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Why Power ?sector privatisation failed – Nnaji

A former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, has said one of the major challenges facing Distribution Companies (DisCos) was the failure of government to allow them to operate on cost-reflective tariffs as promised during the 2012/2013 privatisation exercise.

Nnaji, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Geometric Power, said this while speaking at the third edition of the Lagos Country Club Business Forum on Friday evening in Lagos.

The was held under the theme, ‘Energy Costs and Business Survival’.

He identified tariff challenges, irregularities in the privatisation process and investors’ quest for quick returns as major factors responsible for the failure of Nigeria’s power sector privatisation.

Nnaji said that investors had committed funds to the DisCos based on the understanding that tariffs would reflect the actual cost of electricity supply.

‘In preparation for privatisation, I had gone to former President Goodluck Jonathan to tell him that no investor would come to Nigeria unless we had cost-reflective tariffs.

‘People may not remember that the tariff before June 2012 was N6 per kilowatt-hour.

‘ My team and I raised it in one go to N22 per kilowatt-hour,’ he said.

He explained that his team engaged traditional rulers, government officials and other stakeholders to prepare the public for the tariff adjustment.

According to him, the government also adopted a strategy to protect low-income earners and rural dwellers, who consumed a relatively small proportion of electricity.

He said that a strong desire for immediate and huge profits contributed to the abuses recorded during the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) assets in 2013.

Nnaji described the abuse of the process as a major reason for the poor state of the electricity sector 13 years after privatisation.

He added that the manner in which the exercise was conducted also posed risks to the Nigerian banking system.

‘If not for the Federal Government’s intervention through subsidies, the power sector loans, which now amount to more than N7 trillion, according to the Association of Power Generation Companies of

Nigeria, the major banks that participated in the privatisation might have gone under,’ he said.

Nnaji noted that electricity business required huge capital investment, patience and a long gestation period.

He said that some investments in the sector could take between seven and 10 years to break even and become profitable.

He added that commitment to addressing the country’s electricity deficit should be as important as the profit motive.

At Geometric Power, he said, the priority was to provide reliable electricity to support manufacturing firms, hospitals, laboratories, schools, markets and other businesses.

He said that the company’s investment philosophy aligned with the World Economic Forum’s advocacy for businesses to embrace a stakeholder-oriented approach that considered the interests of society beyond shareholders.

Earlier, Mrs Ifeoma Ukabiala, Senior Energy Executive and Managing Partner of JDR Energy Ltd., said that manufacturers spent about N1.35 trillion on alternative power sources in 2025.

She said that businesses were forced to switch to diesel whenever the national grid failed.

Ukabiala expressed concern that despite Nigeria’s proven gas reserves of about 215 trillion cubic feet as of January 2026, many Nigerians still depended on firewood for cooking.

Also speaking, the immediate past President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr Seyi Adewunmi, described the forum’s theme as timely, saying it addressed a major challenge confronting businesses across the country.

In his welcome address, the President of Lagos Country Club, Adewunmi, said the club, established in 1949, had remained committed to providing a platform for discussions on issues affecting businesses, communities and national development.

He said that the Business Forum was part of the club’s commitment to promoting meaningful conversations beyond recreation and social interaction.

Adewunmi noted that grid failures, rising fuel prices and increasing operational costs had brought the Nigerian economy to a critical crossroads.

APC PCC’s quibbling Morka vs unequivocal Lawan

If this was mathematics, it would have been so nice to see how today’s musings would have looked like as a mathematical formula. But here are musings of a worried Nigerian who is wondering how two extremely opposed voices from one stable are jiggling our minds so badly. These men are teasing our brains on one matter in which one from their house spoke unequivocally and the other tried to spin out of simple comprehension and cognitive control.

Does it not rankle the brain that the PBAT/APC 2027 Presidential Campaign Council (APC- PCC) is struggling hard to turn a regular submission of one of its spokespersons, Alwan Hassan, into an optical illusion spiral? Right before our eyes, and in broad daylight, a Coordinating Deputy Director of the campaign, Mr Felix Morka, who is also the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, tried to turn the submission of Hassan into a hypnotic spiral. To achieve what really…? To deflect the matter or hedge it? As learners, we have heard journalism scholars and elders in the profession talk about obfuscation and hair-splitting. Mr Morka’s outing post-Hassan might have been to bring all these in.

Unfortunately for the usually sound Morka, it didn’t work. Nigerians were not buying it because his best efforts at spinning that narrative crumbled right before his curious submission that he would discuss the matter further with Hassan. Watching a recording of that outing again, Morka himself would see that he only managed his quibbling best to explain the heavyweight accusation. It is not easy to convince one that black is white even in a magical wave.

So, today is about one unequivocal Alwan Hassan and the quipping Felix Morka.

Alwan Hassan said without mincing words that the ministers we have in the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu paid (in billions of Naira) to get to their positions. He was unequivocal and he was assertive. Being a spokesperson of the party’s presidential re-election campaign, he cannot be regarded as a toddler in the business of speaking for a group. Hassan spoke smoothly and had all the platitudes in place for their presidential candidate. His mouth too was running smoothly and fast in the discharge of his spokesperson duties, but it appeared that it ran faster than his mind at that point.

He was being interviewed by a suave Charles Aniagolu and not a rasping Rufai Oseni. So, he got the question, to which he gave an answer, in Anioagolu’s usually measured words. The question did not come to him as a barrage. ‘Charles, a lot of ministers pay billions and billions, and you know, to get themselves appointed. The first thing they think of is how to recoup that money.’ Hassan also said: ‘Whatever it is a budget is supposed to do in this country in the last three and a half years, Asiwaju has done it by himself. Why do we need ministers? Why do we need a budget to be given to ministers?’ He guaranteed that what he was saying was the truth and looked surprised that Charles Aniagolu and other Nigerians did not know this.

Even if Nigerians knew, how can such cases be substantiated? Even if the cases can be substantiated, where would you go to substantiate your case? Who would listen to you? What would be its outcome? Would you be the one to appoint the adjudicators? Are you the one in charge of the courts? Or, where exactly would you take your case if you plan to present your evidence – the same Nigerian courts? Or, is it the National Assembly?

What happened after reports of other such weighty allegations? In 2024 a Sokoto cleric alleged that President Tinubu northern clerics that he bought his seat with money. If that has been forgotten, what about the fake agencies’ saga of this year? Mr. Adeniyi Adeyemi, who named principal government officials, and that of George Nwabueze discovered in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. These scandals sucked-in three permanent secretaries and a few other officers in the federal civil service. The man behind the celebrated fake agency has been charged to court by the ICPC. He is in a lonely place, oblivious of the machinations of the big cats who gave him assurances. So, the institutional foundations for such deep due diligence failures have not been highlighted. They remain – like the underworld to sprout again in some other pattern. These are pointers to what cash and carry means in government operations.

If we had a country where basic standards of morality in leadership are thriving, the government and the APC would have retched at this period. Had we proper institutional standards, the claim by Alwan Hassan would have been enough to ground the APC, and Mr. Felix Morka would not have been courageous enough to even attempt to defend the indefensible. He would not have had the nerve to come out in the open to explain what Hassan said or meant. But in Nigeria, even when an elephant is swept under the carpet we carry on as though nothing happened.

But it was flattering that the APC-PCC saw the extent of damage done by Mr. Hassan, and thought the best foot forward was for the courageous Morka to step forward to chest it, and make a mess of our heads by explaining it. He did what he could by muddying the waters but even an elementary listener would know that he was in a very tight corner. And when the frog missed his way to the stream, he turned it into an enterprise of confusion.

By claiming that cash-for-position predated this administration, Mr. Morkahas added a valid endorsement to the conclusion that the preceding administration of Muhammadu Buhari is also complicit. He cannot reasonably stretch this accusation beyond his APC. If Morka and his band of erudite spinners want us to look beyond the APC for samples of this utter mess, I think that would fall flat.

Cash-for-position is novel. It is today’s news, otherwise it would have been one of the most ear-filling discussions in the Nigerian polity when the APC was not the party in power. When one remembers how much the APC did to the administration of Goodluck Jonathan, a matter like this would not have escaped their attention. Think of what ministers like Deziani Allison-Madueke and Stella Oduah went through as fire set to their hindquarters by aggressive propagandists and unremitting spin doyens. Look back at what the APC made Nigerians think of the administration and it can be seen that this cash-for position would have been among the juiciest talks. Something as grave as that could not have slipped through the nets of the APC propaganda if it existed.

So, it is surprising that Mr. Felix Morka acted surprised. He too might have heard that people were paying money to get into important positions in the country, but the matter heavy for mouth a la Omawumi. Now that Alwan Hassan, a player within the power circles, announced it, the best response is not for Muoka and those who prodded him to deny it or muddy the waters about it. We know that it is a tough job mopping such up because it is like clearing a heavy thicket. Morka has been assigned to take the fall for Hassan’s equivocation. I think they should just let this slide and spare us the explanations. The thunder which strikes a smooth talker didn’t do the community a favour because what he did cannot be reached by the thunderbolt. There are limits to what power can give, but there are no limits to what power can take from an individual.

Managing chronic pain in cold weather

Every year as the amihan sets in and the cooler breeze rolls across the country, senior citizens complain of joints that ache more than they did a few weeks ago during the humid months.

In the West, every autumn, the same thing happens: elderly patients arrive in clinics describing joints that ache more than they did a month ago. Their hands are stiffer in the morning. Their knees complain on the stairs. They are not imagining it, and they are not being dramatic.

Dr. Christopher Murawski, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at Duke University, said: ‘Warm weather, cold weather, changes in humidity, changes in pressure- they can all contribute to joint and muscle pain.’

Here’s a look at the mechanisms behind cold-weather flare-ups, the movement and warmth strategies that genuinely help, and the signals that mean it’s time to call a doctor.

Why stiffness climbs as the temperature falls

The best-supported explanation involves barometric pressure-the weight of the air pressing on the body, roughly 15 pounds per square inch. When cold wind approaches, that pressure falls, and the tissues around joints respond.

‘While the science isn’t perfect, physiologically it makes some sense,’ Murawski says. ‘Changes in pressure can cause muscles and ligaments to expand. Fluid shifts can happen. That can lead to swelling and pain.’ He adds that the reports line up with what patients describe, ‘even anecdotally.’

Dr. Andrew Bang, a chiropractor at Cleveland Clinic, puts the same idea in blunter terms. ‘If you have arthritis, the space in your joint is already reduced. Add in an expansion of tissues because of the pressure change and you can see why people might hurt more.’ A large UK study of 13,000 people with arthritis found aches rose on days with high humidity, low barometric pressure and strong wind-though other studies find only a mild link, which is why researchers still describe the relationship as real but incompletely explained.

Cold adds its own layer. Synovial fluid, the lubricant inside every joint, thickens. ‘When the weather gets cooler, the synovial fluid that acts like motor oil in our joints becomes more like sludge,’ says Dr. Mariko Ishimori, a rheumatologist at Cedars-Sinai. Muscles guard and tighten, restricting blood flow and shortening the tissues that cross the joint. Cartilage, which has no blood supply of its own, tolerates temperature swings poorly.

Then there’s behavior. Cold days mean fewer walks, longer sits, and a house that suddenly feels worth hibernating in. Joints that don’t move get stiffer, and the Arthritis Foundation notes that people may also fixate more on pain when outdoor distractions disappear.

Gentle stretching that earns its keep

Motion is the single most reliable antidote to stiffness, and it costs nothing. ‘Motion is lotion,’ Bang says. ‘If you keep moving, you’re less likely to get some of these aches.’

The rules are simple: warm the tissue first, move slowly, never bounce, and stop at the edge of discomfort rather than pushing through it. Ishimori recommends prioritizing stretching before exercise, when muscles are cold and most vulnerable.

Start in bed, before your feet hit the floor. The Arthritis Foundation’s ‘Good Morning Moves’ routine is a safe template: lie on your back and reach arms and legs wide (Morning Star), hug your knees to your chest, then perform a gentle supine spinal twist-each held for three to five slow breaths. If hip or back arthritis makes double knee hugs hard, do one leg at a time.

For a guided follow-along, Arthritis UK’s physiotherapist-led series is excellent and free. The morning routine, daytime routine and evening routine each run 20 minutes and are built specifically for people with arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. Many movements can be done seated. The Arthritis Foundation also offers a short 16-move morning bed stretch video for days when 20 minutes is too much.

Aim for range of motion rather than a deep stretch: slow circles at the shoulders, wrist and ankle pumps, gentle knee extensions, seated torso rotations. Ten minutes daily beats an ambitious hour once a week.

Warmth, used deliberately

Heat raises blood flow and relaxes the guarding that makes joints feel locked. ‘If you can get heat to penetrate areas where you have pain, you increase blood flow and can loosen up tight ligaments, tendons and connective tissue,’ Bang says.

billboards do the job socmed

Practical version during the amihan season: layer up even when staying indoors, because a chilly, drafty room stiffens muscles just as effectively as the cool morning air outside. Keep a cozy blanket or kumot close by, or use a heating pad before getting out of bed so your joints are already loosened when you wake.

For targeted relief, use moist heat-a warm damp towel or a microwave-heated wet washcloth inside a sealed bag-for 15 to 20 minutes per session, with a cloth barrier between heat and skin. Don’t fall asleep on a pad, and check the skin periodically for excessive redness. If you have reduced sensation from diabetes or neuropathy, lower the setting.

Protect the extremities. Dr. Linda Russell, a rheumatologist at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, recommends long underwear-particularly important because cold can trigger blood vessel spasms in the roughly 12 percent of the elderly with rheumatoid arthritis who also have Raynaud’s phenomenon. Warm water is also the friendliest environment for exercise: a heated pool lets you move through full range with almost no load on the joints.

Two supporting habits matter more than most people expect. Drink water-dehydration thickens everything, including joint fluid.

When to stop self-managing and call someone

Weather-related aches follow a pattern: worse in the cold, better with warmth and movement, and no worse than usual once you’re going. Pain that breaks the pattern deserves attention.

Mayo Clinic advises booking an appointment for joint pain accompanied by swelling, redness, tenderness and warmth around the joint, or fever. Get seen promptly if an injury leaves the joint misshapen, unusable, severely painful or suddenly swollen. Morning stiffness lasting longer than 30 to 60 minutes is a recognized flag for inflammatory disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, as is pain that wakes you at night, pain in several joints at once, or unexplained weight loss and fatigue.

Ishimori’s advice: discuss symptoms with a physician, ‘especially if the symptoms are new or haven’t been evaluated.’ Cold weather aggravates existing disease; it doesn’t create it.

The season is not something you can negotiate with. But the stiffness is-partly. Warm the joint, move it gently, and keep moving it. And when the pattern changes, let someone with a stethoscope look at it.

Hamzat: I will respect Lagosians, work with truth

The Lagos State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Deputy Governor Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, has unveiled a seven-point manifesto, pledging to prioritise residents’ welfare, infrastructure development, economic opportunities and accountable governance if elected governor in the February 6, 2027 election.

Hamzat, who unveiled the manifesto, tagged ‘The Lagos Promise (Ileri Eko),’ at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts (National Theatre), Iganmu, Lagos, yesterday, said he was seeking not only the votes of residents but also their trust.

He pledged to ‘respect Lagosians, work hard and uphold the truth,’ describing the three commitments as the principles that would guide his administration.

The manifesto, structured around seven pillars represented by the acronym P.R.O.M.I.S.E, comprises People First, Renewal, Opportunity, Machinery of Government, Inclusion, Security and Resilience, and Everyday Dignity.

Hamzat said the People First pillar would place residents at the centre of governance, with emphasis on healthcare, education, safety, dignity, accessibility and efficient public service delivery.

Under Renewal, he promised to pursue urban infrastructure development, including roads, power infrastructure, water supply, drainage systems, flood mitigation and waste management.

He said the Opportunity pillar would focus on expanding economic participation through enterprise development, trade, industry, job creation, skills acquisition and the digital economy.

On the Machinery of Government, the deputy governor said his administration would seek to improve institutional efficiency, local government administration, the judicial system and other administrative processes to ensure that policies translated into measurable outcomes.

He also promised equitable access to opportunities and public services across Lagos’s five administrative divisions, with particular attention to women, young people and diverse communities.

On security and resilience, Hamzat said his administration would prioritise public safety and the protection of lives and property, while strengthening the state’s capacity to respond to environmental and other urban challenges.

The final pillar, Everyday Dignity, he said, would focus on improving living standards, providing social protection and promoting the dignity of residents.

The governorship candidate disclosed that the manifesto contained 100 pledges, with 87 identified as firm commitments within the powers of the governor, while the remaining 13 were described as broader aspirations to be pursued without specific deadlines because they fell outside the governor’s direct control.

He said the foreword to the document was written by President Bola Tinubu.

Explaining his motivation for public service, Hamzat recalled an encounter with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo when he was about 14 years old and a student of Olivet School, Oyo.

He said Awolowo’s remark that a nation rises when people of ability and honour choose to serve had made a lasting impression on him.

Citing Psalm 15, verse four, Hamzat said he considered the promises made to Lagosians binding and pledged to implement them faithfully.

‘I will respect, I will work and I will uphold the truth. These will dictate my approach to governance,’ he said.

He added that accountability would begin within the first 100 days of his administration rather than at the end of his tenure.

As part of the proposed accountability framework, he promised to sign an executive order establishing a Lagos State Service Delivery Board, which he would head. He also said every government office would be required to display a service charter.

Hamzat further promised to introduce feedback mechanisms, including town hall meetings across the state’s five administrative divisions.

On infrastructure, he said he would pursue the activation of the Fourth Mainland Bridge through partnerships and construct more inner-city roads to ease congestion and traffic challenges across the state.

He also pledged to sustain investment in healthcare, disclosing that 586 hospital beds were being provided in hospitals across Lagos. He promised improved welfare for doctors, nurses and other health workers.

The deputy governor assured residents, irrespective of their ethnic or religious backgrounds, of equitable treatment and inclusion in his proposed administration.

He urged Lagosians to support President Tinubu and APC National Assembly candidates in the January 16, 2027 elections, as well as himself and the party’s House of Assembly candidates in the February 6, 2027 governorship and state assembly elections.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who attended the event with his wife, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, gave his deputy three pieces of advice, urging him to listen to Lagosians, sustain ongoing projects and ensure a smooth transition to another competent leader at the end of his tenure.

Recounting their political journey, which began in September 2018 when he sought the APC governorship ticket, Sanwo-Olu recalled that Hamzat had stepped down from the contest despite his experience and support base and subsequently agreed to become his running mate.

‘He stepped down and never plotted evil, and he agreed to run as my deputy,’ the governor said.

He described Hamzat as the best deputy governor in Lagos’s history and expressed confidence that he would become the first deputy governor to succeed his principal as governor of the state.

Sanwo-Olu said the absence of a crisis between him and his deputy demonstrated the state’s political maturity, adding that Lagos had continued to serve as a training ground for future governors.

He said the state, which had produced leaders with backgrounds in accountancy, law and banking, was set to produce an engineer as its next governor.

The governor said he would be pleased to hand over to a successor who would consolidate existing achievements rather than dismantle them.

‘Across this country, successions have ended in courtrooms, in broken parties, in deputies at war with the men who chose them. In Lagos, the governor and his deputy walked into this hall together. They will walk out of it together,’ he said.

‘And in May, one of them will hand the other a state that is whole. There is no greater gift a governor can leave his people than a handover that does not break the house.’

Sanwo-Olu urged Hamzat to consolidate on the achievements of successive administrations, saying the state could not afford to experiment with its development trajectory.

He also said the choice of Damilola Sonayon-James as Hamzat’s running mate would strengthen the inclusion of young people and bring the Badagry Division further into the state’s political leadership.

Sosan backs continuity

Former Lagos Deputy Governor Sarah Sosan, who spoke on behalf of members of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), said an administration of continuity was in the making, expressing confidence that Hamzat would build on the achievements of his predecessors, including Sanwo-Olu, Akinwunmi Ambode, Babatunde Fashola and President Tinubu.

She said continuity did not mean rejecting change but preserving successful policies, correcting shortcomings and adapting governance to emerging challenges.

‘Lagos is growing every day. More people are coming into the state, businesses are also growing, and our people expect more from the government. We must plan well and prepare for the future, and this is why the experience of Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat is important,’ she said.

Sosan noted that Hamzat had served the state in different capacities as commissioner and deputy governor, giving him considerable experience in government administration.

She said residents expected improvements in roads, transportation, education, healthcare, security, employment, housing and environmental sanitation.

According to her, the development of Lagos required cooperation among government, businesses and residents.

Lagos must move forward, says Obanikoro

The Director-General of the Tinubu/Hamzat Campaign, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, said the APC was committed to sustaining Lagos’s development and ensuring that the state continued to move forward.

He described the manifesto presentation as a reaffirmation of the party’s commitment to inclusive governance, sustainable development and broader opportunities for residents.

Obanikoro said Hamzat’s experience and dedication would help consolidate the achievements of successive APC administrations while addressing emerging challenges.

He called on residents to contribute ideas and offer constructive feedback on the manifesto, describing the campaign as a collective undertaking.

Hamzat won’t disappoint, Ojelabi assures

The Lagos State APC Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, expressed confidence in Hamzat’s capacity to lead the state, citing his experience in government, administrative competence and understanding of the challenges confronting Lagos.

He said the state’s next phase of development would require purposeful leadership, strategic planning and sustained commitment to improving public services.

Ojelabi identified infrastructure, transportation, education, healthcare, technology and economic development as priority areas requiring continued attention.

He said the achievements of successive APC administrations provided a foundation for further development but should not lead to complacency.

‘Lagos must move forward, not backward. Opportunity does not mean complacency. It must mean building through leadership, identifying shortcomings and driving greater progress with renewed determination,’ he said.

The APC chairman added that Hamzat’s experience in both the public and private sectors had equipped him with the knowledge and competence to manage the complexities of a growing metropolitan state.

He said the party’s vision included expanding economic opportunities, supporting businesses and young people, improving infrastructure and ensuring that the benefits of development reached communities across Lagos.

Ojelabi said the manifesto offered residents an opportunity to assess Hamzat’s priorities and examine the proposed measures for translating his vision into practical outcomes.

Oyebanji: It’ll will be shameful if Ekiti fails to deliver 90% votes for Tinubu

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has said it will be shameful if the state All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council cannot deliver 90 per cent of the votes for President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Oyebanji said this on Friday in Ado-Ekiti during the inauguration of the 157-member Ekiti State APC Presidential Campaign Council

He urged members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council to intensify grassroots mobilisation and voter tracking.

The governor, who chairs the council, said its responsibilities should extend beyond organising rallies and political campaigns.

He urged members to identify registered voters who abstained from previous elections and persuade them to participate in the 2027 polls.

Oyebanji said the party’s political strength and experience in Ekiti should translate into stronger electoral performance for Tinubu.

He cited his 85.7 per cent victory in the June 20, 2026 governorship election as a benchmark.

‘With the calibre of people we have here, it will be a shame on all of us if we cannot pull 90 per cent.

‘If we could pull 85.7 per cent in the governorship election, the least we can do for the President is 90 per cent,’ he said.

Oyebanji, however, identified low voter turnout as a major challenge, in spite of Ekiti having more than one million registered voters.

He disclosed that fewer than 400,000 people participated in the June 20 governorship election.

The governor said the disparity highlighted the need to prioritise voter participation ahead of the presidential election.

He directed the council to identify non-voters, establish why they stayed away and develop strategies to encourage their participation.

‘Our major work, as far as I am concerned, is not campaigning. Our major work is to identify those that opted out and did not come out to vote in June and bring them out.

‘Anything other than that, we are wasting our time,’ he said.

He said the council would adopt a systematic approach involving voters’ registers and identifying eligible voters across polling units, wards and local government areas.

Speaking on behalf of the council, Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, pledged members’ commitment to achieving the governor’s target.

Bamidele described the assignment as achievable, citing the APC’s political experience, organisational capacity and grassroots structures.

He commended Oyebanji for ensuring an inclusive composition of the council.

Bamidele also said the governor’s recent re-election had provided the party with valuable experience and momentum ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Earlier, Ekiti APC Chairman, Sola Elesin, said the council was established to galvanise support for Tinubu’s re-election.

Elesin urged members to demonstrate commitment, dedication and responsibility in delivering the party’s electoral objectives.

He expressed confidence that Ekiti would rank among the states delivering the highest number of votes for Tinubu in 2027.

His itinerant majesty

Christopher Okigbo knew the cost of truth-telling: ‘If I don’t shut my mouth, I’ll soon go to hell / I, Okigbo, town crier, together with my iron bell.’ But I am not Okigbo and I do not care in the slightest. Please take note. Truth is superior to any throne.

The Yoruba say that a man dies only once. But I do not even propose to die. A king is not just the leader of his people; he is custodian of their past, their fears, their dreams for the future. He is guide and model, a reflection of their pulse. Among the Yoruba of South-West Nigeria, a king is revered as second-in-command to the gods. There you go: he is mortal, but no ordinary mortal. He does not need to shout to make his point; his very presence makes him king. Surrounded by wealth and power, by the best of flora and fauna, the king is authority in majesty. He is the elephant who does not pass without notice, the lion who is circumciser of the forest without a blade.

He is identified by his crown, just as his chiefs are known by their beads. A king, because he occupies the place of an elder, does not dress, eat, let alone talk, like a child. He does not call a cow Brother just to eat meat. He is elevated, exalted, mounted on the horse of respect. A king is not a commoner. A king is, yes, a king.

Familiarity breeds contempt. It is ‘see-finish.’ When Adolf Hitler and other dictators made use of those they called useful idiots, it was because of ‘see-finish,’ the same affliction that cost some victims of Lisa Alujannu, an Ondo High Chief of heavy lore, their very lives. I sat with Justice Rasheed Fawehinmi, elder brother of the then recently deceased Gani Fawehinmi, in his bedroom at his Laje, Ondo, home on September 11, 2009, when he told me the story of the fiery chief. Here is an excerpt from the story titled ‘Gani was a human devil – Brother’: ‘The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s elder brother, Justice Rasheed Fawehinmi (rtd), has said that the late legal icon inherited his activist spirit from his grandfather, the late Lisa Alujannu of Ondo Kingdom, who died in 1908. Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in his bedroom at his Laje, Ondo residence on Friday, the elder Fawehinmi said his brother was a revolutionary spirit. ‘Gani, if you look at him critically, was a human devil, an imp. He inherited his fiery temperament from our grandfather, Lisa Alujannu who, during his lifetime, was so powerful that he even usurped the power of the Osemawe,’ he said.’

‘Lisa Alujannu, noted for doing extraordinary things, once buried a pregnant woman alive in the height of his power. He was a no-nonsense chief who brooked no opposition. You would not call that kind of man a gentle person,’ he said. The elder Fawehinmi, who said he spent 32 years at the bar, said that anyone interested in the Gani mystique should read his book Makers of Ode Ondo, published in 1992, a copy of which he gave to the Nigerian Tribune.’

I still have and treasure the book. But the point is this: if at the mention of the name of a chief everyone paid obeisance, why should a king command no respect?

In faraway United States, a crowned head is currently cutting the king’s grass in shorts, eating beans and water. A king in this land has been caught smoking a joint, and another reported for commandeering rice meant for his people during the COVID madness. I have utmost respect for our crowned heads, but they must respect themselves. If a stranger enters a town and is not disgraced because he knows his boundaries, what about the owners of the land? And what about a king, the custodian of culture?

Now, just how can a king be everywhere, shoving his image down people’s throats every week? How can a king be common? Do people really respect someone that is always at their beck and call? In this country these days, a governor is in Aso Rock even before the president’s messenger has put down the phone, but things weren’t always like this. If Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa wanted to see Chief Obafemi Awolowo, he could only hope that the Premier would be willing to see him at the time. He wouldn’t dare call him through a messenger. It was the military that caused the present see-finish, but even then the image of governors lined up like schoolboys and seeing the President off at an airport rankles as an affliction of our modern-day governance. In the same vein, the image of a royal majesty in the news every day leaves a sour taste in the mouth. It is media prostitution. It is insulting to culture and tradition. It is a mockery of the throne. It is not right.

Again, they lie to protect Leo Messi

Football website, The Touchline (@TouchlineX), posted this statement on October 27: ‘Lionel Messi’s popularity is STILL UNMATCHED! Despite being absent from the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony in London, the Argentine received the LOUDEST CHEERS of any player at the London Palladium when he appeared in a video where previous Ballon d’Or winners were celebrated.’

The claim was, of course, repeated by the Messi fanboy Fabrizio Romano and many others. Now please, go to YouTube or any other website that has a video of the actual Ballon d’Or ceremony and see if this claim matches your experience. Don’t bother going to AI; it is going to repeat the lie. Watch the actual video. That’s assuming you haven’t watched it.

If you are involved with literature, you are definitely acquainted with the post-discourses (post-colonialism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, postfeminism, etc.) which I have cheekily and quite uncharitably called ‘post-afflictions’ somewhere. The theories and theorists are so heavily nuanced, so complicated, so celebrated, but also so tiring that sometimes you just want to go back to the text – just the text, unmediated and unencumbered by theory. That’s partly why I have just enjoined you in this case: watch the actual video. This is why I will always opt for the people’s King, the imperfect but honest and clean athlete from Madeira. Viva, CR7, on the BOAT they diminished because it didn’t go according to plan.

Cyprus Department of Meteorology – Forecast for the Sea Area of Cyprus (A)

FOR THE PERIOD FROM 0600 31/10/2026 UNTIL 0600 01/11/2026

Atmospheric pressure at the time of issue: 1018hPa (hectopascal)

Weak low pressure is affecting the area. Increased cloud will be present at times with isolated showers and/or thunderstorm.

Visibility: Good, but moderate to poor in showers

Sea surface temperature: 25°C

Warnings: NIL

AREA

PERIOD

WIND

STATE OF SEA

West Coast

Morning

Northeast to Southeast 3, gradually Southeast to South 3 to 4

Smooth to Slight

Afternoon

West to Northwest 3 to 4, at times locally 4

Smooth to Slight

Night

Northeast to Southeast 3, locally Variable

Smooth to Slight

South Coast

Morning

Northwest to Northeast 3, gradually Southeast to Southwest 3 to 4

Smooth to Slight

Afternoon

Southwest to West 3 to 4, at times locally 4

Smooth to Slight

Night

Southwest to Northwest 3, locally Variable

Smooth to Slight

East Coast

Morning

Southwest to Northwest 3, gradually Southeast to Southwest 3 to 4

Smooth to Slight

Afternoon

South to Southwest 3 to 4

Smooth to Slight

Night

Southeast to Southwest 3, locally Variable

Smooth to Slight

North Coast

Morning

Southeast to Southwest 3, gradually 3 to 4

Smooth to Slight

Afternoon

Southwest to Northwest 3 to 4

Smooth to Slight

Night

Southeast to Southwest 3, at times locally 3 to 4

Smooth to Slight

Confusion enshrouds postponed Shs870b Jinja hotel groundbreaking after Gen Muhoozi no-show

The planned groundbreaking ceremony for a Shs870 billion five-star hotel development in Jinja City collapsed into confusion following the unexpected absence of the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who had been scheduled to preside over the event.

The ambitious project, spearheaded by MMP Park, is slated for a 12-acre parcel formerly known as Chairman’s Park, strategically situated near the Source of the Nile and adjacent to the National Agricultural Showground.

Gen Muhoozi’s scheduled appearance had sparked intense political maneuvering across Jinja City and neighboring Buikwe District. Local politicians capitalized on the high-profile visit to mobilize public support, frequently visiting the venue, conducting promotional TikTok interviews, and urging residents to attend the ceremony in large numbers.

However, the abrupt call-off exposed contrasting explanations between the event’s organizers and the developer. Ms Esther Mirembe, the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) coordinator for Jinja City, stated that military authorities contacted local organizers to cite pressing official matters. She explained that Gen Muhoozi’s team communicated his inability to attend due to urgent state engagements at State House, requesting a postponement until further notice.

Conversely, MMP Park’s corporate affairs manager, Mr Francis Baganzi, rejected claims that the setback stemmed from political interference or ongoing land conflicts, attributing the delay strictly to unfinalized logistical preparations. Clarifying that misleading narratives were circulating on social media regarding ownership friction, Mr Baganzi confirmed the company holds clear rights to the 12-acre property and indicated a revised date for the ceremony would be announced in due course.

By the time the event was called off, extensive preparation was already visible on-site, with large temporary structures fully erected. Following the official notice, workers dismantled the tents, leaving the grounds vacant.

The venue itself carries a history of complex legal and administrative transactions. Originally designated as a public recreational site along Bridge Street, the property was acquired by the former Jinja Municipal Council from the Uganda Land Commission in 2001. Contested dealings subsequently emerged when the Jinja District Land Board reallocated the property to Black Eagle Investments Limited (BEIL) without municipal authority approval. BEIL obtained a land title after paying an Shs80 million premium alongside an annual ground rent of Shs2 million, subsequently securing an Shs2.5 billion commercial bank mortgage against the land.

A subsequent inquiry by the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) identified procedural irregularities, recommending that the then-Jinja Central Division settle the Shs2.5 billion bank obligation to retrieve the five-acre public park. The municipal administration was ultimately unable to raise the required funds. Ownership was later acquired by businessman Magan Meghi Patel, proprietor of MMP Industrial Park, through his commercial entity, Nile Agro Industries, which now intends to construct the luxury hospitality facility.

The proposed conversion has drawn scrutiny from urban planning regulators regarding environmental zoning compliance and boundary enclosures. While the National Physical Planning Board granted conditional approval in January 2018 to rezone five acres from green belt status to commercial hotel use-mandating that the remaining seven acres persist as public open space-subsequent ministry inspections revealed that a perimeter wall had been constructed around the entire 12-acre tract.

Chief Executive Officer of Black Eagle Limited, Mr Osman Noor Ahmed, defended the fencing, maintaining that the entity holds a valid title encompassing the entire plot. Though reports indicated the former Jinja City Council had executed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nile Agro Industries regarding the management of the seven-acre public area, municipal administrative officers have denied the existence of any formal agreement, reiterating that the seven acres remain public open space despite being included within the company’s title boundary.

Bato dela Rosa ignores PNP deadline; manhunt to intensify

A senior Philippine National Police official said they would intensify the manhunt for Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa after the former national police chief ignored a deadline to surrender on Friday. The senator has a warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the war on drugs.

Dela Rosa, the chief enforcer of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, has a P50-million bounty on his head and has been declared a fugitive from justice by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Solicitor General.

Police Lt. Gen. Wilson Joseph Lopez, PNP deputy chief for administration and leader of a task force dedicated to locate Dela Rosa, told reporters on Friday that the police would take ‘appropriate’ legal measures to arrest the senator.

‘Let me declare, we will not back down from our duty,’ he said.

On Oct. 23, the PNP gave dela Rosa a week to turn himself in after the Department of the Interior and Local Government offered the P50-million reward for his arrest.

Lopez said that the PNP had reorganized his task force, forming teams per region to intensify the search for Dela Rosa.

‘Let me be clear, the PNP’s objective remains clear, and that is to arrest Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ de la Rosa,’ Lopez said. ‘The PNP is determined to bring the matter to a lawful resolution.’

‘Still in PH’

Lopez also said that Dela Rosa was still in the Philippines.

He added that the PNP had also heightened intelligence monitoring in key areas across the country to locate the senator.

Following the announcement of a bounty, the PNP opened a round-the-clock hotline to the public for any information that may lead to the senator’s whereabouts. Lopez said that they are still verifying tips from the public.

The senator is wanted by the ICC as one of eight coperpetrators in Duterte’s brutal war on drugs that killed thousands. Dela Rosa served as Duterte’s national police chief from 2016 to 2018 and was the author of the PNP antinarcotics campaign called ‘Oplan Double Barrel.’

Torreon: No basis

He went into hiding in November 2025 after he learned that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant against him. Dela Rosa surfaced on May 11 to vote for Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president. He evaded arrest that day and was given refuge in the Senate but escaped from its protective custody days later and disappeared again.

The senator’s lawyer, Israelito Torreon, on Friday said that Philippine authorities had no basis for the manhunt as the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), which is the ICC’s partner in arresting suspects facing charges in the international tribunal, had not issued a ‘red notice’ for Dela Rosa.

An Interpol red notice is a request to all law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person wanted by the ICC.

Written statement

Torreon said in a phone interview on Friday that one of his colleagues confirmed that Dela Rosa wasn’t on the Interpol list of people with a red notice.

‘What basis does the PNP have to search for him? The ICC warrant needs to pass through Interpol, but there is no confirmation that he is there on the red notice list,’ he said.

Torreon admitted, however, that they have yet to secure a certification or written statement from the Interpol to confirm the matter.

The DOJ earlier said that the ICC’s arrest warrant is enforceable following the application for the issuance of a red notice against dela Rosa.

Duterte was arrested and surrendered by Philippine authorities to the ICC in March 2025 for his crime against humanity case through an Interpol request.

When Duterte was arrested in March 2025 in Manila, there was no red notice for him, according to Anthony Alcantara, director of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime.

‘Diffusion notice’

Alcantara explained that Philippine authorities had obtained a ‘diffusion notice,’ which is a ‘standardized request’ to arrest, detain, or restrict movement of an accused. It was ‘the same’ as a red notice, he told a Senate hearing days after Duterte’s arrest.

Torreon repeated his earlier assertion that no warrant had been issued by a Philippine court to justify the senator’s arrest and bounty.

‘I do hope and pray that they know what they are doing because there really is no basis for that,’ he said.

‘I hope that the PNP personnel would only follow lawful orders. If the order is doubtful, I hope they will act accordingly,’ Torreon added.

Ruling on the senator’s petition in May, the Supreme Court denied a temporary restraining order to stop his arrest or to block an Interpol red notice against him.

Torreon said that Republic Act No. 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, could not be used against Dela Rosa.

Even under Article 59 of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, there are no Philippine laws that define the court to which the senator could turn to, he said.

Being a senior citizen doesn’t excuse bad behavior

Pity the nation that feels constrained to remind its senior citizens about elementary good manners and right conduct.

A recent social media post by actress Rita Avila went viral after she recounted an encounter with a fellow senior citizen at a movie theater.

Essentially, she recounted being at the cinema when a man seated next to her let his phone ring out loudly. She reminded him that they were inside a theater. He just said: ‘Pasensya na, senior na.’ She riposted back, ‘senior na rin ako.’

My most memorable experience with a senior citizen’s bad behavior happened inside a commuter train. That day, the train was fully packed with passengers and two high school students got shoved or ‘pranked’ into the space that is reserved for senior citizens and PWD commuters, separated only by a flimsy rope. The two youngsters were obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable. I and other senior passengers knew it was not intentional on their part, but one old lady passenger didn’t like it at all and started berating the poor high schoolers endlessly and loudly, calling them undisciplined, unruly, disrespectful and so on.

The funny thing was there was space enough for them and most of us didn’t mind them being there. At last, one elderly woman told the fulminating lady it was ok because the youngsters got reprimanded enough. But she wouldn’t ease up and only shut up when the two teeners were forced to get off at the next station. To me that old cantankerous woman is the Pinoy equivalent of the white privileged ‘Karen’ in America.

We have this tendency to give older people a pass on certain things. Matanda na kasi. The casual excuse-‘senior moment’-is being often abused as a free pass for many unacceptable behavior of elderly people. It’s everyone’s way of dismissing a shameful display of bad conduct from an old folk who ought to do better.

I don’t think age should be an excuse for behaving rudely. Advancing age does not exempt anyone from basic courtesy. What is even more concerning is the potential for younger individuals to internalize and emulate such unbecoming conduct.

Just last week, an octogenarian friend lamented the vanishing ‘courteousness and urbanidad’ among today’s youth. I told him: ‘Yes, that may be true, but many of our fellow seniors are no better. Our peers aren’t setting a good example either.’

The problem is some of us old folks are now so focused on ourselves, we have dulled our sensitivity to other people, or even lost it. We often suffer from our inability to read the room many times. We speak out of turn or say hurtful words or behave badly without the fear of being admonished or rebuked by someone older because there’s no one else older than us in the room.

Setting aside the elderly who are suffering from dementia, why do some normal elderly people decide to no longer be polite or respectful? Why do they lose their ‘filters’ as they age and fail to realize that their comments are rude, crude, or outlandish?

We were not like this before. The phenomenon of being able to act boorishly with impunity began to manifest itself some time ago. Our society got infected by the virus of rudeness and vulgarity and soon even senior citizens began to stop being kindly elders.

Remember the ex-president, himself a senior citizen, who delighted in speaking rough ‘kanto’ language in his speeches? He had no compunction to curse in public and was even applauded for it, which made him come off as being ‘authentic’ and ‘totoo.’

To me his ascension to the height of national power was the inflection point in our social cultural history, that marked our collective descent into crassness, crudeness and vulgarity. Because he could use cuss words in public without being called out, soon everything was permitted and rudeness and crassness became the new normal.

Four-letter words? Kanto language? Scandalous relationships? You encounter them on social media postings so often, they have lost their shock value. We are now a society with no filters and no restraint.

The incidents of seniors behaving badly are just a reflection of what we have turned into. The question is, have Filipinos completely lost our grasp on basic manners? I pray not.

My collective assessment is that it is not true of all senior citizens but a few who want to enjoy fully that sense of entitlement as much as they can while they still can, enforce and perpetuate a privilege, believing it is their right to be served. They know their days are numbered and they no longer have to please anyone.

It is borne out of many causes: fear, resentment, frustration, bitterness, sense of failure, and perhaps physical pain.

One thing though about seniors. Yes, they do tend to focus on themselves, but sometimes they will respond to a gentle reminder. Etiquette still resonates with many of my senior friends. I am lucky to have a wife who always restrains me when I act or speak too uninhibitedly for comfort. In creative sessions I am invited to participate, I tell the young people present to let me know if I am rude in my manner and not to take my words personally if I say something outrageous or offensive.

billboards do the job socmed

We seniors need to go back to the idea of senior citizenship as a time of eldership, not a time to seek and enjoy more entitlements.

We need to show our people, young or old, that we are not all crude and crass and feeling entitled. We need to let them know that having manners is still a huge factor to being a decent human being. Let’s reclaim the traditional values that have always defined the authentic Filipino character, most specially ‘paggalang sa kapwa, sa puso, diwa, salita at gawa.’