Atiku seeks release of five persons arrested over ‘Tinubu Must Go’ shirts in Borno

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called for immediate release of five Nigerians reportedly arrested in Borno State over T-shirts bearing the inscription ‘Tinubu Must Go’.

Reacting on Wednesday through the Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said if a political slogan is the reason for their detention, authorities should explain how wearing a shirt became offence.

He said President Bola Tinubu previously joined protests against fuel price increase under former President Goodluck Jonathan, and Nigerians should be allowed to express views on current economic realities.

Atiku said the slogan ‘Tinubu Must Go’ is demand for political change and should not be treated as criminal act.

He called on authorities to disclose the whereabouts of detainees, grant them access to families and lawyers, and release them if the slogan is the basis for their arrest.

‘Tinubu was free to tell Jonathan that his policies were hurting Nigerians. Nigerians must be free to tell Tinubu that his policies are hurting them. Release these five citizens now,’ he said.

Four kidnap convicts face death as Edo special court delivers landmark verdict

FOUR suspected members of a kidnapping gang have been sentenced to death by hanging by an Edo State High Court sitting in Benin City, in a landmark judgment that has placed the state’s specialised criminal justice system under national spotlight.

The judgement, delivered by Justice Aigbona Terry Momodu, of the Edo State Special Criminal Court, followed the trial of the defendants over the broad-daylight abduction of a woman at Vegetable market, along Airport Road, Benin, on June 14.

The convicts: Marvellous Isaac, 32; Wisdom Michael, 36; Rufus Emete Michael, 30; and Gift Raphael, 27, were prosecuted on an 11-count charge arising from allegations of kidnapping and other related offences.

However, hours after the judgment, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Notary Public, Olayiwola Afolabi, cautioned Governor Monday Okpebholo against taking any step towards executing the convicts until the expiration of the period allowed by law for them to exercise their right of appeal.

Afolabi said the governor could not lawfully order the execution of the convicts immediately, stressing that they should first be allowed to pursue whatever appellate remedies are available to them.

‘The governor cannot order execution of the convicts. It is only when they fail to file an appeal within the required 90 days,’ Afolabi said, adding that he expected the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Roland Otaru, to advise the governor appropriately.

The development has, therefore, shifted the significance of the judgment beyond the punishment handed down to the convicts, raising broader questions about the balance between speedy criminal justice, deterrence of violent crime and the constitutional safeguards available to persons convicted by the courts.

The prosecution, led by Otaru, called seven witnesses during the trial, while the defence did not call any witness.

The court also admitted several exhibits, including alleged confessional statements, a Lexus RX 350 SUV, a pump-action firearm, ammunition, a mobile phone and other materials tendered by the prosecution.

The prosecution’s case was linked to the June 14 abduction, when armed men allegedly attacked a vehicle at the busy Vegetable market and abducted the woman in the presence of her husband and children.

The incident generated public concern and triggered a police investigation.

According to evidence earlier presented before the court, investigations allegedly connected the Lexus SUV to other kidnapping incidents, while the arrest of Isaac on June 18, reportedly led to the recovery of the vehicle and other exhibits.

The prosecution subsequently linked the other defendants to the alleged criminal enterprise.

In his judgment, Justice Momodu found the defendants guilty on various counts, although the sentences differed according to the counts on which each was convicted.

Isaac was sentenced to seven years on one count, 10 years on another and life imprisonment on another, in addition to the death penalty on several kidnapping counts.

Michael was discharged and acquitted on counts 10 and 11, but convicted on other counts.

Rufus Michael received seven years on count one and the death sentence on applicable kidnapping counts, while he was discharged and acquitted on several other counts.

The only female defendant, Gift Raphael, was discharged and acquitted on several counts, but received seven years imprisonment on count one and death sentences on specified kidnapping counts.

The judgment followed months of proceedings at the specialised court established to handle kidnapping, cultism and other violent-crime cases, with the prosecution earlier closing its case after calling seven witnesses.

The case had attracted particular attention because of the alleged brazen nature of the June 14 abduction and the decision to prosecute it before a specialised criminal court.

The court’s determination is consequently being viewed against the wider national challenge of ensuring that kidnapping cases do not languish for years before judgment is delivered.

Afolabi’s intervention has, however, brought the appellate process to the centre of the debate, underscoring that a conviction and sentence at the trial court do not necessarily mark the end of the judicial process.

Meanwhile, Barrister Jude Okonkwo commended Justice Momodu for what he described as a sound judgment and for the effort invested in the trial.

The case is expected to remain a major reference point in the assessment of Edo’s specialised approach to the prosecution of kidnapping cases, particularly as the state seeks to combine swift adjudication with adherence to due process and the rights of convicted persons.

PWDs demand inclusion in oil-host community benefits in Bayelsa

Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in Bayelsa State have demanded inclusion in benefits accruing to oil-host communities under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

The PWDs made the demand during a visit to King Wapaebiama Amakiri, of Obhal-Emeyal Clan, in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.

Speaking during the visit, coordinator of the group, Mr Philip Godfrey, noted that PWDs had been excluded from the benefits of the Host Community Development Trust Fund (HCDTF).

Godfrey said there had been no Act obligating their inclusion in the benefits accruing to host communities.

He commended the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) and Ford Foundation for making the advocacy movement possible.

Godfrey said PWDs, notwithstanding the provisions of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, on their inclusion in all facets of Nigerian society, had consistently been excluded, discriminated against and disconnected from community benefits.

He observed that pollution did not discriminate against anyone, adding that it affected PWDs more than able-bodied persons.

The coordinator said PWDs had been excluded for too long and that it was not supposed to be so.

He said the Disability Law had created opportunities for PWDs to make their voices heard.

According to him, PWDs should benefit from oil exploration because some of them came from oil-producing communities and suffered the effects of pollution.

‘PWDs are not feeling among; if we are feeling the pain, we should also feel the benefits of oil exploration because some of us also come from oil-producing communities,’ he said.

Responding, Amakiri said the world had come to recognise that disability did not mean incapacitation, adding that PWDs were disabled but capable.

He said the setbacks associated with disability should no longer be used as a disadvantage against persons living with disabilities.

He said gone were the days when PWDs were regarded as beggars on the streets, but now they could contribute meaningfully to societal development.

Amakiri said that if given the opportunity, PWDs could contribute meaningfully to the development of society.

On the PIA issue, he said he would discuss it with fellow traditional rulers in charge of oil-producing communities in the clan.

He said they would deliberate on the issue at their meeting, noting that oil pollution affected both able-bodied persons and PWDs.

Nigeria and China: The price of an unwritten trade compact

‘Chinese must go,’ they chanted at the Lagos Trade Fair Complex, marching past warehouses that Chinese hands built on Nigerian soil, selling to Nigerian consumers at prices Nigerian retailers could not match. I understood the ache beneath those placards long before I could agree with the demand written on them. A trader who watches his customers walk past his stall to a Chinese-owned shop selling the very goods he imports, at a price he cannot beat because he is buying retail what the Chinese seller is producing wholesale, is not merely losing a sale. He is watching the floor give way beneath a life’s work.

Every functioning economy operates on an unwritten rule; a foreign hand is welcome to build what it likes, but not to occupy every rung of the ladder at once. Capital may enter as investor, as manufacturer, as partner, what it must not do, in any country that intends to keep an economy of its own, is enter at every level simultaneously, until the domestic trader has no rung left to stand on. That rule, more than any slogan chanted along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, is the frame this moment demands.

Let me be honest about what Chinese capital has actually given us. Chinese manufacturing investment has put finished goods like textiles, building materials, plastics, electronics, within the reach of Nigerian households who could never have afforded the imported originals. It has created factory-floor employment in places our own industrialists abandoned decades ago. It has poured capital into a country that international finance treats as radioactive, and it has done so at a scale our anaemic domestic investment climate has not matched in a generation. Ibn Khaldun taught that dynasties, and by extension economies, rise on the asabiyyah of those willing to build where others hesitate. China’s traders and manufacturers came to Nigeria willing to build. That is not a problem.

But willingness to build is different from willingness to share what is built, and this is where the second question answers itself in the traders’ own testimony. Ask whether Chinese presence sharpens Nigerian competitiveness or erodes it, and the honest answer is both, depending entirely on where along the value chain the foreign hand is allowed to sit. A Chinese factory that sells to a Nigerian wholesaler, who sells to a Nigerian retailer, who sells to the Nigerian consumer, disciplines every link in that chain toward efficiency, that is competition doing its proper work. A Chinese factory that skips every Nigerian hand in that chain and sells directly off its own shop floor to the same consumer is not competing with the Nigerian trader. It is replacing him, using capital and manufacturing scale no indigenous retailer can match on his own terrain. The Trade Fair protesters were not confused about this distinction; they drew it themselves, insisting they welcomed their Chinese neighbors in business but objected to a wholesaler becoming a retailer inside the very market built for Nigerian traders.

Is disrupting the middleman chain itself the sin, then? I do not believe it is, and I will not pretend otherwise to flatter aggrieved traders. Middlemen who exist only to extract a toll, adding cost without adding value, deserve no protection from competition, our consumers have carried that burden long enough, and cheaper access to goods is a legitimate good in a country where inflation has already stolen so much from the ordinary household. The question a nation must ask is not whether disruption is permitted, but who is doing the disrupting and under what rules. A Nigerian entrepreneur who builds a more efficient distribution model and undercuts inefficient middlemen is national progress. A foreign manufacturer who uses its home government’s financing, its access to raw materials at source, and its exemption from the frictions an indigenous competitor faces daily, to do the same thing, is not competition in the sense our economic policy should welcome without conditions. The playing field must be level before we celebrate the disruption as virtue.

Which brings me to the question that ought to trouble us more than any placard at the Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association: Are we building industrial capacity, or are we simply becoming a market and an assembly floor for capacity that will always belong to someone else? Fanon warned us about the comprador arrangement, a local elite and a foreign capital class transacting comfortably above the heads of a population that gains employment but never ownership, wages but never the means of production. Chinese factories on Nigerian soil, absent a deliberate technology-transfer and local-content policy, risk becoming exactly that arrangement in new clothing; we supply the land, the labor, and the consumer market; they supply the capital, the machinery, and the intellectual property, and repatriate the profit. Ubuntu teaches that I am because we are; that prosperity is relational, built in common.

An investment relationship that enriches one party’s technological future while leaving the other permanently dependent on the next shipment from Guangzhou is not that kind of relationship. It is extraction wearing the language of partnership.

So, what should our government be doing, beyond issuing statements after each protest video reaches a million views? First, enforce, not merely legislate the distinction between wholesale and retail trade that our investment law already contemplates; a foreign manufacturer’s shop floor is not the same jurisdiction as a Nigerian trader’s market stall, and the line between them should not depend on which side has better lawyers. Second, tie every major foreign manufacturing license to enforceable local-content and technology-transfer obligations, with real penalties for non-compliance, not the toothless memoranda we have signed before. Third, finance and insure Nigerian-owned manufacturing and distribution at the scale we have made available to foreign capital, because we cannot demand indigenous competitiveness from businesses we have starved of the credit that makes competitiveness possible. Fourth, professionalize and empower our trade associations as partners in market governance, so that the next grievance is resolved in a regulatory office rather than a viral video of traders threatening a Chinese national’s shop.

And to the question every Nigerian should now be asking: at what point does foreign investment become economic dependence? I will answer it plainly. Investment becomes dependence the moment we can no longer imagine producing, financing, or innovating without the foreign hand present at every stage, the moment our industrial policy consists of gratitude rather than negotiation. It becomes dependence when the technology never transfers, when the profit never recirculates, when the jobs created are permanently junior to jobs reserved elsewhere, and when our own capital markets remain too shallow to fund an indigenous alternative even if one wished to rise. South Korea and Japan both took foreign capital and foreign machinery in their formative decades; what they refused to take indefinitely was foreign control of the rungs above their own industries. Investment remains partnership for as long as it keeps building a ladder, we can eventually climb ourselves. The moment it becomes the only ladder there is, with no rung reserved for the builder standing beneath it, partnership has already become something else.

Nigeria does not need to choose between xenophobia and surrender. We need an industrial policy with a spine, one that welcomes Chinese capital as we should welcome any capital willing to build here, while insisting, without apology, that the shop floor remains Nigerian, and that the reach of any hand, foreign or domestic, ends precisely where our sovereignty begins.

Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, a former Ondo Commissioner for Information, is Director of New Media and Corporate Services for All Progressives’ Congress (APC)

Embrace AI, don’t fear it, governors tell teachers

Teachers should embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool for better education, not fear it as a threat, speakers said yesterday at the 59th National Conference of Delegates of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Enugu.

Themed: ‘The Deployment of Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Education Will Erode the Place of Teachers in the Classroom: A Myth or Reality?’, the conference held at the International Conference Centre.

Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, said AI could help teachers prepare lessons, personalise learning and identify gaps, but could not replace human qualities. ‘The future is therefore not teacher versus technology. The future is teacher with technology,’ he said.

He said Enugu had spent over 33 per cent of its budget on education across three budget cycles, recruited 6,850 teachers and other staff, and was building Smart Green Schools in its 260 wards. He called for ethical standards, data protection and continuous training for teachers.

The keynote speaker, Prof. Steve Nwokeocha of the African Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities, agreed that the fear was real but should be met with adaptation and professional development. ‘Computers will not replace teachers, but teachers who use computers will replace those who do not use them,’ he said.

Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris, a former NUT national president, said his administration owed no salaries, pensions or gratuities. He said it had absorbed over 5,000 professionals into the permanent civil service to end casualisation, and built, renovated or furnished more than 2,000 schools. He said he extended teachers’ years of service from 35 to 40.

The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Aisha Garba, said technology should complement teachers. She said UBEC had established 37 Smart Model Schools and 74 Digital Learning Centres.

The NUT National President, Comrade Audu Titus Amba, called for more funding, better welfare and stronger protection of schools against insecurity. He named poor pay, teacher shortages, dilapidated infrastructure, underfunding, insecurity and the digital divide as the main challenges.

N550m defamation suit: Hearing stalls as Ohakim amends defence

The hearing in the N550 million defamation suit filed by Senator Chris Anyanwu against former Imo State Governor Ikedi Ohakim stalled on Monday after the ex-governor amended his statement of defence midway through the proceedings.

The case, before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Jabi, Abuja, could not proceed to the planned cross-examination of the claimant’s witness, Dr Joyce Ejukonemu, because both parties needed to regularise their court processes.

Anyanwu’s counsel, Adekunle Kosoko, told the court that he had filed a motion seeking to regularise the claimant’s reply to Ohakim’s amended statement of defence.

Counsel to Ohakim, Ken Njemanze (SAN), said the defence needed time to examine the document the claimant filed in response to the amended defence.

In paragraphs 7 and 9 of his amended statement of defence, Ohakim denied writing, uttering, publishing or causing the publication of the statements complained of by Anyanwu.

The former governor also denied granting the interview attributed to him in a national newspaper on January 12, 2025, which formed the basis of Anyanwu’s suit.

Ohakim further alleged that Anyanwu ‘concocted and issued a press statement’ to institute the action.

The suit followed comments attributed to Ohakim in an interview published by The Nation in January 2025 concerning Anyanwu and her memoir, ‘Bold Leap.’

In her amended reply, Anyanwu denied the allegations contained in Ohakim’s amended defence and maintained that the statements complained of were defamatory and published maliciously.

She particularly disputed the alleged claim that she had written an apology to the late former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and that she relied on military connections during her political career.

According to Anyanwu, Ohakim claimed that an apology letter existed and promised to publish it, but failed to do so.

The court subsequently adjourned the matter to allow the parties to regularise and respond to the relevant processes before the hearing can continue.

Anyanwu further alleged that the statements were made to damage her reputation and secure political advantage. These allegations remain matters for determination at trial.

She also stated that Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation, had apologised to her both privately and publicly over the publication.

Anyanwu maintained that Bold Leap was an account of her life and experiences and denied defaming Ohakim in the memoir.

Ohakim, however, denied that the complained-of statements were defamatory. His amended defence also challenged the suit’s competence and contended that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it.

The defence further denied several assertions Anyanwu made about her political and professional career and indicated that the issues would be contested at trial.

The claimant’s witnesses, including Dr. Ejukonemu, were in court on Monday. Her cross-examination, which was expected to proceed, was deferred following the interlocutory application.

The case has been adjourned until November 4 to continue the trial.

Tinubu has improved security coordination between FG, states – Kogi Govt

The Kogi State Government says President Bola Tinubu’s administration has significantly improved security coordination between the Federal Government and states in the last three years.

The State Security Adviser, retired Cdr Jerry Omodara, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Lokoja Abuja.

Omodara said Tinubu met a federal security system already in place, but brought in security experts and ordered a comprehensive review of emerging security challenges facing the country.

According to him, the review has led to a clearly defined national security architecture that allows sub-national and federal security agencies to work hand in hand.

‘The administration of Gov. Ahmed Ododo has aligned itself with this federal arrangement and it has enhanced security operations in Kogi.

He noted that no two states have the same security dynamics, adding that Kogi designed its own local architecture based on its geographical location and topography, while working with federal agencies.

The security adviser revealed that the state had established an intelligence base in each of its 239 wards..

He also said that the state was also using hunters, vigilantes, professional hunters and the newly recruited forest guards to secure forest corridors and communities.

‘The major advantage under Tinubu is the policies and collaborative joint clearance operations where local security operatives are embedded with the Army, Navy, Police and Department of State Services (DSS),’ he said.

He added that the state applied both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches in tackling insecurity in the state.

According to him, the kinetic approach involves clearance operations, forest patrols and raids, while the non-kinetic involves tracing the roots of criminals who migrated from other states and offering them a window to surrender.

‘We don’t negotiate with bandits. We offer them opportunity to surrender from a position of strength, to allow farmers to farm for food security, schools to be safe and market women to move freely.’

Omadara also said that in some instances, the state government blocked roads, markets and motor parks in areas where bandits have strongholds, particularly in Kogi West Senatorial District, cutting off their access to food and highways.

He said that the state was not at the mercy of kidnappers and emphasised that government would continue to go after those who refuse to lay down their arms.

On recruitment, he said that Tinubu had strengthened the manpower of security agencies, which had enabled Kogi to reopen police stations closed for 10 to 15 years due to lack of personnel and logistics.

He described as a major milestone the establishment of a common platform where the 36 State Security Advisers now meet regularly with the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, to share intelligence, successes and challenges.

‘I was Security Adviser under former governor Yahaya Bello, but I am not sure I entered the NSA office except to deliver a letter.

‘Today we have direct access and a directorate that relates with all states,’ he said.

Omodara noted that insecurity had evolved from armed robbery and house-breaking 10 years ago to highway kidnapping and cybercrime.

He said gaps would continue however to be blocked through synergy, intelligence gathering, cooperation and technology-driven security including the use of drones and other equipment.

He added that the National Assembly’s Cybercrime Law and the move by states like Rivers to pass State Police bill showed that security required collective effort.

How Fela inspired my Spider-Man role – British actor Andrew Garfield

British Hollywood star Andrew Garfield has credited the late Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti as an inspiration for his interpretation of Spider-Man.

Garfield disclosed this during an appearance on Track-star-show’s YouTube series, ‘Testing Andrew Garfield’s Music Knowledge’.

The actor revealed that he usually creates a playlist for every character he portrays, and Fela’s music became part of his creative process when he was cast as Spider-Man.

‘I create a playlist for every character I play, which is a lovely, fun thing to do anyway. So I started listening to Fela Kuti when I first got Spider-Man, and there was something about the sound and the rhythm that was really useful to me for that character,’ he said.

He noted that beyond the rhythm, Fela’s revolutionary spirit helped him understand Spider-Man’s dedication to justice and his physical expression.

‘There was something about suddenly being in touch with the body, but also justice-seeking, because obviously he was a revolutionary figure,’ he explained.

Speaking about how it translated into his performance, Garfield said Fela’s influence was evident in his movement as Spider-Man.

‘And the way that I moved in that film, in the suit, has some inspiration from Fela and his music,’ he stated.

He added that he was fascinated by the power embedded in Fela’s sound and sought to channel a similar energy into the superhero role.

‘I was like, I don’t know what it is about this guy’s power that I want to somehow reflect in this guy’s power,’ Garfield said.

The track featured during the interview segment was Fela’s iconic 1975 song ‘Water No Get Enemy’ from the album ‘Expensive Shit’.

Navy commissions dental, Heart-to-Heart clinics in Ikate

The Nigerian Navy has commissioned a newly constructed dental clinic and Heart-to-Heart Centre at the Ikate Primary Healthcare Centre, Ikate-Elegushi, Lagos, to improve access to healthcare services in the community.

The newly constructed facility comprises a dental clinic and an incorporated Heart-to-Heart antiretroviral facility.

The facilities were provided under the Chief of the Naval Staff Special Intervention Quick Impact Projects Scheme as part of the Nigerian Navy’s civil-military cooperation efforts in honour of Rear Admiral Olusegun Ferreira.

Speaking at the commissioning, the Chief of Naval Staff(CNS) Rear Admiral Idi Abbas, said the Nigerian Navy recognised that national security and prosperity were strengthened when communities were supported through meaningful development initiatives.

He said the Special Intervention Quick Impact Project Scheme was designed to address critical community needs while strengthening relationships between the Armed Forces and the communities they serve.

The CNS who was represented by the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Abubakar Abdullahi Mustapha, said the newly commissioned facilities would improve access to dental services as well as antiretroviral therapy and counselling, thereby contributing to the wellbeing of residents.

He urged beneficiaries and the management of the health centre to protect and maintain the facilities to ensure that the investment remained useful to future generations.

The governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu lauded the Navy for the project adding that it would complement the state government’s efforts to strengthen primary healthcare services.

The governor who represented by the the Special Adviser to the governor on Health, Dr Kemi Ogunyemi,

said the value of the facilities would ultimately be determined by the quality of care provided to residents.

He charged the management and healthcare workers to maintain the facilities and treat patients with professionalism, dignity and compassion.

Earlier, Rear Admiral Olusegun Ferreira said the project was conceived to complement ongoing efforts to provide quality healthcare to residents of Ikate and its environs.

Ferreira said the need for accessible dental care was identified following consultations with the management of the Primary Healthcare Centre, the traditional institution in Ikate and the Lagos State Health District III.

Ferreira said the dental clinic was equipped with a modern dental treatment unit, mobile dental X-ray unit, dental instruments, autoclave and laboratory equipment, among others.

He said the clinic would provide oral examination and diagnosis, preventive dentistry, restorative procedures, minor oral surgery, dental radiography and patient education.

The Heart-to-Heart Centre, he added, would provide confidential access to information, counselling, prevention support and care for people requiring HIV-related services.

Ferreira urged the management of the healthcare centre and residents to take ownership of the facilities, ensure proper maintenance and make optimal use of the services.

He added that the project was also aimed at strengthening the longstanding relationship between Ikate-Elegushi and the Nigerian Navy, noting that many serving and retired naval personnel reside in the community.

The traditional ruler of Ikate-Elegushi, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi, commended the Nigerian Navy for the intervention, saying it would bring affordable healthcare closer to residents.

Elegushi also urged other government institutions and the private sector to support communities in areas such as healthcare, education and social investment.

He later conferred an honorary chieftaincy title on Ferreira in recognition of his contribution to the community.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo shuts down FCT for Tinubu

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, FCT Chapter, shut down the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as over 4,000 Igbos attended the group’s 2026 Igbo Nwanma Celebration organised in Abuja on Tuesday.

The grand event brought together stakeholders, including Igbo leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs, traditional leaders, political bigwigs, members of the Igbo community, and Nigerians in Diaspora.

Speaking at the celebration, former Imo State Governor Senator Rochas Okorocha described the Igbos as peace-loving people who have continued to build bridges of friendship, promote national unity, and contribute to development across Nigeria and the world.

He said the presence of Igbos in different parts of Nigeria and across the globe had enabled them to contribute to economic development while fostering relationships among communities.

According to him, Ndigbo are committed to peaceful coexistence and remain interested in participating actively in Nigeria’s affairs and development.

‘Everywhere you go, you find an Igbo man building bridges of friendship and helping brotherhood,’ Okorocha said.

He called for greater unity and cooperation among Nigerians, while conveying greetings from the Igbo community to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the First Lady.

Okorocha said the Igbo wanted to be part of the country’s affairs and supported efforts to strengthen relationships across the Niger.

Also speaking, the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said she had developed strong ties with the Igbo community and acknowledged the support and relationships she had received from Igbo leaders.

The minister said political participation was driven by interests, urging Nigerians and various communities to work together to advance shared interests.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim said she was proud to identify with the Igbo community, recalling that she had been honoured with a traditional title in Aba and had benefited from her relationships with Igbo leaders

She stressed that cooperation among Nigerians was essential to achieving common objectives and urged communities to work collectively in pursuing their interests.

‘We work together, we win together,’ she said.

Meanwhile, a Former Commissioner at the Federal Character Commission, Hon. Ginika Tor, also commended Ndigbo for their contributions to national development, describing the celebration as a demonstration of unity, cultural pride and commitment to Nigeria.

Tor said the recognition of distinguished Igbos was based on their achievements rather than ethnicity.

‘We are honouring some Igbos here, not because I am Igbo, but because we want to appreciate their best,’ she said.

She described the gathering as significant because it brought people together to celebrate unity and culture.

‘Any event that brings people together to celebrate unity is always a welcome thing. What I am seeing here is a display of unity,’ Tor added.

The former commissioner further praised the entrepreneurial and professional contributions of Igbos, noting that their influence is evident across several sectors of the Nigerian economy and in the diaspora.

She said the large turnout at the celebration demonstrated the strength of the community’s bonds and shared identity.

The celebration, according to her, gave Ndigbo an opportunity to reflect on their history, assess their present circumstances, and consider their collective future.

‘It is an opportunity for us to revitalise our sense of oneness as one people and to reflect on where we are coming from, where we are and where we are going,’ the organisers said.

The event featured the Igbo Nmanma Excellence Award, which recognised individuals for their contributions to the Igbo community and the wider society, economic empowerment and greater participation in society.

She emphasised the need for unity, cultural preservation, and national affairs.

She called for stronger collaboration between the Igbo community and other ethnic groups, noting that the Igbo have continued to build relationships and contribute to Nigeria’s development.

The President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT Chapter, Chief Andrew Ugwu Onowu Afulukwe, thanked the Federal Government and the FCT administration for supporting the celebration.

Afulukwe said Igbos living in Abuja were pleased with the administration and highlighted the community’s contributions to investment and business activities in the Federal Capital Territory.

He called for sustained peace, unity and cooperation among Nigerians, stressing that the Igbo community in Abuja remained committed to peaceful coexistence and the development of the FCT and Nigeria.

The celebration also featured the presentation of awards to members of the Igbo community and other distinguished guests.

Participants ended the event with prayers for the Igbo community, the Federal Capital Territory and Nigeria, while reaffirming their commitment to cultural identity, unity and national development.