A Father Swept Away
Father swept away in Benin flood. Fake agency boss claims bribe. EFCC arraigns ex-refinery MD. Clergyman to hang.
Good morning,
Mr Okafor was a father of seven. He was returning home from his business in Benin City when a torrential downpour turned Upper Mission Extension into a raging river. The fast-moving current pulled him into an open, overflowing concrete drain. He disappeared. His body has not been found. Local residents are furious. “The government only shows up to collect taxes,” one activist said. The state blames the public for dumping refuse. The experts blame the state for failing to build covered drainage. The rains will come again. Mr Okafor will not.
While a family mourns, a fake agency is unravelling. Adeniyi Adeyemi, the disowned Director-General of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, has claimed in an Instagram interview that he personally lobbied Budget Office officials to secure ₦1.3 billion for his fake agency. He alleged one senior official requested a bribe. The Budget Office is silent. Meanwhile, the ICPC has questioned Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila over his role in the scandal. The investigation is intensifying. The question is whether it will lead to accountability or just more questions.
The EFCC has also arraigned Bola O. Afolabi, the former Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, on charges of money laundering involving ₦1.339 billion. He pleaded not guilty. The case is a test of whether the government is serious about tackling corruption in the oil sector.
And a clergyman in Akwa Ibom has been sentenced to death for killing his 12-year-old daughter over witchcraft accusations. He accused her of being responsible for his brother’s death, subjected her to abuse, and forced her to drink a concoction that killed her. The court held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The message is clear: no one is above the law, not even a man of God.
A father of seven is swept away. A fake agency director claims bribery. A chief of staff is questioned. A former refinery MD is in court. A clergyman faces the gallows. These are not separate stories. They are the same story: a country where infrastructure fails, where corruption is routine, where justice is delayed, and where the vulnerable pay the highest price. The question is whether we will build systems that work, or simply wait for the next death, the next scandal, the next verdict.
Warmly,
Lolade