Oil prices are set to end 2023 about 10% lower, the first annual decline in two years, after geopolitical concerns, production cuts and global measures to rein in inflation triggered wild fluctuations in prices.

Brent crude futures were up 18 cents, or 0.2%, at $77.33 a barrel at 0126 GMT on Friday, the last trading day of 2023, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading 11 cents higher at $71.88 a barrel in early Asian trade.

At these levels, both benchmarks are on track to close at the lowest year-end levels since 2020, when the pandemic battered demand and sent prices nosediving.

Oil is also on track to fall for the third straight month due to demand concerns outweighing the risks to supply from the Middle East conflict, and as production cuts have proved insufficient to prop up prices, with the benchmarks declining nearly 20% from their highest level this year.

Prices had surged to this year-high in September after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies agreed to cut production, triggering fears that demand was potentially higher than supply.

On Friday, oil prices stabilised after falling 3% the previous day as more shipping firms prepared to transit the Red Sea route. Major firms had stopped using Red Sea routes after Yemen's Houthi militant group began targeting vessels.

Measures by governments and central banks across the world to arrest high inflation also kept a lid on oil prices and quickly offset any price spikes.

However, expected interest rate cuts in major consuming regions in 2024 and a weaker dollar are seen boosting oil demand, investors and analysts say.

Reuters

Israeli tanks, missiles strike Gaza in offensive against Hamas

Israeli forces attacked areas of the central and southern Gaza Strip where residents have been expecting a renewed ground offensive in areas crammed with tens of thousands of Palestinians already displaced by the Israeli-Hamas war.

With nightfall on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike on a house in the southern city of Khan Younis killed eight Palestinians, health officials said. Three Palestinians were killed and six injured in an Israeli missile strike on a house in Maghazi camp in central Gaza, the Palestine Red Crescent said.

"The task here is to dismantle Hamas - so that it no longer has military and governing capabilities," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said at a press briefing on operations in Khan Younis. "We will be required to show a lot of perseverance and determination."

A Palestinian journalist posted pictures of Israeli tanks near a mosque in a built-up area of Bureij in central Gaza.

The Islamist group Hamas released video it said showed its fighters targeting Israeli tanks and soldiers east of Bureij. Reuters was not able to verify the location or the date the video was filmed.

"That moment has come, I wished it would never happen, but it seems displacement is a must," said Omar, 60, who said he had been forced to move with at least 35 family members. He declined to give his surname for fear of reprisals.

Yamen Hamad has been living in a school in Deir al-Balah, also in central Gaza, since fleeing from the north. He said people newly displaced from Bureij and Nusseirat were setting up tents wherever there was open ground.

In one of Israel's latest airstrikes, 20 Palestinians were killed and 55 wounded in Rafah, a major town near the southern border with Egypt, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said. Their bombed building was housing displaced civilians, according to local medics and residents.

A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli security forces, Palestinian authorities said, after stabbing two security personnel at a checkpoint near Jerusalem on Thursday. Israeli police said the personnel were mildly injured.

Hamas praised the attack and in a statement said: "we call on our people in the West Bank and occupied territories to intensify operations and confrontations with the Zionist enemy."

The conflict has also rippled across the Middle East, notably with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea to show their support for Hamas.

On Thursday, the U.S. military said it shot down one drone and one anti-ship ballistic missile in the Southern Red Sea that were fired by Houthis in the 22nd attempted attack on international shipping since Oct. 19.

There was no damage to any of the 18 ships in the area nor reported injuries, U.S. Central Command said on X website.

SEARCHING THROUGH RUBBLE

Reuters video showed rescuers scrabbling frantically through rubble to uncover and pull out victims including a baby and several children and rushing them through milling crowds of dazed and weeping people to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital.

Palestinian health authorities said earlier that 210 people were confirmed killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, raising the toll of Palestinians killed in the war so far to 21,320 - nearly 1% of Gaza's population. Thousands more dead were feared to be buried or lost in the ruins.

Over the course of the war, the Israeli military has expressed regret for civilian deaths but it accuses Hamas of operating in densely populated areas and using civilians as human shields, a charge the group denies.

Hamas and its fighters are dug deep into the Gaza Strip's dense cities and towns and their leaders are still at large.

Israel has reported 169 of its soldiers killed in its Gaza campaign after Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns in a cross-border raid on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.

Some 110 hostages were freed during a Nov. 24-Dec. 1 humanitarian pause and more than 20 others have been declared dead.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Hamas killed an American hostage, Judith Weinstein, 70, on Oct. 7. Last week he said her husband Gadi Haggai, 73, was killed on the same day.

The Israeli military released findings of an investigation into the killings in error by its troops of three Israeli hostages in Gaza on Dec. 15. Soldiers mistook their cries for help as a ruse by Hamas militants to draw them into an ambush, the military said, concluding that the soldiers acted rightly to the best of their understanding.

EGYPT'S PLAN TO END CONFLICT

Egypt confirmed that it had put forward a framework proposal to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that includes three stages ending with a ceasefire and said it was awaiting responses on the plan.

The proposal is an attempt "to bring viewpoints between all concerned parties closer, in an effort to stop Palestinian bloodshed and the aggression against the Gaza Strip and restore peace and stability to the region," Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt's State Information Service, said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will keep some form of security control of all Gaza indefinitely, though he insists that this would not amount to reoccupying the enclave.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

What to know after Day 673 of Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine's Zelenskiy says he discussed peace formula with Pope

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed Ukraine's peace formula in a call with Pope Francis on Thursday.

"We discussed our joint work to put Ukraine's Peace Formula into action," Zelenskiy said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"Over 80 countries are already involved in this process at the level of their representatives. And there will be more of them," he added.

Zelenskiy said he thanked Francis for his Christmas greetings "as well as his wishes for a just peace for all of us."

Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine's peace formula will next be discussed in Davos, Switzerland, but has not given a date.

As part of his peace efforts on Ukraine, the pope has sent a special envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing.

In his Christmas Day message, the pope called for an end to multiple conflicts, including the one in Ukraine. In November, in a renewal of his persistent calls for an end to violence in Ukraine and the Middle East, he said "peace is possible" and that "we must not resign ourselves."

Zelenskiy said in October that he had invited Francis to Kyiv. The Ukrainian leader met privately with the pope at the Vatican in May.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian ‘regime’ must be removed – Medvedev

The removal of the Western-backed government of Vladimir Zelensky is an undeclared but a “most important and inevitable goal” of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev has said.

On Thursday, Medvedev, who now holds the position of deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, was asked by RIA-Novosti about the prospects of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev in 2024.

The Russian military operation in Ukraine will continue next year with its goals remaining unchanged, he replied.

According to the former president, those goals include “the disarmament of Ukrainian troops and the rejection of the ideology of neo-Nazism by the current Ukrainian state.”

“The removal of the ruling Banderovite regime isn’t being openly declared, but it's the most important and inevitable goal that must and will be achieved,” he said, referring to the Zelensky government.

‘Banderovite’ relates to Stepan Bandera (1909-1959), a Ukrainian nationalist leader who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II and is now revered as a hero by authorities in Kiev.

“Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Nikolaev, Kiev, they are Russian cities, like many others under temporary occupation [by Ukraine]. All of them are marked in yellow and blue on paper maps and electronic tablets, for now,”Medvedev said.

About talks, they are “of course, possible,” he acknowledged, adding that “Russia never rejected them, unlike the insane Ukrainian authorities.” The former president stressed, however, that Moscow has no deadline for any negotiations and that these may proceed all the way until “the complete defeat and capitulation” of the NATO-backed Ukrainian forces.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the authorities in Moscow “identify a lack of drive for peace on the part of the Zelensky regime. His representatives think in terms of war and use very aggressive rhetoric.”

The US and the EU remain committed to “containing Russia with the hands and bodies of Ukrainians” and realize that without aid from these sources the Kiev government “is doomed,” the minister said.

He also recalled that, more than a year ago, Zelensky officially banned himself from negotiating with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Instead, the Ukrainian leader has been promoting his so-called ten-point peace plan, which calls for Russia to withdraw from all territories claimed by Kiev, for Moscow to pay reparations, and for the formation of a war-crimes tribunal. Russian authorities instantly rejected the proposal as “unrealistic”and out-of-touch with the situation on the ground.

Reuters/RT

“Subsidy on petrol will go, sparking initial higher prices and demand for higher public sector wages by union leaders who know the truth but prefer to play to the gallery. To tackle the scandalous difference between the official and black-market exchange rates, expect the new government to adjust the official rate from the current N430-450/$ to around N550/$ in the first instance”

– What You Might Expect in 2023, December 29, 2022

This is my fourth forecast since 2019. Apart from a few occasions when I have had eggs in my face from unforeseen events like that wrecking ball called Covid-19 and the African surprise at the last World Cup being Morocco instead of Senegal or Algeria, I have, on the whole, been on the mark.

This year, I’m starting with sports. Arsenal fans are currently over the moon, testosterone pumping – and why not? But they would do well to pay attention. After 20 years of a winless, Premier League trophy run, this, at last, feels like the year when the London club would break the jinx.

Everything is going well, so far. The team is better organised, far better disciplined - in and off the field - the defence is tighter, the attack deadlier, and all without a loss of flair. Also, the desire has never been stronger. But that, roughly speaking, has been the story of the last two decades at the Emirates – a story of nearly there.

That story will not change in 2024. I wish it would for the sake of the millions of broken red hearts strewn along the way over two decades. But the odds are not in Arsenal’s favour. The team has more depth but it still suffers a congenital momentary loss of focus when it matters most.

With about half the games already played, there’s still something about Liverpool and Manchester City — that streak of stubborn, resilient fighting spirit — that could lift either of them over Arsenal and multiply the misery of its fans, yet again.

Humble pie

I started with football because 2024 appears to hold less intensity for Nigeria’s usual obsession: politics. In 2023, we had four years’ worth of politics in one year. Apart from a number of senior lawyers in particular who also made four years’ worth of money in one year, swathes of the political elite are broke, exhausted and stranded. In 2024, they would be desperate for rehabilitation. Otherwise, their teeming supporters will dissipate and their misery will be complete.

Before June, some top politicians who had been discreetly reaching out to President Bola Tinubu for favours, would be obliged to take their fate in their own hands and pursue their ambition more openly and less shamelessly. By the end of the year, the scramble for presidential favours would leave an already fragmented opposition in a shambles.

Edo, Ondo and Kano

Of course, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is planning re-runs and bye-elections in a few senatorial districts, 11 federal constituencies and 22 state assemblies. My bet is that there would be no surprises. If anything, the bye-elections for two or three senatorial seats would increase the advantage of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the National Assembly, while state assemblies would record more of the same.

In September and November, governorship elections would hold in two states – Edo and Ondo. Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki who assumed office in his first term as an APC governor, but switched parties in his second, would attempt to hand over to a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) successor. It’s an election that promises plenty of drama.

Amongst others on a list of direct and shadow contenders that appears to be lengthening by the day, Obaseki would be up against his former godfather, Adams Oshiomhole, who is currently an APC senator; his “interim godfather”, Nyesom Wike, a federal minister who is neither in the PDP nor in the APC; and his deputy, Philip Shauib, who has been in rebellion for the most part of their second term.

Obaseki is counting on a number of factors, among others, to help him hand over to his preferred successor and former Chairman of Sterling Bank, Asue Ighodalo:

1) the governor’s record of reforms in the civil service;

2) improvements in private sector investments in the state, especially in the energy sector; 3) doubling the state’s internally generated revenue from around N1.8 billion in 2016;

4) expectation that Ighodalo’s private sector experience would be Obaseki 2.0; and

5) advantage of an all-PDP local government formation.

My forecast is that despite setting his ducks in a row, Obaseki’s candidate would lose in September. His biggest undoing would be the large army of political enemies he has created in the last eight years – some inevitably from the reforms he introduced; but others, and in a far larger number, avoidably from his mean-spirited, opportunistic politics.

All politics is local. But if – and that’s a big if – the APC plays its card well, Edo would find in September a coalescence of local and external foes with old, fairly old, and new grudges ranged against Obaseki’s candidate in a fury that would result in a hostile takeover.

The biggest danger to APC’s victory is Oshiomhole. After cornering virtually all federal appointments to Edo North to the displeasure of many, the South, which is the state’s vote bank could enact a Labour Party surge by pressing a candidate from its zone. Except the APC finds an overwhelmingly appealing candidate, the party could be in for a surprise.

Ondo would be different. After months of a war of attrition with late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu that finally saw Lucky Aiyedatiwa becoming acting governor – and now governor – it’s improbable that he would lose the election to any challenger, whether from his party or not.

He fought his election war in advance. The battle between now and November would consist largely in mopping up the snippers. Of course, there would be contenders, both from the remnant of Akeredolu’s supporters and others, including Jimoh Ibrahim. But it’s unlikely that Aiyedatiwa won the war of attrition only to lose it in subsidiary skirmishes.

As for Kano, the Supreme Court has up till January 15 to give its ruling. History does not favour Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. As I said in a recent article on this matter, in the last over 20 years, there have been only a few cases where the two lower courts ruled in one way and the Supreme Court overturned them. It would be easier to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro on a paper kite than to expect an exception in the matter at hand.

Economic outlook

Politics promises bread, but economics bakes it and also decides how it is served. Tinubu has weathered serious storms in the last seven months at the helm. In the new year, he will be bolder, more sure-footed – and yes, be obliged to make a few changes to his cabinet by his one-year anniversary.

His biggest headache will remain the economy. With inflation at 27.3 percent, the naira depreciated by over 50 percent in six months, and unemployment trending up, any gains in 2024 would be marginal. The naira, still artificially sustained, would slide further and could close the year at 1500/USD in the black market, except if earnings from oil and gas rise fast enough to shore it up – an unlikely prospect with the chaos in OPEC and US’s all-time high production.

The silver lining could be in agriculture where food inflation could drop from the current 32 percent, if weather patterns are favourable and with improvements in the security situation in the country’s food belt.

For the troubled Central Bank of Nigeria that has, regardless, promised price stability in 2024, the report of the investigator would dominate discussions, but the leak might prove more damaging to any intended redress. Once vested interests on both sides enter the arena, they will muddy the waters and undermine confidence not just in the final outcome, but also in any possibility that there would be consequences.

Don’t expect much from the real sector this year for one main reason: power. Even if Nigeria’s four hydro-dams generate up to 2k megawatts combined, which they could produce but are currently unable to do so, the transmission, still in government hands, remains a nightmare.

As for the gas supply, there’s simply no gas. The Nigerian Gas Company is debt-ridden and the current market structure does not encourage private investment. More disruptions and outages loom for homes and industry.

And by the way, anyone expecting relief in petrol supply or a drop in the pump prices, is on a long wait. Largely as a result of technical and supply chain issues, the government refineries, if they start production at all, would not do so before the third or fourth quarter, and the Dangote refinery may not commence limited production till after the first quarter.

Sunak sunset, Trump eclipse

Outside Nigeria, it’s a big year for elections around the world – in fact, the biggest in decades. Two are of particular interest: the UK and the US. In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has finished his job as “a stabiliser,” after the catastrophic failures of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. For reasons more real than apparent, Keith Stammer will win; but the “owners of the UK” would find out soon enough that they had traded an apple for a lemon.

As for the US, The Economist has framed the 2024 presidential contest as one between two unpopular candidates. Fair point. I wager that even though Donald Trump’s mounting legal challenges might increase both his popularity and unpopularity, he will lose to Joe Biden in November in yet another bitter contest that finally retires him to Mar-a-Lago.

Even though Trump’s candidacy will excite sentiments that would move US politics closer to the centre, voters would likely decide that one Trump tenure was enough for the monster created in America’s Frankenstein moment.

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Gaynor Parkin and Erika Clarry

In the UK 25 million people report they are occasionally, sometimes or often lonely, according to the Campaign to End Loneliness. In the US the surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, recently disclosed his own experience of “profound loneliness” as he released his national strategy highlighting just how many people experience loneliness as well as potential solutions to alleviate it. Murthy emphasised that loneliness has escalated into a public health emergency, affecting one in two Americans, with health impacts as serious as addiction and obesity, and warned it was as dangerous to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Murthy’s candid account of his own loneliness was picked up by multiple media outlets and resonated deeply with my client Murray*. Like many people, Murray struggled to understand that loneliness doesn’t just affect people who are socially isolated or who live alone. Murray is professionally successful, earns a higher-than-average income and lives with a partner and teenage children. He plays sport, helps with his children’s sport clubs and keeps a busy round of dinners and social events for work. Murray sought help for anxiety which he found scary and surprising. He’d begun experiencing overwhelming panic attacks that took hold of him at unpredictable times and seemingly without warning. Murray felt ashamed and helpless and just wanted the attacks to stop. In telling me about himself he didn’t mention any feelings of loneliness.

A form of psychotherapy known as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) can be effective for treating anxiety disorders. Through CBT, psychologists help people learn to identify and effectively manage the factors that fuel their anxiety. Skilled psychologists guide their clients through a process of developing strategies to dial down the impact of anxiety on their lives. For Murray this involved paying more attention to and noting down how he was feeling, sensations in his body, the thoughts popping into his mind and what was happening around him. He described it as detective work on himself, which is an excellent way to think about this process.

A typical high achiever, Murray immersed himself into the detective work and it didn’t take long to identify some clear patterns – in almost all his experiences of panic he was also feeling alone and afraid.

When I asked him if he ever felt lonely, Murray’s initial response was dismissal and avoidance: “That’s ridiculous, I’m rarely alone. I’ve got my family, colleagues, teammates, friends. And there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

For any of us who have experienced panic – and we certainly know this from the psychological research – panic thoughts are unlikely to be “rational” and rarely respond to “logic” or dismissal. Rather, giving them some airtime to understand what the thoughts might mean or how they may be possible flags to beliefs that are unhelpful is usually a better approach. Framing emotions as “data” was more helpful for Murray and enabled him to consider them with a more compassionate lens.

Murray’s assumption that feeling alone wasn’t possible when surrounded by people is a common one, but also one we know is untrue. Kasley Killam is a social scientist who is an expert in social health, connection, and loneliness. She describes the myth of loneliness and social isolation:

These terms are often used interchangeably, but they’re actually different. Social isolation is the objective state of being alone. In contrast, loneliness is the subjective experience of disconnection. This means that you could be around other people, yet still feel lonely.

Why might that be? Loneliness can arise from not feeling seen, understood, or validated. It can come from spending time with people who don’t share your values or interests. It can also come from too many superficial interactions and not enough deeper connections.

Killam’s definition of loneliness strongly resonated with Murray. He expressed how (with this new insight) he had always clung to the roles in his life and doing “good work” – a good manager, good partner, good dad, good friend – while often feeling disconnected and far away. Ever since he was young, Murray had strived to be good, but not to be open or vulnerable. A tactic that worked through a difficult childhood now meant he was “frozen in this life”, as he described it.

The new work for Murray is to actively deepen his connections with family and the people that are important to him, and perhaps to dial back some of the social interactions that are less meaningful. Doing so will involve great courage as he initiates different conversations and connections, perhaps even to share some of his feelings of loneliness. Our hypothesis as he does this is that the panic will recede. Murray also has learned not to fear the panic itself. Instead, he recognises that the fear and palpitations serve as crucial data and indicators of his sense of disconnection. As Murray slowly begins to open up and share some of his inner world, he will be able to receive support and care from his loved ones.

Given the US surgeon general’s recent admission, I expect Murray might find that the people around him may also confide their own experiences of loneliness. This realisation can foster a deeper sense of connection as they navigate their shared journey towards alleviating loneliness.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.

Gaynor Parkin is a clinical psychologist and founder of Umbrella Wellbeing. Erika Clarry is a research assistant at Umbrella

The Guardian, UK

Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has fined British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited (BATN) and other affiliated companies $110 million for “infractions” of several laws.

In a statement on Wednesday, FCCPC said the affiliated companies are British American Tobacco Marketing (Nigeria) Limited (BATMN), British American Tobacco Plc, and British American Tobacco (Holdings) Limited.

Describing the companies as BAT Parties, the commission said they contravened the FCCPC Act, and the National Tobacco Control Act, among others.

Following an investigation that began on August 28, 2020, the commission said it reached a final resolution with the companies in late 2023.

However, FCCPC did not mention the infractions linked to British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited and its affiliated companies.

FCCPC said it initiated the investigation based on credible intelligence, which called for a broader and deeper inquiry into the companies’ conduct. 

Upon satisfying the federal high court that there was probable cause and sufficient evidence to exercise advanced investigatory tools, FCCPC said “the court issued an Order and Warrant of Search and Seizure”. 

“In furtherance, and pursuant to the Order and Warrant, the Commission on January 25, 2021 executed simultaneous and contemporaneous searches and seizures at multiple BAT Parties locations and a location of a service provider,” the statement said. 

“The Commission gathered, received and procured substantial evidence from forensic analysis of electronic communications and other information/data obtained during the search, as well as other evidence procured during, and after the search from other legitimate sources.

“Additional investigation, including proffers, hearings, transcripts of sworn testimonies, and continuing analysis of evidence established and supported multiple violations of the FCCPA and other enactments.

“During the investigation and in furtherance of mutual engagements between the Commission and BAT Parties, BAT Parties in writing sought, and the Commission accepted BAT Parties into cooperation under the Commission’s Cooperation/Assistance Rules & Procedure, 2021 (CARP).

“The Cooperation/Assistance Framework (CAF) provides for benefits such as possible reduced monetary penalties (Rule 4.1); waiver of the application of the Commission’s Administrative Penalties Regulations 2020 (Rule 4.2); as well as prosecutorial discretion, particularly Rules 5.1 and 5.3 (subject to compliance with Rules 3 and 5.4).”

‘BAT PARTIES, FCCPC EXECUTE MUTUAL CONSENT AGREEMENT’

According to the commission, it mutually executed a consent order and notice with BAT parties, ending the investigation after considering “the record, evidence, and violations” under the law.

“BAT Parties shall pay a penalty of $110,000,000 (One Hundred and Ten Million Dollars) under and pursuant to Sections 155 of the FCCPA, Clause 11 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s Administrative Penalties Regulations, 2020 and Clause 4.2 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s Investigative Cooperation/Assistance Rules and Procedures, 2021,” the commission said. 

FCCPC said the order also mandates that BAT Parties are subject to monitoring under its supervision for 24 months to “ensure appropriate business practices modification to be more consistent with compliance with prevailing competition laws/regulations; and tobacco control efforts”. 

The commission said the companies would be required to conduct mandatory public health and tobacco control advocacy, compliant with legislation and regulations, to mitigate evidence of undermining national policies. 

According to FCCPC, “BAT Parties shall provide Written Assurances to the Commission pursuant to Section 153 of the FCCPA as required”.

“In exchange for BAT Parties fulfilling their obligations under the Consent Order, the Commission withdrew pending criminal charges against BATN and at least one employee with respect to obstructing the Commission by attempting to prevent execution of the search warrant and initial lack of cooperation/compliance with steps in the investigation,” FCCPC said. 

The commission expressed commitment to its mandate of promoting and ensuring fair markets and protecting consumer interests.

The Cable

Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been sworn in as the substantive governor of the state.

Aiyedatiwa was sworn in on Wednesday at the government house, Alagbaka, Akure, the state capital, after the death of Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo.

In his acceptance speech, Aiyedatiwa asked the “people of Ondo State to continue to remember us in their prayers as we continue to emplace good governance in our dear State”.

Akeredolu died on Wednesday morning at the age of 67.

Before his death, the Ondo governor had been away from the state since June for medical treatment and returned on September 7.

On December 12, Richard Olatunde, chief press secretary to the late governor, announced that his principal would embark on a medical leave on Wednesday, December 13 as a follow-up to his treatment.

Olatunde said in a statement that ”a formal letter regarding the medical leave and a notice formally transferring power in line with the Nigerian Constitution will be transmitted to the House of Assembly”.

“In the absence of Governor Akeredolu, the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, will assume the responsibilities of the Governor in an acting capacity,” the statement reads.

POLITICAL CRISIS

On September 7, Akeredolu returned to Nigeria after a three-month medical leave in Germany and was operating from his residence in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

His remote working scenario led to a political crisis in Ondo — one that pitted Akeredolu’s loyalists against his deputy.

There were also attempts to impeach the deputy governor before and after Akeredolu’s return to Nigeria.

On November 24, President Bola Tinubu waded into the the Cold war and rift between Akeredolu and Aiyedatiwa.

On November 28, Olamide Oladiji, speaker of the Ondo house of assembly, asked Aiyedatiwa to sign an undated letter of resignation as a pre-condition for a transfer of power to him.

There have also been allegations of Akeredolu’s signature being forged on official documents as the governor continued to work from Ibadan.

Akeredolu immediately refuted  the allegations.

The Cable

Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Aketi), passed away in the early hours of Wednesday in a German hospital after several months of battle with leukemia and prostrate cancer.

His death came at a time when hope rose for an improved medical situation.

Akeredolu, 67, was born on 21 July, 1957 in Owo to J. Ola Akeredolu of the Akeredolu family in Owo and Grace Akeredolu of Aderoyiju family of Igbotu, Ese Odo, Ondo State.

Akeredolu attended Aquinas College, Akure, Loyola College, Ibadan, Oyo State, and Comprehensive High School, Ayetoro, in Ogun State for his secondary and Higher School Education.

He also attended the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) to study law and he graduated in 1977.

He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978 and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) 20 years later. He was elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in 2008.

His leadership of the NBA was marked by vibrancy and activism. He was not only forthright, he was also sensitive to human rights abuses.

Aketi’s approach to governance and his commitment to the protection of the interest of the people made him one who could speak to power without fear or doubts. He was dogged in his political pursuit, not for self service, but for good governance.

Akeredolu was popular with his call for the transfer of power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan in 2009 during the crisis arising from the ailment of late President Umar Yar’Adua.

Akeredolu was the the NBA President and was noted to have repeatedly called on the President to resign since he could not longer continue his responsibilities as President.

Ironically, his words calling for the hand over of power to Jonathan given the incapacitation of President Yar’Adua, was deployed by the opposition in calling on him to hand over power to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, in the closing days of his battle with his ailment.

Politics

Akeredolu’s foray into active politics began when he was appointed Attorney General of Ondo State between 1997 and 1999, before he became Chairman of the the Legal Aid Council where he served between 2005 and 2006.

He contested the governorship election in Ondo State in 2012 on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN). That election returned Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party, for a second term in office.

Akeredolu was offered the ticket to run for governor in the 2016 governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. He won and became the governor of the state. He was fortunate to be returned for a second term in 2020, the tenure he could not complete due to his demise.

Political Activism

Akeredolu was one governor who did not mince words in faulting the current political and economic structure of the Nigerian Federation. His call for restructuring was seen as daring, which was not popular with most leaders within the APC.

“The need for restructuring has become undeniable. The federal government must relinquish its excessive control over the sub-national entities. It is imperative that security is decentralised to the states. There is no better time than now for the establishment of state police,” Akeredolu restated in June this year while marking the June 12 Celebrations.

Akeredolu did not only mouth the call, he activated it and made efforts to demonstrate the fact that devolving powers to states could ensure a better, richer and safer Nigerian society.

He rallied other states in the South-west to creat the Western Nigerian Security Network now known as Amotekun. This development was in the face of stringent opposition, especially from the northern axis.

Ondo State under Aketi witnessed an effective implementation of the security policy, largely checking the malady of herdsmen and farmers clashes.

Herders and their masters were forced to comply with the laws regulating grazing with Amotekun empowered to enforce the law to the letter. This legacy will not be forgotten by farmers who had continued to rely on the security outfit to help tame the marauding herdsmen.

Amotekun has also recorded significant achievements in the fight against kidnapping in Ondo State. several persons had been arrested and prosecuted for kidnapping and its response to distress calls have also been noted and commended.

Akeredolu’s cry to the Federal Government to allow the outfit handle automatic weapons to enable it tackle violent crimes has yet to be heeded and it was one of his aspirations before he breathed his last.

His leadership of the South-west Governor’s Forum gave a bite to the development drive of leaders of the region. The DAWN Commission received a boost and development plan for the region was begining to gain more attention.

Governance

When he first arrived the Alagbaka Government House, Akeredolu inherited a huge backlog of salary arrears. His predecessor ran into a serious problem of financial crisis when revenues from the Federation account dwindled.

However through frugal management of the state funds, Aketi managed to pay off the debts and ensured salaries were paid promptly to state workers.

Even the opposition could not fault him on his approach to prudent management of resources. Projects were gradually, duly executed across the state.

His approach to the retention of policies inherited from his predecessor was realistic. Akeredolu would not continue what he could not sustain. One of such examples is the free shuttle buses for students, which had to be ended due to its growing burden on the government. It was however reintroduced as palliatives following the removal of fuel subsidy.

Political battles

Aketi was a dogged fighter and would not be intimidated by any political figure if his convictions were challenged.

While he sought the ticket to run for governor in 2016, he had to contend with strong political forces following the controversies that attended the governorship primaries.

Olusola Oke, who was aggrieved at the outcome of the primaries, defected to the Alliance for Democracy and was rumoured to have received the blessing of Bola Tinubu, who was then the national leader of the APC.

The APC membership was torn between Akeredolu and Oke. Akeredolu eventually won the election, and after time went by, the animosity died down and Oke and his supporters returned to the party.

Akeredolu also had to grapple with his deputy, Agboola Ajayi, who wanted to replace him while he sought for a second term in office.

Ajayi eventually survived impeachment and went ahead to contest against Aketi on the platform of Zenith Labour Party. Aketi defeated him and the PDP candidate, Eyitayo Jegede to return to office.

His last battle with his deputy was clouded and hazy as his illness took a strong hold on him. It remains a mystery if Akeredolu actually moved against his deputy or the uproar was a product of the machinations of the “cabal.”

Former president, Muhammadu Buhari, in October 2022, conferred on Akeredolu the Nigerian national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), an honour well deserved of a man who came, fought and conquered.

PT

Nigeria Labour Congress on Wednesday mourned the death of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba.

The late lawmaker, born on September 27, 1958, died in Abuja Wednesday morning.

According to family sources, the former Speaker of the lower house battled with an ailment for a long time before passing away.

The congress in a statement signed by its National President, Joe Ajaero, said Na’Abba will be remembered for his principled stance on national issues, asserting the independence of the Legislature, building strong institutions and championing the cause and course of our nascent democracy at great a cost to his person and office.

This was just as it noted that the late lawmaker will be remembered for his role in truncating the third-term agenda of individuals it described as “formidable anti-democratic forces.”

The statement read, “In particular, Na’Abba will be remembered for his heroic role in thwarting the third-term agenda of the then formidable anti-democratic forces.

“He paid dearly for his role and was not allowed to return to the parliament ever since but he lost nothing of his national status or relevance.

“But beyond thwarting the third term agenda, Na’Abba is on record to have repeatedly held the executive accountable for their actions almost culminating in the impeachment of the President.

“We at the Congress mourn this fine gentleman, principled politician and one of the greatest heroes of our democracy. Our condolences go to his family, his political associates and the leadership of the National Assembly.”

Na’Abba joined the Peoples Democratic Party, and became the party’s candidate for Kano Municipal Federal Constituency, a position he won during the April 1999 general elections.

He subsequently emerged as Speaker of the House of Representatives after the political crisis that led to the exit of the first Speaker of the Fourth Republic, Salisu Buhari.

Punch

On foot and by donkey cart, thousands flee widening Israeli assault in central Gaza

Thousands of Palestinian families fled Wednesday from the brunt of Israel’s expanding ground offensive into Gaza’s few remaining, overcrowded refuges, as the military launched heavy strikes across the center and south of the territory, killing dozens, Palestinian health officials said.

On foot or riding donkey carts loaded with belongings, a stream of people flowed into Deir al-Balah — a town that normally has a population of around 75,000. It has been overwhelmed by several hundred thousand people driven from northern Gaza as the region was pounded to rubble.

Because U.N. shelters are packed many times over capacity, the new arrivals set up tents on sidewalks for the cold winter night. Most crowded onto streets around the town’s main hospital, Al-Aqsa Martyrs, hoping it would be safer from Israeli strikes.

Still, no place is safe in Gaza. Israeli offensives are crowding most of the population into Deir al-Balah and Rafah at the territory’s southern edge as well as a tiny rural area by the southern coastline. Those areas continue to be hit by Israeli strikes that regularly crush homes full of people.

Israel has said its campaign in Gaza is likely to last for months, vowing to dismantle Hamas across the territory and prevent a repeat of its Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Benny Gantz, a member of the country’s three-man War Cabinet, said the fighting ”will be expanded, according to need, to additional centers and additional fronts.”

He and other Israeli officials also threatened greater military action against Lebanon’s Hezbollah, hiking fears of an all-out war on that front.

The two sides have exchanged fire almost daily across the border. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Wednesday that “all options are on the table” if Hezbollah does not withdraw from the border area, as called for under a 2006 U.N. cease-fire.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah “must understand that he’s next,” Cohen said.

DEATH, DISPLACEMENT AND STARVATION

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has already been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history. More than 21,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The count doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Some 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have fled their homes. U.N. officials say a quarter of Gaza’s population is starving under Israel’s siege, which allows in only a trickle of food, water, fuel and other supplies.

The latest people to be displaced fled from several built-up refugee camps in central Gaza targeted in the latest phase of Israel’s ground assault. One of the camps, Bureij, came under heavy bombardment throughout the night as Israeli troops moved in.

“It was a night of hell. We haven’t seen such bombing since the start of the war,” said Rami Abu Mosab, speaking from Bureij, where he has sheltered since fleeing his home in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for Bureij and neighboring areas Tuesday. The area was home to nearly 90,000 people before the war and now shelters more than 61,000 displaced people, mostly from the north, according to the U.N. Bureij camp, like others in Gaza, houses refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants and now resembles other densely populated neighborhoods.

It was not known how many were evacuating. In Deir al-Balah over the past two days, empty lots have filled up with families in tents or sleeping on blankets on the ground.

This was the third move further south for Ibrahim al-Zatari, a daily laborer. First he, his wife and four children moved in with relatives in Gaza City after a strike flattened their home in northern Gaza. Later, they fled to Bureij to escape fighting in the city. On Wednesday morning, they made an hourslong journey on foot to Deir al-Balah, where — like many others — they wandered the streets looking for an empty spot to lie down.

“There is no foothold here,” he said. “Where should we go?”

With much of northern Gaza leveled, Palestinians fear a similar fate awaits other areas, including Khan Younis, where Israeli forces launched ground operations in early December. The Israeli military said Wednesday it deployed another brigade in the city, a sign of the tough fighting.

Israeli shelling Wednesday struck a residential building in Khan Younis next to Al-Amal Hospital, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which runs the facility.

Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said at least 20 people were killed and dozens more wounded. Footage from the scene showed several torn bodies lying in the street as rescue workers loaded a man whose legs had been severed onto a stretcher.

Despite U.S. calls for Israel to shift to a more precise assault, the military so far appears to be following the same pattern used in earlier phases of the ground offensive in northern Gaza and Khan Younis. Before troops move in, heavy bombardment targets what Israel says is Hamas’ tunnels and military infrastructure. Fierce urban fighting follows as troops move block to block, backed by airstrikes and shelling that the military says aim to force out pockets of militants. The resulting devastation has been massive.

Israel has said Hamas must be destroyed after its attacks on Israel killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted around 240. An estimated 129 remain in captivity after dozens were freed.

Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll in Gaza because the militants operate in residential areas. Late Wednesday, the army said it destroyed a network of tunnels that stretched for several kilometers in Gaza City and served as a command and control center. Part of it ran under a hospital and had an exit inside a neighboring school, it said.

The military says it has killed thousands of militants, without presenting evidence, and that 164 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive.

WARNING OVER LEBANON

Cross-border exchanges of fire have escalated between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

An Israeli strike on a family home in Lebanon overnight killed a Hezbollah fighter, his brother and his sister-in-law, local officials and state media said Wednesday. A day earlier, a Hezbollah strike wounded 11 people in northern Israel.

Since the Gaza war began, the near daily battles have forced tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate their homes from nearby communities. At least nine soldiers and four civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, and around 150 people on the Lebanese side, mostly fighters from Hezbollah and other groups, but also 17 civilians.

Gantz warned that time for diplomatic pressure was “running out.”

“If the world and the Lebanese government will not act to stop the firing on the northern settlements and keep Hezbollah away from the border, the IDF will do so,” he said, referring to the Israeli military.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed at least six Palestinians during an overnight raid in the refugee neighborhood of Nur Shams, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war, mostly in confrontations with Israeli forces during raids and protests.

AP