Innocent Ojefia Blog

Do you know that President Buhari's daughter got married last Friday in Daura, but the President stayed back in Abuja to attend to issues of national importance? He later joined them in the night to meet with guests and flew back to Abuja early Saturday morning to continue his work. Do you also remember two years ago when former President Jonathan's adopted daughter got married? A huge jamboree of an extravagant wedding was staged while billions of Naira were expended. Customized gold plated IPhones were given as gifts to everyone privileged to be in the reception hall. The best of foreign wines were served. Abundance of food was in offer and the best of entertainers were hired to keep guests entertained while they dined and wined. In return, the bride was "dashed" over 80 exotic brand new cars, including houses by those her father bragged to have made wealthy. The worst of it all was that State functions nationwide were suspended; all government activiti...

The judiciary, INEC and indeed all Nigerians ought to be ashamed of themselves that Jimoh Ibrahim, who has swindled everyone, who swindled every corporation including the once iconic "Newswatch", who has sent thousands of Nigerians on the unemployment line due to his incompetence and kleptomania, and who owes AMCON tons of money is anointed PDP governorship candidate in a Sothwest State. Accepting Jimoh’s candidacy is typical Yoruba intelligentsia's cowardly behavior -- going along with idiocy, but would whine after the fact, when the chickens come home to roost. Why would any enlightened person not be appalled that a corrupt, incompetent, callous, and morbidly obese man like Jimoh Ibrahim is being forced upon Ondo State people as a potential governor? I could understand if the people voted for him, but that is not the case, the APC want him planted as a stogie of theirs in Ondo State.  It is a disgrace that Southwest have turned out to be unconscious agents of ...

… Declares Open 46th National Council on Information Meeting AS Nigeria’s managers of information led by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed converged on Asaba to brainstorm on the way forward for the country, Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has challenged them to go beyond information dissemination, to embrace the more strategic function of communication. According to Governor Okowa, “as information managers, your first responsibility is to ensure that information fed to the public is complete, accurate, relevant and understandable; you must become more scientific in your approach and go beyond the realm of information dissemination, to embrace the more strategic function of communication. Declaring open the 46th meeting of the National Council on Information Friday in Asaba, Governor Okowa reiterated, “communication involves speaking and listening; it prioritises research and action before speaking, and demands constant evaluation of our inform...

The readership of newspapers determine their circulation figures. In the last decade, the circulation figures of newspapers have continued to dwindle. The prospect of the newspaper in the traditional sense of the printed word is increasingly becoming bleak. There was a time when the Sunday Times alone sold about a million copy. Though the circulation figures of newspapers are closely guarded like news sources, it is doubtful if all the newspapers combined now sell up to 500,000 copies in a day, even when we have more newspapers than before. The Times titles have since disappeared altogether. This regression is not due to dwindling purchasing power of Nigerians or the emergence of cable television and the new media alone. Increasingly, public trust in newspapers for accuracy and relevance has equally waned. Atrocious grammar, self-contradiction, superstition and rumour mongering, outright falsehood and brazen attempt to incite the public into a particular political direction or a...

Without a sense of history, Nigerians are always desperate to get suckered by the next strong man promising to fight corruption in even more inventive ways. We are never short of enthusiastic “patriots” who want to see “elites” – the hated big men and their mistresses – put down in disgrace. It’s all part of what Lawrence Summers has recently described as the “Renaissance of populist authoritarianism.” Since the co-ordinated and forceful encounters between the State Security Services (SSS) and the judiciary on October 9, many have dusted up legal tomes, interpreting the National Security Agencies Act with characteristically Nigerian gusto and parsing words from answer to question. Typically for this season of digital information, there is a great deal of information but very little knowledge. Anonymous WhatsApp broadcasts bearing staple concatenations of our fantasy gossip have quickly become credible sources. What we know is that the SSS operations are controversial within and...

An iconoclastic Pastor, Femi Aribisala has described a National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu as an experienced politician who has a bad knowledge of history. He made the remark while reacting to the allegationl of conspiracy against Tinubu by some Northern politicians within the APC. Tinubu, a former Lagos State Governor has come under attack after he demanded the resignation of APC’s National Chairman, John Oyegun over the party’s decision to overrule its Appeal Committee which recommended the cancellation of the Ondo governorship primary election.  Recall that a key leader of the defunct National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, had recently asserted that Tinubu’s alliance with the North was responsible for his travail in the party.  Corroborating Adebanjo’s stance, Aribisala, a social commentator and public analyst, in an interview with the Punch berated Tinubu for opting to continually form alliance with the North which has ...

The acting National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank on Tuesday warned that unless President Muhammadu Buhari takes urgent action, the ruling party would collapse by January 2017. He gave this warning in Abuja while appraising recent developments in the party, revealing that several realignments were presently going on in the country which could make the APC cease to exist totally by 2019. “You are aware that there are several realignments going on now in the country and my party has only now and January 2017 to put its house in order. “If we don’t harmonize all the contending interests, some of us would be exploring new avenues to pursue our various political agenda,” he said. Frank said the only way to rescue the party would be for the president to intervene and support calls for the resignation of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as the national chairman of the APC. He reminded the President of how Chief Odigie-Oyegun as chairman of ANPP...

No political grouping in the country, including the ruling All Progressives Congress   (APC), can be regarded as progressive entities. The country currently lacks progressive political individuals and groupings. . The concept of progressivism is totally lacking against the backdrop of the current happenings in the country’s political landscape. It must be pointed out that a progressive politician or political party is one that pursues the collective interest and welfare of the society against self or group interest. Presently, such was lacking in the polity at the moment. My definition of a progressive is somebody who places the welfare of the ordinary person, in this instance, the ordinary Nigerian above his personal, tribal, ethnic, group or sectional interest. That is why you cannot see any initiative that conforms to the ideals of progressivism that we know in Nigeria. A progressive is someone who plays the kind of politics that advances the welfare of the great...

President Muhammadu Buhari has incurred the wrath of President Muhammadu Buhari has incurred the wrath of leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the choice of nominees for non-career ambassadors. Most of the 23 APC governors are angry because their candidates for the ambassadorial posts were rejected by the Presidency. It was learnt that Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo was given only one out of the 46 ambassadorial slots submitted to the Senate for confirmation last week. Governors, APC leaders and ministers, who are party leaders in many states, especially where the governing party is not in control, were sidelined in the appointments.  Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was this time lucky as the president conceded one of the two ambassadorial nominees – Prof. Mohammed G. Yisa – from Kwara State, to him. New Telegraph learnt that the Chief of Staff to the president, Mallam Abba Kyari and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Ambassa...

Of course, it is unacceptable A democracy doesn't work that way. A judge rules against you, because you have power of coercion you invade his house at night, arrest him, release him on self cognisance and then expect him to step down until you prove he is guilty of corruption. Does that make sense to you? If you succeed to make him step down what do you think will happen to any judge assigned your case? Fearful? Is that what you are prescribing for the Nigerian judiciary? To a large extent Nigerian intellectuals are a huge disappointment to Nigeria. Surface thinkers. There is a constitutional process for dealing with corrupt judges. Even with his high level of incompetence, attested to by even his wife, nobody is seeking to remove PMB by unconstitutional means. That is how democracy grows. On October 25, 2007, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in a landmark judgment, nullified the Election of Mr. Celestine Omehia as the governor of Rivers State. In his stead, the ...

It is getting messier folks. The Supreme Court Justice has sworn to an affidavit that his allegations are true. Amaechi and Onu should swear to an affidavit also if they are denying his assertions. That way when the videos and voice recordings start flying around someone will go to prison for perjury even if they escape corruption charges as most of our public officials do!  Full Text of Justice Ngwuta’s letter to CJN, Justice Mahmoud Mohammed 18thOctober, 2016 My Lord, The Hon. the Chief Justice of Nigeria & Chairman, National Judicial Council Supreme Court Complex ABUJA  My Lord  INVASION OF MY HOUSE IN THE NIGHT, PLANTING OF HUGE SUMS OF MONEY IN DIFFERENT CURRENCIES, PURPORTED RECOVERY OF THE MONEY, CARTING AWAY OF MY DOCUMENTS AND OTHER VALUABLE ITEMS AND MY SUBSEQUENT ABDUCTION BY MASKED OPERATIVES OF THE DSS BETWEEN FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7TH AND SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8TH, 2016  1.        Some days be...