The Nation Newspaper

Category: Hardball

  • #ENDSARS not the end

    #ENDSARS not the end

    Hardball

    The Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force otherwise known as SARS is hereby dissolved in all the 36 State Police Commands and the Federal Capital Territory,” Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu announced on October 11 following intense nationwide protests, tagged #ENDSARS, against the unit  set up to tackle armed robbery and kidnapping.

    The outfit, well known for its brutality and abuse of power, had been branded as an enemy of the people and an instrument of oppression. There are too many scandalous stories and videos of members of SARS involved in “kidnapping, murder, theft, rape, torture, unlawful arrests, high-handedness, humiliation, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings, and extortion.”

    What will change now that the notorious SARS has been scrapped? It would be excessively optimistic to think that the dissolution of the controversial squad would bring the excesses of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to an end.

    SARS had been a problem for years. As Acting IGP in January 2019, Adamu had reorganised the federal squad, announcing a new arrangement with a Special Anti-Robbery Squad domiciled in each of the 36 states under the direct supervision of the Commissioners of Police.

    However, decentralising Federal SARS wasn’t enough.  Findings of the Presidential Panel on the Reform of SARS had shown that there was a need to sanitise the squad’s operations. For instance, members of the panel said they saw detainees with scars and serious injuries, “which the detainees made us understand were as a result of torture.”  The panellists also observed that the detainees “were kept in cells that were overcrowded and stinking, and had inadequate access to food and healthcare.”

    Read Also: #EndSARS protesters ground Lagos, Abuja, other cities

     

    It was clear that restructuring could not improve the operations of SARS without a fundamental reorientation.  So it was just a matter of time before the people fought back with greater intensity, which resulted in the death of SARS.

    But this is one death that may be reversed through a resurrection in another form. The IGP said officers and men serving in the unit would be redeployed, and new policing arrangements to tackle armed robbery and other violent crimes would be announced in due course.

    So the old violators of human rights and oppressors of the people will only be dressed in different robes. They will remain what they are without mind renewal based on a sense of professionalism. Indeed, SARS’ successor may be worse.

    It is noteworthy that the sins of SARS were not restricted to the unit, and can be found among policemen outside the squad, perhaps to a lesser degree. This means that the dissolution of SARS is a simplistic solution to a hard problem.

    The problem should be treated holistically.  The police need a reorientation, among other crucial reforms.

     

  • Ondo: white beards take over

    Ondo: white beards take over

    Hardball

    The Ondo gubernatorial polls have come and gone, with Aketi, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, earning a a second term.  The final tally, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was: Rotimi Akeredolu (APC):  292, 830; Eyitayo Jegede, SAN (PDP): 195, 791; and Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi (ZLP): 69, 127.

    The Aketi winning tally dwarfs the combined PDP and ZLP haul of  264, 918, by 27, 912 votes.  That  pours chilly water on the supposition that had the PDP and ZLP candidates run as one, they probably would have un-seated the governor.

    Well, that’s not altogether true, though the post-poll numbers suggest such.  But that could just be statistically getting wise after the fact.  Pre-election dynamics based on flaring hope and furious permutations, and post-election dynamics, of stark and abject defeat, are polls apart.

    Still, ZLP’s Agboola lost and lost big.  So did Olusegun Mimiko, so-called National Leader of Zenith Labour Party, the Ondo-centric “national” party, put in place to drive the former two-term Ondo governor’s post-power career, as Ondo local champion.  But after losing a senatorial race on ZLP’s platform in 2019, and now made a hash of Ajayi’s rather rash gubernatorial run, both Mimiko and ZLP appear primed for political sunset.

    But never count anyone out.  For once, Mimiko’s talent in political scheming is legendary.  Besides, don’t expect he would let go of his ZLP ace in a hurry.  The next election season is some two-and-a-half years away — and ZLP may well retain its symbolic allure for the real political desperadoes, just as Labour Party (LP), before it.

    Nevertheless, Agboola Ajayi, the estranged deputy governor, in office but not in power, is fast sinking too.  Ajayi’s fall is a study in how not to be ambitious; and if you must, how not to push it in a rash and reckless, not to talk of bestial, way.

    Bestial?  O yes!  Remember the Aketi COVID-19 brush?  After the passage of former Oyo Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, not many missed the cruelty of Ajayi calling for power transfer to him, after Aketi announced he had copped COVID, though Ajayi had defected from the ruling APC to the opposition PDP.  Was the fella expecting COVID-19 to thrust in his hands, what he couldn’t nail by faulty realpolitik?

    It’s not clear what exactly was on Ajayi’s mind and it would be unfair to assume, for him, the very worst of motives.  Still, not a few thought along these lines and Ajayi’s image didn’t exactly get a sheen.

    Neither was that helped, by Ajayi’s fleeing to ZLP, after losing the PDP ticket to Eyitayo Jegede, thus giving the impression that he wanted power willy-nilly and at all cost.  Well, he lost all — and Hardball says good riddance!

    But Ajayi’s fall has led to the rise of a certain Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, a co-Ondo South senatorial district denizen as Ajayi, but whose names appeared a ready-fit into the then emerging Ondo power manouevres.

    Now, Lucky (from luck) speaks for itself.  “Orimisan”, is Ilaje sub-ethnic Yoruba dialect for the primacy of luck or good fortune.  But the clinical clincher is “Ayedatiwa” — literal translation: the world, and all its blessings, in now our own!  Talk of a name tailor-fit for the moment: the Ondo political world, is now Aketi and deputy’s — while the former deputy governor sinks into political Hades!

    And there you have it: the white beards, Aketi and Lucky, take over!  And their winning mascots?  Their mutual white beards, new symbol of Ondo power, glistering in victory!

    For Aketi, however, despite being flush with victory: now is time for fresh maturity and wisdom, not the vicious power projection that cost his party two senatorial seats, during the 2019 general elections, though he was sitting governor!  Wisdom, Aketi, wisdom!

    As for the losing PDP, after the Edo triumph, Hardball hopes democracy won’t dive into intensive care, after the Ondo defeat.  Democracy is win some, lose some!

     

  • A stubborn menace

    A stubborn menace

    Hardball

    When Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu early this week put the curb on the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) and its components under state police commands (SARS), it wasn’t the first time the squad was being reined in without enduring effect. Hence, many people wondered: what’s new?

    The police boss had said the anti-robbery unit and other tactical formations of the Force were prohibited from conducting routine patrols and other low-risk security tasks like stop-and-search, mounting of road blocks and traffic checks. Operatives were to “concentrate and respond only to cases of armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes when the need arises.” A statement by Force spokesman Frank Mba cited the IGP warning concerned personnel against invading the privacy of Nigerians through “indiscriminate and unauthorised search of mobile phones, laptops and other smart devices,” adding that no Force personnel should henceforth perform official tasks in mufti but rather in police uniforms or approved tactical gear.

    The new directive came against the backdrop of fresh public uproar over excesses of ‘SARSists,’ including extra-judicial killings and brutalization of purported suspects. The public has for years advocated that the squad be scrapped, amidst a rash of rouge killings and grievous bodily harming of hapless victims. But Adamu impliedly deflected that clamour, saying FSARS and other tactical formations were strategic in Nigeria’s battle against violent crimes. He however deplored acts of “unprofessionalism, abuse of human rights and high-handedness” by some personnel of the squads.

    We wait to see how far this latest curb carries. Among notable interventions on the matter is one by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who confessed being angry over wanton arrests, maiming and killings of young people – or anyone at all – by SARS operatives and canvassed thorough reform of the squad. But he wasn’t coming to those terms for the first time. Osinbajo it was who, in August 2018 as Acting President, ordered the overhaul of SARS and its remodeling to a formation that is intelligence-driven and restricted to prevention and detection of armed robbery and kidnapping, as well as apprehension of offenders. In line with that order, former IGP Ibrahim Idris directed SARS personnel to stop routine patrols and search of citizens with smart gadgets “unless the search is directly linked to a case directed by IGP or any person or persons he so delegated.”

    Similar directives have been issued against SARS a number of times in recent history. Where the squad was back at to warrant IGP Adamu’s fresh directives showed it’s been a leopard unable to change its spots. Since there is official reluctance to disband the unruly squad, the usefulness of the latest peremptories  will be in how enduring they impact its operations. We wait to see.

     

  • Mass poverty

    Mass poverty

    Hardball

     

     

    IT is said that good governance should bring about “the greatest happiness of the greatest number.”  This cannot happen if the people in government don’t understand this critical responsibility of government.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s reminder at the closing of the two-day executive-legislative leadership retreat held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja,  on October 6, speaks volumes about how poorly the government has performed regarding making the greatest number of people happy.

    ”What is the reality of the context that we operate in today?” he asked.  ”We all know our nation has millions of extremely poor people; the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened employment and poverty.”

    If there are millions of “extremely poor” Nigerians, it suggests that there are millions of extremely unhappy Nigerians. There is a demonstrable connection between extreme poverty and extreme unhappiness, even though the absence of poverty doesn’t guarantee happiness. It is noteworthy that COVID-19 only worsened the situation.

    Osibanjo added:  ”It is time to focus on what we have been elected or appointed to do. This is the welfare of our people… Our people just want food on their table, shelter over their heads, clothing on their bodies, healthcare and education for their children and themselves.”

    The executive-legislative leadership should know this, and pursue this, without the vice president’s prompting.

    It is disturbing that more than 83 million Nigerians are living below the national poverty line, according to the 2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) this year. At least, 94 million Nigerians live below the poverty line, according to Oxfam.  Also, NBS figures show that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose to 21.77 million in the second quarter of this year. Nigeria’s population is about 206 million.

    The President Muhammadu Buhari administration last year set a target of “lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within a 10-year period.” The president recently inaugurated a national steering committee to oversee the development of the ‘Nigeria Agenda 2050 and Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP),’ which succeeds ‘Vision 20:2020 and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017 – 2020.’

    Long-term plans are useful. However, in the circumstances, there is a need to lift millions of people out of poverty as soon as possible, and as fast as possible.  The executive-legislative leadership should take action to tackle mass poverty.

     

     

  • New kill-and-go

    New kill-and-go

    Hardball

    Remember the dashing Mobile Police, of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sunday Adewusi fame?  Those preening and dashing denizens of police impunity and brutality, that, back then, ruled the roost?

    That was the original “Kill-and-go”, so-called by the often traumatized victims who, nevertheless, would never part with their sense of gallows humour — Kill-and-go!  They indeed killed and went — and cockily so — until their notoriety set with the sun of the doomed 2nd Republic (1 October 1979-31 December 1983)!

    Well, Karl Marx once said history first repeated itself, first as tragedy; then, as farce.  Both, tragedy and farce, appear playing out in the latest exploits of FSARS, the notorious Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, when the issue is crushing citizens’ right, under the cynical pretence of cracking down on crime.

    Their gory records, in citizens’ lives and limbs, are tragic enough.  But the farcical component would appear the official whining over some rogue FSARS operatives, when the state should crack down on these criminals-in-uniform, and make them stark examples to others who may dare follow their crooked paths.

    The Nation of October 5, in “Outrage over FSARS”, reported the seeming jeremiads in official quarters, from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, aside from a glut of other celebrities, launching a buzz of lamentation, over the “kill-and-go” conduct of FSARS; though the latest casus belli was a FSARS kindred-in-police-brutality, Operation Delta Safe, as Festus Keyamo, SAN, Labour and Employment minister of state, explained in the story.

    Still, why wring hands when the state could slam the few(?) rogues giving FSARS a bad name?  Which was why a section of the story gladdened Hardball’s heart.

    It reported the trio of Inspectors Sale James, Monday Uchiola and Okechukwu Ogbonna, all FSARS operatives in Lagos State, with their alleged civilian factotums, had been nabbed for alleged “acts of professional misconduct, including extortion and intimidation of innocent citizens.”

    Now, that’s what we want to hear!  Make hefty and nasty scapegoats of the nabbed and others (other things being equal) would shape up!  That’s how to wean FSARS, and allied bullies-in-uniform, from their kill-and-go tendencies.

    Those who however are pushing for the scrapping of FSARS miss the point by a wide stretch.  Without FSARS, these environs would be far less secure.  As a Police elite squad, FSARS have violent robbers, kidnappers and allied felons to checkmate.

    So, rid FSARS of the bad guys and leave the rest — the majority, Hardball hopes — to fulfil their mandate by the law.

     

  • Justice at last

    Justice at last

    Hardball

    For a while, it seemed like he had evaded accountability before the law for his Rambo-style aggression against a defenceless woman. But the wheel of justice, as they say, may grind slowly, it does also surely. And so, Senator Elisha Abbo has been convicted by a court of law for assaulting Osimibibra Warmate in an Abuja sex toy shop and ordered to pay her N50million as compensation.

    In a verdict early last week, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court held the senator representing Adamawa North district in the red chamber  guilty. One of the lawyers who filed a civil suit against the 41-year-old lawmaker, Nelson Onuoha, made the verdict public, saying: “Remember that video of a Nigerian senator slapping/assaulting a young lady at a shop? Well, justice was served today with the court slamming the sum of N50m against the senator. I am delighted to have represented that young lady in this suit. We say no more to oppression.” The new verdict came against the backdrop of another judgment by a magistrate’s court in Zuba, Abuja that had cleared Abbo and dismissed a suit brought by the police against him.

    The young lawmaker was in May 2019 – about three months after he became senator-elect and a month before NASS inauguration – caught on video assaulting Warmate after she pleaded with him not to manhandle another lady he had accused of insulting him by calling him a drunk. That assault took place with an armed policeman standing by who, rather than restrain Abbo, had attempted to arrest the victim. Although the assault was reported shortly after the incident, the police dallied on taking action. But when the force eventually dragged Abbo to court on one-count charge of assaulting Warmate, it made such shoddy job of prosecuting that Magistrate Abdullahi Ilelah upheld a no-case submission entered by the lawmaker and dismissed the case. Warmate though took her fate in her hands by filing a fundamental rights suit at the FCT high court, which was eventually decided in her favour.

    It is condemnable that the police did not only foot-drag on moving against Abbo, they also bungled the prosecution. If Warmate had not taken up the matter in a civil suit, Abbo might have escaped justice. This suggests the police were more inclined to allowing a lowly citizen suffer injustice than bring a ‘big fry’ to justice. Shame! As for the lawmaker, the impact of this new verdict may not be in the huge compensation he has been ordered to pay Warmate: who knows, he may be able to underwrite that easily. But he is now a convict-senator, and that is a label for history books.

  • Police recruitment drama

    Police recruitment drama

    Hardball

    AS the country struggles with insecurity, its police force is struggling with instability, which weakens the fight against insecurity. The verdict by the Court of Appeal, on September 30, nullifying the recruitment of 10, 000 constables by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, is a blow against efforts to fight insecurity.

    The judgement, the outcome of a superiority battle between the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the IGP, shows that there is a need for order in the force responsible for maintaining law and order.

    The PSC had taken the IGP and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to court over the recruitment of 10,000 constables as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.  The commission had argued that they were not authorised by law to play any role in “the appointment, promotion, dismissal or exercise of disciplinary measures over persons holding or aspiring to hold offices in the Nigeria Police Force.”

    The commission described the NPF’s move as a flagrant usurpation of the functions and powers of the PSC, and asked the Federal High Court to nullify the recruitment process already started by the NPF and the IGP.

    The commission lost the case. It appealed against Justice Inyang Ekwo’s judgement, delivered on December 2, 2019, which dismissed its case.

    Interestingly, a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Olabisi Ige unanimously held that the IGP lacked the power to recruit constables for the police force. The court held that the power to carry out the recruitment was exclusively that of the PSC. It declared the recruitment carried out by the IGP “null and void.”

    Unless the Appeal Court’s judgement is reversed by the Supreme Court, this means the recruitment carried out by the IGP was just a waste of time and resources. It also means the PSC is free to start another recruitment process, which would take time. Furthermore, it is a setback for the fight against insecurity because it means the needed increase in the number of policemen would be further delayed.

    There is no doubt that Nigeria needs more policemen. The United Nations (UN) standard of policing says one policeman to 400 citizens, but Nigeria is said to have one policeman to 600 citizens.

    It is unclear whether the IGP and the NPF would appeal against the Appeal Court verdict. The uncertainty does not help the fight against insecurity, which requires more policemen, among other things.

  • At 60, wail responsibly

    At 60, wail responsibly

    Hardball

    At 60, Nigeria has not quite lived its promising, post-Civil War re-set at 10.  Nor did it at 10, collapse in unbridled catastrophe, as the omens were at 5.

    At independence in October 1960, the first ruling alliance wasted no time in badgering at the critical joints of the new nation, no thanks to a barely veiled domination agenda — of the ruling coalition, viciously targeted at pocketing the opposition, which disastrously, was one of the three major ethnics.

    At five in 1965, it was grim portent, of a free fall without trace, into the abyss.  What was more?  In the vortex of the self-inflicted confusion and chaos, the children of the first ruling coalition started pouncing upon themselves.  The revolution was consuming its own children — and the result was the disastrous Civil War (1967-1970)!

    Even then, with the Yakubu Gowon mantra of “no winner, no vanquished”, October 1970 presaged a fresh start, after a bad early stumble, of Nigeria’s first decade.  It was also the start of the first Oil Boom, when Nigeria was awash with petro-dollars.

    The unfortunate thing back then — even if most didn’t quite fathom the depth of that catastrophe — was military rule.  The Gowon regime was the most civil and benevolent of them all.  Still, it marked the start of a long and almost uninterrupted military era, that would bring Nigeria to its knees; and also birth a rash of former soldiers, in retired generals and allied ranks, that would further blight the country’s eventual return to democracy in 1999.

    In that long but better forgotten era, two names can’t be forgotten, in infamy: Ibrahim Babamasi Babangida and Sani Abacha.

    IBB’s trickery was to deliver fond personal victory.  But it sank the country in neo-liberal ruins, which vicious economic tracks aren’t easy to change, till today; and the basic cause of Nigeria’s poverty crisis.

    Abacha, of course, was the signature tune of harsh military rule and the benumbing graft that comes with military impunity.  Still, Abacha’s economic sleaze and political debauchery, which issued from military tyranny, exposed the political military as the soulless opportunists that they were.  That paved the return to democracy.  Thanks to Abacha and his stark extremism, Nigeria has hit 20 interrupted years of democracy — and still counting.

    Still, the same military, tragic as their intervention was, expanded educational access.  Again, led by Gowon, they liberalized tertiary education access, thus ensuring hitherto poor folks could benefit from highly subsidized university and allied tertiary education.

    Yes, lack of enough sustainable investment ensures the Nigerian academy has seen better days — and that is to be decried.  But it is doubtful if even the United States, with some odd 300 years, has achieved the sort of university penetration Nigerian youths have enjoyed, 60 years after independence.

    That is to be applauded, warts and all.  Indeed, if Nigerians happen to be the most thriving ethnics, university education-wise in the United States, and twinkling stars in the Diaspora all over the globe, you know where the foundation came from.

    So, at 60, Nigeria may not be where it ought to be.  But it isn’t the unmitigated disaster many are socialized into crowing, in anniversary jeremiads.

    So, wail if you must, on this 60th anniversary.  But wail responsibly.  Everything is not doom.

  • Oluwo’s wars

    Oluwo’s wars

    Hardball

    Civilisation has changed and conventions are totally different from what they used to be. In cultural history, kingmakers were highly influential in determining the fate of a king, such that all it took a king in Old Oyo empire to abdicate was to be handed a covered calabash by kingmakers. Now, not even by an echo are kingmakers that powerful. Where they are in dispute with a reigning monarch, the best they can do is complain to higher authority; and in a battle of will with the monarch, they could end up with the short end of the stick.

    This scenario seems to be what’s been playing out lately in the ancient town of Iwo, Osun State. Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, is locked in a battle of will with kingmakers of the domain, but he isn’t scantly intimidated. The kingmakers last week petitioned Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola, demanding Oba Akanbi’s removal for alleged gross misconduct. The monarch, however, dismissed the petition as a product of conspiracy by alleged interests seeking to displace him from the throne.

    In the petition signed by 12 of the 14 kingmakers of Iwo (one is dead, meaning only one other abstained), the petitioners accused Oba Akanbi of conducting himself like an emperor and stirring needless controversy, like when he allegedly declared that all Yoruba had right to the royal stool of the Ooni of Ife. They further alleged that he has penchant for fighting notable personalities within and outside Iwoland, including prominent Yoruba monarchs. “We’ve gone to him and discussed but no change,” Osa of Iwo, Chief Yekeen Bello, was reported saying.

    Oba Akanbi, for his part, dismissed the allegations as sheer mischief by detractors who’ve failed serially in their attempts to bring him down. His spokesman flaunted the monarch’s achievements, saying the traditional system had never been parliamentary – in apparent reference to style. “His reign is prosperous, fruitful and virile to the advantage of all and sundry,” the spokesman added. Later last week, thousands of Iwo natives protested in solidarity with Oba Akanbi, which the monarch celebrated as vindication. The protesters also demanded reprimand of the kingmakers.

    Peace everywhere is built on compromise and not hard lines. Thus, Iwo kingmakers should cease from destabilization plotting. On the other hand, although Oba Akanbi by reputation isn’t faint hearted at tackling adversaries, conciliation is always key to winning the peace. While handing him the staff of office in 2016, former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola was reported saying: “Not everyone will readily agree with you and many will say or do things you will consider abhorrent, but they are all your subjects and you are required to preside over them with tact and wisdom in a way that will enable you to get the best out of them.” No better time than now for Oba Akanbi to follow this advice.

  • Edo: Cutting off the nose to spite the face

    Edo: Cutting off the nose to spite the face

    Hardball 

    Why the winner won and the loser lost in the Edo State governorship election of September 19 may not be perfectly clear, but it can be clarified.  It was mainly a two-horse race between the incumbent governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Godwin Obaseki, who was re-elected, and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who was runner-up.

    A recent article by Tunde Rahman, spokesman for APC leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presented clarifying information.   In the article titled ‘Asiwaju Tinubu and Edo Election,’ Rahman said the party lost the election because of the actions of some treacherous party members who supported the rival party’s candidate in the election.

    It was a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face. Powerful APC members who allegedly backed Obaseki against Ize-Iyamu did so in an attempt to foil Tinubu’s rumoured presidential ambition, according to Rahman.

    He said: “Indeed, it must be pointed out clearly that beneath all the shenanigans that trailed Edo poll, underneath all of that rabble-rousing, rumour-mongering, campaign of calumny, character assassination, deceit and double-dealing is the matter of 2023.”

    Rahman alleged: “Rather than first helping their party solidify its stronghold and strengthen it for future elections and re-commit themselves to the party’s ideals and principles, the APC chieftains were tearing at the party’s fabric, destroying its foundation and preparing it for eventual disintegration in the name of playing politics of 2023.”

    Tinubu’s spokesman did not substantiate his claims. But that is not enough reason to dismiss him or his claims. It is understandable that he may be unwilling to publicly name the alleged saboteurs. Not doing so does not mean there was no sabotage.

    If it is true that some powerful APC members worked against Ize-Iyamu in the Edo election just because they believed an electoral loss at that level in the state would help to spoil Tinubu’s believed presidential ambition, then such individuals need to be examined.

    How is an electoral loss at that level in Edo supposed to ruin a presidential ambition that has not been announced?  Does losing Edo weaken the party, and by extension the political power of certain members?  How does the party’s loss translate into gain for these alleged saboteurs? Only those involved in the alleged sabotage can supply the answers to these questions.

    If there are party men, and there are indeed, then there must be those who are not party men. Of course, the alleged APC saboteurs in the Edo State governorship election can’t be called party men.