A former Navy Commodore, Kunle Olawunmi, has said that Boko Haram terrorists mentioned names of current governors, senators and Aso Rock officials as sponsors during interrogation but the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has demonstrated an unwillingness to go after the high-profile politicians for reasons best known to him.
He described as an “aberration”, Tuesday attack by bloodthirsty bandits on the Kaduna campus of Nigeria’s foremost military university, the Nigerian Defence Academy, where two military officers were killed and another kidnapped.
“It is an aberration; you don’t attack the Nigerian Defence Academy and get away with it,” he lamented, adding that the NDA, like other military environments in the country, carelessly opens its doors to everyone on Friday for Jumat prayer.
Olawunmi said terrorists and criminals profile military environments during the weekly Muslim prayer on Fridays.
He said, “In 2017, I carried out an investigation by the minister of defence that wanted me to check what was going on with the training and the security there (NDA). I remember I spent about a week in the NDA with the commandant and the staff but something struck me: every Friday, the gate of NDA is thrown open and everybody has access to pray in the mosque.
“On Fridays, you are going to see the same thing happening across all military formations in the country…If you go to Defence Headquarters, I served at the Defence Headquarters as the Deputy Director, Defence Administration between 2015 and 2017, throughout my two years at the Defence Headquarters, I received visitors twice because of the strict security architecture there but every Friday, the gate of the Defence Headquarters is thrown wide open for everybody to come in and observe Jumat.
“That is the time the terrorists have the time to profile our security environment. It has always been the case. I have served the military intelligence for the past 35 years. Our problem is religion and socio-cultural.”
Furthermore, Olawunmi, a Professor of Global Security Studies, said he was a member of the Intelligence Brief at the Defence Headquarters during the leadership of the then Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin (retd.).
The intelligence expert said he told the then CDS that the centre of gravity of the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the North-East and spreading to other parts of Nigeria was the sponsors.
“I told General Olonisakin then that the centre of this problem cannot be solved the same way we solved the problem of the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta problem was solved during (Ex-President Umaru) Yar’adua basically by me and I told them that we can’t use that same template for Boko Haram.
“I told General Olonisakin to look at the centre of gravity of the problem. I was made a member of the committee in 2016-2017 including (the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim) Attahiru that died.
“I told them that the centre of gravity of Boko Haram in Nigeria is the sponsors of the programme. It was beyond us because the job we needed to do was kinetic but we cannot resolve issues of sponsors of Boko Haram that were in Buhari’s government that we know them. That was why we couldn’t pursue that aspect that could have resolved the issue (insurgency) because we need to arrest people.”
‘Why Buhari refused to prosecute 400 Boko Haram sponsors’
The PUNCH had reported that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, earlier in the year said the Nigerian Government arrested some Bureau De Change operators who were facilitating the transfer of money to Boko Haram terrorists.
Olawunmi said the government has not been able to prosecute the sponsors because it is allegedly partisan.
He said, “Recently, 400 people were gathered as sponsors of Boko Haram, why is it that the Buhari government has refused to try them? Why can’t this government bring them to trial if not that they are partisan and part of the charade that is going on?
“You remember this Boko Haram issue started in 2012 and I was in the military intelligence at that time. We arrested those people. My organisation actually conducted interrogation and they (suspects) mentioned names. I can’t come on air and start mentioning names of people that are presently in government that I know that the boys that we arrested mentioned. Some of them are governors now, some of them are in the Senate, some of them are in Aso Rock.
“Why should a government decide to cause this kind of embarrassment and insecurity to the sense of what happened yesterday (Tuesday attack on NDA)?” he queried, adding that terrorist financiers want to turn Nigeria to a Taliban type of country.
‘DSS has information on terrorism sponsors but can’t act without Buhari’s order’
Olawunmi also said that the Department of State Services has “tremendous information on terrorists but they can’t do anything except the body language of the Commander-In-Chief”.
He, however, expressed hope that the next Nigerian President in 2023 might have the willpower to bring the high-profile sponsors of Boko Haram to book.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Obadiah Mailafia, said in August 2020 that repentant terrorists revealed that a serving northern governor is a Boko Haram leader.
For over 10 years, the Boko Haram terror group had killed thousands of Nigerians in the North-East. The sect had also burnt down and bombed scores of villages as well as churches. The Nigerian Army and the Presidency had at several times claimed the group had been ‘technically defeated’ and ‘weakened’ but the bloodthirsty terrorist faction continues to strike with daring effrontery and crude savagery.
UMEOJI/JUDE OKEKE SURRENDER TO OYE/SOLUDO AS COURT OF APPEAL ENUGU DISMISSES THEIR APPEAL AGAINST THE JUDGMENT OF HIS LORDSHIP, HON JUSTICE C C OKAA WHICH UPHELD THE DR VICTOR OYE LED LEADERSHIP OF APGA AND THE CANDIDACY OF PROF CHARLES CHUKWUMA SOLUDO._
A Special panel of the Court of Appeal sitting at Enugu and presided over by His Lordship, Hon Justice Monica Dongban Mensem, PCA today, 25th August 2021, struck out the appeal filed by Jude Okeke/Umeoji against the judgment of His Lordship, Hon Justice C C Okaa delivered on the 19th of July, 2021. The Court of Appeal further awarded a cost of #100,000.00 against Jude Okeke and in favour of Ozonkpu Dr Victor Oye
Hon Justice C C Okaa had on the 19th of July, 2021 delivered a landmark judgement upholding the leadership of APGA under the Chairmanship of Ozonkpu Dr Victor Oye and held that the National Officers of APGA elected at the National Convention of APGA held in Awka, Anambra State, are still lawfully in office and thus entitled to carry out the functions of their office including the nomination of candidate for the Anambra State Governorship election. The court further held that Chief Edozie Njoku and all those purportedly elected alongside him (including Jude Okeke) as well as any other person purporting to have replaced Chief Edozie Njoku, are not National Officers of APGA and cannot lawfully perform the functions of that office.
Recall that Jude Okeke had earlier appealed against the said judgment, which was struck out by the Court of Appeal, Awka Division in a well considered ruling delivered on the 2nd day of August, 2021. In a rather bizarre twist, Jude Okeke and Hon Umeoji had, through their lawyers, filed yet another application for leave to appeal against the judgment of Hon Justice C C Okaa. However, upon receipt of the Counter affidavit of Oye/Soludo in opposition to the incompetent application for leave, Okeke/Umeoji have realized the futility or impossibility of challenging the erudite judgment and decided to surrender.
It was gathered that the lawyers for Umeoji/Jude Okeke didn’t want to tarnish their reputation or embarrass themselves by being involved in frivolous court cases.
Consequently, the Special Panel of the Court of Appeal was faced with no further option than to dismiss the appeal.
Meanwhile, the news of the dismissal of the appeal today in Enugu by the Special panel of the Court of Appeal has thrown the members of APGA and indeed Ndi Anambra into jubilation. A cross section of APGA faithfuls interviewed were of the opinion that the instant judgment of the Court of Appeal has laid to rest the issues bordering on the validly nominated candidate of APGA for the November 6 governorship election.
The Court of Appeal, Kano Division had earlier made a pronouncement on the valid occupant of the office of the National Chairman of APGA and the person entitled to nominate the candidate of APGA in Anambra State. INEC, in obedience to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, has since listed Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo as the duly nominated candidate of APGA for the election.
Ahead of Nov 6 Anambra State Gubernatorial election ,the Leader of Good Governance Ministry(GGM) – Comrade Chinedu Asuzu has declared that the power of people is stronger than people in power ,advising people in a weekly radio people at Odenigbo FM every Monday 11-12 noon that this year election would be determined by the masses. Chinedu Asuzu ,who has been sensitizing the ordinary people via radio station for more than one year and with millions of followers on the social media ,announced that this year election means a lot to every Igbo man.
In yesterday radio program sponsored by Good Governance Ministry , the Leader of GGM told politicians without a known ideology to retire from politics as the days of money politics have expired .He reminded his numerous fans that those in Government are employed by the people to serve peoples’ interest and that is why they are called public servants. He further stated that the people have lost confidence with government at all levels ,hence the reason why they complied to the instruction of non -state actors to sit at home.
”Our people have suffered so much in the hands of internal and external enemies that they need political leaders who can show them real love in truth and honesty .Our people have failed to play issue- based politics. Political Positions are determined by moneybags and stakeholders of questionable characters,thereby making a mess of our rich cultural heritage .It is not about confronting the external enemies alone,it is also instituting the right culture that would encourage hardworking and discourage ‘ego mbute’ . People prefer the easy way out,cutting corners and unfortunately our society celebrates men with questionable characters.
Our education system is in a mess! Our academic curriculum is designed to produce certificate tigers .There is a need for total overhaul ! We need to build a competitive system that will allow a visionary leader to emerge and perform .Yes, the 1999 constitution as amended is against the collective wishes of our people but a State Governor has a lot of constitutional power to effect people driven reform and programs. As the Leader of Good Governance Ministry ,we have since started mobilizing one million voters and we request for collaboration with good men and women of good conscious who desire positive change in our land to join hands with GGM in promoting ideological politics ” Asuzu concluded
GGM is mobilizing one million voters to ensure that the right person wins Anambra Gubernatorial Election come Nov 6 ,2021.
Good Governance Ministry holds weekly political meeting every Saturday by 2pm in Awka .The Ministry is also assisting people via online voters registration exercise.Chinedu Asuzu gave out his phone number – 08104545533 for people that wish to know more about the work of the ministry and for reporting bad governance around the communities.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has revealed that the Presidency has banned him from having discussions with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ortom noted that his requests for discussion on issues of national security with President Buhari have been turned down without reasons.
Ortom said that he discovered the plan against him after his request to meet the President was not granted and that no reason was given on why it was approved.
The Governor noted that after his investigation, it was discovered that the Presidency had directed that his request for any meeting with the president should not be granted.
According to him, the meeting was basically to inform him of issues that could help stem the insecurity tide within the country particularly around the middle belt region, and that it was not for personal benefits.
Ortom, who disclosed the ban imposed on him during an interview on a popular Television talk show on Tuesday, said that the only medium he could express his displeasure against the President’s policies including the approval on open grazing routes was through the Nigerian media.
Aloy Ejimakor, the special counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has raised alarm that he has been receiving death threats.
Though Ejimakor didn’t disclose the persons responsible for this threat, he said its coming “from people I’ve been defending for years,” which suggests that they might be members of IPOB.
The threat might not be unconnected to the suspension of the Mondays sit-at-home by the leadership of IPOB which isn’t sitting down well with their members in Nigeria.
Some members of IPOB in Nigeria are angry with the counter directive suspending the sit-at-home and are alleging that their leaders including Kanu’s lawyers collected money to suspend the order.
In response to this allegation, Ejimakor tweeted:
“Does it make any sense to say that ‘the Lawyers collected money to suspend the Sit At Home’? Do the Lawyers have such powers?
“Can’t you see that these allegations are aimed at setting the house against itself? Shine your eyes, be smart & separate the apples from the oranges.”
However, it seems that the allegation has turned into threat, thus, the recent clarification aimed at exonerating himself from the release of the directive suspending the order. Ejimakor said “Onyendu did not pass the SIT AT HOME message through me.”
Kanu’s lawyer cried out via his twitter account on Monday, 23rd August, 2021.
I can no longer keep quiet because I’m receiving DEATH THREATS from people I’ve been defending for years.
Hear this: Onyendu DID NOT pass the SIT AT HOME message through me. The message was already delivered by others days before I visited him on 9th August. Check social media.”
I CAN NO LONGER KEEP QUIET BECAUSE I’M RECEIVING DEATH THREATS FROM PEOPLE I’VE BEEN DEFENDING FOR YEARS.
HEAR THIS: ONYENDU DID NOT PASS THE SIT AT HOME MESSAGE THROUGH ME. THE MESSAGE WAS ALREADY DELIVERED BY OTHERS DAYS BEFORE I VISITED HIM ON 9TH AUGUST. CHECK SOCIAL MEDIA.
The sit-at-home was suspended by the head of the Directorate of States, Chika Edoziem who hinted that the new date for the exercise is on days their leader will be appearing in Court.
Despite this suspension order, states in the South Eastern region of Nigeria remains deserted every Monday.
A United Nations (UN) publication has detailed a secret government programme tagged, Suhlu, designed to pull commanders of terrorists groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP) out of the forests, rehabilitate them and provide them a means of livelihood.
The development is coming as intelligence agencies have begun investigation into the recent surrender of over 1,200 terrorists and their families in the last three weeks.
The investigation, THISDAY learnt, seeks to ascertain whether the surrender was genuine or a ploy to activate and coordinate terror sleeper cells across the country.
North-east communities and traditional institutions have protested the potential reintegration of the insurgents into their communities.
Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State and Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai El-Kanem, had also raised concerns that the communities where thousands of people were killed by the terrorists and houses destroyed might not be in the right frame of mind to accept the surrendered insurgents, who recently sought the forgiveness of Nigerians.
However, the report by a United Nations’ publication, The New Humanitarian, said a clandestine Nigerian government programme was reaching out to senior jihadist fighters in the bush to encourage them to abandon their goal of building a caliphate by force of arms, and to defect.
It said the report was based on six months of reporting and research.
Government officials, former jihadists, analysts, journalists, displaced people, and civil society workers were interviewed, but nearly all asked to have their names withheld or altered due to security concerns.
Some have almost certainly committed atrocities but are unlikely to be prosecuted.
The Bama massacre in 2014 killed hundreds of civilians, but one of the commanders involved is now living free on the government’s payroll.
Security officials believe sulhu could open the door to a peace deal, ending a stalemated conflict that is now in its twelfth year. But critics argue such a deal would reward mass killers.
One of the former commanders and beneficiary of the programme, Aliyu, has a new life now. The old was the decade he spent fighting with Boko Haram and then with the breakaway Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the scrubland of the North-east.
It’s the two wives and four children he left behind when he defected, and the power he once wielded as a jihadist rijal-literally a ‘man’ – in zones under the insurgents’ control.
“In his early thirties, with a wispy goatee, Aliyu has remarried to a forthright woman from the northeastern city of Maiduguri. She is also former Boko Haram, and they have been set up with the rent-free house in Kaduna, a business license, and a small monthly stipend provided by Nigeria’s domestic spy service, better known as DSS”.
The price of this largesse: to work for DSS to turn other jihadists under a clandestine project known as sulhu – Arabic for peacemaking. It’s so controversial that no government representative would go on record to discuss it, and given Abuja’s increasing hostility to independent reporting on security matters, few Nigeria-based civil society figures wanted to be named either.
Sulhu is applauded by its supporters as smart warfare – a means to remove senior jihadists from the battlefield more effectively than the stuttering orthodox military campaign.
We have a proof of concept; it’s working,” said an Abuja-based analyst, who wouldn’t agree to be identified beyond that description. “It’s depleting the enemy’s fighting force.”
But the men on the Sulhu programme are almost certain to have been involved in atrocities. They have not been granted a formal amnesty, but neither have they been held to account for any crimes committed in a brutal conflict that is now in its twelfth year.
It’s a war that has killed 35,000 people – 350,000 if you include the victims of the accelerating humanitarian crisis – and upended the lives of millions more, according to the UN.
These are mass killers, yet on a programme sponsored by Nigerian taxpayers,” explained a former government-Boko Haram intermediary.
He has been in touch with the movement almost from the start, when it was still a local religious sect led by a young cleric, Mohammed Yusuf, before it declared war on the Nigerian state in 2009.
Sulhu grew out of the behind-the-scenes attempts to free the more than 270 Chibok schoolgirls seized by Boko Haram in 2014.
After years of painstaking contact-making through a network of mediators, it dawned on the negotiators that not only did they have an opening to secure the release of some of the schoolgirls, but there were also Mujahideen signalling they might be open to dialogue – a potential breakthrough in a deadlocked conflict.
A total of 150 Mujahideen have surrendered their weapons and crossed over since 2019, according to people familiar In the last few weeks, there has been a separate surge, related to internal feuding within the jihadist movement following the death this May of Abubakar Shekau, who had led Boko Haram since 2009.
Some of those Mujahideen, like Aliyu, were commanders, known as qaid – in charge of several districts. Such was the importance attached to the initial group that they were invited to Abuja, where they met representatives of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Under Sulhu, defectors are enrolled in a six-month “deradicalisation” course in the military’s demobilisation and reintegration centre in Mallam Sidi, in northeastern Gombe State.
After promising to renounce violence and be good citizens, they are issued with a graduation certificate, signed by a high court judge – and some have then gone on to set up businesses, from cap-making to chicken-rearing.
Sulhu is run by DSS and the military, but is separate from the army’s much larger disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration initiative, known as Operation Safe Corridor (OSC) and also based in Mallam Sidi.
OSC is aimed at low-risk former combatants, although as many as 75 per cent of those on the programme may never have held a weapon – just villagers snagged in the military’s catch-all dragnets, with years spent in detention without trial.
Those on the Sulhu initiative are the turbaned rijal seen in the low-res YouTube videos, exultant in victory, killing without remorse.
Before joining ISWAP, prior to the 2016 split from Boko Haram, these men had been obedient to a maximalist “takfir” creed, promoted by then-leader Shekau, who declared that anybody living outside their zone of control was an infidel, punishable by death or enslavement.
More than 1,000 Boko Haram fighters have surrendered to the army in the last few weeks – handing over the weapons they carried.
ISWAP is militarily on the front foot, but there can be exhaustion with the years of conflict for any number of reasons, explained a Nigeria-based researcher, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely.
Some [defectors] have lost faith in their leaders, accusing them of corruption; some have even forgotten why they were fighting; others just want their children to go to school.”
But allowing jihadists to return to civilian life is clearly problematic. The military’s far more limited OSC initiative, resettling low-risk Boko Haram, has run into a wall of criticism – including from some senior politicians, who misrepresent Mallam Sidi as a holiday resort, where “killers” are pampered.
And there’s no appetite from the government to even begin to publicly discuss Sulhu.
There’s a lack of buy-in and a lot of pushback from sections of the military and political office holders, who don’t see the need for this process,” said an Abuja-based lawyer.
Yet almost 60 per cent of people surveyed across the northeast in 2018 said they could agree to reconciliation with repentant jihadists if that was a path to peace: though acceptance was far lower in areas hardest hit by the conflict, and among women – the victims of so much sexual violence.
Aliyu feels relatively comfortable in big cities like Kaduna and Maiduguri. But there are places where he knows he would receive a far rougher reception. “People suffered,” he acknowledged. “They lost a lot [because of us].”
For DSS, Sulhu makes strategic sense. Aliyu, for example, is a so-called “pioneer”, an early member of Boko Haram as well as a qaid – this means he has a deep and intimate knowledge of the movement and the men he fought with.
The Humanitarian said, “Since he crossed over two years ago, his job has been to find other rijal wavering in their commitment to the jihadist cause. He says he has personally persuaded more than 20 of them to slip into frontline northern towns like Geidam, make pre-arranged contact with the military, and then start their journey into the Sulhu programme.
“All he needs is a cell phone and recharge card. When his connections pop up, sometimes in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger – the rear bases of the insurgency – he pumps them for news and gossip. Then, when he judges the time is right, he badgers them to quit.
It’s not an easy conversation. Uppermost in any potential defector’s mind is the fear of being sent to Giwa Barracks, a notorious detention facility on the edge of a quiet Maiduguri suburb.
“Everyone is afraid of that place, and the people in the lake [Chad] don’t trust the government [won’t send them there],” said Aliyu. “If it wasn’t for Giwa, more would come – [the abuse that happens there] is the biggest mistake the military has made.”
The conversations aren’t one-way, either. Aliyu’s former comrades bait him, reminding him of the life he led in the Dawla – the territory ISWAP administers under shariah law and regards as independent from Nigeria.
In this zone, in the far north of Borno and Yobe States, beyond the reach of the military and aid agencies, rijal have almost total power over at least one million villagers they refer to as awam – or “commoners”.
“They say when you were in the lake [a region controlled by ISWAP], you were somebody important, now you have nothing,” Aliyu explained, and you can feel the loss of prestige irks him.
The logo on his otherwise clean t-shirt is loose, and the seam in the crutch of his faded black trousers is coming apart. But there is still an air of entitlement about him.
He was mock scandalised by the price of a bottle of water in the quiet restaurant, where The New Humanitarian first interviewed him, and he feigned outrage that motorbike taxis were not allowed into the middle-class district.
“I will always fight injustice wherever I see it,” Aliyu said grandly, seemingly the qaid – in his own mind at least – he once was.
Aliyu denied he was at fault. Instead, he described a falling out with ISWAP’s then-commander of the army, Mustapha Kirimima, whose aggressive hardline stance persuaded others to also leave.
Kirimima is reportedly in detention after a leadership shuffle earlier this year that made Abu Musab al-Barnawi – the eldest surviving son of the founder of Boko Haram – the interim leader.
Aliyu is trying to rebuild his life. He’s in school, learning to read and write English, and keen on it. He attends a regular mosque – nothing radical – and is close to his new wife.
One day, they [the community] will find out we are Boko Haram, but if we are together, we can bear [the stigma],” he said.
“If all mothers could welcome their sons, those in the forests, tell them no harm will come to them, they will come home”, he said.
Meanwhile, intelligence agencies have begun investigation of the surrender of over 1,200 terrorists and their families.
The investigation, THISDAY learnt, seeks to ascertain whether the surrender was genuine or a ploy to activate and coordinate terror sleeper cells across the country.
North-east communities and traditional institutions have protested the potential reintegration of the insurgents into their communities.
Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State and Shehu of Borno, HRH Abubakar El-Kanemi, had raised concerns that the communities where thousands of people were killed by the terrorists and houses destroyed might not be in the right frame of mind to accept the insurgents, who recently sought the forgiveness of Nigerians.
A source told THISDAY that there were concerns and the need to be certain that the repentant insurgents had good intentions.
There is the need to be sure of what we have on our hands. Do we have people, who are eager to give up or is it a strategy to spread across the country and continue the spread of terror”, a source said.
Attempts to access the reaction of the military high command was unsuccessful.
The senator representing Anambra South in the 9th senate who doubles as the YPP governorship candidate for the Anambra State 2021 gubernatorial election, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah has challenged Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the APGA candidate to provide his manifesto within 24 hours and also submit himself to a public debate within 7 days of presentation of the manifesto.
Make no mistakes; this pedestrian remark which smirks of the kind of meddlesomeness and mischief the failed series business man is reputed for will not receive any attention whatsoever from Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo and it is simply because it is not in the purview of anyone outside a political party to decide how another party or candidate should manage or operate its campaign timetable.
It is therefor imperative for Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah to busy himself with another venture or embark on another global crowd funding effort for his dead on arrival gubernatorial ambition since the just concluded one was a flop.
There will be no debate inside or outside a debate. The ANAMBRA STATE GOVERNORSHIP DEBATE will hold in due course and it will be anchored by reputable arbiters who enjoy national and global credibility not mobs.
If the discuss is narrowed down to significant tests of popularity and acceptability, such tests will be anchored on the shoulders of real life Anambra voters, reputable stakeholders who own stakes at the various platforms where the patrimony of our dear state is debated and global institutions like NOI Polls, Deloitte, KPMG or PriceWaterhouseCoopers not hirelings of political extremists and adherents of recharge card politics.
Anambra is an egalitarian society – prominent for setting the pace in diverse areas of the human endeavor like education, trade, aviation, ICT, infrastructure and even liberalism therefore our politics will reflect these tendencies.
Systems elsewhere can go low but there is already an irreducible standards in Anambra state below which our state, our people and our politics will not be allowed to get,
As much as Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah qualifies to be a gubernatorial candidate in Anambra State, care should be taken to understand that his fame doesn’t by any means place him on the same pedestal as popular or prominent Anambrarians – simply put, he is a famous Anambrarian but he is not a prominent Anambrarian.
For the records, while Professor Charles Soludo is a prominent Anambrarian notable worldwide for His exploits in world trade, international finance, macro- economics, foreign policy and fiscal actions, international trade and industrial policies, global financial architecture amongst others, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah is only famous for most especially His numerous business fiascos which jointly birthed a remedial liability of about N150B to the Nigerian state for which the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria – AMCON is exercising legal powers, his face off with the Department of State Services over the whereabouts of properties of the government of Nigeria held on trust and the truth that he has a peculiar reputation in the Nigerian banking and finance eco system.
Anambra state is approaching a crucial election; expectedly, political banters and clout chasing are allowed. If Mr. Ubah is coming under this point of order, then he is entitled to His right to clout chase to the extent of referring to Baze University as prestigious whereas it is actually a third tier private university, famous for nothing, reputable for nothing and home to nothing.
It actually is instructive to note that whereas Professor Charles Soludo is a bonafide graduate of the University of Nigeria Nsukka which moulded exceptional leaders of thought across all zones of Nigeria – Godwin Emefiele, Chinua Achebe, Prof. Pat Utomi, Chief Micheal Ade-Ojo (Elizade Motors), Ms. Cathy Echeozo (Deputy MD of GTBank), Oby Ezekwesili, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Tunde Lemo (former Deputy Governor of the CBN), Herbert Wigwe, Late Dora Akunyili, Olisa Agbakoba SAN, Late Lam Adeshina (former Oyo State Governor), Sullivan Chime, Ike Ekweremmadu, Joy Emordi, Chris Ngige, Peter Obi, Peter Odili, Prof. Fabian Osuji, Late Justice Niki Tobi, Aroma Ufodike, Bianca Ojukwu, Zach Orji, Sam Aluko, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, Ilochi Okafor, Boniface Egboka, Prof. Eme Awa, Ben Nwabueze to mention just a handful, Mr. Ubah who only recently managed to successfully defend tons of contentious issues surrounding the legitimacy of a National Examination Council (NECO) certificate bearing his name with three (3) SANS ended up in a quota system private university with a questionable second class lower – 2.2 bachelors in law.
The outcome is only left to be imagined if he had been deemed worthy to be admitted to a federal university like OAU, UNIBEN, UNILAG, UNN, UI, or ABU to read law or better still, a tier one private university like Babcock university, Bowen university, American University, Yola, Redeemers University, Covenant University.
Baze University has just been clothed in borrowed robes by Mr. Ubah who enjoys name dropping but for what it’s worth, the university has not featured in any global ranking of universities even in Northern Nigeria.
No groundbreaking discovery in medical research, ICT, science or technology has been attributed to it not even a journal or text book just as it has no global or continental authority in tertiary listed amongst its academic staff list of professors.
What exactly is the quality of education Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah gain from His 4 years excursion to Baze university?
It is my opinion that Mr. Ubah avails himself some wise counsel before instructing any of his hired pens to engage the public on his behalf as their next outing will only be as bad as their first which involved distinguished ranking senator Chukwuka Utazi who effortlessly pulled the shorts off his waist and exposed his legendary anti-Anambra antics.
Ndi Anambra still recall how Mr. Ubah was openly questioned on the floor of the hallowed chamber of the Nigerian Senate over his back arm tactics aimed at stifling the trade operations of Nigeria’s flagship auto assembling corporate – Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Company Limited.
Clearly, that was beyond an epic exposure – it was a revelation of the content of the actual manifesto with which Mr. Ubah resumed duties as a Senator.
He campaigned with one manifesto – “Recover the Igbo Economy” but started work as a Senator with another manifesto – “destroy Nigeria’s only functioning vehicle manufacturing plant.”
It takes a lot of insight and privileged information for a ranking Senator as Chukwuka Utazi to openly disgrace and caution Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah on the need to stop causing his constituency embarrassment.
Senator Utazi’s letter is a public document and for the avoidance of doubts, the constituency he referred to in that letter is Anambra State which simply means that Anambra is not safe in the hands of Mr. Ubah.
Genuine concerns have been noted in view of the possibility that state funds may be channeled into non state ventures.
As much as these suggestions may yet have any basis, one is constrained to imagine if indeed moribund projects like the Nnewi cathedral, stadium, relegated football club, tank farm and phantom projects like the Football Made in Anambra idea, the proposed private university, modular petrochemical refinery and part ownership of the Ibaka deep sea port in Akwa Ibom will not come to fruition on account of an undesirable character accessing the treasury of Anambra State not forgetting the backlog of wages owed thousands of miserable workers some of whom have painfully died under avoidable circumstances.
So much is required from a man like Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah and it starts with a deliberate attempt on His part to eat the humble (not disgraceful) pie and get a proper education in a competitive institution where His intellectual capacity will be tasked alongside His proficiency in public, civil communication outside the floor of the Nigerian senate and a managed audience without the aid of video editors and his capacity to adapt to the demands of corporate leadership and governance in a post COVID-19 economy.
I concede that Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah has done a lot for Himself and believers in His recharge card politics but so far so good, it’s been a case of misplaced priorities otherwise, how does one rationalize the logic of sponsoring a bunch of jobless and miserable youth on voyages to Dubai, Russia, England and elsewhere under the guise of mentorship only for beneficiaries to graduate into a life of perpetual servitude as his never paid private security men, grass cutters, drivers and stadium cheer leaders as against Prof. Charles Soludo whose recapitalization intervention in the Nigerian banking sector led to the licensing of innovative fintechs, national micro finance banks, primary mortgage banks and finance companies all of whom were and are still mandated to avail to the public loan products that address the needs of entrepreneurs and SME’s as well as various product papers on assets acquisition and more.
Seek ye first an education and every other thing shall be added because the blind cannot lead the blind.
Professor Charles Soludo is a trail blazer and a distinguished scholar and global economist who commands respect from global institutions including the United Nations, European Union, International Monetary Fund, African Union, ECOWAS, and nations across all continents.
He will continue to engage Ndi Anambra across all divides as part of his campaigns and when it is time for a governorship debate organized in conformity to known standards, he will mount the stage and do justice to the occasion.
Parents of the late David Ogbonna, who allegedly committed suicide in one of the hostels at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka have denied school fees hike as the cause of their son’s death.
The parents , Pastor and Mrs Esther Ogbonna were livid with media reports attributing school fees hike by the University as the cause of their son’s death, as according to them, all his needs were provided for without worry by them and his siblings who as well contributed in turns for his upkeep.
The mother of the deceased, Esther Ogbonna who spoke on behalf of the family as the father watches during a meeting with management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka insisted that the media reports were misleading and diversionary, even as she commended the management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka for the steps taken so far to unravel the mystery behind the death of their son.
She reiterated the need for all the security agencies involved to trace and unravel the mystery behind her son’s death allegedly via suicide on his room,as the school fees hike dummy wasn’t an issue at all.
She said her late son couldn’t have died of financial incapabilities as aside their support to him and that of his siblings,he was hardworking and did so many minor jobs like tailoring and laundry to support himself.
She informed the school management that his son complained of his poor grade in one of his courses in first year during her last discussion with her son a day before his demise which she encouraged him to work hard on the course to remedy the deficiency in next exams. She added that his son’s tone wasn’t lamentations to warrant taking his life the next moment.
One of the brothers of the deceased student, Samuel Ogbonna who accompanied his parents to Unizik after the death of David collaborated his mother, Mrs Esther Ogbonna’s story about his late brother and was at lost on why he should take his life because of financial crisis allegedly hike in school fees as the media reported when all his needs were provided.
Meanwhile, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka in a press statement dated 22nd August,2021 said the University community was saddened by the ugly incident and would leave no stone unturned to unravel the mystery behind the alleged suicide of the student in his hostel room.
In press statement referenced NAU/DIPR/71, signed by Chika Gladys Ene,
Ag. Head, Information and Public Relations/Chief Protocol Officer of the university , the university asked for calm by all staff and students as it’s doing everything possible in the right direction concerning the incident.
The statement tagged: Demise of Ogbonna David ,200 level student of the university, Mrs Ene , said :” The University community is saddened by the death of our student David Ogbonna allegedly via suicide. He was found inside a wardrobe dangling with a rope round his neck. He was a 200 level student of the Department of Physics.
The incident occurred on 20th August, 2021 at the male Hostel inside the University premises. Media reports attributed his death allegedly to hike in school fees. But, rather than rush to the media, we embarked on thorough investigation into the remote and immediate cause of the unfortunate demise of a future star by inviting everyone that needed to speak over the incident supposedly.
“The University Management upon hearing the sad news carried out due protocol by inviting the Universitys Medical centre and the Nigerian Police Force who evacuated the body to the mortuary. The University Management and the NPF have consequently launched investigation into the alleged suicide act by the late student and its currently ongoing.
“The parents also met with the University Management to discover their side of the story to be able to unravel the mystery behind his death.
“The parents of the late student, Pastor and Mrs. Ogbonna during the meeting with University Management, Council and the SUG categorically stated that hike in school fees wouldn’t have been the reason for their son’s death as they provided everything he needed.
‘The parents also insisted they supply him with food items regularly even upto last Thursday before his unfortunate demise. The parents said also that other siblings of their late son contributed money at intervals to assist their late brother. This was affirmed by one of the deceased brothers Samuel Ogbonna who accompanied them. The mother, Mrs. Esther Ogbonna revealed that their late son was hardworking as he did minor jobs like tailoring and laundry services to augment the provisions from home. She said that her son also complained about his poor performance, as she recalled in one of her conversations with the late son where he expressed displeasure over one of his results and she advised him to buckle up in subsequent examinations to remedy the deficiency.
While the University Management is relentless and keen in her investigation of this ugly incident, it is however disheartening that some media houses have already embarked on a mission to tarnish the Universitys image disregarding the place of thorough investigation in journalism.
The statement concluded: “The University Management is deeply pained by this bad news in this citadel of learning and further calls on staff and students to remain calm as investigation is ongoing. Staff and students are encouraged to visit the Centre for Counselling and Career Development which was created on the heels of the assumption of the Vice-Chancellor and mandated to entertain issues especially one that disturbs mental health”.
