Former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has addressed the long-standing controversy surrounding the assassination of a journalist, Dele Giwa, describing it as part of “booby traps and acts of destabilisation” targeted at his administration.

Dele Giwa, the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Newswatch magazine, was killed by a parcel bomb delivered to his Ikeja residence by still-unidentified couriers on October 19, 1986, during Babangida’s military regime.

The murder remains unsolved to this day and is considered one of the darkest moments in Nigeria’s media history. Many pointed accusing fingers at Babangida and his government.

However, in his newly launched autobiography, A Journey in Service, Babangida denied any involvement in the assassination. He questioned the logic behind claims that the parcel bomb bore the presidency’s logo, arguing that a supposed killer would not identify themselves so blatantly.

In Chapter 10 of the 420-page book, Babangida recounted the challenges of his administration, listing Giwa’s assassination alongside other major crises, including the Vatsa coup, the Gideon Orkar coup, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) controversy, the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) riots, and the C-140 air crash.

‘I felt a personal loss’

Babangida said Giwa’s death left him with a deep sense of personal loss and shock.

“Mr Giwa was a good friend, like a few other senior journalists in the country. We spoke often on the phone and met a few times. I valued his deep insight on national issues and respected his views and reach as a media leader,” he wrote.

However, he said his grief was overshadowed by the public outcry and the introduction of a new and gruesome method of assassination in Nigeria.

Recounting the incident, Babangida noted that Giwa was at his breakfast table with Newswatch’s London Bureau Chief, Kayode Soyinka, when the parcel bomb exploded, fatally wounding him.

He observed that the killing came less than a year after he overthrew General Muhammadu Buhari and just weeks after the OIC controversy, which led to the retirement of his deputy, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe.

“I saw Giwa’s wicked and cruel murder as part of a series of booby traps and acts of destabilisation being hatched against the administration. Undoubtedly, our choice of the path of rigorous reform had earned us unintended adversaries,” he wrote.

Babangida argued that whoever masterminded the attack knew of his relationship with Giwa and targeted the journalist to hurt him emotionally.

“Secondly, Giwa was a very popular and colourful journalist, a person of great public interest for anyone wanting to inflict a mischievous political blow on the young military administration.

“Giwa was loved by his audience and the rest of the public. Targeting him would shock the public and paint the administration in a feeble light,” he added.

Denial of involvement

Babangida dismissed allegations that his government was behind the murder, calling such claims “cheap and foolish.”

“The insinuation that the parcel may have come from the headquarters of the administration was cheap and foolish. Why would an officially planned high-level assassination carry an apparent forwarding address of the killer? Why would a government-planned and executed crime point directly at the suspect?

“All this did not make sense to me,” he wrote, adding that he viewed the accusations as part of the challenges of leading a military regime.

He said he relied on the police and intelligence services to investigate the murder, directing the Inspector-General of Police to assign a top investigative team to the case with daily reports.

Why the murder was never solved

Reflecting on why the case remained unsolved nearly four decades later, Babangida blamed the media and certain political figures for distorting the investigation.

He argued that the Newswatch management’s legal approach, led by their lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, turned the case into a media spectacle rather than a thorough criminal investigation.

“The involvement of high-profile lawyer Gani Fawehinmi and the populist slant given to the case by the media poisoned the investigation with political overtones,” he wrote.

Babangida suggested that by focusing solely on his administration as the prime suspect, the investigation failed to explore other possible leads.

“The legal drama and political grandstanding combined to muddle the work of the police and intelligence investigators towards getting a factual report on this cruel and criminal act. 

“What the campaigners failed to realise was that even under a military regime, crimes will be committed by persons and agencies that may not be directly related to either the military establishment or the government. The best way to cover up for heinous crimes would be to craft them in a manner that includes the government among the suspects so that what should ordinarily be a criminal investigation is drowned by political actions and populist sentiments,” he added.

He criticised the adversarial stance of the Nigerian media, claiming it had a history of positioning itself against the government, making unbiased investigations difficult.

“It was an attitude of ‘we versus the government’ that has remained today. It is a situation in which the government is adjudged guilty even before the evidence in a case is adduced,” he wrote.

Babangida noted that even when President Olusegun Obasanjo reopened the case through the Oputa Panel on Human Rights, no new evidence emerged.

“The Giwa, like all mysterious murders, has remained unsolved after so many years. I keep hoping the truth will be uncovered in our lifetime or after us,” he wrote.

‘Vatsa was always envious of me’

Babangida also revisited the 1985 coup attempt led by his childhood friend and colleague, General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, describing it as one of the most destabilising events of his administration.

He said he initially dismissed reports of a plot against him as rumours. However, when concerns grew, he confronted Vatsa, then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who denied the allegations.

“Once substantial incontrovertible evidence was established, the arrests began,” he wrote, revealing that Vatsa had paid several officers, including Lt-Col. Musa Bitiyong, ₦50,000 for their roles in the planned coup.

Babangida said he found it difficult to believe the extent of Vatsa’s involvement until intelligence reports detailed plans to bomb Eko Bridge and hijack the presidential jet.

He recounted a briefing session where he expressed disbelief, only for investigators to reveal that Vatsa had even attempted to escape through an air conditioner vent in his detention cell.

“As the details kept coming in, it became harder not to believe the integrity of the disclosures. I felt a deep personal sense of betrayal. There were details of conversations, funding, travel itinerary and recruitment of troops to support the operation. 

“Each time I had to be briefed on aspects of the coup plot, I insisted on having a senior officer with integrity present as a witness. I invited Garba Duba to listen in on one occasion as the investigating team briefed me. When I shrugged in disbelief, the briefing officer then revealed that Vatsa had even tried to escape through the wall air conditioner hole in his detention room but was stopped by vigilant guards,” he wrote.

Despite their close friendship from childhood, Babangida said Vatsa had always been envious of him.

“With the benefit of hindsight now, I recall that a constant part of our relationship as teenagers and young men was a continuous and recurrent peer jealousy on his part towards me. He was always envious of my achievements, especially when he thought I was progressing better than him, either in school or our military career path. 

“For instance, when I became Head Boy at Bida Secondary School, Vatsa often made it a duty to put obstacles in my way as a leader. He frequently disregarded my instructions, insisting that there was nothing so special about being the Head Boy. 

“That trend continued through our military career but tended to diminish as we both progressed in our respective military careers. Still, he was envious of my career path and postings up to when I was chosen as a member of the Supreme Military Council under General Murtala Muhammed,” he wrote.

‘C-130 air crash conspiracy a wicked rumour’

Babangida also addressed the 1992 C-130 military plane crash, which killed 159 officers, including nine foreigners.

The aircraft crashed into a swamp near Lagos, just three minutes after takeoff.

Given the number of military officers on board, rumours spread that the government had orchestrated the crash to eliminate potential coup plotters.

“Mischief makers and rumour mongers were colouring the public perception of this accident. Some speculated that regime opponents in the armed forces had sabotaged the aircraft to vent their anger at the direction of the administration.

“A more wicked version of the rumour was that the administration had somehow plotted to assemble these officers in one consignment for elimination for fear that they might be planning a coup against the military administration’s leadership based on the failed Gideon Orkar coup that had taken place earlier,” Babangida wrote.

He dismissed such theories, insisting that an independent investigation found the crash was caused by technical faults and lapses in aircraft maintenance.

“It was, however, an indication of the level of decay to which our public perception and discourse had descended,” he added, lamenting how political opponents weaponised tragedies against his administration.

Babangida said his government focused on ensuring the welfare and entitlements of the deceased officers’ families while taking measures to prevent a similar tragedy.

 [DailyTrust]

The founder of the Light Nation Global church, Pastor Femi Lazarus, has revealed where he met his wife.

The pastor made the revelation while addressing his congregation about the different settings and scenarios one can meet their God-given partners.

Speaking in a viral video on social media, Lazarus disclosed that they met during a prayer session on Telegram.

Recalling her first visit to his church, the cleric said she was the first woman that would confidently look straight to his eyes.

Admiring her confidence and boldness, he said, “I met my wife on Telegram, I’m telling you. We will be praying and she would just comment ‘Amen’.

“When you are patient about the subject of love and marriage you will see things for what they are. She was the first lady to ever sit down in my front and look into my eyes.”

He further advised the singles that one can find their ideal partner in unexpected places, including online platforms.

[DailyPost]

Surely, the parties in the ongoing impeachment crisis rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly (LSHA) ought to have known that such an utterly avoidable internal implosion would make them vulnerable to vicious attacks by those who envy and deplore the fact that their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in its various mutations at different times since 1999 as AD, AC, ACD, ACN and now APC, had maintained near one-party electoral dominance of the country’s economic nerve centre over the last two and a half decades. In a widely circulated piece on online platforms, for instance, one Dr Afolabi Gbajumo, after a lengthy dissection of the crisis from his own perspective accused both factions in the current LSHA imbroglio and even the executive of unbridled corruption, illicit accumulation of wealth and venality without the slightest scintilla of evidence.

True, Lagos is not yet anywhere near where it should be in developmental terms as it is still a work in progress as all human communities always are. But it would take the height of intellectual dishonesty not to admit the glaring fact that compared to where she was pre-1999, the megacity state has made remarkable progress on all fronts leaving virtually every other state in the country far behind. Today, she is not only the sixth largest economy in Africa, Lagos is gradually emerging in the ranks of leading megacities of But this is the kind of unfair onslaught that disputants in the LSHA open their party to and it is unfortunate that they are digging in deeper in their trenches in what can only be an ultimately self-destructive internecine warfare. However, what are the issues?

With no less than two-thirds of the members of the LSHA controlled by the APC undertaking his impeachment on January 13, 2025, when he was away on vacation to the US, it is logical to argue that the erstwhile Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, had lost not only legal but also moral legitimacy. And there is no doubt that the members of the LSHA are constitutionally empowered to elect and remove their principal officers through stipulated rules and procedures. And the vote of confidence passed on the newly elected Speaker, Mrs Mojisola Meranda, by a majority of members before the House adjourned sine die suggests that the legislators are indeed fed up with Obasa whom they have accused of arrogant, insensitive and corrupt leadership.

The problem is that in politics, things are often not as they seem to be. For example, on 11th November, 2024, members of the LSHA passed a vote of confidence on the allegedly corrupt, insensitive and arrogant Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker of the House. As the This Day Newspaper reported the story, “The vote of confidence on the Speaker coincided with his 52nd birthday as the lawmakers eulogized him for uplifting the country’s democracy through laws that impact positively on the people. Majority Leader, Noheem Adams said during plenary presided over by Deputy Speaker, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, that his motion, seconded by Hon. Sa’ad Olumoh (Ajeromi Ifelodun. 1), followed a wide consultation”. What then had changed between this time and the ‘impeachment’ of Obasa on January 13 this year?

Again, since Obasa had lost the confidence of the vast majority of his colleagues and it is even claimed that civil servants in the LSHA bureaucracy boisterously celebrated his removal, why was he impeached when he was out of the country on vacation? Since he was so reportedly overwhelmingly unpopular, could he have done anything to stop his removal if he was present? Wouldn’t that have denuded the process of his impeachment of its seeming surreptitious and conspiratorial secretiveness and accorded it more legitimacy? After all, this is not the first time that a Speaker of the LSHA would be removed in this dispensation. Hon Waheed Jokotola Pelumi was the Speaker of the LSHA between June 2, 2003 and December 29, 2005. Pelumi was removed from office by his colleagues and replaced by Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji who remained in office from December 29, 2005, till the end of the life of the 7th Assembly in 2015. Pelumi was not removed from office in his absence and the governor at the time, now President Bola Tinubu did not oppose the change of leadership which reinforced his democratic credentials.

It is ironic that those who mobilized a massive security presence in the Assembly premises to facilitate the removal of Obasa cried foul that officials of the DSS had invaded the Assembly premises to prevent the Speaker, Hon. (Mrs Miranda) from accessing her office and allegedly to facilitate the resumption of Obasa who had dismissed his impeachment as defective and not following due process. The DSS has since made public a letter signed by the Deputy Clerk of the House, Mr A.T.B. Ottun, to prevent alleged plans by Obasa to forcefully resume in his office on February 18, 2025. Reports widely disseminated on social media that a cache of sophisticated arms were suddenly discovered in Obasa ‘s office weeks after Mrs Meranda had supposedly been making use of the same office does little to help the credibility of the anti-Obasa elements. It gives the impression of a desperation to de-market and instigate public opinion against the embattled Agege legislator.

During Adeyemi Ikuforiji’s tenure as Speaker, he led the House in offering robust checks and balances to the executive during the tenure of the highly cerebral Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). But this the easy going but inwardly steely lawmaker from Epe did without ever insulting the governor or demeaning his office. Thus, that Obasa kept Governor Sanwo-Olu and his entourage waiting for nearly four hours before the commencement of the presentation of the state’s 2025 budget estimates and without any apologies for this slight is inexplicable.

Rather, his needlessly combative speech on that occasion was the height of arrogance which has been widely condemned by the public. Had members of the Assembly limited themselves to Obasa ‘s arrogance and insensitivity which was publicly on display in his treatment of Sanwo-Olu, in the allegations that led to his impeachment, it would be hardly possible to fault their action. But they also leveled grave allegations of financial misdemeanor and recklessness against him which in my view necessitates that he be given the opportunity to defend himself before being sanctioned in accordance with the principle of fair hearing. Since he was not given the chance to defend himself before his impeachment, could this be likened to shaving his head in his absence (apologies to MKO Abiola)?

True to his calm and difficult to ruffle demeanor and simple, unassuming carriage, Sanwo-Olu responded with philosophical serenity and enigmatic taciturnity, to what was perceived as an unwarranted slight on his person and office by Obasa. But then, we must look beyond Obasa ‘s annoying abrasiveness and a disposition to easy combustibility, which makes the prospect of his ever occupying the position of governor as he is rumored to desire, frightening.

It will be recalled that in August, 2023, the LSHA under Obasa ‘s leadership, had rejected 17 of the 39 names Sanwo-Olu had forwarded to the legislature for clearance to be appointed as commissioners in his cabinet. In an unnecessarily bad-tempered speech on the floor of the House during that episode, Obasa had decried the fact that the nominees were grossly unrepresentative of the diverse local government constituencies in the state while also not reflecting the requisite Christian-Muslim balance that had always been taken into account in constituting the State Executive Council.

As the late Oba Olatunji Hazmat, a Frontline Lagos and national progressive political leader of uncommon perspicacity stated in his gripping book, ‘Reflections of A Public Man’, “Lagos may be the greatest cosmopolitan city in Nigeria, but just like the nation itself, it can not march forward even in the matters of the least consideration of governance without accommodating the diverse interests, biases and native proclivities that shape and girdle her formative character…For fairness and wide judgement, the governor, the mayor or any other official of the state must consult others, must bring diverse interests into focus and attention in the choice of cabinet members, in the composition of parastatals and other allied governmental bodies”.

But beyond this, Obasa raised the pertinent point of the undue dichotomy between so called technocrats and politicians in governance in Lagos State and what he perceived as the unfair favouritism given to the former in filling cabinet and non-cabinet positions particularly under the Sanwo-Olu administration. In its report on the face- off between the House and the governor on the matter, the Premium Times of August 29, 2023, wrote that “But some party loyalists said the main reason some nominees who are technocrats were rejected was because they were not known in their constituencies and had no electoral value. Michael Uju, a public affairs analyst, said the disqualification was political. “Unfortunately, there is the sense that most of those rejected by the House are the technocrats among them who are not so much into party politics,” he said.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s administration as Premier of the Western Region in the First Republic is still the reference point in qualitative developmental governance in Nigeria. Its achievements were gargantuan and path-breaking. In his autobiography, the great Awo commented on his Cabinet thus, “Second, my team of Ministers was unexcelled. It was a team of which any head of government anywhere in the world would be proud. It was a well-knit, highly disciplined and fanatically loyal team. Each of them knew his subject well”. None of these men would be regarded as technocrats or even intellectuals in today’s lingo. They were educated men and professionals in diverse fields but to be appointed into public office in the Action Group (AG) at the time, you had to have a very strong linkage with your grassroots communities. This was made more imperative by the parliamentary system of the First Republic which required that those to be appointed as Cabinet members first had to win elections into the legislature as elected representatives of their constituencies. Even though he could have couched his argument in less inelegant and confrontational language, Obasa had made the point that he was concerned about the grassroots vibrancy of the APC in the state. This is certainly a pertinent concern even if it is true that his real motive was his assumed governorship ambition in 2027.

The truth of the matter is that although successive APC administrations in Lagos State have performed relatively remarkably well in infrastructure development, social services delivery and security among others – the primary purpose of government – the electoral performance of the party has declined with each election since 2011 and one reason for this is the ever growing alienation and distance between the government and the grassroots. In the 2007 governorship election, Fashola of the AC scored 593,300 votes to 394,956 for Senator Muslim Obanikoro of the PDP. In 2011, BRF scored a record 1,509, 113 votes to win reelection while Shamsideen Adegboye of the PDP recorded 300,450 votes. In 2015, Mr Akinwumi Ambode of the APC had 811,994 votes while Mr Jimi Agbaje of the PDP had 659,788 votes. As for 2019, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC won 739,445  votes to 206, 141 votes scored by Jimi Agbaje of the PDP.

In the 2023 governorship election, Sanwo-Olu won reelection with 762,134 votes to 312,329 votes scored by Gbadebo (Chinedu) Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP). To secure his victory after the APC had unprecedentedly lost the earlier presidential election in Lagos to Peter Obi’s LP by nearly 10,000 votes, the party had to scramble frantically to mobilize primordial sentiments to ensure Sanwo-Olu’s reelection.

 Had the governorship election come first, would Sanwo-Olu have become history in Lagos State? The answer is anyone’s guess. A school of thought believes that the electorally dysfunctional overly elitist outlook and disposition of governance in Lagos State has heightened under Sanwo-Olu and this is dangerous as the crucial 2027 elections approach, an election in which the triumph of the APC will depend on the degree to which it has regained its organic linkage with the grassroots. This is probably the point Obasa was making but his petulant mode of delivery distorted and undermined his message.

What then is to be done about the seeming impasse as regards the position of Speaker of the LSHA? The right of the members to elect their principal officers cannot be contested but this must be in line with their extant rules, due process and the guidelines of the party. The enthusiastic support given to Hon. Mrs Meranda so far indicates that she enjoys considerable goodwill with her colleagues as well as the bureaucracy in the LSHA. But some voices in the party contend that the next Speaker should come from either Lagos West where Obasa comes from or Lagos East if legislators from Lagos West are not interested in the Speakership position as it is claimed.

Both Mrs Meranda and the governor are from Lagos Central and this contradicts the party’s zoning formula. The aggrieved members no longer want Obasa as Speaker and they have successfully removed him at least until the courts adjudicate in the matter. But they cannot at the same time unilaterally jettison the party’s power sharing formula. Honourable Mrs Meranda has demonstrated her value and the high esteem in which her colleagues hold her which must be a function of her personal attributes despite her having been Obasa’s deputy. But she may have to stoop to party supremacy today to conquer a future that is politically exceedingly bright for her.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr Iziaq Salako, said on Friday that President Bola Tinubu remains committed to providing adequate and qualitative healthcare delivery for all Nigerians.

The minister disclosed that part of the Federal Government’s plan to tackle the challenge of brain drain in the health sector is to recruit more health professionals to aid qualitative healthcare delivery to Nigerians.

Salako also said that the government is engaging with Nigerian health workers abroad to leverage their expertise and rich exposure to improve the health sector development in the country.

The minister disclosed this on Friday during his tour of the FG health facilities in Ogun State.

During the tour, the minister was at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta as well as the Federal Medical Centre, Idi Aba, Abeokuta among others.

Addressing a town hall meeting at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Salako disclosed that the FG is “harvesting” the contributions of Nigerian doctors in the UK, US, and Ireland amongst others to support the country’s healthcare system.

He noted that to mitigate the japa syndrome, the government is expanding its capacity to train more health workers and has been given the green light by Tinubu to recruit more health workers to address the shortage of manpower in the health sector.

“We are expanding our capacity to train health workers, we are also harvesting the Nigerian health workers in the diaspora – we are having a robust diasporan engagement with Nigerian health workers in the UK, US, and Ireland, they may not be physically present but we can still harvest their contributions to the health sector in Nigeria.

“Mr President has given us a waiver to recruit more health workers than any other sector. These are the mechanisms we are putting in place to make sure that we address the challenges in the health sector”, Salako stated.

Salako also appealed to the state government to domesticate the Mental Health Act at the state level to expand access to mental health care for the residents of the state.

Speaking with the journalists, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, said that the state will domesticate the Mental Health Act, adding that it is part of the commitment of the state to the people.

Coker stated, “We are going to domesticate the act because it’s one of our commitments to the people. With the pressure of society, more people suffer from mental health challenges. It is our job to ensure that our citizens are kept safe.

“Collaboration with the federal government is continuous daily. We collaborate on the primary health level. We have facilities that the federal government is helping us to upgrade. We will continue to partner with the federal government in every area possible to serve the good people of our dear state”.

Earlier in his address, the Provost and Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Paul Agboola, disclosed that the hospital is ready to partner with the state government to domesticate the Mental Health Act.

“It’s quite a great joy for us that the Minister is visiting the hospital. We are looking for collaboration from the Ministry of Health on the implementation of the Mental Health Act.

“We want to collaborate with the state government to domesticate the Mental Health Act in the state. I have spoken with the Commissioner for Health and she is ready for the domestication”, Agboola stated.

[Punch]

...As Bauchi Speaker insists on collaboration

Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, has commended Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, Non-Government Organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders on their unwavering dedication to the ideals of fairness, justice and social progress in Nigeria.

Speaking during a two-day co-creation workshop on the State Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Bill organised by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, WARDC, Meranda, in her address to other State Assembly Speakers and deputy speakers present, insisted that the presence of CSOs at the workshop is a testament to the shared commitment they have towards building a more just and inclusive society.

She said, “Gender inequality remains a pressing issue. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024, Nigeria ranks 125th out of 146 countries in gender parity, particularly in economic participation and political empowerment. These statistics underscore the urgency for legislative intervention and policy transformation.

“The importance of a co-created bill cannot be overstated. We are not here to impose generic solutions but to co-create a context-specific bill tailored to the realities of Nigeria and our respective states. This means listening to the voices of marginalized communities, understanding their challenges, and integrating their perspectives into the legislative process.

“We must ensure that this bill does not remain a mere document but becomes a dynamic tool for change—one that establishes clear implementation mechanisms, enforcement strategies and monitoring frameworks.”

She urged other speakers to recognise the critical role of legislation in shaping an equitable society, saying: “The need for a comprehensive bill addressing inclusivity and diversity in Nigeria cannot be overstated. Such a bill will dismantle systemic inequalities, ensuring equal access to opportunities and resources, promote gender equality, creating a fairer society for women and girls, empower persons with disabilities, ensuring their full participation in social and economic life, bridge the economic divide, supporting low-income individuals through inclusive policies, foster social cohesion, promoting unity amidst Nigeria’s rich diversity, and align Nigeria with global development goals, particularly the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Beyond legislation, we must commit to effective implementation, adequate funding, and continuous monitoring to ensure that the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion are fully realised.

“The Lagos State House of Assembly remains committed to supporting this cause and ensuring that our legislative frameworks align with the principles of equity and inclusion. We will continue to provide the necessary backing to ensure that the objectives of the workshop translate into tangible policy actions that impact lives across the nation.”

On his part, the Speaker of Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, posited that collaboration by all stakeholders is key in having it signed into law. He said, “It has to be a shared responsibility. No single entity, especially the government, can solely carry the burden of enacting and enforcing the State Equity Bill. We all have a part to play. 

“In particular, my fellow members of the House of Assembly, I ask you to view this bill as not just a legal instrument, but a stepping stone toward a better society. Let us urge for its swift acceptance and execution. 

“To civil society organisations, your participation in policy making, advocacy work, research and bottom-up activism is very important. Let us work together to facilitate acceptance from the general public and guarantee its effective utilisation. 

“To development partners, your relevance to the topic is your experience and support in the embedding of best practices towards equity and inclusion in Nigeria. 

“To the citizens the bill is for you. I encourage you to engage, offer feedback and actively integrate yourself in the creation of a society where everyone is given a fair shot at success. 

“The passage of the bill will mark a new era of governance in our various states—one that prioritises justice, fairness and inclusion. Let us seize this moment to rewrite the narrative and build a state where every individual, regardless of background or status, is empowered to contribute to our collective progress.”

[Vanguard]

US President Donald Trump signed a memo Friday calling for curbs on Chinese investments in strategic sectors like tech and critical infrastructure -- including restrictions by a foreign investment review panel.

The move comes at a time of growing trade tensions and strategic competition between the world's two biggest economies.

It is aimed at promoting foreign investment, while protecting US national security interests "particularly from threats posed by foreign adversaries" like China, the White House said.

In particular, the memo took aim at China for "increasingly exploiting United States capital to develop and modernize its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses."

It called for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to be used to restrict Chinese investments in key US sectors such as technology, critical infrastructure, health care and energy.

CFIUS is a panel that weighs the national security implications of foreign investments in the United States.

"President Trump is keeping his promise to prevent foreign adversaries from taking advantage of the United States," the White House said.

Friday's memo came after Trump imposed additional customs duties of 10 percent on all products imported from China at the start of this month, over the country's alleged role in the deadly fentanyl trade.

Beijing has pushed back against the accusation.

But on Wednesday, the US president suggested that a trade deal with China was "possible."

[tbsnews]

Bello Turji, the notorious bandit leader, has allegedly imposed a N22 million levy on four villages in Sokoto state following the killing of one of his men during a military operation in the area.

According to Daily Trust, locals said the levy is also meant to compensate for missing firearms during the raid.

The report noted that Aminu Boza, a lawmaker representing Sabon Birni west in the Sokoto house of assembly, identified one of the affected villages as Garin Idi, the hometown of Idris Gobir, the state’s deputy governor.

Boza also noted that Turji had relocated his base to the eastern part of Isa LGA of Sokoto.

“He is just like a businessman who has multiple shops and is going around to supervise them. He is currently in the eastern part of Isa,” Daily Trust quoted the lawmaker as saying.

“That was where the villagers met him for negotiation, and he reduced the money from N25 million to N22 million.”

The lawmaker berated the military for failing to sustain operations in the area, saying their withdrawal leaves villages vulnerable to attacks.

“I have always criticised the military for not sustaining their operation in the eastern part of Sokoto because anytime they withdraw, it is the villages that bear the brunt,” he added.

“Because the bandits always vent their anger on the villagers.

“The ministers of defence have visited Sokoto about four times and assured our people that banditry would soon be a thing of the past.

“But look at it, the bandits are still attacking our people. A few days ago, they killed six operatives of the Sokoto community guards.

“I am appealing to the military to intensify and sustain their operation in the eastern part of Sokoto. This is the only way to restore total peace in the area.”

Boza added that Turji is demanding N250,000 from each family of the 13 worshippers abducted in Sabon Birni LGA about two weeks ago.

“They have so far released five captives after their families paid the money,” he said.

This third installment in the Nicholas Said column series expands on my previous pieces and brings the discussion to a conclusion.

Perhaps the final straw that broke Nicholas Said’s back and drove him to leave combat duties during the Civil War was the imposition of an inexperienced 18-year-old white boy named Lieutenant Robertson James — described as “one of the least qualified officers in the regiment” — as the leader of his platoon.

On the day Said finally received his long-denied back pay of $200, he voluntarily resigned his sergeantship, demoted himself to private, laid down his arms, and requested a secretarial assignment. He later left that role to work at the army hospital.

Dr. Burt Green Wilder, a physician at the hospital, sought an assistant who neither smoked, drank excessively, nor ate pork (and who could write well), criteria that Said, a linguistically gifted ex-Muslim and teacher, met easily. He secured the job as a "hospital assistant." 

Soon after, most of his Black comrades in the Civil War were killed or severely wounded in battle. The wounded were brought to the hospital where Said worked. He experienced what Dean Calbreath called his "baptism in blood, which soaked his clothing and clung to his flesh."  

Dr. Wilder, impressed by Said’s intellect, described him as “very philosophical in his mind and interested in unusual things, religious problems, etc.”

On May 13, 1865, about a month after Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered and the Civil War ended, Said married in South Carolina. The marriage lasted only two years. There’s no evidence it produced any children.

Dr. Wilder, who later became a leading professor of anatomy at Cornell University, refuted the findings of a racist post-war commission that claimed Black people were innately inferior by singling out Said, a "multilingual intellectual from the very interior of Africa," as a direct contradiction. 

Instead of returning to the North from where he enlisted in the U.S. Army or to Borno, Said stayed in South Carolina, devoting himself to teaching Black people to read and write for free while farming on the side. 

His work caught the attention of General Robert K. Scott of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, who praised Said as “a thoroughly educated man and a distinguished linguist, who converses fluently in ten languages and who is equally conversant in both the Greek Testament and the Koran.”  

Southern newspapers, incredulous at the idea of such an African, mocked the claim.

Despite the racism he faced in the military, Said found warmth and respect from many white individuals, including Southerners, precisely because of his sharp intellect and unusual multilingual aptitude. That’s why he once remarked, according to Calbreath, that “the kindest people with whom he had ever met and domiciled [with] are the Southern whites.” 

He also became one of America’s first Black people to devote their time to getting scores of Black people registered to vote. His accomplishments were so noteworthy that the New York Times’ William Swinton, himself a polyglot, profiled him extensively on August 13, 1867, in an article titled “The Negro Pundit.”

“He has certainly made himself a remarkable philologist. Remarkable it would be in even the most cultured of Caucasians, but still more so in one who bears on his black visage the symbols of his savage race [i.e., Said’s Kanuri facial marks],” Swinton wrote. “For he knows, in addition to English and his native tongue, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, German, French, and Italian…. Nor is it merely a parrot-like faculty of imitation, for he has a deep penetration of their genius and affinities and, in some instances, a fair, and in others, a profound acquaintance with their literature” (208).

The New York Times profile was republished in over two dozen newspapers. The Nation, a liberal newspaper, even suggested that Said was “was so talented he might make a good candidate for vice president someday, or at least a cabinet secretary or maybe an ambassador to Russia.” 

Two months after the New York Times profile, Said wrote about himself in the Atlantic Monthly, one of America’s most iconic magazines. His article, titled “A Native of Bornoo,” caused his profile to soar in South Carolina and got him a more prestigious teaching job at a private school where he taught English and French.

After actively participating in Charleston’s politics, where many Black officials were elected—triggering violent white backlash—Said left the city. He became a peripatetic teacher in rural South Carolina before moving to Georgia.

To gain acceptance in the South, he concealed his Union Army service, even falsely claiming he arrived in the U.S. post-war. His autobiography completely blacked out his participation in the Civil War.

In Georgia, he encountered Lucius Bryan, a virulently racist aristocrat who had written that Africans had “never built a city, never bridged a river, never made the smallest discovery having any tendency to widen the little space that separates him from the gorilla.” But after meeting Said, Bryan softened his stance. He grudgingly acknowledged that Said’s intelligence and learning equaled that of any white man.

So, he encouraged Said to tour Southern states to demonstrate “the possibility of elevating the colored race to a standard of equality with Europeans.”

Said agreed, arguing that Africa “has been, through prejudice and ignorance, so sadly misrepresented that anything like intelligence, industry, etc., is believed not to exist among its natives.”

Beginning his lecture tour in March 1870, he electrified audiences. Though often introverted in one-on-one dialogic engagements, he transformed to a spine-tingling orator on stage. “On the stump, he seemed as one inspired. His sentences were short, clear-cut, and logical. When gesticulating with his arms, the eye could almost see sparks dripping from his fingertips,” Calbreath quoted one observer to have noted.

Attendance at his lectures initially cost 25 cents (about $5 today), later increasing to 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. Subscribers also paid similar amounts for his forthcoming autobiography.

During a visit to The  Atlanta Constitution (the flagship newspaper in Georgia now called the Atlanta-Journal Constitution) on July 22, 1870, the editors described him as “a very intelligent son of Africa… [who] talks intelligently on almost every subject.” 

Said let the editors read a rough draft of his autobiography. They wrote that they were “astonished to find it well written…. The contents are novel, and, as far as we read them, very interesting.” 

 Other Southern newspapers dubbed him the “wandering African celebrity” or the “learned African.” In Florida, a star-struck bank clerk inscribed on Said’s account application: “This is the wonderful Nickolas [sic] Said, doubtless.”

As his fame grew, so did lecture fees, rising to 75 cents. Fame also made him a magnet for girls. A teenage Georgia girl named Annie from a small town called Bainbridge (which now has a little over 14,000 people) threw herself at him. Their short affair led to a pregnancy, which Said wasn’t aware of. 

Annie gave birth to a girl whom she named Nancy Said. No one knows whether her descendants are alive. Short of getting DNA samples from Said’s relatives in Kukawa and comparing them to the probable descendants of Nancy Said in Bainbridge, Georgia, we have no way of knowing.

Despite warnings, he moved to Alabama, a perilous state for educated Black men. Yet, he found surprising warmth there, even impressing a former slave owner and Confederate soldier, Mitchell Smith, who recommended him to local politicians in another Alabama town Said moved to, saying, “Nicholas Said…is, by far, the most intelligent and best-educated man of the African race with whom I have ever conversed.”

Settling in Bladon Springs, Alabama, for four years — the longest he had stayed in one place since his forced displacement from Kukawa — he earned “the highest esteem of the white citizens,” as James S. Evans Jr. (whose son would later destroy Said’s reputation) wrote. “He had a dash about him that was fascinating…. He knew something of political economy, had studied the principles of law, possessed a smattering of knowledge of physics, and had read much on religious topics.”

There, he taught, completed his manuscript, and married again on September 24, 1874, to Rachel Thornton, a 24-year-old single mother with a six-year-old son. There is no information that he had a child with the woman.

In 1877, he left Bladon Springs without his wife and resumed his lecture circuits in Mississippi and Tennessee, carrying his autobiography. This time, he began calling himself Mohammed Ali ben Said, though he later reverted to Nicholas after settling in Haywood County, Tennessee.

In Haywood County, Tennessee, Nicholas Said mysteriously vanished from public view. It seems he fell into depression because of a series of injuriously libelous falsehoods written about him by James Evans Jr., a popular but notoriously mendacious, drunken, and unapologetically racist Alabama journalist whose father respected Said a great deal. These fabrications were republished in multiple newspapers.

Evans conjured stories about Said entirely from his imagination, claiming he was a South African criminal, a linguistically gifted forger and thief serving time in prison. There is no record of Said fighting back to reclaim his reputation.

Some believe he died in Haywood County in 1882, but no official record of his death exists in the United States. Or, as Dean Calbreath speculates, did he return to Borno unnoticed? No one knows for sure. 

•Says, Persons of Interest attempting to use neighbouring countries to access Nigeria
•Says: ‘Nigeria, not a safe haven for criminals’

The Federal government has announced plans to cancel its Visa-on-Arrival policy, saying “it is not working”. Accordingly, government is set to introduce landing and exit cards which prospective visitors would pre-fill before coming into the country.

Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo spoke on Friday during the closing ceremony of the week long capacity building training on Advance Passenger Information / Passenger Name Record API/PNR Data in National Security and Law Enforcement held at the headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS in Abuja.

According to him, some persons of interest have been trying to evade the new systems out in place across Nigeria’s five international airports. He said intelligence has revealed that such persons now travel to neighbouring countries in order to access Nigeria through its vast land borders.

Consequently, he said the ministry will work with relevant partners to deploy the API/PNR system across its land borders, noting that Nigeria cannot be a destination for criminals.

At the event, Comptroller General Immigration Service CGIS, Kemi Nandap said the programme originated from discussions held with the United Nations Organization on Counter Terrorism in Bangkok, Thailand last year. Nandap said the immigration service has a crop of well-trained and patriotic personnel who are ready to give their best to the country.

Objective profiling

The Interior minister said the API/PNR is not optional, recalling that system was not on place when he was made minister. He said; “What the API, PNR gives us is objectivity in decision making, objective profiling, not subjective profiling. What we had was subjective. The visa system, that is one of the core, because I always tell people the visa is not just an approval of entry, it is a migration management device. It is a security device to manage migration into your country. So the way it is at the moment is very subjective. We are not really too objective and that is why we are automating the whole process end-to-end. And the e-visa solution, we are working hard to be able to meet the first of March or peradventure if we are unable, the 1st of April, we will hit it live.

“We automate the system. People apply online and we will do what we need to do. That solution will be integrated with the Interpol system, the criminal records system, so that we can be able to take decisions. We do not want foreign attachés approving and issuing visas. It is not going to be that any more, we want to be able to screen people more. This cannot be a destination for wanted criminals in the world. Nigeria is not a safe haven for any criminal and it will never be.

“Another thing we are trying to do even for our expatriates is to see how we can integrate all these our immigration solutions. What we are doing is to harmonize all these solutions in our data centre, harmonize the database and be able to let the solutions speak to one another rather than having solutions in silos. “We want to have integrated solutions. So what we are looking at is that for any decision that borders on immigration into Nigeria, it will be impossible for approvals to be given without the clearance of interpol, criminal records system and all background checking agencies in real time. Security is not a sector where you can afford to be 99.9% correct.

“People must fill the landing card which will be integrated with the visa solution, integrated with the passport solution, then to all background checking systems across the world before you come. So we will be able to share this data with other agencies and across the world. This is to sanitize the process. A scenario where it is difficult for NIS,on the tip of a finger, to tell me the number of foreigners who are into Nigeria is unacceptable. A scenario where somebody comes into Nigeria, disappears, and becomes untraceable is unacceptable. A scenario where there is abuse of immigration policies and processes is unacceptable. A scenario where somebody needs to come to Nigeria, stay for six months, waiting to regularize the residency in Nigeria is unacceptable. It is not done anywhere in the world. So we are going to bring these massive reforms and these reforms start between March 1 and April 1. Why we are trying to do these is to be able to safeguard our people, is for us to be responsible in the comity of Nations, and for us to be able to contribute our fair quota to international peace”, he added.

FG approves relocation of 29 custodial centres

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has approved the relocation of 29 out of Nigeria’s 256 Custodial Centres due to rapid urbanization. Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo disclosed this on Friday in ABUJA when he commissioned 39 mini green maria for conveyance of inmates to and from courts, and five bullet resistant guard booths at the headquarters of the Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS in Abuja. The minister also explained the idea behind the establishment of a paramilitary academy, saying paramilitary jobs are not poverty alleviation schemes but lifelong careers that young Nigerians should aspire to get.

[Vanguard]