Category: Campaign

 

 

 

Nigeria Youth must reject the cliché of being the leaders of tomorrow, because That tomorrow may never come.

 

In the last few decades, youth in Nigeria have been neglected and relegated to the background, All facets of life including family, schools, religious organisations and government have neglected youth developments

 

Youth constitutes the backbone and the future of any nation. The progress and future development of any nation depends to a large extent on the youth. This is why most nations have concrete development programmes for their youth.

 

The place and importance of the Youth in society cannot be overemphasized. This was adequately captured in Nigeria Youth Policy which stated that: ” Youth are of great asset to a nation. Not only are they legitimately regarded as the future leaders, they are potentially and actually the greatest investment for a country’s development”

 

From the above, it is clear that young people are the greatest asset of any nation. They are the future of any nation and serve as the bridge that link the present to future generations. They are active, dynamic, and adventurous and can serve as agents of social action and social change.

 

Any serious country should devote a lot of energy and resources to building the youth to be productive. Any country that refuses to develop its youth will endanger its future. When the leadership potentials of young people are not developed, the seeds of failure are being sown. We cannot really talk about democracy and development without the participation of citizens including young people.

 

Government has a great role to play in youth development. It is not enough to formulate a youth policy and do virtually nothing about its systematic implementation at all levels of government.

 

However, there is no doubt that the elders have failed to put in place effective development programmes for the youth. It remains to be seen whether the youth will fail themselves and refuse to develop themselves and become agents of change. It was Frantz Fanon who said “every generation must out of relative obscurity must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it.”

 

If the country I yearn to see an emancipation from the shackles of political subjugation that has been our lot for donkey years. I believe so much in balance in governance. I have faith in the strength of youth, our power and vigor.

 

Our country today is suffering from a deficit of ideas that are reflective of the dynamics of growth and development because we continue to place it’s progress in the hands of burned out, old and recycled policy makers.

 

The disaster in this is the retrogression in just about every sphere of our engagements as a country that we see, From failing infrastructures to non-existent utilities, poverty of ideas and effete policies.

 

Recently, the whole world looked on in dismay as an alarming number of our lawmakers and ministers slept through the 2017 Budget Presentation on National Television.

 

There can perhaps be no better symbolic expression of their lack lustre and inattentive attitude to the affairs of the nation. Nor, could a better statement be made as to how worn out these individuals are. Not surprisingly, they still hold on tenaciously to power out of avarice and because WE let them. Yes, we do..

 

Those who share this perception of progress have laboured and settled on the choice of  incorporating Young Minds where intellect dwells, where instinct is their abode, where wisdom is their bedrock, a Youth with an extremely functional creative instinct whose iron cast commitment to the service of his country is not in doubt.

 

We cannot continue to cry foul while in implicit in the political exclusion that prevails in the state and country.

 

The entire state and the body of Nigerian Youths and Students across board must rise to this opportunity before us.

 

The time to stand up for something is Now, Actions more than words is our identity, if it is to happen, it is up to us.

 

We must not be afraid to take the right chances as opportunity thrusts it on our path.

 

I also remain convinced that no custodian of history and Lover of Peace in  Nigeria can argue against the need for fresh breath in our political whirlwinds which will give our nation a new face

 

May right prevail over wrong, equity over inequity, fairness against travesty and us all against the traducers of our will.

 

God bless the Nigerian Youths Constituency

God bless Nigeria.

God bless us all.

 

Ifemosu Michael Adewale is  a Writer,. Public Speaker and Founder Youth In Good Governance Initiative YIGGI.

 

For six hours, 19-year-old Rilwanu Akintunde was beaten, handcuffed and locked inside a teargased room for allegedly stealing N90,000.

His torturers were his mother, Mrs. Akintunde, her brother Kayode and a policeman identified as Titus.

Rilwanu alias Rado denied collecting the money said to belong to his mother, a hawker, but his attackers didn’t believe him. Unable to bear the torture, the teenager passed out and was rushed to Richland Hospital, Arepo, where he was confirmed dead on Sunday evening.

His torturers secretly buried him at his mother’s site at Sotel, not knowing that their action would draw the wrath of the residents of Oriola Street, Ibafo and environs.

The youths in the area went berserk after discovering that the money, for which Rilwanu was tortured to death, was later found in his mother’s closet.

Wielding cutlasses, bottles sticks and fire, the mob, it was gathered stormed Kayode’s residence; chased all the tenants away and vandalized his properties.

Inscriptions such as “Rado was a good son born by a stupid mother” were seen on the walls of the building whose roofs, doors and windows have been destroyed.

When The Nation visited the Ogun communityTuesday, residents were clamouring for jungle justice to all the culprits.

It was gathered that Kayode and his police friend Titus have since fled the neighbourhood, while the deceased’s mother and Kayode’s wife were arrested by policemen from Ibafo Division, who visited the place Tuesday.

According to residents, Rilwanu’s killers might have had another motive for their action because the teenager was neither a thief nor troublesome.

His friends, it was gathered produced an obituary for him, which they pasted not far from the community mosque.

The deceased’s wife, Damilola Owoigbe, who had their eight-month-old son on her arms, demanded justice against his killers.

She said: “I want all those responsible for my husband’s death to be arrested and jailed for life. They killed him for nothing. Rado was never a thief. Everyone in Ibafo love him. He was a peaceful person. He was an apprentice at a tailoring shop because he wanted to make life better for us and for his two siblings.

“Their father is dead. Their mother sells bottled water in traffic.  She was the one who went and told her brother on Sunday morning that Rilwanu stole her N90, 000. Then, her brother, Kayode sent his wife to call his police friend, Titus and they all tortured him to death.

“I was not there. I was in my mother’s house. But I was told that the policeman brought handcuffs and teargas, which they used on him. I was also told that blood was all over his body. Now, I am confused because I don’t know who would take care of our son.”

A source who refused to be named told The Nation that the said policeman works at Area G Command, Ogba, Lagos.

Contacted, the Ogun command spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the incident, but said he was unaware if Titus was a policeman.

He said: “The information I got is that the woman, the boy’s stepfather and his friend tortured him to death. They said the woman complained that her N90,000 was missing and she accused her son. Then, she told the boy’s stepfather, who sent his wife to contact a friend of his. They all tortured the boy to death and secretly buried him. The woman later saw the money

“At the moment, the two men involved are on the run but the women have been arrested. They have been transferred to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID). The Police Commissioner Ahmed Iliyasu has ordered that the fleeing suspects be arrested.

“I am not aware that one of them is a policeman. But be assured that they will be fished out and dealt in accordance with the law.”

 

A former Director of Pension Accounts in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Sani Teidi, on Tuesday told a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, how a serving judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice Adeniyi Ademola kept him in prison custody for over a year due to his inability to pay a N25m bribe.

Taidi, a prosecution witness told the court that the judge who is standing trial alongside two others for charges bordering on gratification approached his wife through an agent simply identified as Kingsley O., who gave his wife two different account numbers where the N25m should be paid into.

The former Director was on trial before Justice Ademola between 2013 and 2014 over his alleged complicity in the illegal diversion of over N4.6billion pension fund.

Testifying as the sixth prosecution witness, the former Director said his ordeal started when he discovered that about N36m meant for payment of pension and gratuity was diverted into different personal accounts.

He said, “After we made the discovery I sent a petition to the EFCC and ONSA. Committee was set-up which verified my claim.”

Following the discovery, the witness said a committee set up by the Senate also directed that the matter be investigated and the funds recovered.

Stressing that he was surprised when he being a prinicipal witness at the Senate hearing on the missing pension funds was charged to court over the fraud he discovered.

Taidi said, “After the Senate report, I was charged to court. EFCC invited me and asked me to explain what happened to N4.5b and N7.5bn. I submitted to the EFCC the account that was used to remove the money and the mandate.

“One Charles Bonet, a Permanent Secretary (Establishment), was a signatory to one of the accounts. The money was moved from UBA to Union Bank where it disappeared.

“After the investigation, I was charged to court before Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court in Abuja. The charges involved unlawful removal of pension funds totalling about N4.5bn.

“I was charged with others and I was granted bail with one surety in the sum of N10m who must be resident within FCT.

“I fulfilled the bail term by providing one surety that owned property worth N10m and submitted the C of O, as well as surrendered my international passport.

“The case started in 2011. By 2012, EFCC came in with an application of what they called proper case management and the case was withdrawn. The prosecutor in that case was Godwin Obla, SAN.

“While the case lasted, I never jumped bail neither was my bail revoked. The case was later transferred to Justice Adeniyi Ademola.

“We were two of us that were charged. Myself and one Omoefe Odugese. In April 2013, the investigator phoned me at about 9:30pm that the case was coming up before Justice Ademola the following day”.

According to the Director, he told the investigator that it would be impossible for him to make it to the court as scheduled because he was not resident in Abuja and the investigator promised to convey the situation to the court.

He added, “The next thing I knew, Justice Ademola issued a bench warrant for my arrest. There was no summon issued against me before then.

“When I discovered a bench warrant was issued against me, I went to the EFCC and challenged the investigator. He told me that he duly informed the court that he was aware of my movement.

“After I left EFCC, I went home and told my wife that a bench warrant has been issued on me and that I was going to honour it.

“I then took myself to the court and I was remanded. Later, we were arraigned and I was denied bail. After that, somebody pressurised my wife that unless she is able to pay the sum of N25m, that I will die in prison. That I was going to be remanded in prison forever.

“I now petitioned to the Chief Judge, Justice Auta, for transfer of my case to any other court.

“I came back to the court and his lordship, Justice Ademola, brought out the petition and asked if I was the author and I told him yes and he said whether I like it or not he was going to handle the case. He then sent me back to the prison and adjourned the matter sine-die (indefinitely).

“After pressure from my lawyer, he then granted me bail to the tune of N500m with two sureties. He said with the two of them the bail sum would amount to N1bn.

“I met the bail conditions. One of my sureties was Chief Oke and the second was Igbelimeta Farm Projects Ltd. Before then, the person that was acting for his lordship told my wife that unless she paid that money, that even if I perfect the conditions, I would not be released.

“After I perfected my bail, my counsel, Mr. S. I. Ameh, SAN, reminded Justice Ademola that we had an application before him and that the bail conditions have been met.

“Justice Ademola said he was aware. That my case is like that of Boko Haram, kidnapping and terrorism. Therefore he would take his time to study the file before appending his signature. Then the case was adjourned and I was taken back to the prison.

“The next time we met in court, he said sorry that rain fell on my file that there is no way he could look at it until the file dries up. I was taken back to prison custody.

“I was arraigned April 2013. I got to know why my bail was not approved around November. I heard that I would not be allowed to go out until I pay the money to Justice Ademola’s agent, one Kingsley O. who supplied an account number.

“I was told I would not go out because the account submitted by Kingsley O. was not credited. The agent always had foreknowledge of what will happen in court even before sitting. He would tell me that the case would be adjourned maybe from November to December, and when we got to court things usually happened exactly the way he said it would.

“The bail was never approved even when my surety Mr. Okey brought the C of O of his property. Justice Ademola gave him back his file. The surety came to meet me in the prison and told me the judge said he should take back his documents.

“Even when we applied for variation of the bail conditions he never approved it. We applied for variation after Okey withdrew his documents and we were left with only one surety who could not meet up with the N1bn condition.

“The appeal court ordered that the case should be heard by any other Judge of the Federal High Court apart from Justice Ademola”.