Rountrip

If nothing else buttressed the omnipotent powers and vicelike grip of Mamman Daura, the nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari, on the presidency and the president himself, his daughter, Fatima’s brazen and embarrassing face-off with Aisha, the wife of the president, as contained in a viral video, is the ultimate coup de grace. At the height of speculations that the president was getting a new wife rumoured to be Sadiya Umar Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, a video emerged of a raging woman inside an expansive room complaining, in an admixture of English and Hausa, of how an apartment was under lock and key in spite of the hordes of security personnel in the villa, and distinctly saying, “Enough is enough.” The video would later be revealed to have been in circulation since 2017. In an interview with the BBC Hausa on her return from the United Kingdom where she had been for over three months, Mrs Buhari said, “I was the one in that video and th...

When the expired 8th Session of the Senate under the leadership of the dictatorial, draconian and repressive former Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki slammed a six-months suspension on Sen. Mohammed Ali Ndume, in March 2017, the action invoked empathy and condemnations from some of us. We faulted the frivolous reasons the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges adduced for the suspension of Ali Ndume.  But strongly, the 181 sitting legislative days he was barred from plenary were prolonged, ill-timed and absurd; much as it constituted unfair depravity of his constituents from parliamentary representation. Ndume has been in the National Assembly since 2003 when he was first elected into the House of Representatives to represent Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza Federal Constituency, where he served until 2011. He morphed into the Senate in 2011 as Senator representing Borno South Senatorial district and currently serving his third term in the upper chamber of the National Assem...

The National Democratic Front (NDF) believes Senator Ali Ndume's latest strategy on Boko Haram is aimed at  diverting the world's attention from his dishonourable contribution to Boko Haram  insurgency. The group made this known at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja in reaction to the Borno South lawmaker's assertion about the Nigerian Armed Forces. In a statement signed by Secretary  General, Dr Bolaji Abdulkadir, the NDF reckoned it was time to address Senator Ndume's inglorious role in the Boko Haram conundrum. According to the group, Mr Ndume, who was once heavily linked to the Islamic sect, genuinely knows about its activities and may be enjoying some benefits. The Senator's recent claims that 847 soldiers were lost in the insurgency, the group stated, only confirms his ties with the group. While the Nigerian Army has asked the former Senate Leader to substantiate his claim, the NDF asked Nigerians not to take him in a solemn manner, especia...

Loud wailings of a distressed populations, devastated by years of Boko Haram insurgency pierced the serenity of Aso Rock, the seat of Nigeria’s Presidency. Nigerians displaced by the fire of insurgents beseeched Heavens in piteous supplications. The Armies stood in defenselessness, untrained, unarmed and dodgy in battling the menacing and consuming outrage of Boko Haram terrorists. A dumbfounded Presidency was horrified by the sheer magnitude of insurgents’ mass killings, abductions, arsons and the servile treatment of Nigerians held in captivity, after horrendous mayhems on vulnerable communities. Neither the Presidency nor the military of the time had workable solutions to the irksome and ravaging insurgency. Almost all Nigerians resigned to fate, as Boko Haramists exercised unchallenged might on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria.  It was one of the most embarrassing problems inherited by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015....

A France-based non-governmental organisation, Première Urgence Internationale, working alongside Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists has been uncovered by Nigerian troops. With headquarters in Asnieres-sur-Seine on the suburbs of Paris, Première prides itself as an “international NGO which helps civilians who are marginalised or excluded as a result of natural disasters, war and economic collapse.” The self-acclaimed humanitarian group first gained access to Nigeria in 2016, setting up activities in various complementary domains in order to respond to the vulnerable populations’ needs in the north-east. However, a recent revelation by the gallant troops has suggested otherwise as the group has only succeeded in fuelling insurgency in the region. Like many other foreign NGOs, instead of providing aid to the returning inhabitants following massive clearout by the resilient troops on the frontline, Première acted as a rehab centre for the utterly wounded and defeated fighters. ...

Following a thorough tour of liberated communities in the North-East, the Coalition for Human Rights and Rights Monitoring Group has praised the Nigerian Army for restoring peace to the region. The group, consisting of 10 civil society organisations revealed in a press conference on Monday  that it undertook a 10-day assessment to gather first-hand information on the state of affairs in the region. In a statement signed by President Gabriel Agidi, the Coalition reckoned that the country has made tremendous progress in the fight against terrorism. As part of it its numerous observations, the civil rights group hailed the introduction of the Super Camp Strategy, describing it as “a massive success”. The group further acknowledged that the gallant troops are in high spirits at various locations, welcomed by cheering locals. The group, however, noted that a lot still needs to be done urgently to ensure that life returns to these liberated areas. Read full statement below:...

After the exposition by the media on the interference and usurpation of duties of transport unions in Ogun State, which we gathered has been causing disaffections among the members of the unions, the 13-man Governor Dapo Abiodun's Committee on Transportation led by Barrister Sunday Olufemi Adeniyi has come out to deny any wrongdoing, maintaining that it had nothing to do with the activities of the unions since they were suspended by the government in June this year. In an unsigned press statement replete with inconsistencies and attempt to mislead members of the public, the Dapo Abiodun's Transport Committee stated that ".......no transport union has been allowed to sell the union tickets, they were only selling the state Internal Revenue Service tickets as mandated by His Excellency, the Governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun." A source however told us that it had been found out that the committee members had been "churning out barefaced lies and deliber...

The Transport Committee set-up by Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State to oversee the affairs of the six transport unions in the state appears to be creating a scenario that could lead to violent crisis in the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) with his  alleged interference in the affairs of the union. It will be recalled that Governor Dapo Abiodun sacked the executives of the six transport unions in the state in June, 2019 and appointed a 13 man Committee, headed by Barrister Sunday Olufemi Adeniyi, to oversee the affairs of all the unions. It was gathered that the committee then appointed caretaker committees in all the local governments in the state to take charge of the affairs of the unions and sell government and union tickets to members. The transport unions in the state include the NURTW, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TROAN) and Three Wheelers Owners And Riders Association (TWORA)...

Fresh facts have emerged indicating that the Independent Corruption Practices Commision (ICPC) may not be able to properly wade into the Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s trending corruption allegations. Why? A source opined that the Vice President has too many top level people in the Commission. One of such persons, the source said, is the Director of Operations, Hakeem Lawal who worked directly under Osinbajo in Lagos State. He is said to wield unimaginable powers and influence with the active protection of Ade Ipaye in the office of the Vice President. The duo are said to have been contemporaries in the university and colleagues in Lagos State under the Vice President. The source said it is more dire that Hakeem is taken out because he does not have the requisite qualification and experience to sit in that position. He is neither a retired/serving senior police officer nor an experienced intelligence officer and he is occupying such a sensitive position. The sour...