₦airaland Forum

The Nigerian President is one very very powerful individual and isn't one to be toyed with especially if they're one with a penchant for wielding and deploying the absolute power under their control; that's the part of being President Gov. Fubara overlooked or should I say ignored.

Here's a man who as governor famously said to the admiration and hype of his supporters that "the house of assembly members also exist because I say so..." And on one other occasion said "... This is my property (referring to the RSHA complex) blah blah blah" and the President was just watching like a bat (no pun intended, apologies to Fayose). When the President used a fraction of his powers, nobody told Fubara that in Nigerian politics, you can't be more powerful or strong-headed than the President.

Under GEJ, it was an ordinary Commissioner of Police (Joseph Mbu) that was used to put Rotimi Amaechi in check; and that was child's play compared to what the then President could've done had he wanted to "finish" Amaechi then. People tend to forget these things.

Anyways, I hope lessons have been learnt by all the parties involved in this unfortunate saga and from indications, the President isn't going to end this state of emergency after the first 6 months, he'll most likely extend it.

Finally, aside Rivers people, the next biggest loser in this imbroglio is Gov. Fubara.

This is the problem with the typical Nigerian politician; when outcomes are in their favour, the institution involved (in this case, INEC) is "truly independent" or unbiased.
Had the outcome been against her expectations, we wouldn't have heard the last of how INEC was bribed or even threatened to see through her recall process and how she has lost faith in the commission.
Again, let this be a lesson to the political class and their supporters - outcomes shouldn't be acceptable to you only when they're in your favour.

Well, only Nigerians who love to live in self-denial are the ones refusing to see that this is the end-game ultimately of all these coalitions.
The merger of AC/ANPP/CPC/a bloc of APGA and bloc of PDP to form APC pre-2015 was successful because they all coalesced into one single platform and presented one presidential candidate after a keenly fought primaries which if memory serves me right, Buhari came 1st, Kwankwaso (2nd) & Atiku placed 3rd; the significance of these positions by the respective politicians is also another political masterstroke that gives credence to the political acumen of Bola Tinubu (see how they placed Obi 3rd in the 2023 polls? Aha! There's a message there too but I digress).
As long as these coalition talks don't result in a single presidential candidate especially from the South, it'll fall like a pack of cards.
A coalition with Peter Obi as the presidential candidate & Atiku or Kwankwaso as running mate will sack Tinubu/APC from Aso Villa before 4p.m election day.
A coalition with Atiku as the presidential candidate & Obi as running mate but Kwankwaso is also on the ballots, will present a stronger fight but it won't be enough to cause a shift in the political landscape of Nigeria.
However, all these are just my own thoughts that I desire for the coalition but from all indications, it appears the 3 opponents to BAT in 2023 will seek a repeat of their individual expeditions come 2027 and once again, Nigerians will be the greatest losers.

Lol. I see so many commentators berating Tinubu, Wike & the RSHA members mostly; some have even insisted that Fubara cannot be impeached. Well, we'll see how all this plays out.

When this political crisis between Wike & the puppet - who almost immediately he was sworn in as governor became his own man - he installed as successor began, the President in his wisdom (whether it made sense or not at the time is immaterial now but with what's playing out currently, Fubara would wish he stuck to whatever terms & conditions PBAT brokered for "peace" to reign) mediated & for the first time, brought the dissenting parties to the negotiation table for a political solution because that's what was required.

The ink was yet to dry on the "peace" accord the dissenting parties entered into than Gov. Fubara literally describing the President as a meddlesome interloper who cajoled him into signing an unfavorable agreement; he, more or less gave the President a stinking middle finger and since then, Tinubu has maintained an uninvolved stance in what goes on politically between the political godfather and his godson.

What appears to be the nail on the coffin would be the supreme court judgment; now, the lawmakers have a valid pronouncement that more less gives them the license to hold Gov. Fubara and the entire state to ransom (that's what they're doing now) and it's unfortunate that in all of this, the well-being, welfare and interests of the people of Rivers State isn't put into consideration by the political gladiators.

Wike and his loyalists shouldn’t over stretch their luck because the fire they’re currently stoking at a time they should be magnanimous in “victory” could end up consuming them as well.

Lol. How people cannot see the handwriting on the wall that clearly says Mal. Nasir El-rufai is working towards a PBAT re-election, is amusing to me.
These guys are acting out a script but as usual, Nigerians are too much carried away by the drama that they can’t see what’s staring ‘em in the face.

How can this one be comparing Rosa Parks civil disobedience over a bus seat to this debacle between politicians over sitting placements?

Tbh, I fail to see the correlation here.

I really want to believe Senator Natasha but all these allegations coming up now make the timing and agenda suspicious.
First of all, you can’t put it beyond the Senate President to have actually made those sexual demands, I mean, how many Nigerian politicians don’t have skeletons in their closets?
However, with her knowledge, experience, exposure and susceptibility to be misconstrued as someone who sleeps around (most beautiful women especially those who have risen in politics are unwilling victims of these wrong presumptions), I would’ve expected someone in her position to have audio recordings of some, if not all of the intimate late night calls she accused Akpabio of putting across to her; having her husband as witness to those calls alone isn’t enough evidence.
Likewise, what type of a man, not to mention a husband, who knows his pretty wife’s being sexually harangued (allegedly) by her political colleague who he also happens to have unrestricted access to, but didn’t do anything about it? Why has he being strangely quiet on this matter especially if he has been a witness to some of the allegations by his wife against Akpabio?
This is the moment to speak up on her behalf and stand in defense of his wife yet he has chosen to be silent?
For the avoidance of all doubts, Senator Natasha either provides hard evidence for her allegations (she can through the courts, subpoena transcripts of Akpabio’s calls to her phone number) or be added to the number of bitter, angry, vengeful and scornful women who always resort to allegations of sexual victimization every time they’re called to account for their wrongdoings.

PDP never laid a solid foundation for our democracy that's why all this nonsense is happening and APC, which claims (those claims have since turned out to be hogwash) to be better, has sunk us lower down the rungs of democratic ideals.

If PDP from the time they controlled both chambers of the NASS had allowed members from other parties who wanted to defect to their party to defect but direct the Speaker/Senate President to still declare such a defector's seat vacant, all these politicans would've learned their lessons by now and stopped using political parties as a SPV to win elections only.

Lol. It's not for nothing that IBB is nicknamed "Maradona" & "the evil genius". Even in old age, he's still dribbling around the truth & conveniently laying all the blame for the June 12, 1993 debacle at the doorsteps of dramatis personae who are no longer fortunate to be alive.

As an evil genius, IBB has lived longer enough and understood that in Nigerian political history, you don't have to be correct or factual 100 per cent, just ensure you've the last say especially when your "last say" cannot be controverted by any other living witness.

LOL. So, this man, who happens to be a two-term governor, one-time VP candidate, one-time Presidential candidate and educated, expected a situation where owners of fake drugs and other medical consumables would show up to "collaboratively" inspect their warehouses of death with NAFDAC officials?

Anyways, why am I even surprised?

phineas:
It's called morale, and the CDS has shown interest in the games way before now

I'm not clear on what you all are insinuating,is it that the CDS cannot travel on his own without the toga of the games?

I'm sure you all are clear that is not the case

His efforts at attending was a laudable one..the shame here is on the Canadians,their feedback is noted.

Well, the denial of visa has so many lessons therein & I'm glad the CDS himself alluded to that!

Anyways, next time, they won't apply for visas to other countries for events their presence or absence won't add or take away any significant shine to/off it.

Doesn't matter if they were just 10 meant to go to Canada for the Invictus Games, my own is, what's the CDS going there to do?

As CDS, Gen. C.G Musa didn't respect himself, office & personality therefore, he brought the "disgrace" upon himself and the Nigerian Armed Forces in general; if I may ask, how many other CDS or equivalent from other countries are attending the Invictus Games?

givedemwotowoto:
Since my argument and not yours is flawed, why didn’t APC win governorship elections in Kano, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Delta, Rivers, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, Zamfara, since they won the presidential election?

“A bit” was the keyword and I didn’t mean to disparage your opinion or elevate mine above yours!

Meanwhile, also note that my position was based on voting patterns from 1999 which shows that most states governorship elections’ outcomes often go the way of the party that was declared winner of the presidential polls; for instance, for the 10 states you listed that didn’t go the way of the ruling party, almost 2x the number of those states went the way of the party that was declared winner in 2023 e.g Lagos, Ogun, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Yobe, Gombe, Jigawa, Niger, Kwara, Nasarawa, Benue, Cross River, Sokoto, and Borno.

And for the off-cycle governorship polls, the voters went the way of the ruling party (Ondo, Kogi, Imo and Edo).

Erm, your Lagos comparison is a bit flawed. First of all, it has been a pattern that the outcome of presidential polls in Nigeria largely dictate the outcome of state governorship polls; had another party aside the APC been declared winner of the 2023 presidential polls, it would’ve gone a long way to alter the equations for the governorship in Lagos especially.

Also, you can’t rule out the “Yoruba ronu” sentiment that came into play during the Lagos governorship polls.

Overall, you see that Bulaba and Agbadorians you don’t want to see celebrate victory come 2027 (God spare our lives), it’ll take a huge miracle for the gang up against them to work!

But then, that’s just my own opinion!

givedemwotowoto:
People don’t have a big problem with APC at the state and LG levels but you see that presidential election? It’s a big no no for Bulaba and his Agbadorians.

If you disagree, then why did Sanwo Olu win his governorship election bid while Bulaba lost in the same state even after much violence and intimidation?

PDP,NNPP and LP didn’t participate in the polls though; maybe that’s why APC had a clean sweep across all the LGAs but that shouldn’t fool the ruling party into believing a similar feat will be replicated in the same state at the next general elections.

“...we shouldn’t joke with the Quaran...” yet some of the most fantastically corrupt, inefficient, morally and financially bankrupt politicians are Muslims and from the North; when it’s time for good governance, they’ll be nowhere to be found but mention religion and you’ll find them in the forefront pontificating like some pious religious person.
Nonsense!

TimeManager:
https://dailytrust.com/unanswered-questions-over-quran-convention/

The Minister for Agriculture and Food Security as well as those appointees that speak for the President in one capacity or the other are a bunch of clowns.
Instead of waiting for at least 3 - 4 months to observe the direction of inflation in prices of foodstuffs (those in the know say the current drop in prices of some essential food commodities - no matter how little the drop - is largely due to harvest season not because of any special policy of the FG in that regards), they started blowing their own trumpets all over as if it’s now Uhuru.
Now, even Daily Trust that that didn’t know the meaning of “fact-check” under PMB Admin is now the one exposing their barefaced lies and propaganda with hard facts.

You see that his closing statement "Lagos leads, always"? That's a statement of finality only a governor with unmatched resources at their disposal, vision and balls can make!

Kudos to Gov. Sanwo for working like someone who is seeking re-election.

It's not good optics that the number two citizen is captured on camera hobnobbing with a man standing trial for corruption to the tune of tens (abi na hundreds, sef) of billions of Naira.

However, for political expediency and capitalization, it's not a crime; even more importantly is the position of the law that presumes innocence on the accused party until otherwise proved by the court of law (until all legal options are exhausted).

So, it depends on which part of the fence you're seated: if you're for moral considerations, this photo is all shades of wrong but if you're for political and legal considerations, it's just another one of those moments between political acquaintances (of the same party if I may add) and possibly, even friends.

Jesus!! Na human beings dem tie like that for inside sack like say na cow parts?

May God have mercy on Nigeria and deliver us from these evil calamities happening left, right and centre.

Meanwhile, those unfortunate kids deserve to be treated with dignity’s in death instead of being packaged like some animal for burial.

And herein lies everything that's wrong with Nigeria's political & financial system.

Wike obviously handed over dollars to the delegation (if you took a wild guess of how much Wike handed over to them in foreign currency, you won't be far off the mark) and the fact such amount could be moved undetected or rather undisturbed, should tell you how compromised our financial systems are.

Meanwhile, Dogara, in trying to throw Bala Mohammed under the bus may have also implicated himself in a shady dealing that likely involved the use of public funds belonging to Rivers people to finance elections of an "ingrate" in Bauchi.

femisplash:
At this point, it seems the Niger border is the most porous, Chad, Cameroon borders are obviously far more secured. It's unfortunate we hardly see the proactivity of the so-called military junta in cracking down on terrorism in his country, more unfortunately are the people who seem to be cozy in bed with these terrorists and are not ready to give up the romance anytime soon. They serve as couriers, Intel, medics to the terrorists. It's such a shame.

The problem with Nigeria's borders to the North isn't even about its porosity, it's about what enters & goes out through those vast stretches of boundaries.

If it's not terrorists, bandits & marauding herdsmen going in and out through the porous borders in the North, it's movement of large caches of arms and ammunitions going in and out unchecked.

Lol. They're prepping to push Atiku Abubakar again to contest come 2027.

It couldn't be more glaring that was the handwriting on the wall Peter Obi saw that made him to distance himself from any coalition which sole aim is to "grab power" & nothing else.

Malam Nasir El-rufai will always have my respect, my vote & support now & in the future irrespective of where his political alliances lie but his current disposition on the polity isn't coming from a place that is entirely altruistic; the same can be said for most Nigerian politicians especially those eating from the table today. If they weren't sitting at the table from where everything else looks to them like paradise, they would've been jumping from one TV station to the other lambasting the FG & PBAT.

Lol. Dangote is mindful of being seen with Obi in public because of retribution from the PBAT admin?

Again, lol.

Lol. Funny thing is you can't even put Wike. and Bala Mohammed in the same sentence. Even I, had to respect that fact!
In terms of governance, Bala Mohammed can't tie Wike's shoe laces.
Politics nko? Wike's achievements will be wish dreams for a politician like Bala Mohammed.
Gov. Mohammed wishes he'd the type of clout Wike has unfortunately for him, he doesn't even have the capacity to wield such clout.

Jigawa is also one state that has been lucky with having Governors whose heads are correct.

You would think this moment of "decoration with new rank" doesn't matter until one day... You'll hear a Sanusi announced as IGP then when you dig further, you'll read that he's a Prince from Kano then it'll all begin to make sense to you.

These guys (and I'm not even talking about anyone in particular now but all those demagogues of Nigeria who have continued to recycle & position themselves in strategic places) have perfected the art of perpetuating & embedding themselves and their generations yet unborn within the system.

Mynd44:
Wike will turn more Abuja voters in favour of the current president if he continues like this.

Although his personal project might be ensure Iretiola Kingibe doesn't return.

Abuja politics is getting interesting

You’re right on his “personal project” to ensure Ireti Kingibe doesn’t return to the Senate come 2027; Philip Aduda is the ace up his sleeve to ensure the LP Senator doesn’t return to the red chamber.

As for FCT politics & how voters have always voted in the presidential polls in the nation’s capital for a long time, we may actually see the votes going the way of the ruling party come 2027 due to certain factors such as the current minister being a savvy politician (this is where Aduda will also come into play to mobilize his Gbagyi support base but will they be smart enough to know to vote for APC for President & PDP for senator? Another play might see Aduda defecting to APC to ensure it’s APC all through. That’ll nullify any confusion in voting choice); even though the HM for Special Duties hasn’t been in the news for anything notable, his appointment as Minister representing FCT for the first time ever, may play a role in flipping votes for the ruling party Also, we may see traditional rulers & area council chairmen playing a pivotal role in mobilizing support for the ruling party.

However, all these factors combined may pale to insignificance if inflation and its attendant hardship, isn’t dealt with considerably before then!

I listened to the Emir’s brief remarks that made it to social media and I was surprised the FG chose to read a different meaning to it.

I also thought the Emir gave tacit support to the current administration even though he cheekily admitted that although he’s friends with those in government now, they aren’t acting like friends to him (veiled response to the alleged backing of the ousted Emir by the APC-led FG under PBAT & Ganduje).

Zagazola is probably the only independent credible CTCOIN journalist reporting on terrorism, banditry and its allied vices in the North, especially the northeast up to lake chad basin and beyond.

If he says he listened to a “panicky” voice note by Turji calling for help from other bandits’ leaders, I believe his story 100%.

kingbee90:
This Buhari's visit to France & Nigeria's recent official alliance with BRICS is not unconnected to Donald Trump's going back to the white house.
What do you think?

May be, may be not. However, I’ll hedge my bets on his visit being connected with the recent rumours especially in the North that Tinubu has allowed or is planning to allow France operate a military base on Nigerian soil; you know, Buhari is still the singular most popular & influential northern politician alive. His sphere of influence just doesn’t end in Northern Nigeria, it spreads to neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad & perhaps, even Mali; these countries’ citizens distrust France for obvious reasons but if there’s one Nigerian today who may put to rest once & for all, any controversy that may have arisen in northern Nigeria from PBAT’s visit to France, it’s Buhari.
However, this is just a hunch!