By Tony Erha

Everywhere in the world, guns and guns run and ruin the affairs of men. It’s such unenviable era, where sacred human lives have become worthless. An anomie void of human feelings. Man’s inhumanity to man is an escalating order, where warfare, dangerous partisan politics, religious crises, militancy, robbery, kidnapping, economic sabotage and other criminality breed excessive human killings, maiming, arson etc. Nigeria, African’s thrust, is so ‘lucky’ to have more than a fair share of the attendant insecurity, as she ‘competes’ for the gold-medal spoil in Africa. Suffice that the most populous black African nation, is a runner-up to the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC), in the insecurity rating, according to the Africa Organised Crime Index of 2023.

In Nigeria, prided African giant and engine-room of the continent, gun and its debilitating components are a blight which puts the country and her people on the heat. Although ‘light arms’ are officially endorsed to be used in the public space, but its proliferated acquisitions and usage, have altogether become huge and forms a lethal threat to the society. Whereas the Boko Haram and its associated multinational armed groups are on the offensive, rebellious and succession militancy, ethnicity and religious crises have worsened the nation’s escalating insecurity.

Gravely, a certain ethnic minority tends to be the most that is at war with the rest tribes of the country, who are in the majority. Over the years, this minority group, aided by their nomadic herders and the terrorists, pill up light arms and others weapons of mass destruction against the Nigerian state. And they have overwhelmed the nation with their widespread and brazen attacks, causing high death tolls and destabilisation. It gives a rise to camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) established countrywide. Their daring attacks and a shoddy fight against them, have not only caused government perceptive integrity loss, but also of the souls of its numerous security operatives and resources ordinarily meant for the growing need of the public.

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The merchants of death have obviously cashed in on the fear factor of ‘gun’ to wage protracted wars on the rest on the people. Their miscalculation is that it is they alone, who have the monopoly of causing fear, using the gun and its complementary weapons of death. Indeed, the Boko Haram and their accomplices in the ‘terrorism business’ parade before all sophisticated weapons, which the Nigerian security operatives barely have. The conspiracy theory is that some foreign powers are fingered as aiding the terrorists to destabilise the country.

It’s so obvious that the relentless attackers are motivated by the complex narrative that “Authority lies in that man who wields the barrel of the gun”. This is a similitude to the marbled words of Mao Zedong, the late Marxist and theorist, whose founding of the People’s Republic of China, and as Chairman of the oriental land was by gun and duress.

Like Mao Zedong, Poke Toholo, a Semiliole Indian protagonist of the James Hadley Chase thrilling fiction, Want to Stay Alive?, also gave his own theory that; “Fear is the key that opens the wallets of the rich”. “I have found the formula for fear”, boasted Toholo, whose assassination gambit and financial exploitation of his willy-nilly human targets had temporarily validated his theory, until another fearless man told Toholo to ‘go to hell’.

Being a man who once hunted animals for survival, with the Dane and double-barrel guns, I do not need to be told how very powerful the gun can be. With a single shot in the wild all were bound to obey. From the extroverted tweeting birds on the arboreals to the noisy terrestrial animals, including the ants, that are instantly scared to a standstill and muteness, the gun is the beginning of wisdom. Even the ghost-trees and the wind will pays homage to the gun as they amplify the wild with echoes of its shots!

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The world, Nigeria inclusive, has turned a killing field of human lives, by the gun, the gunpowder and its derivatives. That is where the aforesaid Chairman Mao Zedong’s China gets implicated for inventing the gunpowder in the 9th century, just as Alfred Noble wouldn’t be ‘ennobled’ for similarly creating the dynamite and explosives and assorted guns, which champion today’s warfare, killings and maiming in larger scales. Where face-to-face or conventional warfare of infantry and weaponry, have ceased to be the vogue, long range missiles is the in-thing, where wars are fought far-off or remotely, by mere pressing of the buttons. No thanks to the perilous creativity by the Chinese and Alfred Noble, without which our world would have been safer. Nevertheless, this isn’t to entirely blacklist a civilisation, where the invention of the gunpowder and its accessories have immensely contributed meaningfully to its leaps, more so that the gunpowder has other important uses that have hastened industrial and human advancements.

Penitently, Alfred Noble (1833-1896), the Swedish chemist, inventor and businessman, by creating dynamite, explosives and manufacturing of guns for sales and human destruction, that have been de-emphasised. The disasters associated with his inventions, later brought about today’s Noble Prize awards, which discourage the use of his deadly creations and others to harm humankind. In his demise, scandals had spread over his name, when a daring journalist vaguely regarded him and his inventions as “merchant of death’.

Unfortunately, Nigeria, a hitherto peaceful country that became more proned to internal crises, which now redifines earns her ‘a brigandage culture’, evidently accuse her security apparatus as an aggravator of the security lapses. It thereby runs true to the sarcasm of the late General Salisu Ibrahim of “an army of anything goes”, where serving army chiefs have severally corroborated the sabotage within its ranks and files, in the fight against terrorism and militancy.

Also, Dauda Lawal, governor of Nigeria’s Zamfara State, once lamented that despite procuring 150 vehicles for security agencies in Zamfara, he had no control over their deployment, since directives must come from a distant Abuja, that is less perturbed about the insecurity upsurge in the Nigerian border state.

But there are exceptions to the sabotage by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Maj. General Christopher Musa and Mr. Adeola Ajayi, National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff and Director General of the Department of State Services, respectively, who are currently undetterred at the onslaughts, which turn the table against terrorism and banditary. As the insecurity blight is ordinarily fought by all and sundry, the efforts by the aforementioned three, is invitational to the public to brace up and fight the insecurity scourge, in the same manner an intrepid man had told the ravaging assassin, Poke Toholo, to ‘go to hell’

Tony Erha

Ossiomo Power Plant has restored power to its customers after barely two weeks of blackout. The Guardian, however, learnt that the restoration covers not all customers but those on the Sapele Road axis of Benin and most especially customers on the power plant’s 33kva.

Ossiomo, an independent power generation and distribution firm was floated in 2020 under the previous government in the state to break the monopoly of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC). It generates 95MW of electricity which it supplies to government buildings, Edo State Government House, Edo NUJ secretariat, private organisations, streetlights, among others.

The power plant, however, went off September 1, 2025, due to ownership tussle between the Nigeria partners —Ossiomo— and its Chinese partners —Jiangsu Communication Clean Energy Technology (CCETC). CCETC said “instruction to shutdown was because we lost lots of money and did not get any return on investment,” adding that “all the $20m investment was done by us including the distribution lines.”

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The Nigeria partners —Ossiomo, however, refuted their claims, alleging that the Chinese partners, having seen how lucrative the business is, “went to some quarters and raised some issues probably thinking they can manoeuvre us with the help of some big persons, so that they can use their machines to generate power and sideline us but this is not possible.”

Apologising to customers during an interactive session with journalists and customers, weekend, representatives of the management of Ossiomo, Engr. Festus Evbuomwan, while emphasising that all their Chinese partners’ claims were false, said the management was not aware of the $20m investment the Chinese partner claimed, adding: “when they generate power, we sell and pay them, so I don’t know at what point we owe them.”

He added: “They have been also saying that they have not been receiving anything, but I want to tell you unequivocally that first, the partners run a joint account where their investment is going into. More so, The Chinese partners have received over ₦2bn so far for the power they generate with their machines. When they generate the power, we sell and pay them.”

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According to him, trouble started when several attempts to sideline Ossiomo by the Chinese partners failed. He added that they (Chinese partners) then came up with a request of payment of ₦185m to two Chinese staff not known to the management. He said Ossiomo management resisted payment to this ghost staff, and this led to the Chinese partners shutting down the plant totally on September 1, 2025.

Evbuomwan, who said Ossiomo has procured its own turbines and has started power generation and distribution, explained further, “We have purchased turbines, and one has started working. They are working on the second one, so, by the time our five turbines start working we will be in full capacity. Even with that, those connected to the government line may not be reached immediately. This is because the government bought the poles and contracted the wiring, and we cannot force the government to do our bid. Also, we are making efforts to site 33kva transformer along Airport Road and Lagos Road as soon as possible, so that our customers there will get power.”

Evbuomwan, while urging the “government to encourage the Nigerian citizens to invest and not to work against local investors,” added: “I must again, at this juncture, make it clear that the Edo State government does not have a stake in the company.”

He used the opportunity to appeal to the “government to let us supply power to customers through their Lines. I want to emphasise that Ossiomo is not completely shut down.”

Operative of the Edo State Police Command has rescued a kidnap victim, Elohor Osifoh, who was abducted on September 10. 2025.

This was contained in a statement issued by the command’s spokesperson, Moses Yamu, and made available to newsmen in Benin on Sunday.

Yamu in the statement disclosed that operatives of the command also foiled abduction of three others who were traveling to Akwa Ibom through the state.

The statement reads, “In the early hours of 13th September 2025, at about 02:30hrs, operatives of the Okada Division led by CSP Opatoyinbo John, while on a routine patrol at Morgan and Isiuwa slope along the Benin–Lagos expressway, responded swiftly to a distress call regarding a kidnapping attempt.

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“Armed hoodlums had barricaded the highway with woods and opened sporadic gunfire in an attempt to intercept and abduct the occupants of a Toyota Sienna vehicle with registration number KUJ 342 CU (Abuja).

“The vehicle, driven by one Nana Aghogho ‘M’, aged 51 years, was conveying fingerling fish from Lagos State to Akwa Ibom State with two passengers on board.

“On sighting the gunmen, the operatives engaged them in a fierce exchange of fire, forcing the hoodlums to abandon their criminal mission and flee into the nearby bush. The driver and his two passengers, Oseghale Mathias ‘M’ (40yrs) and John Edobor ‘M’ (24yrs), were rescued unhurt.

“The barricades placed by the hoodlums were immediately cleared, thereby restoring free flow of traffic and ensuring the safety of other road users.

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“In a related development, operatives of the Ekpoma Divisional Headquarters led by SP Nelson Igbinoba today rescued and reunited with the family, a female victim Elohor Osifoh earlier kidnapped on 10th September, 2025 after days of relentless bush combing rescue operation.”

Yamu stated that the Commissioner of Police Monday Agbonika, commended the gallantry and prompt response of the operatives, while assuring members of the public of the Command’s resilience and commitment to rid the state of criminal elements.

He said the CP further urged road users to remain vigilant and report suspicious movements to the nearest police formation for swift action.