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OPINION: 27 Lives ÷ 10 Minutes

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By Lasisi Olagunju

“They chased us away from our farms. We thought it would soon be over. Now, they have also chased us away from our homes, from our businesses. Can you see? Ehn. Can you see? Can you see? Houses locked. Nobody. Oro-Ago District, Oke Oyan, Kajola—everywhere. This is how they are deserted now. It is a very pathetic situation.”

I heard the above in a five-minute, forty-six-second video —a save-our-soul message soaked in tears. An old university classmate sent it to me on Saturday night.

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Where I come from, every human experience has its bucket of proverbs. “Ẹmọ́ kú, ojú ọ̀pó dí; àfẹ̀rìmọ̀jò kú, ẹnu ìsà ń sọ̀fọ̀” (When the bush rat dies, its path is overtaken by weeds; when the striped ground mouse dies, its burrow mourns). If you are alive, your father’s compound is expected to be free of grass. These ones are not dead yet, but their parlours have stopped breathing. If I am allowed to say that the dead live, I would submit that, apart from stubborn goats manning the streets, lonely, grieving graves are the only other entities that remain in that Kwara community.

What the narrator says in the video is what 90 percent of communities in the North, and more than 60 percent in the South, would say. Yet, we insist we have a country.

Will that Kwara community, and others like it, agree that Nigeria is not finished?

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The narrator in the video continues his monologue:

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: The War Of Hubris In Iran

“If anybody had told us that we were going to witness what we are witnessing at the moment in Oroland, we would have said it was impossible. But… the situation we are in, in Oro-Ago District of Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, is beyond us.

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“Insecurity in our domain, we must confess, is beyond our powers. This is our community. Deserted. Deserted. People have fled for their lives; left their properties, their farms, their businesses—everything. The whole community is deserted now. The whole district. The whole Oro-Ago District; even the suburbs—they are all deserted now.

“A place that was alive, bustling with commercial and agricultural activities—see the whole community deserted now. See. People left their belongings. From here to Oke Owa, down to Irabon, that’s how you see houses closed. Can you see? Houses closed. Nobody. Every house that was a home has now been deserted. I think this is beyond us… beyond us…

“And, as I am talking now, we even have some of our community members in the bush, kidnapped. We don’t know their situation. It is a very pathetic situation. It is sad—very saddening. We are worried; we are threatened in Oro-Ago District. Please, we are appealing to the Kwara State government, the federal government, and all who can to come to our aid. This is a situation which even our fathers and forefathers did not witness.

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“We are appealing to the government to please do the needful. You did in the past; you started it well. But one should have known that these people would come with a reprisal. This is a reprisal attack on us. Ehn. This is a reprisal attack. The whole community is deserted. If you see anybody here now, maybe he is a vigilante or a stranger who does not have anywhere to escape to…”

Across our country, misfortune comes not lightly, but in overwhelming torrents. Shakespeare says so:
“When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions.” — Hamlet (Act IV, Scene V).

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The playwright was probably here when he wrote those lines. For there is yet another disturbing video showing hundreds of villagers in Nasarawa State—including children, women, and the elderly—fleeing on foot, on motorcycles, and in overcrowded vehicles to escape fresh bandit attacks that have killed several and destroyed communities. Reports say homes were burned, families displaced, and survivors forced to trek long distances with no clear destination.

Because it does not rain in Nigeria—it pours—yesterday in Benue, as villagers marked the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday, agents of death chose the day to kill and maim, leaving at least 17 people dead in Mbalom, Gwer East Local Government Area.

The rain has not stopped.

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How much is a Nigerian life? I asked someone. The cynical respondent said he would have said a Nigerian life was priceless but, after watching and hearing the president at the Jos airport last Thursday, he now thinks human life in Nigeria is worth whatever value the leader places on it.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: My President Visits Our King

In Angwan Rukuba, Jos, on Palm Sunday, terrorist gunmen killed 27 innocent persons. And, so, the president was in Jos to mourn with the bereaved, lament the deaths, and promise justice and care. But he arrived with a recast of his “where-are-the-cows” comment of July 2019, when he visited a bereaved Pa Fasoranti who had just lost his daughter to murderous cowmen.

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In Jos on Thursday, the president of Nigeria told grieving citizens who had lost loved ones to gunmen: “You have no light at the airport. I have to fly back within the next 10 minutes. To the victims, there’s nothing I can give you but a promise that this experience will not repeat itself.” What a promise! Òní l’ó mo, ìjà olè – ‘it will end today’ is a lazy man’s battle cry.

Consider the Oro-Ago man’s cries for rescue; think about the ten-minute airport stopover of our president; then recall the rescue of an American soldier in Iran at about the same time as the Nigerian tragedy. Compare Tinubu’s eunuch promise with Donald Trump’s proud announcement of a rescue operation: “We got him,” Trump declared. “Over the past several hours, the United States military pulled off one of the most daring search-and-rescue operations in U.S. history.” He added, with striking confidence, that the airman was injured but “he will be just fine… We will never leave an American warfighter behind.” As toxic as Trump is, one could still feel leadership in what he ordered, what was done, and in how he spoke.

Foundational leadership matters. If you build a shrine for excrement, you will worship flies. A Nigerian federal lawmaker from the North, in a viral video, laments what we lack and what America has: a working system of leadership. “The problem is failure of leadership. The country is going down. Everywhere, drums of war are sounding… Killings every day. What is the value of human life in Nigeria?” The senator asked in exasperation.

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The president has already given him an answer: twenty-seven human lives lost to terror are worth ten minutes of a consolation stopover. To get the value of one, simply do the arithmetic: divide 27 lives by 10 minutes—and you will arrive at the official exchange rate of human life in Nigeria.

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UNIMAID, Federal Polytechnic Matriculate 82 Degree Students

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University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) in affiliation with the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi has matriculated 82 students into the degree programmes across five courses.

Speaking during the matriculation ceremony at the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi on Tuesday, Professor Muhammad Laminu Mele, the Vice chancellor, University of Maiduguri, charged the matriculated students to strictly adhere to the rules and regulations guiding the two institutions to enable them achieve the set objectives.

The VC, who was represented by Professor Muhammad Ahmad Waziri, Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Services, warned that any student or group of students trying to breach the peace of the two institutions would face the full wrath of the law.

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READ ALSO:NEDC Hands Over Mega School To Bauchi Govt

The Don further assured that the University and its affiliated institutions would continue to make easy access to higher quality education to the teeming population across the country.

In a remark, the Rector of the Polytechnic, Alhaji Sani Usman, said they were affiliated with the university to pursue academic excellence, describing the affiliation as a huge pillar in the education reforms.

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READ ALSO:Bauchi Govt, UNICEF Strengthen Education Platforms To Improve Learning Outcomes

The Rector, who was also represented by Dr. Dalhatu Saidu, the Deputy Rector of the Polymeric, commended the university of Maiduguri for not only improving the UNIMAID’s conducive learning environment but expanding the horizon to different higher institutions of learning across Nigeria.

He therefore advised the newly matriculated students to pursue knowledge, to interact freely with the Polytechnic staff, be vigilant and be a brother’s keeper, adding that this would help to achieve the desired objectives.

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The affiliated courses included BSc Mass Communication, BSc Accountancy, BSc Public Administration, BSc Business Administration and BSc Banking and Finance respectively.

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Trouble Looms As Egbesu Group Drags FG To Court Over Resource Control, Others

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Group known as Supreme Egbesu Assembly (SEA) has dragged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to a Federal High Court, Yenagoa, over failure to create additional 24 Local government councils in Bayelsa State as the need for Ijaw to control natural resources in its territory.

The Originating Summons marked: FHC/YNA/CS/63/2026 was filed on Tuesday April 21, 2026 by the plaintiffs including; Felix Tuodolo, Weri Digifa, Ebi Waribigha, Kabowei Akamade, Rosebella Jackson, Thomas Jacklloyd, Primrose Kpokposei, David Imole and Welman Warri at the Federal High Court Yenagoa.

Joined as defendants in the suit are the National Assembly, the Clerk of the National Assembly and the Attorney General of the Federation.

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In the court documents, the Egbesu Assembly premised their action on the alleged failure of the federal government particularly the National Assembly to deliberate, approve and amend the relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

This, according to them, is to allow for resource control as well as the creation of additional LGAs in the state to fulfil the requirements in line with the Constitution.

READ ALSO:FG Bans Unauthorized Use Of Ambassador Title

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The group is therefore seeking, among others, the amendment of the constitution by the National Assembly to allow for the right to resource control.

The Supreme Egbesu Assembly described the suit action as a promise kept.

Mranwh, In a press statement announcing the institution of the lawsuit on Tuesday, the Egbesu Assembly recalled that, on 12th February 2026, it wrote to both the Federal Government and the National Assembly wherein its gave a 21-Day ultimatum for the duo to respond to the age-long demands for resource control and creation of additional LGAs or face a lawsuit.

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The statement partly reads: “Recall that on 12th February 2026, we did inform you that we have written to the National Assembly and the federal government on the need for the creation of an additional 24 Local Government Areas in Bayelsa State as well as the control of our God-given natural resources in Ijaw territory.

“We promised that if the National Assembly and or federal government did not respond to these age-long demands, we were going to seek legal actions to address our demands.

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We gave a time frame of twenty-one days for them to respond to us—we got no response!

“Today the Supreme Egbesu Assembly (SEA) has kept to its promise.

“We instituted an action at the Federal High Court Yenagoa against the National Assembly and the Federal Government after the expiration of the 21 days. Today we were in court for the first hearing of both cases.”

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According to the group, creation of additional local government areas for Bayelsa is as old as the creation of the State itself.

The SEA maintained that “there is nowhere in any democracy where a state is limited to just 8 LGAs: more pathetic is the fact that Bayelsa State is an oil bearing State.

“Bayelsa State presently has twenty four Rural Development Authorities (RDA) which can be easily converted to Local Government areas thereby making the State eligible to participate in the sharing of allocation and the development of their areas for the purpose of justice and equity.

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Gentlemen, we wish to inform you that our suit on Resource Control is a revival of our age long agitation.”

The group further stated that Nigeria can no longer operate a system where contributors to the national coffers are not in charge of their resources.

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The group added that the lawsuit is therefore for the Ijaw people.

The Ijaw Nation must be free from all economic strangulation carried out against them by successive Governments,” they added.

The SEA called on all Ijaws to be steadfast and resolute, and continue to support the process by attending all court sessions, stating that “your solidarity is very vital at this point of time in our history. “

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The group also called on other Ijaw organizations, communities, Niger Delta people, organizations and all people of goodwill “to join in the march to control and manage our despoiled and mismanaged natural resources.”

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BREAKING: Tinubu Sacks Wale Edun, Dangiwa As Ministers

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President Bola Tinubu has approved a minor reshuffle of the Federal Executive Council, removing the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, from their cabinet positions.

Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yomi Odunuga, said the development was contained in a memo signed by the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.

According to the memo, Taiwo Oyedele has been appointed as the new Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy.

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Also appointed is Dr. Muttaqha Darma as Minister-designate for Housing and Urban Development.

READ ALSO:VIDEO: I Took Over Leadership From Myself; The Late Buhari Is Me — Tinubu

The memo directed the outgoing ministers to complete handover processes to their respective successors or supervising officials.

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It stated that all handing over and taking over activities must be concluded on or before the close of business on Thursday, 23rd April, 2026.

Explaining the decision, Akume said the changes were aimed at improving coordination and strengthening delivery across key sectors of the economy under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

These changes are aimed at strengthening cohesion, synergy in governance as well as achieving more impactful delivery on the economy to Nigerians, through the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Akume stated.

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He added that President Tinubu acted in line with his constitutional powers as provided under Sections 147 and 148 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The SGF also conveyed the President’s appreciation to the outgoing ministers for their service to the nation and wished them well in their future endeavours, noting that the process of cabinet reinvigoration would remain continuous.

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The statement further noted that Taiwo Oyedele was appointed as Minister of State for Finance in March 2026, while Edun was among the ministers appointed on August 16, 2023.

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