By Kehinde Olatunji When Retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police Nuhu Ribadu, assumed duties as Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), he pledged to subdue insecurity and stabilise the world’s most populous black nation. Ribadu took over from former NSA Babagana Monguno, following his appointment by President Bola Tinubu on June 19. According to him, the administration of President Tinubu had the enormous responsibility of securing Nigeria, stabilising it and ensuring peace in all parts of the country. “This is work for Nigerians, and we intend to continue with what has been done. We will stabilise this country, we will secure our country, and we will make Nigeria peaceful because we believe the time has come for this country to enjoy peace, restore order and the rule of law just like any other country in the world. “Securing the nation is a continuous process. We will look at what has been done and build on it. We will count on your support in the course of discharging our responsibilities. “Mr President has a huge commitment to securing every inch of our country. We will work with all stakeholders to deliver on this vision. “This enormous task of securing our country is that of all Nigerians and all friends of Nigeria,” he said. But the question is, has Ribadu delivered on his promises in the past 100 days of his administration? Since his assumption of office, the military has neutralised 817 terrorists, apprehended 1,326 criminals and rescued 721 hostages in different operations across the country. Those apprehended include 42 kidnappers, 231 terrorists’ collaborators, 33 armed robbers, 80 cattle rustlers, 325 militias, 27 rail vandals, 73 gunrunners and 191 suspected oil thieves. A total of 4,560 terrorists and their families surrendered to troops in the Northeast during the period. The troops also recovered 501 weapons, 3,577 livestock, 3,269 assorted kinds of ammunition, and 674 other equipment within the period under review. In the North East, the troops of Operation HADIN KAI neutralised 240 terrorists, arrested 276 terrorists and collaborators, and rescued 147 kidnapped hostages, as well as surrendered 4,560 combatant fighters with their families to troops. They also recovered 169 assorted weapons, 1,195 assorted ammunition and 199 other equipment, comprising 57 AK47 rifles, one GPMG, 2 HK21 rifles, one FN rifle, one G3 rifle, one pistol, 22 dane guns, one double barrel, 73 AK47 magazines and three hand grenades. It also includes two LMG magazines, one RPG tube, two tear gas launchers, 674 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 500 rounds of 7.62mm x 54mm, 20 PKM rounds, one cartridge, two vehicles, 29 motorcycles, 47 bicycles, 18 mobile phones, 13 steering rod and pumps, five gearboxes and four baofeng radios and 158 livestock. In the North Central, the troops of Operation Safe Haven neutralised 94 terrorists, arrested 477 suspects and rescued 76 kidnapped hostages, as well as recovered 82 assorted weapons and 760 assorted ammunition. The breakdown includes 20 AK47 rifles, five revolvers, 27 fabricated rifles, six fabricated pistols, 13 dane guns, five pistols, two pump actions, six AK47 magazines, 523 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 190 rounds of 5.5mm ammo, 31 rounds 9mm ammo, 18 cartridges and 1,722 livestock. The troops of Operation Whirl Stroke also neutralised 83 terrorists, arrested 104 suspects and rescued 18 kidnapped hostages and also recovered 37 weapons, 68 assorted ammunition and 127 items and recovered two AK47 rifles, one FN rifle, five locally fabricated pistols, two dane guns, one pistol, 15 AK47 magazines, two G3 magazines, two FN magazines, one GPMG barrel, one Ak47 barrels, three rifle butts and one locally fabricated bullet. In addition, troops recovered four woodland camouflage, 15 motorcycles, nine mobile phones, six vehicles, five cutlasses, two pairs of black boots, one fragmental jacket, one generator set, three knives, two machetes and one saw and metal. In the North West, the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralised 248 terrorists, arrested 116 suspected terrorists and rescued 359 kidnapped hostages as well as recovered a total of 67 assorted weapons, 926 assorted ammunition and 160 other incriminating items. In the South-South, the troops of Operation Delta Safe neutralised 69 combatants, arrested 191 oil theft collaborators and rescued 12 kidnapped hostages. The troops also intercepted 6.6 million litres of stolen crude oil, 3.5 million litres of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), 188,650 kerosene and 65,600 litres of petrol. The troops also discovered and destroyed 249 boats, 28 pumping machines, and three vessels, as well as recovered a total of 51 assorted weapons. In the South East, the troops of Operation UDO KA neutralised 80 combatants, arrested 162 IPOB/ESN criminals and rescued 109 kidnapped hostages. The troops also recovered 63 assorted weapons, 320 assorted ammunition and 166 other incriminating items within the period under review. President of the Coalition for Peace, a Non-Governmental Organisation, Malam Adamu Haruna commended President Bola Tinubu and Ribadu for the improved security across the nation. He said the inter-agency collaboration initiated by the two has improved the peace and security across the country in the last few months. Haruna attributed the improved harmonious working relationship to why terrorists and criminals are currently on the run. In commending the efforts of Mr President and the NSA, Haruna said that such had instilled confidence in the minds of the farmers who are now returning to farm this rainy season for planting. He said that was a departure from the previous administration when insecurity was the nightmare of everyone; as farmers and vulnerable residents in communities got killed, kidnapped and their women raped. “This administration has been responding swiftly to distress calls, particularly acting on intelligence reports leading to attacks and arrests of criminals. “The inter agency cooperation and harmonious working relationship have led to improvement in security across the nation. “There is no doubt about this fact which President Tinubu and the NSA should be commended for. “It is worth saying that farmers are back to farm because they have confidence in the government’s prompt response to security threats, obviously lessening security challenges. “Last

  ,By Tonnie Iredia Section 188 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, provides for the removal of governor or deputy governor from office through the process of impeachment. The process consists of a written allegation of gross misconduct against the accused person who has a right to defend himself. If his defence succeeds, he is expected to be left off the hook; if not, he is removed from office. The said section 188 spells out in detail, the procedures and steps to be taken to consummate the process. Although, several deputy governors have been impeached since 1999 when democracy was restored to Nigeria, none of the impeachments has ever escaped from crass political rascality and abuse of process. The legislators always leave no one in doubt that their aim is always to carry out a hatchet job. To start with, whereas the constitution expects any impeached executive to have committed gross misconduct, the meaning of gross misconduct to legislators is imaginary. For example, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, former deputy governor of Zamfara State was impeached in 2022 for refusing to defect along with his governor from the Peoples Democratic Party PDP to the All Progressive Congress APC. To Zamfara legislators that amounted to be an abuse of office, criminal self-enrichment and failure to discharge his constitutional duties. If that perception was taken as rational, Nigerians especially citizens of Anambra State would have wondered why the same punishment was not meted to their own former deputy governor, Nkem Okeke, who abandoned his principal in the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in October 2021 to defect to the APC. Whereas political movements from one party to another are not illegal, Rauf Olaniyan former deputy governor of Oyo state was impeached in 2020, over his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The same charade had earlier taken place when Peremobowei Ebebi, the former deputy governor of Bayelsa State was impeached in June 2010 by the State House of Assembly. Two charges for which Sunday Onyebuchi was impeached as deputy governor of Enugu state in 2014 were, one: “gross misconduct” of running a poultry farm in his compound while the second, was absence from an assigned function. When video evidence showed he was actually at the event, the exact location where he sat was declared inappropriate and offensive. Ondo State is one of the states where the impeachment of deputy governors is not new. Already, two deputy governors, Olanusi Ali and Agboola Ajayi have had a taste of the bitter political hobby. Only last week, Ondo legislators served an impeachment notice on Lucky Aiyedatiwa the current deputy governor over allegations of gross misconduct. Aiyedatiwa acted as governor of the state until September 7, 2023 when the substantive governor Rotimi Akeredolu SAN returned from a three-month medical leave. Unfortunately, the House of Assembly has not properly educated the public on Aiyedatiwa’s list of gross violations. An opportunity presented to the House last Tuesday by channels television was poorly utilised by the tongue-tied presentation of its spokesperson and chairman of the House committee on Information, Oshati Olatunji. All that Oshati did was to repeatedly affirm that the proposed impeachment was not a witch-hunt while failing to underscore its inevitability. Viewers were left to feel that the allegation of misappropriation of N300 million was a political story. Considering that the House considers the matter strong enough to warrant an impeachment proceeding, the public expects a thorough investigation of the allegation. Who approved the amount? To whom was it paid and for what purpose? When was it concluded and what roles did the tender’s board and the audit department play? These are important questions because Ondo State legislators had in the past been projected as a group that has an inclination to concoct stories just to win an argument. Thus, governor Akeredolu needs to watch them. In 2019, the leadership of the assembly allegedly hatched a plan to arm twist their state governor whom they felt was frugal and who refused to release funds to them for the renovation of their deplorable chambers constructed in 1976. The game plan was to fabricate a story of snake invasion of the chambers as well as the collapse of the ceiling during plenary. Using intelligence from his loyalists in the House, the governor openly castigated the legislators for fabricating the story. On further probing, the media gathered that N2m was allocated to the assembly every year for the past ten years for fumigation of the complex while N57m allocation was given to the legislators on monthly basis. Although the law-makers managed to hold-on to their cock and bull claim, the matter died a natural death. How are we sure that the new attack on the deputy governor is not another plot? Akeredolu needs to be cautious because while some of the ring leaders of the new design may be seeking to merely demonstrate their loyalty to him, others may be looking forward to making direct material gains from the subject because it is an open secret in Nigeria, that many legislators expect financial rewards for ‘helping’ a governor to sack a perceived disloyal deputy. In Kogi State for instance, the legislators held-on tenaciously to their loyalty to the governor by ensuring that an alleged recalcitrant deputy governor Simon Achuba was still impeached even after the panel they set up to investigate him cleared him of any wrong-doing. As Sunday Onyebuchi former deputy governor of Enugu state testified after his impeachment was quashed in court, some of those who perpetuated injustice against him, came “to confess and plead for forgiveness saying they were used.” What seems to matter in Nigerian impeachments is that it is always successfully used to settle scores even if the legislators concerned are made to look foolish after gratification. They can change any rule or procedure just to achieve the goal. In the case of Mahdi Gusau former deputy governor of Zamfara State, the legislators severally redrafted

By Obi Nwakanma Last week at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Iseyin, Oyo State, Olusegun Obasanjo, former head of state, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the republic ordered “traditional rulers” from Oyo State to stand up and show some respect to the governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde. They of course all stood up. Obasanjo’s action did rile many “traditionalists” and conservatives, who are invested in the “volk.” The action was deemed a humiliation of the “kings of Yoruba land.” Among those who reacted badly was Mrs. Taiwo Obasanjo (Martins), a former wife of the former President, (for the records, General Obasanjo has denied that relationship). She berated General Obasanjo for such an act of disrespect to “traditional institutions.” In her own words, sent as a quick reaction titled, “OBJ Vs. Oyo Kings: A plea for forgiveness,” Taiwo (Obasanjo) Martins wrote:”Obasanjo should not have treated the kings with open contempt and humiliation in order to correct them and revealing their secret that they bow for him privately.” She went on to plead on behalf of her family for forgiveness. Obasanjo quickly dismissed her and stood firmly on his actions. Another key reaction came from the man they call the Oluwo of Iwo, Mr. Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, who was so miffed that he declared in a piquant huff: “Yoruba traditional rulers are not uniform(sic) men anyone can command at will. I don’t blame him, those royal fathers who stood up to obey such an embarrassing direction are to be blamed.” I dare to wager that Adewale Akanbi can huff and puff in the solitude of his quiet cove in Iwo, but if he had been present at Iseyin, he would have stood up, no questions asked. If he dared to defy Obasanjo on some “traditional ruler,” or “Yoruba Oba” presumption, it would not be beneath the former General to order him taken by the scruff to the podium, and lie him down.   Obasanjo would then have proceeded to publicly administer six of the best on his “princely buttocks.” The heavens will also not fall. It is not unheard of on such matters by Obasanjo. That is also where I draw the line with him: no man deserves to be humiliated. No man must be forced to stand up, or bow or kneel before another man. Perhaps that’s the Igbo part of me speaking, for we Igbo find it abominable to bow before another. The first thing the true Igbo mother, the chief custodian of Igbo culture, tells her child is: “gu zoro!” or “Ku lie oto!” (each phrase means, “stand and hold yourself high. Do not bow!” It doesn’t matter the circumstance of their lives, because every Igbo is equal: rich, or poor, or even titled. The difference is that the aristocracy of the titled, when it comes to occasions, when titles are honored, have certain designated privileges. But all titles are open to every man, born to the land, whom the Igbo call, “Di Ala” – Lord of the land – whenever he is able to complete his rites. It may not be in this incarnation, but in the next. There is no higher sovereign entity than the Di Ala. There is no greater force in Igbo land than the sorority of the daughters of the land – the “Umu Okpu,” or the “Umu Ada.” They are like the Supreme Court of the land. They arrive only when there are no other pathways to compromise in the land, and the force the men, their brothers, to settle any disputes. If they feel a threat to the land of their fathers, they arrive fully girded up as a body, to compel the men to organize a militia of young men to defend the land. On such occasion, they arrive with war songs, the fresh palm frond, and the “Ogbu-Adani,” the short cutlass, which every traditional Igbo woman owned, because in times of yore, the Igbo woman was a combatant or warrior, who was well-trained to defend the land militarily, as Olaudah Equiano did testify. They always organized the rear guard of Igbo military defence; a fact which the British colonial administration did not understand, until the women demonstrated a high capacity to organize and dismantle the attempts by the British to make kings in Igbo land in 1929. The daughters of the land were so powerful that no man was buried in the land, unless these women authorized the men to bury him. If a man was known to have defied the mores of the land, and committed abominations while alive, at his death, the daughters of the land will arrive with a song: “Tu fuo nu nwa ruru aru, Echi le amuta ozo!” (Cast away the evil and abominable child, tomorrow we shall give birth to better than he!”) Such men are never buried on the land. They are taken either to the crossroads or to the “Grove of the Spirits,” to be interred. Those who defy or harm the daughters of the land, or a child of a daughter of the land, provoke the goddess of the land, Ala. No one wished to do that. It is true, Christianity and European ideas of modernity, destroyed and contained the power of the Igbo woman substantially, but they are still a vital force among the Igbo. The real Igbo woman does not bow to any man – she stoops to lower her frame, with her still head held high, when she comes to salute her man, or elder relations. But traditionally, to no other man. As a matter of fact, her knees are not allowed to touch the ground. She is made to rise before they do. When she lowers her frame, the man to whom she stoops, is obligated to touch the back of her shoulder in a symbolic act of veneration, indicating that the shoulder of the Igbo woman is the foundation on which the Igbo home is established. It is much like the Catholics and

  By Dele Sobowale God, give me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I can’t change and the wisdom to know the difference” – Irish Prayer I campaigned on this page for eight years against Buhari once he revealed his true colours with all his appointments – mostly northerners, Fulani, in-laws and close associates. He exhibited bigotry and narrow-mindedness. He demonstrated till his last day in office that competence and character were not important elements – as long as you were Muslim and called Mohammed, Muhammadu or Abubakar. For eight years, the man drove the Nigerian economy steadily towards the ditch. Thus, as far as I was concerned, the 2023 election was a referendum on Buhari’s government and the All Progressives Congress, APC. To some extent, I really did not care who the APC candidate would be; because voting for him amounted to endorsing eight years of Buhariism. To me, anybody who voted for APC in the election has no reason to complain about the hell in which we find Nigeria now. That was your prayer answered.   Tinubu’s emergence did not change my mind much. His Muslim-Muslim ticket was ill-considered; and the fact that he received only 37 percent of the votes vindicates the belief that majority of Nigerians were not in support. But, the feeble-minded framers of the Nigerian Constitution remain the only people who forgot to call for a run-off election if no candidate received 50-plus percentage of the votes. They were SANs. That tells us the quality of our “learned” men. That said; after reading the judgment of the Court of Appeal, it is my conclusion that the election is over. Given the erratic verdicts handed down by the Supreme Court, there is very little doubt in my mind that only the greatest miracle of the new millennium would alter the judgment. Only God knows when next we will have Justices respected by the majority of Nigerians at all levels of the judiciary. The case is closed and each of us is now called upon to determine what we want to do about it. My mind is made up on the matter; not because I like it, but because this is a situation I can’t change. Tinubu is the President now. START WITH PRAYERS “Whenever a man prays, he prays for a miracle; every prayer reduces itself to this: Great God, grant that twice two be not four” – Ivan Turgenev, 1818-1883. I have already started with prayers for his success. Every morning, in our prayer house at Massey Street, Lagos Island, it is mandatory for us to pray for the President – whether we like him or not. Today, 99.99 per cent of Nigerians are suffering – unlike at any time in the nation’s history. Most of the problems resulted from eight years of Buharinomics – a most destructive form of economic management. Wishing any President to fail amounts to wanting to commit suicide. We will perish before the man does. That is why we pray. Prayers for Tinubu have taken on additional intensity because no previous Nigerian Head of State, HoS, military or civilian, has ever been confronted with deadlock so total as we are experiencing now. Nigerians, in the future, would be wondering if this was a democratic republic or a mental clinic run by the most deranged inmates. Start with this information just reaching us. ‘Nigeria’s debt jumps by 75% in three months, hits N87tn’ – Report, September 15, 2023 Reading further down, we were told that CBN loans to FG, promissory notes raised public debt by N37tn between April and June. In other words, the Buhari government, in collusion with the Central Bank of Nigeria and other lenders (most probably banks), increased the nation’s debt burden by more than double the total 2023 budget in the last three months alone. And, all these crimes were committed without reference to the National Assembly, NASS, which statutorily must approve all the loans being taken. None of the main actors, President and CBN, can claim ignorance of the laws governing Ways and Means loans. Obviously, the infractions were deliberate and constitute contempt for the NASS, the rule of law and the Nigerian people. There are other reasons why we must pray hard for Tinubu. ‘FG inherited N14trn worth of road projects – Umahi’ – Report The new Minister of Works belongs to the APC as Buhari and former Works Minister, Fashola. We can, therefore, accept as fact that the nation owed road contractors N14trn. Furthermore, Umahi disclosed that Tinubu’s government inherited 2,604 projects. He even told us that some projects are 20 years old – meaning that they originated during Obasanjo’s regime; and in his first term for that matter. A good example is the East-West Road running from Effurun in Delta to Calabar in Cross River; and which remains uncompleted till today. But, of all the Presidents, Buhari has deceived us most that he was borrowing to improve infrastructure and “to leave Nigeria a better place”. Questions immediately arise. What was done with all the money borrowed legally and illegally — given the N10trn said to be owed to contractors? How many years will be required to have the road network Nigeria deserves? How are we going to fund the roads given the debt load generally? Clearly, Nigerians have been wickedly duped by the Buhari administration. We are now beginning to know how terrible that government has been. It was clueless, reckless and totally corrupt, it was wicked. Read what follows. RUNNING GOVERNMENT ON A BEGGING BOWL ‘Nigeria Loses N8.7trn for Failing to Meet OPEC Quota in 18 Months’ – Report, September 17, 2023. That screaming front page report in a national paper was attempting to draw attention to a problem which should concern all of us – particularly the Tinubu government. It has several ramifications. Only a few can be touched upon now. First, there is a direct correlation between our low