NEWS
Ooni of Ife to Buhari: We Don’t Want War
By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
Perplexed by the rising threats of insecurity in the country, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, on Thursday, said that the South West region does not want to experience any other war.
He said, “the drum of war is sounding loud across the country.
”The revered traditional ruler raised the alarm while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The royal father said that he came to speak to the President on behalf of traditional rulers towards improving security situation in the country.
He said: “How to improve security. I came to speak on behalf of other traditional rulers. The issue at hand in the south west is real.
“The issue of insecurity, we that live in the remote and rural areas of the south western part of the country, most of the bushes are occupied by strange people am we decided to work with the government to fish them out.
“Everybody is beating the drum of war, we don’t want war, who can stand war, we want something better for our youths.
“We should better use them for something good other than shouting war and anarchy. We don’t want that.
“We told the President that and he is on the same page with us. Politicians should be careful not to throw things out of proportion.
“We should make sure things are right. Mr President has actually given good directives to security chiefs especially the IGP, they will visit each and every traditional rulers palaces that are very sensitive in south west with immediate effect, he is going to give that directives. “We need to work very closely with them and every other security agencies in the country.
“We will all put them to use now, it is very important for us to put them to use and work with the locals. It is very important so that we can separate the corn from the chaff.
He said that everything must be done to put all security agencies to good use and work with the locals to separate the bad eggs.
He further stressed: “We shouldn’t keep over hyping it and say what is next is war, no. We know what Mr. President has been saying about South Western part of the country for a long time, the peace and peaceful co-existence in the South West, we still want to keep that, we don’t want any war to happen, we don’t want any attrition, we don’t want any anarchy. So that is the reason why I came to discuss with him.
The royal father said that the President assured him that he will say his own side of the story on the issue of Ruga because ‘it is being taken out of context.’
“Another thing that he assured me before leaving which I will go and give back to much more experienced traditional rulers in the South West and our leaders across board is that he has assured that he will say his own side of the story about Ruga because he wants to let the world and Nigerians in particular know the true side of the story because it’s being read out of context.
“So we should give him that opportunity to speak as the number one citizen of the country.
“What is important for me is the youthful exuberance nature of our youths in Nigeria for them not to take laws into their hands, go into all those places and start to kill and maim, we don’t want that..
“The drums of war is resonating too much and we are very worried.
You were qouted as saying that the South Westners should defend themselves, don’t you think that could be misconstrued as beating the drum of war?
“I mentioned to you that it is real we have wrong people in our midst so when we have wrong people in our midst how are we not going to defend ourselves, that is why I came here that in terms of defending ourselves,we need more federal government apparatus to defend us because we don’t want to be defenceless, it is very important.
“It is about the mission of defending ourselves that I am here, we need reinforcement from federal government and I just mentioned to you that the President has said he will give directives to the IGP to go and see every nooks and crannies of our traditional institutions in South West and that would probably extend across the entire country because he mentioned to me that he worked in North East and North Central discussing and working with the traditional institutions.
“So for us to defend ourselves is for me to come here to meet Mr. President for us to have reinforcement.
“We understand our territorymore than anybody. We understand our territory very well. What is important is that everybody in the South West right now, we are all on the same page. We don’t want war and we want to work with Government to defend our land.
What do you say about stigmatisation of the Fulanis across the whole country?
“Well it is not about stigmatisation, it is about separating the corn from the chaff. “A lot of them are mixed up with the good ones. We are not saying all Fulanis are bad, it’s not only about the Fulanis, it’s not only about them, it’s about the bad miscreants that are even hiding under the name of Fulanis. We want to try as much as possible to work with the government right now.
They have all the security apparatus, they are meant to defend us, that is what we are looking up to now. We have to stand up and meet with Mr. President and he has given us a listening ear and you would see a lot of result going forward.”
NEWS
No Casualty as Three-storey Building Collapses Story Building — NEMA

The National Emergency Management Agency on Saturday confirmed that there was no casualty in the three-Storey building that collapsed at Ikpoh Street, Surulere, Lagos.
Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, Territorial Coordinator, NEMA, confirmed the incidence to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The building came down at about 10.00 p.
m. on Friday night at No. 14 Ikpoh Street Surulere.Meanwhile, an occupant of the building, Mr Gervase Anyanwu, a buisiness man, told NAN that all the other occupants were able to run out of the building before it came down completely.
Anyanwu said that before the building came down, there was a large sound at one of its wings.
“Immediately we heard the sound, all the occupants of the building gathered at the mustard point, before evacuating for safety.
“No casualty was recorded,” Anyanwu said.
Anyanwu said the immediate evacuation of the occupants was “simply by the grace of God”.
However, NAN gathered from another resident of the street that the building had shown serious signs of distress before it came down.
As at the time of this report, excavation of the rubbles from the building was yet to commence, but all the relevant government agencies in charge of emergency had shown their presence at the site. (NAN)(
Media
Minister of Information Charges Advertising Agencies on Value Orientation

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has urged the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) to support the Ministry in its quest to promote value orientation in the country. He was speaking at the 50th Annual General Meeting of AAAN, held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, on Friday 21st September 2023
The Minister, who was represented by the Director of Public Communication and National Orientation, Sunday Baba, pledged the government’s commitment to delivering good governance.
The Minister, while acknowledging the immeasurable contributions of the association to national development, commended it for achieving the milestone of 50 years, adding that in the past five decades, AAAN has demonstrated a commitment to excellence.
professionalism and ethical standards in the field of advertising.“Advertising plays a pivotal role in shaping public perception, driving economic growth, and fostering creativity and innovation,” He said, adding that the dedication shown by the association has not only propelled the industry forward but has also inspired countless individuals and organizations to strive for greatness,” the minister said.
The Minister further explained that the Ministry is mindful of the critical importance of effective communication, a role that advertising Agencies play when disseminating information, promoting national unity, and positive change.
He thanked the Association for its unwavering commitment to promoting and upholding ethical standards in the advertising profession, which has contributed to the growth and development of the nation.
Speaking earlier, Steve Babaeko, The president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) paid tribute to the founding fathers of the association, saying the small seed they planted in 1973, has grown into a mighty tree, providing shade and job security for countless professionals across our great nation.
“Despite challenges faced by the industry, I firmly believe that the future of our industry holds promise. By standing united as members of the same family, we can navigate these challenges and emerge stronger,” he said.
He extended his gratitude to the numerous brands that they nurtured over the past five decades, for their unwavering support and patronage.
CRIME
Group Moves to End Cultism in Benue South

From David Torough, Makurdi
A Socio-cultural organization, Ede-ma Development Association (EDE-MA), has backed Edumoga Youth Movement (EYM) and Edumoga Youth Association in its efforts to abolish cultism in Edumoga District of Okpokwu local government area of Benue State.
EYM had recently embarked on a land cleansing ritual, which involved oath-taking by especially youths living in Edumoga District to denounce cultism following a bloodbath arising from cult killings among rival groups.
The cult killings had shutdown the Polytechnic town of Ugbokolo, Ichakwu and Efoyo as well as Amejo Council Ward in the local government area for over two weeks as rival cult groups went on rampage and killed members of rival groups.
.In a statement signed by EDE-MA’s National President and Secretary, Okoh Michael Agbam and Matthew Oboyi, on Friday, the organisation declared total support to the EYM in their battle but cautioned the group to carry out the initiative in accordance with the culture and tradition of the Idoma nation.
EDA questioned alleged inaction by the police in Okpokwu local government when rival cult groups reportedly killed about 10 persons including an innocent youth, which led to a protest.
The police hastily arrested the youth leader of EYM in charge of Ugbokolo, John Agboji Audu, following a petition with unproven allegations by a suspected cult leader in Benue South, John Okwori.
EDE-MA urged the police to do a background check on the petitioner and release the youth leader unconditionally.
It also called on the Benue State Government to set up a panel to investigate increasing cult activities in Benue South, in particular and the state in general.
The socio- cultural organization said, it had kept mute since the commencement of the cult killings because it had thought that security agencies, especially the police, were on ground in the crisis areas to restore public order and confidence.
“Our calm resolve not to immediately speak out was informed by the logic that doing so might be too pre-emptive without proper understanding of the underlying issues surrounding the violence, and of course, it could also be mistaken for outright bias.
“Secondly, we had also expected that the security agencies, especially the Nigerian Police Force, are fully on ground and therefore ought to have quickly responded to such open criminality to restore public order and confidence. This was however not the case in view of the litany of violence in which cult groups openly chase and hack perceived rivals to death in broad day light,” Agbam and Oboyi said in the statement.
“We believe that the vacuum created by police inaction may have inspired protests that ultimately degenerated to mob actions by angry residents following the cult killings, which the Edumoga Youth Association (EYA) and Edumoga Youth Movement (EYM) eventually had to intercede and moderate to restore order,” it also said.
EDE-MA commended EYA and EYM for what it described as strategic initiative to end the malaise of cultism in Edumoga land by enjoining the youth, community and traditional leaders in Amejo, Okonobo and Ugbokolo wards to take oath not to belong to any cult group.
“We had restrained ourselves from making any public comment on the recent unfortunate cult violence that had rocked and literally grounded Ugbokolo Town and surrounding communities of Amejo and Okonobo wards in Edumoga District of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.
“Secondly, we had also expected that the security agencies, especially the Nigerian Police Force, are fully on ground and therefore ought to have quickly responded to such open criminality to restore public order and confidence. This was however not the case in view of the litany of violence in which cult groups openly chase and hack perceived rivals to death in broad day light.
“We believe that the vacuum created by police inaction may have inspired protests that ultimately degenerated to mob actions by angry residents following the cult killings, which the Edumoga Youth Association (EYA) and Edumoga Youth Movement (EYM) eventually had to intercede and moderate to restore order.
“We wish to use this opportunity to commend the resolve of both EYA and EYM for their intervention that ended the daily cult killings. We equally commend them for the strategic initiative to end the malaise of cultism in Edumoga land by enjoining the youth, community and traditional leaders in Amejo, Okonobo and Ugbokolo wards to take oath not to belong to any cult group.
“While the initiative or strategy of oath-taking to renounce cultism may not be fool proof, it is however a traditional method with proven capacity to eliminate or appreciably reduce the menace of cultism and other forms of criminality from Edumoga. In this regard, we enjoin especially the traditional rulers in Edumoga District to give their support and ensure that the exercise is conducted with utmost decorum and civility in line with our culture and tradition.
“As a law-abiding and development-conscious organisation, Ede-ma Development Association (EDE-MA) is worried that the police who are on ground in Ugbokolo and Okpokwu LGA, and who were helpless in the face of the rampant cult killings in Ugbokolo for over two weeks without making a single arrest suddenly leapt to action on the basis of a mere petition by no other person but an alleged cult leader, John Okwori, against Agboji John Audu and some EYA and EYM leaders.
“While we do not, and will never, support a resort to self-help, jungle justice or any form of criminality, we are surprised that the police responded to Mr Okwori’s petition in the manner they did when they failed to undertake any preliminary investigation of the matter, including background checks on the character of the petitioner.
“We are appalled that the police seem to have ignored about 10 homicide incidents and prioritised and prosperity everywhere,” the statement concluded.