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Matawalle, Deputy Should Emulate Wamakko And I – Shagari

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In this interview with former deputy governor of Sokoto State Murtakr Shagari speaks on some topical political issues.

Looking at the recent leadership crisis in PDP and the defections of some governors, it would seem like the party is yet to get its act together ahead of 2023. Isn’t that the case?

PDP is the most dynamic political party in Nigeria today. Defections from one party to another have become a tradition in the political setup of Nigeria because of lack of ideology and principles. Governors moving from PDP to APC is not new because governors had also moved from APC to PDP. Do not forget that APC is a collection of dissatisfied and disgruntled politicians who left PDP and moved to APC. So it will not be surprising to me if before the end of this year, or early next year, we see governors, senators and politicians moving from from APC into PDP and from PDP to APC.

It has become part of a political tradition which is unfortunate because if we do not have stability of membership in parties it will affect our political culture. I think it is important that we imbibe politics of principles, ideology, service to the nation and the people rather than politics of self-aggrandisement and satisfying of self ego. The governors that moved from PDP to APC have given their reasons for doing so but Nigerians are not satisfied with those reasons. In my view, if there is a problem in your political party you should stay in the party and resolve the problem so that democracy will be strengthened.

You have mentioned the need for politicians to change their behaviour. But the political class does not seem ready for that. How should parties begin to address this situation?

The big political parties must have a mechanism of selecting leaders and candidates who have character, integrity, pedigree and interest of the nation at heart. What can change or destroy things is leadership. Parties need to have the right kind of people in leadership, that way it can select the right people into the State and National Assemblies, get the best persons as governors and commissioners. You have to produce people who will see party leadership as a calling and an assignment to move the nation forward and bring about good change and good leadership with transparency and integrity in politics. People tend to mirror their leaders. If they see that their leader is corrupt, then they think corruption is okay. When one leader is seen as an honest man but those people around him are corrupt you can’t make a difference because no single tree can make a forest. You need almost everybody to do so. So the parties must go back to the drawing board and decide to bring people, not on account of how much money they can contribute to the party, but in terms of how much positive change they can bring to the leadership of the country.

Let’s look at Zamfara State. You and only a handful of people have gone through the experience of the deputy governor of the state who has refused to defect with his governor. He decided to stay back in his party and they want him out of the position. Being a member of your party, have you had an opportunity to speak with him on the situation?

The matter in Zamfara State is subjudice. The parties have gone to court. PDP has gone to court and I know that some APC members have also gone to court to challenge the dissolution of the state executive committee. PDP is saying the governorship is ours and it can’t be taken to another party, particularly a party that did not participate in the election. So I think we should leave it to the judiciary to decide what the real situation should be. However, the scenarios between me and the deputy governor of Zamfara State are different. But I salute his courage and principles. I know this family. I know they always stand by what they believe is right. I actually salute him for having the courage to stay in his party and like I said, as long as we do not develop this mindset of staying back and resolving issues in our party, we will continue to have problems in our democratic journey.

In my case, I was elected by the delegates with 80 percent of the votes to be PDP flag bearer. Without consultation, President Obasanjo agreed with the ANPP at that time to come into PDP, and they asked him to concede the governorship to them, even without their candidate being part of the process. He (Obasanjo) did that. He only informed me after he had already decided to do that. I have told everybody that when he mentioned it to me, he wasn’t sure whether I would agree or not. But I said this is President and leader of my party, who without anybody’s prompting, having met me at a meeting, decided to invite me to be part of his cabinet. He also gave me all the opportunities in this world to perform which I did to the extent that he gave me the third highest award in the country: CFR. Interestingly, he had called me to the Villa and requested that I resign my appointment to contest the governorship in Sokoto State. He was made the request reluctantly because he said I was doing a wonderful job as water resources minister. But he said he wants PDP to win Sokoto State and that I was the one that can do that. I asked him if it was the directive and he said yes. So I resigned.

After I resigned, he was told I won’t be able to win the primary election because there were some other political gladiators. But I said winning elections takes a process. So I agreed to run. Initially, I didn’t want to be deputy governor but I was told that if I don’t contest, the possibility of a DPP candidate winning was high. According to the report he had, if the election held at that time, Governor Wamakko who was in ANPP and I in PDP would each get 30 percent of the votes while the DPP candidate, Bafarawa’s party at the time, would get 40 percent of the votes. Being a loyal party member coupled with the respect I have for the elders who spoke to me, I agreed to team up with Wamakko and we won the election.

So you could see that it was not Wamakko that nominated me, I surrendered my own ticket to him to contest. In our second term he decided to move to APC. He didn’t consult me despite the fact that he consulted almost everybody. So based on principles, political ideology and my belief in solving party problems rather than running away, when he announced that he was going, I said I was not going. In Zamfara, the deputy governor was nominated by the governor as his running mate. So, morally, what would Wamakko have used to try and impeach me? I stood on a higher moral ground. I have been a member of the party since 1998, I am a founding member.

In Zamfara, the governor can want to tell the deputy to go on the grounds that he brought him. Even though I can’t talk about the matter because it is still in court, I don’t know what the House of Assembly would use to impeach the young man. But you can see that the scenarios are different. I can say that up till now, I have not received a call from the deputy governor on what he should do. And when someone does not ask for your advice why do you have to go and say I have come to advise you. But I wish him well and it is my hope that he and the governor would work together in the interest of the people of the state. They can work together. It happened with Wamakko and I, despite the fact that he left PDP and I stayed. I must commend Wamakko for tolerating me despite the fact that we were members of different parties. We showed Nigerians that it is possible for members of different parties to work together in the interest of the people and that is what we did.

What are the prospects of PDP in Sokoto and what is your next move?

PDP is actually the ruling party in Sokoto State. I played a very important role, alongside others, to ensure that we won the 2019 election. My priority now is to help the governor fulfill his mandate based on the promises made to the people of the state. To also help him ensure that his performance is spectacular. Also help him to ensure that at the end of the day when 2023 comes, we give him the opportunity to also select the best person he thinks can build on his achievements, and cement his legacies and move the state forward. We will also help him to find somebody who understands the dynamics of development and the economy and how to move the state forward and make it better. Somebody who can interact and will be fully acceptable by the people. I can say, without any fear of contradiction, that we have good governance and management of resources in Sokoto. By the 24th to 26th of every month salaries are paid.

With the economic problems we have in this country today, it is an important achievement for a governor to be able to pay a monthly salary on 24th and 26th. And he does owe a single kobo. It is a legacy whoever comes after him has to continue with it. In Education, water supply, infrastructure, healthcare delivery and management of resources Tambuwal has done well. I’m so proud of him and I am happy that I supported him to become governor this time. What will happen in the future we leave to him to decide.

Let’s look at the politics in the Northwest, where people think PDP might have it tough in 2023 because of its inability to hold congress months after, the rising profile of PRP in the region and the dominance of the APC in the zone. What are the prospects of PDP in the region ahead of 2023?

Our zonal congress will come up.
Reconciliation is ongoing. The major problem about the congress is in Kano and not all the states. The zonal chairmanship was actually zoned to Kano. So it is the gladiators in Kano that are the problem. But we will overcome that. Like I said, PDP is a dynamic party, full of people with experience and wisdom, so we will overcome that. Secondly, I do not know what you mean by the rising profile of PRP. Is it because Prof Jega has joined or what? I have not heard anybody talking about PRP in Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi or anywhere in the North West. PRP was a party that was formed by an icon at that time.

But since the party divided into two in the Second Republic, PRP has never been the same again. I do not know if the party has a counsellor even in Kano State, so where is the rising profile. As far as APC is concerned they have a lot of explanations to give to the people of the North West when it comes to 2023 because of the security situation in the region. Today, it will be madness for anybody to start going from Sokoto to Zamfara or Gusau to Sokoto anytime after 5pm. Many villagers have left their places because they are being attacked almost on a daily basis by bandits.

Zamfara is a theater of insecurity. See what is happening in Katsina. Kaduna has become the center of kidnapping. We shouldn’t forget that despite the love they have for Buhari, northerners voted for APC because they believed that there will be security for everybody. They actually believe that poverty will be a thing of the past. They believed there would be infrastructure. But all these are absent. APC would have to prepare itself to tell the people of the North, not just North West why all the promises they made are not being fulfilled, especially on security. One of the things used against Jonathan was that the North has become completely insecure, especially the North East. But is it secure today? It is still not secured.

Also in politics before you are elected into office your rating will be about 80 percent. By the time you come into power, the rating will start nosediving particularly if the expectations of electorates are not being met. Are the expectations of electorates being met today by the APC? I won’t answer it and I don’t want you to answer it. We will leave that to the electorates to answer in 2023.

Culled from the Leadership News Nigeria

Lifestyle

Kaduna Governor Commissions Nigeria’s First 100-Building Prefabricated Housing Estate

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Kaduna, Nigeria – November 6, 2025 — In a major milestone for Nigeria’s housing sector, the Governor of Kaduna State has commissioned a 100-unit mass housing estate developed by Family Homes and executed by Karmod Nigeria, marking the first-ever large-scale prefabricated housing project in the country.

Completed in under six months, the innovative project demonstrates the power of modern prefabricated construction to deliver high-quality, affordable homes at record speed — a sharp contrast to traditional building methods that often take years.

Each of the 100 units in the estate is designed for a lifespan exceeding 50 years with routine maintenance. The development features tarred access roads, efficient drainage systems, clean water supply, and steady electricity, ensuring a modern and comfortable living environment for residents.

According to Family Homes, the project represents a new era in Nigeria’s mass housing delivery, proving that cutting-edge technology can accelerate the provision of sustainable and cost-effective homes for Nigerians.

“With prefabricated technology, we can drastically reduce construction time while maintaining top-quality standards,” said a spokesperson for Family Homes. “This project is a clear demonstration of what’s possible when innovation meets commitment to solving Nigeria’s housing deficit.”

Reinforcing this commitment, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State emphasized the alignment between the initiative and the state’s broader vision for affordable housing.

“The Family Homes Funds Social Housing Project aligns with our administration’s commitment to the provision of affordable houses for Kaduna State citizens. Access to safe, affordable and secure housing is the foundation of human dignity. We have been partnering with local and international investors to frontally address our housing deficit,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, Mr. Ademola Adebise, Chairman of Family Homes Funds Limited, noted that the project embodies inclusivity and social progress.

“The Social Housing Project also reflects our shared vision of inclusive growth, where affordable housing becomes a foundation for economic participation and improved quality of life.”

Karmod Nigeria, the technical partner behind the project, utilized its extensive expertise in prefabricated technology to localize the process, employing local artisans and materials to enhance community participation and job creation.

Industry experts have described the Kaduna project as a blueprint for future housing initiatives nationwide, capable of addressing the country’s housing shortfall more efficiently and sustainably.

With this pioneering development, Kaduna State takes a leading role in introducing modern housing technologies that promise to reshape Nigeria’s urban landscape.

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Books

The Pioneer’s Burden: Building the First Private Network in a Vacuum of Power

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  • Book Title: The Making of Bourdex Telecom
  • Author: David Ogba Onuoha Bourdex
  • Publishers: Bourdex
  • Reviewer: Emeaba Emeaba
  • Pages: 127

In the history of Nigerian entrepreneurship, stories of audacity often begin with frustration. A man waits hours in a dimly lit government office to place a single overseas call, his ambitions held hostage by bureaucracy. From that moment of exasperation, an empire begins. Such is the animating pulse of The Making of Bourdex Telecom, David Ogba Onuoha Bourdex’s sweeping autobiographical account of one man’s effort to connect the disconnected and to rewrite the telecommunications map of Eastern Nigeria.

At once memoir, corporate history, and national parable, the book reconstructs the emergence of Bourdex Telecommunications Limited—the first indigenous private telecom provider in Nigeria’s South-East and South-South regions—against a backdrop of inefficiency, corruption, and infrastructural neglect. Its author, a businessman turned visionary, narrates not merely how a company was built but how a new horizon of possibility was forced open in a society long accustomed to closed doors.

Bourdex begins with a stark diagnosis of pre-deregulation Nigeria: a nation of over 120 million people served by fewer than a million telephone lines. Through a mix of statistical precision and personal recollection, he paints a portrait of communication as privilege, not right—of entire regions condemned to silence by state monopoly. His storytelling thrives in such contrasts: the entrepreneur sleeping upright in Lagos’s NET building to place an international call; the Italian businessman in Milan conducting deals with two sleek mobile phones. That juxtaposition—between deprivation and effortless connectivity—serves as the book’s moral axis.

From these moments of contrast, Bourdex constructs the founding myth of his enterprise. What began as an irritation became a revelation, then a crusade. “I saw a people left behind,” he writes, “a region cut off while others dialed into the future.” His insistence on framing technology as a means of liberation rather than profit underscores the moral ambition that threads through the book. The Making of Bourdex Telecom reads not like a manual of business success but like an ethical manifesto: to build not simply for gain, but for dignity.

As the chapters unfold, Bourdex’s narrative oscillates between vivid personal storytelling and granular technical detail. He recounts his early business dealings in the 1980s and ’90s, the bureaucratic mazes of NITEL, and the daring pursuit of a telecommunications license under General Sani Abacha’s military government. There is a cinematic quality to his recollections—the tense midnight meetings in Abuja, the coded alliances with military officers, the improbable friendships that turned policy into possibility.

These sections recall Chinua Achebe’s The Trouble with Nigeria in tone and intention: both works diagnose the systemic failures of governance but find redemption in individual initiative. Yet Bourdex’s narrative differs in form. Where Achebe offered moral critique, Bourdex offers demonstration—an anatomy of perseverance in motion. He documents the letters, negotiations, and international correspondences with Harris Canada, showing how an indigenous company emerged through sheer force of will and global collaboration.

Such passages risk overwhelming the reader with acronyms, specifications, and telecom jargon—R2 signaling, SS7 interconnection, E1 circuits—but they also lend the book an authenticity rare in corporate memoirs. What might have been opaque technicalities become, under Bourdex’s hand, instruments of drama. The machinery of communication becomes metaphor: wires and waves as extensions of faith and tenacity.

To situate The Making of Bourdex Telecom within Nigeria’s socio-political history is to confront the paradox of private enterprise under public decay. The book chronicles the twilight of NITEL’s monopoly, the hesitant dawn of deregulation, and the emergence of entrepreneurial actors who filled the void left by government paralysis. In this sense, Bourdex’s story parallels that of other indigenous pioneers—figures such as Mike Adenuga and Jim Ovia—whose ventures in telecommunications and banking transformed the national economy from the late 1990s onward.

Yet Bourdex’s tone is less triumphant than reflective. He does not romanticize deregulation; he portrays it as both opportunity and ordeal. The government’s inertia, the labyrinthine licensing process, and the outright extortion by state agencies form the darker undertones of his tale. His clash with NITEL’s leadership—recounted with controlled indignation—stands as one of the book’s most gripping sequences. When a senior official demanded an illegal payment of ₦20.8 million for interconnection rights, Bourdex’s defiant reply, “You are not God,” rang out like an act of civil disobedience. In such moments, the narrative transcends the genre of business autobiography and enters the moral theatre of national reform. The entrepreneur becomes citizen-prophet, challenging a corrupt establishment with the rhetoric of justice and self-belief. That blending of economic narrative with civic conscience is perhaps the book’s most compelling feature.

Stylistically, The Making of Bourdex Telecom occupies an intriguing space between oral history and polished memoir. The prose is direct, rhythmic, and often sermonic, reflecting its author’s background as both businessman and public speaker. Anecdotes unfold with the cadences of storytelling; sentences sometimes pulse with the energy of spoken word: “Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.” The repetition of such aphorisms imbues the work with a sense of conviction, though occasionally at the expense of subtlety.

Where the book excels is in its evocation of atmosphere—the dusty highways between Aba and Lagos, the sterile corridors of power in Abuja, the crisp air of Calgary where the author first glimpsed technological modernity. These scenes transform what could have been a linear corporate chronicle into a textured work of memory.

Still, the narrative structure is not without flaws. The absence of an external editor’s restraint is occasionally felt in the pacing; digressions into technical exposition or moral reflection sometimes interrupt narrative flow. Readers accustomed to the concise storytelling of international business memoirs—Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog or Elon Musk’s authorized biography—may find the prose dense in places. Yet such density mirrors the complexity of the terrain Bourdex navigated. His sentences, like his towers, are built from layers of persistence.

Beyond its entrepreneurial chronicle, the book doubles as social history—a record of Eastern Nigeria’s encounter with modernization. The chapters on “The FUTO Boys,” a cadre of young engineers recruited from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, offer a microcosm of the new Nigerian professional class emerging in the late 1990s: educated, idealistic, and determined to prove that technical expertise could thrive outside the state. Their improvisations—installing antennas by candlelight, building networks amid power outages—embody the collective grit that sustained Bourdex’s vision.

The narrative’s cumulative effect is generational. Through the story of one company, we glimpse a society in transition—from analogue isolation to digital awakening. The book captures that liminal moment when the sound of a dial tone became a symbol of freedom.

Running through The Making of Bourdex Telecom is a persistent theology of success. Bourdex attributes every turn in his journey to divine orchestration: friendships “placed by the Invisible Hand,” setbacks reinterpreted as “divine redirections.” Such language, while characteristic of Nigerian entrepreneurial spirituality, acquires here an almost literary force. It recasts corporate history as providential narrative, where the invisible infrastructure of grace mirrors the visible architecture of towers and transmitters.

For some readers, this piety may feel excessive; yet it provides the emotional coherence of the book. The author’s faith is not ornamental—it is constitutive. Without it, the story of Bourdex Telecom would read as mere ambition. With it, it becomes vocation.

The foreword by Abia State Governor Alex Otti and the preface by former Anambra Governor Peter Obi frame the book as both inspiration and instruction. They read Bourdex’s career as parable: the triumph of private initiative over public inertia. Yet their presence also situates the work within Nigeria’s broader discourse on nation-building. The Making of Bourdex Telecom is not only the autobiography of an entrepreneur; it is a treatise on indigenous agency—on what happens when Africans cease to wait for imported solutions and begin to engineer their own.

In this respect, the book extends its influence beyond its immediate industry. Its lessons—about courage, timing, friendship, and faith—extend to any field where innovation must contend with adversity.

Judged as a work of literature, The Making of Bourdex Telecom is direct and sincere. Its prose favors clarity over ornament, and its authenticity gives the story a compelling sense of truth. Bourdex writes not to embellish, but to bear witness—to a time, a struggle, and a conviction that technology could serve humanity. The result is a hybrid work: part documentary, part sermon, part memoir of enterprise.

As a contribution to Nigerian business literature, it deserves serious attention. Few firsthand accounts capture with such detail the messy birth of private telecommunications in the 1990s—a revolution that reshaped the country’s economic and social fabric. In its pages, we hear both the crackle of the first connected call and the larger resonance of a people finding their voice.

Bourdex’s central message endures: progress begins when frustration becomes purpose. His journey from the backrooms of NITEL to the boardrooms of international telecoms is not merely personal triumph; it is a chapter in Nigeria’s unfinished story of modernization.

In the end, The Making of Bourdex Telecom stands as more than the history of a company. It is an ode to enterprise as nation-building, and to the stubborn optimism of those who refuse to let silence define them.

See the book on Amazon: >>>>>

_________

♦ Dr. Emeaba, the author of “A Dictionary of Literature,” writes dime novels in the style of the Onitsha Market Literature sub-genre.

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Houston

Houston and Owerri Community Mourn the Passing of Beloved Icon, Lawrence Mike Obinna Anozie

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Houston was thrown into mourning on September 19, 2025, following the sudden passing of businessman and community advocate Lawrence Mike Obinna Anozie, who peacefully joined his ancestors. Immediate family member in Houston, Nick Anozie, confirmed his untimely death and expressed gratitude for the outpouring of love and condolences from both the Houston and Owerri communities.

Lawrence was born to Chief Alexander and Lolo Ether Anozie of Owerri in Imo State, Nigeria, and will be dearly remembered by family members, friends, and the entire Houston community.

An accomplished accountant, the late Lawrence incorporated and successfully managed three major companies: Universal Insurance Company, LLC, Universal Mortgage LLC, and Universal Financial Services. Through these enterprises, he not only built a thriving business career but also created opportunities for countless individuals to achieve financial stability. His contributions to entrepreneurship and community development will remain a lasting legacy.

According to the family, arrangements for his final funeral rites are in progress and will be announced in due course.

Lawrence will forever be remembered as a loving and compassionate man who dedicated much of his life to uplifting others. He helped countless young Nigerians and African Americans overcome economic challenges by providing mentorship, financial guidance, and career opportunities. His generosity touched the lives of many who otherwise might not have found their footing. A devout Catholic, he was unwavering in his faith and never missed Mass, drawing strength and inspiration from his church community. To those who knew him, Lawrence was not only a successful businessman but also a pillar of kindness, humility, and faith whose legacy of service and compassion will continue to inspire generations.

For more information, please contact Nick Anozie – 832-891-2213

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