Personality in Focus
We Must Come Together to Change the Narratives, Says Ondo PDP Guber Candidate
The Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the forthcoming Ondo State governorship election, Chief Agboola Alfred Ajayi, has said that he intends to leverage on the natural potential of the state to give the people maximum comfort, sense of belonging and dividend of democracy if elected in the November 16, 2024 off circle election in the state.
The PDP flagbearer made the revelation during a chat with members of the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), who paid him a courtesy visit in his office, in Akure. He frowned at the level of hunger ravaging the country at the moment, saying that no one is spared of the impending doom if all hands are not put together to work out something positive and enduring.
“What is happening here is something that if we don’t come together we will become casualties in the future,” he said, noting that casualties are not just those who are wounded or very poor, but include those who stay at home, and in their comfort zones.
He narrated a personal experience to buttress the poverty in the land, saying “for instance, I know the number of people that are asking money from me everyday; school fees, feeding and so on, I got a message this morning, the person is telling me, i need money so my kids can eat and I was force to send money to the person, I don’t know the person. I receive this similar message more than 50 everyday.
“I watch a video last week and I really felt sad for this country, where a guy was distributing bread, in Lagos, if you see how people were pushing themselves because of it, so you can see the level that we have reduced ourselves to in this country.
“We must come together to change the system, change the narratives.”
Chief Ajayi reiterated that though Ondo State is blessed, only somebody like him, who has the intelligence and contact, and knows how to activate the resources to produce should occupied the seat of governor, in order to affect the people positively.
“Our state (Ondo) is blessed, no doubt but we must activate those resources, we are sitting on money, gold, resources in Ondo state, so how do we tap into it; we need somebody with high level of contact and intelligence, who has the vision, who understands the terrain, somebody that can actually unlock the potentials,” he said.
He noted that his plans when elected as governor includes tapping into the untapped resources of the state, which includes building a seaport, thereby decongesting Lagos, and make commerce much more easier and accessible to the people.
“There’s no land in Lagos, no gold, no petroleum, no resources, all you are enjoying there is the commerce that is coming from the sea, that discharging gate you have, but what we have in Ondo state is times 50 of untapped resources.
“So if we harness that, we will decongest Lagos State, and our people will be busy. We will create job, a lot of us will be emergency clearing and forwarding agent, and everybody will be busy. So, instead of you going to spend 2/3 weeks in Lagos, to the port and all that, you just go to Ilaje Local Government here and offload your goods and come back same day,” he explained.
Responding, the leader of the NAOSNP delegate, and its president, Mr. Oki Samson, thanked the governorship candidate for his warm reception, stressing that the Association is in the state for firsthand assessment of the security situation and measures put in place to achieve a hitchfree election.
“As a security-oriented association, we have deemed it fit to pay a visit to the state to have a firsthand security knowledge of the situation so that a hitchfree election will be achieved.
“Our visit will also take us to other stakeholders including the security apparatuses to ascertain their level of readiness to tackle every form of challenge,” Oki said.
Chief Ajayi is one of the favorites, running to grab the Ondo State seat of power as governor. He is a former deputy governor of the state among a retinue of his credentials and experience.
Terrorists in northeast Nigeria killed a brigadier general in an assault on a military base, a local government chairman told AFP on Thursday, the second killing of a high-ranking officer in five months.
Africa’s most populous country has been fighting a terrorist insurgency for 17 years, since Boko Haram’s 2009 uprising, which has seen the emergence of powerful splinter groups, including Islamic State West Africa Province.
In an overnight attack, unidentified terrorists killed at least 18 soldiers and torched vehicles at a base in Benisheikh, about 75 kilometres from Borno state capital Maiduguri, an intelligence source told AFP.
“Unfortunately, the brigade commander, Brigadier General O.O. Braimah, lost his life,” Kaga Local Government Chairman Zannah Lawan Ajimi told AFP in a phone interview.
Two intelligence sources confirmed Braimah’s death to AFP.
His death follows the killing of Brigadier General Musa Uba by ISWAP in November. He was the highest-ranking military official to die in the long-running conflict since 2021.
“They overran the brigade,” one of the intelligence sources said, giving the death toll as “at least” 18.
The second intelligence source said that “the terrorists killed several troops” and “burnt vehicles and buildings before they withdrew,” without giving a toll.
The army and Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
– Rising terrorist violence –
Researchers have warned of an uptick of violence since 2025.
Borno capital Maiduguri has seen two suicide bombings since December — the type of bloody, urban attacks reminiscent of the insurgency’s peak a decade ago.
On Wednesday, the US State Department said in a notice it was authorising “non-emergency US government employees” to leave Abuja “due to the deteriorating security situation”.
While the insurgency is concentrated in the northeastern countryside, terrorists from Nigeria and the neighbouring Sahel have made inroads western Nigeria, where organised crime gangs known as “bandits” have been raiding villages and extorting farmers and artisanal miners for years.
Gunmen killed at least 90 people across several remote villages in northwest Nigeria this week, according to an AFP tally of tolls given by local and humanitarian sources.
Among the attacks was an assault in Kebbi state that police blamed a local terrorist group known as Mahmuda, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Kebbi sits on Nigeria’s border with Benin and Niger and since 2025 has been targeted by a rising number of terrorist attacks.
Conflict monitor ACLED says there has been a surge in violence in the area carried out by militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
In nearby Kwara state, in October, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM claimed an attack after years of researchers warning that the terrorist conflict ravaging the Sahel risked spreading south towards coastal West African states.
In December, the United States, with Nigerian assistance, bombed northwest Sokoto state, targeting Islamic State Sahel Province fighters usually found in neighbouring Niger, along with Mali and Burkina Faso.
AFP
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the 2023 Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has argued that President Bola Tinubu has no pathway to re-election in 2027.
Rhodes-Vivour, who appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, said data from credible polls indicate that Tinubu will not win next year’s presidential election.
“I have looked at data, we have polling that is going on now, credible polling — there is no pathway for the president to emerge victorious, that is why we are seeing all these shenanigans,” he said.
He added: “There is no pathway for him. When you look at the North that gave him 62 per cent of his votes, you see the tsunami that is happening in the North. You have a president that created a government system that is just for the city boys. It is a city boys’ government. It’s not even a proper South-West government; it’s his cronies that are just in charge.”
The Lagos politician blamed the president for the crisis affecting opposition parties, including the ADC.
According to him, having assessed that the odds are against him ahead of the 2027 polls, the president is resorting to instigating crises within opposition ranks as a strategy to retain power.
“So, the best pathway is to create an environment where he is the only candidate on the ballot for the presidency. That is what he is trying to achieve, but he is not going to succeed,” he said.
Last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) removed the names of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as chairman and secretary of the ADC from its portal, citing a court order to maintain the status quo.
The party has faulted INEC’s decision, alleging that the electoral body misinterpreted the court order. Since then, the ADC leadership has held a world press conference to reject the move.
Earlier on Tuesday, prominent members of the party staged a “Save Nigeria Democracy” protest at INEC headquarters in Abuja. Among those present were Peter Obi; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi; former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; former President of the Senate, David Mark; former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola; and former Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, among others.
Hundreds of supporters, including members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, also participated in the protest.
The Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, Muhammad Usman Zuru, is dead.
Zuru died on Monday night in an Egyptian hospital where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness.
His death was confirmed by sources close to the Kebbi State Government, although details surrounding his illness were not disclosed.
Until his death, he represented Zuru Constituency in the state assembly and was regarded as a key figure in the legislature.
Confirming the development, an aide to the governor on Communication and Strategy, Idris Zuru, described the incident as shocking.
“The death of the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Muhammad Usman Zuru, came to us as a rude shock. It is a painful loss not only to Kebbi State but to the entire nation,” he said.
He added that further details would be provided by the government.
Further announcements on funeral arrangements are expected from the state government and the family.
