Category: Sentry

By Sentry

Elders and political leaders have been called upon to intervene in the face-off between some traders and a Southeast state governor who was accused of “behaving like a woman’ in the way he handled the herdsmen/ farmers clashes in the state.

The matter took a dangerous dimension when opponents of the governor produced a computer aided picture of a woman with the face of the governor. Posters of the caricature were also sighted at a popular market in the state capital, forcing the angry governor to shut it down.

Today, the traders are begging the governor to have mercy on them and reopen the market even as they produced some large posters displayed in the market in which they clearly expressed regret for their actions.

But insiders said the governor is still too angry to heed their plea. All hopes are not lost, however, as political leaders in the state are said to have offered to put in a word for the traders.

By Sentry

The last has not been heard of the impeccable qualities which made President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari as his Chief of Staff.

Part of the profiling indicated that despite his exposures to many top positions, he does not own a house or an office in the posh Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Read Also: Gambari steps in

As at the time he was appointed, he was perching in a friend’s house. Even the office his NGO was using in Abuja came in handy.

Gambari lives a simple and austere life.

No wonder, the President opted for a like mind, who is apolitical.

By Sentry

In the coming months, Nigeria will witness the first conduct of elections during COVID-19 pandemic in Edo and Ondo states.

Read Also: Edo, Ondo polls won’t be easy, says INEC

Nigerians are eager to see how the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will manage public health and the electoral process.

If INEC succeeds, it would have set a new template but otherwise, it might lead to a series of legal battles.

By Sentry

Despite the strong caution by the Presidenial Task Force (PTF) and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), some governors decided to unlock all mosques and churches at a time coronavirus infection was fast spreading.

Investigation revealed that the governors chose the deadly option because of political ambition and they do not want to offend both the crescent and the cross.

Read Also: States holding open Eid-el-Fitri prayers despite lockdown

This has demonstrated the role religion is playing in Nigerian politics.

A governor said: “In the North here, you offend the Ulamas at your own political peril.”

By Sentry

The political dimension in Oyo State is becoming interesting every day. The Omituntun Revolution is still trying to find its feet such that it is difficult to say exactly who is in charge.

Constitutionally, Governor Seyi Makinde (GSM) is the elected leader but he is now at the mercy of the Governor’s Advisory Committee (GAC) which he constituted to help his administration.

GAC is now operating as a parallel authority, to the extent that some of its members are now tin gods. They determine who gets any appointment in the state through their “strong recommendation.”

Also, those seeking political and business favours now sleep at the doorsteps of some GAC members.

Still undone, some ambitious GAC members are already working on the 2023 project without factoring GSM into their calculations.

Yet, the excesses of these reckless members have not been checked. The question in Oyo State is: Who is really in charge? GSM or GAC?

Sentry

For political exigency, some governors have defied the advisory from the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and went ahead to ease the lockdown in their states by reopening churches and mosques.

Their decisions have caused serious  headache for PTF members because such recalcitrance is at variance with the facts and figures on coronavirus pandemic in their states.

One of the affected governors, according to records, does not regularly attend the meetings of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).

Sentry

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari kept many Nigerians in the dark in announcing the appointment of his new Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, for strategic reasons.

One of them was the need to honour one of the 14 aspirants for the office. While he had settled for Gambari by 8am on Tuesday at a breakfast meeting, he also decided to confide in one of the aspirants as a mark of honour before unveiling his choice.

By 11am, the President had another meeting with the aspirant on why he opted for Gambari. So, it was only the highly-rated aspirant who had the rare privilege but he kept it to himself.

All other aspirants, who were merely eavesdropping, withdrew to their shells as soon as the rumours of Gambari’s choice became deafening.

By Sentry

Despite the intensity of the plot to remove the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Rauf Olaniyan, it appears a Herculean task because most members of the state House of Assembly are with the Deputy Governor than Governor Seyi Makinde (GSM).

Early in the life of the administration, the lawmakers have had the ears and support of Olaniyan than the governor, including standing by some of them when in need. The legislators are angry that the governor has been allegedly contemptuous of them.

When the lawmakers were hauled into a hotel by a top member of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) to sell the idea of a likely impeachment of the Deputy Governor, most of them were busy with text and WhatsApp messages (on the spot), leaking reports on how the plot will be hatched. Olaniyan’s strategists were enjoying the game. It is obvious that any impeachment investment will go down the drain.

Notwithstanding, two confidants of the governor from Itesiwaju and Saki West are locked in a fierce battle to produce the successor to Olaniyan.

Sentry

Governors expecting cash bail out to manage the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may have to read the body language of President Muhammadu Buhari. One of them was looking for N15billion as asking price before taking action to contain the pandemic. The President refused to look at his side.

But the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who featured on a radio programme ‘As E Dey Hot’ on Wazobia FM, Kano on Thursday, said those expecting free money will never get it.

He said: “The Federal Government is moved by what it saw, and say, ah! This state needs help, and then it helped Lagos State.

“Any other state that is also doing its work and is not complaining, and is not saying bring money, bring money, bring money, the Federal Government will do all that is necessary to do to assist.

“Technical support is very, very important. Lagos State got technical support before it got financial support. Manpower support is very good. Facility support, very good.