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Oshiomhole’s Deputy Tears Him Apart ” You Are Deficient & Lack Composure To Be Chairman, So, Step Aside”

Published

6 years ago

May 28, 2019

Editor

Senator Lawal Shuaibu, Deputy National Chairman, North of the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC) has torn the reputation and honour of party Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to shreds.

In a statement, he has said that Oshiomhole is not only deficient but lacks the Composure of the high office of Chairman, noting that he had been responsible for the crises that has engulfed the party in many states.

Here is the full text

‘

I write this letter on my own behalf, personally and as a Deputy National Chairman.

I write this letter to you with very deep heart and high sense of responsibility.

I write this letter thinking because I am a critical stakeholder in the APC project.

I write this letter with my hands shaking arising from realizing of myself being involved in a project that is currently seen as failing, even before achieving the ambition of it’s founding Fathers. I never found myself in any failed project.

I sincerely believe in the APC Project, with all my heart.

Locus Standi

l was part of more than 90% of all the meetings and processes that led to the final agreement to merge our Parties for purpose of this project. In fact, I led my own Party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, under which you initially served as Governor, to kick-start the National Convention to secure the consent of our members to merge with other Parties. You are fully aware that l was the Chairman of that National Convention in Lagos. I also served as member of the Merger Committee. Lest I forget, I was also the person mandated to file the registration documents with INEC and that is why the receipt for payment of the APC registration fees at INEC was issued in my name. I am stating all these, only to show proof, that I am a critical stakeholder in the APC project and therefore have a stake for which I reserve the right to write this letter to you. This is however, in addition to my being a legitimately elected Deputy National Chairman, North at the last National Convention, and not because I have any higher stake in APC than any other member.

Commencement

To start with, the APC project, which started with the agreement to merge our legacy political Parties, eventually succeeded in forming a strong party that came with massive goodwill across all divides in Nigeria, and which was acknowledged to be first of its kind in the history of politics in this country.

The adopted norm at that time was team work all the way to success, and never unilateral approach to any decision-making. With that, various committees were formed to work assiduously towards achieving the goals of the new political party under an atmosphere of crude attack by the ruling party then, as well as deliberate lack of cooperation from Agencies of Federal Government. It was the first time calumnious statements were introduced against an Opposition party by the ruling party instead of vice-versa.

The interim leadership of The new Party, rather adeptly came up with a formidable army of brains drawn from it’s membership, that put together quite an impressive electoral strategy on how the Party could win election at all levels. The only function of the National Chairman was to preside over meetings in which ideas were discussed, he then allowed committees to go to work and submit reports which were tabled before the working committee for decisions or for further recommendations to the larger leadership meetings for final decisions.

The Party through it’s Committees, was able to organize congresses at all levels across the states and finally produced its National Officers when it conducted what was described as the most organized National Convention in recent history. Thereafter also, the substantive leadership of Party went ahead to organize the most orderly, cohesive and successful Presidential Convention, also in recent history.

Attractive Campaigns

When the APC Presidential Campaign started, we had two attractions; the electoral asset in the person of our Presidential Candidate and the manner of campaign that was devoid of hate speech or calumnious statements as against our opponents who unleashed their attack dogs on our Presidential Candidate and our new Party.

The maturity exhibited throughout the 2015 political rallies, together with the aura of our Presidential Candidate attracted massive goodwill for the Campaigns, and the value addition to that, was unquantifiable.

At the end of our successful Campaigns in 2015, our Presidential Candidate won massively with a whooping 15,424,923 votes as against a sitting Nigerian President’s 12,853,162 votesll This is in addition to having 23 States to our credit.

2019 Election Activities and Campaigns

Under normal circumstances, when you take over as a Project Manager, it is expected that you bring to bear, your wealth of experience to the new job which will be seen in your capacity and capabilities as value addition.

In a political party like the APC, you are expected to also introduce new approach to strategies through committees that will work and submit recommendations to you towards improving on the current fortunes of the Party.

It is expected that for every decision credited to the Party, it should be the result of a meeting where resolutions are passed by the working committee.

It is also expected that policies by the party are always alI-inclusive and never one sided and to cap it up, no unilateral decisions should be made to represent the opinion of either the National Working committee, the National Executive Committee or even the least, the National Caucus. National Chairman cannot assume the powers of the National Working Committee.

Faulty Processes The last Congresses in States, unfortunately, represented a complete lack of knowledge, not to talk of experience on how due process in political electoral process is adhered to.

The National Working Committee is saddled with the responsibility of recommending guidelines for every electoral process and appointing committees that will embark on conducting primary elections for every constituency and submit report and thereafter an appeal committee will attend to complaints and petitions and also submit its report to the NWC. The National Working Committee is then expected to perform the duty of the final adjudicatory body on each electoral matter and from there you have the final list of Candidates.

National Chairman cannot, in any circumstances be Chairman of any committee be it screening committee of any other committee contrary to what you did.

Chairman presides over the meetings of Nationai Working Committee in which each matter disposed of by any appeals committee is examined and Tina! decision reached.

If the National ChairMan should chair any of these committeés what if there is a complaint about his own conduct, who do you send your petition to? He can not be a judge in his own matter!

National Working Committee meetings, in my own experience, shall not be held in private residences especially where it involves thousands of party men and women with grudges over injustice meted out on them by officials of the Party. The Party Secretariat is the officially recognized venue of such meetings, uniess if there are other motives for keeping away from there.

For every meeting of any organ of the Party, there shall be minutes of the meeting reflecting every decision taken at such meeting. Most of the meetings held and fundamental decisions purported to have been taken were not backed by minutes.

The few meetings that were covered by the Secretariat and minutes taken could clearly show that final decisions of the NWC were altered! Example was the unanimous decision by NWC to allow Mrs Aisha Alhassan, former Minister of Women Affairs to go and contest with her co-Aspirants at the primaries in Taraba State which decision was overruled by you. You singIe-handedly disqualified her and numbers in the Party got depleted and thereby weakened. So also, several other aspirants that you personally disqualified without Just cause.

Arising from such conduct, the APC ended up with severe injuries and is today badly fractured in virtually every constituency in this country, resulting in the erosion of the massive goodwill that you met the Party with.

Apart from the President, more than 60% of members including those that contested elections under the APC in 2019 are not happy with the process as it left a lot to be desired. We have Court cases in every State, by far much more than it was in 2015 and I wonder how much money the Party is likely to spend on litigations arising from mistakes of the National Chairman in not adhering to due process and sidelining transparency. Committees for primaries became secret affair to the extent that not even members of the NWC were aware of how certain committees were constituted with members mostly from Edo State outnumbering every other State and in some instance, the same Edo members sewing in more than one State in conducting primaries. The records are there to be seen. What is wrong with being just in what you find yourself doing for the people? Personal interest should not be allowed to overshadow the interests of our teeming loyal members across the country.

Building Institution

We all know and I still believe that by electing us into the various Party offices, we are expected to build this institution to flourish and wax stronger beyond our own tenure, not to be seen as undertakers that came to kill and bury it, and clearly so! The strength of every political Party I also believe, lies in the number of States it is able to win elections.

We had 23 States in 2015, but after the 2019 elections we lost 7 States!

We also had 60 Senators in 2015 at the end of the election count, we now end up with 57 Senators in 2019! You were not brought in to lose election, It is absolutely unacceptable!

What this entails is that for any Senator to become a presiding Officer he needs to go and kneel down before the PDP Senators and beg for support! And to make things worse, you announced that APC will not allow any PDP Senator to be , appointed as Committee Chairman except the committees statutorily meant for the opposition members of the Senate. That is never the tradition of the legislature anywhere! The Legislature is the house of collaboration and lobby and you can never succeed with hostile approach, you must lobby seek for cooperation of members across Party divides. If you don’t know, you have made the situation worse than it seems. Try and use your calculator and you will find that as at now, if anybody, backed by the PDP members, wants to become Senate President, all he needs is the support of only 6 APC Senators to win the election on the floor of the Senate! Chairman, strategies are not announced on television, they are discussed at caucuses.

We have no reason whatsoever to go about it this way if we really are serious in building this institution that many leaders suffered to put in place.

Conclusion and Prayer

It is my honest opinion that your ability to ensure this party flourishes is deficient as you lack the necessary composure and you also don’t possess the capabilities and the requisite experience to run a political Party.

The respect APC was commanding among its members and Sympathizers have been completely eroded, while the goodwill has equally evaporated with the type of attitude of threats to members you deploy, including senior members like Governors, Senators, Ministers and other Government officials whose functions do not fall within your jurisdiction. As I know, the relationship between Party and Government are cooperation and collaboration to ensure Government programs are implemented in line with the party manifesto, but not shouting and giving marching instructions to Government officials on television screens or on the pages of newspapers, and more often than not, they call your bluff and make look helplessly unimportant in the scheme of things”

Please don’t get me wrong, do not think I am saying these about your conduct as Chairman because I want to be Chairman. I don’t want to be National Chairman, because I can not be, even if I want to, for as long as President Muhammadu Buhari is in office, having come from the same North West geo-political zone.

In advanced democracies, people who fail to add value or build over and above what they met on assumption of duty show some civilized examples, they honourably bow out.

In that connection therefore, I want to advise you to take the path of honour, to step aside and allow the Party to embark on the onerous task of reconstruction and rehabilitation in those States it was weakened by the effect of manner the last primary election exercises were conducted or even the task of recreating the party where it is on the path of extinction, arising from the loss of a sitting APC Government, for example in Zamfara State, where you directly personally created the problem leading to the painful complete loss of APC’s electoral fortunes, FROM UP TO DOWN I All these are uncontestable facts. You cannot exonerate yourself from blame on what happened to APC Zamfara State, thereby destroying the hopes and aspirations of 534,541 APC members and supporters, including my goodselfp!

l have nothing personal, except that I love this Party and can not keep quiet seeing it being brutally murdered!

Very Sincerely,

Senator Lawal Shuaibu
Deputy National Chairman, North

‘

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

Featured

Communal Clashes: Adeleke Threatens Royal Fathers with Dethronement

Published

1 day ago

March 31, 2025

Eric

Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has threatened stern state action against traditional rulers of Ifon, Erin Osun and Ilobu communities if they fail to sustain current peace, and de-escalate the crisis in their communities.

The Governor issued the warning against the backdrop of online reports that some faceless groups across the conflict areas are planning another round of attacks.

“In the midst of sallah celebrations, I got reports of some people planning another round of conflict around Ifon, Ilobu and Erin Osun towns. The security agencies have tightened surveillance to ensure no attacks take place.

“The security agencies are also speeding up the interrogation of key chieftains and actors in the conflict. I will remind top leaders of the towns that the peace undertaking they are signing are not for joke. They will be held accountable. There will be accountability before the law.

“The curfew we relaxed was on humanitarian grounds. As a compassionate government, we know many innocent people are suffering because of the evil agenda of a few elements across the conflict areas. Any attempt to exploit the adjustment of the curfew for renewed violence will be met with full re-imposition of the 24-hour curfew.

“Additionally, I will remove from office, any traditional ruler where violence recurs. This card is on the table. Royal fathers of each town must call their subjects to order. I will wield the big stick. Enough is enough”, the Governor was quoted as saying in the statement.

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Celebrating a Hero of June 12, Humphrey Nwosu

Published

2 days ago

March 31, 2025

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

In as much as unnecessary controversy ensued in the Senate when some senators led by the Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, sponsored a motion to honour and immortalise Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the electoral officer in charge of organising and conducting the June 12, 1993 General Elections; the highly freest and fairest elections in the history of Nigeria, many Nigerians have stood stoutly the defend the late electoral officer’s conduct, concluding that he deserved to be honoured for his meritorious service to nation, especially as the substantive Chairman of the then National Electoral Commission (NEC).

The election held, but was truncated by the former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd) at the announcement of results stage.

Those, who joined the Abia South Senator to jointly sponsor the motion were Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South), Orji Kalu (APC, Abia North), Austin Akobondu (PDP, Abia), Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central) and Victor Umeh, (LP, Anambra Central).Others are Okechukwu Ezea (LP, Enugu North) Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West), Onyekachi Nwebonyi (APC, Ebonyi North) Anthony Ani, Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West) Patrick Ndubueze (APC, Imo North).

However, as the motion hit the floor of the senate through a point of order, majority of the members fought against it, and finally had their way after a voice vote as supervised by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, giving verdict to the ‘nays’.

The Senate threw out prayers contained in the motion as it sought to honour Prof Nwosu by renaming the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters after him. The rejection was the second time in quick succession, in less than 24 hours.

In the heated debate before the proposal was thrown out, Abaribe, while presenting the proposal, noted that Nwosu stood his ground to conduct the June 12, 1993 elections despite threats from military dictatorship.

“His courageous defense of democratic electoral process during the 1993 presidential elections led to the famous June 12, which ultimately confirmed Alhaji M.K.O Abiola as the winner of the election.“He stood his ground, ensuring that Nigeria’s electoral wishes and aspirations were realised, which culminated in June 12 being marked as the authentic democracy day due to his unwavering stand as an umpire.

“Professor Humphrey Nwosu laid a landmark foundation for the present independent National Electoral Commission today and that Professor Humphrey Mwosu passed away on the 20th of October 2024, aged 83 years old.

“Despite his contributions, Professor Humphrey Mwosu was seemingly neglected until his death, which highlights complaints of unfair treatment of notable public servants,” he added.

In support of the motion, Senator Osita Ngwu that “there was no way he would have announced the results with a gun to his head. That doesn’t change the fact that some of us see him as a hero.”

Senator Austin Akobundu described it as most uncharitable for lawmakers to dismiss Nwosu’s contributions, insisting that he deserved a place in Nigeria’s hall of honour.

On his part, Tony Nwoye representing Anambra North under Labour Party, accused senators of deploying personal, political and ethnic sentiments to judge the motion.“We should not allow our personal sentiments and party affiliation to affect our judgement. I was a presiding officer during the June 12 election. He did his best despite the court order. Despite the threats by the military cabal, he went ahead to announce the election. It is very disappointing that some of us are distorting facts because Nwosu is an Igbo man,” he said.

Among the several senators, who opposed the immortalisation motion, with excuses of Nwosu’s lacking courage to announce final results, were Senator Jimoh Ibrahim from Ondo State, who stated categorically that “nothing should be named after him”, Senator Cyril Fasuyi, who argued that history does not reward efforts, but only results, saying “As long as he did not announce the result, whether under duress or not, I am against naming INEC headquarters after him”, Senator Sunday Karimi, who criticised Nwosu for lacking the courage to speak out; Senator Afolabi Salisu, who said that immortalising him would undermine the memory of MKO Abiola, Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Adeola Olamilekun, who claimed he lost his brother in the aftermath.

But Nigerians have argued in favour of the immortalisation of the former chief electoral officer, admonishing that he did his job very well. Most of them reasoned that if the likes of Babagana Kingibe, the running mate to Abiola, who ditched the struggle to join the government of General Sani Abacha, could be honoured with a GCON honours, the second highest in the land, how much more the proponent of the most viable option to voting, Option A4.

In his accessment, celebrated journalist and Chairman of Ovation Media Group, Chief Dele Momodu, said Nwosu performed his duty to the very best of his abilities, and very well. The well traveled journalist wondered on what pedestal the opposing senators stand to deny him honours.

Also lending his voice to the immortalisation of Prof Nwosu, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, said all honours Abiola is enjoying today is credited to Nwosu’s honesty.

“It is very important that Prof. Humphrey Nwosu should be recognized, the genesis of having a free and fair or the foundation of having a free and fair June 12, 1993 elections was through having a sincere NEC chairman like Humphrey Nwosu.

“Humphrey Nwosu conducted free and fair election that gave Aare MKO Abiola the mandate that the Nigerian government then did not install him as president.

“And the respect and the glory that Aare MKO Abiola is having today is as a result of the honesty displayed by the then NEC chairman and the products that worked with him that made it happen,” he said.

HUMPHREY NWOSU AND JUNE 12 DEBACLE

Nigeria’s electoral umpire during the period leading to the June 12 debacle, Prof Humphrey Nwosu, appears to be one of the few democracy apostles, who have been neglected, when heroes of June 12 struggle are mentioned. This is no longer a case of ‘either by commission or omission’, but a typical example of by “commission and omission”, going by feelers coming out from members of the upper chamber. Nwosu was a man who had nothing to gain or lose by doing the right thing; and he went ahead to do the right thing.

Professor Humphrey Nwosu, who was born on October 2, 1941, and died on October24, 2024, was chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), as it was then called. He was appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1989, and held the office till 1993, when the election was annulled. He replaced Prof Eme Awa, who was said to have resigned due to a disagreement with Babangida.

Prof Nwosu is remembered for his administrative and organizational prowess, inventing the popular Option A4 system that ensured optimum transparency during the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election between MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Uthman Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). He persevered in announcing of the results even as tension from unknown quarters were rife. He abandoned the results after his life was threatened, according to reports.

Prof Nwosu became a Professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and served in the government of Samson Omeruah, who was governor of old Anambra State. Among his highs in office were assisting traditional rulers to gain staffs of office, receive salaries and settled intra and inter community land disputes. He also served as chairman of a Federal Technical Committee on the application of Civil Service Reforms in the local government service.

Nwosu conducted the June 12, 1993 election which was seen as the freest and fairest election till date in which Chief Moshood Abiola was presumed to have won. Nwosu’s commission introduced the novel Option A4 voting system and the Open ballot system.

Nwosu had released many of the election results when he was ordered to stop further announcement by the military regime.

In 2008, he published a book in which he claimed that Babangida was not to blame for annulling the election. The book was severely criticized for failing to accurately account for what happened, and that could explain the reason behind his sudden oblivion in the political and social circle as well as why he has not been recognised as champion of democracy, and June 12 in particular.

Noting that the story of heroism attached to June 12 is not complete without Prof Nwosu, a pro-Igbo youth group, Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), urged President Bola Tinubu to honour the former NEC chairman. They believe that he played a vital role prior, during and after the elections of 1993.

In a press statement by its President General, Mr. Goodluck Ibem, the group said: “A team that wins a match scored by one of the players was not made possible only by the player who scored the goal. The winning came as a result of the input of other players.

“That a free and fair election was conducted by National Electoral Commission, NEC, on June 12, 1993 was made possible because a man who believed in transparency and integrity was at the helm of affairs of the electoral body at that time.“We must tell ourselves the truth that, if not for the impeccable integrity of Professor Humphrey Nwosu who conducted a free and fair election where Nigerians from all works of life, tribe and religion spoke their minds through the ballot box, there won’t be any Democracy Day to celebrate today,” the group noted.Also, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) called for the overdue recognition of Prof Nwosu.The CNPP in a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade James Ezema, highlighted the pivotal role played by Prof. Nwosu in Nigeria’s democratic journey.

The CNPP lamented the continued exclusion of Prof. Nwosu from the list of heroes celebrated on Democracy Day, despite his significant contribution to the nation’s democracy through the introduction of the Option A4 voting system.

“It is time to transcend petty biases and to embrace the spirit of inclusivity that Professor Nwosu’s legacy warrants,” the association of all registered political parties noted.

An online platform, Businessday.ng once captured Prof Nwosu’s contribution as follows:

In the middle of the night of June 10, 1993, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Bassey Ikpeme, in breach of the relevant decree, ordered the electoral body to put on hold the presidential election that was some 36 hours away from happening.

The plaintiff in the case was an unregistered body known as the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) , which consisted of a group of politicians generally believed to have government backing. Nwosu took the risk of his life and found his way in the morning uninvited to a meeting of the MILITARY COUNCIL, ASO VILLA, to explain the grave consequences of Ikpeme’s indiscreet pronouncement. After intimidation and harassment of Prof and other deliberations at the uninvited meeting, it was agreed that NEC could discount Ikpeme’s order and continue with its arrangements and preparations for the elections.

At the end of voting, when it became clear from the majority of the results already collated from the states that the candidate of the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola could not be stopped from winning the contest, the then Chief Judge of Abuja, Justice Dahiru Saleh ordered NEC to halt the process. Again, Nwosu stormed the Aso Villa, but this time, he found that the government had withdrawn their support.

The then Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Clement Akpamgbo, who gave Nwosu legal backing earlier, did not only ditch him but also ensured that a bench warrant to arrest Nwosu issued by the Chief Judge of Abuja was duly served. From then, Nwosu became labelled as the problem, while his Electoral Commission was formally suspended forthwith. The only other option left to Nwosu was to seek judicial cover from the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, headed by Justice Achike. With no one else behind Nwosu except the Commission’s vibrant Director of Legal Services, Bukhari Bello, with Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN, OFR, one time Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission. NEC drew attention to an earlier judgment by a higher court in which Oguntade JCA as he then was, established two main points.

The first was that where a court makes an order in a case where it lacked jurisdiction, the order was null and void; and second, that it was unnecessary to go on appeal in such circumstance.

This suggested that Nwosu had no business obeying the erroneous decisions of the lower courts. Interestingly, NEC produced in Court the COMPLETE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION, which he had been stopped from announcing and which confirmed the victory of MKO Abiola. The real problem was that some ambitious military fellows aided by a set of compromised politicians wanted to prolong military rule. At this point, the government, sensing that it might lose the case, decided to annul the election a few hours before the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Prof Nwosu is an apostle of democracy, and of June 12, 1993 more especially, and deserves to be honoured and celebrated.

In his tribute at the burial of Prof Nwosu, President Tinubu, though acknowledged that the deceased upheld democratic principles, he was however, silent on any form of honour for the June 12 chief electoral officer. He noted:

“As we mourn the death of Prof Humphrey Nwosu, we are invited to celebrate him for his profound accomplishments and personal fulfilments as a public administrator, political scientist, and academics icon. We are urged to reflect on his democratic ideals and his sense of commitment to a democratic Nigeria. These are the hallmarks of his life and times that will be cherished beyond this generation,” Tinubu said, through his representative, the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi.

As the south east governors prepare to meet and present their proposition of honoring Nwosu before President Tinubu, Nigerians have said that whatever the situation, Nwosu remains and etched in the hearts and minds of the real heroes of democracy and June 12; the average Nigerians, as democratic force to reckon with, and a man without whose name the story and history of the freest and fairest election in Nigeria cannot be written.

According to Yusuf John Imam, who wrote from Abuja, in an article titled Senate’s failure to immortalize Humphrey Nwosu, disservice to democracy, “if the Senate cannot honour Nwosu, then every state in the Southeast should take it upon themselves to immortalize their son. Build monuments, name streets, and establish scholarships in his name. Push his narrative and celebrate his legacy. The Southeast must rise to the occasion and ensure that their son’s legacy is preserved for generations to come.”

The bottom-line remains that Professor Humphrey Nwosu is a hero of June 12, and deserve to be honoured, immortalised and celebrated.

Featured

Milk of Human Kindness: Glo Foundation Spreads ‘Food Drive’ Joy to More Communities

Published

3 days ago

March 30, 2025

Eric

Glo Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Globacom, on Saturday extended its Food Drive Initiative “Giving Back Together” to more communities as thousands of families in Ikota, Ajah, Lagos, received packages of food and household items from the team.

Two Saturdays ago, the foundation was in Bariga where it shared food and other household items to thousands of other vulnerable members of the community.

In a similar vein, Glo Foundation officials and the project partners, the Lagos Food Bank Initiative, last Saturday presented packages containing Rice, Garri, Spaghetti, noodles, tomato paste, tooth brushes, sardines, salt, vegetable oil, bread and seasoning cubes to thousands of beneficiaries, the majority of whom were women, at a ceremony held within the Ikota neighborhood.

Thousands of beneficiaries had assembled at the New Generation Baptist School in Ikota as early as 7 a.m. to await the start of the distribution.

Before the gifts were distributed, Globacom’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Jumobi Mofe-Damijo, welcomed the recipients and reaffirmed the company’s dedication to aiding the underprivileged in the society. She pointed out that helping the most disadvantaged members of society nationwide was one of the Foundation’s goals.

“Giving brings joy and smiles to the faces of the beneficiaries as we have seen here today. It also makes us happy that we are able to do something to touch the lives of others in a highly interdependent world,” she noted, adding that the Foundation was working on other projects that would impact various segments across the country.

At the occasion, the beneficiaries, who were mostly women, expressed their happiness and gratitude to Globacom by singing and dancing. Some of them who expressed their opinions were happy that they were able to benefit from the gesture and prayed that Globacom would continue to thrive.

The recipients were ecstatic and unable to control their excitement. After getting their food gifts, a few of them spoke up and thanked and prayed for Globacom for showing their community such love and concern.

Christina Itoro, an Akwa Ibom indigene, who operates a POS business within the community, expressed happiness at the content of the package. “When I opened the carton and saw the content, I was so excited. May God bless the company and the staff,” she said.

For Godwin Mary, who sells Kunu drink, Globacom has come to her aid at a time that her business was crumbling. The native of Benue State thanked Globacom for remembering her and other women in the Ikate neighborhood.

On her part, Sarah Oliseh, who is a housewife, said: “I am very happy and so excited getting this from Globacom. It will definitely go a long way to help me and my family”.