Forty students and faculty members from Morehouse College Glee Club in Atlanta, United States of America, USA, on Wednesday took Igbo names and declared their ancestry to the Igbos of South East Nigeria.

At an official naming ceremony held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the students narrated how they traced their Igbo ancestral roots through DNA tests, which they described as reaching.

The traditional ruler of Ibagwa-Aka community in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State, HRH, Igwe Hyacinth Eze, who performed the ceremony in conjunction with the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, expressed happiness over the reunion of the Igbo-Americans with their ancestral brothers.

The monarch said he was also happy because of the spiritual, cultural and economic exchanges which would happen as a result of the reunion, adding that he is willing to provide lands for those that are willing to live in his community.

Speaking during the ceremony, the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Enugu State chapter, Prof. Fredrick Eze, said the reunion would help in the development of Igbo communities.

However, the Public Affairs Officer, United States Consulate General, Lagos, Stephen Ibelli, said the Club came to Nigeria to mark the 50th anniversary of its first visit to Nigeria in 1972.

He equally explained that the Club would tour Abuja, Enugu and Lagos States to strengthen US-Nigeria cultural ties through music, arts and film.

“The Morehouse College Glee Club, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its first tour in Nigeria, will offer public concerts in Lagos, Abuja and Enugu. In addition, the group will visit universities and high schools, meet Nigerian students, and explore their historical ties to Nigeria.

“The 1972 visit to Nigeria infused African music into the Glee Club’s tradition and American Choral music in general. Fifty years later, choirs across the United States sing in Nigerian languages, highlighting the long-term impact of that exchange.

“The Morehouse College Glee Club has since learned a variety of songs in Edo, Yorùbá, Hausa, and Igbo, including a piece specifically composed for them by Igwe Laz Ekwueme, famed Nollywood actor and University of Lagos professor.

“During the visit, the Morehouse College Glee Club will carry out a dynamic exchange of musical knowledge with the broad spectrum of the Nigerian society, singing in Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba languages,” he said in a statement.

A cross-section of attendees at the event
Also speaking, U.S. Ambassador, Mary-Beth Leonard, explained that the visit will strengthen the longstanding ties between American and Nigerian institutions of higher learning, and further expand the scope of academic and cultural relations between the United States and Nigeria.

“Cultural exchanges such as the visit of the Morehouse College Glee Club will help contribute to strengthening the bonds of friendship and collaboration through music and arts, offering an opportunity for Nigerian students to learn about academic experiences in the United States,” she stated

Many of the student members of the Morehouse College Glee Club described their visit as an opportunity to connect with their African roots.

“I love the culture of Nigeria,” 19-year-old Schneider Grandpierre, a junior third-year student studying Music and Computer Science at the Morehouse College said of the trip.

“It is such an enriching and amazing experience to be able to reconnect with our cultural roots and sing Nigerian music in different languages. I look forward to an extended stay here even after this tour,” one of the students said.

Expressing his excitement about the visit, 23-year-old John Batey, a Business Administration major and tenor singer for the choral group said he has been able to trace his roots to Nigeria through a DNA test. “We will be exploring the Nigerian creative and entertainment industry. I am excited about the tour.”

Director of the Morehouse College Glee Club, Professor David Morrow, explained that the choral group will perform a repertoire of African and American songs particularly African-American spirituals which have roots in West African music traditions.

Professor Morrow noted that the Morehouse College Glee Club is rooted in Dr Martin Luther King, Jr’s legacy. Dr King who sang in the Morehouse College Glee Club was one of the notable alumni of the Historically Black College in the United States.

Some of the Igbo names given to the Igbo-Americans include Ezuomike, Ogalanya, Odenigwe, Anyim, Ifeanyi, among others.

Among those who witnessed the ceremony was the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, who also represented the leadership of the apex Igbo socio-cultural at the ceremony.

Our new landmark agreement with Nigeria will increase the deportation of dangerous foreign criminals to make our streets & country safer.

And take the fight to the criminal people smugglers together to tackle illegal migration.

Our #NewPlanForImmigration in action.

INTERPOL, in collaboration with the US Secret Service, South African Police and other agencies, has arrested an alleged Nigerian cybercrime kingpin, James Aliyu, in connection with $ 12m romance scam and business email compromise fraud.

Aliyu was arrested in a luxury Sandton estate in South Africa on Wednesday, June 29 and arraigned in the Randburg magistrate’s court.

According TimesLive, the Nigerian national is well known in
SA social circles and on Instagram thanks to his lavish
holidays and excessive spending on luxury items for him and his girlfriend.

His social media posts where he flaunts his wealth have
gained him 17,000 followers on his Instagram account
Oldsoldier.

His spending came to an end when Interpol agents arrested
him at his house situated in a luxury Sandton estate, bringing to an end five years of alleged scamming activity.

According to law enforcement sources, after an almost six-
year-long investigation into the alleged scammer’s activities, he was arrested thanks to a multi-agency investigation that included Interpol, the US department of homeland security investigations and the US Secret Service.

Sources claimed Aliyu has allegedly been in contact with
several major convicted and suspected fraudsters from around the world and that he is considered a major player.

Among the fleet of luxury vehicles he allegedly bought with
the proceeds of alleged fraud were a Porche Cayenne, a
Mercedes C220d and a Mercedes-Benz G Class luxury SUV.

His social media profiles also depict him on luxury island
resorts and luxury holidays in Dubai and the US.

Aliyu is alleged to be part of an international syndicate, some of whose members have already been convicted in the US.

Aliyu came into the spotlight in August last year when Sunday World reported that he accused SA actress Khanyi Mbau’s boyfriend, Terrence Kudzai Mushonga of defrauding him in an elaborate luxury R1.2m-vehicle scam.

According to the article, Aliyu believed a R720,000 Mercedes and a R500,000 Jaguar which he bought from Mushonga were stolen and hijacked by criminals he claimed had worked for Mushonga.

He claimed that Mushonga, a Zimbabwean national,
approached him and introduced himself as Dick Lefa Nzula
from SA.

Aliyu said Mushonga gave him copies of his SA driver’s
licence, smart card ID and vehicle papers, for the change of
ownership and registration of the cars to his name.

Aliyu also told Sunday World the documents he was given for the vehicles were fake. But Mushonga claimed he would not repay Aliyu because the money he received from Aliyu were the “proceeds of crime”.

The Sunday World quoted him as saying that he was “wanted by the FBI for scamming Americans millions of rand”.

In March 2020 the SA Reserve Bank confiscated R231,000
contained in Aliyu’s Standard Bank account under Exchange
Control Regulation 22E.

Aliyu is expected to appear in the Randburg magistrate’s court next Tuesday July 5, where proceedings for his extradition for trial in the US are expected to start.

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A Deputy Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Mr. Edike Mboutidem Akpan, is currently enmeshed in alleged N26.7 million fraud scandal.

Akpan, who has already been charged to the Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Kwali, by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), used a private real estate company, Danemy Nig Ltd, to defraud land subscribers.

In a statement, spokesperson of the anti-graft agency, Mrs Azuka Ogugua, said the deputy NSCDC commandant was arraigned on a 17-count charge before Justice V. S. Gaba.

Ogugua said the charge sheet revealed that the deputy commandant convinced many subscribers with the claim of being in partnership with NSCDC, to pay various sums of money for plots of land both in Karshi, Nasarawa State and Sabon Lugbe Extension, Airport Road, Abuja, which were never allocated to them.

ICPC told the court that the offence, committed between 2010 and 2015, violated Sections 19 and 26 (1) (c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and was punishable under Section 19 of the same Act.

The statement read, ”In one of the charges, Mr. Akpan was alleged to have conferred undue advantage on himself when he allegedly received N13,350,000 in 2011 from a subscriber, Mr. Igwe Onus Nwankwo, through his company Danemy Nig Ltd, as payments for 10 plots of land at Airport Road.

”He was at various times alleged to have received N1,305,000 from Doctors Robert Okoro and Akuneme Marcel Ikwuoma, each, for the allocation of plots of land at the Defenders Family Estate Homes Scheme, Airport Road.

”The NSCDC officer was also accused of receiving N2,610,000 from Mrs. Chidinma Obasi for two plots of land and N1,205,000 from Mr. Etuechere Martins, for a plot.”

Ogugua explained that the accused pleaded “Not Guilty” when the charge was read to him as his counsel prayed the court to grant him bail on liberal terms.

Counsel to ICPC, John-Paul Okwor, who did not oppose the bail application, however, prayed the court to admit the accused to bail on reasonable terms that would ensure his attendance in court for trial.

Justice Gaba thereafter admitted him to bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties in like sum.

He said one of the sureties must show proof of residing in his or her personal house.

A drama was staged at the Okpoko magistrate court in the Ogbaru Local Government Area, near Onitsha, Anambra State, on Thursday, when proceedings were disrupted as a lawyer, identified as Ogbachalu Goshen, appeared in court dressed in full priest robes, looking like a reverend.

The court proceedings, presided by Her Worship CB Mbaegbu, were on until a matter was called up and Goshen announced his appearance as a defence counsel.

When the Magistrate told him he cannot appear and address the court in that regalia, he objected, citing the recent Supreme Court judgement that gave female students the backing to wear hijab in public schools as a precedent.

As the Magistrate stood her ground that he cannot appear in her court in that mode of dressing, Goshen also insisted that it was his right and that the objection by the Magistrate was an infringement on his fundamental rights as enshrined in Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.


As the arguments continued with both the Magistrate and the lawyer refusing to shift ground, the Magistrate rose, thereby forcing the court to dismiss immediately.

Various lawyers and people who came for different matters filed outside as the Magistrate immediately entered her car and drove off.

But in an interview, Goshen justified his actions and said that the incident had already become a constitutional matter since the Supreme Court made such a ruling.

He said the court should also answer what will happen when a female Muslim lawyer enters the court in her hijab.

He said that he is an ordained pastor and should also be allowed to appear that way in court since the Supreme Court has decided.
Asked whether the ruling is in the best interest of the judiciary, he said that for now, it remains a precedent that must be obeyed unless there is a judicial review.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has approved a flat rate increase by N100 in bus fares for all Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, and Standard routes as part of measures to sustain operations.

The increase, which is scheduled to commence on Wednesday, 13 July 2022, was said to aim at ensuring sustainability of the BRT and standard route schemes.

Assistant Director, Corporate Communication, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA, Kolawole Ojelabi, who announced this yesterday, explained that the operations of the transport scheme, in recent times had been hampered due to rising cost of inputs required for sustainable service offering and the attendant high number of buses out of operation as a result of lack of spare parts.

“For instance, the exponential increase in the pump price of diesel from N187 to N830/litre between August 2020 and June, 2022, had greatly affected optimal performance of the bus operating companies leading to the withdrawal of buses from operation and longer waiting time at bus stations.

“The Governor in consenting to the fare increase also approved a proposal for a bail out for the bus operating companies in other to cushion the effect of the harsh operating environment and safeguard private partnership investment and forestall the demise of formalized bus operations in the state.

“In view of the economic situation, the government is also providing support for the Bus Operating Companies in view of the continuous increase in fuel price. This is to ensure that the increase to the passenger is kept to a minimum,” Ojelabi stated.

The fare increase notwithstanding, government noted that whatever support this would provide to the operators, it would still not cover the cost of fueling, thus likely to put the continued survival of the bus operations on a tight rein.

Diesel to CNG

Ojelabi added that the Governor also approved the request by LAMATA for the conversion of the current diesel buses in operation to the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and a shift to different economically viable and environmentally friendly mobility energy solution that are cost efficient and maximize operations cost such as Electric vehicles, hydrogen buses and the development of hybrid energy sources as alternative fueling for the current Bus Reform Initiative, BRT, buses.

According to the request, “These measures are indispensable in the current global economic and environmental reality to ensure the sustainability of the BRI operation.”

New Rates

When the new rates finally commence, a bus ride from Ikorodu – TBS will cost N600 from N500, while Berger to Ajah is now N700, up from N600. Oshodi to Abule Egba will cost N450 from N350 and Abule-Egba-CMS-Obalende will attract a fare of N600.

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—BARRING any last minutes change, the organized labour has threatened to embark on a nationwide protest over the inability of the Federal to settle its differences with the four university-based unions that led to the shutting down of public universities.

Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU withdrew their services on February 14 and a few weeks after, the other three unions in the universities also proceeded on strike to press home their demands.

The three unions are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU and the National Association of Academic Technologists., NAAT.

Arising from its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting on Thursday, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, resolved to embark on a nationwide strike in the next two weeks over the alleged adamant of the government to resolve its face-off with the university unions.

A source privy to the meeting told Vanguard that Congress also resolved that after the protest rally if the government failed to resolve the crisis, it would embarked on a three-day warning strike that would also culminate in a total strike.

Already the four university-based unions have agreed to meet today (Friday) to take a common position on the ongoing strike.

In his opening remarks at NEC, the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said, the one-day nationwide protest would be to compel the Federal Government to resolve issues with the unions in the education sector immediately.

Wabba expressed sadness over the continued closure of the country’s tertiary institutions due to unresolved labour disputes between the Federal Government and unions in the sector.

He recalled that in the last decision, Congress went to the extent of writing to President Muhammadu Buhari and gave a 21-day notice for them to converge a very high-powered meeting.

“We demanded that the meeting should be chaired either by the Secretary of Government of the Federation (SGF) or the Chief of Staff to the President, for this issue to be resolved once and for all.

“That meeting was called, but from the reports that I have been receiving from all the unions in the education sector, we have found out that progress has not been made.

“The timeline of three weeks that was given to that committees for all reports to be turned in and for government to be able to make the decision, that has not taken place, ’’he added.

The NLC president, however, alleged that there was reluctance by the Federal Government in addressing the issues.

He said:“Therefore, Central Working Committee has decided that there will be a one-day national protest.

“This is to call the attention of the government to resolve the issue immediately.

“We have also asked all our affiliates by the next one week to issue statements,” he said.

He said the decision to embark on the one-day national protest was imperative as children of the poor have continued to remain at home.

He also said that Central Working Committee had observed that there was an increase in terms of social vices, which would be traced to the fact that those children had been at home for months and many problems had been made.

Wabba however, also condemned the lingering scarcity of fuel and the long queues across the country.

According to him, it is pathetic that Nigeria has not availed itself of the rich endowment of oil resources by continuing to depend on imported petroleum products for local consumption.

Wabba said that the situation has brought about dire consequences on productivity, economy, and wellbeing of the citizens.

“For instance, diesel is now selling at more than N800 per liter. It is unfortunate that Nigeria despite being a major oil-producing country has continued to fail to refine her own crude oil.

“The result of this, is the net total of 100 percent importation of refined petroleum product are brought into Nigeria.

“The consequence is the heavy hemorrhage of our national coffers especially given our most important challenged which has also brought about the long queues in almost all the filling stations, ’’he said.

He also noted that the situation had affected the purchasing power of many Nigerians and had brought hardship on many businesses to a halt due to many businesses were been run on the generator.

Wabba added that the only way out of this issue is to end the discussion on whether there is a subsidy or not but for us to refine the product for domestic use.

He further condemned the recent sack of over 3000 teachers by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.

Meanwhile, the sub-committees set up by the government on renegotiation and payment platforms that were expected to submit their reports before Wednesday were unable to do so.

It will be recalled that the Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige had said that the committees were expected to submit their reports before Wednesday for onward transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The inter-ministerial departments and agencies committees of the Federal Government, including the Federal Ministry of Education, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Budget Office of the Federation, National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission (NSIWC), the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), had met on Thursday last week to assess the progress made so far on addressing the demands of the striking university workers.

The demands include the contentions on the payment platform and the renegotiation of the conditions of service by the unions.

The committees are reporting to the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The two committees were empanelled by the Honourable Minister and the Chief of Staff to the President at the last tripartite plus meetings of the unions and the government side.

The Minister of Labour and Employment had in a statement on Sunday said that the meeting which had in attendance all the stakeholders reported on the various assignments given to them and accordingly, received further briefing and directives from the President in order to accelerate discussions with ASUU.

He said, “It is hoped that before Wednesday this week, all the various sub-committees will turn in their reports, to enable Mr. President to be briefed fully and for decisions to be taken on the contentious payment platform and the renegotiation of the conditions of service, especially the issue of wage increase.

“It is after receiving briefings from the government side that the Ministry of Labour will bring all the stakeholders, including the unions, to a conference table to look at the agreement before signing or endorsement.”

Vanguard reliably gathered that NITDA was yet to submit its report on the outcome of the integrity tests conducted on the University Transparency Accountability Solution, UTAS, which is the payment platform proposed by ASUU and the University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System, U3PS, proposed by SSANU and NASU.

As a result of the alleged challenges faced by the university workers through the use of the IPPIS in the payment of their salaries and allowances, the three unions came up with the proposed payment platforms to address their peculiarities.

In what appears to be a direct reaction to being sidelined by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in the race for his running mate, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is said to be in the centre of a proposed alliance in the build-up to the 2023 general election.

New Telegraph gathered from multiple sources that the governor and his bloc within the PDP are tinkering with a Peter Obi and Musa Kwankwaso ticket on the platform of Labour Party. Both Obi and Kwankwaso are Labour Party and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential candidates respectively.

The two former PDP members are currently using placeholders to keep their respective running mates pending when they will have substantive VP candidates. One of the sources said, “The Rivers governor is on the verge of brokering a Obi- Kwankwaso ticket since the momentum appears to be in favour of the South. I’m not, however, certain if Wike and others will move or strategically collapse their structure for the impending merger,” he said.

It was further learnt that talks between the two presidential candidates have reached advancedstage andwho would step down to become the running mate of the other will be unveiled very soon, especially with the intervention of Wike. When contacted, one of Obi’s aides could not confirm the move. However he told our correspondent that such alliance is what they are praying for.

“I am not aware of such a move but that is what we are praying for because we in Labour Party will appreciate an allianceof like-minds,” hesaid. Wikehad onThursday, June 23 held a closed-door meeting with the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

While receiving in audience the former Kano governor, Wike was clad in white attire with a red cap to match, which is the symbolic colour of the Kwankwasiya Movement led by his guest, Kwankwaso. Althoughtheagendafor the meeting was not made public, it was, however, speculated that Obi, who is already gaining support from Nigerian youths, met Wike to convince Kwankwaso to become hisrunning mate.

Likewise, on Friday, June 24, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Kwankwaso, and former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, visited Wike in Port Harcourt. Wike suffered defeat in the PDP presidential primary last May and he also failed to emerge as running mate to Atiku, despite recommendations from the party’s leaders that he should be picked. Some aggrieved members of PDP had lamented that despite the advisory committee set up by the party favouring Wike for the vice-presidential slot, Atiku opted for the Delta State Governor, whom he felt was level-headed and had the right temperament to push up his ticket.

LAGOS.........
If not for Lagos, somebody like me
Will be in Aba chasing lizards to
Use as a native doctor. LAGOS....
You come to Lagos with nylon bag
And go back to Ibo land with Rolls Royce.
Abeg, pray for Lagos make e no spoil o...
If Lagos spoil, all of us don enter Gbege o...

Musings of a grateful South Easterner living in Lagos.
HU��

Peter Obi is Fantastic and a good man but he lacks capacity to unify Nigerians. Unity more important than cutting cost of governance.

Being a virgin at 21yrs it hasn't been easy

Alot of temptations

And losing relationships

Sometimes I just want to open my legs but am strong in the lord, he said thy shall not commit fórnicate.