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NIMC reassures citizens of data security amid fresh NIN leak rumours

The National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, has dismissed the reports of a database breach regarding Nigerians’ National Identification Number, NIN.

The commission, in a statement released via their X handle on Thursday, described the reports as false and misleading, noting that the claims had been recycled from a report published in 2024.

They reacted to the viral video claiming that NIN and Bank Verification Number, BVN, details could be purchased for as little as N100, stressing that the commission maintains robust, multi-layered security infrastructure to protect the personal data of registered citizens and legal residents in line with international best practices.

‘The Commission wishes to state, categorically, that this claim is false and unfounded. The Commission National Identity Database, NIDB, has not been breached or compromised at any point. The Commission views the circulation of such unverified claims with concern, given their capacity to mislead the public and cause unnecessary panic,’ NIMC said.

Bohol Light poised to secure new 25-year franchise

Enrique Razon-led Bohol Light Co., which delivers power to Tagbilaran City, is nearing a new 25-year franchise after the measure cleared its final reading in the Senate.

This came almost a year after the lower chamber of Congress approved the proposed bill.

Once enacted into law, the measure would give Bohol Light the go signal to build, own, and operate a distribution system in its franchise area to ensure a reliable supply of electricity within Tagbilaran City.

Another Razon-backed distribution utility, More Electric and Power Corp., has inched closer to expanding its services beyond Iloilo City into nearby towns. This, as the Senate advanced on second reading a separate measure for this proposed move.

Primelectric Holdings Inc., which manages these two companies, said that the group’s investments have led to ‘substantial improvements’ in delivering electricity.

Gilas women dominate Singapore to make Asiad 3×3 semis

Complete domination by Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 women.

The Philippines reached the semifinal round of the 3×3 women’s basketball tournament after blasting Singapore, 22-12, Thursday at the Kinjo Futo Station Square Venue in Japan.

Kennan Ka and Amyah Espanol had seven points apiece, with the former hauling down nine rebounds, while the latter had four boards.

Kacey dela Rosa produced six markers and three rebounds.

Singapore led by two, 7-5, after a show by Lek Lim.

Five straight points courtesy of Ka and dela Rosa pushed the Philippines ahead, 10-7, before Syn Choo scored on the drive, 8-10.

But from that point on, it was all Gilas.

Six straight points, capped by a dela Rosa shot, gave the Philippines a 16-8 lead.

Lim and Hor Lai snapped the run with three straight points, but Gilas could not be stopped.

Ka waxed hot with four straight points, and a 2-pointer by Espanol iced the game with 2:06 to spare.

The Philippines will now face Thailand in the semifinal round.

The ‘sari-sari’ store as bastion of community healthcare

Medicine should never feel out of reach. Yet for many Filipinos, a trip to the pharmacy can mean literally crossing mountains and streams for a handful of tablets.

In a remote sitio in Barangay Kalawakan, Bulacan, for instance, getting to the nearest pharmacy can mean traveling almost a dozen kilometers without public transportation. A single trip to town can cost more than P400 one way. For some, the only alternative is to walk-a trek that takes well over an hour, even in good weather.

So they go to the ‘sari-sari’ store near them.

A new study by Ateneo de Manila University researchers explores sari-sari stores as potential points of access to medicine and healthcare, leveraging their ubiquity and accessibility within local communities.

The study, ‘Sari-sari Stores as Community Pharmacies? A Qualitative Exploration of Sari-sari Stores Selling Medicines in the Philippines,’ by Melissa Louise Prieto, Gamaliel Galigao, Ana Rica Navarra-Cruz, Louise Gabriel Jimenez, and Gideon Lasco, was published in the August 2026 issue of the Acta Medica Philippina journal.

Almost invisible

The study shows that most of the medicines sold by sari-sari store owners are for common illnesses: headaches, diarrhea, fever, colds, and stomachaches. The drugs include familiar over-the-counter, nonprescription medicines sold in small quantities, like paracetamol, mefenamic acid, ibuprofen, and loperamide.

Such a scene is ordinary enough to be almost invisible: A neighbor walks up to the nearest sari-sari store, asks the ‘tindera’ (seller) for a few tablets, purchases them piecemeal or ‘tingi-tingi,’ then goes home.

Yet behind this familiar transaction is a larger story of proximity, affordability, and formal healthcare gaps in communities.

‘The sari-sari store, as a venue to observe interactions between the consumers, the government, and the medical and pharmaceutical world, shows us its social, political, and economic relevance,’ the researchers write.

The study draws on ethnographic insights from interviews with 14 sari-sari store sellers. The findings show that distance is a major factor why some store owners choose to sell medicines: In communities without nearby pharmacies, keeping common medicines within reach can save residents the cost and time of traveling to town.

The same is true of store hours: One seller said they kept the store open until midnight to make medicines available hours after the town pharmacy had closed for the day.

The sellers, serving as the eyes and ears of their communities, learn which medicines people ask for, what they can afford, and what their neighborhood tends to need. Some begin selling medicines after noticing demand from the people around them. They adapt to the communities they serve.

Healing, comfort

‘Sari-sari stores bring valued ‘things’ in close proximity to the people who look to them for healing and comfort,’ the researchers say.

This is where the sari-sari store becomes more than just a place to buy medicine. Embedded in everyday Filipino life, the stores reveal how people rely on informal systems of care alongside formal institutions.

Yet the study also reveals the boundaries of the services these sari-sari stores offer. Sellers do not see themselves as doctors or pharmacists; 11 of the 14 study subjects refuse to sell antibiotics and other prescription medicines, advising customers to directly seek care from healthcare professionals when necessary.

‘Strictly speaking, the sale of pharmaceuticals through sari-sari stores is illegal, unless the outlet is duly licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There are, however, layers of liminalities, such as due considerations for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and medicines not captured in the FDA circular,’ the researchers say.

The researchers approach the issue through a medical anthropology lens and recommend against blanket prohibitions and punitive measures. They argue that policies should account for the economic and geographical barriers that shape access to medicine.

‘We see the value in recognizing the role of sari-sari stores in the health system, as well as in accounting for economic and geographical barriers before imposing top-down prohibitions,’ they stress.

Sari-sari stores are neither replacements for pharmacies nor substitutes for the country’s healthcare system. The stores do not stand outside or simply beside the healthcare system, but occupies an ambiguous but necessary space between the household and formal institutions-a place shaped by poverty, distance, convenience, trust, and necessity.

Sari-sari stores tell us what happens when the system is too far away, too costly, or simply unavailable to those who need it.

Danika Geronimo is with Ateneo Research Communications. Visit archium.ateneo.edu for more information.

Army ?nabs 2 soldiers over alleged ammunition racketeering, recovers AK-47

The Nigerian Army has apprehended two soldiers over alleged ammunition racketeering while troops recovered an AK-47 rifle during separate operations in Zamfara and Kaduna.

This was revealed in an operational report made available on Thursday.

The soldiers, according to the report, the soldiers were arrested by troops of Operation Fansan Yamma after allegedly attempting to transfer 60 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition to a suspected civilian buyer.

According to the report, one of the soldiers allegedly handed the ammunition to the other in the presence of the suspected buyer.

The report said the suspects, attached to Operation Fansan Yamma headquarters and 223 Battalion, were arrested at about 7:50 p.m. on Wednesday.

It added that troops recovered four mobile phones, two empty magazines, an ATM card, motorcycle, cutlass, keys, recharge cards and other items from the suspects.

According to the report, the suspects and recovered items were handed over to the 1 Brigade Provost Company for further investigation.

‘Meanwhile, troops of 1 Division operating along the Abuja-Kaduna highway engaged suspected terrorists after detecting their movement with a long-range camera.

‘The troops engaged the terrorists in bushes across the Abuja-Kaduna railway line, forcing them to withdraw.

‘During a follow-up operation, troops recovered an AK-47 rifle, a magazine loaded with 13 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition and other items.

‘The recovered items included a military jungle hat, magazine carrier, civilian clothing, prayer mat and other sundry items,’ it said.

The report also revealed that troops of Operation Delta Safe raided a suspected illegal bunkering dump at Otom Community Waterside, Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom,.

It said the troops recovered 40 drums containing about 12,000 litres of suspected illegally refined automotive gas oil, estimated at N14 million.

According to the report, troops also recovered a drum of engine oil and two tanks, which were handled in line with extant regulations.

In Plateau, the army said the troops responded to an attack on commuters at Dindiyes village, Mangu Local Government Area, forcing the suspected attackers to withdraw.

It added that troops subsequently recovered the corpse of a civilian around the area, while efforts continued to apprehend the perpetrators.

Ideal is 16 or more conviction votes, even with lower denominator – Luistro

Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro has admitted that the ideal scenario for the prosecution in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is to get 16 or more conviction votes.

She expressed her hope as the Senate Impeachment Court allowed a lower minimum vote requirement to convict the vice president, if some senator-judges will be absent on the day of promulgation.

Luistro spoke in a press briefing on Thursday, wherein she was asked if the prosecution will be okay with getting a number lower than 16, if less than 24 senators will appear on judgement day.

According to Luistro, lead public prosecutor for the trial, getting at least 16 votes, no matter how many senator-judges are present, will make issues about a lower conviction requirement irrelevant.

‘Objection, Your Honor. Speculative,’ Luistro joked after being asked about the topic.

‘Nevertheless, of course, that is in the mindset of the prosecution already, because we cannot stop that people who were unhappy with the ruling of the impeachment court yesterday,’ she recalled.

‘By [the] time senator-judges cast their vote on the verdict, whether conviction or acquittal, [they] will continue to raise questions,’ she said.

‘And I think, the best way will be – We hope that if there will be a conviction, I hope the votes will reach 16, so that issues on threshold will already be moot and academic,’ Luistro disclosed her wish.

‘That is just my personal opinion. It does not bind the prosecution team,’ she added.

Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, another member of the prosecution team, said that they are not participating in the impeachment trial to count votes, but to present evidence against Duterte.

‘Again, we are not here to count votes. We are not vote counters here,’ he gave the reminder.

He repeated their team’s purpose: ‘We will lay down the evidence about the Articles of Impeachment against the vice president.’

Despite this, Ridon also disclosed that the prosecution’s desire is to get the ‘biggest number of votes’ possible.

‘Whatever the number of votes we reach, if this is sufficient to convict, then we will abide by what the votes will be. But, of course, we really want the biggest number of votes at that point,’ he also confessed.

‘So whether it’s 16 or lower, it is up for the senator-judges to make that determination. For us, we will deliver the evidence in each and every article,’ he added.

Article XI, Section 3(5) of the 1987 Constitution states that an impeached official will only be convicted upon the ‘concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.’

Two-thirds of the 24 members of the Senate is 16, but the absence of several senator-judges have raised questions from different sides.

Some individuals supportive of the vice president have insisted that all members of the Senate refer to all senators, even if they are beyond the coercive powers of the chamber, since their titles as senators have not been removed from them.

However, there are also those who have asked how judges can make a sound decision if they have not observed the proceedings and failed to study documents and witnesses’ testimonies.

This was the same point raised by public prosecutor and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno during the oral arguments on Wednesday.

As of Thursday, four senators have missed a huge chunk of the trial: Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Rodante Marcoleta, and Ronald dela Rosa have not attended a single trial day, while Senator Loren Legarda left the country early August.

Estrada and Marcoleta have been detained on separate plunder raps, while dela Rosa has evaded public eye amid an arrest order from the International Criminal Court. /apl

After the oral arguments, 13 senator-judges present voted in favor of allow a lower minimum number of votes to convict Duterte.

The denominator that will be used to determine a two-thirds vote will depend on how many members of the Senate will be available.

The ruling read by Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero stated that the following members will be excluded from the voting process:

Detained and/or suspended, or otherwise legally restrained from exercising the functions of a senator

Persons sought by authorities whose whereabouts are unknown

Suffering from a physical or medical incapacity

Beyond the coercive processes of the Senate

Others similarly situated

Escudero also laid down specific conditions on who will not be allowed to vote once they decide on the case.

He clarified further that while the threshold is still two-thirds of all members present, they will have to round up in case the computation results into a decimal point.

As an example, Escudero said that in case only 20 senator-judges remain, two-thirds will be 13.33.

They will round up the number, even if the decimal point is less than 0.5, which means that instead of merely 13 votes to convict Duterte, the requirement will be 14.

Earlier, Luistro also clarified that the court’s ruling did not change the conviction threshold itself, as the Constitution’s two-thirds requirement for conviction still stands.

Another clarification that Luistro made is that based on their understanding, the availability of senator-judges will be determined at the time of voting.

As an example, Luistro believes that Legarda can participate and vote if ever she will return to work before the court delivers its verdict on the impeachment case against Duterte.

Protect rule of law, Fubara urges Rivers judges

Rivers Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has charged judicial officers in the state to remain courageous and incorruptible, urging them to resist pressure and intimidation in the administration of justice.

Fubara gave the charge in his goodwill message at the Special Court Session marking the opening of the 2026/2027 Legal Year in Rivers State on Thursday.

The governor, whose message was delivered by his Deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu, commended the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Simone-Chibuzor-Amadi, for standing firm in the face of political pressure when it mattered most.

He disclosed that his administration had approved 50 per cent of overhead funding and the release of the judiciary’s capital budget as contained in the current appropriation law, to enhance the effectiveness of the judicial system.

Fubara said, ‘We need to do more to realise our vision for judicial reform. And I assure you that we shall continue to do our best to resolve the challenges and strengthen our judiciary to serve the interests of our state and citizens.

‘To my Lords and the Bench, the burden you bear is heavy, yet you must remain steadfast, for the citizens place their faith in you for the protection of their rights, fairness, and hope for impartial justice.

‘Therefore, as you enter this new legal year, remember that your decisions shape our state’s destiny and influence our confidence in bringing businesses to our land.

‘Guard your independence jealously and discharge your duties without fear, favour, or ill will. You must remain courageous and consistent even when faced with subtle intimidation or political threats.

‘Always consider the impact of your judgments on the peace, stability and survival of our society.

‘We have seen several instances in which the truth was known, yet judges were coerced into unholy compromises to satisfy the interests of external masters, thereby bending the law.

‘But be courageous and incorruptible, stand firm against pressure and protect the rule of law, our democracy and its institutions. This is the only way to earn the public’s lasting applause, trust and confidence.’

The governor also reminded other stakeholders in the administration of justice, particularly members of the Bar, of their responsibility in ensuring effective and timely delivery of justice.

Earlier in his address, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simone-Chibuzor-Amadi, urged political parties and their supporters to refrain from activities capable of portraying the judiciary in a bad light as the 2027 general elections approach.

He said, ‘Before I conclude, let me remind us that the 2027 general elections are fast approaching. I use this occasion to urge political parties and their members to refrain from engaging in political activities that will put the judiciary in a bad light.

‘The integrity of our courts relies on the respect and decorum of those who appear before them. We must not allow the temple of justice to be desecrated by political bigmanship.’

The Chief Judge assured that the judiciary would sustain its drive for technological advancement and infrastructural development, adding that the institution remained open to partnerships that would improve justice delivery.

Justice Chibuzor-Amadi, however, expressed concern over the operations of the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission without commissioners and called for the appointment of commissioners to enable the commission to function effectively.

He also called for increased recruitment of judicial staff, citing manpower shortages as one of the challenges affecting the effective administration of justice in the state.

Mirra Andreeva rolls into SG Open quarters vs Leylah Fernandez

As the anticipation builds for Alex Eala’s main draw debut here, Russian World No. 5 Mirra Andreeva put the Singapore Open on notice on Wednesday night.

Andreeva reminded the rest of the field why she’s the top seed and the odds-on favorite to win it all.

The 19-year-old Andreeva needed only an hour and 12 minutes to dispatch Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-2, 6-2, in the round of 16 to begin her campaign.

‘I haven’t played her in two years now, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I haven’t seen her play recently, so I’m just super happy that I was able to stay super focused and manage to keep playing my game and try to go for my shots,’ said Andreeva, who made her Singapore Open debut in front of a packed Center Court crowd at OCBC Arena.

‘Sometimes the shots she’s been playing were unbelievable. Credit to her, it was not an easy match for me, but I’m super happy with how it went and super happy with my level.’

Andreeva, the reigning French Open champion, hopes to sustain her form against a familiar face in Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinal round on Friday.

They’ve split their four career meetings since 2023, with Fernandez winning the most recent one when she stunned Andreeva, 6-1, 6-4, before her home fans in Toronto in the third round of the Canadian Open last month.

Fernandez, who represents Canada and has Filipino roots, beat American Alycia Parks, 6-4, 6-3, in their round-of-16 duel on Wednesday.

Andreeva is projected to meet the third-seeded Eala in Sunday’s final.

Tinubu’s second term will deepen Nigeria’s transformation, says Minister Momoh

Minister of Regional Development Abubakar Momoh said a second term for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would provide an opportunity to deepen the administration’s ongoing programmes and transform the country.

Momoh spoke at Nomeh Unateze, Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, during the flag-off of a 200-hectare integrated agricultural development project by the South East Development Commission (SEDC), in partnership with the Enugu State Government.

The minister said the project reflected the Tinubu administration’s focus on food security, regional development and economic transformation.

He said the Federal Government had introduced measures to improve the country’s economic and development prospects.

According to Momoh, another term for Tinubu would provide the administration with the opportunity to consolidate and deepen the changes already being implemented.

He described the agricultural project as part of efforts to promote food production and strengthen development in the Southeast.

‘Another opportunity for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu means transformation. Another opportunity means complete transformation of all the things that have been happening,’ Momoh said.

He said the SEDC project aligns with the Federal Government’s policies and presidential priorities, particularly the priority on food security.

‘What you are doing here today is in conformity with the ministry’s policy and the Federal Government’s policy. We are transforming policy into implementation now,’ the minister said.

Momoh commended the SEDC for what he described as its capacity, vision and commitment to translating the objectives for which regional development commissions were established into concrete projects.

He specifically cited the SEDC and the North Central Development Commission as two newly established commissions that had demonstrated capacity and vision, while urging other commissions to accelerate implementation of their mandates.

He said the commissions were established as government institutions to drive development and were expected to work in accordance with government policies and regulations.

The minister also praised the SEDC Managing Director, Mark Okoye, for his approach to consulting and engaging stakeholders before embarking on major interventions.

He said the agricultural project would go beyond farmland development by incorporating processing and other aspects of the commodity value chain.

‘It is not just sufficient to develop the land, but we must go beyond that to embark on processing,’ Momoh said, adding that the initiative could help revive the commodity ecosystem for which the Southeast was historically known.

The 200-hectare project, which is the pilot component of SEDC’s South East Agro-Development Programme, is designed to integrate agricultural production with mechanisation, processing, training and market access. The commission says the project is intended as a model for wider agricultural interventions across the five South East states.

Momoh commended Governor Peter Mbah for providing the land for the project and praised the cooperation among the Enugu State Government, the SEDC and the state’s communities.

He said the collaboration demonstrated the importance of state and regional institutions working together to bring development initiatives closer to the grassroots.

Electoral violence and disunity: Backward to the future – 2

Awolowo’s appointment as vice chairman of the Federal Executive council in 1967 was to help the military prosecute the civil war determinedly. Awolowo had right to be bitter against his enemies but he did not show it as a disciplined man. He however allowed himself to be put in a tight corner when he defended the federal blockade of Biafra during the civil war which led to starvation of the struggling people of Biafra. In spite of all attempts to bridge the East-West divide in Nigeria, it has not been possible. The Igbo and the Yoruba have always been on opposite sides in Nigerian politics. The Igbo supported Shehu Shagari and Alex Ekwueme became vice president after the military left power in 1979 but when Moshood Abiola won the presidential election in 1993, the Igbo elite were not on his side until the poor man was murdered in military detention. When Jonathan was in power, the Igbo elite ensured the absence of the Yoruba from the government. The Yoruba joined other disgruntled Nigerians to bring Buhari into democratic power in 2015 and 2019 but unfortunately to the disappointment of everybody.

The Igbo blamed the Yoruba for all the evil of the Buhari regime especially his nepotism and religious and regional bias in his appointments. One can therefore understand the anger of the Igbo in the fact of the Tinubu candidacy in 2023. But the question to ask is whether Tinubu’s contest of the 2023 election was necessarily against Igbo interest.

There were two political parties in Nigeria, the APC and the PDP. Because of putting all their eggs in one basket, the Igbo were marginally represented in the APC as they have pitched their tent for the past 23 years with the PDP. It was in this situation that Tinubu emerged the presidential flagbearer of the APC and, against the PDP’s unwritten rotational constitution, Abubakar Atiku the former vice president bulldozed his way into being the presidential card carrier of the PDP. This was his third time of being a presidential flag carrier of a major party. He ran against Buhari in 2019 and Peter Obi was his running mate. Realizing his failure to win the ticket in the PDP, Obi went over to Labour Party as a born again socialist even though he is a self-declared billionaire. Millions of young people flocked to him as a liberator from the deadweight of the two existing parties the PDP and the APC. Democracy is not necessarily defined by elections, but in fact by the rule of law, independent institutions, free press and right of free association and religion are as important as periodic elections in a democracy. But to have a thriving democracy, everyone must abide by the rules of engagement and accept the decision of the electorate as announced by the electoral umpire.

This is where we are today with a disunited country underlapped by existing festering sore of tribalism and ethnic hatred complicated by fight for territorial sovereignty and group rights. This has become the usual scenario in our country where losers always say they have been rigged out and their mandates have been stolen. A bevy of lawyers encourages them to feel this way and that the courts would eventually declare them winners. The lawyers do this out of enlightened self-interest and for the huge Naira harvest they expect to reap. Most times the courts uphold the decision of the electorate. Sometimes the courts’ decisions favour those who lost at the polls. The acrimony surrounding the elections of 2023 has been at the greatest decibel that I have ever heard since I have witnessed electoral contest in Nigeria. The anger has been laced with ethnic jingoism bordering sometimes on call to arms by the losing candidates and their ethnic cohorts. One would have thought that anybody contesting an election should have known that the probability of losing is a possibility. But it seems that Nigerian politicians are the worst kind of people in the world because they go into elections with wrong motives and bank on the certainty of winning to the extent that some borrow money or sell properties just to contest elections and when they lose, they will want to bring the entire state structure down on everybody’s heads including those of the electorate.

I grew up in a political home and I can assert that this tendency is a new thing to me. Any casual reading of the last election cannot but come to the conclusion that it was the most competitive election we have had in this country. What followed were calls for cancellation, even asking the military to take over or secession. I would have dismissed these vituperations but for the fact that they came from very senior ethnic jingoists who have served at the higher echelons of the federal government just because their ethnic cohorts lost election which, on all grounds of probability, they could not have won. Politics is a game of numbers. It is also a matter of aggregating interests and coalitions to pursue such interests in a peaceful way. Sometimes in the heat of the competition, less disciplined and knowledgeable people get carried away and misbehave but that is not sufficient grounds to throw away the baby with the bath water. Issuing threats of planned disruptions of constitutional process is not the way forward.

What the 2023 election and its aftermath have taught many of us is that we are probably not ready to abide with democratic practices and principles guiding electoral competition. The second lesson, I think, we should all learn is that, we as a people, are still the same as Awolowo described us in his 1947 book with the title of Path to Nigerian Freedom that ‘there are no Nigerians as there are French or Germans and that Nigeria is ‘a geographical expression’. The man who became the first and last prime minister of the federation of Nigeria in 1957, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa also agreed with Awolowo that ‘Nigeria was a British intention’. When the politically ebullient Nnamdi Azikiwe told the leader of the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, Ahmadu Bello on the eve of independence in 1960, that Southern and Northern Nigerians should forget their differences, he was quietly told that ‘they should not forget their differences but they should rather understand them’. These comments were pregnant with meaning for the post-independence Nigeria and even for now.

I am a beneficiary of the size of Nigeria. I will always favour preserving the federation as a going proposition but not at all cost and at the expense of the people’s happiness. My best friends are not Yoruba people and I have people I cared very much for outside Yorubaland. I have had to endure being subjected to ethnic recrimination if not outright hatred because somebody from my ethnic cohort won an election in a plural country. I want this country to succeed but it is not through insults and bullying that the country can be united. I would like us to give every ethnic group or nation because we are actually a multinational country, with equal right to hold the highest position in the country without weaponising region and ethnicity to accomplish it. I also would like to keep all my non-Yoruba friends without fear that there is an undeclared mistrust between us because of being born in two different ethnic groups, a situation that we could not control. This is why we have to come up with a grundnorm that will preserve individual territorial interest within an overarching federal structure and sovereignty.

I would like our leaders to eliminate the possibility of my children and other Nigerians holding each other in contempt or disrespect because of the birth places of their parents. I do not want any group to be subject to group ethnic abuse and hatred and anything that can be done to prevent this should be done. This will include education right from kindergarten to university on civility and respect for individual and group territorial rights as well as constitutional device to loosen up the country instead of unity at the point of the gun that has been pointed to our heads since 1966. To start with, our government must do whatever it can to control the social media to prevent them from plunging the country into ethnic war on the scale of what happened in Burundi and Rwanda.

Unfortunately the mainstream media are beginning to source their information from the social media. Unfortunately this feeds foreign media which is then given back to us as revealed wisdom! Media without control cannot be justified on the grounds of their fundamental human rights and democratic rights to express themselves. There can be no absolute rights in an explosive situation where lives and society itself are threatened. There must be a state of people living in peace before they can enjoy democracy!