Home Blog Page 2122

APC Convention: SMBLF Lauds President Buhari, Congratulates Tinubu

By
The Source
-
0
South And Middle Belt Leaders

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for not interfering in the just concluded Presidential Primary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, thus making way for a Southern candidate to emerge.

In the June 7, 2022 Primary, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had beaten 22 other candidates, including the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawal, and the immediate past Minister for Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

The SMBLF has been in the forefront of pushing for a President of Southern extraction after the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, with an emphasis on justice, fairness and equity.

24 hours to the Primary, the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, caused an uproar when he unilaterally announced that the Party had chosen Lawan as the consensus candidate. He said he had consulted with the President.

It took the firm stand of eleven Northern APC Governors, the stern warning  by the Governor of Ondo State who doubles as the Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, and the ruggedness and tenacity of Tinubu to abort Adamu’s coup plot. Buhari was to later distance himself from Adamu’s choice, and said he had no candidate, and was not in support of any consensus candidate.

In a statement, the SMBLF hailed Buhari “for staying true to his promise of non-interference in the process of electing the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Following, the Forum’s statement.

“The  Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has lauded  President Muhammadu Buhari for staying true to his promise of non-interference in the process of electing the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Given the president’s earlier reported request to the APC Governors to allow him pick his successor, SMBLF considers the process leading to the emergence of the APC‘S presidential flag bearer as, reasonably transparent, fair and credible.

“Accordingly, the Forum congratulates former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on clinching the APC presidential ticket, following the heart-warming contest. While noting that, his emergence as the presidential flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress satisfies the Forum’s imploration to major political parties in the country, to present southern presidential candidates for the 2023 elections. In observance of the principle of rotation and zoning of key political offices, especially the presidency, between the North and the South, which has been a sine qua non in the nation’s political progression.

“That though SMBLF had preferred the presidential ticket to go to the South-East zone, based on justice, fairness and political inclusiveness, the Forum wishes Bola Tinubu well and urges him to be magnanimous in victory.

“SMBLF was particularly impressed by the nationalistic essence demonstrated by the APC Governors and political leaders of the Northern States, who maintained and followed through on their earlier resolution that the party’s candidate in the 2023 presidential election should come from the southern part of the country; despite the melodrama orchestrated by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, on the eve of the party’s Special Convention.

“SMBLF anticipates that the Northern Governors and political leaders would prove the same attitude of patriotic resolve during the main presidential election in February 2023.

“SMBLF likewise commends the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, for his principled insistence on the rotation of the 2023 presidency to the South, unlike some of his colleagues who vacillated.

“It remains the position of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) that another northern president in 2023, after the statutory eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, would not only be unfair and unacceptable but deleterious to the peace and unity of Nigeria.

“Accordingly, SMBLF reiterates its call on the people of Southern Nigeria, the Middle Belt region and all well-meaning Nigerians to, as a hallowed responsibility to the nation, VOTE FOR ONLY southern presidential candidates in the 2023 election, in the national interest.”

 

Signed:

Amb. Okey Emuchay, MFR, for Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide

Comrade Jare Ajayi for Afenifere

Dr. Isuwa Dogo for

Middle Belt Forum (MBF)

Hon. Ken Robinson for PANDEF/Acting Coordinator, SMBLF

AFCON 2023: Super Eagles Defeat Sierra Leone, As Coach Peseiro Records First Win With The Team

By
Akinwale Kasali
-
0
Super Eagles

By Akinwale Kasali

After two successive defeats in the hands of Mexico and Ecuador in  International Friendlies at the United States of America, Super Eagles Portuguese Coach, Jose Peseiro, recorded his first victory in charge of the three- time African Cup of Nations Champions.

The Super Eagles came back from a goal down to defeat Sierra Leone’s National Football Team 2-1 in their 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers played at the Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola Stadium.

Joseph Morsey gave the visitors the lead in the 11th minute to put their host on their toes, before Everton Football Club of England midfielder, Alex Iwobi equalized in the 16th minute before Napoli Football Club of Italy Striker, Victor Osimhen scored late in the first half to give the Super Eagles the lead into halftime.

Peseiro started Francis Uzoho in goal, with Oluwasemilogo Ajayi and William Troost Ekong in Central Defense, with Olaoluwa Aina and Calvin Bassey playing in the left and right back position.

Playing a 4-4-2 Formation, Alex Iwobi, Joe Aribo, Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze were in the midfield while Victor Osimhen and Sadiq Umar were upfront.

In what was perceived could be a repeat of a goal feast 4-4 draw between the Super Eagles and Sierra Leone in the 2021 AFCON Qualifiers with three goals already scored in the first half, surprisingly, no goal was recorded in the second half.

The Super Eagles will go into their second game in the qualifiers against São Tomé and Principe in four days time at the Agadir Stadium in Morocco, hoping to maintain their 100 Percent record in the qualifiers.

Guinea Bissau, Super Eagles other opponent in the Group whitewashed São Tomé and Principe 5-1 to go top of the Group on superior goal difference.

Osinbajo Hails Tinubu’s Qualities; Congratulates Him On Victory

By
Adesina Soyooye
-
0
Bola Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo

By Adesina Soyooye

Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has celebrated Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s sterling qualities.

In a congratulatory letter to Tinubu over his victory at the Presidential Primary Election which took place on Saturday, Osinbajo celebrated his former boss.

“For many decades, our Flagbearer has shown passion, patriotism courage and determination in the cause of nation-building.His sterling contributions to our democracy and its progress stand him out.”

Osinbajo was also a Presidential aspirant. Not a few people had expected he could win, but Tinubu gave him and the others a technical knockout. Osinbajo  came a miserable distant third.

Osinbajo, from Ogun State, was Tinubu’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice when Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos State. Tinubu also, allegedly, nominated him as President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate. But their relationship soured when Osinbajo declared interest in  succeeding Buhari in 2023, after Tinubu had declared interest in the same office. He was tagged a betrayer.

Following,  the full statement signed, personally, by the Vice President:

“I congratulate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his victory at our party primaries and his emergence as the Presidential Candidate and Flagbearer of our great party, the APC for the forthcoming 2023 Presidential Elections.

“I also congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari and all leaders of the APC for a successful Special Convention and Presidential Primary.

“For many decades, our Flagbearer has shown passion, patriotism, courage and determination in the cause of nation-building. His sterling contributions to our democracy and its progress stand him out.  His wealth of experience will certainly be critical in our party’s continued efforts to attain a more secure and prosperous Nigeria.

“To all members of our great party, regardless of who you voted for at the primaries, we must now unite behind our Presidential Candidate and Flagbearer to ensure victory for our party in the 2023 elections.

“As true progressives, we must remain strong and united in pursuing our collective vision as a party towards building a country that can provide a decent life and livelihoods for all our people.”

Democracy Day: Monday Is Public Holiday

By
Adesina Soyooye
-
0

By Adesina Soyooye

Monday June 13, 2022, has been declared a Public Holiday by the Federal Government.

According to a statement by  the Minister for Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, it is in commemoration of Democracy Day.

The Nigerian Government had, under former Head of State, General Abdulsami Abubakar, on May 29, 1999,  declared every May 29 Democracy Day because it was the day a Civilian Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo was inaugurated after years of Military Regimes.

But in 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Government shifted it to June 12, in honour of the Late MKO Abiola, who presumably won the election to the office of the President on June 12, 1993, but which was, inexplicably, annulled by the Military Government under General Ibrahim Babangida.

Abiola, sadly died in Military custody, ironically, under the regime of Abdulsalami.

This year’s June 12 fell on a Sunday, and, as is the usual in Nigeria, the public holiday to mark it was shifted to Monday, June 13.

Big Upset As Dumebi Kachikwu Beats Kingsley Moghalu

By
The Source
-
0

By Charles Igbo

Dr Kingsley Moghalu’s Presidential ambition has been shattered. His plans have gone awry. And all his boosting to demystify big names in the 2023 Presidential race blew away by the wind.

In what seems unbelievable, but true, Moghalu, brilliant, suave, a former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN,  Deputy Governor, has been beaten, hands-down, at the Presidential Primary of his Party,  African Democratic Congress, ADC. He came a distant second.

Moghalu was beaten by Delta State- born Dumebi Kachikwu. A younger brother of the former Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, Dumebi, once married to one of the beautiful daughters of Dr Kema Chikwe, former Aviation Minister, former Ambassador, is the founder of Roots Television.

At the Primary, Kachikwu scored 977 votes to beat Moghalu who scored 589 votes, and Chukwuka Monye who scored 339 votes.

Moghalu joined ADC in October 2021. Before then, he was the Presidential candidate of the Young People’s Party, YPP, in the 2019 Presidential election. He made no impact then and resigned from the Party in October 2019.

Just before the ADC Presidential Primary began, Moghalu had told the delegates that he would, when elected the candidate, send both the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, into retirement.

Moghalu: “I am here to offer myself to you not because I am better than anybody here, but because I care for the future of our country. I offer myself because God has given me the main recognition to stand side by side with Atiku, Tinubu and to send them into retirement.”

In an ironic twist, Moghalu has been retired by his Party.

Again, Unknown Gunmen Struck In Ondo Leaving Six Dead

By
The Source
-
0

By Ayodele Oni

For the second time within a week, unknown gunmen have  struck in Ondo State killing six persons.

The incident, which happened Wednesday night in Ondo town is coming five days after the gruesome attack on St Francis Xavier  Catholic Church Owo, by suspected terrorists, which led to the death of several persons.

Sabo area of Ondo town, which haboured mainly Hausas, where the incident happened, became a ghost of itself after the Wednesday night attack.

It was gathered that the gunmen were on motorcycles when they carried out the latest attack, shooting into the crowd of people, some of whom  were relaxing after the day’s job.

Another source said the bandits also robbed some residents of the area of their valuables before they left the scene.

It was further gathered that the dead bodies of the deceased could not be immediately packed from the scene as people took to their heels to avoid being shot.

Spokesperson of the State Police Command, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, said the Police authority was aware of the incident.

The Police Command in a statement said: “The attention of the Ondo State Police Command has been drawn to a fake news being peddled by some mischief makers to cause panic, tension and strife in the State.

“The Command wishes to state clearly that there was no reprisal attack on the Hausa Community at Sabo area in Ondo town or any part of the State as purported by the war mongers.

“On Tuesday, 7th of June, 2022, there was an attempted robbery on a J5 vehicle with plate no MKA – 469 YJ carrying Onions and Potatoes coming from Zaria enroute Ore, had a stop over at Ondo town and was attacked by men of the underworld around 0110hrs .

“In the cause of this attempt, the robbers shot the driver , while the motorboy escaped with bullet injury, a motorcyclist alongside the pillion and a passerby were also hit by stray bullets

“It is however disheartening that, these peddlers who are out to achieve no good did not confirm the story before spreading this falsehood as the victims involved in this failed robbery are from Yoruba, Igbo and Northern extraction.

“Investigation has since commenced and effort is ongoing to arrest the assailants.

“On this note, the Commissioner of Police, Ondo State Command, CP Oyeyemi Adesoye Oyediran, psc, fsi, urge the people of the state to remain calm and disregard the fake news, as the rumour mongers are out to stir unnecessary chaos and disrupt the peace of the State.

“This is also to warn the peddlers of this fake news to desist as the Command will not fold its arms and let them shatter the peace being enjoyed in the State.”

OPINION: Tinubu: Back Story and the Morning After

By
The Source
-
0
Azu Ishiekwene

By Azu Ishiekwene

After the feisty, if not bitter, presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ended on Wednesday with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerging the party’s candidate for the next election, the overriding instinct is to throw the losers under the bus. You can hardly blame Tinubu’s camp.

The man had a raw deal right up to the last minute. For seven years, he was literally an outsider in a party that he played a consequential role to build and a government that he helped to bring to power. And no one seemed to bother.

As Tinubu said in a speech in Yoruba that landed him in hot water almost on the eve of the primary, in spite of investing his all to install Buhari’s government in 2015, he did not ask for water, garri, or fura – and things were so bad that even if he had asked, he would still not have been given.

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. Even after he was shortlisted, the party chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, ambushed him outside.

He told the press that Tinubu would be punished for his “I-made-Buhari-president” comment, and after plunging the knife, twisted it by announcing that the party had adopted the Senate President Ahmad Lawan as its consensus candidate.

Twenty-four hours to the primary, Sabiu Tunde Yusuf was still frantically pushing the Lawan consensus candidacy, telling theexecutioners 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.

Of course, that didn’t happen. The former president and the faction led by former APC interim Chairman, Mai Mala Buni, plotting his return slunk off as ignominiously as they had converged. Yet, in the layer after intricate layer of the plots to supplant Tinubu, the most potentially devasting to him and his camp was the one from inside.

Till the last minute on Tuesday night when Ekiti State Governor, KayodeFayemi, and Senator Ibikunle Amosun, among five others stepped down for Tinubu, the South-East and South-West had the largest number of aspirants in a race which was the latter’s to lose. Even though the region has produced a president for eight years and a vice president for seven so far, Tinubu was without a doubt, the most formidable aspirant in the South and countrywide.

What compounded the misery in Tinubu’s camp, however, was not just the number of aspirants in the South (19 in all), but also the fact that his main opponents in the South-West were a part of what used to be his political clan. Amosun, a latter-day part of this clan, and perennial Tinubu rival, was not exactly the problem. He was, if you like, a known foe, with not a few scars. Stepping down is good for him, but bad news for Governor Dapo Abiodun, whose second-term fate now hangs in the balance.

The main headache for Tinubu’s camp were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Fayemi; the former for his position in the government and star power, and the latter for his role as state governor and chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum.

Fayemi managed, throughout, to keep an open channel with Tinubu (and interestingly with Osinbajo),while he was, at the same time, keenly mindful that his tenure as governor ends this year.His decision to step down wasnot much of a surprise to insiders. The elephant in the room, not just in Tinubu’s camp, but also among associates, and in the Presidential Villa, was what to do about Osinbajo’s ambition.

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.

From then on, it was left to the leaders of the South-West to manage the mess. They tried. Before the Segun Osoba-led peace meetings, a former governor from the South-West and prominent minister in Buhari’s cabinet arranged two meetings between Tinubu and Osinbajo, which ended in a deadlock.

Osoba’s peace efforts only managed to obtain promises of fair-play from the contenders, but failed (especially in the last meeting held before the primary), to extract a promise from Osinbajo to step down. The die was cast.

The statement by the 10 Northern governors – a pregnancy inseminated by enlightened self-interest and opportunism – was a positively significant twist in the plot. Whatever the motivation, it strengthened Tinubu’s hand.

Not a few still wonder why Osinbajo refused to step down – a decision for which he would take a beating for a long, long time to come, especially in the South-West where preferment for a benefactor, particularly an older one, is often culturally an article of faith. How come he misread the writing on the wall?

In hindsight, it seems a big opportunity missed, but Osinbajo believed he had a depth of support, especially among the young, increasingly politically active post-ENDSARS population from far and near, that he stood a good chance and was prepared.

Fundamentally, he also believed that, by and by, Buhari’s lukewarm support would lift and shine through. Unlike Tinubu who threw the gauntlet when he lost his patience with Buhari’s cat-and-mouse game, it’s improbable that Osinbajo would have pressed ahead if he did not believe the president would “anoint” him. Alas, he was fatally mistaken!

And herein lies the significant difference between the two aspirants: whereas Tinubu knew that the cabal knew his potential to damage the party in the event that the cabal chose to muscle him out, Osinbajo, with a significantly lower deterrent value, was relying almost 100 percent on Buhari’s benevolence.

Also, whereas Tinubu has been one of the party’s major pillars with an extraordinary capacity to call in favours in spite of the seizures within his clan in recent times, Osinbajo’s camp overestimated the vice president’s great national charm especially in the treacherous waters of internal party politics, where quite often, the piper calls the tune. Nigeria’s delegate system – the equivalent of the US electoral college – is an anachronism in representative politics, all right; but the law, nonetheless.

Tinubu’s camp deserves to enjoy and celebrate its victory. But as he also said during his acceptance speech on Wednesday, his emergence is not only a lesson for Osinbajo and 13 other aspirants who fought to the end; it cuts both ways.

The temptation to revenge in the euphoria of victory can be quite strong. I imagine there would also be strident calls for mass executions of fallen rivals. But this can also be a teachable moment for the victor’s camp – a moment of healing and renewal.

If the APC wants to retain power and keep the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at bay in next year’s presidential (or general) election, it must quickly prevent bad blood spreading.

It cannot depend solely on Buhari, a president at peace with his lame-duck phase, to win the next election, however tempting that option might be. Buhari has shown that he has no dog in this fight, no interest. Tinubu must take responsibility to lead by healing.

And while that process should start with all those who lost to him on Tuesday, and reach to other estranged members of his wider clan, he also needs to assuage the justifiable outrage among South-Easterners who feel that justice in Nigeria is a stranger to that zone.

Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

OPINION: Seeing Peter Obi Through The Prisms Of His Younger Brother

By
The Source
-
0
Peter Obi

By Valentine Obienyem

I knew Mr. Peter Obi’s younger brother long before I met Mr. Peter Obi.

Mr. Fabian Obi (Later a Rev. Father) was our teacher in 1984 at Akpu Seminary. As a senior teacher (auxiliary),  and because he was bubbling with scholarship, vitality, discipline and great character, students ran away from him because he took every opportunity to inoculate us with every virtue. I have seldom met a man so intensely absorbed in the responsibilities of his position – Auxiliary.

Knowing that as small as we were, our thoughts were mostly on what to eat and pranks to play, he would always quote this biblical passage for us: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” He did a good job on us   because most of us carried those virtues till this day.

Regrettably, in some, it was like the milk teeth doomed to decay on contact with the rough realities of the world. This is why some of us, let me look for trouble here, have even  navigated through belief, “Spinozaric” pantheism, agnosticism, atheism and back to belief. The one we lovingly call Eke is still on the journey since completed by the likes of M.

I recall that in one of our symposia in the Seminary, Mr. Fabian Obi( as he then was) presented the lead paper at a time the Maitatsine group were wreaking havoc in the North. Delivering his paper entitled, “Religious Fanaticism and Maitatsine Group”, he likened the fanatic to one possessed by “Agwu.” We marvelled at the structural majesty of his ideas and the scholarship of the presentation.

Yes, I still remember intellectual engagements like this because I carried a note pad and pen always to catch ideas or arresting phrases in their flight.

We called him “I Force You”, because he would always force us to follow the paths of rectitude. He is yet to answer the question he posed to us in one of his classes, namely, “Appilico abu Njo?’’. His one potent weapon is deadly knocks on the head – instant punishment for egregious acts! Part of his punishment then was also requesting the offender to read the late Msgn P.O. Achebe’s “Maturity through Formation Forum.”

We had one encounter with “I Force You”, which we can hardly forget. One sunny afternoon, driven by hunger after class, we rushed the afternoon prayers having turned the instrument of that prayer – “Manual of Prayers for Junior Seminarians” – into fans. Always calm, Mr. Fabian  Obi (later a priest) was to say the final part of the prayer. Rather than do that as we enthusiastically waited, he said: “let all fanning stop, let the leader be slow and let us all start afresh.” Such a pronouncement quickened the pangs of hunger in us.

Adolescents would always remain one. We stopped fanning, but only a handful of us responded to the repeated prayer out of cold protest which all of us understood. When we finished the second round of the prayers, “I Force You” said wryly: “Let the leader repeat the prayers and let everybody join.”

Clearly, the repetitions were eating into our time for siesta, such that a certain juvenile anger burned like lava in us, and yet we dared not ask questions. Lest I forget, the key moral of formation in the Seminary is “Obey before complaint.” If we made the third mistake,

Mr. Obi would have come up with one of his favourite punishments – asking us to meditate on our lives and journeys as seminarians. He would have encouraged us to read “The Imitation of Christ”, as a component of that meditation.

The foregoing is just a minor premise. The major provocation of this piece was the exploration of the   similarities between Fr. Fabian Obi and his elder brother, Mr. Peter Obi.

Those days, some students ‘served” the teachers as their function in school, which included washing of plates and clothes for the teachers. It was a good function because teachers always left food for those that served them to eat.

One student I will not mention his name was a butt of jolly banter among others because his master – Mr. Fabian  Obi, Peter Obi’s younger brother- defying tradition, did not leave food for him, not once but always.

The concerned seminarian could not fathom the reason for Obi’s act. Unknowingly to us, Mr. Fabian Obi was teaching him the act of doing one’s duty without expecting gratification.

But the concerned seminarian gained more than others. While others waited fretfully for left-over food, Mr. Obi would always invite the seminarian to his room, and after words of advice, would give him novel after novel to read and summarise for him. He never collected those novels back from him.

Over the years I have watched happily Fr. Obi rising like some spacecraft among the luminaries of his time. Because he is a good formator, he is now the Rector of Iwene Tansi Major Seminary, the last formation bus stop in the  priestly journey.

Like his younger brother, Nigerians should not look forward to undue gratification from the potential President Peter Obi. As he did in Anambra State and as his brother did in the seminary, he is not concerned with what we shall eat today, like the epicureans, as if we would die tomorrow.

He is concerned with long term benefits, arming the youth with education that will help them conquer the future.

Obienyem, a Lawyer, wrote-in from Awka, Anambra State

Tinubu: A Breakaway From The Military – Tanko Yakassai

By
The Source
-
0
Tanko Yakassai

By Tanko Yakassai

The election of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the APC Presidential Bearer is indeed an important political development in our country.

This transition will lead us to a full pledge democracy, a milestone of an acclaimed figure and political Juggernaut of the APC National Leader to a National Leader of Nigeria.

When Asiwaju, a sage, is eventually elected as the President of the country in the forthcoming Presidential Elections, history shall be made in our contemporary political development for a number of reasons.

Paramount and if elected as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju’s election victory will signify the complete and total break away from military influence in our polity which will bring about the return of the country to a full pledge democratic tradition and practice for the first time since the return of civilian rule in 1999.

It will also constitute a stamp of validation of the 1914 amalgamation of the people of Northern and Southern protectorates by the entire people of Nigeria on their own free will.

It is gratifying to note that this is the first time the major Political Parties are fielding non military actors as their Presidential flag bearers.

Therefore it is important to appeal to all candidates vying for various political positions in the country to commit themselves to the principles of playing politics according to the rule of the game, eschew politics of bitterness, violence and do away with culture of thuggery in our political activism and return the country to the path of civility in the conduct of partisan politics.

May their emergence be the harbinger of the return to politics of decorum, without bitterness as well as the beginning of the arduous task of finding better strategy that will enhance the needed national unity, peaceful coexistence and cohesion in our country a prerequisite for genuine nation building.

I pray that the coming general elections will be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere free from violence.

It is our hope that the National Electoral Commission will conduct the election in a peaceful, credible manner devoid of rigging and manipulation.

Yakasai,  OFR, is one of Nigeria’s respected Elder Statesmen

Tinubu: Adamu, Aregbesola, Go Back To Their Vomit

By
The Source
-
0
Tinubu and Rauf Aregbesola

By Gideon Njoku

Victory, success, has many friends, it is often said. In the case of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, two-time Governor of Lagos State, chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, APC, and now, the duly elected candidate of the Party in the 2023 Presidential Election, nothing can be more true than that saying.

In the aftermath of his landslide victory at the Presidential Primary,  congratulatory messages have been going his way like claps of thunder. But none could have been sweeter than that of the Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and the Minister for Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

A couple of days to the Primary election which held on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at the Eagle Square, Abuja, Adamu literally declared war on Tinubu. He was harsh on Tinubu. Adamu spoke about him, and of him, the way he shouldn’t have done. Finally, he embarrassed Tinubu, almost, by asking him, indirectly, to stand down from a race he had been preparing to run in the past seven years and counting.

It started on the day Tinubu embarked on that “ill-fated” visit to Abeokuta, Ogun State, to woo delegates.

In what was seen in some circles as a sign of desperation and frustration, Tinubu told the delegates that President Buhari wouldn’t have been President in 2015, but for him. He reminded them that the President had contested three times and failed. And had gone on National television, where he shed tears,  to say he would never contest again.

Tinubu said  he travelled, thereafter, to Buhari’s home and asked him to contest again in 2015, and that he would win. It worked. And Buhari won. Tinubu also said much the same thing of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and his host, the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who was present.

It is not like Tinubu lied or exaggerated. He was on spot. But many people felt he was arrogant and rude the way he put it.

Criticisms followed Tinubu’s utterances. From the Presidency. From his friend and loyalist former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, who described Tinubu’s claim as “bullshit.” And from Adamu.

And even though Tinubu, within 24 hours, explained two times, pledging his absolute loyalty to Buhari, emphasising that he would never denigrate the office of the President which he is aspiring to occupy, Adamu hit Tinubu hard.

Addressing Reporters in his office, Adamu said Tinubu disrespected the President. He said Tinubu would be sanctioned by the Party.

Within 48 hours, perhaps, it was part of the sanction, Adamu announced, without consultations with members of the National Working Committee of the Party, that the PDP had chosen the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, as the Party’s consensus candidate. He said he consulted the President.

It took a stiff resistance from Tinubu, NWC members and APC Northern Governors to abort Adamu’s coup which not a few people  said was targeted at Tinubu.

Now, on Tinubu’s victory, Adamu has turned 180 degrees. From threatening to sanction Tinubu, Adamu turned round to praise him.

In a congratulatory letter to Tinubu,  Adamu spoke of Tinubu’s sterling qualities. And he  described his victory as sterling. Adamu:

“I write on behalf of the entire membership of the All Progressives Congress on the sterling victory that you recorded at the just concluded Special National Convention to emerge as the Presidential candidate of our great party.

“I am pleased that the Party spoke with one voice when the delegates voted overwhelmingly to nominate you as our Presidential candidate.

“It is my sincere hope and prayer that our collaborative efforts between the Party’s National Secretariat and your Presidential team will proceed with the shared expectations of victory at the 2023 General election, by the grace of God.”

Aregbesola is the next person who went back to his vomit. A very close friend and ally of Tinubu, Aregbesola, surprisingly, publicly fell out with Tinubu because he was having problems with his successor  in office, Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State.

Aregbesola, before he became Osun State Governor, thanks to Tinubu, was Tinubu’s Commissioner for Works when Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos State.

But Aregbesola descended on Tinubu, and said it was Tinubu who forced Oyetola on him as his Chief of Staff, and later as his successor in office as Governor. He placed a curse on Tinubu and called on God to punish him.

But in a statement he personally signed after Tinubu’s victory, Aregbesola hailed him as a dogged fighter.

Aregbesola: “You have demonstrated once again that you are a dogged fighter, and that in your quest for the establishment of a democratic society, you are willing to go the whole hug.”

That was the opposite of Aregbesola’s opinion of Tinubu a couple of months ago.

1...2,1212,1222,123...3,055Page 2,122 of 3,055