Category: Sentry

Sentry

One of the highpoints of the just concluded governorship election in Bayelsa State is the unending rivalry between the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, and his Bayelsa State counterpart, Seriake Dickson. It is a proof of the fluid nature of politics that the two governors swapped camps in the build-up to the election, supporting political actors they had previously opposed.

It will be recalled that in the election of national officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the party’s national convention on May 21, 2016, Wike supported the candidacy of Prince Uche Secondus while Dickson rooted for the party’s former National Deputy Chairman, Chief Olabode George. Secondus eventually won the election and became the party’s national chairman.

Then came the presidential primaries of the party in Port Harcourt on October 7, 2018 and Dickson supported the candidacy of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar while Wike was all out in support of the current Sokoto State governor, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal. Atiku turned out victorious and picked the party’s presidential ticket.

But the rivalry between the two Niger Delta governors did not end there. In the build-up to the just concluded governorship election in Bayelsa State, Governor Wike was said to have worked with former President Goodluck Jonathan as both of them rooted for former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe to pick the governorship ticket of the PDP while Dickson supported the candidacy of Douye Diri, who eventually became the party’s candidate.

Sentry learnt that few days to the governorship election, there was a meeting between Jonathan and Wike, where the two statesmen perfected a plan to deal with Dickson. It was gathered that the poor showing that the PDP candidate had in Ogbia, the local government area Jonathan comes from, was a fall out of the meeting.

Ironically, during his time as President, Jonathan had supported Dickson to oust the then Governor Timipre Silva, became the main backer of APC candidate and winner of the just concluded election, David Lyon. It is yet another testament to the fluid nature of politics.

Sentry

Given its victory in the just concluded governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, the camp of the All Progressives Congress ought to be bustling with excitement. But while party members in the affected states are happy with the turn of events, it is not exactly the case in the party at the national level.

Some influential individuals within the ruling party were alleged to have funded one of the governorship candidates of the PDP. One of such sponsors, who hails from the South-south, was said to have been motivated by petty jealousy, as he feared that Timipre Silva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and main backer of APC candidate David Lyon, would claim credit for the latter’s victory.

One of them was said to have given the PDP governorship candidate in question the sum of N500 million; an action said to have infuriated some APC members from the South-south, who are now bent on reporting the culprits to the Presidency for them to take due notice in the calculations for 2023.

Although Sentry could not confirm the payment of the said sum at press time, the allegation is nonetheless a threat to harmony in the ruling party.

Sentry

Passengers on board an Abuja-bound aircraft from Lagos sometime last week were thrown into commotion at the sight of the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, in the economy class of the aircraft.

The deputy governor was scheduled to attend an official function in Abuja on that day but all the airlines contacted said that only tickets for economy class were available. Determined to make the trip, Hamzat told his aides that he did not mind flying with economy ticket.

As he stepped into the aircraft, the passengers he met on board could not believe their eyes. They whispered to one another in curiousity, wondering if the passenger they beheld was indeed the deputy governor of Lagos State.

Curious passengers who had managed to keep their composure later swooped on Hamzat as soon as the aircraft landed in Abuja, to ascertain that they were not seeing a ghost.

“Your Excellency, what is going on?” one of them asked in a tone of genuine concern. “Is Lagos so broke now that the Deputy Governor is flying economy? Is it really true that someone has gone away with all the money?”

An amused Hamzat smiled in response, explaining that he needed to make an urgent trip and got the seat that was available. “What is important is that I wanted to be in Abuja and I am in Abuja,” he said.

By Sentry

It has been revealed that the SMS war between the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as reported by this column last Saturday, was provoked by the manner the members of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were picked.

An impeccable Presidency source told Sentry that contrary to popular belief, Senator Akpabio actually made an input into the appointment of the board members but was irked that the member he nominated was not made the chairman or managing director of the commission, hence his decision to constitute a three-man interim management committee to manage the board’s affairs.

As the story goes, President Muhammadu Buhari had told Senator Omo-Agege, who is said to be very close to the Villa, that he needed upright and competent people to run the affairs of NDDC because he believed that the huge sums hitherto pumped into the commission had not been well utilised by its managers. This was the basis upon which Buhari told some Niger Delta leaders who visited him in Aso Rock recently that a forensic audit would be carried out on the commission.

Omo-Agege, however, felt that it would not be fair for him to nominate the commission’s members without inputs from other Niger Delta leaders. He therefore contacted the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timipre Silver as well as Akpabio and some other Niger Delta leaders who nominated a name each. But it was Oshiomhole’s nominee, Dr. Pius Odubu, who became the commission’s new chairman, while Omo-Agege’s nominee, Bernard Okumagba, became the managing director.

Irked by the development, Akpabio constituted an interim management committee, even though he knew that the board would be cleared and there was even somebody already acting as MD. Few days ago, the House of Representatives  ordered Akpabio’s interim management to quit because there is a board in place and the MD is part of it. Everybody is now awaiting President Buhari’s arrival from his trip abroad to inaugurate the new board.

Akpabio’s bid to take charge because he did not choose the chairman or the MD of NDDC led to the angry text he exchanged with Omo-Agege which SENTRY reported last week

By Sentry

The forensic audit of the accounts of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari when some Niger Delta leaders visited him at the Presidential Villa recently has left the regions leaders divided. While the move did not go down well with certain interests in the region, others see it as one that is long overdue.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, for instance, is firmly in support of the move because he believes that the Commission is nothing but a conduit pipe for siphoning funds. As far as he is concerned, there is nothing on the ground to justify the huge sums that have been invested in the Commission over the years. But some members of the National Assembly are opposed to it and are making all the moves they can to frustrate it.

While Sentry will keep readers posted on the issue, what is of utmost concern at the moment is the SMS war that has erupted between the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege. Recall that Akpabio had constituted a three-man interim management committee to manage the affairs of the NDDC. But the National Assembly wondered the essence of a three-man committee when the board of the Commission could be constituted to take over its running.

However, it is one thing to constitute a committee but another thing to inaugurate it. Unhappy with the composition of the board of the Commission because he had no input in it and was not consulted before it was constituted, Akpabio sent a text message to Omo-Agege to register his displeasure. Rather than placate Akpabio, Omo-Agege responded angrily with another text, pointedly telling Akpabio that the board had come to stay “whether anybody likes it or not,” and now that it has been cleared, it must be allowed to work.

A distraught Akpabio has since dismissed the composition of the board as an exclusive show of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, describing it as an Edo/Delta affair.

By Sentry

It is only seven days to the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, but members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are confused over the stand of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Their anxiety further heightened on Wednesday when the party flagged off its campaign rally with Jonathan conspicuously absent.

Also absent at the rally was a governorship aspirant and former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Chief Timi Alaibe, whose candidacy Jonathan was believed to have supported in the party’s governorship primary in Bayelsa State, which was won by Senator Douye Diri. Both Jonathan and Alaibe are said to have been very bitter since the latter lost out in the primary election. They believe that the process was manipulated against Alaibe.

Efforts made by the party and the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, to placate them have yielded no fruit. Governor Dickson said he had made efforts on 15 different occasions to get Jonathan to support Diri’s candidacy but all his efforts have been fruitless. With the elections now only one week away, party members in Bayelsa State are concerned that Jonathan’s attitude has been lukewarm.

Their fears are compounded by the absence of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, also from the campaigns flag-off on account of the cold war between him and Governor Dickson, which dates back to the election of national officers for PDP in the build-up to the 2019 general elections. Wike had supported the candidacy of the party’s current national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus while Dickson preferred Chief Bode George because he believed that the Southwest needed to be brought into the mainstream.

In the presidential primary of the party also, the two governors had deferred in their choice of candidates. Wike wanted Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as the party’s presidential candidate while Dickson wanted Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. But right there in Port Harcourt, Wike’s candidate was trounced, setting the stage for the peace of the graveyard that currently prevails between them.

Wike’s absence at Wednesday’s rally, observers say, could be an indication that he cares less about the outcome of the elections.

By Sentry

Tongues have been wagging since Kogi State Chief Judge, Justice Nadir Ajana, swore in the state’s new deputy governor, Edward David Onoja, on October 21, following the controversial impeachment of the former deputy governor, Elder Simon Achuba.

The Kogi State House of Assembly had impeached Achuba in spite of the report of the judicial panel constituted by Ajana to probe the allegations of gross misconduct leveled against Achuba declaring him as clean as a hound’s tooth. The Chief Judge was also said to have sworn not to swear in Achuba’s replacement and had rendered himself incommunicado just to avoid the unenviable task.

It therefore came as a surprise to many that barely 24 hours after the Chief Judge swore not swear in Onoja, he performed the task against all expectations.

It has come to light, however, that Justice Ajana made the turnaround after intense pressure from within and outside the state, including subtle threats to his life by the powers that be.

So intense was the pressure that a very senior legal mind outside the state was said to have advised Ajana to “consider your safety first and make yourself available to swear in the new deputy governor.”

The senior legal mind reportedly told him that in the prevailing circumstances, swearing in Onoja was the wise thing to do, saying he was sure that the matter would eventually go to court and the judiciary would do its job.

By Sentry

The dust recently raised by the sharing formula of the job slots allegedly allocated to the Senate by the board of Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) appears to have settled temporarily with a promise that aggrieved senators will be compensated with impending slots from other federal government agencies.

A dependable source at the upper chamber of the National Assembly informed SENTRY that new job slots meant for the Senate would soon arrive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with assurance by the Senate leadership that aggrieved members will be “settled”.

Read Also: What Buhari told Melaye after budget presentation in Abuja

The source, who described the sharing of job slots among senators as a tradition, however, said the aggrieved senators have insisted the sharing formula for the job slots must be made clear unlike what happened in the lopsided sharing of those of the FIRS.

The source added that only 40 job slots were given to the Senate by FIRS, contrary to the 100 that was earlier reported. The Senate President Alhaji Ahmad Lawan, it was learnt, got 23 of the slots contrary to the 26 reported; the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, got three, while the remaining slots were shared among the principal officers. With more slots to follow, those who were unhappy that they were sidelined during the last job bonanza are patiently waiting.

By Sentry

Between road users in Lagos and the policemen deployed to manage the traffic situation in the city, it is different strokes for different folks. While commuters are lamenting the bad conditions of the roads, the policemen are laughing all the way to the bank as they reap heavily from the situation.

Read Also: N140m official car lands federal agency’s MD in trouble

Determined to make the most of the chaotic traffic situation, the errant policemen have hit on the idea of hiding in a corner to watch out for drivers that would veer into the lane of oncoming vehicles in a non-demarcated access road in Ilupeju area of the city.

They demand sums ranging between N20,000 and N40,000 after threatening to drag their victim to the mobile court where they will be made to cough out N70,000 as fine.