PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has expressed “heart-felt” sadness over the death of Madam Omowunmi Bisi Akande, wife of the founding chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to a statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Thursday, the message was contained in a letter written to the APC chieftain which followed a letter the President had earlier written to Akande on Wednesday.

Buhari described as “irreparable” the loss by Chief Akande of his wife of 50 years.

The President’s message read: “I received the very sad news of the death of your dearly beloved wife, Madam Omowunmi Akande this morning. I am following our phone call with this letter of condolence, which comes from my heart.

“To lose a wife, a dear wife after 50 years, a constant and loving companion through good and bad times, is a blow only a man of unshakeable faith can withstand. Please extend my personal condolences to the immediate and wider Akande family and to friends of the family for this irreparable loss.

“May Allah give you the strength and Iman to endure her passing away.”

AHEAD of the pledge to fund the mechanisation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector by the Chinese government with a sum of $4.5 billion a Chinese venture known as China-Africa Machinery Corporation (CAMACO) has entered into an agreement with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for the supply of tractors to participating state governments.

Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh who inaugurated the Committees for the implementation of the MoU between the Federal Government of Nigeria, participating state governments and CAMACO on Agricultural Mechanization System (AMS) in Abuja, stated that “This is a very important programme that has been on the drawing board. Nigeria is very low on tractors. There are less than 30,000 tractors in Nigeria and we should at least as at today have a million. This partnership with CAMACO is an attempt to catch up with our shortfalls in tractors and increase our mechanization to make it easier for agriculture to take place. Increased mechanization is even more important now that we are trying to encourage the youth to embrace agriculture.

“Some parts of the north are very dusty, so your air filters must be designed to fit appropriately. You must also build these tractors bearing in mind that we need them to last 15 to 20 years at the very least. We don’t have money to repeat purchases of machinery every two years. We need solid machinery, very well-designed machines to cope with the climatic conditions and the nature of our soil. We are also intending to keep after sales services in top gear.”

Participating state governments include: Zamfara, Adamawa, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Katsina, Niger, Taraba and Sokoto.

CAMACO is a venture funded by the China African Development Fund (CADFund) as a strategic partnership built and developed between China and Africa, with the purpose of encouraging and supporting Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa.

Furthermore, the Chinese government has gone ahead to loan Nigeria $4.5 billion to fund the purchase of appropriate farming tools to boost local agriculture. The move comes after President Muhammadu Buhari had paid a state visit to Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.

A 19-year-old, Adeolu Bamiteko, has been sentenced to death by an Ekiti State high court, sitting in Ado Ekiti for armed robbery.

Justice John Adeyeye, who sentenced Bamiteko in a judgment, on Thursday, also convicted him of unlawful possession of firearms.

Justice Adeyeye, in addition to the death sentence, also ruled that Bamiteko should serve a term of 10 years for the second offence of illegal possession of fire arms.

He had been arraigned with a 12-year-old Ayibami Ojo but the boy was discharged by the court for being a minor.

The court said the minor was discharged in line with the provisions of Section 30 of the criminal code.

The judge held that Bamiteko had contravened Section 6(b) of robbery and firearms (Special Provisions) Act, Cap 11, laws of the federation of Nigeria.

Bamiteko had been arraigned on a three-count charge after he was said to have robbed one Adefunke Amire and dispossessed her of her mobile phone sometime in July 2016.

He was charged with conspiracy, robbery and unlawful possession of firearms.

“On count two, the sentence of armed robbery is mandatory in respect of which I have no discretion. Therefore, the second defendant is sentenced to death by hanging until he be dead. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”

“On count three, the second defendant is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment; both sentences are to run concurrently.”

“The court hereby discharge the 1st defendant (Ojo) pursuant to Section 30 of the Criminal Code. But the 2nd defendant (Bamiteko) is found guilty of armed robbery and unlawful possession of firearm as contained in counts one to three and he is accordingly convicted.”

The prosecution said he had been armed with offensive weapons like a locally-made pistol with live cartridge and one knife.

The accused was first arraigned in court on 16th February, 2017 and he pleaded not guilty to the charge. The prosecution called three witnesses to prove the case while the accused did not call any witness.

A review of Emman Usman Shehu’s book, Icarus Rising by Paul Liam

Emman Usman Shehu’s poetry collection, Icarus Rising, is a metaphorical portraiture of a nation’s dystopia. It is a collection shrouded in the consciousness of a poet attuned to the social conditions of his people and the dysfunctional state of a nation heading for the abyss. Dystopia is conceived as a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is regarded as “not good place”, which is a place that is not desirable or unfit for habitation. It is the opposite of Utopia, an ideal place or society of peace and tranquility. Nigeria, at present, can only be likened to a dystopia, an undesirable society and a place bedeviled by inanities and dehumanisation. This ugly reality underscores the significance of the volume which couldn’t have emerged at a better time than now.

The 64 poems and 89-page volume exudes a rhetorical opulence akin to the classics of the modernist tradition, proverbial, witty and lyrically inducing the poems flow effortlessly conveying grave messages that tugs at the conscience of the reader. The poems bewails, mocks and berates the complacent inactions of the polity, towards the conundrum of impoverishment occasioned by the maladies of political and leadership ineptitude forced on the land by opportunistic few bent on commercializing the soul of the nation for self-gratification.

In the opening poem entitled “Avian Sketches,” the persona philosophises on the politics of being and the hypocrisy contrived on the altar of falsehood. The persona’s bewilderment is succinctly captured in the fifth stanza thus: “Every time I hear the cock/crow a third time at dawn,/I wonder who is taking their turn/at a hollowed altar,/receiving sacrament of betrayal/by one deemed deeply loyal.” (14)

The persona in the poem “Sandscape” bemoans the estrangement of hope in the land and expounds in details using images to buttress the degree of the quagmire that has engulfed the land. Clearly, the smaller animals in the poem represent the helpless masses entrapped in the state of confusion. The persona symbolizes suffocating power with the hyena whose “canine smile is frozen but sly” and “And the crickets orchestrates/the sonata of doom.” The darkness which pervades this poem is made clearer in the last two stanzas: “The dying birds echo grim refrain,/we wait for rain/in this land of pain,/and plummet into bleak terrain./ The desert has encroached/beyond our imagination.” (34)

In an unusually prosaic rendition, the persona in the piece, “My Country” (dedicated to Justin Magaji), highlights the retrogression that mars the country he itemises the negatives that constitute the unfortunate state of the country.

Icarus Rising is an elegy befitting of a nation that continues to wallow in abject poverty and underdevelopment in the face of quantum opportunities and possibilities. This unfortunate degeneration is an offshoot of a rotten system permeated by the indigenization of corruption perpetuated by the political class and encouraged by the docile mien of the masses who watch in awe, with hands akimbo as their destinies and those of their future generations are devoured by the ilk in customized regalia.

Perhaps, it is a characteristic of socially conscious poets to relinquish the power of self-redemption to the people by calling on them to stand up to inhuman governments, responsible for their underdevelopment. It is true that the pen is mightier than the sword but the pen cannot wield itself, therefore, the people must summon the courage to wield the pen and defeat their enemies. It is perhaps, this logic that informs the persona’s declaration of comradeship spirit, a feeling of newness in the poem “Pharaoh”. In the first stanza of the poem the persona debunks the impression that the masses are oblivious of the deceits perpetrated by their elites. He announces: “We are not a country of the blind/for you to be so unkind,/unleashing flawed wisdom/of the fabled one-eyed king./we know what you will bring:/another season of pestilence.” The persona goes on to assert in stanza three thus: “We are not a country of the blind,/tolerance is no longer our virtue,/endurance has reached breaking point,/hindsight has steeled our resolve.” (43)

The poem “Sinking Sand” asks a series of rhetorical questions, one that seeks to inspire genuine reflection in the reader’s mind so to realize the doom that has ensnared the land. The land itself is a rhetorical question that appears never in haste to answer itself by providing answers that would redeem her from the shackles of retrogression that she currently swims in. the person asks: “Head in sinking sand,/how can we understand/the rape of our land?” (45).

In conclusion, Shehu, a seasoned poet of great talent, has given the world yet another remarkable volume of poems that is fragile and yet frugal both in its freshness of language and its esoteric-simplistic style of delivery.

THE Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Wednesday in Osogbo, Osun State capital, said the Federal Government has concluded plans to stop importation of rice into the country by December, 2017.

Ogbeh, who made this disclosure when he paid a courtesy call on the Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola also hinted that the Federal Government was ready to partner with Osun State government in the current process of massive food production as part of the measure to tackle economic recession.

He lamented that it was unfortunate that Nigeria was still spending billions of dollars on food importation, thereby calling for maximum collaboration and partnership between and among the various authorities to revamp agriculture.

Ogbeh maintained that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture had been restructured to meet the nation’s needs on food production so as to bring an end to all forms of food importation, adding that his visit was aimed at solidifying the existing relationship between the Osun State Government and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on the need to achieve a better agricultural productivity.

According to him, “By December this year, we will stop importation of rice into the country. It is a pity that as a nation we spend about five million dollars on the importation of rice on a daily basis. We have no choice in this country now but to get back to go back to farm and begin to cultivate it so as to be able to free ourselves and the land from poverty because oil and gas can no longer do it.

“Our dreams of big foreign exchange earnings must stop and it is a pity that all our revenue is being spent to service debts. In Osun, there is a lot of potentialities through various crops.  Just two crops alone are enough for Osun to make over three billion dollars in a month.

“We have to find extraordinary means to make agriculture work in this country because by 2050 Nigeria’s population would have risen to about 450 million and we have to quickly begin to look for means of being capable to feed ourselves by then,” he remarked.

Ogbeh continued, “If care is not taken, it will be very difficult to finance the debt which the nation owed all in the name of food importation. We have to put a stop to this. We have to rededicate ourselves and look inward in order to chart a new course for our nation. The only feasible alternative we have to cushion the adverse effect of the present economy is for all to go back to farm.

‎In his remarks, Aregbesola, said there was no aspect of agriculture that his government had not touched, stressing that the present economy has left Nigerians with options of either to develop or destroy, thus calling for massive participation in agriculture.

The governor stated, “An alternative to oil is a quest of all nations. A time is coming when oil will no longer serve the mono-economic that it serves now, thus, Nigeria must come to that grim reality that in 25 years to come, there will not be revenue from oil.”

THE face-off between the executive and the legislature is a time bomb that is fast gathering momentum and may detonate sooner than expected.

Democratic governance rests on the tripod of the executive, legislature and the judiciary, in the order of merit. As of now, the legislature and the executive seem to have become sworn enemies and the feud is yet to be settled.

If the arms of government are not at peace, then there is imminent collapse of the nascent democracy that cost us many lives and properties to achieve.

When two elephants fight, they say, the grass suffers. The sorry case now is that the grass is already suffering!

Then, what is the fate of this grass when the elephants fight again? All the relevant stakeholders need to take proactive measures to ensure that the conflict is resolved. A stitch in time saves nine.

Solomon Ajadi: 08035959270

IN a new study, WHO and UNICEF on Wednesday said that 2.1 billion people worldwide, lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 4.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation.

The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report, titled “Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and Sustainable Development Goal baselines” indicated that of the 2.1 billion people who do not have safely managed water, 844 million do not have even a basic drinking water service.

This first global assessment of “safely managed” drinking water and sanitation services also indicated that 263 million people still have to spend over 30 minutes per trip collecting water from sources outside the home, and 159 million still drink untreated water from surface water sources, such as streams or lakes.

In addition, of the 4.5 billion people who do not have safely managed sanitation, 2.3 billion still do not have basic sanitation services. This includes 600 million people who share a toilet or latrine with other households, and 892 million people – mostly in rural areas – who defecate in the open.

According to the new report, access to water and soap for handwashing varies immensely in the 70 countries with available data, from 15 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa to 76 per cent in western Asia and northern Africa.

The report includes estimates for 96 countries on safely managed drinking water and 84 countries on safely managed sanitation.

In countries experiencing conflict or unrest, children are 4 times less likely to use basic water services, and 2 times less likely to use basic sanitation services than children in other countries.

There are big gaps in service between urban and rural areas. Two out of three people with safely managed drinking water and three out of five people with safely managed sanitation services live in urban areas.

Of the 161 million people using untreated surface water (from lakes, rivers or irrigation channels), 150 million live in rural areas.

As a result, every year, 361 000 children under 5 years of age die due to diarrhoea. Poor sanitation and contaminated water are also linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, and typhoid.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, stated “Safe water, sanitation and hygiene at home should not be a privilege of only those who are rich or live in urban centres. These are some of the most basic requirements for human health, and all countries have a responsibility to ensure that everyone can access them.”

Also, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake stated “Safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene are critical to the health of every child and every community – and thus are essential to building stronger, healthier, and more equitable societies.

“As we improve these services in the most disadvantaged communities and for the most disadvantaged children today, we give them a fairer chance at a better tomorrow.”

A former First Lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan’s appeal seeking to lift a forfeiture order on $5.9m domiciled in her Skye Bank, on Wednesday suffered a setback, as one of the three appeal court justices meant to hear the appeal in Lagos withdrew from the case.

The appeal court panel, comprised of Justices John Ikyeh, Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo and Abraham Georgewill.

Hearing of the Appeal had earlier been fixed for Wednesday.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, Justice Ikyeh, who presided over the panel, told the counsel for both sides that the appeal could no longer be heard as one of the three justices had decided to withdraw for personal reasons.

Justice Ikyeh, however, did not mention the name of the member of the panel who withdrew but said the appeal had to be further adjourned in the circumstances.

“One of us is going to excuse himself from this case for personal reasons, so we are not complete. Two of us cannot make a quorum. So, we’ll give you a date,” Justice Ikyeh said.

Counsel for the Economic and Financial Commission, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, urged the appellate court to fix a new date during the court’s long vacation which would last till September.

Oyedepo said the EFCC, which is seeking a court order permanently forfeiting Patience’s $5.9m to the Federal Government, had been handicapped because the Federal High Court in Lagos, which is hearing the case, had already stayed proceedings to await the decision of the Court of Appeal.

But Justice Ikyeh reiterated that nothing could be done because two justices could not form a quorum.

“We can’t write anything because we are incomplete. One of us cannot sit over this appeal,” he said.

The case was subsequently adjourned till September 18, 2017, after the court’s vacation.

Patience, through her lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), surgery the Court of Appeal to overturn an April 26, 2017 interim order of Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court in Lagos, who ordered that the $5.9m found in her Skye Bank account should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.

The forfeiture order was made in favour of the EFCC, which took an ex parte application before the judge.

Apart from Patience’s personal account with $5.9m, the court also froze a number of accounts linked with her including an Ecobank account, with a balance of N2.4bn, opened in the name of one La Wari Furniture and Bath Limited.

According to the EFCC, the former first lady made several cash deposits in United States dollar into the account, through a former Special Assistant to ex-President Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, and a State House steward, Festus Iyoha.

Justice Olatoregun had then granted the interim forfeiture order and adjourned till May 22, 2017, for anyone interested in the funds to appear before her to show cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

On May 22, Patience’s lawyer, Adedipe, appeared in court with counsel for La Wari Furniture and Bath Limited, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), and told Justice Olatoregun that their clients had appealed the temporary forfeiture order.

They urged the judge to suspend further proceedings pending the outcome of the appeal.

The accused are facing a three-count- charge of conspiracy, kidnapping and receiving stolen child.

The three of them, who are residents of Ayobo area of Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Police Prosecutor, Insp. Simeon Imhonwa, told the court that the accused committed the offence with others still at large, sometimes in November 2014 at Idi-Orogbo, Ayobo, Lagos.

Inhonwa alleged that the trio kidnapped the baby, the son of Chioma Nwakwu, the complainant in the case.

He told the court that the complainant used to live with Ezeala, her aunt, before she became pregnant and the supposed father denied responsibility of the pregnancy.

“At the time of Nwakwu’s delivery at Ifako- Ijaiye General Hospital, Agege, which was through caesarean section, the complainant could not afford the hospital bills and care of the baby.

“The second accused, Oparaocha, a nurse, then approached Ezeala to sell the baby to Ifeanyi, who was willing to adopt the baby at a price,’’ the prosecutor said.

Inhonwa said that without the knowledge of the complainant, Ezeala and Oparaocha sold the baby for N500,000 to Ifeanyi.

“The whereabouts of the baby was not disclosed to Nwakwu after she was discharged from the hospital until recently, when the accused were apprehended by the police,” the prosecutor said.

The offence contravened Sections 275, 326 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 275 prescribes 10 years imprisonment for anyone, who unlawfully captures and detains another against his or her will.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi, granted the accused bail in the sum of two million naira, each with two sureties in like sum.

Osunsanmi said the sureties must be property owners within the court jurisdiction and should also provide evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

The case was adjourned to July 21 for mention.