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2023: Outgoing Herdsman, Incoming Bala Blu By Tunde Odesola

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2023: Outgoing Herdsman, Incoming Bala Blu By Tunde Odesola

Are dogs clairvoyant? People in the market square believe so. Mouths ajar, traders watched as over half a dozen village dogs barked and wagged their tails menacingly against the three notorious town criers, raising dust and eyebrows.

Protected by the king’s baton-wielding guards, the head of the town criers, Hadji Lie, smiled and pretended as if the dogs were the king’s pets. The angry dogs barked the more, advancing and retreating, kicking up more dust, threatening. Whaw! Whaw!!

Hadji Lie’s smile broadened into a grin, revealing an infamous diastema. Like his political party, the Association of Professional Crooks (APC), Hadji Lie is from the tribe of the lion of Judas.

Exceptionally gifted, Hadji Lie doesn’t need to wrack his brain for a lie; all he needs to do is just to open his mouth and the appropriate lie for the occasion will flow, it’s a natural endowment, just like biting is natural to snake.

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Like Hadji Lie, the other two town criers, Sherwood Gharubba, and Femi(nine), – so called because he swam nine rivers from his village to earn a place in the king’s palace, wrapped their plain cloths round their bodies and tied them in a knot over their shoulders like the three statues in Lagos.

Hadji Lie: (Stops at the centre of the square, sounding his metal gong and shouting.) Yan uwa! Igbo kwenu! Kere o! (No one responds.) (He smiles, coughs, clears his throat and tries again.)

Hadji Lie: Yan Naijeria! Umu Naija! Gbogbo omo Naija! (A few people stepped out to the front of their stalls to listen. Some murmured, many hissed.)

Hadji Lie: (Continues, unperturbed.) I bring good tidings from the paramount owner of all the living and nonliving things in Naija. I can see everyone, including these friendly dogs (dogs bark), is enjoying the abundant life promised by Hiss Excellency. This time tomorrow, at the same venue, Hiss Excellency wishes to address the Naijerian nation on his eight-year stewardship, and also present to you his worthy successor. In his tradition of transparency, the ultimate monarch will entertain questions from all quarters, including opposition groups and the press. Did I speak well?

(Market people, who had increased in number while Lie was speaking, continued murmuring.)

The next day, the sun scorched the earth. Yet, the market square was like a pack of sardines. If you throw a needle up among the crowd, it can’t find its way to the ground. The needle would be held by the jam-packed bodies of the crowd with grim faces, nostrils blowing hot air and arms with wiry hairs like sandpaper. The Lekki tollgate scene flashed across the minds of the people as the king’s guards whacked batons on people’s heads, telling them to bend down so that people at the high table could have a better view of Hiss Excellency at the podium.

(The MC, Oke Bakassy, introduces the king to a round of applause.)

Hiss Excellency: Fellow Naijerians, I greet you all. My fipu, it is my joy to present my stewardship after almost eight years of meritorious service to God and fatherland. It is a thing of joy to inform you that my administration has cleared the Boko Haram terrorists from the North-East as I promised. It was not an easy task, but commitment, focus and patriotism saw us through.

(Murmurings rend the air.)

Hiss Excellency: It is my joy that my administration has been able to place the nation on the path of economic prosperity, massive employment opportunities, technological breakthroughs, 24-hour power supply, unprecedented improvements in road, health and educational infrastructure, improved agricultural yields, cattle herders’ immunity and Fulani superiority. Unfortunately, some people predicted my death, they even said that I’m dead. They said one Jubrila from the neighbouring village is the one engaging my beautiful wife in the oza room; walahi, e no go better for some fipu…

(Femi(nine) runs up to the king and whispers into his ears.)

Hiss Excellency: Femi(nine), I don’t care if I’m on national TV or not! National TV my foot! Today, this nation will see the oza side of me! Maybe today is the day the dog and the baboon will be soaked in blood. Haba, Naijerians have been very ungrateful to me and my family. They said my wife lives abroad; does she not have freedom of movement? They said my children are superrich; are the children of my predecessors poor? Femi(nine), I’m not seeking an election again, let me tell them a piece of my mind today!…

(Femi(nine) and Gharubba run to the podium to whisper to Hiss Excellency.)

Hiss Excellency: Ok, I’ve calmed down. I’m ready for their questions now. But it’s fire-for-fire today, I swear!

South-East press: Your Excellency, you lied on the issue of insecurity, sir. Insecurity has worsened across the country with banditry, kidnapping and ethnic agitation daily claiming lives across the country.

Hiss Excellency: Are you South-East press or Labour press? May you not labour in vain. I promised an end to Boko Haram, and I have done that; banditry, kidnapping and violent ethnic agitation weren’t deadly when I became president. I didn’t make promises on those. And I’ve said it repeatedly that we’ll speak to your people in the dot of a circle in the language they understand. I’m not joking! Boko Haram is no longer a major threat to my people, you too tell your people to stop the nonsense killings they’re doing.

Pin-Di-Pin: Your administration is the worst in the history of the country in terms of corruption, nepotism, hypocrisy and insensitivity. Banditry in the North, kidnapping nationwide and ethnic agitation in the South-East constitute insecurity…

Hiss Excellency: Eeh! Stop there! Was it not your grand patron, Ebora de Farmer, that introduced corruption to Naijeria’s 4th Republic by bribing to get a third term and impeaching South-East senate presidents? Where are the billions of dollars for electricity that went down the drain during the Ebora-Atike years? Whether you people like it or not, I know who’s going to succeed me.

Market people: Who

Hiss Excellency: The Lion of Bourdillon!

Market people: Ha!?

Hiss Excellency: Yes, because he’s far better and more experienced than the ever lying, whining OB-China, who corruptly muddled family business with state business, and who couldn’t point to one achievement he recorded in Awka, except feed the people with alcohol. (Murmurings.) The god of Bourdillon is incomparable to Atike, the driver of Special Purpose Vehicles of corruption, whose former oga called a thief…Chief Siwaju, the god of Lagos, please, stand up and wave to the crowd.

(Murmurings)

Bourdillon: (Smiles, waves on his seat and attempts to stand up.) He rose halfway to his feet and got stranded, transfixed like a goalkeeper aiming to stop a penalty kick. Some stalwarts rushed to the scene but he remained stooping like a goalkeeper, tamely saying, bala blu, bulaba, probably an incantation to save the 2023 penalty.)

(In the commotion, Hadji Lie rushes to the podium.)

Hadji Lie: Everyone here should be proud to see Bourdillon observing Islamic prayer. I’ve never seen a man so pious. He decided to pray first before anything else…

(Market people, with dropped jaws, looked at one another, shook their heads and began to leave.)

There’s no hope in 2023. Naijeria’s hope lies in restructuring aka true federalism.

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Obasa congratulates President Tinubu on second anniversary, commends economic reforms

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Obasa congratulates President Tinubu on second anniversary, commends economic reforms

Obasa congratulates President Tinubu on second anniversary, commends economic reforms

 

Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa has congratulated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his second anniversary in office. He also commended the bold and transformative economic reforms implemented under the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

“It takes ingenuity, courage, and a strong sense of conviction to go through with the reforms initiated by the President, but the whole world can see that these reforms have started yielding manifestly bountiful rewards in the areas of security, infrastructure, and improved investors’ confidence in the economy,” Obasa said.

Obasa congratulates President Tinubu on second anniversary, commends economic reforms

The Lagos Speaker, in a statement released by his media office, praised President Tinubu’s steadfast commitment to revamping the Nigerian economy through decisive policy actions like the fuel subsidy removal and liberalisation of the foreign exchange market. He highlighted how these policies have helped to stabilise the naira, increase foreign reserves, and reposition the nation’s economic trajectory.

Obasa recalled that previously, fuel subsidies had cost the Nigerian government approximately $10 billion annually, but the removal has led to a significant increase in the monthly disbursement to the three tiers of government by the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

“Unlike the situation in the past, we no longer hear lamentations about state governors owing civil servants or asking for bailouts from the federal government. We can only implore state and local government leaders to double up on the execution of vital and viable economic and social infrastructure development projects at the grassroots for the betterment of Nigerians across the social strata,” Obasa said.

He further cited the recent announcement by the World Bank that Nigeria’s economy recorded its fastest growth in about a decade in 2024; and the declaration by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria is no longer on its debtors’ list having completed the payment of a $3.4 billion loan borrowed during the COVID-19 pandemic as indubitable proofs of President Tinubu’s economic sagacity and the effectiveness of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

However, he said that every reform comes with responsibility, stating, “Transformative change requires time and collective efforts. The president is not oblivious to the hardships that have trailed these reforms, but he is presiding with a human face.

“President Tinubu increased the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 and also launched the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) to provide financial support to over 550,000 students, thereby enhancing access to higher education among other socio-economic empowerment programs. I do not doubt that we are on the right path,” Obasa said.

Speaker Obasa lauded Nigerians for their support and perseverance during the crunch that followed and urged all to remain patient, optimistic, and supportive of the president’s initiatives. He concluded by reaffirming the state House of Assembly’s commitment to collaborating with the federal government to ensure the successful implementation of policies that benefit all Nigerians.

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NAFDAC ALLEGED EXTORTION OF ₦3.5 BILLION FROM ONISHA TRADERS — IGBOS HEROES FOUNDATION REACTS By Joseph Monday

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NAFDAC ALLEGED EXTORTION OF ₦3.5 BILLION FROM ONISHA TRADERS — IGBOS HEROES FOUNDATION REACTS

By Joseph Monday

The Igbo Heroes Foundation, which has the late President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Dr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu CFR, as its founding chairman, has strongly condemned the recent closure of the Onitsha Bridgehead Drug Market by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). In a statement issued by the Foundation’s National Coordinator, Prince Chinedu Nsofor (Kpakpando Ndigbo), the organization reaffirmed its commitment to uphold the values of Igbo heroes past by boldly defending Igbos from undue oppression and intimidation.

The Foundation described the closure as a deliberate economic attack disguised as regulatory enforcement. “What NAFDAC has done is not enforcement but economic warfare against innocent traders in the South East. They have acted more wickedly than the criminals they claim to be pursuing,” Nsofor declared. “Instead of singling out the bad eggs, they’ve chosen to punish the entire market, destroying livelihoods and dignity.”

In an even more alarming revelation, Nsofor disclosed that NAFDAC is demanding ₦700,000 from each trader to reopen their shop—amounting to a staggering ₦3.5 billion, calculated by multiplying ₦700,000 by the estimated 5,000 shops in the market. So far, 1,000 traders have already paid, resulting in ₦700 million being extorted under this guise. “This is not regulation. This is broad daylight extortion. If expired drugs were truly the issue, the agency should focus on legal prosecution. Why demand billions from traders? Are they suggesting expired drugs are okay for the right price?” he asked.

Nsofor further stated, “It is tragic that many traders have already paid, suggesting NAFDAC may be compromising public health standards in exchange for money. This is not just corruption—it’s a betrayal of public trust.” The Foundation therefore calls on President Bola Tinubu to urgently cleanse his administration of what it describes as deep-rooted corruption that is gradually engulfing the fabric of governance.

Decrying the double standards often applied by federal authorities, Nsofor said, “Why weren’t Fulani cattle markets shut down when killer herdsmen ravaged communities? Why is a whole drug market being destroyed because of a few bad actors? This injustice is tailored specifically for Igbos—it would not happen in the North or the West.”

He also praised popular activist Very Dark Man (VDM) for his courageous stance in defending the Onitsha traders despite being neither Igbo nor from Anambra State. “VDM has shown more courage and humanity than some of our so-called leaders. He is a beacon of truth in a time of silent oppression,” Nsofor said.

The Foundation declared its unwavering support for the affected traders, vowing to explore all legal and advocacy avenues to ensure justice is served. “We will not rest until every affected trader gets justice. Legal teams will be raised. Advocacy will be mobilized. Corruption will be exposed at all levels,” Nsofor affirmed. “No Igbo son or daughter will be sacrificed on the altar of federal injustice and impunity.”

The Foundation is now calling on Governor Charles Soludo to rise to the occasion and defend the people of Anambra State. Nsofor also appealed to all well-meaning Igbo sons and daughters, both in Nigeria and the diaspora, to lend their voices and support to the cause. “This is a time for unity. Help secure legal representation for these traders. Let us not allow NAFDAC or any federal agency to make a mockery of justice and due process in Alaigbo,” he concluded.

The Igbo Heroes Foundation, grounded in the legacy of late Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, is mobilizing for a legal and civic battle. The time to act is now.

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Ikorodu Building Collapse: How Primate Ayodele’s Prophecy Was Fulfilled In Nine Hours (VIDEO)

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Primate Ayodele Never Said Seyi Makinde Would Become President’’ – Media Aide Clarifies*

*Ikorodu Building Collapse: How Primate Ayodele’s Prophecy Was Fulfilled In Nine Hours (VIDEO)

 

Nigeria still has men of God who see things clearly and warn ahead of time before they occur. In a world where people find it hard to believe prophets because of their experiences, Primate Ayodele has continued to stand out as a major prophetic force nationally and internationally.

His prophetical sagacity was once again confirmed yesterday when one of the prophecies he shared during an early morning church service on Tuesday came to pass at noon of the same day.

While leading prayer at the ‘God will not put me to shame’ prayer service, which runs at his church, INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, every Tuesday by 5 am, Primate Ayodele called on the government and its agencies to be careful of a building collapse that will take lives.

He made the call in Yoruba language and expressed the importance of the message as it was very imminent.

These were his words:

“I am seeing that a building will collapse in this Lagos….”

As the prophet warned, a few hours later into the day, there were reports of a two-storey building collapse in Ikorodu, leading to the death of about three people and counting.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said its operatives rescued nine adult males and recovered three dead bodies in the building that collapsed at the Ikorodu area of the state on Tuesday.

The Agency, however, added that the rescue operation is still ongoing at the site of the collapsed building.

The LASEMA Permanent Secretary, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the three people rescued dead were trapped under the collapsed building.

Oke-Osanyintolu, who said this in a statement on Wednesday, added that the rescued nine adult males were attended to bythe LASEMA Pre-Hospital Care Unit.

“Following distress alerts at 14:02 hours, LASEMA activated the State’s Emergency Response Plans from Agbowa and Alausa.

“Upon arrival of agency’s response teams at 14:40hours, it was discovered that a two-storey building undergoing construction had collapsed, with three victims trapped under the debris at the aforementioned location.

“Search and Rescue Operation is still ongoing. All the bodies have been handed over to Igbogbo Police Station.

“The cause of the collapsed building is yet to be ascertained,”

WATCH VIDEO BELOW:

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