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TWO of my ardent readers and friends prevailed on me to comment on the ongoing scuffle between Dangote refinery on the one hand and the two Labour unions in the oil and gas sector, NUPENG (Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers) and PENGASSAN (Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria) on the other. While junior workers in the oil and gas sector belong to NUPENG, PENGASSAN houses senior staff in the same commanding height of the nation’s economy, the cash-cow that we have milked relentlessly since crude oil was first discovered by Shell-BP in commercial quantity at Oloibiri in present-day Bayelsa state in 1956, to the unfortunate abandonment of agriculture, the initial mainstay of the country’s economy. Overriding public interest also commands that I do.

Consequences of oil workers’ strike

With the two workers’ unions in the critical oil sector spoiling for a fight with the management of Dangote refinery, the consequences and reverberations of any industrial action will be felt by all and sundry. Anticipation of fuel scarcity that will undoubtedly ensue will lead to panic-buying by motorists and other users of petroleum products. Queues will form at fuel stations with the attendant consequences of disruption of seamless movement of persons, goods and services. Characteristically, petrol station managers will cash-in on the situation to further milk an already traumatised citizenry. Expect hoarding of the commodity. Expect, also, accidents arising therefrom and the attendant loss of life and property. Touts hiking fuel in bottles and jerry-cans will line our major roads, accentuating the scarcity and exacerbating the suffering of the people. Transportation fare from one location to another will balloon and food costs, unbearable at the moment, will shoot through the roof. Every imaginable item and services, including medicine and medicaments, school fees, rents, name it, will climb up, thus piling more misery on hapless Nigerians. The marginalization of Nigerian workers in favour of foreign nationals will further deepen unemployment, heighten youth restiveness, shoot up crime rate, and the JAPA syndrome will become accentuated. No one prays for another #ENDSARSNOW! Neither does anyone want the Arab Spring or Nepal to happen here! But we must watch it!

War by proxies?

Says Dante Alighieri, in his famous work titled ‘Inferno’: ‘The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrally’ May we never experience an inferno here in NIgeria! Echoes our own Wole Soyinka in ‘The Man Died’: ‘The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny!’ Some said NUPENG and PENGASSAN are resisting the tyranny of one man and his audacious ambition to capture, confiscate and appropriate unto himself the entire downstream sector of the oil and gas section of the commanding height of the nation’s economy. Dangote refinery counters that they are victims of a relentless and sustained sabotage by workers whose corruption threatens to up-end their multi-billion dollar investment.

What we are witnessing on the surface is a labour dispute between the Management of a refinery and its workers, but beneath, the struggle is more vicious and deadly. It is a fight for control of the goose that lays the golden egg for Nigeria, touted as Africa’s giant and its leading oil-producing nation. As a monopolist moves stealthily in well-measured steps but scantily-concealed manner to extend his tentacles like an octopus into the country’s life-wire, competitors are stopping at nothing to checkmate him and reverse the advantages he has chalked up against them over time. When he had the opportunity, the monopolist seized it with both hands. While others were buying private jets, stashing off-shore accounts and embarking on spending binge in Dubai and other exotic locations, someone chose to invest his own loot, as some of his competitors have described it, in an investment that has become a game-changer in a country where governments are steep in inefficiency and corruption. The other side of the story, however – and this is frightening – is what happened the moment the monopolist took total control of cement, sugar, etc. The people’s misery tripled, in place of the succor they were promised.

Between investment and profligacy

But who is to blame? If you chance, on a platter, on the footprints of a mad man and fail to cash-in on it to enter into stupendous riches, is it a sane man that will be careless with his own footprints? The story is told of a Lagos-based Afro-juju musician from Ogun state who, in 1990, invested N20 million, which is the value of billions of Naira by today’s exchange rate, to construct a mansion in the Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos. When completed, the mansion was said to be the talk-of-town. People trooped there to behold its splendour. It was the type the Yoruba people call ‘a-wo-si-fila’ – a wonderment, to put it mildly. Be-that-as-it-may, call the mansion a cost centre – a liability. Today, they say the mansion has fallen into bad times, like similar mansions that once belonged to the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada and his Zairean counterpart Mobutu SeseSeko. The story is also told of another Nigerian, this time from Delta state, who invested a similar amount of 20 million Naira at about the same time as the musician to start a small bank. Call that an investment. Today, that small bank has become one of the country’s leading commercial banks, worth billions, if not trillions of Naira. So, who is to blame? If someone invested his own loot while others fritter theirs, who is to blame? But once bitten, twice shy!

We were told the Dangote refinery cost between 18 and 20 billion dollars to build; his critics say it costs far less. Admirers of the man say the refinery was a testament to his business acumen; but his critics say it was evidence of the unfair trade favours he curried from successive governments since the return to civilian rule in 1999, especially so from the Muhammadu Buhari administration (2015 – 2023). While some say Dangote succeeded where successive Nigerian governments failed, others counter that his so-called success story was at our collective expense and that the refinery was built on our back. To such critics, it will not even be out of place if the refinery is nationalised! But if they do – granted but not conceding – who runs it? Will the government not run it aground like it has done the government-owned refineries?

What’s at stake?

PENGASSAN and NUPENG may be right when they said they were fighting for workers rights at the Dangote refinery. Unionization is an internationally-recognised right of workers. Freedom of association is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). Suspect every employer of labour that seeks, be it flagrantly or surreptitiously, to abridge the rights of workers to organize. Such employers have skeletons in their cupboards. They have something to hide. And such hidden motives are usually sinister. The unions also alleged that there was no due consultation before 800 workers were sacked; there was no fair hearing; and the process was, through and through, shadowy and opaque, without transparency and justification.

But we cannot pretend not to know that there are many of Dangote’s competitors who are happy each time his ship runs into bad weather. Unfortunately, some of the time, Dangote’s misfortunes are self-inflicted. Like capitalism, which Marxism says have embedded in it the seeds of its own destruction, the monopolistic tendencies of the practised monopolist also drives him to self-destruct, thus leading him to overplay his hand as he stretches his advantage beyond elasticity and carries his luck too far. A man who knows too well how he got into his riches is edgy when confronted by forces he knows are privy to his underbelly and what to do to unsettle, if not completely unhinge, him. The last, therefore, may not have been heard about the tango between Dangote refinery and the forces arrayed against it.

Back-and forth!

The labour unions alleged that 800 Nigerian workers were sacked because they dared to unionize. Two: That 2000 Indian workers were recruited in the face of millions of Nigerian unemployed youths pounding the streets in search of jobs. Three: That qualified Nigerians were replaced by Indians. Four: That many of the Indians so recruited lacked the appropriate Immigration documents. Five: That sacking Nigerian workers while retaining the services of Indian workers violates the spirit and letters of Section 7 of the Labour Act which prohibits discrimination in the workplace and enshrines fair and equal treatment. Six: That despite Dangote refinery’s pretentious attempts to mask its real intentions, the sacked Nigerian workers were targeted because they voluntarily elected to exercise their right to unionize. ‘When the witch cries in the night and the child dies in the morning, what do you expect’, asked PENGASSAN’s General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa.

The right of workers to unite was the first declaration made by Karl Marx in the ‘Communist Manifesto’. Thus, the rallying cry of revolutionary workers all over the world became ‘Workers of all countries, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains’ Those very chains are what capitalists do not want workers to lose!

The Dangote refinery counters that over 3000 Nigerian workers are still in its employment and none of its workers was victimised on account of unionization; but that some workers were sacked as a result of repeated acts of sabotage, culminating in the need to take firm and appropriate action to protect life and property, address safety concerns; and, of course, protect the good health of the company. They described the refinery as a ‘strategic national asset’, which should be protected for the benefit of Nigerians and the refinery’s partners across Africa, and in the overall economic interest of thousands of people whose livelihood depends on it.

Nigerian workers: Enemies of their own selves?

We must listen to the Dangote refinery on this! There is a worrisome trend whereby Nigerian workers themselves are the ones eating up and running down both public and private businesses set up here in this country, only for them to turn round and complain of unemployment! I listened to a post on social media where some Ghanaian businessmen equally complained of the same scourge in Ghana. Is this, then, an African malaise? I suffered that scourge as a small employer of labour in my own little corner. Rather than set up factories and businesses here, anyone who has been so dealt with by their Nigerian employees will prefer to put their funds in Treasury bills and save themselves the stress, and the stark reality of losing all their investments while the scoundrels pound the street in search of their next victims. What is Labour doing about this? Or are they only interested in the check-off dues they collect from workers?

Most times when we advocate for fiscal federalism or true federalism, it is mere sloganeering and hot air. Over-centralization, which decades of the military’s command-and-control structure, has imposed on us, has permeated every sector of our national life, including, tragically, the so-called democratic or revolutionary movements. Democratic organisations like the trade unions, rather than organize from top to bottom, ought to organize from bottom upward. So we should have, using my own Ondo state as an example, Ondo State Labour Congress, and not Nigeria Labour Congress (Ondo State chapter); ditto for NBA, NMA, NUT, NUJ, etc. Checkoff dues, to be made voluntary, should be paid at the state level by willing members. States should be free to affiliate at the centre, if it serves their interest.

THE Dean of Student Affairs at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Professor Festus Adeosun, has urged students to go beyond academic certificates and embrace entrepreneurship as a pathway to self-reliance and national development.

Prof. Adeosun, a former Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies (CENTS), gave the charge during the YouWin Enterprise Education programme for tertiary institutions, held at the College of Environmental Resources Management (COLERM) Auditorium.

He observed that while a university degree remained valuable, the knowledge, skills, and experiences gained during campus life were the true determinants of future success.

‘The current realities of youth unemployment in Nigeria demand creativity, resilience, and innovation. Students must look beyond certificates and embrace entrepreneurial opportunities that would position them as job creators rather than job seekers,’ Adeosun stated.

Earlier, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Babatunde Kehinde, reaffirmed FUNAAB’s commitment to nurturing students beyond academics, stressing that the institution was determined to prepare them for self-reliance in today’s competitive economy.

He commended the choice of FUNAAB as host of the programme, describing it as a timely platform to empower students with practical entrepreneurial skills.

Giving an insight into the programme, a representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr Lampo Ibrahim, explained that YouWin Connect was a youth-focused initiative designed to support small businesses and foster entrepreneurship nationwide.

He noted that the scheme, which also extends to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camps and other tertiary institutions, was created to provide Nigerian youths with access to funding and business development opportunities.

According to him, the core aim of YouWin Connect is to inspire young people to develop business ideas, grow them into sustainable enterprises, and reduce dependence on formal employment. He advised students to take advantage of the initiative and build ventures that would secure their future and contribute to national economic growth.

Highlighting practical pathways to business funding, Ibrahim identified four major sources available to aspiring entrepreneurs as friends and family, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government agencies, and the private sector.

He underscored the role of NGOs in complementing the government’s efforts to reduce unemployment and urged students to uphold integrity and accountability in the use of funds secured through such programmes.

Referencing the Federal Government’s publication, Successful Nigerian Entrepreneurs, Ibrahim noted that financial struggles were often not due to lack of formal education but poor financial literacy. He, therefore, encouraged students to embrace entrepreneurial training and prudent financial management as essential life skills.

One, was the brief socializing with the free-spirit Osun governor, Jackson Adeleke. The president, as seen in the video was bantering with the PDP governor, blocked by Osun APC from joining the President in the ruling party in the spirit of the southern coalition being coupled by the Nigerian leader, to smoothen his reelection. In what was obviously a friendly poke, the President while shooting for a handshake, quipped ‘ijonko o’ (how is dancing), an unveiled reference to the governor’s penchant for regular display of his dancing dexterity, despite his size, which makes his usual energetic ‘moonwalk’ a rich spectacle. Not one to let such affability go to waste, he, while bowing to take the President’s offered handshake, replied with unmissable flourish; ‘ijowadaada sir’ (dancing is great sir). That brief exchange should reinforce to Osun APC stalwarts that their leader in Abuja has a soft spot for the one they don’t want in Osun. May God help the state opposition if Jackson moonwalks over them to re-election next year. That would be the political end of many current leaders of Osun APC. To stand a chance of proving to their Abuja leader whose body language has shown that he would prefer the incumbent Osun governor as a member of the Progressive Governors (like Delta, Akwa-Ibom and likely Rivers), Osun APC leaders must get the nomination right by going for the aspirant with consolidated voting base like the incumbent. Until Borno State caught up with Osun days back, as the highest-netting in fishing new voters, Adeleke’s Osun West was topping nationally, an undeniable proof of his get-out-the-vote groundwork.

It shows a man who is ready.

Kano, another huge-voting state is mirroring Osun, though its political climate isn’t yet as crystal. President Tinubu no doubt, covets the vote-sweeping influence of former governor and NNPP lord, Rabiu Kwankwaso who was also at the Ibadan event and whose attempt at drawing the attention of the Nigerian leader also created another Tinubu moment. A viral video showed the President security team initially bouncing him off the periphery of the President’s perimeter as he (Tinubu) arrived the Mapo Hall venue but before he could be roughened up, the President signalled he should be allowed access to him.

By any measure and every standard, Kwankwaso is a heavy-hitter in Nigerian political firmament and holds joint-record with AyodeleFayose and KayodeFayemi, both of Ekiti State, of non-consecutive gubernatorial second term. He is also the 2023 presidential candidate with the largest votes from a state; his Kano State, creaming almost a million votes at a go. He had been minister of defence and currently governs Kano, the largest voting state of 2023 poll, through his son in-law, incumbent Governor Abba Yusuf. So there is no way the Kano strongman is unknown to the President security team and in many public fora, Tinubu, before and when he came into office, had acknowledged Kwankwaso a friend. So what went wrong? It is in public domain that Kwankwaso is open to a return to APC, potentially to help re-elect his friend and possibly position himself for an enhanced 2031 run when power is expected to return to the North. President also wanted him. But there is AbdullahiGanduje alongside other Kano APC big men in the middle, like Osun APC leaders, reportedly standing against having their former leader and his hand-held governor back in the fold, where Governor Yusuf will become the de jure leader, and his father in-law; Kwankwaso, the de facto leader.

Unlike Osun where the President reportedly agreed that Adeleke and APC leaders should first test might in next year gubernatorial poll to know who should lead his coalition in the state ahead of 2027, Tinubu, according to his orbit had done a lot to assure Kwankwaso of his commitment to their partnership if he returns to the APC fold for him, including having to painfully pinch Ganduje. But the Kwankwasiyya leader has been allegedly irresolute, constantly shifting his conditions to meet before decamping. Weeks back he went public in the media space with his desire and conditions, with the President reportedly souring on him and deciding to look elsewhere for solutions to his Kano deficits, notably the 2023 gap of 419,938 votes between him in second place and Rabiu in the lead.

When security begin to bounce someone who used to have access to their principal, words must have definitely gone around and about. The Ibadan scenario looks like using the right hand to pull a naughty child’s ear and using the left to rub the back of his head. Did RMK get the message?

Then there was the BAO snub at the Ibadan airport where attending governors formed a beeline to welcome the Nigerian leader. Pray, why is the President resorting to public snub and its attendant opprobrium to manifest his discontent towards his allegedly errant party governors, especially those of Yoruba extraction?. First it was the Lagos man, Babajide Sanwoolu who the President refused to acknowledge and greet during the controversial commissioning of a portion of Lagos-Calabar highway on May 30 this year. The President is from Lagos and was governor of the state like Sanwoolu between 1999 and 2007. By standing up to then-President Olusegun Obasanjo of then-ruling PDP, he gave the governor’s seat character, elan and respect. Though they later made whatever was between them up eight days after through the intervention of the nebulous GAC, the incumbent had been served as they say. It’s doubtful if a swashbuckling Governor Tinubu of his time and term in Lagos would have peacefully resolved such public shaming with any president whether of his party or from the opposition.

BAO, arrayed from his names, is the political sobriquet of the 57-year-old Ekiti governor, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji. Married to a professor, the governor has been practically what anyone aspiring at Ekiti level could be, including serving as the secretary of the Falegan committee that made the creation of the state possible. It is just fitting that he leads the state he helped create. He should also be allowed to lead as he deems right and if found wanting, his reelection fate should be left for Ekiti electorate to determine. Period.

Before the Ibadan debacle, I had heard from power corridors in Abuja things weren’t well between the Governor and the President who is also the national leader of their party. While BAO has been variously judged average and even below average in governance delivery, his problem with Abuja was said to be mainly political and just like the Sanwoolu situation, the President gave a public confirmation to the behind-the-curtain muttering that Oyebanji is no longer a ‘son’ in whom he is well pleased. At the airport reception, the President walked past him as if he didn’t exist despite his three-piece white agbada ensemble, standing at the head of the line of other governors and dignitaries. The security just moved in-between them as the President looked away and straight, unlike the Kwankwaso case later when the Nigerian leader rescued the Kano fellow from his security who appeared to be following strict orders.

Oyebanji’s alleged sins are mainly political and the constitution covers freedom of association. If President Tinubu as APC national leader thinks Oyebanji is derailing from the vision of the party, there are better ways of reining him in or keeping him out permanently without resorting to embarrassing his person, for fleeting political power. Yes I know people can bone (naija street lingo for snub) offending beloved, as a way of expressing disavowal so they come bearing repentance and desiring forgiveness but even for Trump the ruffler, there are acts that won’t be presidential. Add to the fact the President is a Yoruba elder who shouldn’t be handling the proverbial festival like a teen (agbakinseoro bi ewe).

Like President Tinubu, the two governors, publicly humiliated over if I heard right, alleged acts that he himself would endorse as survival politics in his days in the thick, wild forest of politics, are Yoruba. While he is definitely older than both, respect should be reciprocal. And I ask, is it only South West APC governors that are overreaching in the President’s estimation? Will the President treat Northern APC governors this way regardless of political sin? Did ordinary palace guards of a Northern emir not break down doors in utter disregard for established protocol to let their lord into an event where the President was already seated? Whoever sells his own short will pay heavily for outsiders.

If the public smackdowns are the President’s way of settling scores especially with governors who he would not be able to monitor directly on election day, then he risks a situation Yoruba will describe as bottling the crimson inside while spitting out bright saliva. It is dangerous when people play along. If you see my hand you can’t see my mind situation. Whenever I see Governor Sim smiling the President into superlatives. a Yoruba adage is always jumping at me; ‘onikun lo mero’. Won’t interpret.

When you need to make others feel small for you to feel big, it is the highest manifestation of inner weakness. Dishing to others what you can’t take is against divine rule of do unto others as you want others do to you. Why publicly disgracing someone who has come to honour you?

The latest presidential humiliation is two too many. If the President is this way in the public, how toxic can things get with him in private when displeased, considering how he has been making grown men feel very small in full glare because he wanted everybody on board his re-election plans. The tortoise in-laws, even when rightly wronged, will always carry the shame of doing too much to shame their offending son-in-law. Haba! Kilode!

Billionaire Tesla and X owner, Elon Musk, has set in motion plans for Grokipedia, an AI-powered knowledge platform aimed at challenging Wikipedia by bringing ‘unlimited access to truth’ and removing bias, restriction, or hidden agendas.

Musk announced that Version 0.1 beta of Grokipedia will be published in approximately two weeks time.

The vision for Grokipedia, as described by a post by amXFreeze on X (formerly Twitter) and retweeted by Musk, is bold. ‘Grokipedia is going to be the world’s biggest, most accurate knowledge source, for humans and AI with no limits on use.

‘With Grok, Grokipedia aims for maximum truth through first principles and physics. It replaces partially masked evidences of how legacy media operates, rewriting with complete accurate context that cuts through the BS. this will combat the evil organizations and the evil minds that operating under the hood and who’ve poisoned minds for decades with endless fake news and distorted narratives through legacy media and Wikipedia, causing immense harm to young minds and manipulated the world long enough,’ it reads in parts.

Meanwhile, Tribune Online reports that Grok is X’s built-in AI assistant developed by Elon Musk’s xAI. Unlike generic bots, Grok’s wired into the platform itself, which means that by tagging it @grok with a prompt on X, it can answer trending questions, transcribe video tweets, draft witty tweets, and even provide sarcastic comebacks.

However, Grokipedia will, according to Musk, use heavy inference compute to assimilate sources like Wikipedia and other reference materials, then evaluate statements as true, partially true, false, or missing. It will subsequently rewrite those entries to remove inaccuracies, correct half-truths, and fill in missing context.

Musk described the project as one built on first principles and physics, free from editorial agendas. In his words, Grokipedia is being ‘built solely for the truth. free from bias or hidden agendas.’

The billionaire X owner has previously voiced frustration with Wikipedia’s perceived partiality and influence, accusing it of ideological bias, especially from a conservative perspective, and decrying its role in shaping AI training data.

Musk, on January 21, after the site updated its page on him to include a reference to the much-debated stiff-armed salute he made at a Trump inaugural event, posted on X that ‘since legacy media propaganda is considered a ‘valid’ source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda!’

He urged people not to donate to the site: ‘Defund Wikipedia until balance is restored!’ according to The New Yorker.

On the technical side, in June, Musk has also indicated that the Grok engine will not only correct errors but retrain itself on the improved corpus. ‘We will use Grok 3.5 to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors. Then retrain on that.’

It remains unclear how the public will participate, whether through open editing, review, or appeals, or how Grokipedia will manage disputes or conflicting perspectives.

Previous projects like Conservapedia have had limited success largely because of editorial control and acceptance challenges.

All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Oyo State, Barrister Akeem Agbaje, says the call for power shift in 2027 can only succeed if there is an agreed rotational arrangement among all zones in the state.

Agbaje stated this while speaking on the Political Circuit programme on Fresh FM 105.9, Ibadan.

He said that while the demand for power shift to other zones was legitimate, it would require planning and broad consultations to achieve.

‘We need to be realistic about this agitation and I have always looked at it from two perspectives. The first one is that everybody, every zone, is entitled to contest to be governor. And I am not aware of any provision of the Constitution that prevents anybody from any zone of the state from aspiring or to contest.

‘The second perspective is that people think that because Ibadan has the number, that is why we take advantage to perpetuate ourselves in the governorship position and lord it over every other zone.

‘I think historically, that is not correct. Ibadan had been one of the largest populated cities since the thirties. Ibadan had been the regional capital since the thirties. And Ibadan did not get a meaning post until 1979, and that post was the Chief Judge. Every other post, despite the population of Ibadan, was occupied by people from other zones.

‘The governor was from Osun; deputy was from Osun. SSG, Head of Service were from Osun. Opposition Leader was from Ogbomoso. Ibadan only got Chief Judge, and being Chief Judge was based on seniority. So, the conception that Ibadan dominates because of its population is not historically correct. Ibadan had always had the population.

‘But in 1983, the consciousness came with ‘Omo wa ni e je o se’. But Ibadan did not just say ‘Omo wa ni e je o se’; they worked diligently, assiduously towards it until it was achieved. So, my take is that everybody; every zone is entitled to be governor of Oyo state.

‘There must be a defined approach to it. You can’t say, oh, we are entitled, we are entitled. You have to develop a process. The zone with the clearest agitation is Oke Ogun. And I tell them, though they don’t like it, that you have 10 local governments; Ogbomoso has 3 local governments. But Ogbomoso has presented senator for you consecutively. So, there has to be a conscious, deliberate effort by Oke Ogun zone to achieve this beautiful goal of presenting somebody that can win to become governor of Oyo state. They all have to work together. Ibadan alone has not presented a candidate. Ibadan works with other zones. So, we all have to work together.

‘But the easiest solution for me, is to let us have a rotational policy which will give everybody sense of belonging. But I think it is too early, not because I am an aspirant. It involves a lot of work. Ibadan worked very hard to become governor in 1983. Osun was dominating us, but we worked at it and to the glory of God, we got it,’ he said.

Agbaje also spoke on why the APC lost the 2023 governorship election and the recent House of Representatives by-election in Ibadan North, blaming the outcome on decisions made at the party’s national level.

He said, ‘Oyo APC lost the recent House of Representatives by-election to the PDP because, the leadership at Abuja imposed a candidate who was not a choice of the party in the state, on the party. For me, Abuja is our problem. Whatever data, whatever parameter they used, they feel they could impose candidate on us and win the election. I have told all that care that it can never happen in Oyo state. I can’t think of any other state that people will vote today in favour of a party, and two weeks later, violently vote against that same party. And Abuja still refuses to realize that we are different and we will always be different.

‘They came and imposed a candidate, and they thought they would win that election. Oyo state people have seen that message in 2019. They have seen the same message in 2023. So, Abuja has to learn that they should leave us alone to pick our own candidate. If we pick a candidate by ourselves, we know how we will make the candidate win the election.’

Youths from the Irekari axis comprising Idoani, Idogun, Imeri, and Afo communities in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State on Saturday staged a peaceful protest to express their frustration over the deplorable condition of roads and other decaying infrastructure in the area.

The protest, which began on Thursday, has continued for days as the demonstrators vowed to remain on the streets both day and night until government authorities address their grievances.

Armed with placards bearing various inscriptions such as ‘Fix Our Roads Now,’ ‘We Deserve Better,’ ‘No Development, No Peace,’ and ‘Irekari is Part of Ondo State,’ the protesters lamented years of neglect by successive governments despite their contributions to the state’s economy.

They condemned the alleged exclusion of the Irekari Local Council Development Area (LCDA) from the recently announced Operation Emergency Road Construction programme of the Ondo State Government.

While appealing to both the federal and state governments to urgently rehabilitate and reconstruct the roads to revive economic activities and safeguard lives, leaders of the protesting youths specifically called on Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to remember the axis in his developmental plans.

The youths also accused a marble company operating in Afo of worsening the condition of the roads through the movement of heavy-duty trucks. They urged the government to channel part of the taxes and royalties collected from the firm into road rehabilitation projects.

Beyond the issue of roads, the protesters decried the lack of electricity supply, dysfunctional health facilities, and the inactivity of the local magistrate court all of which they attributed to the poor road network discouraging workers and service providers from staying in the area.

They noted that good road infrastructure is essential for socio-economic development, as it facilitates the movement of goods and people, but lamented that Irekari communities have been largely cut off.

They pointed out that the two main access roads the Ipele-Idoani-Isua Federal Road and the Oba-Ikun-Afo-Idoani Road have deteriorated over the years, leaving commuters, including students and parents of the Federal Government College, Idoani, and the Navy Secondary School, Imeri, in excruciating pain.

They maintained that the worsening road conditions have crippled economic activities in the axis, as neither the state nor the federal government has responded to the community’s repeated pleas for intervention. Years of neglect, they said, have left the once-thriving communities as shadows of their former selves.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, one of the youth leaders, Mr. Sunday Akinsehinwa, said residents of the four Irekari communities have suffered untold hardship due to the poor state of the roads linking their towns to other parts of the state.

He added that economic activities have almost been crippled, while access to healthcare and education has become a daily struggle.

According to him, indigenes of the communities have resorted to self-help by contributing money to carry out remedial works, particularly on the Ipele-Idoani-Isua road, but their efforts have proven inadequate given the extent of the damage.

The ongoing protest, according to him, was triggered by the continued silence of the state government, especially Governor Aiyedatiwa, who had previously passed through the same route during a campaign visit to Idoani in October last year.

They also recalled that Deputy Governor Olayide Adelami travelled through the dilapidated Oba-Ikun-Afo-Idoani road earlier this year to attend an event in the area.

While appealing to the Federal and Ondo State Governments to urgently rehabilitate and reconstruct the roads to protect lives and revive economic activities in the LCDA, leaders of the protesting youths specifically appealed to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to remember the axis.

‘For many years, we have been abandoned. The roads from Idoani to Idogun and from Imeri to Afo are completely impassable. Farmers cannot take their produce to the market, and commercial drivers are avoiding our routes because of the terrible condition of the roads,’ he said.

Another protester, Miss Tinuola Adeoye, decried the lack of basic amenities in the area, including potable water, electricity, and functional healthcare centres.

She urged the state government to intervene urgently, saying the communities feel cut off from the rest of the state. ‘We are not asking for too much. We only want good roads, light, and schools that work. Our people are hardworking, but the neglect is killing our motivation,’ she said.

The protesters called on Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to visit the area and see firsthand the level of infrastructural decay, urging his administration to include the Irekari axis in ongoing rural development and road rehabilitation programmes across the state.

Meanwhile, efforts to get a reaction from the Ondo State Ministry of Works were unsuccessful as of press time, but a senior official who spoke off the record said the government was aware of the situation and that plans were underway to rehabilitate some critical roads in the Ose axis.

Responding to the development, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, said the state government was committed to addressing the situation as a matter of urgency once the rainy season subsides.

Ajanaku explained that the Irekari axis was discussed at the last State Executive Council meeting under the Operation Emergency Road Construction programme and expressed optimism that rehabilitation would soon commence on the Idoani, Idogun, Imeri, and Afo roads.

He added that both the federal and state roads serving the area had already been brought to the government’s attention and assured residents that the affected roads would soon receive attention.

However, the protesting youths remain sceptical, citing previous unfulfilled promises by successive administrations. They vowed to sustain their protest until tangible action is taken to address their demands.

Since her return from rehab, the delectable ex-wife of 2Face Idibia, Annie, appears to have found her rhythm again.

At a time when her former husband is battling controversy over his aborted London show, Annie chose a different path, one that speaks volumes without saying a word.

The actress took to Instagram to share a short video of herself grooving to music, exuding confidence and joy.

For many of her followers, it was a quiet but striking response to the noise surrounding 2Face’s latest troubles.

While social media has been abuzz with allegations, denials, and heated debates about why the London performance was postponed, Annie seemed intent on distancing herself from the chaos.

Her clip, filled with smiles and carefree vibes, sent a subtle message: she is moving on with her life and paying little attention to the storm.

The post drew warm reactions from fans who applauded her strength and praised her for refusing to be dragged into her ex’s current travails.

Others, however, were quick to link the timing of her video to 2Face’s controversy, suggesting it was a pointed way of showing that she has fully embraced life after their separation.

Annie, who has often been at the center of headlines due to her turbulent relationship with the singer, seems determined to chart a new course for herself.

Her latest post may not mention 2Face directly, but its timing and tone have been interpreted as her own way of reclaiming the narrative.

As a follow-up to earlier visits by a delegation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) towards establishing facilities to encourage the study of Science, Technical, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and skills development in public schools across the state, a team from the Agency has arrived the state to facilitate take-off of programme.

The Executive Chairman, Benue State Universal Basic Education Board( SUBEB), Dr. Grace Adagba, who conducted the delegation around selected pilot schools for the initiative to carry out research and survey, explained that the intervention was made possible through goodwill from the Agency which she said had identified the drastic revolution being implemented in basic education schools by the Governor Hyacinth Alia’s administration.

The SUBEB boss, according to a press statement by the board’s information officer, Emmanuella Akese, stated that the intervention which is targeted at improving learning environment in schools as well as facilitating STEM and vocational education, with particular focus on the girl child would further complement efforts by the government to reposition basic education schools.

Adagba thanked Governor Alia for his sustained support for the board and his vision to change the narrative of public schools and thanked the Japan International Cooperation Agency for the intervention.

The Commissioner for Education and Knowledge Management, Dr. Margaret Adamu in her remarks acknowledged the SUBEB chairman for resilience in attracting foreign investment in the education sector for the overall growth and development of the younger generation.

She assured the foreign donors of government’s commitment of providing the enabling environment for partnership and thanked the delegation for the willingness to invest in Benue’s education sector.

Consultant for the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Kenji Kawazoe who led the team of architects for the research and survey works said they were in the state for environmental assessment of the selected schools for determination of the appropriate facilities according to the needs of the beneficiaries.

The Programme Coordinator, Education and long-term training Programme for JICA, Stephen Nwanya emphasized that the grant aid project was interested in contributing to the growth of basic education with particular focus on Infrastructural design and construction, equipment support in ICT and vocational training to encourage STEM education.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency delegation team visited St Theresa ‘s Primary School Makurdi for the survey mission and is expected to travel to Otukpo to carry out research and survey at St Francis Primary School, Otukpo.

The schools are the selected pilot schools for the takeoff of the intervention programme.