Press Conference

…Asks IGP to Invite Timipre Sylva for Questioning

Gentlemen of the Press, we have called you today to alert Nigerians and the International community of the All Progressives Congress (APC) resort to violent attacks on communities in Bayelsa State for rejecting its candidate in the November 11, 2023 Governorship election, the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.

The PDP in the strongest term condemns the invasion, killing and maiming of innocent citizens in Bayelsa State communities particularly Opu-Nembe in Nembe Local Government Area by thugs allegedly recruited, sponsored and armed by Chief Timipre Sylva.

It is clear that the intension of the APC in this invasion and killing in Nembe is to intimidate and instill fear in the people so as to prevent them from freely exercising their democratic right to vote a governor of their choice, having realized that there is no way their candidate, Chief Timipre Silva, can win in a peaceful, free and fair election in Bayelsa State.

The PDP is alarmed by pictorial and video evidence of the gruesome murder of promising Nembe youths including the only son of a widow by the APC thugs allegedly led by one Kojo Sam, who on February 15, 2023, killed three youths in the bid to subdue the community for openly expressing their rejection of Chief Sylva for neglecting and allegedly unleashing violence on their communities over the years.

Reports in the public domain have it that the thugs are usually lodged in a hotel allegedly owned by Chief Timipre Sylva’s ally from where the assailants periodically launch gun attacks on the communities for rejecting the APC.

Nigerians have already seen the videos of Opu-Nembe women crying, protesting the invasion and killings in the community by the thugs while insisting on their resolve not to support Chief Timipre Sylva for allegedly unleashing terror on their community at every election circle.

This recourse to violence is reported to be a consisted pattern by Chief Sylva who was alleged to have engaged in such heinous activity in previous elections in Bayelsa State including the 2019 governorship election when similar violence was allegedly unleashed by his thugs on the peace-loving people of Nembe with the connivance of certain high-ranking security operatives.

We ask, what manner of desperation will lead an individual to resort to killing his own kinsmen for rejecting him and his bid for an illusory political ambition?

The PDP is gravely disturbed by the reported connivance of certain security operatives in these attacks on Nembe. Of particular concern is the report that these thugs adorn military attires to carry out their evil deeds as evidenced in the video of one of the thugs, Telimoye Awululu, who was captured wearing military uniform.

Recently, a policeman and a Civil Defence personnel were reportedly arrested at a military checkpoint in Otakeme in Ogbia Local Government of the State allegedly accompanying armed men to Nembe.

There are already allegations in the public space that some high-ranking police personnel are aiding this reprehensible scheme to use violence to forcefully gain control of Opu-Nembe so as to grant the APC the ground to massively rig the November 11, 2023 governorship election in the area.

Chief Timipre Sylva ought to have realized that he is fighting a lost battle as no amount of violence can subdue the Will of the people of Opu-Nembe and Bayelsa State in general to massively vote for Governor Douye Diri who remains a bastion of hope and development in Bayesla State and for which he has earned the sobriquet of the “Miracle Governor”.

Bayelsans are firmly behind Governor Diri and they are able, ready and willing to resist the APC by overwhelmingly voting for him and defending their votes to the very end. On this resolve, there is no going back.

The PDP therefore, in very strong terms cautions Chief Timipre Sylva to stop pushing his kinsmen, the people of Opu-Nembe to the wall and taking their peaceful and law-abiding disposition as a sign of weakness or cowardice.

Our Party calls on the Inspector General of Police to immediately wade into the situation in Nembe and indeed Bayelsa State. The IGP should as a matter of urgency, launch an investigation into the alleged connivance of certain police officials in the invasion and killing in Opu-Nembe.

The PDP also urges the IGP to invite Chief Timipre Sylva for questioning as well as investigate the petitions already filed to his office by the people of Nembe with the view to apprehending the thugs and killers who unleashed mayhem on the community recently.

In any case, the PDP counsels Chief Timipre Sylva to note that it is not too late for him to withdraw from the race having clearly read the handwriting of his rejection and imminent defeat ahead of the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Bayelsa State.

The PDP charges the people of Bayelsa State and especially the courageous people of Opu-Nembe to remain calm but at alert in their resolve to resist the APC and its candidate, and ensure that their State remains safe and continue to prosper under Governor Douye Diri and the PDP.

Thank you for listening.

Hon. Debo Ologunagba

National Publicity Secretary

PRESS RELEASE 

SANWO-OLU APPOINTS SHITTU LASUBEB CHAIRMAN, NAMES NEW MEMBER

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has appointed Dr. Hakeem Babatunde Shittu as Chairman of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB).

The Governor also appointed a new member, Hon. Babatunde Jimoh Adewale to complete the seven-man membership of the Board.

The appointment was announced in a statement issued on Tuesday by Mr. Gboyega Akosile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu.

The composition of LASUBEB is:

1. Dr. Hakeem Babatunde Shittu – Chairman
2. Dr. Saheed Oladapo Ibikunle – Member
3. Mr. Adebayo Adefuye – Member
4. Mrs. Serifat Abiodun Adedoyin – Member
5. Mrs. Sijuade Amudalat Idowu-Tiamiyu – Member
6. Mr. Owolabi Jamiu Falana – Member
7. Hon. Babatunde Jimoh Adewale – Member

Governor Sanwo-Olu congratulated all the appointees and implored them to continue to contribute their quota to the growth and development of the education sector and the incumbent administration’s vision for a Greater Lagos.

SIGNED

GBOYEGA AKOSILE

CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY

Peace is not the opposite of War: What options for the Niger Republic?

By Jimoh  Ibrahim  PhD (War), CFR

Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Part One: Introduction

Peace and war are matters of insecurity. Living with insecurity is the only security, perhaps for those who studied War! Even in the most hospitable circumstances, the human condition is precarious because we are all unavoidably exposed. Human nature is flawed, and perfect security cannot exist in any human society. Yet to be forgotten even when you may not like him is Hobbes’ ‘state of nature,’ every human being is a potential threat because the struggle for survival in a world of limited resources is a ‘war of all against all,’ Hobbes thought that putting a government in place is an excellent way of guaranteeing security! In a world without a government to enforce order – a condition that Hobbes calls the state of nature – every human must be vigilant against threats to survival. A world without Government, he claims, forces humanity into a constant state of war because there is no way to trust in the excellent or peaceful intentions of others. We must always be on our guard lest we be attacked. This condition – in which no ruler or judge can resolve disputes and establish security – is anarchy. In an anarchic world, Hobbes argues that our lives must revolve around survival, leaving no time for agriculture, the arts, or sciences conditions of anarchy; Hobbes says, ‘the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

But does having a government in the last twenty years make a difference? This is because and according to me, the Nigeria Boko Haram insurgency underscores the Hobbesian thesis of man’s aggressiveness in the state of nature that requires the leviathan’s intervention. The Nigerian Government’s failure to provide public goods led to the emergence of the Boko Haram insurgency. The citizens contest their rights to life (now in danger), withdrawing their loyalty and support from the Government and the Armed forces. A praxis explains the power shift from the Nigerian Government to the identified local group (Boko Haram). The shift accompanies ongoing violence between soldiers and the insurgents resulting in mass civilian casualties, genocide, systemic rape, and unquantifiable property destruction fostering human insecurity. The above narrative makes the statement relevant that studying and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security!

Insecurity is pervasive in the international realm. For instance, the international system is anarchic, and no single authority can remit uncertainty. We move from the dynamics of abuse of power as we saw in Darfur, where Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with war crimes against humanity. The violence has also forced some 2.5 million people − mostly farmers and villagers from non-Arab groups – to flee their homes. So was the American-led Illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the insecurity creation of intervention and collision of the value of security paradigms in human, national and geocentric systems-the intervention in Iraq (1990), Bosnia (1995), and Afghanistan (2001) were intended to preserve the territorial status quo and restore sovereign control to legitimate governments. (In Kuwait, Sarajevo, and Kabul), intervention in Kosovo (1999) was intended to protect the Kosovar (Albanian) minority even at the risk of partitioning the (rump) federal Yugoslav state (Serbia-Montenegro). All are empirical evidence of insecurity globally. Issues of the ongoing killing by Boko Haram and collaboration of the insurgent with the new formation of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and its expanding activities in the West Africa Sub-region. (Where Boko Haram killed the President of Chad recently) forcefully explaining the failure of the leviathan to protect citizens and himself! in developing countries, what is more, is the powerful justification for our new concern that How to live with insecurity is the only security at least known in the West African sub-region.

Is peace the opposite of War? See part two of this article. Again, is Niger a sovereign state to which intervention can be made impossible? What option, war or peace? and is sovereignty, not hypocrisy? See part three of this article. If you miss any part, send an email requesting the missing part to my University of Cambridge life email address ifj21@cantab.ac.uk

Jimoh Ibrahim holds PhD in Modern War Studies and just completed BSc in International Relations (Second Class Upper Division) from the London School of Economics LSE, the University of London. He holds nine other University degrees from the University of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Ife etc. He is currently at the 10th National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a Senator representing Ondo South senatorial district.

Sanwo-Olu’s Medical Palliative excites Lagos Pregnant Women 

By Gboyega Akosile 

“My husband did not want me admitted initially because of the cost. But we were told the care is completely free. We didn’t believe it until I started getting treatment without anyone asking us to pay a dime,” were the words of a 37-year-old expectant mother, Omowunmi Odeyemi, to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State when he paid a surprise visit to Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos Island on Sunday.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who had earlier rolled out a health palliative, along with other relief measures such as 50% reduction in the cost of public transportation, to cushion the hardship being experienced by residents as a result of fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government, paid an unannounced visit to the hospital on Sunday night. The governor’s health palliative covers the cost of normal pregnancy delivery, Caesarean section and antenatal care in state-owned hospitals.

In Sanwo-Olu’s words during the surprise visit, “I need to see things for myself to know where our intervention is specifically and generally needed”.

The story of Odeyemi, which is that of one out of a thousand pregnant women in Lagos, is that of a lost hope renewed by Governor Sanwo-Olu. The lost hope of the pregnant woman and her husband was rekindled by the Governor’s timely intervention, her narration revealed.

Weeks ahead of Odeyemi’s scheduled delivery, the expectant mother was compelled to take admissions due to her unstable blood pressure — the condition that led to two previous miscarriages. However, footing the hospital bill became the stumbling block as the expectant mother and her husband could not afford to pay the bills for a prolonged admission at the hospital.

The fear and uncertainty of the couple were erased by the news that Governor Sanwo-Olu, under the health palliative scheme, had covered the medical expenses of all pregnant women using state-owned hospitals.

Resting their hopes on Governor Sanwo-Olu’s health palliative, Lagosians will never need to break the bank for normal pregnancy deliveries, Caesarean sections and antenatal care.

A beneficiary of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s free antenatal and caesarean section at the Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital, Yemisi Agboola could not curtail her joy as he thanked the Governor for the palliative in the health sector, which made her enjoy free medical care at the hospital.

Agboola, the mother of a healthy set of twin babies said, “I did my antenatal here and I delivered through Caesarean section and I was informed that the Lagos State Government had settled my bills. I want to use this medium to appreciate the Lagos State Governor for this initiative and I pray that God bless him and God bless Lagos State.”

Another beneficiary, Motunrayo, said Governor Sanwo-Olu’s palliative took away the financial burden that would have been on her.

Her words, “I am a beneficiary of what the Lagos State Government has done. I had my baby through Caesarean section on Monday and I am so grateful and very joyous when I found out that it has already been paid for.  I want to thank the government and the medical practitioners here; they were so helpful. It is soothing that the financial burden has been taken off by the government.”

Suliat Adeniji, who was all smiles and radiated the joy of motherhood, started her antenatal in March 2023 at Ayinke Hospital, Ikeja, but was transferred to Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital to continue her journey to motherhood.

Adeniji, who was visibly happy, while speaking on the good gesture of Governor Sanwo-Olu, expressed the shock she got when she was notified that her medical bills had been settled by the Lagos State Government.

Narrating her experience, she said, “A few weeks ago, I had an issue with my blood pressure – it was dwindling. So, I had to rush down there. There was a strike but they said they would attend to me because I was a booked patient there. They have started the treatment but it (keeps) going up and down so my Consultant said they had to deliver the baby for it not to affect both mother and child.

“I was brought to Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital. When we got here, we approached the Finance Department to pay for the services but they declined and started the necessary treatment. On behalf of my family, I thank the Lagos State Government, Governor Sanwo-Olu and the hospital management for the gesture. We really appreciate it.”

Akosile is the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.