The members of a certain group, Concerned Nigerian Citizens, on Wednesday, 4th May 2022, staged a peaceful protest at the National Secretariat of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) over zoning of the party’s presidential ticket.

They barricaded the entrance to the complex, demanding that the presidential ticket of the party in the impending 2023 election in Nigeria should be zoned to the Southern part of the country.

It’s noteworthy that Southern Nigeria with 17 states has three zones, namely, South-East, South-South and South-West.

The protesters held placards with some inscriptions like “It is the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the President”, and “Stop frustrating Southern Presidency.”

They wondered why the PDP was yet to announce its decision on zoning a few days to the party’s presidential primary.

The protesters were seemingly among many members of the PDP, and Nigerians at large, who anxiously await the party’s final decision on zoning. They were also among many who had asked that the presidential ticket be zoned to the South.

The PDP had in March 2022, inaugurated the Governor Samuel Ortom-led zoning committee. The panel was asked to make recommendations on a zoning formula for the various electoral offices ahead of next year’s polls.

Though the panel had reportedly submitted its report to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), no official announcement has been made on its recommendations.

There are, however, speculations that the panel has recommended that the presidential ticket be thrown open to all interested aspirants. It’s worth noting that the PDP had already screened 17 presidential hopefuls – from across different regions in the country.

Addressing newsmen, a leader of the group, Femi Osabinu, noted that the rotation of power in Nigeria goes beyond the mere aspiration of political parties, but also a tool for ensuring national unity and stability.

In this regard, he said candidates from Southern Nigeria must be allowed to occupy the position of President in the country come 2023.

“The established convention is that power must rotate between the North and the South. Hence, a President of Northern extraction follows that of Southern extraction, and vice versa. Any consideration outside of this is foul and may destabilise the polity.”

He said by doing so, the party would be respecting the established convention of power rotation and contributing to the dire need, to restore stability and national cohesion, back into the nation’s polity.

“It is the turn of the Southern part of the country to produce the next President, and we believe that your party, should have no difficulty in coming out with a categorical declaration, on this very important issue, in the next few days.

“This must be done without delay. The principle of Federal Character is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Remember, there won’t be PDP or APC if there is no country called Nigeria. Let us put Nigeria first in our resolutions.”

The party’s next NEC meeting is scheduled to hold next Tuesday being May 10, and it is hoped that it would announce its decision on zoning ahead of its presidential primary slated for May 28 and 29, 2022.

As the so-called concerned group goes about agitating for zoning as regards the impending presidential polls in Nigeria, I enjoin them to rather lay more emphasis on the need for the various political parties to shift their respective interests to the South-East zone, which is yet to produce a president since the inception of the Fourth Republic in the country.

It’s worthy of note that among the three aforementioned zones found in the Southern part of Nigeria, only the South-East is being short-changed; meaning literally that the country is yet to boast of a president of the South-East extraction.

However, as we clamour for such equity and fairness, the people of the South-East must take into cognizance that only their collective efforts would guarantee the actualization of such a quest, hence the need to form a formidable coalition among themselves towards achieving a common goal.

Politics is simply a game, therefore, the people of the zone ought to be prepared to play it as expected of them as a group. 

A 26-year-old lady, Ugochukwu Nworie has been reportedly raped to death by a gang of rapists in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

The incident, as was gathered, happened at one of the rooms of Hope-in Hotel situated at Number 9, Ngbowo Street, Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, on Monday, 2nd May 2022.

Investigations by the Police revealed that the victim arrived at the hotel in the company of a group of young men late in the night of that same Monday, to stay over till the following day being Tuesday, 3rd May, 2022.

Sources familiar with the incident explained that the lady was found dead in the room after the door was opened on Tuesday morning with her legs, hands and mouth tied up.

The Ebonyi State Police Command confirmed the incident on Thursday, 4th May 2022. The police spokesperson, Loveth Odah said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Kpirikpiri Police Division in the state indicated that the incident happened in ‘Hope-in Hotel’, situated at Nine, Ngbowo street, Abakaliki,

“The DPO reported that the incident happened while on a routine check on the hotel. A room not accounted for was discovered. So the DPO decided to enquire from the receptionist, who told him that the guests in the room were unknown to him.

“Efforts to open the room proved abortive until he requested for the spare key to open the door, only to discover a lifeless body of the lady, naked and her legs, hands with mouth tied to the bed in the room,” Ms Odah disclosed.

She further informed that the Commissioner of Police in the State, Aliyu Garba had directed that a thorough investigation should be carried out on the incident, saying efforts were on to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators in order to serve as a deterrent to possible offenders.

She stated that preliminary investigation indicated that the lady was gang-raped, as more than 12 used condoms were discovered in the room.

“Investigation is still ongoing and we would continue to update the media and public as we unravel more details on the matter,” she said.

Ms Odah, who notified the corpse of the deceased had been deposited at a morgue, described the incident as unfortunate and an offence against humanity, as she warned the general public, particularly young ladies, to be careful of the type of friends they keep and where they go to, especially at night.

It’s really appalling when a particular warning is issued to our young ladies at all times. On a daily basis, all concerned individuals and bodies would continue to repeat the same counsel to these ladies, yet it appears the advice falls on deaf ears.

The most annoying aspect is a situation whereby a certain lady would be invited over to a hotel room by a man she doesn’t know or is yet to meet physically. That means, for the first time, she has willingly accepted to meet with him in a hotel room.

One may ask; what has society turned or degenerated into, or where are we actually headed for? How could someone freely agree to sign his/her death warrant? Of course, meeting with a total stranger in a hotel room, for the first time upon invitation, is not unlike signing your death warrant.

As I candidly sympathize with the family of the deceased, our ladies are enjoined once more to be extremely mindful of their movements and actions at all times, especially at this era when no one is meant to be trusted, let alone a stranger.

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offenses Commission (ICPC) in Nigeria, Bolaji Owasanoye has said that corruption remains a huge obstacle to development and destroyer of ethical values in the country.

Mr. Owasanoye made this known on Monday, 2nd April 2022 while speaking as the Guest Speaker at the ‘Annual Making a Difference Leadership Seminar’ of the Harvest Fields International held in Lagos State.

The ICPC chairman, who opined that corruption undermines infrastructural development due to suspicious procurement processes, said, “Corruption is the greatest obstacle to development and an existential threat to unity. It affects everyone and everything negatively and gravely.

“In the minimum, corruption destroys ethical and moral values; compromises the security, justice and rule of law; deprives citizens of economic, social and constitutional rights; breeds distrust, mistrust, unemployment, violence;

“Breeds poverty as it diverts resources from poverty reduction projects; hinders effective resource allocation and deployment, and fuels ethnic distrust and conflicts due to unjust resource allocation.”

Speaking further on the occasion, Mr Owasanoye identified the recovery of assets from corrupt persons as a key measure of fighting against corruption.

“Asset recovery from corrupt persons has become necessary to deny them the use of whatever they had stolen from the public coffers. Our efforts are geared towards the recovery of identified stolen assets and resources that will be used for the development of the country.

“Millions of Nigerians suffering denial of basic social services and lack of infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, water and employment will receive succour when stolen assets are recovered from looters.”

The ICPC boss cited some scriptural passages in his recommendations to the seminar participants on how to make a difference in leadership while avoiding corrupt tendencies.

The recommendations, according to him, include: reducing expectations of reward or gratitude (Luke 17:10); having options and reminding oneself that he or she is not the only person who can do it (1 Kings 19:10); and focusing on basic needs not the vanities of life (1 Tim 6:8).

He also recommended ignoring praise singers who exaggerate someone’s importance to the system (John 6: 25-26), forgoing a privilege or entitlement when in doubt about it (1 Cor. 6:12), conceding benefits to others and focusing on the welfare concerns of subordinates (Matt. 5:40), shouldn’t be ambiguous about integrity issues (Proverbs 11:3), and be ready to speak truth to power and to walk your talk.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the host and Senior Pastor of City Harvest Church, Abraham Akinola, stated that the 2022 Leadership Seminar was aimed at creating a better society and providing redemption for the country.

He therefore called on the general public on the need to emulate the life and attitude of Christ to preserve the nation.

Pastor Akinola said “It has been a long journey. This is the 16th Edition and is creating a better society. We shouldn’t be overwhelmed by our numerous challenges. We have Nigerians who have faced the challenges of our society and our guest speaker is one of them.

“We need to exert the influence of Christ more in our life and attitude to enable us to preserve our nation. We, particularly, need the character of Christ in our life, choice of words, dress code and attitude, in order to influence a change in our society.”

Corruption has unarguably eaten deep into our collective bone marrow in Nigeria as a people, that, it requires only severe and candid measures to ensure its holistic eradication within the shores of the country.

The concerned law enforcement agencies in the country, such as the ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), may have a genuine intention to tackle the societal menace and cankerworm, but the truth remains that corruption is really fighting back.

This is the reason these agencies must take the bull by the horn in ensuring the bad eggs in their midst militating their lawful efforts are thoroughly fished out and equally brought to book.

To truly end corruption in our land, we must at all times be wiser and smarter than the devil at all cost.