...disowns post endorsing military rule

Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida has dissociated himself from a post associating him to have endorsed the virtues of military rule over democratic governance. 

In a statement from his media office signed by Mahmud Abdullahi in Minna, General Babangida reiterated his commitment to democratic rule rather than military and therefore called on all Nigerians to, not only to embrace it, but to see to its success.

The statement reads:”Our attention has been drawn to a post on a parody account on X, formerly known as twitter, which carries the handle, @General_Ibbro, in which former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, GCFR, was supposed to have endorsed the virtues of military rule over democratic governance.

“This dubious account carries our principal’s picture and name and the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for added effect but it does not belong to him nor does the former President sanction any post appearing there.

“In the past and more famously during the presidential elections last year, it posted a blatant falsehood that the former President had endorsed a particular presidential candidate and his party, thereby causing public confusion and some embarrassment to the Elder Statesman.

“We have just learnt that it has posted a similarly fake statement where the former President was supposed to have said that Nigeria has the best years under military, democracy made things worst.

“We want to state unequivocally that neither the twitter or X account which is essentially a parody or pretend account, nor the statement made therein ever belonged to the retired General.

“For the avoidance of doubt, General Babangida (rtd) believes that Nigeria’s democracy is resilient and has come to stay and that we must do everything we can to safeguard the process.

“As a nation, we are currently facing a number of challenges but the former president has always expressed the view that we will eventually overcome these challenges and come out a stronger, more progressive nation. The solution to our problems as he had said previously, is ‘more’ democracy, not less.

“General Babangida truly believes that the era of military intervention in Nigeria’s politics is long gone and he has said how proud he is that the Nigerian military has stood firmly behind multiple democratic governments in this country since 1999, thus giving us the longest run of civilian administration since independence.

“The user of this unfortunate parody account which we gather was traditionally supposed to be an account that imitates or at least mirror the sentiments of the original twitter or X account that it copies, has serially chosen to use the account to undermine democracy and spread stories capable of causing animosity.

“Sadly, there seems very little we can do to make the overseers of X or twitter to remove or sanction this tiresome account, so we are again obliged to advise the general public to ignore any post from this account that purportedly claims to represent my opinion,” General Babangida declared.

The statement advised media practitioners and social media users to be more discerning in future and make the necessary efforts to get confirmation before sharing messages attributed to former President Babangida on X on any social media platform.

…Rescue kidnap victims in Sokoto

Troops of the Nigerian Army have arrested a notorious gun-runner on transit to deliver high calibre weapons to terrorists and intercepted a truck conveying illegally refined Automated Gas Oil, AGO.

The troops also rescued kidnapped victims while on transit in Kaduna State.

The Army said vigilant troops, in collaboration with other security agencies, intercepted the notorious gun-runner, Mallam Hashimu Ahmad at Saminaka in Lere Local Government Area of the state.
It said: “The suspect, who has been on the wanted list of the security agencies for supplying arms and ammunition to terrorists was captured while on transit to deliver sophisticated weapons.

“The weapons include one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Launcher, one RPG Bomb, 1,069 rounds of 7. 62mm (special) ammunition and one belt of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition.

“The cache of arms and ammunition, as well as the vehicle used in conveying them, have been fully recovered.”

In the same vein, the Army said: “In Sokoto State, troops on patrol in the general area of Matalawa village of Isa Local Government Area of the state have rescued kidnap hostages, who were abducted and taken into the forest while on transit.

“Responding to a distress call, the troops moved swiftly to the location, where they engaged the kidnappers in a gun duel, leading to the extrication of the hostages.

“The rescued hostages have been reunited with their families.

“In Delta State, troops acting on credible intelligence have intercepted a tanker truck laden with 15,000 litres of substance suspected to be illegally refined AGO at Ozoro, in Isoko North Local Government Area of the state.

“The troops have also taken the two suspects conveying the illegal product into custody for preliminary investigation, preparatory to handing over to appropriate prosecuting agency.

“Troops of the NA have continued to intensify ongoing operations against terrorism, insurgency, banditry, and sundry crimes, clamping down on various criminal syndicates across the country.
The Nigerian Army remains committed to protecting the nation and dismantling all criminal networks, inducing insecurity in the country.”

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s recent national broadcast for not addressing the violent crackdown by security forces on #EndBadGovernance protesters.

In a statement issued on Sunday after Tinubu’s address, Soyinka expressed concern over the president’s omission of this critical issue.

#EndBadGovernance protests continued for the fourth day, with citizens expressing dissatisfaction with worsening economic conditions and ineffective governance.

Soyinka stated, “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.

“His outline of government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis. My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.”

He argued that the government’s approach only encourages impunity among security forces and perpetuates a cycle of resentment and reprisals.

Soyinka highlighted the use of live ammunition as a response to peaceful protests as a critical issue, noting that even tear gas is often misused in such situations.

He remarked that hunger marches are a universal plea for help, signaling a breaking point that demands government attention.

The violent response to these protests, he warned, represents a regression even more severe than the deadly aftermath of the ENDSARS protests.

“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.

“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.

“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation. The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.

“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera BREAD AND BULLETS, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.”

Soyinka noted that the “nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilized advances in security intervention.”

He said, “Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the YELLOW VEST movement in France? Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations.

“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.

“The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so under-developed, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example. All it takes is to recall its own history, then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society.

“Today’s marchers may wish to consider adopting the key songs of Hubert Ogunde’s BREAD AND BULLETS, if only to inculcate a sense of shame in the continuing failure to transcend the lure of colonial inheritance where we all were at the receiving end. One way or the other, this vicious cycle must be broken.”

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Dele Momodu has reacted to President Bola Tinubu’s speech on the EndBadGovernance protest.

Momodu stated that Tinubu failed to address the demands of the helpless Nigerians.

Speaking via his social media account, the Ovation publisher said he was stupefied by the broadcast.

He opined that it would be difficult for Tinubu to change his ways, considering that he has held Lagos with an iron grip in the last 25 years.

Momodu lamented that he has little hope that the president would grant concessions to the aggrieved Nigerians.

He insisted that most of Tinubu advisers are fanatical cronies who have failed to challenge his method of governance.

Momodu wrote, “Fellow Nigerians, good morning. After the long awaited speech of PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU eventually came this morning, I’m sure most of you would be as stupefied as me. I must confess that I had little hope of Tinubu granting some concessions to the aggrieved Nigerians. As a man who has held iron grip on Lagos State in the last 25 years, it would be difficult for him to change a winning formula that has worked for him ever since. Also, what did we expect his advisers to be telling him when most of them have been his most fanatical cronies from Lagos who have learnt never to challenge the Master.

“So it was mere wishful thinking on the part of incurable optimists like me to think he was going to have mercy on hapless and seemingly helpless Nigerians. Just for academic purposes, let’s reel out what a sensitive leader, who craves the rightful position in posterity, would have done and said:

“1. In view of the unprecedented suffering being experienced by Nigerians, we have decided to cut the cost of governance drastically… Some Ministries will be scrapped and some Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and all redundant personnel would be eased out…No official cars would be procured anytime soon.

“2. The number of aircrafts on our Presidential fleet will be reduced to maximum two. I offer sincere apologies that we went ahead to invest in luxury items at this bad times. We shall place immediate embargo on subsequent purchases.

“3. Subsidy of petroleum products will be reviewed thoroughly to ascertain the genuine costs and true billing of the controversial payments. While we hope to achieve this in maximum of three months, we shall revert to old prices within this period in order to reduce the heavy burden on our people. We shall also escalate work on our existing refineries without which we shall be throwing away loads of resources. Nothing has stalled our refineries other than reckless corruption. This we are blocking immediately.

“4. Instead of tasking civil servants and politicians to handle students loans and vocational grants, we shall engage reputable accounting firms and banks to set up modalities for credits and activate the disbursements…- CHIEF DELE MOMODU”

A small group of #EndBadGovernance protesters assembled at Gani Fawehinmi Park on Sunday morning, singing solidarity songs shortly after President Bola Tinubu addressed the nation.

The demonstrators expressed dissatisfaction, stating that the President failed to address the core issues they raised, even though he mentioned efforts being made by his administration.

Police and other security personnel remained present at the park.

The police prevented the protesters from marching beyond the designated area at Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota.

The protesters complied peacefully and returned to the designated location.

As of this report, there were more police officers than protesters in the Ojota area of Lagos.

In a broadcast earlier on Sunday, Tinubu urged the youths to halt the #EndBadGovernance protests and engage in dialogue.

He reassured them that his administration is committed to good governance despite the socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.

Tinubu stated that removing the fuel subsidy was a painful yet necessary decision for economic reforms.

Reinstating the petrol subsidy is one of the key demands of the young Nigerians who have been protesting since Thursday against the country’s economic hardships.

Among the protesters’ demands are the restoration of the fuel subsidy and changes to the foreign exchange regime. They also call for the government to address food shortages, unemployment, and excessive spending by those in power.

Other demands include reducing the President’s cabinet and overall government expenses, and immediate reforms of the electoral commission (INEC) and anti-corruption agency (EFCC), with renewed efforts to combat corrupt politicians.

Nigeria’s D’Tigress have made history by reaching the quarterfinals of the women’s basketball tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

D’Tigress secured a decisive 79-70 win over Canada in their final group match at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France.

This victory marks Nigeria’s first appearance in the quarterfinal stage of the Olympic basketball competition.

Nigeria advanced through the group stage with five classification points, placing them at the top of the standings. France is set to play against Australia later in the day.

Led by coach Rena Wakama, the Nigerian team rebounded from a loss to France in their second game after securing a victory against Australia in their opening match.

The first quarter saw both Nigeria and Canada neck and neck, ending in an 18-18 tie.

Canada managed to pull ahead slightly in the second quarter, leading 41-37 by halftime.

However, the third quarter shifted in Nigeria’s favor, as they restricted Canada to only five points, taking control of the game.

D’Tigress sealed their historic win with a strong performance in the final quarter, achieving a remarkable 9-point victory over Canada.

Former Senator representing Kaduna North Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, has said it’s time for northerners to look at themselves instead of blaming other regions.

Sani, who wrote on his verified Facebook page on Sunday, lamented that most public schools are free, yet our young ones still don’t want to go to school.

He said, “Many of us don’t want our spouses to work or use their skills or talents to earn a living or contribute to the family. When we die, we leave them as helpless widows at the mercy of a hostile society.

“Most young people don’t want to serve as apprentices in workshops or retail outlets because they lack the heart and patience to serve.

“Many parents in rural areas hand over their children to a religious teacher in the city, who depends on the children to beg or steal in order to feed himself and his family. For ethnic, religious, and sectional reasons, we have protected, defended, praised, and refused to hold accountable all our kinsmen who led the country at every wasted opportunity for five decades.

“The bandits and terrorists who kill and kidnap our people, deny our farmers access to their farms, and prevent our children from going to school are not from any foreign country or from the south; they come from our homes and families up north. We worship with them in the same mosque. We used to live together as one region in peace, brotherhood, and love, but then we divided and began to hate ourselves along religious lines.

“We don’t vote for people who will serve us; we vote for those who will provide us with spaghetti and grains. We concoct and spread all sorts of religiously inclined conspiracies to deny our children free health immunization against diseases, resulting in hundreds of thousands of blind, lame, crippled, and deaf children who grow up as victims of polio, glaucoma, or leprosy, begging in northern and southern cities. Many of our women and girls don’t have a business capital of 100k but own an iPhone worth N1.5m. They don’t have capital of 100k but can ‘struggle’ to meet up with a wedding asoebi of 500k.

“We deny most of our girls the right to go beyond secondary school due to negative perceptions about higher education. We don’t want our female children to wear uniforms. Whenever recruitment portals for the Army, Police, Customs, Immigration, and Civil Defence open, we don’t want our female wards to apply.

“When our children graduate from universities, especially public universities, most of the parents who attend to celebrate and appreciate their children are from the southern regions. Most of our industries and factories in Kano, Kaduna, and Jos have since closed down when our kinsmen were in power. Our farmers in rural areas are still farming with hoes throughout the period our kinsmen were in power. The groundnut and cotton pyramids disappeared long ago when our kinsmen were at the helm.

“All the spare parts, building materials, and pharmaceutical stores in the north are private businesses owned by people from other regions who were not backed, funded, or supported by any government. When our kinsmen were in power, we attributed our poverty and insecurity to God and to our sins; when our kinsmen are out of power, we attribute our sufferings to the King.

“The FCT is in the north. Can anyone explain why people from the region couldn’t dominate the private businesses in the FCT, Suleja, and Mararaba? Who should be blamed for this?

“God gave us the largest land mass, the largest number of people, most of the rivers, and resources and livestock, and gave us power for the most part of our history. Which of the favours of our Lord can we deny? The North; eighty percent of our problems are ourselves and not anyone ‘outside of ourselves.’”

Former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s Sunday address to Nigerians concerning the ongoing nationwide protests against bad governance in the country.

The ex-minister said the speech was terribly underwhelming to read.

Ezekwesili said Tinubu’s speech was a monumental missed opportunity to placate citizens with sound answers and an outline of convincing evidence-based actions that his government will take to address bad governance in the country.

The government critic claimed the speech was written from a mindset focused on “getting back at Tinubu’s imaginary enemies.

DAILY POST reported that Tinubu addressed the nation on Sunday concerning the ongoing nationwide protests.

The President in his speech ruled out the return of fuel subsidy and asked organizers of the protest to withdraw from the street.

However, in a statement on her X handle on Sunday, the former Minister said it is unfortunate to see Nigerian public “Leaders” talk and behave like losers on matters of public governance.

She said: “@officialABAT , As one of millions of Nigerians who were at church when you delivered your late-in-coming Speech to Citizens on the #EndBadGovernancelnNigeria protests, let me loudly say it was terribly underwhelming to read.

‘Your Speech reads like a page from your party manifesto and terribly failed to connect to what our Citizens on the Streets are angry and protesting about.

‘Your speech is quite a monumental missed opportunity to placate citizens with sound answers and outline of convincing evidence-based actions that you and your @NigeriaGov will immediately take to address the priority #BadGovernance concerns.

“Your Speech was sadly again written out of a mindset that is focused on “getting back at our enemies”. Imaginary enemies at that! No true Leader has the luxury of having “enemies” among their Citizens. Not at all. A Public Leader becomes the Leader of ALL with a mind that does not think of any as their enemies.

“This is why it is ever unfortunate to see Nigerian public “Leaders” talk and behave like Losers on matters of public governance where they are expected to rally their ALL Citizens behind the common purpose of nation building.

“It is nauseating to observe this recurrent innate unwillingness of Nigerian public leaders to admit responsibility for the demands of the same public leadership that they kill and maim citizens to assume.

“@officialABAT, Citizens know when they are being badly governed and from what one can see, Nigerians have now realized that they must collectively speak up and take action otherwise their self-obsessed rulers (and not leaders) will not pay them any heed at all.

“As we remember and pray for families of all our citizens mauled down or maimed for demanding an End to Bad Governance, let me call on you @officialABAT to immediately instruct the IG @PoliceNG and his men to “STOP KILLING PEACEFUL PROTESTERS NOW!”

“Also fish out all law enforcement personnel that have killed and maimed citizens and ensure they are sanctioned as a deterrence to their colleagues.”

Political activist, Chris Nwaokobia has described the nationwide broadcast by President Bola Tinubu as flaccid and an uneventful dance around the issues that brought about the EndBadGovernance protests.

Nwaokobia also claimed the president’s speech only sought to validate the policies that traumatised the people and also to decree an end to the protests without addressing the issues.

In a statement made available to DAILY POST on Sunday, Nwaokobia alleged that President Tinubu’s speech did not make concrete promises, announce some far-reaching reforms or say a thing about cutting the cost of governance, cutting wastage, wanderlust and profligacy. 

DAILY POST reported that President Tinubu addressed the nation on Sunday where he revealed that he was aware of the pains of Nigerians and that he was speaking with a heavy heart.

The president addressed the nation after day 3 of the planned 10-day EndBadGovernance nationwide protest which started on Thursday, August 1.

Nwaokobia’s statement read, “Mr President’s speech this morning was a flaccid and uneventful dance around the issues that brought us to the nadir. He sought to validate the policies that traumatize the people. He sought to decree an end to the protests without addressing the issues.

“Without making concrete promises. Without announcing some far-reaching reforms. And without saying a thing about cutting the cost of governance, and cutting wastage, wanderlust and profligacy.”

Nwaokobia, who held that the speech was not the mind of the president, accused the writers of being utterly wicked, mischievous and treacherous.

“The person who wrote that speech may be utterly wicked, mischievous and treacherous because I do not believe that such is the mind of Mr. President. But what do I know?”

“Shame on the handlers of this Presidency. Shame on Mr President. Shame on the All Progressive Congress APC. Shame on all those who have direct access to Mr. President but cannot tell him the Truth. And shame to all those who undermine the extent to which an aggrieved people can go.

“Unfortunately, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears to have been ensconced and removed from all those who can tell him the Truth.

“Mr President has continued on the same trajectory as his aides who believe that threats and orders can attend and assuage the anger in the land. Mr President is apparently far from the truth and away from reality.

“Clearly, Mr President is badly surrounded by sycophants and hypocrites, and so cannot apprehend the enormity of the anger in the land. I pity Mr. President.”

While accusing the President of not being sensitive to the demands of the protesters and speaking without listening, Nwakobia said he hoped the speech would be followed by proactive and profound reforms.

The 33 council chairmen in Oyo State have dumped the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) over the Supreme Court’s judgment granting financial autonomy to local government across the country.

The chairmen, in a communique signed by all the chairmen, unanimously declared their unalloyed support for Governor Seyi Makinde.

ALGON’s Public Relation Officer in the state, Ibrahim Akintayo, described the chairmen’s stand as solidarity to Governor Makinde’s recent stand on local government autonomy as ruled by the apex court.

They attributed their unequivocal loyalty to Makinde for his exemplary leadership and unrivalled achievements since his assumption to office.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the Oyo State’s governor had during a meeting with some stakeholders after the court ruling, constituted committees to review apex court’s ruling on local government autonomy.

“I called this meeting because I felt that even though we have not seen the Certified True Copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court, we have to be proactive and discuss the decision of the Supreme Court as it concerns financial autonomy of the local government councils because I believe a lacuna has been created between the decision and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that we all swore to uphold.

“The law is the law, and when there is a conflict, yes, we should go to the court. But it behooves on us to look for our own home-grown solutions that can ensure that we have transparency and that our people do not suffer. This is because when two elephants are fighting, it is the grass that will suffer,” the governor had stated.

Makinde’s stand on the Supreme Court ruling had however received mixed reactions from the public with some supporting his stance and others criticising the governor.

According to a communique, the decision to move to a new association was arrived at due to the need to protect and provide for the people in their various local government areas.

It also said that the intended association for local government executive chairmen will be registered under the relevant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Part of the communique read: “At the general meeting of ALL the Local Government Councils of Oyo State, held on Saturday 3rd August 2024 at Ibadan, it was voluntarily agreed and resolved as follows:

“That in order to inter alia protect the interest of our people, we should forthwith form an umbrella association. Such organisation will be registered under the relevant Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its membership shall be institutional-represented by the chairmen of respective local government councils.

“That the association shall remain committed to the democratic ideas of the system of Local Government as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

“Furthermore, the association shall ensure the delivery of the real development in local councils in the overall interest of our people at the local level.”