Oil extended an upswing as OPEC+ supply cuts tightened the market, with Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman due to address a conference on the kingdom’s crude policy and view on net zero.

Global benchmark Brent advanced above $94 a barrel after a three-week run of gains that boosted prices by 11%. With Saudi Arabia and Russia prolonging supply curbs to the year-end, Abdulaziz is set to be among keynote speakers at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary later on Monday.

Crude in London is nearly 10% higher year-to-date as the OPEC+ linchpins curb production and the demand outlook brightens, with the US potentially avoiding recession just as refiners in China go all-out. Against that backdrop, crude stockpiles have dropped, while speculators boosted net-bullish wagers on Brent and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate to a combined 15-month high.

Oil’s surge will fan inflationary pressures around the globe just as central bankers, including those at the US Federal Reserve, try to determine whether they have already done enough to beat back the pace of price gains by hiking interest rates. It’ll be an important week for monetary policy, with decisions due from the Fed and the Bank of England, among others.

“Focus is likely to turn to the Fed meeting this week, but growing supply tightness and eroding inventories likely to continue underpinning bullish sentiment.’,”said Vandana Hari, founder of consultancy Vanda Insights.

In the physical market, refined products like diesel are increasingly showing warning signs, with the world’s refineries proving powerless to make enough of the industrial fuel. Prices have far outstripped those for crude.

Widely-watched crude timespreads are also signaling tightness, with the gap between Brent’s two nearest contracts at 90 cents a barrel in backwardation. That’s the widest since November and reflects scarce near-term supplies.

Bloomberg

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has emerged winner of the Diamond League trophy for an astonishing third consecutive time.

On Sunday night in Oregon, Amusan with a time of 12.33s emerged winner of the fiercely contested 100m hurdles event to shut her critics after a disappointing outing in Budapest.

Amusan with Sunday’s remarkable performance made history as the second woman in Diamond League history after Dawn Nelson-Harper to win a hat-trick of 100m hurdles titles.

Interestingly, it was in Oregon where Amusan won the world title last year and also set a world record in the process.

For Sunday’s race, the hard-charging Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico finished second in 12.38 while American Keni Harrison was third in 12.44.

Danielle Williams of Jamaica who dethroned Amusan in Budapest finished fourth in 12.47.

The athletic season has been a torrid one for Amusan but she emphatically proved on Sunday she is arguably the best sprint hurdler in the world.

The sweet victory in Oregon brings a triumphant close to what has been a difficult summer for Amusan.

Many recall how Amusan was left shattered in the build-up to the World Championships in Budapest after she was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for whereabouts failures.

The 26-year-old was declared by a disciplinary tribunal on the eve of the meet’s kickoff and it wasn’t surprising when Amusan uncharacteristic finished sixth in the 100m hurdle final in Budapest.

With many not initially sure whether the AIU will file an appeal against Amusan at the Court of Arbitration for Sports, the focus was already shifted to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

However, with a better frame of mind to prepare, Amusan came out smoking to win her third Diamond League trophy on Sunday.

The world record holder first made history in 2021 when she ran a 12.42 African record to become the first Nigerian to win a Diamond League title.

For those who said it was a fluke, Amusan went on to successfully defend her title the following year, running a new 12.29 Weltklasse meeting record in Zurich, Switzerland.

And on Sunday Amusan made it a hat trick of wins with a season-best time of 12.33s in Eugene Oregon.

PT

President Bola Tinubu has appointed two new ministers in charge of the Ministry of Youth.

They are Jamila Bio Ibrahim (Minister of Youth) and Ayodele Olawande (Minister of State For Youth).

This was disclosed in a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity.

Ngelale said the appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate.

“The President has further approved the nomination of Ayodele Olawande to serve as the Minister of State for Youth, pending his confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

“Jamila Bio Ibrahim is a young medical doctor and most recently served as the President of the Progressive Young Women Forum (PYWF). She has also served as the Senior Special Assistant to the Kwara State Governor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Ayodele Olawande is a community development expert and youth leader in the governing All Progressives’ Congress (APC). He most recently served in the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Innovation from 2019 to 2023.

“President Tinubu charges the above-mentioned nominees to ensure that they consistently reflect the dynamism, innovative zeal, and unyielding productivity that are synonymous with the young people of Nigeria as they discharge their duties,” the statement read.

Daily Trust

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine could have avoided conflict – Trump

Ukraine could have avoided hundreds of thousands of deaths and lost less land if it had reached a peace deal with Russia before the conflict began last February, former US President Donald Trump told NBC News in an interview aired on Sunday.

The loss of Ukrainian territory to Russia is “something that could have been negotiated,” Trump told NBC host Kristen Welker, adding that “a lot of people expected” Kiev to abandon its claims to “Crimea and other parts of the country” in exchange for peace.

“So they could have made a deal where there’s less territory [lost] than Russia has already taken,” Trump continued. “They could have made a deal where nobody was killed…they would have had a Ukrainian country. Now nobody even knows if Ukraine is going to be totally taken over.”

By “other parts of the country,” Trump was likely referring to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, whose sovereignty Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized three days before Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began. Following referendums last September, both regions have now joined the Russian Federation, along with the formerly Ukrainian territories of Kherson and Zaporozhye. Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in 2014.

Trump then repeated his claim that if elected next year, he would have a peace deal worked out within 24 hours.

“I’d get [Russian President Vladimir Putin] into a room, I’d get [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky into a room, then I’d bring them together and I’d have a deal worked out,” he told Welker. 

“It would have been easier if the war didn’t start, and you’d have hundreds of thousands of people living, most importantly,” he noted. “But I can get it done and I can get it done quickly.”

Trump then claimed that he kept Ukraine and Russia “from doing anything”during his presidency, arguing that the low oil prices that characterized his term in the White House would have made it too costly for Russia, a leading oil exporter, to finance a military operation.

Trump’s position on Ukraine is diametrically opposed to that of President Joe Biden, who has vowed to bankroll Kiev’s military “for as long as it takes” to defeat Russia on the battlefield. With the exception of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, all of Trump’s opponents in the Republican primary field support some sort of continued military aid to Ukraine.

Among them is Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Pence accused Trump of “embracing the politics of appeasement,” and “letting Vladimir Putin have what he wants.” 

** Russian Armed Forces deliver 11 strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure over week

Russian forces have delivered 11 massive surgical strikes on port infrastructure targets, personnel locations and the production and storage facilities of Ukrainian unmanned motorboats over a week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Over the September 9-16, 2023 period, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have delivered 11 massive strikes with sea-and ground-based long-range high-precision weapons as well as with unmanned aerial vehicles on port infrastructure targets, the production and storage locations of unmanned motorboats, fuel products, ordnance, Western armaments and stations of Ukrainian military personnel," the ministry said.

It specified that the strikes disrupted supplies to Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas and eliminated a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army’s armaments.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine recaptures village near Bakhmut, Zelenskiy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday his forces had recaptured an eastern village on the southern flank of Bakhmut, in what would be Ukraine's second significant gain in three days in its grueling counteroffensive against the Russian army.

"Today I would like to particularly commend the soldiers who, step by step, are returning to Ukraine what belongs to it, namely in the area of Bakhmut," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

The heavy fight for the Klishchiivka village, spread on higher grounds about 9 km (6 miles) south of Bakhmut, has taken weeks and comes after Kyiv said on Friday it had gained control of a tiny nearby village of Andriivka.

The gains have been among the most significant in Ukraine's counteroffensive, which began in June and has struggled to break through entrenched Russian lines.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces who is also in operational control of the counteroffensive, posted a video of Ukrainian forces displaying the blue and yellow national flag on ruined buildings with the sound of fighting in the background.

"Klishchiivka was cleared of the Russians," Syrskyi, who has often visited the Bakhmut frontline to devise strategy and boost the troops' morale, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not verify the Ukrainian reports and there was no immediate comment from Moscow. On Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said in its daily briefing that its forces kept up their attacks near Klishchiivka, which had a pre-war population of around 400.

Ukrainian military analysts said this week the liberation of settlements near Bakhmut would allow the military to advance from the southern flank in the Bakhmut area.

"Ukraine always gets its own back," Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on the Telegram.

Zelenskiy thanked the successful units which he said were the 80th airborne assault brigade, the 5th assault brigade, the "glorious 95th" and a national police assault brigade.

Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the battle inflicted "powerful damage" on Russian airborne units, the "Akhmat" battalion of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Storm-Z made up of Russian criminals, the Russian General Staff's military intelligence, and motorised rifle units.

"So, now we have gained a base that will allow us to continue to develop offensive actions and liberate our land from the invaders," Yevlash wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russia was still trying to regain lost positions at the village.

"Today we had to fight off enemy attacks all day," she said.

Russia has been in control of Klishchiivka since January. Moscow still controls large swaths of Ukraine's land in the east and south.

Klishchiivka, just like Andriivka and other settlements in eastern Ukraine, has been turned into ruble in the long months of the fight for Bakhmut, which fell into Russian hands in May.

** Ukraine farm worker killed when tractor hit mine

One farm worker died and another was injured on Sunday in Ukraine's southern Kherson region after their tractor hit a mine while ploughing a field, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Liberated after a long Russian occupation, the Kherson region is heavily mined and farmers risk their lives trying to work in fields that have not yet been cleared of mines.

"I'm once again appealing to the residents of the region. Do not start any work until the fields have been inspected by sappers. Take care of your safety," Prokudin said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal earlier this year said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had created the world's largest minefield with an area of 250,000 square kilometres (96,525 square miles).

RT/Tass/Reuters

Is the dollar poised to lose its dominance of global economic and financial transactions? Many commentators apparently think so.

Russia obviously hopes they are right, given that it has been shut out of the United States’ banking system and suspended from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). China evidently wants to help the process along by encouraging countries to undertake transactions in renminbi. And Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called for the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to create a common currency as an alternative to the dollar.

Russia’s shift away from the dollar, which got underway following its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, was prompted by the fear – and then the fact – of US sanctions. More than a few commentators have since warned that other countries, witnessing US “weaponization” of the dollar, will follow the Kremlin’s example.

China’s renminbi internationalization campaign reflects not only tensions with the US, but also a desire to project power internationally, with the drive for economic and financial self-sufficiency reflected in other aspects of Chinese policy as well. The dollar’s singular preeminence, in this view, is unlikely to survive a world dominated by two large economies at loggerheads, only one of which benefits from the dollar’s “exorbitant privilege.”

Similarly, Lula’s common-currency campaign reflects the view that the rising power and influence of the BRICS can no longer be denied, and that they deserve a seat at the top monetary table, whether the US agrees or not.

So, do these global geopolitical developments augur the end of dollar dominance? History – at least twentieth-century history – suggests not. To be sure, this history confirms that international currency status can be lost. But whether that happens depends on the actions of the issuing country, not simply on geopolitical circumstances beyond its control.

To a significant extent, the twentieth-century history of global currency status is a history of the British pound sterling, the leading global currency of the preceding century. Britain emerged from World War I economically and financially weakened. It had lost skilled manpower, sold off assets to finance the war effort, and now faced intense competition from other economies.

Importantly, Britain had incurred a public debt on the order of 130% of GDP, which was six times prewar levels. That raised questions about whether the country would maintain the value of its obligations or, alternatively, inflate them away, as Germany, France, and Italy eventually did.

Yet even though the dollar had emerged as a competitor by the early 1920s, sterling’s international status was successfully maintained. A decision was taken by Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, with broad support from the political class, to focus on this objective. Prices were pushed back down toward prewar levels, permitting earlier exchange rates against gold and the dollar to be restored. Painful steps were considered, and in some cases taken, to limit public spending.

These policies came at a cost to British competitiveness and hence to output and employment. But this sacrifice was accepted in the interest of reestablishing sterling’s role in the global economy – a goal that financial leaders regarded as being in their self-interest, and that imperialists saw as necessary for maintaining Britain’s geopolitical reach. As a result, the currency’s international role survived even the turbulent 1930s, when it remained the pivot of the sterling area, the British-led currency zone.

The United Kingdom emerged from World War II even more heavily indebted. In addition, it now had an overriding commitment to full employment, implying very different policies toward sterling. The currency was devalued in 1949 in an effort to reconcile demand stimulus and full employment with external balance. The disorderly liquidation of sterling balances by other central banks and governments was prevented with exchange controls and commercial threats.

Such measures were antithetical to international currency status. Contrary to the textbook view of ongoing competition between sterling and the dollar, scholars such as Maylis Avaro show that the shift away from sterling was already well underway in the aftermath of WWII.

At this point, geopolitics intervened. When the UK participated in an invasion of Egypt in 1956 to seize control of the Suez Canal and sterling crashed, US President Dwight Eisenhower’s administration refused to helpuntil Britain withdrew its forces. This diminished sterling’s global stature once and for all. But these geopolitical events only validated a decline and fall that was already a fait accompli.

The fundamental lesson, then, is that the issuer of an incumbent international currency has it within its power to defend or neglect that status. Thus, whether the dollar retains its global role will depend not simply on US relations with Russia, China, or the BRICS. Rather, it will hinge on whether the US brings its soaring debts under control, avoids another unproductive debt-ceiling showdown, and gets its economic and political act together more generally.

Project Syndicate

How confident are you in your leadership abilities?

In my 20-plus years of experience in startups -- having filled every position from new hire to CEO -- I've never seen a company reach its potential under anything less than exemplary leadership.

The reverse can be true, of course. Any business can fail regardless of how good the leadership might be. But if your company leadership sucks, your business doesn't stand a chance.

Leadership -- despite the millions of dollars and hours spent coaching it -- isn't that difficult to wrap your brain around. You know it when you see it, and you feel it when you lack it.

In fact, the last person to realize when leadership is starting to deteriorate is usually the leader themselves. Self-understanding can be pretty opaque at the top. But let me save you a few hours in a hotel ballroom listening to a bunch of people who used to lead things you've kind of heard of.

With almost any company, team, or project -- leadership has three distinct phases over time. The trick is getting to the right one and staying there as long as you can.

Know Your Leadership Phases

The good news is that once you come to terms with which leadership phase you're in, it isn't terribly difficult to right your own ship.

Phase 1

You're new to this particular leadership role. You've been appointed the leader, by yourself or by someone else, but you haven't established leadership credibility. Mistakes and bad decisions will stick to you like glue. How you deal with the fallout is what establishes that credibility that moves you to the next phase.

Phase 2

You've earned your stripes as a leader. Now you have the luxury to make a ton of bad decisions and mistakes in the name of progress. You're pretty much Teflon. If you lead everyone off a cliff, they will blame the cliff.

Until...

Phase 3

You've been in the leadership role too long, and your credibility as a leader has started to wane. This phase usually arrives after major turnover in the ranks, big changes to the business, or the unchecked build-up of those troublesome mistakes and bad decisions.

In almost every scenario where someone has come to me and said either "I might be a bad leader" or "We might have a bad leader," it boils down to one of these two reasons:

The leader is in Phase 1 acting like they've already matriculated into Phase 2

The leader has entered Phase 3 and still believes they're in Phase 2.

Know Your WarningSigns

The bad news is, like I said before, a bad leader is usually the last person to see themselves slipping. So here are the most prevalent warning signs of bad leadership that I've seen in others and, truth be told, even in myself.

Low Confidence

I tell you, I feel like all those leadership seminar attendees are drinking all that bad coffee and squirming around in those high-backed chairs because somewhere along the way, they lost the confidence that got them to where they are. I don't know for sure. I've never been to a leadership seminar. I've just seen the flyers and the billboards.

I'm not against these group feel-goods. And who knows, maybe someday I'll speak at one. But when I do, I probably won't be very good at it. Here's what I'd say:

A loss of confidence is easy to identify, once you allow yourself to admit it. Getting it back is much more complex, because it's personal. It's different for everyone. One thing I do know is this: Admitting you've lost your confidence is the first step to getting it back.

Thank you! My time is up! They're bringing in fresh coffee now.

Giving Up

One of my mentors, and I hope he doesn't read this, called me out of the blue about 15 years ago trying to hire me. I wasn't looking, but I wanted to catch up, so I agreed to lunch. Turns out, the guy I once thought walked on leadership water was now working a thankless middle management job at a faceless corporation.

When I asked him why and how he ended up here, he smiled and said, "This is a great place to hide out." Since that day, which, I might add, scared the crap out of me, I've seen that scenario play out about a dozen or more times with leaders who had taken to hiding out in closed-door offices, or on the road, or behind a committee.

If you find you're fading into the background, it's time to remember why you took a leadership role and get back to the forefront.

Tyrannical Rule

This one is easy. Are you acting like a jerk? There's a reason.

Leadership is rife with stress, and stress does weird things to people. When you're on point and in full Phase 2 leadership mode, stress tends to roll off you. But when you don't yet have the mettle to cope with ever-present impending failure, or you've lost the magic that seemed to make everything go your way, you start lashing out.

Stop. The worse you treat people, the deeper the hole gets. This never fails.

Process Overload

This is hands down the most popular warning sign of bad leadership.

Good leaders trust themselves, their team, and their process -- in both good and bad times. When bad leaders face bad times, their trust in themselves collapses. This is almost impossible to admit, so they tend to stop trusting their team and their process instead. That's when there are suddenly a bunch of new rules, new processes, new paperwork to fill out, and so on.

It's verification to combat the lack of trust. It's over-communication when the problem is the leader isn't reading or understanding the communication that already exists.

It's not them. It's you.

Whether you're a new leader trying to figure out the ropes, or a veteran leader who has "lost the locker room," the root of the solution is to establish or reestablish trust in yourself and your abilities, which in turn promotes confidence, which in turn encourages a steady hand, which will remind you why you're the leader in the first place.

If you understand which phase you're in, and if you take the time to understand the facts around your decisions, and if you keep making those decisions and owning the results, that's pretty much leadership in a nutshell.

Inc

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has unveiled a self-service mobile application for Nigerians to enroll for national identification number (NIN) and digital identification.

The application was unveiled in Abuja on Saturday at an event to commemorate Nigeria’s fifth Identity Day.

While unveiling the mobile application, Chucks Onyepunka, NIMC’s director for information technology, said the product would make NIN enrollment easier for Nigerians.

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, who spoke earlier, said the harmonisation of all the country’s databases is key to curbing crime and spurring national development.

“With a database of over 100 million National Identification Numbers in the National Identity Database, NIDB, NIMC provided essential access to attaining this goal along with other major stakeholders,” the minister said.

“As a member of the ministry of interior family, NIMC joins with other sister agencies in not only improving access by the general public to services like passport acquisition and renewal but also the likes of efficient border security technology, effective handling of insecurity around the country, protection of critical national assets and infrastructure, reformation and reintegration of rehabilitated offenders in the society as well as improved emergency and fire response times.”

The minister said work has commenced to ensure that the country has a single point database.

Speaking also, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, NIMC acting director-general (DG), said identity is more than a card or a number.

“It unlocks access to essential services, social benefits, and pathways to personal and economic growth,” Coker-Odusote said.

“It stands as a testament to our individuality while serving as a bridge to our shared humanity.

“At the National Identity Management Commission, our vision remains unwavering: to provide every citizen and legal resident with a digital primary identity, making it a universal reference point.”

She added that Nigeria must continue to develop its digital public infrastructure (DPI) because it holds the potential to transform lives.

The agency said the application would soon be available to be downloaded on Google and iOS stores.

In a recent investigation, TheCable revealed how many have been extortedby NIMC officials during NIN registration across the country.

The Cable

In a new twist to counter ECOWAS, three West African countries – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – all under military rule, have signed a security pact promising to come to the aid of each other in case of any rebellion or external aggression.

The three countries are struggling to contain insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State and have also seen their relations with neighbours and international partners strained because of the coups.

The latest coup in Niger drove a further wedge between the three and countries of the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has threatened to use force to restore constitutional rule in the country.

Mali and Burkina Faso have vowed to come to Niger’s aid if it is attacked.

“Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracted parties will be considered an aggression against the other parties,” according to the charter of the pact, known as the Alliance of Sahel States.

It said the other states will assist individually or collectively, including with the use of armed force.

“I have today signed with the Heads of State of Burkina Faso and Niger the Liptako-Gourma charter establishing the Alliance of Sahel States, with the aim of establishing a collective defence and mutual assistance framework,” Mali junta leader Assimi Goita said on his X social media account.

All three states were members of the France-supported G5 Sahel alliance joint force with Chad and Mauritania, launched in 2017 to tackle extremists in the region.

Mali has since left the dormant organisation after a military coup, while deposed Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum said in May last year that the force is now “dead” following Mali’s departure.

Relations between France and the three states have soured since the coups.

Daily Trust

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia, Ukraine dispute control over devastated village of Andriivka

Russia and Ukraine on Saturday disputed control of the devastated village of Andriivka near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, as Ukraine ramped up its efforts to inch closer to reassert control over the pivotal city.

Russia's Defence Minister dismissed a Ukrainian claim to have recaptured Andriivka, which Kyiv has portrayed as a stepping stone to the larger city.

The commander of Ukraine's land forces posted a video purporting to show the capture of Andriivka amid a landscape of scorched territory and desolation.

And a military spokesperson said Ukrainian troops were making headway in both the east and south -- the two main theatres of Ukraine's counteroffensive in the 18-month-old war against Russian invaders.

The account of fighting by Russia's Defence Ministry said its troops were still holding at least two key villages south of Bakhmut, known in Russia by its Soviet-era name, Artyomovsk.

"The enemy did not abandon plans to capture the city of Artyomovsk of the Donetsk People's Republic and continued to conduct assault operations ... unsuccessfully trying to oust Russian troops from the population centres of Klishchiivka and Andriivka," the ministry said in its daily briefing.

Andriivka lies south of Bakhmut, also largely ruined. The city was a mainly symbolic prize that Russian forces seized in May after the fiercest and longest battle since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The report said Russian forces had, in the past week, repelled 16 Ukrainian attacks in the sector, with enemy losses at more than 1,700 dead and wounded, along with 16 tanks.

Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of land forces, posted a video on Telegram that he said provided evidence Kyiv's forces were in full control of Andriivka.

The video shows Ukrainian soldiers advancing on empty devastated ground marked by the burned remnants of trees and taking cover in the shattered hulks of buildings reduced to rubble. Another video showed trucks driving at high speed down a deserted road.

DESTROYED BEYOND RECOGNITION

A correspondent for Ukraine's Hromadske radio said the destruction in Andriivka made the village unrecognisable.

"We know that Andriivka is so badly destroyed that soldiers do not even know where to place the pole with the Ukrainian flag," correspondent Yanina Lvutina said on the radio's website.

Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said the Bakhmut sector was the theatre of "the most active fighting".

"Offensive action is continuing south of Bakhmut. Things are hot in Klishchiivka and Kurdiumivka," Maliar said on Telegram, referring to two other villages near the city.

"Near Klishchiivka, as a result of offensive action, our defence forces have had successes."

Ukraine's General Staff on Friday had reported the capture of Andriivka after days of uncertainty. It also reported "partial success" near Klishchiivka.

Prominent Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musiyenko told Ukrainian television that capturing Andriivka would allow the military "to advance from the southern flank in the Bakhmut area, gaining control of the heights."

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.

Maliar also reported that Russian forces had unsuccessfully tried to push through Ukrainian defences near two villages northwest of Bakhmut.

She said Ukrainian troops were holding their positions near two other cities further south subjected to heavy Russian attacks in recent days - Avdiivka and Maryinka.

In the south, where Ukraine's forces aim to push to the Sea of Azov, Maliar said Kyiv's troops were "inflicting significant losses on the occupiers in terms of men and equipment".

Ukraine hopes to sever a land bridge Russia has created between annexed Crimea and territory it holds in the east.

** Five killed, one wounded in Donetsk, Russian-installed official says

Five civilians were killed and one wounded as a result of intense Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk region on Saturday, said a Russian-installed official in the eastern region of Ukraine.

The five were killed in the Kirov and Kuibyshevskyi districts and a woman was injured in Svetlodarsk, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not independently verify the information out of Donetsk, which with some other parts of eastern Ukraine has been partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

On Saturday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported heavy fighting and partial success of its forces as part of Ukraine's counteroffensive to reclaim land occupied by Russia in its 19-month invasion.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea foiled – MOD

Two unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed en route to Moscow in the early hours of Sunday, while at least half a dozen attempts to strike various targets in the Crimean Peninsula, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. 

“The air defense repelled a drone attack on Moscow over the Istra district west of the city,” Mayor Sergey Sobyanin confirmed on Telegram early Sunday morning, adding that the emergency services were responding to the incident.

The military said that a plane-type UAV was detected and destroyed around 1:45am Moscow time in Istra, while another drone was intercepted over the Domodedovo district several hours later. According to preliminary data, there are no destructions or injuries on the ground, authorities added.

As during previous air raid alerts, Moscow’s three main airports – Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Vnukovo – were briefly shut down as precaution.

Meanwhile, another “attempted Ukrainian terrorist attack was thwarted” in Crimea, with two drones intercepted west of the peninsula around 1:15am local time, according to the Defense Ministry.

Four more drones were intercepted over the Black Sea in the vicinity of Crimea between 1:45am and 2:20am, the military added in another statement.

Ukrainian UAVs have repeatedly targeted the capital and other Russian regions in recent months, with most of them either shot down mid-air or crashing due to signal-jamming.

Kiev has stepped up attacks on Russian territory as its much-touted ground offensive, launched in early June, had failed to yield any significant victories. Several UAVs crashed in Moscow City, the Russian capital’s business and financial hub, without causing any casualties.

** Training and tactics behind Ukraine's counteroffensive failures – FT

The training given by the US and other Western states to Ukrainian troops has not prepared them for their counteroffensive against Russian forces, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing Western analysts and military sources.

So far, the Ukraine has “not achieved the desired decisive breakthrough,” a source told the outlet, adding that some Western officials believe that Kiev has failed to use the opportunities offered by massive Western military aid at a time of “possibly peak political support.”

Some US officials have privately complained that Ukrainian troops “failed during training to master modern operations that combine mechanized infantry, artillery and air defense.” Ukraine’s losses early into the offensive were reportedly “unsustainable,” the sources claimed, amounting to “nearly a fifth of the NATO kit provided for the counteroffensive” in late May and early June alone. Such setbacks forced Kiev to change tactics and go back to an “attritional approach.”

The Ukrainian forces found it “impossible” to follow a NATO doctrine of combined arms warfare that involves coordinated actions by infantry, armor, artillery, and air defense, the paper said, adding that Kiev’s military still struggles to run operations “above the level of company (200 men) or even platoon (20-50).”

According to analysts interviewed by FT, Western training of Ukrainian troops was “too short” and poorly adapted to conditions on the battlefield.

One Ukrainian Special Forces unit commander complained that if he had followed the “bad advice” he’d received from Western trainers, he would “be dead.”

Military analysts Michael Kofman and Rob Lee pointed to “a poor understanding of how Ukraine’s military fights, and of the operating environment writ large, may be leading to false expectations, misplaced advice and unfair criticism in Western official circles,” in a report on the issue published in early September.

US officials, in turn, have questioned Kiev’s decision to expend its more experienced troops on a “futile defense” of the Donbass city of Artemovsk (Bakhmut in Ukrainian), which was captured by Russian forces in May 2023 following a months-long battle.

Russian forces, meanwhile, continue to “learn from their foes” and adapt their tactics, analysts said. In addition, Moscow’s forces still have the edge when it comes to drone warfare. Russian Lancet-3 kamikaze drones represent a “particular menace” as they are capable of autonomously tracking their targets, a capacity Kiev's drones lack.

Under the current circumstances, any Ukrainian success will be “slow-going at best” and will continue to depend on Western allies “increasing production of ammunition and other equipment to sustain an attritional war.”

Reuters/RT

The social and cultural setting in Yorubaland literally exploded last Friday. It almost took the shine off the Oyo State government’s highly commendable inauguration of a 34.85 km Oyo-Iseyin Road and the completed Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Iseyin Campus. The highly disputatious ex-Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was in his usual sabre-rattling element. At that event, he tongue-lashed Yoruba Obas in the most irreverent display of gross disdain for the traditional stool and institution. As I write this, an inclement anger of the people, like a vulture, is feasting on Obasanjo on the social media. He is minute by minute lacerated with all manner of irreverent words. A group from Iseyin, where the tongue-lash took place, even declared him persona-non-grata in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State.

The unkindest epithet given to Obasanjo as comment on his Iseyin discourtesy to the Obas is the ar’obafin – disrespecter of the monarchy. It reminds me of Alukoro, a Yoruba movie starring Fuji singer, Saheed Osupa; a man who, to me, sings as if he is an incarnate of my musical idol, Ayinla Omowura. Osupa laces his songs with an effusion of language, culture, depth and native wisdom which all answer to the profound musical calling of Omowura. In the movie, Osupa had played the role of Pela, a village bard. Strapping his agidigbo round his neck, with the musical instrument protruding on his belly, the flick began with him instigating townsfolk against an Ajisafe who he alleged had an incestuous liaison with his daughter. In rousing them up, Pela lectured the people on the boomeranging effect of silence to evil – “t’a ba ni ko kan wa, yi o kan eni ti o kan, ti o pada wa kan wa”, he counseled.  

Then, a scene movie shifted to the palace. The whole village was in attendance, as well as a man called Olowoporoku and his wife. Still in his luxuriating voice and talent, Pela musically narrated Olowoporoku’s boldness of standing up to the monarchy headed by Oba Adewolu Adegoroye. He sang in denunciation of those who rise against the palace which Yoruba approximate as rising against the whole town. Pela announced that the enemy of the palace had been put to shame with the quashing of the conspiracy against the king and that haters of the monarchy were persons of mean repute. He sang this thus: “Ar’obafin, oju ti yin o//b’o je’yin le wa l’oni o//ab’Oba Adewolu… e l’aju le, gbogbo wa ni o s’oju…//ete kuku m’oni ete nwa, iyi m’eni iyi nba r’ode, eni ete mo’ra re l’awujo.”

Pela robed the king in the finest raiment. Oba Adewolu had a purity of character comparable only to the whiteness of a cattle egret (lekeleke) and Olowoporoku, not only was a mean character, but one whose moral standing was in the league of the filth of a pig. “Agberaga won a tun gbe’ra sanle, iru e ki s’eni iyi l’awujo…” Apparently the script to disgrace Olowoporoku having been pre-arranged, a goat that was dressed in exact apparel worn by Olowoporoku was brought to the palace. Pela then sang, asking the people to shout “monkey” – obo – “E ma pe obo ni! (Obo ni!)… eni wo’so bi obo (obo ni!) o de fila bi obo (obo ni!) o nb’oba da’sa (obo ni!)… aso ki le ro, t’e nkile t’e nru gaga?// Aso t’e ro t’e npon gege, s’ohun l’ewure ti nwo yi o!” He ended the musical narration by telling the palace hater that very soon, all those in his class would forcibly realize the majesty of the king – “isenyi le o m’oba//eyin t’e nb’oba l’eyin…”

At Iseyin, as the crowd savoured the occasion, amid effusive showering of praises on Obasanjo’s host governor, Seyi Makinde, the man known for always provoking verbal balls of fire suddenly sauntered into his familiar route. At the first occasion, the road inauguration, I was told that invited traditional rulers sat even when Obasanjo and his host arrived. When Obasanjo got up to address the crowd during the second event at the University of Technology’s opening, and the larger crowd of traditional rulers still sat, something snapped in him and Obasanjo went into his usual tempestuous tirade. If he had talked to the Obas in very civil language, it would have gone down well with Yoruba people. Rather, the ex-president spat out poison like a venomous rattlesnake, talking down on the natural rulers like a teacher does to offending kindergarten pupils. Flaffing his left hand like a salamander does its tail in a moment of extreme anger, Obasanjo then hectored on the rulers to stand up, “e dide!”, in the mode of a Garrison Commander at an army parade. His lips twitched awkwardly, and his countenance was like Sango, the god of thunder’s. He had earlier lectured the traditional rulers on giving honour to whom it is due.

The issue for determination in Iseyin on Friday is, who was the Ar’obafin? The Obas who dishonoured Ijoba (government) by refusing to join the upstanding people to welcome the governor or Obasanjo who upbraided them using a language meant for slaves on royalty?

Like many African societies, the Yoruba venerated their kings, almost to the point of idolatory. Their king was the incarnation of the concept of earthly sovereign. He regulated peace and order, guaranteed harmonic social relations with their fellow beings and was the intercessor who interacted between them and cosmic forces. The palace where the king lives, though owned by the whole town, was the outward representation of the people’s reverence for their king. It is always located at the sacred centre of the town and surrounded by huge walls. The palace’s importance was partly due to the fact that it was the place where decisions of the most important texture concerning town life were deliberated upon and taken. It was where esoteric rituals were performed among a coterie of a narrow circle of initiates.

A number of weird lore and mores were curated to give the king his primus inter pares aura and dread. First, the title of an Alaafin of Oyo, for instance, symbolized his unlimited powers. He was “lord of the universe and life,” “the master of the land” and “companion of the gods,” as well as the Kabiyesi who no one dares contradict his authority. He was a sacred ruler and ideological and political centre of power of his people who holds a dimension of power that was awesome. A number of secrecies, mystery and dread of things unknown and incomprehensible kept alive the oeuvres of sacredness of traditional institution in him. He was the mythical intermediary between his people and the gods and the link that connected the people with all the deities of the land and in whom there was a fulfillment of the desires of the gods in the land of the living. The legitimacy of the king’s royal power emanated from the dread and mysteries that were hoed round him. For instance, he must not see dead body. The belief that begot this was that, as one who symbolized and embodied life and being a life-giving force himself, sighting a dead body detracts from that power. He was also reputed with magical powers that were beyond his subjects’. That is why, upon the enthronement of an Oba, all magic men were required to scramble over one another to donate their amulets and powers to him. This is because the king was believed to be linked with the spirits of his deceased predecessors. As king, his major obligation was the sustenance of the prosperity and fertility of the land which he does by making sacrifices as at when required, engage in innumerable annual rites, as well as magic rituals.

The life and death of Obas in Yorubaland are a testament to their assumed powers. According to Samuel Johnson, not less than 21, out of 36 kings that this respected Yoruba history biographer included in his dynastic list, died by excruciating violence. In Oyo Alaafin, not a single one out of the kings of the 17th century died of natural death at a period regarded as the highest flourish of that kingdom. Indeed, fifteen of them, beginning with the 17th king Odarawu were compelled to commit suicide as a result of sentences passed by the oracle. As a means of implanting the authority and veneration of their kings in their minds, palace griots, who were mainly custodians of historical oral tradition of the people, narrated in poetic renditions the official version of the history of their kingdoms, heroic feats of their kings and stories of warfare, conquest.

However, the conversation between Obierika and Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart seems to sum up the calamity that befell traditional institution subsequently. Dissecting colonial incursion into Igboland and the various queer events that had since transpired, upset by the white man’s total and complete disregard for the Igbo cosmology and the people’s conception of justice, Obierika was stunned that the colonialists didn’t understand the people of Umuofia. Obierika had said: “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” This, to me, equates the calamity that befell traditional institution in Yorubaland, the precursor of the Friday lacerating discourtesy heaped on Yoruba traditional institution by a man whose inscrutable disdain for the other person knows no bounds.

The white man indeed put a knife on the traditional institution that held Yoruba people together. This began with the gale of exiles it unleashed on highly venerated and dreaded monarchical stool. Oba Akitoye of Lagos was about the first. He had ascended the throne of his forefathers in 1841 and attempted to end the inhuman trade in persons. In this bid, he sowed enmity in the minds of local slave traders who contributed to his deposition and eventual exile. After the white men annexed Lagos in 1861 as a British territorial colony, it was time for recalcitrant kings who insisted on the supremacy of their thrones to be dealt with too. Thus, Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, the Oba of Benin, was equally chased off the throne and exiled to Calabar, alongside his two queens, leading to his eventual death in 1914.

Other kings who tasted the sour broths of the white colonialists were the Alake of Egba land, Oba Sir Ladapo Samuel Ademola who ascended the throne on May 28, 1920. He was the father of Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, the first indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria at the granting of independence in 1960. After 27 years of being on the throne, his power was eroded after a violent protest of about 2000 women against colonial government’s native authority in 1947. Under the leadership of Mrs. Funmilayo Ransom-Kuti, with the assistance of her sister-in-law, Eniola Soyinka, the women virulently protested against taxes for women. Prodded on by colonial disdain for traditional rulers, it was bye to the highly venerated Yoruba monarchy as the women successfully chased Oba Ademola out of the palace.

Obasanjo’s shout on the Iseyin kings to stand up reminds me of the same call by mercurial deputy leader of the Action Group, Bode Thomas. Born in 1918, Thomas was one of the most brilliant solicitors of Yoruba extraction of pre-colonial Nigeria. In company with Rotimi Williams and Remilekun Fani-Kayode, he established the law firm named Thomas, Willams, Kayode and co. He was however far removed from the indigenous texture of his native Oyo town where he was born. He was also very haughty. So when in 1953, Thomas was appointed the Oyo Divisional Council Chairman, it was obvious that he would find his measure in the father of the recently deceased Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II, who reigned on the stool from 1945 to 1954. On November 22, 1953, the day the 35-year-old Thomas made his first appearance in council, just like the Iseyin Obas gathered at the Friday function, Thomas could not countenance why Alaafin Adeniran would sit while others stood for him. Like Obasanjo, he immediately expressed his disavowal at this. He then asked the Oba, who was then in his 60s, “Why are you sitting when I walked in, don’t you know how to show respect?” During one of my discussions with Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi who just passed, he confirmed to me that his father merely rhetorically demanded if it was him that Thomas was barking at – se’mi lo ngbo mo baun? And then commanded Thomas, to continue in his bark – Ma gbo lo baun! Oba Adeniran was to pay dearly for this as he was deposed and died in exile at Egerton, a mosquito-infested Guest House in Lagos. Thomas continued barking like a dog and passed on in the morning of the second day.

As they say, since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. By the constitutions of Nigeria since the advent of colonialism, the palace has always been put under the subordination of political authorities. This has colossally eroded the respect, veneration and contributions to society of kings. As it is now, monarchs are under the subordination of local government chairmen who can instigate their deposition. Respected veteran journalist, Lekan Alabi, sent out a video of an interview conducted by the NTA Ibadan with him as the Producer and presenter, with late Kano State governor, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi. Rimi was having a spat with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero during this period. In the interview, Rimi exploded: “The way you press and our political opponents (regard) the Emir of Kano is not the way we regard him. As far as we are concerned (thumping his chest) – we the elected government of Kano state – as far as I, the governor of Kano State, is concerned – the Emir of Kano is nothing, nothing, nothing but a public person… he is holding a public office… being paid from public funds and whose appointment is at the pleasure of the governor of the state and who can be dismissed, removed interdicted, suspended if he commits an offence. And there is nothing unique about Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano… believe me, if he commits any offence which will make it necessary for us to remove him, we will remove him and we will sleep soundly.”

In the explanation of their cosmogony, it is Yoruba’s belief that, as hot and red-eyed as Sango is, not only does it give respect to the blacksmithry and the forge, Ile Aro, it is not in his keel to strike it with its thunder. Why will Obasanjo, a man who has taught culture and tradition overtime, be the hot anvil that will consume the anvil? Don’t Yoruba say that the reverse is unimaginable, in the saying that ina ewu kii jo ewu, ina ewiri kii jo ewiri? Indeed, that Friday event was a mortal blow on traditional institution.

Why the Obasanjo Friday indecorous talk-down on the Iseyin Obas was unusual was that he had always shown the way to go to all political office holders by publicly courtesying to monarchs. He recently, even at his over 80 years old, prostrated to the Ooni of Ife who is younger in age than his first born. This is why, as I said earlier, if Obasanjo had not made a public ridicule of the Obas, he would have had sympathies of the people. First, he was far older than virtually all the kings at the event and thus deserved their respect. Second, as Nigeria’s former leader, who was Nigeria’s Head of State at a time many of them were in secondary school, they should have shown him some measure of honour. Sitting down when an elderly person stands is disrespect of the first order in Yorubaland. I have also confirmed that protocol, especially since the constitutional de-robing of kings of their essences, has since demanded that kings should pay obeisance to political leaders, including even the chairman of their local governments, at public events. However, as they say, if you are sent a message as a slave, you should be knowledgeable enough to deliver it as a freeborn.

To be fair to Obasanjo, though the gradual loss of verve of traditional institution didn’t begin with him, he willingly offered himself as its pallbearer. Many of the traditional rulers on parade in Nigeria today wear such disreputable robes that no one in their true senses should pay them any regard. Nyesom Wike, as governor of Rivers State, publicly dressed down one of them. Today, Yoruba do not venerate their kings any longer and do not see them as embodying their sovereignty. Rather than regulating peace and order of their domains, they are disruptors of the peace therein. The palace has become a den of thieves and fraudsters with many of them kings only to maximize pecuniary interests. No esoteric rituals are performed in palaces any longer but cryptic deals of fraudulence among a circle of fraudulent initiates, with the sacredness of traditional institution grossly destroyed. So, if Obasanjo talked down on them, he must have known that they were reverses of the natural rulers who deserved anyone’s respect.

I am actually interested in an aspect of the speech of Governor Makinde at the said event. On the vacant stool of the Alaafin, which is the subject of intense acrimony and tackles at the moment, Makinde had said: “Those of you fighting over the Alaafin stool should stop. Those who have collected money from people should know that Alaafin stool is not for sale. It is too important to Yorubaland that we will not sell it. For those who have collected money, I will take them to the EFCC”.

The governor’s homily is a representation of what ails traditional institution in Nigeria today. It has gone to the dogs. If it is possible for Makinde and the Oyo Mesi to recreate the profundity in tradition, language and culture of Yoruba people, panache and Yoruba leadership which the late Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi manifested while alive, we probably would have none of those Iseyin Obas lacking the courage to damn Obasanjo’s bark at them to stand up. Kabiyesi, Omo Alowolodu, Iku Baba Yeye Lamidi Adeyemi, would rather die than be led by the nose to surrender as Obasanjo led those kings on Friday.