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Former chairman of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chapter, Dr. Ifeanyi Ogbu, has been killed by suspected kidnappers, who abducted his three children afterward.

It was gathered that the gunmen stormed the deceased’s residence in Kubwa district, along the Kubwa-Kaduna road, on Friday night and abducted Ogbu alongside his three children.

They subsequently killed him and dumped his body by the roadside.

Dr Ogbu’s death was confirmed by one Andrew Gabriel Ikechukwu, via his Facebook page.

He wrote: ‘Dr. Ifeanyi Ogbu, the immediate past chairman of the NVMA FCT chapter, who was kidnapped alongside his three children from his home in Kubwa Abuja, was found dead.

‘The three children are yet to be released. May God please intervene.’

The late Ogbu, described as a dedicated professional, leaves behind a nursing wife among other bereaved family members.

Ogbu’s relatives remain distressed amid efforts to locate and rescue his three abducted children.

Colleagues and friends have expressed shock at the killing, describing it as a devastating loss to both his family and the veterinary profession.

The attack comes just a week after the killing of Somtochukwu Maduagwu, a journalist with Arise TV, who died during a robbery in Katampe, another area of Abuja.

Police authorities have yet to issue an official statement.

All calls and messages sent to the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh were not responded to.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has refuted reports quoting him as saying that the late former President Muhammadu Buhari was once nominated by the Boko Haram terrorist group to represent them in a dialogue with the federal government.

Jonathan, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser (Media and Public Affairs), Ikechukwu Eze, said his comments at the public presentation of Scars, a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, in Abuja on Friday, were ‘grossly misrepresented’.

The statement said: ‘The attention of the Office of Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been drawn to misleading reports circulating in sections of the media suggesting that Dr. Jonathan alleged that Boko Haram nominated the late President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to represent them in dialogue with the Federal Government, and therefore this made him somehow complicit in the Boko Haram crisis.

‘We wish to make it abundantly clear that the former President’s comments were grossly misrepresented. At no time did Dr. Jonathan suggest, imply, or insinuate that President Buhari had any connection with Boko Haram or that he supported the group in any form.

‘Dr. Jonathan’s remarks, made in the course of a broader discussion on Nigeria’s security challenges, were meant to illustrate the deviousness and manipulative strategies employed by Boko Haram in their early years.

‘His reference was to a well-documented episode when various individuals and factions falsely claimed to represent the terrorist group and purported to name prominent Nigerians as possible mediators: without those individuals’ knowledge or consent.

‘The point Dr. Jonathan sought to make was that Boko Haram, in its characteristic deceit, often invoked the names of respected public figures to sow confusion, exploit political divisions, and undermine public confidence in government.

‘His comments were therefore an illustration of the group’s duplicity, not an accusation against the late former president or any individual for that matter.

‘The former president’s position was that if indeed Buhari was their choice negotiator, why didn’t Boko Haram expeditiously bring their evil terrorist agenda to an end when the retired General became president?

‘For the avoidance of doubt, Dr. Jonathan recognises that President Muhammadu Buhari, like every patriotic Nigerian, stood firmly against terrorism and was himself a target of Boko Haram violence.

‘Both men, during their respective tenures, shared a common commitment to restoring peace and stability to Nigeria.

‘The Office of the Former President therefore urges the public to disregard any misinterpretation of his remarks.

‘Dr. Jonathan remains committed to peace, unity, and the strengthening of democratic values in Nigeria.

‘He believes that the nation’s progress depends on a truthful understanding of its challenges, not on the distortion of facts for political or sensational purposes.’

Jonathan had said at the book launch: ‘One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government.

‘So, I was feeling that oh, if they nominated Buhari to represent them and have a discussion with the government committee, then when Buhari took over, it could have been an easy way to negotiate with them and they would have handed over their guns.

‘But it (the problem) is still there till today.’

If you’re not born with a silver spoon, then you have to work twice as had to be successful because it is never easy to maintain success.

Poverty is a mindset; you have to wean yourself of it.

Leaders are readers, read; and also produce, only people who produced generate true wealth.

The above were some of the takeaways as various speakers addressed young girls midweek, as the Association for the Education of Young Girls held Girls Conference for young secondary school girls in Lagos.

Themed: Eliminating Poverty: Empowering Girls To Create Wealth With Their Hands and Skills, the event held at Anetta Event Center, FESTAC Town, Lagos.

Speakers include the convener, Mrs Juliet Keshinro, Executive Director, Association for the Education of Young Girls AEYC; Favour Igbinedion, Founder Makarios Empire; Esther Aiyelero, Founder, Esty Beauty Empire; Marvel Iwezue, Creative Director, Marv Media; Janet Asekhame, Founder Jane’s Unique Salon and Success Odulana, Founder Timcess Brand amongst others.

Speaking to The Nation, Keshinro said the event was organised to accommodate students in public schools, who have not had the opportunity of benefitting from their programmes. ‘The thing is that we’ve had summer booth Camp, and over the years, we’ve not had the opportunity of going to the public schools, because they don’t do anything during the summer break. So when we went to (the ministry) Alausa, they said we could not do it during the summer break; so we pushed it till September and you can see the outcome.

‘Today, we have 23 schools, with ten girls from each school. We wished to do more but we had to consider our purse.’

Speaking on the theme, Keshinro said, ‘Today’s theme centered on fighting poverty mentality. We want the girls to know that poverty is not when you don’t have money in your pocket, it is about mindset. So we came to create a mind shift in the girls today.’

Of the choice of speakers for the event, she said, ‘The speakers are all amazing. The interesting thing is that they all passed through Young and Pure, they passed through the Association for the Education of Young Girls. We have Janet, Favour, Success, Esther and Marvel. Marvel used to be my team lead. We also had Mrs. Omiyera, my amazing friend, the tailor, the designer; and of course, Mrs. Uzor, who always makes time for our event’.

On what she hoped to achieve with Girls’ Conference, she said: ‘It is always my dream that the girls go out and blaze trails, take the lead anywhere they go. I want these girls to take Nigeria to greater heights, because Nigeria is a great country, and if we talk to them and impact them, they would be impacted to affect everybody. At Association for the Education of Young girls, we impact, we educate, we empower and we advocate for the girl child.’

Mr. Ayinde Akorede, who represented the Tutor-General Permanent Secretary (TGPS) Education District V, Mr. Hassan Dauda Abiodun, commended the organisers of the event for a well thought out programme.

‘This is a unique event for the girl child. Imparting knowledge and teaching the girls how to comport themselves going forward and shaping their mindset against poverty is something well needed. From what I saw today, I can assure you that the ministry will always support the effort of Mrs. Keshinro. If you motivate the children of today, you are building tomorrow’s competent leaders, who will shape the society better. Kudos to Mrs. Kesh, this programme will go places, as the girls will take the message far and wide, to wherever they go.’

As a very critical part of her 65th birthday celebration, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, restructured the usual pomp that attend the birthday celebration of the political class as we know it. Rather than submitting herself to the numerous treats, felicitations and pageantries that would be sure to have been deployed to mark the auspicious occasion, she demanded that anyone who needed to celebrate her should focus their largesse on the furtherance of the National Library project, and possibly its final completion. And that appeal has generated a beautiful sum of N20b. This is all so grand, and noble but unusual. It is an unusual gesture because a member of the political class, rather than the government itself, is the one championing the resuscitation of the National Library project. Maybe it is the government by association, but then the gesture is not the result of an intentional and deliberate policy commitment that enable the government to connect the library to the larger goal of national development. How do we read this strange but commendable gesture into the overall development status of the Nigerian state?

The current state of the Nigerian National Library speaks tremendously to the possibilities and failures of the national development project in Nigeria. In many nations of the world, from the Library of Congress in the United States to the Bibliotheque de France and also the National Library, Singapore, the national library signals the single repository of books, manuscripts, orature, archival materials that connects cultural heritages, knowledge production programmes, critical ideas and paradigms, historical documentation and national memories. Adolf Hitler perfectly understands this fundamental significance of the knowledge base of any nation. And this is why, in a most pernicious manner during the Second World War, he ordered the massive destruction of books and materials that were considered to be subversive of, or even contrary to, the ideals of the German Third Reich project. And quite fortunately and pragmatic enough, the allied forced, led by the United States thought it significant and strategic to fight back by making the book resurgent from their crematorium.

This speaks to the indomitable spirit of ideas, ideals and knowledge that books embody. It is in this critical sense that books and library connect a state to not only its historical and cultural knowledges and heritages, but also signal the state’s willingness to project itself into the emerging knowledge and information society that ultimately define the progress and wealth of nations. Libraries connect reading and learning culture, the dynamics of literacy, educational projects, human capital development and the generation of ideas, as well as paradigms fashioned purposely for creative innovation and policies especially in sociopolitical, socioeconomic, development and governance contexts. Libraries therefore connect a state’s willingness to become a legitimate participant in the evolving fourth industrial revolution while also keeping alive its own credentials as an entity that keeps generating culturally and historically relevant knowledge.

Knowledge, ideas and books-indeed the entire educational structures-reinvigorate the ways a state keep reengaging its problems, challenges and the solution and resolution frameworks for understanding and undermining them. Education is the fundamental bedrock that instigates individual, collective and national enlightenment and progress. And this therefore ultimately connects not only with the creative policy intelligence that is enabled by the availability of knowledge preserved in libraries (especially as it denotes the repositories of global knowledge, ideas and paradigms), but also how leaders connect with these ideas and knowledge through what they read. When I wrote my op-ed piece on the reading habit of HE Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima, I opened up the possibilities for a nation that an enlightened leadership embodies.

Unfortunately, Nigeria does not have a national library. Or more precisely, the national library project that was formulated in 1981 has refused to materialize into a symbolic and concrete structural manifestation of Nigeria’s willingness to join the global knowledge society. The idea of the national library was muted in 1981, but it took the next twenty-five years for the idea to get an enabling contract in 2006. And yet forty-three years later, the structure remains a pipedream that refused to take off. And so, while it was all too easy to build the National Ecumenical Centre and the National Mosque within which the dilapidated library structure located, this significant element of Nigeria’s progress has remained uncompleted. This is simply just emblematic of the general institutional and structural dysfunctional experience that characterize the Nigeria Project right from independence to date. Knowledge production and the entire educational structure in Nigeria have faced significant limitations that derive from the myopic inability to connect development with an enlightened human development capital. There is also the tightrope of anti-intellectualism that the Nigerian political class has always been walking in its relationship with the institutions and structures of knowledge production and idea generation in Nigeria. The ongoing adversarial industrial relations between consecutive Nigerian governments and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over transforming universities into a significant force in nation building efforts in the state is a clear evidence of this a-developmental elite orientation.

All these dysfunctional issues are surprising given that the Nigerian state is very concerned about both her geopolitical status and credentials as a democratic and developmental state in the world-as the Giant of Africa-and also to achieve a stable and empowering economic growth that measurably improve the life prospect and economic lives of her citizens. However, efforts at making the lives of Nigerians better are usually concentrated on purely economic, econometric and macroeconomic indices of development. If reading and education come into reckoning, it is strictly to the extent that they are inescapable to the fruition of any particular human capital development policy. And yet, the quality of a nation’s human capital is measurable only to the extent of the place of an enlightened reading culture, symbolized by a functional and efficient library systems.

Thus, a state is instigated not only by the economic but also informational and educational resources at its disposal. In other words, the availability and the rate of access to the information resources and the extensive reading rate per capita are the development indices of a society. The number of published books, journals, libraries, readers, writers, translators and publishers of a country are all indices and fundamental criteria of its development. Extending the culture of studying and book reading, developing libraries, publications and distribution of books and utilizing these unrivaled cultural instruments are therefore the requirements and necessities of each society’s growth. This connects the functional and efficient library system to a reading culture that stimulate the young people into the consumption of ideas and paradigms that enable creative and critical thinking.

Building a Nigerian national library-that possibly will be replicated in all the states of the federation-signals a symbolic aspiration by the government to ground learning and reading as a key variable in the determination of the quality of the human capital that Nigeria needs for her development process. It also determines the quality of Nigeria’s democratic experiment founded on the enlightened status of the Nigerian citizenry. Thus, a lot is riding on Nigeria’s capacity to build a functional and efficient national library as a repository of local, national, regional and global experiences, histories, ideas, paradigms, ideals, perspectives and creative innovation. So, does it matter who lead the crucial initiative to jumpstart and crystallize the national library project as long as it is done? The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, saw what should be considered a national embarrassment, and responded to it while also ensuring that the gesture is funneled through government institutions, like the Federal Ministry of Education. Having woken up the nation from its slumber on this unarguably defining project with deep essence, it is now an all-stakeholder national challenge to get the noble gesture by the First Lady concluded and put into use. That seems like a long stretch given the forty-three years of policy and implementation inactivity. And I think we should all support this very unique and very ardent attempt to push a significant dimension of Nigeria’s development effort to bring to life what ought to have been alive and kicking many years ago.

However, whether we like it or not, the fact that it is an individual and not the government that is pushing for the realization of this project is an indictment of national proportion. One way to read this is that the National Library project is happening on the sideline of whatever consecutive Nigerian governments considered to be significant policy initiatives that aligned with development visions and implementation frameworks. But then, the redemption comes from the fact that the Nigeria Project, unlike the national library project, is a work in progress. And this allows for the government to pick up where there is any glaring historical and political failure and provide redemptive policy reclamation and reconstruction. I think this is the most important lesson that Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s gesture towards the National Library project has provided us. The government and other stakeholders cannot afford to have this project to remain at the individual level. This gesture has therefore become an instigator in terms of what the citizenry can do to push the government to implementing the general will. And this is even all the more crucial because it is coming from a bona fide member of the government itself. This then implies that the government is now instigating itself to action on behalf of the Nigeria Project.

Operating as a business concern in Nigeria is anything but pleasant as businesses confront obstacles across all fronts so much so that it takes more than courage, perseverance to survive in this terrain.

The foregoing was the submission made by Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the Founder/Chairman of Kresta Laurel Limited, Nigeria’s first indigenous escalator and elevator company.

He spoke in Lagos at the gala/award night ceremony to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the company.

The businessman, who is also the current senator representing Ogun West senatorial district, recalled that he was up against many hurdles but thanks to the support of friends and well-wishers including committed staff members the company was able to weather the storm.

With many achievements and credits under its belts, the company has remained a force to reckon with not only in Nigeria but across the continent and beyond, he said.

Speaking earlier, Dideolu Falobi, Managing Director, Kresta Laurel Limited alluded to the fact that ‘stubborn optimism’ has remained one of its driving force as a company.

Waxing philosophical, Falobi recalled that ‘Thirty-five years ago, Kresta Laurel Limited was not much more than a dream – a dream that Nigerian engineers could build a company that would stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world. Some friends thought we were too ambitious; some thought we were slightly crazy. In fact, one of them advised me to ‘stick to something small that won’t give me headaches.’ Well, 35 years later, I can confirm he was right about the headaches – but he was very wrong about the possibilities!

‘We began with modest resources but big faith, guided by values of quality, integrity, innovation, and service excellence. Those values have carried us through recessions, exchange-rate shocks, technology shifts, and even the occasional Lagos traffic jam that made us question our life choices. Yet here we are, 35 years stronger.

‘We see a future where Nigerian companies like ours are not just local champions but global players. A future where technology, sustainability, and indigenous expertise combine to transform our industries. A future where Kresta Laurel will not only be installing elevators but will also be helping to elevate Nigeria itself – in innovation, in skills, in industrial capacity, and in global competitiveness.

‘We intend to expand our footprint across sectors, pioneer renewable and environmentally friendly solutions, and continue to build the capacity of young Nigerian engineers. Because, as I always say, a country that does not invest in its engineers is a country that will keep importing even the bolts and nuts for its dreams.’

Expectedly, the occasion also afforded the opportunity for friends and associates of the businessman-turned-politician to pay him tributes.

In his goodwill message President Bola Ahmed Tinubu commended Kresta Laurel for its enterprise, discipline, noting that its longevity could only have come from resilience, effective management and sound business practices.

Going down memory lane, President Tinubu recalled the support provided by the company during his transition team in 1999, when he put together his technocratic cabinet, which took charge of Lagos affairs from May 1999.

The President further lauded Kresta Laurel for its support and unwavering belief in the Nigerian market, wishing him more success and many remarkable anniversaries.

Echoing similar sentiments, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu described the feat attained by Kresta Laurel as an incredible milestone.

‘Kresta Laurel has stood the best of times and that is why we are gathered here today to honour the strength, consistency, and the remarkable impact you have made over this past three and a half decades.

‘Attaining 35 years in business in Nigeria is no small feat. It is a tale woven with vision, courage, discipline and the steadfast commitment of those who believed in their mission. I can only imagine the hurdles faced along the way. ‘The influence of Kresta Laurel extends far beyond the company’s wall. Through your CSR initiatives, you have contributed to the growth of Lagos, created jobs, supported local businesses and demonstrated the power of commitment and innovation.’

In separate messages read on their behalf, Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development said the company has distinguished itself as a proudly renowned company and testament to the founder’s resilience, dogged commitment to the Nigerian dream and purpose, stressing that his staying power as an astute businessman was worthy of commendation.

Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Minister, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment [FMITI], lauded the former governor, describing him as a thoroughbred businessman who has continued to make the country proud as one of the staunch believers in the Nigerian project.

Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, said it was a celebration of a success story, achievement of 35 years contribution to the economy not just in Lagos but the county as a whole.

The roll call of dignitaries include Chief Femi Pedro, former deputy governor of Lagos state, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN), Chief Ayo Opadokun, Otunba Seni Adetu, former Managing Director/CEO of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, Chief Bisi Onsanya, former MD of First Bank, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, former Minister of State for Health, to mention just a few.

As part of the anniversary, Kresta Laurel hosted their Nigerian partners, clients and other stakeholders, at events in both Abuja and Lagos, an interactive program at which their foreign partners made presentations on their companies, products, latest innovations, etc.

TicketToHome.com, Nigeria’s first online platform dedicated to making affordable home ownership a reality, has delivered on its promise.

The company has officially announced Rebecca Afolabi with Ticket Code: 29e3-a458-6a6a-4422-9190 as the lucky winner of its maiden home giveaway-a 3-Bedroom, 2-Bath Apartment located at Iyana Bodija Express Road, Ibadan.

With just a N2,000 ticket purchase, Rebecca Afolabi now becomes the proud owner of a brand-new apartment, marking the successful conclusion of the first round of the TicketToHome.com initiative.

According to the company’s Managing Director, Mrs Abimbola Fawehinmi, the groundbreaking programme was created to bridge the housing gap in Nigeria and provide a transparent and fair opportunity for everyday Nigerians to become homeowners.

‘Today is proof that TicketToHome.com keeps its word. We promised to deliver, and we have delivered. Rebecca Afolabi’s win is only the beginning of many more success stories to come,’ said the TicketToHome.com management team.

The winner was announced live on AgidigboFM 88.7 in Ibadan, and the Host, Dr. Oriyomi Hamzat, placed a live call to the winner.

Rebecca stated that she bought the ticket for her child, but was very excited about the opportunity to win a home.

The company expressed deep appreciation to the thousands of participants who bought tickets in the first round and reassured them that more opportunities are on the way.

The next round of the TicketToHome.com home giveaway officially began at the weekend with ticket prices remaining at just N2,000.

By keeping ticket prices affordable, the platform ensures that more Nigerians have the chance to transform their dream of home ownership into reality.

Participants who did not win in the first round are encouraged to try again, while new entrants are invited to join this life-changing initiative.

‘This is not just about winning a home; it’s about hope, fairness, and trust. We are building a platform where every Nigerian can aspire to own a home, one ticket at a time,’ the company added.

This is not a review of former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Lucky Irabor’s book, ‘Scars: Nigeria’s journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum’. In the next one or two weeks, if not more, discussions on the book will in the meantime centre on the discourses of about four notable Nigerians who addressed issues in the book presented in Abuja last Friday. The review itself will come a little later, after Nigerians must have exhausted themselves examining the pontifications of the eminent quartet who declaimed on the Boko Haram menace. By inviting such high-profile personalities to the launching, the author probably suspected that he could be overshadowed, and some of the things the invitees said might be given more weight than the conundrums he tried to raise in his book. Authors are usually more finicky about facts and logic when writing books, probably because of their permanence, but flippant commentators often grandstand.

As he is accustomed at public functions which he has attended over the years since he left office, former president Olusegun Obasanjo is either the keynote speaker or chairman. He does not settle for less. Sometimes, he even combines the two roles by making ponderous assertions in both capacities, not because he plans it that way, but because the media end up attaching more significance to his statements. Fortunately for Gen. Irabor, though Chief Obasanjo chaired the public presentation, what he had to say, while significant and even weighty, did not overshadow the contributions of other notable speakers like former president Goodluck Jonathan, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar. Each of these eminent persons gave a good account of himself, dissecting Boko Haram and its leadership and objectives as well as taking potshots at succeeding administrations characterised as incapable of resolving the crisis which began in 2009 during the Umaru Yar’Adua presidency.

Chief Obasanjo’s opinion was predictably didactic. Though his view was not the most eloquent, paling by comparison with those of Dr Jonathan and the crossfire between Bishop Kukah and Sultan Abubakar, it merited significant attention for casting doubt on the competence and thoroughness of successive administrations, starting with the late President Yar-Adua. Recounting his trip to Maiduguri to interrogate the Boko Haram issue, he told his audience in Abuja on Friday that he established the existence of the group and all its attendant menaces, but wondered whether successive governments had taken pains to study and decode the phenomenon or whether they were active and proactive about tackling or smothering it. He concluded that he was uncertain Boko Haram was anything more than a socio-economic revolt instead of the long-held belief of its politico-religious beginnings. He also added that he was appalled by the fatalism of successive administrations, especially how they had resigned themselves to accommodating or coexisting with the terror group. The former president’s views are undoubtedly succinct, but it is doubtful whether his audience thought those views were also incontrovertible.

Despite not been the most convincing or salient, Dr Jonathan’s perspective seemed to have dominated the Saturday papers and even the social media. He insisted his administration did everything possible, both kinetic and non-kinetic, to defeat the rebellion, including setting up fact-finding teams and negotiating committees. All efforts, he said, went up in smoke. But it was when he made a passing remark about his successor’s lack of breakthrough in the counterinsurgency efforts that he stirred up a hornets’ nest. He whispered that he had thought ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, whom Boko Haram once nominated as their negotiator, would be more successful in tackling the rebellion because he presumably had their confidence. His successor’s lack of success, he concluded with some relief, if not self-justification, explained why he himself failed in resolving the crisis, adding that it all showed the intricacies and complexities of Boko Haram. Critics immediately lashed out at Dr Jonathan, accusing him of embracing and peddling falsehoods, when in fact, according to a former spokesman of the late president, Garba Shehu, Boko Haram leaders refuted their appointment of any negotiator.

The most interesting and probably spontaneous exchange took place between Bishop Kukah, the book reviewer, and Sultan Abubakar. The bishop had drawn a nexus between the Boko Haram rebellion and the opportunistic action of some northern elite who hid under the rebellion’s cover to advance political objectives. He insisted that regardless of whatever anyone says Boko Haram leaders knew their religious fundamentals and went warring under that flag. Without necessarily spelling it out clearly, the bishop subscribed to the well-known conclusion that a section of the northern elite did not seem to mind the ethnic and religious cleansing perpetrated by Boko Haram in its initial years. They in fact engaged in far-reaching conspiracy by embracing the rebellion and describing the insurgents as their sons who should not be massacred. But the sultan stoutly rose against both the nexus between the rebellion and political power as well as the insinuation that the North resented the Jonathan presidency. Islam or even jihad, the sultan argued, was not about killing others or violence, but about being better citizens, first and foremost. His view was almost coterminous with that of Chief Obasanjo who had downplayed the religious factor in the rebellion.

Both Bishop Kukah and Sultan Abubakar may ironically be right. What Boko Haram leaders did, particularly in its first five or so years, was to prosecute their cause under the banner of Islam. That exercise may be right or wrong, and the sultan has insisted it was wrong; but they did it anyway. So, when the sultan debunked the notion that Islam had a political side to it, especially in rousing the faithful to seize political power, he was theoretically right. And when the bishop also argued that Boko Haram used Islam as a pretext to make a bid for power, or caliphate as they called it, he was also right, regardless of the insurgents’ flawed interpretation of the Quran, and even regardless of the falsehoods they had promoted under the banner of Islam. It is indeed interesting that the mask is now off, as no Boko Haram leader continues to fight under the banner of Islam. After being massively degraded over the years, Boko Haram, together with its more violent, well-funded, and ideological cousin, ISWAP, is now all about caliphate.

What is incontestable, as the book presentation reflected, is that the rebellion was difficult to categorise in its early years, just as a section of the northern elite also seemed to have misjudged the rebellion and reposed hope in its violent methods which they erroneously but privily thought would help birth the theocracy of their boyish fancies. The deception went on for years until the rebellion began to consume its own children, while the commentators also agreed that till today the country has not yet understood the dynamic of the rebellion. They are right. To assume that poverty alone could generate the uprising witnessed in Boko Haram, as Chief Obasanjo seemed to suggest, may be inaccurate. Yes, there is alienation in the country, and indeed Nigeria, by the actions of successive administrations, has proved alienating. But far more than poverty, the chief cause of alienation is arguably the misshapen structure of the federation which promotes inefficiency, disconnection, and ethnic and religious conflicts that keep morphing hideously. As a matter of fact, just as Boko Haram rebellion in the Northeast seemed to be weakening, banditry in the Northwest began gathering momentum; and worse, that second rebellion is slowly spreading southward.

In the coming weeks, it will be clear whether Gen. Irabor did a fine job of capturing the major issues surrounding the Boko Haram rebellion, and whether his prognosis stands any chance of convincing anyone. But judging from the four or so discourses the newspapers copiously reported yesterday, it is unclear that the four speakers or successive administrations have fully understood the hows and the whys of the rebellion. They are just beating around the bush. Dichotomising the approaches to dealing with the rebellion to kinetic and non-kinetic measures, in addition to the questionable prognoses of forgiving and rehabilitating so-called former militants at extraordinary costs to the public, show that no rigour has gone into formulating the responses to Boko Haram or banditry, or any of the urgent security challenges the country has faced in recent years.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday, reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to fairness among Nigeria’s diverse religious communities, pledging to unite the country under a shared vision of peace and prosperity.

Speaking at the headquarters of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Jos, Plateau State, President Tinubu told Christian leaders from Northern Nigeria that his government is dedicated to ensuring justice and inclusivity for all citizens regardless of faith.

According to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the President said: ‘I have a mission to unite this country, ensure its prosperity, and we are making progress.’

He urged clerics to have faith in his leadership, adding that religious harmony remains essential to national stability.

‘As leaders, we have the responsibility to manage religious issues for the benefit of all,’ he added.

President Tinubu also assured the gathering that his administration is determined to end insecurity and criminality.

‘We are defeating bandits, and we will defeat them. We will deal with them and combat the farmers-herders clashes,’ he declared, noting that ongoing economic reforms are being executed to benefit every Nigerian.

The President was in Jos to attend the funeral prayers for Nana Lydia Yilwatda, mother of the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who died at the age of 83.

Paying tribute to the late matriarch, Tinubu described her as ‘a devoted mother and humanitarian.’

‘In our family, we have a strong Muslim background, and I married a Christian, a pastor for that matter, and I have never forced her to change her religion,’ the President said, stressing his belief in mutual respect and coexistence.

He recalled his political journey through Jos during the Social Democratic Party (SDP) era and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to return as President to honour the late Mrs. Yilwatda.

In his remarks, Prof. Yilwatda described his late mother as a resilient woman who lived on medication for 47 years yet worked tirelessly for her family and community.

He thanked the President for attending the funeral and for the trust reposed in him as APC chairman.

Reverend Dr Amos Mohzo, President and Spiritual Leader of COCIN, lauded President Tinubu for appointing Northern Christians to key national positions, including Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator George Akume and Prof. Yilwatda.

He also praised the administration’s attention to insecurity in Plateau and Benue states and appealed for more support for displaced Christian communities.

Mohzo pledged the Church’s support for the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda and his efforts towards peace and national development.

L-R: Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu; Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau; Speaker House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; and President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio; at the funeral service in honour of late Mama Lydia Yilwatda Goshwe, mother of the National Chairman of the APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, at the Church of Christ in Nation, Jos, Plateau State, yesterday.

Dignitaries at the event included Senate President Godswill Akpabio; Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman; National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu; Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.

Others were former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha, former governors Tanko Al-Makura, Adamu Mu’azu, Fidelis Tapgun, Yahaya Bello and Rochas Okorocha, as well as lawmakers, ministers, and members of the APC National Working Committee.

Tinubu’s reception during visit shows he’s admired – Ex-Plateau Deputy Speaker

A former deputy speaker Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan, yesterday expressed deep appreciation to the citizens, members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for trooping out en masse to welcome President Tinubu to Plateau State.

Hon. Hassan, who also chaired the Mobilisation Committee for the event, said the massive turnout and the enthusiasm that kept Jos agog demonstrated that Tinubu remains admired by the people.

He made the assertion while fielding questions from journalists amidst cheering crowds at the Secretariat Junction flyover.

‘We are indeed thrilled by the peaceful and orderly conduct exhibited by the people of Plateau State, members, and APC supporters during the funeral visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

‘We are also grateful to Mr. President for deeming it important to accord our mother a befitting state burial in recognition of her contributions to nationhood,’ Baba Hassan said.

He stressed that from the gestures of the President, they were sure that he was also happy with the warm reception.

‘Right on arrival at the airport, coming through the major ways to the church, we noticed that our President was happy, and on behalf of the mobilisation committee that I chaired, we are happy,’ he said.

He further assured that Plateau State will reciprocate President Tinubu’s gesture in the 2027 general elections.

Increasingly, Nigerian dramatists, playwrights and writers are turning stories of some important personalities, dead and alive, into stage plays. Some of these stories have become epics already. Some have been staged several times on stage. Some are still in the works. But what is important is that, through these stories, history is being made; some people key into them to learn new lessons about how to live outstanding life that benefit the society.

Recently, Makinde Adeniran, the president of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) was commissioned to produce a play on Moses Orimolade. Orimolade is the founder of Cherubim and Seraphim Christian Movement in Nigeria. Adeniran, a thorough-bred theatre art practitioner spared no time to set out to the core of the story. At the moment, the story is being cooked, the play is on for rehearsals and will be staged soon enough. He speaks to The Nation on the perspectives of the life and times of this wonderful servant of God that has so inspired and energized him the most.

He says: ‘The story, even though it is the story of Moses Orimolade but the title is going to be Baba Aladura. The reason for this title is not far to seek. The story is an important one, chronicling the stories of religion, the movement of this type of Christian religion in Nigeria. They came before Pentecostalism in Nigeria. Pentecostalism is not the beginning of firebrand Christian movement in Nigeria. No, it is not. Orimolade actually came out before all this religious movements to form C and S. Even before then, there was Ayo Babalola which is CAC. Even the Redeemed Christian Church of God came after these ones. So the Orimolade we are talking about here can be said to be one of the earliest pioneers of this Christian movement. His stories strike us so much. The history is relevant. Therefore, what is happening now is that the sponsors, all members of Cherubim and Seraphim are celebrating the one hundred years of the foundation of this church movement and what Orimolade passed through and was able to achieve so much as a prophet and servant of God’.

He goes on: ‘He called it movement, the C and S movement. Yes, they refer to it as one of the biggest in Nigeria. So, they approached me to first and foremost put the story together. They gave me the research materials and what they felt were the main issues I had to consider in the process of the research. With my own bits of research here and there, I have been able to pick some salient information necessary to make the story quite exciting on stage. And I am quite fascinated about the dossier on him. He lived a remarkable, indeed, powerful spiritual life as a prophet of God.’

According to Adeniran who is also the director of the play, Moses Orimolade’s story was a common story. ‘I refer to it as a common story. You have to see it from that common view to be able to evaluate and appreciate what he did and passed through to be a huge success in his mission. It is by this way, you can see the uniqueness of his calling and how he went about it. He is someone who came from one of the greatest Babalawo families in Ikare, Ekiti State. According to his story, when they gave birth to him, in fact before he was born, he was already talking in his mother’s womb. It was strange but this is the story. In fact, he later became disabled. He was not born with any deformity. No. As soon as he was born, he began to walk’.

Adeniran says further, ‘This infuriated his father who ensured something was done to slow him down. The father felt this abnormal tendency was a total disgrace to the family and he needed to protect the family name.` As he grew up, so many things happened that took him out of Ikare. At a point, the journey also led him into evangelism in parts of South west. In his journey he was known to have been to Benin and so many other places. Thereafter, he ended on Lagos Island where he joined the Baptist Church or so. He was there and all sorts of politics began to take place. You know church is where you play the highest level of politics’.

The story, henceforth, became more intriguing, more engaging. In the words of Adeniran ‘All kinds of politics set in from this moment. Orimolade was just a member of a church who liked to pray, he prayed all the time. He loved consistent, fervent and powerful prayers. Leaders of the church at that time then felt he was taking over their position and power and authority. He could turn evil to good easily through his prayers. Others were not comfortable with this. For me, and from a bit of research there have been only two people who have such power. Two powerful men of God who were able to stop the surging of Lagos beach along Victoria Island. The beach almost took over Lagos. These are Celestial and Cherubim. And recently I did that of Cele’.

Moses Orimolade stopped the beach from overrunning the whole of Lagos. He did it in a very miraculous way through prayer. ‘The Governor-General then who incidentally was a white man and all the chiefs in Lagos did not know what to do. As the ocean surged on and on, fear held everyone. Every day more houses, more roads and more lives were lost to the ocean surge. And then came Orimolade with his prophetic power. They had heard about him. So, they went to him to intercede. And Moses Orimolade came and the beach receded. It happened so fast and sudden that even the white man was shocked, surprised. He called on God to stop it. And God heard him and answered his prayer’.

Adeniran is not done yet. ‘It is true. This happened and God is always at work in the lives of His chosen ones. The Queen of England was sick at a time, very sick. They thought she could die of the sickness. So they sent for him. He told them not to worry that the Queen would recover. As he said it and he prayed and not quite an hour later, they sent a telegram that the Queen had recovered. These are the stages of his life as a man of God. But you know, it is drama now. It is a stage thing and we have to bring them all into acting. The stages of his life would be made believable. Thespians would have to see how the stage characterization would add life to all these deeds and events in the history of one man whose prayers did the impossible’.

In other words, the play would be situated to touch on what common life Orimolade lived for the sake of the kingdom of God on earth and through which he also lived a common life for humanity, for the sake of evangelism and evangelization. The ones he did were so strange that even as of today many doubters still find it difficult to believe that those deeds were possible. Yet some of those more difficult spiritual exploits were performed by Elisha, Elijah and some more prophets. Even Peter did one at the gate of Solomon’s temple, when he made the lame to work by the name of Jesus.

The director is still a bit aloof from it all. He said ‘the one at the beach still shocks me. I held on to only that of Tinubu. It was the only one I saw in my generation. You know what I am saying. I am a spiritual person myself and I believe truly that God can give power for us to move the earth. We have the power to command the beach, yes. It is only God that can give you that power. You can not acquire it. Any time however you see someone with such power, well, he has another strong power. So it is part of his CV. He kept telling people that I stopped the bar beach in Lagos. That means there is hand of God on that person. And we have to be more careful with that sort of person.’

So the play would espouse all these and more. The espousal will become a thriller on stage. The characters are ready to give the scenes their best shots ever to allow for more revelations to subsist on stage. The story is an interesting one because the producers do not want it to be a religious piece. But it has to be a play anchored on the general things of life revolving around one man and what he did to effect the desired changes in the society. People have to have learn from it. What happened before can still happen today. So, we all can go back to the days of these old guys to learn to live cleaner, saner and more positive life that changes things from bad to good. They want the story as simple as that so that irrespective of your denomination you learn from it.

The Kingdom Achievers Awards (KAA) Nigeria’s premier platform celebrating excellence among Christian creatives, recently unveiled plans for its highly anticipated fourth edition, scheduled for November 9th at the Muson Centre in Lagos.

The event will blend red-carpet glamour with uplifting tributes, fostering a space where creativity meets conviction.

In a statement issued by the founder of KAA, Sam Adejo said that since its first event in 2022, the Kingdom Achievers Awards has transformed into a cornerstone of Nigeria’s cultural calendar, spotlighting talents who blend spiritual depth with artistic prowess across business, music, fashion, writing, and music videos, content creation and more.

He noted that the third edition last year lit up social media with massive engagements, as attendees and viewers tuned in to honour trailblazers reshaping the Gospel creative landscape.

He promised that this year’s event would eclipse previous ones in scale and spectacle. ‘Expect deeper dives into emerging talents, interactive sessions on faith in the arts, and partnerships that amplify voices from across Nigeria’s industry. The buzz is already electric, fans are clamouring for details on nominations, performances, and surprise guests,’ Sam Adejo, founder of KAA, briefly shared.