Ladies and Gentlemen,

Ordinarily, this press conference would have been dedicated solely to expressing PANDEF’s appreciation to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for graciously receiving the high-level South-South delegation at the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. However, we find it necessary to address a deeply concerning and regrettable development that has arisen in the aftermath of this visit—namely, the media chat conducted by the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.

1. Purpose of the Visit to Mr. President

The visit to Mr. President, attended by eminent South-South leaders, including the region’s most senior traditional rulers, former governors, senators, ministers, retired senior military officers, business leaders, and other distinguished citizens, was held at the invitation of Mr. President himself. The meeting provided a valuable platform to discuss pressing issues of national and regional importance, including:

i. The imperative of peace in Rivers State and PANDEF’s ongoing mediatory efforts.

ii. The need for Presidential assent to the South-South Development Commission (SSDC) Bill, passed by the National Assembly, to ensure the region’s equitable development.

iii. Urgent infrastructure development, particularly road networks and the optimal utilization and expansion of existing and new ports.

iv. Resolution of socio-economic challenges affecting victims of the Bakassi crisis.

v. Strategies to enhance oil production and promote greater inclusion of South-South indigenes in the governance of the oil and gas sector.

vi. The necessity of a systematic environmental cleanup in oil-producing states.

vii. The continued advocacy for true federalism and restructuring.

2. PANDEF’s Expectations from the Engagement PANDEF and the people of the South-South expect that these issues, which Mr. President acknowledged with assurances of follow-up action, will be diligently pursued, leading to tangible progress in the near future.

Regarding the situation in Rivers State, PANDEF fully embraced Mr. President’s directive to the organization to sustain its ongoing mediatory and reconciliation efforts—an initiative he commended, recognizing the caliber of individuals involved.

Since that meeting, PANDEF has intensified engagements with key stakeholders, fostering dialogue to achieve an amicable resolution that guarantees lasting peace and harmony in Rivers State.

3. Disparaging Comments by the Honourable Minister

It is, therefore, both shocking and unfortunate that, barely 24 hours after this significant engagement with Mr. President—an engagement that rekindled hope for peace and stability— the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, held a media chat in which he launched an unwarranted and deeply inappropriate attack on PANDEF and its leadership.

In his remarks, the Honourable Minister characterized PANDEF as "the worst organization ever" and accused its members of visiting the Presidential Villa merely to solicit financial favors. These statements are not only false but also unbecoming of a public official of his stature.

Even more concerning was his disparaging remarks directed at revered South-South leaders, including the late Chief E.K. Clark, a national icon and former PANDEF leader, whose legacy was duly recognized by Mr. President during our visit, with a minute of silence observed in his honor. Equally unacceptable was the crude and disrespectful attack on another national treasure His Majesty, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, former Military Governor of Rivers State and current Chairman of PANDEF’s Board of Trustees.

4. PANDEF’s Stance

To set the record straight, PANDEF the foremost socio-political body representing the South-South regions, composed of some of Nigeria’s most distinguished personalities. The delegation to Mr. President included chairpersons of at least four of the six South South states' traditional councils, senior traditional rulers of major ethnic groups, former governors, past presiding officers of the Senate, prominent entrepreneurs, academics, and high-ranking retired military officers.

It is, therefore, highly regrettable and totally unacceptable that a serving minister in the Federal Government would exhibit such brazen disrespect towards individuals of this standing. This attitude perhaps explains his continued refusal of the Minister to engage with the Peace and Reconciliation Committee, which PANDEF constituted as far back as October 2024, despite repeated attempts to reach.

5. The Efforts of the Peace and Reconciliation Committee

For the avoidance of doubt, the Peace and Reconciliation Committee, which remains committed to resolving the Rivers State crisis, comprises distinguished statesmen, including:

- Obong Victor Attah, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State.

- Col. Pam Ogar, former Military Governor of Kwara State.

- H.E. Admiral Jonah John, former Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State.

- Chief Mrs. Stella Omu, Engr. Emmanuel Ibok-Essien and Sen. Roland Owie, all three at different times former Chief Whips of the Senate.

- Rt. Hon. Stella Dorgu, former leader in the House of Representatives.

While the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has demonstrated willingness to engage with this committee, the Honourable Minister has consistently rebuffed all attempts to reach him opening up at dialogue. Given his open hostility and dismissive attitude toward PANDEF, the organization can no longer subject these esteemed senior Nigerians on peace mission to such levels of disregard and disrespect.

6. Appeal to Mr. President

PANDEF hereby calls upon Mr. President, as the father of the nation, to prevail upon the Honourable Minister to retract his inflammatory statements and extend due respect to these eminent Nigerians and traditional rulers who were, after all, esteemed guests of the Commander-in-Chief. It is apt to remind that the Minister does not own the Niger-Delta and his errant conduct should not be condoned.

Notwithstanding this regrettable development, PANDEF remains unwavering in its commitment to peace, stability, and equitable development in the Niger Delta. We will continue to engage with great vigour, all relevant stakeholders in pursuit of lasting harmony in Rivers State and the broader South-South region.

7. Conclusion

We appreciate your time and attention. Thank you.

Signed

Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali

Sometimes a woman finds herself at a destination she did not plan for, a place where she neither bargained for nor boarded a bus or plane to. She just wakes up and finds herself there, a totally new place where she has to learn a new language, new coping skills, a different way of life. What is she supposed to do especially when the new place brings with it both fortune and challenges?

Let us start with a woman who married a young brilliant middle-income man when they were both junior executives in a bank, and then 20 years later, he becomes a traditional ruler! Two decades in the banking sector means they had gone really far, travelled wide and were already looking at soon becoming Executive Directors or even something bigger on the Directors’ floor. Who has an idea what becoming a traditional ruler in Nigeria, Africa entails? The difference between being a Regional Manager of a bank and becoming a wife, mother and queen is like the distance between Lagos and Australia.
Taiwo is overwhelmed. Yes, she knew her husband was a prince but she never thought the royal rotation would swing that fast in their lifetime. But two kings died in quick succession and just like that, her husband was chosen by the royal house and the oracle to go step into his ancestors’ shoes.

‘We were both just building our careers and minding our business in our corner of the banking world. We had had our share of couples’ trouble but nothing close to that weekend when the elders of the family and kingmakers came to deliver their royal message. Of course, we started with shock, denial, resistance. Then when they left, the arguments started, followed by tension, confusion, more arguments and even ultimatums.’
Why you?

Couldn’t they have chosen your uncle, a more elderly prince?
What is going to happen to our plans? Are you actually going to accept it, leave Lagos and move to your hometown?
What about the children, their schools?
Must I follow you home?

Taiwo was faced with the option of staying back in Lagos and losing her place and position in her husband’s life. A Yoruba king is incomplete without his queen or queens. That last part was a major concern, major trouble. Yoruba Oba tend to keep harems. First. He traditionally inherits the wives of the late kings, that is if he they are alive and living in the palace. The details of the inheritance are royal secrets, as many as he wants. Then he can marry more, , after all he is the ‘husband of the town and second-in-command to the creator.’ Anyway, here is a banker, now an Olori, faced with tough life-changing decisions. She does not want to stop working or end her career. She does not want her husband to turn his back on his heritage but she does not look forward to becoming the ‘iya wa’ or Senior Olori with young Oloris prancing up and down the palace and stealing the home she built.

Yours sincerely has two friends who are Oloris. I also have friends who are traditional rulers, two of whose wives opted to live outside the palace, ceding their queen thrones to new queens. It is a tough choice for a woman. Our traditional stools are tasking and some of them do not want to share the occupiers of the stools with their wives. So, what is your advice for a doctor, banker, politician whose husband suddenly becomes a king? How does one move from city life to the slow and quietness of the countryside and ‘bed-sharing’?

A friend’s marriage just graduated from ‘separation’ to divorce because her husband decided to obey ‘the call upon his life’ to move into full-time ministry. ‘Yes, I am a Christian but I am not ready to be a Pastor’s wife or Mummy G.O. We had been on this matter for years and I had always told him that the rigours of following a pastor all over the place was not one that I wanted. He could be a pastor but a full-time one? No. It would mean me picking the family bills, dropping certain ways of life I am already used to, being constantly under scrutiny, fasting and almost permanently living in the church but he insisted that the call had become too loud to be ignored.’ That was how my friend moved abroad. He is miserable. She is miserable. The marriage is almost over. How does one counsel a woman in a case like this?

What about where the struggling young man you married makes good quickly. One year, you are scrimping and saving to make rent and in just five years, you have moved into a five-star estate and driving luxury cars? A wife should be happy and thank her stars, right? Well, that comes with its own challenges too. This rich husband is hardly ever at home and the women winking and blinking at him are a different story. Those who are not doing juju are using every known and unknown feminine whiles to take him away from you. Then the ‘poor’ wife wakes up one morning and there are love children in the mix and curvaceous women are parading themselves as the other ‘Mrs’. To worsen an already bad case, a couple of those desperate women are daughters of the husband’s benefactor or business partners, men he does not want to wrong. Well, the wife is feeling wronged and oppressed.

What should a wife expect if her husband finds wealth early? What should she not do, think or consider? How does she enjoy that wealth without depression and high blood pressure?
The politician’s wife. Sounds already like the title of a book or a movie, a life of drama. Are you smiling or shaking your head? She is the envy of many women, even men. Her husband is powerful, connected, influential. She is the grand hostess whose home is haven for men and women who are movers and shakers in her community, state or in the country. But there is the private pain, the tears she wets her pillows with because of who her husband is. Her husband is busy, hardly ever available even when he is sitting right beside her. His libido is down because he is preoccupied, he says but she believes it is because he is servicing many websites outside.

How exactly do you counsel a woman whose husband’s changed status throws her into the deep end of the pool when she never thought she would ever need to swim?
Please share your thoughts via email, Facebook and Whatsapp.


Re – The problem with the whole truth
I agree 100% with the article. Men flaunt their previous escapades (my children told me it is currently called body count) as validation of their ability to engage. Unfortunately, they also love a ‘tear leather’ virgin or manage a lady who can pretend that no man has climbed them but lost their virginity during the final tournament a long-jump Olympics.
Women should be wise. Please don’t tell in graphic details your past even if your man has given a 10-page detail of his. Unfortunately, it is men’s world. His own previous escapade is termed a ‘badge of honor’ while your own is ‘a shameful’ past!
Men are selfish. A widower on the average remarries two or three years after the passing of his wife. Unfortunately, a widow may not have another opportunity, unless God intervenes.
Our women should be wise.
-Tunde

Ripple has become the first blockchain payments firm to secure a licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

This is the firm’s first licence in the Middle East, and enables the firm to provide regulated cryptocurrency payments and services within the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC).

The approval allows Ripple to make its payment products accessible to businesses in the UAE.

In 2020, the company established its Middle East headquarters in DIFC in 2020 and now has over 20% of its global customer base operating in the region.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said: “We are entering an unprecedented period of growth for the crypto industry, driven by greater regulatory clarity around the world and increasing institutional adoption. Thanks to its early leadership in creating a supportive environment for tech and crypto innovation, the UAE is exceptionally well-placed to benefit.”

DIFC Authority CEO Arif Amiri stated: “We are thrilled that Ripple is deepening their commitment to Dubai by securing a DFSA licence that makes them the first blockchain-enabled payments provider in DIFC. This milestone not only highlights our commitment to fostering innovation, but also opens the door for Ripple to tap into new growth opportunities across the region and beyond.

Ripple's own RLUSD stablecoin, launched in December 2024 on global exchanges, has exceeded a market cap of $130m, the company stated.

The DFSA licence is the newest addition to Ripple's portfolio of over 60 regulatory approvals globally.

Last month, Ripple partnered with Portuguese currency exchange provider Unicâmbio to enable instant cross-border payments between Portugal and Brazil

"Ripple gains licence for crypto payments in UAE " was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand.

[GlobalData]

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has explained the rationale behind his administration’s economic reforms, saying the primary motive was protecting the interests of future generations.

A statement by spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said the president spoke on Thursday at the State House in Abuja while receiving a delegation of former National Assembly colleagues from the aborted Third Republic, during which he served as a Senator representing Lagos West.

The president said for 50 years, Nigeria was spending money of generations yet unborn and servicing the West coast of the nation’s subregion with fuel, adding that it was getting difficult to plan for the future of Nigeria’s children

He highlighted the challenges faced at the beginning of his administration, particularly economic and social issues, expressing gratitude for the delegation’s support in addressing the difficulties.

Tinubu declared that the administration had been able to stem the tide and expressed appreciation to Nigerians for their collective support in turning things around.

“We faced serious headwinds when I took over, very challenging times. Nigeria would have been bankrupt if we had not taken the actions that we took, and we had to prevent the economy’s collapse.

“Today, we are sitting pretty on a good foundation. We have reversed the problem; the Exchange rate is stabilising. Food prices are coming down, especially during Ramadan. We will have light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

He reiterated that firm adherence to democratic tenets is the best route to economic, social, and political development.

“I am happy that you are holding to your belief in democracy. I thank you for keeping faith and remembering how we started. Some people missed the ball. Some leadership failed, but we kept the faith with our democratic beliefs and freedom and the right to aspire to the highest office in the land. I am benefiting from it,” Tinubu added.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee Inter-Parliamentary Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has explained why the purported petition from suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is “dead on arrival” at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Senator Ibrahim who made the assertion in a statement in Abuja, emphasised that Nigeria, rather than Senator Natasha, is the member of the IPU.

“A petition can only be lodged against another member state by a member state.

“This implies that the IPU cannot consider petitions from individuals who are not members,” he began.

Ibrahim added: “The suspended Senator Natasha is not a member of the IPU, but Nigeria is!

“Additionally, the suspended Senator cannot represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I served as the interim president of the IPU in Geneva in 2023, and I am familiar with how the IPU operates after presiding over its proceedings.

“Furthermore, as Chairman of the Interparliamentary Committee in the Nigerian Senate, I did not approve or authorise the suspended Senator Natasha to attend the IPU on behalf of Nigeria to the Senate President.”

[TheNation]

Chelsea have reached an agreement to sign highly rated Portuguese youngster Geovany Quenda from Sporting CP, with the winger set to join the Blues in 2026.

According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano on Friday via X, the deal, finalised after a swift negotiation process, will see Quenda sign a seven-year contract with an option to extend for an additional year.

His medical has already been completed, paving the way for his future move to Stamford Bridge.

Quenda has reportedly given his approval to Chelsea’s project and the plans of new manager Enzo Maresca.

Romano stated: “Chelsea agree deal for Portuguese top talent Geovany
Quenda—here we go. Medical done for Quenda after secret blitz, he will join Chelsea in 2026. Club-to-club agreement completed with Sporting, and Quenda said yes to Chelsea’s project and Enzo Maresca’s plans.

“Geovany Quenda’s contract at Chelsea will be valid for the next seven years, all agreed last night. There will be also an option to extend the agreement for +1 year.”

[Punch]