PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated he is leaving Nigeria better than he met it in 2015.
Buhari lauded his government for success in revamping the economy, tackling corruption and insecurity, improving the electoral process and launching a pathway for infrastructural development for the nation.
In a nationwide broadcast on Sunday, May 28, the President harped on the need for citizens to unite and move the nation forward.
He said his government fought corruption and recovered funds stashed abroad and mansions built with looted commonwealth.
The President sympathised with Nigerians who lost relations either to death or abduction, and wished the incoming administration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, well in building on his “success.”
He congratulated Tinubu, whom he described as the best among the February 25 presidential election candidates.
However, The ICIR reports that despite Buhari’s claims of success in the economy and security, many incidents, including large-scale killings and multinational and local industries which shut down under his government because of ill-managed economy and policy summersaults, invalidate his claims.
For instance, The ICIR reported in 2022 in a two-part report, which is here and here, how giant industries disappeared in the South-East.
Insecurity, which made the companies collapse, is also rife in other regions of the nation.
The ICIR also published a report on key insecurity issues in the nation under the President on May 21.
The report captures several killings, displacements, abductions and kidnappings and other preventable heinous crimes committed by non-state actors under the President.
In his Sunday speech, the President said on insecurity, “Our battle to ensure that all Nigerians live in a safe and secure environment has achieved considerable results. As I complete my term in office, we have been able to reduce the incidences of banditry, terrorism, armed robbery and other criminal activities considerably.”
He also said on the economy, “In the course of revamping the economy, we made some difficult choices, most of which yielded the desired results. Some of the measures led to temporary pain and suffering, for which I sincerely apologised to my fellow countrymen, but the measures were taken for the overall good of the country.
“Mindful of the need to ensure adequate infrastructure to drive economic growth, we completed age-long projects and processes, notably among which are the Petroleum Industry Act, completion of some power projects, and completion of the second Niger bridge and various important roads linking cities and states.”
Buhari urged every party or candidate dissatisfied with the 2023 general elections to seek redress in court. He also advised them to accept the court’s decision, urging every citizen to consolidate the nation’s democracy for a better country.
The President leaves office tomorrow, May 2023 and will hand over to Tinubu in Abuja.
AT what point did it dawn on outgoing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that he can’t cope with the pressure of the office, which he held for eight years?
From the moment he assumed office on May 29, 2015, and was immediately confronted with the task of forming a cabinet. Buhari dithered. Governance suffered, Nigerians became increasingly impatient, and pressure mounted on the new President to name his ministers. Eventually, it took Buhari six months to make the decision.
The indecisiveness that surrounded the appointment of Buhari’s first cabinet became a feature of his administration. Millions of Nigerians, who expected so much from the retired Army general, were initially worried that the former military ruler seemed not to be moving fast enough. They remembered Buhari as a military dictator, a man of action but what they were getting was ‘Baba-go-slow‘, as the new President came to be known in his earliest days as a democratically elected civilian ruler.
On May 23 – six days before he rounds off his eight-year government – Buhari finally confessed that he can’t cope with the pressure of the office.
Buhari made the confession at a dinner organised in his honour by the Nigerian Armed Forces. It was one of several activities lined up for the May 29 inauguration ceremony. The President arrived late for the event.
Apologising for his lateness, Buhari said, “Please, I will like to digress from the prepared speech. I apologise most sincerely for keeping you waiting. I can hardly cope with the pressure. I am desperately looking forward to the next six days.”
Like most of the cringingly frank comments Buhari has been making about his increasingly desperate desire to be rid of his responsibilities as Nigeria’s President, the statement came without prodding, out of the blues. There was no apparent reason for such uncomfortable admission of weakness.
Having served as military head of state for two years, 1983 to 1985, before he was ousted in a coup d’etat, Buhari spent 12 years pushing to return to power as a democratically elected president, following Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999. He contested and lost three presidential elections – 2003, 2007 and 2011 – before winning in 2015.
But, in a weird turn of events, after eight years as President, Buhari can’t stop telling anybody that cares to listen how desperate he is to leave the job.
The man can’t wait to leave Aso Rock. Listening to Buhari’s recent confessions, one gets the impression he wouldn’t mind being as far away as possible from the Eagle Square, venue of the handover to his successor, President-elect Bola Tinubu, on May 29.
Buhari had on several occasions made it clear he was counting the days to the end of his administration. He will then have the opportunity to actualise his heart’s desire – to be as far away from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, as possible.
On April 21, when residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) paid him a Sallah homage to mark the Eid el-Fitr celebration, Buhari, while restating his impatience to leave office, noted that he already got what he asked for.
“I can’t wait to go home. I deliberately arranged to be as far away as possible from you people. I have got what I have asked and will quietly retire to my home town in Daura,” Buhari said while addressing the FCT residents, led by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Mohammed Bello.
Home sweet home: Daura? Kaduna? Niger Republic?
After passing the baton to Tinubu on May 29, Buhari will proceed to his hometown, Daura, in Katsina State. He will stay there for six months, before retiring to Kaduna State. This itinerary was revealed in a statement released by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on April 27.
From all indications Buhari has missed the rustic settings of Daura, his village. During the valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on May 24, Buhari told his ministers that he was looking forward to receiving those who would not mind the long distance to visit him in the rural community.
“I look forward to many of you, disproving that Daura has become too distant because I am no longer Mr President,” he said.
If all goes according to plan, Buhari will take off from the Eagle Square to Kaduna immediately he hands over to Tinubu on May 29. “I assure you, I have been counting the days, I am looking forward to Monday (May 29) very desperately. I will use the weekend to sign some of the papers so that from Eagles Square, I will fly to Kaduna and eventually go to Daura,” Buhari said on May 26, at the Presidential Villa, during the public presentation of a book titled ‘A promise kept: A compendium of significant achievements of Muhammadu Buhari Administration 2015-2023’.
Buhari receives Niger Republic’s highest national honour from then President Mahamadou Issoufou at the Presidential Villa in Abuja
But it is also possible that Buhari will not be staying in Daura or Kaduna. It is likely that the outgoing President will relocate to Niger Republic, a neighbouring West African country.
Addressing the FCT residents who paid him a Sallah homage on April 21, Buhari said he would leave for Niger Republic after handing over as President if he is not able to get enough rest in Daura.
“If they make any noise to disturb me in Daura, I will leave for the Niger Republic.”
On May 23, Buhari restated his readiness to relocate to Niger Republic. He spoke during the inauguration of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Corporate Headquarters in Abuja.
“I said if anybody with force moves, I have a good relationship with my neighbours. Niger (Republic) people will defend me,” Buhari said, outlining his intention to go on exile if the country he has just ruled for eight years is deemed uncomfortable for him to live in after May 29.
From Buhari’s comments, the plan to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, particularly Niger Republic, if things get difficult after leaving office, had been in the works since 2015, when he assumed office as President.
“That is why when I became the President, my first visit was to Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon because, based on personal and national issues, the neighbourhood is very important. If you don’t secure the confidence and cooperation of your neighbours, you are in trouble, your children and grandchildren will be in trouble,” he explained.
“So it is very good that I established a relationship with my neighbours. I said these few things about my personal belief because I have only six more days to go (from May 23). And I try to plan to be as far away from Abuja as possible. Thank goodness, I come from an area which is far away from Abuja.”
As highlighted in the report, Niger Republic was the first country Buhari visited after he was sworn in as President in 2015. In March 2021, Buhari named a major expressway in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, after the then President of Niger Republic Mahamadou Issoufou, and was in turn honoured with Niger Republic’s highest national award, Grande Croix Des Ordre National Du Niger. Immediate past Niger Republic President Issoufou visited Buhari just before leaving office. His successor Mohammed Bazoum called on Buhari shortly after taking over – his very first official trip.
During the reception for Bazoum at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, Buhari vowed that he would do everything possible to secure Niger Republic from terror attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents. Buhari made the pledge to protect Niger Republic despite his administration’s failure to address security challenges in Nigeria.
Again, the Nigerian government, under Buhari, embarked on the construction of a $2 billion rail line from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic. Buhari performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the new rail line on February 9, 2021. Buhari’s former minister of transportation Rotimi Amaechi revealed that he travelled to Niger Republic to beg the government of the West African country to allow Nigeria to build a railway for them.
There are claims that Buhari might be from Niger Republic. But such claims remain just insinuations. They have not been proved. However, speaking with The ICIR for the April 2021 report titled ‘Niger Republic as ‘centrepiece’ of Nigeria’s foreign policy under Buhari‘, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Bola Akinterinwa, a professor, noted that Buhari has a ‘personal relationship’ with Niger Republic. But he did not explain the nature of the relationship.
Time to attend to cattle
From Buhari’s past and recent comments, it is not certain that the outgoing President would be interested in taking up an active role as ‘statesman’, like former civilian Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. Obasanjo and Jonathan have continued to offer themselves for service to Nigeria and the international community on different levels since they left Aso Rock.
It remains to be seen whether Buhari will do the same. As a former military head of state, before he returned as a civilian President in 2015, Buhari hardly attended meetings of the National Council of State – a body that includes the country’s past and present leaders.
The only activity Buhari has an interest in pursuing after leaving office is attending to his cattle. He said he has missed the activity.
Speaking on life after Aso Rock during the valedictory FEC meeting on May 24, Buhari said, “I will also be happy to do the many things that I have not been able to since May 29th, 2015. One of such is my favourite pastime of taking care of my cattle.”
“This is the situation we find ourselves just because of our ancestral settlement. It gives me belly cuts, a real bad feeling that I am from this terrain,” said Mathias Ameke, a community leader in Mmiata-Anam, Anambra West Local Government Area (LGA).
He was reacting to a poser from the reporter on how victims of the 2022 flooding are coping with resettlement and recovery across at least five local government areas of the state, whose livelihood was irrecoverably compromised.
Floods are the most frequent type of natural disaster that are often caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt or a storm surge from a tropical cyclone or tsunami in coastal areas.SEMA
According to World Health Organization, (WHO), more than 2 billion people were affected by floods globally between 1998 and 2017, while those who live in floodplains, non-resistant buildings, or lack warning systems and awareness of flooding hazards, are most vulnerable to the disaster.
The 2022 episode of the annual flood disaster left deaths, injuries, displacement and homelessness as well as hunger and starvation on its trail.
Remigius Alfred is one of the flood victims in Mmiata-Anam. His truck and a major source of income have been stationary since the flood receded.
Alfred was doing well prior to the disaster, as could be seen in his building project, which has been grounded due to the current ugly realities around him. “I have been riding it for some months. I just packed it and the flood came, took over everywhere, and I could not drive it away”.
“After the flood ended, I came back and wanted to drive the tipper away to resume my business. Sadly, I couldn’t move it,” the heartbroken man said. “The mechanic told me that the engine spoilt completely and it would cost me two million naira to get another one. Many other things were also damaged”.
The dire implications are not only for Alfred as everyone around him feels the hit. “I cannot pay my bills, including school fees of my children. I have been going to the farm again to see whether I will get money to repair the vehicle so I can resume my work again”.
The University of Central Florida identifies five stages of disaster management cycle as prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Out of the five, recovery is the greatest challenge confronting victims scattered mainly across Awka North, Ayamelum, Anambra East and West as well as Ogbaru local government areas, The ICIR gathered. They said the harder they try, the tougher recovery becomes due to the unfriendly economic realities in the country.
“Everything in this house was affected,” Ameke said as he asked the reporter, “Come with me inside and see how I tucked my valuables, such as certificates, into the ceiling”. He led the reporter to a small store within the building and resumed narration.
“We all lost farm seedlings and harvested crops. Snakes and scorpions attacked people, and some died as a result. We suffered cholera due to contaminated water”.
As he recounted the sad incident, the hand of the plastic chair on which he was sitting broke. “That is the consequence of the flood,” he remarked. “The plastic chairs stayed inside water for so long and got weak. See this door,” he drew the attention of the reporter. “It cannot close again since the flood receded”.
“I learnt that Government brought some planks for sharing to flood victims. But, it’s like a drop in a large ocean. They compiled names across communities of Anambra West about three to four months ago”.
Emeka Raphael on his farm washed away by flood last year
“Yet, the help so far from government is nothing to write home about,” Ameke submitted as he led the reporter on a short stroll to the residence of another victim, Emeka Raphael, who immediately led us to one of his farms totally devastated by flood.
“I couldn’t evacuate my crops. My cassava and yam were washed away,” he said regrettably. “I lost between N150,000 to N200,000. I had this size of farm in three or four places. But, I was only able to re-cultivate this one all by my personal effort”.
Ayamelum also devastated
“Flood washed all my cassava and yam away. I am doing whatever I see to survive,” Chijioke Ekwunife, a subsistence farmer in Anaku, headquarters of Ayamelum LGA, lamented.
He was at a site making blocks with another younger person. “This is the work we get for today. Other times, we go to work on other people’s farms”.
“The flood spoilt my rice farm, cassava, and potatoes”, Cecilia Udegbunam, who was supervising cassava harvesting in one of her farms, also recounted with regret. “In this our village, the government has not helped anyone. I didn’t see them”.
This propelled the question about how she is coping. “Hmmmm!,” the emotion-filled woman took a deep breath as she responded. “I don’t know what I will say now. Anyway, God is in control. I don’t have money, not even one naira to go back to my farm”.
Twenty-two-year-old Ifeanyi, in his father’s company, was clearing the farmland around the popular Coscharis Farm, which was completely devastated by flood last year.
22-year old Ifeanyi with his father on the farm ravaged by flood in 2022
“My father and I cried seriously. We are just trying to plant the farm again with cutlass and hoes. We don’t have the money to hire a tractor. I can only wish that government will help us,” the helpless youth prayed.
Otuocha back to life
It was a market day at Otuocha in Anambra East LGA when The ICIR visited and all the stalls which were submerged in waters during the disaster have become visible. Although normal activities have since resumed, the agonising memories of the incident still traumatise the traders.
“See the impacts of the flood water on the wall here,” Innocent Ifeatu, a trader in his thirties, said as he pointed at the marks.
Innocent Ifeatu, showing impacts of flood on the wall of his shop
Ifeatu, who sells building materials at the market, further narrated what he witnessed. “Some of our goods were washed away. Those of us who have only one source of money were badly affected. Look at those ones there. Some of them have started rusting.
“Government knows what to do to help us, after all they make a lot of money from this market,” he argued.
Rosemary Onwuegbuka, a smallholder farmer, has led other women farmers in her locality since 2007. But the penchant by the government to always renege on its promises, has got her distraught. She took her disenchantment with the authority out on the reporter for attempting to interview her on the resettlement issue.
“I will not grant any interview about Government again. My members are calling me 419, a scammer. They said I always collect their data and get money from the government and I don’t give them anything. Yet, I have not gotten anything from the government. Let them eat their money alone,” she concluded frustratingly.
In Ogbaru, still no help
In Ogbaru LGA, which recorded the highest number of death, the struggle for recovery is still apparent. “This question is like opening a healing wound,” Mike Opia from Akili-Ogidi, responded still heartbroken about the incident.
“I lost yam and cassava on the farm they planted for me after spending about N450,000. We could not save anything, including the upholstery and foams, from my house. I found out from enquiries in Akili-Ogidi that nothing has been given to any victim”.
Opia, a civil society activist, maintained that citizens’ docility has contributed to government’s unfulfilled promises. “We have a state that does not care for its citizens. But, the citizens also don’t hold the government to account. When we begin to hold duty bearers responsible for their actions and speeches, they will be careful with promises,” he concluded.
A resident of Ochuche, argued that the International Organization on Migration (IOM), an arm of the United Nations, has done much more than the state government. “We have not gotten anything from the state government. But, one international NGO, IOM has been coming to distribute palliatives (money, foodstuffs, toiletries and the rest)”, he said.
But, Eunice Nduka, another smallholder female farmer in Atani, acknowledged the efforts of the state government. “Soludo is trying. They once brought some relief items. I was told they gave each person N31,000”.
However, she submitted that government’s effort is inadequate. “Even those, who collected N31,000, it is not enough for their farming business.”
“We are suffering here. It is better for the government to do much more for the farmers,” Nduka noted”.
Devastating facts and figures
The 2022 floodingaffected 34 of the 36 states of Nigeria, displaced over 1.4 million people and killed more than 603 others. 2,400 persons sustained varying degrees of injury while the disaster damaged about 82,035 houses and affected 332,327 hectares of land.
In Anambra State, the October 7 2022 boat mishap reportedly killed 76 persons at Umunnankwo on their way to Nkwo market, Ogbakuba. Although the casualty figures remain controversial, deaths caused by the incident are undeniable. Two days after, a three-storey building housing Madonna Catholic Church in Iyiowa, also collapsed, while six family members were killed in Nzam, Anambra West LGA, when their residence was suddenly flooded.
In November 2022, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) said flooding in Nigeria is a consequence of above-average rainfall throughout the year’s rainy season, exacerbated by shorter spikes of very heavy rain leading to flash floods as well as riverine floods.
Twenty-seven designated Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps were activated by the state government to cater for the accommodation needs of the victims. While on camp, they were visited by prominent individuals and government functionaries, including the state Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, who promised to stand by them when they returned to their ancestral settlements.
They are all back home, welcome by cruel pangs of hunger, starvation and homelessness while the battle for survival rages on daily basis.
Sixty-two-year-old Agbonma Nweke represents many others, who are hopeless in their homelessness.
“My house collapsed. I don’t know where to return to when it is over. Who will help me?” she asked rhetorically six months ago while still in camp.
Mud house belonging to a widow at Otupu-Mmiata-Anam
Another collapsed house belonging to a widow was pointed to the reporter at Otupu-Mmiata Anam, while a roofed structure owned by a deceased legal practitioner, John Nwasah, equally fell to the ruthless current of the flood.
Dissecting the situation
“Leaving the victims of the 2022 flooding to struggle alone for survival has grave consequences for the state and the nation”, an Agribusiness Specialist, Abraham Ogwu, remarked as he shed further light. “Many of them will be discouraged to farm this year. Others will farm just a little. Investment will be low, and that can lead to insufficiency which will increase prices of goods in the open market”.
“He plants this year, flood takes it away. The following year, he tries again, same result on and on. He remains within the poverty circle”.
Ogwu suggested measures to be taken to reverse the trend. “Introduce dry season farming sustained by irrigation system. Harvest rainwater during the season for irrigation purposes during the dry season.
“Research institutes have developed flood-tolerant rice seeds, but they have not reached the farmers as most of them still plant the high land seeds like Faro 44 – an upland seed, while they are in low land,” the agribusiness specialist noted as he also challenged the farmers to embrace innovations.
“Farmers must accept climate-smart agronomic practices. Most of them are too stereotyped to primitive farming methods”.
“Apart from things they currently plant, farmers should diversify into other agric-business ventures such as livestock production so that they can survive this harsh economy caused by flood and climate change,” Ogwu counselled.
They are not abandoned – Anambra Government
Anambra State government, through the Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Paul Odenigbo, denied abandoning the victims.
Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, (SEMA), Chief Paul Odenigbo
Odenigbo said, “2022 flooding was one of the biggest we have ever had. The government fed all the victims in camp. The IOM assisted us with relief materials. And when they were returning home, the government and IOM gave them special packages to enable them start again”.
“Also, they are predominantly farmers. So, the Ministry of Agriculture helped them with yam and rice seedlings, cassava stems, and others. The people went home happy because they never had it so good”.
The executive secretary, however, conceded to his agency’s funding limitations. “We should have standard IDP camps set up with all the facilities so that victims will be comfortable as they would be at home. But, we do not have sufficient funds to do what we are supposed to do”.
“So, we manage with what we have. If you wait to get enough money before you act, you get nothing done. So, I don’t want to over-flog the funding problem”.
Apart from the assistance from the state government and IOM, the Federal Government has equally sent succour to the victims through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, the National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA), and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI).
The latest intervention by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons in April saw the distribution of 122 bags of 25kilogramme rice, 122 cartons of noodles, 122 bags of semo, 21 cartons of 4.5 litres of canned groundnut oil, seven bags of sachet salt, and twenty cartons of seasoning to over 1000 persons displaced by flood in Awba-Ofemili, Awka North Local Government Area.
Causes of flooding and 2023 predictions
In Nigeria, experts have blamed flooding majorly on anthropogenic factors (human-induced causes). Professor Leo Moghalu, the Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, recently, during the commemoration of the 2023 World Earth Day, identified causes of flooding and erosion in Anambra to include; deforestation, lack of effective legal instrument, urbanization as well as poor infrastructure construction and management.
He was unhappy that, despite the aforementioned, the state has no Disaster Management Cycle, (DMC) which is the reason SEMA, is largely viewed as not being efficient in managing emergencies. “SEMA has not done enough in managing emergencies in the state,” he contended.
For these helpless victims, the predictions by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, (NIHSA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NIMET) that 32 states, including Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory, will experience severe flooding in 2023, is quite discomforting.
“It gives me a real bad feeling that I am from this terrain,” one of them said, while Nduka took the lamentation further. “We could not pay the money we borrowed from the cooperative back last year before of the flood. Now they are talking about another flood. I am confused”.
Their earnest prayer is that the disastrous predictions for the year will fail. Be that as it may, the state government leaves nothing to chance.
“We have a flood response committee headed by the Deputy Governor. The team of SEMA, NEMA and IOM has visited flood-prone local government areas to sensitize them.
“We advise them to keep their essentials in boxes such as bank account details, cheques, ID cards, ATM, for women, sanitary pads and other things so that if a flood comes, they pick them and run to IDP camps,” Odenigbo explained.
Studies have recommended measures towards tackling perennial flooding. These include: relocating human settlements, agricultural land, infrastructure, (homes, buildings, bridges) away from flood plains, reversing underlying vulnerability fuelled by high poverty rate and other socio-economic factors like age, income and education as well as ensuring political and economic stability.
In their 2017 academic work entitled “Effective Management of Flooding in Nigeria (a Study of Selected Communities In Anambra State), Ezezue Bernadine etal advised the state and local governments in partnership with the communities to construct dams, wing dykes, diversion spillways, and artificial levee as well as afforestation and legislations to deter erecting structures on waterways.
Again, the respondents called for the dredging of the River Niger and other bodies of water within the state to take more volumes of water.
In October 2022, Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, revealed that the country needs at least 30 years of consistent investments to control flooding. This means that respite is not in sight for the victims.
Despite that, the Federal Ministry of Environment in 2023 earmarked over N43. 7 billion out of its total N49.7 billion capital expenditure for new projects associated with erosion and flood control, the amount of release made from the budgeted amount and subsequent budgetary commitments will determine how soon the relief will come to Nigerians living in flood-prone communities across the country.
AHEAD of the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, on Monday, May 29, the cost of flight tickets from Lagos to Abuja has doubled, checks by The ICIR on Saturday, May 27, showed.
Usually, the average cost of flight tickets on the route is about N50,000, but operators vary prices according to seat demand by the passengers.
Screenshot of Air Peace economy seat ticket at 5.31pm on Saturday, May 27
The President-elect is a former governor of Lagos state, so many of his relations, friends, loyalists and supporters are expected to be part of his inauguration in Abuja on Monday, May 29.
As of 5:30pm on Saturday, The ICIR checked six local airline operators flying the Lagos-Abuja route for Lagos to Abuja flights for Sunday, May 28, and found out ticket prices ranged between N93,000 and N110,000 for the economy seat.
Screenshot of United Nigeria Airline economy seat ticket at 5:27 p.m. on Saturday, May 27
Air Peace was N95,300, United Nigeria Airline was N110,000, Ibom Air N96,000, Aero N93,571, Dana, N94,000, and Arik N109,167.
Screenshot of Ibom Air’s economy seat ticket at 5:25pm on Saturday, May 27
Travelling by air from Lagos to Abuja is about 55 minutes, while the journey between the two cities by road takes about 12 hours.
Nigerians with the means to travel by air would promptly do so because of abductions and accidents that are rife on the nation’s highways.
Besides, the regular hold-up on the 133-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan highway could take several hours to scale through.
Screenshot of Aero Contractor’s economy seat ticket at 5:24 p.m. on Saturday, May 27
The ICIR reports that the Lagos-Ibadan road is just a fraction of the 753-kilometre Lagos-Abuja road.
The road is expected to be bustling at the weekend, as many people from Lagos, other South-West states and their contemporaries from other regions in the South would be trooping to the nation’s capital for the inauguration.
Screenshot of Dana Airline’s economy seat ticket at 5:24 pm on Saturday, May 27
Reports reaching this organisation show that most hotels in Abuja are already booked for the inauguration, which will have many leaders within Africa and outside the continent in attendance.
The ICIR reports that the President-elect takes over from President Muhammadu Buhari, who completes his two terms of four years apiece on Monday.
Screenshot of Arik Airline’s economy seat ticket at 5:21 pm on Saturday, May 27
THE Lagos State police command on Friday, May 26 arrested two women allegedly for attempting to sell a baby.
In a statement on Saturday, May 27, the command’s public relations officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed that one of the suspects was discovered trying to sell the two-month-old child in the Oshodi area of the state.
“The deal was uncovered in Oshodi when one Oge Okolie, aged 25, the intermediary between the mother of the baby and prospective buyer was suspected of stealing the baby.
“Passengers on a public bus noticed ceaseless crying from the baby with Okolie and questioned why she could not breastfeed it if it were her own biological child,” Hundeyin noted.
He added that a mob attempted to lynch Okolie but was stopped by the intervention of operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, who rescued her and the child.
“Preliminary investigations led to the arrest of the mother of the baby, one Maria Ahmadu ‘f,’ aged 26.
“Commander of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Chief Superintendent Olayinka Egbeyemi, has since transferred the suspects and baby to the Gender Unit of the Command for further investigation and prosecution,” Hundeyin stated.
Child trafficking has remained a significant challenge in Nigeria, with many young children sold into forced labour, prostitution, and other forms of exploitation.
In April, The ICIRreported that two women were arrested in Enugu state for suspected child theft and trafficking.
In the same month, a mother was arrested in Ogun state for selling her 18-month-old baby for N600,000 to pay off a loan she obtained from a microfinance bank.
The police in Rivers also arrested three women running a child trafficking syndicate within the state in April.
A 2020 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) noted that Nigeria is a major source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking.
Another report estimates that 80 per cent of children forced into labour are victims of child trafficking.
NIGERIA’S Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima has said the Muslim-Muslim ticket with which he and his principal Bola Tinubu emerged winners of the 2023 presidential election was not an agenda to Islamise the country.
Speaking during a lecture held as part of the presidential inauguration process in Abuja on Saturday, May 27, Shettima said his emergence as vice-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the February 25 presidential election, despite his religion, was an issue borne out of necessity and not an attempt to Islamise Nigeria.
“I was a child of necessity. There is no Islamisation agenda. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Muslim who is married to a Christian, not only a Christian but a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Someone who has not Islamised his family, people are alluding that he has the intention to Islamise the nation.
“Politics is about perception. As we begin the formation of a new administration, I deliberately picked an Igbo man, a Catholic, to be my Chief Security Officer,” Shettima said.
The announcement of Shettima as running mate by Nigeria’s President-elect Tinubu, who is also of the Muslim faith, had further fuelled an already existing rumour of an Islamisation agenda and generated controversy.
Convener of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and elder statesman Edwin Clark had criticised the choice of a Muslim running mate, describing it as a threat to the nation.
Clark said the ticket pointed towards a rumour of an Islamisation agenda.
“There are rumours of an attempt to Islamise the country. Are all these pointers to the confirmation and actualisation of such rumours? One needs to bear in mind the antecedents of the major backers of Alhaji Ahmed Tinubu’s ambition, who include Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna state; Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the Governor of Kano state; and the chosen one, Kashim Shettima,” he said.
Some members of the APC, to which Tinubu and Shettima belong, had also condemned the choice of presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the same faith.
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal, while condemning the ticket, accused Tinubu of surrounding himself with bigots.
The senator who represented Adamawa North in the 9th Assembly, Elisha Abbo, also resigned from the Tinubu Campaign Organisation in protest of the ticket.
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will make his last address to Nigerians as President on Sunday, May 28.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Saturday, May 27 urged radio and television stations and other media outlets in the country to hook up to the Nigerian Television Authority and Radio Nigeria network services for the broadcast.
The ICIR reports that President Buhari leaves office on Monday, May 29, and will hand over to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
He assumed office on May 29, 2015, and was re-elected in 2019, making him serve a maximum of two terms of four years apiece approved by the Constitution.
Tinubu won the presidential election conducted on February 25, according to the election result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, he has since been facing legal tussles from his opponents, mainly Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party who came second in the election, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party. Abubakar and Obi, who came second and third in the election, respectively, claimed they won the poll.
Legal fireworks seeking to stop Tinubu’s inauguration were determined in the President-elect’s favour by an Abuja High Court on Friday, May, 26.
The ICIR reports that Buhari’s government has been characterized by economic misfortunes and large-scale killings of many citizens nationwide from deteriorating insecurity he failed to contain.
He achieved so much in infrastructure and health, but education wobbled under him.
The ICIR reported how the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) went on strike for over 600 days under him, causing huge regression in the nation’s education.
Buhari leaves office with 20 million Nigerian children not enrolled in school, despite billions of naira his government claimed to have invested in primary education.
He also leaves the economy on the precipice, with inflation hitting the roof and poverty palpable in most homes.
Meanwhile, he set the grounds for development through some of the bills he signed, including signing the amendment to the constitution to enable states to generate and transmit electricity.
Electricity generation had been the Federal government’s exclusive right, and a larger part of the nation depended on other sources of electricity, which were usually unaffordable to the poor.
He also signed the Petroleum Industry Act, which provides the fiscal framework that promotes business and investments in Nigeria’s most important resource, the oil/gas sector.
Many Nigerians believe the president is leaving behind him a country more divided, poorer and more insecure than he met it.
CYPRIAN Igwe, an undergraduate student of the Sociology department at the University of Abuja has been rusticated from the institution for urging colleagues to dialogue on the school’s hike of its fees.
Igwe, who just finished his final-year examinations, had, in a WhatsApp message, invited his colleagues to a meeting to share ideas on how to convince the school to reduce the fees.
The student, along with one Oladeru Samson Olamilelkan, the Students’ Union’s director of Sports, were “banned from all the university campuses pending the determination of the case” for allegedly calling for a protest.
The ICIR had reported that returning students in the Arts and related faculties in the university would be paying N82,000, while their medical counterparts pay N225,000.
Some students who spoke with The ICIR added that new students would be paying between N85,000 and over N100,000 in the Arts faculties, while medical students would pay above N225,000.
The increase in fees was not a welcome development for certain students, but they could not voice their concerns due to the cautionary message delivered by the vice-chancellor, Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah.
Na’Allah had said that any student planning to disrupt the peace in the school because of the fee hike would face severe consequences of the action.
According to him, any student caught engaging in violent activities on campus would face the penalty, including expulsion.
“The repercussion is swift and merciless. If anyone is caught anywhere destroying anything or simply disturbing the peace of our campus, I promise you I will descend heavily on such a person by showing him or her a way out,” the vice-chancellor had said.
The ICIR sighted the post by Igwe intending to schedule a meeting with the purpose of discussing possible solutions to address the situation at hand.
Post made by Cyprian Igwe
The management has, as a fallout from the post, expelled Igwe and issued a ban on his presence on all university campuses.
This decision was conveyed to Igwe through a letter dated May 26.
Rustication letter
According to the letter, Igwe’s post was capable of jeopardising the peaceful and smooth conduct of academic activities
The letter, which was signed by the Deputy Registrar (Academic), Alkasim M Umar read, “You will recall that on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, an inciting press release was made available to the public, purportedly signed by the Student Union Government’s President and Speaker.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that you and Oladeru Samson Olamilekan (18291126) facilitated and circulated the information.
“Your actions are capable of jeopardising the peaceful and smooth conduct of academic activities in the university and a breach of the University Matriculation Oath.
”By the powers conferred on the Vice-Chancellor as contained in the University of Abuja Act, he, on behalf of the Senate, has directed your immediate rustication from the university.
“Accordingly, you are banned from all university campuses pending the determination of the case.”
Igwe, announcing his rustication on Friday, May 26, on twitter, said Nigeria did not have the education that the poor deserved if they could not go to school.
I was forced to sign the rustication letter – Igwe
The rusticated student, who is also the school’s director of Socials, told The ICIR that he was made to sign the letter without a fair hearing.
He said, “The thing started on Monday when I made a post on my group chat that I’m in pain and that I do not want to see thousands of students suffer.
“The school fees were increased; they doubled the cost of the school fees. For instance, some departments’ fees were increased by over 100 per cent, Like my own department it is from N47,300 to N89,000.”
“The next day, I called for the meeting; in the evening, I called our president. He didn’t make any comments or reasonable information to me, so the meeting didn’t hold. Later that evening, someone posted on my group chat and some other group chats, giving the school a warning to reverse the increment or else there’ll be a protest. The school security now called me and said I’m a suspect and that I have to write a statement and provide the person from before 5pm. I said I don’t know the person that wrote the post.
“They called me yesterday saying that I should come back and bring another statement and told me what to write there. When I finished, they seized my phone and brought a rustication letter saying that I should sign it, that if I didn’t sign it, they won’t give me my phone. They forced me. After I signed it, I stayed there for four hours, and they now gave me my phone.”
A source at the school’s Students’ Union, who preferred not to be mentioned for fear of backlash from the school management, described the expulsion of the two students as “unjust”, adding that the students were not indicted.
The source told The ICIR, “This whole issue for me is very unjust in the sense that a write-up was purportedly circulated, and to the best of my knowledge, he has not been anyway indicted, like properly indicted for the so-called write up. I can just say the school saw these two young men that were rusticated as threats in the sense that they were vocal enough and were bold to take steps. What I mean by step is working towards the interest of the students in a very lawful and peaceful manner.”
He said that the director of information, Dr Habin Yaqoob, accused the students of calling for a protest that amounts to inciteful action against the school, which of course is not.
The source maintained that the rusticated students never called for any protest.
The content is capable of upsetting peace – Management
The ICIR’s efforts to get the university’s director of Information, Habib Yakoob, proved abortive. However, Yakoob, speaking to The Punch on Saturday, May 27, alleged that the students committed fraud by impersonating the SUG executives.
He said, “Two students were suspected to have issued and circulated a write-up purportedly in the name of the SUG president and speaker (who has disowned the write-up promptly). This is impersonation/ forgery.
“The content of the said write-up was quite inciteful and capable of upsetting the peace and tranquil environment that the university has been known for. Preliminary investigations implicated the two, hence the decision to suspend them pending the full determination of the matter.
“Please note that they weren’t suspended because they complained about the increment of fees. Thank you.”
The spokesman said an investigation was continuing on the case.
No clear evidence to prove the rustication – SU
The Students’ Union president, Emito Emmanuel Ayandayo, said the students were wrongfully rusticated as there was no evidence to back up they made a write-up calling for a protest on May 29.
According to Ayandayo, the management was acting on a post purportedly signed by the Union president and secretary.
He said, “First of all, I got to see the content of the letter yesterday evening. On the letter, it was referencing back to the purported press release that was sent out and signed by my office and the office of the speaker of the legislative stating that we were inciting violence, that we had a meeting with some members, alumni of our schools and stakeholders, that we want to protest on May 29 at Eagle Square, which was completely wrong.
“Below it was stated that I signed the communique alongside my speaker, which was completely wrong. And immediately I sent a counter release that we didn’t sign such a press release and that no meeting was ever held by myself and my speaker.”
He said that the university started an investigation and met with some faculties’ presidents to ask if a meeting was held in that regard, noting that he was exonerated.
He added, “There is no valid evidence that this is who did that press release. The contact number of the persons that sent the post to the group chats, of course, I picked up and sent to the DSS the following day. They are still tracking, but we haven’t gotten who sent out that information yet. Not until yesterday that I saw the letter, and this morning I called the management, the dean of Students Affairs to be precise, and he told me he has spoken to the vice-chancellor, and the vice-chancellor said the assistant registrar didn’t write the letter properly, that it was not meant to be rustication but suspension since there’s no proper evidence.”
When asked if the university has sent a new communique reinstating the students, Ayandayo said no.
THE Federal government has welcomed the Nigeria Air aircraft’s arrival, which landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Friday, May 26, amid controversies over its specification, documentation, ownership, and technical agreement.
The ICIRreported the branded Nigeria Air aircraft was expected to arrive on Friday despite the controversy and court order surrounding the project.
The outgoing Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had insisted on bringing in the aircraft before the end of his tenure on May 29.
“We are here. To Almighty God be all the glory. It has been a very long, tedious, daunting and difficult path,” Sirika tweeted on his verified Twitter handle on Friday to welcome the aircraft’s arrival.
The minister told journalists that 30 aeroplanes were expected to form the fleet of Nigeria Air in the next five years and confirmed that only one plane had arrived as he conducted stakeholders around the aircraft.
He explained that the carrier would be private-sector driven, with the Federal government holding just a five per cent stake and private owners holding the remaining 95 per cent.
Reactions have, however, trailed the aircraft’s unveiling as comments on social media questioned its specification and documentation, among others.
The aircraft was flown into Abuja merely for show, notwithstanding anything the minister may say or do afterwards, the immediate past general secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Olayinka Abioye, shared his concern with The ICIR.
Abioye said, “It is globally recognised that the aircraft belongs to Ethiopian Airlines, carries Ethiopian Airlines call sign and is flown by Ethiopian crew.
“No single Nigerian was on board, and further to this, it was an aircraft leased to Malawi years ago and retrieved when their relationship broke down. Available information was that the machine was flown from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Israel for painting, and then flown to Nigeria to fulfil the 419 arrangements of the Honourable Minister.”
He described it as “an unfortunate development for a country as big as Nigeria to be involved in outright falsehood and fraudulent tendencies as massive as this,” asking, “How can we expect to be respected by other nations?”
The NUATE scribe explained it would take the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) five steps to obtain an airline operation certificate (AOC) for Nigeria Air.
“What the Minister did was a gross violation of extant rules, which others have been punished for. So where do we go from here? I am saddened by this ugly show because, for all intents and purposes, we have just been swindled,” he lamented.
Shehu Sani who was once in the senate, tweeted that the controversy of whether the aircraft was leased from Ethiopian Airlines or purchased for Nigeria Air could be settled if the plane’s documents were made public.
The controversy of whether the Aircraft was leased from Ethiopian Airlines or purchased for Nigeria Air can be settled if the Plane’s documents are made public.
“The minister has committed broad daylight fraud by displaying this rented and hurriedly repainted Boeing 737-800 as an aircraft belonging to a phantom Nigeria Air,” a Twitter user, a media activist, David Hundeyin asserted.
In context, this is not today’s important story, but I thought to flag it up too.
I obtained the video below of the purported “Nigeria Air” 737-800 from a source at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital.
As you can see when you freeze the frame, the aircraft is clearly registered to @flyethiopian with the registration number ET-APL. pic.twitter.com/flUrRgUeY1
When you check @flightradar24, you can see that this aircraft is still in active @flyethiopian service, but after disappearing to Tel-Aviv for 5 days (undergoing repainting), has now resurfaced in Abuja to be fraudulently “commissioned” later today by @hadisirika. pic.twitter.com/BSbsYFG5XV
Another Twitter user, Taye, was worried that the minister intended to commission an aircraft “clearly owned by Ethiopian Airlines” and still in active service. This raised questions about the ownership and technical agreement between Ethiopian Airlines and Nigeria Air.
QUICK SUMMARY
The aviation minister, @hadisirika, has been accused of fraudulent activity by presenting a rented and hastily repainted Boeing 737-800 from Ethiopian Airlines as an aircraft belonging to the phantom “Nigeria Air.” Evidence reveals that the aircraft, bearing the…
The ICIR can report that the Boeing 737-800 has a registration number, ET-APL; mode, S Q4005C; and serial number 40965/4075. It is about 10 years eight months old, with its first flight being June 22, 2012, as an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft.
It became Malawi Airlines on February 16, 2014, before it was released to Ethiopian Airlines on August 12, 2015, and before landing in Nigeria on Friday, May 26.
Reno Omokri, a social media influencer and former political aide to ex-President GoodluckJonathan, said there was nothing wrong with leasing a plane, even a 10-year-old aircraft.
Omokri argued that a Boeing 737 has a lifespan of 35 years and that new airlines should start with such a plan until the business becomes profitable and stable.
For Nigeria Air, there is nothing wrong with leasing a plane. Even a 10-year-old aircraft. A Boeing 737 has a lifespan of 35 years. New airlines typically don’t start with new planes. They lease them. They usually buy planes when the business has become profitable and stable.
“The Nigeria Air will be proud not only for Nigeria but for Africa and its people,” Bashir Ahmad tweeted.
Nigeria Air will, by the grace of Almighty Allah, be a proud not only for Nigeria but for Africa and its people. Let’s fly #NigeriaAir! ✈️ pic.twitter.com/vP5RljT4Rr
Another Twitter user, Woye, hailed the Buhari administration for delivering the Nigeria Air aircraft, adding that history would be kind to him.
You said Second Niger Bridge is not possible, we delivered. You said Nigeria Air is not possible, you laughed, you laughed with Nkwobi and HERO BEER. Today nko, he who laughs last laugh best. FG not @MBuhari you came, you saw and you conquered. History will be kind to you. pic.twitter.com/xYfOazHMVP
Meanwhile, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has sued the minister over the planned arrival of the aircraft.
The suit was filed to question what the AON alleged were shady deals, deliberate infractions of the Nigerian laws, and self-enrichment/corruption by the Aviation ministry over the Nigeria Air project.
Filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, the court granted orders of interim and interlocutory injunctions restraining the Aviation ministry from taking any step concerning the Nigeria Air project.
Signed by its lawyers, the letter was copied to the Attorney-General of the Federation, Inspector-General of Police, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, and Federal Ministry of Aviation.
Drawing the attention of the President to the court order, the operators stated, “In the suit, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos presided by Hon. Justice A.L Allagoa, in the above suit, granted Orders of interim and interlocutory injunctions, in the terms contained in the Order, restraining taking of any step in relation to the Nigeria Air project. Copy each of the Orders are enclosed as Annexures 1, 2 & 3.”
The operators have now threatened to sue Sirika for contempt of court for planning to launch the carrier despite a court order stopping the project.
They maintained they would pursue the contempt action against the minister personally, whether or not he leaves office, for the promotion of the rule of law, protection of the court’s integrity and in line with international best practices.
THE Ogun state police command has confirmed that armed robbers on Friday, May 26, carted away N11 million and not $11 million, as widely speculated, in an armed robbery attack in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Many reports on Saturday said the robbers stole $11 million in the operation.
The reports added that the robbers, wearing black T-shirts, jean trousers and facemasks, operated successfully at Oke-Sokori in the Abeokuta North local government area.
They attacked a Hausa trader in a Toyota Venza salon car and dispossessed him of some money.
The robbers, who brandished rifles in the three-minute robbery act, were said to have fled the scene with their loot piled in two ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bags.
But in a chat with The ICIR on Saturday, May 27, the police public relations officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident in a phone conversation but said the robbers took away N11 million and not $11 million as widely reported.
“Yes, we can confirm that it is true there was an armed robbery attack yesterday, but the money they carted away was not $11 million but N11 million.
“Where will somebody get $11 million? They attacked the man’s car and took away N11 million. He collected N5.5 million from the FCMB and another N5.5 million from Zenith. They traced him and collected the money.
“Unfortunately, the suspects escaped the scene before our operatives could arrive at the scene,” Oyeyemi said.
He added that the police authorities in Ogun State had commenced a search for the armed robbery gang.
“Upon receipt of information about the incident, the command had immediately sent a signal across the state to ensure that the suspects are tracked down,” he said.
He assured the people of the state of adequate security and urged them to remain calm and go about their regular businesses.
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