Author: Tribune Online

Traders and importers across West Africa have raised concerns over allegations that a single company has been granted exclusive

The post Traders raise alarm over alleged rice import monopoly in Benin appeared first on Tribune Online.

AHEAD of the 2027 polls, the political stakes have no doubt heightened. Among the developments that shocked bookmakers this week was the declaration by the Oyo State Governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, for president on the platform of the Peoples Movement (APM) Alliance. Almost in one cue, apologists of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) reacted […]

The post 2027: The illogicality of an anti-Makinde posture appeared first on Tribune Online.

(A review of Lasisi Olagunju’s Man of Many Frontiers: The Life, Faith and Influence of Asiwaju Khamis Olatunde Badmus, published by Safari Books, xxvii + 252 pp.) THE children of the subject of this biography, Asiwaju Khamis Olatunde Badmus, popularly known as Tuns, had the idea that his story should be written to mark his […]

The post For a man of many frontiers appeared first on Tribune Online.

•Open defecation persists in Lagos despite govt’s appeal •We are encouraging banks, eateries, others to make their restrooms accessible to public —Govt  •We are assessing requests — Banks DIFFERENT administrations in Lagos, including the present one, have never minced words about their dream of making the state a mega city. Besides being naturally regarded as […]

The post ‘Someone who is homeless and cannot afford to eat may not pay N100 or N200 to use a toilet when they can do it by the roadside’ appeared first on Tribune Online.

Taiwan has insisted that it is an independent nation.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry made this known in a statement on Saturday.

The ministry noted that since US President Donald Trump took office the United States has repeatedly reaffirmed that its policy on the island remains unchanged.

Taiwan’s declaration comes a few hours after Trump warned it against declaring formal independence.

“Taiwan is a sovereign and independent democratic nation, and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China”, the statement said.

DAILY POST recalls that China had stated that Taiwan is not a sovereign nation but an inseparable part of Chinese territory.

Counselor at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Nigeria, Dong Hairong, reiterated that recent developments involving Taiwan showed the need for greater international understanding of the Taiwan question and China’s territorial position.

We’re independent nation – Taiwan insists 

 

Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, in this interview, gives perspectives on the insecurity in his state and in the country. He maintains that the problem is local; explaining why state police are needed to solve it. 

Security is local and the governors have clamoured for opportunity and capacity to deal with it. What’s your position regarding the insecurity in your state and across the country? 

For insecurity, you know, it’s a long story. It can take us a long time to explain; because when we took over the state in the last three years, about 24 local governments were under siege. In fact, the killings and the kidnapping every day were really mind-boggling. But you know, before I became governor, I came well prepared. So, we said security is our number one, number two, number three priority. And then we realised that it’s just a security issue; we have to localise it, it has to be community-based because we have very, very hard-to-reach areas in Katsina.

So, you can imagine if there are bandits attacking such remote places, no matter how proactive we are, it takes hours to reach such places. So, we came up with a mechanism to have people from those locations, who would be willing to give a helping hand before the coming of the security. Then we realised that the best thing we should do is to set up a security outfit made up of well-trained personnel.

How did you train them?

We trained them through the military and the police. We equipped them with what we were allowed to give them, that is the pump-action rifle. In the first instance, we supplied them with over 70 Hilux vehicles and over 1,500 motorcycles. We provided them with gadgets, protection, and what have you. We trained them for months, and it was the first thing we did before six months of assuming office. We launched 1,500 combat personnel.

But we selected them from the locations where violence was taking place. Why? Because they will give first-hand support and they need to work in conjunction with the security. We bought a lot of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs). I think we bought more than 20.

We provided them with allowances. But with the setting up of the new security outfit, which we call Katsina Community Watch, it became one of the main vehicles that helped us to suppress insecurity. In fact, the criminals fear this Community Watch more than the other conventional security.

But the bandits and criminals keep coming?

Yes. The only setback for our Katsina Security Watch was that they don’t carry AK-47s. Their weapons don’t go far, and that makes it difficult for them. But with that, and the support of the conventional security agencies, and air power, we were able to reduce insecurity to the barest minimum.

We heard your government negotiated with the insurgents. Is that correct?

I’ve said it many times; I’m not going to negotiate with bandits. I will not invite any bandit to come for any negotiation. But if the bandits are under pressure and they want us to sit down and provide a roadmap towards peace, then I will be ready to listen to them.

With our efforts, we were able to suppress it. But things got stuck. At a point, communities were meeting the bandits and negotiating on their own, and they approached us through the local government and said, ‘look sir, we have spoken to these people, and they are ready to stop these things, and we are ready to accept them back into society.’ I said it’s fine.

At least, if we had not put pressure on these people, they would not have asked for negotiation. But since they have asked for it, you can sit down with them, but I’m out of it. But I will not fight it, because I’m here sitting as a governor because of your mandate, and if that is your wish, you get it.

So, we allowed them to negotiate. So, at a point, particularly in Jibia, for one and a half years, nobody was killed. That place was a theatre zone, because we border Niger and some of them moved in from Niger Republic.

But I followed suit and now it’s one year and two months; nobody was killed in Safana, and all these frontline local governments. In fact, there was a time in Katsina State, for about six months, nothing happened until recently when we began to witness a breakdown of the peace deal in some local governments. In two of them, we know the person responsible; he was born there, his parents were born there, his grandparents were born there. So, all our security issues are really local.

But there are stories of foreign terrorists coming into the country…

The issue of some people coming from other countries is a lie. Even if there are foreigners involved, 95 per cent of those perpetuating this act are our own people; they were born and bred here.  

What is complicating the issue now, and even before, is compromise – compromise by the security agencies and even the communities because nobody will come and attack any village without information. It’s a lie to blame it on foreign terrorists.

You know there is this particular notorious person they are talking about, who attacked people just in the last two days or three. He’s being protected by the community. Yes, he’s being protected. You can imagine.

Last two weeks or last week, I called a high-level security meeting in this chamber. Do you know that five minutes after the meeting, the bandits’ leader called some people and told them what we had just discussed in the meeting. All the things we discussed at the meeting, he was aware of it all.

So, how are you going to deal with this situation? Sometimes if police are ambushed, maybe one of them has given out information. When the military is ambushed, maybe one of them has given information to the insurgents. So, this is the situation we are in, where a bandits’ leader knows where we are; he has more information than we have. You know that if we don’t get the cooperation of the people, we cannot end this. It’s really a difficult and dicey situation we are in.

You agree that security is local. How can we get communities and leaders who compromise their positions to pay for their sins?

There’s hardly anybody you can trust. This is the situation I am in. And I’m not the one to carry the gun and go. And sometimes I even go along with the security to attack these guys. But by the time you get there, you will meet empty houses. They have all run away because they got the information that you were coming.

And sometimes, if security were informed of an attack, when they go there, they ambush them because they had prior information that they were coming. There was one local leader from the community where there was an attack. Someone called him and he sent me the recorded message.

If he changed his clothes, the person who called him would tell him the colour of the clothes he had changed. If after an hour he went back to his house and changed to another set of clothes, the caller would call and tell him he had changed clothes. So, it means that people around him are spying on him and feeding the criminals.

This is the situation we are in. And that is why I have said it over and again that we need state police. And the time is now. We could not give this local security outfit sophisticated weapons because there is no law backing the outfit. Some people have been talking about politics, saying the governors are going to abuse the state police…

You think the fear of governors abusing state police is misplaced?

Before I became a governor, I used to nurse that fear. But the issue is I can only be a governor for eight years. So, if I use the security apparatus against anybody, that means someone who comes later will also use it against me.

So, it’s not about politics. And are we not in Nigeria where a sitting president lost election when he had control of the military and the police? So, what about an ordinary state governor? Will he say he cannot lose election because he has state police? I believe Nigeria is far more sophisticated and there are certain things people can do and get away with. But we are here talking about the lives of people. The money I invested in securing lives, I could have expended it on projects.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has approved the appointment of Mr Kayode Oyekanmi as the new General Manager of Lagos State Television following the exit of the station’s former General Manager, Mrs Sola Kosoko.

The appointment letter was presented to Oyekanmi by the Lagos State Head of Service, Mr Bode Agoro, during a brief ceremony held at the State Secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja.

Speaking at the event, Agoro said the appointment was based on Oyekanmi’s commitment, professionalism, and years of dedicated service within the Lagos State public service system.

He expressed confidence in the new appointee’s ability to reposition the state-owned television station and wished him a productive and successful tenure.

Before his appointment, Oyekanmi served as Director of the Strategy Centre at the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, a role he had occupied since 2022.

A seasoned communications professional, Oyekanmi possesses more than 30 years of experience across both the public and private sectors, with a background in advertising, public relations, media communications, and export services.

He began his career in the Lagos State public service on March 1, 2000, as a Public Affairs Practitioner with the Ministry of Information and Strategy.

An indigene of Isale Eko on Lagos Island, Oyekanmi has received several recognitions for his contributions to journalism and public communication.

Academically, he holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos and a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Education from Lagos State University.

He is also a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, and the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.

Beyond his professional career, Oyekanmi is described as an avid reader and lawn tennis enthusiast. 

He currently serves as the Charter President of the Lagos State Ministry of Information Toastmasters Club.

Sanwo-Olu appoints Kayode Oyekanmi as new Lagos TV General Manager

Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was one of the most wanted extremist figures linked to the Islamic State network in Africa. His reported killing in a joint US–Nigeria military operation has drawn global attention. ALSO READ: BREAKING: ISIS second-in-command killed in Nigeria, says Trump Here are six quick facts about Abu-Bilal al-Minuki: 1. He was reportedly ISIS’ second-in-command globally. […]

The post Abu-Bilal al-Minuki: Six quick facts to know about ISIS terrorist killed in Nigeria appeared first on Tribune Online.

THE late Muhammadu Buhari wrested power from upset of an incumbent in Nigeria precisely because of the northern establishment’s strategic coalition with the Southwest political establishment led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And Tinubu is president today because of the North’s requital, sort of, for Tinubu’s gesture. I qualify the requital with “sort of” because Muhammadu […]

The post Tinubu’s baffling Northern exclusion strategy appeared first on Tribune Online.

Ringim and Taura Federal constituency aspirant, Bar. Firdausi Sunusi Umar has stepped down her ambition and declared support for the consensus candidate.
Bar.Fiddaisi is among the eleven aspirants seeking the All progressives Congress, APC, ticket.

All the nine aspirants excluding Bar. Firdausi had earlier stepped down for Yusha’u Muhammad who is considered as a consensus candidate.

Hours to the primary election, .Firdausi announced her withdrawal during a courtesy call to Governor Umar Namadi in Government House Dutse.

In a letter of her withdrawal addressed to the National party chairman, received by the state legal adviser, Bar. Baffa Alhassan, she said the decision was taken in the overall interest of unity, stability and progress of the party.

She said the decision follows consultations with party elders and stakeholders and pursuant of the provision of section 87(1) of the electoral act 2026.

“I resolved and align myself with the consensus candidate of our great party, APC”

“I, therefore, wholeheartedly endorse Yusha’u Muhammad of our party for Ringim and Taura Federal constituency ticket,” she said.

2027 elections: Jigawa only female Reps aspirant withdraws from race