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SUNNY SIDE OF OBIO/AKPOR
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BY BOLAJI AFOLABI.
One’s birth place and early exposure privileged one with early interaction with music, drama, arts, and other genres of entertainment. The title of this piece is inspired by a must-watch; now rested programme on the network service of Nigerian Television Authority, (NTA): “Sunny Side of Life.” The very popular programme which was created, produced, and presented by Patrick Ityogeh in the late ’80s to early ’90s was a pot-pourri of music, society, interviews, and lifestyles. Ityogeh, an iconic infotainment cognoscente, who later became the chief executive officer of the television conglomerate during General Sani Abacha’s regime, held millions of viewers spellbound with his limpid delivery. The Benue-born, extremely skilled ranconteur was always lively, lovely, and hearty on the show. Initially criticized and vilified as elitist, it became the favorite of many people such that it became one of the “most watched” by viewers across Nigeria.
The legislature embarks on a seven to eight week yearly vacation, usually from July ending to mid or late September. Like Ityogeh and the NTA, the yearly ritual has become controversial. Due, perhaps to the palpable integrity deficit of the parliament in the eyes of many, the general perception is that the vacation is not justifiable. The explanation by lawmakers that it is a global practice where they engage with their constituents and prosecute schemes in capacity building, trainings, and exchanges with their counterparts around the world, never sounds convincing. People have continued to put down any defence by the lawmakers describing such as “tales by moonlight.”
From empirical studies, observations and reports one can safely confirm that the people and legislature are both correct after all. Given the flagrant display of opulence by some lawmakers, it is right for people to profile them as insensitive in their parade of opulence. Such negative descriptions, however, may culminate in misconceptions by the parliamentarians and their constituents. Perhaps, unknown to many, a sizeable percentage do not fit into the category of covetous, wasteful and vain-seeking lawmakers. For this small-set of legislators, the yearly vacation is devoted largely to personal development and career progression. It is a time for deeper interactions with constituents, projects monitoring and evaluation, as well as preparing for resumption of legislative duties. It is not out of place to see this group of lawmakers in and around Abuja, other cities, and within their respective catchments. True, some congressmen embark on brief holidays, they turn around in a jiffy to impact on those who enthroned them by the ballot.
The people of Obio/Akpor federal constituency in Rivers State must count themselves blessed with the kind of representative they have. Variously described as one of the “egg-heads,” “leading-lights” and “bright stars” of the House, Kingsley Chinda has over the years elevated representation to greater heights. Driven by passion for constituency development, he is one lawmaker that seldom “jets away” during the yearly vacation. Martin Chukwubem, a constituent based in Abuja confirmed that, “unlike many of his colleagues that have gone abroad on holidays, he is in the country. He shuttles between Abuja and Port Harcourt addressing issues of development and empowerment.” For Beatrice Dike, “through his ‘I Win, You Win” and ‘I Will Not Only Give You Fish But Teach You How To Fish’ slogans, he has impacted on many of us.”
Recently, while on a short visit to Port Harcourt, the writer combed Obio/Akpor, to ascertain the veracity of these claims, and “see for myself” how the fourth-term legislator is impacting on his people. Fact is, the imprimatur of Chinda is eloquently described, and visible in the entire 17 wards that make up the one-local government area federal constituency. In breaking the cycle of dependence, some constituents, youths, women and men are presently undergoing a three-month training programme which seeks to lead to develop their entrepreneurial capacities. The participants commenced trainings on fashion designing, hair cutting, hair dressing, and interior decoration on August 23, 2024, at *Emeka Town Hall,* Elelenwo, Port Harcourt.
In his determination to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs, selected youths are being trained through the *OK Chinda Youth AgricBusiness & Food Security Initiative, (OYAFSI).* After the intensive training at the Zubara Farm facilities in Elelenwo, which commenced on August 5, 2024, each participant will be given structured lease of two plots of land to establish their own agricultural ventures. They are also guaranteed the offtake of unsold products to minimize losses. It is expected that the young farmers will leverage on the huge potentials of the communities in fishing, and other sub-sectors of aquaculture and agriculture. Also, the success of the programme will create a winning future for the youths in agricbusiness.
To unlock a brighter future for youths by exploring new horizons and unleashing their respective potentials, a comprehensive digital skills and artificial intelligence (AI) training programme was organised. Participants were introduced, and imparted with veritable knowledge about the basics, functions, and benefits of the new technology. One of the participants at the Odikirike Town Hall, Elelenwo venue of the training, Nene Bright confessed that, “it was an eye-opening, and life-revealing experience for me and many others.” Similarly, Akelachi Believe declared that, “with my knowledge and experience of information technology, I only realized that there are still more grounds to cover just as many opportunities for empowerment and development.”
Realizing the need for medical mitigation of constituents amid growing health challenges, an outreach took place between late July, stretching into the early days of August at the Community Boys Secondary School, Elelenwo. People from various communities benefitted from the health initiative. Medical services included free surgery for few recommended cases; free eye testing; free recommended glasses; tests and provision of drugs for malaria, typhoid, and other common ailments; distribution of kits for Blood Pressure (BP) & Sugar Level. While commending the medical support service, Mrs. Philomena Chinwe said, “the organisers have touched people in the best way….showing concern and support to the health needs of people is the only practical way to show you care for the people.” Another beneficiary, Ms. Georgina ThankGod declared that, “many people were attended to, there was no discrimination. I hope the initiator will make it more regular, maybe twice or three times in a year.” For Chief Alphonsus Eze, “this is far better than sharing money, this is directly addressing the health challenges of people.”
Obio/Akpor has also profited from other empowerment projects and development initiatives that have either being concluded or are in progress. These include vocational skills development programmes; entrepreneurial programmes and education intervention initiatives. According to a youth leader, Stephen Chidera “there are stories that more of these programmes and projects will be rolled out throughout the summer break, and it will continue till the end of year. We are very excited about what is happening here.” For Bright Wodi John, “it is a thing of joy that while people from other communities are complaining about absentee representatives, our case is different. We pray that more of these will come to our communities.”
The people of Obio/Akpor are experiencing the sunny side of career-pathfinding, life-changing, and destiny-redefining interventions through empowerment initiatives, and impactful community development. They are therefore unanimous in confessing that Kingsley Chinda has done well. That the people have collectively invested their electoral franchise on him for a record fourth term speaks volumes about his acceptance and performances. Let us hope he wouldn’t step on the brakes or dilly-dally in continually improving the well-being of his constituents and attracting further development to the constituency.
*BOLAJI AFOLABI, a development communications specialist, was with the Office of Public Affairs in The Presidency.*
The House of Assembly has declared the seats of two lawmakers representing Edu and Irepodun constituencies vacant following their defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The affected lawmakers are Hon. Saaba Issa Gedeon, representing Edu Constituency, and Hon. Olusola Odetundun, representing Irepodun Constituency.
The House took the decision following a request by the state chairman of the APC, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, who asked the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi, to declare the seats vacant in accordance with Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker, Fagbemi argued that the two lawmakers were elected into the Assembly on the platform of the APC and could not constitutionally defect to another political party while retaining their seats, particularly as there was no division or factional crisis within the APC.
The APC chairman maintained that the lawmakers had abandoned the party under whose platform they were elected and joined the PDP, thereby triggering the constitutional provision on defection.
The matter was subsequently brought before the House for consideration.
Leading the debate on the request, the Leader of the House, Hon. Oba Mogaji, described the issue as fundamentally a constitutional matter, adding that it should be treated in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
Mogaji referred specifically to Section 109(1)(g), which provides circumstances under which a member of a State House of Assembly may lose their seat after defecting from the political party on whose platform they were elected.
According to him, the constitutional provision makes it clear that a lawmaker cannot simply abandon the political party that sponsored his or her election for another party while retaining the legislative seat, where there is no recognised division within the original party.
The House Leader noted that both Gedeon and Odetundun had left the APC for the PDP and were now seeking to retain or return to their respective constituencies under the platform of the opposition party.
He argued that their actions were contrary to the constitutional provisions governing membership of the State House of Assembly.
Mogaji therefore supported the request by the APC chairman for the seats of the two lawmakers to be declared vacant.
Other members of the House also spoke in support of the motion.
Hon. Abolarin Ganiyu Gabriel, representing Ekiti Constituency, backed the request, arguing that the constitutional provision should be upheld.
Hon. Ganiyu Folabi, representing Omupo Constituency, also supported the declaration of the two seats as vacant.
Similarly, Hon. Adato Oguniyi, representing Ojomu/Balogun Constituency, spoke in favour of the vacation of the seats.
Following the debate and contributions by the lawmakers, the Speaker, Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi, declared the seats representing Edu Constituency and Irepodun Constituency vacant, in line with the resolution of the House.
The decision effectively removes Saaba Issa Gedeon and Olusola Odetundun from the Kwara State House of Assembly as members representing their respective constituencies.
The development comes after the two lawmakers defected from the ruling APC to the PDP, setting the stage for their respective seats to become subject to the constitutional provision cited by the Assembly.
The Assembly’s action was based on the argument that the lawmakers were elected under the APC and that there was no division within the party capable of providing an exception to the constitutional restriction on defection.
The declaration means that the Edu and Irepodun constituencies are now without their elected representatives in the Kwara State House of Assembly, pending further developments in accordance with the law.
The Speaker’s declaration followed the House’s resolution after the lawmakers considered the request from the APC chairman and heard arguments from members in support of declaring the seats vacant.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the subject of a criminal investigation into drug-trafficking crimes in the early 1990s.
This is according to a sworn declaration filed in a US federal court.
The declaration was submitted on August 28, 2026, before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case seeking access to FBI records relating to Tinubu.
In the filing, the FBI stated that “the responsive records herein were compiled in furtherance of the FBI’s investigation of multiple individuals for drug trafficking crimes.”
The agency also stated that “the court has already determined that an official acknowledgement had been made of an investigation of Bola Tinubu.”
The declaration followed an April 2025 ruling by US District Judge Beryl Howell, who held that the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) could no longer rely on “Glomar” responses to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records relating to the investigation.
Howell ruled that the agencies had failed to establish sufficient privacy grounds to conceal the fact that Tinubu had been the subject of a criminal investigation.
She ordered the agencies to process non-exempt records sought under FOIA.
The ruling, however, did not establish that Tinubu committed a drug-trafficking offence or that he was convicted of any crime.
The latest declaration relates to FOIA requests filed by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan.
Among the records sought were the “entire FBI file for Bola Ahmed Tinubu” and FBI 302 interview records involving Tinubu from FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU between 1992 and 1993.
Greenspan’s requests formed part of a broader effort to obtain records concerning a Chicago heroin-trafficking operation that operated in the early 1990s.
The FBI has continued to withhold portions of the records, citing several FOIA exemptions covering personal privacy, confidential sources, law-enforcement techniques and information whose disclosure could endanger individuals.
The agency said it could not publicly disclose the full basis for its reliance on some of the exemptions.
Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm hired by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election, publicised portions of the FBI declaration.
The firm in a post on its X handle said it was reviewing a large volume of records received from the FBI and redacting portions where necessary.
“The FBI states under oath that the court has already determined that a criminal investigation of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu was officially acknowledged,” the firm said.
The firm said it released the document to counter claims that Tinubu had never been criminally investigated.
“We are posting this document to counter the claim made yesterday that President Tinubu was never criminally investigated and is simply following the law to protect his privacy,” it said.
“That claim is false, as shown by the FBI’s sworn declaration below.”
Reacting to the development, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, dismissed the claims surrounding the FBI records as politically motivated and accused Atiku of using a Washington-based lobbying firm to create controversy ahead of the 2027 election.
Dare described the campaign as “a clinical demonstration of desperation” and said the materials being circulated did not constitute an intelligence breakthrough.
“The coordinated media blitz orchestrated around a Washington, D.C. advisory firm is not an intelligence breakthrough; it is a clinical demonstration of desperation,” Dare said.
He questioned the credibility of the lobbying firm’s representations, arguing that its statements should not be presented as the position of the US government.
“The incendiary press releases being carefully churned out from Washington are public relations propaganda sheets passed off as the view of the U.S. Government. They are not,” he said.
Dare also challenged those making allegations to produce evidence supporting claims about classified intelligence.
“Sane minds must categorically dismiss these reports as fabricated, politically motivated, and entirely unsupported by evidence,” he said.
“We demand that they produce the so-called ‘highly classified intelligence report,’ identify their unnamed sources, and provide tangible evidence for their wild allegations.”
He alleged that publicly available US Department of Justice Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings showed that Atiku contracted Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. on a $1.2 million, 12-month retainer.
According to Dare, the arrangement was designed to “counterbalance” Nigerian government narratives and use historical US judicial records for political leverage ahead of the 2027 elections.
Dare also questioned the role of the firm’s principal, Dr Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten, in the ongoing FOIA litigation.
“Okeke-Von Batten must have conned a desperate Alhaji Abubakar Atiku into believing that he has access to everyone in the Trump administration, including President Trump himself,” Dare alleged.
He argued that the lobbying firm had no role in the US court proceedings, which he said had been ongoing since 2023.
“He has absolute zero to do with what is playing out in the U.S. court system,” Dare said.
“The case has been active since 2023, and the FBI’s main concern is simply the protection of the techniques by which it gathers information and the safety of its sources.”
Dare also rejected any connection between Tinubu’s foreign travel and the FOIA proceedings, saying the President was on a previously scheduled annual leave.
“This orchestrated distraction attempts to tie the President’s movements to foreign legal proceedings, but the facts are clear: President Tinubu is on a previously scheduled annual leave, and there is absolutely no connection between the President’s European trip and the ongoing U.S. FOIA proceedings,” he said.
Dare further cited comments by Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Afolabi, SAN, who recently addressed the FOIA proceedings on Channels Television.
According to him, Afolabi explained that efforts to withhold portions of the records were based on US legal provisions protecting confidential investigative processes.
Dare said Afolabi also argued that if Tinubu had been criminally liable under US law, American authorities would have indicted and prosecuted him at the time.
“He emphasized the core reality: if the president had been criminally liable under U.S. law during past investigations, American authorities would have indicted and prosecuted him at the time,” Dare said.
Dare accused the opposition of focusing on decades-old US records instead of presenting Nigerians with detailed policy alternatives ahead of the 2027 elections.
“The opposition’s 2027 framework remains devoid of noble economic blueprints, structural innovation, or issue-based engagement,” he said.
He argued that the election should ultimately be decided by domestic performance and policy proposals rather than controversies surrounding historical US records.
“True democratic validation is earned through the ballot box and tangible service delivery to the citizens at home, not through manufactured headlines bought and paid for in foreign currency,” Dare said.
Tinubu’s legal team has opposed further disclosure of the records, arguing that releasing personal information from government archives would violate his privacy rights.
Workers under the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union and National Association of Academic Technologists have commenced an indefinite strike across the three state-owned universities in Ondo State.
The industrial action, which takes effect from midnight on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, is aimed at forcing the Ondo State Government to implement the Federal Government and unions’ agreement with effect from January 2026.
The affected institutions are Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko; Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa; and the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo.
The decision was contained in a strike notice issued by the JAC leadership following an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
The notice was signed by the JAC-ODSTI Secretary, Comrade Kunle Akinwonmi, and the Chairman, Comrade Tayo Ogungbeni.
According to the unions, the strike became necessary following the alleged failure of the state government to fulfil its promise to implement the agreement from the August 2026 salary.
“Whereas, the same government released the same old subventions to all the institutions without the 60 per cent promised for the month of August 2026,” the unions stated.
The workers recalled that the state government had announced a 60 per cent increase in subventions to all tertiary institutions in the state, alongside approval for the full implementation of the FGN/Unions Agreement from August 2026.
They, however, alleged that the government failed to match the announcement with corresponding funding, despite the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum issued to compel it to act.
“It is crystal clear that the State Government is playing politics with our lives and wellbeing, therefore, we have no other alternative than to embark on this industrial action,” the unions said.
The JAC directed its members to withdraw all clerical, administrative, technical, clinical and other services provided across the three universities until their demands are met.
The unions specifically demanded the unconditional payment of the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions and other allowances attached to the agreement from January 2026 to date.
The workers appealed to their members to comply fully with the directive, declaring, “Aluta Continua, Victoria Ascerta!”
Kwara Assembly Declares Two Assembly members’ Seats Vacant Over Defection From APC To PDP
FBI confirms Tinubu was Under Investigation for Drugs
BREAKING: Ondo Universities begin indefinite industrial action
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