Hope Uzodinma, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Imo state, did what his supporters regarded as a triumphant entry to Owerri, Capital of Imo state. This is the first time he is coming back home after the controversies surrounding his emergence as the APC flag bearer in the state, a situation that has since pitched the Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha, with the APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.
Uzodinma arrived in the company of Imo Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Prince Eze Madumere, Distinguished Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, Hilary Ekeh and many teeming supporters. Okorocha’s son in law, Uche Nwosu, was also said to have touched down at the Sam Mbakwe Airport, but his arrival was rather unsung due to the focus on the APC flag bearer .Uche has up until now failed to accept the outcome of the INEC result that produced Hope Uzodinma.
With this arrival, Hope appears to be set for electioneering campaign. Initially, with the list of flag bearers in the state omitted the names of the governorship candidates in Imo State, speculations were rife that the election may have been cancelled. But in the supplementary list, Hope Uzodinma’s name was upheld as the authentic governorship candidate.
With this, he is billed to contest with the candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP , Emeka Ihediaoha.
On arrival, Uzodinma fielded questions from journalists.
On the issue of the protest by Governor Okorocha, Uzodinma noted that nine people contested for a position that only one person became victorious, it is not out of place for losers to feel aggrieved.
On his arrest, he denied ever being arrested.” I also read it in papers like every other Nigerian”, he said
According to him, Niger Global, the company that was accused of the complicity in the contract scam, had only two per cent share in the contract.
“Before I came to the senate, I came from the private sector. I was in oil and gas and marine operations. I operated Niger Global. In 2004 we participated in an international deal and Nigeria Ports Authority was looking for partners to manage the channels and we were lucky.We were one of the companies that formed the consortium to manage Calabar Channels.Calabar Channels Management Company is a joint venture being operated by the NPA. They have the major shareholders.They have 60 per cent shareholding and then the consortium of like six other companies had different shares.Niger Global had five per cent share and there is a five member board, where NPA has three and the consortium of companies two. Before I came to Senate, I was in the board and the technical partners to the consortium dredged the Calabar Channel under the supervision of the Calabar Management Board,” he said.
He dismissed the whole issue as witch hunt, wondering why it is just surfacing now.
“All I know is that some aggrieved persons are behind this, otherwise where was this panel since 2004. I was in the 7th Senate from 2011 to 2015, why did this issue not come out. I have been here in the 8th senate from 2015 to date why didn’t the issue come up.To the best of my knowledge, the company worked, even though I am not in the management anymore but I am still one of the minority shareholders of that company.If there is any question that must be answered by the company, the majority shareholder should first answer their own query.If anything, I am a serving senator and a ranking one at that and the Chairman of the Southern Senators Forum.”
Enugu stood still. It wasn’t always so but this hot Wednesday was different. The sleepy former capital of the defunct Eastern Region was playing host to a galaxy of Igbo leaders, as well as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Igbo leaders gathered to chart a course for the race while Atiku came to formally inform the race of his candidacy in next year’s presidential election and his decision to pick a son of the soil, former governor Peter Obi as his Deputy. He came not as a former number two citizen but as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP whose promise of restructuring sits well with Ndigbo.
The emotional tight embrace octogenerian Professor Ben Nwabueze gave Atiku and his charge to the Igbo: “My last wish is that Igbos at home and in diaspora should vote Atiku and Obi” defined what was to come: Total endorsement of the Atiku/ Obi presidential ticket by Igbo leaders.
Obi: His emergence as VP candidate excites South east
Earlier, while speaking to the Igbo nation, Professor Nwabueze, a constitutional lawyer had bemoaned the fate of the Igbo in the Nigeria enterprise. “It is unfortunate that those who pioneered the independence of Nigeria have been totally alienated in their own country”, he said. He then admonished the race: ” We have to support the ticket that will ensure our survival. That ticket is the joint ticket of Atiku and Obi… it is our desire to do so and we are determined to actualize it. Igbos should do this as their last gift for me.
Atiku would later take to his Twitter account to describe his moving encounter with Nwabueze in these words: “Professor Ben Nwabueze is a patriot and Nigeria’s foremost constitutional lawyer. In a very emotional meeting in Enugu, he reminded me of the unfinished Nigerian project. I assured him and every Nigerian that i will keep to my words”
The new look- Nike Lake Resort and adjoining streets brimmed with supporters, young and old, who swarmed like bees hailing the Atiku/ Obi ticket. And then inside the main bowl of the Resort, Igbo leaders took turns to speak-all chorusing one thing: In 2019 the South east will go with a presidential candidate who regard the region as an equal partner in the Nigeria project and that candidate approximates to Atiku.
John Nia Nwodo, the President- General of the apex Igbo socio- cultural body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, recalled that prior to the PDP presidential primary, the Southern and Middle Belt Leadership Forum to which Ohanaeze is a member interacted with all the aspirants and it was only Atiku that clearly defined what he meant by restructuring.
According to him, the PDP presidential candidate spoke about restructuring in terms of immediate action on the reports of the 2014 National Conference, equitably distribution national wealth, among others which synch with the aspiration and yearnings of the South east.
The region’s formal endorsement of the Atiku/Obi ticket is anchored on this.The communique of the Igbo leaders’ meeting which was read prior to Atiku and Obi’s arrival at the venue and which was later summarised for the PDP presidential flagbearer by Nwodo said this much. The Communique which was read by legal Icon and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Olisa Agbakoba said in part:
“The Summit recognized the nomination of His Excellency Mr. Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State as the Vice Presidential Candidate of the PDP and fully endorses this nomination. It was acknowledged that this nomination puts Ndigbo back in the center governance. It is therefore important that Ndigbo should rally behind the Atiku/ Obi ticket.
We identify with the Atiku Peter Obi ticket on the restructuring Agenda as has been reiterated by the 4 Zones namely: South South , South West, North Central and South east. As long as the federating units remain weak the center will continue to be weak.
In conclusion, this is the entry point for Ndigbo and towards a better Nigeria.
We equally appreciate the position of the Atiku / Obi ticket in promoting national unity”
For Atiku, restructuring of Nigeria under his presidency is a settled issue. He told the Igbo leaders that he can not go back on restructuring which according to him he has preached for years.”You cannot preach about something unless you believe in it. Restructuring is a settled issue”, he said.
He pointedly accused Buhari of marginalizing the South east, saying he could not understand the rational behind the president’s decision to tilt the security architecture of Nigeria to the North to the total exclusion of the South and assured he would remedy the situation when he assumes office.
Nwabueze in an emotional embrace with Atiku
He also assured he will revive the Enugu coal-fired power station and the fixing of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport which he described as a death trap, among other shopping list presented him by the South east leaders. Atiku expressed worry at parlous state of the Airport saying “Any time I am flying into the Enugu Airport, I am always scared because of its poor state”, he said.
The Ohanaeze president had earlier described the potholes at Airport’s runway as the worse in the world.
Amidst intermittent cheers and thunderous ovations, Atiku and Obi’s speeches evidently stired the people. While Obi described Atiku as a unifier who would heal a divided country and job creator who will fix the economy, Atiku said the Atiku/Obi ticket was the only genuine presidential ticket and others fake. He berated Buhari for maladministration, declaring, “Buhari must go”.
As if that was the push the people had been waiting for, “Buhari must go” and Atiku/ Obi we know” rented the air
Tagged “Ahamefula, Ndigbo and the Future”, among personalities present at the meeting were Nwabueze, Ambassador George Obiozor, Chief Nnia Nwodo (Ohanaeze Ndigbo President), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Prof. ABC Nwosu, Senator Chris Anyanwu, Senator Ben Obi, Chief Achike Udenwa, Prof. (Mrs.) Uche Azikiwe, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Senator Theodore Orji,
Chief Emeka Ugwu-Oju, Chief Garry Igariwey, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu, Prof. Osita Ogbu, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chief Lawrence Nwuruku, Prof. Walter Ofonagoro, Archbishop Maxwell Anikwenwa, Commodore James Aneke (rtd), Prof. Elochukwu Amucheazi, Prof. Uzodinma Nwala, Senator Adophus Wabara, Air Comdr Allison Madueke, Igwe Afred Achebe, Obi of Onitsha, Prof. Anya O. Anya and Prof. Chudi Uwazurike, Major Gen. Obi Umahi (rtd), Uzodinma Okpara, son of the former Premier Eastern Region among others.
Meanwhile, multiple sources close to both the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Buhari Campaign Organisation told the magazine that the party and presidency were taken aback by the calibre of South east leaders that gathered in Enugu to endorsed Atiku and Obi. They are also said to be worried about the level of enthusiasm Atiku’s visit elicited among the ordinary people on the streets of the city.
A counter measure to water down the success and significant of Atiku’s endorsement are said be in the offing. One such measure being suggested is a counter meeting of some Igbo politicians of APC extraction in Enugu who will be labelled Igbo leaders; and the assemblying of some pliant third class traditional rulers who will be passed off as Igbo monarchs. They, together with the APC chieftains and hired crowd drawn from the five south east states and adjoining south south states will stage a massive rally where Buhari will be pronounced endorsed ” by the people of South east”
Another option being weighed, this magazine was told, is to urgently fix the Enugu Airport which leaders of the region have stridently complained about, announce commencement of work on some dilapidated federal roads in the region and continue to advertise alleged Buhari’s projects in the zone with the argument that he has done so much for the Igbo since assuming office.
These are not the best of times for the All Progressives Congress ruling party. For a government that has anti corruption fight as their cardinal agenda, no week passes without one or more official of the government reeling under the burden of scandal or the other.
The latest of such scandals involved-yes, you got it-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Osinbajo was said to have approved N5.8billion, which he directed to be disbursed from the Eurobond account and another N17 billion he ordered to be released from the Ecological Fund. The house of Representatives insisted that the act was illegal because, constitutionally, such an appropriation should be passed through the National Assembly. Already, Timi Frank, former factional spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, APC, insisted that the scandal is enough for a Vice President with a conscious to resign.
Calling for the dismissal of Mustapha Maihaja, director-general of NEMA, over alleged fraud, Frank said: “As a learned gentleman, Osinbajo cannot say he did not know that it is illegal for any government official to spend funds not appropriated by the national assembly. He should have known that it is intrinsically illegal for anybody to divert funds raised through the issuance of Euro Bond – approved by the national assembly for specific capital projects – to fund his ‘emergency intervention. What is most telling is that it now appears that the VP used his brief stay as Acting President to open up the nation’s coffers for fleecing in this manner with the approval of the N5.8billion to be disbursed from the Eurobond account and another N17 billion he caused to be released from the Ecological Fund.”
Osinbajo had given the approval in his capacity as the acting president during the time President Buhari was away on medical tourism in London.
Maihaja himself is not new to scandals. Only last year, he admitted that the agency coughed out a whopping N400 million in demurrage for the clearance of rice donated by the Chinese government. The rice was meant to be distributed to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North Eastern part of the country at the value of N414 million.
Recently, the Nigerian Police insisted that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, hid $470.4m and N8.8bn allegedly in commercial banks contrary to the Federal Government’s policy of Single Treasury Account. Though NNPC has denied the issue, it is now a controversy on who actually owns the money.
Again, Kano state government has been in the news for the wrong reasons: He was caught on Camera hiding huge amount of dollars in his Agbada. It was said to be part of $230,000 kickback from state contractors. Ganduje has insisted that the video was doctored, but more videos are surfacing online where he is enmeshed in more of same scandals. And Rochas Okorocha, Imo state governor, has insisted that Oshiomhole was paid huge sums of money by politicians that wanted him to return them in primaries.
All these while, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, looks the other way, even if there are petitions against the accused.
Is former National Security Adviser, Col.Sambo Dasuki (rtd) right by disobeying court orders on the grounds that he will only do that when the Federal Government turns a new leaf and starts obeying court orders and judgements? Is he above the law? What interests is he representing in such boldness against the might of the Federal Government that had incarcerated him all these years? Why now, about three months to the 2019 general election?
Has the Federal Government on the other hand which swore to an oath to defend the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at inception of office, and which has exhibited notoriety in flagrantly disobeying court orders the moral justification to compel Dasuki or any Nigerian to obey court orders? The product of this pathetic precedence is gradually raising a monster that may mar this great nation if urgent measures are not taken.
Dasuki had in a strongly-worded letter dated November 12, 2018, which he personally signed and addressed to the Registrar of the Federal High Court Abuja, vowed to boycott any proceeding for his trial, “since the Federal Government has proved beyond reasonable doubt that it would not obey any order of the court even if it is in his favour.”
Following previously perfected bails granted him by five different judges of high courts including Justices Ademola Adeniyi, Justice Ahmed Mohammed and Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Abuja Federal High Court and Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf and Justice Peter Affen of the FCT High Courts which the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari disregarded, and the fact that the ECOWAS Court of Justice also ordered his immediate release from detention, which was also rejected, he saw no reason why he should not boycott any proceedings of his trial.
“Prevailing circumstances have prompted me to write this letter to the court, the hope of every Nigerian citizens. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the current administration has so much interference with the judicial system, such that it has become practically impossible for the Court to maintain her independence, the administration of justice. My plight is of common Knowledge.”
“…….I am very much apprehensive about the President’s (Buhari) statement, in that my rights will continually be violated and that no order for my release will be honoured by the Federal Government of Nigeria or any of its agencies.
“In reaction to my the judgement of the court enforcing my fundamental human right, an embarrassing statement was credited to Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN, the current Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice on 13 July 2018 after the bail conditions have been met, including the deposit of N1,000,000 with the Registrar of the Federal High Court, stated that irrespective of the judgment directing the said release, the Federal Government would not comply,” he said.
With a seeming inclination not to obey court orders, the former NSA belived that it was ironical that the same government would use the same court to prosecute him freely and fairly. “At this point, I strongly believe that there must be an end to this hypocrisy and lopsided/ partisan rule of law.
“Since the Federal Government has resolved not to comply with judicial Orders directing my release, it is better for the Court to also absolve me of the need to submit myself for further prosecution. Justice should be evenly dispensed, as opposed to same, being in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he added.
At the resumption of the trial before Justice Ahmed Rahmat Mohammed, Counsel to Federal Government, Dipo Opeseyi, told the court that Dasuki had deliberately refused to come to court because of his anger on certain steps taking by the government against him.
But Justice Muhammad directed the prosecution to always depose to an affidavit of evidence whenever the former NSA declined to come to court. The Judge who said he had not formerly received Dasuki’s letter however adjourned further trial till November 19, 2019.
Dasuki’s stance has raised fears of the kind of anarchy the nation is heading towards if care is not taken. This is because with non independence of the judiciary, flagrant disregard of court orders, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will just be a mere paper work, and Nigerians will be left with no option than self help and uprising.
In a chat with The source, Anaba James, a political analyst said: “ There is more to this than meets the eye. I mean this challenge from a person who has been in detention by the powers that be although he is a blue blood.
“ Although his cards on the table are genuine, but they spell a rise in self help, challenge against the authorities, which can lead the country to anarchy. The myriads of security threats-Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping, armed robbery et cetera have already crippled the country. If this is allowed to continue would spell doom.
Unyio Ekwo sees it as the quest for Aso Rock in 2019. She believes that with the touch of the Northern royalty and Oligarchy, this administration has touched the Lion’s tail. “ This administration murdered sleep when it detained Dasuki, a Northern Prince, and refused to release him even after courts had granted him bail. Read in- between the lines, this administration has more to contend with to remain on the saddle after 2019 general election,” she stated.
For Solomon Dimabo, a lawyer, Dasuki’s action is timely and sensitive. That is why the federal government will have to treat it carefully or set the nation on fire. : “Nobody has the right to flout court orders, whether Dasuki or government. For Dasuki to make the stand against government means that he has a very strong support base.
“ Unfortunately, the bug of Federal Government’s seed of flagrant disobedience to court orders and judgements had eaten deep in the society that the other tiers of government have joined in the disobedience, and now individuals. It’s pathetic and does not spell good for our nascent democracy,” he said.
What does Dasuki really want although he seems to be speaking for most Nigerians? What do the interests he may be representing really want? Will the Federal Government cave in and adjust? The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and associate unions are not yet through with the N30,000 minimum wage issue of implementation, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are on strike over education funding, now it is the Dasuki challenge. Who will be next as pressure mounts on Federal Government, with about three months to the 2019 general election. “ It’s rather unfortunate that this is the only time government is forced to be for the people,” Dimabo added.
Buses, hitherto parked at the Ikeja Bus Terminus, commissioned in pomp and pageantry by President Buhari, have disappeared from the terminal. Even the terminal itself appears to be undergoing systematic dismembering and renovation. The new buses that were parked at the terminal suddenly vanished into thin air, except for two solitary vehicles.
It will be recalled that during the President last march commissioned the terminal, which was far from completed, in celebrated circumstances. Six months later, the buses arrived the terminal in batches. They were idling away at the terminal before they suddenly disappeared. But there are signs that the construction of the main terminal building, different from the commissioned one, is being worked on, though there appears to e no work going on. Those talked to by this magazine kept sealed lips.
There were blocks of concretes parked where the buses used to park but no activity was witnessed.
The terminal before the commissioning
The terminal was estimated to carry about 200,000 passengers daily to 23 Lagos destinations. It was planned with different types of public transport operations as part of the 434 strong fleet that was to replace the Babatunde Fashola Bus Rapid Transit, BRT. It was meant to be part of the first phase of the Ambode’s transport program that will see 13 new Bus terminals introduced. It is part of major terminals at the popular cities in the Lagos such as Oshodi, Yaba, Ojota, Agege and the already completed Tafawa Balewa Bus Terminal. It was to be handled by Primero, under the Managing Directorship of Fola Tinubu. Indications were that Ambode has a large chunk of shares of Primero, and that subsequent upon his one term ticket, he is tidying up all the Primero activities since it is said that Babatunde Sanwo-olu may not continue with the projects.
As things stand now, Ambode is only interested in rushing some of the projects he feels he can complete before May 29 2019. This includes the Lagos Abeokuta road that the job finishing appears to be rushed, while putting commuters under serious discomfort. Even the Oshodi Terminal may also be suspended. The terminal was not even ready in any way when it was commissioned. The ticketing area, furniture, and even the main terminal multipurpose building were not ready.
It is not clear where the buses have been taken to.
All is now set for the Peoples Democratic Party presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to storm Enugu, the political Capital of the South east geopolitical zone on Wednesday 14th November 2018 as part of his tour of consultations of different parts of the country. His coming will coincide with the special Lectures being organized by Mgboko Igbo, a socio-political group that has been in the forefront of Igbo culture and tradition and contemporary Igbo affairs. Atiku is billed to be a special guest during the lecture series, with the Keynote Address to be given by Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior advocate of Nigeria and an expert at Cabottage law. He has been at the forefront of Igbo cause, and a member of the south east political think-thank.
This year’s inaugural lecture will be delivered by Doctor George Uwazurike, a Harvard trained Professor who replaces the traditional older generation speakers in the annual event. According to Professor ABC Nwosu, it was decided that this year, the youths should take over the annual lectures. Celebrated older professors of Igbo extraction are usually saddled with the lectures in previous years.
Atiku, who is going to be the special guest, will use the opportunity to address issues that affect the South east geopolitical zone. it is expected that the little pockets of objections from the south east zone on his choice of Peter Obi qw his running mate will be taken care of.
Atiku, who has just returned to the country from his retreat in Dubai, is expected to arrive the coal city with his running mate, Peter Obi.
The gathering is expected to bring together the cream de la cream of South east politics and Intelligencia. Expected to grace the occasion are governors, legislators, members of the Academia and Igbo leaders of thought.
By Stephen Ubanna
Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel and Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, appear to be on last lap of his Presidential mandate to reform, restructure and improve, the revenue generation of the Service.
Between Monday November 5 and Tuesday, November 6, 2018, Ali, was said to have gathered all the officers from the rank of Assistant Comptrollers to Comptrollers and some selected Chief Superintendent of Customs , at the Customs Training College to brainstorm on the new Customs.
The Magazine learnt that the Customs image makers at the Customs Zonal and Area Commands led by Joseph Attah, A deputy Comptroller and the Customs National Public Relations officer were at the workshop. The Magazine gathered that the officers have been gathered to learn new things about Customs operations and what is expected of them in the new Customs.
The Comptroller General may have decided to carry along the officers along in other to produce a credible report that would be acceptable to the government. There had been several attempts in the past by the government to reform the Customs but nothing had come out of it. Ali may have learnt from the mistakes of the past that he had decided to carry the officers to make their inputs in the new Customs.
Given the importance attached to the Seminar by the Customs boss, the officers were said to have paid adequate attention to the resource persons as there was no time for truancy. Informed sources told the Magazine that the only time the officers were allowed to go out from the hall to exchange pleasantries with their course mates in other stations , who they had never have seen for years was during the tea or lunch break. Most of the Comptrollers from the south west who were said to have been excused by the resource person to attend their Zonal meeting at Yaba may have gone back to their respective offices because of time constraint and thus were not part of the closing ceremony on Tuesday, November6, 2018.
Officers who spoke to the Magazine commended Ali, the Customs Comptroller General , for organising the workshop, which have given them opportunity to air their views on how to reposition the Service to live up to its core mandate of anti-smuggling operations to intercept Contraband such as illegal drugs and weapons, enforce import and export prohibitions and protect businesses against illegal trade malpractices. This is in addition to collecting accurate import and export data for economic, statistical usage and planning in the country.
A.A. Mohammed,Comptroller,FOU Zone A
The Ali organised Customs workshop at the Ikeja Customs Training College, from all indications, may turn out to be the turning point in Customs operations. He has made made it clear to those that care to listen that the outcome of the workshop , would be implemented to the later by the government. It would be recalled that as part of his Presidential mandate of reforming and restructuring the Service, he had established the Customs police, patterned after the military police last year. The core mandate of the Unit is to ensure discipline in the Service . Prior to the creation of the Customs Service, most officer s hide their uniform in their bag and only to change in the office. Some of them after the close of work at the seaport s or land border stations tug their uniform in their bag instead of wearing to show that they were officers.
The situation was more worrisome as some officers on anti-smuggling operations cover their name tags as if what they were asked to do to checkmate smugglers involved in illegal business was illegal. Many officers who may not have come to terms with the Customs reforms may have fallen out of favour with the Customs police officers who stood by the mandate given to them to ”ensure total discipline in the Service. In Lagos, officers of the Customs were said to be operating from the Zonal office and the Ikeja Customs training College where they watch over the officers at the Commands.
Another major innovation of the Administration in the Service, was the establishment of the Strike Force, with a Core mandate to ”checkmate the activities of officers and to operate under a different strategy from the defunct Compliance team. The Customs Comptroller General , may have given the team too much powers that its officers could enter into any Customs Area Command on ”suspicion of fraudulent activities taking place or about to take place with a view to ”blocking all revenue leakages from the system.
The Comptroller General appointment of Abdullahi Dahiru Kirawa, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs as the National Coordinator of the Strike Force team early this year may have forced the team members to the right ways instead of seeing it as an opportunity to make quick money. Investigation by the Magazine shows that Kirawa and his Commanders are keeping a close tab on the Area Comptroller at the seaport and land border stations to force them to do the right as directed by the Comptroller General. There are indications that some suspected Containers that had been released at the seaports, particular, Tin-can Island port had been intercepted and transferred to the team operational base at the Customs training College, Ikeja.
A senior Customs officers told the Magazine that it was a welcome relief for the Service, for Ali, to have deemed it necessary to introduce the Strike Force team. He noted that in the south west alone, Shuaibu, an Assistant Comptroller and the Commander of the Strike Force team and his officers have formed an impregnable wall at the seaports and land border stations that fraudulent agents and smugglers are no longer finding it funny including their officers collaborators. the Comptrollers may have terms with the mandate of the Strike Force team that they have never criticised the activities of the Command and his officers at the their weekly Zonal meetings, which also had in attendance the Strike Team National Coordinator, Kirawa and Shuaibu, his Commander in attendance. they may have realised the need to open up to them to avoid running into trouble with Ali, the Comptroller General, who supervises their operations from his office.
The officer disclosed that the Strike Force, had virtually taken over the Federal Operations Unit, Zone A ,warehouses at Ikeja, to keep their intercepted and detained goods. This may have given Adamu Aliyu, Mohammed, the Comptroller of the Command an ammunition to call on Riks Lura, a Chief Superintendent of Customs and Head of the Operations and Lagos Roving team and his officers who have done the Command proud with their spectacular Contraband seizures to put in more efforts to flood the warehouses with Contrabands and vehicles from the land border stations and Containers from the seaports.
Riks may have heeded to the Comptroller ‘s directive as he had positioned his men at strategic locations at the seaports and land border stations. Ali may have known about the space Constraint s being experienced at the warehouses in Customs formations across the country that he had bowed to pressure to auction the Contrabands , Vehicles and Containers that had occupied space in the warehouse for yeas. The Magazine learnt that Adamu Aliyu, CoMPTroller, FOU, and other Comptrollers had forwarded the records of the inventory of the Contrabands in their warehouses to the Customs Headquarters , waiting for the Comptroller General , to send the Assistant Comptroller General and his Committee , who would handle the exercise.
insiders are optimistic that the planned auctioning of Contrabands in the Customs warehouses across the country would create spaces for more Contraband seizures , particular in FOU, zONE a, where the Operations and Lagos Roving team, Rapid Response and the Command Strike Force, work daily intercepting and transferring Contrabands and vehicles to the warehouse. The Customs Comptroller General may have agreed to auction the Contrabands in the warehouses to the public because not many people could bargain for the Contrabands , Condemned vehicles and overtime cargoes on -line. Many who have made efforts to do so were said to have been duped by scammers.
Ahead of the 2019 , general elections, Adams Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo state,south-south Nigeria and embattled National Chairman , of the All progressives Congress, APC, appears to have stepped on powerful toes which may have landed him into President Muhammadu Buhari’s troubles.
Oshiomhole’s problem was said to have started with the conduct of the last September governorship primaries in the states where there was deep animosity over allegations of fraud against him. The deep animosity was said to have been more pronounced in Ogun, Imo and Zamfara, states governed bySenator Ibikunle Amosu, Rochas Okrocha and Abdullaziz Yari, respectively and who incidentally were Buhari close political allies.
The trio may not have hidden their anger against Oshiomhole for failing to endorse their nominations for the governorship primaries in their respective states as the authentic Candidates which ought to have been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission , INEC, to contest , the 2019 general elections.There were insinuations in party circles in the states that the trio were against Oshiomhole, because of their perception of his game plan to frustrate and render them powerless .
Insiders told the Magazine that the trio who may not want to defect to the rival People’s Democratic party, PDP, or any other party to ensure that their nominated govenorship Candidates realise their political ambitions to avod playing into playing into the hands Buhari who may want to use Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, or Yusufi Bichi, Director General, Department of State Security Service,, DSS, to witch-hunt them.
Atiku Abubakar, PDP Presidential Candidate, Reaping From APC Crisis
The Magazine learnt that the trio may have won the President’s heart against Oshiomhole with the way they presented the matter to him portraying the party Natinal Chairman as a fraud and the need to remove him before he finally destroys the party to satisfy his pay masters.
The aggrieved governors were aid to have made it clear to Buhari and all those that care to listen that unless Oshiomhole reviews the governorship t list submitted to the INEC, for consideration for the February 28, 2019, governorship, elections, the party stands the risk of losing their respective states to the rival PDP.
Senator Amosu, governor of Ogun state , who have never his support for Abdul Adekunle Akinlade, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy to take over from him against Dapo Abiodun, an oil magnate who was selected by the party, appears to have heat up the polity in the state. This is because he has succeeded in polarising the party between the two frontline governorship Candidates in the state.
Incidentally, he shares the same complaints with Okorocha , his counterpart in Imo state, who has repeatedly accused the APC, National Chairman of ”destroying the party in the state for failing to submit Uche Nwosu, his son-In-Law and allegeed crony as the governorship Candidate of the party in the state to INEC instead of Senator Hope Uzodinma. His argument was that Nwosu won the party primaries and the only Candidate, if elected governor of Imo state on the platform of APC. would ”protect the high integrity of Buhari and the integrity of the party”.
The situation in Zamfara appears more dworrisome as the state, at present has no governorship Candidate since the rejection of Mukthar Shehu Idris, the state Commissioner of Finance and Yari’s nomination for the exalted position by Oshiomhole led APC leadership , on the allegation that there was no proper Conduct of the governorship primaries in the state.
Party sources told the Magazine that there was nothing Amosu, Okorocha or Yari, had not done to arm-twist Oshiomhole including using blackmail to force him to bow to their pressure of submitting their anointed Candidates to INEC for the 2019, governorship elections in their respective states but no luck.
The aggrieved governors pressure on the APC Chairman, may have forced him to rush to the President’s office to loge his complaints and also plead with him to call the governors and their nominated Candidates to order. He may have shown that all is not well with the APC when he declared after emerging from the meeting with Buhari that he will not ” mortgage his conscience in order to keep his APC National Chairmanship job”, an indication that Buhari may have asked him to listen to the aggrieved governors and give them what they want or be ready to quit the APC Chairmanship Job.
An angrieved Oshiomhole had noted that if out of the 23 APC governors in the states , only three of them were not pleased with the outcome of the last governorship primaries ,” no one could begrudge them for not being happy if a particular outcome did not coincide with their expectations”. Oshiomhole may have thought that Buhari, who he claims, knows about everything he is doing , would back him over his actions to play according to the rule . He got it wrong.
Unknown to him, the president was not in support of what he had done to the governors’ Candidates in the three states. This is because, the governors were his some of his strongest allies who could be used to realise his re-election bid in 2019. The President who may have felt bad did show his anger to Oshiomhole to avoid distabilising him.
Worried by Oshiomhole’s hard-line position and to clear the air that the President was not in support of his actions, Okorocha, was said to have had an audience with him at the Presidential villa last Thursday. He could not hide the anger in him when he came out from the President’s office as the President may have made him to understand that he never gave any directive to the former Edo state governor to do anything” illegal or create any form of injustice in the party”. Armed with the information, Okorocha may have prepared himself to fight Oshiomhole to the last to get justice in the party.
He fears that over five million voters in the state may have lost to the rival Opposition party, PDP, because of anger and protest everywhere in the state, stressing that the President needed to call Oshiomhole to order before he finally destroys the party.
The embattled APC National Chairman’s’s troubles may have actually started when Amosu said to the hearing of Buhari that Oshiomhole’s ”mission in APC was to kill the party”, going by his Statement describing him as a” liar over his account of the controversies trailing the party’s gubernatorial primaries in the state”.He may have bought the idea and was waiting for an opportunity to rope Oshiomhole in as a way whittling down the powers of Aswaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state and National leader of the party and who have never hidden his support for him. .
Hajiya Aisha Buhari may have made his case worse when she warned the APC National Chairman not to step to the Presidential quarters to see the President on any official matter but take it to his Presidential office for not doing her biddings to bend the rule in the party primaries in Taraba state to favour his brother.
Political analysts knew that the moment Ahajiya Buhari also turned her back on Oshiomhole, the party was over for him in the Presidency., which exposed him to various attacks and earned him disrespect from government security agencies. the Magazine learnt that Bichi, the Director General, DSS, had informed Buhari about plans to detain and grill the APC National Chairman over allegations of fraud leveled against him by the aggrieved governors of Ogun, Imo and Zamfara states.
He was said to have given the nod to the DSS officials o go ahead and do their job, when he was told about the allegations against the party Chairman. The President who did not want to be seen as sheilding Oshiomhole gave the secret police the green light to grill him. He was said to have been detained and grilled for several hours . He was however granted Administrative bail with the approval of the President to give him a relief.
. The APC National Chairman may have read the handwriting on the wall that he had lost out in the power equation in the party that he was forced to escape to the United States to save his life. But Bichi, the DSS boss , has made it clear to those that care to listen that Oshiomhole’s trouble is not over as he is expected to return to the agency for further interrogation any time he returns o the country.
The worry of party members was that he had left the party to the United States on the excuse of going to to have rest when he was needed most in the country now to oversee theparty plan for next year’s general elections, fueling speculations that he may have seen that the party have no chances of beating the rival PDP in the election. The feud between the APC, Natinal chairman and the three aggrieved governors who had petitioned to the DSS, may have sent a signal to Buhari that there is danger ahead. This is because the crisis between the party Chairman and the governors is coming three months to the 2019 Presidential elections.
A party source told the Magazine that the President had made several efforts in the last two weeks to settle the rifts between the two camps but no headway, an indication that it would be an uphill task for the party to win the crisis ridden states or for Buhari to win the 2019 Presidential elections.
The internaal crisis in APC, may have forced Abba Gana, a former minister of the Federal Capital territory, FCT, to say that Tinubu, would work for Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President and PDP Presidential Candidate because of their long standing relationship.
Many believe that the former FCT minister may have made the statement to further deepen the crisis of confidence within APC. This may have forced he APC National leader to quickly come out to condemn the Statement in its entirety and to re-state his commitment for the re-election bid of Buhari in next year’s general elections. He knew the implication of keeping quiet to the former minister’s weighty statement as Buhari may use the EFCC or the DSS to go after him for hobnobbing with the PDP.
Gana, who is optimistic that APC will lose the 2019 general elections to the PDP, said’,’ They came with the promise of improving security , economy and fighting Corruption in the country, but not much had been done ”.
According to him, ” the security problem in the country now was worse than ever. ”We have all kinds of security issues in Taraba, home state of Theophilous Danjuma, a Lt General rtd, and former Chief of Army Staff , Zamfara, Benue, Kaduna, Borno and several other parts of the country. He had simply declared: ”APC has failed’ but Buhari would not agree that the APC has failed, insisting that his Administration has uplifted the economy and improved the security situation of the country, which many believed had translated to” hunger”.
One of the most celebrated Emperors in Nigeria is fast losing his empire. He is working very hard to cling to it. But the empire is slipping. The once beloved Emperor is on a long lonely road. For him, sunset beckons. And dreams seem to be dying fast. And hard. The Emperor’s admirers are bewildered. They want to be woken up from what they think is a nightmare. But not a few people are laughing at him. And the chorus is: Serves him right.
If anybody ever doubted the Law of karma, the recent happenings in Imo state proves them wrong. The looming darkness over a once bright political future confirms the saying that: What goes round, comes round. And, there is only one question to ask:
How did Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, lose grip on things? His empire is crumbling. Friends have become foes and strangers. And the chickens are coming home to roost. It is not a particularly good or easy situation.
To understand why the throne is fast becoming a thorn, one needs to go back to 2011, the year Okorocha was first elected the governor of Imo state. He ascended the throne with so much goodwill. People clapped and cheered. They yearned for him. They were happy he won. An orator and a charismatic fellow, he ‘waoed’ the people. When he spoke, people clapped no end. His speech was like a song. You felt like dancing to it. When he sang, you danced ‘shaku’ shamelessly . He had the energy. And he had the style. In the middle of a speech, he would burst into songs, popular songs, the songs that kept people on their feet. And you needed to listen to him preach the gospel in the Church, yes, in the Church. He not only preached, he quoted the Holy Bible always. And he could hold the congregation spell-bound for long. No boring moment.
Imo people couldn’t wait to have him as their governor. They couldn’t wait to vote out his predecessor in office, the suave Ikedi Ohakim. All kinds of negative stories were told about Ohakim. One of the stories which sealed his fate, and stopped him from enjoying a second term in office, was the patently false allegation that he flogged a Rev. Father. The story spread like wild fire, during harmattan, to all the corners and crannies of the South-east. Christians, Roman Catholics in particular, were up in arms. He tried to tell his own side of the story, but nobody would listen. He was not present when the incident happened. But nobody would believe him. He went, with members of his executive council, to the Archbishop of Owerri Diocese, (Roman Catholic), His Grace, Dr. Anthony Obinna, to explain. But that worsened his case. The conclusion was that he had sinned, badly, and ran down for confession and forgiveness. Rev. Fr. Mbaka, of the Adoration fame, Enugu state, did not help matters. Not one to pull punches, especially when it comes to politicians and politics, he condemned Ohakim without hearing his own version. Without finding out the truth, which was: that Ohakim neither flogged a Rev. Fr., nor sent anybody to do so; that he was not even present when whatever incident happened; that he had only gone to Obinna to explain and apologise on behalf of his overzealous aides. However, that and a combination of other things, not forgetting, Okorocha’s charisma and oratorial gift, sacked Ohakim.
Now, that was not the first time Okorocha would contest for the governorship seat in Imo. In fact, beyond that, he had also contested for the Senate seat – Imo West – and the Presidential seat. A perennial and dogged contestant, not unlike a few other politicians, luck smiled on him, and he won in 2011. The same luck smiled on him, and he won again in 2015.
But signs that things could go awry came early enough. The first was the inexplicable impeachment of his first Deputy Governor, Jude Agbaso. Out of the blues, the governor and his cronies at the government house, a weak House of Assembly, and a weak Judiciary, impeached Agbaso over a patently false allegation of bribery. Discerning people knew the allegation was false from the pit of hell. But a compromised House of Assembly, and a Judiciary which didn’t have the courage to tell the governor the truth, which is: Don’t do it Sir. Your Deputy Governor is innocent, went ahead and impeached Agbaso.
Governor Rochas Okorocha.
The deliberate humiliation of Agbaso which had its roots in the agreement the governor had reached with the Deputy Governor’s elder brother, Martin Agbaso, was to be the fate of a couple of the governor’s appointees, especially, from Owerri zone. He humiliated Jude Ejiogu, his first Chief of Staff and, later Secretary to the State Government, out of Office. He humiliated his former Economic Adviser, and later Commissioner for Works, Nick Oparandudu, out of office. When he engineered the impeachment of Agbaso as the DG, he replaced him with his long time ally (from Owerri), Prince Eze Madumere. This guy was so loyal to Okorocha that in many circles in Imo state, he was derisively called Mrs. Okorocha. It is tragic that he forced Madumere to turn against him.
Madumere’s crime is public. He dared to show interest in the governorship seat, a position Okorocha had reserved for his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, and for which he, also, cut-down both Jude Agbaso and Jude Ejiogu. His manner of speech and conduct alienated him from a number of stakeholders in the state.
There is hardly any stakeholder in the state that Okorocha has not either put-down, or bad-mouthed. Before him, nobody is anybody. He is an emperor, one incapable of doing any wrong.
At one point, he said he had retired his predecessors – Achike Udenwa and Ikedi Ohakim from politics. He also said he had retired the likes of Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and Arthur Nzeribe. And was waiting for 2019 to retire Ifeanyi Ararume.
Beyond all that, no institution has remained the same since Okorocha’s advent in Imo. There is the Traditional institution which he, gradually, diminished. Less than one month in office, Okorocha humiliated the Chairman of the Imo state Council of Chiefs, HRH, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, out of office and, imposed another. Worse, he also deposed him as the Traditional Ruler of his autonomous community and put another in his place. Since then, at least two courts have given judgements in favour of Ilomuanya. The governor has obeyed none. Ilomuanya’s crime was his alleged support for the re-election of former Governor Ohakim, citing the unwritten, but well known Imo charter of equity which allows Ohakim’s Okigwe zone to serve two terms in office as governor, since Okorocha’s Orlu zone had, through Udenwa, done two terms in office.
Personally, I am not a fan of the rotation of the governor’s office, or any office for that matter. I am, always, in support of the best candidate. But here is the question to ask Okorocha: Is HRH Eze Ohiri, Ilomuanya’s successor as Chairman, doing anything different from what Ilomuanya was doing? Not a few Imo people think he is as partisan as Ilomuanya was. However, Ilomuanya is not the only traditional ruler he dealt with. Okorocha destroyed the Traditional institution in ‘Owere Nshi Ise.’
Here was an autonomous community, rooted in culture and tradition. It had only one recognised, revered traditional ruler, HRH, Eze Emmanuel Njemanze, a British trained Pharmacist, when Okorocha came on board. Out of the blues, Okorocha divided the autonomous community into five mushroom autonomous communities, with each parading a traditional ruler. By doing that, he destroyed the rich Owere culture. At least, one of those traditional rulers, allegedly, is a bonafide son of a neighbouring community. Not a few people insist that the death of Njemanze, a couple of years ago, is attributable to the balkanization of a once proud autonomous community. They allege he never recovered from it.
Then, later, as if the balkanization was not enough, the governor hit the final nail on Owere Nshi Ise’s head. He relocated its ancestral market, Eke-Ukwu Owere, to a neighbouring community. His reason was that the market had become an eye-sore, had become an environmental as well as a security nightmare. While the market was being demolished, tears, weeping, gnashing of teeth and blood were the order of the day. Guns boomed. And, at the end, a teenage boy was killed by a flying bullet.
When the governor demolished the market, the story was that in its place would be a mall or a school. But till date nothing. Instead, the place has become a cocktail of everything bad. Impassable. Flooded. Dirty. A compost. Smells to high heaven. One huge nightmare! And, the governor’s tenure ends on May 29, 2019. When will the project begin?
Okorocha, may have demolished the market with good intentions. But the after-effect has been nightmarish. If he was not ready to make use of that expanse of land, why demolish the market? Why destroy hundreds of millions of goods and property? Why turn several people to paupers? What was the hurry?
Every aspect of the people’s lives have been touched, mostly, negatively by the governor. There is the local government system, from where he created a non-working community government. There is the Educational system where, at times, a bunch of half illiterates are empowered to be a check on primary school teachers. They visit the schools, and do whatever they like. A few months ago, it was students from the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education who were assembled to mark examination papers of students, not the teachers who set the examination. So many things seem upside down and inside out in the state, and the people dumb-founded.
The Civil Service has not fared any better. He cut down the number of days civil servants would go to work, and ordered them to go to their farms in the village for two days! No prize for knowing the obvious. It was a flop. Once, during the celebration of his birthday, the civil servants were on holiday for days. Things, absurd at times, are the order of the day. During his most recent birthday, there were 27 extraordinarily large cakes, same shape, allegedly donated by the 27 LGAs.
Perhaps, the only institution the governor has not managed to trample on is the Church. It is not that he has not tried. He has. But it has not worked. So, he holds a couple of Church leaders in contempt. Which was why the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, thought it wise to apologise to the Roman Catholic Church in Imo whose leader, Archbishop Anthony Obinna, has tangoed with the governor or his aides and/or supporters a couple of times.
In fairness to the governor, it is not all bad in Imo. One must give him credit for the new look – infrastructure-wise – of the state capital. The only snag is that there are no roads in Owerri. Yes, he opened up the state capital, built a couple of edifices, constructed new roads, but many of those roads have since become impassable. One can also give him credit for the free education he introduced in the state – primary and secondary schools. Even though many say they do not understand it, and swear there is nothing like free education, I give him credit for providing real free education for those who attend his private schools under the Rochas Okorocha Foundation. The university he built in his town, Okpoko, is, also, a beauty to behold. Imo people should be proud of it. What is not clear is: if it belongs to him or the state, or partly state owned. But, that is a problem a new administration in the state, come 2019, will try to solve.
Yet, everything taken into consideration, there will be no claps for the governor at the end of his tenure. The chorus is that: He began well, got greedy and selfish mid-way, and messed everything up. So many things account for this. The most tragic: His penchant for playing on people’s intelligence. A whole lot of Imolites insist that Okorocha sees the state as his personal empire. They hate it that with so much impunity, he appropriated everything, almost, to himself and family. They point at official positions held by his brothers and sisters. They point at those held by in-laws. And, they ask why.
The most insulting to them is Okorocha’s insistence that his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, must succeed him in office, while his daughter, Nwosu’s wife, must succeed her mother, as Imo’s First Lady.
For the records, it is not that Nwosu, who is also Okorocha’s Chief of Staff, is not qualified. He is. The problem is the way Okorocha went about it. He uses the words, MUST! He insists that without Nwosu, APC cannot win the Imo governorship. He insists Imo will be safe only in Nwosu’s hands. He insists Nwosu is the only one capable of ruling Imo. And he publicly runs down everybody else. Anybody he thinks is a threat to Nwosu’s ambition, he cuts down politically, with the connivance of the Imo House of Assembly. It was the reason he engineered the impeachment of Agbaso. It was the reason he also engineered the impeachment of Madumere. He sacked Jude Ejiogu as SSG because somebody told him Ejiogu had an eye on the governorship seat. Once you are suspected of having any ambition, you are shown the exit door.
It is to save Imo state that a number of people, including some of his loyalists and colleagues, came together and said: Enough is Enough. It is an irony that Okorocha’s humiliation of his most celebrated ally and loyalist, Eze Madumere, triggered the seemingly confused and sorry situation he finds himself today. It was to liberate Imo state from Okorocha’s clutches and, pull the state out of his apron strings, that the likes of Senators Hope Uzodinma, Osita Izunaso, Ifeanyi Ararume, DG Madumere, The Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha and scores of other stakeholders came together. They did because they felt that Imo state has suddenly become a laughing stock. They cut across partisan lines. The chorus is that Imo must be free from the clutches of Okorocha.
Since they came together, things have never been the same for him again. Okorocha touts himself as smart. No doubt, he is. But he has been out-smarted by this coalition of Imo sons and daughters. And, he is now running helter – skelter. He is running from pillar to post. For weeks, he has been in and out of Abuja, lobbying and threatening. But the Adams Oshiomhole-led APC National Working Committee is not moved. When Uzodinma out-smarted him and Nwosu to pick the APC governorship ticket in Imo, he cried foul. From running down Uzodinma, he descended on Oshiomhole, who, before now, he had praised to high heavens. If you remember, he was always saying that the former APC chairman, Odigie Oyegun, was after him because he supported Oshiomhole to oust Oyegun from office. The music has changed. Crucify him, he says of Oshiomhole. And, he calls Ahmed Gulak, who announced Uzodinma as the winner, unprintable names.
I wish somebody would remind Okorocha that he is the architect of his current fate; that he thought money could solve everything. But Gulak alleges he rejected Okorocha’s Two million US Dollars bribe to make him announce Nwosu the winner of the governorship primary. True or not, Imo people are already looking beyond the governor’s empire. And so is APC both at the state and national level. His boasts got at everybody nerves.
Things began to fall apart for him from the congresses – Ward, local government and state. He lost out in all. And he has been losing since then. The engineered impeachment of Madumere as the DG was thrown out as hog-wash by a courageous Judge. When he wanted to swear-in Madumere’s replacement, the Chief Judge of the state, Hon. Justice Paschal Nnadi, cautiously, stayed away. And so did every Judge in the state. So, the swearing-in was aborted. Even though he said his government would go on appeal, nothing has been heard till now. Madumere, legally, remains the DG. It does not matter whatever obstacles he throws at Madumere’s way, including withdrawing his staff and security personnel. Nobody cares really. The truth is that: come 2019, whoever wins the Imo governorship seat, out of the big three – Uzodinma, Ihedioha, Ararume – would definitely revisit the humiliation of Agbaso and Madumere. They will get their entitlements to the last kobo. By that time, there will be no lily-livered and psychophantic Speaker of the House of Assembly. The Speaker, then, will serve the state, and not the governor.
The signs are obvious already. Last week, an Imo state High Court, declared as null and void the indefinite suspension of five House of Assembly members who refused to join in the charade that was Madumere’s impeachment. In 2019, many more things will be voided. Only then can Imo people heave a sigh of relief and chorus: “Imo has, finally, been rescued.”
Immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has again told President Muhammadu Buhari to face governance and stop complaining, saying; “When he was seeking votes of Nigerians, he never said he was coming to complain. Rather, he promised to fix what he claimed to have identified as the problems.
He said the President’s time was almost up, adding that he said has spent three and half years blaming his predecessors and inflicted both security and economic crises on the country.
Reacting to the President’s statement that he “inherited a mind boggling mismanaged Nigeria,” Fayose said in a statement issued on Thursday, by his Media Aide, Lere Olayinka that “it is no longer funny that a president who assumed office three and half years ago is still complaining about how he met the country instead of Nigerians having feelings of how well he has solved the problems he claimed that he had capacity to solve.
“He should stop singing the same song of lamentation that he has been singing since 2015 and learn from his colleague in Ghana, who hit the ground running immediately he assumed office.”
Fayose, who said the President should face the reality of a failed tenure and be prepared to leave office next year, added that “only a leader who lacks competence and is challenged by knowledge and exposure will blame his predecessors for over three years.”
“Nigerians of mostly below forty years who voted for the President in 2015 did so because they never experienced him as a Military Head of State. Now that they have seen that he does not have the required capacity to govern a country like Nigeria, they are eager to vote him out.”
The former governor charged Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders to put everything into the 2019 elections so as to be able rescue Nigerians from the present state of anguish occasioned by the directionless APC government. “Today, Nigeria has become the ‘Poverty Capital’ of the world. God forbid, a Buhari’s second term will turn Nigeria to a republic of poverty where people will be running to other neighboring countries to feed. PDP must therefore work very hard to save the country from going down completely,” Fayose said.
