withheld for editorial reasons.
His Worship, Magistrate XYZ said, “When judgement is given he does selective execution because of benefits and no one dare’s question him.”
“Most senior lawyers don’t like going to Magistrate’s Court Ikom because they feel Magistrates’ there take directives from him. Several lawyers and Magistrates have been given life threats not to take cases because of his interest, I was a victim.” His Worship, Magistrate QRS disclosed.
His Worship, Magistrate UVW divulged that, “He has a way of forcing other Magistrates to sign blank arrest warrant when there is no complaint to arrest whoever he likes, then you sort out issues with him, pay him and no matter comes up in the Court, sometimes people are detained to get them to comply, I was a victim of this.”
On his part, His Worship, Magistrate ABC said: “We might be forced to blank warrants and no case comes up from them, if you don’t sign be prepared to have it hot and be transferred.”
His Worship, Magistrate LMN aforesaid, “When he became a Magistrate he was supposed to have been assigned a Court where he will preside over cases, but I don’t know if he is the one or the authorities that has refused to assign a Court to him, he has remained functioning as a Registrar that he was.
“If a Magistrate is to work as a Registrar it should be in a higher Court, not in the same Magistrate Court, maybe he is sent to a High Court, Appeal Court, Supreme Court but definitely, it is an abnormally for a Magistrate to remain functioning as a Registrar in a Magistrate Court.”
‘He’s A Man Of gods sic And Guts’
A source within Ikom Magistracy who spoke to CrossRiverWatch under anonymity described the Registrar, His Worship, Bassey Nsidieti Bassey as “a man of gods and guts.”
Recalling a past incident, he said: “Some years ago there was a serious case involving him, the key witness who was to testify after failed efforts to bribe him off appearing, on the adjourned day, he was swollen that only his eyes could move, after a while he died and that closed the case.
“He (Registrar) has broken homes because of eros, I know of two married men he sent to prison just to force their wives to bed, in this Ikom. Normally if you have judgement and you’re meeting the Registrar to execute and he ask you to pay, the amount you paid will be added for you, but that money even if he recovers it from that person, he doesn’t give to you, whatever he recovers he still take commission from you.”
He went on to disclose that: “He does not follow due process in auctioning, go to his house in Ikom and Calabar, you will see pile of properties. He selects the ones he likes, auction the rest and gives you judgment credit of peanut, you will regret taking matter to Court. One Head Teacher’s money was eaten by that man (the Registrar), until a letter was written through the High Court before he accepted paying that money, till date he has not paid all.”
On more shady dealings, the insider said: “If you get the schedule Cross River State gives for filing charges, you prepare two documents, take one to Effraya (Etung) to file, same document bring to Ikom, that one will be N1,000 or N2,000, his own will be about N6,000 or N7,000, he does not issue receipt and nobody is asking him questions, his a lord on his own.
“He decide on the Magistrate who seats or transferred, that is why petitions against him is buried. The Loveday issue is one I wept, he has settled with his landlady and you still auctioned his properties and a friend’s car. In the case of Madam Scholastica, he has refused to execute the judgment but called for installmental payment, that doesn’t satisfy the judgment and Isiaka sale cars, he owns a building here in Ikom.”
The source who for fear of attack who doesn’t want to be mentioned in print further revealed to this newspaper that he (the Magistrate) is connected up to the judiciary headquarters in Calabar, which is why petitions against him can be trashed without interfacing with the petitioner, “as it happened in the case of Mr. Loveday who petitioned twice,” he said.
There Are Procedures For Disciplining Magistrates, Complain To State Judicial Service Commission – Mba Ukweni, SAN
When contacted on phone about what should be done in the circumstance of Mr. Loveday and Mrs. Scholastica, Mba Ukweni, SAN advised that “there is a procedure for disciplining Magistrates, the person should make a complain to the State Judicial Service Commission.”

Barrister Mba Ukweni, SAN (file copy).

On the fact that Mr. Loveday had filed a motion against the Registrar that never saw daylight, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mba maintained, “that would be a gross misconduct on the part of the Magistrate, if it is so he should take the appropriate procedure for the disciplining of the Magistrate.
“I am not preview to the details of what is there, I cannot also start making firm statement if there is a petition. If there is a petition, it is to allow the petition go through the its due process, the whole hawk of the complain made, it would be too bad for a Magistrate to do so.” He said.
He went further to posit that, as regard him being a Magistrate and a Registrar in a Magistrate’s Court, “transfer of service is normal, but what should worry us is not transfer of service but the conduct … There were no Court provided, it is not the fault of the Magistrate that no Court, they are staff of the judiciary, it is where you send them to, that is where they will work.”
Judiciary Headquarters, NBA Not Aware
The Chief Registrar, Judiciary Headquarters Calabar, Edem Okokon when contacted denied knowledge of abuse of office in Ikom Magistracy.
He told CrossRiverWatch that: “I may not have a clear idea on it, maybe after the opening of the legal year I will have to do some investigation and get back to you.”
On his part, Ntem Ikpi, Chairman NBA Ikom Zone (Yakurr, Obubra, Etung, Ikom, Boki and Abi) told this reporter that: “We had an emergency meeting yesterday, it was expected at that meeting if there is anything like that its for us to be informed. I’ll find out.”
Nkonang Neji, NBA Chairman, Ikom branch confirmed to CrossRiverWatch that Bassey arrived at Ikom as a Registrar and was converted to Magistrate while serving in Ikom.
According to him, “He has been there as a Magistrate and a Registrar, but not sitting as a Court. There are issues that conflict, a warrant is signed by him and it conflicts with the Magistrate that is presiding. He says he has power to sign warrants which is true, as a Magistrate but if you sign a warrant, send it to the Police to investigate and charge to Court, they should charge to a court that is sitting.”
On allegations of abuse of office, he said, “I have not heard he has a penchant for going after people’s wives. I was not copied in those petitions, I would have confronted him, nobody in all the petitions have ever copied me as Chairman of the Bar.”
He complained about poor infrastructure and funding for the judiciary in Ikom and called for help.
This investigation was supported by Civic Media Lab under its Investigative Reporting Project.

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Archibong Jeremiah

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E2%80%93-bauchi-community How We Paid Over N72million As Ransoms To Bandits In 2020 – Bauchi Community

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Residents of Burra community in the Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State have said they paid over N72million as ransom to kidnappers in order to secure the release of their family and loved ones in 2020.
The Executive Chairman of Ningi LGA, Mamuda Hassan Tabla disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Bauchi.

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Tabla lamented that the people of the area are now living in perpetual fear every day due to incessant kidnapping and other forms of banditry.
He said that the council had received complaints from Farmers’ Associations from Burra communities about the influx of strangers from Zamfara State, numbering about 5,000 households that settled in the bush, the vast Lame/Burra Games reserves.
He also said that that the council reliably gathered that the strangers had been cutting trees and farming in the area, adding that they even built a mosque and after that their settling had become a threat to the natives.
“The communities witnessed series of abduction of their people. Whenever a person is abducted, the bandits will ask the victim to take the ransom to Zamfara State and within the last one year, the communities said they paid over N72million as ransom,” he said.
“When we received the report, we decided to investigate the matter and discovered that the present administration inherited the problem. We noticed that people from other states started settling in the bush since 2012 with series of kidnappings taking place, even in Ningi town.
“We have reported the matter to his Excellency, the Executive Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed. The Governor sat with us on three occasions concerning the issue of security in our area. Gladly, the governor took urgent action to address the situation by sending fighter jets that ransacked the bush and cleared the criminals from Lame Burra game reserve.
“The governor deployed security personnel to protect the people and recruited hunters and vigilantes as part of an effort to protect the lives and properties of our citizens which reduced the activities of banditry in our area.”
Tabla further said that the communities live in palpable fear due to the activities of the bandits kidnapping their people and are gradually taking away their farms, adding that the move is to make the residents of the communities in abject poverty as they keep paying ransom to them and losing their farms.

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Nigeria @ 61 And Sixty One Questions! By Ozodinukwe Okenwa

SOC Okenwa

Nigeria would turn 61 on the first day of October this year. Sixty one years of flag independence from the Great Britain. Ordinarily, a 61-year old man ought to have achieved everything in life according to his destiny or vision. If he is destined to be great and rich then he must have achieved greatness and richness even before attaining three scores and one years here on earth. But if at 61 he still gropes in the dark, wallows in self-doubt or in the valley of dreams unable to discover himself and become ‘man’ enough in the right sense of the word then something must be wrong with his ‘stars’. Of course, something is fundamentally wrong with the Nigerian star!

Since that fateful historic day in Lagos, October 1, 1960, when the imperialist Union Jack was lowered and up in the sky was hoisted the Green-White-Green flag in its stead Nigeria has suffered series of rape, abuse, nightmares and crisis upon crisis. We have had scores of crises ranging from coup d’etat to war, corruption to misgovernance.

Questions abound, sixty and one of them! Questions of Biafra, Oduduwa, Arewa, Niger Delta, Naira, identity, unity, electricity. Question of the efficacy of the law and its enforcement. The question of police and policing of the society. But beyond these national questions the most poignant happens to be the question of the philosophy of statecraft. Why is leadership our perennial problem? How do we govern ourselves effectively harnessing the huge natural resources Providence blessed us with to advance the course of humanity? Why are we rich but at the same time poor?

SOC Okenwa

Over the decades and years post-independence we have had the Biafran unresolved question, the June 12 crisis occasioned in 1993 by Babangidaism and the evil ingenuity that came with it. We have had the Abacha kleptocracy and ‘Babacracy’, an Obasanjo presidency that ended ingloriously with ‘Baba’ trying criminally to achieve a third term in office. Millions of Dollars were invested into the project but it failed fortunately. Today we are faced with the crisis of Buharism!

The depth of the rot of the Nigerian presidency is really staggering. President Muhammadu Buhari has lowered the bar of governance to the level that anyone could claim anything at his expense. If the likes of Femi Fani-Kayode could be welcomed back into the APC fold then something is wrong with leadership Nigeriana.

The greatest threat to our collective existence as one people happens to be the alleged Fulanisation and Islamization agenda of the Buhari regime. The President sees everything wrong with other regions, religions and tribes; so he could be said to be only trustful of the people of the same faith or region like himself.

Buhari claims to be a patriot and often talked about a much-vaunted ‘integrity’ of his persona. Yet we see and hear about presidential actions and/or inactions that portray him as an executive hypocrite with a lying lips. Pray, how can you be a patriot yet does things that tend to endanger national unity and cohesion?

How can you lay claim to patriotism when you openly favour your ethnic stock and religion to the detriment of others in the discharge of your presidential duties? Where is the integrity when you have around you glorified crooks (Ministers Akpabio, Sylva, Amaechi etc) and ‘terrorists’, Pantami et al (repented or not) working and undermining the national quest for developmental greatness?

Where lies the integrity you pin to yourself when you cannot name and shame (and prosecute) the known Boko Haram or terrorist sponsors? Where is the integrity when fiscal scandals abound around your challenged administration? Where is the integrity found in a situation where innocent youthful Nigerians (especially those in the South-east region) had been brutally killed in many cities by the trigger-happy soldiers or policemen?

For the past six giddy years President Buhari has ‘changed’ Nigeria for the worst in a rare demonstration of presidential ineptitude never before seen or experienced. From one national crisis to another Nigerians have become ‘orphans’ abandoned to their fate. Many have died for doing nothing criminal! Many had been kidnapped and wasted even when ransoms demanded were paid!

Many had lost their digital jobs since Buhari banned Twitter for no just cause. Many have lost their ancestral farmlands and sources of livelihood owing to the Fulani herdsmen invasions. Many are languishing in prisons across the federation for voicing out their desire for self-determination, something that is not a crime.

Almost all the national values hitherto held dear are under assault by uncontrollable forces reminiscent of the Jackboot era. The national economy is doing acrobatic dance, drifting from recessions and bouncing back from same. The Naira is in free fall against world major currencies. Security is at its lowest dangerous level with practically everyone exposed to terror, banditry or abduction.

We are borrowing recklessly as if tomorrow would not come. External debts had since hit trillions of Naira yet we have not been told what the Abacha loot, the Ibori loot and other famous loots by politicians and technocrats had been used for after repatriation of the stolen funds. Buhari has amassed so much external debt to the extent that his gerontocratic generation has mortgaged the future of our generation and the next.

As we mark another October 1st ruminating patriotically on the opportunities wasted and brooding over the humongous state resources stolen by the greedy elite we are reminded that the ultimate freedom is not nigh! We have another great opportunity, however, to change our national ‘story’ for better come 2023 presidential poll post-Buharism. This time, brethren, we must get it right!

We wish happy 61st independence anniversary to the struggling Nigerians everywhere. It has been sixty one odd years of bloody nationhood and sixty and one unresolved national questions.

Let us resolve as one people to begin resolving one question after another. And where to begin is by initiating plans for the re-negotiation or restructuring of the deficient federalism we practise. Whoever says our nation is not negotiable is deceiving himself!

Arise, therefore, fellow Nigerians, and save this nation from the Buharian peril. We cannot, in all fairness, be described, our generation, as glorified victims of the poverty of the mind. Let the large ‘zoo’ be transformed, for once in our lifetime, into ‘paradise’ for the benefit of our suffering compatriots!

Long live the restructured Nigeria! Long live Nigerians!!

SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr

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Obafemi Awolowo University Management Shuts Campus, Asks Students To Vacate Hostels Amid Protests

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The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University has shut down the institution till further notice.
The development trails students’ demonstration earlier today over the death of their colleague, Adeshina Aishat, as they blocked the Ife-Ibadan Expressway and state roads in Ife.

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It was learnt that Aishat, a final year student of the Department of foreign language had some breathing complications.
A statement from the institution stated that she was promptly treated with some drugs prescribed and asked to report back as an out-patient.
She was said to have reported back to the Health Centre in the morning of Thursday, 30th September, 2021. Upon examination, she was referred to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital for further management where she regrettably died on Thursday 30th September, 2021.
The statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olanrewaju, stated that the management understands the grief resulting from the untimely death within the community and sympathises with the parents and entire students on the sad loss.
Olanrewaju said, “However, Management condemns in strong terms the continuous and uncontrolled protests by the students culminating in unbridled brigandage, blocking the Ife/Ibadan and Ife/Ede highways and other adjoining roads that could be used as alternative routes, and engaging in other acts that are detrimental to their health and the safety of the generality of the people.
“Therefore, having exhausted all necessary avenues to call the students to order and allow normalcy to return to the Campus and its environs, the authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, have accordingly closed down the School until further notice. This is to forestall further breakdown of law and order.
“In view of this, all students are hereby directed to vacate their halls of residence and the Campus latest by 12:00 noon on Saturday, 2nd October, 2021.
“Consequently, the swearing-in of the newly elected Students’ Union officials has been put on hold, pending a review of the situation.
“In the meantime, the University management has put in place the machinery to unravel the circumstances surrounding the immediate and remote cause(s) of the crisis.”

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INVESTIGATION: How Meter Racketeering By AEDC Officials Frustrate Bid To End Estimated Billing

Eyo Ekpo, former commissioner of market competition and rules (MCR) at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
A nursing mother left her baby at home and dashed to AEDC’s Area Office in Kubwa to submit an application for a prepaid meter. (September 16)
Lugbe Area Office building of the AEDC (September 18).
Kubwa Area Office building of the AEDC (September 16).
Photo collage shows the Karu AEDC Area Office building and some meter installers departing the building for consumers’ premises’ (August 21)

September 26 was an unusual day for a nursing mother (names withheld) who left her baby at home and hurried to submit an application for a prepaid meter at the office of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) in Kagini, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory.
She needed a prepaid meter to get away from the slavery of estimated billing arbitrarily imposed on electricity consumers in her area. She expected free and prompt service as advertised by the Federal Government to promote metering of power consumers in the country.

Photo collage shows the Karu AEDC Area Office building and some meter installers departing the building for consumers’ premises’ (August 21)

THE WHISTLER

But she was shocked at the behavior of the first official she met to submit her application for approval. The official, a female, threw her application back at her because she did not pay her “stamping fee” of N5,000 through her.
The official starkly refused to listen to further explanation from her.
Out of frustration, she stormed out of the office to the Area Office of the AEDC located along Gado Nasko road in Kubwa to lodge her complaint and pursue her application for a new meter.
At the area office in Kubwa, she met a receptive officer who listened to her story and lamented the corrupt attitude of some AEDC officials who compromise service for personal gains. Her application was received and she got a promise that it would be treated.
She went back home without a prepaid meter as she had expected, but felt relieved that her application would be processed.
Acquiring A Prepaid Meter
To get a prepaid meter, electricity consumers are usually required to visit the AEDC office nearest to them to initiate a request for metering.
The customer would be given a form to fill in necessary details including two passport photographs, phone number and a valid means of identification.
The power consumer would be asked to pay either N5,000 or N10,000 for “stamping” of their form, depending on the type of meter, after which the customer’s premises would be visited for site verification.
Stamping of application forms is usually done by authorized AEDC contractors, but because of the fee involved, some AEDC officials are said to have also involved themselves in the process so they could get referral kickbacks.
Most officials who spoke to THE WHISTLER at offices of the AEDC in Lugbe, Karu, Jikwoyi, Kurudu, Angwan Gari (Jikwoyi axis), amongst others, said customers are supposed to be metered within 14 days of approval of their application.
Consumers Face Exploitation
This reporter gathered from different electricity consumers that intimidation and deliberate frustration of customers are some of the tactics that officials of the AEDC and the Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria (LECAN) employ to exploit power consumers applying for prepaid meters.
It was learnt that unless you’re willing to grease their palms to ‘fast track’ your meter application or prepared to engage in fervent prayers, a consumer may have to wait for “a very long time” before their application is approved and their device installed.
Several power consumers in the FCT confirmed to this reporter that despite the Federal Government’s declaration that prepaid meters were free, some of them were made to pay.
Officials were accused of demanding between N15,000 and up to N90,000 to help “fast track” approval and installation of prepaid meters which, according to the Federal Government, were supposed to be distributed freely to electricity consumers under the Government’s National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) which kicked off in late 2020.
“I paid close to N90,000 for a three-phase meter,” said a shop owner at Lungi Market, Asokoro, who didn’t want her mentioned for fear of victimisation by the AEDC.
Two other traders at the market who also spoke to this reporter under the condition of anonymity said they paid about N53,000 each for the meters, but noted that the devices were supplied by an unnamed company under an arrangement reached between landlords and the management of the market.
Also, a resident of Kubwa lamented how she had to part with about N55,000 of her hard-earned money in August, 2021, to get a prepaid meter after failed initial attempts to get one for free.
To corroborate these allegations, THE WHISTLER’s reporter visited eight AEDC offices under the Karu, Kubwa and Lugbe area offices, where evidence gathered showed that AEDC and LECAN officials are actively frustrating the bid to end estimated billing and close Nigeria’s metering gap.
‘It Depends On How You Want To Play The Game’
Posing as an electricity consumer in need of a prepaid meter, this reporter visited the Area Office of the AEDC located in the Kubwa suburb of Abuja, where he observed for 20 minutes the interactions between officials and power consumers coming to apply or inquire about prepaid meters.

Kubwa Area Office building of the AEDC (September 16).

THE WHISTLER

At the entrance of the building were two security officers who referred the reporter to an electrical engineer (names withheld) after notifying them of his intent.
“I can swear that we’ve met before,” the official told the reporter while racking his brain for a clue on where they might have met. He eventually ushered the reporter to a corner where he attended to him.
The engineer, a member of LECAN, gave a breakdown of the meter application process and the options of a fast-tracked or delayed procedure, but noted that there were currently no meters on ground. He was not aware the conversation was being taped.
“You can pick anyone (prepaid meter), it is just a matter of choice. But if you can afford it, it is better to go for a three-phase since it is your house. If you’re renting, I’d say you should manage a one-phase,” said the official.
He noted that the requirements to get a one-phase or three-phase meter are the same “apart from the money” involved.
“You will need two passport photographs, a valid means of identification and if you’re using the landlord’s name, you are going to provide his means of identification and his passports.
“For us to stamp your form for a single phase, we’ll charge N5,000 and for three-phase we charge N10,000.”
The official demanded N20,000 for a single phase or 35,000 for a three-phase meter, with a promise to ensure the reporter is among the first people to get a meter once they become available.
“If it is single phase, you’ll pay N20,000, but if it’s three phases, it is N35,000,” he said, adding that within two days of arrival of meters, “We will call you to come and carry your meter.”
He noted that, “The timeline (for receiving a meter) is not very specific, I must be sincere with you. It depends on how you want to play the game. If you want to wait for the normal procedure, that one takes longer.”
The official assured the reporter of getting a meter quickly if he went for the “quick time” option as “we are expecting that by the first week of next month (October), the meter train would be back here.”
“That is why you could see people coming to do their things and get ready. So, in that case now, if you want us to facilitate it, it is going to cost you money, but if you want to key in and wait for the process, that one may take a very long time.”
At another office of the AEDC, an official of the Disco (names withheld) confirmed on tape that she received payment of N15,000 to help fast track an application for a prepaid meter.
“Yes, I confirmed (the money). Shey it is N15,000 that you gave me? Be praying so that it (the meter) would come out fast as expected. Be prayerful, God will do it (because) I submitted it yesterday so let’s just wait,” she said.
She had promised that the meter would be ready before the end of September: “Hopefully even before that time, if God is on our side, it may or may not. No problem, it would come.”

Lugbe Area Office building of the AEDC (September 18).

THE WHISTLER

AEDC ‘Enjoys’ Estimated Billing – Official
The reporter gathered that contrary to the general perception that electricity consumers were mostly against metering, the reverse was the case as the number of consumers visiting the AEDC offices to apply for prepaid meters indicated that they preferred to be metered.
Besides, the LECAN official at the Kubwa AEDC office said on tape that AEDC “enjoys estimated billing” and would prefer customers to continue to receive estimated bills.
According to the official, if consumers fail to take advantage of the fast-tracked meter application and decide to wait for the normal process, “they (AEDC) would start issuing you bills (estimated billing) and when they start enjoying bills from you, they would not be in a hurry (to approve your application for meter).”
Even if a consumer refuses to be connected to the power grid, he or she would still be issued estimated billing pending arrival of their meter, said the official.
“If you tell the customer care that you want to submit your form, but do not want to be connected to the grid, they will not process this form,” the official was heard telling a female consumer who aired her frustration about the rigorous meter application process.
“For you to be able to submit the form for processing, a contractor needs to sign. We are not AEDC. We are licensed electrical contractors, that is what they call LECAN.
“You cannot get a meter without a contract number. Anything you want to do, get your contract number now,” he said.
Referral Kickbacks, Intimidation and Humiliation of Customers
The inability of electricity consumers to easily access prepaid meters has left some of them at the mercy of AEDC and LECAN officials who take advantage of the situation.
The nursing mother’s experience at the Kagini AEDC indicates that some officials intimidate power consumers who fail to do their bidding.

A nursing mother left her baby at home and dashed to AEDC’s Area Office in Kubwa to submit an application for a prepaid meter. (September 16)

THE WHISTLER

“She was angry that I didn’t go to her first,” the nursing mother was heard narrating her frustration to the LECAN official at the Kubwa office after the female official at the Kagini office allegedly mistreated her for not using her to get her application form stamped.
Responding, the LECAN official wondered if the AEDC official was authorized as an electrical contractor to stamp the application form.
“They are very corrupt people. Most of them have contractors they use, so they want you to come to them so that when they collect the ‘LECAN money’ and application form from you, they will get a contractor that will stamp it and give them a cut.
Pointing to a section of the form, he noted that it must be “completed by certified/registered electrical engineer/accredited electrical contractor.”
‘Nobody Gets A Meter For Free’
Meanwhile, a former National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Commissioner of Market Competition and Rates, Eyo Ekpo, said prepaid meters were never meant to be distributed for free to power consumers.
Ekpo, argued that power consumers should not get free meters “because our tariffs are lower than cost” of electricity being consumed.
“Let me clear up something, prepaid meters are not to be given to anybody for free. That is the problem with us in this country, we want everything free, we don’t want to earn it.
“Meters are manufactured and they are part of the equipment that serves you. The mobile phone you have in your hand, you paid for it. Mobile phone companies can also set out a programme, whereby you make a deposit, get a phone but you pay for the phone over time. That’s the way meters are paid for,” he told THE WHISTLER.
On the Federal Government’s directive mandating power distribution companies to distribute meters for free, Ekpo said: “The directive is not that meters are free, as far as I know, I don’t know what they are saying now. But as far as I know, meters are not to be given freely. I can assure you that in the cost of your electricity tariff, there is a cost for that meter that you’re using.”

Eyo Ekpo, former commissioner of market competition and rules (MCR) at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

TheCable

Ekpo argued that, “…the discos don’t have money, the tariff that you and I are using is not an economic tariff, it doesn’t cover the cost of our service. If consumers are asked to pay for the cost of our service, we will all take up arms, NLC will stand up and say that you people should go on strike and we will go on strike because we are being asked to pay the right price for electricity. In that price is the cost of the meter, but because our tariffs are lower than cost, so many things that we (electricity consumers) should get, we cannot get. One of them is the meter.
“The programme that we had before was that “Ok, I will give you the money for the meter”. At the time, it ranged from N15,000 to N50,000 or something like that, depending on the kind of meter. “I will recover the cost of this meter from my tariff, because I should not pay upfront for it.” That was the arrangement and I think that is still the arrangement.
Ekpo also frowned at the words “free prepaid meters” in the NMMP saying, “Nobody gets a meter for free, you don’t have to pay and you shouldn’t pay upfront for it, but you’re ultimately going to pay for that meter. I gave you the example of people in England, the Western countries, who are given a mobile phone and they are told it is going to be financed at 1% or 2%. You get the mobile phone, but over and above that $100 or $200 cost of the mobile phone is the 1% or 2% charge. If you don’t pay now, you pay later, but you will pay.”
Meanwhile, during the launch of the National Mass Metering Programme in November, 2020, AEDC’s Managing Director, Ernest Mupwaya, had noted that the company would install prepaid meters at residences and business premises “without charging customers”.
In August 2021, the Federal Government announced that an additional 4 million meters would be provided to consumers for free in the second phase of the NMMP.
– This report was supported by the Civic Media Lab under its Investigative Reporting Project (IRP).

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Nigerian Polytechnic Removes National Flag In Anambra In Compliance With IPOB Order

The authorities of the Federal Polytechnic, situated in Oko, Anambra State, brought down its Nigerian flags in compliance to the directive of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
IPOB had earlier ordered that the residents of the South-East region should, “remove all Nigerian flags mounted in ‘Biafra land’ ahead of Nigeria’s Independence Day celebration.”

The pro-Biafra group also asked ‘Biafrans’ and all the oppressed people under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government in the country to boycott the Independence Day anniversary activities by sitting at home on October 1.
There are reports that several notable private institutions complied with the removal of Nigerian flags including the Enugu Electric Distribution Company (EEDC) Onitsha, Stanbic IBTC, Access Bank and some hotels in the South-East.
According to photographs taken by eyewitnesses, the Federal Polytechnic Oko was one of the academic institutions in the South-East region to first comply with the IPOB order.

E2%80%99s-president-only-north-%E2%80%94-yoruba-self Buhari’s October 1 Speech Further Confirmed He’s President Of Only North — Yoruba Self-Determination Groups

President Buhari

The umbrella body for Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence Day speech further proves that he is for the northern region only.
The group made this known in a statement issued on Friday by Maxwell Adeleye, its Communications Secretary.

President Buhari

Adeleye, who was writing on behalf of the leader of the group, Prof Banji Akintoye, said Buhari had simply chosen to come after a law-abiding citizen such as Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) while refusing to name and expose terrorists.
He also noted the president’s claims that a serving member of the House of Assembly is financing the struggle for self-determination is untrue as Yoruba both home and abroad contributed their hard-earned resources to sustain the agitation.
He said even if there was a single iota of truth in that, such a person ought to be celebrated.
The statement reads, “Buhari has further exposed himself as the President of the North, and not that of Nigerians. He has succeeded in emboldening us more to fight on in the agitation for Self-Determination for the Yoruba people.
“It is a total nonsense that Buhari is bothered about a Sunday Igboho who is engaged in a lawful agitation, endorsed and confirmed now by a court of competent jurisdiction, United Nations and African Union Declarations on Peoples and Human Rights while he (Buhari) looked away on the murderous activities of the Fulani Herdsmen Terrorists and Miyyetii Allah in the South and Middle-Belt Territories.
“Mr. President said an unknown Sitting Member of the Nigerian National Assembly is involved in the funding of Sunday Igboho. That’s an absolute mendacity. The Yoruba people from villages to villages to the Diaspora are contributing their hard-earned resources to oil and sustain the agitation.
“Our appeal to Buhari is to, as a matter of urgency, name the invincible national assembly member so that the Yoruba People can celebrate him because he is supporting a NOBLE STRUGGLE. If indeed such a National Assembly member exists unknown to us in Ilana Omo Oodua, we say very expressly that he is a hero that has chosen to stand by a legitimate, legal and constitutional agitation. Therefore, Buhari is merely ground-standing.
“As Buhari name the unknown National Assembly Member, our utmost appeal to him is to help Nigerians in naming those funding murderous Fulani Herdsmen and Boko Haram terrorists oppressing, maiming, killing and raping his people in the North and the people of the South and Middle-Belt with impunity.
“The entire speech of Buhari symbolises hopelessness and chaos. It was a declaration of war against the peace-loving people of Yoruba Land. Our message to him is that we shall not be intimidated.
“We shall remain loyal and committed to our struggle for an Independent Yoruba Nation. We shall be undaunted. No Oppressor has ever triumphed over the people. In this struggle, we shall continue to be legitimate and peaceful. It is amandla awetu, nothing shall discourage us.”

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House Of Reps Deputy Speaker Leads Northern Lawmakers To Visit Ailing Ex-Lagos Governor, Tinubu In London

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris Wase, has led some members of the National Assembly from the Northern region to visit the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in London, United Kingdom, where he is currently recuperating.
The lawmakers which include Alhassan Ado Garba, Chief Whip of the lower chamber were captured in trending pictures on Friday with Tinubu who recently undergone surgeries in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The APC chieftain has been having several high-powered meetings over the last few weeks in London with speculations in some quarters that it could be closely related to his rumoured presidential ambition.
The ex-Lagos governor met with President Muhammadu Buhari; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa; Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, among others.
SaharaReporters had gathered that Tinubu, who has had several medical trips this year alone, had a surgery some months ago.
He also had another knee surgery at the John Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, US.
The APC National Leader has been off official and party functions in the country for a long time, amidst talks that he is being positioned for the 2023 presidency to succeed the incumbent repressive regime of Buhari.
An authoritative source said at the time: “Tinubu is hospitalised in Maryland, US. His health is failing. He couldn’t participate in launching his Arewa library, and he couldn’t participate in the Local Government Area elections last week. He could not attend today’s APC congress due to health reasons.
“He had a surgery last week.”
In January 2021, Tinubu was also reported sick and hospitalised in Paris, France. Tinubu had earlier complained of exhaustion and had travelled out to rest before the news of his collapse gone viral.
He was flown to Paris for medical attention in the first week of January.
SaharaReporters had on June 15 reported that Tinubu was also in Paris, battling with some old age illnesses.
“Tinubu is in Paris, France for a medical checkup. His health is deteriorating. Old age and other stuff, but he still wants to be president. This could mean another medical tourism presidency for our country,” a top source had at that time revealed.

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61st Independence Anniversary: Correcting Nigeria’s Anomalies With Moral Values By Biodun Busari

File photo used to illustrate story.

As Nigeria celebrates her 61st Independence anniversary today, speeches, conferences, protests, prayers, and other public functions will hold in search of a better country. But, one thing is unarguably wrong about this nation, Nigeria is drenched with attitudinal depravities and moral decadences. It is absolutely evident that we are morally deficient as a people, and the sad part of it is that we fail to acknowledge this.

Moral by a simple definition is all the principles of right and wrong behaviour that define an ideal man in society. The moral aspect of one’s life affects attitude towards everything.

When talking about attitude, it is a settled way of thinking or feeling about something. If a sense of judgment is balanced, the attitude will be fair. Summarily, if a person is morally upright, such a person’s attitude will be unquestionable. But, as far as this country is concerned, the moral deficit has taken a lion’s share. All our national woes and institutional calamities can be traced back to our attitudinal paucity.

File photo

Today, as it has always been in the last sixty years, our national discourse will reflect on the faulty amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by the British colonialist, Lord Frederick Lugard who created Nigeria in 1914, amidst other historical blunders by our forefathers and present politicians beginning from 1960.

I don’t need to remind us that Nigeria is bedevilled by security challenges of terrorism, banditry, police brutality, as well as bribery and corruption, nepotism and tribalism, bad economy, under-funding of education, poor electricity, deplorable roads and hospitals, unemployment, bad governance, the list is infinite. The unfortunate thing about these challenges is that we keep postulating solutions, but there are no tangible results.

Now, the disheartening story is the wastage of the nation’s resources as we fight to end our problems. I want to categorically state that our efforts cannot yield progressive effects except we tackle our problems from the foundation. We have to collectively correct our moral and attitudinal anomalies, which is but the greatest introductory hitch confronting our society.

These anomalies are present in all homes. We then nurture them on our streets and take them to our schools. We graduate from there to employ them in our workplaces until they become full-grown leaders who rule our economy and society at large. It starts from telling lies, then greed, examination malpractices, dumping of refuse on the streets, shunting queues in public places such as hospitals, banks, and fuel stations.

These also include breaching agreements among friends, stabbing a fellow in the back, (and I mean both literally and metaphorically).

The Nigerian anomalies are mainly the excesses of our leaders turned rulers which include sending political thugs to steal ballot boxes to rig elections, and even maim and kill voters, demonising self-determination activities to make peaceful citizens scapegoats, banning the use of Twitter to gag freedom of expression from June 4 and giving terms and conditions before lifting it, marking callous politicians sacred cows in society, empowering security agents to be lawless through violation of human rights, scheming to retain power in the North when it is the turn of the South, sending military men to kill protesting youths and denying it even with strings of proof and many more.

But, despite our horrible deficiencies, we can be made whole again as a nation morally if we take the bull by the horns.

Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist posited that “Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.”

The remedy lies in learning to accept and respect our moral values in all political, economic, social, and religious activities. And we must abide by it as our truth, no more no less!

The whole of our national institutions and government agencies needs a thorough overhauling. And all hands must be on deck to achieve this. How do we achieve this? We have to be morally pragmatic! This has to be said because we are a theoretically compliant nation which leaves the practical aspects in the hand of fate. If we want to be completely sound in morals and attitudes as a country, we need to go to the root cause with practical cleansing. We need to format the old, rogue mentality of corruption and moral decadence, then, install moral and integrity principles into our systems.

The practical awareness and purging of our society from ineptitude to be morally upright as a people begin from families. After all, charity, they say, begins at home. Fathers and mothers should engage in teaching, practising, and supervising their children in the aspects of morals.

They have to be exemplary leaders. Simple morals like greetings, saying sorry genuinely, thanking people for good deeds, working diligently, saying no to bribery, integrity, and dignity at home should be taken seriously as the lifeline of our dear nation which really is actually correct.

Then, teachers should do the same in all our educational centres. If education is the bedrock of modernisation, then the school system should be used to inculcate moral values and sound attitudinal principles in our learners who take over society in all their endeavours. Practical courses to test morals and behaviours should be introduced. For instance, students can be deployed to go and help traffic wardens on the roads to test their moral values against the hostile environment of drivers, market women, and the rest.

The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, urged the Federal Government to reintroduce Moral Instructions as a compulsory subject in the school curricula as well as develop an effective orientation for the school system in Nigeria.

The policy, according to the House, is to be obligated through collaboration between the Ministries of Education, Youth and Sports Development, the National Orientation Agency, and other relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by a member from Imo State, Uju Kingsley China at the plenary titled, “Need to Enforce Compulsory Teaching of Moral Lessons and Orientation Subjects/Courses In Nigeria’s Educational Curricula.”

While moving the motion, the lawmaker noted that good morals and proper orientation were undeniable rudimentary mechanisms of child upbringing and training, thus a lack of it especially in young people would result in societal decay.

He said, “Cognisant that with the increasing rate of violence and various forms of immorality in recent times, the need for reintroduction and enforcement of the teaching of moral lessons and orientation subjects/courses in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions cannot be overemphasised.

“Also cognisant that the reintroduction of moral lessons and proper orientation will keep rebuilding good morality in the younger generation and provide proper orientation for future generations.”

While I applauded the Imo lawmaker, I must state that this has to be an encompassing affair, therefore government officials and politicians are not exempted. As a matter of fact, moral decadence has gripped the entirety of our public structure.

For instance, the debate on the rotational presidency was not formally documented, but political analysts said it was gentlemanly agreed upon before the inception of this present democracy. However, it is morally wrong that some elements want to capitalise on it to usurp fairness.

The Igbo group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in a recent statement issued by its spokesperson, Alex Ogbonnia said, “A gentleman agreement was reached at the NUC Conference Centre, Abuja in 1998 between the North and the South. The late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo spoke for the entire South and Alh. Abubakar Rimi, also of blessed memory spoke for the North. It was agreed that after Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar as the Head of State, that the presidency should shift to the South. That accounted for the emergence of the presidential flag bearers of the mainstream political parties from the South West.”

With this, it can be said most of our politicians have no respect for moral values as regards integrity and attitude.

The Nigerian politicians should see the society they govern as their own school. After all, life itself is a school. And as such, their textbook as far as Nigeria is concerned will be a new Constitution that will be drafted and birthed by the people of Nigeria, not the one decreed by the military regime. The document will be our ‘Bible’ and ‘Quran’ to instil moral values in us, irrespective of our age, status, religion, or ethnicity.

The emergence of a new Constitution can preserve the corporate existence of Nigeria. It will be our study guide to really direct our moral principles and also stipulate penalties for the offenders. The school system the lawmaker was referring to should be a new constitution and all of us will be humble learners. It is through this we can have a new people, and a new Nigeria, if not, the voice of agitations will be louder as days go by.

The unity of Nigerians is crucial to avoid disintegration of the country, and if the political elite wants the preservation of Nigeria as an entity because their lives so much depend on it, they should begin to display and honour moral principles in our society. This begins but does not end with respecting the fundamental human rights of citizens and respecting gentleman agreements.

May we have a better, safer, and greater Nigeria.

Busari is a journalist in Lagos.

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61st Independence Anniversary: Correcting Nigeria’s Anomalies With Moral Values By Biodun Busari