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 Politics / I Saw A Governor In Fashola —tinubu’s Wife by Move2(m): 8:04am On Jul 02, 2022 |
Tinubu was billed to attend the closing ceremony of the 2006 COWLSO conference. “I normally address the closing ceremony,” he said, “so I asked Fashola to write my speech. This was the first time I would give him that kind of assignment. I begged my wife that I wanted to watch how Fashola would perform at the event to enable me make my decision.” But that meant that Tinubu would have to be represented by his Chief of Staff, an idea Oluremi found unacceptable at first. As it turned out, everybody Tinubu had mentioned the idea of Fashola as a candidate to had told him it was going to be a hard-sell, perhaps an impossible one. Except that the more Tinubu’s confidants were unenthusiastic about it, the more the idea persisted with Fashola’s sterling qualities playing out in his mind more and more. Tinubu began to feel that perhaps, the idea was not so heretical after all, that perhaps, it was indeed, doable. But then, he still needed the final push one way or the other—which made the COWLSO event far more critical to him than was ordinarily warranted. “I begged her passionately because she would not agree for me not to show up. Eventually she agreed that Fashola should represent me,” Tinubu recalled. The First Lady reluctantly agreed only because it was going to help him make this crucial decision. “Well, just because it would help you, I would excuse you,” she said. Meanwhile, Tinubu got Lagos Television (LTV  to record the entire event. “I wanted to watch the video; I wanted to watch the reception to see how Fashola was interacting with people in a public event.”After the event, Tinubu ordered for the tape from LTV 8 but before the tape arrived, he sought the verdict of the First Lady. “Oh, fantastic!” she gushed. “In him, you have a son, you have a brother, you have a successor.” Perhaps, she was too enthusiastic with her verdict. She should have paced her verdict slowly.You are biased. It’s because he is the Chief of Staff.” What Tinubu was imputing was that the First Lady was biased because it was the Chief of Staff who ran the governor’s life and home, providing things that were needed and all that. It would have been easy for a good Chief of Staff to worm his way into the heart of members of the first family simply by responding promptly to their whims and caprices. But for Oluremi, this was an unfair cut. She was hurt and angry. “In that case, don’t ever ask me any question again if you think I am biased.” The matter almost degenerated into a quarrel and Tinubu couldn’t understand why his wife was so testy about it. “You asked me to do something, now you are accusing me of bias,” she fumed. The fact was that for Deaconess Oluremi, she went through a spiritual epiphany. As Fashola spoke to the audience, she said, “I sat there and I saw a governor. Right there! For me, it was a spiritual thing. We have been praying about it. If you had been in exile for almost five years and coming back and being given the opportunity to serve your people in the capacity that my husband did, you will know the futility of most of life’s struggles. The passion for us is not about the position but about trying to make things happen…And when Fashola stood there and talked, I felt something. It’s through things like this that you can see somebody who can be a leader right there. Before giving the responsibility of leadership to somebody, the first thing you really have to have is the ambience of leadership. Ambience! And then, it has to come with the night of birth when you see somebody who can take the reins of power and the burden of governance. Then you will now look at the rest of the qualities. When tempers cooled, Oluremi tackled the biggest question on Tinubu’s mind: Is he marketable? “I saw in Fashola a marketable product,” she affirmed. But beyond marketability was a more crucial question for her. She asked Tinubu, “You have brought him out tonight, is that your choice at last?” “What do you think?” “I’ve told you, he is OK. But do you trust him?” “Yes, yes,” he said without even thinking about it. “For me, that is the most important thing: do you trust him? I don’t know him. You work with him. Do you trust him? Because whatever it is, trouble would come. But it is your problem. Trust is very, very important.” But why is Tinubu’s trust so crucial to the First Lady? Trust in the context of Nigerian politics is a double-edged sword that connotes both noble and pejorative purposes. Trust can become a blanket to cover a multitude of sins or the noble fibre of integrity that is becoming rare in our climes. To Tunji Bello, if all Tinubu wanted was just a successor who would cover his misdeeds in office, any of the disciples like Kasali or Gbaja would have done that even better than BRF because many of the aspirants are even less independent-minded and more likely to obey Tinubu than BRF. On the other hand, Oluremi saw trust in the context of carrying on the mandate as articulated in this Ten-Point Agenda. It was a question of, do you believe in this journey?” she insisted. “Because it is a journey with a destination. She likened the case of Fashola to the biblical story of Prophet Samuel anointing David as king while rejecting all the other distinguished siblings that seemed more deserving but God didn’t want them for reasons beyond man’s comprehension. In the Bible narrative she cited, it was not until after the senior siblings of David were paraded and none was chosen that Samuel asked the crucial question, “Don’t you have another son?” “OK, he is with the sheep,” came the answer from Jesse, the father of David. In relating this narrative to the choice of BRF, Oluremi said, “For me at this point, everything began to unravel. We were looking outside for a successor and he was right there inside the house. And you didn’t even know it. And suddenly, it clicked. Now I get it. And to me, I just thank God for that. The next challenge—the first thing—is that we have to be comfortable with the choice before you start presenting it to the public. Then whatever comes, you are able to stand with it.” For Oluremi, the matter was settled, her spirit had found peace, but for Tinubu the politician, there were still consultations to be made with the crucial stakeholders and selling of the candidate to close circuit of leaders Tinubu had great respect for. Some of them are party leaders, others are non-partisan but moral authorities exerting influence on him and a section of the society. From most of these leaders, he reaped a harvest of objections for choosing a dark horse. https://www.sunnewsonline.com/i-saw-a-governor-in-fashola-tinubus-wife/ |
| Politics / 6 PDP Governors Move Against Atiku, Tinubu's Men Reachout To PDP Members by Move2(m): 7:35am On Jul 02, 2022 |
According to the PDP source, trouble started when Ayu was elected national chairman of the PDP. The source said leaders of the party had agreed to zone the chairmanship of the PDP to the North, while the South, like the All Progressives Congress (APC), would produce the presidential candidate.https://www.sunnewsonline.com/2023-six-govs-move-against-atiku-2/ 14 Likes 2 Shares
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| Politics / Tinubu, Wike Meet In France As Atiku Seeks Rapprochement-thisday by Move2(m): 5:47pm On Jul 01, 2022 |
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike were yesterday scheduled to meet any moment in France, where the APC candidate was holding strategic meetings in furtherance of his presidential aspiration. Although the duo were initially slated to meet in Spain, according to THISDAY sources, current realities with respect to Tinubu’s itinerary could not make that possible, hence, the resort to France. However, as at 3am this morning, THISDAY could not confirm whether the meeting had indeed taken place.But the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, assured party members and supporters that PDP’s unity remained paramount to him as the party looked forward to taking power from the ruling APC in 2023. Atiku, who spoke on his verified Twitter handle, noted that he remained a listening leader and would ensure that all grouses were addressed going forward.A chieftain of APC in Lagos, Joe Igbokwe, had hinted at the Tinubu, Wike meeting on his social media account. https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/07/01/tinubu-wike-meet-in-france-as-atiku-seeks-rapprochement/ 1 Like |
| Politics / Wike Is Set To Broker Obi-Kwankwaso Ticket On LP - New Telegraph by Move2(m): 8:25am On Jul 01, 2022 |
In what appears to be a direct reaction to being sidelined by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in the race for his running mate, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is said to be in the centre of a proposed alliance in the build-up to the 2023 general election. https://www.newtelegraphng.com/2023-intrigues-as-wike-set-to-broker-obi-kwankwaso-ticket-on-lp/ 93 Likes 10 Shares
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| Politics / Fayose: Why Wike Will Not Support Atiku by Move2(m): 9:05pm On Jun 29, 2022 |
Former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, has explained why he believes Nyesom Wike will never support the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/539900-why-wike-will-not-support-atiku-fayose.html 203 Likes 18 Shares
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| Politics / South-east, 2023 And The Tinubu Example by Move2(m): 8:13am On Jun 26, 2022 |
If the South-East had a politician like Tinubu, the South-East would have overwhelmingly won the presidential primary in at least one of the two major political parties. The summary of his strategy was simple. He was able to capture the state he served as Governor till date. No South-East politician survived his state for one term after stepping down from office as Governor. He projected his powers into other states of the South-West and captured South-West. No South-East politician crossed the boundary of his State to another state of the South-East. He bade his time and collaborated with other zones in the North to support his presidential aspiration. No South-East politician was able to build alliance with the North on his ambition. He neutralised all conspiracies to emerge. No South-East politician was able to neutralise the conspiracies against him to succeed. He got his proteges to step down for him from the South-West. No South-East politician was able to get one fellow South-East aspirant to step down for him. South-East politicians stepped down from the race in protest and some even stepped down for Tinubu. The height of the problem of the South-East is that the politicians do not even know how to manage their failures. Immediately after the APC primaries, Governor Umahi blasted Ohaneze and other fellow South-East politicians over his failure to win the presidential primary election. https://www.sunnewsonline.com/south-east-2023-and-the-tinubu-example/ 2 Likes 2 Shares |
| Politics / Crisis In Opposition Party, PDP As Ex-governors Ibori, Uduaghan Shun Okowa by Move2(m): 2:13pm On Jun 25, 2022 |
http://saharareporters.com/2022/06/25/crisis-opposition-party-pdp-ex-governors-ibori-uduaghan-others-shun-delta-governor-okowa he crisis rocking the Delta State Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) following the party's primaries especially that of the governorship may have deepened as former governors, James Ibori, Emmanuel Uduaghan and others on Thursday shunned the party's grand reception to welcome Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the vice presidential candidate of the party. The reception which took place at the cenotaph, Asaba, the state capital, unlike before had a low turnout while notable party leaders and elders from the state were conspicuously absent. Among the absentees were also a senator representing Delta South senatorial district and former PDP governorship aspirant, James Manager. SaharaReporters observed that following the PDP primaries where Okowa was accused to have secretly supported and imposed his preferred House of Assembly, National Assembly and governorship candidates on the people across the state, this created “cracks and bad blood” among the party chieftains. Speaking with SaharaReporters, some members of the party who pleaded for their names not to be mentioned said at the reception that the turnout showed that there was big crisis in the party in the state. "Is this what we call a reception for our governor and PDP vice presidential candidate in the 2023 forthcoming general elections? Where are Ibori, Uduaghan, Manager and other notable leaders of the party? No single South-South leader; not even a governor from the South-South region to rejoice with us as a party and also Delta State that has produced the vice presidential candidate; this shows the many odds that are indeed against the governor,” a source said. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
| Politics / 2023: Osinbajo Under Pressure To Dump APC, Contest On Other Platform by Move2(m): 11:24am On Jun 24, 2022 |
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), is under pressure to run in the 2023 presidential election. This was revealed to The Eagle Online by one of the ardent backers of the President Yemi Osinbajo Movement. According to the source on Thursday, presidential candidates of other political parties other than his, All Progressives Congress, have offered him their tickets for the 2023 elections. Recall that the deadline for the nomination of candidates for 2023 national elections was declared closed on June 17, 2022 by the Independent National Electoral Commission. However, there is room for change of candidates if the holder of the ticket withdraws voluntarily from the race in writing to the INEC and the party involved announces its intention to replace. But the source, who spoke with The Eagle Online on Thursday, said that Osinbajo is still under pressure to run. The source said: “PYO is still under pressure to run for President. #itsnotoveruntilitsover.” The Lawyer added: Gaskiya (truthfully), many parties and their presidential candidates are offering their slots.” This invariably means dumping the APC for the party. The source, however, refused to disclose the identities of the parties offering their tickets to the former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. But another source, who was a part of the initial bid, said Osinbajo would not fall for the antics of those who intend “goading” him into the race again after he failed in the APC primaries. The source said: “PYO is a loyal party member and will support the party’s choice. “They pushed him to go ahead (with the initial bid) and still want him to contest. “PYO won’t listen to them this time around. https://theeagleonline.com.ng/2023-osinbajo-under-pressure-to-dump-apc-contest-on-other-platform/ |
| Politics / Pat Utomi: Muslim-Muslim Ticket Is Not A Hindrance To Good Leadership by Move2(m): 3:00pm On Jun 22, 2022 |
Professor Pat Utomi has dismissed the ongoing furore over alleged plan by a political party to present a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket for 2023 election.https://pmnewsnigeria.com/2022/06/22/pat-utomi-dismisses-furore-over-muslim-muslim-ticket/ 26 Likes 3 Shares
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| Politics / 2023: Wike In Talks With APC, May Dump PDP by Move2(m): 12:14pm On Jun 19, 2022 |
As the race to the 2023 general election gears up, there are indications that the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, may jump ship from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Wike, who contested at the recently concluded presidential primaries of the PDP and lost, came second behind Mr. Atiku Abubakar who polled the popular vote and was declared the winner. Atiku polled 371 out of the 767 accredited votes to defeat his closest rival, Wike, who polled 237 votes. The Presidential aspirant had on the heels of the turn out of the primaries accused PDP’s Southern governors of betraying the power shift agreement. But, ever since the last outing which did not roll into his favour, his attempt to emerge as running mate to Atiku didn’t materialise. Speaking with Blueprint in Akwa Ibom State shortly after meeting with all members of Tinubu Support Organization (TSO) over the weekend, the South-South Coordinator of the group, Mr. Gabriel Abijah, revealed that Wike will soon join APC. Abijah, who revealed this said the party is working on the matter but, added that he can not make their modality known for now. “As we speak, Wike will soon be a member of APC. we are working on the issue and I can not disclose our modality. “He is our brother and we love him.” He said with the current development, the APC presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s victory will sweep all geopolitical zones including the south-south. Abijah maintained that the political structure of APC in the state remains very strong and that the party faithful is more than 60 percent compared to PDP. https://www.blueprint.ng/2023-wike-in-talks-with-apc-may-dump-pdp/ 1 Like 1 Share |
| Politics / Morning After Analysis Of Tinubus Triumph-azu Ishiekwene by Move2(m): 4:28pm On Jun 09, 2022 |
Up till last week, not only did Tinubu seem to have been denied even the basic courtesies due his contribution, an influential block in the Presidency linked to the President’s cousin, Mamman Daura; and Buhari’s Private Secretary Sabiu Tunde Yusuf, was determined to block the party leader from even contesting after he had been cleared by the screening committee. When Tinubu mentioned his age during the screening, he was sneered at by a certain member of the committee with whom he had fallen out spectacularly. Twenty-four hours to the primary, Sabiu Tunde Yusuf was still frantically pushing the Lawan consensus candidacy, telling the executioners on his side to “insist on party supremacy or nothing.” They were all over the place till the last minute. But that plot, which collapsed almost as quickly as it was made, was actually Plan B. The original plan was to extract firm promises from the 23 aspirants that they would accept a consensus candidate, and then wangle former President Goodluck Jonathan through the back door on a freeload. Tinubu’s refusal to accept a consensus candidate thwarted this plan. It left Jonathan flitting from one country to the other on contrived visits and then finally hovering around the screening venue in the vain hope that he might get a much-sought-after guarantee, and be called in for coronation. Buhari, master of the politics of strategic ambivalence, gave the impression that he belonged to everyone and yet not belonging to anyone. Aso Rock emissaries to Tinubu returned with mixed messages, one of which was that Tinubu would only step down if Buhari told him to do so himself – a risk the President was unwilling to take. Read on https://gazettengr.com/azu-ishiekwene-morning-after-analysis-of-bola-tinubus-apc-primary-triumph/ |
| Politics / Buhari Agreed To Support Tinubu For President – Buba Galadima by Move2(m): 6:39am On Jun 06, 2022 |
Buhari agreed to support Tinubu for President – Buba Galadima As a former associate of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), do you think the President will impose his candidate or leave it open for all aspirants to contest in the Presidential primary of the APC? You don’t need to be a prophet or soothsayer to know that the President will indeed anoint whosoever he wants to be the candidate of the APC. But what one needs to look at is whether he could do that with some sense of decorum, with some sense of decency, with some sense of consideration for the opinion of the majority members of his party. My answer is No. Therefore, whoever he anoints will cause bickering, infighting, and a lot of anti-party activities. This will bedevil the APC. As one of the founding members of the APC, was there any agreement at any time that Tinubu would succeed Buhari? Not perfectly an agreement, but there was an understanding because Tinubu with one other person and the President also with another person sat down and the information we got was that they agreed that if Tinubu would help Buhari win, he would become the Vice-President. When that was not possible, they called him to ask him to assist because of the exigencies of the time, which wouldn’t have allowed for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. They said that whatever he does, he should deploy and make sure that Buhari becomes President and that when he (Buhari) is going, he would also do whatever he would in his powers to assist Tinubu to become President. It looks like they are now going back on that understanding. And a promise is a promise whether written or unwritten because if you can subvert it, God knows your heart. And God never accepts betrayal. When you are committed, whether it is sour or bitter, or tasty, you have to swallow it. Now, it looks like they want to go back on that understanding with Tinubu. This is why Tinubu is bitter and I understand this bitterness, because of what has happened to him, which I told him years back. I told him what was going to happen to him. And everything that I predicted those years is now happening. My prayer for him (Tinubu) is that he should come out of this unscathed and healthy. That is my biggest prayer for him. But for him, it looks like he has already been subverted. The only way he can get his momentum is if the party agrees to do primaries. If the party agrees to go to the primaries, I have no doubt in my mind that Tinubu may emerge victorious, but as far as the consensus which they want to adopt is concerned, he is out of the game. Who were those present when Buhari and Tinubu reached this agreement you claimed? I won’t tell you but the people involved know. Tinubu came to the meeting with a former governor while Buhari came with a sitting governor. That is why that governor is solidly behind Tinubu today and because of the fear of God. But I wouldn’t want to mention the names of the two of them, because, Tinubu himself has alluded to this kind of understanding. So are you saying that Buhari is the kind of person that does not honour promises? Well, I don’t know. You should be the judge or ask Tinubu to whom he made the verbal promise. So you foresee a situation whereby the party can have some crises or can even break if Tinubu is schemed out? Well, the truth of the matter is that Nigerian politicians are cowards. Nigerian politicians are unprincipled. If they are courageous and principled, the APC would have broken into pieces a long time ago. But because of betrayals, God will never allow the APC to succeed, and even if they succeed, they will never have peace. So what do you think of Tinubu’s outburst in Abeokuta last week and the threat by the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, to punish him? Well, who is the APC chairman? Where was he when some of us were fighting for Buhari? Where was he? He should remember what he did to us in 2003. Is it because Buhari has forgotten? If Buhari recollects what the APC national chairman did to him, he would not even ever allow him to shake his hand, let alone make him chairman. What did the APC chairman do in 2003? Well, you can ask him (Adamu Abdullahi) that Buba Galadima said that you did something to Buhari in 2003. And that it is abominable to the extent that he (Buhari) shouldn’t even shake hands with you or stay under one roof with you. Let him tell you what he did to Buhari during our campaigns. But some may argue that in politics, alliances change. What would you say of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo who was Tinubu’s protégé but is now running against his former boss? So, politics does not connote decency or respect at all? Is that what you are trying to tell me? I am a principled person. I am with Rabiu Kwankwaso, for example now, even if you give me the whole of the Central Bank of Nigeria, that cannot change me. And you can ask Goodluck Jonathan’s people about me. In 2015, they tried to induce Sule Yahaya, who was our director-general; Mustapha Saliu, the man from Kwara State who was DeputyNational Chairman of the CPC and me, just for us to make an appearance and endorse the candidacy of Jonathan but we refused to take it. Therefore, we are not doing things for personal benefits. We do things hoping that it would be the best for Nigeria. That is why I don’t believe in sentiments; primordial sentiments of religion, tribe or where one comes from. We have tried all these and we have failed as a nation. Why don’t we try for once capacity and capability to accommodate all Nigerians and deliver Nigeria from this present status instead of predicament? You think Osinbajo should have given up his presidential ambition for loyalty to Tinubu? If he doesn’t, can you now trust him? If you look at how Osinbajo came with Tinubu and he’s now contesting against Tinubu who brought him, how safe would you be to work with such a person? If the man who did all this to someone who made him commissioner, made him this, made him that and he is now fighting him. You will now want to fight for him now, what would be your status later in life with him? https://punchng.com/buhari-agreed-to-support-tinubu-for-president-buba-galadima/ |
| Politics / 2023 Political Realities That Annoy And Heal- Reno Omokri by Move2(m): 8:15am On May 03, 2022 |
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/05/03/2023-political-realities-that-annoy-and-heal/ As the party primaries draw near, it is sad to see many people still playing the same old sentimental politics which has left them perpetually on the back burner. Why do they do it? Is it that they are unteachable, or unreachable, or that they lack the ability to suppress their sentiments in favour of cold hard facts? Political realities will always overcome political sentiments. That is a fact of life. So, in order to win, you do not cry over the realities, or argue about them. You simply understand these natural principles and then harness them. One political reality is that the ONLY Southern candidates with name recognition in Northern Nigeria, and especially the Northwest and Northeast, are Bola Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo. Even Rotimi Amaechi does not have it. I know some people will not like to hear this, but the truth is bitter and better! And amongst these Southern candidates, only Bola Tinubu stands a chance in the Northwest and Northeast, for almost the same reasons that Abiola stood a chance. Even Buhari, with his real or imaginary Northern-cult following, can’t persuade the core North to vote for a Christian pastor. Another bitter, but better truth. Although people will like to hear butter lies. Asking core Northerners to vote for Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, who, rightly or wrongly, is seen in the core North as a Christian fanatic, who carefully put members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in key positions, is like asking Southerners to vote Isa Pantami, who was caught on tape expressing his delight at the death of non-Muslims! Any sensible aspirant should cultivate the Northwest and Northeast. You can win the Presidency without the votes of one particular region I will not name because of their ability to insult more than their ability to vote. But you can’t win without the Northwest and the Northeast. Alas, with the comments of many Southern aspirants, you would think that they can win the election based on bravado alone. Even the British tried to win the heart of the North, though they were colonial masters. It is a reality we must face as long as Nigeria remains one country. I have a lot of personal disdain for Bola Tinubu, who I believe lacks personal hygiene and morals. I also have reasons to believe that he is corrupt and grossly so. But despite my misgivings, he is acting more sensibly than other Southern aspirants in courting the North. Osinbajo is just delusional. He thinks he can win the APC primaries by speaking English. Even Buhari does not command the delegate votes to make him win. Yes, he has name recognition. But his name recognition in the North is like beer. Northerners know it, but reject it! From what I have seen so far, 2023 will be a race between Bola Tinubu and the best Northern candidate the Peoples Democratic Party can come up with. Other than Bola Tinubu, the top three Northern PDP candidates have no match in the South. For now. You doubt me? Okay, let me ask you this question. Who are Osinbajo’s coordinators in each of the nineteen Northern states? He either does not have such machinery in place, or where he has them, the coordinators are inconsequential people who are political lightweights that add no value to him. Which Northern Governor is for him? With perhaps the exception of Nasir El-Rufai, the answer is zero. And if El-Rufai is for you, then you should consider that as a very big minus. Contrast that with Tinubu. Whereas Osinbajo has no foot soldiers in the North, Tinubu has foot soldiers in every Northern state. Every time he is moving in the North, you can see top-level Northern power brokers with him, from Ganduje, to Ribadu, to Shettima. I will not even bother about candidates from the Southeast. If you critique them because you want them to be better, their followers (who are invariably mostly from the Southeast as well), will troop to your public profiles to insult you, as if they alone can make their chosen candidate the President. I wish them luck in their chosen path to ‘victory’. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Bola Tinubu will win the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress. If his challenger in the Peoples Democratic Party comes from any zone other than the Northwest or Northeast, then Tinubu will be the President of Nigeria in 2023. This much is obvious to people who have political vision. I do not know how anybody will actually allow their ethnicity to blind them to the point where they can believe that any Southern candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party can win an election in 2023. That will just be like gifting the election to Tinubu. I have the voter turnout numbers of every Local Government in Nigeria from 2019. So, I look at elections from a statistical and scientific point of view. The Southeast of Nigeria has the highest Twitter and online turnout in the nation, but the lowest voter turnout during voter registration and election. There are those who are being moved by ethnic sentiments and their disillusionment will come very soon. I do not need to belabour the point. But I will say this: Even in the Southeast, Bola Tinubu is very strong. Look at the former Eagles that went to endorse him. Where are they from? Let us learn from the Northwest and Northeast. This is Ramadan. How many of them have you seen travelling? Even during Sallah, they don’t travel. But let it be voter registration or election, they will travel. You travel for Christmas, but not for election, and you want to win election? Refusing to work with political realities, and instead, promulgating political delusions and building castles in the air, will not get any region, or any part, or anyone, anywhere at any time. 2023 must be faced using cold hard facts. If Tinubu emerges in the All Progressives Congress, NOBODY among those who have declared so far in the South can defeat him for the Peoples Democratic Party. In Luke 14:31 Christ asked if a king with 10,000 soldiers can defeat another with 20,000. If the All Progressives Congress gives Bola Tinubu their ticket, the Peoples Democratic Party should be mindful of the fact that Kano alone delivered 2 million votes during the 2019 election, while the entire Southeast delivered 2.09 million. Do the maths and stop sniffing meth! In every election since 2003, Buhari has always had a captive audience of 12 million Northerners, plus or minus, one million. Buhari’s political foot soldiers in the core North are united behind him. What the opposition must do is to find a way to divide them. If the Peoples Democratic Party fields a Southerner in 2023, they will unite and obey Buhari’s command to vote for Tinubu. And he will win. The only way that those foot soldiers can be divided enough not to obey Buhari’s command is if the Peoples Democratic Party fields a Northerner! Any scenario other than the Peoples Democratic Party fielding someone from the Northwest or Northeast is an own goal. I know this will infuriate a lot of people, especially from a particular geopolitical zone, but that is what truth does. It makes you mad as hell. But it makes you heal as well. Southerners who think Buhari is no longer popular in the North are under the mistaken belief that Northerners care about the things they care about. When terrorist kill Northerners, Northern masses do not see it as Buhari’s fault. They see such deaths as the will of God that could not be altered. The number one factor militating against the political progress of a certain geopolitical zone is their inability to work with people they do not like. Tell them an inconvenient truth and to a large extent, they will gather to insult, abuse and attack you. Then after they have finished alienating everybody, they will believe that everybody hates them. Northerners understand Southerners more than Southerners understand Northerners. Northerners like themselves more than Southerners like themselves. And more importantly, Northerners vote for region and religion. Southerners vote for region and competence. Both politics and war are a game of life and death. Once you understand that, everyone in your bloc will be motivated to win. Northerners understand this. Southerners do not. We see politics as an idealistic endeavour. Northerners see politics as a realistic venture and act accordingly. Individually, each state in the Northwest is politically powerful, especially the KKK axis. Kano, Katsina and Kaduna. But their individual strength is not why they influence elections. The power of the Northwest is their ability to vote as a bloc. Only the Southwest is that politically disciplined in the Nigerian Project. In politics, it is better to use your intellect and foresight than rely on stubbornness in the face of facts. Political momentum is built in the grassroots, not on social media, and that momentum is growing quietly in the North. The great Chinese military strategist said, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” The Peoples Democratic Party should imbibe this wisdom. Look at the voting pattern from 2019 and be guided by that, not by sentiments. No party zones from a position of weakness. You only zone from a position of strength. As an opposition Democratic Party should be how to win. When they win, they can zone. But if they zone before they win, they will never win! The Peoples Democratic Party must understand the military strategy that “the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” The All Progressives Congress is likely to present a very flawed but politically astute candidate in Tinubu. Thus, the PDP must respond by presenting a candidate who has numbers, not one who has sentiments. It takes energy to bend the bow, but it takes strategy to know how and when to release the arrow. The Peoples Democratic Party has energy on its side. Now, all they need is strategy. Because, in Bola Tinubu, they are facing an opponent who relies on strategy, not sentiments. 2 Likes 1 Share |
| Politics / Apc’s 2023 Dark Horse by Move2(m): 7:37am On May 02, 2022 |
They are thinking twice about letting power go back to the South,” a knowledgeable friend from the North told me last week. And what was his own opinion? “I told them that they needed to have a country before they could exploit it. Continuing northern rule may fatally injure the country.” That was rather deep and, I think, patriotic. But are the drivers of the process listening to wisdom and its warnings? They think they are powerful and their iron so strong it can’t ever be bent. The Hausa would look at the arrogance of their greed and say: “even the Niger is forced to have an Island.” And, in Ibadan, such people who saw not even a stream in Kudeti were swept away by the river goddess. The manipulators of Nigeria won’t stop. They will use the big parties, especially the one in power. So, please, leave whatever you are doing at this moment and pay attention to the ruling party and its ways. It will determine whether you will be happy or hungry; safe or sad this year, next year and the next after the next. There is a force in the APC that sees itself as a hurricane. It believes it can wreak any havoc and get away with it. It closed Nigeria’s land borders three years ago without a cogent reason; it reopened the borders last week without a cogent reason. The party just showed us what it could do with the power it has. You’ve also seen how the party of ‘progressives’ confirmed its status as belonging not to the poor with its scandalous N100 million presidential nomination form. The country’s democracy has long left the people behind. It is now the exclusive property of the buccaneers who inherited the widows of the people’s battle for freedom. What we run, or what runs Nigeria, is the political version of witches and their coven. Whatever they do there belongs there, unknown and unseen by the unwashed eyes you and I carry about. The Lawan kite is flown already. We wait to see how it works out in a party of threatened alliances. How about if the party does what it did with its last convention? A consensus arrangement – getting every contender but one to drop their aspirations because the real power in the house is interested in somebody who comes from somewhere. There will be noise there will be protests. And so what? Things will go this extreme way if the spirits in Abuja feel sufficiently threatened by the superior fire power of the dons and are not sure of victory again from delegates or from party members. Think of the Lagos/southern aspirants and the billions they may have spent in the states already. But won’t there be consequences for this ultimate subversion of Nigeria’s diversity? There will be, but who cares? I think they will care when the day dawns. The soon-to-be-cheated big spenders that we see are going to unleash more than “the anger of Achilles son of Peleus” which “brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades….” Achilles, Greek’s best fighter and hero of the Trojan war, was cheated by the overall commander of the Greeks who snatched his beloved girlfriend from him. Achilles did not fight back physically but retired into his tent, sulking. Then, with him off the battlefield, the Greek army started suffering a series of defeats, losing men and ground and grace. The overall commander was sorry; he sulking. He was offered rich presents, still he wouldn’t fight. His girl was returned to him but Achilles still sulked while the battle floundered for the Greeks. What those plotting a northern replacement for Buhari will suffer in 2023 may be worse than Greece’s fate in battle without Achilles. The resistance won’t sulk. You remember what happened to the biblical House of Israel when a king refused to give the branches their due share of the kingdom? Every lion has a den; every tribe a tent. https://tribuneonlineng.com/apcs-2023-dark-horse/ |
| Politics / Falae: I Won 1999 Presidential Election… Results Were Overturned While I Slept by Move2(m): 3:19pm On May 01, 2022 |
I didn’t lose. In fact, I won the election. The military felt safer in the hands of a fellow military man as their successor,” Falae said. “Yes, I worked with them; they knew what I could do, they knew my integrity, but I was not a soldier. One of them later said ‘you could trust a sergeant more than a graduate’. Before the election, the government was already giving the presidential plane to him to go round Africa. I saw that, it showed their preference, but I won the election. “I was able to serve the point of view that it was time for real change in Nigeria. But when the results came, it was very funny. I will give you an illustration. Imo state had 22 local government areas. The results for the first 18 came out and I won with a ratio of 4 to 1, which was not close. I was sure I had won Imo state, so I went to bed. “The result from the remaining four local governments came out when I was asleep and completely overturned the results I had in the 18 local governments. It was very clear that they gave it to Obasanjo, there’s no argument about that. “They thought that was the best thing for them to do. They also thought that as a civilian I would go after them, but I had made it plain that it would be stupid of me to undermine a government I was part of. It would be suicidal.” Falae noted that a parliamentary form of government is better for Nigeria because it is cheaper to run. https://dailytrust.com/i-won-the-1999-presidential-election-falae 2 Likes |
| Politics / Re: How Tinubu Betrayed Osinbajo – By Hisham Haroun by Move2(m): 8:03am On Apr 29, 2022 |
https://thenationonlineng.net/osinbajo-then-i-was-nominated-by-tinubu-osinbajo/ I was nominated by the leader of our party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, under who I served as a commissioner in Lagos State,” Osinbajo said at a colloquium on the state of the nation in Lagos organised by the Coalition of Nigerian Apostolic Leaders. 2 Likes 1 Share |
| Politics / Buhari And Osinbajo: Alike, Yet Unalike (II) by Move2(m): 8:05am On Apr 25, 2022 |
First, a few questions. Why have the charges of religious bigotry against Vice President Yemi Osinbajo not gained traction in the mainstream Nigerian media, despite mounting evidence from the man’s own speeches and actions? Why has the Vice President escaped media and political scrutiny for stuffing over 90 per cent of his appointments with members of a single religious sect when at about the same time the media have continued to chant “unbalanced appointments” against his boss? The answers to these questions are to be found within Nigeria’s media and political cultures and the lessons they highlight must be learned if Nigeria must move forward under any structural arrangement. A media culture in which one man is vilified for doing a wrong, but another man escapes media spotlight for doing the exact same thing cannot be said to be sound, and the soundness of a media system is directly correlational with the soundness of the political system in any given societySo far since 1999, hundreds of Nigerians from every part of this country and from every religious persuasion have aspired for the presidency of Nigeria from many different political platforms. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, only two of them—Buhari and Osinbajo—have been accused of religious bigotry in the context of their political aspirations. Not even religious clerics like Chris Okotie who actually floated a political platform, Fresh Democratic Party, while still a pastor, to run for the highest office in the land were overtly associated with their religious faiths in a political sense. Thus, accusations of religious fanaticism at the time of running for office is one thing President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo have in common, beyond being members of the same political party or working together at the presidency. Yet, there the similarities end. While a whole corpus of writing and speech has emerged in Nigeria’s political media about Buhari’s perceived theocratic politics, almost all of it without much evidence, Osinbajo, a man who is not only a theologian, but has proclaimed his theocratic politics publicly, has gone largely unscathed in the same media. This, in a nutshell, is how Nigeria’s political journalism has always been practiced, but a little background might help make the case. About twenty-one years ago in mid-2001, or thereabouts, a story surfaced in the THISDAY newspaper in which Buhari was reported to have enjoined Muslims to vote only for Muslim candidates in the then upcoming 2003 elections. All hell broke loose afterwards, and did for long. In fact, as Malam Garba Shehu, now Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Buhari, but not much associated with him then, wrote more than 10 years later in a November 14, 2012 article in the Premium Times, that although Buhari had no known interest in politics at the time he supposedly made the speech in 2002, “looking at all that has happened from the time he chose to dive into the murky waters of politics to his repeated contest for the Presidency, terrible misrepresentation of his speech continues to be the single most important threat to Buhari’s bid for the Presidency of this country”. Of course, Buhari would later deny saying that, and to none other than then Reverend Father Matthew Hassan Kukah, now the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese who, in turn, wrote supportively of Buhari on the issue in an article in the Weekly Trust Newspaper of July 6-12, 2001. But it didn’t matter, Buhari was vilified almost every day in the media for wanting to “Islamise Nigeria” throughout the long years he was a candidate for president from 2002 to 2015. Indeed, while Buhari still somehow made it to the presidency, I think he has never really recovered from those years of negative press. That statement became an albatross that, in a sense, still hangs over Buhari’s political neck to date as far as mainstream Nigerian media is concerned. It was, in fact, the only reason why Buhari had to pick a pastor in three out of his five presidential runs, and why Osinbajo ever became vice president. Meanwhile, the man who sees his position as Nigeria’s Number Citizen almost entirely as a religious destiny (“manifest destiny” in his own words) and as an opportunity for the elevation of one religious group above all others in the country has not been subjected to even a frown in the media. For example, at a meeting with Christian Apostolic Leaders in 2016, as reported in the Vanguard Newspaper of November 4, 2016, Osinbajo had this to say about his vice presidency and the presidential bid that would follow: “An APC National Leader who had served when he was governor was interested in putting me forward as the running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari in consensus with other national leaders of the party. “I was a product of this system. The church was reluctant and I understood why the church was reluctant. The church was looking at the head of the ticket (President). This is our first opportunity. This is our first shot at it. We need to maximize it and do the best we can. I think what my nomination and appointment have done is that they have opened the door for us. We can do it and we can be influential in doing it.” My argument, then, is that if anyone with a name like Atiku Abubakar or Bukola Saraki, or Muhammadu Buhari has made a statement such as the above in the context of Islam and politics in Nigeria to a group of Muslim leaders, their political careers will be over the following day. The same Nigerian media that ignored Osinbajo’s seamless fusion of church and state, the same media that have ignored his appointment of only leading pastors or members of his church to key positions of state would make sure their political careers are over. The media would discover its voice and be screaming secularism and what not if any of the persons above dared to say anything even half as scandalous as Osinbajo’s. In other words, the Nigerian media does not understand that religious extremism can also take a Christian colouration, something well understood in Europe and elsewhere. It is always the Muslim or Northern political leader or public official who must demonstrate their Nigerian-ness, and who must publicly proclaim and display their secularist tendencies. Christian or southern political leaders do not have to carry such burdens in Nigerian politics. They can do literally all they want in relation to religion and politics, and no one will notice because the media won’t see it as wrong. They can make all their political appointments from only their own small corner of the country, as own small corner of the country, as many heads of federal agencies and departments have done repeatedly and routinely, and it won’t be an issue in the media. But once the shoe turns on the other leg, all hell will break loose in the media. This is why Osinbajo’s over-religionisation of politics in Nigeria has come under scrutiny. And this is why it must be called out not just on social media, but also in the mainstream political media in the country, even if by only a few lone voices. https://dailytrust.com/buhari-and-osinbajo-alike-yet-unalike-ii |
| Politics / Insecurity: Buhari Doesn’t Deserve To Be Nigerian President, Says Sultan-led JNI by Move2(m): 11:57pm On Apr 04, 2022 |
he Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has said any government incapable of protecting its citizens has lost the moral justification for being in power. JNI, which is the umbrella body of northern Muslims, is headed by Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto. According to the group, the essence of government and governance is solely to protect the five principal cardinal rights of the human race, the most important of which is life. The religious body was reacting to the killings and terrorist attacks under the Muhammadu Buhari-led government, particularly the recent attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train. SaharaReporters had reported how terrorists bombed the Abuja-Kaduna train en route Rigasa destination with hundreds of passengers on-board. During the attack, many passengers were kidnapped, others shot dead and unascertained number of the passengers also sustained various degrees of injury. JNI in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Aliyu said terrorists in the country were becoming bolder and more belligerent by the day, adding that they now operated as they wished. The statement read, “The well-orchestrated incident remains highly condemnable, reprehensible and upsetting to every rational mind. Any government that is incapable of protecting the lives of its citizens has lost the moral justification of being there in the first place; this is enunciated in section 33(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “It appears that the continuous callous acts of mayhem, killings and arson happening almost on daily or weekly bases around us; either within communities and/or on the roads we ply, has automatically reset our human psyche that we now have accepted such dastardly acts as part of our lives, to the extent that we no longer feel it. “The humanity in us is slowly being eroded thereby making us adapt to the new normal within which we unfortunately found ourselves. In Islam and by all global standards, the essence of government and governance is solely to protect the five principal cardinal rights of the human race, the most important of which is life. “Terrorists are now becoming bolder and more belligerent by the day. They operate in any area of their choice(s) at any time they so wish. They even operate for up to 8 hours non-stop (as it was reported to have happened in Niger state last Monday), without any fear of being confronted or apprehended. Most communities are now under the bandits’ absolute control with taxes being paid to bandits–some parts of Borno, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Sokoto states and some others yet to be disclosed to the public. “In fact, terrorists do what they wish knowing that there is no gun power or authority that will defy them. With all the reported resources allocated to relevant security agencies; intelligent gathering mechanism, military arsenal and tact, can’t the government provide any convincing justification on why the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate? “Why are attacks experienced all over the place and continuing unabated without any deterrence?” The group added that as part of efforts to tackle insecurity in Nigeria, the war on illicit drugs should be placed on the front burner “as it is the elixir that spurs criminals to action.” https://saharareporters.com/2022/04/04/insecurity-buhari-doesn’t-deserve-be-nigerian-president-says-sultan-led-jama’atu-nasril |
| Politics / APC Governors, Others Unhappy With Buhari's Choice Of Adamu As Party Chairman by Move2(m): 8:20pm On Apr 01, 2022 |
EXCLUSIVE 2023: APC Governors, Others Unhappy With Buhari's Choice Of Adamu As Party Chairman, Plot To Reject Consensus Presidential Candidate http://saharareporters.com/2022/04/01/exclusive-2023-apc-governors-others-unhappy-buharis-choice-adamu-party-chairman-plot 1 Like
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| Politics / Buhari’s Men Dangle Presidential Ticket Carrot Before ACN Caucus by Move2(m): 7:39am On Mar 26, 2022 |
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/buharis-men-dangle-presidential-ticket-carrot-before-acn-caucus/ as a way of offsetting impending dominance of party’s NEC ‘Their decision to corner all posts has not given us any cause to believe them’ In their last minutes’ bid to douse tension within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) some foot soldiers of President Muhammadu Buhari who are mostly members of the CPC. The move might not be unconnected with efforts being made by them (CPC caucus members) to dominate the forthcoming National Executive Committee of the party, which is causing ripples within the APC. Sources within APC who spoke with Saturday Telegraph on Friday, stated that Buhari is not taking any chances as he is being urged by his handlers to use his influence and power to take over the structure with a view to using such to ensure that the emergence of his successor will be smooth sail. Members of the inner core of the kitchen cabinet of the president have impressed it on him to ensure that he has a firm grip on the party in post-convention era so that he won’t be in a disadvantaged position while trying to pick his successor next year,” the source pleaded not to be mentioned said. According to the source, the advice forms the basis for the initiative of drawing up a consensus list that would eventually be ratified by delegates at Saturday’s convention. That action has since become a source of discord within the ranks of the party with many stakeholders calling for open election by those who have signified interest to contest one office or the other. To douse tension, Buhari had during a dinner to pacify aggrieved members at the Presidential Villa on Thursday told those present that the presidential ticket of the party will go to members of ACN faction in a move many view as efforts to placate Bola Tinubu. Two sources within the APC told our correspondent that indeed, the President at the meeting stated that the ACN would be left alone to produce the candidate of the APC next year. “President Buhari told those present at the meeting that the presidential ticket of the party will go the ACN caucus. I think he did this to pacify members of that caucus which is seen as the second biggest after that of the CPC whose turn he used to get to office in the last eight years,” one of the sources said. Rather than douse tension, it further aggravated it with other caucuses feeling cheated. The party source said: “Most members present who are not from ACN left the hall quietly dejected, leaving those from ACN to take pictures with President Buhari at the end of the event.” The assurance notwithstanding, members of the ACN are not losing guard with many of them weighing their options in case the situation does not favour their caucus as promised by President Buhari. An aide to a South West governor in a telephone chat told our correspondent that: “We are skeptical of the intentions of the president and his handlers. Their decision to corner all the available posts within the party has not even given us any cause to believe them. Those who have the nerve to do what they have done will always renege on whatever agreement they reach at the point of duress.” Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and Ekiti State chief executive, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, expressed his reservations as well as those of his colleagues when he told a gathering on Thursday that he wasn’t aware of a consensus list being drawn up and that whosoever is interested in party office should slug it out with those being put forward by the president. “As for your question madam as to whether the president has anointed anyone to be the chairman of the party, I have no knowledge of that,” Fayemi said while fielding question from reporters at an event organised by an Abuja based non-governmental organization. |
| Politics / 2023: Shouldn’t PDP Reward Fidelity? by Move2(m): 7:34am On Jan 13, 2022 |
While some insist that power is not
served a la carte, others say it is taken
and not given as if Ndigbo are not
working very hard to convince other
Nigerians to look in their direction in
2023. Yet, some others patronisingly talk
about lack of political unity in Igbo land
and how the people do not speak with
one voice.
Some others are busy ridiculing Ndigbo,
asking whither their presidential
aspirants. Yet, others have thrown up the
issue of trust. Such people ask whether
someone from the Southeast can be
trusted with power when the Nnamdi
Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPOB, are agitating for an independent,
sovereign homeland.
But they forget, most conveniently, that
Buhari was elected president in 2015 even
as Boko Haram was fighting for a
sovereign Islamic State. And today, even
as terrorists are wreaking havoc in the
North, many northerners are jostling for
the presidency. None of those defining
Ndigbo by the activities of IPOB see any
issue with that. To them, it doesn’t
matter.
But it should matter because these
innuendoes are deliberate acts of mischief
deployed as a tool of disinformation to
wheedle the unwary. How can anyone
claim that if Ndigbo are given the
presidency in 2023, it will be the surest
and easiest route to the balkanisation of
Nigeria?
How can a people who have investments
in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria at
the same time be plotting to torpedo the
Nigerian project? What then happens to
all their investments outside Igbo land?
Truth be told, some Nigerians are trying
to hide behind their fingers in a desperate
attempt to stymie the enthronement of
equity, fairness and justice in our body-
politic.
It will be a shame if that is what Nigeria
is all about because as Pius Anyim,
former Senate President, Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, SGF, and a
presidential aspirant on the platform of
the PDP, noted in Enugu last week: “If the
presidency is zoned to the Southeast, it
will satisfy the just demand of equity and
fairness. If it is not zoned to the
Southeast, it will remain a burden on the
conscience of the nation.”
But beyond that, the PDP owes the
Southeast an obligation to pay them back
for their loyalty and steadfastness with
the presidential ticket if fidelity to a cause
means anything to the party apparatchik.
Why do I say so? Simple! That the PDP is
still standing tall today is because of the
enormous sacrifice the Southeast has
made in keeping the party going even
when others abandoned it.
Take for instance, Anyim. In his Enugu
speech, he boldly declared: I would like to
state that I have stood with our party, the
PDP, in good and bad times. Like most
loyal party members, I have had my
moments of elation, as well as some
difficult times but I never moved. I have
never switched parties. Therefore, I make
bold to say that I can be entrusted with
the vision, mission, values and principles
of PDP as a committed party man.”
How many of those rumoured to be
nursing presidential ambition, particularly
from the North can boldly say the same?
Take former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar, for instance; PDP only matters
to him as long as he can hijack it as a
platform for contesting elections. When it
is not available, he abandons it.
After being Vice-President for eight years
on the PDP platform, he decamped to
Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in 2007
to run for the presidency, only to return
to the PDP thereafter. When he could not
have his way in 2014, he abandoned the
party again and not only helped in
founding the APC but also defeating PDP
in the 2015 elections. Today, he is being
touted as the man to lead the PDP again
in the 2023 political battles.
Whatever happened to loyalty – loyalty to
ideas, to principles, to supporters and a
political party? The same thing can be
said of all the other aspirants from the
North – Senator Bukola Saraki, former
governor of Kwara State; Governor Aminu
Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who was
Speaker of the House of Representatives
on the platform of the PDP for four years;
Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, former
governor of Kano State and Minister of
Defence, positions he held as a PDP
stalwart.
They all left PDP when the party needed
them most. They helped in dislodging the
party from the political high horse where
it was comfortably perched for 16 years.
Today, without any qualms, they are back.
When the North abandoned the PDP, the
Southeast and South-South stood firm. It
is only moral that they should be
compensated with the party’s presidential
ticket in 2023 if loyalty means anything in
the opposition political party. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/01/2023-shouldnt-pdp-reward-fidelity-2/ |
| Politics / Buhari Wants To Hand Over To PDP: Here’s How by Move2(m): 7:26am On Jan 13, 2022 |
AFTER four weeks of delay, confusion and
indecisiveness, President Muhammadu
Buhari finally refused on Monday to sign
the Electoral Amendment Bill, citing a raft
of reasons which took him so long to
improvise you could clearly guess he
wanted the cup to pass over him.
But every leader must, at some point, face
their demon. President Olusegun
Obasanjo was in a similar position 20
years ago, when he refused to sign the
NDDC Bill on the grounds of a
disagreement with the National Assembly
over what percentage of statutory
allocation the commission should get.
While he proposed 10 percent and a
reduction of the annual budget of the oil
and gas companies from three to 1.5
percent, the National Assembly wanted 15
percent statutory allocation to NDDC and
three percent from the companies. In the
end, the former president was overridden
by a National Assembly with his own
party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
in majority.
In spite of the huffing and puffing by the
current All Progressives Congress-
dominated, APC, National Assembly, it’s
improbable they would muster the will –
or even the numbers – to override Buhari.
What’s in a bill?
What’s the sticking point in the Electoral
Amendment Bill? There are a few, but the
obvious one is the provision in the bill for
mandatory direct primaries by the
political parties. Under the law, the
parties may choose their candidates
through direct or indirect primaries – or
even by voodoo executed in the coven of
some party godfathers. This latter option
is elegantly called consensus.
Things fell apart between members of the
National Assembly who want a statutory
end to the indirect primaries because they
say it’s undemocratic and largely liable to
manipulation, and governors who say
mandating primaries for parties is
undemocratic and expensive.
The governors have captured the
President and, against the public mood,
his refusal to assent to the bill was full of
excuses that hide the truth in plain sight.
It’s a shocking Christmas present from a
man who after being a victim of a
shambolic electoral process that thwarted
his election three times, vowed after his
success at his fourth attempt, to leave a
legacy of free, fair and transparent
elections.
If Buhari’s refusal was a PDP curse, then
they’ve got him. And if it’s a trap by
insiders in his party with a vested interest
in his failure, that’s even worse as they
have failed to give him even a fig leaf’s
shred of argument to cover his weak and
naked excuses.
How could Buhari say he withheld assent
because of cost, for example? Cost to
who? The parties, and not the
government, are responsible for
primaries. Even though the parties have
made it a bazaar of sorts, which is
precisely what governors want because
they hold the wallet, it is not
government’s business to pay for or
organise party primaries.
Rank and file members who are truly fed
up with eating out of the hands of
governors should organise themselves and
put their money, time and talent where
their mouth is to wrest the parties from
governors and take back control. It’s not
Buhari’s job to save the parties.
And in case he was talking about the cost
of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, conducting the
primaries, he said nothing about what the
current cost is, never mind the expected
revised cost.
It is regrettable that a president interested
in making a serious argument for not
assenting to a vital public legislation, did
not have the courage to show the public
what INEC’s actual feedback on cost was,
weeks after he claimed seeking the
commission’s advice on the matter.
And he’s right about something, though.
The parties, including his own, have
dubious membership registers. So, how
can we be afraid of something we don’t
even know, something we’re not sure of.
Conjecture is not evidence.
The argument about security did not
make sense either. If anything, it’s not
only an indictment of Buhari who was
voted principally to secure the country. It
also hints that the president is leaving
such a deplorable legacy of insecurity, he
does not even see things getting better
long after he is gone!
That’s a blow to the reputation of a man
in whom so much hope was placed for a
more stable and secure country six years
ago. And yet he makes the argument so
casually that he cannot even see that he is
undermining himself.
That’s not all. Buhari said he was
withholding assent because to sign the
bill in its current form would infringe the
right of choice of citizens and the political
parties. Citizens, he said, specifically party
members, should be free to choose their
candidates anyway they want. Why put
them in a straitjacket? Also, the parties,
under their present titles, have greater
discretion of choice and should not be
tempted with any other options that
might lead to needless litigations.
That sounds really seductive, the sort of
argument a philanderer espouses before
he finds his next victim: it won’t hurt,
trust me – it’s for your good! But it ends
in premium tears. To pretend that the
current system is a voter’s carte blanche
is to be disingenuous. Choice is already
circumscribed by the Constitution and the
Electoral Act, and the latter permits
selection through one of three means –
direct or indirect primaries or voodoo.
The strongest argument for mandating
only direct primaries is that it vests the
decision for the selection of candidates in
the rank and file. And why not, if they are
prepared to invest in the system and if
CSOs are also prepared to help build a
culture of volunteerism to strengthen the
democratic culture?
Even though a number of National
Assembly members who favour direct
primaries do so out of spite for state
governors, the system offers far greater
guarantee of transparency and fair
competition than does the current
muddle.
Suspicious love
But the emptiness of Buhari’s argument
does not end with its self-serving
pretension that it seeks to defend voters’
rights. It also claims that it wants to save
smaller parties from the logistical
nightmare of direct primaries. Well, this
Salvation Army is coming rather late.
If Buhari was interested in saving smaller
parties, he would have sponsored a bill
that dismantles the current system which
insists that whether by hook or crook,
parties must have offices in every local
government and every state, for “national
spread”. Who needs that? That is what is
killing smaller parties and making even
the bigger ones wrecking balls.
One of Nigeria’s brightest lawyers, Jiti
Ogunye, made this point in his
intervention on why the National
Assembly should override the president;
it’s a must read. To make it even worse,
there is a provision in the electoral law
that disqualifies parties that fail to meet a
certain threshold at elections from
registration! Is Buhari not aware? Or does
he just prefer the sport of attacking the
ringworm while the leprosy festers?
Isn’t it a shame for a man who covets a
legacy of electoral reforms that even this
contentious bill is not an executive bill?
Yet, Buhari is happy to be led by the nose
by a Minister of Justice, Abubakar
Malami, who obviously is in cahoots with
some governors to bend the system (in
Kebbi, his home state, and nationwide), to
his personal advantage. Apart from
chewing the microphone, what has Buhari
done, in concrete terms, in the last six
years, to promote electoral transparency
and internal party democracy?
Legacy, whose legacy?
I’m amused by the nonsense from
quislings in the ruling APC, who say that a
National Assembly veto must be
prevented to save Buhari’s legacy from
stain. Really? Are they serious? Can’t they
see that the party itself is in grave danger,
going for years without a chairman, a
national convention, a board, or anything
whatsoever on which it can stand as a
party, beyond the first quarter of next
year? If the lawmakers love Buhari and if
they love their party, they must save the
president by a veto.
If they don’t, the fallout would swell
disenchantment among swathes of
already disenchanted members in the
rickety ruling party who would, in turn,
be obliged to leave the empty shell for
Buhari and his remnants. Heads or tails,
the governors will be alright; but Buhari
will be miserable in retirement.
The Electoral Amendment Bill is more
than direct primaries. There are also
provisions in it to cap election spending
further, toughen the penalties for vote-
buying and validate the use of biometrics
and electronic transmission of results.
There have been suggestions that it is this
last bit about biometrics and transmission
of results that Buhari doesn’t want, and
not necessarily direct primaries.
Truth is, except in Buhari’s fantasy,
nothing in this Electoral Bill threatens his
legacy. And I’m ashamed to say this: that
a man who was not once, not twice, and
not even three times a victim of electoral
fraud, should shirk the opportunity to
make things better when he can and
should. He’s just about to hand his
presidency over to the PDP on a platter. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/01/buhari-wants-to-hand-over-to-pdp-heres-how/ 1 Like 1 Share |
| Politics / 2023: Don’t Care If Next President Is Christian Or Muslim – Bishop Okonkwo by Move2(m): 5:53pm On Jan 03, 2022 |
Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM, has cautioned Nigerians against banking on religion and tribe in deciding Nigeria’s next president. Okonkwo has, however, claimed he does not care if Nigeria’s next president is a Christian or Muslim. Featuring on Arise tv, the founding member of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, said Nigerians should pick a president who can deliver on the dividends of democracy. He said: “We must rid ourselves of party politics, religious politics and personal interests as long as the politics of this nation is concerned and focus on who can deliver to us the dividends of democracy. “I don’t care whether he is a Christian or a Muslim, but who actually is interested in this country and has a multitude of them across the length and breadth of Nigeria. “We have done this thing for too long. Religious politics, party politics, tribal politics, where has it led us? For me, it’s time to come to the drawing board and admit that we have failed and start doing the right things.” https://dailypost.ng/2022/01/03/2023-i-dont-care-if-nigerias-next-president-is-christian-or-muslim-bishop-okonkwo/ |
| Politics / Secret Memo: NIA Directors Ask Buhari To Stop Signing Documents by Move2(m): 12:13pm On Dec 23, 2021 |
saharareporters.com/2021/12/23/secret-memo-national-intelligence-agency-directors-ask-buhari-stop-signing-documents-he Directors in the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to desist from appending his seal on decisions he does not understand. The directors in a secret memo unanimously noted with dismay several decisions Buhari has made after being “deliberately” misguided by his aides and advisers as a result of “selfishness”. All these they attributed to the president’s inability to pay rapt attention to matters, Peoples Gazette reports. “As the head of this massive entity call Nigeria, sometimes your aides, advisers and handlers, may, out of selfishness and vested personal interest, deliberately mislead you, to unwittingly do some things against your known principles, unfortunately, because, they know that sometimes, due to some urgent numerous state matters that need your urgent attention you may not necessarily be too meticulous about everything,” the directors said in the letter. The letter was written to Buhari amid claims that the President is considering tenure extension for the current NIA director-general, Ahmed Abubakar. Appointed on January 10, 2018, Abubakar’s tenure is expected to expire in January 2022. The directors described Buhari’s decision on the tenure elongation as a “wrong one based on a wrong advice”. Nonetheless, they admitted that some of the president’s decisions are borne out of inadequate facts of situations. “We learnt that the tenure of the current DG, which comes to an end in January 2022, is being considered (for extension) or has been secretly renewed,” the spy chiefs noted. They alleged the repeated and “intense lobby” for tenure elongation for the heads of the security agencies. “We have known all along that there has been clandestine and sometimes open intense lobby to mislead you to take the wrong decision, as was done in the last appointment,” they said. “Please excuse our use of this language to describe your last decision on this matter as a wrong one based on very wrong advice. With all sense of humility and modesty.” The NIA directors believed the president could not have approved the appointment of Abubakar in 2018 if he had been duly informed about circumstances against his appointment. “There is no way you will knowingly approve any illegality and/or anything done without due process as the last appointment of the current DG,” stressed the spy chiefs. They pointed out that Buhari flouted the National Security Agencies Act, which specified that the NIA DG should be appointed on the advice of the national security adviser. The spy chiefs said Babagana Monguno, the current NSA, had told the National Assembly that he was unaware of Abubakar’s appointment when the president authorised it in 2018. Controversies had trailed the appointment of the current director-general, as critics, including a Bauchi senator, Isa Misau, argued that Mr Abubakar was unqualified for the position. Many have described the President’s decision as a “breach of national security.” |
| Politics / The Bola Tinubu Dilemma: Does APC Want To Win With Him Or Lose Without Him? by Move2(m): 8:24am On Dec 22, 2021 |
I was in between my PHD research efforts during the feisty days of the Trump campaign to be president when the man appeared on NBC and made a case among the Christians for their votes. He said some Christians may not like him. They may even see him as an infidel. He had embarrassed his party with so many allegations of sexual impropriety that in the past had scuttled ambitions even for far lesser positions than president. https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/12/22/the-bola-tinubu-dilemma/ 17 Likes 4 Shares
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| Politics / How South East Lost The Chance Of Producing President In 1979-amaechi by Move2(m): 7:32am On Dec 22, 2021 |
First of all, let me take you back to history. Ndigbo lost a bright chance of producing the president of Nigeria in 1979. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe called me in April 1978 and told me as his field man in his time to go back to Nigeria and tell them that he wanted to come back to politics. I went to Lagos, I contacted Shehu Shagari and asked him how do we work together to get this done? Shagari summoned two other people from the North; Shetima Ali Monguno and Sunday Awoniyi from Kwara State. Then I went with Azubuike Okafor and Dennis Osadebe. We were holding meetings in Lagos at the residence of Shehu Shagari and I was reporting to Zik until we eventually agreed on a platform – National Party of Nigeria (NPN); that Zik will be the presidential candidate, while Shagari will be his running mate. So, I came back and reported to Zik and he said ‘that’s good, you know it is the emirs in the North who determines; are you sure they will not knock it off ? So, I went back to Lagos and told Shagari this is the fear of the old man. He said of course we were in consultation with the emirs. Then the following week, the Sultan of Sokoto sent the Emir of Zaria to Zik at Nsukka that the entire emirs in the North are in support of what the politicians are planning. Again, Zik said ‘what about the soldiers? The soldiers may take up the government again if I run.’ I asked him: ‘Owelle, if they kill you now, did they kill you early?’ I went back to Lagos and told Shagari that this is what Zik is saying about the army. Shagari asked: ‘Does that man really want to be president? Okay, I will get in touch with the army, come back in the evening, we will have dinner.’ That evening, I went back to his house in Victoria Island and Theophilus Danjuma came. Danjuma was the Chief of Army Staff then. So, the three of us had dinner and Shagari told Danjuma about the fear Zik expressed. Danjuma said ‘no, no, no, but this is the real man we want, this the type of person that we want that will bind this country together. I can’t go to Nsukka because if I go back to Nsukka the press will catch me. Alright, go back and tell Zik that I am going to Calabar on Saturday to Army Sports and I will make a speech at the Army Sports and in this speech I will send a message to him.’ On that day, Danjuma went to Calabar and made a speech. He said: ‘I am reassuring the nation that the army is ready to hand over finally to civilian government and return to barracks but they must warn that the person they will handover to must be an elder-binding person in this country, will not be a person who will come and cause trouble again, must be a true father of the nation.’ Suddenly, Jim Nwobodo lost nomination with Onoh in the party and went back to Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) and told Zik, dump whatever arrangements, come to NPP, NPP is our own party, Igbo party, we will put you in government. Suddenly, Zik changed mind, he changed mind and made announcement that a plan for his birthday in November 1978 in Enugu is cancelled and it was that day he was to be presented to the nation. A motion to be moved by Maitama Sule from Kano to be seconded by Anthony Enahoro from the West, then I will speak last from the East. I went back to him on the 17th of November and asked Zik what happened and he told me ‘Jim came to me that I should go back to my people and I don’t want to go to a party where Adisa Akinloye will be the national chairman and I don’t want to belong to the same party with K.O. Mbadiwe because of what Mbadiwe did to me.’ In my book, in which I wrote the history of Nigeria, you will see where I said ‘Zik made Jim Nwobodo governor and unmade himself president.’ So, that was what happened. In that birthday party that was aborted, Osadebe came, it was aborted and he went to Zik’s house but they did not allow him to see Zik. They told him Zik was sick. He started going back and had accident at night mile corner and got paralyzed till he died. Mojeed Agbaje from Ibadan, a close associate of Adegoke Adelabu came for the party at Enugu and it was aborted. He went to Nsukka to see Zik and he was told that Zik was not feeling fine and he couldn’t see anybody. On his way back he had accident and died, four of them in his car died at Ore and that was how we lost the opportunity of becoming the president and the party went and nominated Shagari. Then on the 13th of January, 1978 at Kwara State Hotel, we were in campaign tour and Shagari was to announce his running mate, so, he called me in the hotel with Akinloye the national chairman and told me that he has selected me to be his running mate. I told him thank you very much. I said as a sincere man, I can see myself for a lower position when Zik is running against me, I can’t run against Zik, I can’t run an election to defeat Zik, Igbo people will not forgive me and my children will not be able to explain it. So, I nominated Alex Ekwueme to be the running mate. That was how we had the opportunity we had. Again, during this Fourth Republic, Ekwueme ran and the same Jim Nwobodo ran to the North again and betrayed Ekwueme at the Jos convention when the Peoples Democratic Party PDP was selecting its presidential candidate; the same Jim Nwobodo. https://independent.ng/how-south-east-lost-the-chance-of-producing-nigerias-president-in-1979-amaechi 2 Likes |
| Foreign Affairs / North Koreans Are Banned From LAUGHING Or Drinking For 11 Days by Move2(m): 4:00pm On Dec 16, 2021 |
North Koreans have been banned from laughing or drinking for 11 days to mark the tenth anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il's death. Government authorities have ordered the public to not show any signs of happiness while North Korea commemorates his death. Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, and was then succeeded by his third and youngest son, current leader Kim Jong Un. Now, ten years after his death, North Koreans are being forced to observe the 11-day period of mourning where they are not allowed to laugh or drink alcohol. 'During the mourning period, we must not drink alcohol, laugh or engage in leisure activities,' a North Korean from the northeastern border city of Sinuiju told Radio Free Asia (RFA. The source added that North Koreans are not allowed to go grocery shopping on December 17 - the anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death. They added: 'In the past many people who were caught drinking or being intoxicated during the mourning period were arrested and treated as ideological criminals. They were taken away and never seen again. 'Even if your family member dies during the mourning period, you are not allowed to cry out loud and the body must be taken out after it's over. People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period.' Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack on December 17 2011 at the age of 69 after ruling the country for 17 years in a brutal and repressive dictatorship. Another source, a resident of the southwestern province of South Hwanghae, said police officers were told to watch for people who fail to look appropriately upset during the mourning period. They told RFA: 'From the first day of December, they will have a special duty to crack down on those who harm the mood of collective mourning. ''It's a month-long special duty for the police. I heard that law enforcement officials cannot sleep at all.' The source also added that citizens groups and state-owned companies have been ordered to take care of those in poverty during the period of mourning, as the country grapples with a food crisis. They said: 'Social order and safety must be ensured, so companies are responsible for collecting food to give to residents and employees who cannot come to work due to food shortages. 'Residents must also work together to help out the kotjebi [North Korea's street beggars]. ' The anonymous resident added that mourning for Kim Jong Il, and his father Kim Il Sung, is affecting North Korean's daily lives. They said: 'I just hope that the mourning period for Kim Jong Il will be shortened to one week, just like the mourning period for Kim Il Sung. 'Residents are complaining that the living are forced to mourn these two dead people to death.' Three generations of the Kim family have ruled North Korea since Kim Il Sung established the country in 1948. When Kim Il Sung died in 1994, his eldest son, Kim Jong Il, inherited power. Kim Jong Un is the third and youngest son of Kim Jong Il and assumed power upon his father's death in 2011. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death, various provinces across North Korea are holding exhibitions of his photography and holding concerts in his memory. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10316469/amp/North-Koreans-banned-LAUGHING-mark-tenth-anniversary-former-leader-Kim-Jong-Ils-death.html |
| Politics / Obasanjo, Northern Elite, Monarchs Warned APC Against Fielding Buhari – Akande by Move2(m): 7:38am On Dec 11, 2021 |
The pioneer Interim National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande, has given an insight into the severe pressure mounted on the party by influential persons to make sure Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), now the President, did not emerge as the party’s candidate for the 2015 election. In his 559-page autobiography, titled ‘My Participations’, launched in Lagos on Thursday, Akande said persons like former President Olusegun Obasanjo and some unnamed elite, especially from the north, including royal fathers, were against Buhari becoming the party’s candidate. The former Osun State governor explained that an aristocratic leader from the North came to Osogbo, the state capital, to persuade the then governor, Rauf Aregbesolato prevail on them to drop Buhari. He, however, said the leaders of the newly formed party decided to go ahead with Buhari, given his charisma and the support he had garnered in his previous attempts, having contested the coveted position three times earlier. He said the emergence of the APC created a formidable structure for for him and that Buhari’s candidacy was in fact one of the bases for the merger of the constituent political parties. Regardless of this, he noted that the party allowed anybody interested in the ticket to contest against Buhari at the convention, where he eventually won. On Obasanjo’s opposition to Buhari’s candidacy, he wrote, “When the party was ready and we were going around to all the leaders, someone reminded us that we had not seen Obasanjo and (former Head of State, Ibrahim) Babangida, and asked them to join us. “We also met Obasanjo and asked him to join us. He said he would not join us but that he had his sympathy for us. He said he had decided not to join any political party since he left the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party. Behind the scene however, I understood he was pressurising some of our leaders not to use Buhari as our candidate. It got to a point when Bola Tinubu had to confront him thus: ‘It is not fair sending me to Buhari. Buhari was a soldier and he was one of your junior offices in the army. Why don’t you call Buhari and let him know how you feel about his intention to be President?’ I don’t know whether Obasanjo stopped at it. From the start, he did not want Buhari to be President.” Also, on the opposition by the other elite, Akande wrote, “It was apparent from the start that Buhari would be our choice for President. That was one of the bases for the merger. However, there were pressures from the elite, especially from the North, including royal fathers, piling pressure on us not to allow Buhari to be our presidential candidate. A prominent aristocratic leader from the North stayed several nights in Osogbo, persuading Governor Aregbesola to prevail on us not to field Buhari. He threatened that if we did, there would be trouble in the North. We reviewed all these threats and decided to go through it with Buhari.” Adebanjo pestered Tinubu to build his Lekki house – Akande Akande also described the leader of pan Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has a blank politically-minded leader who does not have what it takes to contest political positions. He further said Adebanjo pestered APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to build him a house in Lekki, where he now resides. He also stressed that contrary to what Adebanjo believed, the ruling APC did not have restructuring in its manifesto in 2014 when the party presented Buhari as its flagbearer, adding that APC only promised to support devolution of powers from centre to states. Continuing, Akande alleged that Adebanjo coerced Tinubu to build a house for him in the Lekki area of the state. “One day, Sir Olaniwun was launching a book at Muson Centre, Lagos. After the book presentation, Tinubu said I should not go and that he would like to see me. We met in a small room where he also invited Sir Olaniwun Ajayi. ‘Papa, you can see that this document is old, Tinubu said as he handed over a big envelope to Ajayi. This is your C of O (Certificate of Occupancy)!’ “Tinubu told me later that after he presented Adebanjo’s C of O to him, Adebanjo was always pestering Tinubu until he helped built a house on the plot. The street was also named in honour of Adebanjo and he is living in that house now at Lekki Phase One,” Akande said. https://punchng.com/obasanjo-northern-elite-monarchs-warned-apc-against-fielding-buhari-akande/ 1 Like 1 Share |
| Foreign Affairs / Museveni To Surrender Uganda’s Only International Airport Over Chinese Loan. by Move2(m): 11:49am On Nov 26, 2021 |
On Tuesday, 17 November 2015, the Uganda government signed an agreement with Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) to borrow $207 million at two per cent upon disbursement. The loan had a maturity period of 20 years including a seven-year grace period. It has now emerged that the deal signed with the Chinese lenders virtually means Uganda “surrendered” its most prominent and only international airport. The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) says some provisions in the Financing Agreement with China expose Entebbe International Airport and other Ugandan assets to be attached and taken over by Chinese lenders upon arbitration in Beijing. It also emerged that China has rejected recent pleas by Uganda to renegotiate the toxic clauses of the 2015 loan, leaving Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s administration in limbo. According to the Daily Monitor, the Ugandan government waived international immunity in the agreement it signed to secure the loans, exposing Entebbe International Airport to take over without international protection. In desperation, Uganda in March sent a delegation to Beijing hoping to renegotiate the toxic clauses of the deal but the officials came back empty-handed as China would not allow the terms of the original deal to be varied. Last week, Uganda’s Finance Minister Matia Kasaija apologized to parliament for the “mishandling of the $207 million loan” from the China Exim Bank to expand Entebbe International Airport. Progress of works at the airport, built in 1972, has reached 75.2 per cent, with two runways having reached overall completion of 100 per cent. Entebbe International Airport is Uganda’s only international airport and handles over 1.9 million passengers per year. Its seizure by China would greatly dent the legacy of the 77-year-old Museveni, who came to power on the back of an armed uprising in 1986, and expose him to election defeat. https://guardian.ng/news/museveni-to-surrender-ugandas-only-international-airport-over-chinese-loan/ |
| Politics / The Elite: Nigeria's Biggest Problem by Move2(m): 8:17am On Nov 12, 2021 |
Nigeria’s development has been very slow because the ruling political elites are not committed to the progress of Nigeria. Northern leaders use political Islam as an effective tool to oppress their own people, especially the majority almaijiri, and effectively lord it over other zones of the country, by using tyranny of the majority as a means to hold on to power perpetually. The champions of Northern hegemony use the argument of a purported larger population and bigger land mass, to justify ownership of federal power in Nigeria. And they find willing collaborators in the treacherous Yoruba and Igbo elites, who would accept crumbs to sell-out their own brethren when power is in contention. Yet, like it or not, we are stronger being together as one Nigeria. Though many would not like to hear this, because of the trauma of living in a nation where equity, justice and fairness do not govern our political culture. The balkanization of the country would not solve our problems either, because the same greedy, dishonest, corrupt and incompetent political elite would still be running Biafra, Oduduwa Republic and the Middle Belt nations. The political class must be blamed for the present slide of our nation toward disintegration. We are more divided than ever. Things have never been this bad. But our politicians are more interested in 2023 and who wins what, than how to end the economic mismanagement and disequilibrium that created terrorism, banditry and other street crimes. What has compounded our problem is the failure of civil society advocacy groups. The generation of great civil right activists like Tai Solarin, Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome – Kuti, Bala Usman, Clement Nwankwo, Olisa Agbakoba, etc is dead and buried. Today, many of the activists make noise to be noticed, some just want to get foreign grants to keep body and soul together; while a few target government jobs. Most of our civil society groups are businessmen and women, who seek prominence to climb the social ladder, not to fight for the masses like the activists of old. No wonder, irresponsible power-seekers, touts and area boys/girls now occupy some seats of power. A former police AIG, Nuhu Aliyu, who became a senator, once lamented that some of the crooks he arrested and detained, sat side by side with him in the Senate chamber. If you have a polity that’s control by felons, crime would reign unfettered. That’s what is happening in Nigeria. Many of our leaders should actually be spending their days behind bars, if our justice system is not dysfunctional and corrupt. How can you have peace in a country where some of your security agents would be selling weapons to terrorists and giving information to those who levy war against the state? Yet, no single traitor has been executed in Nigeria since the terror war began about ten years ago. No Governor, except the then Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has ordered the execution of a single armed robber, or convicted murderer since the days of Gen. Sanni Abacha’s dictatorship. https://www.sunnewsonline.com/the-elite-nigerias-biggest-problem/ |
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