Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Bola Tinubu, was on Sunday flown to Kano in a presidential jet to watch the finals of this year’s edition of the Kano International Polo Tournament.

Witnesses say the presidential jet conveying Seyi Tinubu and his friends landed in Kano around midday on Sunday. He was said to have been received at the airport by some officials of the presidency, the Kano State government and the Kano Polo Club.

He was thereafter chauffeured to the Usman Dantata Polo Ground amidst tight security provided by gun-wielding detachments of the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service.

After the final matches of the two-week tournament were played and awards handed to winners, the waiting presidential jet then transported Seyi Tinubu and his party back to Abuja, the nation’s capital, where he currently lives.

The president’s son attended the event simply to watch a sport he loves. He is a polo enthusiast and is the patron of the STL Polo Team in Lagos. He was part of the players that represented the club at last year’s Lagos Polo Tournament.

His use of the presidential plane for a private event to satisfy his personal passion immediately triggered a firestorm of criticism by some Nigerians. Jaafar Jaafar, a London-based Nigerian journalist, brimmed with anger on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “Here’s Tinubu’s golden child, Seyi, travelling in a presidential jet to watch polo in Kano… Even if our laws are vague on this, one thing is clear: this is an offence to the moral code of leadership.”

Reacting to the journalist’s comment, another user of the micro-blogging platform, who identified himself as Aliyu, said, “The use of presidential jets for personal or non-official purposes by public officials can raise concerns about transparency and accountability. It’s essential for leaders to uphold ethical standards and set a good example for the public. Transparency and adherence to rules can help combat corruption and ensure that government resources are used responsibly.”

“What about the misuse of a special forces unit as his bodyguards? another X user, Bello Anka, said. “See them in the pictures. The other day, he went skateboarding in Abuja with them running by his side. This is just a continuation of the culture of impunity from the previous government, perhaps on an even grander scale this time.”

But even before Sunday’s Kano trip, the younger Tinubu is known for travelling regularly and extensively with the presidential jet either in the company of his father or in those of his associates, a behaviour that has continued to irritate not a few taxpayers who lament inappropriate deployment and abuse of a key national asset.

In July this year, he was photographed as he made to board a presidential jet. His destination and those he was travelling with remained unknown.

The controversy over the inappropriate use of the planes in the presidential air fleet first emerged on January 9, 2020, when Hanan, the youngest daughter of then-President Muhammadu Buhari, flew to Bauchi, Northeast Nigeria, on a presidential jet, in what was clearly a private trip.

She and the presidency were roundly condemned over the matter, with Farooq Kperogi, an American-based Nigerian professor, describing the act as an “unprecedented abuse of presidential powers.”

Recalling what happened during the Buhari era vis-avis Seyi Tinubu’s Sunday pleasure trip to Kano on the presidential jet, another X user, Bashar, said, “Buhari merely sought the title of ‘President’ without understanding or respecting the sanctity of the office. The audacity to let his daughter, Hanan, use a presidential jet for a mere photo tour in Bauchi was the beginning of this mockery.

“Now we see Tinubu’s protege, Seyi, hopping on the same jet for a polo match in Kano. It’s not just about the laws, it’s about ethics, morals, and respect for the position. Our leaders must do more than just occupy an office; they must uphold its dignity.”

Something has gone badly wrong in Africa. Sudan has collapsed into carnage, as two grasping warlords battle for control. Genocide has returned to Darfur: fighters loyal to one of those warlords are murdering every male they can find from one ethnic group, even shooting baby boys strapped to their mothers’ backs, as we report. In Ethiopia one civil war has barely ended and a new one is brewing. Across the Sahel, jihadists are terrorising millions and soldiers are seizing power, promising to restore calm but not actually doing so. You can now walk across nearly the widest part of Africa, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, passing only through countries that have suffered coups in the past three years. But it would be unwise—you might well be kidnapped.

One reason coups have grown more common is that many Africans have lost faith in democracy. Afrobarometer, a pollster, found that the share who prefer democracy to any other form of government has fallen from 75% in 2012 to 66%. That may sound like a solid majority, but it includes many waverers. An alarming 53% said a coup would be legitimate if civilian leaders abuse their power, which they often do. In South Africa, which has one of the world’s most liberal constitutions, 72% say that if a non-elected leader could cut crime and boost housing and jobs, they would be willing to forgo elections.

There are as many reasons for this growing disillusion as there are medals on a coup-leader’s chest. One is that incumbent regimes, most of which claim to be democratic, have brought neither prosperity nor security. Real GDP per person in sub-Saharan Africa was lower last year than it had been ten years earlier. More people are dying in small conflicts than at any point since at least 1989. In Nigeria whole schools have been abducted. When people lose hope that their lives will improve, they become impatient for change and the risk of coups and civil wars increases sharply.

Another problem is that many so-called democracies in Africa are phoney. Most African countries adopted the trappings of multiparty democracy after the end of the cold war. And in some countries, such as Kenya and Zambia, power changes hands more or less peacefully at voters’ behest. In many others, though, rulers allow the opposition to participate in elections but take a thousand precautions to ensure they cannot win, from tampering with the voters’ roll to throttling the media. No fewer than nine African leaders have been in power for more than 20 years. It is hard to expect people to support democracy if all they have experienced is a masquerade of it.

Meanwhile, geopolitics has grown friendlier to autocrats. If the West withholds arms or loans from African juntas, China and Russia are happy to step in. So, too, are unsqueamish middling powers such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Western governments have sometimes acted shabbily, turning a blind eye to a coup in Chad and electoral theft in Congo. Their hypocrisy undermines the democratic values they espouse.

Africa is not the only part of the world where democratic disillusion is spreading. A whopping 62% of Americans and 56% of French told a Pew poll last year that they were not satisfied with democracy in their countries. Among young Americans, nearly a fifth think a dictatorship would be preferable. The big difference is that rich, mature democracies have solid institutions that make a coup virtually impossible. In much of Africa the army and its cronies are all too ready to seize control.

Once the men with guns are in charge, they are hard to dislodge. They postpone elections indefinitely and remove even the threadbare checks on executive power that once existed. They govern terribly, but if the joyful crowds that greet some coups change their minds about their new rulers, there is little they can do about it. Equatorial Guinea’s president seized power in 1979. He is still in office, and his luxury-loving son may succeed him. Autocracy lacks the built-in correction mechanism of true democracy: the promise that, if governments are no good, voters can sack them. And because many African countries have festering ethnic tensions and territorial disputes, coups and dictatorships often lead to war, as has happened in Sudan.

Reversing Africa’s turn away from democracy will not be easy. It is a task, first and foremost, for Africans themselves. The African Union, a regional body, should once again take seriously its old “no-coup” policy, and ostracise putschists. More important, African governments that claim to be democratic will have to govern better, by curbing corruption, fostering growth and resisting the temptation to hogtie the opposition. For example, the World Bank reckons that implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area could raise incomes by 9% by 2035 by removing obstacles to trade. Yet its members are dragging their feet.

Rich countries can help. They ought to press ahead with restructuring unsustainable debts and make good on a long-standing, unkept promise to spend $100bn a year to help poor countries with climate change. The World Bank and IMF could help crowd in investment, especially if their capital were topped up. The West would do well to welcome more African migrants to study and work; some will return home with useful skills and others will send back money to educate nieces or bankroll new businesses.

To help improve African security, America, which is more popular than former colonial powers such as Britain and France, could keep training and arming legitimate forces battling jihadists and other insurgents. The European Union must not cut funding for African-led peacekeeping missions, such as the one in Somalia that is now being wound down.

From cradle of humanity to centre of gravity

The main reason to wish for progress in Africa is to benefit Africans. But the rest of the world has a stake, too. Africa is the only continent where population growth is fast. By 2030 nearly one in three people entering working age will live there. Many of humanity’s big challenges, from climate change to pandemics, will be harder to tackle if Africa is dysfunctional. There is no guarantee a more democratic Africa will be prosperous and peaceful, but one ruled by autocrats and generals will surely not be.

Nigeria's national oil firm NNPC Ltd has again become the sole importer of petrol because local private firms are unable to obtain foreign currency, its chief executive said on Monday, four months after imports were opened up to private players.

Mele Kyari also said the government had not reintroduced a decades-old petrol subsidy scrapped at the end of May, despite concerns from investors of a de facto return as pump prices have not moved since July, despite a more than 30% rise in oil prices.

Africa's largest oil exporter, Nigeria, imports nearly all its fuel as it does not refine nearly enough to meet the demand of its 200 million citizens. In recent years, it has swapped crude for fuel, depriving it of a source of U.S. dollars.

Opening up petrol imports to the private sector was part of reforms by President Bola Tinubu to wean the country off fuel subsidies.

Some fuel companies began imports in July but Kyari told an energy conference that they were now struggling to get foreign currencies to import petrol, known as premium motor spirit (PMS).

"We are the only company importing PMS into the country," he said.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tinubu, Kyari dismissed the concerns that a partial fuel subsidy had been restored.

"We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. No subsidy whatsoever," he said.

Petrol is widely used by households and small businesses to power generators because millions of Nigerians are not connected to the national electricity grid.

Nigeria is in the grips of foreign currency shortages, which have seen the naira weaken to record lows on the parallel market. The new central bank governor has said that policymakers faced a nearly $7 billion backlog in foreign exchange demand.

 

Reuters

Ibironke Harrison of a Lagos State High Court has sentenced a trigger happy Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, to death by hanging for killing a pregnant Lagos-based lawyer, Mrs. Omobolanle Raheem.

Lagos State government had arraigned Vandi before the court for allegedly shooting the 41-year-old pregnant lawyer to death at the Ajah under-bridge checkpoint on December 25, 2022.

The incident sparked outrage, especially on social media and the police officer was suspended.

The convict was initially charged with murder, but the court found him guilty of manslaughter as a result of a lack of intention on his part.

During the trial, the prosecution called eleven witnesses including 8 police officers and tenders 27 exhibits in evidence, while the convict solely testified in his defence.

The defendant however pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of murder contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Delivering judgment at Tafa Balewa Square in Lagos on Monday, the judge found the killer cop guilty of murder.

She held that the prosecution established sufficient oral and documentary evidence linking the defendant to the crime.

 

Daily Trust

Gazans say nowhere to go as they prepare for Israeli assault after Hamas raid

Palestinians in Gaza are preparing for an Israeli offensive of unprecedented scale after Saturday's deadly Hamas raid, with more than 130,000 fleeing their homes and stockpiling supplies as air strikes pound the crowded enclave with 560 already dead.

Amid an intensified Israeli siege cutting off water, food and power, and a sudden new assault, conditions look worse than at any point since Palestinian refugees flocked there during the 1948 fighting when Israel was founded.

Israeli military phone messages have warned people to leave some areas, indicating a new ground attack that could eclipse previous bouts of destructive warfare in the dense concrete townships that grew up in Gaza's original tented refugee camps.

"Where should we go? Where should we go?" asked 55-year-old Mohammad Brais.

He had fled his home near a possible front line to shelter at his shop - only for that to get hit in one of the hundreds of air and artillery strikes already pounding Gaza.

The surprise Hamas attack on Saturday caused Israel its bloodiest day, as fighters smashed through border defences and marauded through towns, killing more than 800 people and dragging more than 100 into captivity in Gaza.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that the price Gaza would pay "will change reality for generations" and Israel was imposing a total blockade with a ban on food and fuel imports as part of a battle against "human animals".

At the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, men clambered on a pancaked building to pull an infant's tiny body from the rubble, carrying it down through the crowd below amid still-smouldering remains of bombed buildings. That air strike left dozens killed and injured, according to the territory's health ministry.

As ambulances arrived at a hospital, workers ran out to haul in stretchers bearing the injured. Inside, a man lay next to the shrouded body of his nephew, hysterical with grief, alternately striking the floor and embracing the corpse as he screamed.

Funeral processions wound down Gaza streets. In Rafah, in the south, men strode behind a body being carried on a bier, Palestinian and Hamas flags raised behind.

At the cemetery a family buried Saad Lubbad, a small boy killed in air strikes. His body, wrapped in white, was passed down to be laid on a patterned cloth before burial.

FOOD AND FUEL

The densely populated enclave's 2.3 million residents have endured repeated bouts of war and air strikes before.

They expect this one to be worse.

"It doesn't need much thinking about. Israel suffered the biggest loss in its history so you can imagine what it is going to do," said a resident of Beit Hanoun on Gaza's northeastern border with Israel.

"I took my family out at sunrise and dozens of other families did the same. Many of us got phone calls, audio messages from Israeli security officers telling us to leave because they will operate there," he said.

Families began stockpiling food as soon as Saturday's attack began but fear that despite Hamas assurances supplies will run low.

With Israel cutting off electricity supplies into Gaza, a looming fuel shortage means private generators as well as the enclave's own power station, which is still providing about four hours of energy a day, will struggle to function.

Electricity shortages mean residents cannot recharge phones, so are cut off from news of each other and from events, and are unable to pump water into rooftop tanks.

At night the enclave is plunged into total darkness, punctuated by the blasts of air strikes.

Gaza health ministry officials said hospitals were expected to run out of fuel, needed to power lifesaving equipment, in two weeks. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said 137,000 people were sheltering in U.N. schools and other facilities.

At one in Gaza City, 13-year-old Israa al-Qishawi pointed to the corner of a classroom where she lays her mattress each night alongside 30 other people.

Fear makes her want the toilet every few minutes, she said, but there is no water.

"It is disgusting," she said.

Dressed in green and playing with a hula hoop, she said: "The war came suddenly and we are afraid of it".

BOMBARDMENT

Air strikes have damaged and blocked streets, making it harder for ambulances and rescue vehicles to reach bomb sites, according to residents and medics. The civil defence said it could not cope with so many bomb sites, and asked for foreign rescue teams to help it save survivors trapped under rubble.

The Beit Hanoun resident said the bombardment of streets seemed like preparation for another Israeli ground offensive, like ones he watched rolling into Gaza from the roof of his house in 2008 and 2014.

Recorded phone messages and social media posts issued by Israel's military warning residents to quit some Gaza areas added to residents' fears.

Despite the danger, the 45-year-old was pleased by Hamas' raid into Israel, he said, requesting anonymity for fear of Israeli reprisals.

"We are afraid but still we are proud like never before," he said, adding: "Hamas wiped out entire Israeli army battalions. It crushed them like biscuits".

Standing outside his ruined shop, near wrecked houses where three entire families were killed, Brais said he just hoped for an end to Gaza's endless cycle of destruction.

"Enough. We had enough. I am 55-years-old and I spent those years going from one war into another. My house has been destroyed twice," said Brais. "Everything is gone," he said, looking at the wreckage of his shop.

** Hamas threatens to kill captives if Israel strikes civilians

The Islamist militant Hamas movement threatened to execute an Israeli captive every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning, as Israel called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, raising fears it planned a ground assault.

The violence, which has claimed more than 1,500 lives, prompted international declarations of support for Israel after a devastating weekend attack by Hamas, and appeals for an end to the fighting and protection of civilians.

Israeli TV channels said the death toll from the Hamas attack had climbed to 900 Israelis, with at least 2,600 injured, and dozens taken captive. Among the Israeli dead were 260 mostly young people gunned down at a desert music festival, where some of the hostages were abducted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge in a fiery speech accusing Iran-backed Hamas of executing tied-up children and other atrocities. "This vile enemy wanted war and it will get war," he said.

Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 687 Palestinians had been killed and 3,726 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the blockaded enclave since Saturday. Apartment blocks, a mosque and hospitals were among the sites attacked, and the strikes destroyed some roads and houses, according to media reports and eyewitnesses.

Israel also bombed the headquarters of the private Palestinian Telecommunication Co., which could affect landline telephone, internet and mobile phone services.

The strikes continued into the night on Monday. The Israeli military said it hit targets in the Gaza Strip from the sea and air, including a weapons depot it said belonged to Islamic Jihad and Hamas targets along Gaza's coast line.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat on Monday to kill Israelis among the dozens held captive after the surprise attack on Saturday morning. He said Hamas would execute an Israeli captive for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning, and broadcast the execution.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military to that threat. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people had been taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.

FORCED FROM HOME

Palestinians reported receiving calls and mobile phone audio messages from Israeli security officers telling them to leave areas mainly in the northern and eastern territories of Gaza, and warning that the army would operate there.

Dozens of people in Gaza City's Remal neighbourhood fled their homes.

"We took ourselves, children and grandchildren and daughters-in-law and we ran away. I can say that we became refugees. We don't have safety or security. What's this life? This is not a life," resident Salah Hanouneh, 73, said.

In Israel's south, scene of the Hamas attack, Israel's chief military spokesperson said troops had re-established control of communities inside Israel that had been overrun, but isolated clashes continued as some gunmen remained active.

Sirens warning of incoming rocket fire blared in Israeli communities near the Gaza border overnight.

The announcement that 300,000 reservists had been activated in just two days added to speculation that Israel could be contemplating a ground assault of Gaza, a territory it abandoned nearly two decades ago.

"We have never drafted so many reservists on such a scale," chief military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said. "We are going on the offensive."

Washington - which provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military assistance each year - said it was sending in fresh supplies of air defenses, munitions and other security assistance to Israel.

The United States' top general warned Iran not to get involved in the crisis and said he did not want the conflict to the broaden. Iran makes no secret of its backing for Hamas and has applauded the weekend attack while denying any involvement.

"We want to send a pretty strong message. We do not want this to broaden and the idea is for Iran to get that message loud and clear," General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him to Brussels.

Governments including Italy, Thailand and Ukraine reported that their citizens had perished in the Hamas attacks. In Washington, President Joe Biden announced that at least 11 Americans had been killed and it was likely U.S. citizens were among those held hostage.

"I have directed my team to work with their Israeli counterparts on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts," Biden said in a statement.

As Israel conducted intense retaliatory strikes on Gaza, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a tightened blockade to prevent food and fuel from reaching the strip, home to 2.3 million people.

"Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime," Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Hamas-affiliated media said at least 20 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on houses in the Gaza Strip late on Monday. Palestinian media also reported that an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City had killed two Palestinian journalists and seriously wounded a third.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the reports. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

As it rained, explosions and lightning lit the skies, and the sound of bombings mixed with thunder.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with UNRWA, the U.N. agency that provides essential services to Palestinians.

The British, French, German, Italian and U.S. governments issued a joint statement recognising the "legitimate aspirations" of the Palestinian people, and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

They also said they would remain "united and coordinated" to ensure Israel can defend itself.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.

Qatari mediators held urgent calls to try to negotiate freedom for Israeli women and children seized by Hamas in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons.

The prospect that fighting could spread alarmed the region and world.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon. Israel said one of its deputy commanders was killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.

Fears of a widening conflict meant more volatility for investors. Oil prices jumped more than 4%, gold gained and the U.S. dollar edged up against the euro. Major international air carriers suspended or reined in service to or from Tel Aviv.

The shocking images of the bodies of hundreds of Israelis sprawled across the streets of towns, gunned down at the outdoor dance party and abducted from their homes were like nothing seen before in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"I have never felt so close to death, this time I really felt like it was the end," said Zohar Maariv, 24, who survived the attack on the music festival.

** Israel-Hamas war forces Biden and Netanyahu into uneasy partnership

U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, uncomfortable allies in the best of times, will put their uneasy relationship to a further test with Israel preparing a possible ground assault on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

After months of strain over the path forward in the Middle East, the two leaders, who have known each other for decades, have been thrust into a wartime partnership following a deadly, multipronged attack by Hamas militants from Gaza into Israel.

U.S. relations with Israel, Washington’s main Middle East ally, have frayed in recent months with the White House echoing Israeli critics who have organized protests opposing the far-right Netanyahu government’s plan to curb Supreme Court powers.

But the two leaders' differences go much deeper.

As president, Biden has frequently stressed support for independent Israeli and Palestinian states. Administration officials say he has raised it in every conversation with Netanyahu, while asking him to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Having returned to office in late December, Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood anytime soon and has approved thousands of new housing unitsfor West Bank settlers.

Their often fraught history includes Biden's time as vice president during Barack Obama’s presidency, when Netanyahu tried unsuccessfully to derail a 2015 U.S.-backed Iran nuclear deal.

Hamas is backed by Iran, Israel's regional arch-foe.

By contrast, Netanyahu had a meeting of minds with Biden's Republican predecessor and potential 2024 opponent, Donald Trump, whose ideological embrace of the right-wing prime minister was accompanied by staunch pro-Israel policies.

Netanyahu has nonetheless hedged and avoided taking sides in the U.S. presidential campaign.

After the weekend Hamas assault - the deadliest incursion since attacks by Egypt and Syria in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago - Biden set aside differences in multiple phone calls with Netanyahu, saying his team was to give Israel "everything it needs" to fight the militant group, said a senior administration official.

Biden assured Netanyahu of "rock solid" U.S. support, scrambled to bolster Israel's military arsenal and dispatched a carrier strike group closer to Israel in a major show of support.

In his public statements Biden has yet to say Israel should show restraint in its military response or expressed U.S. concern for the Palestinian people, often part of White House reactions during previous crises.

"The president emphasized that there is no justification whatsoever for terrorism, and all countries must stand united in the face of such brutal atrocities," the White House said of Biden’s second call to Netanyahu on Sunday.

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WIDER WAR CONCERNS

Biden has directed his team to reach out to counterparts in the Gulf and neighboring countries to try to prevent a spiral into a wider war, especially focused on keeping the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah from opening a second front on Israel's northern border, administration officials said.

While Biden appears to have given Netanyahu a free hand for now, the policy differences remain and he could change course if the Gaza death toll rises further and the fighting drags on, foreign policy experts predict.

Israeli TV channels said the country's death toll from the Hamas attack had climbed to 900.

In Hamas-controlled Gaza, Israel pressed on with its most intensive retaliatory strikes ever, which have killed more than 500 people since Saturday.

"Eventually, if a conflict drags on for weeks or months, a number of U.S. allies are going to lose patience and publicly call for it to end. At that point, you may see the U.S. back channel to Israel to try and convince Jerusalem to bring the fight to an end," said Jonathan Panikoff, the U.S. government’s former deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank.

Biden also faces the potential challenge of securing the release of an unknown number of missing Americans who may be held by Hamas as hostages.

At home, Biden faces pressure on his right and his left, with Republican hardliners in Congress accusing him of emboldening Iran with a recent prisoner swap deal, something the president's aides strongly deny.

"If President Biden can stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, I hope President Biden can stand with Israel for as long as it takes," said Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a foreign policy hawk, on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

Some fellow Democrats, before the attacks, were asking Biden to scrutinize whether Israel merits the multibillion-dollar military aid package it receives each year, and calling for him to do more for the Palestinians.

The powerful pro-Israel lobby, headed by AIPAC, is a major force in U.S. politics, often backs Netanyahu and is expected to play a role in the 2024 election.

NOT IN LOVE WITH 'BIBI'

Biden, 80, has called himself a "Zionist," and he and Netanyahu, 73, have both spoken of having a long friendship.

But Biden went months without talking to Netanyahu this year. The Israeli leader was unhappy that he did not get a face-to-face meeting with Biden until Sept. 20 and it was not at the White House but in a New York hotel on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

There, Biden expressed worries about the need for stability in the West Bank and settler violence that increased tensions with Palestinians, a senior administration official said.

They appeared to find some common ground on a U.S. push to broker a landmark agreement to open diplomatic relations between longtime foes Israel and Saudi Arabia. But the Hamas attack delivered a severe blow to that effort, leaving its future uncertain.

Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that despite Biden's problems with Netanyahu, "the people of Israel and security of Israel are deeply ingrained in Biden's DNA."

"Biden is not in love with Bibi Netanyahu," he said, using the prime minister's nickname. "But he is in love with the state of Israel, the people of Israel and he'll do everything he can to protect the people of Israel."

 

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian forces make headway in east, south -officials

Ukrainian forces are making some headway in both the eastern and southern theatres of their four-month-old counteroffensive, military officials said on Monday.

Russian accounts of the fighting said Moscow's forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks near the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut and inflicted heavy casualties in strikes on Ukrainian positions outside the city.

Ukraine's counteroffensive aims to secure control of areas around Bakhmut in order to recapture the town, which was seized by Russian forces in May after months of heavy battles. In the south, Kyiv wants to advance to the Sea of Azov to sever a Russian land bridge linking areas it occupies in the south and east.

Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern group of forces, said troops had scored a "partial success" near Andriivka, which they captured last month along with the nearby locality of Klishhiivka.

"We are repelling constant attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka, Yevlash told national television.

"Every day we are making headway in the Bakhmut sector. We are talking about hundreds of metres at a time that we are liberating from our enemies and strengthening our positions. It is, however, too early to talk about achieving concrete goals."

Ukrainian prosecutors in Donetsk region, the focal point of Russia's campaign in the east, said Russian forces had shelled areas east of the Russian-held town of Donetsk, killing one person. The coking town of Avdiivka, which has resisted Russian advances for months, was also shelled.

General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of forces in the south, wrote on Telegram that Kyiv's troops were continuing offensive operations in the drive southward.

"We have had partial success to the west of Verbove," he said, referring to one of a cluster of villages that Ukraine is targeting, with the larger town of Tokmak the next large target.

Ukraine's counteroffensive has made slow progress in both theatres, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials have denied suggestions by Western critics that Ukraine has failed to achieve its objectives and is hampered by strategic errors.

Nineteen months after Russia's invasion, its forces control about 18% of Ukrainian territory, according to Western estimates.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces eliminate 170 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces eliminated roughly 170 Ukrainian troops and a self-propelled artillery gun in the Kupyansk area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"The enemy’s losses amounted to 170 Ukrainian personnel, four pickup trucks and an Akatsiya motorized artillery system," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian forces repel five Ukrainian army attacks in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces repelled five Ukrainian army attacks in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the western battlegroup supported by aircraft and artillery repulsed in their active operations five attacks by the enemy’s 32nd and 115th mechanized and 4th tank brigades near the settlements of Sinkovka and Orlyanskoye in the Kharkov Region and Makeyevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

Russian forces repulse two Ukrainian attacks in Krasny Liman area over past day

Russian forces repulsed two Ukrainian army attacks in the Krasny Liman area, eliminating roughly 45 enemy troops over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Krasny Liman direction, two attacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 63rd and 67th mechanized brigades were repulsed by well-coordinated actions of units from the battlegroup Center, army aircraft strikes and artillery fire near the settlement of Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic. In addition, they inflicted damage on enemy manpower and equipment in areas near the settlements of Torskoye and Grigorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Kuzmino in the Lugansk People’s Republic. The enemy’s losses amounted to 45 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles and two motor vehicles," the ministry said.

In counter-battery fire, Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Akatsiya motorized artillery system, a D-20 howitzer and a D-30 howitzer, it said.

Kiev loses 200 troops in south Donetsk area over past day

Russian forces repulsed a Ukrainian army attack in the south Donetsk area, killing and wounding roughly 200 enemy troops over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the south Donetsk direction, units of the battlegroup East in interaction with army aircraft and artillery repulsed an attack by the 128th territorial defense brigade near the settlement of Priyutnoye in the Zaporozhye Region and inflicted damage by fire on Ukrainian forces near the settlement of Staromayorskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

The enemy’s losses in the south Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours amounted to 200 Ukrainian personnel killed and wounded, an infantry fighting vehicle, two armored combat vehicles and a D-20 howitzer, the ministry said.

 

Reuters/Tass

Mark Cuban learned the key to a successful sale when he was just 12 years old.

In a recent interview with GQ, Cuban was asked what the “key to selling well” was. His answer: “You’re not trying to convince people. You’re trying to help them.”

He learned this piece of wisdom at his very first sales job. At 12 years old, Cuban started what would be a long and successful career in business by going door to door selling garbage bags, to make enough money to buy himself sneakers.

When selling to his customers, Cuban noticed that each customer would say something that would point out how the garbage bags would make life simpler. “Sure, that makes it easier, I don’t need to carry this big box,” his customers would respond to Cuban, he told GQ.

That was when he learned that selling was about creating value for customers instead of just convincing them he had a great product.

Cuban went on to sell baseball cards and work as a salesperson at Your Business Software, a PC software retailer in Dallas, Texas. Cuban built strong connections with his customers at Your Business Software. It was with their help that he was able to create MicroSolutions, his first company, which he later sold for $6 million. 

‘Put your customers in a position to succeed’

The key to becoming a great salesperson, he told GQ, is to understand what your customer could use and then meet that need. “I always tell our salespeople, ‘Put your customers in a position to succeed and you will be successful,’” Cuban said.

In order to do that, though, you need to be qualified, prepared, and able to come up with the best solution. The last thing you want is for your customers to say that you oversold or that you under delivered.

Convey to your customers that you have something valuable to offer, he said — that you understand their problems and that you can find them “a better solution.”

Many studies show the link between high empathy and better sales performance, going back almost 50 years to research conducted by psychologists David Mayer and Herbert M. Greenberg, showing that people who were more understanding tend to be more successful salespeople.

Cuban’s advice to get to know your customer and their issues, and then offer them useful solutions, is also critical if you want to grow a thriving business. As part of Amazon Insights for Entrepreneurs series back in 2018, Cuban said that the key to being a entrepreneur is putting sales first and knowing that “selling is helping.”

“The whole concept of being a great salesperson is not about who can talk the fastest, it’s about taking the time to understand the needs of the person you are selling to,” Cuban said. “You have to be able to sell and do you know who the biggest salesperson in your company has to be? You.”

 

CNBC

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February election, Atiku Abubakar, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu’s aides and supporters are telling lies and confusing the public on the certificate forgery allegations against the president.

He said since Tuesday when the deposition regarding Tinubu’s educational qualifications came to the fore in the United States, there have been several attempts to twist the facts of the matter, which deliberately aim to confuse the mind of the public.

Atiku stated this in a statement by his spokesperson, Paul Ibe, on Sunday.

Chicago State University, in a deposition on Tuesday, said Tinubu did graduate from the university as he claimed.

The university was, however, not categorical when asked if the certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was forged.

Atiku has since filed for a leave of the Supreme Court to present what he termed as fresh evidence.

Lawyer to the president, Oluwole Afolabi, in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, said “There is nothing in the record to back up such an allegation. He who alleges must prove.”

“Some media aides to the president have come out openly to ‘push back on the narrative’, while some media houses, especially one, have persistently slanted their story to justify a corrupted interpretation of the facts in the disposition.

“Sadly, however, the truth of the matter remains that Nigeria’s President, Tinubu falsified a document he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and swore an affidavit under oath to back up his forgery,” Atiku said.

The former vice president of Nigeria said if Tinubu would not resign honourably to save the nation from embarrassment over the alleged forgery, his supporters should stop lying on the matter.

“If the President would not do what is honourable by resigning from office and saving the country an imminent embarrassment, at least his supporters should desist from telling shameful lies to confuse the public,” the statement said.

Tinubu’s NYSC certificate further validates forgery allegation — Atiku

The former vice president said the “discrepancies” in the NYSC certificate of Tinubu further validate the allegation of forgery.

Atiku said the “Adekunle” in the NYSC certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC did not feature on the CSU certificate.

“Every Nigerian who has undergone the NYSC programme understands that the names on the NYSC are never a creation of the candidate, but the official name that the student was officially known as, from their tertiary institution.

“Tinubu was allegedly never known as Adekunle at CSU. Thus, the only way to understand how Adekunle was smuggled on his NYSC discharge certificate can only be explained as a forgery,” he said.

He also urged the supporters of Tinubu to desist from spinning the report on the deposition, stating that the deposition is clear that Tinubu forged the certificate.

“The truth of the matter remains that Nigeria’s President, Tinubu, falsified a document he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and swore an affidavit under oath to back up his forgery.

“Tinubu’s supporters and spin doctors will want to force the narrative of, at least, ‘Tinubu graduated from the CSU down our throat, even when the narrative has no foothold in logic.

“The question remains: How does a candidate graduate from a university that you were never qualified for?” he said.

The Supreme Court will have the final say on the dispute in the 25 February presidential election.

Read the full statement below:

PRESS RELEASE

Tinubu’s house of forgeries

Since Tuesday last week when the deposition regarding Tinubu’s educational qualifications came to the fore in the United States, there have been several attempts to twist the facts of the matter, which deliberately aim to confuse the mind of the public concerning the matter.

Some media aides to the president have come out openly to ‘push back on the narrative’, while some media houses, especially one, have persistently slanted their story to justify a corrupted interpretation of the facts in the disposition.

Sadly, however, the truth of the matter remains that Tinubu falsified a document he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and swore an affidavit under oath to back up his forgery.

On page 26 of the deposition which is publicly available, the Registrar of the Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg under oath, was asked a simple question, “CSU has determined that it does not have a true and correct copy of the diploma issued to Bola Tinubu is 1979, correct?

“To which the Registrar responded, “That’s correct.”

Also, on page 27, a similar question was put to Westberg: “So, CSU, after going through every diploma, was unable to find an authentic copy of any diploma that CSU issued to Tinubu in 1979. Is that correct?”

The CSU Registrar, in his response, said: “We did not find any diploma issued by CSU in 1979 to Tinubu.”

And coming straight to the specific issue of whether the CSU is aware of or in possession of the diploma that Tinubu submitted to INEC, to which Westberg simply said, “Correct, we are not aware of it.”

Indeed, anyone who has taken time to do a thorough reading of the deposition will come to the unambiguous conclusion that the footprints of Tinubu’s odyssey as far as the CSU documents are concerned are filled with profound forgeries and abuse of administrative due process.

Tinubu’s supporters and spin doctors will want to force the narrative of, at least, “Tinubu graduated from the CSU down our throat, even when the narrative has no foothold in logic.

The question remains: How does a candidate graduate from a university that you were never qualified for?

According to information in the open, Tinubu applied to the CSU with a pre-qualifying 1970 certificate from Government College Lagos, whereas the school did not come into existence until 1974. Maybe this should make Tinubu the first man ever to have an anticipatory certification from the school four clear years before the founding of the school.

Another mystery is that in addition to the non-existing Government College Lagos certificate, Tinubu presented a certificate from another school in the United States that belongs to a female candidate and a Cambridge HSC of 1970 – the same year he purportedly graduated from a secondary school in Nigeria.

Long before the CSU discovery of last week, Tinubu had had a history of forgery and perjury. In his form CF001 he filed ahead of his governorship election in 1999, Tinubu had claimed albeit fraudulently that he attended St John’s Primary School Aroloya, Government College Ibadan and Chicago University as different from Chicago State University. The late lawyer and human rights icon Gani Fawehinmi would have succeeded in bursting him but for the immunity, he enjoyed as Governor of Lagos State.

Tinubu must be a man of mystery. No wonder his supporters call him Idan (a distorter).

It is our contention that at the heart of the forgery scandal against Tinubu is the question of integrity and morality.

If the President would not do what is honourable by resigning from office and saving the country an imminent embarrassment, at least his supporters should desist from telling shameful lies to confuse the public

Lastly, while supporters of the President are quick to reference his transcript from the Chicago State University as evidence of his studentship in the school, we are alarmed how his NYSC certificate bears Bola Adekunle Tinubu, even when the CSU said under oath that the middle name of “A” was never interpreted in any document in his file.

Every Nigerian who has undergone the NYSC programme understands that the names on the NYSC are never a creation of the candidate, but the official name that the student was officially known as, from their tertiary institution. Tinubu was allegedly never known as Adekunle at CSU. Thus, the only way to understand how Adekunle was smuggled on his NYSC discharge certificate can only be explained as a forgery.

Yet, his media aides will come to the open to make a shameful alternative fact.

It is even more shameful that just when this whole scandal continues to unfold, media handlers of Tinubu have, from nowhere, smuggled the middle name of Adekunle into his Wikipedia account. The word Adekunle in Yoruba is a house filled with royalty. But in this instance, we daresay it is a house filled with forgeries.

It is, therefore, becoming very obvious that there is no end point to how Tinubu and his spin doctors will continue to use one forgery to cover the other.

Signed:
Paul Ibe
Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar
Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023)
Abuja
8th October, 2023.

 

PT

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has confirmed the return of fuel subsidy under President Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu had announced the removal of fuel subsidy on his first day in office, leading to increase in fuel price from N197 to between N480 and N570, the pump price was subsequently reviewed upward to N620.

However, there were reports that the price would go up as a result of fluctuation in the global oil market.

There were reports that the federal government intervened to prevent further rise in pump price, but the government denied this.

However, Daily Trust subsequently found documents which showed that despite the numerous assurances by Tinubu that subsidy was gone, the federal government paid N169.4 billion as subsidy in August to keep the pump price at N620 per litre.

A document by the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), sighted by our reporter, showed that in August 2023, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) paid $275m as dividends to Nigeria via NNPC Limited. NNPC Limited used $220m (N169.4 billion at N770/$) out of the $275m to pay for the PMS subsidy. Then NNPC held back $55m, illegally.

The government neither confirmed nor denied the story.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Festus Osifo, National President of PENGASSAN, said due to the cost of crude oil in the international market and the exchange rate, the government still pays subsidies on petrol.

“They [government] are paying subsidy today. In reality today, there is subsidy because as of when the earlier price was determined, the price of crude in the international market was somewhere around $80 for a barrel. But today, it has moved to about $93/94 per barrel for Brent crude. So, because it has moved, then the price [of petroleum] also needed to move,” he said.

He said before the government can stop subsidising petroleum, two things must happen.

“The only reason the price will not move is when you are able to manage your exchange rate effectively and you are able to pump in supply and bring down the exchange rate.

“So, if the exchange rate comes down today, we will not be paying subsidy. But with the exchange rate value and the price of crude oil in the international market, we have introduced subsidy,” the PENGASSAN boss said.

 

Daily Trust

Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho, has regained his freedom from the Beninese authorities.

The embattled agitator said on Sunday he was now legally free to leave Cotonou, capital of the Benin Republic, to Nigeria and other countries.

“I am now free to return to Nigeria and visit any country in the world. I have fulfilled all the legal conditions attached to my bail a few years back and I am coming home to Nigeria, my country of origin, any moment from now.

“I can confirm to you that I am now free to come back to Nigeria. There is no legal encumbrance again. Even though I have been living in Cotonou for some time, I can confirm to you categorically that I have now secured the liberty to leave Cotonou for Nigeria,” Adeyemo told the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday.

He regained freedom after two years of trial by the Beninese government.

Adeyemo stirred the hornet’s nest when he declared the Yoruba Nation’s sovereignty in March 2021.

He started a campaign to chase killer herdsmen and kidnappers out of the Southwest states and went on to call on Yoruba in Hausa/Fulani or Igbo territories to return home.

He, however, fled Nigeria in July 2021 following a nocturnal invasion of his Ibadan residence by operatives of the Department of State Services.

The attack led to at least one death, while some of his belongings were vandalised.

The DSS claimed that seven AK-47 rifles, pump-action guns, and 5,000 rounds of ammunition, charms and other weapons were recovered from his apartment during the invasion.

He was later arrested at the Cardinal Bernardin International Airport in Cotonou, Benin Republic while attempting to flee to Germany.

Attempts by the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to repatriate him to Nigeria were unsuccessful.

 

Punch