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  • Alvan Ikoku Varsity: Successive SUG presidents extol Ag DVC, Prof Ngozi Lemchi for her leadership ingenuity+Photos

    Alvan Ikoku Varsity: Successive SUG presidents extol Ag DVC, Prof Ngozi Lemchi for her leadership ingenuity+Photos

    The Forum of Past and Present Leaders of Alvan Students Union Government (SUG) have commended the leadership ingenuity of the acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) of the newly elevated Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education (AIFUE), Professor Ngozi Stella Lemchi.

    In a commendation message sent to the DVC and signed by about 19 signatories made up of the present and past Students Union Government leaders, they expressed satisfaction on the leadership prowess of acting deputy vice chancellor of the institution, and there passed a vote of confidence on her.

    Their statement reads, “When we received the news on May 20th, 2015 that the Goodluck Jonathan administration had upgraded Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education to a full-fledged university, we the students of the institution were overwhelmed with joy. There was loud jubilation all over the campus. Unfortunately, this joy was truncated a few months later when President Buhari’s government put our university status on “hold.”

    “To say that we were devastated by the development was an understatement. It was like our light had dimmed. But like a sudden rainfall amid a scorching dry season, our joy was restored in a flash with President Tinubu’s June 2023 declaration through the Federal Ministry of Education that the “hold” placed on the University status of the College had been lifted.

    “To match words with actions, an assessment team comprising officials from the Federal Ministry of Education, National Universities Commission, National Commission for Colleges of Education and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund was sent to carry out a detailed inventory and appraisal of the existing teaching and learning facilities, students population, staff and academic structure in the institution with particular reference to their adequacy, quality and suitability for the new university status.

    “Furthermore, on 20th October, 2023 the Federal Ministry of Education in a press release announced the official take-off of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education Owerri.

    “In furtherance of the materialization of the university status, the Federal Government appointed the Provost of the erstwhile College of Education as the Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) of the University while other Principal Officers of the erstwhile College were allowed to continue to discharge their duties in acting capacity until a substantive Vice-Chancellor and other Principal Officers of the University are appointed.

    “With these developments, we are convinced that our University has actually come to stay. We, the past and present Student Union Leaders representing hundreds of thousands of past and current students of the institution therefore seize this opportunity to thank His Excellency, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for this singular act of humanity in restoring our university status. We cannot thank you enough Your Excellency for restoring our hope, the dignity of our dear school and our truncated joy.

    “We hence pledge our continuous gratitude to you and our unalloyed support to your administration.We also acknowledge the fatherly role played by His Excellency Sen. Hope Uzodima, the Executive Governor of Imo State for the actualization of this feat. We are forever indebted to you, our dear governor.

    “We also wish to bring to the public the activities of some mischief makers and political jobbers who are scheming to reap from where they did not labour. These rascals have been using different means to distract our hard-working and dear Ag. DVC, Prof. Ngozi Stella Lemchi from the smooth administration and astute management of the institution. The wicked plotting of these enemies of progress was brought to the fore when an Owerri-based newspaper on Friday, April 12, 2024, came up with a deceitful publication with the banner headline: “Protest erupts over appointment of Alvan Ag. DVC as a Professor by IMSU.”

    “However, the body of the newspaper failed to state how, where and when the said protest erupted neither was it stated who carried out such a protest. It became obvious that the writer and publisher of the paper were hired to paint a false picture of crisis just to put a question mark on the peaceful atmosphere championed by the Lemchi administration. But to the glory of God, they failed woefully. For whom God has blessed, no one can curse.

    “The leadership of the four transiting labour unions in the university namely, College of Education Academic Staff Union/Academic Staff Union of Universities (COEASU/ASUU), Senior Staff Union in Colleges of Education Nigeria/Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSUCOEN/SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has since debunked the misleading publication in a joint publication titled “The needless distraction of Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi, acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri by some over ambitious characters and enemies of progress, should stop”. This response is a clear indication that none of the University’s staff unions is in any form of conflict with the Ag. DVC and her administration, hence the workers are not protesting.

    “Likewise, none of the students’ organizations in the university are protesting. Given the fact that neither the administrative excellence of the Ag. DVC nor the authenticity of her appointment as a Professor by the Imo State University is in contest, we therefore, plead with the authorities and general public to ignore the antics of these rascals.

    “We, the representatives of the student body both past and present felt it necessary to declare our stand on the ongoing. Hence, we state unequivocally that we admire the administrative style of our Ag. DVC and from the time she took over the leadership of the erstwhile college of education till now that she is serving as the Ag. DVC of our nascent university, we have no problem with her.

    “In all these years, she has been a wonderful and caring mother to all the students. She has been very responsive to the needs and calls of the students. She has solved over 87% of the accommodation issues bothering the students especially those living on campus. She works round the clock to ensure that the student’s welfare is well taken care of. We are very happy to have her as our Ag DVC. Hence, we will be so delighted to have her as our substantive Vice-chancellor. More so, we celebrate her appointment as a Professor by the Imo State University. Let no one convince you on the contrary for such an attempt should be regarded as a deception.

    “We, therefore, pass this vote of confidence on Prof. Ngozi Stella Lemchi for the above reasons and also based on her excellent administrative performances so far as the head of this university.

    “The following are examples of the indelible marks she has stamped on the sand of the time which eloquently speaks to her superb administrative brilliance.

    “1) This is the first time in many years that the administrative head is working in unity with all the labour unions and the student union government of the institution: no strike, no threat of strike and no students’ riot. This is due to her capacity for astute management of both human and material resources of the institution.

    “2) Infrastructural Upgrade: Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi prioritized the renovation of hostels, especially hostel G and D, enhancing their ambiance and functionality. In deploying the FG revitalization fund, the Lemchi administration changed over 200 doors and windows, tiled the floors of the two hostels, rebuilt the toilets completely and installed befitting and safe kitchens for the students. The work included improved water supply in the hostels, complete repainting of the edifice and installation of electrical works, wardrobes and beds. She ensures a regular supply of water and electricity in the hostels. A lot of renovation is ongoing in the educational infrastructures of the school which includes the library and Lecture halls.

    “3) Student Support: Prof. Stella Ngozi Lemchi established measures to combat student harassment and improved the process for NYSC mobilization and certificate issuance. Last year 3 batches of students were mobilized for service, a feat unheard of in the institution in nearly a decade. Her focus on student welfare includes streamlining clearance procedures, improving academic standards, engaging with parents and guardians and collaborating with the Student Union to speedily solve any challenges.

    “4) Security Enhancement: Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi has restructured the security architecture at the University. She has promoted best practices in the recruitment of student security operatives and armed them with adequate equipment and resources for effective performance. Her efforts have significantly reduced security breaches, which was a norm before her appointment when students were being robbed and harassed regularly in their hostels and within the school premises at night and even in broad daylight.

    “5) Environmental sanitation: by employing environmental sanitation contractors who work in collaboration with Faculties environmental sanitation committees, hostel cleaners and others, Prof. Stella Lemchi has maintained a sparkling clean and beautiful school environment since she took up the leadership of the institution,” the stated.

    According to the SUG leaders, her efforts to better the lots of the staff which has earned her peaceful collaboration with the staff union leaders are evident in the following achievements:

    “1) Staff Welfare: Prof. Lemchi cleared the backlog of staff promotions and conversions which had remained intractable for years. Hundreds of non-teaching staff were converted and properly placed. These included many who had earned higher qualifications on the job. The conversions and promotions have increased the morale and motivation of the workforce. She has been championing the welfare and proper placement of teaching staff in the transition process. She has made appeals to the regulator that lecturers be given grace periods to get the qualifications they need to maintain their positions rather than being abruptly demoted in the university to a lower rank.

    “2) Infrastructural developments: The Lemchi administration has initiated the construction of a Professors’ block in the Shell Camp area and increased infrastructural developments in the campus across River Nworie. By so doing, she has succeeded in stopping further encroachment on the parcel of land belonging to the university situated across the Nworie River. Currently, the Lemchi administration is working on plans to fix the ecological problems in the river bank to enable the use of the bridge constructed to aid the movement and development at the other side of the river which had hitherto restricted the infrastructural expansion of the institution.

    “3) Increased Internally Generated Revenue: Prof. Stella Ngozi Lemchi from the onset of her administration planned and successfully implemented policies that have boosted the internally generated revenue of the institution. One major plank of this was developing a seamless fee payment portal to close loopholes for revenue leakages. She has also revitalized the business ventures in the University like the water factory and bakery.

    “4) Transition Process: By her proactive, relentless and graceful engagement with the NUC and the FME. Prof. Stella Ngozi Lemchi is facilitating a smooth transition of the institution. Recently she received a 37-man team for resource verification of the University programmes from the NUC. Furthermore, in collaboration with the staff unions of the University, Lemchi has sent a bill to the National Assembly for the codification of the law that established the University to give permanency to the University status,” they observed.

    The student leaders stated that considering the numerous achievements of Prof. Mrs Stella Ngozi Lemchi, which cannot be fully listed in a single publication like this, those scheming to take over her position feel so intimidated by the achievements she has made in such a short while hence, they are resorting to cheap blackmail via their publication of calumny.

    “It is on the above premises that we, the students of Alvan Ikoku University of Education, Owerri consider our Ag. DVC (Administration), Prof. Stella Ngozi Lemchi, suitable to continue to head the administration of this new University.

    “We are therefore calling on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to appoint Prof. Stella Ngozi Lemchi as the substantive Vice-Chancellor of Alvan lkoku Federal University of Education, Owerri, to enable her to continue the good work. We pledge our continuous cooperation with her for greater success,” the statement said.

  • Al-Qaeda announces death of Yemen branch leader

    Al-Qaeda announces death of Yemen branch leader

    The leader of al-Qaeda branch in Yemen, Khalid Saeed al-Batarfi, is dead, the group announced in a video published on social media.

    The video, released on Sunday evening, showed al-Batarfi’s body in a shroud.

    The cause of his death was not announced.

    Al-Batarfi had led Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for four years.

    The network in Yemen was formed in a 2009 merger between the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda and militants from Saudi Arabia who had taken refuge there.

    The U.S. had said the branch was “al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliate,’’, and placed Al-Batarfi on its terror list, with a 5 million dollar bounty on his head.

    In the video, the group announced Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki as the new leader of al-Qaeda branch in Yemen.

    He is also included in the U.S. wanted list, with a reward of up to six million dollars on his head for allegedly calling for attacks on the U.S. and its allies.

  • Osinbajo: A leader for all seasons – By Azu Ishiekwene

    Osinbajo: A leader for all seasons – By Azu Ishiekwene

    Trying to fit him into a mold can be sometimes problematic. I have always thought of him as a teacher and mentor. And later, only much later, as a friend. For over three decades he has been more than enough in each of these roles.

    My path with Dr. Yemi Osinbajo, as he then was, first crossed at the University of Lagos when he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law and I was a student at the Department of Mass Communication at the same university. Just a busybody trying to indulge my fantasy of becoming a pocket lawyer, I met him out of curiosity.

    One of his students and good friend of mine who passed on many years ago, Sunday Okoli, fondly called Harry, gave the impression that the Law Faculty had four of the university’s biggest talisman – Jelili Omotola, Oyelowo Oyewo, Amos Utuama and Osinbajo.

    One day, I strayed into one of Osinbajo’s classes in what can only be described as ambulatory trespass. I was struck by his charm, ease of delivery and how his students connected with him. I thought to myself as I snuck out, with a lecturer like this, perhaps I should have studied law? I never returned to his class but that encounter stayed with me.

    I followed him through the many pleasant stories Harry told of him but our paths never crossed again until many years later when he was appointed Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos by Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    In 1999, Lagos was a mess. A big mess.

    Although the city still retained its vibrancy and boisterousness as the country’s commercial capital, years of neglect and centralised government had robbed it of vital energy, threatening to bury it in crime and filth.

    To make matters worse for a new government at the time, a nasty turf war between the PDP-controlled central government and the six AD states in the South-West (including Lagos), meant that any serious attempt at clean-up which obviously required significant resources from the centre, would be a tug of war.

    President Olusegun Obasanjo, smarting from the humiliation of the 1999 election in which he was roundly rejected by his home base, the South-West, was not in any mood to do Lagos or any other states in the region any favours.

    The mission to clean up, rebuild and renew the city (among several other election promises made by Tinubu) would require tough, even brutal, political engagement; no less than it would also involve soft skills, especially prudent and robust use of the law, to clear landmines and claw back vast subnational territory long appropriated by the unitarist state, rendering the federating units mere appendages of the centre.

    It was in the pursuit of this latter part that Osinbajo, a member of Tinubu’s outstanding cabinet at the time, had to deploy his legal genius in public service for the first time outside the classroom.

    Leading human rights activist and senior advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, once told me that even though political activism will continue to be a major tool to restructure Nigeria, the progress made through legal activism has been largely understated.

    Before Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike made VAT a court issue, challenging the right of the federal government to collect the taxes from the state, Lagos had been there in its quest to expand its income and the relative autonomy of the constituent states by testing the law.

    Osinbajo led Lagos in a series of litigations to claw back swathes lost to federal meddling in areas such as creation of local governments, physical planning, title registration, registration and production of vehicle number plates and casino licensing. In the area of physical planning and title registration specifically, the court ruled that the federal government has no land. The Land Use Act vests ownership and control of land in state governments.

    In a ruling in 2019 in a case earlier originated by Lagos State when Osinbajo was AG, the state also secured a judgement that upheld its right to charge and collect consumption tax from hotels, restaurants and event centres within the state.

    The judgement is based on the principle that the power to impose consumption tax is on the Residual List. This judgement was also given against the FIRS that deemed that it had the right to collect those taxes.

    These battles on legal interpretations of the Constitution are not cut and dried. The dispute that arose over the right of control of inland waterways between the federal and state governments, for example, was fought in court for over 10 years, before a ceasefire was brokered between the National Inland Waterways Authority and Lagos State.

    Perhaps one of the most remarkable legal battles of all in Osinbajo’s time in Lagos was in the case of Attorney General of Lagos State v. Attorney General of the Federation 2004, a feisty and protracted legal tango in which Lagos sought to recover local government funds seized by Obasanjo after his futile attempt to crush and capture Tinubu’s government in an electoral heist which claimed five of the six states in the South-West region for the PDP.

    That recovery effort, in the words of Osinbajo, “made Lagos to start thinking like a sovereign.” It set the tone for raising the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from around N600 million monthly in 1999 to N45 billion as of 2021.

    It also set the tone for Osinbajo’s performance on the bigger stage.

    Have you seen him lately? His hair has greyed not a little since he became Vice President eight years ago. Which is a little surprising considering that former President Goodluck Jonathan, himself a former Vice President, once said a Vee Pee’s job is essentially to read newspapers.

    Or to quote first US Vice President, John Adams, who described his office in a letter to his wife as, “the most insignificant contrivance” ever contrived by man.

    But that’s precisely the source of Osinbajo’s festering grey hair. In the last eight years, the job of Nigeria’s vice president has been anything but a spare. He has been acting President during which time he took a few of the most consequential decisions.

    His office has been at the heart of Nigeria’s first attempt to develop a social safety net programme. When COVID-19 hit with its depredations, the database from the safety net programme came in handy.

    Osinbajo has been the Buhari government’s face-of-the-youth, rallying them, speaking to and for them on all things – from crypto to ICT and innovations. Surely, in a country where people under 40 form about 65 percent of the population, these exertions are more than “insignificant contrivance.”

    I’m not so sure how meaningful his knowledge of the law and expertise in jurisprudence has been to this government. One thing he has been passionate about which the government has flaunted, however, is the Ease of Doing Business. It’s largely to his credit that Nigeria has improved from a ranking of 169 (out of 190 countries) in 2016 to 131 two years ago.

    I have sometimes wondered what is next for him, after he leaves office. Of course, he has a thriving law practice from which he was extricated to serve as Buhari’s running-mate one fateful morning in December 2014 after an appearance in a case at the Supreme Court, Abuja. If he returns to his Chambers in Lagos, it may well be a holding place.

    At 66, he remains a calm, thoughtful debater and fun to be around. He has inspired and challenged millions of people, especially the young and the young at heart across ethnic and party-lines, to believe. With an extraordinary sense of humour, a rock-solid wife and a heart of faith, his best years of service to God and country still lie ahead.

    He is not only a teacher, mentor and friend. He is, above all, a leader for all times.

    Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

  • (Opinion) Koka Flyover: The enduring legacy of a worthy leader-By Collins Agwam

    (Opinion) Koka Flyover: The enduring legacy of a worthy leader-By Collins Agwam

    “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou.

    The great American poet, Maya Angelou who died some years ago foretold what I would be thinking in my head as I sat down to listen to my ecstatic Aunt’s travel experience through the just commissioned Koka Flyover and Interchange along the Asaba/Onitsha expressway.

    Mama Aloma as we fondly call her, regaled me with what she saw to and from Onitsha, where she has been selling her goods for 20 years and counting.

    My Aunt who was all over the place with her funny old school dance steps suddenly became teary when she remembered an episode of how she lost her bag of money in one of those Onitsha trips.

    “I am so happy that we have been allowed to use that bridge (Koka Flyover) that I have been talking about. Remember I told you how I lost my bag in the trafic one fateful evening. When the government started the construction of the bridge, I thought it was a political project that will never be completed,” She said. “You know those abandoned projects politicians start and never complete.

    “I never thought that traffic flow could be so seamless to the extent that you could go and come back from Onitsha as many times as you want without rotting away in the traffic like we used to. It means that he knows what we go through as ordinary citizens. Governor Okowa, thank you o!”

    Like Mama Aloma, there are thousands, even millions of Deltans whose lives have been and are being impacted daily by the developmental strides recorded in Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration.

    This landmark Project commissioned for use by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar in Asaba last Wednesday is an 8-span Flyover with dual carriageways, two ramps, and retaining walls, as well as other ancillary structures such as solar-powered street light for optimal function of the public facility.

    The visibly elated Atiku who is on a joint ticket with Governor Okowa on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party for the February 25 presidential election, commended his running mate for the huge project which he said would benefit all residents of the state.

    “Congratulations Governor Okowa for this huge development that you have undertaken to the benefit of the people of Delta State and Nigerians in general who ply this road daily.”

    The presidential candidate, on the same day also inaugurated other monumental projects conceived and executed by the Okowa led administration such as the Model Technical College, Asaba; Maryam Babangida Leisure Park, Asaba and Mother and Child Specialist Hospital and Advanced Diagnostics Centre, Owa-Alero in Ika North-East Local Government Area of the State.

    He further commended Okowa for his hardwork, visionary and purposeful leadership, and congratulated the people of the State for having such a great leader.

    On his part, Dr. Okowa who reiterated his administration’s commitment to alleviating the sufferings of Deltans irrespective of tribe or political affiliation, said that the Koka Flyover and Interchange was his solution to the traffic gridlock along the Benin-Asaba highway.

    True to type, Governor Okowa is living up to his name; Ekwueme. He is not only equipping youths with technical skills to make them employers of labour, the Servant-Governor is also building healthcare facilities to cater for the health of all residents of the State.

    These efforts by Senator Okowa can only be borne out of genuine concern for his people whom he had sworn to serve at any cost.

    Come February 25, this workaholic Governor will be on the presidential ballot with an experienced politician and accomplished businessman on the ticket of the PDP. It is instructive to choose this team of men with verifiable records of accomplishments to take Nigeria to greater heights.

    Collins Agwam wrote from Asaba, and can be reached on agwamcollins@gmail.com

  • [Video] What we need now is not a leader, it’s a deliverer – Oyedepo

    [Video] What we need now is not a leader, it’s a deliverer – Oyedepo

    Bishop David Oyedepo, senior pastor of the Living Faith Church worldwide, has disclosed that Nigeria as a nation does not need a leader, but rather what it needs, is a deliverer.

    He made this known at the ongoing Shiloh program at the church’s headquarters in Ota, Ogun State yesterday.

    Lamenting about the deplorable state of security and economic crises in the country, the clergyman said he warned Nigerians in 2015 that the country was heading for crisis.

    “I think I’m prompted by the spirit we need to pray for this nation. I warned this nation in 2015 that we were heading for crisis and trauma, many were washing their mouth. They are off today.

    God does not require consensus to raise a prophet. I saw a nation going down the drain, I cried. There are many prophets of politicians who speak what they want to hear.

    I have been very silent. What we need now is not a leader, it is a deliverer.”he said

    See video below:

     

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  • Finally, Burkina Junta leader Damiba bows, agrees to step down – Mediators

    Finally, Burkina Junta leader Damiba bows, agrees to step down – Mediators

     

     

    Burkina Faso’s junta leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba has finally agreed to step down Sunday, two days after military officers announced he had been removed from power, religious and community leaders said.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) report following mediation between Damiba and the new self-proclaimed leader, Ibrahim Traore, “Damiba himself offered his resignation in order to avoid confrontations with serious human and material consequences”, the religious and community leaders said in a statement.

    TNG had earlier on reported that Damiba was ousted because he couldn’t subdue terrorists that he vowed on taking over last January to neutralise.

  • Next Nigerian leader must have a touch of madness – Obasanjo

    Next Nigerian leader must have a touch of madness – Obasanjo

    Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that the next leader Nigeria needs must have a touch of madness.

    Obasanjo made the remark while hosting a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential aspirant, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    The former President said Nigeria would overcome its security challenges within two years if the leader was ready to make tough decisions.

    According to Obasanjo: “I will say four things, of which I was reminded this morning. One is knowledge.

    “And when you said, that you are involved in this, with a passion and I was telling some people this morning that, passion means madness, that you are mad about Nigeria, I am and I have no apologies for that because I have no other country I can call my own and I have no other country I can go to and say yes, I have come to live here.

    “Passion means being mad about Nigeria, having a touch of madness, and I look at you (Hayatu-Deen); you are mad about Nigeria too.”

  • ISWAP leader, Shuwaram is dead

    ISWAP leader, Shuwaram is dead

    Islamic State’s West African Province, ISWAP, leader, Sani Shuwaram, 45, and other terrorists have been eliminated in an aerial bombardments carried out in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State.

    Super Tucano jets flown by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) rained missiles on a number of identified ISWAP hideouts.

    In November 2021, the ISWAP Shura (Judicial) Council installed the 45-year-old as the new Wali (Head) in Lake Chad.

     

    Shuwaram reportedly died from gunshot wounds sustained in the strikes that hit the sect’s camps at the Sabon Tumbun area of Lake Chad.

     

     

    “Shuwaram was among terrorists injured by NAF air interdiction missions conducted at Sabon Tumbun near Kirta Wulgo. Subsequent strikes to his death alongside other ISWAP fighters receiving treatment including Abu Ibrahim”, a military official confirmed.

     

    NAF Director of Public Relations, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said air and ground troops have continued military offensive around Kirta Wulgo.

     

    “We don’t want to be dragged into making any statement or confirmation based on rumours or hearsay. Nevertheless, troops at the frontline alongside other agencies have sustained strikes against terrorist leaders and their enclaves until we get this job done”, the spokesman added.

  • Sit-at-home: Ohanaeze demands public apology from IPOB

    Sit-at-home: Ohanaeze demands public apology from IPOB

    The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has asked the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to tender a public apology and ask for forgiveness from Ndigbo for their mistakes which have destroyed the economic and social activities in the southeast.

    To solidarize with its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB had declared sit-at-home on Mondays and other days of trial on a treason charge brought against him by the Federal Government.

    Ohanaeze called on agitators of Biafra residing abroad to relocate to Nigeria to physically lead the struggle.

    IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, can no longer be hiding in places around the world while directing Igbo youths to destroy their land

    The group, which represents all Igbo communities within and outside Nigeria, warned the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, that the era of Biafra agitators hiding in Europe, America, or Asia is over.

    In a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the group said that the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, can no longer be hiding in places around the world while directing Igbo youths to destroy their land.

    Ohanaeze maintained that it is an act of cowardice for them to hide in their comfort zone in Europe and America to lead Biafra agitation.

    According to the group, “We warn that the era of Biafra agitators, residing in Europe, Asia and America giving directives to Igbos have ended.

    “They should relocate to Nigeria to physically lead the struggle, as it’s an act of cowardice to hide in your comfort zone in Europe, and America to lead Biafra agitation.”

    The apex Igbo socio-cultural group also called on Governors in the South East of the country to search for lasting solutions to the ongoing weekly sit-at-home in the region.

    “It was time for the Governors to swing into action since they now blamed some yet to be identified criminals for hijacking the exercise,” Ohanaeze asserted.

    No Igbo Governor or Senator deserves to seek for election in 2023 if they lacked the balls to stamp out the disgraceful activities that have ridiculed southeastern Nigerians

    The group pointed out that it was obvious that men of the underworld have taken advantage of IPOB’s miscalculations to unleash terrorist raids and onslaughts against Ndigbo.

    Adding: “Drastic measures are needed to arrest this shameless activity that has paralyzed the academic, economic, and social activities in the southeast. The governors should know that posterity will be unkind and unfair to them if they concede to circumstances of sit-at-home and didn’t confront the hyper dreaded monster squarely.

    “No Igbo Governor or Senator deserves to seek for election in 2023 if they lacked the balls to stamp out the disgraceful activities that have ridiculed southeastern Nigerians, who are known as the best black entrepreneurs and business merchants across the globe.

    “We are compelled by the evidence of insubordination before us, to advise that the southeast governors should sack and dismiss all major markets leadership in their respective states or give them an ultimatum to quit adherence to the observation of sit at home.

    “All markets in the southeast are instrumental in helping the governors to end the absurdity of madness called the IPOB’s sit at home because the structure of most influencers of Sit at home is amongst the Market leadership in the southeast, and any day they pull out of the secessionist crusade, it will collapse like pack of cards.”

    Ohanaeze further blamed the IPOB for initially instituting the sit-at-home exercise without any consultative meetings with the Igbo leadership and political leaders.

  • Jonathan to African leaders: Sacrifice short-term personal gains for long time benefits of your people

    Jonathan to African leaders: Sacrifice short-term personal gains for long time benefits of your people

    Former President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on Wednesday admonished African leaders to cultivate the culture of sacrificing short-term personal gains for long time benefits of their country.

    He, however, stressed that whatever a leader is doing, he or she needs to understand the fact that the perception of his policies and decisions would be a critical factor upon which the governed will rate the performance of the leader in question.

    “But when a leader is doing his best for his people and the perception is right, he might even lose an election due to misunderstanding, but when the perception is right, he can even be called upon to come and rule again.” – Goodluck Jonathan

    Jonathan made the remarks while speaking at a two days consultative retreat for political party leaders on the draft constitution for the government of The Gambia.

    He urged the party leaders to seize this opportunity of making a new constitution for their country to sacrifice short-term personal gains for long time benefits of their country.

    His words: “Whatever a leader is doing, he needs to understand the fact that the perception of his policies and decisions would be a critical factor to be considered because he is there for the people.

    “A leader can be doing all the right things to be done for nation-building but if the perception among the people does not match what he is doing, hen he can never go very far in politics.

    “But when a leader is doing his best for his people and the perception is right, he might even lose an election due to misunderstanding, but when the perception is right, he can even be called upon to come and rule again.

    ” People have asked if I have any personal; relationship with your President, but I have never had any official dealings with him since he got into office.

    “But since providence has brought us here to work on this constitution, I will try and do all I can to persuade him to understand and allow the process to work so that he can have the honour of having a brand new constitution for your country under his tenure.

    ” If it even happens that the constitution becomes operational and he has the benefit to hand over to a successor without rancour, he would also enter into a prestigious class of African leaders who are peace lovers who place the country above their selfish interests.

    ” I will like to warn here that if we say because we have a few things to change in the old constitution and we would not allow it to work for the country then decide to set this aside and continue with business as usual, one day, our grandchildren will come after us and make a better constitution that would make the country function

    ” This is a golden opportunity that we have to make a constitution that would stand the test of time for the next one or two hundred years and it would guarantee justice, peace and progress for everyone in the country,” President Jonathan submitted.