The Trumpet Newspaper Issue 581 (October 5 - 18 2022)
UK-Africa ties: Future looks gloomy under Liz Truss as political myopia reigns.
UK-Africa ties: Future looks gloomy under Liz Truss as political myopia reigns.
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V O L 28 N O <strong>581</strong> O C T O B E R 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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Police hunt<br />
for violent<br />
robber<br />
UK Prime Minister - Liz Truss<br />
UK-Africa ties:<br />
Future looks<br />
gloomy under Liz<br />
Truss as political<br />
myopia reigns<br />
By Michael Jennings<br />
SOAS, University of London<br />
Continued on Page 2><br />
Detectives from London’s<br />
Metropolitan Police have<br />
issued CCTV footage and an<br />
image of a man they want to speak to<br />
following a violent robbery in<br />
Fulham.<br />
At around 12:00hrs on Thursday,<br />
1 September, a man, aged in his 50s,<br />
was walking southbound through<br />
Bayonne Park when he spotted the<br />
suspect approaching several<br />
members of the public.<br />
He continued to walk southbound<br />
out of the park onto Paynes Walk,<br />
where he was struck on the head by<br />
the suspect.<br />
<strong>The</strong> victim, who was attacked<br />
near to the table tennis tables, fell to<br />
the floor. <strong>The</strong> suspect slammed the<br />
victim’s head against the floor whist<br />
ordering the victim to remove his Tag<br />
Heuer watch. <strong>The</strong> victim tried to fight<br />
back but the suspect began to punch<br />
him and kick him repeatedly in the<br />
face.<br />
He felt the suspect remove his<br />
watch, possibly damaging the pin in<br />
doing so.<br />
<strong>The</strong> suspect ran off but returned<br />
minutes later to steal the victim’s<br />
Motorola mobile phones. He ran off<br />
southbound on Paynes Walk.<br />
<strong>The</strong> victim was taken to hospital<br />
with head injuries. This attack<br />
resulted in a fractured eye socket,<br />
severe bruising and swelling to his<br />
face.<br />
Detective Inspector James Griffin,<br />
who is leading the investigation, said:<br />
Continued on Page 2
Page2 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
News<br />
UK-Africa ties: Future looks gloomy<br />
under Liz Truss as political myopia reigns<br />
Continued from Page 1<<br />
Britain has a new Prime Minister in<br />
Liz Truss. For African leaders<br />
wondering what the new<br />
administration might mean for UK-<br />
Africa relationships, the view must be<br />
pretty gloomy.<br />
British politics has been solidly<br />
inward-looking for the past two (post-<br />
Brexit Conservative) Prime Ministers –<br />
<strong>The</strong>resa May and Boris Johnson. It<br />
shows few signs of changing. Looking at<br />
the UK’s shifts in relationship with<br />
African countries over the past three<br />
decades, I see little prospect of African<br />
issues rising up the political agenda. And<br />
little chance of an active Africa policy,<br />
whether at a continental or regional level,<br />
before the next general election.<br />
<strong>The</strong> election must be held by January<br />
2025, but is likely to be sooner.<br />
Aid levels are unlikely to be restored.<br />
Nor is UK aid likely to be placed back in<br />
an independent government department.<br />
In addition, British politicians are<br />
unlikely to look beyond domestic and<br />
European crises. <strong>The</strong> result is that Africa<br />
is likely to feature in British high-level<br />
politics only when it is in the<br />
government’s narrow self-interest.<br />
Nevertheless, UK policy will still<br />
have impact on the continent. A retreat<br />
from climate-emergency pledges, and<br />
continuing cuts in aid, will create real<br />
harm in many vulnerable African states.<br />
Sadly, there will be little scope for their<br />
voices to be heard in response.<br />
Shifting priorities<br />
Africa and the UK lack the close (some<br />
would argue too close) formal political,<br />
economic and military linkages of<br />
Franco-African relationships. Still,<br />
Africa has in the past been a much bigger<br />
part of the UK’s political conversation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> creation of an independent aid<br />
ministry – the Department for<br />
International Development – by the<br />
Labour government in 1997 was a key<br />
platform for building relationships.<br />
It was also key to raising African<br />
politics and issues within the UK<br />
government. With both Prime Minister<br />
Tony Blair (1997-2007) and Finance<br />
Minister Gordon Brown (2007-2010)<br />
interested in African prospects and<br />
development, close ties were forged.<br />
Through the Department for<br />
International Development, links with<br />
civil society voices were also stronger.<br />
<strong>The</strong> transition to a Conservative<br />
government in 2010 (initially as part of a<br />
coalition) saw little change. Indeed, the<br />
raising of aid spending to 0.7% of gross<br />
national income – an increase of £1<br />
billion – expanded the Department for<br />
International Development. At the time,<br />
other domestic-focused departments<br />
faced severe cuts to their budgets.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first Conservative Minister of<br />
International Development, Andrew<br />
Mitchell (2010-2012), had long-standing<br />
interests in the continent. He developed<br />
close relationships with key leaders,<br />
including Rwanda’s Paul Kagame. He<br />
also maintained close ties with the<br />
Ethiopian government, among others.<br />
Prime minister David Cameron (2010-<br />
2016) was also interested in Africa, as a<br />
visible indication of his ambitions for a<br />
strong UK global role.<br />
Since the Brexit referendum in 2016,<br />
however, Africa has slipped from its<br />
precarious but tangible place in UK<br />
political discourse. <strong>The</strong> dismantling of<br />
the Department for International<br />
Development and its incorporation into a<br />
new Foreign, Commonwealth and<br />
Development Office in 2020, as well as<br />
subverting aid to British self-interest, led<br />
to the departure of many experienced<br />
personnel who maintained the<br />
relationships with African political and<br />
civil society leaders.<br />
It also removed a key ally for Africa<br />
within UK debates. Recent discussions<br />
around Africa have focused removing<br />
some migrants to Rwanda, hardly the<br />
bedrock of a high-level relationship.<br />
And it’s hard to imagine former<br />
governments remaining silent over the<br />
Ethiopia crisis, for example, as the most<br />
recent Conservative administration has<br />
done.<br />
Truss offers little prospect of<br />
change<br />
Before her elevation to prime<br />
minister, Truss was the foreign,<br />
Commonwealth and development office<br />
minister. She showed little interest in<br />
development, anti-poverty policies or<br />
creating relationships based on mutual<br />
respect and dialogue. In fact, in my view,<br />
she contributed to the subversion of UK<br />
aid to British diplomatic and economic<br />
self-interest.<br />
Her global tours as minister did not<br />
include a visit to Africa.<br />
It is true that agreements have been<br />
signed with the Southern African<br />
Customs Union and Mozambique in<br />
2019. But they offer little consolation in<br />
Continued on Page 4<<br />
Police hunt for<br />
violent robber<br />
Continued from Page 1<<br />
“This was an extremely violent attack<br />
and my team need the help of the public<br />
to detain this man. We have specialist<br />
teams dedicated to tackling robbery and<br />
this proactive operation will continue<br />
across all of our boroughs.<br />
“We are doing all we can to identify<br />
the person responsible before he can<br />
cause any further harm. We are asking<br />
anyone who was approached by this man<br />
in the park or who saw anything unusual<br />
to contact us immediately.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> suspect is a black male of an<br />
athletic build with short black cropped<br />
hair and light facial hair. He was wearing<br />
a green hoodie jumper with light grey<br />
bottoms.<br />
Anyone with information should call<br />
101 or tweet @MetCC and quote CAD<br />
3488/01SEP22. Alternatively, contact the<br />
independent charity Crimestoppers<br />
anonymously on 0800 555 111.<br />
Police hunt for violent robber<br />
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Immigration, Appeals,<br />
Deportations, and Removal cases.<br />
* Judicial Review. * Prison and<br />
Detention Centre Legal Visits.<br />
* British Citizenship Applications.<br />
* Visas and more...<br />
Free Initial Consultation and Competitive Legal Fees<br />
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Watford: 01923 901150<br />
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Email: shiraz@peerandco.com<br />
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OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong> <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
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OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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Allison Shoyombo, Peter Osuhon<br />
News<br />
UK-Africa ties: Future looks<br />
gloomy under Liz Truss as<br />
political myopia reigns<br />
Continued from Page 2<<br />
place of a new and powerful friendship.<br />
More importantly, UK politics, and<br />
the attention of the new prime minister,<br />
will be firmly fixed on the domestic cost<br />
of living and inflation crisis, on a<br />
potential new row with the UK’s<br />
European Union neighbours (one of the<br />
UK government’s own making), and the<br />
conflict in Ukraine. Next on the agenda<br />
will be China, and the pursuit of trade<br />
deals elsewhere in the world.<br />
It’s unlikely Britain’s limited<br />
attention span will have much space left<br />
for African issues and policy.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is an argument to be made that<br />
African issues might receive a listening<br />
ear within the government given that<br />
most senior offices of state will, for the<br />
first time, be led by ministers with<br />
African heritage. <strong>The</strong> new chancellor is<br />
Kwazi Kwarteng, whose parents<br />
migrated from Ghana in the 1960s, and<br />
who has written a (mildly critical) book<br />
on the history of the British empire; the<br />
Foreign, Commonwealth and<br />
Development Office will be led by James<br />
Cleverly, who has a Sierra Leonian<br />
mother; and the parents of the new Home<br />
Office minister, Suella Braverman, came<br />
to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius.<br />
Never before have the top posts been<br />
held by so many with direct links to<br />
Africa.<br />
In my view, however, this is unlikely<br />
to make any real difference. None of the<br />
ministers have a strong record of<br />
advocating for closer or deeper ties with<br />
the continent. And despite Kwarteng’s<br />
criticism of the legacy of British colonial<br />
occupation, all three have signed up to<br />
the Conservative Party culture wars<br />
which see criticism of a glorious British<br />
past as treasonous wokery.<br />
Danger ahead<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is a real danger that Britain will<br />
institute policies that actively harm<br />
African countries. Restoring UK aid to<br />
previous levels is becoming a<br />
vanishingly small possibility, which<br />
means cuts to vital social welfare<br />
programmes for some of the world’s<br />
most vulnerable communities.<br />
Calls for renewed investment in fossil<br />
fuel production, and the possibility of<br />
backtracking on climate emission<br />
promises in response to the energy price<br />
crisis, will undermine efforts to reduce<br />
the impact of the climate emergency.<br />
African leaders and civil society<br />
organisations hoping a new broom will<br />
UK Prime Minister - Liz Truss<br />
lead to a new set of relationships look set<br />
to be disappointed. Britain’s political<br />
myopia and navel-gazing will continue,<br />
with global engagement framed as<br />
something strictly to be done where it<br />
benefits the UK. Africa will likely have<br />
to wait for a new government, and a<br />
revived Department for International<br />
Development, for strong and close<br />
relations to be restored.<br />
Michael Jennings is a Professor in<br />
Global Development at SOAS, University<br />
of London. This article is republished<br />
from <strong>The</strong> Conversation under a Creative<br />
Commons license -<br />
https://theconversation.com/uk-africaties-future-looks-gloomy-under-liz-trussas-political-myopia-reigns-190451<br />
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OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong> <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
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Page6 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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contact NHS 111 online first<br />
<strong>The</strong> NHS is encouraging the public to use NHS<br />
111 online to get urgent medical advice<br />
quickly – in addition to existing services –<br />
ahead of what England’s top doctor has said will<br />
be a ‘winter like no other.’<br />
With more people predicted to suffer from flu<br />
this year and hospitals already treating an<br />
increased number of COVID-19 patients, NHS 111<br />
online offers an alternative way to get immediate<br />
medical advice.<br />
Data from September showed that the NHS<br />
was already experiencing record demand for<br />
emergency services, with ambulances responding<br />
to 76,000 life-threatening incidents and call<br />
handlers taking more than one million 999 calls.<br />
<strong>The</strong> NHS 111 phone service also saw record<br />
demand, with a call being taken every seven seconds.<br />
It’s recommended that if you have an urgent<br />
but not life-threatening medical need, you should<br />
visit NHS 111 online first rather than going<br />
straight to A&E. You can access the service by<br />
visiting the website 111.nhs.uk.<br />
People use the online 111 service for a range<br />
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if an injury or illness requires further investigation,<br />
to get information on mental health support<br />
services available, or to seek advice on how to take<br />
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<strong>The</strong> service is also able to arrange for you to<br />
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surgery, pharmacy, emergency dental services<br />
or A&E should you need it.<br />
If you or your loved one have a life-threatening<br />
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Just think 111 first.<br />
When you think you need A&E,<br />
go to NHS 111 online 111.nhs.uk<br />
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Passages<br />
OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Tributes flow as Mama Comfort<br />
Sidikat Abiola is buried<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page7<br />
Madam Comfort Sidikat Aduke<br />
Abiola – the mother of African<br />
Voice <strong>Newspaper</strong> UK’s<br />
Publisher – Prince Mike Abiola, has been<br />
laid to rest recently amidst a flurry of<br />
tributes from far and near. Mama Abiola<br />
died last July aged 95 years old.<br />
Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the<br />
United Kingdom - His Excellency,<br />
Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola in a<br />
condolence letter joined UK faith leaders,<br />
community leaders and family friends to<br />
commiserate with the Abiola family in<br />
the UK and Nigeria over Mama’s passing<br />
Ambassador Sarafa noted that:<br />
“Alhaja Sidikat Aduke Abiola lived a<br />
good and productive life; she raised<br />
children that are contributing positively<br />
to the Nigerian community in the United<br />
Kingdom.<br />
“No doubt the death of a loved one is<br />
a painful thing but I encourage you all to<br />
take consolation in the good life she<br />
lived. It pleases God to take Alhaja<br />
Sidikat after 95 fruitful years. Her legacy<br />
is worthy of emulation. May God place<br />
her in the comfort zone of Al-Janah.”<br />
Pastor Casey K Badejo of Christ<br />
Apostolic Church, Dove House Welling,<br />
Kent, UK said, “I can safely say: not only<br />
has the Abiola family lost their matriarch,<br />
the world has lost a gem. I recall my<br />
once-in-a-while telephone chats with her<br />
when she returned to Nigeria; she<br />
remained as enthusiastic about her love<br />
for Christ and the church. She would<br />
always ask about everyone in the family<br />
and church.<br />
“Although Mama’s frame was<br />
slender, her heart was big, her voice was<br />
quiet but her zeal was loud and while her<br />
life was gradually edging to her evening,<br />
her spiritual strength appeared renewed<br />
as in the morning. A true encourager! Her<br />
love for her son and my brother, Mike<br />
Abiola and his family was unrivalled and<br />
she spoke with passion about them,<br />
especially her grandchildren.”<br />
A friend of the family, Professor<br />
Alaba Simpson - Deputy Vice-Chancellor<br />
of Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun<br />
State, Nigeria said, “I met Mama in<br />
England in 2010, she right away made<br />
me feel as though I had known her from<br />
my childhood days. She sang, and I<br />
danced. She rendered the ‘oriki’ praise<br />
names of the lineage of the twins as they<br />
exist in Yoruba land. You would have<br />
thought I was one of the twins and not<br />
Alaba, whose arrival is even preceded by<br />
the birth of Idowu, the child that comes<br />
right after the twins. Nevertheless, Mama<br />
sang and I danced over and over as I<br />
holidayed with Prince Mike and Princess<br />
Golda and this Mother of our Time. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
seemed to have been no generational gap<br />
between us. She was indeed a woman of<br />
our times.<br />
“As I didn’t have the privilege of a<br />
mother who grew to a ripe old age like<br />
Mama. I salute Mama’s children as they<br />
celebrate a mother who crossed the ages<br />
of 70, 80 and 90. To God Almighty be the<br />
glory.<br />
“I am happy I had the privilege of<br />
seeing Mama again a couple of months<br />
ago, June, <strong>2022</strong>, at the Abiola’s Lekki<br />
residence during the time of the couple’s<br />
visit to Nigeria before she passed on.<br />
What a wonderful opportunity!<br />
Adieu! A Woman of Our Times, Rest<br />
On, in the bosom of the Almighty.”<br />
In his tribute, Prince Mike Abiola<br />
described his mother as his inspiration for<br />
achieving success in life and a “heroine,<br />
prayer warrior, role model and my<br />
angel.”<br />
Prince Abiola further said, “You<br />
raised my siblings and I as a single<br />
mother, shielding us from all the street<br />
vices while growing up in Alagomeji,<br />
Yaba Lagos. You made it very clear to us<br />
at a very early age that education is key to<br />
success in life even though you were<br />
disadvantaged as a girl child as you only<br />
had primary education. You raised us<br />
well, telling us hard work and credibility<br />
are important attributes in life. You are a<br />
loving and caring mother.”<br />
Princess Golda Tiwalade Abiola in<br />
her tribute said, “Aduks, I fondly called<br />
her, coined from her name Aduke, would<br />
come to help me in the kitchen rather than<br />
cross her legs and watch television. She<br />
told me many stories of her childhood,<br />
taught me deep Yoruba culture and<br />
language as we cooked together in the<br />
kitchen. Mumsy can laugh.... I really<br />
loved that about her. She would laugh and<br />
fall of the chair and continue laughing...<br />
before you know it, everyone around her<br />
are laughing without remembering what<br />
was funny. She related to me as if I was<br />
her biological daughter, not her first son’s<br />
wife.<br />
Continued on Page 8
Page8 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Passages<br />
Tributes flow as Mama Comfort<br />
Sidikat Abiola is buried<br />
Continued from Page 7<<br />
“Aduks, you will be greatly missed.<br />
Those eight years with you in the UK,<br />
and the years after, can never be<br />
forgotten. Mumsy, meeting you is loving<br />
you. Iya rere, rest in perfect peace. Amen<br />
and amen.”<br />
Madam Comfort Sidikat Aduke<br />
Abiola nee Folorunso was given a burial<br />
befitting of a queen at the Ebony Vaults<br />
Ikoyi Lagos.<br />
<strong>The</strong> grand farewell ceremony to<br />
honour Madam Comfort Abiola started<br />
from the private mortuary of the Lagos<br />
State University Teaching Hospital<br />
(LASUTH) Ikeja, Lagos.<br />
A Cadillac limousine motorcade<br />
carried the body of the deceased in a<br />
glass enclosed white casket, with<br />
professional pallbearers, dressed in<br />
traditional royal ‘sonyan’ outfits<br />
accompanied by professional funeral<br />
orchestra, blaring out both traditional and<br />
gospel music, through the trumpets,<br />
drums, ‘sekere’, cymbals, supported by<br />
beautiful sonorous voices who led the<br />
crowd of dancing procession,<br />
immediately followed by the children,<br />
grandchildren, great grandchildren,<br />
family members and well wishers all the<br />
way to the Ebony Vaults Chapel Ikoyi.<br />
Madam Abiola lived a good and<br />
productive life. She was a virtuous<br />
woman and many described her as a<br />
courageous, hard-working, honest and<br />
successful businesswoman.<br />
She was a role model to many. Iya<br />
Akeem, as she was fondly called, traded<br />
at the popular Oyingbo market for close<br />
to forty years and embarked on a women<br />
empowerment scheme through her<br />
successful business of toys and costume<br />
jewelry by giving many housewives her<br />
goods, on sales or return basis. As a<br />
single mother, Madam Aduke raised her<br />
three children into champions; her<br />
achievements are worthy of emulation.<br />
Madam Sidikat Abiola finally retired<br />
at the Oyingbo market satisfied with the<br />
number of women she had empowered<br />
and mentored.<br />
In 2003, Mama relocated to the<br />
United Kingdom to spend eight years<br />
with her children. In 2011, she returned<br />
to Nigeria for one of her grand daughter’s<br />
wedding. Madam Sidikat Abiola was<br />
happy and fulfilled, helping to raise her<br />
great grandchildren.<br />
Continued on Page 9
Passages<br />
OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Tributes flow as Mama Comfort<br />
Sidikat Abiola is buried<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page9<br />
Continued from Page 8<<br />
Madam Abiola died peacefully in her<br />
sleep on Wednesday 13 th July <strong>2022</strong> at a<br />
ripe old age of 95.<br />
<strong>The</strong> two day farewell ceremony for<br />
Mama started with a Service of Songs at<br />
the Yoruba Tennis Club Onikan Lagos,<br />
followed by a Reception at the same<br />
venue.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Lying in State and Interment<br />
Service was at the Ebony Vaults Chapel<br />
and her final resting place was at the<br />
Ebony Vaults private cemetery Ikoyi,<br />
Lagos.<br />
At the two day funeral ceremony, the<br />
three children of the deceased<br />
nonagenarian and their spouses, Prince<br />
Mike Abiola (eldest son) and wife<br />
Princess Golda Abiola, Mrs Folashade<br />
Shode (daughter), Mr Akeem Abiola<br />
(son) and wife Mrs Olayemi Abiola,<br />
grandchildren, great grandchildren,<br />
family members, eminent Nigerians,<br />
media personalities and Nollywood<br />
actors were in attendance.<br />
Pastor Kola Ayeye of Friends of God<br />
Fellowship Lagos supported by other<br />
ministers of God and the church choir<br />
conducted the funeral service at the<br />
chapel of the Ebony Funeral Home,<br />
Ikoyi, Lagos.<br />
Versatile media personality, actor and<br />
broadcaster - Yemi Shodimu hosted the<br />
evening of entertainment at the Yoruba<br />
Tennis Club Onikan, Lagos.
Page10 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Opinion<br />
Independence Day<br />
and Ponmo controversy<br />
BY REUBEN ABATI<br />
It is a sobering indication of the state of<br />
the nation, that as Nigeria prepares to<br />
mark the 62 nd anniversary of its flag<br />
independence on <strong>October</strong> 1, the dominant<br />
discourse in the land among young<br />
Nigerians, apart from politics, and the<br />
continued closure of universities centres<br />
around such annoying subjects as<br />
something called the Big Brother Naija<br />
reality show and its annual elevation of<br />
unseriousness into a creative endeavour,<br />
and the unarguably silly controversy over<br />
whether a major priority for the Nigerian<br />
government should be the need to ban the<br />
consumption of cow skin, better known<br />
locally among Nigerians as ponmo, kpomo<br />
or kanda. Arguments for and against the<br />
latter have consumed so much attention<br />
and energy in the last week in such an<br />
Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST)<br />
insufferable manner that recommends the<br />
whole exercise as a metaphor for the<br />
Nigerian condition.<br />
But let us begin with Nigeria’s<br />
62 nd anniversary. It would be correct to say<br />
that we have never had it so bad. <strong>The</strong><br />
independence anniversaries of 2020 and<br />
2021 were observed against the<br />
background of the COVID pandemic and<br />
the international public health crisis which<br />
redefined our lives as citizens and as<br />
human beings. But there was hope that<br />
like all afflictions before it, since the<br />
pestilence of Biblical times, COVID-19<br />
would one day be conquered and the<br />
world will regain its verve. It has not now<br />
disappeared completely, but indeed the<br />
world is alive again. As Nigeria celebrates<br />
its 62 nd Independence anniversary, we can<br />
joyfully look back on how our people<br />
survived the scourge, and can now openly<br />
sit together on Independence Day to<br />
reflect on the nation’s journey over the<br />
decades.<br />
What we should be celebrating this<br />
year is the resilience of the Nigerian<br />
people in the face of afflictions – social,<br />
economic, governance and psychological.<br />
It is therefore appropriate that the Federal<br />
Government has chosen to hold a public<br />
lecture on the theme of “National Unity”<br />
on September 29. <strong>The</strong> hero of the story of<br />
Nigeria is truly none other than the<br />
common man and woman: the ordinary<br />
Nigerians who, since independence have<br />
been disappointed every step of the way<br />
by their own leaders. In 1960, as the<br />
British Union Jack was lowered, and the<br />
Nigerian green-white-green flag was<br />
hoisted to herald the birth of a new nation,<br />
Nigerians danced. School children<br />
marched to the sound of melodies of hope.<br />
<strong>The</strong> march was abbreviated, the dancing<br />
stopped; the walls cracked within barely<br />
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six years later. A civil war occurred and for<br />
decades, the military controlled Nigeria,<br />
running a command-and-obey structure<br />
that further divided the country along the<br />
lines of ethnicity, geography and religion.<br />
Every measure that has been taken to<br />
reunite the country by the military and<br />
even their civilian successors has refused<br />
to work. Once upon a time, Nigeria was<br />
Africa’s richest and most beloved country,<br />
it soon became a shadow of its old self. In<br />
<strong>2022</strong>, 62 years after independence, we<br />
seem sadly to have lost so much.<br />
We once lived in a country where<br />
teachers, scholars, and students came from<br />
everywhere to study and work here. In my<br />
days as a young student, we had teachers<br />
from the UK, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India,<br />
the United States, the West Indies and<br />
elsewhere who were happy to pursue their<br />
dreams in Nigeria. <strong>The</strong> country’s<br />
universities were among the best in Africa<br />
and the Commonwealth. <strong>The</strong> then<br />
University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo<br />
University – OAU) was rated as the most<br />
beautiful campus in Africa! <strong>The</strong> same<br />
university, along with the University of<br />
Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU),<br />
University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and<br />
the University of Lagos (UNILAG)<br />
boasted of some of the best brains in their<br />
respective fields. Ibadan had one of the<br />
best science and research laboratories in<br />
Africa. <strong>The</strong> university zoo was a tourist<br />
attraction. <strong>The</strong> country’s university<br />
teaching hospitals were so good, so wellequipped<br />
that patients came from as far<br />
away as Saudi Arabia to receive treatment<br />
at the University College, Hospital,<br />
(UCH), Ibadan. Today, all that is lost. Our<br />
hospitals, from primary health care centres<br />
to tertiary hospitals have become mere<br />
consulting clinics. All the animals in the<br />
Ibadan Zoo have either died or have been<br />
used to prepare pepper soup. University<br />
teachers have been on strike since<br />
February 14. In the last three years alone,<br />
Nigerian university students have spent<br />
more time at home than in school.<br />
In the 70s and 80s, even the country’s<br />
secondary schools were rated among the<br />
best in Africa. Today, they have become<br />
the target of kidnappers, bandits and<br />
rapists. When many old students visit their<br />
schools these days, they are shocked that a<br />
once beautiful citadel could become so<br />
terrible. A senior friend who visited my<br />
alma mater about a fortnight ago, called<br />
me frantically to tell me that he felt like<br />
weeping, because he knew what the school<br />
Continued on Page 11
Opinion<br />
OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Independence Day and Ponmo<br />
controversy<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page11<br />
Continued from Page 1<<br />
looked like in those days. An old classmate<br />
of mine who was with him, and who has<br />
lived in the US since we left school told<br />
me not to worry. He said there was nothing<br />
anybody could do. “This is not the school<br />
you and I attended, my brother”, he added.<br />
“Where is the government? If Nigerian<br />
leaders are not mad, sick and wicked, they<br />
would never allow this kind of thing to<br />
happen. Even if old students contribute<br />
money and re-build the school, who will<br />
sustain it? What do Nigerian leaders do<br />
with the education budget? In the<br />
States…” My old colleague has lived so<br />
long in the US, he obviously thinks the<br />
same standards can apply here. In those<br />
days, our teachers were proud of their<br />
chosen career. <strong>The</strong>y were glad to help<br />
nurture the future generation. <strong>The</strong>se days,<br />
teachers are so unhappy with their lot – no<br />
salaries, no promotion, no enabling work<br />
environment – they are not in any position<br />
to produce happy and capable students.<br />
<strong>The</strong> oil boom of the 70s turned the<br />
fortunes of Nigeria around. <strong>The</strong> country<br />
became so rich, a former military ruler<br />
once boasted that the country did not know<br />
what to do with money. <strong>The</strong> emergent<br />
nouveaux riche became so wealthy, they<br />
left for Europe every Friday, after close of<br />
work, enjoyed their weekend in the most<br />
exotic haunts of London and Paris, and<br />
took the plane back just in time to be at<br />
work in Nigeria on Monday. <strong>The</strong>re was<br />
Nigeria Airways: having some of the best<br />
trained pilots in the world. Return ticket to<br />
Europe was affordable. Today, Nigeria has<br />
no national airline. Its aviation industry is<br />
almost dead. Only the rich can still afford<br />
to travel abroad, but not with that old<br />
frequency of weekly indulgence. Oil boom<br />
brought a culture of indolence and doom.<br />
<strong>The</strong> world is witnessing yet another oil<br />
boom today, as a result of the Russia-<br />
Ukraine war, but Nigeria is not benefitting<br />
from that. Its refineries are not working.<br />
Major oil companies cannot function<br />
because of crude oil theft and insecurity.<br />
<strong>The</strong> country cannot even meet its OPEC<br />
production quota. <strong>The</strong> country is heavily<br />
indebted. Its debt burden is more than the<br />
budgets of all the 36 States of the country<br />
in one year. Next year, the country may not<br />
even be able to fund any capital project!<br />
For those who like to quote data, the<br />
statistics on the state of the nation are<br />
frightening: inflation: 20.52%, food<br />
inflation: 23.12%, unemployment: 33%,<br />
measured in the reality of staggering<br />
poverty and exponential rise in crime.<br />
From being a country of giants, Nigeria<br />
has become a country of desperate men<br />
and women, in whose hearts the fires of<br />
hope die-aborning. This is why there is a<br />
more strident call for change now more<br />
than ever. <strong>The</strong>re are those Nigerians who<br />
Prof. M. K. Yakubu - Director-General, Nigerian<br />
Institute of Leather and Science Technology<br />
(NILEST)<br />
continue to blame the colonial masters for<br />
all of Nigeria’s woes, and such persons<br />
recently used the occasion of the death of<br />
Queen Elizabeth II to voice out their<br />
grievances. <strong>The</strong>ir argument is that the<br />
British left bad leaders behind and<br />
structured the newly independent Nigeria<br />
to fail, after looting our treasures. <strong>The</strong><br />
proponents of this argument ignore the fact<br />
that the British were colonial overlords in<br />
other countries too, where things work and<br />
progress has been made, and that the errors<br />
of our journey can be traced largely to the<br />
post-colonial leaders who simply replaced<br />
British colonialism with indigenous<br />
colonialism and fascism. It is therefore<br />
noteworthy that as Nigeria marks its<br />
62 nd anniversary, many young Nigerians<br />
are insisting that the country’s general<br />
elections in 2023 must provide a great<br />
opportunity for Nigerians to elect a new<br />
set of leaders who can make a difference,<br />
and stop the cycle of failure that seems to<br />
have become our lot. <strong>The</strong>y want the glory<br />
of Nigeria restored. <strong>The</strong>y are on the streets<br />
marching. <strong>The</strong>y are in places of religious<br />
worship calling on God to come and help<br />
Nigeria as the people of Macedonia once<br />
cried out. <strong>The</strong>y ask: why are we so blest,<br />
and yet so cursed? From whence will the<br />
messiah come? Many persons have had to<br />
leave the country to seek hope in other<br />
lands. I was at the airport a few days ago<br />
– quite unusually crowded - given the high<br />
cost of tickets. When I pointed this out to<br />
someone at the counter, I was told that<br />
most of the people boarding the aircraft to<br />
foreign destinations have no plans to<br />
return. <strong>The</strong> true heroes are the Nigerians<br />
who have refused to give up on this<br />
country and who still believe that Nigeria<br />
will be great again.<br />
President Muhammadu Buhari will, of<br />
course, customarily use his Independence<br />
Day broadcast to reassure Nigerians at<br />
home and abroad that all is not lost. He<br />
will try to inspire the nation. He will tell<br />
us that his administration has laid a better<br />
foundation on all fronts and remains<br />
determined to deliver transparent and<br />
credible elections in 2023. He would most<br />
likely heap the blame for every problem<br />
on saboteurs and enemies of the people,<br />
who will be brought to justice before<br />
February 2023. He would also reassure us<br />
that the work ahead is a collective<br />
responsibility. It would not matter whether<br />
his listeners believe him or not. No<br />
President would use the occasion of the<br />
country’s National Day to accept blame<br />
for any omissions. For President Buhari, it<br />
would be his last Independence Day<br />
Broadcast as President. Expect some selfpraise.<br />
As part of the farewell, the<br />
organizers of the 62 nd Independence<br />
Anniversary have also announced that<br />
there would be a National Honours<br />
ceremony. This should not become a<br />
jamboree or chieftaincy title ceremony<br />
whereby every senior government official<br />
who has served in the last eight years, as<br />
well as traditional rulers, party chieftains<br />
and wives and girlfriends of privileged<br />
persons are the ones on the Honours list.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re would be Ministers, Governors and<br />
political appointees all waiting to be<br />
decorated with medals for work not done.<br />
This year’s Honours List must convey a<br />
message of seriousness. Nigeria’s<br />
62 nd Independence Anniversary must not<br />
become another Big Brother Naija show!<br />
It must not come across like that<br />
distraction that I cited as the “ponmo<br />
controversy” - a classic case of blaming<br />
the victim and missing the point.<br />
For the benefit of those who may not<br />
have followed the story, the<br />
ponmo controversy was triggered about a<br />
week ago when Muhammadu Yakubu, the<br />
Director General of the Nigerian Institute<br />
of Leather and Science Technology<br />
(NILEST) reportedly said his agency was<br />
going to propose to the National<br />
Assembly, a bill to ban the consumption<br />
of cow skin, because its heavy<br />
consumption is precisely the cause of the<br />
downslide in Nigeria’s leather industry.<br />
Cow hides that should be used by<br />
tanneries to produce leather, footwear,<br />
bags have been diverted into the food<br />
chain, and turned into a special delicacy.<br />
Yakubu added that “ponmo” has no<br />
nutritional value. Nothing represents the<br />
lack of seriousness at the highest levels in<br />
Nigeria’s governance and democracy than<br />
this. Not many have heard of NILET or its<br />
DG, and then the first time, anything<br />
would be heard, the DG puts his foot in his<br />
mouth. His declaration is not based on any<br />
data. What is the amount of cow hide that<br />
has been smuggled into the food chain to<br />
threaten the leather industry? And who<br />
told him kpomo has no nutritional value?<br />
And why of all things, a government<br />
agency is talking about ponmo in this<br />
country today?<br />
Mr Yakubu should be reminded<br />
that ponmo, a regular sight at parties,<br />
usually marinated in well-curried pepper,<br />
is a gourmet’s delight particularly when<br />
the ponmo and the pepper touch the palate,<br />
the softer the ponmo the better, and best<br />
when supported with a cold glass of wine,<br />
or beer to wash it down the gut. It is a low<br />
fat, low-calorie food recommended for<br />
persons who want to lose weight.<br />
Dietitians tell us that “a 100kg of boiled,<br />
thick cow skin contains essential amino<br />
acids, micronutrients and collagen -<br />
224.65k calories of energy, 680g of<br />
carbohydrate, about 43.9g of water, 46.9 g<br />
of protein, 1.09 g of fat, 0.02 g of fibre,<br />
iron – 4.3 mg, magnesium -12 mg, zinc-<br />
6.79 mg and calcium -6.1 mg.” Food<br />
inflation has taken ordinary sources of<br />
meat beyond the reach of the ordinary<br />
Nigerian: fish, meat and other sources of<br />
protein have become so<br />
expensive. Ponmo is not so cheap either,<br />
but it is the only kind of meat that is still<br />
within the reach of the common man, their<br />
only hope of chewing something during a<br />
meal. Yakubu, DG NILET says there<br />
should be legislation to ban its<br />
consumption and further punish the poor<br />
and rob people of jobs. Yakubu is not<br />
recommending bills to initiate policies that<br />
will make foreign exchange available for<br />
the tanneries, access to necessary raw<br />
materials, development of the livestock<br />
sector to increase supply of cow hide,<br />
training and research in the industry… no,<br />
he is blaming the victims.<br />
He forgets that this country once had a<br />
thriving leather industry: Bata, Lennards,<br />
and flourishing tanneries in Kano,<br />
Kaduna…but even that failed because of<br />
this obsession with unserious matters by<br />
Nigerian leaders. <strong>The</strong> leather industry will<br />
not be revived by banning the<br />
consumption of kpomo. Wale Ojo-Lanre<br />
has dismissed Yakubu’s suggestion as a<br />
case of “shallow thinking, empty and<br />
gross laziness.” I agree. It is in addition,<br />
provocative. It could trigger a spontaneous<br />
million-man march in every State of the<br />
Federation, and evoke such anger similar<br />
to that of an old attempt to ban the sale and<br />
consumption of stockfish in Nigeria.<br />
Nigerians deserve better leadership in<br />
2023, a new cadre of governors at all<br />
levels who will focus on what is right, and<br />
learn to think straight.
Page12 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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products by 30 September 20<strong>18</strong>; and we<br />
will reward you with 100 TAP Points<br />
worth £100 - which you can spend on any<br />
of our opportunities (4.2) - (4.8).<br />
To join the programme, please request the<br />
<strong>Trumpet</strong> Ambassadors Programme Form<br />
and via email: info@the-trumpet.com
OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page13<br />
“It’s an<br />
MICHAEL LAWAL<br />
FOUNDER, SENDIT.MONEY<br />
Meet the founders<br />
defying the odds and<br />
shaping the future.<br />
Watch Black Futures on Barclays UK YouTube
Page14 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong>
OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page15<br />
Tel: +44 (0) 7956 385 604<br />
We are recruiting:<br />
Independent Sales Consultants<br />
<strong>Trumpet</strong> Media Group - an<br />
international media<br />
organisation targeting Africa,<br />
Africans and Friends of Africa<br />
in the Diaspora and on the<br />
Continent was founded 24<br />
years ago - in 1995.<br />
Our growth has given rise to the need to engage the services<br />
of self-employed Independent Sales Consultants and<br />
organisations to sell some (or all) of our growing number of<br />
products and services on a Commission-only basis.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Opportunities<br />
Opportunities to earn revenue through Commissions are<br />
currently available by way of:<br />
· Sale of Subscriptions to our Print <strong>Newspaper</strong>s.<br />
· Distribution and Sales of bulk copies our <strong>Newspaper</strong>s.<br />
· Sale of Advertising Spaces in our Print <strong>Newspaper</strong>s.<br />
· Sale of Banner Adverts on Website.<br />
· Sale of Banner Adverts, ‘Highlights’ and Mail-shots in Email<br />
Newsletters.<br />
· Sale of Advertising posts on our Social Media channels.<br />
· Sale of Sponsorship, Advertising, Exhibition spaces and<br />
Tickets for GAB Awards and other events.<br />
To apply, please email: info@the-trumpet.com
Page16 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> OCTOBER 5 -<strong>18</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
News<br />
Three jailed for murder of<br />
fellow gang-member<br />
Three men have been jailed for<br />
an incident where their<br />
associate was shot and killed<br />
during a confrontation with a rival<br />
gang.<br />
While none of Adel Yussuf, Issa<br />
Seed and Daniel Mensah fired the<br />
fatal shots that killed 27-year-old Billy<br />
McCullagh, they were found guilty of<br />
murder in August after it was proven<br />
in court that they joined McCullagh in<br />
a gunfight intending to visit serious<br />
violence on the opposition.<br />
At the Central Criminal Court, also<br />
known as the Old Bailey, they were<br />
each jailed for a minimum of 29<br />
years.<br />
25-year-old Adel Yussuf was found<br />
guilty of murder, conspiracy to<br />
commit grievous bodily harm [GBH]<br />
and possession of a firearm with intent<br />
to endanger life.<br />
25-year-old Issa Seed was found<br />
guilty of murder, conspiracy to<br />
commit grievous bodily harm [GBH]<br />
and possession of a firearm with intent<br />
to endanger life.<br />
30-year-old Daniel Mensah was<br />
found guilty of murder, conspiracy to<br />
commit grievous bodily harm [GBH]<br />
and possession of a firearm with intent<br />
to endanger life.<br />
Detective Inspector Tom Williams<br />
from the Met’s Specialist Crime<br />
Command led the investigation and<br />
said: “This has been an extremely<br />
complex and distinctly unique<br />
investigation. At the centre of it is<br />
Billy McCullagh who was fatally<br />
wounded after being shot and left to<br />
die in the street by both his so-called<br />
friends and those who fired the shots.<br />
“I am not here to judge his<br />
motivation for driving with Yussuf,<br />
Seed and Mensah into a rival gang<br />
area with the intention of engaging in<br />
violence – the sad fact is that a man<br />
has lost his life in horrific<br />
circumstances.<br />
“However, it does serve as a stark<br />
reminder of the futility of those who<br />
engage in violence; the consequences<br />
can be devastating and the outcome of<br />
your actions often down to sheer<br />
chance. Billy McCullagh’s family has<br />
been left to deal with the devastating<br />
aftermath of his murder, knowing that<br />
his decision to go on a ride-out led to<br />
Co-gangster - Adel Yussuf<br />
Gang associate - George Orji<br />
his own death.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> court heard that on the evening<br />
of 15 July 2020, McCullagh, Yussuf,<br />
Seed and Mensah had gathered at a<br />
party in the St Raphael’s Estate in<br />
Brent. In the early hours of 16 July<br />
2020, the four set out in a stolen Land<br />
Rover car with the intention of<br />
travelling to the nearby Stonebridge<br />
Estate and attacking members of a<br />
rival gang. <strong>The</strong>y were in possession of<br />
at least two firearms.<br />
At around 03:00hrs, the occupants<br />
of the car located a large group of<br />
people who were gathered in the street<br />
around Windrush Road, NW10.<br />
Almost immediately, numerous<br />
firearms were discharged from both<br />
sides. In the chaos that ensued,<br />
McCullagh – who had got out of the<br />
car - was shot twice; Seed was also<br />
shot in the leg. <strong>The</strong> car left at speed<br />
leaving McCullagh to die in the street.<br />
<strong>The</strong> three remaining members of<br />
the group drove back to St Raphael’s<br />
Estate where they immediately began<br />
attempts to cover their tracks. Another<br />
Co-gangster - Daniel Mensah<br />
Gang associate - Leeban Farah<br />
associate, Leeban Farah, was enlisted<br />
to take Seed to hospital so his leg<br />
injury could be treated; from there he<br />
travelled with another male to buy<br />
petrol and then returned where the<br />
stolen Land Rover had been<br />
abandoned in another area on the<br />
estate.<br />
<strong>The</strong> car was set on fire in an<br />
attempt to destroy any evidence.<br />
However, police had been called to the<br />
area as a result of the fire and Farah<br />
was apprehended by officers as he<br />
tried to flee the scene. A subsequent<br />
forensic analysis of the burnt out car<br />
revealed four bullet holes in the<br />
chassis. While the car was being<br />
torched, Daniel Mensah contacted<br />
George Orji who took possession of<br />
one of the firearms used.<br />
When officers attended an address<br />
that Orji was seen entering, they found<br />
two handguns, a silencer and a<br />
paintball gun, with some items in a<br />
Tesco bag. An analysis of the firearms<br />
found that two of the cartridges<br />
Co-gangster Issa Seed<br />
recovered at the scene of McCullagh’s<br />
murder had been fired from the<br />
weapons; however – none of the<br />
injuries sustained by him matched<br />
bullets from these guns.<br />
Phone analysis from Seed, Mensah<br />
and Yussuf showed they and Billy<br />
McCullagh, were in the same venue<br />
and the four were in continual contact<br />
in the hours leading up to the ride-out<br />
to the Stonebridge Estate.<br />
26-year-old Leeban Farah was<br />
found guilty of perverting the course<br />
of justice.<br />
31-year-old George Orji was found<br />
guilty of possession of an imitation<br />
firearm with intent. He had previously<br />
pleaded guilty to possession of a<br />
firearm.<br />
A 30-year-old woman charged with<br />
possession of a prohibited firearm was<br />
found not guilty.<br />
DI Williams added: “While these<br />
sentencings bring this aspect of the<br />
investigation to a close, it still leaves a<br />
significant part open. We have not<br />
identified the person or persons<br />
responsible for firing the shots that<br />
killed Billy McCullagh; we will<br />
continue to pursue lines of enquiry<br />
and will work tirelessly to find those<br />
responsible. I would appeal to anyone<br />
who can provide information to get in<br />
contact with officers; if you do not feel<br />
confident speaking to police then you<br />
can contact the independent charity<br />
CrimeStoppers. <strong>The</strong>y do not ask for<br />
your identify and will not attempt to<br />
trace your call or email.” You can<br />
contact CrimeStoppers anonymously<br />
via 0800 555 111 or at<br />
crimestoppers.org<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> is published in London fortnightly by <strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Field: 07956 385 604 E-mail: info@the-trumpet.com (ISSN: 1477-3392)