THEWILL NEWSPAPER March 26, 2023

Beauty regimens can take up a lot of time, so if, like me, you are a gal on the go, you want a quick beauty routine that also leaves your skin radiant. Our beauty page has the right solution for this in our Skinimalism article. You have to read it.

In a rather insightful article, we share inventions by black women. At the same time, the fashion and décor pages discuss fashion as a social phenomenon and ways to incorporate colour trends into your bedroom décor.

We have all missed Davido, and so with his new album releasing in a few days, we couldn’t be more excited to do a little something on his album.

Was Angela Basset snubbed at the Oscars? We have an op-ed about this that makes for an exciting read.

We round up Women’s Month with this week’s issue. As is tradition, throughout March, we celebrated women’s month with female covers, except for Gbadebor Rhodes Vivour’s one, which featured just before the gubernatorial elections that will be forever marred worst conducted since the beginning of democracy in Nigeria. It certainly brought bigotry to the forefront.

Among the many things we noted is that we cannot trust INEC to do its job, period! And although we have now recorded the lowest participation of women in the parliament, we have chosen to focus on women who got, retained a seat at the table or even have inconclusive results.

Until next week, enjoy your read.

Photo: Kola Oshalusi @insignamedia

Makeup: Zaron

OnahNwachukwu Editor, THEWILL DOWNTOWN

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COVER SENATORS-ELECT FROM CONTENDING ZONES REGION SENATORS ELECT North-Central 12 North-West 9 South-South 7 South-East 6

● Zone, Religion, Others to Determine New Senate Leadership

● With 2,653,235 Block Votes for Tinubu, North-West Demands Slot

● North-Central, South-East, South-South Aspirants Intensify Lobby

● APC Leaders Thread Carefully to Avoid Repeat of 2015

BY AMOS ESELE

As the political parties tie up the loose ends in the 2023 General Election either in the law courts or continued public protests, elected members of the National Assembly have seized the limelight as the fight for the office of President of the Senate is witnessing intensified lobbying within and across party lines.

According to checks by THEWILL, certain critical factors that will determine the outcomes are playing out among contenders, sponsors and supporters. Apart from the usual power play, issues of religion, ranking, electoral strength and geo-political positioning are playing out in full steam.

Generally, four of the six-geo political zones are in contention for the number three position in the country’s presidential line of succession, namely the South-East, South-South, North-Central and the

North-East. By virtue of its membership strength in the Senate, where it has 57 senators-elect out of the 104 members whose results have been declared so far, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would take the President of the Senate and Deputy seats. The Peoples Democratic Party has 33, Labour Party, 8, New Nigeria Peoples Party 3, Social Democratic Party 2, All Progressives Grand Alliance 1 and Young Progressives Party 1.

Even though the APC with a thin majority has the members to clinch the post, there is no telling what will happen in the eventuality of two candidates emerging from the same party to contest the position, leaving other parties to form a coalition that would favour the emergence of a consensus candidate.

It happened with the 8th Senate in 2015. That year, two candidates from the ruling APC bid for the position. They were Dr Bukola Saraki, who was supported by a faction of the party and colleagues in the PDP, and

current Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, supported by party elders and President Muhammadu Buhari. Almost marred by a web of intrigues, Saraki’s group was able to outsmart the Lawan group and emerged victorious much to the anguish of the party’s big wigs and the President who had wanted a yes-man for the job, which Saraki failed to become throughout his four- year tenure.

Aware of the anxious moments caused by the Saraki senate presidency, the party hierarchy is pulling all the stops to avoid a recurrence, THEWILL has learnt. But with primordial sentiments running high, there is no telling how things will swing.

FACTORS OF RELIGION, VOTER STRENGTH AND GEO-POLITICAL POSITIONING

Aware of the role that religion is playing in the ongoing permutations for the Senate position, APC

Race For Senate President's Seat Hots Up

National Vice Chairman, North West, Dr. Salihu Lukman wrote the party leaders a fortnight ago demanding, among other things, that the party should immediately reshuffle its top leadership to reflect a religious balance.

Believing that the party’s Muslim-Muslim presidency ticket still rankles deep after the polls, he called on National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, to consider stepping aside to allow for the conduct of “an Emergency National Convention because if the hierarchy of the current leadership is to be followed, the successor to Sen. Adamu will be Sen. Abubakar Kyari who is a Muslim from the North-East.”

This will allow for the emergence of somebody of the Christian faith from the North-Central zone to take over in order to achieve some balancing and stop the party being viewed as sympathetic to the Islamic faith.

Arguing in a revealing paper titled, ‘Re: APC Internal Dynamics and Future of Democracy,’ Lukman stated that the party needed to earn the respect of senators and members of the House of Representatives elected on the platform of the party and called on Adamu to resign.

Asked by journalists about the role these primordial factors are playing in the race for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, APC, Ekiti Central, warned on Thursday, that “issues of tribal, religion or religious rights of individuals or communities in the country should not be considered important in the choice of Senate President.”

Opeyemi, who is also Chairman of Southern Senators’ Forum, urged his colleagues who are contestants to look beyond their tribe communities in aspiration for the leadership of the Senate.

He said, “As lawmakers begin to tell the world of their individual ambitions and aspirations to be part of the leadership of the Senate in the 10th Assembly, we have a role to play to ensure the real issues are not lost in pursuit of primordial interests.”

GEO-POLITICS

Two factors are at play here: Winning votes for the presidency and the composition of Senate members.

Of the total 8,714,746 million votes polled by Tinubu to win the presidency, the North-West geo-political gave the highest among the three contending zones. It gave an overwhelming 2,653,235 votes, followed by the North-Central with 1,185,458 votes, then the South-South with 799,957 votes and the South-East with 127,605 votes.

Senatorial representations, according to these competing zones, are also revealing. Senators-elect from the North-Central zone lead the pack with 12 senators-elect; the North-West zone follows with 9 with one outstanding election in Kebbi North; next is South-South with 7 and South-East with 6.

LEADING CONTENDERS

So far, four contenders have emerged for the position, THEWILL has learnt. They are Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, a third-term senator representing Abia North. He hails from the South-East zone. Also from the zone is Governor Dave Umahi, a freshman senator-elect representing Ebonyi South. Godswill Akpabio, a two-term senator representing Akwa Ibom North West District is also in the race. He is from the South-South.

Also on the ballot is Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state, another greenhorn senator-elect representing Niger South whose North Central zone.

Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, current senator representing Sokoto North, is believed to be another contender if he wins re-election in a poll which remains inconclusive as at the time of writing this report.

Among them, Kalu is all over the place canvassing his candidacy. He is flaunting his status as a ranking senator, arguing that the position of senate president is not for greenhorns.

Mimicking Tinubu’s pre-election slogan, Emilokan, (it is my turn), Senator Kalu is saying that it is his turn to become President of the Senate. THEWILL learnt that he is banking on the support of a group loyal to Lawan, who has been ruled out of the race because he comes from the same zone as Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima.

It is payback time for Kalu, a source said, meaning that Kalu was getting support in return for standing by Lawan during the party’s presidential primary in July 2022. Yet, hard politicking appears to be looking the other way for Kalu. Apart from the challenge posed by Senator-elect Umahi from the same zone, Kalu’s political value for the zone has been called into question by Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Southeast social and political organisation and 20 other affiliate groups. The groups who have openly joined the lobby for the senate leadership would rather settle for Umahi, despite being a first timer at the Senate.

As earlier published in our March 14, 2023 special edition, the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mazi Okechukwu Isuguzoro, had confided in THEWILL that after a meeting in Enugu recently, “Ohanaeze sat with its Elders Council last Sunday in Enugu and agreed that, "Those who are ranking senators, we do not have confidence in them. They will not represent the interest of our people; they will always project us in a bad light.

“Many of them have EFCC cases. They are not worthy to become senators or political leaders. They always do hatchet jobs.

"Let me tell you, the Ohanaeze Elders Council composed of leaders from seven states met in Enugu

with its 22 affiliate bodies of Ndigbo. This is a popular opinion of our people.”

Apart from the low winning votes also given by the zone, the determined efforts of the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to contest Tinubu’s victory is also receiving hostile reception by many APC big guns. This newspaper could not independently read how this would play out in the race for the senate ticket, but a source simply said, “ All things are considered in politics. Can the aspirants for the position persuade Obi to rethink his suit and embrace the call for support by the president-elect?”

The political currency from Lawan that Orji expects to exploit for his quest is also said to be playing out for Senator Akpabio, former Minority Leader on the platform of the PDP. In addition to winning votes from the South-South geo-political zone, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs is banking on the president-elect’s support. Akpabio was among the aspirants at the presidential primary that stepped down for Tinubu amid glowing tribute to the former Lagos governor.

More so, unlike the South-East where Tinubu got between 10 per cent and 15 percent of the votes, the South-South states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers shared their results among the three major parties, the PDP, APC and LP. Obi won in Cross River, Delta and Edo states while Atiku picked Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states and Tinubu got Rivers, in addition to securing 26 per cent in Edo and Bayelsa and 29 per cent in Akwa Ibom.

For the North Central zone, senator-elect Bello, who is current governor of Niger State, is said to be a favourite should the zone make a bid for the position. Bello, a Tinubu man who held forth for the party when head of the party’s Interim Exco led by Governor Mai Mala Buni suddenly had to travel out of the country amid crisis, has never hidden his loyalty to the president-elect, especially during electioneering when he joined forces with other governors in support of Tinubu against perceived opponents in the presidency.

The North-West has the ace in this contest once the supplementary poll there is concluded with raking senators like Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, senator since 2007, who was leading in the February 25, 2023 senatorial election until INEC suspended voting due to violence and fraud allegations.

FALLOUT

support. Akpabio was among the aspirants at the presidential primary that stepped down for Tinubu amid glowing tribute to the former Lagos governor

While the lobbying continues, Senators Akpabio and Kalu have qualities that put them in the centre -stage. Their status as ranking senators, which brings with it a very rich background of experience of the inner workings of the Senate, is counting in their favour. After a meeting with senators-elect on the party’s platform in Aso Rock, President-elect Tinubu said he had no interest in who becomes the President of the Senate. Many believed he was making a political statement. For a man who has been interested in who got the leadership of the National Assembly since the party assumed power in 2015, that would be a strategy to throw off lobbyists. THEWILL learned that he is very interested in who becomes both the Speaker and the President of the Senate. He is only keeping the names to his chest while allowing contenders to make their cases. What is clear for now is that he has more than enough yes-men to choose from between now and June when the 10th National Assembly would be inaugurated, which is plenty of time to shift the pretenders from the contestants. For now, the race is hot.

Whatever happens, whoever fails to get what when the contest gets underway has other compensatory positions for grabs: The Deputy Senate President, the Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader and Chief Whip.

“The political currency from Lawan that Orji expects to exploit for his quest is also said to be playing out for Senator Akpabio, former Minority Leader on the platform of the PDP. In addition to winning votes from the South-South geopolitical zone, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs is banking on the president-elect’s

Election Tribunal Orders Substituted Service on Tinubu

The Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) sitting in the Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Friday, ordered that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President-elect, be served with copies of petitions seeking to nullify his election.

The ruling followed separate ex-parte applications that were brought before the court by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his counterpart in the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

Both Atiku and Obi had accused Tinubu of deliberately avoiding the service of their petitions on him. They told the court that several attempts they made to effect service of the petitions on Tinubu had proved abortive.

According to the petitioners, the President-elect deliberately made himself unavailable with a view to frustrating their effort to hand him copies of the petition as required by law.

Consequently, relying on Section 6(6a) and 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act, as well as Paragraph 8 of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act 2022,

the petitioners sought the intervention of the Court.

Both Atiku and Obi further supported their ex-parte motions dated March 23, with affidavits of urgency and nonservice, even as they persuaded the court to hear the applications, outside the pre-hearing session of their substantive petitions.

While Atiku’s application was moved on Friday by his legal team led by Mr Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), that of Obi and LP was moved by Mr. Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN).

However, in a ruling on Friday, a threeman panel of the court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh directed that the petitions should be served on Tinubu\ through his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Having heard the applications by counsel to the petitioners including the affidavit in support, the applications are hereby granted,” the court ruled.

The panel equally granted leave to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), to also serve its own petition on Tinubu, via substituted means.

Supreme Court Affirms Njoku as APGA National Chairman

The Supreme Court, on Friday, reaffirmed Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The declaration followed a ruling in an application filed by Njoku, seeking the regularisation of the amended judgment of Justice Mary Peter Odili, delivered on May 9, 2022.

In a letter dated January 19, 2023, the apex court had addressed Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA and advised him to approach it by way of a motion to correct the slip.

The accidental slip, which the Supreme Court corrected, has restored Njoku as the actual National Chairman of APGA, which was wrongfully removed by a Jigawa High

Appeal Court Nullifies Tribunal’s Judgment on Osun Governorship Poll, Affirms

Adeleke Governor

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has nullified the judgment of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, as the winner of the July 16, 2022, poll.

A three-member panel of the court, led by Justice M. F. Shuaibu, declared Adeleke as duly elected while ruling in an appeal marked CA/AK/EPT/GOV/01/2023, and filed by the Governor, against the ruling of the Tribunal.

Bagudu at the State House Anuja on March 24,

Power Most Potent Force in Any Democracy'

The Chairman of the Board of Nigerian Ports Authority, Chief Akin Ricketts, has described people's power as the most potent force in any democracy.

Chief Ricketts made this known in Calabar while formally reacting to the outcome of the Cross River State Governorship Election in which Senator Bassey Otu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged victorious.

He also observed that the people's power, as expressed in the March 18, 2023 polls, remained the most potent force in any democracy.

He described the victory of Senator Bassey Edet Otu as well as Cyril Omini, an incoming member of the Cross River State House of Assembly, as an expression of the will of the people through the ballot.

The NPA Board Chairman also commended the commitment and maturity of members of the Chief Akin Ricketts Campaign Organisation, Grassroots Unit (CARCO G-UNIT), who hitherto instigated and fully engaged in their door-to-door sensitisation and voters education movement, prior to the General Election.

Ricketts, the reigning Obol Kepon and village head of Aboni Community in Ijiman, Ugep, personally extended his warm felicitations to the governor elect.

"I extend my warm felicitations to you on your well-deserved victory in the just concluded gubernatorial election.

In a lead judgment, Justice Garba Lawal held that it was Chief Edozie Njoku, that was wrongly removed at Jigawa without being joined as a party.

Subsequently, Justice Lawal stated that Njoku’s application was meritorious and consequently granted it as prayed.

Reacting to the judgement, Chief Njoku appealed to the Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, to make himself available for a roundtable discussion on the way forward for the party.

As APGA Chairman, Njoku said he would do everything humanly possible to bring stability and peace to the party.

"For those of us who have keenly followed your giant strides in human development as a Federal legislator and Senator representing the good people of Cross River Southern Senatorial district, your victory did not come as a surprise.

"Your election therefore, represents a bold and emphatic testimony to the good work you have during your spell at the National Assembly.

"Your win is a victory for all Cross Riverian, the State and our great party, the APC. It also validates that truly, there is progress in our State," he said.

THEWILL reports that the Osun State’s Election Petition Tribunal had on January 27, 2023, sacked Senator Ademola Adeleke as Governor of the State citing over voting in 744 polling units in the State.

The Justice Tertsea Kume-led threemember panel Tribunal, had on January 27, in a split decision of two-to-one, voided the declaration of Adeleke as the winner of the July 16 governorship election.

However, in a unanimous ruling on Friday, the appellate court held that the Tribunal was wrong to reach a conclusion on overvoting on oral witnesses without considering information on the BVAS machine and voters register, which are centred on the 2023 election.

“The appeal is meritorious and is thereby allowed. The judgement of the Tribunal is hereby set aside,” the court held.

I Haven't Adopted Any Aspirant – Okorocha

FROM SAMPSON UHUEGBU, OWERRI

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has said that he did not adopt any candidate for the November 2023 governorship election in the state.

A release signed by his Special Adviser, Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, distanced the ex-governor from the purported adoption of a particular aspirant in one of the political parties for the forthcoming election.

Onwuemeodo said, "Some inexperienced media aides of some other aspirants have continued to leverage this story of adoption to pinch the distinguished senator without finding out whether the story was true or otherwise.

"If by tomorrow, it becomes necessary that he should act on the November election as the case may be, he will not hesitate to do so", adding that it would equally be in the overall interest of the State and her people. He, therefore, urged the general public to disregard the story, describing it as a moonlight tale.

"And for some of the aspirants allowing their media aides to be hiding under the false adoption story to be attacking Okorocha, our candid advice is that they should not begin something they do not have the capacity to do and in which they would also be at the receiving end in the final count," he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari (right), receives in audience the Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku

2023.

'People's

Court in Suit No: JDU/022/2021 between Alhaji Garba Aliyu and Chief Jude Okeke & 2 Ors.

FROM BASSEY ANIEKAN, CALABAR

Diri's Aide Charges Business Leaders, Policymakers on Africa's Cultural Economy

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Bayelsa State Governor on Tourism, Dr. Piriye Kiyaramo, has said with support from leaders across business, policy, and the cultural sector, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) project could potentially elevate the cultural economy in Africa.

Kiyaramo who stated this when he received the Civic Society Coordinator on AfCFTA Awareness Campaign, Mr. Udokop Nsima in his office in Yenagoa, recently, maintained that the AfCFTA agreement, ratified in 2021, promises a broader economic integration, with a view to attracting investments to Africa, as well as boost trade, provide better jobs, reduce poverty, and increase shared prosperity in the continent.

‘Reflect Prophet Muhammed's Teachings, Character In Your Dealings’

BY AYO ESAN

AChieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former House of Representatives aspirant for Ibadan South-East/North-East Federal Constituency in Oyo state, Dr Kazeem Adesina Abidikugu, has admonished Muslims to ensure that the teachings of the Holy month of Ramadan reflect in their character and dealings during and after the Ramadan.

Abidikugu, a Nigerian UK-based medical consultant, described fasting as an opportunity to strive for inner purification, self-accountability and inculcation of righteousness and discipline.

He enjoined fasting Muslims to increase their love for humanity, acts of charity, kindness, generosity and gratitude.

Abidikugu explained that the Holy

Petroleum Stakeholders Outline Strategies For Post-subsidy Era

Prophet Muhammad used to spend very generously on the poor and the needy during this period, and urges Muslims in the State and the country at large to emulate the good example.

He called on Muslims and all Nigerians to always remember the masses, who are less fortunate than themselves and to help the government in confronting the challenges facing the nation.

He prayed to Allah to grant all Muslims the strength to complete the fasting period.

“I want to urge Muslims nationwide to use this holy month of Ramadan to plead with Allah for forgiveness. I want to urge us again, that we should not return to our sins after 29 or 30 days fasting, and the act of disobedience to the teachings of Islam and the law of the land.

Police Arrest 4 Robbery Suspects For Terrorising Ogun Community

Police in Ogun State have arrested four armed robbery suspects for allegedly terrorising Ode-Remo in Ogun State.

The suspects said to be based in Lagos State were arrested on March 13, 2023.

They are Habeeb Salaudeen 24, Ezekiel Jayesimi 30, Olamilekan Teniola 22 and Olaitan Sonibare 25.

The suspected were arrested following a distress call received by policemen attached to Ode-Remo divisional headquarters at about 2:30 am.

The caller said that armed robbers numbering about seven had invaded a dwelling house at COTCO road, OdeRemo and dispossessed the residents of their belongings.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed this to journalists in a statement issued in Abeokuta last Thursday.

Oyeyemi said that upon the distress call, the DPO Ode-Remo division, CSP Fasogbon Olayemi quickly led his men to the scene.

"On getting there, they engaged the hoodlums in gun battle, but the robbers managed to escape in a white Rav 4 car which they came with."

"They ran out of luck when they were accosted by policemen at Warewa who stopped them having seen the bullet hole on their vehicle."

"The robbers subsequently abandoned the car and ran away. They were technically trailed to the Mushin area of Lagos where four amongst them were apprehended."

The Police PRO added

He said that they all confessed to the commission of the crime, while 4 Iphones and thirteen android phones were recovered from them

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Frank Mba, has directed that the suspects be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Departments for discreet investigation.

Mba also ordered a massive manhunt for the remaining members of the gang, with the view to bring them to justice.

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s midstream and downstream petroleum sectors have urged the Federal Government to outline strategies for a sustainable future in the downstream sector.

The appeal was made during a virtual online workshop on Friday in Lagos with the theme “Deregulation of the Nigerian downstream sector: The day after.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by the Nigerian Petroleum Downstream Industry in collaboration with the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA).

The stakeholders at the workshop called on the government to implement appropriate palliatives in the form of public transportation and freight of agricultural produce. They urged government to ensure transparent and effective communication, improve access to foreign exchange, trade finance, guarantee strategic stock, and provide access to crude oil for refineries ahead of the plan to embark on the total removal of petrol subsidy.

The workshop offered the industry regulator and all players across the midstream and downstream value chain the opportunity to deliberate on measures that needed to be put in place ahead of the full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

The participants also focused on the need for operators in the industry to professionalise the midstream and downstream petroleum sectors ahead of the take-off of full deregulation.

Mr Farouk Ahmed, the Authority Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory (NMDPRA), said that the Authority would allow free market pricing once the sector was fully deregulated.

Mr Ogbugo Ukoha, the Executive Director, Distributions System, Storage and Retail Infrastructure of NMDPRA, spoke on the role of the regulator in pricing, safe operation and enforcement, while the Managing Director, CITAC Africa, Gary Still, touched on market liberalisation or elimination of subsidies.

Alhaji Othman Yusuf, the National President of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), warned that the full deregulation of the downstream sector and complete removal of petrol subsidy would bring about opportunities and challenges.

He said the pillar of Africa’s economy and its identity lifeblood lay in the unique and varied cultural sectors, such as entertainment, fashion, arts and crafts, cinema, visual, and performing arts, culinary arts, sports, tourism, music and textiles among other service sectors.

According to Kiyaramo, Africa's cultural economy needs serious attention, given its potential to provide additional value to the economic growth and development of African countries, describing the African Continental Free Trade Area initiative as a landmark milestone for the continent.

The governor's aide also underlined the need for cohesiveness, interconnectivity and unity among African countries, saying that the pitfalls of the looming climate catastrophe and the general economic strife across the globe have rather made collaborations more important than ever.

He noted that by enforcing the rules of origin, the African continental trade agreement seeks to spur more locally manufactured products, including textiles, reiterating that a successfully implemented trade agreement, complemented with investments in the cultural sector would generate billions of dollars the for the continent.

Kiyaramo also pointed out that in tandem with the overall push for AfCFTA, efforts in the tourism sector had focused on African countries liberalising their visa requirements, resulting in more countries permitting visafree access to African travelers.

He called for collaborations between the private sector and governments across the continent to champion and providing financial support for Africa-wide cultural programming, inspired by AfCFTA’s goal of greater regional integration. These activities would serve to engage the public, and further build on the concept of pan-African identity.

Earlier, the Civic Society Coordinator on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Awareness Campaign, Mr Udokop Nsima had briefed the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Tourism on his organisation's proposal to Bayelsa State government to host AfCFTA Awareness Football Tournament Kickoff Ceremony proposed to take place from June 22-23, 2023.

According to Nsima, hosting the awareness football tournament will grant the state ample opportunity to showcase its investment potentials to Africa, considering her strategic position in the Gulf of Guinea, which makes Bayelsa one of the fulcrums of AfCFTA, because its marine resources.

He added: "This is an opportunity to bring the AfCFTA awareness closer to Bayelsa people to ensure businessmen in the state are better integrated into the value chains, jobs and opportunities stemming from the AfCFTA."

FROM DAVID OWEI, YENAGOA

FROM SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA

L-R: Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media, Mr. Crusoe Osagie; Chairperson, Edo State Council of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Comrade Adesuwa Ehimuan and Chairman, Edo State Council of NUJ, Festus Alenkhe, during a live session at the NUJ Secretariat, Benin City on March 22, 2023.

POLITICS

Buhari Yakubu

2023 General Election: An Overview

BY AYO ESAN

The much talked about 2023 General Election has come and gone, but the ripples it generated still linger. The performance of two key stakeholders, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies, led by the police, also contributed to the final outcome of the election.

The performance of the police and its sister security agencies was, to say the least, less than satisfactory as the election was riddled with violence, resulting in the killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians.

In fact, one prominent feature of the election is violence. Although efforts were made to curtail the outbreak or threats of violence at some polling units across the country, they were largely unsuccessful since the security agencies were overwhelmed.

Many innocent Nigerians including policemen lost their lives while many others received varying degrees of injuries as a result of the violence that characterised the election in places like Lagos State, Kano and some states in the South-East.

After the Presidential/ National Assembly elections, the State House of Assembly elections took place in all 36 states, while there were 28 governorship elections as eight other states follow different timelines due to various court rulings.

The elections took place against a backdrop of economic hardship exemplified by sharpened fuel and cash shortages and a volatile security environment in many states across the country with cases of violence resulting in multiple fatalities.

The expectation of Nigerians for a well-managed election, ahead of the February 25 polls, was dashed by INEC’s failure to transmit the presidential election results from the polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (Irev).

This flaw led to a tangible public disappointment and

“

concerns about increasing voter disillusionment.

In its report on the election, a foremost election observation group in Nigeria, The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) said the March 18th Governorship and House of Assembly elections were characterised by violence and suppression of voters.

A copy of the TMG report, signed by its Chairman, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) and made available to journalists noted that suppression of voters, violence, vote trading, padding, among others, marred the polls.

According to the group, “in the build up to the elections, there were reports of voters’ suppression and intimidation with threats of consequences as issued by well-known loyalists of some highly ranked politicians in the country”.

Rafsanjani said the failure of the security operatives

to apprehend and prosecute issuant of such threats, further emboldened them to unleash mayhem on citizens on Election Day.

Rafsanjani said that TMG’s observation of the elections across the country spotlighted the issues of deployment of logistics, voter suppression, low turnout of voters, electoral violence, citizens and security agent’s engagement, functionality of the BVAS and IReV system, electoral security and vote buying. INEC did well in terms of promptness of its staff and availability of equipment at the polling units on the day of election.

During the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections, THEWILL observed that the INEC officials and materials for election arrived safely and on time in most polling units across the country. With this development, enthusiastic Nigerians praised INEC for improving on previous elections as they were quickly allowed to cast their votes and return to their residences, with reports that the BVAS worked seamlessly and accreditation was done without unnecessary delays.

Confirming this in its report on the election, the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission to Nigeria’s 2023 conceded that INEC introduced some corrective measures ahead of the polls, such as ensuring a timely delivery of sensitive materials, as well as introducing the use of election technology, but it criticised the electoral body for “lacking transparency”.

EU Mission’s Chief Observer, Barry Andrews, expressed worry that obstruction and organised violence prevented voters from freely expressing their will and voting the candidates of their choice, despite efforts by civil society to promote democratic values and standards in the country during the governorship and state assembly elections.

In fact, one prominent feature of the election is violence. Although efforts were made to curtail the outbreak or threats of violence at some polling units across the country, they were largely unsuccessful

...An Overview

Andrews said that on Election Day, there were multiple incidents of thuggery and intimidation, which interrupted voting in various locations, primarily across the South but also in states in the North.

He said: “There were reportedly some 21 fatalities. In polling units in several states, violent incidents targeted voters, INEC personnel, citizen observers and journalists”.

The EU Observer Mission said it was particularly concerned that thugs “serving different interests” were used to “stop voters from expressing their free will” stressing that, “ At least five incidents were reported of journalists from well- established media houses being attacked or obstructed from their duties. It said most incidents were recorded in Lagos and Kano States.

EU Observers singled out Lagos and Kano states as the worst-hit by violence during the polls, while vote-buying was witnessed in some other parts of the country.

Andrews said, “Public confidence and trust” in INEC were “severely damaged” on February 25 due to lack of transparency and “operational failures” in the conduct of the Presidential and national assembly elections, noting that the polls revealed systemic weaknesses in the country.

The Mission also tasked the country to work hard to address the challenges confronting the electoral system in the future.

Andrews acknowledged that voting started on time with INEC ad-hoc officials “present and ready to serve the voter,” but he condemned what he described as disruption of voting by “multiple incidents of thuggery and intimidation of voters, polling officials, observers and journalists.

“There were no significant irregularities observed related to underage voting, presentation of PVCs and the accreditation of voters with BVAS. The BVAS was not functioning properly only in two of 183 observed polling units,” he stressed.

On incidents of “misuse of administrative resources” by politicians and their cohorts, the Mission decried how such resources were channeled through “various financial and in-kind inducements to voters”, giving an undue advantage to the party in power.

Andrews also said there was a “clear

underrepresentation” of women as candidates, which demonstrated a “stark lack of internal party policies to support constitutionally prescribed inclusion” –contrary to Nigeria’s international commitments to eradicate discrimination against women.

“The extremely low level of women’s candidacies and consequent concerns for an expected low return of female representatives follows dismal outcomes for women in the national assembly elections. The lack of representation highlights an abject failure of political parties and lawmakers in the states, contrary to international commitments and the Constitution, to confront obstacles to meaningfully progress equal representation for an entire half of the population of Nigeria”, he said.

Speaking on People With Disability (PWD), Andrews said, “More than a third of polling units observed during voting were inaccessible for persons with reduced mobility, while in almost all polling units there were no assistive devices for visually impaired voters. Similarly, the protocols for prioritising vulnerable persons, including pregnant women, were not followed in more than a quarter (43) of observed cases.”

Speaking on how the Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abia and Sokoto were removed and replaced by Administrative Secretaries, the EU Observers said: “INEC has the power to delegate to and withdraw powers from the RECs but cannot legally dismiss these presidentially-appointed officers. This exposes systemic weakness in the electoral institutional design that obstructs fostering professionalism and trust”.

The EU Observer Mission also frowned at the way and manner the electoral umpire communicated with the public.

It said, “INEC communicated the postponement via a press release, without offering the opportunity for a press conference where media and stakeholders could ask questions.”

Parties Performance

Before the general election, four political parties- PDP, APC, LP and NNPP were tipped and considered as front runners. The election results had however shown that only three, APC, PDP and LP are in top form.

In the presidential election, the ruling APC through Asiwaju Bola Tinubu won the highest number of votes and was declared the winner of the election, having also achieved the required spread of 25 per cent in 24 states.

Tinubu scored 8,794,726 (36.61 per cent); Atiku Abubakar of the PDP scored 6,984520 (29.07 per cent); Peter Obi of the Labour Party scored 6,101,533 (25.40 per cent) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP scored 1,496,687 votes (6.23 per cent).

The elections in Kebbi and Adamawa States were declared inconclusive.

The APC won in 15 states, PDP in nine, LP in one. The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) won in Kano state. APC had seven state governors re-elected. They are: Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Muni (Yobe), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Babagana Zulum (Borno).

The ruling party also secured wins for eight new candidates: Uba Sani (Kaduna), Bassey Otu (Cross River), Mohammed Bago (Niger), Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), and Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi).

Two PDP Governors – Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) – secured re-election.

Seven first-term governors were elected on the platform of the PDP. They are: Kefas Agbu (Taraba), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Siminialayi Fubara (Rivers) and Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta).

PDP’s Dauda Lawal unseated Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, while Abba Kabir of the NNPP unseated the APC in Kano State.

EU Observers singled out Lagos and Kano states as the worst-hit by violence during the polls, while vote-buying was witnessed in some other parts of the country

Adamu Baba Ayu

It appears that the battle for the soul of Osun State will continue to rage as the two contenders, incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke and the immediate past governor of the state, Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola, hope to finally resolve the issue of who occupies the Abere Governor’s Office for the next four years at the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Friday, set aside the State Election Petition Tribunal’s judgment that nullified the election of Ademola Adeleke as governor of Osun State.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a threemember panel of justices, led by Justice Mohammed Lawal, held that the appeal lodged by Adeleke to challenge his sack by the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was meritorious.

The court also held that the sum of N500, 000 is awarded as a cost against the All Progressive Congress, APC, and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

Delivering judgment, Justice Mohammed Shaibu overruled the judgment of the governorship election tribunal that nullified the outcome of the July 2022 governorship poll in Osun.

During the ruling, the justices resolved that the preponderance of proof that there was over-voting in the elections rested on the petitioner.

The court also maintained that “the party alleging noncompliance with the Electoral Act must prove its case without merely relying on the weakness of the other party.”

The three-man panel revoked the tribunal’s order which directed that a Certificate of Return be withdrawn from Adeleke and issued to his predecessor and All Progressives Congress candidate, Oyetola.

The appellate court had earlier reserved judgement in the appeal after parties in the matter adopted their written addresses and announced that the date for the judgement will be communicated to parties.

It would be recalled that the Justice Tertsea Kume-led three-member panel tribunal, had on January 27, in a split decision of two-to-one, voided the declaration of Adeleke as winner of the governorship election that held on July 16, 2022.

In the majority judgement, the tribunal upheld a petition filed by the former governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola of the APC, who came second in the election.

It held that Adeleke did not score the majority of lawful votes, adding that the conduct of the election was not in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

According to the tribunal, the petitioners, Oyetola and APC, successfully established that there was over voting in 744 polling units in the state.

After deducting the said invalid votes, the tribunal declared Oyetola winner of the Governorship contest and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return it earlier issued to Adeleke.

However, in his dissenting judgement, the third member of the panel, Justice P. Agbuli, affirmed Adeleke as the valid winner of the election and struck out the petition that was lodged by Oyetola and the APC.

Dissatisfied with the majority decision that sacked him from office, Adeleke took the case before the Court of Appeal.

In his 31 grounds of appeal, Adeleke maintained that the decision was a nullity, pointing out that the second member of the panel, Justice Rabi Bashir, failed to render her opinion on the petition, either orally or in writing, but merely appended her signature on the judgement.

“The second member of the lower tribunal could not have validly signed the decision of the chairman of the lower tribunal without an opinion,” he argued.

Adeleke, through his team of lawyers led by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) further contended that the tribunal decided the matter without considering the totality of evidence that

Osun Governorship: For Adeleke, The Dancing Continues

BY AYO ESAN

was adduced before it.

Adeleke accused the panel of exhibiting its bias when it left the substance of the case and made reference to his dancing skill and noted that the tribunal, in the majority judgement, held that he could not “go lo lo lo lo” and “buga won” as the duly elected governor of Osun state.

“The tribunal, in its judgment, erred in law and displayed bias against the appellant when it made reference to the appellant’s dance at his inauguration as governor of Osun State,” which was never an issue before the lower

tribunal, Adeleke’s lawyers opined.

Ademola Adeleke, who carried the banner of the PDP won the July 16, 2022 governorship election in Osun State with 403,371 representing 50.14 per cent of the total votes while the then incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola scored 375,027 representing 46.62 percent of the total votes.

Adeleke had also led the PDP to victory in the February 25 presidential election where the PDP Candidate, Atiku Abubakar won with 354,366 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bola Tinubu of the APC, who scored 343,945 votes.

The PDP also won all the three senatorial district and the entire House of Representatives slots in the national assembly election held on the same date.

The party won 25 out of 26 state assembly results released by the INEC.

In his reaction to the Friday judgement, the PDP Chairman in Osun State, Dr Akindele Adekunle called on the former governor, Gboyega Oyetola to formally congratulate Adeleke and joined him in the task of transforming the state.

He said there was no need for Oyetola to go to the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the Appeal Court.

Expressing his satisfaction with the judgement, Adekunle said the results of the last elections had showed that Osun is for the PDP.

During the ruling, the justices resolved that the preponderance of proof that there was over-voting in the elections rested on the petitioner

Adeleke

Oyetola

Kogi Guber: Group Wants Power Shift to Western Senatorial District

Apolitical pressure group, Kogi Youth Ambassadors (KYA) has called on registered political parties to pick their governorship candidates from the Western Senatorial District of the state for equity, fairness and justice.

The State Coordinator of the group, Mr Abdulrahman Adbdulsalam, made the call at a news conference in Lokoja.

Adbdulsalam said the state`s governorship position should be rotated to ensure equity, fairness and justice.

He noted that no state in Nigeria had multiethnic diversity like Kogi, adding that such unique endowment should not be taken for granted.

According to Abdulsalam, the Kogi East has ruled the state for over 16 years, while Kogi Central is currently in its eight years.

Lyon May Defect to LP,

BY DAVID OWEI, YENAGOA

The former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 Governorship elections in Bayelsa State, Chief David Lyon, may defect to the Labour Party (LP ) or the All Progressives Grand Alliance ( APGA) if he does not secure the party's ticket for the November governorship elections this year.

According to impeccable sources close the Ologbobiri - born politician, if he is not given the right of first refusal by the ruling party, he and his teaming supporters may be forced to move to the Labour party or APGA.

Pundits are saying that it will be absolutely difficult for him to secure the APC ticket this time around taking into cognizance the calibre of personalities jostling for the governorship ticket of the party in the state, especially the presence of current Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timpere Sylva.

Sylva, who is the leader of the party in the state .In a media chat with journalists in Yenagoa had stated that though he was still consulting, but asserted that he had garnered enough experience and much exposure to govern the state which is yearning for development.

“As a kingmaker, there is nothing wrong for me to become a king if the people say so," he said.

As at the time of filing this report, the screening exercise for APC aspirants to the number one position in Bayelsa state is ongoing at the party's national secretariat, Abuja while the primary elections comes up on April 14 this year .

However our sources disclosed that Lyon and his team might leave if he does not secure the party’s ticket.

The sources also disclosed that Lyon is in talks with officials of the LP and APGA in case he fails to get the nod of the party to fly its flag in the November

APGA

election.

The aspirants who have bought forms for the Governorship race in the APC for the November 11 elections in Bayelsa state include Prof. Ongoebi Etebu Maureen, Chief Joshua Machaiva, David Lyon, Barr. Festus Daumiebi, Chief Mrs. Ogbomade Isikima Johnson and Chief Timipre Marlin Sylva.

It could be recalled that Chief Lyon contested the 2019 governorship election and won but was thrown out by the Supreme Court as a result of variant of names in the certificates of his

Deputy, Chief Degi Eremieyo who is a current senator at the Red Chambers and was defeated by the People's Democratic Party’s candidate for the Bayelsa East Senatorial District, Chief Benson Agadaga in the just concluded national assembly election .

Senator Degi Eremienyio who wanted to go against a single tenure age long established principle in the Bayelsa East Senatorial District was overwhelmingly trounced by Chief Benson Agadaga,

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri is the sole Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the state’s off-season governorship election scheduled to hold on November 11.

In a similar development, Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shuaibu, who announced Governor Diri as the sole aspirant, said the governor’s documents had been scrutinized and were found to be in order.

Shuaibu, who is the chairman of the screening committee for the Bayelsa State Governorship Election, announced this last Tuesday after the screening at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja.

Efforts to hear from Chief Lyon on his planned moves to dump the APC met a brick wall as his mobile phone was busy.

10th National Assembly: Bamidele Calls For Competent Leadership

Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APCEkiti), has said that religious and ethnic sentiments should be jettisoned in selecting the leadership of the 10th National Assembly. Bamidele, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District and who is also the Chairman, Southern Senators’ Forum, said this when he spoke with newsmen in Abuja.

He said that as the inauguration of the members of the 10th assembly draws closer; the criteria for the emergence of its principal officers should be based on competence and experience.

The lawmaker said, “These are the days that should be more important as we try to see those who could lead the 10th National Assembly rather than these issues being presented more as tribal or religious rights of individuals or communities than the country.”

He urged journalists not to overheat the polity with their reportage of the issues that may emanate from the campaigns for the leadership positions.

“As lawmakers begin to tell the world of their individual ambitions or aspirations to be a part of the leadership of the Senate in the 10th assembly, you also have a role to play.

“This is in trying to help stabilise and in trying to help reposition the debate so that the real issues are not lost,” he said. He commended the parliamentary reporters on their unbiased reportage, saying that a better working environment would be ensured for them in the 10th assembly.

“You deserve to work in a better condition.

“From where you sit at the press centre to even the manner of appreciation that you get from the institution; we are convinced that there is a need for a better deal. By the grace of God that better deal will come’.

He said that it was therefore the turn of Kogi West to govern the state for equity, fairness and justice.

He specifically appealed to Gov. Yahaya Bello to consider a candidate from Kogi West as his successor as a way of unifying the state.

"The Kogi youth ambassadors do not have any aspirant in mind by our agitation, but all we want is for power to shift to Kogi West for the sake of equity, fairness and justice.

"We want Gov. Yahaya Bello to adopt a competent, reliable and credible candidate from Kogi West as his successor.

"We are also appealing to opposition political parties to also choose credible candidates from Kogi West for the state governorship election slated for November,” Abdulsalam said.

He said the group had put in place strategies for consultation, sensitisation and mobilisation towards achieving its demand for the unity of Kogi.

He said the group had over 20,000 members with Permanent Voters` Cards (PVCs) across the 239 Wards in the state.

Abdulsalam assured that the group would be engaging in vigorous sensitisation and mobilisation to press home its demand.

Also speaking, the Zonal Coordinator of the group, Mr Austin Alabi, said their desire was to ensure that equity, fairness and justice was maintained in Kogi. ”We advise the government of the day to consider a credible and reliable candidate, that has the interest of Kogi at heart and ready to develop the state to the next level just as Gov. Bello has done.

”The governor has done well in infrastructure and security, and we expect him to get a successor from Kogi West that can consolidate on his legacies and develop our state to the next level,” Alabi said.

He enjoined all registered political parties in the state to imbibe the idea by fielding candidates from the western senatorial district of Kogi.

L-R: Deputy National Commandant, International Police Chaplain (IPCSL) Nigeria, Ambassador Lt. Raymond Edoh; Head of Mission & Africa Coordinator IPCSL, Ambassador Col. Johannes Makuonia and the National Commandant, IPCSL Nigeria, Ambassador Capt. Blessing Akinlosotu during a news conference on the Nigeria 2023 General Election by the International Observation Mission Situation Room of IPCSL USA in Lagos, on March 20, 2023.

Maintaining Peaceful Co-Existence in Lagos

The ugly incidents which accompanied the recently held general election in the country are real eye-openers to the need for concerted efforts to be made towards maintaining peaceful co-existence among Nigerians. The hate politics which actually played out in Lagos, especially during the second round of the election is not only unfortunate but worrisome.

For a fact, nobody would have believed that politics in the acclaimed Centre of Excellence could degenerate to the all-time low as witnessed during the election. What started with the shocking and unbelievable loss by the ruling party in the state in the Presidential and National Assembly polls actually degenerated into politics with bitterness and real violence during the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections.

Although not surprising as all politics is local, the spate of violence unleashed on those perceived to be 'strangers' in the state of aquatic splendour is highly condemnable. It is very

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EDITOR: Olaolu Olusina @OLUSINA [Letters/Opinions: opinion.letters@thewillnigeria.com]

disgusting that suddenly, some miscreants and social misfits with no real political value went to town with their campaign of calumny. Threatening the lives and property of non-indigenes whom they callously tagged as "strangers'' in a city that has become prosperous through the sweat of all, they succeeded in preventing the so-called strangers from exercising their civic rights. Luckily for the antagonists, the results of the election went their way as a result of voter apathy and intimidation of perceived political opponents.

However, local and foreign observers of the General Election are unanimous in their submissions and condemnation of the intimidation and violence as well as fatalities recorded, saying the results of the election did not actually reflect the wishes of Nigerians. This is highly unfortunate as it succeeded in questioning the credibility of the entire exercise.

Nevertheless, we are glad that the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared a winner as life must go on after the election. Although legal challenge

to the results has since commenced, we want to, once again, stress the need for the sanity of Lagos to be maintained.

A situation where the city of aquatic splendour and centre of excellence is taken over by miscreants, hoodlums and thugs with no real political value except the nuisance they have become should be a

source of worry to all wellmeaning Nigerians. While we agree that all politics is local, it should not be an excuse for trampling on the rights of others, especially of those with opposing political beliefs and views. Politics should be played with decency and decorum as democracy guarantees the rights and freedom of all to association.

A cosmopolitan city like Lagos should not be allowed to be taken over by hoodlums and political thugs working for faceless godfathers. Every Nigerian has the right to live and work in any part of the country, including Lagos, without any fear of intimidation or threat because of where he or she comes from.

It is important to note that the prosperity in Lagos that the self-acclaimed 'landowners' are flaunting now is the result of the joint contribution of everyone living in the state and not the efforts of the indigenes alone. For the prosperity to be sustained, peaceful co-existence must be maintained. While respect is reciprocal, everyone should know his bounds and limits for a peaceful co-existence and harmonious relationship.

It is important to note that the prosperity in Lagos that the self-acclaimed 'landowners' are flaunting now is the result of the joint contribution of everyone living in the state and not the efforts of the indigenes alone. For the prosperity to be sustained, peaceful co-existence must be maintained

Elections 2023, Bruised Political Parties And Crushed Nigerians

BY MAGNUS ONYIBE

During the run up to the 18 March elections, there were palpable concerns on whether there would be a domino effect of the party that won at the presidential and National Assembly, NASS levels on 25 February also triumphing at the subnational stage.

To the contrary, after the 18 March voting exercise for the recruitment of governors and members of the House of Representatives, it was quite welcoming and encouraging that each of the four (4) main political parties,All Progressives Congress,APC, Peoples Democratic Party,PDP and Labour Party,LP as well as New Nigerian Peoples Party,NNPP, left their imprints country wide without any of them dominating the political scene.

Indeed, it is fortuitous that the APC and PDP had won twelve (12) states apiece, just as LP won 11 states plus the FCT which comprises of the thirty five (35) of the thirty six (36) states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory,FCT. The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP also succeeded in wining one state-kano which is the most populous in the northern Nigeria, bringing the total number territories to thirty seven (37) when the FCT is added.

As things are currently shaping up,it would appear as if there has not really been any crushing defeat suffered by any of the four (4) main political parties. But they have only suffered bruises as their supporters bases are evenly spread across the country.

But conversely Nigerians have been crushed as not less than twenty one (21), and by some accounts thirty (30) people have been reported as having been killed in the course of the 18 March elections.

A few millions of the masses have also been crushed by hunger and starvation as they are not only buying foreign currencies with naira, but as a negative fall out of the naira redesign policy, they are now compelled to use local naira currency to purchase the new naira notes from those privileged to have it at a premium of up to 30%.

If any thing,amongst the political parties,it is the LP that has suffered a reversal of fortune from the commanding heights that it had attained during the 25 February political assizes which inspired the framing the title of my column last week in form of a question: “Election 2023 as Giant Killer, End Of Incumbency?”

In that piece,l had extolled Mr Obi and LP for the feat of stirring up the youths that were hitherto dormant politically,

but whose 37 million strong voting power of the 93.4 million registered voters by INEC took our country by storm during the 25 February elections and forced a change.

But the 18th March subnational election that witnessed a tamed involvement of the Obi-Dients saw the rise of NNPP in north, particularly in Kano state where it has won the gubernatorial elections and in the east where APGA is poised to expand from being the ruling party only in Before the advent of Mr Obi and Obi-Dients,no real politician subscribed to LP, particularly after the exit of Comrades Segun Mimiko and Adams Oshiomole who had become governors of Ondo and Edo states respectively leveraging the platform of LP.

Even those that failed to win in the primaries of the major parties like APC and PDP hardly pivoted to LP, since it had no prospect and lacked structure.

Rather,they moved to SDP and other fringe parties that had appeared to be more robust than LP.

But from the look of things,LP hitherto an underdog that became the most sought after bride following a fairy tale outing on 25 February does not appear to have replicated its superlative performance of clinching 11 states plus the FCT during the 25 February elections.

Whatever the case may be ,the feat of LP winning equal number of states clinched by the erstwhile political giants such as the current ruling and main opposition parties,APC and PDP respectively is manifestly one of the wonders of election 2023.

That is because it is rather unprecedented that the three leading parties respectively came first in twelve states apiece out of the 36 states in the country plus the FCT. Never has the strongholds of major parties been so evenly shared in our country since 1979 when roughly half a dozen political parties-NPN,UPN,UPGA,GNPP, PRP, NPP representing the multiple ethnic groups, regions and religious leanings ruled the roost in Nigerian political space as the political landscape of our country is currently looking.

The present political landscape of Nigeria tend to be echoing or exhibiting same character as events in 1979. The assertion is premised on the springing forth of regional parties that have become entrenched in ethnic enclaves after the 25 February and 18 March elections.

The realities above came into greater relief after the Saturday 18 March elections.

The new reality is that the power of incumbency has become even more potent and lethal factor in the political of Nigerian as state apparatus and resources in terms of the use or abuse of security agencies and financial power to self perpetuate by second term governors or outgoing governors imposing surrogates have become more rife. As such,survival of the fittest is currently the rule rather than the exception, just as might is right is the new mantra by Nigerian political actors relying more on self help than depending on rule of law.

In fact the rule of law as we used to know it has been either altered or completely thrown to the dogs. And jungle tactics that had receded has bounced back more furiously with anarchy reigning supreme in Nigerian political arena. Of the 28 state governorship positions in contention, all the ones seeking re-elections succeeded except in Adamawa where incumbent PDP governor Ahmadu Fintiri is locked in a deadlock with APC’s senator Aisha Dahiru also known as Binani.

Those trying to replace themselves with surrogates largely succeeded except in kano state where NNPP is replacing the incumbent APC governor Umaru Ganduje and in Sokoto state where APC candidate is succeeding the PDP governor, Aminu Tambuwal.

Without pretense,all gloves were literally taken off the hands by political animals and bare knuckle fights ensued after INEC Chairman,Prof Mahmood Yakubu,unfazed by the complaints of party agents about the non reliance on data from BVAS in the collation of election results for the presidential and National Assembly race,advised those that disagreed with the election results of the 25 February elections that he called on 1st March in favor of the ruling APC to go to court. Since politicians have no confidence in the courts, more so because they are the ones that have been compromising the judicial system,they have been engaging in self help with catastrophic consequences on the polity as evidenced by the twenty one (21) and perhaps thirty (30) fatalities recorded as fall outs of the elections.

• Onyibe sent this piece from Lagos.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

Have You Read The Electoral Act 2022?

BY BOB MAJIRIOGHENE ETEMIKU

After the February 2023 Presidential Election, many theories concerning the procedure of transmission of the elections arose. There were insinuations and conspiracy theories therefrom. Two of the theories deserve our interest.

The first theory was that by Senator Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who challenged the conduct of the elections at the National Collation Centre, the International Conference Centre (ICC), in Abuja, citing Section 50(2) of the Electoral Act 2022.

According to Senator Melaye, that section of the Act says that voting at an election and the transmission of result shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission, that is through the BVAS.

Therefore, and according to the distinguished Senator, the manual method that INEC resorted to, in announcing the February 2023 Presidential Elections ran afoul of that section of the Act. Together with other aggrieved parties, he walked out of the collation centre.

The second individual who pushed his own version of the transmission of the results was Senator Ahmed Lawan, president of the Senate. As president of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan said it was he, who presided over debates, discussions and the entire processes that led to passage of the Act. When the problems associated with an electronic transmission of the 2023 presidential elections through the BVAS came up, Senator Lawan said, “There is nothing like electronic transmission in the Electoral Act.

Transmission means when you vote, your vote goes to the server. What we have passed, and I can recollect this vividly because I read it several times before it was passed, is to

transfer after all the paper works like we already do, is for all the party agents and the security people, INEC will then snap and transfer or transmit the record of the election to the BVAS”, distinguished Senator Lawan said in a recorded report by Africa Independent Television (AIT).

Whilst all these were going on, many Nigerians were first stunned and, therefore, bewildered at the back and forth over the manner of transmission of the result of the elections.

INEC had told Nigerians that with the introduction of the BVAS, every single vote during the election was going to be electronically transmitted to a certain secure server, and in real time, and Nigerians will all have access to the results of the election.

Most of the references were about one document — the Electoral Act — which set the rules for the conduct of the elections. And so, as most Nigerians continued to be angry about the conduct of the elections, I realised that it would be silly to continue to argue back and forth if we know the contents of the Electoral Act 2022. So, this week, I ask: Have You Read the Electoral Act 2022? Do you know exactly what is inside the document beyond being an Obidient, a BAT or an Articulated?

Prior to the scenario created from the electronic transmission of the February elections, I made only one attempt to read the Act. I found it filled with legalese and a put off, so I discarded it. But now, I had to plod through it. I found out that the relevant sections are Sections 41 – 63. The first thing that struck me was the absence of the word ‘BVAS’. There was no mention whatsoever of a BVAS machine in the Act. And even though there were references to ‘electronic transmission’ of results, a caveat in a certain section says that the INEC is allowed

to transmit the results of the elections in any manner the commission deems fit.

Let me try to analyse these two observations of mine: if the BVAS machine was not mentioned in the Electoral Act, how come INEC spent so much money on a piece of machine that had no effect whatever in ensuring that the elections would be foolproof? I got an answer from a senior lawyer in Abuja. According to this learned lawyer, the BVAS has nothing to do with the transmission of results, but with the accreditation of registered voters at the polling units and booths. Therefore, and according to this learned lawyer, if there were any glitches with the transmission of the results, the Electoral Act gives INEC power to transmit results in a manner it deems fit. The second issue is with an ‘electronic transmission’ of results. What does that mean really? Does it mean that transmitting the results must be via the BVAS and BVAS only? Transmitting the results through a MICROPHONE (which is an electronic device) can also be a transmission of information, message and what have you.

And therefore, this is my take: Most politicians had studied the Electoral Act 2022 and found out some of these loopholes (and there are very many of them), which they manipulated to their advantage. Coming out of this is my plea to Nigerians and the policy makers – first to Nigerians: read the Electoral Act 2022, study and understand it. After you study and understand it, you are likely to join me in a campaign to ask the policy makers at the National Assembly to repeal, review or revise sections of that document. The loopholes are legion.

Financial Inclusion: More MSMEs Embrace Cashless Ecosystem

BY SAM DIALA

Alarge number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have migrated to the cashless ecosystem amid scarcity of Naira notes. The development has accentuated the 95 percent Financial Inclusion target of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, which was unveiled four years ago.

Emefiele had put financial inclusion at the forefront of his 5-point agenda in his second-term programme as the CBN governor in June 2019, when he chose 2024 as the target year to achieve 95 percent financial inclusion.

“Over the next five years, through initiatives and policy measures, such as the Shared Agent Network (SANEF) and the payment service banks, we intend to broaden access to financial services to individuals in under-served parts of the country. Our ultimate objective is to ensure that 95 per cent of eligible Nigerians have access to financial services by 2024,” Emefiele stated in his world press conference on June 24, 2019.

The CBN had since then intensified the financial inclusion target through several channels. These include the Payments Vision 2025 document published in 2022 stating that the use of cash payments will drastically reduce in the country by 2025. It explained that by 2025, the country will have a cashless and efficient electronic payment system infrastructure to service all the sectors of the economy.

The CBN in 2020 gave an official nod to telecommunications (telecos) operators’ push to operate Payment Service Banks (PSB). Beneficiaries of the payment service bank liberalisation

Foreign Airlines’ $743m Blocked Funds Deplete Nigeria's DFIs

BY ANTHONY AWUNOR

As funds estimated at $743 million belonging to foreign airlines remain blocked in Nigeria, stakeholders are worried that the situation, which is already affecting the flow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country, may have far reaching

consequences for the aviation sector.

For example, two United Arab Emirates (UAE) carriers: Emirates and Etihad Airways, have pulled out of Nigeria because they do not want their funds to be trapped further.

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policy include Globacom, 9Mobile, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa.

Essentially, the structure of the PSBs include the fact that they shall, among other requirements, operate mostly in the rural areas and the unbanked locations. They are to target financially excluded persons with not less than 25 percent financial service touch-points in such rural areas as defined by the CBN from time to time.

In October 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled Nigeria’s digital currency, e-Naira, targeted at boosting GDP and deepening financial inclusion. Quite remarkably, within a few days, the e-Naira recorded more than 2.5 million average daily visits, with 33 banks integrated on the platform, offering e-Naira wallets. Additionally, there was about half a billion naira successfully minted and held by more than 200,000 customers who were fully on board.

During the launch, President Buhari said the adoption of new CBN digital currency was estimated to increase Nigeria’s GDP by $29 billion over the next 10 years, adding, “We have become the first country in Africa and one of the first in the world to introduce a digital currency to our citizens..

Emefiele had also disclosed in October 2022, that the e-Naira recorded a total of N8 billion transactions in the first one year it was launched. The CBN governor also said the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) was part of the apex bank’s plan to make Nigeria fully a cashless economy.

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MORE INSIDE

Shareholders Bemoan Foreign Acquisition of Indigenous Insurance Firms

PAGE 34

Anchor Borrowers’ Programme: CBN Disburses N12.65bn in Two Months

PAGE 35

Unity Bank Holds Financial Literacy Training For Students

Unity Bank Plc has facilitated financial literacy training in thirty-one schools across Nigeria as part of the lender’s activities marking Global Money Week, 2023. The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun took part in the programme by facilitating training on financial literacy at Kabayi Secondary School, Mararaba, Nasarawa state on Thursday, March 23.

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Emefiele

AVIATION/FINANCE

Foreign Airlines’ $743m Blocked Funds Deplete Nigeria's DFIs

Continued from page 32

Financial Inclusion: More MSMEs Embrace Cashless Ecosystem

Continued from page 32

A recent report by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that the volume of financial transactions performed electronically in Nigeria rose significantly in the first two months of the year as individuals and businesses battle severe Naira scarcity – a fallout of the Naira re-design policy announced on October 26, 2022.

According to the NIBSS, the volume of mobile money transactions for the month of February rose to 183.69 million from 105.13 million recorded in the preceding month of January, representing a 70 percent increase. Similarly, value of transactions during the period rose by 7.8 percent.

Again, volume had risen from 108.13 million transactions with a value of N2.37 trillion in January, to 183.69 million transactions with a value of N2.55 trillion, the report stated.

“

Apart from charging Nigerian air travellers’ exorbitant fares, these stakeholders have also expressed concern over the inability of foreign airlines to repatriate their trapped funds in the country, insisting that Nigeria has become a country with the highest amount of foreign airlines’ trapped funds while highlighting its implications.

The implications, according to them, include the designation of Nigeria as a high-risk country in doing business related to aviation; the increase in insurance premium due to country risk and also the reluctance of lessors to lease aircraft to Nigerian carriers or to do so at very high cost.

They equally believe Nigeria has the highest amount of the trapped airlines’ funds which, to them, is not good for the country because of the perception of Nigeria in the global aviation industry.

In October last year, Emirates Airlines suspended flight operations to Nigeria over its inability to repatriate blocked funds.

As of December 2022, the trapped funds belonging to foreign airlines rose to $550 million, despite the recent intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to clear part of the funds.

According to reports, the trapped funds belonging to international carriers operating in Nigeria are estimated to be up to a whopping sum of $743,721,097 from $662m in January 2023.

However, many stakeholders feel that the issue of

trapped funds rests with the Federal Ministry of Aviation, but the Hon. Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika disclosed recently, that the issue of blocked funds sits with the CBN and it is not what the ministry can handle alone else it would have been resolved immediately.

In his reaction, the Area Manager West & Central Africa International Air Transport Association (IATA), Dr. Samson Fatokun said that for over a year, Nigeria has been the country with the highest amount of airline blocked funds in the world and this will affect Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria, the image of a country that does respect contractual obligations as well as reduced connectivity to and from Nigeria and highticket prices among others.

According to Fatokun, the increasing backlog of international airlines blocked funds in Nigeria sends a strong message against foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nigeria.

He said, "Potential investors are reading from the plight of the airlines that they would not be able to repatriate their funds from Nigeria, even at this moment when Nigeria is expecting investments in the concession of some of its prominent airports".

Dr Fatokun went on stressing that the trapped funds give Nigeria the image of a country that does not respect contractual obligations.

Noting that foreign airlines fly into Nigeria within the legal framework of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) signed between their countries and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he added that the agreements in those BASAs indicating that Nigeria will facilitate the repatriation of the funds of the other party’s airline did not hold.

"Nigeria flaunts this contractual obligation by not facilitating enough the repatriation of airlines’ funds", Fatokun emphasised.

Speaking in the same vein, Mr Bankole Bernard, Group Managing Director, Finchglow Travels regretted that, it is very unfortunate Nigeria cannot simply comply with the rules of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA).

Condemning the situation, Bankole who described trapped funds in Nigeria as fraudulent said "If you say that you do not have funds for them at an official rate as it were, if you are going to make them pay for a premium, they will sell the tickets at a premium and they will be able to repatriate their funds, but you don’t give them at the official rate and they are unable to repatriate their money".

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The data suggested that more Nigerians used electronic channels such as bank applications and USSD to pay for items that normally would have been cash-based during the cash crunch.

According to the February NIP data, the NIP channel recorded 787.93 million transactions with a value of N36.78 trillion compared to 541.65 million transactions that were done via NIP in January with a value of N38.77 trillion..

“When compared to the data recorded in the comparable period of 2022, the NIP recorded a significant increase in volume, which was up by 121 per cent, while value rose by 35.32 per cent. In February last year, NIP transactions stood at 355.61 million transactions valued at N27.18 billion,” the report stated. Following the same growth trajectory, transactions held via point of sale (PoS) terminals rose in February. According to the NIBSS statistics, the volume of PoS transactions rose by 17.8 per cent while value of transactions on the channel rose by 9.4 per cent.

The NIBSS which monitors cashless transactions through the Nigeria Instant Payment (NIP) System and POS terminals further stated that a total of 113.53 million transactions valued at N883.45 billion was recorded at the end of February, compared to 96.35 million transactions valued at N807.16 billion that was recorded in January this year.

Furthermore, the PoS channel transactions in February 2023, showed a 27.7 and 53.6 per cent increase in the value and value of transactions respectively, as against the e-transaction of equivalent period in 2022 during which 88.9 million transactions valued at N575.96 billion was recorded.

Mr Kayode Akintude, a financial analyst, said the increased volume in e-payment transactions was a fallout of the lingering scarcity of cash in the economy which,

incidentally, is deepening the cashless policy of the CBN. He said the e-transaction expansion cascades down to smaller businesses making it possible for the MSMEs to benefit from.

“Nigerians may be looking at the inconveniences they go through on a daily basis to access cash for their day-to-day transactions, the economy and the people will be the ultimate gainer because it will boost GDP and increase government tax revenue significantly,” Akintude told THEWILL by telephone.

Findings revealed that the majority of the e-transaction converts are operators in the MSME space. These include the roadside shop owners, commercial vehicle operators, petty traders, itinerant hawkers and newspaper vendors.

At the Iyana-Ipaja motor park in Lagos, commuters were given the cash or e-payment options by the park operators, amid standby PoS agents. At Oshodi, intra-city commercial buses offer e-payment transactions for as low as a fare of N100. The Lagos Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a modern urban transport outfit, operates an e-card payment system.

Ndubisi Nwokoma, Professor of Financial Economics, University of Lagos observed that the Naira redesign policy will impact significantly on the nation’s cashless policy and change the culture of carrying cash about. He stated that many Nigerians “down the ladder” are now moving towards digital transactions, including the commercial vehicle operators, petty traders and pepper sellers in the market.

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If you say that you do not have funds for them at an official rate as it were, if you are going to make them pay for a premium, they will sell the tickets at a premium and they will be able to repatriate their funds….

Nigerians may be looking at the inconveniences they go through on a daily basis to access cash for their dayto-day transactions, the economy and the people will be the ultimate gainer because it will boost GDP and increase government tax revenue significantly

L-R: ED, Junior Achievement Nigeria, Foluso Gbadamosi; Principal Manager, Head of Advocacy Office, Consumer Education and Evaluation Division, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Abubakar Albasu; Principal Manager, Market Development Department, Financial Inclusion Division, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr John Achile; Divisional Head, Capital Markets, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX),Mr Jude Chiemeka; Jufradol Schools, First Runner-Up, Adele Mojeed; Canterbury International, Winner, Financial Literacy Quiz Competition, Enoch Nwogu; Dansol High School, Second Runner-Up, Faseyitan Moyege; Branch Director AIESEC Lagos, Abdulrahman Olawoyin; CEO Miniemoney, Gbolahan Faniran; Head Securities Dealing, APT Securities Funds, Muhammad Jamiu Kayode; Head, X-Academy, NGX, Ms. Ugochi Obi; Director, Global Business Development, Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), Kelvin Moore; MD/CEO, Meristem Stockbrokers Limited, Saheed Bashir, and Head, Market Surveillance and Investigation, NGX Regulation, Abimbola Babalola during the NGX Closing Gong Ceremony in commemoration of 2023 Global Money Week in Lagos on March 21, 2023.

Unity Bank Holds Financial Literacy Training For Students

Represented by the Group Head, Customer Engagement, Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Titilayo Abraham, the participants gained useful insights on wealth creation which have money, saving, investing, and entrepreneurship remain the common denominator

Stressing the need to enhance financial education and financial inclusion, Mrs. Somefun's interaction with the students was aimed at inculcating basic principles for financial management. Students who stood out in the course of the Training were rewarded.

Global Money Week is a Child

and Youth Financial International initiative observed annually in over 178 countries between March 22 and 28 by corporate organisations globally. Financial institutions leverage Global Money Week with several events and activities to inspire children and youth to learn about money, saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment, and becoming an entrepreneur.

BY SAM DIALA

The recent vitriolic attacks on the corporate entity of Nigeria’s foremost energy firm, Seplat Energy Plc, and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Roger Brown, could threaten the nation’s historic Gas Development Plan and, also, jeopardise investors’ assets in the equity market currently at N645 billion capitalisation.

Seplat has faced unbridled campaigns of calumny by individuals and groups allegedly determined to pull down the organisation, reverse its gains as a major energy firm and jeopardise investor’s huge assets in the company dually listed on the Nigerian and London Exchanges.

According to reports, the target of the groups and individuals attacking Seplat and its CEO is three-pronged: First is to remove the CEO of the company on trumped up allegations of anti-Nigerian workers’ activities and, second, take over total control of the company with a view to ultimately milking it dry. The third is to sell off whatever remains of the company to cronies and make it susceptible to asset stripping.

Shareholders Bemoan Foreign Acquisition of Indigenous Insurance Firms

The Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) has described as pathetic the acquisition of local insurance firms by foreign conglomerates under the aegis of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), saying it portends bad omen for sustainable growth of the Nigerian insurance industry as well as the investment interest of shareholders.

Mr. Moses Igbrude, the National Coordinator of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) made the call when the EXCO of the Insurance & Pension Editors of Nigeria (IPEN) paid a courtesy visit to ISAN in Lagos yesterday.

Moses, who expressed worry over the development, lamented that the foreign investors are taking advantage of the nation’s bad economy, undervalued insurance stocks and poor exchange rate.

The ISAN Boss said: “Our economy is so bad that most of our insurance stocks are undervalued, our exchange rate is so poor, such that, only a million dollars will translate to N700 million, and if you have N700 million, you can buy and have a major stake in insurance companies.”

Stating that not all Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) was good for the Nigerian economy, he noted that some

In Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Banker's Committee in collaboration with Junior Achievement Nigeria, coordinates the activities for Global Money Week, which sees the participation of financial institutions with nationwide coverage. of the portfolio investors come to take advantage of our weak laws and economy.

“What they do is to buy into insurance firms and delist them from the Stock Exchange, hence becoming a private business and then hide them from the eyes of the government and the next thing, you wouldn’t hear about the companies again,” he said.

Acknowledging the fact that there are still good investors, he appealed to the insurance industry regulatory body, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to allow only genuine investors into the industry, even as he urged the Commission to put in place processes to checkmate activities of the fake foreign investors to protect the local insurance sector.

Earlier in his presentation, the President of IPEN, Mr. Chuks Udo Okonta said the purpose of IPEN’s courtesy visit to ISAN was to seek a cordial media relationship with the Association as well as give the shareholders the opportunity to assess the performance of their investment in the insurance industry.

Okonta promised that IPEN as a body of insurance and pension editors is ready to reshape the two sectors through developmental journalism.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc has said that its Audited Financial Statements (AFS) for the year ended 31 December 2023, will not be published within the first quarter in line with statutory requirements.

In an advertorial published in some national dailies on Friday, March 24, 2023, entitled “Publication of the Audited Financial Statements for the Year Ended December,31, 2022”, GTCO said the document would be released to the market immediately all requisite approvals are received.

Part of the statement read: “Kindly be informed that Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc’s (the Company) Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, was approved by the Board of Directors on January 27, 2023, and other requisite approvals required for the publication of the Annual Financial Statements are being processed.

“In view of the foregoing, the Company will publish its annual Financial Statements after receipt of all requisite approvals which may be after the NGX’s regulatory filing date of March 31`, 2023.”

Publicly listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange are mandated to publish their quarterly results within 30 days after the end of each quarter according to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) listing rules. Annual Financial Statements are required to be released within 90 days after the year-end.

However, last year, the capital market regulator informed publicly-listed companies that they can release their yearly financial statements within 60 days if they are unable to submit their earnings report for the fourth quarter, which is 30 days after the quarter.

It was gathered that GTCO has not received regulatory approval to release the earnings report though it confirmed that its board of directors approved the earnings result on January 27, 2023.

A stockbroker, Abimbola Kazim, said the recent attacks on Seplat and its leadership constitute a serious threat to the corporate existence of the firm and could inflict injury on investors’ confidence at a time domestic investors are taking position to build the equity market ‘deserted’ by foreign investors.

“Seplat is a strong firm on the Nigerian Exchange. It is among the highest net-worth companies with a market capitalization of N645 billion and a price N107.50 per share. It announced an impressive performance for the 2022 financial year and fortune hunters are already taking position in the earning season. Those championing the attacks on Seplat are indeed enemies of Nigeria’s economic development,” Kazim said.

Besides investors’ assets, analysts express concern that the recent development would threaten Nigeria’s Gas Development Plan 2021-2025 in which Seplat is a key player. The sterling performance of Seplat under the leadership of Mr Brown showed that the firm has delved deeply in the gas business despite the absence of an enabling environment for private participation on gas development.

From the beginning, Seplat showed it was set to tackle the challenges deeply rooted in the dearth of gas gathering and distribution infrastructure, fiscal and regulatory policy, funding, and more importantly, the prevailing security situation in the main gas supply source, the Niger Delta region. Information gathered from the firm’s annual reports showed it is determined to reverse the effects of lack of energy intensive plants across Nigeria to utilise vast proportions of natural gas and the imposition of price control mechanisms are a serious threat to gas development. One way of achieving this is through its major project: the $700m Assa NorthOhaji South (ANOH) Gas Processing Plant located on (Oil Mining Lease) OML 53 in Imo State.

Anchor Borrowers’ Programme: CBN Disburses N12.65bn in Two Months

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disbursed a total of N12.65 billion to three agricultural projects under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) between January and February 2023. This disclosure was made by the governor, CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, during the post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) media briefing in Abuja Tuesday.

According to the apex bank boss, the recent disbursement brings the cumulative disbursement under the ABP to N1.0 trillion.

Emefiele said the CBN also disbursed N23.70 billion under the N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility programme to eight new real sector projects in three key real sector areas: agriculture, manufacturing and services.

Cashless Policy: NCC Clears Telecoms Operators on Banks’ Network Failure

The Nigeria Communications Commission, (NCC), has exonerated telecommunications operators of network failures being experienced by bank customers in their transactions saying there is the need for banks to work on their internal configuration to make the cashless policy succeed.

The Commission’s Executive ViceChairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta disclosed this during an interview with the team of Brand Visibility in Abuja, recently saying the issues could be the internal configuration of the banks data system but on the whole, the entire financial system runs on telecommunications infrastructure.

“That is why we call telecommunication infrastructure, infrastructure of infrastructures because you cannot do cashless banking when you don’t have a robust telecommunication infrastructure”, he explained. He said; “I do not think that telecommunication infrastructure is a challenge, at least at the level of transactions that we have. It cannot be attributed to telecommunication because sometimes it is the internal issues of the different organisations. Some banks have these issues because of their own internal structure. That is why they need to build their own infrastructure because the telecom operators only have the infrastructure to support those services.

“But I can tell you that the available infrastructure in Nigeria today in terms of telecommunications is doing a lot in making that happen and why has the last four months, it was easier than this cashless period, is it that the infrastructure has come down low or is it that the facilities are not available? So, we need to separate the issues, there is the need to look at the intra networks of the banking service providers because we have infrastructure almost across

Equities: Market Cap Gains N4bn in March Week 3 Trading

all the commercial centres and that is why banks are able to do all their services,” he said.

On the claim that subscribers don’t get value for money, the EVC disagrees with this notion with the explanation that there has been tremendous improvement in the telecommunications sector.

“We have come a long way in quality of service improvement and we measure quality of experience not just quality of service because in quality of service, you can give the operators some targets, like they must maintain 95 percent of certain things like in the switch, transmission and the others. But you may not know how it affects the subscriber, so, one way we are doing that is measuring the quality of experience from the subscriber side and all we see is continuous improvement,” he added.

Prof. Danbatta explained further that the commission is aware that the major problem of service is lack of infrastructure and it is necessary for the service providers to provide enormous infrastructure to make services robust and no disruption and all that.

“So, overall we don’t think the major issue now is more quality of service. The issue that some subscribers raised could be maybe in the charges at which they obtain those services but of course you know we benchmark cost, we have some services, we have different plans and price cap, and there is a band within which they operate.

“You can see that these telecommunications are the only service in Nigeria that does not increase price like any other product including public utilities but we have managed to keep it that way because of our regulatory processes that keep the operators on their toes.

The Equities Market recorded a N4 billion gain in the third week trading in March with N29.90 trillion as against N29.89 on Monday. Data by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited Weekly Report showed that the bourse also ended positive in the All-Share Index (ASI) with 54,892.53 against 54,886.04 basis points.

The report showed that a total turnover of 1.689 billion shares worth N11.066 billion in 14,019 deals was traded in the week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 853.745 million shares valued at N11.841 billion that exchanged hands last week in 18,543 deals.

The Healthcare Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.086 billion shares valued at N1.627 billion traded in 267 deals; thus contributing 64.32% and 14.70% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Financial Services Industry followed with 379.556 million shares worth N4.547 billion in 6,711 deals. The third place was the Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 89.526 million shares worth N131.231 million in 534 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, Transnational Corporation Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc, (measured by volume) accounted for 1.248 billion shares worth N2.347 billion in 1,102 deals, contributing 73.89% and 21.21% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

On the Exchange Traded Products (ETP), a total of 6,141 units valued at N1.838 million were traded this week in 47 deals compared with a total of 6,224 units valued at N1.541 million transacted last week in 56 deals.

For Bonds, a total of 20,336 units valued at N20.465 million were traded this week in 20 deals compared with a total of 98,883 units valued at N94.102 million transacted in the week in 31 deals Reply, Reply All or Forward

“The Committee reviewed the performance of the Bank’s various interventions aimed at stimulating production and productivity across the real sector.

“Between January and February 2023, the Bank disbursed N12.65 billion to three (3) agricultural projects under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), bringing the cumulative disbursement under the Programme to N1.09 trillion to over 4.6 million smallholder farmers cultivating or rearing 21 agricultural commodities on an approved 6.02 million hectares of farmland across the country.

“The Bank also released the sum of N23.70 billion under the N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility to eight (8) new real sector projects in agriculture, manufacturing, and services.

“Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stands at N2.43 trillion, disbursed to 462 projects across the country, comprising 257 manufacturing, 95 agriculture, 97 services and 13 mining sector projects.

“Under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP). The Bank also released N3.01 billion under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF-2) for capital and operational expenditure of distribution companies (Discos) aimed at improving their liquidity status and aid their recovery of legacy debt.

“This brings the cumulative disbursement under the facility to N254.39 billion,” Emefiele said.

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme is a CBN single-digit Loan intervention scheme established by the Federal Government in 2015 for the purpose of boosting the agricultural sector of the economy. It is designed to create an economic linkage between smallholder farmers and agro-processors/Anchors.

The programme adopts a value chain approach that links Input to Production to Processing and to Market. The scheme is targeted at smallholder farmers in order to increase their access to quality agricultural inputs and, thereby, improve the quality of produce to meet international standards.

The broad objectives of the ABP include: improve access to finance, diversify the economy, create jobs and promote inclusive growth.

L-R: Senator Bamidele Opeyemi; Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji and Managing Director/ CEO Citec, Mr Dare Bello; during the Governor’s working visit to the company’s head office in Abuja on March 23, 2023.

Minimising Bottlenecks, Barriers to Inter-Africa Trade

BY OLU AKANMU

Africa’s people have historically traded among themselves, informally, over time. Colonial borders later came to divide people who would consider themselves as one from way back, and who sometimes shared a common language and culture. Despite this, Africa does not trade well enough with itself. Inter-Africa trade as a share of Africa’s trade with the world is 15 per cent, compared to 60 per cent with Asia, and 70 per cent with Europe.

Barriers to good inter-African trade include tariffs and borders, large information asymmetries of trade opportunities among African nations, high frictions in African cross-border payments and logistics, alongside infrastructural inefficiencies. It is cheaper to send one kilogramme of goods to the United Kingdom from Nigeria (N29,500 by “standard courier”) than to Kenya (N40,000), even though the flight time to Nairobi, Kenya is at least one hour shorter than to London.

The same inefficiencies manifest in cross-border payments within Africa. It is cheaper and faster to receive or send payments to the UK from Nigeria than to Kenya. The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement seeks to promote stronger inter-African trade, which is expected to raise real income in the continent by 9% and lift 50 million people out of poverty, while being an enabler of a more prosperous Africa.

The continent has a wide diversity of 42 currencies across 50 countries, which represent significant frictions and inefficiencies for cross-border payments, given the small volume of trade, currency volatilities and different regulations across the fifty African states.

There are four broad barriers to good cross-border payments, according to the Financial Stability Board (FSB), a global organisation that monitors the stability of the financial system. They are:

1. Cost

2. Speed

3. Transparency

4. Inclusion

These barriers are manifestly amplified in Africa.

Cost: Traditional payment rails into Africa are largely designed with an assumption of Africa as a receiving continent from Europe and North America. Payment rails are largely vertical, with very little rail or non-existent rail for horizontal payments from an African nation to another. Volatilities of currencies, the cost and risk of holding liquidity in African currencies, and the relatively small volumes of the transactions, imply that an African nation sending money to another therefore has to first exchange its currency to the dollar and then swap back to the currency of the receiving country to complete a transaction. This has been very costly to Africa, with an estimated incremental cost $5 billion per year in inter-African trade. The laudable Pan African Payment Settlement System (PAPPS), an initiative of AfCFTA, is designed to solve this problem, working with central banks in Africa.

Africa has an estimated 50 million SMEs and MSMEs, 80% of which are in Nigeria. If the SMEs and MSMEs are to participate inclusively in inter-African trade, the cost of payments must be affordable. Given the high fixed cost of payments that are crossed to the dollar in Africa and the relative small volumes of trade that the SMEs would do, it is important that payment cost as a percentage of transactions do not become a disincentive to potential inter-African trade among African SMEs.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has recommended a target cost of 1% of the amount transferred, with no crosscountry corridor above 3%. Achieving this in Africa for the SMEs will imply a major disruption and disintermediation of the traditional cross-border payment rails that have historically served Africa, as PAPSS seeks to do along with innovative cross-border fintech players.

Speed: Payments have to travel from Africa through Europe or the US to reach another African country. This implies

that cross-border payments within Africa tend to be slower using the traditional payments rails and it could take weeks to conclude a successful transaction. Direct payment flows within Africa that do not have to pass through dollar platforms outside the continent would be faster and ensure that inter-African payments get concluded within the same day of initiation.

Transparency: As fintech players innovate and solve the problem of inter-African cross-border payments, it is important that a high level of compliance with AntiMoney Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations is adopted to build and sustain the confidence of regulators and the general public.

A key admonition of regulators to fintechs in Africa is that as we scale up and move volumes of transactions previously associated with traditional banks, we must raise our compliance standards in tandem with our size and systemic importance. It applies very significantly to fintechs in cross-border payments where there are significant AML/ CFT risks, as the recent experience of West and East African corridor fintech players suggests.

Transactions charges should also be transparent and be easily understood by customers, especially the SMEs doing cross-border trade and payments for the first time, to know and manage their costs. This ensures that non-transparent charges do not become a disincentive to future cross-border payments.

Inclusion: In order to ensure that cross-border trade and payments opportunities do not leave anyone behind, especially the 50 million SMEs and MSMEs in Africa, we must ensure that everyone and every business can get on the payment rail in their home country. Without an inclusive

last mile financial rail in Africa, we would not have inclusive crossborder payment as a middle mile service that connects every African business to trade opportunities outside their borders.

This last mile financial inclusion rail is the focus of OPay, to ensure that everyone, no matter their geographic situation or social location, is connected to the modern digital financial system. This is even more so important in this new cashless or limited cash era.

The user must have the options of several convenient and affordable payment and collection methods, from cards, USSD, Account to Account, QR and biometrics. Pricing and charges should recognise the larger public interests/social benefits of scaling digital payments and ensure that potential market failures are corrected where the private incentives of commercial players on the financial rail do not align well with social benefits.

So what are the more specific solutions to cross-border payment barriers in Africa? They will include the following, adapting the FSB model to Africa’s cross-border payment challenges:

1. Strong public/private partnership for smoother crossborder payments;

2. Regulation harmonisation across the 40 African countries and jurisdictions on the basis of same business, same risk and same rules principles;

3. Consistent, improved and same standards of AML/CFT rules, including information sharing amongst regulators;

4. Inclusive digital identity across Africa as the foundation stack for inclusive payments and financial inclusion that can enable every African to get on the financial rail. Nigeria has made strong progress in this area with more than 90 million citizens enrolled with the National Identity Number (NIN). The NIN enrollment base in Nigeria would cross 100 million this year 2023, which would be an historic milestone in inclusive digital identity.

The next task for financial service players and the ecosystem is to enable every Nigerian with an NIN to have a formal financial account, such that we would have more than 100 million Nigerians with either a bank account or wallet, which will be a game changer in the scale and reach of financial inclusion in the country;

5. Payments systems linkages specific to Africa and our payment currencies. The Pan African Payment Settlement Systems (PAPSS) specifically speaks to this;

6. Innovative cross-border liquidity management and disintermediation of the dollar for cross-border payments by PAPSS and cross-border fintechs. Reciprocal currency liquidity management between Central Banks, while managing potential currency volatilities;

7. Common data standards to eliminate frictions in data sharing;

8. Exploring the role of Central Bank Digital Currencies and stable coins that could potentially dis-intermediate the dollar in cross-border payments, deliver speed, while avoiding volatilities associated with unregulated digital currencies.

Conclusion

The vision of Afrexim, its African governments and institutional shareholders to birth AfCFTA and PAPSS is very commendable.

Working with private sector financial service players and fintechs, Africa can build an inclusive network of coordinated financial rails that link Africa end-to-end across borders to trade. It would birth a more inclusive and shared prosperity in Africa, where no-one’s geographic location or social situation prevents them from being partakers of a new more prosperous and economically-integrated Africa.

•Olu Akanmu is president and co-CEO, OPay-Nigeria.

Working with private sector financial service players and fintechs, Africa can build an inclusive network of coordinated financial rails that link Africa end-to-end across borders to trade

SHOTS OF THE WEEK

L-R: Former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Wealth Creation in Lagos State, Olorunfemi Mustapha; President of Association of Lagos Artisans and Technicians (ASLAT), Engr. Lawrence Ajayi; National Coordinator, Association of Nigeria Artisans and Technicians (ASNAT) and Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of ASLAT, Asiwaju Jacob Fayeun,

on Governor

L-R: Proprietor, Safe Heritage Crest Academy, Mr. Gbenga Arolasafe; Director, Procurement and Management Service Department, NDIC, Abuja, Mr. Olawale Bakare and Proprietress, Safe Heritage Crest Academy Mrs. Feyikemi Arolasafe, during the Academy's celebration of World Cross Cultural Day, in Abuja on March 22,2023.

L-R: His Royal Majestry (HRM), The Oba of Benin, Ewuare 11, and President Muhammadu Buahri, during an audience with the Oba of Benin at the State House in Abuja on March 24, 2023.

during a press conference

Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s victory in the last governorship election, at Ikeja on March 20, 2023.

From left: Aliu Osenimega, Zonal Service Quality Officer, Abuja, and North Central; Anita Wilcox, Unit Head, Service Quality Management; Mrs. Titilayo Abraham, Group Head, Customer Engagement; Students of Kabayi Secondary School, Mararaba; Stellamaris Akamike, BM, Mararaba Branch; Mr. Matthew Obiazikwor, Head, Communications and Brand Management, and Martha Iroh, Relationship Manager, Mararaba Branch during Unity Bank's facilitation of financial literacy training at Kabayi Secondary School, Mararaba, Nasarawa State, on March 23, 2023.

L- R: Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma; Mr. Oliver Nwankwo, and  African facilitator for EU- UAES, Mr. Chris Addy-Nayo, during a visit to the Governor in Owerri on March 24, 2023.

L-R: Vice Chairman, Abeokuta North Local Government, Hon. Ayoola Oluajo: Marketing and Category Manager, Nestlé Waters, Mrs. Joy Abdullahi-Johnson; Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Ministry of Environment, Engr. Razak Ojetola; M/D Ogun Oshun River Basin Development Authority, Otunba Olufemi Odumosu and Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Dr Oladimeji Oresanya, during stakeholders’ forum to commemorate World Water Day in Abuja on March 22, 2023.

Photo Editor: Peace Udugba [08033050729]

Content creator cum actress, Kemi Ikuseedun, also known as ‘Mummy Wa’, speaks with SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN about skit making and its attendant challenges. Excerpts:

I’M MORE OF AN ACTRESS THAN COMEDIENNE – KEMI IKUSEEDUN

How did your journey into acting begin?

My journey into acting started in the church and my school’s drama group. I got my first Christian movie role from the church. From there, I got hooked on to acting. Later, I started creating content because the auditions I attended didn’t take me far. It wasn’t really easy for me. Out of like 10 auditions, I probably got one or two movie roles. It was really crazy out there. It is still crazy. So, I started shooting movies with my cell phone, I started with monologues, just doing monologues on Instagram before I started posting normal comedy skits.

2022 must have been a fantastic year for you. How would you describe your experience?

2022 was very interesting for me. I started doing a lot of things that I had always wanted to do. I will say that it was one of my best years. I made new friends, connected with old ones and I was able to achieve a lot of other things. It was indeed an incredible year for me. I don’t know how this year will turn out, but I am hopeful that it will be a very good one as well.

Were there things you wanted to achieve and you couldn’t last year?

I think I was able to achieve all that I set my heart to achieve. The things I couldn’t achieve were planned for 2023.

What are your plans for this year?

I don’t want to blow my trumpet. Let us just wait as things unfold. People will see it as it unfolds.

When exactly did it occur to you that you could make money from skit making?

I think it was when fellow skit maker, Debo Adebowale, a.k.a Mr Macaroni, started using me for the 'Mummy Wa' character. But the truth is that I am not really into comedy. Mr Macaroni is always saying that I should infuse comedy in what I am doing. I think I am more of an actress really.

Did you at any time think of quitting because you felt you should be more involved in mainstream acting than skit making?

Many times. Sometimes I feel that I am not where I am supposed to be, that I am not doing as much as I am supposed to. You will probably just feel like quitting. As for me, once I sleep and wake up, I just move on as if nothing happened.

How did you meet Mr Macaroni?

We met when I was acting in my estate. I had started my own YouTube channel then. He saw me in my costume and invited me for a shoot. He insisted that I come in the same costume. That was how it all started. While we were on location, he called me 'Mummy Wa' and I also responded by calling him ‘Daddy Wa’. That was how we started using the name.

How has it been working with Mr. Macaroni?

It has been really beautiful for me. I’m forever grateful to him. I’m happy that I’m still working with him. The journey has been beautiful and I’m so happy to be a part of it. God bless the day I met him.

What are the challenges of being a female content creator?

A lot of women are not really seen in the industry. It is only a few that are visible out there. Maybe it’s their idea or maybe people don’t connect with certain contents we put out there. Speaking for myself, I will say that I don’t really have any challenges because I work with Mr Macaroni and for myself as well. Life is good.

How do you cope with advances from men?

I think it relates to all ladies. It’s a normal thing. We are coping. I just say thank you whenever they make advances at me. As a woman, if you don’t receive advances, you might be worried a bit about yourself because they are part of the life of a woman. On a serious note, it is not about being rude to men; it’s a way of appreciating you. So the best thing to do is thank them, except the person is going beyond his bounds.

You have acted in 'Fate of Alakada' and a few other movies. When should we expect to see more of you in mainstream acting?

The truth is that I try my best to put out some acting videos to create more visibility for my acting skills. At least more producers can see and recognise my passion for acting. Hopefully, 2023 will be a better year in that regard.

A lot of people believe that the content creation industry is a get rich quick place with the way skit makers buy cars and build houses. What is your take on that?

I think it is the people in the oil business that get rich quick. I believe that whatever you lay your hands on, God will bless it. There is nothing like quick money. As for my colleagues who showcase material things, such as cars and houses out there, most of them have been in the industry for a very long time. They have been putting in all the hard work right from day one. Some of them have spent more than five years in the industry. They have been acting for more than five years, creating content maybe for one year, so you can’t really say it is quick money, no. They have been there for a very long-time hustling. There are some content creators that came into the industry just last year. They are there now, hustling and putting in the hard work. If in the next three years, they start displaying their material wealth, some people will say that they made it overnight. I feel that when you have something and you are happy about it, you can flaunt it. It all relates to your personality. Some people want to show off what they have and there are some people in the corner of their houses that are just thankful.

What is your opinion about the content creation industry?

I think we are trying. Most of us are hustlers. We are actors. We have been going for auditions as often as possible. It is acting that brought most of us into the content creation industry. More than half of us are actors.

Don’t you think the industry needs stakeholders to regulate it because of sex for roles allegations and other controversies surrounding it?

I think it is a general thing, though I also believe there should be a regulatory body, but those allegations happen everywhere. In the movie industry, some directors and producers ask for it. It is not just content creation, it happens everywhere, the banking sector inclusive. If not content creation, what would you have ventured into?

I would have been an Accountant or a lecturer.

Are you planning to make use of your accounting certificate anytime soon?

Yes, I use accounting even in this content creation that I am doing. As regards management and accounting, I feel that they are general things that you will always need in every field. I am already using it for my personal business as well.

What is your relationship with other content creators and who are you looking at working with?

I have a good relationship with all my colleagues. We all love each other. I look forward to working with almost all of them.

Ikuseedun

Ikuseedun

Ikuseedun

STORIES BY IVORY UKONU

THE PRESIDENT-ELECT'S MEN

Corporation Limited (NNPCL) or even the big cat itself, the petroleum ministry, than Wale who not only has the ears and eyes of his uncle but can be well trusted?

Yemi Cardoso was a former Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State. He alongside Edun and Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, a former chief economic adviser to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, were tasked by Tinubu with developing the economic blueprint for Muhammadu Buhari during his time on the campaign trail to becoming the president.

Fred Ajudua is Back

That Fred Ajudua, an alleged fraud kingpin craves for relevance, influence and power as much as the air he breathes is no longer in doubt. More than two years after he went into hibernation, the 2023 General Election gave Ajudua cause to wake up from his years of solitude. The 62-year-old returned to his elements, directing how he wants the political pendulum to swing in Ibusa, his hometown in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.

With the announcement of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the president-elect by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, there is no doubt that one will be begin to witness an avalanche of political pettifoggers and hangers-on, some of whom will want to thrive off their relationship with the president-elect and others who will find corruption loopholes to thrive on. The former tend to assume larger-than-life images. Sometimes they wield enormous powers and recognition more than political appointees or elected office holders.

Gilbert Chagoury, Wale Tinubu, Wale Edun, Jack Rich-Tein, Yemi Cardoso, among several others, are in this category.

A Lebanese migrant born in Nigeria, Gilbert Chagoury has spent the past 40 years building political connections both in Nigeria and the United States despite not being a politician himself. He flourished in the 1990s through his close association with the late Sani Abacha. In 2000, he was convicted by a Swiss court for laundering some of the funds Abacha looted from Nigeria. He agreed to pay a fine of about 1 million Swiss francs (about $600,000) at that time to get his Swiss conviction expunged and handed back $66 million to the Nigerian Government but denied knowing the funds were stolen.

He currently lives in Paris after allegedly falling out of favour with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for allegedly bankrolling former President Goodluck Jonathan’s election campaign in 2015. He initially made the US his abode. His younger brother, Ronald takes charge in Nigeria on his behalf. Now with Tinubu in the saddle, the soon-to-be 77-year-old Gilbert, whose tentacles spreads across some of the most viable sectors of Nigeria's economy, such as the Eko Hotel & Suites, HITECH Construction Company, (responsible for 60 percent road construction in Lagos), Eko Atlantic City, ITB Construction Ltd among several others through his multibillion-dollar Chagoury Group of Companies, is well positioned to benefit from his long-standing

relationship.

Olawale Adebayo Edun, a former Commissioner for Finance in Tinubu’s cabinet, during the latter’s time as Governor of Lagos State, is a notable and trusted ally of Tinubu. Like many other acolytes of the Presidentelect, he was recommended for a position in the Muhammadu Buhari Administration as part of a payback scheme for riding on Tinubu’s political machinery to power, but Buhari refused to give him any position. Now that his godfather will be at the helm of affairs, the seasoned banker will undoubtedly be one of the earliest beneficiaries of a Tinubu presidency. There is quite a number of governmental roles to choose from where he will be expected to carry out his master's bidding, using his over 25 years experience, which spans merchant banking, corporate finance, economics and international finance at national and international levels, while also building on his influence. From the Ministry of Finance to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) etc., the options for Edun are there for the asking. Edun is currently the Chairman of Chapel Hill Denham Group and has been since 2008. Adewale Tinubu who is a relative of the president-elect, a nephew to be precise, is a co-founder and the current Group Chief Executive, GCE of Oando Plc, one of Africa’s largest integrated energy solutions providers. In 2000, Ocean and Oil, a private investment company led by Wale alongside his co-founders, Omamofe Boyo and Onajite Okoloko, acquired a 30 per cent controlling interest in Unipetrol Plc. In 2001, the firm increased its stake in Unipetrol to 42 per cent via an irredeemable convertible loan stock issue. Insiders claim that Wale's uncle allegedly made these acquisitions possible as a silent investor.

Having played extensively for over 25 years in the oil and gas industry, who better to pick to likely head any of the oil and gas regulatory agencies such as Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), National Petroleum Investment Management Oil Field Services Companies (NAPIMS), Nigerian Content Division (NCD), Nigerian National Petroleum

A thoroughbred private sector man, who spent virtually his whole career in banking, Cardoso has been a close associate of Tinubu for as long as anyone can remember and was once in the running to be his deputy governor but he allegedly turned down the offer because he preferred the quieter life of the private sector. With Tinubu as president-elect and with talks 'national interest,' 'service to motherland' being used to cajole him out of his sedentary life, Cardoso will likely play an important role in the finance sector.

Tein Teinbo Seliyefubara

Jack-Rich, a wealthy businessman and politician, Tein Jack-Rich as he is fondly called, was a presidential aspirant in the All Progressives Congress Primaries that produced the now president-elect as winner. Ironically, despite being in the race with him, Tein and his wife, Elizabeth Jack-Rich, were named the highest-ranking Members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council from Rivers state after the primaries. Shortly after, Tinubu and his team paid him a visit and not long after that, he was appointed the Deputy Director of the PCC Fundraising Committee. Tein has also been seen having very crucial meetings with Seyi, the son of the president-elect. It is therefore safe to say that he will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Tinubu administration. A philanthropist of note, Tein is the President/Founder of Belemaoil Producing Limited, an indigenous oil Exploration Company in Nigeria.

Seyi Tinubu, one of the sons of Tinubu, is not only a silent operator who made some behind the scenes moves crucial to the emergence of his father as president-elect, Seyi has now emerged as a power broker of some sort. The young man who has since reconciled with Layal, his wife and mother of two of his children following his father's political win, has successfully established himself as the connecting door between those who are already seeking all kinds of favour with the incoming administration and his father. Because he has the eyes and ears of his father, anyone who refuses to acknowledge his influence will be doing so at their own peril. Seyi who prides himself as a philanthropist is the founder/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Loatsad Promomedia LTD, an outdoor advertising company.

Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu clocked 60 during the week and got many people wondering how he has been able to look quite good, much like a man in his late 30s. Well it's all thanks to being a gym buff. The businessman doesn't joke with his fitness routine and he maintains a healthy lifestyle. Just as he makes informed decisions on his numerous businesses, it is also the same way he makes the best decisions suitable for maintaining his boyishly handsome gait that allows whatever he wears, mostly corporate and casual attires, sit well on him.

Well, the father of six kicked off his celebration with a picture of his young self during his matriculation, a week to his birthday. He followed this up on the morning of his birthday with a video collage of himself at different stages of his life and how he has evolved from a rookie banker to a successful man who struts business districts of the world in tailored silk suits. Later in the day, a symposium with the theme, ‘60 for 60’ with the hashtag #TOEAt60 was held in his honour. The event had over 60 young entrepreneurs who have benefited from the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), in attendance to honour the accomplishments of the entrepreneur extraordinaire. And in the evening of the same day, he played host to guests and got Chinedu Okoli aka Flavour N'Abania and the brand ambassador of United bank for Nigeria, UBA, Ayodeji Balogun aka Wizkid, Chukwuka Ekweani aka CKay, to serenade his guests with music from their repertoire of songs. While his guests were dressed to the nines, the celebrant chose to dress down in a simple white shirt and a pair of 'adire' pants.

From all over the planet, world leaders like Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister; Bill and Hillary Clinton, former president and Secretary of State in US; President Muhammadu Buhari, President Emmanuel Macron of France; President Paul Kagame of Rwanda; President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana; Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote; and the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, et cetera, all sent him goodwill messages. The economist and philanthropist has over the years, built an enviable reputation for himself in the business world with tentacles spread across most sectors of the economy. He is the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa (UBA Plc), Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Heirs Insurance Limited, Heirs Life Assurance, Heirs Oil and Gas. He also has his hands also in the real estate sector

Although Ajudua is not a politician and has never sought political office, his influence in Ibusa politics cannot be ignored. He uses his connection and influence to decide the political outcome of those who care to pay homage to him or those he considers family, like his wife and mother of his only son, Princess Pat more popularly referred to as Adankele, who is a member of the Delta State House of Assembly and its current chief whip.

Princess Pat Ajudua had made attempts to contest for a seat in 2022 the House of Representatives, but her husband could not influence the decision of the delegates who instead gave the primary ticket to Ndudi Elumelu, who has since been sent packing from the lower chambers.

Like Lagos based Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo, Ajudua is known to deploy politics of intimidation, thuggery and violence to achieve his political goals and many dare not complain

about it, at least openly. During this election season, a video showing Ajudua telling voters to stay away from polling units and instead sit in their home if they were not going to vote for his preferred candidates, who were contesting on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, went viral on social media. Naturally, some people in the crowd cheered as he spoke, perhaps, either for fear of their lives or to remain beneficiaries of his philanthropic deeds. It is a well-known fact that it is impossible to find a family in Ibusa that Ajudua did not touch their lives positively. Again, just like MC Oluomo who has both the educated and illiterates in the Southwest as loyalists, Ajudua refers to himself as the 'Architect of Modern Ibusa,' the Onwa, (moon) to his people because he is the moon that shines its celestial light on them all.

Fayose Gloats Over Olujimi, Tambuwal's Defeat

Former governor of Ekiti State, Peter Ayodele Fayose, has been in a celebratory mood for the past three weeks over the defeat of those he considers to be traitors or his enemies. First, he was captured in a viral video celebrating the loss of Saidu Umar, the Sokoto governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Umar lost to his closest rival, Ahmed Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Fayose's celebration of Umar's defeat is predicated on the fact that he was the anointed candidate of the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, who had hoped that Umar will take over from him at the expiration of his tenure, two months from now.

Fayose accused Tambuwal of being a treacherous man whose defeat at the polls was payback for his series of betrayals.

Enumerating Tambuwal's sins, he said the governor betrayed the PDP in 2015, by defecting to APC and subsequently betrayed the president-elect, Bola Tinubu who helped him become speaker by dumping APC to return to PDP.

He said that while in PDP during his second coming, Tambuwal betrayed Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State who sponsored his presidential ambition in 2019. And

when it was time to reciprocate the gesture during the PDP presidential primaries in 2022, he turned his back on Wike and chose to support his fellow Fulani man, Atiku Abubakar.

In his home state of Ekiti, Fayose has not stopped gloating over his strategies for ensuring Senator Biodun Olujimi's third term in the senate. Ironically, he was instrumental to the rise of Olujimi's political career. Olujimi, who represents Ekiti South senatorial district was defeated by Yemi Adaramodu the APC senatorial candidate. of the APC at the polls. Recall that THEWILL had reported how Fayose openly worked against her re-election. Members of the PDP under the aegis of Fayose’s political umbrella, Osoko Political Assembly, resolved not to have her re-elected for allegedly failing to impact on her immediate constituency as a senator. They also accused her of working against the party’s interest in the 2022 governorship election in the state and of being high handed, as evident in the way and manner she single handedly threatened, hounded and intimidated a female politician who had signified her interest in Ekiti government house shortly before the party primary last year.

Although she condemned the members’ resolve to vote for the opposition party just to spite her and accused Fayose of being involved in anti-party activity, the national leadership of the party couldn't come to her rescue even when she presented the matter to them.

Fayose

Edun Chagoury

Tinubu

Tinubu

Jack-Rich Cardoso

STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

GRACE ADESINA MARKS 60TH BIRTHDAY IN COTE D'IVOIRE

Mrs Grace Adesina, wife of the President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, recently celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. She clocked 60 on January 2, 2023, but her day went without fanfare as her husband had lost his beloved mother, Eunice Adesina about two weeks earlier. In order to mourn the aged woman who died at the ripe age of 92, and also to give her a befitting burial, Grace's birthday was postponed till after the matriarch of the Adesina family was laid to rest. However, the Nigerian economist ensured he penned a heartwarming note on Twitter to celebrate his wife. He gushed over her while reaffirming his love for her. The former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development later laid his dear mother to rest on February

11 in Ogun State. He also picked a date to celebrate his lovely wife. The duo had a grand ceremony to mark Grace's arrival into the Diamond Jubilee club last week in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. The event was attended by diplomats, businessmen and friends of the family. The celebrant, who was dressed in a flowing black gown, had fun while thanking God for good health and grace to mark 60 fulfilling years on earth. Saxophonist, Beejay Sax was on ground to thrill guests to soul lifting music at the ceremony.

Businessman, Tony Elumelu was

Kwara Health Workers Accuse Abdulrazaq of Owing Allowances

The Kwara State Governor, Abdulraman Abdulrazaq, has been accused by some health workers in the state of owing them some allowances since 2022. The health workers, who are mostly ad-hoc staff, were recruited in August 2022 during the COVID-19 vaccination exercise in the state. They were promised N22, 500 every two weeks for a period of three-months and they agreed to work with the health agency in the state to vaccinate state residents against the Coronavirus pandemic. About 1,000 ad-hoc staff were employed under the Kwara State Primary Health Care Development Agency for COVID-19 vaccination, however, almost a year after the exercise, most of the team members are yet to be paid their allowances. It was gathered that those employed worked for at least six weeks between the 7th of August, 2022 and the 30th of October,

2022 before the agency ended their contract after the vaccination exercise was over. Some of the affected workers alleged that they were paid for only two weeks out of the six weeks they worked. All efforts to get the relevant stakeholders to pay them since then has been futile. Most of the affected workers lamented the hardship they have been subjected to as a result of the pay they didn't receive. Some revealed that they had to borrow money to transport themselves to work while the exercise was going on. It was gathered that the state government has not been able to address the issue because of its efforts in bagging another tenure. Some of the aggrieved workers

Abdulrazaq

also testified to the fact that the governor is always swift to respond to issues such as what the affected health workers are going through. Now that Governor Abdulrazaq has been re-elected, they have appealed to him once again to come to their aid.

also on ground to celebrate with the couple. Adesina and Grace have been married for 38 years, their union is blessed with two children and four grandchildren.

Fight Between Douye Diri And Timipre Sylva Gets Messy

The fight between Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, is yet to be over as the two have continued to exchange words. It started a few months ago during the inauguration of the state executives of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Sylva had rated the performance of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP led government low. He described Diri's administration as a failure in the areas of infrastructural development, urban renewal and power distribution. The two exchanged words and have

become political enemies since then. They have since sought avenues to antagonise each other and downplay their individual achievements. They resumed their hostility again over the conduct of Saturday’s state House of Assembly election.

An independent election monitoring group, had in a statement, accused Sylva of excessive show of desperation to win Brass Constituency 2 House of Assembly election for his stooge who was on the ticket, by attempting to compromise electoral officials in the area. The group also alleged that the

former Bayelsa governor engaged in a show of force in his bid to manipulate the results from polling units in Okpoama his hometown and Ewoama communities, using the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad hoc staff. Reacting to the development, Diri berated the Minister for allegedly trying to cover up his attempt to manipulate the results of the election in his constituency. The minister was labeled a leopard that never changes its spots. He was accused of returning to his familiar and infamous terrain of election manipulation and rigging once the results did not favour him and his party.

In response, Sylvia described Diri and the PDP as impulsive liars, saying allegations against him were grossly untrue. He added that the electioneering process at Brass Constituency II was stable, safe, free and fair, adding that the people went about freely voting for candidates of their choice, according to their conscience and their hearts. He added that evidence supporting their claims should be presented to the public and relevant authorities instead of capitalising on hearsay.

Meet Saheed Aderinto Who Won $300,000 Dan David Prize

scholarship that illuminates the past and seeks to anchor public discourse in a deeper understanding of history.

About two weeks ago, the social media was agog after a Nigerian, Professor Saheed Aderinto, won the highest historical prize in the world. Aderinto, a professor of History at the Institute of African and Diasporan Studies at Florida International University, USA, won the Dan David Prize, the largest historical prize in the world in recognition of his outstanding

The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding early and mid-career scholars and practitioners in the historical disciplines. The prize has an annual purse of $3 million, making it the largest history award in the world.

Born in Ibadan Oyo state, Aderinto completed his elementary school

at Adeen International School in 1990 and secondary school at Ibadan City Academy in 1996. He earned a BA in History from the University of Ibadan in 2004 before moving to the United States in 2005 to study at the University of Texas, where he received his MA and PhD in 2007 and 2010.

Aderinto spent 13 months in Nigeria, from March 2020 and July 2022, conducting research on his book and documentary projects on Fuji, an African popular culture. Aderinto has published 8 books, 37 journal articles and book chapters, 40 encyclopedia articles, and 20 book reviews.

Omolara Okunola Bows Out of SON

Dr Omolara Okunola, Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, at the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, has retired after spending 34 years of meritorious service at the organisation. Having joined the organisation in 1988, after graduating from the University of Nsukka, where she studied Food Science and Technology. She rose through the ranks before becoming a director in the establishment. To celebrate the exit of the former director, friends, colleagues and senior staff of SON organised a valedictory service, which was wellattended, in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State to mark her exit from active service.

While actively serving,

Okunola won numerous accolades in Ekiti and Oyo states, where she had worked. She bagged Head’s Awards on revenue generation in Ekiti State. Quality Inspection of Establishment award in Oyo State. Her performance among the Police Community Relations committees was also highly celebrated. She also distinguished herself as the Head, Food Group, in Standards Development Department, and as well as Director of Enforcement.

While speaking about Okunola during her sent forth service, her colleagues described her as a warm and receptive personality who left a good legacy and commendable work ethics in Oyo and Ekiti State where she worked.

THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA

Aderinto

Adesina

Douye Sylva Okunola

STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

APOSTLE JOHNSON SULEMAN EXPANDS BUSINESS EMPIRE

Apostle Johnson Suleman, the founder and General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries, also known as OFM, has expanded his business empire to include real estate.

The fiery preacher has just erected a state-of-the-art shopping complex in the heart of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. It was gathered that his latest feat is part of OFM’s initiatives to expand for more financial stability through alternative sources of income. The building is one of the real estate investments the preacher has been planning to embark upon for quite a while now.

One of the greatest beliefs of Suleman is that the church does not need to rely on offering and tithes to accomplish the purposes for which God has established it. Thereby relying on church members who are also hoping and praying to enjoy financial benevolence from the church.

The new complex, which is

a storey building, consists of relevant facilities, driveways, parking spaces and walkways that afford visitors the comfort of a unique and convenient shopping experience while moving between different departments, shops and units.

Apostle Suleman is one of the few clergies who is not relying on his ministry to survive. He has different businesses across the nation. He owns Hosanna oil & gas, a gym and fitness club, logistics and liaison business, publishing company, he also owns an international education outfit, Dynamic British International School, a water bottling company among other businesses. Suleman ensures he gives back to the society and his congregants from the proceeds of his numerous businesses. He opened a restaurant last year where church members and strangers can walk in to eat free food at a stipulated time of the day.

Why Toluwani Borokini Lost His Re-election

Toluwani Borokini, son of Most Reverend Simeon Borokini, the Anglican Bishop of Akure Diocese and Archbishop of Ondo Ecclesiastical Province, lost at the polls after his father washed his hands off his political ambition.

Toluwani, a member of the Ondo State House of Assembly representing Akure, South Constituency

1 under the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC, had sought re-election into the Ondo State House of Assembly on Saturday. However, he lost to his opponent, Oguntodu Olajide Johnson, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. This development is coming after Toluwani's father clearly disapproved of his aspiration.

Rev Borokini publicly declared that he will not support his son’s ambition to contest for an elective position this year. According to him, he will not involve himself in partisan politics because of his calling. He added

Margaret Idahosa, Son

Mark 25th Anniversary of Archbishop Idahosa’s Passage

The duo of Archbishop Margaret Idahosa and his only son, Faith Emmanuel Benson Idahosa, also known as FEB have marked the 25th death anniversary of the late televangelist and founder of Church of God Mission International, Archbishop Benson Idahosa.

RUKAYAT SHITTU BECOMES KWARA ASSEMBLY YOUNGEST LAWMAKER

that he had warned his son about this even before he went for first term in office. Being one of the highest-ranking clerics in the Anglican Church, the Bishop revealed that his congregants belonged to different political parties and it wouldn’t speak well of him as a cleric to support his son alone while neglecting his church members.

Borokini, who had some time ago conferred the title of Baba Ijo of the Anglican Church, Ondo on the Deputy Governor of the state, Eyitayo Jegede, who belongs to the opposition, PDP argued that if he had opted to support his son, he would have been biased about the title given to Jegede, adding that he might have lost his position as a Bishop of the Anglican Communion as well. The public disapproval of his son must have affected the turn-out of Toluwani's supporters and outcome of the election which took place on Saturday.

Rukayat Shittu, a 26-year-old lady, has been elected as a lawmaker in the Kwara State House of Assembly. Shittu was declared winner of the Kwara State House of Assembly election, representing Owode/Onire Constituency in Kwara State on the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Returning officer, Prof Hakeem Ijaya, revealed that Shittu polled 7,521 votes to beat her Peoples Democratic Party rival who polled 6,957 votes. Providence indeed has smiled on Shittu who is now the youngest lawmaker in Kwara State Assembly. She had the privilege of contesting because the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq passed a bill in 2021 which stipulated that any local Government with two constituencies is mandated to have one man and one woman as its representative. Despite the fact that the governor's bill favoured her, the price of the nomination form had to be slashed from N1million to N500, 000 before she could jump on board. Having groomed herself through participations in different political organizations and holding political posts, from being the first female Senate President for the Congress of the National Open University which covers over 85 study campuses a few years ago, representing her study centre at the national level and also being a member of a pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, the girl's child right advocate has taken her political career to the next level as the youngest member of the Kwara State House of Assembly.

a million people in attendance in 1985. He celebrated the legacies of his late. Late Archbishop Idahosa is one of the greatest charismatic Pentecostal ministers of gospel often referred to as the father of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. He founded Benson Idahosa University, Benin City.

Archbishop Idahosa died in 1998, after predicting his own death. He was sitting in his chair while receiving visitors from the United States when he gave up the ghost. Taking to their individual social media pages, they both celebrated the anniversary of their patriarch's death.

The female Archbishop shared a video of her late husband where he was preaching while penning a short note with it about his legacies. His only son, also shared a video of one of the crusades his father had at Teslim Balogun Square, TBS which had

How 2023 Election Sent Ibikunle Amosun Into Political Oblivion

The 2023 General Election may have just signaled the end of Ibikunle Amosun's political career. The former governor of Ogun State has just been relegated into political oblivion, following his many losses in the 2023 general election. First, he gave up his presidential ambition to support Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) who later became the presidentelect of the country. He was applauded for being a loyalist of the APC and a true son of the Southwest. However, Amosun’s decision to engage in anti-party activities made many doubt his true allegiance to the APC as many now see him as a politician who double-crosses and puts personal interests above party loyalty. He started betraying his party, by publicly antagonizing Dapo Abidoun, the incumbent governor of the state and governorship candidate of his party. He openly supported Biyi Otegbeye, the Action Democratic Congress, ADC candidate and also campaigned for him while stating that he still belongs to the APC. Members of the ADC and Otegbeye were hopeful that Amosun's influence and political strength would culminate in his victory at the

polls. They were disappointed at the last minute.

Amosun also threw his weight behind Olumide Aderinokun, the Ogun State Central senatorial district candidate under the platform of another opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He canvassed for his election while instructing his foot soldiers to ensure he wins.

Unfortunately, Aderinokun lost to Abiodun’s former Chief of Staff, Shuaib Afolabi Salisu of the APC. Suffering two defeats and losing to the opposition despite his political influence might affect Amosun while seeking any other political position in the nearest future because he is already known to be a politician who put personal interest above party loyalty.

Shittu

Suleman

Idahosa

Amosun Borokini

CHILDREN OF PROMINENT NIGERIANS WHO WON, LOST ELECTIONS (2)

The 2023 House of Assembly and Governorship elections had children of prominent Nigerians clinching elective posts and following in the footsteps of their parents. Shade Wesley-Metibogun presents some of the winners and losers of the election:

Barrister Marilyn OkowaDaramola, daughter of Delta State Governor and Vice Presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, emerged winner of the Delta State House of Assembly election, representing the Ika North/East Constituency on the platform of the PDP.

Okowa’s daughter, who was hell bent on clinching the seat, used every available tactic to ensure she emerged victorious at the election conducted on Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

She scored 5,035 votes out of the 5,298 valid votes in the Constituency. Her victory came on the heels of a video which surfaced online where she was pleading with members of the Peter Obi led Labour Party to vote for her. She gathered youths within her constituency who were loyal to the Labour Party and begged them not to vote for their party but to cast their votes for her.

Before her foray into politics, she was the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor of Delta State on Girl Child Empowerment. She directed the activities of the Girl Child Empowerment Office from July 2019 to March 2022 positively impacting thousands of lives directly, and tens of thousands indirectly, thereby setting a new standard for project execution in Delta State.

He is the son of late Buruji Kashamu, a former senator who represented Ogun East at the eighth assembly but died in 2020 due to complications from COVID-19. No doubt, the late politician passed the baton to his 26 year-old son. Rasheed contested the Ogun State House of Assembly Election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, representing the Ijebu North Constituency 1 in Ogun State. He polled a total of 10,004 votes to defeat the incumbent member of the seat Sylvester Abiodun, also known as Sly, of the All Progressives Congress. The younger Kashamu will probably be the youngest House of Assembly Member in Ogun state in the dispensation. He has a B.Sc in International Business and Management from Brunel University, London. And also a Master of Science degree in International Finance and Investment from the University of Surrey, England.

The son of Henry Ajomale, a former Commissioner for Special Duties in Lagos State, is gradually establishing himself as a politician of repute. He decided to walk in the footsteps of his father by signifying interest to contest for the House of Assembly seat in Oshodi/Isolo constituency II. He was among candidates announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner of the Lagos State House of Assembly seat under the platform of the All Progressives Congress. APC won 38 out of the 40 seats in the Lagos State House of Assembly at the Saturday’s state assembly elections in the state.

Mohammed Abacha, the eldest son of the late Military head of state, Sani Abacha lost his governorship ambition for Kano State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. This will be the second time he would suffer defeat at the polls.

Abacha's candidacy has been enmeshed in different court cases which made him miss the 2023 general election. During his party’s primary election, two parallel primaries were held which led to the emergence of two candidates, Abacha and Sadiq Wali.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) first declared Abacha as the candidate for his party but later published Wali’s name as the party’s legitimate flag bearer. The confusion caused by INEC made him to go for legal redress. He won the case and the court then declared him the duly elected governorship candidate of the PDP in Kano. However, Wali, appealed the judgment which led to his sack by the Appeal Court while declaring Wali the party’s legitimate candidate for the governorship poll in Kano. Abacha had to run to the Supreme Court for a final decision on the dispute. However, the crisis which characterized the candidacy of the party made the party’s followers become stranded. In 2015, he contested for Kano governorship election under the Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA) but lost to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of the All Progressives Congress.

He is the son of Orangun of Oke-Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin. Kasope is a 27-year medical doctor who decided to try his hands in politics for the first time and was successful. Abolarin contested the Osun State House of Assembly Election, representing Ifedayo Constituency, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He defeated the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to emerge victorious. His emergence at the polls makes him the youngest lawmaker in the Osun State Assembly.

Ibrahim Bello Mohammad more popularly referred to as IBM is the son of the former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Bello Mohammed Haliru, and younger brother to the late Barrister Abba Bello Mohammed. The 27 year old who is set to become the youngest lawmaker was declared the winner of the Birnin-Kebbi, Kalgo and Bunza Federal Constituency election. Ibrahim who contested on the platform of PDP polled a total of 50,781 votes to defeat his opponents, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Muktar Bunza, who scored 37,478, and Bello Relisco of Social Democratic Party (SDP) who scored 7,880.

he son of the immediate past governor of Jigawa State and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Sule Lamido, joined the league of children of prominent Nigerians to vie for political positions in 2023. Mustapha contested for the governorship seat in the state under the PDP. Having done a good job in the administration of the state, former Governor Lamido wanted the state to be handed over to a reliable successor which is why his son took up the challenge. However, he lost to his opponent, Umar Namadi of the All Progressive Congress, APC. Namadi, the winner of the election is the incumbent Deputy Governor of Jigawa state before he became the Governor elect.

TLadi Adebutu, the first son of billionaire businessman, Chief Kessington Adebutu, suffered political loss at the just concluded Governorship election in Ogun State. The former member of the Federal House of Representatives lost to the incumbent governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressive Congress, APC. Abiodun was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s returning officer, Kayode Adebowale. He scored a total of 276,298 votes to emerge the winner while Adebutu polled 262,383 votes to come second, trailing the winner with 13,915 votes. The 60-year-old governorship candidate was highly disappointed in the outcome of the election despite the efforts he put in to ensure he emerged victorious. He had to put the difference he had with one of his political rivals, Segun Showumi aside while seeking a joint effort from the chieftain to win the election. After the winner was announced, he led his team to INEC’s office to protest the result of the election while calling for a re-run election in the state.

Salihu Yakasai, son of frontline northern elder statesman and politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, lost at the governorship poll to Abba Yusuf, of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP. Ahmad Ibrahim, INEC’s returning officer announced Yusuf as the winner of the election after scoring 1,019,602 votes to defeat other candidates. This is the second time that Salihu will be suffering public humiliation in politics. A former Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, he was sacked for criticising the Muhammadu Buhari Administration. His second defeat is the loss he suffered at the polls which many claimed was caused by defecting from the APC to the People’s Redemption Party.

Idris, the son of late former governor and Senator, Abiola Ajimobi lost his attempt to represent the Ibadan South West Constituency II election last Saturday. He lost to Oluwafemi Fowokanmi, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who was declared winner of the election held across the constituency. It seems that the younger Ajimobi has come to the end of his political career with his loss at the polls. He was given the party's primary ticket on a platter of gold after he emerged the consensus candidate for his party.

Marilyn Okowa-Daramola Oladipo Ajomale

Mohammed Abacha

Kasope Abolarin

Rasheed Kashamu

Mustapha Lamido Ladi Adebutu

Salihu Yakasai Idris Ajimobi

Ibrahim Bello Mohammed

Her Excellency? Almost

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the title Her Excellency would have had a different meaning, different from the honorary appellation prefixing the names of redundant spouses of governors and presidents. For Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, the title would have been for real, a well-earned designation if she’d won the governorship election in Adamawa state on March 18. The title would have sat on her pretty well like the shawls she used to drape her shoulders with as part of her accessories.

One of the most popular female politicians in the north who’d been a member of the House of Representatives and now senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Aishatu Dahiru aka Binani contested under the banner of All Progressives Congress against the sitting governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Peoples Democratic Party. So far, the incumbent is leading with 421, 524 votes to the APC candidate’s 390, 275. The final result will be announced after the rescheduled poll on Thursday, March 30.

If Binani wins, then her political career would have shown brighter, putting her plum among the few female political heavyweights in the north. From being a member of the House of Representatives, she made it to the Senate where she was chairman of the House Committee on SDGs. Making it to the State House in Yola will only confirm her steady rise in the ladder of Adamawa politics.

Binani’s rise to political stardom is reminiscent of another female politician (who is also a Fulani) in the north Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan popularly known as Madam Taraba who was also a senator representing Taraba north senatorial district. Though she contested and lost as a governor in Taraba, Jummai was appointed Minister of Women’s Affairs in PMB’s government from 2015 until her resignation three years later.

By the time of her death in 2021 at 61, Madam Taraba had become undoubtedly one of the most influential female politicians in the entire north with a growing number of admirers of both sexes. Binani boasts the same following now, especially politically. In 2011, she trounced her opponents to represent Yola north, south and Girei federal constituency as a member of the House of Representatives. In 2015, she decamped to the All Progressives Congress and then contested for the senate in 2019, easily defeating Abdul-Aziz

For the women folk in Nigeria and beyond, it would have

been a moment to relish forever if Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed had won the governorship election in Adamawa state on March 18. She would have made history as the first elected female governor in the country. Her early lead in the polls elicited breathless anticipation from thousands of women all over the world, among them Catriona Laing British Ambassador to Nigeria who promptly sent a congratulatory message via her Twitter handle to Aishatu Dahiru. It turned out to be premature, which the Envoy has since deleted. Declared inconclusive by INEC, THEWILL wonders if Binani will be an almost in her quest to become governor of her natal state. Michael Jimoh reports…

Murtala Nyako candidate of the ADC and son of a former governor of the state.

On her chances of winning the governorship election in Adamawa, a commentator wrote recently that Binani is “the definition of a relentless fighter,” starting from her “party’s primaries to the day of the governorship election.”

Binani proved how relentless she was during the APC primaries. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was one of the aspirants and he was most favoured to win. But Aishatu Dahiru defeated him hands down, thus smoothening her way to the governorship race of March 18.

Sisters Act

For some other political observers, Binani’s ascending political career in Adamawa is more because of her closeness to wife of the president Aisha Buhari than her political acuity. Both of them are cousins from the same family in Adamawa. Both were born in the same year (1971) share the same name and have been more or less sisters with a sense of closeness that has cemented their relationship as time lengthened.

According to one credible source, Buhari initially had his eyes on Aishatu Dahiru as second wife after divorcing Safinatu in 1989. Elders in her family, the same source continued, persuaded the general to marry Aisha her namesake and senior cousin who is now First Lady.

Thus did Buhari and Aisha become husband and wife and thus did Aisha’s younger cousin, Aishatu narrowly miss being spouse of the man who would then become president of Nigeria. Of course, it goes without saying that if PMB had settled for his first choice, Aishatu would have been First Lady instead of the current one.

As for the current inconclusive election in Adamawa state, the same source opined that it is “turning into a fight between the First Lady and Fintiri, the incumbent. They want INEC to announce her by fire by force but doing that will lead to crisis in the state.”

It is possible INEC postponed the election in the hope of averting a crisis in Adamawa. It is also possible that, for the contending parties, there would be a lot of behind-the-scenes manouevres and deal making. If Binani emerges the governor, then life would no longer be the same for the woman who will become the number one citizen of a state in Nigeria.

For starters, The Chief Imam of Central Mosque Yola would have been hard put to oversee, manage the sitting arrangement in the mosque he presides

Binani’s ascending political career in Adamawa is more because of her closeness to wife of the president Aisha Buhari than her political acuity. Both of them are cousins from the same family in Adamawa. Both were born in the same year (1971) share the same name and have been more or less sisters with a sense of closeness that has cemented their relationship as time lengthened

over if Binani becomes governor. Like some Muslim governors in the north during festive periods like Ramadan, she would have had to go to worship in a mosque, her ADC in tow with two or so commissioners. Where would she and her retinue sit, in front with male worshippers or with the women behind?

It is true that while she was Prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto had her place in front with the men during worship. Would the Imams in Nigeria have made the same arrangement for Binani?

What’s more, as governor, she would have exercised her executive privilege of firing traditional rulers if need be. In a state with a predominantly maledominated Muslim population, what are the chances that Binani would make it as governor or even survive her tenure? For someone who narrowly missed being First Lady, will she also miss being Her Excellency this time?

These are questions begging for answers.

And answers won’t come until after the concluding election on March 30 in a state with the inspiring motto “Land of beauty, sunshine and hospitality.”

World Water Day: CSO Charges A’Ibom Govt On Need to Fund Water Sector

Acivil society organisation, under the auspices of Akwa Ibom WASH Policy Cluster (IBOMWASH+), sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and state stakeholders in water sector, has urged the Akwa Ibom state government on the need to fund the water sector in the state.

THEWILL recalls that the water resources sector management and regulation bill was signed into law by the present administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel in 2022.

ICPC Re-Arraigns Ex-JAMB Registrar

Ojerinde, Four Others For Fraud

Aformer Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, was on Friday, arraigned on seven-count charge of money laundering at a Federal High Court, in Abuja.

Ojerinde alongside his three sons: Olumide Abiodun Ojerinde, Adedayo Ojerinde, Oluwaseun Adeniyi Ojerinde, and daughter-in-law, Mary Funmilola Ojerinde, is facing a fresh charge filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

THEWILL reports that the ICPC had in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/97/2021, charged the former JAMB boss on July 6, 2021, on an 18-count charge, bordering on alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of N5.2 billion before Justice Obiora Egwuatu.

The Commission had alleged that Ojerinde committed multiple frauds while heading JAMB and the National Examination Council (NECO).

He was said to have used his position as Registrar of JAMB to corruptly confer advantage on one Jimoh Olabisi Olatunde, a public officer, by instructing Zenith Bank Plc to open an account No. 1002833087 in the name of JAMB/J.O. Olabisi into which he allegedly diverted a cumulative sum of N2,769,083,044.04 (Two Billion, Seven

Hundred and Sixty-Nine Million, Eighty Three Thousand, Four Hundred and FortySix Naira, Four Kobo).

He was re-arrested by officers of the ICPC in January 26, 2023, at the premises of a Federal High Court in Abuja and subsequently pleaded not guilty to the allegations and was granted bail in the sum of N200 million.

But in a fresh charge marked: FHC/ABJ/ CR/119/23, the ex-JAMB boss, his three sons and daughter-in-law were charged along with him.

At resumed proceedings on Friday, the re-arraigment of Ojerinde and other defendants was stalled due to ICPC’s failure to serve court processes and absence of other defendants in court.

Ojerinde and 10 others were to take their plea in an amended fraud-related charge filed by the ICPC. But the anti-graft agency’s lawyer, Henry Emore told the court that he was yet to serve court processes on eight to eleventh defendants in the case.

Based on the development, Justice Ekwo held that arraignment was only possible when all defendants have been duly served by the ICPC.

“I give you 19th April for plea. If the defendants fail to come to court, there shall be consequences", Justice Inyang Ekwo, held, and adjourned the matter for plea to April 19, 2023.

Abiodun Has Not Dissolved Cabinet – Ogun Govt

The Ogun State Government has denied reports circulating on some social media platforms that Governor Dapo Abiodun has dissolved the State Executive Council.

An Online News medium had reported that the governor had dissolved his cabinet. But, in a statement issued and signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kunle Somorin, the state government described the report as not

Anti-Party Activities: Kogi APC Approves Suspension of NWC Member Yakubu

FROM SEGUN AYINDE

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Kogi State chapter, has approved the suspension of a member of the National Working Committee of the party, Murtala Yakubu (Ajaka), by the executive members of Ajaka Ward 1 of the party, over alleged antiparty activities.

Yakubu, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, had been suspended by the entire executive members of APC, Ajaka Ward 1, Igalamela/Odolu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

In a letter dated March 20, he was suspended over alleged anti-party activities, insubordination, gross misconduct, unguided statement, running parallel party structure and encouraging factionalism in the party. Reacting, the leadership of the party in the state, in a statement signed by the State Secretary, Hon. Joshua Emmanuel, affirmed Yakubu's suspension, saying that he had been consequently barred from participating in all party activities.

The statement, titled, "Approval and implication of the suspension of Hon. Muritala Yakubu (Ajaka) by the APC", the State Executive Committee(SEC) confirmed that it receives the notice of Yakubu's suspension.

The statement reads in part, "The Kogi State Executive Committee (SEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) received a Notice of Suspension of Hon. Muritala Yakubu (Ajaka) from the Igalamela /Odolu Local Government Area Executive Committee which acted on the basis of his suspension by the Ajaka Ward 1 Ward Executive Committee."

only untrue, but misleading.

According to him, Abiodun, having won his reelection, has continued to perform his functions as governor by working with members of his cabinet.

Somorin, who affirmed that the state executive is still intact, said at no time has the governor directly or indirectly announced any dissolution, appealing to the citizens to disregard the report.

"The Kogi State Executive Committee of the APC, having perused the facts as alleged and established both the veracity and the gravity of the anti-party activities made out against him, has approved the disciplinary action, ie. suspension, meted to him by the appropriate organs below.

"For the avoidance of any doubt, we reiterate that the Ajaka Ward 1 Executive Committee and the Igalamela-Odolu Local Government Area Executive Committee of the party acted in accordance with Article 21 and other relevant provisions of the APC Constitution in the entire circumstances of this matter, and we uphold the same.

Despite the assent given to the water bill and the establishment of the Ministry of Lands/Water Resources, the water management agency, AK-RUWATSAN and the state waste management agency, over 77 percent of the population in Akwa Ibom State remains under threat of epidemic, occasioned by poor access to water, hygiene and sanitation.

Speaking during the 2-day event to mark the World Water Day, titled, "Accelerating Change", in Uyo, The project director, IBOM WASH Plus, Prof Gabriel Umoh, ranked the state 11 percent in ODF, with about 80 percent of the population without access to water and clean toilet facilities. According to him, With only one out of the 31 local government areas, Nsit Atai, being certified Open – Defecation – Free (ODF) status in 2019, Umoh, a professor of agricultural and development economics, said such negligence of the water sector has completely exposed the population to danger of water-borne diseases and stressed the need for serious reforms to reposition the sector.

Umoh, who is also the CEO, African Human Development Centre (AHDC), tasked the state government on the need for more political will and other stakeholders to bridge the gap through proper funding and strengthening of the state WASH policy.

“In spite of the efforts so far by government, our work in the state WASH sectors has shown that there still exists huge gap to be filled if the state must keep to the mission of the United Nations’ sustainable sanitation for all in 2030, as well as achieve the Executive Order 009 targeting ODF status in 2023.

“The budgetary allocation to WASH sector has been very low; WASH budget as a percentage of the state’s annual budget has remained less than one percent. The state is yet to have a clearer ODF roadmap and WASH policy", Prof Umoh stated.

However, the commissioner for lands and water resources, Captain Iniobong Ekong (rtd), who was represented by Mrs Asumpta Lawrence Udousoro, head of department (HoD), in charge of the water resources directorate, stressed the government’s commitment to addressing the WASH sector challenges.

He said, “The state government is putting up modalities to revamp the sector by rehabilitating the dilapidated infrastructure for adequate provision of water for its citizens. We are optimistic that in the nearest future, water will be provided in sufficient quantity and quality, and adequately managed for sustainability.

"This will also reduce incessant drilling of boreholes across the state, which could be catastrophic in the near future.”

FROM UDEME UTIP, UYO

FROM SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA

Enugu State Governor elect, Dr. Peter Mbah, addressing the Media during the press conference to present his acceptance speech in Enugu on March 22,2023.

UFC: Bleak Future Awaits Usman After Losing Title to Edwards

BY JUDE OBAFEMI

Inthe wee hours of Sunday, March 19, at the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas, USA, British fighter Leon Edwards officially ended the Kamaru Usman era as UFC Welterweight champion. It was not entirely unexpected, but it was painful to see Edwards defeat “The Nigerian Nightmare” in back-to-back upsets at UFC 286. The bout was a closely contested affair, with both fighters landing significant strikes throughout the fight, but the victory went to the British fighter via majority decision at the end of the five rounds.

Edwards, who entered the fight as the underdog, was able to control the pace of the fight and outstrike Usman in the later rounds. His victory was cemented in the fifth and final round, where he landed a significant knee to Usman’s face, leaving him visibly stunned and struggling to regain his footing. To his credit however, Usman did not hit the canvas this time, as difficult as it seemed to remain standing.

This was the third time that Edwards and Usman had faced each other in the Octagon. In their first meeting at UFC on Fox 17 in 2015, Usman won a unanimous decision. Their second fight at UFC 278 in 2019 ended in a stunning knockout victory for Edwards in the fifth round, ending Usman’s long unbeaten streak and his reign as the welterweight champion.

In the build-up to their third fight, there was a lot of anticipation and speculation surrounding the outcome. Many observers felt that Usman would come out on top and reclaim his throne as the champion, while others believed that Edwards had the tools to beat him once again. In the end, it was Edwards who proved his doubters wrong. To his credit, he put on a masterful performance against Usman. He was able to outshine the champion in several key exchanges, landing significant strikes that had Usman on the back foot at times.

One of the key factors in Edwards’ victory was his footwork and movement. He was able to stay light on his feet and move in and out of range effectively, making it difficult for Usman to close the distance and land his typical power shots that have been the Usman trademark over five

titles defences. Edwards also showed excellent takedown defence, stuffing most of Usman’s attempts to take the fight to the ground.

Despite his efforts, Usman was not able to impose his will on Edwards and was unable to secure a finish in the later rounds. This was a significant departure from his usual style, as he had finished several of his previous opponents in dominant fashion.

Edwards was awarded a majority decision victory, with two judges scoring the bout 48-47 in his favor, while one judge had it as a draw. With this victory, Edwards cemented his reign as the new champion and secured the number three spot in the pound-for-pound rankings. The 170-pound division is now under the control of the Birmingham, England man, who many fans of the Championship did not believe had it in him to achieve.

Unfortunately for Usman, in the latest rankings, “The Nigerian Nightmare” has plummeted to number nine, leading many fans to question if the end is near for the former pound-for-pound king.

Speaking on the fight, UFC Heavyweight Champion, Francis Ngannou, recently shared insights on Usman’s

training issues ahead of UFC 286. According to Ngannou, Usman did not have a proper training camp for the triple bouts due to injuries.

THEWILL recalls that Usman had been battling severe knee problems for some years, causing him significant pain before fight nights. Although he managed to return to the fight, Ngannou observed that Usman was slower than usual and took many steps back, suggesting that his physical setbacks may be catching up with him. Ngannou, who knows the importance of these preparation steps, also claims Usman did not have a proper training camp for the Edwards trilogy bout due to these injuries. The implications, according to this defence put up by Ngannou, are that Usman ought not to have hurried back into a rematch so soon after losing his title until he had sufficiently dealt with his niggling injury problems. As a professional, it was up to him to be at his most optimum for the challenge, with the right mental and physical fitness levels expected of the fightings in the octagon. Yet, Ngannou’s comments shed some light on the possible reasons for Usman’s defeat to Edwards at UFC 278 and his performance at UFC 286.

Usman, on his part, was gracious in defeat, congratulating Edwards and vowing to come back stronger

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...Bleak Future Awaits Usman After Losing Title to Edwards

After the fight, Edwards was jubilant, proclaiming himself the new welterweight champion and cementing his position as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

After spending almost an hour in the cage with Usman, Edwards had nothing but respect for his opponent. He acknowledged that their rivalry was purely competitive and there was no animosity between them. Edwards said: “I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do next. There was no beef between me and Kamaru. I feel we both just felt we were the better man and that was it.” Edwards added that he respected Usman but did not expect to have to fight him again in the near future.

Usman, on his part, was gracious in defeat, congratulating Edwards and vowing to come back stronger. However, UFC President Dana White confirmed that an Edwards vs. Colby Covington title bout was the next step for the Championship, an announcement that leaves Usman’s future in the UFC in an uncertain terrain. Covington is widely regarded as one of the top welterweights in the world and the American has been vocal about his desire to fight Edwards. It is a matchup that is expected to be one of the most highly anticipated fights in UFC history, with the excitement sure to get fans to quickly forget “The Nigerian Nightmare”.

Still, Usman has a number of options on the table and it remains to be seen who he will face in his next fight. He remains a decorated athlete in combat sports and

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one that opponents will need to approach with a lot of preparation and dread, in equal parts. He may have seen his five-defence reign at the Welterweight category ended by Edward, still, he is a tough contender on a good day. He has to focus on his next fight and options are already being discussed.

Belal Muhammad, who has not lost in over four years and has an eight-fight win streak, is one of these options. Although Colby Covington is next in line to take on Edwards, Muhammad should at least get a shot at Usman, given his recent performances.

We Can't Continue to Tolerate Xenophobia, Ethnic Profiling Within Our Shores

Rwanda, ethnic profiling and discrimination played a major role in the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of over 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis. The government of Rwanda has since taken steps to address the root causes of the genocide and promote national unity, but the scars of the past still run deep in the country. In South Africa, xenophobia has been a persistent issue for years. In 2008, xenophobic violence broke out in Johannesburg, leading to the deaths of over 60 people, most of whom were foreign nationals. In 2015, a wave of xenophobic attacks swept through South Africa, leading to the deaths of at least seven people and the displacement of thousands of foreign nationals. These attacks were fuelled by resentment towards foreign nationals who were seen as taking jobs and opportunities away from South Africans. The rhetoric of some individuals, such as Onanuga, Omokri and the despicable Femi Fani-Kayode only serves to inflame tensions and deepen divisions. It is important for leaders to speak out against hate speech and promote a message of unity and inclusiveness. In addition, efforts must be made to address the underlying issues that fuel ethnic and tribal tensions, such as inequality and lack of economic opportunities. It is important to recognise that all Nigerians, regardless of their ethnicity or place of origin, have a right to live and work in Lagos and contribute to the growth and development of the state. They also hold the right to decide who governs them. That is the very essence of democracy and it emphasises the need for free and fair elections that represent the will of the people, the true will of the people. The determination of who governs Lagos State, and any other State in the country for that matter, must belong rightly to the people, the residents of the State.

I must reiterate, ethnic profiling and xenophobia undermine democratic processes, as they deprive people of their fundamental right to choose their leaders based on their qualifications and policies. The use of violence and intimidation during elections also undermines the legitimacy of the electoral process, which is critical to the functioning of any democracy.

To this end, I recommend that:

Political parties and leaders can make a conscious effort to promote diversity and inclusion in all aspects of their work, including party membership, leadership positions, and policy-making. This can be achieved by deliberately recruiting members from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and ensuring that they are given equal opportunities to participate and contribute to party affairs. Education and awareness-raising campaigns can be an

effective way to address ethnic profiling and xenophobia in Nigerian politics. These campaigns should focus on promoting tolerance, respect, and understanding of different cultures and ethnic groups, and on dispelling myths and stereotypes about them.

Nigerian institutions such as the police, judiciary and electoral commission must be strengthened to ensure that they are free from ethnic and cultural biases. This can be achieved by ensuring that they are adequately funded and staffed, and that they are given the autonomy and independence to carry out their functions without interference.

Nigeria has laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and other factors. However, these laws are often not enforced or are poorly enforced. Political leaders and institutions must ensure that these laws are implemented effectively and that perpetrators of discrimination are held accountable.

Civil society organizations such as human rights groups, religious groups, and community-based organizations can play an important role in promoting tolerance and countering ethnic profiling and xenophobia in Nigerian politics. Political leaders should engage with these organizations and seek their input and support in addressing these issues.

Political leaders and institutions can promote inter-ethnic dialogue and cooperation as a means of reducing tensions and promoting unity. This can be achieved by organizing inter-ethnic forums, workshops, and other events that bring together members of different ethnic and cultural groups to discuss common issues and find solutions together.

Overall, addressing ethnic profiling and xenophobia in Nigerian politics requires a multi-faceted approach that involves political leaders, institutions, civil society organisations, and the wider public. By working together, all stakeholders can create a more inclusive and tolerant political environment that respects the rights and dignity of all Nigerians.

Ethnic profiling and xenophobia have no place in a country as diverse as Nigeria. We must work towards inclusiveness and unity, and not promote divisive and harmful rhetoric. The dangerous trends observed during the latest elections in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos State, must not be allowed to fester. We must all speak out against hatred and bigotry and focus on the good that Nigeria produces. Only then can we build a better and more prosperous Nigeria for all.

Khamzat Chimaev, who burst on to the scene in 2020 with a pair of weight class wins, is another potential option for the Nigerian. Although his recent inactivity in the Octagon has cooled his initial galloping momentum, he is still a formidable opponent who could provide an entertaining fight for Usman in future.

There is another challenge that fans will relish. Conor McGregor’s comeback against Michael Chandler later this year has also been generating interest and he may follow up with an Usman callout, which could make for a fight that is far bigger than belts. There will be prestige, ego, honour and recognition on the line should the UFC pitch Usman versus McGregor. The combustion that will result will be an explosive hazard.

Without a doubt, and even with Edwards indicating no interest in taking on Usman for a fourth bout, the Nigerian fighter not only remains a top contender but truly deserves another title opportunity.

In fact, he hinted at a future rematch with Edwards after their recent bout, saying he always knew he would see him again. That is also another option for Usman down the line. To get there however, he will have to prove himself worthy by imposing himself on the opponents that will come while clearing the path back to another shot at the title. That is assuming Edwards still holds it when that time comes. With a number of top contenders vying for the title, it remains to be seen how long Edwards can hold on to the throne.

One other option for Usman remains. There comes a point for every athlete when the hunger for competitive conquest fades away. At 35 and coming off two losses to a younger opponent, it is possible that Usman’s best days are behind him. Given Ngannou’s defence of his loss, Usman’s future in the UFC is uncertain and it remains to be seen how he will recover from his injuries and return to form. Yet, he has already achieved great things with 19 consecutive wins and five title defenses.

Retirement may be that option for him to embrace, especially since he has made enough money to sustain his family. While a high-profile opponent could reignite his passion, returning to the rank-and-file contender pool may seem dull for someone who has already reached the top.

The realisation that the rock-solid Usman era has officially ended is all too obvious in the emergence of a new champion in Edwards. Looking ahead, the pound-forpound conversation now shifts to another fallen member of the Three African Kings era of Usman, Israel Adesanya and Ngannou. The number eight ranked Adesanya seeks to reclaim his UFC middleweight championship in a rematch – or tetralogy – against number seven ranked Alex Pereira.

Although Adesanya has lost three times to Pereira in kickboxing, only one of those battles took place in MMA. If Adesanya can regain his momentum in the main event of UFC 287 on April 8, a rubber match between the two fighters could follow. Hopefully, Adesanya will redeem himself unlike Usman while the Nigerian audience also prays that there is redemption on the line for Anthony Joshua as well. For now, Usman will do well to look closely at his options and pick the best for himself, his family and his fans.

We Can't Continue to Tolerate Xenophobia, Ethnic Profiling Within Our Shores

Ethnic profiling and xenophobia have been prominent issues in Nigeria for decades, with incidents of violence and discrimination against nonindigenes occurring frequently. In recent times, these issues have reached a heightened and downright worrying level, especially during the latest elections in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos State. The “Lagos is not a no man's land” campaign is a clear indication of this, with the campaign advocating a pure Lagos that excludes non-Yorubas. This campaign has led to an increase in belligerent and outright ethnic jingoism, which is a deeply concerning trend.

The tweets by Bayo Onanuga, a spokesperson for the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and former presidential spokesman, Reno Omokri, further exacerbated the situation, with Onanuga stating that the 2023 elections should be the last time of Igbo interference in Lagos politics, while Omokri posted a tweet that insinuated that non-indigenes of Lagos should behave or relocate. These tweets have caused outrage among Nigerians who view them as outright and blatant ethnic profiling, divisive and harmful to our unity.

The implications of ethnic profiling and xenophobia are far-reaching and can have serious consequences for a country's unity and stability. We don’t want a repeat of the experiences of countries like Rwanda and South Africa, where ethnic tensions led to genocide and xenophobic attacks, respectively.

In Nigeria, the issue of ethnic profiling and xenophobia is particularly sensitive, given the country's diversity and history of ethnic conflicts. The promotion of a pure Lagos that excludes non-Yorubas could lead to further polarisation and conflict in the state, which could spread to other parts of the country.

The candidacy of Mr. Gbadegbo Rhodes-Vivour, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, was one of the issues that some persons had against non-indigenes in Lagos. It was so disgustingly toxic that some went as far as throwing his Igbo name, Chinedu, at him as if it were sacrilegious to bear that name. They painted him as an outcast, an infection that ought to be cut off, as if it deleted a history of excellence of the Rhodes-Vivour name that went back generations in Lagos State. It is an alarming example of how some Nigerians support disenfranchisement of non-indigenes in Lagos and it is a dangerous and divisive rhetoric.

Lagos, as a geographical entity, is located in the SouthWest region of Nigeria and rightfully belongs to the Yoruba. That is one side of the story. On the flipside of the coin, as Nigeria's commercial capital and melting pot of cultures, Lagos also belongs to all Nigerians who live there and pay taxes, regardless of their ethnicity. Its history as a coastal state also has a diversified story. The claim of it being part of Yorubaland has been contested by some who back their stance on history and the very words as the current Oba of Lagos himself, Oba Rilwan Akiolu noted in 2017.

In trailing the origins of the state, Akiolu preluded it by relaying his source as a descendant of Oba Ovonranwen Nogbaisi, his late paternal grandmother passed down to him her knowledge of Eko or Lagos as it is now known. He noted that this was along with historical facts that shed light on the city's fascinating past.

According to the story, Lagos was founded by Prince Ado, the son of the Oba of Benin, who became the first Oba of Lagos and named the town Eko. However, the name was changed to Lagos by Portuguese explorer Ruy de Segueira, who arrived in the area in 1472 and established a Portuguese expedition centre along the African coast. For many years, Lagos was a major centre of the slave trade, until it was annexed by the British in 1861 via the Lagos Treaty of Cession, marking the end of the consular period and the beginning of the British colonial era. The remain-

der of Nigeria was later seized in 1886, leading to the establishment of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914, with Lagos as its capital, due in part to the efforts of the Bini King.

Oba Akiolu noted that Lagos experienced significant growth even before the arrival of British colonialists, thanks to the contributions of the Awori, Bini, Yoruba and

Today, Lagos State is Nigeria's commercial capital, the country's most populous state, economic hub and has a population of over 21 million people, making it the largest city in Africa. Alone, it has about seven million voters even if it has historically seen low voter turnouts in elections. It is also a melting pot of cultures, with people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds living and working together. However, the state's political landscape is dominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC), led by Tinubu, who has been in power since 1999. The APC has earned an unenviable reputation for using ethnic and religious sentiments to win elections and maintain its hold on power. Tinubu’s foot soldiers have been deployed across the state to ensure this status quo remains unchanged by all means necessary. These actions generally undermine the democratic process and the right of every Nigerian to vote and have their voice heard.

As a voting bloc, the Igbo are unfairly categorised as tribalistic when they have not shown that strain of behaviour previously until they decided to vote for one who they truly believe is good for the country in the 2019 and 2023 polls. This situation is particularly troubling for the Igbo, who have consistently rejected their own kinsmen in previous presidential elections. Since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, Igbo voters have consistently supported presidential candidates from other ethnic groups overwhelmingly, highlighting their willingness to prioritise competence over tribe.

migrants from across Nigeria and beyond. These diverse groups of people each played a role in shaping Lagos into the vibrant, cosmopolitan city that it is today.

The Awori and Bini are considered the first settlers of Eko, with the Aworis speaking a distinct dialect that bears similarities to the Yoruba language, as well as a rich Bini mixture. According to tradition, the Aworis originally lived in Ile-Ife but were driven out by the Ogiso's stepmother, prompting them to follow Prince Izoduwa, who became ruler of the Ife people and is now known as Ooduwa. Today, the Awori are part of the larger Yoruba ethnic group and they are recognised as important contributors to Lagos' rich cultural heritage.

In the 1300s, the King of Benin learned that the Aworis were mistreating the Binis who had settled in Eko. In response, he sent his son, Prince Ado, to the area with an army to investigate the situation. Upon arriving in Eko, Prince Ado was warmly welcomed by the Awori, who invited him to stay and become their leader. Ado agreed, on the condition that they recognise the Oba of Benin as their sovereign ruler. The Awori consented, and Prince Ado was crowned as the first Oba of Lagos, a position he held for many years. The city then became a centre of the slave trade, with the support of both the Oba of Benin and his son, the Oba of Lagos.

Over time, Lagos continued to grow and prosper, attracting people from all over Nigeria and beyond. The palace of the Oba of Lagos, known as Idugaran or "palace built on a pepper farm," was built on Lagos Island, which was previously uninhabited until the arrival of the Binis and Aworis. Later, Yoruba settlers from Isheri in Ogun State and Ekiti were allowed to settle in Eko during a war and eventually came to outnumber the Aworis and Binis, leading to their claim of ownership over the city.

The Igbo voting pattern has sparked criticism and led to accusations of ethnic bias. However, the facts tell a different story and the Igbo's voting pattern should be celebrated. In the 2003 presidential election in which Ojukwu, the famed Igbo leader, vied, the South-East voted tremendously for his rival – Obasanjo. They also voted overwhelmingly for the Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket. In the 2019 presidential election, Dr Kingsley Muoghalu, an Igbo candidate from the Young Progressives Party (YPP), was widely regarded as one of the best candidates. Despite his qualifications, the Igbo rejected him and voted for another Fulani candidate. This is a clear indication that the Igbo electorate vote based on competence, rather than ethnic bias. Now, voting for Peter Obi and attempting to go with Rhodes-Vivour has suddenly made them tribalistic? Nigerian politicians often play the tribal and religious card to deceive voters and win power. The competition for political power and resources, which often takes on ethnic dimensions, is the key driver of these sentiments. Political parties and candidates often appeal to voters based on their ethnicity, using ethnic identity as a tool for mobilisation. This strategy often leads to the demonisation of other ethnic groups and the promotion of ethnic supremacy. It leads to a situation where non-indigenes feel marginalised and excluded from the political process, despite being citizens of Nigeria.

The recent attacks on non-indigenes in Lagos State, including the burning of shops and houses, are a clear indication of the dangerous consequences of ethnic profiling and xenophobia. These issues threaten the unity and stability of the country, as they create divisions and sow the seeds of conflict. As we saw in Lagos, they can result in violence and displacement, as people are targeted based on their ethnicity. They can also undermine democracy, as people are disenfranchised and excluded from the political process.

We do not have to look too far to call out these acts because of the dangers they pose. Again, the events in Rwanda and South Africa are within living memory. In

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It is important to recognise that all Nigerians, regardless of their ethnicity or place of origin, have a right to live and work in Lagos and contribute to the growth and development of the state. They also hold the right to decide who governs them. That is the very essence of democracy