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Ndiomu Launches PAP Cooperative Society Limited

…Ex-agitators hail initiative, urge Tinubu to retain him
The Interim Administrator (IA) of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major-General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retired) on Wednesday launched the PAP Cooperative Society Limited (PAPCOSOL).
PAPCOSOL is a duly registered limited liability company aimed at creating sustainable livelihoods for Niger Delta ex-agitators and make delegates self-reliant contributors to the national economy.
The launching and presentation of PAPCOSOL’s Certificate of Registration, held at the Conference Room of the PAP Headquarters in Abuja, was witnessed by the leaders of ex-agitators and delegates; members of the Advisory Board of PAPCOSOL; management and staff of PAP, as well as the media.
Apart from the Chairman of the Advisory Board, His Royal Majesty (Dr.) Francis Tabai, a retired Honourable Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, who formally but gleefully received the registration certificate from Ndiomu on behalf of the board, other members of the board include Brigadier-General Emmanuel Salubi (retired) and Comrade Joseph Eva, a Niger Delta social and environmental activist.
Explaining the objectives and how the legacy project of his administration would change the socio-economic narrative of the Niger Delta, Ndiomu said it would adopt a private sector-driven approach.
“Our unique approach is designed to develop businesses that align with the motivations of beneficiaries, give them access to the market, access to credit and other technical and human resources that will help lead their lives and that of their communities into prosperity.
READ ALSO: INC, IYC, Ann Kio-Briggs Applaud Ndiomu For Creating Cooperatives To Empower Ex-agitators
“In practical reality, through the initiative of a Cooperative Society, PAP under this dispensation aims to identify and build the capacity of beneficiaries to participate in market system opportunities; enable beneficiaries to find ease in doing business; locate high performing markets and facilitate sustainable connections with stakeholders such as farmers, processors or manufacturers and other market players; the initiative would also create opportunities for beneficiaries to build additional and sustainable means of livelihoods in agriculture, renewable energy, health and technology as well as facilitate meaningful networks with development partners that will further empower the cooperative scheme with funding and technical partnerships,” he said.
Ndiomu stated that at this take-off stage, priority focus would be given to agriculture and manufacturing value chain sectors, such as rice plantation and processing, with consideration to other sectors under medium and long-term plans.
He disclosed that the cooperative initiative has a take-off sum of N1.5 billion deposited with the Providus Bank, that can immediately be accessed by beneficiaries.
He added that additional N500 million will be provided monthly.
He further revealed ongoing engagements with funding authorities such as: the European Union (EU), the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the NEXIM Bank for possibility of pooling more funds to the cooperative scheme.
Ndiomu said: “Over the years, the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), has implemented various reintegration initiatives broadly built around training and empowerment/employment of beneficiaries but with less than stellar results.
“This has led many to question the Programme design and management despite the best efforts of previous administrations.
READ ALSO: Amnesty Programme Remains Critical To Mitigating Conflicts In The Niger Delta Region – Ndiomu
“The continued dependence of beneficiaries on monthly stipends has only served to underscore these widely held assertions. This has given cause for a new thinking that would better position PAP to more surely achieve its Reintegration mandate.”
“The Presidential Amnesty Programme (Beneficiaries) Cooperative Society Limited (PAPCOSOL) is the novel alternative economic development scheme designed to create a more viable means of livelihood for ex-agitators with socio-economic development of their communities and the Niger Delta region in general as an intended consequence and this is considered the most practicable approach in ensuring the sustainable reintegration of PAP ex-agitators.
“It is owned and managed by PAP, with its headquarters domiciled in the Programme’s Office in Abuja. In addition, the cooperative already boasts of some presence in some states in the Niger Delta—which serve as branch offices to best reach the target beneficiaries.”
Ndiomu further stated, “As conceptualized, PAPCOSOL will be closely supervised by the Office of the Interim Administrator of PAP—being its key administrative and strategic guide. The Advisory Board consists of top professionals drawn from various fields and industries and is being headed by HRM (Dr) Justice F. F. Tabai, CON, JSC (retired).
“Project consultants who will handle the technical deliverables and business development processes have been identified and engaged. Representatives of different phases of ex-agitators hold the base to the cooperative.”
The Cooperative is expected to work with beneficiaries of PAP to identify businesses that align with their skill areas or set-ups and turn such process into profitable ventures; provide technical and development support to beneficiaries to enable them own and manage business ventures; create employment opportunities to boost economic growth in the Niger Delta through: identification of business opportunities in respective localities, building beneficiaries’ entrepreneurial capacity for sustaining of business operations, provision of market and industry opportunities, attraction of development and funding support partners, access to grants and credits, and enabling market offering in consumer and global markets.
In his remark, the Advisory Board Chair, Justice Tabai said, “The Presidential Amnesty Programme has been going for many years now. But within a short time of your coming, you have done this. The first and last duty of a responsible human being is service. Thank you.”
READ ALSO: Ndiomu Visits NIMASA DG, Seeks Opportunities For Youths In Maritime Industry
Earlier in an address, SA Special Duties, who was team lead in midwifing PAP Cooperative Society, Mr. Thomas Peretu, said the birth of PAPCOSOL signifies the reality of Ndiomu’s vision and the beginning of a transformation of the lives of all ex-agitators.
Peretu said, “We are here to celebrate this unfolding history because one man believed something can be done to better the lots of our people. That person is Major-General Barry Tariye Ndiomu. I call him the avatar of change; the chief servant of the people of Niger Delta region.
“But everyone gathered here in this small hall is part of history because, when the delegates begin to reap the fruits of this labour in the days ahead, you should be able to say: I was part of that history.”
Also speaking, Henry Binidodogha, alias Egbema 1, a leader of Phase One, said ex-agitators have come a long way from the very beginning of Amnesty Programme. “Most of us have been worried over how we can survive with our families. So, for the Interim Administrator of Amnesty Programme to come up with this cooperative initiative, we all support it so that we can be able to achieve our goals in the Niger Delta,” he concluded.
He promised to convince other ex-agitators to support Ndiomu.
Similarly, ex-agitator and chairman of PAP Strategic Communication Committee (STRATCOM), Mr. Nature Dumale Kieghe, said he was convinced that the creation of a cooperative society for ex-agitators would change the old narrative in the Niger Delta and that the “N65,000 stipend is not sustainable. It is better for us to have something that can sustain us. We are also confident that the board that is going to manage this cooperative scheme is made up of people that have integrity and probity.”
In their separate remarks, Hon. Enekiyo Felix Bonny Ayah, a serving and re-elected legislator of Bayelsa State House of Assembly representing Southern Ijaw Constituency 1, called on the incoming government to retain Ndiomu for him to continue his good work at the PAP.
“This is what we have been saying. That someone with a heart for development should be in charge of this Programme” while Mr. Richard Akinaka also lauded Ndiomu for the cooperative initiative.
Other ex-agitators at the launching include: Tonye Gabriel Bobo, Ellington Bakumor, Fayeofori Ngiangia, Adokiye Sami, Selepere Kalabiri, Chief Falaki, and Ifiemi Ebite, all leaders of ex-agitators.
News
[OPINION] Rivers: The Futility Of Power And The Illusion Of Victory

By Israel Adebiyi
Power is a strange thing. To some, it is a crown that dazzles; to others, it is a sword that conquers. Yet history, both ancient and modern, is replete with reminders that power is fleeting, fragile, and often fatal to those who cling to it without wisdom. Nigeria’s Rivers State has, in recent months, provided a theatre where this truth has played out in its rawest form, a play in which the actors ranged from elected governors to godfathers in high places, from lawmakers turned pawns to a weary citizenry who bore the bruises of political combat.
As you may have learnt, the democratically elected Governor Siminalayi Fubara is back in the saddle. What a traumatising six months it must have been for the man who thought being the Chief Security Officer of his state truly makes him the man in charge. What a tormenting time it must have been for the legislature, those who, entrusted with making laws, would rather sink the ship of state than allow Fubara to sail. And what excruciating experience it must have been for the people of Rivers themselves: to have their choice nearly swapped for a civilian in khaki, to watch their lives held hostage by political gladiators in a power struggle that never had their welfare at heart.
At the centre of this drama stood the godfather, one who straddles Abuja and Port Harcourt, ministering to the Federal Capital Territory while seeking to lord it over Rivers, unchallenged. His triumphs and setbacks are well-documented, but the bigger question remains: what has the political elite learnt from all this? From potential godsons, to godfathers, to supporters, to the rest of us, the truth is painfully clear, no one wins in a state of anarchy, not even the chest-beating King Kong.
The Rivers imbroglio reinforces a timeless principle: governance does not happen in chaos. The seat of power may be occupied, but when the instruments of state are weaponised against one another, the business of the people suffers. Schools do not function, hospitals languish, investments are scared away, and trust in government crumbles. A peaceful atmosphere is the precondition for governance, for no policy, no matter how well-crafted, can thrive in the soil of instability.
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In this sense, what happened in Rivers is not new. History shows us that the vanity of power games leaves behind a trail of ruins. Rome, mighty and invincible, crumbled not because its armies lost their strength but because its leaders indulged in intrigues, conspiracies, and betrayal, weakening the republic from within. In Africa, the ghosts of Liberia’s civil war and Sierra Leone’s dark decade still whisper lessons of how political egos, once unchecked, descend into rivers of blood where the people are the ultimate casualties.
Even in more stable democracies, we see shades of this futility. Recall the Watergate scandal in the United States: an overreach of power that forced President Nixon’s resignation, not because America lacked laws, but because one man believed his political survival was above the rule of law. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe’s prolonged hold on power may have begun with promises of liberation but ended with economic collapse and national despair. In all these, the lesson is the same: unchecked power, exercised without restraint, consumes itself.
The real victims of Rivers’ crisis are not the gladiators in high office; they will always find soft landings. The true casualties are the people, the market woman in Port Harcourt whose business was disrupted by endless protests and palpable fears, the civil servant whose progress and commitment are beclouded by uncertainties, the student whose classroom leaks under the rain because the funds for renovation are trapped in political crossfire.
What is often forgotten in the heat of power play is that governance is not an abstract exercise; it is the daily bread of the people. When leaders quarrel, roads go untarred, hospitals go unequipped, and children go unfed. To reduce governance to a chessboard of egos is to mortgage the people’s welfare for vanity. This, tragically, is the recurring story in Nigeria’s democratic experiment.
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Philosophers have long wrestled with the meaning of power. Shakespeare, in Macbeth, captured it as “a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” The story of Rivers is a fresh Nigerian adaptation of this drama. For months, power appeared to belong to one, then another, and then another still. Yet in the end, it was revealed that no one truly wielded power in its purest sense, because power without legitimacy, without the consent of the governed, and without the peace to implement vision, is no power at all.
The futility of the Rivers crisis holds lessons for Nigeria as a whole. Across our federation, godfatherism continues to haunt governance. From Lagos to Kano, from Anambra to Oyo, the tussle between political benefactors and their protégés has become a recurring decimal. Rarely do these battles end in progress for the people; more often than not, they end in paralysis.
The comparison need not be far-fetched. Look at Kenya, where post-election violence in 2007 consumed more than 1,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands. The fault line was political ego, the refusal to let the people’s will stand unchallenged. It took the Kofi Annan-led mediation to restore peace. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, decades of instability trace back to leaders who personalised power, treating the state as property and the people as pawns.
Rivers may not have descended into outright war, but the undertones of instability remind us that democracy is not guaranteed; it must be guarded. When politicians play roulette with the rule of law, they court a descent into chaos that ultimately swallows everyone.
The Rivers episode should compel us to reflect on the foundations of Nigeria’s democracy. For too long, politics has been driven not by institutions but by personalities. Our allegiance is more to godfathers than to constitutions, more to individuals than to principles. Yet sustainable governance is only possible when the rule of law, not the whims of men, governs the game.
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What does this mean in practice? It means state assemblies must not be reduced to errand boys of powerful interests. It means governors must respect their oaths of office, governing for all, not just for loyalists. It means party structures must operate with transparency, giving room for dissent without retribution. Above all, it means citizens must rise in defence of their democracy, insisting that their mandate cannot be traded on the altar of ego.
The Rivers drama may be easing, but the scars remain. It was a sobering reminder that power, when divorced from service, becomes poison. That democracy, when stripped of rule of law, becomes anarchy. That in the final analysis, no one truly wins when the people lose.
From the godfathers to the godsons, from the lawmakers to the electorate, we must all acknowledge a shared truth: we are losers when power games eclipse governance. The real triumph is not in who sits in Government House, but in whether that House delivers schools, hospitals, jobs, and peace.
Let Rivers be a lesson to Nigeria: that power is not an end in itself, but a means to service. That peace is not weakness, but strength. And that the greatest legacy any leader can leave is not monuments of ego, but institutions that outlast them.
For if Rivers has taught us anything, it is that governance cannot happen in a state of anarchy, and the futility of power is revealed when its pursuit leaves the people broken. Let us, therefore, rise to build a democracy where power serves the people, not the other way round.
News
NYSC Deploys 1,900 Corps Members To Bauchi State

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has deployed 1,900 corps members to Bauchi State for the 2025 Batch ‘B’ Stream II orientation exercise.
Mr Kufre Umoren, NYSC State Coordinator, told journalists on Tuesday in Bauchi, that registration would be conducted from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26, at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Wailo in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of the state.
He said the swearing-in ceremony of the corps members is billed for Sept. 26, and the orientation exercise would end on Oct. 14.
READ ALSO:NYSC Pays Arrears After Two-month Break
Umoren said each of the corps members would be allowed into the camp after being adequately certified to be genuine graduates.
He said discreet screening of the corps members would be conducted to guard against intrusion or impersonation.
“Registration dates have been announced to the corps members, and they are advised to adhere strictly to all camp rules and regulations.
READ ALSO:Release Corps Member’s Discharge Certificate, Falana Tells NYSC
“Defaulters will be sanctioned in accordance with the scheme’s extant rules,” he said, warning the scheme frowned at late-night journeys and urged corps members to avoid it for their own safety.
While urging them to be punctual, diligent, and comply with dress code, Umoren warned that defaulting corps members would be sanctioned.
News
Ife Not Origin Of Yoruba Race, Says Oluwo

The Oluwo of Iwo in Osun State, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, has disputed the claim that Ile-Ife is the origin of the Yoruba race.
The royal father said the culture of the race is not in the ancient town of Ife, long noted as the origin of the Yoruba people.
Oluwo, who made this known in a video shared on his Facebook page on Tuesday, spoke in his palace while bestowing a chieftaincy title on one of his subjects.
Flanked by his Chiefs, Oluwo said Ife was not the origin of the Yoruba race, adding that people were living in the town before Oduduwa conquered the city and became its ruler.
He said the language spoken in ancient Ife was not the same as the common Yoruba language, restating his readiness to bring back the correct historical accounts of the Yoruba race.
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“Ife is not the origin of the Yoruba race. Those people don’t speak our language. Their language is different. They refer to God as Eledumare, and there is nothing like Eledumare in the Yoruba language. What we have is Olodumare.
“Ife people will always say Olofin, and if you ask them what the meaning is, they will tell you it means the owner of the palace, and what that means in Yoruba is ‘Alaafin’. Ile-Ife has no Yoruba culture.
“I am the ‘Arole Olodumare because I am here to tell you the true history. Iwo is where you can get the real history that was not even documented.
“Whatever I am telling you now, you must keep it because death can come anytime. I am not scared of death because it is inevitable,” Oluwo said in the Yoruba language.
READ ALSO:OPINION: Oluwo And The Glorification Of Ignorance (1)
The origin of the word ‘Yoruba’ often leads to controversy. The most recent one being the face-off involving the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi and Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, over a Chieftaincy title of Okanlomo of Yorubaland, allegedly bestowed on Ibadan-based businessman, Chief Dotun Sanusi by Ooni.
The PUNCH reports in August that the Ooni had bestowed the title on Sanusi during the unveiling of 2geda, an indigenous social media and business networking platform, at Ilaji Hotel, Ibadan.
But in a statement signed by his media aide, Bode Durojaiye, the Alaafin declared that no traditional ruler other than him has the authority to confer a title covering the entire Yorubaland. He issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Ooni to revoke the title or “face the consequences.”
READ ALSO:Why I’m Yet To Visit Ooni Of Ife — Alaafin Of Oyo
Reacting to Alaafin’s ultimatum, the Ooni’s spokesperson, Moses Olafare, said the monarch had directed him to ignore the Alaafin’s outburst and leave the matter “in the court of public opinion.”
“We can not dignify the ‘undignifyable’ with an official response. We leave the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion, as it is already being treated.
“Let’s rather focus on narratives that unite us rather than the ones capable of dividing us. No press release, please. 48 hours my foot!” he wrote on his Facebook page.
(PUNCH)
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