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Frustrated student commits suicide after botched beard transplant ‘by an estate agent posing as surgeon

A young French man has killed himself after his beard transplant in Turkey was scuttled by an estate agent posing as a surgeon.

According to Mail Online, Mathieu Vigier Latour travelled to Istanbul in March for the transplant, which cost him €1,300. But the treatment saw him lose 1,000 grafts of hair, while having 4,000 transferred from his head to his face.

Following the operation, the business student’s beard was left irregularly shaped, growing at an unnatural angle and ‘hedgehog’ like, his heartbroken father said.

In addition, Latour, 24, suffered burns after the procedure and was having trouble sleeping due to the discomfort.

He later discovered that the man who performed his transplant was not in fact a qualified surgeon, but an estate agent, the Telegraph reported.

As a result of his botched operation, Latour fell into a ‘vicious cycle’ and suffered from dysmorphic disorder, a condition in which people obsess about defects in their appearance. 

French student k!lls himself after getting a botched beard transplant

A Belgium specialist who was attempting to correct the procedure said his scalp would never recover in the patch where the grafts had been lost.

He ended up taking his own life three months after going to Turkey for the transplant.

Latour’s father is now campaigning to improve awareness about the risks of seemingly inexpensive health tourism.

French student k!lls himself after getting a botched beard transplant

He said it would be ‘a tribute to Mathieu’ if his son’s shocking experience could help prevent similar tragedies from happening again.

Upset as X user speaks about a school in Lekki Phase 1 that does not accept children of divorced parents

 A tweet made by finance expert Olúwatósìn Olaseinde has sparked widespread conversation on social media after she claimed that a prestigious school in Lekki Phase 1 denies admission to children from divorced homes. 

The school according to Olaseinde in her tweet said admitting children with divorced parents would conflict with their “family values.”

X user alleges that there is a school in Lekki Phase 1 that does not accept children of divorced parents

The shuffle in Abuja

By Lasisi Olagunju

Patient walks unaided into the doctor’s consulting room. Patient soon suffers mismanagement. She goes pale and jerky, unconscious. Doctor gives his best shot – or so he claims. Patient is not responsive. Doctor strolls off, leaving the patient to sip his tea. Doctor comes back and sees worsening symptoms: Cold hands. Weak pulse. Fatigue. Incontinence. Dyspnea – respiratory distress. Restlessness. The clock ticks, and the patient’s condition deteriorates. Doctor sets up a symptom control team. Symptoms persist. Patient’s relatives accuse the doctor of incompetence and negligence. Doctor denies all charges and promises to do something. He ponders and sacks members of the symptom control team. A few other nurses also kiss the canvas. Doctor looks into anxious eyes and tells everyone that with that step he has taken, the sick should be well soon. The leader is the physician; the country they tend to is the patient.

Where vigilance tanks, a bad government is easily replaced with something worse. It is the same with team management. Where the leader is easily distracted or he distracts himself, a mortician calmly slips into the delivery team. In Ibn Butlan’s ‘Doctors’ Dinner Party’, we read of a certain gentleman who proclaims himself doctor after recovering from an illness. The storyteller says: “God said to him: ‘Become a physician and destroy people! Take sick man’s money — that’s excusable — and send him to the grave.’” Doctor becomes rich, ostentatious and gilded. Author notes other things and prays: “God protect us and you from the misfortunes wrought by his hands…” A government with demonstrable lack of competence and empathy is a killer hospital. Its problem goes deeper than the names on its management list.

I refuse to join those whose drums are out because a cost-cutting president last week sacked five ministers and replaced them with seven. How is that oxymoronic step going to cure the nation of its chronic illness? I would rather seek therapeutic answers by asking why the sick fell into a coma. Was it the doctor’s fault? Or nurses’ wickedness? Or the consequence of the patient’s own life choices? Or the ailment is congenital? Or a combination of all of the above? If the fault lies with the caregivers, who then should sack whom? Who should be sacked? And, how is the sack of that someone going to correct the near-fatal error that has sent the country into this terrible distress?

As a consequence of that cabinet reshuffle, the government scrapped the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, and from its ashes has risen a humongous ministry in charge of regional development commissions. I call that new creation the ‘Ministry of Nigeria Affairs’ because virtually all regions will find rooms in its mansion. What sense does that make?

Certain big men in the Niger Delta are loudly condemning the scrapping of the Niger Delta ministry. One of them, Asari Dokubo, blames the whole of Bola Tinubu’s ethnicity for his government’s action. The agitator says in a purpose-made video that he would join forces with the North because “the Yoruba are betrayers.” Around the same time, I see the Muhammadu Buhari people loudly complaining about power outages in the North. They also throw innuendoes of the Yoruba as the cause and beneficiary of the darkness in the North. I saw all these and wondered why the angry wailers mistook the victim for the culprit. They are raining knocks on the head whereas it was the bottom that farted – Ìdí só, orí ni wón nkàn ní’kó.

Prolonged power outage is ongoing in the North. It is officially blamed on vandalism wreaked by bandits. The North can complain – and should complain if the state is failing them. But I find the Buhari people’s complaint particularly interesting – and galling. While in power, their principal was like Unoka, Okonkwo’s flute-loving father in Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’. Achebe describes Unoka as a man famous “for the weakness of his machete and…hoe. When Unoka’s neighbours go out with their axe to cut down virgin forests, “the man sows his yams “on exhausted farms that take no labour to clear.” Such men, in Yorubaland, are identified with farming under the shade of palm trees. Where weeds do not grow, crops can’t do well there.

The Buhari corridor and all who egged on his regime or pressed the mute button while he was here should not insult us with complaints of lack of electricity, and should not make any demand on even the Tinubu government. I recommend to them the wisdom of Achebe’s Obiako. This character is told by an oracle: “Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him.” And, Obiako replies the oracle with indignation: “Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive.” Those asking for light today, was it not darkness they sowed yesterday?

That is for the fox, our angry Unoka. And, back to the cock of this regime. Where is the light it promised? It pledged to sanitize and fumigate the nation, north to south. When is that going to be?

With this government, austerity means ostentation. It’s been churning out one regional commission after the other while wearing the lapel of a lean government. On 26 February, 2024, President Tinubu presided over a meeting of the Federal Executive Council. We were informed after that meeting that the president had ordered a full implementation of the Stephen Oronsaye report which demanded a reduction in the number of federal government agencies. In furtherance of that directive, we were told that the president had constituted a committee to effect certain agencies’ mergers, scrapping, and relocations within 12 weeks. Today is 28 October, 2024 – eight months, two days after that directive, nothing serious has been heard of that directive. Or did I miss something? Instead of doing what it announced and celebrated with pomp, what we had last week tells how the government rates our intelligence.

On June 5, 2000, despoiled Niger Delta was given a development commission as its balm of Gilead by the Olusegun Obasanjo government. Because that troubled region had that commission, insurgent-wracked North-East demanded its own from Buhari and got it in 2017. Because the North-East got it, the South-West demanded its own from Tinubu and got it last month. The South-East received its own; the North-West also has; the North-Central too – all from Tinubu. This is one government that actively sells laxative but sees nothing contradictory in its eating mountains of pounded yam. Why do we need regional development commissions? I recently asked an ègbón, an Emilokan, if he sincerely thought a South-West Development Commission would be of any usefulness to the people of the region. His response: “Create another opportunity for sleaze among Yoruba politicians and their business associates. I was fundamentally against it but aligned eventually on the basis of ‘what is good for the goose…’ If the other regions are being awarded cash cows for the boys, why not us? When Nigeria becomes serious about development, we’ll jointly scrap all such distractive wastage…” I am sure if you asked around the other regions and your subject is as truthful as mine above, you would get the same answer. Now, what kind of country is this? And what kind of government cuts costs by increasing them?

Hunger dusts up strange, dangerous ideas. People’s suffering is unremitting. If a government functions as people’s undertakers, why should the people desire it? Why do we even need a government? Because it was failing tragically, a radio station in Poland recently stopped using human beings for its operations. It sacked all its journalists and did something novel. Last week, it brought in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated presenters. The result has been magical. A Nobel Laureate who died in 2012 was made to present a popular programme on that radio station last Tuesday. The audience heard him and applauded the undead.

Now, should we really have ministers as many as the sands of the desert? Can’t we live without the hordes of overpaid, overfed officials of the state? Or sell them to buy what eludes us? Those extreme questions you may find in every mouth that hasn’t tasted food since yesterday. And, truly, a government that fails in fulfilling its social contract with the people is not a government; it is a gang of pirates like the one led by one-eyed, one-legged Long John Silver in ‘Treasure Island’. John Silver sails under The Jolly Roger – pirates’ flag with white skull and crossbones; the ones here are at sea with our Green White Green. That is the sole difference.

The president may change his team every hour like a child’s diapers. It won’t make his government work well unless he himself sits up. He should teach himself how to enlarge his vision beyond the narrow tunnel that opens at his backyard and closes inside his dockyard. We won’t stop telling him and the other owners of today that leadership is about service. It is not about how much they have locked up in their strong rooms and how many billions they spray in arrant oppression of the poor. We will keep reminding them of life after office. And that as they rule the town, they should endeavor to rule their homes also. Collapsing state affairs into the affairs of their home endangers the wellness of all.

Basorun is the second in command to the Alaafin of Oyo. He may not be king but he rules his corner like a king. And, because power is wine, sweet and strong, it intoxicates the entire royalty. There was a Basorun Gaa in Oyo history whose sons reigned more forcefully than even the Alaafin. Samuel Johnson, author of ‘The History of the Yorubas’, records an instance: “One of them once engaged a carrier to whom he gave a load too heavy for him to carry, but he dared not refuse to do so. He walked behind the man, amusing himself with the sight of the man’s suffering from the weight of the load. He remarked in jest that the man’s neck had become so thick that he doubted whether a sword could cut through it. He suited his action to his words, drew his sword, and actually tried it! The man was decapitated. His body was left wallowing in his blood, and another man was compelled to take up the load.”

Powerful people see nothing wrong loading helpless people with super excess luggage. They call it sacrifice. They also won’t mind trying their swords on the calcified neck of the burdened- just to prove the point of their almightiness. They swim in mindless insouciance yet they deceive themselves with silly assurances of permanence. To them, every warning is a dangling, swirling sword, an act of treason. There was a king in a Yoruba kingdom who came with a name that defies death. He was Oba Maku (Maku means Don’t-die). The king launched his despotism the very day he ascended the throne. Because he was a king whose ways were not his people’s ways, the people soon skirted death around his name and turned it into a song. From street to street, loud was the echo of ‘When will Don’t-die Not die?’ I say that in Yoruba: Ìgbàwo ni Maku kò níí kú sí? The man reigned for only two months.

The impermanence of nothing is the consolation. Every era, no matter how painfully long, will eventually end. General Francisco Franco ruled over Spain from 1939 until his death on November 20, 1975. He was a dictator with a vast network of spies home and abroad. He muzzled the press and muffled the gong. Because his reign was long and very eventful, he never believed it could end. And when death was drawing his curtain he denied it was his door death was knocking. Oriol Pi-Sunyer captures that moment well in his ‘Political Humour in a Dictatorial State’ (1977). He writes: “In the final hours of his life, Franco becomes aware that a crowd is forming in the street outside his chamber. The semiconscious dictator asks an attendant what the subdued sounds are – ‘It is nothing, Excellency, just some people passing.’

As the crowd grows and the noise increases, this fiction cannot be maintained.

Franco: ‘I insist you tell me what is going on outside.’

Attendant: ‘The people, Excellency.’

Franco: ‘The people?’

Attendant: ‘Yes, the Spanish people.’

Franco: ‘What are they doing?’

Attendant: ‘The Spanish people have come to say goodbye.’

Franco: ‘Oh, where are they going?’

Late Justice Bello’s daughter tells court to jail Catholic Priest, others over alleged contempt of court

The daughter of late Hon. Justice Moses Bello, former President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Abuja, Ann Eniyamire, has asked a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT to imprison her father’s will executor, Rev. Father Ezekiel John Awolumate and the Executive Director of Asset Management at NELMCO, Joseph Asuku Bello, for allegedly disobeying a court order.

Hon. Justice Mohammed Madugu of the FCT High Court Bwari Division, Abuja, issued an interim injunction on October 14, restraining Awolumate and others from selling or leasing any of the properties in dispute.

The court also ordered security agencies to arrest any violators of the order.

The judge further directed that the disputed properties be marked with red paint and display a sign reading “NOT FOR SALE / Lis Pendens” until the case’s resolution.

In the committal to prison process filed on October 25, 2024, by the claimant’s lawyer, Yahuza Maharaz, Eniyamire requested that Awolumate and the Executive Director of Asset Management at NELMCO explain to the court why they should not be jailed for disobedience to an order of the court.

It read, “Take notice that this Honourable Court shall be moved on the..day of 2024 at the hour of 9 O’clock in the forenoon, or so soon thereafter, as counsel may be heard on behalf of the Claimant, applying to this Honourable court for an order of Committal of: Rev. Father Ezekiel John Awolumate, Mr Joseph Asuku Bello (Executive Director, Asset Management, NELMCO) to prison for having disobeyed the Orders of honourable justice M.A Madugu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Bwari, dated October, 14 2024”.

In an affidavit deposed to by the claimant, she accused the defendants in the matter of trying to sell off some properties including the one in serious dispute at NO.41 Panama Street, Maitama, Abuja, adding that she sought for the injunction to prevent such moves.

She said, “That while this suit is pending before this Hon. Court, the defendants seized the opportunity of this Hon. Court’s annual vacation and are willing to destroy the Suit by selling out properties which are subject of serious dispute including A DEVELOPED PROPERTY, PLOT NO 763 CADASTRAL ZONE A6 (NO.41 PANAMA STREET) MAITAMA, ABUJA, C-OF-O NO: 164 EW-FE 243-59 DDR 6018U-10 OF FILE NO: KG 10050) and thereby leaving nothing behind for the court to adjudicate upon determination of the substantive suit hence my Application for interim Orders which was graciously and judiciously granted on the 14 October 2024 for the best interest of justice and sanctity of this court. “

The claimant alleged that Awolumate and Bello continuously disobeyed the orders given by the court particularly by cleaning up the not-for-sale inscription on the house.

She said, “That since the Orders were Granted, The Ist Defendant/ Rev. Father Ezekiel John Awolumate together with one Mr. Joseph Asuku Bello who is a Squatter in the said DEVELOPED PROPERTY, PLOT NO 763 CADASTRAL ZONE A6 (NO.41 PANAMA STREET) MAITAMA, ABUJA, have continuously disobeyed the said order, by Tampering with the said Order by Deleting the Inscription NOT FOR SALE/LIS PENDENS And Removing the Copies of the Orders of this Hon. Court already Affix by the Officers of this Hon. court on the Walls and Main Entrance Gate of A DEVELOPED PROPERTY, PLOT NO 763 CADASTRAL ZONE A6 (NO.41 PANAMA STREET) MAITAMA, ABUJA, C-OF-O NO: 164 EW-FE 243-59 DDR 6018U-10 OF FILE NO: KG 10050.”

The claimant argued that to prevent further disobedience, the cleric and Bello should be sent to prison.

She said, “That to preserve the dignity of this Honourable court and to prevent further disobedience to the Order of this Court, the 1st Defendant/Rev. Father Ezekiel John Awolumate AND Mr. Joseph Asuku Bello, ought to be committed to Prison and restrained.”

It will be recalled that the daughter of the late judge instituted a case against the church and the priest alleging that she was shortchanged in the execution of her father’s will, which specified that his assets be divided among his wife and eight children using an 11.11 percent sharing formula.

However, Eniyamire claimed that Awolumate, the first defendant, altered the formula to 4.16 percent, contrary to her father’s instructions.

Eniyamire has asked the court to annul the defendants’ decision and to relieve them of their duties as executors of her father’s will.

Additionally, she is seeking a court declaration that she is entitled to 11.11 percent of all her father’s assets, including shares and stocks.

Wiked Judges and Nyesomized Courts

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

“A Judge shall avoid developing excessively close relationship with frequent litigants – such as government ministers or their officials, municipal officials, police prosecutors in any Court where the Judge often sits, if such relationship could reasonably create an appearance of partiality.”

Rule 2.8, Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers in Nigeria (2016)

Sylvanus Nsofor was a little-known Justice of the Court of Appeal when he breathed oxygen into Muhammadu Buhari’s political aspirations with his dissent in the presidential election petition in 2007. Eight years earlier, he had launched a unique career in the history of political litigation in Nigeria.

The case arose from the election into the office of Chairman of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area (LGA) in Rivers State in Nigeria’s Niger Delta on 12 December 1998. Cyprian Tasie Wike was the candidate of the All Peoples’ Party (APP). Cyprian Chukwu flew the flag of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). After screening aspirants on 24 November 1998, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP) settled on Ezenwo Nyesom Wike as its candidate.

At the time, local elections were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP initially submitted Nyesom Wike’s name as their candidate. However, sometime before election day, the party substituted his name with Samuel Rogers Icheonwo. When it announced the results, INEC declared the candidate of the PDP as the winner with 40,370 votes, beating the candidate of the AD into second place with 11,441 votes.

Nyesom Wike sued, claiming that INEC had announced Icheonwo as winner when he was not lawfully sponsored by any party in the contest. The election petition tribunal struck out the petition, holding that it lacked jurisdiction “to resolve the issue as to who was sponsored by PDP.”

Nyesom Wike appealed. In his judgment on behalf of a three-person panel of the Court of Appeal on 6 March 1999, Sylvanus Nsofor nullified the result announced by the INEC and ordered a re-run of the election with Nyesom Wike as the candidate of the PDP. Wike duly won the re-run to emerge as the Chairman of the Obio/Akpor LGA.

Since then, Nyesom Wike’s political trajectory has been attended by what appears to be an unusual coincidence of mutually beneficial intercourse with the judiciary. In 2008, he became Chief of Staff to a Governor of Rivers State whose emergence rested on a somewhat improbable piece of judicial machination.

After a stint as Minister of State for  Education, Wike emerged in 2015 as the candidate of the PDP for the governorship of Rivers State. Following the election on 11-12 April 2015, the INEC declared him as winner, ahead of  Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Peterside petitioned challenging the result declared by INEC. The tribunal granted his petition and initially set aside the result. The Court of Appeal agreed with the trial tribunal.

On 12 February 2016, the Supreme Court set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal on a specious technicality and restored Nyesom Wike as duly elected. The author of the Supreme Court judgment was Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

In the past week, she and Nyesom Wike resumed mutual acquaintance. In the intervening nine years, Kekere-Ekun had risen to become Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), while Wike emerged in August 2023 as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. The venue was the flag-off of the construction by the Minister of 40 units of judicial housing in Abuja.

This was the latest chapter in Wike’s durable track record as Nigeria’s most prolific judicial benefactor.

As Governor of Rivers State, he gave 41 Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to judges in the state. Customary Court judges were not left out. He gave them 29 Renault SUVs while complaining about the “unfortunate the unwillingness of the judiciary in Nigeria to seek true independence to discharge their functions.”

The irony was clearly lost on him.

In 2020, Wike donated 24 luxury duplexes to judges in Rivers State and reportedly “handed out $300,000 in cash to judges who preferred to build their own houses.” It was presumably tax-free. Then CJN, Tanko Muhammad, slavishly “applauded his generosity saying the gifts spoke of the ‘love the Rivers State governor has for the judiciary.’”

The love was fully requited.

The previous year, in January 2019, the judiciary had made Wike’s re-election an electoral non-event when it disqualified the opposition APC from fielding any candidate against him. Neutral observers did not need to wonder whether all the investment in the judiciary was without mutual benefit.

Before leaving office as Governor in 2023, Wike launched yet another construction of quarters for judges also in Rivers State, this time on a site “where his administration recently demolished flats initially belonging to Bayelsa State.”

This gubernatorial generosity to the judiciary went beyond the state level. Former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, reported that as Governor, Nyesom Wike awarded a contract to former President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Zainab Bulkachuwa, “to build the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt”, the capital of Rivers State. In return, he said “anything Wike wanted was granted before he asked.” Neither Wike nor Bulkachuwa has thought it fit to issue a denial.

Now, as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Wike’s political generosity has become fully federalized under the judicial benediction of yet another CJN. At the launch of the 40 new units of judicial housing in Abuja this past week, the Minister had in attendance both the CJN and the PCA. Presumably keen to impress such high judicial presence, Wike serenaded them with testimony as to how he summarily revoked the land previously allocated to construction conglomerate, Julius Berger, in order to make it available for building suitable judicial digs.

The high judicial figures present looked nothing if not suitably impressed, but the Minister was only getting started. According to him, it was important “to build houses for judges so they would not be susceptible to temptations from unscrupulous politicians.”

No one around had the presence of mind to ask him to look in the mirror.

This has been described charitably as convenient overreach. A better description for it will be judicial subornation. In full public glare, the two senior-most judges in the country looked rather giddy as they advertised an undisguised breach of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers, whose effectiveness depends on their combined leadership and example.

There is no political litigant in the country more prolific than the current Minister of the FCT. He has an almost extra-terrestrial ability to normalise outcomes that defy all cannons of lawful judicial enterprise. If anyone fits the description of the prohibition in Rule 2.8 of the Judicial Conduct, it is Minister Wike. Yet, for him, the Chief Justice of Nigeria is happy to retrench that same Code of Conduct.

It was not supposed to be like this.

Jerome Udoji, one of Nigeria’s best-known lawyers and public servants, was born in Ozubulu in present-day Anambra State around 1912. Udoji was also the first indigenous District Officer in the colonial civil service. He ended his civil service career as Chief Secretary to the government of the Eastern Region under the military coincidentally in 1967, the same year in which Wike officially was born.

When he got the opportunity to undertake a retrospective on his public tour of duty  in 1995, fifteen years before he died in 2010, Udoji chose to issue his memoirs with the title “Under Three Masters.” The three masters whom he served, of course, were colonial administrators, post-colonial civilian politicians, and their military usurpers.

Each set of masters was not without exertions in seeking judicial subservience. Until now, they had usually encountered judicial resistance. Under the current dispensation, however, it is almost as if the government has a minister responsible for judicial subordination. To many, the leading judges have simply become Wiked and the country has a CJN who appears happy to have the judicial branch fully Nyesomized.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at [email protected]

And after 162 strokes of cane from his teacher, Ariyo died

A student of the Obada Idi-Emi High School in the Imeko Afon Local Government Area of Ogun State, identified simply as Ariyo, has died after a teacher allegedly beat him with 162 strokes of the cane for breaking a dustbin.

An activist identified as Adetoun shared the incident on Instagram on Friday.

According to Adetoun, the teacher had reportedly brought a dustbin to Ariyo’s class with instructions that the students should not break the dustbin.

She narrated that Ariyo had jokingly replied to the teacher that the dustbin was bought with the students’ money, a response which was said to have infuriated the teacher.

The teacher was said to have reported to the principal who instructed that the student be punished.

Acting on the principal’s instruction, the teacher allegedly flogged Ariyo with 162 strokes of the cane and in the process, the student fell and collapsed.

Adetoun said further that the teacher and some staffers of the school who were at the scene delayed in taking Ariyo to the hospital for medical attention and when they did, he was dead.

A senior police officer confirmed privy to the incident but was not authorised to speak with the media confirmed the incident to our correspondent.

He said that the incident created tension in the area but the intervention of the police brought it under control.

“We are on the matter, the incident wanted to create tension but we were able to douse the tension,” the police source said.

Confirming the incident on Friday, the spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, Omolola Odutola, said the student was confirmed dead at the Federal Medical Centre in Abeokuta, the state capital.

She said contrary to reports of being beaten 162 strokes of a cane, Ariyo was made to perform 162 frog jumps and was beaten 24 strokes of the cane.

She said, “The incident happened on October 15, 2024. The deceased was asked to do 162 frog jumps and was given 24 strokes of the cane.

“He was rushed to FMC Idi-Aba for medical attention and he died today (October 25). The deceased body has been deposited at the Ayetoro mortuary for autopsy. An investigation is ongoing.”

PUNCH

Banditry allegation, how Matawalle survived cabinet reshuffle and why others were sacked

By Ismaeel Uthman, Solomon Odeniyi And Muhammed Lawal

Details have emerged on the reasons behind President Bola Tinubu’s decision to sack five ministers and leave the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, in his cabinet, despite allegations of banditry sponsorship levelled against him.

The ministers who were removed from office include Mrs Uju-Ken Ohanenye (Women Affairs), Lola Ade-John (Tourism), Prof. Tahir Mamman, SAN (Education), Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim (Youth Development), and Abdullahi Gwarzo (Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development).

According to the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the decision to dismiss the ministers was influenced by public perception and empirical data on their performance.

Onanuga explained that the reshuffle came as a response to the critical views held by Nigerians regarding the ministers’ effectiveness in office.

Why ministers were sacked

However, sources within the Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress hinted that the decision was also based on the “lack of political value” of the affected ministers in their respective states.

According to an APC chieftain at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, a key consideration was whether the removal of any of the ministers would incite political unrest in their states.

“They evaluated if their sack would lead to a crisis for the president in their regions, and the feedback was that it would not,” he said.

The source further noted that while some ministers were sacked due to underperformance, others were dismissed based on concerns over their conduct and limited political relevance.

Bio-Ibrahim as placeholder

Saturday PUNCH was reliably informed by top officials at the Ministry of Youth Development that the sacked minister, Bio-Ibrahim, had been a ‘placeholder’ for Ayodele Olawande, a former Minister of State for the ministry.

According to the officials, Olawande, who has been appointed as the substantive minister, was the favourite candidate of Seyi Tinubu, the son of the president.

The officials said the sacked minister was not empowered politically, adding that the system was rigged against her.

One of the sources working in the Education and Youth Development department told our correspondent that Bio-Ibrahim was a victim of political manipulations.

The official said, “The woman is a just victim of political manipulations. She didn’t enjoy being a minister because the system was not in her favour.

“The former Minister of State, Ayodele Ayowande, had been the choice of the presidency from day one. President Tinubu’s son, Seyi, wanted Ayowande to be the substantive minister from the start, but he didn’t have his way. They had since been working to take the woman out.

“One example is that in August this year, the woman wanted to hold a programme in Ondo State to dissuade the youth from joining the #EndBadGovernance protest, but she was frustrated out of it. The people who didn’t want the President to know she was active mobilised against her and she couldn’t hold the programme again. We knew she’d be relieved of her duties eventually because she didn’t have support from the political class.”

Ohanenye’s drama

Sacked Minister of Women Affairs, Uju-Ken Ohanenye, was relieved of her position because of her ‘constant drama’ which the presidency considered embarrassing, according to impeccable sources who spoke to Saturday PUNCH.

The sources said Ohanenye also stepped on many toes in her ‘aggressive moves’ to restructure the ministry.

According to the sources, the first turnoff recorded against Ohanenye was her threat to sue the United Nations for allegedly mismanaging funds meant for Nigeria.

Ohanenye had in October 2023 accused the UN of obtaining funds on behalf of the country without remitting them.

The former APC female presidential aspirant also disrupted two events in Abuja because the organisers did not seek the permission of her ministry to do so.

“The woman is a controversial person. She stepped on toes with her conduct and the President couldn’t curtail her excesses any longer. She is too dramatic as a minister. We knew she couldn’t go far”, said a source at the APC secretariat.

Azoka-Anite’s ‘external’ office

The former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Azoka-Anite, was accused of disconnecting herself from the agencies and departments under her ministry.

Officials of the ministry, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said she moved out of the ministry and established a new office in Abuja, making it difficult for staff to carry out their duties.

Azoka-Anite was moved to the Ministry of Finance as a state minister.

A top official of the ministry said, “The ministry was too big for her to handle. We usually have two ministers; we didn’t know why the President appointed only her to manage the ministry.

“Unfortunately, she was overwhelmed because she wanted to operate alone, not willing to work with departments and agencies under the ministry.

“She frustrated industrialists because of her self-styled administrative system. Each time we wanted to sign a file, we would leave the ministry to go and meet her at the new personal office she created in Abuja, and most of the files we submitted would not be returned to us. She has her team running the ministry for her.

“I believe industrialists who were frustrated by her style reported her to the President, which led to her demotion.”

Ade-John and Lagos power bloc

Sources in the tourism industry told Saturday PUNCH that the Lagos power bloc might have pressured President Tinubu into dropping Ade-John as the Minister of Tourism because she was not a politician.

According to the sources, Ade-John was denied access to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on three different occasions.

The sources noted that the woman, though residing in Lagos, didn’t have any political godfather, which exposed her to threats from politicians in Lagos and some individuals who wanted to take charge of the ministry.

“She may be from Lagos by birth, but she is not a party person. That is her crime. She was relieved because of pressure from the Lagos power bloc.

“The woman performed excellently well. Nigeria has offended that lady because she gave in her best and we have the result.”

The Director General of the Ekiti State Bureau of Tourism, Wale Ojo-Lanre, in an article titled, ‘Lola Ade-John: Good bye to jati jati?’, described her removal as an injustice.

“Despite her visionary plans and tireless work, the sudden termination of her appointment feels like a deep injustice – a classic case of someone being stripped of their potential just as they are reaching for the stars.

“It’s essential to recognise that while she did not achieve everything she set out to do, what she accomplished in such a short time is nothing short of remarkable. She laid the groundwork for future leaders to build upon, and her legacy will not be forgotten”, he wrote.

Mamman’s sacking

The sacked Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, might have been relieved because of the controversies surrounding his actions and policies in the education sector, Saturday PUNCH gathered.

Among the controversies in the sector is the implementation of the 18-year minimum age policy for university admissions, which led to public outcry.

A non-government organisation, Education for Accelerated Development, listed Mamman’s sins to include misinformation, leading to diplomatic conflict between Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Togo, resulting in the suspension of degree programmes from universities in these countries, amongst other issues.

Matawalle’s escape

Sources explained that President Tinubu chose to retain certain ministers despite public dissatisfaction with their performance due to considerations around his potential second-term ambition and the political roles the ministers might play.

Some ministers reported to have equally underperformed included the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle; Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola; Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji; and Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, among others.

Matawalle has been repeatedly accused of sponsoring banditry in Zamfara State, an allegation he has always denied. Onanuga also stated that the allegations against him were unproven.

An APC chieftain in Abuja disclosed that the president ultimately narrowed down the list of ministers to be sacked to avoid ‘political stress.’

“Initially, more than five ministers were considered for dismissal, but the president evaluated those who could be beneficial to him politically. The president is wise and would not create challenges for himself,” the chieftain remarked.

“Do you see the president sacking any former governors currently serving as ministers? He can’t do that because he knows they will be useful for him in 2027. Among them, only David Umahi, the Minister of Works, has truly performed,” the source added.

On why Oyetola was retained, he said, “Blood is thicker than water. He is the president’s cousin; it would be unreasonable to expect his dismissal.”

The source also pointed out the appointment of Bianka Ojukwu as a strategic political move to weaken opposition in the South-East zone since Ojukwu held a high stake in the All Progressive Grand Alliance, a party with high followership in the region.

Matawalle being shielded, Zamfara gov alleges

Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State alleged that the Minister of State for Defence, Matawalle, was being shielded by the Federal Government from accusations linking him to banditry.

Through his Chief Press Secretary, Sulaiman Idris, in a statement, Lawal accused Matawalle’s Federal Government connections of protecting him from scrutiny.

During an interview with Arise News, Onanuga explained that President Tinubu retained Matawalle because an investigation by the Office of the National Security Adviser deemed the allegations of banditry connections as “mere fabrication” and politically motivated.

However, Lawal’s spokesman disputed Onanuga’s claims, insisting the accusations were not politically motivated, as public security was at stake.

“When accusations of this nature arise, especially involving serious claims of bandit associations, the honourable thing would be for the officeholder to step aside. Effective investigations cannot happen while the individual remains in office, given their potential influence,” Idris noted.

He further stated that recent arrests of notorious bandits had prompted the governor to formally report the minister.

“We have arrested bandits who, during interrogations, provided significant information. A recent arrest led His Excellency to speak out after the detained individual was reportedly sent to Abuja for investigation but then released back to the forest.

“We even asked the NSA to question Matawalle about certain individuals and the events during the last Ramadan celebration in Tsafe Local Government, where Hilux vehicles carrying security personnel reportedly distributed food to bandits,” he added.

Idris alleged that Matawalle’s connections within the Federal Government have shielded him from accountability.

“We have facts, records, and names. As far as we know, no thorough investigation has been conducted. They are simply protecting him because he’s a ‘Federal Government boy,’” he added.

Governor Lawal also criticised Matawalle’s recent visit to Sokoto State in military uniform, claiming it was a display intended to avert his removal.

He added, “He did that because the cabinet reshuffle was imminent.

“There was no sincerity in his actions. Ask him why he hasn’t returned to Zamfara. If he says the governor would prevent him, it’s a lie. Following the Court of Appeal’s ruling on Zamfara’s election, he immediately visited the state, but he hasn’t returned since the Supreme Court’s judgment.”

Attempts to reach Ahmad Dan-Wudil, Matawalle’s media aide, for comments were unsuccessful as calls and messages went unanswered.

Culled from The PUNCH

Alegeh, SAN withdraws case against Asiwaju Awomolo, SAN, matter struck out

One-time President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Augustine Alegeh, SAN has withdrawn his suit against Asiwaju A. S. Awomolo, SAN, Chairman, Body of Benchers (BOB). 

After hearing the submission of Kelechi Obi, SAN with Kelechi Onwuegbuchulem following a motion on notice seeking to discontinue the action, the suit was struck out by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of Federal High Court, Lagos.

CTC-of-Ruling

Months ago, the court made an interim order restraining Awomolo, SAN from removing Alegheh or interfering with his duties as Chairman of the Body of Benchers appointment Committee.

Read the details here.

Power Failure: Phone charging vendors make brisk business in Gombe

Photo Credit: Premium Times Nigeria

A prolonged power outage affecting major parts of northern Nigeria, with some areas enduring nearly 120 hours of blackout has led to phone charging vendors in Gombe State, popularly known as ‘Masu chajin wire,’ bridging the gap.

The power cut, which began on Monday, has forced residents to rely on these vendors to keep their devices charged.

Charges for phone charging have surged from N50-N100 to as much as N200 per day, while power banks now cost between N300 and N500 to charge—up from the previous N150-N200.

A Gombe resident, Laraba Johnson, lamented the hardship caused by the extended blackout, saying, “Charging at Masu chajin wire was cheaper before. Now I pay N300 just for a power bank, and they may not even let it fully charge. It’s a struggle.”

Another resident, Danbatta Abubakar, urged the Transmission Company of Nigeria to restore power urgently, expressing frustration with the delay.

“We’ve been in darkness for days, and only this Wednesday did TCN identify the issue affecting the region. Phone charging vendors are taking advantage of us, and it’s becoming unbearable,” he added.
One vendor, Musa, defended the price hike, citing rising fuel costs.

“It’s not our fault. Fuel is expensive, and the blackout lasting over five days has made things even harder,” he told our correspondent.

In a statement dated October 23, 2024, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, confirmed the fault discovery on the Ugwuaji-Apir 330kV Double Circuit transmission line, located in the swampy Igumale area of Benue State.

“A team of linesmen from TCN discovered a snapped 330kV transmission line, measuring about one span, in the swampy forest of Igumale at around 5 p.m. Arrangements are underway to mobilize equipment and materials to the site for repairs,” Mbah’s statement read.

He added that the difficult terrain requires specialized equipment, including a bulldozer and Hiab vehicle, to carry out repairs on the damaged line from TCN’s Enugu regional office.

Is Nigeria Cursed? By Jibrin Okutepa, SAN

Is Nigeria cursed? I asked this question because everything seems to be too abnormal for comfort. The hope of the common man has dashed the hopes of everybody except a few politicians. It has now turned out to be the hope of those who wield the weapons of oppression of democracy and democratic tenets.

In those days, not all cases and causes are justifiable. The institutions of justice particularly the judex ask probing questions and ask lawyers to address it on its jurisdiction to entertain cases and causes filed that appear not to come within its subject matter or cause of action jurisdiction. No judex was permitted or allowed himself to be gluttonous in jurisprudential and jurisdictional acquisitions.

Our founding fathers who prohibited the judiciary from entertaining political questions were right. Entertaining political questions by the judiciary has damaged the once noble institution. Political disputes are damaging the reputation of the judiciary. The perceptions out there are now of disturbing regularity. It is the perception of judicial captured for political purposes to the deteriorating damage to judicial reputation.

Is Nigeria cursed? Is there no one to call some of the judex issuing and accepting some of the cases that have explosive dangers to our democracy to order? How on earth did we find ourselves here? What has happened to the code of ethics and conduct for the legal profession and judicial officers? The other day, I asked questions of where are the elders of the legal profession. I still ask, where are our elders?

The political wranglings in Nigeria, particularly in Kano and Rivers States, in which the judiciary seems to have become the variable instrument for resolving and truncation of government and government functions are clear signals of how not to play politics. In a serious country where those in politics mean well for the people, the judiciary is not captured to do the political bidding of any person or group of persons. Public good has always been fundamental in judicial adjudications.

But here in Nigeria, politics is not played for the good of the people but for the personal massaging of egos of political warlords who have unexplained wealth and means of production. It is the worshipping of this questionable wealth by some of those who should run away from the shrines of unjust and unexplained wealth that has landed us here. Nigerians are just helpless.

The masses are suffering in the politics of Nigerian politicians. In civilised societies, politicians play politics of good governance, and the welfare of the people is the concern of politicians. But here in Nigeria, those who are paid to be on the side of the people are now in a political conspiracy to undermine the very people they are paid to protect and defend.

The evil going on in Nigeria is too visible to even the blind to ignore it. The perceptions are there. Today, the perception is that the government has been personalised and the federal government of Nigeria is more interested in protecting partisan political actors than being the defender and protector of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Whether this is true, I cannot say but the perceptions are there and the government should know it.

It is, in my view, constitutional sabotage for any court to give an order that truncates the provisions of security to any part of Nigeria. It is also a caricature abuse of process for anyone to approach Nigerian courts to ask that funds due to any tier of government should be withheld.

During the period of President Obasanjo, I recall the Supreme Court came down heavily against the federal government for withholding the funds of local governments of Lagos state for what it perceived as the illegal creation of local governments. Let those who think that they are above the law and who believe that things must be done only in their own ways have a rethink. Nigeria belongs to us all.

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