₦airaland Forum

kcnwaigbo:
it is you did not learn anything from the edo election.These criminals do not need your votes to win.Unless you stand like the people of Rivers and Bayeolsa to defend your votes just fporget it

fulaniHERDSman:
I believe this Adesanya guy ... Tinubu's attempt to rubbish our great party has failed

NextGovernor:
And people like you was happy of the fraud in Edo election all because it favoured APC.

KwaraRat:
[s][size=18pt]Denial is a Nijeriyan[/size]

The human mind has a primitive ego defense mechanism that negates all realities that produce too much stress for the brain to handle. It’s called Denial.

For eons mankind evolved and stumbled around in the midst of great catastrophic disasters and were once considered staple food for predators.

We survived the ice age not because we were able to adapt physically or develop necessary skills to cope with the great shift in climate but because our brains blocked off existential and impending doom ahead of us. Rather than focus on the daunting task ahead we chose daily chores and tasks from finding shelter, food and whatnot. We essentially survived because we played the ostrich and carried on as if there was no problem. This is one of the only benefits to which self denial can grant the human existence.

Keep Calm & Carry On

Mankind has always found denial as a necessary defense mechanism in dealing with Armageddon. We keep postponing the date and with that we have grown more arrogant. With arrogance comes pride and with pride comes a great fall.

Denial is thus a critical part of the human coping mechanism. A sort of bio delay switch that keeps us from flicking the suicide button.

I will thus define denial as the degree of optimism.

While it is good to have an optimistic view on life it will be foolhardy to negate reality and facts to the foreground in dealing with a challenge.

Nigerians are by far the most optimistic people. They have no choice on this. It is either they keep on hoping and denying the daunting challenges they face daily or they end up going mad.

We have all read the Stats that states that well over 40% of Lagosians face one form of mental disorder. If it were not for denial in the form of hope we can rightly predict the chances of majority of Lagosians will be roaming the streets outright mad.

Bearing this in mind, we see Nigerians still hoping and denying the realities on ground.

They deny the ongoing islamization agenda even in the midst of a jihadist campaign raging in the north east. They are quick to accept the official narrative from the buhari govt that the ongoing genocide by fulani herdsmen is the handwork of Libyans.

This is inspite of all solid facts ,evidence and historical antecedents that proves that there is indeed a northern islamization agenda.

Foolishly they still deny reality.
Your average Nijeriyan is no different than a wildebeest herd.

Constantly harassed by larger Predators day and night, the herbivores of the Serengeti have always appeared to live a terrorised life when viewed from a human perspective. But contrary to how we humans see the large games of the savanah, the harassment they constantly face from hyenas and lions are more of a nuisance to them as their primary concern is to find suitable grazing fields and get down to the business of procreation.

This is God's grand design for animals of prey. They exist in constant denial of the threats that loom beyond the tall golden grass. Without that denial, the wildebeest will probably not bother grazing talk more of procreating.

I see a lot of self induced myopia instigated by a mind in denial among Nijeriyans especially among those who I expect to know better. For some reason the threat is so overwhelming that the simply wish it away and where it appears inevitable they resort to hope as a final solace. "It can't happen to me and my family"; "It is not our portion". These are what herded or animals in a group, flock or school of fish rely on as a last defence mechanism. The strength of numbers and the sacrifice of those in the outer realms of the herd gives the members solace.

So in so many ways, those who refuse to see the reality are those who are in denial of the threat and who arrogate a sense of immunity from the same threat on the very hope that some others will have to be sacrificed for them to live.

This is the life of a rat and not a man.




On Niger Delta Insurgency

Oil can never sustain Nigeria. It never did and it never ever will but some Nigerians still believe in the status quo even though they never benefited from the nationalization of oil wealth.

To this set of Nigerians, Oil has always been part of Nigeria's wealth and they see no way outside it. And when threats of secession and/or demands by Militants in the ND for more resource control, these same set of Denialists who have never ever benefited directly from this skewed centralized arrangement of wealth distribution that puts the Niger Delta last before other regions not minding that the wealth comes from the same Niger Delta region, we see them fretting and threatening genocide to keep the same corrupt and unjust arrangement in place.

This my friends is what Denial is all about.
https://www.nairaland.com/3384192/grand-delusions-denial

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KwaraRat:
Buhari and Tinubu share one common trait - absolute despotism.

Sooner or later, this similar trait will lead to a battle for supremacy within the APC.

As things stand now, buhari holds all the aces.

If Tinubu dares even criticise buhari constructively , that will be enough reason for Buhari to deal once and all with the Tinubu question.

Buhari is no fool and he knows Tinubu goes around claiming to be the king maker.

And Tinubu can bet his last gbana weed that buhari has more than enough judases to draw from Tinubu's camp.

As far as I am concerned it is just a matter of time before Buhari moves in to clip tinubu's wings and the best thing is that there will be many waiting to do the deed for Buhari from Tinubu's people and very few who will cry for him.

kayzat:
Oke is the real deal

Chief Olusola Oke has settled for Hon. Gani Dauda as his running mate in the Alliance for Democracy, AD for the November 26 governorship election in Ondo state, as replacement to Dr Akin Olowokere and Alhaji Yahaya Ipilonju ticket, SUNSHINE HERALD has learnt.

A source at the party caucus meeting held on Sunday night also confirmed this to this newspaper.

It will be recalled that INEC had on Thursday published Olowokere and Yahaya as governorship and deputy candidates of the AD, while Oke had on Saturday, dumped the All Progressives Congress, APC for AD where he was thereafter picked to replace Akin Olowookere as the party’s candidate.

SUNSHINE HERALD learnt the former member representing Akoko North East and Akoko North West Federal constituency at the National Assembly was at the venue of the meeting to sign his membership card as a member of the AD in order to fly the ticket with his principal, Oke.

Dauda was said to have told the gatherings that Oke dumping the APC was well supported by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a national leader of the APC.

He was heard saying: “I was not around when Oke joined AD, I was on my way to Abuja then. I was a member of AA before now. My name has been submitted to INEC as Chief Olusola Oke running mate.

“I decided to come here today to familiarize with you my people instead of joining the party directly from Abuja.

“Oke/Dauda is a ticket that will win the next election in the state. I am a Muslim and from Akoko, though my father died as a Christian.

“We are taking Ondo state to a new height”

When asked the relationship between Oke, Senator Ajayi Boroffice and Dr Olusegun Abraham, the former Local Government Chairman of Akoko North East said they are all working together.

Dauda, born in Irun Akoko is a Muslim. He represented Akoko North East and Akoko North West Federal constituency between 2011-2015. He was also a former governorship aspirant of the APC in the state.

Prior to this development, there were rumour that Oke had settled for Hon. Bola Ilori as his deputy.

agabusta:
Oga when the campaigns start, ensure the song Mimiko sings to them is that he is not the only one owing salaries and let's see if he gets stoned or not. Are you sure you are from the learned Ondo state with the incoherent gibberish and abuses you are dishing out?

If APC wins Owo, the entire North and few other swing local governments in the central and south, APC may emerge winner.

Just watch and see, PDP will carry a distant 3rd in this election. Mimiko will not have any breathing space to to carry out any smart move.

The only reason PDP will even have any vote is just because their candidate is from Akure, and Akure people have not governed the state before and are very eager to produce the Governor.

senatordave1:
Oke would win ondo polls marginally just like I predicted apc to win in edo state.oke would win the 6 lgas in ondo south by aa landslide.in ondo central,jegede would win 4 or 5.he would only have a landslide in akure south and mimiko's lga.oke or aketi would win 1 lga.in ondo north,boroffice and abraham would deliver the 4 lgas of akoko land to oke.he would win 2 or 3 by a landslide.in. The remaining two lgas which is ose and owo,aketi would win.

Former governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo state, Chief Olusola Oke has dumped the party to join Alliance for Democracy, AD.
SUNSHINE HERALD learnt he has also been given the go-ahead to contest as the party’s governorship candidate in the November 26 poll.

The party has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to replace Dr. Akin Olowokere with Oke as its candidate.
INEC had on Thursday published Akin Olowokere as the governorship candidate of the AD.

Speaking to SUNSHINE HERALD, the state chairman of AD, Elder Adebobola Seriki said: “Yes, Chief Olusola Oke is now a member of our party, just believe that. AD is winning the next governorship election in this state”
With the development, Oke will face the former Commissioner for Justice in the state, Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barrister Rotimi Akeredolu Ajimobi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and 25 others.

When contacted, a member of the Oke Campaign Organization who does not want his name in print said his principal joining AD was not motivated by selfish interest to contest as governor in the state but by the wish to serve and listen to the decision of his supporters to seek alternative platform to contest.

*As plans thicken to whittle down his power, influence in APC

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Though he died several centuries before many of Nigeria’s current political leaders were born, Italian renaissance historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist and writer Niccolò Machiavelli appears to be their mentor. No wonder, he is regarded in the country’s political circle and beyond as the founder of modern political science. Indeed, the level of intrigues and machination going on in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC today looks scripted for the contending forces in Machiavelli’s The Prince.

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared”, the evergreen political scientist had stated. “Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge”, he explained further.
These Machiavellian quotes aptly capture the travails faced today by the National Leader of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The party leader had in an outburst last Sunday called for the removal of the party’s National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun for allegedly sabotaging the will of democracy in Ondo State by overriding the decision of the appeal panel that asked for a fresh governorship primary following investigations that showed that the delegates’ list used had been tampered with.

The outburst didn’t come as a surprise to keen watchers of development in the APC since the party, which is an amalgamation of at least four different political parties, came into power over a year ago. Saturday Sun gathered that Tinubu’s political clout has indeed been curtailed and his ego badly bruised soon after President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in May 29, 2015 but he has quietly tagged along, keeping his game plan close to his chest. As such, his public statement on Sunday was a clear expression of his bottled up anger and frustration for months. Even though Odigie-Oyegun was the punch bag, the verbal attack was meant for the powers that be. Rather than rattle his adversaries, the outburst, Saturday Sun can authoritatively report, has indeed strengthened those after him to advance in their plot to deal him further blows.


Early signs
It is an undeniable fact that Tinubu almost single-handedly made the election of President Buhari a reality, a development that has earned him the unofficial position of the National Leader of the APC. Though there are other political forces that equally made enormous financial contributions towards the election but it was almost certain that Tinubu’s contributions were unmatched. He indeed laid the foundation for the APC-Buhari presidency when he mobilized the party’s structure to give Buhari its presidential ticket at the national convention in Lagos between December 10 and 11, 2014. With about 8,000 delegates to ‘settle’, the ticket would have gone the way of either former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or former Kano Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who both had enormous resources to woo delegates. Buhari could not have matched their financial war chest, even if he had; he was not ready to pay delegates for votes.

It was gathered that though President Buhari has consistently assured Tinubu during their private meetings that he would never be ungrateful to him for the roles he played in his emergence, powerful forces around the President see the party leader as “ a vicious and ruthless politician” who must not be allowed to control either party or any government structure, which they fear he could use to turn the table against Buhari and indeed Northern interest at the last minute. As such, they would rather let others take charge than a man with “enormous financial resources, overbearing political influence, wide political network and a dangerous political strategist.” This set the stage for the control of the National Assembly in June 2015. Though Buhari didn’t get his preferred candidates for the positions of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Reps, contending forces within the party were quick to align with the Atiku/Saraki camp to elect Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as presiding officers of the two chambers of the National Assembly, rather than allow Tinubu control any of the two chambers.


......


And the Ondo debacle
Already bruised in Kogi, Tinubu saw the APC governorship primary in Ondo state as an opportunity to prove his relevance if not at the national level, at least in his South West base. But with Kogi still fresh in his mind, he kept silent on which of the over 25 candidates aspiring on APC platform he would support for the Ondo governorship. One of them, Senator Ajayi Borroface had been largely seen by many as Tinubu’s likely candidate because of the former’s closeness to the latter’s wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu who is his colleague in the upper chamber of the National Assembly. Saturday Sun gathered that behind the scene, Tinubu was allegedly secretly giving support to his friend and business associate Engr Segun Abraham from Ondo North and Olusola Oke from Ondo South.

After waiting till few weeks to the primary election without seeing any clear sign that President Buhari was going to back any of the aspirants, he openly threw his full weight behind Abraham, a decision that brought him under direct attack from some of the other aspirants especially Rotimi Akeredolu, a former governorship candidate of defunct ACN in the state, who cried blue murder.

Unknown to Tinubu and as he would later discover, his ex-associates turned adversaries, that is Fashola, Fayemi and others from South West in conjunction with their like minds; Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi and some elements within the presidency were fully behind Akeredolu to “decisively end Tinubu’s legacy of imposition.” They were so smooth and secretive to the point that it took Tinubu days after the primary to discover their fingerprints on Akeredolu’s unexpected emergence.

Saturday Sun gathered that even the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, David Babachir Lawal and a member of APC’s National Working Committee close to President Buhari visited Tinubu in Lagos a week after the primary reportedly to assure him that the President had no hand in what transpired in Ondo. With that, it was further learnt Tinubu decided to push for the cancellation of the poll and he succeeded in convincing the Mrs Helen Bendega-led appeal panel to upturn the result. Unfortunately, the new power brokers within the party were ahead of him. While the leader was still complaining and hoping the party’s leadership will approve the recommendation of the appeal panel, the young forces were in full control of the party’s structure to do their bidding and had even gone ahead to draw out plans and even prepared documents to floor him should he ask his candidates to challenge the party in court as was the case with Faleke in Kogi state.

When he thought he was going to have his way, the party leadership submitted Akeredolu’s name as the party’s candidate for the November governorship election in Ondo state. This Tinubu believes was a deliberate attempt to humiliate him. “Asiwaju believes if he was stopped in Kogi, he doesn’t see any justification for a repeat in Ondo state which is in his South West area of influence”, a source close to him told Saturday Sun.


......

The plot thickens
For the renegades and their allies, the battle against him has just begun. For them, stopping him in Kogi and Ondo is a prelude to the bigger plot of pushing him out of the APC and limiting him to only Lagos and Osun for a while. Soon after rooting him out of the Ondo contest, Saturday Sun learnt that the younger forces have already begun preparations for Ekiti state against next year. They believe he would want to throw up Special Adviser on political matters in Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s office, Senator Babafemi Ojudu or his son in law, Hon Oyetunde Ojo as the APC governorship candidate or Hon Opeyemi Bamidele at the expense of Deputy National Chairman of the party, Engr Segun Oni who this paper can report authoritatively is keenly interested in vying for same seat. Tinubu’s adversaries are counting on their control of the party and more importantly the control of majority of current party delegates by both Fayemi and former governor of the state, Niyi Adebayo.

Calculations within the ‘renegades camp’ show that by the time they deal Tinubu another humiliating blow in Ekiti, he would be considering pulling out of APC to safeguard his foothold in Lagos and Osun ahead of the next elections. While the renegades are working hard to secure the South West from Tinubu and make it easy for Buhari or any other candidate produced by the party to win in 2019, Tinubu has also continuously come under attack from the camp of old Buhari loyalists in the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC. This camp has largely made the process of confidence building between Buhari and Tinubu almost impossible because of their very bad impression of the latter. They believe Tinubu can spring a surprise betrayal in the last minute and for them, he needs not be allowed to stand any chance by then. As such, the earlier he is pushed out the better. For these adversaries, their consolation lies in the Buhari’s administration’s vigorous fight against corruption. “Everyone knows Tinubu lives in a glass house and will not want a stone come near him”, one of the renegades told Saturday Sun in Abuja on Thursday.

Boasting about his vulnerability, the source said the number of renegades who still surround Tinubu pretending to be loyalists are more than those outside.

“Just imagine how easy it was to get the transcript of all that transpired when he was receiving a segment of APC chieftains from South West who paid him a solidarity visit last weekend after keeping them waiting for over five hours”, the source added.
Tinubu was quoted as saying during the meeting that he regrets building APC and giving Buhari a platform to become president. “We all knew he didn’t merit to be president, but you know how we politicians behave when we are desperate for electoral position; we beg. That was how President Buhari always and frequently came to my private house here in Ikoyi with his entourage, which included that Nasir (El-Rufai) and others. Now they occupy Aso Rock and they think Asiwaju Tinubu is finished. He is using people I brought from obscurity against me. Now they say my mouth is smelling. They say I’m no longer relevant. The battle line is drawn, I will show them the meaning of Asiwaju”, he allegedly told the gathering. Though, Tinubu’s Media Office denied the statement which Saturday Sun can again authoritatively report was leaked on social media by members of the “renegades camp”, he never denied the meeting held. In fact, one of those at the meeting Prof Sola Adeyeye in a statement calling for truce, admitted stumbling into the meeting but said the things attributed to Tinubu were not his choice of words.


The much-awaited outburst
It was no surprise to those who have been following developments within the APC that Tinubu had to launch a verbal attack on the party and its leadership on Sunday.

Tinubu in the statement issued by his Media Office alleged that Oyegun’s action in allegedly subverting the will of the people was not of his doing, saying that for a man of the age of the national chairman to have done what he did that he must have been under the influence of a “powerful and sinister arm at work.”

......

The Atiku twist
In a surprise twist, former Vice President and APC chieftain, Atiku Abubakar who is not in the same camp with Tinubu on Wednesday issued a statement to back his rival’s complaint against the party. He charged the party to promote the rule of law and due process in the conduct of its affairs, noting that they were germane to its unity and stability.

Mr. Abubakar said it was imperative for the national leadership of the party to live by the rules of internal democracy and respect for democratic consensus, warning that “you cannot break your own rules without creating problems.”

He argued that the party was supposed to be an impartial entity in the arbitration of crisis amongst its members in any given election.
He further contended that since the APC found veritable reasons to review the outcome of the gubernatorial primary election it conducted in Ondo State, and was able to establish valid grounds to cancel that election and call for a fresh one, the decision to deviate from its own resolution is a negation of due process and an unfashionable hollow in democratic best practices.
“It was wrong for the APC to have set aside a resolution it had reached aimed at resolving the crisis in our party in Ondo State. It is a recipe for acrimony and division,” he said.

The former vice president also noted that pretending a problem doesn’t exist won’t make that problem go away, and therefore, advised the leadership of the party to do a soul searching and address why this problem arose and escalated.
According to him, the party leadership should always be guided by respect for the rules, fairness, equity, neutrality and respect for democratic consensus.

He also urged the leadership of the party to retrace its steps and do the needful to restore confidence among the conflicting parties in the state for the overall benefit of the ruling party.

Atiku’s position is however not surprising to those who understand the goings on in the party. It’s about his own interest, not more about supporting Tinubu.

The former VP has his eyes on the presidency in 2019 and he is currently battling the SGF Babachir Lawal to control the party structure in their Adamawa home state. The SGF who allegedly heads the political wing of the Buhari government months back, allegedly got the national headquarters of the party to dissolve the Adamawa state party executive, which was under the control of Atiku and Governor Jibrilla Bindow and replaced with a caretaker executive loyal to Lawal. As a result, Atiku and Bindow recently visited the APC headquarters in Abuja to complain about this and the decision to smuggle Nuhu Ribadu who is again eyeing Adamawa governorship in 2019 back to the party without consultation with the state chapter. Since then, the party has failed to touch their complaint.


Even old foes, allies defend Tinubu
Unexpectedly, an elder statesman and Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo who was one of the victims of Tinubu’s past political game, was one of the people that had come out to condemn the treatment the party leader is getting from APC.
“People are expecting me to mock Tinubu and say God has dealt with him over the manner he treated me and other Yoruba leaders but I won’t do that because what is after six is more than seven. Attack on Tinubu is not directly at him but attack on Yoruba land. I am not shortsighted. They want to break us up and cause division so that they can take over. He (Tinubu) has made his mistake and I hope he has learnt from it.

“When he went into the alliance, I warned him that they are conglomeration of incompatibles but they chose to ignore. But I strongly believe that the gang up against him is a ploy to divide the Yoruba land so that these Northerners can take over. I can see that and nobody can convince me about that. Tinubu may have his fault but he has not been treated well by his party”, the Afenifere leader was quoted as saying.
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, also sympathized with Tinubu, stressing that he had warned that ‘northern allies in APC’ would betray him. “Another is the destruction and demystification of Bola Tinubu and his Yoruba loyalists by his erstwhile northern allies in the APC. Only a fool did not see that one coming and I am rather surprised that Tinubu’s followers are now crying foul and alleging that there is a northern conspiracy. Didn’t they know that before? Were they not warned over and over again?” Fani-Kayode was quoted as saying.
A renowned politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, also said the feud between Tinubu and Odigie- Oyegun, was long overdue. He said the misunderstanding did not come as a surprise to keen political observers, saying people like him had anticipated the crisis soon after the formation of the present government.

“APC is an amalgamation of four to five political groups. After the formation of the government, only members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) were being considered for political patronage, while members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been sidelined.”

Yakasai added that members of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) “are neither here nor there” in spite of the appointment of the erstwhile party’s former national chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, as a minister.

“The ACN leader, Asiwaju Tinubu, is totally out of the picture despite the fact that the vice president (Yemi Osinbajo) is his nominee. The appointment of Fashola to the jumbo ministry is considered personal, just like that of Amaechi. Bukola’s emergence as Senate president was largely due to his personal financial prowess and the support he received from the PDP members in the Senate,” he noted.
The elder statesman further said that prior to the financial crises the country was plunged into, the vice president was “a mere onlooker”, as according to him, his (Osinbajo’s) new found relevance was made possible by his position as the chairman of the National Economic Council, which conferred on him the position of the chairman of the Economic Team of the government.


What next?
Badly wounded already and waiting to take his own pound of flesh, it is not likely Tinubu will go all out for any showdown with Buhari this early as he did against former President Goodluck Jonathan because of his level of vulnerability, he would rather chose to pipe low for now. His endurance pill would however wear out next year when the party begins its congress to elect delegates from the ward to the national level.
Saturday Sun gathered that by then, the forces against Tinubu and the various contending blocs within APC would have become more ferocious and ready for an open confrontation. By then, there would be realignments of forces and those that will pull out would have fully defined their option. But for Tinubu, attention will be more on him than any other power bloc. It’s either he resigns to fate and watch till the end or he fully withdraws to his Lagos base to consolidate and play opposition because Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti states have for now slipped out of his control and areas of influence.

But before then, the theatre of war may witness some form of guerilla warfare both in the media and on the political turf. As a tested and rugged fighter, Tinubu and his loyalists may likely flex muscle in the November governorship election in Ondo. If APC wins the election, which is unlikely in the present circumstance, Tinubu’s adversaries would have been more strengthened in their plot against him. And if PDP wins, then he is the culprit and there would be more justification to crucify him. Head or tail, this is not the best of weather for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

...Demand N2.5m ransom as Bishops dismiss payment

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu Nnewi—The Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, yesterday alleged that suspected Fulani herdsmen armed with dangerous weapons including guns, attacked and kidnapped the Rector of Tansi Major Seminary, Rev. Fr. Dr. Emmanuel Dim, while two other priests Rev. Frs. Jude Chukwuneke and Jude Ezeokana who were in the same vehicle with him escaped with various degrees of gun shot wounds. Addressing reporters at the Nnewi Catholic Diocese Media House, located in Assumption Cathedral Nnewi, Director of Communication of the Diocese, Rev. Fr. Hyginus Aghaulor, alleged that the herdsmen called, and demanded for a ransom of N2.5 million.

He said: “Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, has decided and directed that ransom should not be paid for the kidnap of any of its priests and anybody that is demanding for ransom for the release of any priest kidnapped is wasting time. “If anybody or group goes ahead to pay ransom for the release of any priest, the person or the group is on his own.”

In a statement issued after addressing reporters, titled “Fulani herdsmen kidnap Rector of Tansi Major Seminary, Onitsha, demands for ransom,” the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi said the incident happened on the September 26, 2016, around 7pm along Nkpologwu/Nimbo Road Enugu State. According to the statement, “the three Catholic priests were returning from Nsukka to Onitsha and Nnewi, after a condolence visit to Rev. Fr. Uchenna Ezeh of Nsukka Diocese who lost his mother, before they were attacked and while Rev. Fr. Dim is still being held by the herdsmen- kidnappers who are demanding a ransom of N2.5 million, Rev. Fr. Ezeokana, who lectures in both Fr.

Tansi Major Seminary Onitsha and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, received treatment briefly at a hospital in Nsukka, but is now recuperating at Awka his home Diocese. “Rev. Fr. Chukwuemeka, who is the Chaplin of St Camillus de Lellis Chaplaincy, College of Health Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi ,who was shot on the head has been transferred from Memphis Specialist Hospital Enugu to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where he is currently receiving treatment.”

“On a separate place the same Monday 26th September, 2016, a Vincentian priest whose name is yet to be confirmed was also kidnapped with his brother along Abuja Lokoja express way, another Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ugwu was kidnapped on August 9,2014 along Ugwuogo-Nike-Opi and few weeks back a senior seminarian was killed in cold blooded in Attakwu, Enugu State, and one begins to wonder if Catholic priest have become endangered species”.

The visibly angry Rev. Fr. Aghaulor lashed out on South East Governors for doing nothing to protect people they are governing, “while their counterparts in the North are influencing the Federal Government in spending billions of naira to contain the Boko Haram insurgents, when something more worrisome and sinister than the activities of Boko Haram is being done in the South East by the Fulani Herdsmen”. “The South East Governors and their Chairman have done nothing to protect the people of South East, the Enugu State

Governor whose state is where the menacing activities of the of the herdsmen is worst and the state legislators have not done anything to protect the people there, they should borrow a leaf from Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State. “We are in Federalism, and each state have right to make certain law governing them, what prevents Enugu State Government from making laws that can protect the people there, Governors of South East and their State Assembly’s should make laws that will protect their people”.

Rev. Fr. Aghaulor lamented that since the existence of Nigeria, nobody has seen the level of killing spree that is being perpetrated by the Fulani herdsmen, adding that “while innocent people are left unprotected, we have seen barrage of military wares and personnel protecting the pipelines in Niger Delta, as if oil is more important than people’s life.

Why should people be killed without provocation in their own traditional lands? “We are asking the government for how long would this continue, is this the type of country we all signed up for, is this part of the change, is there no rules and laws in this country , all over Nigeria women are being raped, people are intimidated, innocent Nigerians are being slaughtered and property worth billions of Naira destroyed by the suspected Fulani Herdsmen”.

Abuja, By BODE GBADEBO

The Senator representing Katsina South Senatorial District, Senator Abu Ibrahim, has said that the controversial election of Barr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Ondo State could be reversed if found to have violated laid down rules.

Ibrahim, who is the chairman of Senate Committee on Police Affairs, told journalists in Abuja yesterday that the APC leadership was already working to resolve the issues connected with the Ondo State APC primary election.
He noted that if it is clearly shown that the action of the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was wrong, the nomination of Akeredolu could still be reversed.

The lawmaker, who insisted that there was no crisis in the party as being insinuated in some quarters, noted that what is happening in APC is nothing near what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is going through.
He noted that the party’s chairman should always be neutral and work to bring everybody together in all issues.

By Emmanuel Aziken

President Muhammadu Buhari has endorsed a move by Governor Aminu Tambuwal and two other governors to settle the dispute between All Progressives Congress, APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oygeun.

A meeting between the peace envoys and the two men will, however, not hold until weekend at the earliest, sources in the party told Vanguard. The delay it was learnt was to enable the party give full attention to the Edo State governorship election holding on Wednesday. Oyegun, Tinubu and Buhari The peace move, it was gathered, was launched by interested party stakeholders who were discomfited with the verbal tirade between the two men following the submission of Chief Rotimi Akeredolu’s name as the party’s governorship candidate ford Ondo State governorship election holding in November.

Tinubu had allegedly backed Dr. Segun Abraham who came second in the primary contest that an internal party appeal panel said should be annulled. Odigie-Oyegun, however, rejected the panel report and forwarded Akeredolu’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as the party’s candidate and by that brought a stinging rebuke from Tinubu last Sunday.

Vanguard gathered that party stakeholders made contact with Governor Tambuwal and the two other governors who were seen to be sufficiently removed from the different tendencies in the party or seen to be non-partisan in the Ondo matter to lead the peace initiative.

“The crisis was not one that should be allowed to fester and so party insiders thought that Tambuwal and two other governors should try to broker peace. Tinubu is not the type of man that we should allow to leave the party,” the party source told Vanguard. It was upon this that Tambuwal who accepted the offer visited the president to inform him of the peace move and the president it was gathered enthusiastically gave his endorsement. It was, however, reasoned that a meeting with the two men would not hold until after the Edo State governorship election.

• Timi Frank, Olusola Oke back Tinubu on Oyegun’s resignation

ALHAJI Tanko Yakassai, political adviser to former president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, on Monday, urged the national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, not to hesitate to speak out against injustice in the party.

Yakassai also asked Tinubu not to hesitate to tackle President Muhammadu Buhari if he is seen behind anything objectionable.

Speaking in Kano, on Monday, the former political adviser noted that Tinubu’s political travails were well-thought-out and plotted in the Presidency.

He recalled that Senate President, Bukola Saraki, asserted at one time that APC government had been hijacked by a cabal now in control of day-to-day affairs of running the government.

“People are inclined to believe what the Senate president has said,” Yakassai said, adding that “from all indications, every right thinking person will figure out a sinister plot to completely scheme out Tinubu from the hierarchy of APC and I want to believe this is coming from the Presidency.”

Tinubu, it will be recalled, had kicked against the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, over the crisis rocking the party in Ondo after the primaries to elect the standard-bearer for the governorship election in the state and had called on the national chairman to resign from his position.

Joining him in the call, on Monday, one of the aggrieved gubernatotrial aspirants in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, told the Nigerian Tribune that the outbursts of Tinubu were a clear signal to the enormity of the wrong perpetrated by the party in Ondo.

He said Oyegun was a threat to the APC, adding that the travails of the party had to do with absence of truth.

“Oyegun is a threat to the survival of the APC. For someone like Tinubu to speak out, it shows you that we are not just making noise. The injustice perpetrated in the primaries was unheard of and no one can put it better than Asiwaju,” he said.

Also, the deputy national publicity secretary of the party, Comrade Timi Franks, declared that more party leaders were set to join the call for Oyegun to resign.

Frank, in a chat with newsmen in Abuja, said the call by Tinubu for Oyegun’s ouster was a vindication of his earlier cries against the leadership style of the national chairman.

According to him, “more people will speak out if the national chairman refuses to heed the call by Tinubu to resign.”

According to him, “it is very clear that I’m one of the first persons that took the bull by the horn to foresee what is happening today in our party. I came out earlier on to say there were issues and crisis in this party. As at that time, I was alone; nobody knew where I was coming from.

“The founding father of our party has concurred to my earlier call that Oyegun should resign as the national chairman. That should let you know that I foresaw what they didn’t see.

“Today, the BoT is not in place. Tell me, if I have issue, where will I run to? Do I run to an NWC where Oyegun

will preside over to drop my case that will not be answered? The answer is no.”

He said if urgent steps were not taken, the party might have itself to blame on the forthcoming Edo and Ondo governorship elections.

He added that the party’s leadership should immediately call for an emergency meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) to resolve “frictions” within the party.

kahal29:
All Progressives Congress, APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demanded the resignation of the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun who he claimed Sunday had derailed from the path of progressives.