Monarchs ranking: Why Oba of Benin is number one, by Odia Ofeimun

I am a Republican, not a Royalist. But, in a country in which we have all conceded the coexistence of Republican and Royalist values, it should be considered quite unseemly to watch one set of the interacting values being rough-handled, muddied or treated with improper decorum without feeling a need to intervene on behalf of rectitude.

I have been so challenged since the eruption of the controversy ignited by the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, who allowed himself to do a ranking of Yoruba Obas that placed the Oba of Benin as third in the hierarchy.*Oba of Benin

In one sense, as Chief David Edebiri, the Esogban of Benin, immediately retorted, it is wrong to rank the Oba of Benin among Yoruba Obas because the Oba of Benin is not a Yoruba and therefore cannot be placed on a list of Yoruba Obas. I call it ‘in a sense’ because the Esogban’s position may be disputed on the grounds, as will soon be clear, that there is too much sibling hood between Yoruba

Buhari in diplomatic shuttle to stabilise oil price

By Levinus Nwabughiogu, Michael Eboh & Ediri Ejoh, with Agency Report 

ABUJA — President Muhammadu Buhari jets out to Saudi Arabia and Qatar today to engage officials of both countries in further talks to ensure stability of oil prices. Nigeria, yesterday, agreed to freeze the country’s crude oil production at 2.2 million barrels per day this month, same as the level recorded in January, in a bid to address the declining price of crude oil in the international market. The government’s move is a reaction to Saudi Arabia and Russia which have agreed to freeze oil output at near-record levels, the first coordinated move by the world’s two largest producers to counter a slump that has pummelled economies, markets and companies.

Buhari Speaking after a meeting with Qatar’s Energy Minister, Mohammed Al Sada and Qatar Petroleum Chief Executive Officer Saad Sharida Al Kaabi in Doha, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, said the decision was in support of the decision of Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze oil production. He, however, disclosed that Nigeria was looking for ways to increase crude oil production, not for the purpose of export but for local consumption. “Nigeria will continue to look at the possibility of increasing production, not to sell it, because we have local consumption that is essential for us. “Right now, we are not even exporting the quantity that OPEC has given us. Demand from domestic refineries is at least 500,000 barrels of oil a day,” he explained. Kachikwu also gave far-reaching recommendations on how Iran and Iraq could regain some of their lost market share due to sanctions and war.

Angry reactions trail postponement of Imo re-run polls

By Chidi Nkwopara & Chinonso Alozie 

OWERRI—Angry reactions have continued to trail last weekend’s sudden rescheduling of the re-run elections for Okigwe senatorial seat

and some state constituency seats in Imo State. Gov. Rochas Okorocha Addressing a news conference in Owerri, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Imo State, accused the state government, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security agencies in the state of complicity in the aborted re-run election earlier scheduled to hold last Saturday. “The postponement of the scheduled polls was the handiwork of the state government, whose top officials recruited miscreants and street urchins and stormed INEC premises midday with dangerous weapons
and blocked the entrance gate with a heavy duty truck”, the State PDP Chairman, Chief Nnamdi Anyaehie, fumed. Continuing, Anyaehie said: “It beats our imagination and the minds of all right thinking individuals, how such an ugly incident could successively be accomplished in the presence of fully armed security personnel, including soldiers, and yet nobody was arrested.” The Imo PDP boss, who also took exception to Governor Rochas Okorocha’s broadcast, which was aired on the airways of Imo Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, a day to the aborted re-run election, during which he urged the electorate to vote for All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates, dismissed this as a brazen abuse of office. Speaking also,

Fayose to Buhari: Devalue Naira now, forex policy short-changing Nigerians

Governor Fayose

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has called for the devaluation of the nation’s currency, the Naira, saying, “With the gap between the official rate of N199 and open market rate of over N400 to one dollar, Naira has already been devalued. Therefore, President Muhammadu Buhari must stop deceiving himself and short-changing Nigerians, especially States and Local Councils in the country with his Forex Policy.”Fayose

Governor Fayose, who said there was no time in the history of Nigeria that the gap between dollar official rate and open market rate was more than N200, pointed out that it made no economic sense for the Federal Government to be calculating the country’s revenue on the basis of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official rate of N199 to a dollar while States and Local Councils that are sharing the revenue with the Federal Government run their businesses at the open market rate of over N400 to one dollar, thereby causing business to be folding up by the day and prices of goods skyrocketing everyday.