Professor Olusegun Sogbesan: The Yoruba Man Who Founded Onitsha Business School

 Home, they say is where the heart lives. Today’s post is dedicated to Professor Olusegun Sogbesan, a Yoruba by birth but an onye Onicha by heart.

Professor Olusegun Sogbesan who was born in Ogun state relocated to Adazi-Ani , a town in the then Anambra State in 1991.

In 1992, after his National Youth Service programme, he stayed back in Anambra owing to the fact that he wanted to empower the traders with the right information based on the gaps he identified from his many interaction with them.

Thus, he developed an academic program tailored towards business which provides a young Igbo apprentice that has completed Imu-Afia training with choices.

Prof Segun believed that with the right exposure, information and training, these traders will live up to their highest potentials. Consequently, he established the Onitsha Business school, the first business school in Anambra.

The goal of this school was basically to empower traders with the right skills and tools for the 21st century. It should be emphasized that, Prof Olusegun Sogbesan spent his entire adult life in the east. Spending over 28 years in Onitsha, it is no surprise that he’s very fluent in the igbo language. Interestingly, he has also delivered lectures in Igbo.

Felicitations to Professor Olusegun O. Sogbesan, Director and Founder of Onitsha Business School. A man who dared the odds and succeeded.

Presidential Election: BVAS Data Remain Intact – INEC

 The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said information in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, used for February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls are intact.

The lead counsel to the Commission, Tanimu Inuwa, gave this assurance at the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday.

INEC is opposing an application filed by the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on BVAS deployed in the presidential poll.

Opposing the application, Inuwa argued it would delay the conduct of governorship and state houses of assembly elections scheduled for Saturday.

Recall that earlier, Obi’s lead counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), had argued that the essence of the application was to enable the legal team to extract data embedded in the BVAS, “which represent the actual results from polling units.”

“My Lords, this is to ensure that the evidence is preserved before the BVAS are reconfigured by INEC.

“This is because if they are wiped out, it will affect the substance of the case,” Ikpeazu added. However, INEC, through its team of lawyers comprising four Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, led by Inuwa, urged the court to refuse the application.

INEC insisted that granting the request by Obi would affect its preparations for the impending governorship and houses of assembly elections.

It told the court that there were about 176,000 BVAS machines that were deployed in polling units during the presidential election. “Each polling unit has its own particular BVAS machine which we need to configure for the forthcoming elections. It will be very difficult for us, within the period, to reconfigure the 176,000 BVAS.

“We have already stated in our affidavit that no information in the BVAS will be lost as we will transfer all the data in the BVAS to our backend server. “We need the BVAS configured. So, granting this application will be a cog in the process and may delay the conduct of the elections,” INEC’s lawyer, Inuwa (SAN), pleaded.

After listening to the parties, Justice Joseph Ikyegh adjourned ruling on the matter till Wednesday.

The court issued the restraining order in the ruling it gave on Friday granting permission to the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and Obi to inspect the sensitive materials used for the conduct of the February 25 election.

Atiku and Obi obtained the order to challenge the outcome of the election which they alleged was marred by fraud and other irregularities.

INEC on March 1 declared the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the election. But the PDP and the LP candidates are contesting the outcome.

They subsequently filed separate ex parte applications, praying to be granted access to inspect sensitive materials that INEC used to conduct of the presidential poll.

But INEC, in a motion on the notice filed on March 4, asked the court to vary the order restraining it from tampering with materials used for the election.

The commission said it needed to reconfigure the BVAS for the next round of elections, which would be held on Saturday.

Abuja: Fire Razes Dei-Dei Furniture Market

 An early morning fire has engulfed the popular Dei-Dei Abuja Furniture Makers Association (AFMA) market located at the heart of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The chairman of Dei-Dei new site AFMA, Mr. Daniel Akhigbe Ebhodaghe, in an interview with journalists, Monday, said he received a phone call about 4.3am on Thursday, alerting him about the fire incident at their market shops.

He said the inferno razed several shops, including machineries, generators, and other accessories worth about N300 million. 


He further said the incident did not record any casualty but properties were lost, as several shops were razed down during the inferno.

He said the cause of the fire was yet unknown as it occurred at night when the market remained closed, adding that the incident had been reported to the police and investigation begun to ascertain the cause and extent of damage.

One of the victims and the treasurer of the association, Mr. Paul Emiantor, while counting their losses following the mysterious fire that burnt down their shops, said there should be thorough investigation so that appropriate lessons could be learnt.

“It is a disaster, because I don’t know what to tell our customers who have given us work to do when they come asking for their property. As I’m talking to you now, I don’t have ten Kobo with me; I what well-meaning Nigerians to come to our aid,” he pleaded.

On his part, the legal adviser to the association, Barr David E. Aigbefoh, appealed to the federal, state, local governments and organisations to assist the victims of the fire incident, given the damage and loss suffered by the victims.

Barrister Aigbefoh disclosed that about 24 heavy duty machines were burnt down during the fire incident and called on government to mobilise the fire service to perform optimally, advising for stringent measures against any individual or group that would carry out activity resulting into any inferno.

2023: Atiku Employs 19 SANs To Challenge Tinubu’s Victory

 Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, has put together a legal team of 19 Senior Advocates of Nigeria to challenge the outcome of the February 25 election.

Atiku briefed them on Wednesday at his campaign Headquarters in Abuja, asking them to “establish the claim of illegality in the election and reclaim the mandate of the Nigerian people.”

The team is headed by a seasoned litigation and commercial lawyer, JK Gadzama (SAN).

He further declared that it is crucial for them to go through this process not just for himself and PDP, but also to reinforce constitutional democracy and safeguard it for future generations.

The members of the team include Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Chris Uche (SAN), Paul Usoro (SAN), Tayo Jegede (SAN), Ken Mozia (SAN), Mahmood Magaji (SAN), Joe Abraham (SAN), Chukwuma Umeh (SAN), Dr. Garba Tetengi (SAN) and Chief Emeka Etiaba (SAN).

Others are Chief Goddy Uche (SAN), Prof. Maxwell Gidado (SAN), A. K. Ajibade (SAN), O. M. Atoyebi, (SAN), Nella Rabana (SAN), Paul Ogbole (SAN), Nuremi Jimoh (SAN), and Abdul Ibrahim (SAN).

INEC Plotting To Erase Evidence, PDP Cries Out

 The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to destroy evidence contained in the BVAS machine under the guise of reconfiguration.

National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, raised the alarm at a press conference in Abuja, late on Tuesday.
“This reprehensible action by INEC to frustrate the desire of Nigerians to get redress through the court is a clear recipe for crisis and a deliberate design by the Commission to derail our democracy and trigger anarchy in the country.”
Ologunagba invited Nigerians to recall how the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu superintended over the manipulation of the results of the presidential election and hurriedly announced a winner in spite of widespread outcry and complain over numerous evidence of malpractices and violation of several provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 by INEC and its officials.

The PDP spokesman further said, “The INEC Chairman bypassed all the steps and procedures provided by the Electoral Act 2022 for the declaration of results, including to announce and declare only results that were transmitted directly from the polling units to the INEC server/website and to review the results in the event of disputes and objections as to the correctness and consistency of the collated result.

“For emphasis Section 64 (6) of the Electoral Act clearly states that: ‘(6) Where during collation of results, there is a dispute regarding a collated result or the result of an election from any polling unit, the collation officer or returning officer shall use the following to determine the correctness of the disputed result-

“(a) the original of the disputed collated result for each polling unit where the election is disputed;

“(b)the smart card reader or other technology device used for accreditation of voters in each polling unit where the election is disputed for the purpose of obtaining accreditation data directly from the smart card reader or technology device 
"(c) data of accreditation recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed as prescribed under section 47 (2) of this Act

“(d) the votes and result of the election recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed, as prescribed under section 60 (4) of this Act.

“Furthermore, Section 65 (1)(c) of the Electoral Act, 2022 states as follows;

“S. 65.-(1) The decision of the returning officer shall be final on any question arising from or relating to-…. (c) declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate;

“Provided that the Commission shall have the power within seven days to review the declaration and return where the Commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations and guidelines, and manual for the election.

ECOWAS To Honour Buhari With Democracy Icon Award

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has finalised arrangements to honour President Muhammadu Buhari with an award in recognition of his achievements in the defence and promotion of democracy as a system of government throughout the subregion.

ECOWAS Chairman, Guinea Bissau’s Umaro Sissoco Embalo, made this known on Tuesday at a bilateral meeting with the president on the sidelines of the ongoing 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries in Doha, Qatar.

According to a release issued by presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, President Embalo said the Nigerian president had done more than any other to support democratic governments in West Africa, just as he had done exceptionally well, waging battles against the emergence non-democratic regimes.

For this, said the ECOWAS Chairman, Buhari will have his name on the Roll of Honour in the community’s new headquarters building upon its completion in Abuja, so that future generations of West African citizens will know about the greatness he achieved and to copy his laudable examples.

Responding, Buhari welcomed the proposition, stressing that democracy is the best pathway to bringing together diverse people and a dependable vehicle for the achievement of national development.

Oshiomhole Acknowledges Cheers From Security Officials At ICC, Abuja

 That Moment Oshiomhole Stopped At ICC To Acknowledge Wild Cheers From Security Agents , Nigerians(Video)

We have always advocated on our platform that wherever you find yourself, whatever position God gives you, it is an opportunity to show grace and kindness to mankind, and today we were moved by the show of love showered on Oshiomhole by the people of Abuja, a long distance away from Edo State, which he once governed.

Oshiomhole won our hearts at the International Conference Centre when he went to collect his certificate of return as an elected senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On his way out, he heard some security agents hailing and congratulating him from a distance, so he turned and stopped to acknowledge their cheers.

After greeting the security officers, the ovation grew louder, and numerous Nigerians were seen rushing around him to take pictures with him. 

The moral of this story is to always stay true to yourself. As Oshiomhole was celebrated today in distant Abuja, Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki was shamed and chased away this  same day at Uwelu spare parts marketplace in Benin City.

A tale of two governors, one loved for what he did for his people and the other loathed for what he did not do for his people, please watch the video and leave your views.