Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, a Nigerian social crusader and widow of the late spokesperson of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, was delivered of twins – a boy and a girl – at a hospital in the United States of America on Wednesday.
According to The PUNCH, both mother and the babies are in excellent health condition. The ‘miracle’ birth fulfilled the wishes of the late Odumakin to have another baby to be named after him.
The couple who got married in 1997, had their first baby girl in 2000 and the second, a boy, in 2003. While the girl was named after Joe, the boy was named Abraham after the late Afenifere leader, Pa Abraham Adesanya.
However, the twins are coming 18 years after the birth of their last child.
After he survived a three-day coma in 2020 and a few months before he succumbed to the illness that eventually but unexpectedly claimed his life, Yinka, developed a strong desire for him and his wife to have another baby.
However, it was gathered that Yinka never got to hear the news about his wife’s pregnancy before he died.
In a statement by his wife, her husband had left instructions for the name or names of the baby. The statement read in part, “He had, however, prophetically left words concerning what the baby or babies should be called if his wishes materialised.
“YO, as he is fondly called, was so accurate in his predictions that they could be twins (and their sex) that he gave the names of the babies and told me how he would raise them.
“While many may interpret this to mean that YO had a premonition about his death, it was only a strong desire expressed by him to have babies that he would dot over and who would possibly step into his “aluta” shoes. It’s a dream come true!”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has pledged to intensify monitoring and surveillance of the capital market in order to curb unethical conduct.
The Director-General, SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda said this in a statement issued after the Annual Stockbrokers Conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers held on Oct 28 and 29 in Lagos.
Yuguda also disclosed that stiffer sanctions would be met on operators who engage in unethical conduct.
He noted that capital market operators were the face of the market as they interact daily with investors.
Yuguda said it was necessary that they prioritise the interest of investors over their own, demonstrate integrity and transparency in conducting their activities.
According to him, poor conduct dissuades investors from our market and counters the collective objective of broadening and deepening the market.
“We also expect that the institute will continue to make it mandatory for its members to undertake annual professional development programmes that address emerging issues.
“I believe that this will go a long way in ensuring that the practitioners in the market are highly skilled and are equipped to make a real impact towards growing the market.
“SEC has led several initiatives to reposition the Nigerian capital market to better support sustainable economic growth and development.
“Through the articulation of responsive and adaptable rules to support innovation and access to capital for small and medium enterprises, promotion of good corporate governance, an improved registration process, an adequate and transparent disclosure regime, enhanced enforcement machinery and dispute resolution mechanisms.
“Most of our more recent efforts at developing our market are targeted at contributing to the growth of the national economy,” he said.
Yuguda explained that the core objective of the 10-year Capital Market Master Plan was to position the capital market for accelerated development of the national economy.
“Some level of success has been recorded from its implementation so far and efforts are currently ongoing to re-launch it for better impact during the remaining period of its implementation.
“As stakeholders, it is important to have a common understanding of the role the capital market plays not just as a catalyst of economic development but the trend, drivers and preconditions for a robust and viable capital market.
“The World Bank acknowledges that there are many areas of this relationship where research has been found thin.
“It is equally important for investors to perceive the capital market and capital market intermediaries as working for them and not against them.
“I, therefore, use this opportunity to implore the institute to identify some specific areas that could be used as a stimulus to improve the current state of the market,” he added.
Yuguda called for diversification of investment products; promotion of investor education and financial literacy; strengthening corporate governance and listing standards.
He assured that SEC would continue to take steps that empower trade groups and professional associations for more effective market regulation, restoring investor confidence, preserving market integrity and reducing systemic risk.
Meanwhile, while addressing participants at the conference, the President of CIS, Mr Babatunde Amolegbe, said the institute was committed to focusing on the economy and capital market advocacy with the intention of achieving an inclusive and efficient capital market as an essential tool for economic development.
Amolegbe noted: “The capital market is still a virgin territory with so many opportunities available, so as stockbrokers you are only limited by your own imaginations.
“This conference is unique as it delivers in the area of new economic issues to ensure that the capita market contributes to economic growth,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the hybrid conference was: “Capital Market as a Catalyst for Economic Development and Sustainable Growth.”
Speaker of Kano State House of Assembly, Hamisu Chidari, has declared support for the Tinubu Support Organisation (TSO).
The Director-General of Tinubu Support Organisation (TSO), Aminu Suleiman, stated on Sunday.
The TSO said Chidari reiterated his unflinching support to the course of Bola Tinubu presidency project, when he expressed gratitude for the support offered him by the former Lagos governor during his mother’s funeral.
He promised to continue to put in his best for organisation aimed at realising the project 2023.
Suleiman reaffirmed the commitment of the organisation to the vision of Bola Tinubu.
“The Speaker is appointed the North-West coordinator in recognition of his dedication,” Suleiman announced.
The TSO is one of the support groups pushing for the realisation of Tinubu’s presidency in 2023.
The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a man who is allegedly a top member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and also commands its militant wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
The commander identified as Udebuan Sage Chubueze was arrested in Ekwukobia in the Aguata Local Government Area of the state on Saturday, October 30.
Chubueze was arrested in his house following a tip-off and was said to have sustained bullet wounds.
Recall that there was a gun battle between security agents and some gunmen in Ekwulobia on Friday, October 29, with many of the gunmen escaping with bullet wounds.
IPOB, a pro-Biafra group, has been accused of being responsible for some of the attacks against the police in the South-East, but the group has denied any involvement.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the group in December 2020 launched ESN to protect the people of the region from terrorists and bandits allegedly trooping in from the North.
The IPOB leader described the outfit as a replica of the Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun, earlier launched by the South-West governors to curb insecurity in the region.
“The sole aim and objective of this newly formed security outfit known as Eastern Security Network are to halt every criminal activity and the terrorist attack on Biafraland,” Kanu had said.
“This outfit, which is a vigilante group like the Amotekun in the South-West and the Miyetti Allah security outfit, will ensure the safety of our forests and farmland, which terrorists have converted into slaughter grounds and raping fields.”
Senator Iyorcha Ayu has been elected the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as Taofeek Arapaja also emerged the National Deputy Chairman (South).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ayu, who was the consensus candidate at the party national convention in Abuja, got 3,426 affirmative votes out of 3,511 accredited voters.
However, Arapaja secured a total of 2,004 votes to defeat his only rival, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former Governor of Osun, who polled 705 votes, while invalid votes were 165.
Also, Umar Damagum scored a total of 2,222 votes to defeat his sole rival, Mrs Inna Ciroma, for the position of Deputy National Chairman (North), who polled 365 votes.
NAN reports that the position of National Youth Leader was won by Mohammed Suleiman with 3,072 votes, while his co-contestant, Usman Elkudan, had 219 votes.
Efforts to achieve consensus candidates for all 21 elective national offices of the party suffered a setback as agreement could not be reached for three offices.
The three offices were the Deputy National Chairman (South) and Deputy National Chairman (North), as well as the National Youth Leader of the party.
Those returned unopposed with uniform votes of 3,426 were Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary; Ahmed Mohammed- National Treasurer; Umar Bature as National Organising secretary and Daniel Woyegikuro as National Financial Secretary.
Other returned elected by the Returning Officer, Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, were Stella Effah-Attoe as National Woman Leader; Kamaldeen Adeyemi Ajibade as National Legal Adviser; Debo Ologunagba as National Publicity Secretary and Okechukwu Daniel as National Auditor.
Also elected were Setonji Kosheodo as Deputy National Secretary; Ndubisi David as Deputy National Treasurer; Ibrahim Abdullahi as Deputy National Publicity Secretary and Ighoyota Amori as Deputy National Organising Secretary,
Adamu Kamale was elected the Deputy National Financial Secretary; Hajara Wanka as Deputy National Woman Leader; Timothy Osadolor, as Deputy National Youth Leader, Okechukwu Osuoha as Deputy National Legal Adviser and Albdulraman Mohammed as Deputy National Auditor.
NAN reports that the new members of the National Working Committee are expected to assume offices after the tenure of the incumbent members expires on Dec. 9.
In his appreciation remarks, Ayu said that the PDP was back to take over Nigeria and develop it.
The national chairman-elect said the PDP did it before and would do it again.
“I want to sincerely appreciate the PDP family. Today is simply a “thank you“ address. When we started this party 23 years ago, we never in any way imagined that the journey would get us to this stage.
“A stage where we ruled for 16 years, we went into rough times, but for anybody who bother to see, PDP is back.
“I want to appreciate all of you who have taken time as delegates as observers, as supporters, as members of the media as members of the security services who have made this event such a wonderful event.
“Many people imagine that this convention will lead to the break up of PDP. Those people who are dreaming like that, their dreams were misplaced.
“Those who have lost hope should know that Nigeria is not a divided country. A small group of people decided to divide Nigeria.
“PDP will come back to unite our people, put them together, north and south, east and west.
“We will move ahead to develop this country. We did it before. We are going to do it again. I want to thank the governors,” Ayu said.
Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s threat, and subsequent implementation, of a divisive allocation of position and federal resources on the basis of 2015 election results was politically expedient.
“It is natural in politics,” Adesina told Vanguard when asked about the controversial approach in an interview published on Sunday.
Buhari faced criticism in July 2015 when he said he would be more attuned to favouring regions that gave him electoral victory during the March 28, 2015, presidential poll than those who voted for his opponent.
“The constituents, for example, that gave me 97 per cent [of the vote] cannot, in all honesty, be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me five per cent,” Buhari said at a town hall organised by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington on July 22. “I think these are a political reality.”
The statement immediately elicited fireworks across Nigeria and has continued to define the legacy of Mr Buhari’s presidency. He has since sidelined the Igbo-dominated South-East from national security, economy and other critical areas of democratic governance.
Buhari did not apologise or walk back his comments more than six years on, and Mr Adesina’s response to Vanguard on the matter indicates the administration’s intention to dig its heels in.
“The highest place where Buhari got maybe about 20% was Abia due to Kalu’s influence, in Ebonyi because David Umahi even when he was in PDP had always loved the President,” Adesina said. “He didn’t score more than 20% anywhere even when what he required was 25%. So the southeasterners will need to readdress their politics, play more national politics.”
“You first take care of the needs of those who gave you 95% before those who gave you 5%, it is natural,” he added.
Even though Buhari’s cabinet appointees and federal projects concentration failed to reflect the ethnic and religious balance of Nigeria, Adesina said the president should not be seen as a sectional leader.
Adesina said the President stated that the Constitution handicapped him “from side-lining any part of the country,” and he won’t go against the Constitution.
“Mischievous people took only the earlier part of the statement and cut out the rest just because they wanted to generate controversy,” Adesina said, arguing further that a list of federal appointees under Buhari showed there were more people from Ogun and Imo than other states.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Saturday debunked a report attributed to him that terrorists were collecting taxes in the northern parts of the country just as “Area Boys’’ extorted commuters in the southern parts.
The minister said in a statement issued in Abuja by Mr Joe Mutah, his Chief Press Secretary, that the report was “a figment of the warped imagination of the author.’’
The statement said the report, attributed to the minister after he addressed a news briefing on the distorted report of the Economist Magazine on Nigeria, was twisted by the author who was not even at the event.
“It’s inconceivable how a reporter, who was not even at the event, extrapolated the comments of the minister to manufacture his or her conclusion on the minister’s remarks.
“For clarity, the minister never mentioned what was dishonestly attributed to him,’’ the statement said.
It said the reporter twisted the response of the minister to a question on a news report that some bandits imposed taxes on some communities in Sokoto State.
“The minister remarked that, assuming without conceding that the report is true, the claim that some bandits imposed taxes on some communities was not an indication that the communities were effectively under the control of the bandits.
“He only provided some examples, which the reporter twisted to fabricate a misleading caption for the story.
“I will refer you to the original recording of the minister at the event in order to put the report in the correct perspective,’’ Mutah added.
He stressed that the report was twisted and fell under the categorisation of fake news.
Former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, says he will contest for presidency in 2023 irrespective of whether the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zones the ticket to the South-East.
In an interview with journalists on Saturday, Anyim said, “Posters of my presidential bid and agitations by groups for me to contest flooded the social media in 2020 and I disassociated myself from such calls.
“I felt that it was too early for such a declaration, to enable the present administration concentrate on governance.
“Such calls resurfaced in the early part of 2021 and I chose to be quiet over the issue.
“We currently have less than 18 months to the next elections, and I feel the time is ripe to indicate my interest,” Anyim said.
He said that the zoning committee instituted by the party was only saddled with zoning party positions and not other positions.
“Zoning of such positions was deferred but nothing stops anyone from South-East Zone from contesting the presidency even if it is not zoned to it,” he said.
The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation noted that the party’s national convention would signal the commencement of its political activities.
“The most important thing is that the party’s national convention is a sort of rebirth for a group of people who have recovered from a setback,” he added.
Anyim said that in spite of the party’s seeming conflict with its former Chairman Uche Secondus, he remained a friend to many members.
“He is particularly my friend and we do not have any problem with him. The issue is that the party needed to move but be assured that he is not going into wilderness,” Anyim said.
Nigerians have cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari over the high cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), otherwise called cooking gas, in the country, urging him to take drastic measures to crash the price of the product in the interest of the masses.
From Lagos to Kano, Kebbi, Bayelsa, Cross River, Port Harcourt and Benue, many households lamented that the cost of the product has risen beyond their reach, urging the President, who doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, to take urgent steps to make it as affordable as it once were if he loves poor Nigerians as he claims.
Recall that earlier this month, marketers of LPG expressed concerns over the supply shortage and persistent increase in the price of cooking gas and cylinders in Nigeria.
The marketers had warned that the 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas, which then sold at between N7,500 and N8,000 could rise to N10,000 by December if the government fails to address the crisis.
Executive secretary of the National Association of LPG Marketers, Mr. Bassey Essien, who gave the warning, blamed the hike in the price of the product on the recently introduced import charges and Value Added Tax (VAT) by the Federal Government, saying, “the price of cooking gas may as well reach N10,000 for a 12.5kg cylinder.”
In Kebbi State, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member serving in Jega, Francis Oluwayomi, said the product has become a luxury in the area.
“Here, it is 700 per kilogramme (kg) and the marketers are threatening that that the prices would still go up. In the past, I used to fill the gas up, but now, I just go there and tell them to sell N3,000 worth of gas, because I can’t kill myself. A lot of people have retired their cylinders and started using coal to cook but that one is even becoming expensive. I am fed up.”
A resident of Port Harcourt, Seyi Abidoye, said a 12.5kg cylinder retails for between N8,500 and N9, 000, saying the situation was unbearable.
“Rent, food, school fees are all going up everyday. The cost of living is getting out of hand. I bought it at N7, 500 just last month, and it has gone up by N1, 000 in less than a month. The dealers are adding money every other day. This is not sustainable for us. Early this year, this same cylinder was less than N4, 000; today it is more than double the price. Only God knows how much we would buy it towards Christmas when gas is usually scarce here,” he said.
According to Nancy Adenike, who resides in Ipaja area of Lagos State, “two weeks ago, I bought my 12.5kg for N7,200; the same day by evening it had become N7,500.”
Oluseun Olofin, a resident in Ayobo area of the state, said: “It is really sad, which way is the country going? The cost of practically everything you need for survival is on the increase. The country is becoming unbearable for the masses.”
Adebusola Ishola, a resident in Ikotun area of Lagos, also said: “A kilogramme of gas, which used to cost N300, now goes for N700. This is getting unbearable for us. I wonder what would happen as we approach the festive season.
“I just bought gas yesterday at N8, 200 for 12.5kg,” he added.
Investigations by The Guardian in Kano State showed that a sizable number of residents have resorted to using firewood and charcoal as an alternative to cooking gas due to the new price regime.
A resident, Alhaji Kabir Muhammad of Tudun Wada quarters, Kano metropolis, said the hike in the price of the product has taken a heavy toll on his life as an average income earner.
Muhammad said he had been using the product for over a decade now due to its affordability and accessibility but could no longer afford it now.
Another resident, Labaran Habib of Jaen Quarters in Gwale local council area, said it has practically become impossible for him to fill his 12.5kg since the price shot up. He explained that a 12.5kg cylinder sold at N3,500 in the state six months ago as against the current price of N8,000.
Residents of Calabar, the Cross River State capital, also decried the continuous rise in the price of cooking gas, stating that it has never been this bad in the history of Nigeria.
A resident, who identified herself simply as Mrs. Affiong, lamented the constant increase, saying she filled her 7kg cylinder last week for N5,600 at the rate of N800 per kg.
“In the past three months, I have been spending more than usual on filling my cylinder. Every time you go to gas station, they give you a new price. It is frustrating and my gas only last for one month. How do we cope with this in this country?” she asked.
A spinster, Anabel Ojong said: “I can no longer fill my 3kg cylinder since the price of gas increased to N700 per kilogramme and now N850. Most times, I only fill a kilogramme that would last me for one week. And it’s not just gas. The price of foodstuff is increasing on a daily basis; the masses are suffering. I wonder why the government derives pleasure in punishing the citizens.” She lamented.
One Mr. Benedict Ekpenyong claimed that because of the increase in the price of gas, his family cooks once a day.
“I have told my wife to cook just once a day. We no longer warm our food; we eat our lunch and dinner cold. I cannot afford to be filling 12.5 kilogrammes at N800 and sometimes N850 and that will not even last for one month. To tell you the truth, in the past three months, I could only afford to fill four kilogrammes. It has never been this bad,” he lamented.
It was the same tales of lamentation in Benue State, where a woman, Josephine Tsueka, told The Guardian that due to the daily rise in the price of cooking, she has resorted to the use of firewood and charcoal to cook.
But she lamented that even charcoal and firewood were gradually getting out of hand. The situation in Bayelsa State was not different.
A visit to some of the gas refilling plants in Yenagoa revealed that the sale of cooking gas has reduced drastically as customers now patronise those selling kerosene obtained from illegal refining outlets known as ‘kpofire’.
The Guardian checks revealed that a kilogrammme of cooking gas, which was sold at N360 in October last year was sold at ₦720 as at yesterday.
This means that a three-kilogramme gas cylinder which was refilled at between ₦1, 080 to ₦1,180 now goes for between ₦2,700 to ₦3,000, while 12.5kg normally which was refilled at N4,500 now costs between ₦8,500 and ₦9,000.
Residents who spoke with The Guardian said they could no longer afford to buy at that price, so they had to go back to kerosene stove while some of them now use charcoal and firewood.
Also, most food vendors and restaurants that could not use firewood and kerosene because of the peculiarity of their environment have increased the prices of their food.
At a popular eatery in Ekeki area of Yenagoa, a plate of food that was sold at ₦500 now costs ₦700. A housewife, Mrs Tessy Binaowei, said: “I was so happy when my husband brought home the cooking gas three years ago because it saves time and I don’t have to wash the back of my pots every now and then. But it’s has become too bad that I had to go back to where I was coming from.
“I have to wake up as early as 4:00am now to look for other alternatives to see how I can boil water for my kids to take their to bath before going to school. The cold weather here and the incessant blackout are not helping matters. “I am calling on the government to quickly do something because the suffering is becoming unbearable and suffocating.”
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, on Friday, has said a free and vibrant press possesses powers more potent than all the arms of government combined, thus must be careful in exercising its mandate.
”A truly free and vibrant press is more powerful than the three traditional arms of government combined.
”In fact, the world would be a scary and dark place without the mavens who collect, curate and communicate information in a timely and responsible manner.
”In so doing, they dispel falsehood, eliminate dangerous assumptions and provide societies with the basic premise upon which governance and other decisions can be made,” Bello said at the opening session of the 29th edition of the Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA), at Government House, Lokoja.
The governor noted that modern society cannot do without journalists as they were helping to bring order to society and engender human cooperation.
He, however, noted that lives and whole societies had been ruined by the irresponsible practice of journalism by some media practitioners, or quacks who impersonated them.
The governor stressed that the use of the tools of the journalists’ trade to deal in hate speech had set off many on fire which ultimately consumed whole polities and their people.
“Fake news is ubiquitous nowadays, whether it is rumour-mongering, dangerous innuendos, character assassination or other forms of inaccurate reportage.
“The problem is so endemic that in Q3 2020 alone, statistics showed that there were 1.8 billion engagements with fake news on Facebook alone! Nigeria, like many countries, has fallen victim to it many times, sometimes with devastating loss of lives or properties.
“The Press is, therefore, one of the inescapable hallmarks of modern society and in particular, the custodians of public perception. What a divine responsibility!
“However, the Press is useful only to the extent that it functions within the ambit of verity and veracity and in line with demands of propriety. It must regulate itself with the help of the Law to avoid malfunctioning,” he said.
Bello stressed that practitioners must recognise that as a result of the incredible powers which society had entrusted to them, there should be a corresponding exhibition of responsibility, ethics and professionalism in the exercise of those powers by journalists.
He added: “Necessity is, therefore, laid on the real journalists to stand up and be counted when it comes to taking back their profession from the quacks and the hacks, specifically the myriad of unregulated persons armed with Internet-enabled devices who haunt the media space, especially social media.
“These malicious persons wreck lives and reputations by the millions simply because someone paid them, or because they have real or imagined grouse against an individual or institution. Worse, they proceed without a care in the world because no one regulates them.”
He, therefore, enjoined the NMMA as the most important institution to reward merit in the way individuals and media houses practice journalism, while providing critical motivation for the real journalists to do their work professionally.
“In this way, the NMMA will help to promote sanity in the industry and simultaneously function as an accountability partner for most professional journalists,” the governor said.
Bello’s political party, the All Progressives Congress, has been pushing for regulation of the Nigerian media over accusations of fake news and threats to national security.
Nonetheless, government officials, including Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, and Bello, have themselves been caught dishing untruths on national and public interest issues.
