Even I was more shocked at my threat. How exactly was I going to make him stop peeing? Really, Funke. I quickly wound up the window. My driver burst into laughter. But I was angry. Would he do that in America or Dubai? We just think Nigeria is about nonsense, all and every type of nonsense.

But let us start at the beginning.

Once upon a Lagos morning when the sun still rose gently and not like a landlord knocking for rent there was a decree: thou shalt clean thy surroundings… or else.

The story begins in the no nonsense days of Muhammadu Buhari and his equally stern deputy, Tunde Idiagbon. Nigeria in 1984 was not smiling. Indiscipline was everywhere on the roads, in offices, and very visibly, in the gutters that had long given up on flowing.

So the government did what strict African parents do when children misbehave: they introduced a national “reset button” called the War Against Indiscipline. WAI for short. And one of WAI’s most famous children was Saturday Environmental Sanitation.

Now, this was not your gentle “please sweep your compound” suggestion. Oh no. This was law, backed by soldiers, whistles, and the kind of stare that could make a grown man remember his childhood sins.

On the last Saturday of every month, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., Nigeria would pause. Markets went quiet. Roads emptied. Even the ever busy Lagos danfo drivers respected themselves at least for those three hours. Movement was restricted. If you were found outside without a broom, cutlass, or at least the look of someone going to fetch water, you were in trouble.

And trouble had a uniform for years.

Soldiers and sanitation officers mounted roadblocks like exam invigilators. “Where are you going?” they would bark.

“To buy bread,” one unfortunate fellow might reply.

“At 8 a.m.? On sanitation day? Bread that cannot wait till 10?” Next thing, he was doing frog jumps beside a gutter, contemplating his life choices.

But here’s the beautiful chaos of it all: people actually cleaned.

Families came out in their oldest clothes, armed with brooms that had seen better days. Children were drafted like reluctant soldiers. Mothers supervised like generals. Fathers, who usually had “urgent meetings”, suddenly became experts in clearing drains.

Gutters were desilted. Bushes were cut. Refuse was gathered into obedient heaps, waiting for trucks that sometimes came… and sometimes had their own plans.

There was also community spirit real, raw, unfiltered.

Neighbours who had not spoken in months would suddenly bond over a stubborn pile of dirt. “Madam, push it small!”

“Oga, carry that side!” Before you knew it, sanitation had become a mini festival of forced unity.

Of course, Nigerians being Nigerians, creativity found its way in. Some people sprinkled water in front of their houses and disappeared indoors. Others swept the same spot for two hours, perfecting the art of “appearing busy.” And a few brave souls tried to sneak out only to be escorted back by uniformed reality or slammed with a fine or infuriating delays.

Over time, as democracy returned and soldiers retreated to the barracks, the fear factor reduced. The whistles became softer, enforcement grew weaker. And like many good Nigerian habits, Saturday sanitation began to fade, surviving today in fragments across states.

But for those who remember, it was a time when the nation paused not for football, not for elections but to face its dirt, literally.

And for three disciplined hours, Nigeria almost looked like a country that had its act together.

Then, it was cancelled or revoked or adjusted to function in all markets on Thursday. I guess someone thought only market women are dirty and so should be made to lock up their stalls and shops in the markets and shopping complexes till 10 am every Thursday. That fellow forgot that the fabric dealer came from an estate, the pepper trader and the butcher came from one community that remained unswept and unkempt. So, as that smell that made it impossible to enjoy street rice on ‘horo Dosunmu’ and Amala on point in Surulere and Ogba disappeared, they simply returned ‘home’. Yes, to the streets, even 3 star estates. They started lining the streets in black suspicious bags, streets that ought to be tree lined.

On your way to work, you see urchins and beggars just rising from sleep, scratching and spitting, then you see the black dustbin bags, standing or sitting, glaring at you, as if in defiance, dozens of them. And my grandmother taught my sister and I that beholding dirt or stepping into dirt early in the morning is bad luck, indeed she said it can make the beholder poor. Maybe these dirt and dirt bags are the reasons behind the tough life in Lagos. Everybody is running into one another, working from dawn to dusk, with little or no profit to take ‘home’ during Sallah and Christmas.

Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu must have seen that Lagos was going back to Egypt. Maybe he and his cabinet members also had grandmothers like mine and have realised that where filth dwells, wealth cannot live.

So, as Lagos debates the return of Saturday environmental sanitation, let us approach it not as a punishment, but as a reset button.

The commissioners must have all perceived the stubborn smell that clings to certain streets in the state, that smell that is not the rich aroma of buka pepper soup or the seductive invitation of suya smoke curling into the evening air. What we have these days is the old, angry smell of neglect of overflowing plastic bags flowing into gutters that are clogged and dead.

Between 2016 and now, Lagos has become a city that forgot that cleanliness is not a luxury, it is survival.

Welcome to the shocking cost of a dirty Lagos.

We like to think dirt is just an eyesore, something you wrinkle your nose at, complain about, and then jump over on your way to hustle. But dirt is expensive, very expensive.

First, let’s talk money. Lagosians spend billions yearly treating diseases that thrive in filth malaria, cholera, typhoid.

That “small fever” that keeps you in bed for three days? It is not small. It is rent money quietly walking out of your pocket.

It is productivity slipping through your fingers. It is school fees ending up as hospital receipts.

Then there is flooding. Ah, Lagos floods are usually accompanied by dramatic lamentations of emotional blackmail that rain or sea mermaids have come to collect their due. We conveniently forget that gutters clogged with pure water sachets, plastic bottles, and yesterday’s indifference confuses rain when it arrives. It has to go somewhere. Your living room, bedroom, compound filled with expensive cars become options. Your stocked warehouse is another option. Since you cannot unclog or desilt your drainages, your new smart television must float. Your queen size mattresses will drink until it’s drunk. Shops will shut down. Goods worth billions of naira will spoil. You are free to call it “natural disaster”, government negligence or even ‘village people attack’, we all know nature does not punish us unprovoked.

But Lagos did not just wake up dirty. No city does. Dirt is a slow rebellion. It begins with one person dropping a sachet on the road. Then another. Then a whole street decides that the gutter is a trash can. Before long, the system collapses not because it was weak, but because we were careless.

And somewhere in all of this, we quietly retired one of the simplest, most effective civic habits we ever had: the three hour Saturday environmental sanitation.

Now that Lagos is ‘bringing back our environmental’ with effect from April 25, some people are protesting. Even me too has something to protest. I would have preferred the sanitation period to stretch till noon. Let our men breathe. Let them relax at home. They are too stressed. Let their wives tend and attend to them from all angles. Let children see their fathers. This new sanitation period is too short. There are too many cobwebs men, sorry, all of us, have to clear. Let us patiently clean it. Please let all other protests and protesters go and rest. I am seriously single minded about this. This is a domestic matter. It does not concern the lawyers. Or are these lawyers against women’s peace of mind?

Let’s go down memory lane.

The last Saturday of the month once arrived like a stern headmistress. From 7am to 10am, movement was restricted.

No okada racing past. No danfo honking impatiently. Lagos would pause. And in that pause, something magical happened, people cleaned.

Children swept compounds grudgingly. Mothers supervised like generals. Fathers suddenly remembered how to handle cutlasses and shovels. Gutters were cleared. Bushes were trimmed. Refuse was gathered. Streets breathed again.

It was not perfect. Some people hid indoors, pretending to be “not around.” Others bribed their way past enforcement officers. But overall, it worked. It reminded us that a city is not cleaned by government alone; it is maintained by its people.

Then we stopped.

Seriously though, freedom fighters and human rights activists and their high sounding sleek arguments brought us here. Not everything can be solved with big English.

Rake, brooms and cutlasses deployed well are more effective sometimes. Why do Lagosians always have somewhere to go sef? Where are they always going before day break? How will two or three hours in a whole month to clean your own environment for your own good be a problem? What kind of people are we if we always want to blame others for things we leave or left undone?

Take traffic, for instance.

A blocked drainage today is a flooded road tomorrow. A flooded road becomes gridlock. Gridlock becomes lost man hours. Lost man hours become economic loss. By the time you trace it back, you will find that the problem started with a plastic bottle or moin moin leaves someone casually tossed aside weeks ago.

But perhaps the most shocking cost is not financial.

It is psychological.

There is something that dirt does to the human mind.

It lowers standards.

It whispers,

“Nobody cares.”

And when nobody cares, anything goes. You see refuse on the road, and you add your own. You see a dirty environment, and you stop expecting better from yourself, from your neighbours, leaders, from your society.

Cleanliness, on the other hand, inspires order. It creates pride. It tells people,

“This place matters.” And when a place matters, people behave differently.

Now that conversations about the return of Saturday environmental sanitation has resurfaced, we must resist the urge to roll our eyes and mutter ‘oh no’.

This is not about nostalgia.

It is about necessity.

Imagine Lagos pausing again, just for three hours once a month. Imagine millions of people stepping out at the same time to clean their immediate environment. Imagine gutters flowing freely, streets looking decent, and refuse managed before it becomes a crisis.

Will it solve everything?

No.

But will it help? Absolutely.

Of course, there is a downside to the movement restriction. Lagos is bigger now. Busier. More complex.

Restricting movement may disrupt businesses, especially for those who survive on daily income. Enforcement could become another avenue for harassment if not properly managed.

These are valid worries.

But here is the thing: every meaningful system requires adjustment, not abandonment. If the old model had flaws, then fix it. Lagos state government must find a way to deploy technology, flexibility for effective enforcement. Education and reorientation of citizens and communities are key to the success of this project.

What we cannot afford is to do nothing because doing nothing is what got us here.

We must also be honest with ourselves. Government cannot sweep every street or clear every gutter. You cannot throw refuse from your car window and then blame the state for flooding. You cannot block drainage with construction waste and then complain when water enters your house.

The return of Saturday sanitation, therefore, is not just a policy discussion. It is a mirror. It forces us to confront our habits, our laziness, our entitlement.

Do we really want a clean Lagos or we just want to complain about a dirty one?

Because the two require very different levels of commitment.

So, as Lagos debates the return of Saturday environmental sanitation, let us approach it not as a punishment, but as a reset button.

Let us remember that Yoruba poem we used to recite in primary school.

Imototo b’ori arun mo’le.

Bi oye tii b’ori ooru

Cleanliness defeats diseases, just like the cold harmattan wind trumps heat.

Three hours of inconvenience versus months of avoidable illness.

Three hours of discipline versus billions lost to preventable damage.

Three hours of collective effort versus a lifetime of complaining.

The math is simple.

Lagos is too important to be dirty, too vibrant to be suffocated by refuse, too ambitious to be slowed down by preventable diseases.

In all, we should be shocked and embarrassed not just about how dirty Lagos has become but about how comfortable we have become living in that dirt.

And that, my dear Lagosian, is what should worry us all.

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The post I’ll make sure you never pee again, By Funke Egbemode appeared first on Frontpageng.

Chidozie Okorie opened scoring in the 11th minute, giving the home side an early lead.

Ahmed Musa doubled the advantage in the 45th minute to put Kano Pillars in firm control before the break.

The match, played at the Sani Abacha Stadium, saw both sides create chances, but Kano Pillars were more clinical in front of goal.

Speaking after the match, Kano Pillars Head Coach, Muhammad Babaganaru, commended his players for their determination and teamwork.

He said the victory, which earned the team three points and a clean sheet, was a collective effort and crucial in moving the club out of the relegation zone.

Babaganaru noted that the result had boosted the team’s confidence, stressing the need to sustain the momentum and secure more points, including away fixtures.

He also praised the players’ attitude and improved defensive organisation, adding that the team remained compact in spite of  a brief dip following tactical adjustments.

Enyimba Head Coach, Emmanuel Deutsch, described the encounter as difficult, noting that his team failed to perform to expectation.

“We lost again, and it is not a good situation. The home team used their advantage well and controlled key moments of the game,” he said.

Deutsch said his side made costly mistakes and were duly punished, adding that Kano Pillars deserved the victory.

He acknowledged that Enyimba were in a difficult position but expressed optimism that the team could turn things around.

“The league is not over yet. We will go back, correct our mistakes and prepare properly for the next match,” he said.

Source: NAN

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The elders were silent. Shame, they say, can be louder than drums. That season, the village stopped arguing about distant miracles and started harvesting what was within reach. As quietly as it came, hunger left, like an unwanted visitor who knew he had overstayed his welcome.

Nigeria today is that Ezeani where our problems are not always the absence of ideas or resources but the stubborn refusal or lack of political will to pick the fruits hanging right before us.

In development language, “lowest-hanging fruits” are reforms and actions that require relatively modest political will, a little new spending, and existing institutions—but deliver outsized impact quickly.” They are not silver bullets, and they do not replace deep structural reforms. Yet, they buy trust, stabilise society, and create momentum. Three things Nigerian politicians love. So, why are Nigerian governors and their tripled monthly allocation from FAAC not taking advantage of the nation’s size, talent, and natural endowments to score political points while still delivering on development?

Some leaders fear small reforms because they do not look “big” enough. They prefer the ones that require big ribbons. Our governors prefer the flyovers, roads and bridges so they can invite their colleague governors and walk them up and down the roads and bridges. Not that there is something wrong with cutting ribbons on long bridges but we can also walk five governors through dozens of hectares of cassava plantation, or even okro.

I have driven almost an hour through a cassava plantation before. It was so big, my fuel gauge was blinking yellow. Yes, it was that massive. And what is even more impressive, it belonged to one man, just one farmer called Niji Lucas. He planted, he processed and exported. One man desired to do all that and did it, employing dozens.

How come no government has thought of it with all the budgets the state ministries have spent every year, for five decades? Let us not even mention the Federal Ministry of Agriculture through the years. All we see are agbada in every colour at budget presentations. The governors go to their State Assemblies for the budget ritual every year, yet they cannot plant cassava. All we get is earful of long and big figures of how much they will spend on us. May the Lord forgive some of their sins.

Development, after all, is not always about climbing higher. Sometimes, it is about bending down and picking what has been there all along.

The cassava species I plant, yes this little girl is a farmer, is harvested after one year. Just 12 months. There are species ripe for harvests in six months, even. Now, imagine one governor planting 100 hectares of cassava? Imagine the amount of people he will employ: from farmhands to Engineers to Agromists. Think of the number of women who will work there, young Nigerians, old Nigerians. Imagine a new community that will be built and the opportunities for bricklayers and carpenters. Even I will go there and build farmhouses and collect rent. Madam Landlady will only join that level of the value chain. My lashes, nails and wig will all be able to thrive there. Don’t laugh. The point here is, a farm settlement will provide more jobs than you think. It will decongest the urban centres faster than any other sector of the economy.

Now, let us go to the point that is agitating your mind.  Security. The farms are not secure. Nigeria is no longer secure. The farmers will be abducted. Our harsh and sad reality. Do we all agree that not all the 36 states are so unsafe that we cannot plant anything? Do we all agree that we all still travel certain distances by road, in spite of our fears of abduction? Or are we all going to run abroad to live with our Japa children, all of us?

Was it not taking the easy way out that got us here? This is a country endowed enough to feed the world. The low-hanging fruits were and are still there, but our leaders were and are still climbing the iroko tree to look for what is not lost. Was it not the unoccupied, untrained, uneducated, unemployed children of yesterday that are today’s terrorists? Will they just disappear, this league of terrorists, by Nigeria doing the same things and expecting different outcomes? Will this headache be cured by running around the problems in circles?

A governor that decides to try out a corn or cassava project will even have something to showcase in 100 days. I know so. Google the images of a 100-day-old 100 hectares of corn. I just did. Take the media there with their cameras. Don’t go without the big talk show hosts and columnists. Go with the social media influencers. Then sit back and see that what a road commissioning can do, a cassava farm can do better.

Citizens experience development in small ways and that is the truth.

Small wins build trust, reduce anger, buy time for deeper, bigger reforms.

A government that harvests low-hanging fruits creates the political capital needed to climb higher branches.

So, what is stopping Nigeria from picking these fruits?

It is not ignorance and it is not lack of money alone. The real obstacles are elite comfort with dysfunction.

‘Bamubamu ni mo yo, emi o mo p’ebi npomo enikankan.’

‘Me, I am well fed, I do not care about my hungry neighbours. ‘

That is how we got here. Fat cats whose palm kernels were cracked by political gods who prefer to flaunt their wealth rather than spread it? They rub the noses of the hungry neighbours in their posh and lush living. The ‘blessed’ believe somehow that there would be no consequences for ‘chopping alone.’ The rumbling stomachs of the poor gave them different instructions and they followed them, into crime, rituals into the forests.

If we are going to stop more hungry people from answering the calls of the gods of evil, we must speedily, with ‘automatic alacrity’ go for the low-hanging fruits and easy gains.

There is also the need to ensure that those who shortchange Nigerians pay for it. And I do not mean send them to jail. That is a long topic I wrote about years ago but we will revisit it soon. There must be consequences for failure.

Politics that rewards noise over results is demeaning and must stop, too. Let’s focus.

History has shown that when even a few leaders choose discipline over drama, progress follows.

Conclusion: Back to the iroko tree

The village in the folktale did not become prosperous by inventing new trees. It simply stopped ignoring the fruits already ripe. Nigeria does not need to reinvent development. We need to practise it.

The lowest-hanging fruits are waiting: in classrooms, clinics, councils, farms, and files gathering dust. The question is not whether they exist. The question is whether those in power are finally ready to stretch out their hands.

Development, after all, is not always about climbing higher. Sometimes, it is about bending down and picking what has been there all along.

*Egbemode (egbemode3@gmail.com)

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The post The big deal about small wins, By Funke Egbemode appeared first on Frontpageng.

The committee, chaired by a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Kanu Agabi (SAN), was given two weeks to resolve the standoff threatening governance and stability in the state.

The intervention came amid rising political tension, following impeachment moves against Gov. Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, by the state House of Assembly.

The forum’s board of trustees co-chairman, Alfred Diete-Spiff, expressed optimism that the initiative would lead to genuine reconciliation and lasting peace in the oil-rich state.

Diete-Spiff, while urging the committee to work expeditiously, said that Rivers, given its strategic economic and political importance to Nigeria, could not afford prolonged political turmoil.

PANDEF’s national chairman, Godknows Igali, said both the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and Fubara, who are members of PANDEF, were expected to respect the outcome of the reconciliation process.

According to him, the moral authority of the organisation and the pedigree of the committee members would compel all parties to submit to dialogue and compromise in the interest of the people.

“It is our belief that, as committed members of PANDEF and leaders with a stake in the Niger Delta, all parties involved will respect the process and abide by the outcome of the committee’s work,” Igali said.

In his address, Agabi described the assignment as a solemn responsibility, thanking PANDEF’s leadership for the trust reposed in the panel.

He paid glowing tribute to Diete-Spiff, describing him as a symbol of sacrifice, unity and enduring commitment to the South-South and the Nigerian nation.

“The duty of respect we owe to a man like that demands that we take his intervention seriously,” Agabi said, noting that Rivers’ current predicament calls for wisdom, restraint and humility from all actors.

The former minister warned that the crisis, if allowed to fester, would raise questions about the commitment of the political actors to the welfare of the people of the state and the broader national interest.

“We cannot afford to stand by and do nothing as Rivers, whose talents and resources continue to bless the nation, struggles with issues of political power.

Agabi, who acknowledged personal relationships with both Wike and Fubara, appealed to them to lead the reconciliation process by example, urging them to rise above personal grievances for the sake of peace.

The seven-member committee’s terms of reference include: identifying key actors in the crisis; engaging critical stakeholders such as former governors, traditional rulers and political leaders.

The committee is also expected to facilitate dialogue between the executive and legislature; restoring stability and law and order as well as ensuring that any resolution aligned with constitutional norms and the democratic will of the people.

The panel was also mandated to consult widely, maintain confidentiality to build trust and submit a comprehensive report with recommendations to the president and PANDEF’s Board of Trustees within 14 days.

Source: NAN

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The NCC was recognized alongside the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, which emerged overall best-performing agency; the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, which placed second; as well as the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigerian Ports Authority.

The recognition was announced at the PEBEC Awards and Gala Night held on Tuesday at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.

The award celebrates transparency and efficiency in Nigeria’s public service and was presented to the commission for its “commitment to openness, accountability and operational excellence in Public Service Delivery.”

Receiving the award on behalf of the commission, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to sustaining transparency and accountability in its regulatory approach.

He noted that the principles remain central to improving industry performance and fostering a conducive environment for telecommunications businesses to thrive.

“The commission is proud to be listed among the Top Five Best-Performing Federal Government Agencies for 2025. This recognition is an affirmation of the values that guide our work: transparency, accountability, and an unwavering commitment to regulatory excellence. It signals that the reforms we have pursued, the systems we have strengthened, and the decisions we have taken are yielding the right results.

“For us at the NCC, this honour is both a validation and a responsibility. It reassures us that we are on the right path, and at the same time challenges us to deepen our commitment to the Nigerian people

“As an economic regulator, our mandate is to create an environment where operators can thrive—an environment that attracts investment and sustains healthy competition, ensuring consumers enjoy the best possible choices.

“Nigerians can rest assured that we will not rest on our oars. We remain fully committed to ensuring that the telecom consumer receives the highest quality of service, supported by a fair, transparent, and competitive industry. We will also continue to strengthen our collaborations with all stakeholders—because meaningful progress in our sector can only be achieved through shared commitment and collective action,” Dr. Maida stated.

Speaking at the awards, the PEBEC Director-General, Zahrah Mustapha-Audu, said the event was organised to celebrate reform champions and highlight progress made in improving the country’s business climate.

“This evening is not merely an awards ceremony; it is a powerful affirmation of possibilities, honouring the champions who have moved beyond compliance, embracing excellence as the new standard for public service delivery.

“The achievements we acknowledge are the tangible result of collective resolve to make Nigeria the most attractive and predictable competitive destination for business in Africa.

“Under the unwavering leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, and the active chairmanship of Vice President Sen. Kashim Shettima, our reform efforts have been characterised by intentionality, accountability, and the strategic deployment of data.

“We understand that to fix the operational environment for businesses, we must first fix the government’s framework.”

Vice President Kashim Shettima, who chairs the council, said the awards reflected the government’s commitment to a more efficient and competitive public service.

“The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council has spent the last couple of years championing reforms that speak to the whole of our economic aspirations.

“The reforms that make it easier to do business, that restore your best confidence, that ensure our institutions work in the spirit of national growth.

“Tonight, we salute the men and women driving these institutions, when we commit to working together across MDAs, across states and across sectors, Nigeria wins,” he said.

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Counsel to AA, Oba Maduabuchi-Ume, SAN, told the Presidential Elections Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja on Monday that a motion for withdrawal had been filed to the effect.

The five-member panel is headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani.

Following Maduabuchi-Ume’s application, the court consequently struck out the petition.

Maduabuchi-Ume told newsmen in an interview that he acted on the instruction of the party.

Meanwhile, the national chairman of AA, Dr Adekunle Omo-Aje, while briefing the newsmen shortly after the withdrawal of the petition, said questions had been asked repeatedly about their motives and reasons for withdrawal of the petition.

“To make the answers available once and for all, for all that care to know, we will avail you the straight reasons behind our actions here now.

“We believe that this our address to you today will put to rest, whatever insinuation anybody may have had,” he said.

He said, “To start with, our party, Action Alliance was neither challenging emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu nor the victory of APC in this instance, but protesting the process adopted by the umpire – INEC, in the build up to the election.

“Our grouse is with INEC and its approach to issues that concern our party spanning over months build-up to the elections.

“We have all reasons to be aggrieved with the snobbish treatment, and underrating approach of the umpire towards our complaints as touching the induced crisis in our party.”

Omo-Aje said the party’s grouse for approaching the Court of Appeal Presidential Tribunal was to show to the world the partisanship tendencies of INEC that maliciously worked against their party in conjunction with some political mafia to exclude it from participating in all the elections so far conducted.

He said INEC was aware through many court judgments up to the Supreme Court decisions acknowledging him as authentic national chairman of AA.

He said the commission practically created a parallel AA “leadership at its headquarters using one Kenneth Udeze as its personal national chairman.”

“It is this Udeze that INEC allowed to field candidates for our party, and rejected the authentic list co-signed by me as national chairman and Amb. Suleiman Abdulrasheed as national secretary.”

He, however  said that well-meaning Nigerians, home and in the Diaspora, including leaders of Afenifere, Ohaneze, the Arewa, the Middle-Belt Forum, captains of industries and community leaders, urged them to see the loss of the party as their own contribution to the unity of the country.

Omo-Aje said the party resolved to withdraw the petition considering the unity of the nation.

“Being witnesses and active members of the imbroglio that followed the annulment of the result of the famous June 12, 1993 presidential elections believed to have been won by late Chief MKO Abiola, of the Southwest extraction, we do not want to be the reason our country – Nigeria – will be thrown into another horrific experience of such.

“Secondly, as active democrats in this democratic experiment, we shall not be used by proponents of Interim Government to achieve their concocted agenda of taking over government through the back door.

“Thirdly, our party believes in the three key principles of a healthy democracy, which are: equity, fairness and justice.

“The agitations around our country today is because parts or all of these key principles have been relegated,” he said.

He said the party also considered those who participated and won elections in the polls.

Besides, he said the party also believed in the ability of “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being a proponent of restructuring, which has been one major reason why we have the barrage of agitation in our land today, to evolve a kind of policy that could engender resurgence of trust in our togetherness as a national entity.”

“Truth be told, our country – Nigeria – today, is at the precipice.

“We need a personality that believes in policies that can repose trust in the aggrieved indigenous nationalities within Nigeria to reenact the loss of brotherliness among our diverse ethnicity,” he said.

Source: NAN

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The deceased who was identified as Joe, was said to have been shot dead by security agents.

The Commissioner of Police in charge of election in the state, Garba Aliyu, confirmed the incident, but said he was yet to get details of what happened.

Election materials arrived early in most parts of the state and voting commenced on schedule.

However, in Etung local government area, though the process was smooth, there was poor turnout of voters especially in Abijang and Nsofan wards, which have seven polling units each.

It was the same situation in Ikom local government area, where election officials sat idle awaiting voters.

Most residents of Ikom were seen going about their normal businesses.

Though most shops remained locked, commercial activities was in full swing, including commercial motorcyclists, who were operating normally.

Voters in Cross River are electing a new governor and 25 members of the state House of Assembly.

Source: NAN

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The president spoke to residents of  FCT led by the Minister, Mohammed Musa Bello, who paid him the traditional Christmas Day homage.

At the last Christmas Day homage with the FCT community, comprising political, traditional and religious leaders, women and youth groups as well as public servants, the president reiterated that he would return to Daura, Katsina State, his hometown, at the end of his tenure.

He explained that his decision not to make Abuja a permanent abode was to allow his successor a free hand to operate and run the affairs of government.

The president also told members of the FCT community that he had not built a new house in Daura or anywhere and hoped to live in his same house, of many years.

President Buhari also used the occasion to commend the FCT minister, saying he retained the cabinet position for so long because of his honesty and hardwork.

The president noted that he was aware that the office of the Minister of the FCT was burdened with requests for land allocation from highly placed Nigerians, who often disposed of their allocations for financial gains and other priorities.

He shared an anecdote of how someone close to him asked him to speak to the FCT minster to allocate him a plot of land; he will sell it and use the money to marry another wife.

‘‘I was overwhelmed by the priority of some people who need a plot of land not to develop it but to sell it and marry another wife.

‘‘I don’t know how the minister copes with such people who are extremely serious about such things. And I think about 45 per cent of those who have been given land allocation in the FCT have sold it and didn’t develop it according to the laid down criteria (master plan).’’

President Buhari thanked Nigerians for supporting his administration, recounting that during electioneering campaigns in the build-up to the 2015 and 2019 elections, he had travelled the length and breadth of the country seeking their support.

In his remarks, the FCT minister expressed delight that the Christmas homage had returned after two years suspension due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

He prayed God Almighty to grant the president a peaceful and healthy retirement.

The Vice Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), FCT, Rev’d Stephen Panyan, commended the president for doing his best for the country and prayed that he would bequeath a legacy of fairness, justice, inclusiveness and management of diversity to Nigeria.

Speaking on behalf of CAN National President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, the religious leader reassured the president of the support of the Christian community to all his programmes to bring progress and prosperity to Nigeria.

‘‘At the twilight of your administration, we want to reassure you that the Christian community will continue to fully support you and pray that God will bless your efforts and that your desire to see the alleviation of the suffering of the citizens of this nation  will begin to yield fruit.

‘‘May the Lord bless your work and see to the manifestation of your very noble desires,’’ the CAN leader prayed.

Stressing that the Christian community had not given up hope on Nigeria, Panyan encouraged the president to continue to do his utmost best for the country and citizens ‘‘he loves so much’’, while trusting God for divine intervention.

Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT and Senator representing Kogi West, Smart Adeyemi, declared that the nation’s capital had enjoyed religious harmony in the last seven and half years because of the good leadership of President Buhari.

He also lauded the president’s record on press freedom, freedom of expression and human rights.

He noted that in the midst of a barrage of criticisms of this administration, the president had never ordered the arrest, incarceration or harassment of any journalist or political opponent.

Adeyemi appealed to the president to use his good offices to ensure fairness and equity in the process of electing the next Governor of Kogi State, as witnessed in the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC, that produced Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as candidate and Senator Kashim Shettima as running mate.

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Also killed in what looks like guerrilla attack were two drivers of the expatriates of West Africa Ceramics Company Ajaokuta, Kogi.

SP William Ovye-Aya, the image maker of Kogi Police Command, made the disclosure on Saturday in a statement  in Lokoja.

Ovye-Aya explained that the six victims, two expatriates, two company drivers and two police inspectors died in the exchange of fire with the hoodlums along Lokoja-Ajaokuta road around 8 p.m. on Friday.

According to the image maker, the expatriates were being escorted by police to the ceramic company that evening, when the gunmen attacked them.

He said that the Area Commander and a detachment of military in the area had to reinforce to the scene of the incident before the attackers fled.

The image maker said already, the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, CP Edward Egbuka, had visited the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.

He said that the CP had equally ordered the deployment of additional operational assets consisting of operatives of the Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Unit, Quick Response Unit, State Intelligence Bureau in synergy with other security agencies to restore normalcy in the area.

“The CP is assuring the public that the command is committed to working in synergy with other security agencies as well as patriotic stakeholders to make the state a safe and secure place for all and sundry.

“He has further asked the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) to commence investigations into the unfortunate incident so as to unravel the remote and immediate cause of the attack with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book,” Ovye-Aya assured.

Source: NAN

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Odo Iya Alaro is on the bridge linking Maryland and Ojota on Ikorodu Road.

The accident occurred at about 0215 hours this morning.

According to the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, the body of the male casualty had been deposited at a morgue while the second casualty simply identified as Blessing had been picked by members of her family.

Several other persons injured in the accident were said to have been taken to hospitals for urgent medical attention.

The NEMA boss said the vehicles involved are an empty tanker with registration number FKJ-506XM; an articulated flat bed truck laden with metal coils; a grey Toyota Camry with registration number ABC-261AJ (Abuja), a tipper with registration number T-12015LA laden with 30tons of sharp sand and two commercial buses (danfo).

The accident was said to have occurred when a tipper truck lost control while on high speed and ran into the other vehicles.

Federal Road Safety Corps, Police, NEMA, LASTMA AND LASAMBUS were some of the agencies that responded to the emergency.

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