No fewer than 6,700 traders have been displaced following the fire outbreak that consumed a section of the Mandilas building, a popular marketplace on Lagos Island.

Daily Trust learnt that the fire also destroyed 450 shops, 30 offices, including some law firms, two hotels and five restaurants.

The fire, which started from the first floor of the popular Mandilas house around 11am on Sunday, later spread to surrounding market stalls at Atunwase International Market.

The Iyaloja of Atunwase International Market Mandilas General, Alhaja Adeniji Rashidat, said goods worth billions were destroyed by the fire.

“Over 6,700 traders have been displaced from their business places following Sunday morning fire outbreak that consumed a section of the building. Also 450 shops, 30 offices, two hotels and five restaurants, were destroyed,” she said.

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Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the South West, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the affected houses had been sealed to avoid loss of lives.

Farinloye confirmed that the fire displaced about 6,700 traders and destroyed 450 shops, 30 offices, two hotels and five restaurants.

“The fire which started at about 0011 hours began on the first floor where an alleged electric wielding activity was going on. It was alleged that the people around did not notice the fire until it was too late before fire service was contacted.

“The fire also spread to surrounding market stalls at Atunwase International Market with equal extensive damage as the main main complex,” he added.

Farinloye further said officials of the Lagos State Safety Commission and Building Control Agency were on the ground to assess the integrity of all buildings at the scene.

According to him, all structures have been locked down to prevent access to the shop for the safety of traders and the public.

“Other agencies on the ground today (Monday) are Lagos Fire services, Red Cross, Nigeria Police, Neighbourhood watch, Lagos Island Local Government Sanitation, Lagos State Business District are currently making efforts at making the scene safer for people,” he said.

Some football enthusiasts have expressed the hope that the Super Eagles will win their last group match against Guinea Bissau in the ongoing Total Energies African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

The fans expressed their optimism ahead of the Monday encounter in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu.

They, however, warned the senior national team not to underrate their Guinea Bissau as such could be dangerous.

A fan, Johnpaul Okolo, said he was optimistic that the Super Eagles would win by a wide margin, “if they put their act together”.

“I am not afraid of Guinea Bissau because I know the Eagles will beat them even with a wide margin.

“My advice to the team is that they should go all out from the blast of the whistle and get quick goals and never to underrate their opponent,” Okolo said.

Also, Chidinma Ibezim, said she was not disturbed about the match, adding that the Super Eagles just needed a draw to qualify for the next round.

She, however, warned the team not to take things for granted.

“In football, anything can happen. So, there should be no room for complacency. The Eagles must play with full strength and avoid silly mistakes that could make them lose the match,” Ibezim said.

Obiora Edeh, another fan, said he believed the match would not be as easy as people would think.

“Though Guinea Bissau have lost their last two games, they still have hope. The team will fight with their last blood, if not for anything, at least to redeem their image as a country,” Edeh said.

He, therefore, admonished the Super Eagles to be in their best form to be able to beat their Guinea-Bissau opponents.

“I don’t see the game as easy as people think, I will not be surprised if it ends in a draw, even though I would love Nigeria to carry the day,” he said.

The Super Eagles currently occupy the second position behind Equatorial Guinea, who will also play hosts Cote d’Ivoire today (Monday).

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has said the ruling party is creating an atmosphere for its “electoral funeral”.

In a statement on Sunday, Lukman said APC leaders must be reminded that the party would be prone to electoral defeat if they do not adhere to calls for a leadership change.

The former vice chairman of the party said the refusal to listen to internal voices led to the formation of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) in 2013.

He said: “Painfully, in the process, a party that emerged with so much promise, APC, winning the support of Nigerians is almost destroyed and on a daily basis creating conditions for its own electoral funeral.

“As loyal members of the APC, we must remind our leaders that parties become more prone to electoral defeat when they resist or block internal pressures for leadership change.

“APC’s electoral victory in 2015, for instance, could be partly explained based on the refusal of PDP leadership to recognise and respect the yearnings of party members and leaders.

“It was the inability to respect internal yearnings for change that produced the splinter group of New PDP, which eventually joined the merger that produced APC in 2013.”

Lukman said President Bola Tinubu and former APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, who fought for democracy in the 90s, should ensure that Nigeria’s political parties are truly democratic.

He added: “Being leaders of APC, APC must emerge as a distinctly democratic party based on abiding respect for rule of law, which should be well reflected in a strong commitment to manage affairs of the party based on compliance with provisions of the APC.

“Anything short of this, will diminish the credentials of our leaders, including President Asiwaju Tinubu and Comrade Oshiomhole.”

Joseph Boakai has officially been sworn in as the new President of Liberia, marking a significant political shift in the country.

The 79-year-old leader, with four decades of political experience, secured his position after winning a closely contested run-off poll against former football star and Ballon d’Or winner George Weah, with a narrow victory margin.

The swearing-in ceremony, held in the nation’s parliament, was attended by notable figures, including Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Boakai, who previously served as vice president from 2006 to 2018 under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s first female president, assumes the presidency with the daunting task of addressing poverty, corruption, and a weak justice system.

Liberia, a country of five million people, has long struggled with these issues, exacerbated by years of civil war and an Ebola outbreak.

Additionally, the nation faces the challenge of impunity related to crimes committed during its civil wars.

During his election campaign, Boakai aligned with local power brokers, including former warlord Prince Johnson, who shifted his support from Weah in 2017 to Boakai in the recent election.

Johnson, a controversial figure under US sanctions, has been appointed to nominate Jeremiah Koung as the vice president.

The peaceful conduct of November’s election stands out in a region recently troubled by military coups.

Liberians now look to Boakai to fulfil his campaign promises of job creation, economic improvement, institutional strengthening, and fighting corruption.

His long tenure in politics raises expectations for significant progress in these critical areas.

Guinea-Bissau coach, Baciro Candé has stressed that he and his team are determined to beat the Super Eagles later today in their last group stage game of the 2023 AFCON.

Guinea-Bissau and the Super Eagles of Nigeria will clash at the Stade Félix Houphoüet-Boigny in Abidjan by 6 p.m. later this evening, January 22.

The Wild Dogs are going into the game sitting at the bottom of Group A after two losses in their last two games. Despite such a form, they intend to provide one of the biggest upsets of the tournament against the Super Eagles.

Recall that Guinea-Bissau beat Nigeria 1-0 in Abuja during the 2023 AFCON qualifiers and Nigeria defeated them 1-0 in the return leg.

Hence, though they have suffered defeats at the hands of Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast in the 2023 AFCON Group A, they fancy a chance of bowing out of the tournament with pride.

If they beat Nigeria, they’ll get up to three points, but since they’re now bottom of Group A, that won’t be enough to keep them in the tournament.

“Mentally we will be very strong and go out for a win. We know football has its peculiarities but we would do everything for a win against Nigeria,” the Guinea-Bissau coach said.

“I believe everything is possible, physically and emotionally we will be ready.”

One of the team’s stars, Carlos Mané added, “We know it’s now difficult to progress to the next stage but we will play for our families and our country. We will fight with all we have to give a good game against Nigeria.”

Contrary to rather quite irresponsible speculation and baseless propaganda making the rounds, there is absolutely no intent, not to talk of attempt, overt or covert, on the part of the President Bola Tinubu administration to move the capital of Nigeria to Lagos, I can authoritatively report.

What occurred of recent is the relocation of certain offices for greater functionality and enhanced practicality to a location that best suits them.

Some of these offices never even effectively moved to Abuja, in the first place.

By the way, this idea that everything must be headquartered in a country's capital is a rather unimaginative one which ends up concentrating development in one place to the detriment of other parts of the country.

In fact, it is not even replicated in most other countries.

The Presidency of South Africa is domiciled in Pretoria; the Supreme Court of South Africa seats in Bloemfontein, the Constitutional Court of South Africa seats in Johannesburg; and, the Parliament of South Africa seats in Cape Town.

In Switzerland, a country with a population that is rivaled by the average state in Nigeria, you still hear of Geneva as much as of Zürich, Basel, Bern or Lausanne.

Dubai is so well-known across the world, many people think it is a country of its own, whereas it is in reality just a part of the United Arab Emirates, a country whose capital is actually Abu Dhabi!

In the United States of America, whereas Washington DC is the capital, numberless and quite strategic departments and agencies are headquartered elsewhere.

The Center for Disease Control, CDC, is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia; the US Nuclear Weapons' Command (what arguably makes them the world's most powerful country) is headquartered in Massachusetts; the gold bullion of America, the national wealth of the world's richest country in solid gold, is not kept in Washington but in Fort Knox in the state of Kentucky!

It is very difficult to find a single state in America where something critical to the wellbeing of their country is not located, unlike in Nigeria where we have had this utterly retrogressive and quite inequitable practice of concentrating everything in a particular place to the detriment of other parts of the country.

Washington State is known for Boeing and Microsoft; Michigan is known for General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, etc; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for steel and Akron, Ohio for tyres; Silicon Valley is in California; Houston, Texas is known for the oil industry and so on and so forth unlike in Nigeria where an head office had initially even been earmarked for the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, in Abuja where there is no port (that building is the present location of the Ministry of Defense) or oil companies producing crude in the Niger Delta are headquartered in Lagos!

Let us not make mountains out of molehills or display an inclination to be petty, divisive, clannish or regionalistic over everything in this country.

The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is and shall remain the undisputed capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and no one is more committed to upholding that status quo than President Tinubu, himself.

Onokpasa, a lawyer, writes from Abuja.

The Acting Director-General, management and staff of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, celebrate with Festus Keyamo, SAN, Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development on the occasion of his 54th birthday.

Michael Achimugu, Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, in a PR as statement weekend, stated, that Keyamo as the man responsible for an industry as critical as Aviation, that he has shown exceptional leadership and commitment towards positioning Nigeria’s aviation among the best in the world, and we at NCAA align with that vision.
“Your stoicism, reminiscent of social rights and justice crusaders from time immemorial, has pointed us in the right direction and the industry is once again filled with hope, excitement, and direction.

“As you commence this flight on a new age, may the wisdom that comes with experience and love guide your path. We at NCAA believe in your leadership and we have no doubt that God will fill your household with all of the beauties of a new age,” he stated.

House number 43, Idi Maska Road in Funtua, Katsina State, was just like any other building in the busy neighbourhood adjourning the Funtua Central Motor Park, save for the unending stream of visitors that trooped in and out of it. Some of the callers were friends of its famous occupant while others were members of the Social Democratic Party, (SPD).

The building, a one-storey affair, green in colour, was the residence of the legendary Hausa  folk musician, poet and politician, Alhaji Mamman Shata who was at the time, chairman of the SDP in Funtua Local Government Area.

I had travelled from Katsina to Funtua in March 1991 to keep an interview appointment with the musician who had agreed to speak on his music and his aspiration at the time to contest for the position of Katsina State governor.

Last week, as I passed through the town to Malumfashi to witness a friend’s daughter’s marriage, I could not but remember the interesting encounter with the man.

                Shata

A visitor who expected to find Shata’s abode as a mansion in the exclusive part of the town would be disappointed. Despite his social standing as the foremost musician in Northern Nigeria at the time, he relished his life of ordinariness. Not for him the usual splendour of the rich and powerful.

His sitting room on the ground floor was sparsely furnished, without even the simple floor carpet or electric fan. Notwithstanding, his admirers and party faithful made themselves comfortable, squatting around him on the bare floor. I don’t know what he expected of me that March afternoon, but after exchanging greetings, I had made myself comfortable in one of the more comfortable chairs.

Shata was an enigma of sorts and it showed all through the hour and half-long interview. He was his usual self – eloquent, oratorical and pedantic.

Shata was always at home whenever the discussion was ‘kalangu’ music or politics. Over the years he had come to master both. He started playing music in his birthplace, Musawa, and it has since brought him fame and recognition across Nigeria and from foreign lands. His music put him on first name basis with the rich and powerful, notably royalties like the late Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Usman Nagogo, those of Kano, Zaria and Daura, Alhaji Ado Bayero, Alhaji Shehu Idris and Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar, respectively. In his day, no big occasion  in Northern Nigeria was complete without him. 

Music has always been his familiar terrain, until the First Republic when he opted to combine it with politics. If this decision took his admirers by surprise, his choice of playing the opposition was even more so as he shunned the Northern Peoples Congress of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello and opted instead for the left-wing   NEPU. Similarly in the Second Republic he decided to ride against the popular wave by shunning the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), and the Peoples’ Redemption Party (PRP), both of which were the dominant parties in the old Kaduna State and joined the Great Nigeria Peoples’ Party (GNPP) led by Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim.

Somewhat a radical, definitely a non-comformist, he holds mostly opposing views on most social and political issues, some of which earned him time in detention. He attributed his travails to the machinations of the other parties “who wanted me to join them but I refused because I cannot abandon the ‘talakawa’”. 

He prefers to be identified with the ‘talakawas’ whose suffering, he said, inspired his decision to go into politics, but he does not tie his philosophy to Alhaji Aminu Kano or any other politician dead or alive who had stood on the side of the ‘talakawa’. 

After what was a turbulent time in the GNPP of the Second Republic, one thought Shata would leave politics alone. Wrong! After the death of the Second Republic, he went back to his music full time but bounced back when political activities for the transition to the Third Republic was lifted. Of the two parties (SDP and NRC) formed by President Ibrahim Babangida, he joined the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and helped the party get a  strong foothold in Katsina State.

In-between pulls and puffs at his trademark Rothman’s cigarette, he told me that politics was his life, just as music was his life, “so there is no leaving one for the other because that would amount to a King abdicating his throne”. 

By local standards, Shata was a rich man who made money through his music. But everything he made, he shared with the poor. He lived with the poor, ate with them and shared in their aspirations. 

For a man who never attended school, he was insistent that he would contest and win the governorship election of Katsina State that year. When I reminded him that he would hardly meet up with the necessary educational qualifications stipulated by law for the governorship contest, he had retorted that the law would have to prove or disprove whether his string of (honorary) doctorate degrees are inferior or superior to the GCE O’level certificate required by law. 

He laughed through the thick cigarette smoke, and followed it up with coughing. 

Alhaji Shata has over 15 awards in recognition of his contribution to music and to the society, mostly honorary degrees by universities around the world. From the Ahmadu Bello University alone, he had three honorary degrees and one from the prestigious University of California. A week before our meeting, he was given a special recognition award by the Performing Musician s Association of Nigeria (PMAN).

Shata was an interesting subject to interview and he managed my poor Hausa the way I managed his smattering use of English language. I was also aware he was quick to anger, so I left one question for last: how does he manage his ceaseless smoking during the Muslim fasting? Dead silence. He obviously didn’t like the question as I knew he wouldn’t.

“Kai, ina ruwa nka?” he repeated the question twice.

I explained that I was just curious because I observed he never for once since the interview started, paused on smoking. Silence again. As he gathered his cigarettes and stood up, I knew the interview was over.

The following week, I splashed the interview on the front page of my newspaper, Katsina Newsweek. It helped put him strongly in the contest against notable candidates like Umar Musa Yar’adua, Abu Jalli Gambo and Idris ‘Piapia’ Nadabo. However, it was his relentless criticism of the party leadership at national and state levels that ultimately brought him head-to-head against Maj-Gen Shehu Yar’adua (rtd), an indigene of the state, and resulted in his eventual disqualification and removal as party chairman.

Later in the year at an event organised by the Gidauniyar Jihar Katsina, we made up, but he would never grant me another interview, a vow he maintained till he died in June, 1999.

Shata was indeed a great man who lived what he believed. My recent trip through Funtua rekindled the memory of that encounter 33 years ago. It was one encounter that made a huge impression on me at the time,  of one man’s conviction and his effort to uplift the poor and the lowly.

“The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, was damning when he spoke before the House of Representatives committee on solid minerals while defending his ministry’s 2024 budget. He said: “One pernicious discovery we have made is that a lot of these banditry, terrorism and insecurity… are actually sponsored by illegal miners. These are not your artisanal miners. They are not people who pick gold on the ground. These are heavy and powerful individuals in our country. And they are Nigerians. They are not foreigners. Yes, you can see foreigners as symptoms but they are not the disease. Nigerians are the powers behind those foreigners that you see on the streets…”

Last Tuesday, an explosion rocked Old Bodija in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The panic and stampede that ensued were better imagined than witnessed; so also, the magnitude of destruction and loss suffered. Lives were lost; at the last count five as a direct consequence of the blast. Other deaths linked to the blast have since been recorded. Also at the last count, close to 100 persons were injured. A yet-to-be-specified number of houses and businesses were uprooted, flattened or violently shaken by the explosion. The destruction reportedly travelled as far as the Oyo State Governor’s Office kilometers away. At the end of the day, properties lost could be estimated in billions of Naira.

Who dunnit? Governor Seyi Makinde has said the explosion was the handiwork of illegal miners who stored explosives in a strictly residential area. Some independent assessors or observers disagree, saying the impact the explosion created was beyond the capacity of explosives but that it was an outright act of terrorism. Well, until the contrary is proved, I go with Gov. Makinde’s explanation.

This, then, brings up the question of illegal miners in Oyo State in general. In this column on Sunday, 18 April, 2021, I drew the attention of Gov. Makinde to the activities of illegal miners in the state, with the title “Is Makinde aware of this?” Published on page 22 of that day’s edition of the Sunday Tribune, it obviously caught the attention of the government as a result of which a Special Adviser to the governor called me afterwards to say their government was aware of the activities of the illegal miners and that something was being done.

I reproduce that piece here in part: “The write-up you are about to read was forwarded to me by a friend who now lives in the United States of America. We had been comrades at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife. Interestingly, the write-up is an investigative report by the Abuja-based Daily Trust newspaper and their object of interest – Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State. It reads: Strabag Precious Stone International market in Ibadan is a silent gold mine for many billionaires across West Africa; yet, (the Nigerian) government is being short-changed as they (the billionaires across West Africa) fail to pay royalties while the market (itself) remains an eyesore. If you are visiting Strabag precious stone international market, Ojoo, Ibadan, Oyo State for the first time, you will not believe that billions of Naira is being exported out of the community monthly.

From the narrow entrance to the market, which is dominated by foreigners from other West African countries, everywhere looks unkempt and dirty with dilapidated structures. Owners of some of the buildings have vacated them but still receive monthly rents of between N1,500 and N2,000 from the tenants.

Located within the yard of the defunct Strabag construction company, the company which constructed the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in the 70s, the market occupies about 250 houses and has only 10 percent of Nigerians earning their daily income in the market while 90 percent foreigners operate in the market. Every Thursday, precious stones worth N500m are moved out of Ibadan to countries like Thailand, China, the United States of America, Hong Kong and other developed countries of the world by some powerful billionaires from West African countries.

Our correspondent who went round the market disguised as a customer revealed that stones like tourmaline, Beryl, morganite and granite are exported through NAHCO airport, Ikeja while buyers launder money through the land borders so that the government cannot determine the amount spent on transactions. Daily Trust Saturday gathered that officials of the Ministry of Mines and Steel both at the federal and state levels, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and Customs at airports are also culprits as they are allegedly being bribed to keep mute.

Our correspondent gathered that most of the precious stone merchants who are foreigners live in the most sophisticated estates in Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja and other big cities in Nigeria. Some of the merchants have been in the business in Ibadan for over 40 years because of the stability of precious stones deposited in the Oke-Ogun area of the state while their agents hunt for precious stones in the 36 states of the country, said a source who spoke to our correspondent in confidence. The gimmicks employed by the foreign businessmen include wooing village leaders with construction of roads leading to their villages and building of schools for their children.

It appears Section 94, Chapter 3 of the Mining Act 2007 (as amended) which states that ‘No person shall purchase any mineral unless he holds a licence to purchase minerals issued under this Act’ does not apply to the foreigners as many of them dare Nigerians in the market. A Nigerian source in the market told Daily Trust Saturday: ‘Government is aware we are here. Government raided us in this market some time ago but the foreigners were released after the intervention of their big men. Many petitions have emanated from here but were swept under the carpet. With this business, the Nigerian government needs little money from the oil sector if they are serious. What we are experiencing here can only happen in Nigeria and no other country in the world. How will you take precious stones out of a country without paying royalty?’

Precious stones, which are determined by their colour and texture, are in large deposits in every state in Nigeria, especially in the Oke-ogun area of Oyo State where mining camps are numerous. Our correspondent further gathered that other states in Nigeria have alluvial precious stones while Oyo State is blessed with pecmitine (vein), which is exported from the state without the state getting anything in return.

Another source in the market told our correspondent that the foreigners control the market by determining how much they buy gemstones in Nigeria and how much it is sold in the country. Ibadan is the centre of gemstones in Nigeria, the centre of marketing and the centre of exploitation…

Government has no idea what is going on. There are industrial stones which they export and refine but the gem stones are the ones they cut and use in making jewelry. We have the best stones in the world. Talk about tourmaline, sapphire, emerald and other gemstones; we have the best. The international market prefers our stones to those of other countries.

The foreigners – Malians, Burkinabes, Guineans, Gambians, Senegalese – determine the market: How much they buy and how much they sell. If you talk, they tell you ‘This is Nigeria’! They are also members of ECOWAS and if you take them to any station, they always have their way. We want to know who is protecting the government’s interest here. How do they pay royalties and to who?

Petitions have emanated from here but the (authorities) didn’t act on them because people who are supposed to act are also benefiting from the illegality. We are not against international trading but due process must be followed. There was a time we brought up an issue here but before we knew it, some ambassadors called the Nigerian government officials saying that their men were doing their business here in Nigeria and we should not disturb them because we are all members of ECOWAS.

Meanwhile, you cannot try that in their country! There is no country in the world where such a thing can be done except in Nigeria! You live in a country, go to their mining camp, and exploit it without paying royalties to anyone? Never! It is either they buy it from the site and take it directly to the airport or they take it from here to the airport without notifying the government and our government does not care… Here, we sell (gems) per gram while, over there, they sell per character. When you sell one gram for $5, they sell a character for $500. Meanwhile, one gram contains five characters.

As at the time of going to press, the chief press secretary to the governor, Taiwo Adisa, neither picked calls nor responded to text messages for us to know the efforts of the government in addressing the abnormalities”.

That was almost three years ago! Was this article brought to Gov. Makinde’s attention? Did the Special Adviser bring it to his attention? What was it that was being done by the government as the Special Adviser told me, and how far did they go with it? Illegal mining is rampant all over Oyo state; it is not limited only to Ibadan. Illegal miners also reside all over the place in Oyo State and not only in the Bodija area of Ibadan. So, the disaster that struck Ibadan last Tuesday must be prevented from striking other parts of the state.

Malian illegal miners were some of the illegal miners mentioned in this piece that I wrote about three years ago. Malian illegal miners have also been fingered in the Ibadan explosion. Can we then say we did not know or that we were not forewarned?

It is not only in Oyo State that illegal mining strives; we are familiar with the fact that in many parts of the North, illegal mining is the in-thing. Crude oil theft and illegal refineries signpost the South-South. One of the major causes of insurgency and insecurity in the North is said to be the activities of illegal miners. That dangerous trend has spread to the South-west. In many South-west states today, we have the activities of illegal miners – Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, name it! And wherever we have illegal mining, insecurity and insurgency take roots.

The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, was damning when he spoke before the House of Representatives committee on solid minerals while defending his ministry’s 2024 budget. He said: “One pernicious discovery we have made is that a lot of these banditry, terrorism and insecurity… are actually sponsored by illegal miners. These are not your artisanal miners. They are not people who pick gold on the ground. These are heavy and powerful individuals in our country. And they are Nigerians. They are not foreigners. Yes, you can see foreigners as symptoms but they are not the disease. Nigerians are the powers behind those foreigners that you see on the streets…”

The vile dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, said: “Any insurrection that lasts more than 24 hours, a government official has a hand in it” Tell me, for how many years have we suffered insurrection, insurgency, banditry and terrorism in this country, with government after government appearing helpless?

We have heard that powerful political leaders and traditional rulers are behind illegal mining activities not only in the South-west but all over the country, with attendant dire consequences for the security and well-being of the regions concerned and their long-suffering people. Why should leaders be more interested in feeding their greed than leverage on the abundant resources in their locality to give their people BETTER LIFE? If the South-west is not to become another Zamfara, the time to act is now!