Month: February 2024

Prospects for Reclaiming APC, by Salihu Moh. Lukman

Emporium Reporters

The heartwarming news from Edo State that emerged early on February 23, 2024 reported His Excellency Bassey Otu, Governor of Cross River State, who is the Chairman of the reorganised All Progressives Congress Governorship Election Committee, to have declared Senator Monday Okpebholo as the party’s gubernatorial candidate for the September 2024 election in the state. Polling 12,433 votes, he was reported to have defeated 11 other aspirants. The aspirants are Hon. Dennis Idahosa, who polled 6,541; Clem Agba 2,732; Amero Sunday 2,562; Everest Afolabi 2,117; Gerald Charles 1,181; Dr. Blessing…

The Ogoni Lessons of the Past 30 Years By Fegalo Nsuke

Emporium Reporters

Ogoni is one of the world’s most celebrated cases of state-sponsored repression. Against all odds, the people have persevered in the search for justice, equity and basic freedoms deserving of all humanity. Indeed, it has been a painful account that in our own country, our government ordered a military crackdown that left some 4,000 people dead, thousands of others went through torture, rape, brutal detentions which were supervised by Major Paul Okuntimo, the commander of the military task force at the time.       Trouble started in 1958 when…

Reps seek ties with Netherlands on Peace Building, Food Security

Emporium Reporters

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has called for more collaboration and partnership between Nigeria and the Netherlands to address some challenges in the country such as conflicts and food insecurity to foster economic growth and development. Kalu made the call while playing host to the Ambassador of Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr. Wouter Plomp who paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly, Abuja.   He noted that the Netherlands stands as a significant source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria,…

CBN increases BDC license fees to N2bn, issues new guidelines on FX transactions

Emporium Reporters

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced a fresh set of guidelines to keep Bureau De Change (BDCs) in check.   The Nigerian naira has recently hit an all-time low of N2,000 against the dollar due to the prevailing economic crisis in the country.   In response, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, instructed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Department of State Services (DSS), and other security agencies to crack down on currency speculators in the forex market. This has led to raids on BDCs nationwide…

CDS advocates Whole-of-Society approach to addressing insecurity in Nigeria

Emporium Reporters

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa has called on all stakeholders in the national security architecture to adopt the whole-of-society approach to solving the current security challenges in the country. He stated this today, Friday 23 February 2024 while delivering a lecture at the 34th Convocation Ceremony of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) titled: “National Security in Contemporary Security Environment: Entrenching Whole of Society Approach”. According to the CDS, “a whole-of-society approach to problem solving entails both formal and informal institution pursuing a generalized agreement across…

Ogalla: A Naval Chief in the eyes of the storm, by Yushau A. Shuaib

Emporium Reporters

To some extent, the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Defence Headquarters play strategic roles in ensuring that the public is adequately informed about the efforts and accomplishments of the security services, especially ongoing military operations. Behind the scenes, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, facilitates inter-agency collaboration and harmonious relationships among the different security organisations to achieve peace and stability in the country. He recently directed the reactivation of the Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Agencies, which was established during the tenure of President…

HUNGER PROTESTS: IGBO SILENCE IS A PROTEST (A Reply to Prof Usman Yusuf) By Law Mefor

Emporium Reporters

A few days ago, Ndigbo came under fire from Professor Usman Yusuf, the former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), for their perceived lack of interest in the ongoing nationally spreading hunger protests and strikes. He said: “I honestly don’t know why the South East is quiet, uncharacteristically quiet. But the President needs to find out.”   Normally, one would disregard and deny additional visibility to a professor whose only contribution to national progress is Fulani supremacism for such an insulting and inflammatory tirade. However, it is…

Is the Devil in the Details? By Olaleye Olawale

Emporium Reporters

President Olusegun Obasanjo’s re-election bid was the most dramatic in contemporary Nigeria’s electoral history. The charade of begging leaders to run for office started with him, unashamedly.   It was at his Ota farm, Ogun State, and the open space was filled to capacity, with marquee spread across the sitting areas. Everyone was there for just one thing: to beg baba to seek re-election.   After listening to different speakers, who had begged him profusely to run as if Nigeria was suffering a dearth of leadership, Obasanjo mounted the stage…

APC Digging Its Own Grave in Edo,by Azu Ishiekwene

Emporium Reporters

Nigeria’s politicians have perfected the art of burying themselves with one foot sticking out. And it appears that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will, once again, stage this rite of self-destruction in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State.   The party’s primaries on Saturday was such a shambles, it has now been forced to conduct it again, with no guarantee of a sensible outcome for an exercise involving perhaps less than 500,000 members (parties routinely inflate their roll). If Governor Godwin Obaseki’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had paid…

City Boy and the Reality of Governance By Olaleye Olawale

Emporium Reporters

In the lead up to the 2015 general election, Nigeria – either by accident or design – was marooned between the Rock and a hard place. The choice of electing the ideal leader (if that’s applicable in Nigeria’s case) was not an easy run.   But a majority of the people was already tired of the rock (Goodluck Jonathan), who had refused to yield as they had expected. The idea of giving the hard place (Muhammadu Buhari) an opportunity was though with reluctance, it was the most popular at the…