“By the special grace of God, what they thought that they would have done to us while we were celebrating our one year in office, they are the ones sleeping with their two eyes open. It shows that we have the Ijaw blood. And what is that blood: it is the blood of action; less talk, more action.”

These were the exact words of Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State on Thursday, as he claimed victory over the ferocious political war launched against him by the camp of Nyesom Wike, his predecessor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He told members of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, who visited him in Port Harcourt that there was no reason to invite them into the fight, because his camp has since claimed victory in the war, though he still acknowledged the support of his Ijaw brothers through the IYC, urging them to key into the celebration of the liberation of the state.

At the ceremony to mark the 56 anniversary of the late Maj. Isaac Adaka Boro, Fubara said the Ijaw hero genuinely stood for equity, justice, and fair play, and pursued his course to ensure liberation for the Ijaw people and their clans, he was delighted to receive them on such auspicious day to re-enact the common purpose of liberation.

Advertisement

Fubara, who described every Rivers man as a “liberator” thanked his visitors, who came in  a large crowd for their assurances of being available to respond to his call and stand by him.

Insisting that the enemies of the state had been defeated already, he said: “Because he stood for that unique thing, even after his death, we still celebrate him because he was a liberator. Every Rivers man, it doesn’t matter whether you are Ijaw or upland, the most important thing is that every genuine Rivers man must be a liberator.

“And I’m happy that you have come here today. I have also received you because we have one common purpose: to liberate our dear State.  We are not going back on that. I am happy that you’ve told me this morning that when I call on you, you will respond. But there is nothing to call on you for. Because we have already defeated them.

Fubara, who appealed to Ijaw youths to conduct themselves peacefully as they celebrated Boro Day, and also be good ambassadors of the entire Ijaw Nation, emphasised that it should be done in the same spirit that had enveloped the state, celebrating victory over his political detractors.

Nelson Chukwudi, spokesman, who said in a statement that the governor also promised to support the IYC Eastern Zone with a befitting Secretariat in Rivers, quoted Jonathan Lokpobiri, IYC President, as saying the meeting was historic because Ijaw people were meeting with their governor at Major Isaac Adaka Boro Day memorial.

Advertisement

Adding that it affirmed that the gods of the Ijaw people were at work, and warned all detractors to retrace their steps and allow the governor, who had the full mandate of the people, to discharge his duties to Rivers people, he commended Fubara for his courage, bravery and commitment to good governance, insisting that his struggle and triumph resonated with the hope of all Ijaw people.

On his part, the chairman of IYC, eastern zone, Tamuno Kpokpo, clarified that their visit did not signify an ethnic war but to lend support in the protection of the interest and continuous development of Rivers state.

Kpokpo said IYC would stand to resist anybody or group of persons anywhere who dared to cause any distraction of governance in the state, and appealed that the governor be allowed to govern the state peacefully.

Advertisement

Nelson Shardey a retired 74-year-old man who cannot travel freely to Ghana an back to the UK, because authorities are telling him that he is not British after spending 42 years in the country he arrived at in 1977.

The Ghanaian who, had never left Britain since his arrival, said he made the shocking discovery in 2019 after applying for a passport to go back to Ghana following the death of his mother, and was told by the Home Office that he was British.

Rather, he was told by officials of the office to apply for the 10-year route to settlement, which would costs about £7,000, with a further £10,500 over the same period to access the NHS.

“I cannot afford to pay any part of the money they are asking. Telling me to go through that route is a punishment, and it’s not fair in any way. I don’t understand why this fuss at all, because I put my life, my whole self into this country,” was quoted as saying.

Advertisement

BBC reports that Shardey, who is recovering from prostate cancer has instituted a legal case against the United Kingdom Home Office after he was denied permanent residency despite living in the country for 42 years to get remedy.

The report further said, that Shardey had for many years assumed he was officially British after he first arrived in the UK in 1977 to study accountancy on a student visa that also allowed him to work, regretting that despite paying taxes all his adult life, he was now being told to cough out such huge amount of money to stay in the country.

His words: “I have never left the UK as I saw no need to and regarded it as my home. Nobody questioned me. I bought all my things on credit, even the house. I got a mortgage. And nobody questioned me about anything.”

Shardy, a retired newsagent, was quoted to have told the BBC that he took on a series of jobs, making Mother’s Pride bread and Kipling’s Cakes near Southampton, and Bendick’s Chocolate in Winchester after a coup in his native Ghana, which affected his family’s inability to send him money for the fees.

He was said to have added that no one ever queried his right to live or work in the UK until the twist of fate in 2019 when the need for the trip to Ghana arose as a result of the death of the mother, when he was told that he had no right to be in the UK, and directed to apply for the 10-year route to settlement, which would cost a whopping £17,500, inclusive of to access the NHS, over the same period.

Advertisement

The report also said the septuagenarian filled the wrong form when he tried to extend his right to stay in the UK online two years ago, meaning that the 10-year process had to begin again in 2023, as a result of which he would not be allowed to stay in the UK permanently until he is 84.

A lawyer at Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, Nicola Burgess, is now taking the Home Office to court on Shardey’s behalf, while the Home Office was said to have declined to comment on the case.

The trial of Abdullahi Ganduje, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is to start de novo – afresh – after  Dije Abdu-Aboki, Kano state chief judge (CJ), ordered its retrieval and transference to a new judge, sitting in another court.

Initially, Usman Na’Abba, of the High Court 4, was handling the matter, but in a new directive by the CJ, signalling a dramatic twist. the case has now moved to Aminu Adamu-Aliyu, sitting at Court 7, sitting at Miller Road.

Ganduje, is facing the eight-count charge bordering on bribery, misappropriation, and division of public funds alongside his wife, Hafsat Umar; son, Umar Abdullahi Umar; and five others, named as Abubakar Bawuro, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lasage General Enterprises Limited.

Initially, they were scheduled for arraignment on April 17, but could not proceed because the prosecution, could not serve the charge on the governor personally and applied on April 29, to serve them through substituted service, which the court scheduled to hear on May 16 for hearing before the movement of the matter to another court.

Advertisement

A video of the former Governor of Kano State, released in 2018 by Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper, which surfaced in public and went viral on social media, caught the APC boss stuffing several wads of crisp dollar notes into his “babanriga,” a popular Nigerian traditional outfit common in the North.

The money, according to the publication, was proceeds of the $5million bribe, the former governor, who left power on May 29, 2023 after serving the state for eight years, allegedly requested from the contractors working in the state.

Following a change of guard in the state after the APC lost Kano, with the new government of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) In 2023, taking charge, the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) invited the APC boss to answer to the video, which he rebuffed.

In fact, Ganduje, got some reprieve when Justice Abdullahi Liman, of the Federal High Court sitting in Kano stopped the agency from inviting or questioning him over the allegations, on the ground that it lacked the powers to do so, given that the said infraction was a federal offence that could be prosecuted by the state anti-graft agency.

Advertisement