Former Nigerian President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has emphasized that the fight against corruption must begin with accountability among top government officials.

Speaking during an interactive Zoom session titled “Boiling Point Arena,” Obasanjo highlighted the importance of leadership in combating corruption. The session was hosted by a private radio station in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Obasanjo stated, “The best way to fight corruption begins at the top; therefore, that is where we must focus our efforts.”

He stressed that leaders must lead by example. This sets a critical precedent for the entire nation, demonstrating a genuine commitment to transparency and integrity.

The interactive session focused on Obasanjo’s achievements in government and his assessment of Nigeria’s current state. He described corruption as “hydra-headed,” noting its deep roots in Nigerian society. This pervasive issue requires relentless effort to combat effectively.

Using an analogy from a former Sultan of Sokoto, Obasanjo compared corruption to a “babariga,” a flowing traditional attire. He explained, “If you are folding it on one side, it’s falling apart on the other side.” This illustrates how corruption can worsen if not addressed comprehensively.

He added, “When you carry it on both sides, you cannot hold your hands up, and as soon as you put your hands down, it’s falling apart. That’s corruption.”

Obasanjo emphasized that fighting corruption is not a one-time effort. It is a continuous endeavor requiring sustained commitment across successive administrations. “Corruption is not a one-day affair.

“It’s not a one-regime affair. It must be consistent, continual, and a daily affair,” he said. He warned that a single regime’s inaction may allow corruption to spread uncontrollably.

The former president urged officials to reform the recruitment and appointment of leaders to public office. He advocated for merit-based political appointments, not those based on political affiliations or tribal considerations.

As reported, Obasanjo argued that leaders must possess competence and integrity to effectively serve the nation.

Discussing the source of leadership, Obasanjo asserted that not all leaders receive divine appointment; some arise from personal ambition or malevolent forces.

Addressing Corruption

He stated, “God prepares most leaders and places them in their roles,” suggesting that this divine selection boosts a nation’s chances of success.

However, he recognized that evil influences can also infiltrate leadership. “Satan is real and has power. Satan can create a leader,” highlighting the potential for evil forces to influence those in positions of power.

He referenced Job from the Bible, explaining how Satan challenged God’s righteousness. He emphasized that while Satan has no salvation, his influence should not be underestimated.

Obasanjo’s remarks highlight Nigeria’s need for a comprehensive approach to combat corruption, starting at the highest leadership levels.

He urged leaders to prioritize accountability and meritocracy, ensuring that governance serves the public good.

Concluding his address, the former president stressed that sustainable development comes from transparency, consistent action, and leadership grounded in accountability and divine purpose.

His call to action emphasizes the urgent need for reform in Nigeria’s political landscape.

The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Chief Allen Onyema, has lambasted the former Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, over what he referred to as tissues of lies from the former Minister.

It could be recalled that Mr. Sirika, during an interview on Arise TV, tried to defend the allegations of fraud levelled against him in particular, and the federal government led by the former president, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, in general, over the national carrier, Nigeria Air.

Speaking Arise TV on Sunday, June 11, 2023, Sirika made spurious claims about Air Peace, which is today regarded as Nigeria’s foremost airline.

In his bid to denigrate Air Peace while praising Ethiopian Airline, Sirika stated that the airline leased ‘two’ Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months and incurred losses of $19 million while all the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement.

He then asked: “Who does that?” then added that Ethiopian Airlines would never do that.

Secondly, Sirika said the airline stopped flying to Dubai because ‘we lack capacity’. This is another stark lie.

Read Air Peace’s press release debunking Sirika’s “lies”, signed by the Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace, Mrs. Toyin Olajide, here.

Not satisfied with the press release, Chief Onyema appeared in person to further debunk Sirika’s lies, asking President Bola Ahmed ‘Tinubu to dissolve the charade called ‘Nigeria Air’.’

According to him, the current Nigerian government should dissolve Nigeria Air and work with Air Peace to be the Flag Carrier as his airline deserves it.

Speaking on Arise News on Wednesday, CEO of Air Peace averred that the former Aviation Minister, Sirika, ought to be in jail and not granting interviews.

Onyema recalled that he has done so much for this country, hence has to come on air and defend his credibility and reputation of his company.

He even demanded for more time as he has a lot to say about the corruption and criminality going on in this country.

As an ordinary citizen, he reminded Sirika that he has done more for Nigeria and Nigerians than the so-called politicians, only for the Nigerian government to deny Air Peace when it applied to be given slots to ply the UK route.

He noted that what the government should do is to support the local airlines in Nigeria, offer the airlines grants, and possibly deregulate the aviation industry as it will create more jobs and uplift the economy.

Watch the Arise News interview below:

 Read more.

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Aareonakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams on Monday, urged President Bola Tinubu to fulfill the dreams of a prosperous Nigeria, saying the late MKO Abiola’s mandate stands for justice, freedom, equity, liberty, and sustainability of democratic tenets.

Adams said this at the 30th anniversary of the June 12 1993 in Ogba, Lagos.
He stated that the death of the late MKO was not in vain because democracy has come to stay.

According to him, though there are challenges that have threatened the foundation of this democracy, things could be better with proper approach.

He said: “We cannot achieve much if our democracy is tied to the 1999 constitution that we are using presently in Nigeria.

The 1979 and 1999 constitutions are tools that the military imposed on us to preserve their atrocities.
“And the constitutions have always remained the bane of Nigeria.That is why we are where we are at the moment.

“Unless we embrace regionalism, and let the federating unit develop at their own pace, Nigeria may find it very difficult to realize its lofty dreams.

“With a new administration in power, there is need for President Bola Tinubu to come up with policy direction that has human face.’

Ace journalist, Mr. David Hundeyin, was on News Central TV, Thursday morning to break down the Nigeria Air fraud, allegedly perpetrated by the former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika.

Ace journalist David Hundeyin

Speaking, Mr. Hundeyin recounted how he broke the story of the fraudulent aircraft display on May 26.

Watch the video of the interview below:

In the meantime, the Nigerian legislature has stated that departing President Muhammadu Buhari created a fake airline as his final act in office.

President Buhari managed to arrange the flight of a lone aircraft bearing the livery of the nonexistent Nigeria Air before taking his final bow.

In an earlier development, the newly unveiled national carrier has revealed that it would soon make formal announcement for job opportunities as it continues to make preparations for commencement of commercial flights, which is projected to take place in the third quarter of this year.

Nigeria Air was unveiled on Friday, May 26, 2023, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, with a dual promise of quality service delivery and job creation, among others.

The job creation drive disclosure was contained in a document, entitled “Nigeria Air: The Journey So Far”, made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday, by the airline’s media office.

According to the document, announcement for job opportunities would be made in key national newspapers for pilots, engineers, cabin crew and other positions.

The vacancy advertisements would also be posted on Nigeria Air website and social media platforms, as revealed by the document. Read more.

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The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been ranked on the 2022 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) alongside Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP).

The recent evaluation followed the unprecedented number of mass killings in the south eastern region of Nigeria by persons believed to belong to IPOB and its militant arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

The killings took an unprecedented dimension after the IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was renditioned from Kenya and detained by the Department of State Security (DSS) since about two years.

According to the GTI, total deaths from terrorism in Nigeria fell to 448 in 2021, the lowest level since 2011.

Terror-related casualties dropped by almost half compared with the previous year. However, the number of terrorist attacks increased by 49 per cent between 2020 and 2021.

36 per cent of attacks were claimed by ISWAP, Boko Haram being responsible for eight per cent and 44 per cent not attributed to any group.

Law enforcement, including police and prison officers overtook both military and civilians as the most targeted group of 2021.

Attacks against police and prisons increased substantially from one recorded attack in 2020 to 75 in 2021, accounting for over a third of all attacks in Nigeria in 2021.

This was largely driven by an increase in clashes between law enforcement and separatist groups, such as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Civilian deaths dropped 62 per cent from 2020.

Military deaths mirrored this trend, with 2021 recording almost half the number of terrorism deaths from the prior year. In 2020, ISWA became the deadliest terrorist group in Nigeria.

The decline of Boko Haram continued into 2021, with Boko Haram responsible for only 69 deaths, a decrease of 77 per cent from the previous year.

This is the lowest number of deaths by the group for a decade.

Boko Haram’s decline has resulted in a substantial improvement in terrorism in Borno State, which experienced a decrease of 71 per cent in terrorism deaths when compared with the prior year.

Attacks in the state also decreased from 121 to 86 respectively, a decrease of 30 per cent.

The state, however, remains the hardest hit region in Nigeria for terrorism, accounting for half of all terror-related deaths in 2021.

Boko Haram’s decline coincides with a number of factors, most significantly the death of the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau.

Shekau reprtedly committed suicide by detonating an explosives vest during a confrontation with ISWA in May 2021.

Given the demise of their leader, Shekau’s followers were faced with the decision to either continue Shekau’s ideology or join ISWAP.

It has been reported that as many as 18 former Boko Haram commanders have joined ISWAP after Shekau’s death.

Attacks by ISWA as well as counter-terrorism efforts by the Nigerian government and foreign military forces have significantly ‘weakened Boko Haram’s impact in Nigeria.

These external pressures resulted in an increase in Boko Haram attacks in neighbouring countries, particularly Cameroon which recorded 37 attacks and 58 deaths in 2021.

Cameroon recorded more Boko Haram attacks than Nigeria in 2021 for the second consecutive year.

In 2021, ISWAP recorded their highest number of incidents and third highest death toll since 2017. Overall, ISWAP were responsible of 39 per cent of all attacks in Nigeria in 2021.

Despite this, the lethality of ISWAP attacks has continued to decline from 10 deaths per attack in 2018 to almost three deaths per attack in 2021.

ISWAP was responsible for Nigeria’s deadliest attack of 2021, with gunmen killing over 30 soldiers at an army base in the Borno region.

ISWAP’s main target continues to be military personnel, with the military being the target of over half of all attacks, resulting in 45 per cent of casualties attributed to the group in 2021.

Despite the civilian death toll decreasing, ISWAP continues to increase its attacks on civilians, from 11 in 2020 to 19 in 2021.

With the decline of Boko Haram in Nigeria and Shekau’s death, it is expected that ISWAP will continue to integrate surviving members of Shekau’s group, bolstering its fight against the Nigerian government’s counter-terrorism efforts.

What is the Global Terrorism Index?

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is a comprehensive study analysing the impact of terrorism for 163 countries covering 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.

The GTI report is produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) using data from Terrorism Tracker and other sources.

The GTI produces a composite score so as to provide an ordinal ranking of countries on the impact of terrorism.

The GTI scores each country on a scale from 0 to 10; where 0 represents no impact from terrorism and 10 represents the highest measurable impact of terrorism.

Given the significant resources committed to counter terrorism by governments across the world, it is important to analyse and aggregate the available data to better understand its various properties.

One of the key aims of the GTI is to examine these trends.

It also aims to help inform a positive, practical debate about the future of terrorism and the required policy responses.

Download the Global Terrorism Index 2022 report.

Key Trends in Global Terrorism Index 2022 report

• Despite global terrorist attacks increasing to 5,226 in 2021, deaths declined slightly by 1.2%.
• The Ukraine conflict is likely to drive a rise in traditional and cyber terrorism, reversing previous improvements in the region.
• Terrorism in the West declined substantially, with attacks falling by 68%. The US recorded its lowest score since 2012.
• Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 48% of global terrorism deaths.
• The Sahel is home to the world’s fastest growing and most-deadly terrorist groups.
• Islamic State (IS) replaces the Taliban as the world’s deadliest terror group in 2021, with 15 deaths per attack in Niger.
• Terrorism has become more concentrated, with 119 countries recording no deaths, the best result since 2007.
• In the West, politically motivated attacks overtook religious attacks, which declined by 82%. There were five times more political attacks than religious attacks.
• Terrorists are using more advanced technologies including drones, GPS systems and encrypted messaging services.

Also, read the Global Terrorism Index 2022 key findings.

Trends from the 2020 Global Terrorism Index

– Deaths from terrorism are now 59% lower than their peak in 2014. The fall in deaths has been largest in Iraq, Syria and Nigeria.
– The overall fall in deaths from terrorism has also led to a reduction in the number of countries experiencing deaths from terrorism. In 2019, 63 countries recorded at least one death from terrorism, the lowest number since 2013.
– The impact of terrorism lessened in seven of the nine regions of the world in 2019.
– South Asia recorded the largest deterioration, followed by Central America and the Caribbean.
– However, Central America and the Caribbean remains the region with the lowest impact of terrorism, a position it has held for the past 17 years.
– MENA recorded the largest regional improvement for the second consecutive year. Deaths in MENA have fallen by 87% since 2016, reaching the lowest level since 2003.
– Afghanistan is the country most impact by terrorism in 2020.
– More recently, terrorist activity has been concentrated in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with both regions having recorded more terrorism deaths than MENA since 2018.

Access IEP’s data for free with non-commercial license. Read more.

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