SPECIAL REPORT: Oshiomhole's "Clever by Half" Felicitation.

By Publisher Although many had failed to realize early, that the disgraced former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole was a fitting example of a man that is too smart for his own britches, but few close allies discovered early that this deceptive smartness might be his achilles heel. As it is popularly said, pride goes before a big fall, and so as it was, Oshiomhole’s rise from grass to grace and back to grass is squarely a reflection of his conceited overconfidence and unyielding self importance. Right from his haydays when he was the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), to his sudden position as the governor of Edo State, he succeeded with his attitude of ‘Mr’ know all. He soaked himself in full overclever notions, and this has finally brought colossal harm to his twisted ego and image. Sadly, but fortunate for Edo people and Nigerians at large, any piece of advice now, is akin to pouring water into a basket. It just too late for the once upon a ‘maradona’ to relaunch himself as the ‘masses man’. A great opportunity had just slipped through his fingers! For those that had the opportunity to work with Oshiomhole, they can attest to the fact that the ex governor resides inside inconsistency. He is the perfect example of ‘do what I say’ and ‘not what I do’. Any leader, must always ask his or herself, “did I do what I said I would, and have I done it consistently?” Reputation on the other hand is interconnected and related to truth. The underbelly of a poor reputation is that one become a co-conspirator in human failure because people who relied on you are damaged by your ethical breaches. For those of us who were close to Oshiomhole when he first made political contact with Edo State, we gave ourselves the onerous assignment to groom him on the ethics of consistency with his make believe values. We also resounded the need to guard his relationships with others. We coached him to speak truth (no matter the circumstances) and to leave a legacy of his truth through his teachings to us (his apostles). When the malady called Edo People’s Movement (EPM) started, I boasted to political pundits that the promoters of the now defunct pressure group would be dumped by Oshiomhole who was their commander-in-chief. My thoughts were that the ex labour leader was too grounded in political maneuvering to know when to eject himself for safty. That was not to be! Some of us watched in utter amazement how a seamingly smart diminutive strategist gradually traveled to the ‘land of no return’. In the end, Oshiomhole had suffered the worse political defeat, so much more than what he inflicted on his political rivals in ten years. In the heat of battle between him and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the octogenarian had hinted that, the APC would be enmeshed in crisis at various levels if Oshiomhole is allowed to have his way. We all know how he managed to maneuver his way to become the national chairman and how he unsettled the party, mainly with absence of internal democracy, imposition of candidates at elections and opaque leadership. With his advent, APC lost the primary stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which the party won under Oyegun. The APC had taken Adamawa, Bauchi, Sokoto, Plateau, Benue, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, Zamfara, among others from the PDP in 2014. He managed to keep Kano and Osun in very suspicious circumstances. Majority of these states were lost on account of Oshiomhole’s highhandedness and dictatorial leadership style. Some commentators had said that the “…Bayelsa episode was the last Oshiomole’s opponent in APC would take in his strings of misadventures.” Despite all his failings, he refused to learn from the past, and embarked on his last fight and a very rancorous route, to fight his successor – Obaseki over the control of Edo politics. He had his way and denied the governor a re-election ticket and forced him to join the PDP. By this decision, Oshiomhole took his gambling habit too far, and the move incurred him more opposition from APC leaders. In all his atrocities against Edo people, nay Nigerians, Oshiomhole’s major error was his orchestrated disqualification of Mr. Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki as candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2020 gubernatorial election. Basking in his usual boisterous ‘nerveless’ attitude, he boasted the he was the ‘supreme court’ and that even if Obaseki was cleared by the screening committee he had handpicked and briefed, he was ready to annul their recommendation. His naked threat came at the beehive of Obaseki’s high ratings, both at the national and local levels. That decision put Edo State on reverse gear ignited the political flame that has already consumed many of his blind followers. Oshiomhole’s decision to show uncut political power brought redicle to Edo State and put a hitherto referenced ‘oshioquake’ to abysmal level. Among his many sins that needs atonement is the palaver in Edo State House of Assembly. His hurried decision to control the assembly led to the refusal of 14 members elect to present themselves for inauguration on June 17, 2019. Today, only 10 members of Edo State House of Assembly are deciding the fate of 24 Constituencies. Sadly, my Constituency (Ovia North East) is caught in Oshiomhole’s retrogressive decision. Let us fast track to post election litigation – from the Federal High Court to Appeal Court and finally, the (REAL) Supreme Court. We, his foot soldiers had waited and prayed that he will seize the opportunity of his final decimation by the justices to apologize to Edo people and ask for their forgiveness. Expectedly, Oshiomhole missed a once in a lifetime opportunity to rebound. His handlers decided otherwise to construct a very half hazard letter of congratulation to his successor, Governor Godwin Obaseki. What this simply means is that he has failed to accept his fault and appreciate the pain and retrogression he brought upon the people of Edo State. The audacity of the so-called letter prompted this conversation. In his letter, he lauded the Supreme Court and also congratulated Obaseki. He said nothing to us, the common man that went through horrendous pain and stress when his onslaught lasted. Oh my God! Certainly, this is the height of insensitivity and skewed bloated ego!! Like a convict, Oshiomhole and his handlers failed to use the opportunity of allocutus, to plead for our leniency. His very unrepentant words that shot him to infamous fame, has eventually resigned him to the deplorable corner of history. Sarcastically, Mr. Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole wrote: “…as I had repeatedly reminded you during our several meetings, our relationship has through the years developed beyond being friends to being brothers of different parents. “Whatever happened is unfortunate and I believe God has reasons for everything. “I have put all behind me and moved on. As I have consistently advised, please be magnanimous in victory. You are the Governor of all Edo people regardless of political leanings.” There is so much impunity in this letter to warrant any forgiveness. The content is still replete with Oshiomhole’s tough talking stance that brought so much trouble to his party, the APC. Suffice to say that his latest blunder is a reflection of his new advisers. Apart from Dr. Pius Egberanmwen Odubu, former Deputy Governor to Oshiomhole, 99% of the EPM members are those that we defeated on April 14, 2007 on our way to form government in November 12, 2008. He lost the services of majority of the planners and executors, or if you like, Oshiomhole’s foot soldiers when he sailed off to his political wilderness. The likes of Rt. Honourable Philip Shaibu who was the ground commander of our youthful volunteers, Osarodion Ogie Esq who was the planner-in-chief, my good self (Orobosa Omo-Ojo JP), late Prof Omo Omoruyi, Don Omorodion and others that were spread across the state are not around him to moderate his atrocities. Being one of his (true) friends, I have restrained myself not to write him off but it is yet to be seen how our once beloved masses man will change his present definition of a metaphor of political failure to that of a labour leader who came, saw and conquered. midwestherald.com.ng

Prophet T.B. Joshua is dead at 57 by MARIAM ILEYEMI

Prophet T.B. Joshua is dead at 57 Mr Joshua reigned for several decades as a fiery preacher on television, using his platform to attract a large number of Christians from across the world. Temitope Balogun Joshua, a frontline Nigerian preacher and televangelist, has died, family sources told Peoples Gazette. Mr Joshua, the founder of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), died in Lagos on Saturday evening shortly after concluding a programme at his church, The Gazette learnt from family sources who did not want to be quoted as an official statement was still being prepared. He was 57. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed to The Gazette, but family sources said his remains had been deposited at the morgue and an autopsy would be performed forthwith. Mr Joshua reigned for several decades as a fiery preacher on television, using his platform to attract a large number of Christians from across the world. Emmanuel TV, run by Mr Joshua’s SCOAN, is one of Nigeria’s largest Christian broadcast stations, available worldwide via digital and terrestrial switches. In 2014, his church was at the centre of a multi-national investigation following a section of his church headquarters in Lagos collapsed, leaving dozens killed and many more injured. Mr Joshua denied allegations of negligence and a trial over the incident was still underway prior to his demise.

When an organization operating largely from outside a country seeks to regulate the President of a country ...

When an organization operating largely from outside a country seeks to regulate the President of a country into silence on security matters, those who think insecurity must be sustained will applaud such move. They will be accompanied on that fatal voyage by those who erroneously rates freedom and politics higher than national security. Those ones are not even embarrassed to be categorized as ignorant of lack of freedom in a war situation, There's no freedom during a war! Preventing a war is the sustenance of freedoms! A man with the duty to secure a nation and consistently under fire for not doing enough is putting forward a policy of treating those involved with creation of insecurity "in the language they understand" after referencing a 30-month civil war and destruction of government property is surprisingly being vilified by a section of his country for starting with the organization that surreptitiously supports the insecurity? He should have traveled to France or the US to lodge a report against the destructive elements within or just commence operations without a warning? He shouldn't have said it on twitter but the platform can accommodate those who preach violent disintegration? I care so little about disintegration. I care very much about a violent route to achieving it. Haven't we clamored for increased action from the actors in state security? We will applaud a Sunday Igboho's violence in the bush and on YouTube but antagonize a President's expression of his resolution to tackle violence on Twitter? I heard some talk about freedom of expression of citizens being curtailed by the Twitter ban. Citizens want unbridled consumption of Twitter services even as their President is taken down and most probably even when risk to life and properties are sustained? The power of a nation doesn't lie in the nobility of ideas cultured therein, it lies in the intellectualism deployed in the actualization of the ideas. Those who want power shouldn't bring us down intellectually in the comity of nations. Are we so ignorant of the depopulation agenda of the superpowers against Africa? The only thing France has done in it's former colony in Africa is the establishment of military hotels therein and bringing soldiers and guns! Bill Gates recently told us that the world needs depopulation. Haven't we noticed how unimpressed they've been about Africa's successful battle against HIV, Ebola and Covid19? Is it too difficult to notice the US embellishment of India and Brazil's failures in pandemic containment? Of course they should if it aligns with their depopulation agenda! If we refused to die by their diseases and their "pity and misery wishes" are wasted here, must they be given a red carpet reception through their agents and forerunners of war? Every law-abiding inhabitant is safer and life more abundant on the streets of Beijing than in New York. Oh yes, freedom doesn't outweigh national security. The Nigerian Supreme Court once said it recently in Dokubo-Asari v FRN.. It's reported in 2007 part 1048 of the Nigerian Weekly Law Reports. China recognizes the unending war of superpowers against one another and interests not aligning with them. China banned Twitter. Citizens can use Sein Weibo.....and that's taking her citizens out of foreign manipulation and subtle control! Russians whether or not supported by state powers are now deploying Ransomeware against US companies and helplessness appears to be reigning. We didn't even realise how devilishly they've deployed Cambridge Analitica against Africa until their own implosion revealed gory details. The riots of Hong Kong sustained and supported by the Trump-US and US policy is what the US tackles in the Capitol riots/protests. One policy at home another for foreigners. And we claim to sabi. ....lol India banned TikTok and Snapchat for being inimical to security of India. Uganda and Egypt doesn't have Twitter. Remember the Jeff Koinages CNN story against Uganda that got the reporter axed? Jeff later had his properties sold due to indebtedness. Someone broke and ready to sell off a country? I wish I have the resources to investigate Nima Elbagir's finances also of CNN after her EndSars news roll out that reopened healing wounds in Nigeria. Mewa n'sele ... The US under Donald Trump started the process of banning TikTok before he left office. Many claimed its for economic reasons. Tell me which reason is bad for the US? Huawei, a Chinese technology company was banned in US and Sweden for security concerns. Citizens didn't cry! They rose up to take advantage and accepted the challenge. What then could be wrong if Nigerians clamour for security and the President issued a warning to destructive elements using Twitter handle? Twitter aligning with dissidents? Not impossible! Boya l'emo ! Twitter is a US company headquartered in San Francisco. The top 5 arms company in the world are also based in the US. General Dynamics and Raytheon Technologies compete with Lockheed Martin and Boeing for market shares in sales all over the world! Every arms manufacturer is searching for where the next big war is most likely just like the casket makers hovers around mortuaries and hospitals. Doesn't that look consistent with marketing trends? Do we have the capacity to know what Twitter or anyone else is doing with these companies? Odiegwu . Our capacity is resilience in Unity against external influence. We shall return home to do our quarrel. As long as those who fight for Africans can only use one hand in their fights because the other hand must be used against those who don't want enemies to be fought, we are most unlikely to escape the fatal consequences of tolerating the lurking jackals. The world is at war and countries are consistent with plans to preserve themselves at any cost and destabilize enemies, Nigeria is at play and consistently with politics to fragment the country and consume enemy baits. Regardless of prayers being my weakness, I pray we overcome. I testify NaijaNoDeyCarryLast . Olukayode Oseni kayodeoseni@rocketmail.com

“A HOUSE OF CARDS WAITING FOR THE RIGHT GUST OF WIND”: TWITTER’S REVENUE IS STAGNANT, AND ITS CEO IS MOVING TO AFRICA—WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Twitter’s valuation has never made sense, except for its user base of celebrities and journalists and Donald Trump. Can Jack Dorsey find enough new users to change the game? BY NICK BILTON Last month Jack Dorsey was standing in Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia, which, according to reviews, has “insipid food choices” and a “pathetic duty free,” when he tweeted a major announcement: “Sad to be leaving the continent…for now. Africa will define the future (especially the bitcoin one!). Not sure where yet, but I’ll be living here for 3-6 months mid 2020.” At Twitter and Square, the two companies Dorsey runs almost 9,000 miles away, Dorsey’s employees were as perplexed as everyone else. According to people close to Twitter, no all-hands had been called to explain that their boss was planning to spend a good chunk of next year overseas. There was no explanation—just the tweet. Had someone like Mark Zuckerberg or Tim Cook or even off-the-cuff king Elon Musk sent a similar tweet, their companies’ respective stocks would have plummeted, lobbing a few billion dollars off their valuation; the CEO of a major public company moving oversees without much explanation isn’t normal. But at Twitter, the markets barely registered the so-called announcement. That’s because Twitter is not like any other public company, and its investors are as perplexed as ever about how to judge its worth. Its valuation doesn’t match its revenue. Its user numbers don’t match its influence. And, unlike Apple or Facebook, Wall Street still isn’t sure if Twitter’s CEO, Dorsey, is one of the metrics they should use to decide that value. I’ve long since given up predicting the market capitalization of Silicon Valley companies. There are simply too many random factors, like Russian interference, tens of millions of “users” turning out to be bots, or, more often than not, the firing of a big-shot CEO. Uber, I once believed, could be worth $100 billion, or nothing. (It’s now bobbing somewhere in between.) I once assumed the scandal surrounding Facebook and Russia would chop off a good quarter of the social network’s value, and while it did fall by a hundred billion dollars or so after the Cambridge Analytica news broke, Facebook is now worth more than half-a-trillion dollars, and continues to grow. As for Twitter, a company I’ve covered for more than a decade, while the company’s value has gone up and down like a yoyo, my predictions of where it might be at any given moment have always been off by several quarters, if not years. In 2015, for example, as the usual chaos was gripping the Twitter boardroom and Dorsey had taken over for the third time (his second as CEO), I guessed that the social network’s stock would fall dramatically. While I was right for a while, Twitter’s value is now in the same ballpark as when Dorsey returned, in part thanks to the Tweeter-in-Chief. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Half a dozen people I’ve spoken with who once worked for Twitter or who are current investors have voiced concerns about how long the company can continue on its trajectory of remaining stagnant as a platform with an absentee CEO, and whether it can reverse course on its flattening ad revenue, which increased by a negligible 8 percent this past quarter. (For comparison’s sake, Facebook’s increased by 28 percent. An ex executive who left Twitter after Dorsey returned to the company said the only reason Twitter is still around is because “it’s like the monster from Stranger Things that just can’t be killed and comes back every season.” (The executive left the company precisely because they saw the future wherein ad revenue would slow and, eventually, fall.) Another former senior manager described Twitter’s business model as “a house of cards waiting for the right gust of wind.” And one current investor noted that the stock this week was lower than it was when Dorsey came back almost four and a half years ago. User growth hasn’t fared much better. Twitter now has more than 2 billion users less than Facebook. In America alone, only 30 million people use Twitter daily. Last week this sentiment was made [public by one outspoken Twitter investor: Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, who wrote an open letter to R. Kordestani, the executive chairman of Twitter, pointing out that shareholder return since Dorsey came back was negative 15 percent, compared with Google, which was up 153 percent; Facebook, up 120 percent; and the entire S&P 500, which was up 50 percent. “The poor citizenship of Twitter is bad. What’s worse is Twitter’s malfeasance coupled with scant benefit to stakeholders. The platform is all the calories of big tech (poor citizenship, divisiveness, hate) without the great taste (stakeholder returns),” Galloway wrote. “At least tobacco stocks performed well.” (Zing.) Galloway demanded that Dorsey be ousted from the company again. This seems unlikely—when I spoke to Kordestani a couple of years ago, he indicated Dorsey wasn’t going anywhere: “There is no Plan B.” So how is Twitter surviving with slowing revenue, tepid user growth, flat valuation, and a CEO about to go backpacking around Africa? The consensus from almost all of the current and former employees and investors I’ve spoken with is that Twitter’s saving grace is not how many people use the platform, or how much money the company might pull in, but rather who is doing the tweeting. The best way to explain that is with an anecdote not about Twitter but about Ben Smith, now the top editor at BuzzFeed. At the time of this tale more a decade ago, Smith was an intern at the Forward, which serves a primarily Jewish audience. Anyone who’s ever met Smith knows he’s whip smart and not one to hold back about how he really feels. One day, as the story goes, fed up with low readership, Smith raised the issue with an editor, sarcastically, noting that only “two Jews read” the paper. To which the editor responded: “But it’s the right two Jews.” Twitter, then, is still worth $23 billion because its users are celebrities, journalists, and politicians. But if that can't be monetized, what, really, is the point? Ironically, Dorsey's moving to Africa might be exactly what Twitter needs. Like Facebook, Twitter’s user numbers have basically plateaued in the West. In the U.S. specifically, one former Twitter employee said that it’s almost impossible to get new users to sign up. “Since Trump became president, everyone in the U.S. has heard of Twitter—everyone!—[but] it’s not like they’re going to decide to sign up tomorrow because they heard [about] this platform the president is on. If you haven't signed up yet, you’re never signing up.” Which leaves emerging markets, like Africa. Currently, 1.25 billion people live on the African continent, and only 388 million are online, according to the Internet Society, which promotes the development of the internet around the globe. That leaves a whopping 800 million potential new customers who could get a smartphone and sign up for Twitter (and Square, Dorsey’s payments platform). More than half the continent is still operating on the 2G network, which has been decommissioned by dozens of countries. Which means Africa is about to go through what the rest of the world experienced more than a decade ago. This could be Twitter’s moment to redeem itself, avoiding the missteps it made in the United States. More likely, however, its introduction overseas will simply cause more chaos on the global stage. But hey, at least investors will be happy.

Telecom operators in Nigeria suspend access to Twitter

The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has suspended access to Twitter. A statement jointly signed by ALTON chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo and executive secretary, Gbolahan Awonuga, and released this morning June 5, stated that the suspension was based on a directive by the telecommunications industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The statement titled ‘Order to Suspend Access to Twitter’, reads “We, The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) wish to confirm that our members have received formal instructions from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the industry regulator to suspend access to Twitter. ALTON has conducted a robust assessment of the request in accordance with internationally accepted principles. Based on national interest provisions in the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, and within the licence terms under which the industry operates; our members have acted in compliance with the directives of the Nigerian Communications Commisison (NCC) the industry regulator. We remain committed to supporting the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and upholding the rights of citizens. As an industry, we endorse the position of the United Nations that the rights held by people offline must also be protected online. This includes respecting and protecting the rights of all people to communicate, to share information freely and responsibly, and to enjoy privacy and security regarding their data and their use of digital communications'' The Federal government on Friday, June 4, announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter's operations in Nigeria. The suspension came days after the micro-blogging site deleted President Buhari's tweet referencing the civil war.

Twitter supports IPOB more than it supports the government- politician Adamu Garba

Former presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba has alleged that Twitter is an “online machine” of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and that the social media platform supports the secessionist group more than it supports the Federal government. Adamu said this while reacting to the decision of the Federal government to suspend the operation of Twitter in Nigeria. In an interview with Channels TV on Friday evening, June 4, Garba, who in October 2020 sued the social media platform for ''supporting'' the #ENDSARS protest (read here), said the Federal government's decision is a welcomed development. “Yes, I’m happy. Seriously. It is clearly showing that actions cannot just happen without consequences. Twitter, if you studied their move for the last two years, they have been more of an anti-Nigerian force, for the destruction of Nigeria than actually a platform that’s supposed to advocate for freedom of expression of Nigeria. “Because if you look at what happened with the removal of some of the tweets of the president, I can’t see very strong or vile word than that of Nnamdi Kanu that was left to still be available on Twitter. “We have a very serious crisis in the south-east, where these guys are destroying fundamental institutions of Nigerian democracy, INEC offices, police institutions and courts. “They are killing people on the streets, destroying people’s properties, and then Twitter is behind them. “I think Twitter is like a kind of IPOB online machine because what they do more is to support IPOB much more than the government. IPOB, everyone knows, they are anti-Nigeria. Their target is to destroy Nigeria.”

UK aims to regulate social media firms over content removal - The Times

REUTERS (Reuters) - The British government will announce plans for a new law next week under which social media companies will have a duty to be impartial and be barred from "arbitrarily" removing comments because they are controversial, The Times newspaper reported. UK ministers will announce plans on Tuesday for a statutory duty of care, which will be enforced by Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, the newspaper reported, without citing a source. Firms that fail to meet the obligations may face multimillion-pound fines or be blocked from operating in Britain, according to the report. The newspaper cited a source as saying that the British government was concerned that social media companies were removing legitimate content on grounds that it was controversial rather than because it was harmful or inaccurate. A government representative was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)