Bonaventure Phillips Melah, an Abuja based journalist and Founder, Nigeria’s Pride Awards, has hailed the achievements of Prof. Charles Anosike, the Director General/CEO of the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMet)

Melah, in a statement he released on Monday, said some persons are intimidated by the unprecedented achievement of the NiMet boss, accusing them of deliberate attempts to pull him down.

He said, the “standing ovations received by Anosike at the recent awards and the accolades over his bold footprints at NiMet, have combined to trigger barrage of envy and petty jealousies, with detractors sponsoring media inuendo and outright falsehood aimed at either, tarnishing his hard-earned reputation or instigating regime change in NiMet.”

Reeling out Anosike’s achievements, he said, “A few weeks ago, on Saturday, March 15, 2025 to be precise, Prof. Charles Anosike, the Director General/CEO of the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMet), received the prestigious Aviation Sector CEO of the Year 2024’ award at an event which took place at the Convention Centre, Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

“The organisers of the event, Independent Newspapers Ltd, praised Anosike, for his proactive leadership, saying he had, within a short period, transformed NiMet and improved the agency’s contributions to the socio-economic development of the country, adding that he earned the award due to his outstanding achievements.

“This came a few days after Prof. Anosike had on Saturday, 22nd February 2025, received the 2025 African Public Sector Leadership Impact Award for his transformational leadership, organized by the African Leadership Magazine.

“Prof. Anosike received the award at an event that was held in Casablanca, Morocco, alongside other awardees including President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar (African Political Leader of the Year), President Bassirou Faye of Senegal (African of the Year), Mr. Olusegun Alebiosu, Managing Director/CEO of First Bank of Nigeria Plc (Special African Banking Leadership Award & African Leadership Award for Banking Excellence and Financial Innovation), Dr. Seinye Lulu-Briggs, Executive Chairman, Moni Pulo Limited (African Philanthropist of the Year 2024).

“Apart from the award, there have been series of commentaries both in print and the broadcast media, on how Anosike, has within one year and a few months in office, deployed his academic prowess, wealth of experience, dedication and patriotism to transform Nimet to become a high performing federal agency.

“Recalls have been made also, of NiMet’s recent role in issuing early warnings to prevent destruction of strategic national infrastructures and loss of lives including protecting farmlands from floods, which became issue of serious national concern some years past but has been reduced to minimal level due to early warnings from the agency. Additionally, the agency completed full audit of dilapidated infrastructures and ill-conceived projects.

“In line with President Bola Tinubu’s policy on digitalization, the NiMet recently introduced e-flight folder which enables automated access to weather reports/audit/feedback, and in the process, thereby enhancing real time aviation safety.”

Melah stated further that, “Despite these and many other laudable achievements, the usual occurrence in Nigeria, where the pull-him-down syndrome, has become an entrenched culture, has reared its ugly head against NiMet and its management, so much so that, it appears the standing ovations received by Anosike at the recent awards and the accolades over his bold footprints at NiMet, have combined to trigger barrage of envy and petty jealousies, with detractors sponsoring media inuendo and outright falsehood aimed at either, tarnish his hard-earned reputation or instigate regime change in NiMet.

“Last week alone, three online media platforms, published a story which tended to suggest that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was probing Prof. Anosike over alleged contract fraud worth ‘billions of Naira.’

“The obviously sponsored and syndicated story which had the same headlines and body contents, deliberately falsified the date of the contract for which the EFCC issued an investigative inquiry on contracts awarded in 2021 and wrote that they were awarded in 2023. The writers of the story knew that Anosike assumed the position of NiMet CEO on December 2023, a distant two years before the contracts in question were awarded.

“Again, they chose to tag Anosike on the headline of their stories, when the fact is that the letter of inquiry was attention heads of human resources and procurement, with request for update on travel documents.

“Even when the management of NiMet issued a response rebutting the earlier publication which was widely circulated in both conventional and new media, a third online conduit ignored the facts stated in the official NiMet response and went ahead to publish same story, with same headline, body content and name of Prof. Anosike bandied on the headline, which further buttresses the existence of underbelly motive of the sponsors of the falsehood.

“Irked by these unsubstantiated sponsored negative media insertions against NiMet and the person of Prof. Anosike, a Labour Dispute Expert, Wakili El-Habib, in a recent article noted that NIMET is currently ranked as one of the best quality service providers in the country; and attributed the development to many factors, including President Bola Tinubu’s serious attention and commitment to the security and safety of the country; the vision and focus of the new management led as well as the competence and dedication of the agency’s workforce.

“Wakili however regretted that while NiMet boasts of having a huge number of patriotic and committed staff, the agency is also home to a few unpatriotic and malicious labour leaders who often resort to cheap blackmail and threat of strike, in attempt to arm-twist the management, for self-serving reasons, rather than overall interest of workers.

“He listed some of the achievements of the agency’s management under Prof. Anosike to include payment of the outstanding minimum wage arrears owed to staff from 2019 to 2022, sponsorship and training of more than 1,000 staff on various categories in the last one year and total commitment to the welfare of workers, among many others.

“He also alleged that not less than two top management staff of NiMet who are positioning themselves for possible takeover of the leadership of the agency were involved in internal sabotage through connivance with some labour leaders and hostile media outlets to defame the agency and pour tar on Prof. Anosike.

“While it is true that Nigeria is need of quality leadership; whereas we agree that many Nigerians in leadership position have failed to live up to the expectation of the people, the truth remains that there are many Nigerian leaders that have served the nation while some others are serving with integrity and every sense of patriotism, as can be seen in various sectors where many of those appointed by President Bola Tinubu, have keyed into the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda and are doing all they can to transform Nigeria into a livable country for citizens and other national living and doing business in the country.

“Maybe those trolling the CEO of NiMet need to be reminded that before he was appointed by President Tinubu, Prof. Anosike, had over 25 years of collective experience in the private sector and excelled as a professor who was responsible for carrying out teaching, curriculum development and academic review board/mentoring post graduate students.

“He served as a member of the National Technical Working Group – FGN Vision 2020 (ICT Thematic Committee) in 2009 and was appointed as a member of the board– Nigerian Integrated Water Resources Management Agency in 2009. In 2011 he successfully spearheaded his company to deploy and implement the provision of data center infrastructure and connectivity upgrade for the Presidential villa/State house, Abuja. In 2013 and was later appointed a member of Energy, Infrastructure, and Environment Sustainability Policy Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group-NESG.

“Anosike’s varied career included a stint as a Sustainability in Project Management consultant for Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) – Ministry of Petroleum Resources which was responsible for establishing and maintaining sustainable project management standards and providing training to empower the project managers with knowledge, tools, and techniques to execute the restoration of Ogoni Land using sustainable methods.

“The NiMet CEO was the founder of the Center for System Leadership & Sustainability – CSLS to build systems thinking capacity to enhance collective ecological intelligence.“It should therefore, be a source of concern and condemnable by all well-meaning citizens when attack dogs are unleashed on our highly respected intellectuals and professionals who volunteered to deviate positively, choosing to serve Nigeria with the best of their human potentialities,” he concluded.

The national chairman of opposition Labour Party, Julius have been reported to have said that the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, aMr. Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Rabiu Kwakwanso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP and other opposition figures have neither capacity nor character to lead a coalition movement.

In a recent report on Voice TV, Abure was said to have mocked the prospects of a viable political coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections, citing a lack of leadership capacity and cohesion among major opposition figures.

Speaking on the potential for a unified front among Nigeria’s opposition parties, Abure argued that the groundwork for such an alliance should already be evident if it were to succeed.

He said, “I believe that we have explained very clearly why a coalition for 2027 will not work. You may think that you have a lot of time, but I believe that by the end of this year, INEC will release its guidelines or timetable for the 2027 general election. If a coalition was going to work, we should be seeing signs of it by now.”

He sharply criticized the leading aspirants in the current political landscape, questioning their competence and ability to lead such a broad-based movement.

“The dominant character in the political scene that people want to build an alliance around has no capacity, has no character, has no competence to drive the process of a coalition,” he said.

Abure provided a pointed example, arguing that any leader who struggles to unify their own party is unfit to lead a broader political merger.

“Leaders who cannot unite their own party just one party cannot be unifiers. How can they drive a process that brings all other political parties together? A coalition implies conceding your identity, submitting your party certificate, conceding your leadership, and subsuming into a new party,” he explained.

The Labour Party chairman questioned whether any current opposition figure possesses the political influence needed to bring together the likes of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party under a single banner.

“Tell me today: which of the dominant aspirants has that clout, has that capacity to bring the PDP and Labour Party together and say, ‘Let’s collapse and move as one,’ when they can’t even unite their own party?” he asked.