Whether Jean-Jacques Rousseau mis-credited the words to Marie-Antionette in Confessions or not, Nigeria is happy to supply a modern-day princess who has earned the title of Her Royal Spite-tress without controversy.
 
And unlike Antionette reputed to have tossed the infamous pate, “Let them eat cake”, out her window when the mass of ordinary people in France were dying for bread crumbs, her Nigerian cousin travelled thousands of miles to find her groove. 
 
Ebele Obiano is the wife of Willie, governor of one of Nigeria’s five south eastern states, with a long list of grievances against the Federal Government. 
 
Let’s be clear. Anambra is not one of the basket cases in the south east, even though it has a wretched reputation for nasty politics. In the last seven years, Governor Willie Obiano, building on the solid work of his predecessor, the legendarily stingy Peter Obi, has managed to raise the performance of the state in competitive public examination and agriculture.
 
But in less than two years, a second episode of extravagant indiscretion by the governor’s wife now casts a long shadow over the legacy of the state’s first family.
 
The commissioned and published video of the governor’s wife sitting in the “owner’s corner” of her jeep and receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in the US while coronavirus-related deaths are spiking back home makes Antionette look like a saint.
 
Ebele Obiano took care to ensure her jab was not just medical tourism at its ludicrous best. It was also a calculated fashion statement. There she was ensconced in her 4X4, in brown pants and a black-sequins blouse, with a reporter on the deck to capture the historic event for posterity. It was a Nollywood moment. 
 
As the tape was rolling in faraway Houston, Texas, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was reporting more COVID-19 infections back home and the number of the dead was climbing. You would think that the wife of a public official who truly has the interest of her people at heart but could do nothing to improve their safety, would, at least, do nothing to compound their misery.
 
It’s hardly so with government officials and their families. It’s a global plague, but somehow, Nigerian officials always manage to squeeze themselves into notoriety’s reserved list. In October, thousands of angry mobs broke into warehouses across the country to help themselves to large amounts of foodstuff and staple which could have been distributed at the height of the government-imposed lockdown but were left to rot, while huge supplies were diverted or weaponised for politics.
 
Anambra, where Ebele Obiano’s husband is governor, was one of the worst hit states by the “palliatives riots”. Protesters estimated at 2,000 broke into a warehouse in the state capital and, in a moment of genius lacking in the French Revolution, helped themselves to bread, noodles, grains and whatever else they could find.
 
If there was a vaccine strongroom anywhere in the country today, after watching the video of Ebele Obiano’s designer vaccination, distraught citizens might be obliged to ask themselves why they shouldn’t breach the storage.
 
Ebele Obiano is not a stranger to controversy. She once spotted a pair of crystal-studded Gucci glasses estimated by some to be worth only $2,755 or the equivalent, at current prices, of three years’ minimum wage in the country.
 
To be fair, the governor’s wife was wearing something much plainer than Gucci – and perhaps cheaper – on the day she took vaccination in Houston. 
 
But Gucci or fluffy, it’s difficult for her to see, from her high horse, what the people who elected her husband to office are seeing. It’s difficult for her to see that they need clean water (unavailable to the majority) to sanitise; that they need clear safety guidelines, and possibly face mask mandates; that they need more testing and information about signs to look out for in case of infection; and that they need where to find help, when necessary.
 
It’s stunning beyond belief that for all her elegance and the trouble of traveling over 10,000miles to be on record as the first publicly advertised wife of a public officer in the world to be vaccinated against COVID-19, she still couldn’t make out the type of vaccine she was getting, whether it was “Moderna,” or “Madonna” as she called it.
 
It’s not funny. And as the tape rolled and she fielded questions from the one-man interviewing crew, she wore her heart on sleeve, saying, “When there’s a war, you do not because of bullets catching you stop…or refuse to go to war. You have to go, you have to fight, you have to survive…”
 
That’s so easy to say, especially when you’re fighting the war thousands of miles away from home turf, in a place where you can have the best of what money can buy and at the expense of the public treasury. But she was not done yet.
 
She invoked God’s name half a dozen times for the protection of citizens back home, but knowing the length she travelled to get the jab, it was obvious that she did not believe in God deep enough to protect her from catching the virus back home. In the legend of that old trade, snake oil was always good enough for the buyer, but never so effective for the seller.
 
Ebele Obiano might reply that it’s not her job to provide more testing kits, mandate face masks, or provide vaccines. If the Nigerian government ever so famous for putting the cart before the horse is already talking about “ramping up oxygen production centres” when it is not even sure how many people are being tested daily, much less how many are infected or dying, why should the wife of a provincial governor be excoriated for looking after herself? 
 
Nigeria does not know whether it is losing or winning the war on COVID-19. It’s a game of convenient guestimates. Yet, poorly collated infection figures are turning into names and names into friends and relatives dying or struggling with their lives. The NCDC which showed so much promise early on is almost now overwhelmed by poor execution and a lack of staying power – that ancient Nigerian disease. 
 
The governor’s wife may have arranged a designer COVID-19 vaccination – even hinting in the video that her husband could be next on the Houston vax train – but she’s not the only public figure who has provided this shameless public entertainment. 
 
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, one of the most present faces in the presidential campaign circuit, also took his jab in Dubai. The man who was just a heartbeat away from the Presidency lavishly distributed photos of himself taking the jab long before Ebele Obiano boarded the flight to Houston. 
 
Abubakar may argue that he is now a private citizen and can therefore spend his money the way he likes. That’s true. But if his roadmap to make Nigeria great again includes a prominent chapter on how to perpetuate medical tourism, then we’re back to square one. 

I’m sure there are hundreds of people – including public and private citizens – all over the world paying to get the jab and getting it quietly through different means, because they can afford it and cannot wait in line. 
 
As vaccines rollout, the difference between rich and poor countries are showing, just as the distinction between rich and poor citizens of the same country is in stark evidence. Perhaps that’s inevitable. But to make that distinction the new face of medical tourism and to share the videos of such designer encounters to a desperate, hurting world is insensitive. Period.
 
I understand Ebele Obiano said she did it to dispel the prevalent notion in some circles back home that vaccination is evil. Well, except if she is taking the jab for the six million people in her state, the effect of her good intention is to say to the public, “Let them eat faith”.
 
Ishiekwene is the MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview

It is interesting that the Presidency finally found its voice concerning the security situation in Ondo State.
In recent months, Ondo State has been at the centre of grave insecurity in the South West. It was here that a first-class traditional ruler was kidnapped and killed. It was here that the daughter of Chief Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of Afenifere, was also killed in an attempt to kidnap her. It was here that Chief Olu Falae, once the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and who almost won the presidential election in 1999, was also kidnapped. Unfortunately, many of these acts of criminality were traced to people suspected to be of Fulani extraction. The President of the Republic, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, is a Fulani.

Last Monday, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, issued a seven-day ultimatum to those who are occupying the state’s forest reserve to vacate the place immediately. Many of these people are believed to be Fulani. He also directed that night grazing would not be permitted anymore in the state. He directed further that children below 18, would not be allowed to be herdsmen in the state.

Reacting to the directive, Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on media matters, issued a warning that Akeredolu’s directive could have an unexpected and unpleasant domino effect across the country. He said the state government should have opted for dialogue instead. Garba said the Constitution of the Republic guarantees the right of every Nigerian to live in any place of his choice. He warned that the Akeredolu initiative could spark a crisis across the country.
The truth of the matter is that the President disagrees with the Governor on this directive. Buhari would prefer that Akeredolu eats his words. Fortunately for the people of Ondo State, when it comes to eating words, Akeredolu does not have a good appetite.

Yesterday, Donald Ojogo, the Ondo State Commissioner for Information, fired back at Garba Shehu. “The Governor’s directive stands except they are telling the world that the Miyetti Allah (the Fulani cattle rearers organization) is above every law in the land,” Ojogo said the Presidency ought to pay more attention to the Ondo State Government directive instead of allowing itself to be swayed by reckless emotion. “The Ondo State Government did not ask Fulani to leave the state,” he said. “The governor said herdsmen who are unregistered should leave our forest. The statement from Garba Shehu is brazen display of emotional attachment and it’s very inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria.”

Note that both the Presidency and the Government of Ondo State are controlled by praetors of the All Progressives Congress, APC. It was becoming clear therefore that the spat was also political, not just the issue of security and law and order. “Presidency states in a breath that the Governor fights crime with passion while it is prevaricating on the atrocities,” said Ojogo. “The question is, are the herdsmen who are perpetrating murder, kidnapping, and robbery more important than government and even the Federal Government in this case?”
Then he took a direct shot at Shehu: “Ethnic nationality and activism on the part of anyone hiding under the Presidency or Federal Government is an ill wind.”

This is a wind that has taken long in coming and it is not going to blow away very soon. Akeredolu, by his action, has raised a debate, not only about criminality, especially those perpetrated by suspected Fulani herders, but also a debate about the reserved forest.

No new reserved forest has been created in Ondo State and the whole of the old Western Region since Chief Obafemi Awolowo left the premiership in 1959. Instead, all the reserves have faced assaults from citizens and foreigners, especially Chinese, who are targeting precious logs and rare games. Since the security crisis started in the North of Nigeria, many people from the Middle-Belt and the Far-North have found refuge in the South of Nigeria, seeking new vocations mostly as farmers, artisans, and okada riders. The troublesome minority are those who have taken into serious crimes like kidnapping, robbery, and murder. This not only happens in Ondo State but in every state of the South West and other parts of Nigeria.

It is only in recent times people tend to know the difference between the Fulani and the Hausa. The Hausa were mostly the traders and artisans while the Fulani were involved in cattle-herding and traditional medicine (agunmu daada ni) mostly for malaria and aphrodisiac. Today, when you mention Fulani herdsmen, your mind goes to those tough youths terrorizing the forest belt of Ondo, Ekiti, and Oyo states. The criminals have come into our midst and they have virtually succeeded in blackmailing the entire Fulani people who have been living in Yorubaland for generations.

Though Governor Akeredolu restated it on Monday, open grazing has actually been banned in Ondo State since 1984. In January that year, Nigeria’s new military ruler posted Commodore Michael Bamidele Otiko to Ondo State as military governor. One of the first acts of Governor Otiko was to ban the open grazing of animals in the cities, especially Akure. All goats, sheep, pigs, and birds must be reared in a pen. Nobody was allowed to graze cattle in Akure metropolis.

The law was enforced rigorously by the police and other law enforcement agents and many goats and rams were arrested and sentenced to cooking pots of those hardworking government agents.

To preserve the sanctity of the forest reserve, we have the forest guards under the control of the state government. This has been the practice since the colonial days. In recent years, like every other institution in Nigeria, the forest guards have become compromised, hence the presence of Fulani herdsmen and other suspected criminals in the forest reserves. If people are allowed to settle in the forest reserves, then there would be no more reserves and the whole essence of preserving some forests for future generations would be lost. We must not allow this.

It is a pity that the Miyetti Allah organization is allowing itself to defend the Fulani right or wrong. The Hausas and the Fulani are not new to Ondo State or to Yorubaland. For almost 100 years, the village of Sokoto, near Owena, has been in existence, peopled mostly by Hausa traders who are the strong force in the Nigerian kolanut trade. In the 1960s, when my father had a quarry in Akure, most of his workers were able-bodied Hausa youths, all with firm glistering muscles. How they love pap and sugar!

We thank Governor Akeredolu for taking the bold steps to preserve life and property in Ondo State. We should not allow unauthorized people to turn the reserve forest into the colonies of suspected criminals. Secondly, banning night grazing is good. That is when the destruction of farms is done by the herders. Let them seek grazing land and water without destroying other people’s farms. The herders and farmers should complement each other and not become unnecessarily antagonistic.

Night grazing has been banned in Ekiti State now for many years and it has had a salutary effect on the state. Child exploitation should not be allowed in the name of traditional herders. Under-aged children should not be allowed as herders.

The Miyetti Allah group has been sending emissaries to traditional rulers and other leaders since the Governor gave this directive. Their leaders should direct their energy in the right direction. They should cooperate with the state government to ensure that all legitimate herders are duly registered with the government. Every one of them should carry a proper identification card. Secondly, those who are occupying government reserve land illegally should be asked to move immediately. Thirdly, why should Miyetti Allah encourage underage youths to be herdsmen? Education is free in Ondo State. Let all our youths go to school. That is the way to secure the future.

Lastly, Garba Shehu and the people of his ilk need to be educated that Nigeria is actually a federation. Therefore, the Presidency may be powerful, but it has no piece of land in Ondo State. It may want to create a reserve forest for herders in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory, the only part of the Nigerian estate where the President has direct ownership of land.

A business mogul and founder, First City Monument Bank, Subomi Balogun, on Tuesday formally handed over the Otunba Tunwase National Paediatric Centre, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.

The centre was handed over to the management of the University of Ibadan and the University College Hospital, Ibadan.

The Group Executive and Chairman of Board of the Otunba Tunwase Foundation, Ladi Balogun, handed over the centre to the UCH and UI managements at the  centre, located along Ijebu-Ode-Benin Expressway.

Ladi said the N5bn health facility was built by his father to enhance delivery of quality medical care, especially for children in Nigeria.

He said Subomi was inspired to build the centre 11 years ago after he took over the children’s hospital at the UCH Ibadan, where he was exposed to the plight of sick children.

“At the end of its construction, some institutions requested to manage this hospital, but Otunba Balogun strongly believes that the University of Ibadan and University College Hospital are in a better position to do that effectively and further raise its status, considering their respective pedigrees.

“Following the signing of the MoU last year by all the concerned parties, the resolution is that while the University College Hospital has been mandated to provide clinical services, the University of Ibadan will engage in research and other academic works, while students from UI would also be involved as part of the training,” he added.

In his remark, the Acting Vice-Chancellor of UI, Prof. Adebola Ekanola, expressed delight at the official hand over of the hospital to both the university and UCH.‌

Ekanola, who was represented by the Provost, College of Medicine, Prof. Yinka Omigbodun, lauded the founder of the centre for handing over the management of the hospital to the institutions. (Thepodium)

An Imo State Magistrate Court, sitting at Umundugba, Isu local government area of the state, has convicted a 20-year old school leaver, Peter Nwoke, for being the mastermind of a simulated group sex video that recently went viral in the social media, allegedly involving state Public Complaints Commissioner, Chief Willie Amadi.

Giving a graphic account of what happened to the Magistrate, His Worship, C. P. Nnoromele, in suit number MCI/2C/2021, the Prosecutor, Mr. Okereke Chikodi, said that soon after getting a formal complaint from Chief Willie Amadi, the Commissioner of Police set up a crack team of detectives to go after the people behind the alleged crime.

According to the Prosecutor, after a painstaking investigation by the detectives, Peter Nwoke was arrested and he freely made a confessional statement to the police.

Mr. Nwoke was, according to the charge sheet, accused of “defamation of character, an offence punishable under Section 373 of Criminal Code, Cap C38 Laws of the Federation 2004, as applicable in Imo State”.

When the matter was called up in court Tuesday, January 19, 2021, and the charge read out to the accused person, he pleaded guilty to the charge.

The accused, in his confessional statement at the police station, which he equally repeated in court, recalled how he picked a mobile phone at Owerri and left for his place in Isu local government area of the state.

Nwoke also recalled that a day after picking the phone and powered it, he got a call from a man who introduced himself as Barr. Willie Amadi, saying that he was the owner of the phone he was holding.

His words: “I asked him to come to Umuogbor Isuobishi, Isunjaba in Isu LGA to collect the phone and he came, collected and gave me N40, 000. Before then, I had transferred some information from his phone to mine, which included pictures he took in a swimming pool.

“When he left, greed and the devil came into me. I thought I should make more money from him. Seeing his car and realizing that he is a big man, I decided to superimpose one of his pictures on a sex background to force him to negotiate a settlement with me. When I called him severally, and he did not pick my calls, I became angry and decided to send the pictures out through the internet.

“Three days after, I was at a joint with some people, when the police arrested me. I confessed to the act at the police station because I did not know that what I did will bring such a big problem to me. I begged him to forgive me and promised not to do such a thing again.”

The Magistrate, after listening with rapt attention, to the prosecution and the plea of guilt by the accused person, found him guilty of defamation under Section 373 of Criminal Code, Cap C38 Laws of the Federation 2004 as applicable in Imo state.

The accused was therefore convicted and sentenced to one-year imprisonment, which the presiding Magistrate said, “would to serve as a deterrent to other young people, who may be threading on such dastardly path”.

All efforts made to get the views of Chief Amadi, on the outcome of the police investigation and prosecution of the suspected mastermind of the viral sex video, proved abortive, as he neither picked or returned the calls put across to him before press time.

Vanguardngrnews

Photo Credit: OduNews.com

Fresh facts emerged on how the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu relocated relevant portions of two Laws to pronounce an ultimatum that herders should vacate Government Reserved Forests.

The Laws are the Land Use Act of 1978 and the Trade Cattle Tax Law of Ondo. Although the later was promulgated in 1969, prior to the creation of the state, a 2006 amended version still suffices.

This is coming as the Agriculture Commissioner and Rural Development, Gboyega Adefarati said registration of farmers and their businesses was not new, adding that over 50, 000 of such have been registered in the last four years.

Adefarati said, over 70 per cent of government reserved forests had been encroached upon when the Akeredolu administration came on board in 2017.

“When our administration came on board in 2017, we discovered that over 70% of government reserves had been encroached by farmers. Many of whom desired the fertile, arable and virgin land to grow non-perennial crops.

“After diligent research and report on Ondo State Government Forest Reserves in 2018, we came up with a symbiotic policy of taungya system.

“With stiff adherence to all regulations that protect animals and trees, farmers are registered to farm on Ondo State Government Reserves. With this, if you desire to land to farm, you have to apply to Ondo State Ministry of Agriculture and the government after considering your application, shall grant the considered hectares of land in which you are regulated to do your legal and legitimate farming.

“In retrospect, we have registered over fifty (50,000) thousands of farmers who engage in different forms of agricultural activities in Ondo State Government Forest Reserves. With this, we regulate their activities and reduce criminality as we interface daily with farmers.

“Farming is farming, be it crop production or animal husbandry. If any Nigerian irrespective of his/her State of origin desires land for farming in Government Forest Reserves, he/she must apply to Ondo State Ministry of Agriculture and pay the normal fee for the required hectares of land. It is illegal for herdsmen to encroach Ondo State Government Forest Reserves without permission and graze on the farms, many of which will be destroyed.

An official of the State Ministry of Justice who spoke with newsmen in confidence “said both laws had given enormous powers to the State Executive Council as well as the Governor on Land matters, specially reserved forests.

“Two of such laws which fully back the pronouncement of the Ondo State Government on herdsmen activities within the State are (1) The Land Use Act; and (2) The Trade Cattle Tax Law of Ondo State, promulgated as far back as 1969;

“Section 315(5) of the Constitution specifically states that nothing in the Constitution shall invalidate enactments listed under items “a” to “d” thereof, one of which is the Land Use Act. In orders words, nothing in the Constitution, including the fundamental rights provisions therein, can invalidate the provisions of the Land Use Act.

“Section 1 of the said Land Use Act categorically states that “…all land comprised in the territory of State in the Federation are hereby vested in the Governor of that State and such land shall be administered for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians in accordance with the provisions of this Act.” Section 12 (1) of the same Act also states that:

“It shall be lawful for the Governor to grant a licence to any person to enter upon any land…”, while subsection 5 thereof clearly states that “The Governor may cancel any such licence if the licensee fails to comply with any of the conditions of the licence.”

“The word “license” here simply means permit. Basically, therefore, it is within the powers of a State Governor to grant a licence, or permit, or right to anyone to enter any land within the State, and to cancel or withdraw such permit or licence if the holder violates any condition attendant to same.

“It goes without saying, therefore, that the Governor can impose conditions for anyone to enter, and/or be licensed to enter any land within the State.

“The Ondo State Governor, therefore, has the power to order herdsmen, or any other persons carrying on any other business on lands within the territory of the State, to apply for a permit or license to do so, under the above clear provisions of the Land Use Act.

” That cannot in any way, be interpreted as a violation of the fundamental right to freedom of movement.

The Justice Ministry official said, the Trade Cattle Tax Law of Ondo State, as earlier stated, was promulgated as far back as 1969, with a commencement date of 3rd July 1969. The Law is contained in Chapter (Cap.) 153, Vol. 4, Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria, 2006. It has eighteen (18) sections.

Section 2 of the Law talks about “moving permit”, which is defined as: “a movement permit issued in the State under the Control Trade Cattle Regulations or a permit relating to the movement of trade cattle issued by any authority having the power to issue the same under any law in force in any other part of Nigeria.”

The expression “any law in force in any other part of Nigeria” in this context, of course, includes the Land Use Act, as earlier established. In the same vein, “Trade Cattle” is defined in Section 2 of the Law as “any of the type of animals specified in the First Schedule hereto which are in the possession of or under the control of any person within the State for the purposes of the trade or business of that person or any other person as a dealer in such animals, but does not include any animal which is possessed by or under the control of any person for any domestic purpose or animals proceeding to graze grounds or which are for use only as pack animals.”

“Among the animals listed in the First Schedule to the Law are cow, bull, sheep and goat. So, the law applies to those who carry on the business of herding such animals, other than as domestic animals.

“Section 5 of the Law again recognizes the legitimacy of issuing trade cattle movement permit “along recognizable trade cattle route”, while Section 4 thereof provides for the establishment of “a cattle control post or inspection station, as the case may be, for the purposes of the Law.”

“Section 6 of the Law goes further to state that: “Trade cattle tax shall be payable at the prescribed rates at the appropriate control post or inspection station described in section 5”, while Section 9 of the Law makes it a criminal offence punishable, upon summary conviction, with a fine of fifty thousand nairas or to imprisonment for three years or to both such fine and imprisonment, for any person who, being the owner or agent of the owner or one in charge of trade cattle, fails to pay any trade cattle tax or take such trade cattle to the appropriate control post or inspection station in accordance with the law.

“Instructively, Section 16 of the law gives the State Executive Council the power to make Regulations for the purpose of enforcing the law. The official stated.

The Nigeria Lawyer

Photo Credit: Vanguard News

The historian asked people of the Yoruba race and Nigerians to prepare to defend themselves against herdsmen.

The Worldwide Leader of the Yoruba global movement, Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof Banji Akintoye, has accused the Presidency of supporting criminality by faulting Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s order asking herdsmen to vacate forest reserves in the state.

In an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, the historian asked people of the Yoruba race and Nigerians to prepare to defend themselves against herdsmen.

He accused Fulani herdsmen of engaging in full-scale criminality since President Muhammadu Buhari became Nigeria’s president. 

The Yoruba elder wondered why the Federal Government had refused to prosecute many Fulani herdsmen engaging in criminal activities. 

He said, “The Presidency is now initiating a very dangerous doctrine of governance in Nigeria. The presidency is now saying that the state’s authority no longer includes the security of the people of the state. 

“That is not only bad but dangerous to the existence of Nigeria. It is an assessment of the quality of governance in Nigeria by the rest of the world.

“All Nigerians who are being assaulted, raped, and killed by the Fulani must defend themselves; not only Yorubas or those living in Ondo. If we continue to wait for the Federal Government, these herdsmen will kill all of us. We must rise to defend ourselves.

“The Nigerian government has shown again that it is working for the Fulani. I don’t think anybody should be afraid to say that because it is the truth. The Fulani has been committing crimes on a massive scale since 2015 in Nigeria. 

“The government has never owned up that they are committing the crime. They have been going around kidnapping, killing people, and destroying farms, properties, and villages on a persistent scale and those things are crimes under the laws of Nigeria. In some parts of the country, it looks as if the army is colluding with them (herdsmen).”

The Ilana Omo Oodua leader commended Akeredolu, urging Yoruba to support him. 

“Akeredolu should be commended for his decision, for his courage and show of knowledge of the land. We support what he is doing. We are waiting for what government would come and do in Ondo State,” he added. 

Sahara Reporters

Photo Credit: Tribune Online