louken: In Anambra, most people now prefer private schools especially for primary schools. You will mostly see children of very very low income parents there.
How much difference is there between Anambra state 12 years after Obi, and Lagos state that Tinubu still controls?
anonimi: Ratio of public to private schools in Lagos State is one to 22 ― Commissioner
The Lagos State government has said the ratio of public to private schools at both primary and secondary school levels in the state is one to 22.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, gave the revelation in her remark at the 2022 edition of the Total School Support Seminar Exhibition (TOSSE) held at Oregun in Ikeja between Thursday and Friday.
HacheNoire: You can never find them on this thread!
If they do, they are coming to shift the goal post!
His Excellency, President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) has reinstated severally that, he is not perturbed by the baseless and frivolous accusations of the opposition and will continue to channel his energy and time towards delivering the dividends that will make the life’s of Nigerians better.
While they keep running helter-skelter about what’s not, our great party has gained more grounds deep into the grassroots. We have become informidable and immune to whatever they can come up with.
Like I will always say, those that fail are bound to repeat. The courses they failed in 2023, they will relearn in 2027, 2031 and 2039.
Reno is here already to help you out. If he’s not enough for your needs, Keyamo is there to make up for the lack.
Racoon: Festus Keyamo Defends Tinubu From Drug Trafficking, Says Tinubu Mistakenly Shared Flats With Drug Lords
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, has distanced the All Progressive Congress presidential candidata, Bola Tinubu, from being a drug baron who was involved in the traffic of narcotics in the United States.
Keyamo, who also doubles as APC Presidential Campaign spokesperson, noted that the former governor of Lagos State only shared a block of flat with drug barons about 30 years ago in the US.
His reaction is coming following documents of a Chicago District Court indicting and convicting Tinubu of drug dealings and money laundering in 1993.
The document which emerged online two days ago, described APC standard-bearer as a drug baron, adding that Tinubu entered a plea bargain, leading to the forfeiture of his assets to US authorities in 1993
It was also pointed out that Tinubu forfeited the sum of $460, 000 dollars in his bank account at First Heritage Bank to the US government.
Speaking on Wednesday on Channels TV, Mr Keyamo dismissed such claims, insisting that Tinubu was linked to drug peddlers who were his neighbours.
He said: “What happened was that Tinubu went to open an account. The address which he used in opening the account was the address used by these people. I think some blocks of flats. Maybe, he was happy to be in that block of flats too.
“So, they now link it that the other people they were investigating for narcotics are in the same address used by Asiwaju to open that account.’’
Kukutente23: Anyone who takes Bashir Ahmad serious only has himself to blame Someone who defended the murder of Deborah Samuel
That is the more reason why he should be taken very seriously as a dangerous member of society, who is nevertheless in a position of authority over Nigerians.
Racoon: Many of them especially the first two(2) had running battles with the EFCC but today Nuhu Ribudu that prosecuted them in bed with most of them. Corrupt politicians roll together.
Tinubu truly has a magic touch for making the criminal part of people come out by all means. is that because he is a master strategist of criminal activities
5 mind-boggling revelations from Obasanjo’s ‘My Watch’
5. Tinubu was one of the most corrupt, of the 36 governors
Obasanjo never got along too well with former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu, and unsurprisingly, Tinubu got a mention in the former’s book. Obasanjo revealed that then EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu tried to investigate almost all the state governors during his tenure but that of the 28 confirmed to be manifestly corrupt or tainted one way or the other, Tinubu’s case was one of the worst.
Lagos — ABIA State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and his Lagos State counterpart, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not escape justice but would be made to face the full wrath of the law following their recent indictment for alleged corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Chairman of the commission Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who made the vow yesterday said the duo must account for their stewardship and may be thrown out of office.
Kingpele: Now judges collect billions and houses as bribe
................and then give programmed judgements to their benefactors.
iwaeda: Wike Boasts Of Helping APC Use Judiciary To Kill Osun LG Funds Case, Warns Party Leaders Against Ingratitude
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has openly boasted that he assisted certain elements within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in deploying the judiciary to frustrate the Osun State local government allocation lawsuit.
In a video now circulating widely on social media and obtained by SaharaReporters, Wike made the claim while addressing a crowd in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The former Rivers governor accused the APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, of benefitting from judicial actions against the Osun State Government without knowing those who did the work behind the scenes.
The suit in question led to the withholding of local government funds in Osun State, a development widely seen as targeting the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke as opposition in the state.
Wike, who spoke angrily, suggested that the court action supporting the APC’s position against the Osun government did not happen by chance, boasting that powerful political forces worked quietly to ensure the outcome.
“Don’t take our support for Mr President for granted,” Wike warned, in an apparent message to APC leaders defending Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara. “You have to be careful about the statements you make. You have to be very careful.”
He accused Basiru of political ingratitude, claiming the APC was enjoying in Osun State without understanding who engineered their advantage.
“Today, you are enjoying in Osun. You don’t know those who did the work,” Wike said. “You are opening your mouth to talk about Rivers State.”
BlackViper: It was actually a lot, even then. You could buy several bags of rice with N20 back then.
How many bags of akara from those empowered by Remi Tinubu can one buy with the amount now? Those who were made extreme poverty paupers by APC palliative sharing strategy, whom her husband gave renewed hope of 50 million jobs but has failed to deliver as usual.
The impoverishment couple of Bourdillon are destroying the entire country just as they have been doing since 1999 for Lagos state.
At what point did tinubu take BBOG outside the shores of Nigeria? CNN and co might have covered their protests within Nigeria but they never went to meet a foreign government to undermine their own country.
Read what you wrote again and see how ridiculous it sounds.
sunboy: They just want lobby service money that’s all. They have not embarrassed Trump with all his connections to Epstein. They have not embarrassed Al Shara, a know alqaeda terrorist that was formerly on US wanted list, not been invited to the White House twice. What about Bibi that the same UN called his actions genocide? Smh
Who is stopping you from embarrassing all these people you listed? Is that not a better use of your time than just shaking your head like agama lizard
PigTormentor: This clown is playing with the shallow clowns in Nigeria. He knows the level of shallowness that exists among thr desperate sore losers in Nigeria. He will keep shifting thr goal post until he collects all that he can till the election day.
Is that shallowness deliberately created by progreThieves like Tinubu who fail to leverage the Obasanjo/ Atiku administration's UBEC for matching federal funds to help states achieve nine years free and compulsory education for all children?
No wonder he has school-na-scam agbero MC Oluomo as the illegal head of APC's enforcement arm- NURTW.
anonimi: Ratio of public to private schools in Lagos State is one to 22 ― Commissioner
The Lagos State government has said the ratio of public to private schools at both primary and secondary school levels in the state is one to 22.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, gave the revelation in her remark at the 2022 edition of the Total School Support Seminar Exhibition (TOSSE) held at Oregun in Ikeja between Thursday and Friday.
PREMIUM TIMES visited schools that the state government claimed to have rehabilitated and found decrepit and inadequate facilities.
Governor Dapo Abiodun said last year that over 400 primary and secondary schools have been renovated in Ogun State under his administration.
However, when PREMIUM TIMES late in 2022 toured the three senatorial districts of the state, our reporter found facilities in many public schools still in deplorable conditions.
The renovation project was executed with a N10.2 billion fund jointly contributed, equally, by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the state government.
UBEC released its share of the fund to the state government in 2019 to address infrastructural decay and inadequate facilities in 236 public schools across the state.
erad: Nigeria is a laughing stock because certain losers don't know where to draw the line. No sensible person who wishes to be president will put his country into international ridicule just for power. Whatever tinubu is, it should never leave the shores of Nigeria. You forget the west has never cared about rule of law, all they care about is their interest. You are only giving them more leverage over the president and by extension, over Nigeria. Now Tinubu will be force to sign agreement he would have never signed on a normal day, and who will suffer? Nigerians.
The first time was the certificate issue, if you recall well, that was the period Tinubu started listening to and following IMF directives. You think that's a coincidence? That's the birth of the economic hardship Nigerians are going through today.
We are allowing some selfish politicians out of spite, throw everyone under the bus.
What was Tinubu doing with BBOG Chibok after they invited terrorists to destroy Nigeria, prior to his invitation to Buhari to make Jonathan a one term president? Was that putting his country into international ridicule just for power?
Whatever Atiku is ALLEGED to have done here is child's play compared to this evil Tinubu brought upon us in his fight to grab power.
anonimi: What group of politicians is more wicked than A-looter Propaganda Conmen, APC
aswani: You have been spot on about him all the while since the FBI papers dance started, I believe you are going to be right about this.
I just had a wicked thought too, Ikeamafuna van bronhurst is going to be caught up in an FBI drugs sting as he must be high continuing this rigmarole. Now wouldn't that be something.
A bigger thing than what Tinubu was caught in? Thankfully for the master strategist, Chicago is not a city in China. Thankfully for him, but unfortunately for 200 million Nigerians.
Racoon: Festus Keyamo Defends Tinubu From Drug Trafficking, Says Tinubu Mistakenly Shared Flats With Drug Lords
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, has distanced the All Progressive Congress presidential candidata, Bola Tinubu, from being a drug baron who was involved in the traffic of narcotics in the United States.
Keyamo, who also doubles as APC Presidential Campaign spokesperson, noted that the former governor of Lagos State only shared a block of flat with drug barons about 30 years ago in the US.
His reaction is coming following documents of a Chicago District Court indicting and convicting Tinubu of drug dealings and money laundering in 1993.
The document which emerged online two days ago, described APC standard-bearer as a drug baron, adding that Tinubu entered a plea bargain, leading to the forfeiture of his assets to US authorities in 1993
It was also pointed out that Tinubu forfeited the sum of $460, 000 dollars in his bank account at First Heritage Bank to the US government.
Speaking on Wednesday on Channels TV, Mr Keyamo dismissed such claims, insisting that Tinubu was linked to drug peddlers who were his neighbours.
He said: “What happened was that Tinubu went to open an account. The address which he used in opening the account was the address used by these people. I think some blocks of flats. Maybe, he was happy to be in that block of flats too.
“So, they now link it that the other people they were investigating for narcotics are in the same address used by Asiwaju to open that account.’’
DoTheNeedful: Wike is not a strategic politician. If BAT didn't step into the Rivers imbroglio, Wike would have lost Rivers for good.
Nothing shows Wike's non-strategic thinking more than his support for Chinda. Chinda is a hardcore politician with many decades in politics. Strategic godfathers don't support people like that. Rather, Wike should have supported a career-minded person or a technocrat with little political acumen.
Mark this: Chinda will put an end to Wike's hold on Rivers if he wins the 2027 election.
Wike's gragra no dey allow him to see front sometimes.
The gragra that he mistakes for wisdom
anonimi: Wike lobbied PDP committee to be Atiku’s running mate – Ex-gov’ship aspirant
Thu, 29 Sep 2022 14:33:04 WAT
Muazu Magaji, a former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kano State, has alleged that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, lobbied members of the party’s committee constituted to advise the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on the choice of his running mate.
Magaji disclosed this while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, on Thursday.
The Kano politician also argued that there was no proof that Atiku promised Wike the vice president position as claimed.
The PDP committee had recommended the Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa; Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel and Wike.
The committee, however, scored Wike above the other two contenders but Atiku decided to settle for Okowa. A decision that has since unsettled Wike’s camp.
Magaji, however, claimed that Wike lobbied to be scored ahead of others, adding that the Rivers State governor should not be trusted with important positions in the country.
2023: PDP and politics of healing Wike’s self-inflicted injury
Then, the race began in earnest for three years now, reaching a frenzy with the works of the two PDP committees on zoning. The first was the Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committee on the zoning of the PDP party offices. The Ugwuanyi committee quickly told the world the committee’s assignment did not cover zoning the office of the president. Though this was true, the question is: why didn’t the Ugwuanyi committee zone the PDP chairmanship to the North without aligning it to the divide that would produce the PDP presidential flag-bearer? The second committee headed by Gov Samuel Ortom of Benue state was specifically on the zoning of the presidential ticket and, with the votes of the representatives of all the 17 Southern states without any exception, the Committee unanimously recommended throwing open the PDP presidential ticket, which the PDP NEC simply upheld.
One thing irrefutably stands out – Wike shot himself in the leg. Here was a man who had an overarching influence on both committees but could not insist that the ticket be zoned South. Many had wondered why? The reason is also relatively in plain sight: the Southeast factor. As the clamour for zoning of the presidential ticket of the PDP to South reached its crescendo, many had pointed out the fact that though the PDP Constitution had prescribed zoning of the office of the president to be between North and South since the South-west and South-south had taken their turns in producing the president and the vice in this current dispensation in the persons of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, zoning this time around, should not just be to the South but the Southeast.
Atiku Abubakar went a step further by offering to step down from the race if it would be agreed that the touted zoning to the South would mean micro-zoning to the Southeast. Wike and the rest could not take the Atiku challenge maybe because Atiku would likely back Peter Obi, who was his vice-presidential running mate in 2019 and an ally. The prospects of Peter Obi picking the ticket if PDP zoned South was so real compelling Wike to go for an open contest, believing he could pick it up ahead of Atiku, Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed, given his large war chest.
ddippset: Says a man who hijacked the party and singlehandedly produced the last 4 National Chairmen of the party for his own selfishness.
Says a man who accepted nomination to be running mate to Fulani Atiku. He knew it was injustice to give Atiku the ticket yet he lobbied to be the VP.
He knew the party had to go South for the 2023 election, yet he still put Secondus as National Chaiman just to hijack the party.. Only to push Secondus out because he wanted the ticket 2023.
This man remains the biggest problem of PDP.
He can only deceive and fool his minions, not reasonable people.
AndroBlaze: Aminda2, why have you been following me up and down?
Last I checked, this was a free public forum.....if you are distressed and upset by what I posted, take your advice, waka pass, and leave me off your mentions.
Below is the original post, replying to Ttalk. How does your above post relate to your failure to address the question asked to someone else that you took upon yourself to perambulate over?
anonimi: What has Atiku got to do with Mikano? What is the relationship
AMINDA: Someone should tell Falana that Tinubu’s government is still actively importing fuel. This is part of the reason why fuel remains expensive. Atiku will introduce production subsidies for local refineries because he does not have a stake in Malta.
Why is Tinubu hellbent on destroying the PDP licensed private refinery.
First, he said the refinery was not licensed and that the fuel quality was low.
Now he is importing fuel to continue paying subsidy illegally.
How did we end up with this wickedly selfish leader looter
anonimi: NNPCL’s subsidy payment jump by 47.9% to N7.1trn in 2024
November 26, 2025
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) paid a total of N7.1 trillion as subsidy for premium motor spirit (PMS) in 2024, this sum represents a 47.9 percent increase from N4.8 trillion recorded in 2023.
This is despite the government’s announcement of subsidy removal in 2023.
The company explained that the amount, which it termed ‘energy security expense’ arises when there is differential between the exchange rate used to freeze the premium motor spirit ex-coastal price and the prevailing rate at the point of import settlement.
According to the report, government had instructed that NNPC Limited cannot sell its PMS above a certain regulated price. It added that the cost of petrol import is usually much higher that the regulated price.
Parachoko: Why are some people asking this kind of Question?
The more money the States, LG and FG is getting, where's it coming from?
The federal government of Tinubu gets 53% of the jointly owned federation account.
What has the master strategist of balablu bulaba a-looter propaganda politics done to the money? Do you know what, since he has made roads worse than when PDP gave us cheap petrol?
“This is how the Benin–Asaba Expressway looks yesterday, Thursday, August 20, 2026. Look at how cars and trailers are stuck because of the bad road. Mr Peter Obi advised the APC to start fixing existing roads, but instead, they are att@cking him. Instead of Dave Umahi focusing on… pic.twitter.com/k3V0eCNOo8
honesttalk21: Exchange rates aren't set by presidential command, they float on FX supply/demand, reserves, trade balance, and investor confidence, which no single policy statement can dictate. The Afreximbank facility was $3.3 billion, not trillion. As for the stealing claim, that's an unproven accusation, not something I can confirm. Happy to look at actual budget/reserve data with you instead.
So what is the basis of Tinubu's claims on forex reforms
honesttalk21: In May 2016, Buhari raised petrol from N97 to N145/litre and briefly stopped subsidy and is the source of Osinbajo's N1.4tn claim. Crude was cheap ($41/barrel), so N145 covered costs then. But it was a fixed ceiling, not a real float. By 2017 crude rose to ~$52 and the naira weakened; landing cost exceeded N145, yet price stayed capped. NNPC quietly absorbed the gap as under-recovery which translated to N1.53tn from 2017-2020. Not true deregulation just a one-off hike that unraveled. 2020-23: subsidy exploded to N450bn (2020), N1.57tn (2021), N4.39tn (2022), heading to ~N6.72tn (2023). Naira weakness + rising crude drove it; NNPC often withheld FAAC remittances entirely to cover the gap.
What has Tinubu achieved with his subsidy removal savings?
honesttalk21: Like just those 2 persons make up the abusing players. The crude is globally sold at around the same price. What was the exchange rate then and now? Was it actual or manipulated? Even when the exchange was in the single digit under N3 in the early 80s the westerners didn't like it. Nigeria failed to convert its early oil boom to competitive other industrial growth and are still grappling with that.
Who is responsible for the drastic devaluation of our Naira, if not the master strategist who promised to make it N300/$1 in the short term but has failed to do so despite removing subsidy to reduce imports and borrowing $3.3 trillion SPV loan from Afreximbank to defend the currency in 2023
What then is he doing with all the money after from stealing it?
dequir: At least you accepted that Atiku is a thief, but only that he is a lesser thief than Tinubu. Since we all love thieves to run Nigeria affairs, so why should we vote for another thief when the one there has not finish his thieving biz?
Why would you have a worse thief run your business and your affairs?
Kukutente23: Nigerian petrol especially has always been the cheapest in West Africa regardless of subsidy or not And that's simply because a good number of our neighbours get their supplies from us directly and indirectly It's a known fact that subsidy removal has not stopped smuggling. What changed is that ordinary Nigerians are now made to pay more at the pumps for our inability to secure our borders More interesting now is that Dangote petrol is sold cheaper in other West African countries than its Nigerian gantry price Subsidy removal has not solved any of the problems they claimed it will solve
APC scammed us in 2015 to sell their rotten change and continues to swindle us with balablu bulaba a-looter propaganda promises and claims of achievements.
How do we redeem ourselves from these worst scammers
gabydaniels: Aug 25, 2016 The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has disclosed that the federal government has so far saved the sum of N1.4 trillion for not paying oil subsidy.
He also assured Nigerians that very soon, the foreign exchange market would stabilise going by some radical policies already introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The vice president who spoke in Kano yesterday during the third day of the 15th Joint Planning Board and National Council on Development meeting, urged Nigerians to restore confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, insisting that soonest, the current economic problems would become a thing of the past.
“With the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector, there has been a significant increase in the availability of petrol throughout the country for the savings of N1.4 trillion on subsidy payments alone,” he said.
“Also, a more flexible exchange rate regime, we will have to decrease the pressure on the external reserve. In the short run of course, there should be consequences for inflation. We expect that with greater priority we have seen in the implementation of the policy by the CBN, the foreign exchange market will stabilise and confidence will be restored.
honesttalk21: Whatever you choose to allude to there are facts you can't deny. By the end of PDP administration there had been large oil price boom earnings and reasonable external reserves. These were used to provide a subsidy for the exchange rate and pms however abused. It still remains fact that by the end of that adminstration borrowing to pay salaries was already in play. Beyond this time there has been more abuse, lower crude oil costs, 2 economic crisis, COVID 19 issues and a removal of both the pms and exchange rate protection subsidy. Let's tell ourselves some truth. Despite the fact that 1L of crude oil doesn't produce 1L of pms. Petroleum refinery economics will tell you there are other components. Jonathan could have been more steadfast as his ministers were already defending him though at the time the PIA wasn't yet what it is today. He caved sorry and postponed these problems that come at a higher cost. We shouldn't overlook the originator of the subsidy in Obasanjo who was in the best place to remove it. I wonder the economics in keeping a uniform national price without consideration for transport cost from production centres. Who bares it? The historical entitlement is part of the lie we still today.
Do you mean MORE abuse by Buhari and Tinubu?
If there is lower crude oil price, why are we paying much more for petrol than what APC promised 11 years ago and Tinubu repeated in 2023 when petrol was N185?
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun made this known at the end of the inaugural Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja. Mr. Edun said that the benefit of the subsidy removal will be plough back into various sectors to improve business environment for local and foreign investment. He added that with the increased revenue from subsidy removal, various palliatives have been made available to cushion its effect on a short, medium and long-term basis.
Ofunaofu: Report: Current Govt Added More Debt in Two Years Than Nigeria Accumulated in 55 Years
• Decries Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio
•Urges FG to declare fiscal emergency
A new policy brief has warned that Nigeria’s worsening debt profile and weak revenue generation have pushed the country into a dangerous fiscal position, with the current administration accumulating more debt in two years than Nigeria recorded during its first 55 years after independence.
The report, released by the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics LTD/GTE, a Nigerian policy think tank, argued that the country’s debt crisis has evolved into a governance and revenue emergency, as debt servicing obligations now exceed the federal government’s retained earnings. > > According to the think tank, Nigeria’s public debt rose sharply from N87.38 trillion in June 2023 to N159.28 trillion by the end of 2025, with President Bola Tinubu’s administration accounting for about N65.9 trillion of the increase within its first two years in office.
The organisation in the brief titled: “Nigeria Is Borrowing to Breathe—and the Clock Is Ticking”, noted that Nigeria accumulated only about N12.06 trillion in debt from independence in 1960 up to 2015, meaning the current administration added more than five times that amount in just 24 months.
The report stated that while previous governments also contributed significantly to the country’s rising debt burden, the speed of accumulation under the current administration had intensified concerns over fiscal sustainability.
“President Bola Tinubu’s administration has added a further N65.9 trillion in just two years. To put that in perspective: it took Nigeria’s first 55 years of independence to accumulate N12 trillion in debt. The current administration has added more than five times that amount in 24 months,” it argued.
It recalled that Nigeria briefly became almost debt-free externally after the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo secured an $18 billion Paris Club debt relief package in 2005 and paid $12 billion to extinguish about $30 billion in external obligations.
onuman: Did you not read my last paragraph about zoning, and how rotation of the highest office between regions have preserved civil rule (democracy??) since 1999.
Was there rotation in 2011 when Jonathan was elected?
Was there rotation in 2015 when Tinubu asked Buhari to make Jonathan a one term president?
By next year, southerners would have had 17 years as president unlike the north with 11 years due to Atiku's 2003 error of being loyal to Obasanjo when Baba Iyabo was reminded of his one term promise to be like Mandela.
So again, what is the basis of this rotation after two tenures
aieromon: According to sources available to us that time, Obasanjo said he will do a single term but after that, he decided to go for second term. I was physically present at Rivers state Governor’s Lodge when the heat became too much and Obasanjo in the presence of all of us knelt down in front of Atiku begging him to allow him do a second term. I think that was how Atiku missed the opportunity by agreeing to Obasanjo’s plea. His thought was that at least, if Obasanjo completes his second term, he will hand over to him but you all know the story of Third Term Agenda and that was how they fell apart. Atiku had the best opportunity to become president in 2003 and lost it. He had the support of PDP governors then.
Around November 2002, 15 of the 21 Governors from the PDP including me, had an ad hoc meeting at my lodge in Abuja to decide who should be nominated by the Governors Committee for election by PDP as the presidential nominee for the 2003 Election.
The Governors Committee decided almost unanimously to get a new candidate instead of President Obasanjo as the Committee was of the view that because of his military background, he was intolerant of dissent and had displayed very dictatorial and vindictive tendencies against those he perceived to be independent-minded and disloyal to him.
Immediately after the Governors meeting, I led the delegation of Governors to meet the then PDP Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, at his residence around 2 am.
As the leader of the delegation, I spoke and communicated the views of the Governors to the Chairman, which was that the Governors had decided not to support President Obasanjo as PDPs nominee for the 2003 General Election.
The party chairman tried to persuade us to review our decision but when he saw our resolve, he told us that he would inform the President. I was later informed by Chief Audu Ogbeh that after we left his house he put an urgent call to the President and informed him of our decision.
What then followed were intense consultations before the PDP annual convention which took place in January 2003. Two days before the party convention, the Governors had a breakfast meeting with President Obasanjo.
I recall that at that meeting, the then Vice President Alhaji Abubakar Atiku told the President in the presence of the Governors that he was known to be very dictatorial, vindictive and unforgiving. The President appealed to the Governors to support him and assured both the Governors and the party leadership that if he was allowed to continue for the second term, he would adopt a more democratic approach.
On the basis of the President's assurance, given at that breakfast meeting, I led the move for the Governors to support his presidential nomination for the second term. However, notwithstanding my support for President Obasanjo's nomination for a second term, the President after the nomination, acted very shabbily towards me.
When I met him soon after the convention, he told me that he had learned that I had put forward the view that he was unsellable, unmarketable and unelectable. He then vowed that he was going to make sure that I was unsellable, unmarketable and unelectable.
Atiku Camp - Visit Wikileaks and type the following in the search bar NIGERIA: DID VP ATIKU OUTFOX BABANGIDA AND OBASANJO DURING THE PDP CONVENTION?
According to Adesanya, Atiku met the governors the first day of the convention; they urged him to leave Obasanjo and seek the nomination himself. Atiku demurred; he also deflected the suggestion that he join Ekwueme. Finally, Atiku arranged a meeting between Obasanjo and the now irate governors. The governors railed that Obasanjo was hypocritically pursuing them for corruption, while turning a blind eye to corrupt politicians within his own Administration. Atiku supported the governor's position, telling Obasanjo that significant corruption was not the exclusive ambit of the governors and that serious transgressions occurred in the executive branch: he said it would be unjust to focus exclusively on gubernatorial excesses. Assuming the role of mediator, Atiku then asked both sides to affirm their mutual support and cease the antagonism being fueled by elements that wanted to destroy the PDP. The governors agreed to bury the hatchet, if Obasanjo would shelve the dossiers. Having demonstrated his influence with the governors, Atiku continued to play coy with Obasanjo.
In the end, Atiku extracted an extraordinary concession from the President. Obasanjo agreed to relinquish the entire domestic agenda to Atiku, including the appointment of key economic policy-makers. Since Obasanjo focused on the world arena during his first term and aspired for recognition as an international statesman, Atiku said that is where he would like Obasanjo's attentions to remain. Obasanjo would serve the role of a "super Foreign Minister" and ceremonial Head of State. As Adesanya understood the agreement, Atiku would be allowed to direct domestic economic policy while Obasanjo busied himself with debt relief, NEPAD, conflict resolution and other measures to shore up Nigeria's image abroad.
OBJ camp - visit Wikileaks and type the following in the search bar NIGERIA: DIFFERENT INSIDER VIEWS ON THE PDP CONVENTION
The President was dazed, Abayomi recalled. Jarred by the unexpected possibility of defeat, the usually know-it-all Obasanjo eagerly solicited counsel on how to escape the closing vise. Early that day, the dominant theme was to seek a court injunction postponing the convention. Proponents suggested the delay to afford Obasanjo time to marshal support and undermine Ekwueme's momentum. However, this idea was ultimately discarded, partially because of apprehension over the public's reaction. More importantly, the push for an injunction became less urgent when the President's advisors began to sense their man was regaining ground by the hour.
The President owed much of his recovery to his own tenacity and, at times, shamelessness. He pulled out virtually all the stops to clinch the nomination, according to Abayomi. For most of that day, the President's diet consisted of liberal portions of humble pie. The President pleaded and cajoled; on at least two occasions his eyes welled with emotion as he pursued fence-sitting delegates and governors. However, Obasanjo saved his best to keep Vice President Atiku from defecting.
With rumor swirling that Atiku would opt to run with Ekwueme, Obasanjo wasted no time visiting the Vice President's residence. Obasanjo begged, declaring he would not leave Atiku's home unless the Vice President accompanied him to win back the delegates and governors. The performance had the desired effect. Atiku joined Obasanjo in publicly lobbying the conventioneers. While it might not have been Obasanjo's finest hour it was the defining moment of the convention. What had been a suspenseful contest would now turn into a rout.
In the same way that we should get to the root of what made Nigeria prosperous for 16 years under PDP until Tinubu begged Buhari to make Jonathan a one term president in 2015, shall we
thisweekng: The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Chief Olawale Edun has said the last time Nigeria’s economy looked stable was about a decade ago.
He made this statement during his maiden press conference as Minister of Finance where he outlined President Bola Tinubu’s vision, agenda and strategy for the economy.
He said, “I think as we all know, we are not where we should be. The economy is barely growing above the rate of population growth.
“But it was not always so, and I think in trying to look at the way forward, if we now have a situation of slow growth, double-digit inflation, weak/depreciating exchange rate, as well as security concerns that are resulting in an economy that is not growing and not taking Nigerians out of poverty.
“If we think back to the last time when the economy was stable- when it was growing, when inflation was low, and the interest rate was affordable, that period was about a decade ago. Growth was about 6% in 2013 and 2014.” Private sector to drive the economy
onuman: Oh yes, Atiku can win Osun. Lol. But I am afraid because it's still the turn of the south till 2031, Atiku may not win 25% of votes in another southern state. Anyone who ignores the fact that zoning of the presidency between the north and the south holds Nigeria intact since 1999, such a person is lying to him/herself.
On what basis is it the turn of the south until 2031
Education › Re: Nigerian States And Thier Expenses On Education In Q1 2026 by anonimi: 6:24pm On Aug 31
