Ekiti FIDA Chairperson Seyi Ojo Passes On. – TheNigerialawyer

It has just been reported that the Chairperson of Women Lawyers,
Ekiti State, Mrs. Seyi Ojo has passed on Christmas day.

The sad and unfortunate incident was said to have occurred after
an ill-health complication, which landed her in the hospital.

Before her demise, Mrs. Seyi Ojo was a vibrant lawyer and strong
advocate of gender parity.

Details soon!!

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Sambo Dasuki, Yushau Shuaib and defense of human
rights
By Abdullahi Yunusa ProfWills

Let me tell you a few things about Alhaji Yushau Shuaib, the
multiple-award winning PR expert, strategic Communications
specialist and crisis communications czar. He’s the brain and the
unseen face behind the popular, credible and very ubiquitous
information portal, PR
Nigeria^[1] which feeds Nigerians
and the world with breaking news/stories and events as they
unfold.

Citizen Yushau was that courageous public servant who called out
former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala over
lopsidedness in the appointment of heads of agencies under her
supervision. His maltreatment once generated heated arguments at a
FEC meeting during the administration of former President Goodluck
Jonathan when ministers were sharply divided on what should be done
to Yushau for criticising a ‘Super Minister’.

It was the same citizen Yushau who later came to the rescue of
Nigeria at a time that the Boko Haram insurgency was at its very
peak with bomb explosions going off here and there. At the time,
the insurgents were running a very successful media campaign before
Yushau came on board. Boko Haram, through its agents in both local
and international media grabbed news headlines on a daily basis.
Things began to change for good when he began to coordinate media
strategies to counter Boko Haram’s media propaganda and skewed
narratives on insurgency in the north east.

With no support from anyone one or security establishments, he
came up with brilliant counter insurgency media strategies and
measures, including the formation of the Forum of Spokespersons of
Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA) by the Office of the
National Security Adviser as recommended by Yushau. Yushau deployed
both human and material resources to ensure that the tissue of lies
and absolute falsehoods that Boko Haram was peddling around were
halted once and for all with superior facts and figures.

He was deliberate and quite strategic in his deployment of media
contents and PR offensives to wage war against Abubakar Shekau and
his fellow criminals. FOSSRA became the very power house and
information hub where Spokespersons of Security and Response
Agencies met to jaw-jaw, share intelligence and hold regular review
sessions to guarantee success in the counter insurgency operations.
Courtesy of Yushau, for the first time, PROs of Security and
Response Agencies sat under one roof to discuss and share
intelligence on counter insurgency operations.

FOSSRA, to a very large extent degraded the inter-agency rivalry
and bad blood among security agencies. With mutual suspicions,
superiority complex and institutional rivalry put to rest, security
institutions realized the importance of effective synergy in
tackling criminality and violent extremism. Initially, Yushau
shouldered the responsibility of providing venue and other
logistics for FOSSRA’s meetings.

With the successes recorded by the Nigerian military in the
north east gaining traction in the media, many, including the then
National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki, curiously
sought to know who and what was responsible for the positive and
balanced media campaign. FOSSRA members took it upon themselves to
brief the NSA about the invaluable contributions of citizen Yushau
in the ongoing insurgency campaign.

Expectedly, Col. Dasuki was pleased with his patriotic
disposition and solicited for his continued support and
cooperation. Yushau turned down Col. Dasuki’s request to join them
as an insider in the Office of the National Security Adviser
(ONSA), but pledged his assistance and support to the office and
Nigeria.

Given the circumstances at that time, both Dasuki and Yushau did
their best in the war against insurgency. We know those who
genuinely stood with Nigeria in the heat of the Boko Haram
insurgency in the north east. We equally know those who frustrated
efforts geared towards ending the war. But in the fullness of time,
we shall know the heroes and villains of the insurgency war.

Then came the period of Col. Sambo Dasuki’s travails.
Expectedly, the very moment he was arrested in 2015, even some of
his close aides and friends deserted him. Some fled out of the
country, thereby leaving Col. Dasuki to his fate. But one man never
left him. That man is Yushau Shuaib.

At personal risk and discomfort, Yushau stood firmly by Dasuki
like the rock of gilbrater. He began a one-man media advocacy that
kept the issue and Dasuki in the spotlight in the last four and a
half years. Good friends never abandon their friends in their hour
of needs. Yushau wrote countless press statements, held press
conferences and even wrote a book about Col. Sambo Dasuki. He did
all these for a man he has no ancestral link with. This is sheer
humanity.

Though it was Col. Sambo Dasuki who spent the last four and a
half years in the custody of the Department of State Service, but
citizen Yushau bore the burden of drawing local and international
attention to Col. Dasuki’s plight. Yushau made it a point of duty
to always be in court to witness proceedings each time Dasuki was
brought to court. He was consistent. He was determined and ready to
go all the way in defense of Col. Dasuki. Thank God, his advocacy
paid off.

Unlike others, Yushau stood by the Sokoto Prince throughout the
period he was incarcerated. He was maligned, insulted and denied
certain privileges for refusing to dump Col. Dasuki. It was no
surprise that Yushau was the first person to see Col. Sambo Dasuki
minutes after he was released from the DSS custody. Indeed, Yushau
has demonstrated rare courage, tenacity and compassion in defense
of a fellow human being. This is worthy of emulation.

Yunusa writes from FHA Lugbe, Abuja. meetprofwills@yahoo.com