The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sentry

  • Senator squares up to governor in Ebonyi

    Senator squares up to governor in Ebonyi

    Sentry

    Flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the 2019 governorship elections in Ebonyi State, Senator Sunny Ogbuoji, is not about to relinquish control of the ruling party’s structure to new entrant, Governor Dave Umahi, without a fight.

    When supporters of the governor allegedly jubilated over a news item suggesting the readiness of Ogbuoji to dump APC and join another party, the former senator representing Ebonyi South Senatorial District wasted no time in telling those who cared to listen that he was going nowhere.

    Sentry gathered that the former Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, who has not attended any of the party and government function called by Umahi since the latter joined APC, has vowed not to allow the governor take over the party ‘just like that.’

    Ogbuoji and Umahi contested the 2019 governorship election which the governor won. Supporters of the senator are already announcing his preparedness to seek the number one office again amidst rumours that Umahi has a preferred candidate.

    “Ogbuoji is not leaving the APC for anybody. When nobody saw APC as a worthy political platform in Ebonyi, he moved there and gave the party some bite. Now some new comers are out to grab the structures ahead of 2023. We will not leave the house we built. We are here to stay and Ogbuoji will surely contest the 2023 guber election on the platform of the APC,” a party source stated.

    Already, the Ebonyi State APC Caretaker Chairman, Stanley Okoro-Emegha,is making moves to forestall possible intra-party crisis being between the two camps. He recently visited Ogbuoji at his Edda country home and assured him of the readiness of Umahi to work with all chieftains of the party.

  • Ortom for Senate just a rumour?

    Ortom for Senate just a rumour?

    Sentry

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State may soon erupt in a fierce intra-party squabbles if reports that Governor Samuel Ortom is planning to move to the senate in 2023 turn out to be true.

    Reports of Ortom wanting to supplant incumbent Senator Orker Jev and take over the Benue North West seat after the expiration of his second term are rife and fast spreading. But neither the governor nor his spokespersons have confirmed it.

    Sentry, however, learnt that some chieftains of the ruling party are gradually coming out to openly support the ‘Ortom for Senate’ agenda. “When you start seeing some categories of politicians propagating an agenda, you can easily say whether it will remain a rumour or assume a life of its own soon,” the source said.

    Also, Senator Jev has been forced to speak out on the matter, sending signals that there may be more to the stories making the rounds in Benue North West. Responding to a question on the rumoured interest of the governor in his seat, Jev said he and Ortom had resolved not to allow anything to sour the relationship they had built over time. A smart response you will say. Well, it is left to be seen if a contest between the two buddies in 2023 will sour their relationship or not.

  • Lagos Assembly: What cometh again?

    Lagos Assembly: What cometh again?

    Sentry

    Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, has dissolved all standing committees of the House and observers of the politics of the legislative house are left wondering whether the development is a sign of peace or more trouble.

    The House has been troubled of recent with the Speaker battling some prominent lawmakers. In the process, some principal officers were removed from their positions and promptly replaced by loyalists of the Obasa. Some were also sent on indefinite suspension.

    Following intervention by the leadership of APC in the state, a truce was reached and those on suspension were recalled. But those who lost their positions were not returned amidst talks that the party has asked the Speaker to find a way of appeasing them. With nothing done in that direction for months, talk of a fresh face-off lingered. It is now left to be seen if the Speaker’s move is an olive branch or a fresh declaration of hostilities.

    Announcing the dissolution, shortly after the 2021 Appropriation of the House was passed, Obasa said “all the standing committees of the House are hereby dissolved, while all the committee chairmen and members are to function in acting capacity.”

    Some observers said the Speaker may be out to compensate his erstwhile rivals with juicy committee positions. But others fear he may be out to further displace his critics and position his loyalists. Time will surely reveal whatever is to come.

  • Between Obiano and ‘little’ Luli

    Between Obiano and ‘little’ Luli

    Sentry

     

    In what looks like a repeat of the battle between David and Goliath, Lilu community in Anambra State says it will not accept Governor Willie Obiano’s plan to allegedly force a caretaker committee on them.

    The community said there is no need for a caretaker committee as elections for the leadership had been conducted one year ago. But the government says the said leadership is not in possession of a certificate and as such cannot lead. Neither the governor, nor the people of little known Luli community, is ready to blink.

    In a letter signed by Ben Ezeaneche and others on behalf of Lilu Development Union, the community asked Obiano to issue the requisite certificates of recognition to the duly elected president general and his executive members.  It said the union elections were successfully conducted on December 31, 2019, in accordance with the constitution of Lilu people and other relevant laws regulating such process in Anambra State.

    However, the community said a caretaker committee “is foreign to our constitution, especially when there are substantive executive members of the town union, like in the instant case.”

    According to the commissioner, the community must accept the government’s directive. But some elders are insisting little Luli will do no such thing. Who blinks first?

  • Kwara: Between Otoge and Otunya

    Kwara: Between Otoge and Otunya

    Sentry

    On Saturday 14th November, 2020, former Senate President Bukola Saraki arrived Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, for the first time since the 2019 general election.

    He had in February 2019 lost his bid to return to the National Assembly. Sentry gathered that the former Kwara governor was at his home town for the eighth-year Fidau prayer for his late dad, Dr. Olusola Saraki and the silver jubilee anniversary of the coronation of the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.

    Truth be told, Saraki was welcomed by a huge crowd of supporters. Almost all pedestrian bridges and high rise buildings along the roads from the airport to his family’s GRA residence were taken over by eager onlookers.

    Determined to utilise the political mileage offered him by the visit to the fullest, the younger Oloye rode in a motorcade all the way to his residence and the palace while people cheered.

    Read Also: Not yet Uhuru for Saraki and friends

    Since that visit, talk in Kwara, especially among supporters of the ex-Senate President and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has largely been about how come 2023, the people of the state will reject the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and reinstate Saraki’s political family in Government House with their votes.

    According to some ‘Sarakites’ who boasted to Sentry, the Otoge revolution that swept away PDP and Saraki in 2019 is about to be replaced by Otunya, the movement that will restore both to power.

    But chieftains of the ruling party will have none of such ‘idle talk’ as they describe boasts about an Otunya movement. Even some non-partisan residents of Ilorin brush aside the possibility of PDP returning to power in 2023.

    “Is it because of the rented crowd you saw last month? Otunya to where? Come 2023, we will sustain the gains of Otoge by ensuring PDP is roundly defeated again,” one commentator said.

  • Apapa gridlock: More officers, more problems?

    Apapa gridlock: More officers, more problems?

    Sentry

    During the week, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said 200 security officers would be deployed to clear the route leading to Tin Can and Apapa ports in Lagos State.

    Workers’ unions at the ports had threatened to go on strike if the government failed to address gridlock on the route. But rather than elicit happiness from workers and people of the state, the minister’s promise of more security men has been attracting jeers and worries. This is because many are of the opinion that security men, rather than solve the problem, will only add to it.

    Sentry gathered that the skepticism may not be unconnected with allegations that security personnel deployed to tackle gridlock over the years have always turned themselves to toll collectors, making brisk money from the melee while the tanker drivers continue to flout the rules.

    As long as tanker drivers and other unruly motorists are willing to grease the palms of soldiers and policemen, the gridlock will not be tackled. So, the promise of more security may turn out to mean more problems for us on that route,” a worried resident lamented to Sentry.

  • Not yet Uhuru for Saraki and friends

    Not yet Uhuru for Saraki and friends

    Sentry

    More trouble could be on the way for former Senate President Bukola Saraki, former Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, as well as some of their associates. They may all have to answer to questions regarding the alleged sale and acquisition of some government assets.

    Sources told Sentry that while Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq may not be too keen to push the questioning of Saraki and company, some top shots of the ruling APC are impressing on him the need to cause the former men of power to explain their involvement in the “secret sale of state assets at giveaway prices.”

    Presenting a three-volume report to AbdulRazaq on Wednesday in Ilorin, Chairman of the Kwara State Assets Commission of Enquiries, Justice Olabanji Orilonishe (rtd), said discoveries during their assignment showed that the state was milked “to complete hopelessness and a standstill amidst avenues for reckless expenditure to enrich some individuals.”

    And if tales emanating from some concerned quarters in the state are anything to go by, Saraki and some of his friends may once again be called upon to shed light on certain policies and decisions they took while at the helm of affairs – especially with regards to the sale of some government assets within and outside the state.

  • All quiet in Amosun’s camp

    All quiet in Amosun’s camp

    Sentry

    It is no longer news that the bid of Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former governor of Ogun State to have his preferred candidate, Chief Derin Adebiyi, returned as the state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) failed as the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker /Convention Committee declared Yemi Sanusi caretaker chairman for the next six month.

    Amosun’s camp and that of Governor Dapo Abiodun have been in a fierce struggle for the control of the state APC. The two have been backing different claimants to the chairmanship of the ruling party. While Sanusi enjoys the support of Abiodun, Adebiyi has the backing of Amosun and his camp. Not only is Adebiyi in court challenging his removal from office, he had also been running a parallel executive committee loyal to the former governor.

    Thus, when indications emerged penultimate week that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party may dissolve all organs of APC from ward to national level, the Amosun camp was agog with tales of how the Senator had sealed a deal that would return Adebiyi to office.

    So widespread were the tales that the Abiodun/Sanusi camp was tense. So confident was the Amosun crowd that when incumbent state party chairmen were invited to Abuja to be sworn in as caretaker chairmen last week, Adebiyi wasted no time in registering his presence.

    Sanusi, too, was present. At the end of the day, Adebiyi left the venue of the event hurriedly while Sanusi waited and was sworn in as the authentic helmsman of Ogun APC. He returned to Abeokuta during the week to swear in a 36-member caretaker exco.

    While supporters and allies of the governor are all over the place rejoicing, the Amosun camp has quietly gone underground.

  • Nasarawa: Between Sule and the cabals

    Nasarawa: Between Sule and the cabals

    Sentry

    The decisions of Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, to block all loopholes in the state’s finance system and restructure the civil service for efficiency appears to have offended some bigwigs within and outside the North-central state’s workforce.

    Sentry gathered that on account of these reforms some forces are ganging up against the engineer-turned politician’s second term bid.

    On assumption of office, the governor had vowed that his administration will be committed to accountability and transparency, in the interest of development.

    “We will block all leakages to ensure that all revenue accrue to the state coffer, as government is not about personal benefit,” he promised. It appeared that the governor did not waste time in carrying out the promised reforms. Today, Nasarawa state civil service has moved from analog to digital and made lots of progress.

    Loopholes have been plugged and financial transactions made more open. And the new norm has started yielding the desired target as the state internally generated revenue reached N1 billion before the COVID-19 outbreak.

    But some people, whose pockets are drying up as a result of the reforms, are unhappy. Sentry learnt that in conjunction with their godfathers, they are plotting to prevent Sule from getting another term in office.

    “They just cannot imagine another four years without business as usual,” a source said. Will Governor Sule survive the gang-up? Time will tell.

  • Anambra’s love gone sour

    Anambra’s love gone sour

    Sentry

    Before now, one major bloc of political support for Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, was the clan of retirees across the state. On several occasions pensioners had sung the praises of the governor to high heavens.

    A couple of years back, the leadership of the retirees described him as ‘best friend of pensioners.’ In return, the governor too never failed to flaunt his ‘love affair’ with them. He was wont to say their welfare was paramount to his administration.

    But the story seems to have changed today. Not only has the love between the retirees and their governor gone sour, the two sides are now on warpath. The pensioners are accusing the governor of refusing to pay their benefits since 2017. Sources close to both sides say discussion between the leadership of the pensioners and government has been stalled for months.

    To show Obiano that they are no longer his buddies, Anambra retirees, in an unprecedented move, rejected his annual Christmas rice largesse, describing it as a “Greek gift”. They asked the governor to stop deceiving them with such gifts, insisting the on prompt payment of their benefits.

    State chairman of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Dr Anthony Ugozor, said: “They give us rice at the end of every year, but the gift of rice is not constitutional. It is a gift which the government is not mandated to give. If the pension is reviewed as and when due and harmonisation done as it should be done and arrears paid when it is supposed to be paid and we are not given rice, we will be more comfortable because we will have enough money to buy the type of rice we want and still have enough money to attend to other needs.”