₦airaland Forum

On this day, June 12, we celebrate democracy and commemorate those who have sacrificed so much to establish this most benign and noble form of governance in our land.

Let us never treat this day as one devoid of special meaning, as just another holiday on the yearly calendar. We must keep in special and important remembrance why June 12 is Democracy Day and why all Nigerians should honour it.

Today is the 29th Anniversary of the annulment of the 1993 presidential election. That election was the freest and fairest Nigeria had experienced up to that moment and it yet remains as one of the best elections the nation has seen. That presidential election was clearly won by the late Chief MKO Abiola.

Given the good conduct and quality of that election, it appeared that a moment of transcendental importance, a true watershed, had taken place in the history of our young nation. It seemed as if military dictatorship had wisely yielded to the proposition that the sovereign will of the people as expressed through the electoral process should be the foundation of governance. A new way had come to Nigeria.

But democracy would not be established without greater struggle. Dictatorship would not recede willingly and without struggles. Thus, the hand of dictatorship annulled the election and clung insensiblyto power.

The annulment compelled the nation into an epic struggle of democracy versus dictatorship, choice versus coercion, and people versus power. In this confrontation between a bright future and bleak past, goodness, and the belief that we can become our better selves triumphed over cynicism and the blatant disregard of a powerful few for the collective welfare of the many. Democracy won. But it did so at a dear and high price. The man who should have been presidentlost his life while suffering in unlawful detention. Other democratic patriots suffered the same fate. Lives and livelihoods were endangered and shattered.

But the love of the human spirit for freedom and justice is unstoppable. No amount of weaponry, no measure of suppressive force and no amount of propaganda can long restrain the cry for liberty and the rightful demand for a voice in how society is governed.

That election though almost thirty years ago provides vital and reassuring lessons to Nigeria today. First, it shows that we are capable of democratic excellence and conducting elections as good as anywhere else on earth. Second, Chief MKO Abiola won a truly national mandate. His victory and mandate, though unfairly and unlawfully stolen, shows Nigeria’s unity is not animpractical dream. Although we are diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion, we all seek good governance, a better life and the positive things that result fromsustained good governance.

For me personally, Democracy Day holds a special meaning. I was a close supporter of MKO Abiola and had entered politics believing that we could change the face of this nation for permanent good. When the military dictatorship tried to bury that dream, I was there at the birth of the NADECO movement. The democratic lessons I learned then have guided the path of public service which I have tried to follow since those days.

This year, Democracy Day holds even greater significance. We just concluded fair, transparent, and open primaries in our party, the All ProgressivesCongress. The PDP also concluded their own primaries a few days earlier. Other parties too have conducted primaries. Even though we shall engage in intense and important political competition during the coming presidential campaign, I congratulate all the other candidates for their nominations and their parties for doing their part to sustain democratic processes as the mainstay of our political life.

The APC was able to conduct a successful primary election due to the sage leadership of President Buhari, and key party stakeholders like the Governors, party leadership and the Delegates. I was fortunate enough to win the APC primary due to the support of so many important people in the party.

I shall never forget the confidence they have reposed in me and shall always do my best for the nation and my party.

The role they have given me is one of weighty responsibility and sober considerations.

On this Democracy Day, I dedicate myself and my upcoming campaign to the spirit of June 12 and what it best symbolizes for today’s Nigeria.

Just like democracy finally won against dictatorship, I know that prosperity shall overcome poverty, peaceshall outlast violence, compassion will conquer hatred and good will defeat evil. Justice, security, and economic development will visit and reside in every hamlet, household, village, and city in our nation. The spirit of June 12 shall expand to become the spirit of Nigeria and our national greatness and destiny.

My prayer, on this day, is that people from all walks of life and all parts of the country unite to build a more industrious and peaceful society such that all Nigerians may enjoy a greater future.

This occasion also compels us to again thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his successful efforts to name today June 12 as Democracy Day for our beloved republic. God bless Nigeria.

May the souls of the martyrs of June 12 and the Democratic struggle continue to rest in peace.

I thank you all.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

June 12, 2022.

The First Lady is here at Eagles Square … You Know the LOGO ♾�♾♾♾�

#APCPresidentialPrimaries

An analysis conducted by Daily Trust after days of talking to key leaders of the APC and studying developments in the party shows former Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, taking the lead in terms of support of party juggernauts expected to determine the voting direction of delegates.

Ahead of the APC’s national convention holding today, governors and other key stakeholders in the party had taken queues behind different candidates battling for the party’s ticket.

Governors are in charge of the party machinery in states ruled by the APC, while in states under the opposition, chieftains such as former governors, ministers and party flag bearers are the ones calling the shot.

Most of the 23 aspirants had travelled to states to meet with party leaders and delegates to canvass for their votes. Most travelled among the aspirants are vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Tinubu, former Rivers governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

But beyond the moves to convince the delegates, old alliances and relationships are said to be playing significant roles in determining where the party leaders pitch their tents.

Tinubu has the support of most of the states with at least 16 states expected to give him block votes.

Four other forefront aspirants are projected to have a clean sweep on two states each while they join Tinubu to fight for the votes from 10 states and the FCT with no clear voting decision or swinging in the pendulum between the five frontline aspirants.

The four in this category are Osinbajo (Ogun & Nasarawa), Lawan (Yobe and Imo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti and Anambra) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers and Plateau).

Three other aspirants are projected to win only in their states. They are Kogi’s Yahaya Bello, Cross River’s Ben Ayade, former Akwa Ibom Governor, Godswill Akpabio and former Minister of Science and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi).

Tinubu’s lead

A number of the states the former Lagos governor is expected to win fall among those with highest number of party delegates.

Our projection shows that Tinubu is likely going to sweep the votes from Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Sokoto, Lagos, Osun, Niger, Adamawa, Bauchi, Ondo, Kwara, Benue, Edo, Delta and Zamfara.

Aside his known grip on Lagos and Osun, the former governor has the backing of the deciders in the 14 other states who had either publicly expressed their support for him or are strongly believed to be in his camp.

Of the 13 northern governors pushing for return of the presidency to the South, at least eleven are said to be rooting for him. Most of them, including Kano’s Abdullahi Ganduje, Katsina’s Aminu Bello Masari, Kaduna’s Nasiru El-Rufai and Niger’s Abubakar Sani Bello had declared public support for the former governor. The trio and Borno’s Babagana Zulum were among the 12 governors who endorsed Tinubu’s nomination form, according to a source who had seen the forms before it was submitted to the party.

Aside the governors, some party leaders in states under the control of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the northern region are also believed to be in support of his candidacy. Those in this category are; Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), George Akume (Benue) and Adamu Adamu (Bauchi).

A member of the APC’s highest decision making body, the National Advisory Council, who spoke to our reporter after attending the Sunday night meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, declared that the former governor was in a good stead to win despite the large number of aspirants.

The North East chieftain of the party who spoke under the condition of anonymity, projected that “Tinubu would have block votes from 20 states”.

Spokesman for the Tinubu Campaign Team, Bayo Onanuga, said at least 13 of the party’s 22 governors are with the former Lagos governor, aside support from other states.

“We are very confident about winning tomorrow. We are not just going there as mere participants. We are going there confident of victory. We believed that we have the largest support across the country,” he said.

The swing states

Findings by Daily Trust indicate that while the expected voting behaviour by some states appear clear, for others it is too hazy to determine due to a number of reasons.

Some governors are said to be keeping their choice close to their chests due to the precarious political atmosphere. Also, some governors and other party leaders appear to give conflicting signals to different camps making it difficult to determine where they stand.

The Gombe governor, for example, was said to be supporting Osinbajo while his chief of staff is involved with the Tinubu campaign giving signals that the governor is with the aspirant.

In Oyo, while Onanuga said they believed the state “will deliver” to them, a source in the camp of Fayemi said the Ekiti governor was hopeful of the party’s Oyo governorship candidate, Teslim Folarin, helping him to victory.

Kebbi and Jigawa governors are believed to be swinging though the latter had pledged to support Amaechi if he is not on the ballot himself.

In other states, aspirants like Fayemi and Amaechi are banking on prominent chieftains and governorship flag bears to deliver them.

In a few other states contention over leadership has made the atmosphere blurry for anyone to know who is in charge of the states.

Repeated calls placed on the political aide of the Vice President, Babafemi Ojudu were not answered or returned. He also did not respond to a text message sent by our reporter.

I never wanted to write this story but I was inspired to do so today, following Buba Galadima’s interview with the Punch on Monday. Buba struck a chord when he spoke about the issue of trust in the relationship between Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

You think Osinbajo should have given up his presidential ambition for loyalty to Tinubu?, Buba was asked.

He replied: “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?”.

Just like Buba, I feel strongly that Osinbajo has grossly violated the trust that ordinarily should exist between him and Tinubu.

Contrary to the stories in the social media, I was the one God used to bring Osinbajo into Tinubu’s circle in January 1999.

Tinubu had just won the election as governor of Lagos State and days after, we met on the 6th floor of Kresta Laurel at Maryland, which Otunba Gbenga Daniel donated for our use. On this day, Tinubu shared with us some of the ‘certain’ appointments he intended to make. Those who were at the meeting were Otunba Daniel, Dele Alake and I. Tinubu sat at the head of the table as he said he would make Rafiu Tinubu the Lagos State Head of Service. We argued over this and he justified the planned appointment by saying that Rafiu, who is now late, was a senior permanent secretary in the Lagos Civil Service.

“Attorney-General will be Bayo Oriola”, Tinubu said.

I shot back and said: ” I have a better person for you”, my exact words. Tinubu was startled by my interjection.

“Who is that,” he asked.

“He is a Law Professor and the man who drafted our company’s MOU. He crafted it in a brilliant way that protected us from the founding partners. Without this, the other shareholders would have thrown us out”, I explained.

I also said Osinbajo had worked with Prince Bola Ajibola, who was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under President Babangida.

Dele and Otunba Daniel did not oppose my nomination, surprisingly. Tinubu also appeared eager to meet the “wonder lawyer” that I have just sold to him, to replace a man, who had served as the lawyer to the campaign.

“Go and bring him”, Tinubu said.

Before the meeting ended, Tinubu also settled on his nominee for Information Ministry. It was to be Dele Alake and I said I would return to my office to continue journalism.

After the meeting, I went to Osinbajo’s house in Ogudu to invite him to meet the new governor, Bola Tinubu. I remember entering the apartment from the kitchen. The wife was there when I delivered the message and left the house with him, later.

I have never published this story before and hereby want to apologise to my namesake Bayo Oriola, for blocking what should have rightly been his entitlement, going by the role he played during the campaign. I hope Oriola would have the heart to forgive me.

This event happened 23 years ago. Thus a few days ago, I asked Alake to fill the memory gap. Here is what he sent to me from the U.S.

“I remember that day very well. I had actually mentioned Jebby ( Osinbajo’s nickname) to Asiwaju before that meeting. He said we’ll see. You can ask Asiwaju himself. Which was why I didn’t object when you mentioned him at the meeting because it reinforced what I had told him.

“My mentioning Jebby’s name was solely because we were classmates in Igbobi college – same classroom, together with Tunde Fowler, Ade Ashekun, (the one he made ambassador to Canada) and Tunde Durosinmi Etti, former Commissioner under Ambode. Jebby and I were also attending the same church, Baptist Sheperd Hill Obanikoro, and his father’s house in Obanikoro not far from my dad’s house in Pedro road at the back of the church.

“After you mentioned his name that day , Asiwaju still asked Gbenga Daniel again and Gbenga also okayed him.

” Asiwaju knows all these. You were the one that mentioned him openly at the meeting while I had mentioned him a day or two before in private and Asiwaju again confirmed his name from Daniel.

“When Asiwaju told me he also asked about him from Daniel I then told him that Daniel, myself and yourself were contemporaries in UNILAG and he laughed that we were doing Akoka solidarity”.

Looking back now, did I regret what I did in January 1999. Yes, I would say I have some regret, especially since my action hurt Bayo Oriola. And my apology to Oriola once again. I could not have foreseen today’s turn of events between Tinubu and Osinbajo, who I nominated to be justice commissioner.

Back when he was lucid, the late Majek Fashek sang-to no public disapproval-“Religion na politics”. I do not remember the theme or lyrics of the song well enough to be certain if it also contains a claim that both are eminently capable of scrambling the heads and minds of people involved in either or both. No matter.

I am of the view that they do. Big time. First example: Bashorun Dele Momodu, an out-and-out celebrity and doyen of celebrity journalism, spent the last few months thumping his not inconsiderable chest at more grizzled rivals for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket.

While admitting that he lacks the spending power of Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki and other obscenely monied aspirants, he claimed to have a strategy to nick the ticket. Evidence provided by results of the primaries, where he got a whopping zero vote, declined to support his claim and showed he was propelled by motivational hokum. Only.

“Everyone has a plan,” Mike Tyson famously said, “until they get punched in the mouth.” Momodu, with sadistic force, got punched in the mouth. Better organization, familiarity with the terrain and, of course, of money-in industrial quantities- available to Atiku and Nyesom Wike, to which he said his strategy was an antidote, must have relieved him of the notion of having a strategy.

He got his wires crossed, conflating celebritydom with popular political appeal- a clear sign that he is anything but self-aware. In a video cut from a television interview granted a few days ago, he said he knew what was going to happen at the primaries because he was aware of Nigerians’ predilection for following the “big man” with money. The big man, he said, is hyped without restraint.

Two things. If he knew that Nigerians, including delegates, were incurably fascinated with big names and money, what was his optimism based on? Equally importantly, we need to ask if there is a bigger hype machine for the big man than Ovation, published by no other person.

Ovation, the big man’s bulletin, is peerless as a channel for fawning and Hallelujah articles about the class of people Momodu now bitches about. Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki and Chris Uba have been celebrated in his magazine as though they made scientific discoveries. Mohammed Abacha, whose father was a Mobutu-scale thief and who was alleged to have tortured pro-democracy activists in the military era, was celebrated in Ovation.

So, what was Bashorun thinking when flapping his gums? Ayo Fayose, the absurdist former governor of Ekiti State, did not claim to have a strategy. He was only certain of Nigerians’ affection for him. Proof of that, he said, were the high-decibel cheers he got when he went to eat amala and ponmo days before the primaries at which he did as well as Momodu. His buffoonery went up a few notches before the voting got underway when he boasted that he will defeat President Buhari, who will not be on the ballot, because he is an expert at defeating incumbents. Only he-and probably Dino Melaye-is capable of such. Thankfully, he has not whined about the use of money. Not yet, at least.



Example 2: Pastor Tunde Bakare, a non-horse let alone a dark one. Were there a figure lower than zero, that would be the number of votes the preacher would score at the All-Progressives’ Congress (APC) presidential primaries kicking off on Monday June 6 in Abuja. Apparently still drunk on being once chosen as Buhari’s running mate, the preacher is convinced he is about making the jump. News reports quoting him as saying he will defeat Atiku of the PDP show him as worse than deluded. This is a chap that nobody within his party in his home state (Ogun) talks about. That he cannot score less than zero means he cannot have an outcome worse than what Fayose or Momodu had. There is every chance that at the end, he will come wailing about the use of money.

Injurious to the democratic process as vote buying (in intra-party or inter-party election) is, it is not new as it is being spun in the ongoing political season. Bizarrely, even actors who had been beneficiaries of the zero-fidelity process or shown no irritation to it are shrieking like scalded cats. They have been around the turf long enough to know the score. I think they do know the score, but find it convenient to attribute intra-party electoral losses to the use of money.



The loudness of the screams about the use of money this time and making it appear like a novelty, I think, is largely attributable to the withdrawal of Mr. Peter Obi, a high-profile aspirant, from the PDP race. Shehu Sani, a PDP governorship aspirant in Kaduna State, is also bleating that he got two votes allegedly because he refused to give money to delegates.



Those claims of aversion to money politics deserve to come under the headlights of scrutiny. Do those making them have enough and are unwilling to spend as much as others or they just do not want to be found anywhere around the practice? I cannot claim to know for sure. What I am fairly certain of is that they know and have always known the score. Obi, for example, spent two terms as governor, after which he left for one of the major parties-the PDP-through which he became Chairman, Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission.



The PDP before and after he joined is no pristine organization. It is, like other political platforms, an ethics-free trade zone, brimming with men with money and the readiness to use it. There is a reason “PDP, share the money” came into our political lexicon. Until recently, it is safe to say, Obi was not uncomfortable with the men in the PDP. Had he been, he would not have accepted the offer to be running-mate to Atiku, whose seemingly bottomless pocket blew rivals for the 2019 PDP presidential ticket out of the water. Using the same instrument and Tambuwwal’s support, Atiku has, again, picked the ticket.

He got a high-five from Obi as well as an acknowledgement of him as his leader. I cannot, will not, except at gunpoint, congratulate or accept the leadership of the man most responsible ensuring that the process had no fidelity. To do so, I am afraid, does not suggest an aversion to vote buying. I said at gunpoint because we can say things we do not mean when life is under threat. A close friend’s encounter with armed robbers in the late 90s left him fidgeting so much that where he was lying down, he hit his leg on that of one of the robbers. The robber asked: “You wan fall me down?” My friend replied: “You won’t fall in Jesus’ name.” Obi was under no threat.

Shehu Sani can, while joyfully combing his afro, continue to make that claim, but he felt no discomfort hanging around those splashing the cash in the APC when he won the 2015 senatorial ticket and the platform still found a use for him. Atiku has the ill-luck of being perceived as a serial system corrupter. But I do believe that he is no worse than any other actor. Certainly not Bola Tinubu. In 2014, while in the APC, Atiku was mocked for losing the presidential ticket despite spending loads of money. His mockers gave the impression he was the only one who spent money and nobody spent on behalf of Buhari. I do not want to believe that.

What I have found curious is that the public seems to believe the extravagant claims of aversion to vote buying and the attempt to present it as something premiered in the current season. It is a protracted illness from which our politics has suffered and is sufficiently dangerous to us as a society because of its spread to every level of our politics.

The supreme court of Nigeria on Friday, May 27, 2022, has dismissed an appeal by Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation, seeking to stop his probe instituted by the Rivers state Governor Nysom Wike.

The Apex Court held that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry was a mere investigative body, that neither Rotimi Amaechi nor anybody was on trial before the panel set up by the Rivers State Government

Governor Wike had set up a seven-man panel to probe Amaechi over alleged withdrawal of N96 billion from the state’s treasury during his tenure as governor.

The listed valuable assets are Omoku Gas Turbine, Afam Gas Turbine, Trans Amadi Gas Turbine, Eleme Gas Turbine, Olympia Hotel, and the contract award for the execution of Mono Rail Project.

Amaechi who is a leading presidential aspirant under the platform of All Progressives Congress(APC), had approached the apex court to prohibit Wike from investigating his eight-year tenure as the executive governor of the state.

The former governor represented by Lateef Fagbemi, Amaechi predicated his opposition to the probe on the ground that it was aimed at witch-hunting him, embarrassing him, humiliating him and to as well disgrace him in view of his political differences with his successor.

However, delivering judgment on Friday, a seven-member apex court panel dismissed the appeal on the ground that the ground that the probe does not amount to prosecution court that the “panel is not competent to indict Amaechi”.

Adamu Jauro who read the lead judgment in the Amaechi’s suit said: “The appeal fails as it lacks merit.”

The court also asked the former minister to pay the respondents N1 million.