News

You’re Complicit In Secession Bid, Northern Elders Tell Southern Govs

Published

5 years ago

May 26, 2021

The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) on Tuesday accused governors in Southern Nigeria of building “ethnic monsters and hiding behind them to whip up sentiments” in order to achieve their sinister motive.

It also alleged that the governors and some political leaders in the country, who swore to protect the constitution and protect the unity and integrity of Nigeria had surrendered to the secessionists.

In a statement made available to journalists by its spokesman, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the forum berated Southern leaders over their recent moves, saying they were making a desperate but futile attempt to split the North along fault lines.

Daily Trust reports that agitations for secession were gathering momentum in the South-West and South-East as exemplified by the unhindered activities of ethnic chauvinists.

For instance, Sunday Igboho, who is championing the actualisation of Oduduwa republic and Nnamdi Kanu who is the leading the agitation for the Biafra republic, were seen as getting the tacit support of some political leaders in the South.

While Igboho is freely moving from one state to the other and holding rallies in public places preaching separatists agenda without any resistance from the chief executives of those states in the South-West, Kanu, who jumped bail after he was accused of treasonable acts, is giving directives for militants loyal to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who are wreaking havoc on symbols of authority like police stations and INEC offices in the South-East.

The Northern elders believed that the “I-don’t-care-attitude” of the Southern leaders was giving oxygen to regional agitators and sundry criminals to perpetrate evil against the people of Northern extraction living in the South, all in an effort to dismember the region.

Our correspondents report that the 17 governors from the South-South, South-East and South-West had met in Delta State, on May 11, during which they arrived at the widely publicised Asaba Declaration which among other things banned open grazing in their regions.

Pundits believed that the declaration was in bad taste considering that while the governors were all out to frustrate the federal government’s livestock transformation agenda by refusing to give lands for ranching, they nonetheless banned open grazing and indirectly asking Fulani herders to leave all the states as against the letters of the 1999 Constitution.

While disagreeing with the position of the Southern governors, President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement by his media assistant, Malam Garba Shehu, on Monday, described the ban as “questionable legality” and cited the constitutional right of all Nigerians to enjoy the same rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 states (and FCT)-regardless of the state of their birth or residence.

‘They want to divide Nigeria’

According to Dr Baba-Ahmed, “It is now clear that elected people sworn to protect the constitution and protect the unity and integrity of Nigeria have decided to surrender to deeply divisive or outrightly irredentist and secessionist tendencies and movements.

“Governors are building ethnic monsters and hiding behind them to whip up sentiments in a crude attempt to extract concessions no one is in a position to give or guarantee.

“A desperate but futile attempt is being made to split the North along lines that suit people who ignore its complexities and plurality when it is convenient to lump all northerners and submit them to humiliation or attacks,” he said.

NEF maintained that it was only national dialogue that could address some pertinent issues in the country.

“In the South-East, governors are yielding their political turf and mandates to secessionists, criminals and subversives who think they can exterminate federal presence and Northerners from the region and achieve dubious political goals related to 2023, or break away from the country.

“In the South-West, elected leaders and pampered ethnic bullies are closing ranks to provide a front that apes the the do-what-we-want-or-we-leave-the-country strategy of the marginalised leaders of the South-East.

“The South-South is squeezed between fear and uncertainty and its leaders are gambling that they can benefit from further weakening the federal administration and the North if it rides along with the rest of the South.

“The forum supports a citizen-driven national dialogue and a campaign to get the government to accord its outcome the respect it deserves.

“The forum extends its hands to groups that genuinely believe that Nigerians should demand and design the type of country we want and should not wait for people we elected to set the boundaries and conditions of our existence.

“The forum restates that the North will not be cowed and stampeded into escorting political ambitions of politicians at the cost of its rights, security and dignity,” the statement said.

The Northern group also advised President Buhari to assert the powers given to him by the constitution to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria and its citizens.

Evacuate all herders from south, CNG tells FG

Responding to the position taken by the Southern governors, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), yesterday, asked the federal government to evacuate all herdsmen and their families from the Southern part of the country. The CNG, through its spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in a statement, called on Northern governors to commence preparation to receive the returning Fulani communities and their livestock assets by identifying suitable grazing lands for them and making sufficient allowance for farmers at the same time.

“A study has shown that with all the overhyped hatred for the pastoral communities by the South and their leaders, only ten per cent of herders live in the entire South which can conveniently be accommodated in the North,” Suleiman stated.

The CNG called on President Buhari and the 19 Northern state governors to act now and protect law-abiding members of Fulani communities from falling into traps set by “the aggressive policy of the Southern governors who apparently believe that Fulani have no rights in Nigeria.”

Garba Shehu not speaking for Presidency – Akeredolu

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has said that what the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Malam Garba Shehu said on ban on open grazing was not the position of President Buhari.

Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy, Dr Doyin Odebowale, on Tuesday, Akeredolu said the “press statement purporting to represent the position of President Muhammadu Buhari, on the farmer/herder clashes and what he termed as deep-rooted solutions to the herdsmen attacks, is the position of Garba Shehu.”

According to him, “He (Shehu) also attributed a unilateral decision to the President who clears way for ranching and revival of forest reserves as part of the permanent solution to the frequent clashes between them, as well as the associated problem of the gun-wielding killer-herdsmen.

“Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man, as well as his fellow travellers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy cannot but conclude that he works, assiduously, for extraneous interests whose game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the peoples whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria,” the statement said.

“Mr Garba must disclose, this day, the real motive(s) of those he serves, definitely not the President. He cannot continue to hide under some opaque, omnibus and dubious directives to create confusion in the polity. The easy recourse to mendacious uppity in pushing a barely disguised pernicious agendum is well understood.

“The declaration that the recommendations of the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, a mere political appointee like Garba Shehu, are now the lasting solutions, which eluded all the elected representatives of the people of the Southern part of the country exposes this man as a pitiable messenger who does not seem to understand the limits of his relevance and charge,” the statement said.

News

Keyamo: ₦70,000 Minimum Wage No Longer Enough as Cost of Living Soars

Published

2 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Trends Admin

Keyamo Issues One-Week Ultimatum to Airlines Over Debt Repayment Plans

Minister of Aviation, Featured Keyamo

Keyamo: ₦70,000 Minimum Wage No Longer Enough as Cost of Living Soars

By Newstrends.ng

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has acknowledged that Nigeria’s ₦70,000 national minimum wage is no longer sufficient for workers to cope with the rising cost of living.

Keyamo made the statement at the 2026 National Pre-Retirement Summit, organised by XEM Consultants Limited in Abuja, where discussions focused on workers’ welfare, remuneration and the economic challenges confronting Nigerians.

The minister said economic pressures had substantially weakened workers’ purchasing power, making it necessary to consider an upward review of wages.

He urged the Federal Government and organised labour to find common ground in their ongoing discussions over workers’ pay, saying the government should meet labour “midway” rather than allow disagreements over the size of a proposed increase to stall negotiations.

Keyamo, who previously served as Minister of State for Labour and Employment, recalled the negotiations that led to the increase in Nigeria’s minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000 in 2024.

According to reports of his remarks, he argued that the present wage was no longer sufficient to absorb the economic pressures facing workers.

The minister’s comments came amid renewed pressure from organised labour for improved wages and measures to reduce the impact of rising living costs.

Reports indicate that labour representatives have cited figures as high as ₦500,000 in current discussions on a new minimum wage. The figure has been reported as a labour demand or opening position rather than an agreed new wage.

The debate is also taking place ahead of the expected review of the current wage framework. Reports from the summit said the current minimum-wage cycle, following reforms reducing the review period from five years to three, is due for review around 2027.

Keyamo also raised concerns about government spending priorities, particularly situations in which workers allegedly struggle to receive basic allowances while substantial resources are approved for official international trips.

He stressed the importance of workers to national productivity, arguing that the economy and government cannot function effectively without them.

Also speaking at the summit, Nigeria Labour Congress President Joe Ajaero reportedly argued that the real value of workers’ earnings should be measured by their purchasing power rather than the nominal amount printed on their pay slips.

Ajaero called for salaries and pensions to be linked to inflation or a cost-of-living index, arguing that such a mechanism would allow workers’ incomes to respond more directly to changes in the prices of essential goods and services.

The labour leader also called for government intervention to cushion workers against the impact of higher food and transportation costs.

The latest statements from Keyamo and labour leaders have renewed attention to the gap between Nigeria’s ₦70,000 statutory minimum wage and the cost of meeting basic household needs, as preparations for another wage review gather momentum.

For many Nigerian workers, the emerging wage debate is increasingly centred not simply on the amount stated on their monthly pay slip, but on what that income can actually buy amid rising prices.

Keyamo: ₦70,000 Minimum Wage No Longer Enough as Cost of Living Soars

Entertainment

Jetour Takes Adventure Beyond the Road, Brings Solar-powered Borehole to Ibeju-Lekki community

Published

2 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Trends Admin

Jetour Takes Adventure Beyond the Road, Brings Solar-powered Borehole to Ibeju-Lekki community

Jetour Nigeria has taken its SUV adventure beyond the asphalt, combining a high-octane convoy through some of Lagos toughest coastal trails with a humanitarian intervention that delivered clean, reliable water to the people of Iwerekun Orile, Ibeju Lekki.

The automaker’s 2026 Africa Expedition last Saturday turned into more than a showcase of automotive power and off-road capability as the convoy of eight Jetour models arrived at the Roman Catholic Mission Primary School, Iwerekun Orile, to commission a new solar-powered borehole for the community.

The convoy, comprising the Jetour Dashing, X50, X70 Plus, X90 Plus, T2, T2 PHEV, X70 PHEV and flagship G700, departed Falomo Square, Ikoyi, after a road safety briefing by the Federal Road Safety Corps.

Escorted by personnel of the Nigeria Police Force and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, the convoy moved through Victoria Island and beyond the city’s urban landscape before tackling difficult stretches of the Coastal Highway.

The demanding terrain, characterised by swampy sections, rocks and uneven trails, provided an opportunity for the vehicles to demonstrate their off-road capability and endurance.

But beyond the adventure and display of automotive technology, the expedition took on a more significant purpose when the convoy arrived at the Roman Catholic Mission Primary School, Iwerekun Orile.

There, Jetour Nigeria commissioned a new solar-powered borehole, providing the school and surrounding community with access to clean and reliable water.

The intervention was greeted with excitement as schoolchildren, traditional leaders, farmers and market women turned out to welcome the visitors with cultural performances.

Jetour also distributed food items to households in the community, while pupils received books and refreshments.

A representative of Jetour Nigeria, Kemi Adeola, said the initiative reflected the company’s belief that its activities should extend beyond automobiles to making a positive difference in the communities it reaches.

“This is where adventure meets purpose,” Adeola said. “Our mission doesn’t stop at building capable vehicles; it lives in our pledge to drive tangible progress and touch the hearts of the communities we reach.”

The community’s traditional leader, High Chief Michael Oluwa, described the water project as an unprecedented development in the history of Iwerekun Orile and pledged that residents would protect and maintain the facility.

The head teacher of the school, Mrs Ariyike Bakre, also expressed gratitude to Jetour, describing the intervention as a lifetime gift to the school and community.

“This is my first time seeing a solar-powered borehole,” Bakre said, adding that the facility would make a significant difference to the children and residents.

She thanked Jetour for making it possible for the community to witness the commissioning of the project.

The expedition later ended at a beach lounge, where the drivers, organisers and participants relaxed over food, music and entertainment.

For Jetour Nigeria, however, the significance of the expedition extended beyond conquering difficult terrain. It demonstrated how an automotive adventure could be linked to community development, leaving behind not only memories of a demanding road trip but also a lasting source of clean water for Iwerekun Orile.

News

Anambra Releases ₦473m Salary Arrears Document as Obi’s Debt Claim Sparks Fresh Dispute

Published

10 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Trends Admin

Peter Obi with NDC Logo

Anambra Releases ₦473m Salary Arrears Document as Obi’s Debt Claim Sparks Fresh Dispute

The Anambra State Government has released a 2024 payment document relating to ₦473 million in salary arrears owed to former workers and pensioners of two defunct state agencies, intensifying its dispute with former governor Peter Obi over the financial obligations he allegedly left behind.

The latest document concerns the defunct Anambra State Water Corporation (ANSWC) and the Anambra State Environmental Protection Agency (ANSEPA). It was released by the state government as part of its response to Obi’s repeated claim that he left office in March 2014 without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.

According to the document, the Anambra Government approved ₦473 million as the first tranche of payments to affected staff, pensioners and next of kin. The payment followed an out-of-court settlement reached between the state government and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) on February 6, 2024.

The settlement provided for further payments totalling ₦1.09 billion, with ₦363.381 million scheduled for each of 2025, 2026 and 2027.

The development has become significant in the ongoing Peter Obi-Anambra debt controversy, after Obi challenged the state government to prove that he left behind unpaid obligations when he handed over power to Willie Obiano in 2014.

Obi has maintained that his administration cleared historical arrears and left the state without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or verified payments due to contractors.

Speaking recently on Arise TV’s Prime Time, Obi said he did not borrow money or issue bonds on behalf of Anambra State during his tenure.

He also said that, at the point of handover, the state was not owing salaries, pensions or gratuities that were due, nor contractors whose projects had been executed, certified and verified.