Category: Opinion

So, Media Trust Is Twenty, By Tunde Asaju

Posted on by The Elites

Twenty years already! One way it seems like yesterday and in another like the silver jubilee. Daily Trust is twenty solid years on the newsstand. Not only did it emerge, like some kind of Harley’s Comet to bridge the yawning information gap in the coverage of the north to the rest of the country, it has grown as a reputable medium of news dissemination.

In the western world, I am often asked what we cover because here newspapers specialize – and my response is always measured – everything that affects humanity! Perhaps the right answer is to say that it has a big understanding of governance and politics, and takes special interest in northern affairs. There’s no reason to shy away from its regional bias. Twenty years in the business and thriving means one thing – that it has earned the trust of its publics. A medium that loses the trust of its publics naturally dies – ours have known no better yesterday – thanks to our readers first and of course to the indomitable spirit and dedication of our workers past and present.

Twenty years ago, not many people believed that Media Trust would survive it’s fifth birthday. Northern establishments, goes the insult out there, hardly survive. The north may be perceived as educationally disadvantaged but its people are news hungry as findings from global news organisations prompt the establishment or bolstering of language services. Media historians put Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, established in 1939, as an appendage of development. Several other publications have come and gone before their 20th anniversary. To have survived means that the founders of Media Trust got it right from inception – if you earn the trust of the people, their loyalty is guaranteed.

So let me say congratulations to those who set out to break the jinx and have sustained the dream for two solid decades and to hope they’ll be here to celebrate the golden jubilee and the centenary. Let me also praise the tenacity of all those who were there in Kaduna when the first of what I believed was a typeset print turned into film and birthed the first edition of Weekly Trust, heralding the birth of a new reportorial age.

As a beneficiary of the solid foundation they laid, I am proud to say that I have enjoyed every moment of the journey. I have met incredibly fantastic individuals over the last decade and more since I have had the privilege of writing for the medium. I have learnt a few tricks of writing from others that have humbled my own pedigree. As a columnist, I don’t recall any of my views being censored at any time. Writers must jealously guard the thin line between opinion and intellectual the dissemination of intellectual pollution.

Running a newspaper business is not a piece of cake, especially in a mercurially digitized world. The industry has witnessed more advances in the past decade than most professions. It has struggled to cope and the effects of those struggles are evident in the industry globally. Sixteen Canadian publications have died in the past year alone. Giants like Time, Newsweek, and the Economist etc constantly have to evolve and adapt to stay afloat. The newspaper has moved from typesetting to full digitization; from surviving on practical circulation to jostling for virtual and physical revenue-generation and diversification.

The utmost challenge to news dissemination today is the encroaching influence of the social media. Backward as our nation seems, we are not immune from these interferences. Earning the trust of readers has become a daily challenge worsened by crippling levels of poverty so high that if forces readers to choose between spending on their favourite newspaper or buying a loaf of bread for self and family.

The road ahead is paved with challenges and we must learn from others still in the business. It is gratifying that Media Trust is blessed with management that is far-sighted and constantly evolving. It invests in its workers with the right training and constantly interacts with its publics on how best to serve their interest. The annual Media Trust dialogue is a corporate social responsibility event that has been sustained. If we keep at these things, we can continue to say that – Trust is a promise kept.

Tunde Asaju (tundeasaju@yahoo.co.uk) wrote this piece to commemorate Daily Trust at 20

Linda Brown Who Ended US School Segregation Dies

Posted on by The Elites

Linda Brown, who was at the center of the 1950s court battle leading to the desegregation of US public schools, died Monday, the organisation that spearheaded the landmark legal effort said.
The US Supreme Court ruling on the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 was a key moment in the movement to end widespread discriminatory practices against black people in the United States, but discrimination, racism and racial tensions still plague the country more than 60 years later.

“Linda Brown, who was one of the young students at the heart of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, passed away today at age 76,” said a statement from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF).

Brown “is one of that special band of heroic young people who, along with her family, courageously fought to end the ultimate symbol of white supremacy — racial segregation in public schools,” the LDF’s president Sherrilyn Ifill said.

“She stands as an example of how ordinary schoolchildren took center stage in transforming this country,” she said.

“It was not easy for her or her family, but her sacrifice broke barriers and changed the meaning of equality in this country.”

While the NAACP said Brown was 76 at the time of her death, her age was elsewhere reported to have been 75.

The organization did not provide details on what caused her death.

In the early 1950s, Oliver Brown sought to enroll his daughter in an all-white school near the family’s home in Topeka, Kansas, but was told she had to go to an all-black school that was farther away.

Brown turned to the courts for justice in a case that was part of an anti-segregation push by the NAACP.

The Kansas case was combined with others from Delaware, South Carolina and Virginia as well as the capital, Washington, when they were appealed to the US Supreme Court, becoming the ground-breaking Brown v. Board of Education.

– ‘An incredible impact’ –

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that segregation was unconstitutional.

But segregation was far from over despite the court ruling, and integration was bitterly opposed by some whites.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower deployed American soldiers when the Arkansas governor blocked African-American students from being integrated into an all-white high school in the state’s capital Little Rock in 1957.

Though segregation was illegal in schools after the Brown v. Board ruling, it nonetheless continued because of opposition from racists as well as due to the prevalence of separate black and white neighborhoods, which led to de facto segregation in local schools.

Busing students from their home neighborhoods to schools in other areas was begun to address the situation, but that move was still being contested more than 20 years after Brown v. Board.

Schools were not the only segregated areas in America: there were also separate restaurants, bathrooms and water fountains for blacks and whites in parts of the country — something protesters held sit-ins to oppose as part of the civil rights movement.

Even now, racial tensions continue to plague America — where black people have faced hundreds of years of discrimination and slavery — and African-Americans still make up a disproportionate percentage of the country’s incarcerated and poor.

Brown, who was just a girl when the court case unfolded, became a school teacher later in life, taught piano lessons and worked with the Brown Foundation, an organization that seeks to promote the legacy of the case, according to its website.

Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer paid tribute to her in a Twitter post on Monday.

“Linda Brown’s life reminds us that sometimes the most unlikely people can have an incredible impact and that by serving our community we can truly change the world,” Colyer wrote.

And the American Civil Liberties Union rights group hailed the impact of the court case.

“The Brown decision made America a beacon of hope to the rest of the world; it taught us that we could, through the rule of law, end a kind of oppression and race-based caste system,” the group said on Twitter.

“Today we honor Linda Brown and all the fights we have left to win.”

 

K1 De Ultimate Electrifies Abuja Crowd

Posted on by The Elites

The roof of the Transcorp Hilton Abuja hotel was practically brought down yesterday the 22nd Of March 2018 when the acclaimed King of Fuji music, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal who is popularly known as K1 De Ultimate served hot plate of exciting music to the Abuja crowd at the ‘Abuja Live In Concert’ show.
As soon as he stepped into the hall with one of his popular old track, the mood of the hall ignited immediately that many people could not return to their seats as K1 continuously delivered a very captivating performance that saw him linking one good danceable track to the other.
It was a night that will be talked about for a very long time in the city of Abuja and beyond.
Meanwhile, with the very successful outing of last night, the Czar of music, K1 has signified interest in returning to the city for another blockbuster show soon.

Lightning Kills 16 People Inside Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Posted on by The Elites

A lightning strike killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more at a Seventh-Day Adventist church in Rwanda on Saturday, an official said.

Most of the victims died instantly when lightning hit the church in the southern district of Nyaruguru, local mayor Habitegeko Francois told AFP.

Two people died from their injuries, and 140 people were rushed to hospital and health centres.

Lightning also killed a student in the area on Friday, the mayor said.

The weather accident in the mountainous region near the border with Burundi took place around midday on Saturday while parishioners of the town of Gihemvu were at a church service.

“Doctors say that only three [more churchgoers] are in critical condition but they are getting better,” Mr Francois told AFP on Sunday.

He said that in Friday’s incident, lightning struck a group of 18 students in the area, killing one.

Three of the students remain in hospital while the rest have been able to return home, reports say.

The deadly church incident comes less than two weeks after the closure of more than 700 Rwandan churches for failing to comply with building regulations and for noise pollution.

Local news outlet Panor Actu reported (in French) that a number of the closed churches did not have required lightning rods – devices intended to protect a structure from a lightning strike.

Smear Campaign Against Visionscape Will Fail – Youth Groups

Posted on by The Elites
The Greater Lagos Youths (GLY), an amalgam of over 60 youth groups drawn from across the 57 local government and Local council development areas of Lagos state has condemned a coordinated smear campaign launched against Visionscape Sanitation Solutions on the social media.

Greater Lagos Youths maintains that the plot to undermine the efforts of Visionscape to fulfil its part, in delivering a cleaner Lagos, will fail.

In a statement signed by its National President, Kayode Gbadamosi, GLY says its “attention has been drawn to the latest campaign of blackmail and calumny against Visionscape Sanitation Solutions by disgruntled elements and agents of destabilisation who on realising the futility of their previous actions of sabotaging the credibility of the organization with regards to waste management in Lagos State, have come up once again with this latest smear campaign.”

The group says “while the anti Visionscape Sanitation Solutions interests continued to grope in the dark, they exposed their ignorance and churned out lies and falsehood about the competence and long standing record of Visionscape Sanitation Solutions and it’s directors by the ignorant and mischief laden sinister campaign.”

GLY further affirms that Visionscape is a trusted environmental company which was beginning to earn the confidence of Lagosians.

“Let it be placed on record that Greater Lagos Youths (GLY) and millions of ever conscious and progressive Lagosians, have absolute confidence in Visionscape Sanitation Solutions as a tested and trusted environmental concern which has proved its mettle in its area of competence in other countries across the globe.

“Notwithstanding the campaign of blackmail and calumny, the good people and government of Lagos State are committed to entrusting our utmost confidence in Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, as we witness a breath of fresh air in the waste management system through the transformation of waste transfer loading stations across the state, beginning with the Tapa Transfer Loading Station; the one in Oshodi is nearing completion; the Ogudu Waste Depot has been completed and they are currently working on Epe Landfill which will be the first Engineered Sanitary Landfill in West Africa, among others.

“No matter the satanic plots to undermine Visionscape Sanitation Solutions in its responsibility to the environmental upgrade of Lagos to a clean mega city, we the people have no reason whatsoever to doubt the competence of the organization based on it’s track record and results being achieved on ground of which we are all living witness despite sabotage and other negative actions by disgruntled elements.

“Therefore, we at Greater Lagos Youths (GLY) commend Visionscape Sanitation Solutions for taking giant strides to align Lagos state with the rest of the world in waste management system and affirm our unalloyed confidence and support to it in restoring the environmental sanity of Lagos state and state unequivocally that this campaign of blackmail and calumny cannot and will not stand,” GLY says.

The Cowardly Campaign of Calumny Against Visionscape

Posted on by The Elites

By Paul Dada
When I read through a write-up discrediting the Cleaner Lagos Initiative and the Visionscape Group, I could not but shudder at the abysmal level of desperation to which enemies of progress can sink to.
As a very informed citizen and resident of Lagos, I consider it necessary to refute the malicious and fallacious post circulating on the Social Media.
Of course, any “product” you sell on the Social Media will have its buyers, even if it’s a toxic one. And not everyone subscribes to the Biblical principle of “proving all things and holding fast that which is good.”
It is common knowledge that both the Lagos State Government which granted the concession to Visionscape to manage residential waste in Lagos , and Visionscape itself, have for some time been at the receiving end of unjust vilifications by mischief makers and those whose cynicism probably has psychological causes. We also know that the efforts of Visionscape were until recently being sabotaged by persons who felt aggrieved that government had contracted the multinational company to deliver an integral waste management in Lagos.
Now that we are relieved that many progressive PSP operators have resolved to work with both the Lagos State Government and Visionscape to deliver a cleaner Lagos, it boggles the mind that faceless persons or online phantoms would still go ahead to write a message full of lies and some half truths.
I will now address some of the points raised in the write-up and how that they are bare-faced lies or a ranting of an ignoramus.
“If you check their website every page is an exact copy of the previous page only reworded and they use plenty big words that sound good but have no meaning in what they claim they do.”
Even if this were to be true, how does that confirm that Visionscape is a phony company or an incompetent organisation?
I have gone through the website www.visionscape.group so many times to know that the claim that each page is an exact copy of a previous one is untrue. Nobody who is in his/her right mind would visit the site, navigate through its sections and conclude that every page is a replica of another.
The writer complains that Visionscape uses “plenty big words” on its site. This shows me nothing but the author’s poor education.

“They have a board of directors. I’ve checked; each of them is on Linkedin and not one of them mentions Visionscape anywhere. The only Nigerian on the board is Niyi Makanjuola, the point man of the promoters”
There is nothing that is as preposterous as thinking that Linkedin is the only means of verifying the validity of information about people. Many people don’t update information about themselves on Linkedin. I am an example of people whose Linkedin profile information is not updated.
What is wrong in having just one Nigerian on the board of Visionscape, a company which operates in U.K , Belgium and Dubai, UAE. It is also in Sierra Leone, in partnership with Masada. No one has claimed that Visionscape is an indigenous company. The organisation is a multinational and its international headquarters is in Dubai, U.A.E. But mischief makers have continued to dub it a “foreign” company.
But what exactly is wrong in having a foreign company that has a lot to offer, operate in Nigeria? Are we not all wishing that the business environment in Nigeria be conducive enough so we could have more foreign investments? Are companies like MTN, Airtel and Shell not largely owned by non-Nigerians?
We know about companies owned by non-Nigerians which maltreat their staff. Visionscape has employed a lot of Nigerians, a good number of whom are occupying managerial and middle level positions. Visionscape has plans to rehabilitate and employ scavengers who operate at the Epe landfill which the company is transforming into the first engineered landfill in West Africa.
And the claim of Makanjuola being a point man (whatever that means), is balderdash. This is a man who has been doing business successfully in Nigerian since 2002.

“Check the Visionscape page on YouTube, every single picture is in Nigeria or animation, but according to them, they are an international company. There is no track record of them anywhere, doing any ‘work’ before Lagos State. The only other place they can be found is a so-called head office in Dubai”
Lies! Lies! Let those reading this visit the website of Visonscape they will get information about the activities of the company in other countries. The claim of all pictures being in animation, is not true. Any diligent searcher on Youtube will attest to this.

“How did they get their name put in our environmental law?”
I wonder how people can keep repeating this lie? An online news medium, Premium Times, interviewed a certain Demola Olarewaju who claimed that Visionscape was included in revised Lagos Environmental Law. The same Olarewaju via his Twitter handle later apologised for his gaffe. He said he had been informed that his claim was not correct.
One would expect that nobody would keep spreading this particular lie. It does not take much effort for anyone to look through the law and see whether the claim is true.
“Visionscape raised N50bn bond in the capital market and got Lagos State to guarantee it”
Is this even an argument? What exactly is wrong in a reputable company raising a bond in the capital market?
I think it is important for Lagosians to ignore the lies and exaggerations of those who don’t want Lagos to succeed. The smear campaign is a mere distraction. The sponsors of this evil will be silenced soon when the Cleaner Lagos Initiative becomes an overwhelming success.
-Paul Dada is a Lagos-based journalist

Naomi Campbell Confirms Dating Adenuga

Posted on by The Elites

Supermodel, Naomi Campbell has officially confirmed to her curious fans that she is dating British musician Skepta, whose real name is Joseph Junior Adenuga.

Skepta, who is 15 years younger than the fashion icon, was born in North London on September 19, 1982, to Nigerian immigrant parents.

There had been rumour about their relationship, but Naomi, 47, confirmed it via an Instagram post on Thursday, when she shared a GQ cover featuring her and her beau cuddled close while wearing nothing but jewelry.

Skepta is the first man Naomi has been linked to since Egyptian millionaire Louis C. Camilleri in July 2017, the Mail Online reported.

He made his musical debut in 2007 with the release of his cleverly titled album, Greatest Hits.

Skepta’s second album, Microphone Champion, followed in 2009. Both albums were independent releases. By the time his third album, Doin’ It Again, was released in 2011, he had signed with AATW.

Skepta didn’t begin to really draw attention until his fourth album, however. The project, titled Konnichiwa, was released in May 2016. It won him a Mercury Prize.

Since gaining notoriety, he’s collaborated and performed with major names in the music business like Flatbush Zombies, Wizkid and Drake, Kanye West and more

The rapper has four siblings, two of whom music aficionados may be familiar with. His one brother is a grime rapper called Jme. Skepta has another sibling, Julie Adenuga, who’s a DJ on Beats 1.

In addition to musical pursuits, Skepta founded a clothing company called Mains. The brand dropped its first line in June 2017.

K1 De Ultimate, The World Is Your Stage At 61, Sing and Let Us Dance! – Biodun Kupoluyi

Posted on by The Elites

I have always admired him since I was lured to love Fuji music by my secondary school buddy, Biliaminu Azeez sometime in 1980.

I was a Disco boy, a fairly good dancer but I loved to sing with my musical group-The KAT Rollers- K-for Kupoluyi, A-Azeez and T-Taiwo.
So, I, Biodun Kupoluyi, Azeez Biliaminu, now a business man based in Ibadan and Femi Taiwo, now a Pastor in Dallas, Texas, USA founded the musical group, doing covers of Kool &The Gang, The Commodores, The Whispers, El-Debarge, Cameron, Billy Ocean, Michael Jackson, Prince in our classrooms at Ibadan City Academy, Ibadan with dreams that one day, we will be signed on to a label. But dreams die first.

I must confess, K1’s mentor, late Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister caught my fancy first. He was deep, philosophical and his music was steep in Yoruba’s rich proverbs and idioms and the reason he was loved by the elderly was not far-fetched.
I had sneaked out of the house to one of the parties in town where I encountered the music and person of this budding star.

I was told his name- Wasiu Ayinde Barrister- my informant claimed he was Ayinde Barrister’s son. I was told his foray into music started at a very early age. I loved his guttural voice, chatty and rather than sing, his lyrics were conversational, yet musical.
Suddenly, he jumped to the stage and churned out the hit tune, Talazo and the crowd went wild, the atmosphere changed, boisterous and fun-filled.
The call and response from the teeming fans confirmed he was loved and his music was like an anthem on the lips of everyone. I loved the originality, rhythmic concept and the harmonic progression of his band.
I became a fan, an ardent fan. He rose to change his name and the game changed. He became King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, also known as KWAM 1 and his music became phenomenal.
Back -to- back, he churned out a medley of popular chart numbers, catchy dance tunes that changed the ambience of social parties and swayed his audience at concerts like the Benson & Hedges Golden Tones, Lekki Sunsplash and his regular spots, Laparias and Lords Club, both in Maryland, Lagos.
His collaboration with campus sensation and Ragga star, Blackky wooed the undergraduate students. It worked for him as Fuji, a music genre popular among commercial bus operators and conductors crept into campuses, from the backwater to the frontrow.

His music, suddenly became well-blended with Afro jazz elements and with more instrumentaton, he delivered a new sound, a unique kind of unpretentious party music that appealed to the elites and changed the course of Fuji.
At a point in his career, which I must say was propelled by a list of savvy Artiste Managers-Kokumo Gaji, Dayo Olomu, Lanre Ijaola, aka Ijakoko, Ayo Sonaiya and the man KWAM 1, described as the General Overseer of the Ultimate Band, Percy Ademokun, became enviable.
By the time his stage name changed to K1 De Ultimate, he was qualified as the leader of one of the most toured bands from Africa, criss-crossing Europe and America. His successive albums catalogued the upwardly mobile then known as the ‘What’s Up Guys’ in Europe, America and Lagos, Nigeria’s social circle. That was the turning point. While many queried his efforts to change the narrative, he insisted it is just fair to tell the truth.

Everybody wanted K1 to give him or her a mention and he did quite a lot, serenading all in the albums-American Tips and Global Tour between 1991 and 1996. Also to his credits were Digital and SunSun. Then, 1998 was the monster hit, Fuji Fusion. In the album, he mentioned ladies and men he encountered on the social radar during his tour to America, Canada and Europe.

With loyal fans and committed promoters like the Late Monsuru Olumegbon and Bayo King Kosoko of Mobak Promotions, he became a constant star across the globe with huge Nigerian, African audience. His North America and Canada tours were packaged by indefatigable Demola Oyefeso of New Genesis.

He performed on big stages-WOMAD, WOMED and Biyi Adepegba of Joyful Noise took him to the famous Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom, where his performance was applauded and generously reviewed in the critical British media.

Significant to his career was the US rebellion of his treacherous band boys who defected during one of his early tours. It was on record that the album, SunSun n 1998 after the Fuji Fusion ( Oko Faji Carnival ) Album was a live studio recording by four men.

As fate would have it, I had joined PUNCH Newspapers to realise my dream to be a journalist and when I started anchoring the ArtsAlive pages, his life and music became more interesting for me to report.
Along the line, I found confidence in my Ijesha brother, Ola Ibironke, a music promoter and label owner. Ibironke, popularly known as Dudu had just signed Abass Akande Obesere and he wanted me to be his publicist. I obliged.
Then, the rivalry between K1 De Ultimate and Obesere was rife. At every opportunity, his manager and my friend, Percy Ademokun would poke me but he trusted and respected my objectivity.

Gradually, I got closer to K1 and his persona cum exotic charm of his music won my heart.
To K1, the world is his oyster, his stage.
He reads widely, watches TV and keeps tab on international news. He is also a journalist/interviewer’s delight. At first encounter, you will be convinced he was not a lacklustre student though he graduated from the Street University.

Did I mention he is a politician too? His influence in politics is overwhelming. From Lagos to Abuja, his name rings a bell in the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
During the last electioneering campaign, only his music moved the stoic General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and during his inauguration, he did an encore. Remember his popular chorus: Sai Baba! Sai Buhari!
He loves God. Born a Moslem but liberal enough to accomodate Christian friends and fans. Infact, his dexterity at songs of praise and Biblical verses made Christians to embrace Fuji music, a music genre that evolved from the Islamic ‘Were’ or Ajisari music tradition, performed to wake Muslims before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season. As part of the activities to mark his 60th birthday, he refurbished and donated his first house at Isolo, a Lagos surburb to the Muthaheedat Islamic Foundation (MIFO).
He loves women too, married and divorced a few times. He sings the praises of women to high heavens, falls in and out of love with them, yet they remain his most loyal fans.

K1 De Ultimate enjoys the company of his friends that cut across Politics and Busines. He cares and dotes on his children who have found careers and service in Law, Medicine, Politics and interestingly, Music.
Known for his taste, he cooks better than some women. His palatial mansion at his country home, Ijebu Ode is a field of dreams, eye-popping and an architectural masterpiece.
Perhaps one of the most controversial moment in his career was two days to his 60th birthday and his shocking revelation that his mentor, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister is not the creator of Fuji Music but a turning point who brought the genre to relevance. In controversies, K1 thrives.
He is famed as a man who does not tolerate insults from peers or subordinate. K1 does not suffer fools gladly. He knows how to keep them at bay.
He loves and cherishes loyalty.
On his landmark 60th birthday celebration last year, he chose to take his music to entertain guests tomorrow (Saturday) at the first coronation anniversary of the Olubadan of Ibadan, His Royal Highness Oba Saliu Adetunji, a former music label owner who produced his first and several albums.

At a time it seems Fuji, like many other indigenous music is going into extinction and threatened by the emergence of hip hop, K1 De Ultimate remains the number one choice among famous and wannabe hiphop artistes for collaboration.

On record, his K1 Live Unusual Concert, held four years ago, was and remains the biggest stage ever for the Fuji music in Nigeria.

Through the last four decades, not minding the music or star in style, K1 De Ultimate is always in style, relevant.

Like many of our heroes, continue to live through your creativity, keep living in pursuit of your goal.

Happy Birthday, K1, the world is your stage!

Restructuring Sacrosanct To Nigeria’s Unity – Aare Gani Adams

Posted on by The Elites

Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Dr Gani Adams, has restated his strong belief in restructuring, saying:’ For Nigeria to have a genuine unity, the issue of restructuring must be taken care of urgently” Aare Adams made the submission yesterday when prominent representatives of the Lagos state chapter of Arewa Council of Chiefs( ACC),and top members of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum( AYCF), visited his Omole Phase 2, Lagos,home on a courtesy call.

He said the foundation of Nigeria’ s unity is regionalism, a system where the various federating units develop at their own pace.

” We have to perfect Nigeria to a country that we can be proud of.” Adams, who described the issues of the Fulani herdsmen as a sad reminder of what Nigeria is known for, said: “On daily basis, what we hear about the Fulanis of the past negates the stories we hear now, and this is sad. The stories started filtering in from the North Central and metamorphosised to the south west, where people were killed and properties, including several hectares of land destroyed.

Victims of such dastardly acts, Adams said, include former secretary to the federal government,( SFG), chief Olu Falae , chief Bisi Rotipe,Admiral Samuel Afolayan and several other prominent Yoruba sons, who have been engaging in farming for over 30 years.. ” I am using this opportunity to appeal to you and at the same time ask for your cooperation on the best way to end the unnecessary killings by the herdsmen. The issue of the herdsmen is a security threat to the Yoruba nation and because of your integrity as a people you must do something urgent about this.” he said.

Adams, who harped on unity and peace in the country, expressed appreciation on the visit, saying the Yorubas are very accommodating: “I am proud to say that the Yorubas are the most accommodating race in Nigeria. We have a history of the various ethnic nationalities in the country living with us for more than 300 years.There is a lasting synergy between the OPC and the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, top Niger Delta groups, the Eze Ndigbo and other ethnic groups”, he said

Responding, president of the group, Alhaji Yerima shettima, said they were on the courtesy call to congratulate Adams on his new position, adding that the relationship between him and Aare dates back to over two decades, particularly, during the time of the struggles. He said:”Aare Adams is my brother who has been championing a just cause. Given his antecedents and past struggles, I have a number of reasons, including my personal experiences, to say Aare is most qualified for the prestigious title. He deserved the title, that is why we are here as a people to celebrate with him, and I hope one day, we shall change the narratives of this nation”. He spoke about the state of the nation, saying Nigerians are suffering,

” The level of hunger in the country is alarming. It is sad that Nigerians are suffering, and this is occasioned by bad leadership. The issue of the herdsmen is highly politicized , and that the north is not against restructuring.” he said.

No fewer than 30 members of the two groups were present at the meeting. They were: Alhaji Umaru Yunusa, chairman, Lagos state chapter of Kingmakers Council of Arewa Chiefs, Alhaji Abdullah, Marafan Lagos state,Alhaji Rabiu Sidi,Seriki Hausa Ajegunle ,Alhaji Sulaimon Bala,Secretary,and Alhaji Isa Mohammed among others.

The Best Politicians Start Small, By Bamidele Ademola-Olateju

Posted on by The Elites

I like that young people want to engage. I like that they want political power. But, like I have written here many times; power does not concede. Power concedes only when offered something equal or greater in return. Politics uses the bottom up approach. Power is not acquired overnight, it is built in increments. Do not get it twisted, politics is about representation. Whoever aspires to lead must earn the confidence and respect of those they wish to lead. In politics, numbers is destiny! The people must know you or those they trust, must know you. Do not think you can go it alone, if you do, you will fail and spectacularly so. Obama did not become the President of the United States from obscurity. It happened before our eyes. That speech at John Kerry’s democratic convention made all the difference. That speech launched his national campaign. Before then, he was busy working his way up the ladder, gaining people’s confidence.

When you begin the idealistic nonsense that there should be no godfather in politics, where do you want to put community and opinion leaders? They did not become leaders by staying in their living rooms to watch Tom and Jerry. They matter because they care about their community and have gained their people’s confidence. You need them to succeed. You need their approval. If they cannot work for you, make sure they do not work against you.

People must learn to eat banana before plantain. Eat small things before you look at big things. Work your way up. Become a community leader yourself. Know how things are done. You like citing George Weah; would he have become president without Charles Taylor? You are using Macron as an example; omo! Go and do your research o! That was how Pat Utomi and Dele Momodu thought they could become President just like that. Their vote tallies could not even win them a seat as councillor. They should have asked Tunji Braithwaite and Gani Fawehinmi. “Love Does Not Win Elections”; Ayisha Osori told us from her experience.