Oranmiyan / State Boys Attack Sunshine Stars Footballers, Supporters .. Five Hospitalized

Less than one week after Osun State Commissioner for Regional Integration, Mr. Bola Ilori, threatened to attack Ondo State indigenes, thugs from the state have made good the threat.

The thugs, numbering one hundreds, arrived at the Ijebu-Ode stadium, venue of the football match between Ondo State team, Sunshine Stars and the Osun State team in more than 30 buses, vowing to wreck havocs. The match started on a peaceful note with no particular unwholesome incident, as the two teams battled for a semi-final place in the 2017 edition of the FA cup.

Mike Famiyesin Blog ©

Trouble, however, started when the Ondo team, who had lost the first leg match a few days earlier in Osogbo by a lone goal, defeated the Osun team by 3-1, thereby qualifying for the next stage on 3-2 aggregate. Speaking with newsmen in Akure, the Ondo State Commissioner for Sports, Mr. Saka Yusuf Ogunleye, said that the thugs mobilized to the Ijebu-Ode stadium determined to unleash terror on the Sunshine Stars team and their supporters.

Mike Famiyesin Blog ©

Ogunleye, while condemning the attack, said the Ondo State team exhibited a true spirit of sportsmanship when it lost in the first leg, and wondered why a football match should be turned to an opportunity to unleash terror on peaceful football lovers. The commissioner said the behavior of the Osun State team supporters was very reprehensible and a shame to the game of football. He said: “The match started on a peaceful note. We scored three goals, while they scored one goal. With the result, we were going to qualify for the next stage of the competition, with 3-2 aggregate.

Mike Famiyesin Blog ©

“But, just as the referee of the match signaled the end and blew his whistle, thugs of the Osun team invaded the field and inflicted various degrees of injuries on our supporters.

“It took the intervention of the security agencies, especially the army, to rescue our players. But the supporters were not that lucky, as about 20 of them were injured, with two of them critically injured and had to be rushed to the hospital.”

Mike Famiyesin Blog ©

He added that those whose cases were critical were still in hospital receiving medical attention as of the time of filing this report. Also speaking, the team manager of Sunshine Stars, Mr. Aborowa Gabriel, expressed sadness over the ugly incident.Gabriel said: “After we rescued our supporters that were injured, we took them to the hospital where they were treated.

Mike Famiyesin Blog ©

Mike Famiyesin Blog ©

“But, after the president of the nation’s FA, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, called me and said we should not allow the matter to degenerate, I went to the police station, where I met the Special Adviser on Sports to Osun State governor. “I am also aware that it took the intervention of a prominent Oba before the thugs were released. Acts like this have no place in football, and should be condemned by all.”

Mike Famiyesin Blog ©

Primate Ayodele: Five Nations Will Come Out of Nigeria; Two Will Be Greater Than Three

Primate Babatunde Elijah Ayodele is the head and founder of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church with headquarters in Lagos. After the recent publication of his 2017/2018 edition of Warning to the Nations: A Collection of Divine Signals, he speaks with TribuneChurch about what should be expected in Nigeria and beyond.

A short while ago, the Federal Government said that the country was out of recession. How true is this?

I said it in 2014 that Nigeria would be hit by recession. If the Federal Government is trying to score political points by saying that the nation is out of recession, then it should try something else. We are still in recession. Until the government is ready to do the right thing, we are not likely to come out of this. The government must get the best economic team to handle this. There is hunger in the land. People are hungry and frustrated. They are angry. There is bitterness and pain in the land. The government cannot come out to say that all is well. All is not well. We are in recession.

What do you think should be done so that we can come out of this situation?

A lot of things must be done. The government must do something more rewarding about the issue of agriculture. We should not be sending food out when it is obvious that many people are hungry. The agriculture sector must be taken seriously and strengthened. Churches with many parishes should invest in agriculture. Many young churches are struggling. Mega churches should be encouraged to go into agriculture. Churches are to help people. That is what we are doing. Churches must get involved in mechanised farming. There should be changes in the Central Bank of Nigeria. The same thing should be done to the NNPC. Nigeria’s oil will not exist in 10 years time. The quality of our oil will drop.

There are agitations today in the country, particularly in the South-East. You predicted some years ago that a time would come when the country as a whole would be no more. What can be done?

Nnamdi Kanu has taken the wrong step in his fight for Biafra. He cannot actualise it. But the government must dialogue with him because his agitation will cause pandemonium. There will be a lot of factions within the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). Some people would penetrate the group in order to cause issues. Besides, I see a major referendum in the nearest future; it is not now. No government can stop the disintegration of Nigeria. Only God can stop it. Note my words: only God can stop Nigeria’s disintegration, but it is not yet time. By 2035, Nigeria will be no more. Five nations will come out of the country. Two will be greater than three.

As we approach the 2019 general election, so many happenings in the country have been attributed to the election year. What should be expected?

Neither the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) nor the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can take Nigeria to the next level. I have five names of people who can take Nigeria to the next level, but it is not yet time to announce them. You know the way we are in this country. Should I announce those names, they would tell me that I have been bribed.

Unfortunately, President Muhammadu Buhari cannot take Nigeria anywhere. Atiku Abubakar cannot take Nigeria anywhere. He should consult God before stepping in. When Dr Goodluck Jonathan wanted to re-contest in 2015, I told him to consult God. Atiku should consult God so that his ambition will not ruin his image or personality. He must watch out. Buhari’s second term is not the best for Nigeria. He knows that. He should leave in 2019 and pick someone else from his party. A northerner will still rule in 2019. No South-West governor will rule in 2019.

The Supreme Court appears to have solved the leadership crisis in the PDP. What is your take on this?

The Supreme Court did not solve anything. It only pointed to the right person to be the leader of the party. PDP is under duress. They are being manipulated. They should first carry out a cleansing of the party. After that, they should carry out consultation about how they can do better than they have been doing before now. If not, PDP will lose it in 2019.

In all of these, where does the South-West stand ?

That region is a divine region. It should just calm down. When things go awry, South-West has been the one always settling them. There are so many factors that will come out from the South-West before 2019. In order not to cause chaos, you must give it to a northerner – the right person. Even in Oyo State, the next person to rule the state will be announced at the right time. A small fish will swallow a big fish in Oyo State, even in Osun. In Anambra, if Obiano is focused and takes the right steps, he will retain that seat but not PDP. PDP cannot take over that state. There is even more hope for APC than PDP. The broom which is the symbol of the APC is very spiritual; you should not see it as just ordinary. Very soon, you will see more people decamping to the PDP.

What about the recall process of Senator Dino Melaye?

Look at the travails of Dino Melaye. It is a big fight. He is getting it wrong. He would have been the best person to confront the governor of his state but he is getting it wrong. He is taking it out of proportion.

Will the world become a better place?

The world will continue with the troubles that afflict it. There is no peace in Nigeria. There won’t be peace in the world. More calamities and criminalities will go on. I told you in 2015 that kidnapping would take another dimension in Nigeria and beyond. When I said so, many people laughed. I also predicted that Ebola, Lassa Fever had not gone, people also laughed. Is that not what we are witnessing today?

Mike Famiyesin's Blog: Aregbesola's Commissioner Bola Ilori Beaten Up In ...

Mike Famiyesin's Blog: Aregbesola's Commissioner Bola Ilori Beaten Up In ...: Bola Ilori, the Ondo state born commissioner for regional integration in Osun state was embarrassed and assaulted in Akure , the Ondo state...

Aregbesola's Commissioner Bola Ilori Beaten Up In Ondo State

Bola Ilori, the Ondo state born commissioner for regional integration in Osun state was embarrassed and assaulted in Akure , the Ondo state capital on Thursday at the All Progressives Congress restructuring meeting.

 Bola Ilori, has said that persons suspected to be political thugs who assaulted him in Akure on Thursday were acting on the instructions of a top government appointee in Ondo State (name withheld).

Ilori was assaulted by some suspected political thugs at the zonal meeting of the All Progressives Congress in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

The meeting was being held at the International Events Centre, Akure, on Thursday.

Ilori, who represented Osun State at the forum, was assaulted when he left the hall to grant interview with reporters at the entrance of the hall.

His clothes and underwear were torn by his attackers.

Without any elaborate explanation, Ilori alleged that a top Ondo State Government official sent the thugs to attack him.

“It is the (name withheld) that sent them,” Ilori alleged.

He and his supporters left the venue shortly after.

It would be recalled that Bola Iloru, an Ondo state indegene from Ondo Town led other members 

of the All Progressives Congress to the Alliance for Democracy during the election which

 produced Rotimi Akeredolu as governor of the state.

Mike Famiyesin's Blog: Iran smuggling dangerous weapon into Yemen, says U...

Mike Famiyesin's Blog: Iran smuggling dangerous weapon into Yemen, says U...: T op US commander in the Middle East, Vice Admiral Kevin M. Donegan on Monday, accused Iran of  smuggling illicit weapons and technology i...

Iran smuggling dangerous weapon into Yemen, says U.S Admiral

Top US commander in the Middle East, Vice Admiral Kevin M. Donegan on Monday, accused Iran of  smuggling illicit weapons and technology into Yemen, stoking the civil strife there and enabling Iranian-backed rebels to fire missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

“These types of weapons did not exist in Yemen before the conflict,” said Donegan. “It’s not rocket science to conclude that Al Houthis are getting not only these systems but likely training and advice and assistance in how to use them, he said in a lengthy interview with the Gulf news.

Donegan said that the bitter rift between Qatar and many of its Gulf neighbours, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who accuse Qatar of financing militants and having overly cosy relations with Iran, has not yet hindered coalition efforts to battle terrorism, piracy or other mutual maritime scourges.

Donegan’s most pointed accusations focused on suspected Iranian assistance to Al Houthi rebels.

Iran has been repeatedly accused of providing arms helping to fuel one side of the war in Yemen, in which rebels from the country’s north, Al Houthis, ousted the government from the capital of Sana’a in 2014.

The officer, Vice Admiral Kevin M. Donegan, said that Iran is sustaining Al Houthis with an increasingly potent arsenal of anti-ship and ballistic missiles, deadly sea mines and even explosive boats that have attacked allied ships in the Red Sea or Saudi territory across Yemen’s northern border.

Donegan gave his assessment in an hourlong telephone interview from his 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain as he prepared to conclude his two-year tour, and take a new assignment at the Pentagon.

Vice Adm. Kevin M. Donegan, is the commander of the 5th Fleet, overseeing the U.S  Navy’s contribution to the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

BEFORE BIAFRA, THERE WAS ISAAC ADAKA JASPER BORO’S TWELVE-DAY REVOLUTION

Before Biafra, there was the Niger Delta Republic led by Isaac Adaka Jasper Boro. Boro was one of the early people who began the struggle for the emancipation of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. He challenged the exploitation and deprivation of the region as the resources were being channeled to develop other regions of the country. It was the culmination of the injustice, political frustration and suffocation that the Ijaw and other Niger Delta people suffered in an independent Nigeria. 

As a bubbling, brilliant young secondary school leaver, Boro, after a three-month stint as a teacher, joined the Nigeria Police as a cadet in 1958 with a lot of fire in him to bring about change. But he received a shock when he found that he was alone in a police force that was already corrupt and was subsequently dismissed due to ill luck, maybe, the call of destiny. Heartbroken, he dusted up his certificate and went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he suffered various degrees of injustice as a student politician. He came to the realization that the Ijaw were heading for extinction if the tide of the national politics being controlled by the big three (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo) did not change.

Boro and other Ijaw students watched with bewilderment as the Ijaw politicians failed to break into the top echelons of Nigerian and regional politics controlled by the easterners. Boro was provoked how Year after year, the Ijaws were clenched in tyrannical chains and led through a dark alley of perpetual political and social deprivation. Strangers in our own country! Inevitably, therefore, the day would have to come for us to fight for our long-denied right to self-determination.Boro lamented the exclusion and alienation from power, How the Ijaw withered in bitterness and regret. 

For a then estimated two million people, he was angered there were no adequate educational opportunities, no infrastructure, no empowerment, no openings. The only fishery industry which ought to be situated in a properly riverine Ijaw area is sited about 80 miles inland at Aba, the boatyard at Opobo had its headquarters at Enugu. Personnel in these industries and also in the oil stations are predominantly non-Ijaw but more of the Igbo’s from Eastern Nigeria. The lamentations of Boro and other prominent Ijaw leaders like Chief Harold Dappa Biriye lead to the agitation for the creation of a Niger Delta State and formation of the Niger Delta Congress. But Igbo-dominated National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) which ruled the East was not interested in the creation of Niger Delta State for obvious reasons.

Niger Delta congress (NDC) could not do much as out of the nine representatives of the area, eight were from NCNC. And in the Eastern Region House of Assembly, the Niger Delta had only 5 against 110 other representatives. In the Midwestern House of Assembly, Niger Delta had 2 representatives against 58 others. “Given these prevailing circumstances,” lamented Boro….. “an Ijaw nationalist finds that a state for his people is more of a necessity than a mere desire, Such a demand becomes all the more compelling when the area is so viable yet people are blatantly denied development and the common necessities of life.”

In October 1962, Boro, then an undergraduate of UNN, began the movement that would, in 1966, start the violent campaign to end the marginalization of the Niger Delta which he tagged “to discuss the political future of our people”. They became known as the Internal Caucus. Boro was elected the secretary-general. “Our primary objective was to organize ourselves into a strong political force to struggle for our self-determination as soon as we graduated,” Boro explained. In 1963, Boro and his Internal Caucus took their campaign to the embassies of some countries whom they considered advocates of freedom. They did not get the desired support. In 1964, Boro and Samuel Owonaru, later to be his second in command in DVS, toured West African countries to conscientise Ijaws living in the West Coast about the plight of the their people in independent Nigeria. They visited Dahomey (Benin Republic), Togo and Ghana. 

In Ghana, they visited the Cuban Embassy where they hoped that Fidel Castro’s country would be keen to support the freedom of Ijaws. The ambassador gave them 60 minutes to vacate the embassy. After graduation, Boro was employed as a technical officer in the Faculty of Science, University of Lagos. Again he, Owonaru and other youths formed Integral WXYZ “to prepare the minds of the Ijaw youths for the ripe moment”. That ripe moment was the killing of Balewa on January 15, 1966. He resigned his job, cashed his emoluments, sold his property and with £150, returned to Kaiama, his hometown, set up camp at the Taylor Creek and began recruitment.

“Today is a great day, not only in your lives, but also in the history of the Niger Delta. Perhaps, it will be the greatest day for a very long time. This is not because we are going to bring the heavens down, but because we are going to demonstrate to the world what and how we feel about oppression… Remember your 70-year-old grandmother who still farms before she eats; remember also your poverty-stricken people; remember, too, your petroleum which is being pumped out daily from your veins; and then fight for your freedom.” – Isaac Adaka Jasper Boro With these electrifying words, 27-year-old Isaac Adaka Jasper Boro, general officer commanding, the Niger Delta Volunteer Service, DVS, declared an independent Niger Delta Peoples Republic in February 23, 1966, 40 days after the historic January 15 coup.

 It was 3pm and the three divisions of the DVS, made up of 159 troops, were going into action at 5pm with the objective of dislodging the federal police and taking over Yenagoa at 12 midnight. It was code-named “Operation Zero”. It marked the beginning of the “12-Day Revolution” during which Boro, an ex-police inspector, former president of Students’ Union Government of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a fresh graduate of Chemistry, called “the attention of the world to the fact that the inhabitants of the Niger Delta were feeling very uncomfortable” with their fate in Nigeria. That was an understatement for some of the observers of the time.

12 days later, the revolution was foiled by federal superior fire power; the unity of Nigeria was not negotiable. Boro and all his commanders were jailed and condemned to death for treason by General Johnson Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi (From the Igbo extraction) military administration. But fate favored them and General Yakubu Gowon’s government freed them and created Rivers State and Lieutenant Commander Diete Spiff, an Ijaw, was made governor. It was dream come true, the revolution had failed and yet succeeded.

“My men and I, with the creation of our state (Rivers-State), are now free to help not only our people, but also Nigeria, to peace, unity, stability and progress,” - Boro enthused in 1967. But this was not to be. The civil war started and Boro gladly became a major in the Nigerian Army. During the period leading to the Nigeria/Biafra civil War, Isaac Adaka Jasper Boro had informed and warned the Eastern Region Governor, Odimegwu Ojukwu that the Ijaws will not be a part of the Biafran Secessionist Movement. On declaration of the BIAFRAN Republic (With the Niger Delta Occupied), Adaka Boro was made Commander of 19th Brigade under Col Benjamin Adekunle (Of Blessed memory) who as at that time was the GOC 3rd Div. 

Boro led the Military under him, mostly Ijaws from the Niger Delta Volunteer Services (DVS) to clear the Niger Delta of Biafran Rebels, Which he successfully did within a record short period. He was killed on April 20, 1968, near Port Harcourt and that muted the radical voice of the Ijaw Nation. The circumstance surrounding Boro's death is still not clear, Opinions was divided as to the Conspirators. While some alleged that Col. Benjamin Adekunle had a hand, however Roy Tomo-Spiff, who was among Boro's Force that fought against the Biafran Rebels at that time disputes it, claims Boro was ambushed by fleeing BIAFRAN Forces.

When stories are recounted about Nigeria and how the General Ojukwu’s declaration of the Republic of Biafra which led to the 18 months civil war on grounds of deprivation and marginalization of the eastern region, not much is said about the declaration of the first Republic within Nigeria called the “Niger Delta Republic” which also premised on deprivation, alienation and marginalization of Ijaw people.

BEFORE BIAFRA, THERE WAS ISAAC ADAKA JASPER BORO’S TWELVE-DAY REVOLUTION