Category: Sentry

By Sentry

Facts have emerged on why President Muhammadu Buhari became emotional on Tuesday when he received in audience Emirs and political leaders from Niger State.

It is simple: Niger State is a second home for Buhari because he can boast of 100 per cent support since his days in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) through Congress for Progressives Change and All Progressives Congress (APC).

When security report of the large-scale banditry in Niger State got to the President, he did not mince words in admitting that he was taken “aback.”

He said: “I was taken aback by what is happening in the North-West and other parts of the country. During our campaigns, we knew about the Boko Haram. What is coming now is surprising.”

By Sentry

Unknown to many Nigerians, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ado Doguwa caused a stir in the Green Chamber on Wednesday. While his colleagues were angry over the insecurity in the country, Doguwa desecrated the hallowed chamber with his “powerfulness” in the other room. The emphasis with which he was overstretching his ability in bed revealed the “insensitivity” of the lawmaker to the security challenges at hand. His derision of women like chattels has also attracted odious comments from feminists.

Doguwa incurred the wrath of the public on Wednesday after he was inaugurated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

He said: “Mr. Speaker, I will let you know that with me today are my four respected wives. Halima, Umma stand up, Binta … should stand up. Mr. Speaker, Honourable members, I have asked them to rise here to respect the House on behalf of my family and one other reason, to let you know that when members call me a  powerful man, I am not only powerful on the floor of the House, I am also powerful at home.

These four wives, Mr. Speaker, what I meant by asking them to rise up is to demonstrate to members of the House that when you call me a powerful parliamentarian, I am not only powerful on the floor, I am also powerful at home because I deal with four wives.

These four wives you are seeing have produced 27 children for me; these four wives you are seeing have produced 27 kids for me and I am still counting.”

By Sentry

Behind the façade called street protest by some stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a looming implosion to remove the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus. And the last straw Secondus is clinging to is the street protest to prove that he has been providing a responsive leadership.

Party leaders, especially governors are tired of Secondus because of the performance of the party in the last general election and standalone polls in Kogi and Bayelsa among others.  The aggrieved leaders vented their spleen at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party when only eight PDP governors attended the session. Even at that, to save his face, the PDP national chairman was combative (like a trade union leader) at the session when it was evident he was talking to a deaf audience.

Read Also: Ihedioha: Secondus leads protest against Supreme Court Judgement

But despite Secondus make-up, PDP governors and some influential leaders are already shopping for a new national chairman from the South-West. Top on the list is a former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was disgraced out of the party as its National Secretary.

It was learnt that high-stake consultations have started on the future of the party beyond Secondus. It is left to see how Secondus will weather the storm.

A PDP stalwart told SENTRY: “The battle for 2023 is beginning internally within our party through massive house cleansing. We won’t take things for granted any more. If our leaders are to choose between Secondus and Oyinlola, I can tell you that Oyinlola will receive an overwhelming support.

“Even the Board of Trustees (BOT) will be sanitized. Enough is enough.”

By Sentry

A few weeks after boasting that Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has crossed the lines over the demolition of Ile Arugbo (an inherited political sanctuary) of the late strongman of Kwara Politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki, there is suspense from ex-Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on the sudden ceasefire.

On Monday, the family of Saraki  sought an out-of-court-settlement with the Kwara State Government.  In a January 20, 2020 letter to the Attorney-General of the state, Salman Jawondo, counsel for Asa Investment, A.A Ibraheem & Co, informed the state government of the family’s readiness for an amicable settlement.

The letter reads in part: “Pursuant to the advice and directive of the court on the above matter, that parties should explore settlement, our client has directed us to notify you of its disposition to explore settlement with a view to resolving the outstanding dispute between the parties in respect of the subject matter in contention.

Read Also: The Gov Abdulrazaq/Sen Saraki land imbroglio

“Consequently, we hereby request that you should use your good office to, as the Chief Law Officer of the state, make the necessary arrangement as to the time and venue where parties can meet and discuss.”

Although it claimed it heeded to an advice by the judge handling the case, there appeared to be more than meet the eyes.

Nigerians want Bukola Saraki to be more forthcoming on why it sheathed the sword without a legal fight.

Could it be that the C of O of Ile Arugbo is missing? Was it true that there was no shred of evidence tendered in the court by the family on the allocation of the disputed land? Could Bukola Saraki have been careless without perfecting the title deeds of the land for eight years as a governor?

By Sentry

Still trying to recover from the pangs of the last governorship poll in Kano State, ex-Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has been singing lullaby in the last few days after the Supreme Court sealed the fate of his political godson, Abba Kabir Yusuf, by declaring Governor Abdullahi Ganduje as duly elected for second term.

He was pained by the judicial verdict that a video in circulation confirmed his political frustration. In March 2018, he had boasted that he will retire President Muhammadu Buhari and Ganduje from politics. But his prophesy turned against him.

And as if the judgment was not enough, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Alh. Rabiu Sulaiman Bichi, defected from the opposition to the All Progressives Congress(APC) barely two days after the Supreme Court affirmed Ganduje’s victory.

The reality has dawned on Kwankwaso that for eight years, he has to be on the sideline in Kano politics. Will he regain his political grits?

By Sentry

Fresh facts have emerged that not all the leaders and governors of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) were in support of the street protest against the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, to seek the review of the judgment against ex-Governor Emeka Ihedioha.

Unknown to many, there was a split among the opposition governors on the desirability or otherwise of such an action.

The division became evident when it was realised that the PDP Governors Forum  did not issue a statement to mobilise party leaders and members to join the protest. Also, some South-East and South-South governors pretended as if no protest was being staged.

A South-East governor was heard saying: “I cannot be a party to mudslinging against the Judiciary. We warned some of those behind the protest to think of tomorrow.”

By Sentry

These are not the best of times for the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman. Twice within two weeks did he suspend a subordinate and twice was his decision reversed by the Presidency.

First was the minister’s suspension of the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Damilola Ogunbiyi, which the Presidency reversed via a tweet in which it explained that President Muhammadu Buhari had accepted Ogunbiyi’s resignation to enable her take up an appointment with the United Nations Organisation (UN).

The reversal of Ogunbiyi’s suspension was followed by President Buhari’s reversal of Mamman’s dismissal of the boss of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Limited (NBET), Marilyn Amobi.

Findings made by Sentry, however, revealed that the Minister lost out in the power game at the Presidential Villa because he drew the ire of the fabled cabal in the Buhari administration with a statement he issued alleging that the sacked bosses of REA and NBET were members of the cabal.

Members of the said cabal were said to have been peeved that Mamman, who himself is a beneficiary of the cabal, could turn round to taunt them, hence their decision to show him the red flag.

At press time, the minister was battling for survival because the ‘cabal’ was said to be out for a fight-to-the-finish.

Already, he has lost the control of NBET to the Minister of Finance, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed. But will he also lose his office? Only time will tell.

By Sentry

Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, may have stirred the hornet’s nest if reactions within and outside Kwara State to the state government’s demolition of Ile Arugbo, the totem of the late strongman of Kwara Politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki, are anything to go by.

The demolition of the building that served as a home for the aged has been greeted with outrage from members and sympathisers of the Saraki political dynasty and other neutral individuals and groups who saw the move as a political vendetta against the dynasty.

This is in spite of the state government’s explanation that the acquisition of the land on which the said building was erected did not follow the proper channel.

In a furious reaction to the exercise, the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki, berated Governor Abdulrazzaq for demolishing her father’s property, accusing the governor who assumed office on May 29 last year of rushing into settling perceived old generational family political scores.

“Revenge cannot be a policy thrust of governance,” she said in a statement that was choked full with venom.

Feelers from Abuja also indicate that the demolition exercise might have created a strain in the relationship between the Presidency and Governor Abdulrazak.

It was gathered that the power brokers in Abuja were angry that the governor went beyond the bounds in his avowed mission to checkmate Saraki’s hold on Kwara State.

When the news of the demolition exercise got to the Presidency, an influential source in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa was sighted saying: “Who does this boy listen to? This is really embarrassing.”

Thereafter, the Presidency waste no time in calling the governor to order, asking him to be more “temperate” in his actions.