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  • I played against myself — Ikhana

    I played against myself — Ikhana

    Enyimba FC Technical Adviser Kadiri Ikhana has admitted that it was hard for him to watch from the bench when his side defeated Giwa FC in the  Federation Cup semi-final clash at the MKO Stadium, Abeokuta yesterday.

    Rapheal Boumsong’s second half goal was all Enyimba needed to set up a semi-final clash against Dolphins FC at the expense of the  ten-man Giwa FC.

    Giwa FC defender Infeanyi Ameanema received a straight red card in the 82nd minute for a rough tackle.

    In an interview after the game, Ikhana said that the match could have gone either way.

    “Giwa is my team and don’t forget that I just left the club few months ago. It was interesting playing against myself. I played against myself because Giwa is still my team. Giwa tried their best and the match could have gone either way,” Ikhana confessed.

    Giwa FC got four points in the two-legged encounters in the Glo Premier League this season but Ikhana insisted that League game is different from Federation Cup.

    “The league is different from Federation Cup. Federation Cup is knockout game and when you lose you are out but losing a game in the League does not mean you are out of it. And now we’ve qualified for the final while Giwa are out of it.”

    Ikhana has vowed that his side would lift the trophy come August 16 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

    “That was our plan since the begining of the competition and we’ve been doing our best since we started the tournament,” he added.

  • Enyimba seek pound of flesh against Giwa FC

    Enyimba seek pound of flesh against Giwa FC

    Enyimba will face Giwa FC in today’s 2014 Federation Cup semi-final with revenge on their mind after they failed to beat the Jos club in their last two meetings.

    The six-time Nigeria league champions and Federation Cup holders lost 1-0 to Giwa last Sunday in Jos and drew goalless in Aba in a Week 19 league game.

    Enyimba defender Semiu Liadi told AfricanFootball.com they are going into the match with the aim to stop Giwa’s fine run against them and zoom into the final fixed for August 16.

    “It is true we couldn’t beat them in our two previous games in the league, but this is the Federation Cup and we are the holders. We are going for a revenge to see that we beat them and send them packing. They are good, but we will be better in the game on Thursday,”Liadi told AfricanFootball.com.

    The other semi-final between Dolphins and Prime FC will be played in Abuja also today.

  • 2015: Presidency, PDP plot against Lamido

    2015: Presidency, PDP plot against Lamido

    Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, appears determined to have a go at the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) come next year, but the Presidency is bent on cutting him to size, reports Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo

    The postulation that the Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, has an ace up his sleeves after declining to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last year now looks real after all.

    For some time now, Lamido’s alleged ambition to have a go at the presidential ticket of the PDP has become a huge dilemma for the Presidency and national leaders of the party.

    To infer that a palpable sense of unease currently reigns in the top echelon of the PDP over Lamido’s widely suspected presidential ambition would be an understatement.

    Though the governor is yet to publicly declare his interest in the presidential contest, his body language hints at his positive disposition towards the idea.

    In an interview with a national daily recently, Lamido, while not categorically stating his interest in the race, however declared that no law forbids him from taking a shot at the exalted seat on the platform of his party.

    “I don’t see any crime being committed by people saying that I want to be the President of Nigeria, because it is not a personal office,” he had said, adding, “Every Nigerian should be able to aspire to that position, provided it is not based on the criteria of tribe, religion or culture. Anybody elected to that position should be a Nigerian president. Every Nigerian has the right to aspire to be the president of this country. Every Nigerian is a presidential material.

    “You see, they tend to personalise the Presidency and therefore anybody who aspires to become the president is like committing a crime. That office is a national office for all Nigerians and, therefore, should not be appropriated. Anybody can be there.”

    Speaking further on his political plans, Lamido declared, “By my political culture and belief as a Muslim, I would always allow God to be my guide; He has been there for you and me.”

    This statement, as diplomatic as it was, is however being taken seriously by President Goodluck Jonathan’s strategists as the clearest indication that Lamido is set to challenge the President for the PDP’s 2015 presidential ticket.

    Though Lamido’s aspiration looks dead on arrival, as Jonathan is, undoubtedly, the man to beat for the ticket, sources in the party believe that the governor’s aspiration will likely upset the party’s game plan of returning Jonathan unopposed or, in a worse-case scenario, run without any serious contender for the presidential ticket.

    Indeed, there are palpable fears within the party that Lamido is acting out a script of a broader agenda to achieve a number of objectives, a few of which include to cause another round of crisis in the party close to the 2015 elections and most significantly to reinforce the undisguised plot to return power to the North next year.

    As a source puts it, “It is no longer a hidden fact that the North wants the Presidency in 2015. And the only way to realise this plan is to cause maximum damage to the PDP, which is not looking back in presenting Jonathan as its presidential candidate.

    “While President Jonathan is a sure bet for the PDP ticket, however, Sule Lamido’s failure in the primaries will cause a split within the party and this is what we want to avoid by all means. Any post-primary crisis will surely prove a huge distraction for the party before the general elections.

    “Some northern elites will surely allege manipulation of the primary in favour of Jonathan and before you know it, the party will have a big crisis on its hands. Lamido’s decision to challenge the President appears to be the final phase to decimate the PDP.”

    Options to stop Lamido

    A few options are being considered by the President’s handlers to handle the Lamido challenge.

    First, plans have been set afoot to prevail on the Jigawa governor to drop his ambition in the overall interest of the party.

    Sources disclosed that influential traditional rulers in the North, who have the ears of the governor and prominent opinion leaders will be contracted to talk Lamido out of his presidential ambition.

    But the major snag to this plan, say a source, is on who to enlist for this task, as there are strong suspicions on the disposition of most major Northern stakeholders to the President’s alleged second term ambition.

    The likely threats of Lamido’s challenge to the Jonathan 2015 project, The Nation gathered, perhaps explained why some close advisers of the President supported the idea of picking the governor as Jonathan’s running mate for next year’s election.

    The argument of this school of thought is that Lamido has more to bring to the table than the incumbent vice president, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, who despite his loyalty to his boss and also recording some successes in the recent poaching of some Northern APC leaders to the PDP, is still largely seen as lacking the requisite political stature to mobilise a broad-based support for the President in the northern region.

    While chances are high that the President may retain Sambo in 2015, sources revealed that those opposed to his retention are not giving up in getting Jonathan to have a change of mind on the issue.

    But Sambo also has its staunch backers in the President’s inner circle. This group, it is alleged, aver that dropping Sambo for Lamido, who is known for his fierce independent mindedness and loyalty to certain individuals known to be antagonistic of the President will be too much of a risk to take.

    The Nation gathered that if the plan to pressure Lamido out of the presidential contest fails, the Option B will be to re-open the money laundering case involving the governor’s sons, Aminu and Mustapha.

    About two years ago, Aminu was arrested at the Aminu Kano International Airport on his way to Cairo, Egypt, while allegedly in possession of about $50, 000, which he failed to declare to appropriate authorities.

    Aminu was quizzed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but was released a few days later. The two young men’s predicament was linked to their father’s political differences with the President, a charge that was dismissed by the Presidency.

    “Don’t be surprised if this case involving Aminu and Mustapha is re-opened later this year to distract their father from his presidential campaign,” quips a source.

    Lamido is however said to be unperturbed about the plot against him, but how far he can go to upset the apple cart in the PDP presidential contest remains to be seen.

  • Group mobilises for protest in US against Jonathan

    Group mobilises for protest in US against Jonathan

    A group yesterday called on Nigerians in Diaspora to prepare for a protest against President Goodluck Jonathan in Washington DC.

    The Executive Director, Gatekeepers Foundation, Blessing Agbomhere, made the call in a statement in Abuja.

    Agbomhere said the protest became necessary due to the inability of the  Jonathan’s administration to secure the lives and property of Nigerians.

    He said the protest was meant to demand immediate rescue of the over 200 girls in Boko Haram’s captivity since April and the recovery of the $20billion oil revenue unaccounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    The statement, entitled: “President Goodluck’s visit to the US: A call for massive protests”, reads in part: “This is calling on all patriotic Nigerians and Gatekeepers Foundation Volunteers in the United State of America with committed interest in the growth and development of our country to come out enmasse to protest rallies holding in Washington DC to demand that President Goodluck Jonathan Bring Back Our Girls Alive and bring back our US$20billion or resign.

    “The protest has become necessary as a result of the insincerity of the Jonathan-led government in providing security of lives and property in the country, while deliberately perpetuating and protecting corruption and corrupt government officials.

    “Therefore, we call on Nigerians in Diaspora, especially in the US, to come out with their placards to occupy the streets of Washington DC until President Goodluck is ready to Bring Back Our Girls Alive and Our US$20 Billion or resign.”

  • …Amuneke warns against complacency

    …Amuneke warns against complacency

    Meanwhile, Emmanuel Amuneke (MON), Golden Eaglets’ Head Coach, has warned his wards against any form of complacency even as he craves for a winning mentality in their African championship qualifier against Democratic Republic of Congo.

    The eagerly awaited match, according to Federation Congolaise de Football Association (FECOFA), would take place on Saturday after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) graciously shifted it from July 20 due to the earlier suspension of the NFF by FIFA.

    “Now is the moment of truth for us because the serious business of qualification for Niger 2015 would begin for us in Congo (DR),”

    Amuneke told the players:” All what we have done before is now in the past because we would now be judged based on our performance particularly in this match.”

    Speaking to the players during Wednesday’s training at the University of Calabar, Amuneke told them to have nothing but a winning attitude, assuring that the players selected for the encounter are fit and ready to do the country proud yet again.

    “We must go to Congo with the sole  objective of winning and that is the mental attitude we must all have.  We must be ready to  show all what we have been learning in our training and we the coaching crew believe that you have what it takes to win this match but we must not be over confident, noted the 1994 African Footballer of the Year.

  • ‘Sharks had it easy against Dynamite FC’

    ‘Sharks had it easy against Dynamite FC’

    Sharks Football Club of Port-Harcourt goalkeeper, Danladi Issah, has admitted that his side had an easy game in their 2-0 win over Dynamite FC of Benin City in the Federation Cup round of 16 clash on Thursday.

    Two goals in each half of the encounter was all the Blue Angels needed to book a quater-final ticket at the expense of giant killers, Dynamite FC.

    Kelly Kester opened scoring for Sharks in the 6th minute when he volleyed home a cross from right wing-back Odinga Odinga to unsettle the non-league side who were relying on a fast break to find the back of the net.

    Christian Pyagbara netted the second goal for the coach Gbenga Ogunbote-tutored side twenty eight minutes into the second half after receiving a long pass from Fredrick Obomate, before shooting into the far right of the net.

    Dynamite’s attempt to get a lifeline did not yield any fruit as the heavily built Issah did his all to enjoy another 90minutes of action without conceding a goal.

    Issah, who was rattled twice in the match, said he had expected a more difficult opposition from the side that edged out Ranchers Bees and 3SC Football Club in the round of 64 and 32 respectively.

    “I never thought it would go like this, luckily for us we had it easy,” Issah said.

    “I guess Kelly’s early goal unsettled them and the second goal scored by Pyagbara in the second half was a beauty to behold.”

    Issah, Sharks’ safest hands, then said he was looking forward to the quarter final match, irrespective of the opposition.

    “Anything can happen in the game of football. Don’t forget we defeated Heartland in the round of 32, so it does not matter who our next opponents will be, we are ready,” he boasted.

  • Odubajo shines against Boreham Wood

    Odubajo shines against Boreham Wood

    Brentford boss Mark Warburton  included Moses Odubajo in his squad that faced Boreham Wood on Thursday, and the Nigerian winger performed decently in the club’s first pre-season match.

    Odubajo signed for the Championship side Brentford on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee on 27th June, 2014.

    The 20-year-old joined his new team-mates in the United States of America for an eleven-day training camp.

    But after looking sharp in the training sessions conducted in the last two weeks, the 51-year-old included Odubajo in his squad for the game.

    It was their first friendly ahead of the 2014/2015 Sky Bet Championship season against Boreham Wood and the Nigerian had a good performanece at the Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park venue of the match.

  • APC: Jonathan has begun war against opposition

    APC: Jonathan has begun war against opposition

    Five more governors on sack list, says party

    PDP dismisses claim

    The battle line was drawn yesterday between the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Goodluck Jonathan presidency.

    APC Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun accused President Goodluck Jonathan of declaring war against the opposition with state-sponsored impeachment proceedings.

    He said the impeachment of Admiral Murtala Nyako as the governor of Adamawa State was “unacceptable”.

    He alleged that members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly were induced with $300,000 as part-payment to impeach Nyako.

    He said a N500 million offer had been dangled before Nasarawa State lawmakers to remove Governor Tanko Al-Makura and N75million per lawmaker to sack Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    Odigie-Oyegun alleged that Jonathan and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were out to remove APC governors in Borno, Nasarawa, Edo, Osun and Rivers states.

    He said the President, who had become “obsessed” with his re-election aspiration in 2015, was ready to destroy the country.

    Odigie-Oyegun, who spoke at a crowded press conference in Abuja, said the APC will resist any moves by the President to return Nigeria to the “dark days”.

    He said: “Events in Nigeria in the past few weeks point to a return to the dark old days of state dictatorship, lawlessness, impunity and repression.

    “Our freedoms are being emasculated, our economy being run to the ground, and our only hope of bringing about change – our democratic expression – is being smothered before our very eyes all because President Goodluck Jonathan is so obsessed with re-election in 2015 at all cost that he is destroying not just all our key institutions but indeed the entire country.”

    The APC National Chairman said the party was being pushed to the wall and would fight back.

    He added: “At this critical juncture of our history and despite our desire for restraint and mature engagement with President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), it is evident that inaction is no longer an option and we must resist.

    “Indeed keeping quiet in the face of the ceaseless and unrelenting reckless violations of all known laws of the land and the Constitution will amount to complicity in the lawlessness and impunity that has become the norm under President Goodluck Jonathan. We know it has been the dream of the ruling PDP to rule for 60 unbroken years, not minding if Nigeria becomes a desert land in the process.

    “Their evil machination has manifested in Ekiti. It manifested yesterday in Adamawa. They have carried it to Nasarawa, and they have Edo, Osun and Rivers in their sight.

    “In the states mentioned, all of them opposition strongholds, President Jonathan and his party have abused national institutions, resorted to a crude use of force and engaged in unprecedented financial inducements to achieve their objectives.

    “All these anti-democratic tactics come under the umbrella of power with impunity!”

    Odigie-Oyegun said: “But there is a bigger problem. President Jonathan is obsessed with his re-election in 2015, and he does not mind if Nigeria is destroyed in the process.

    “He does not care whether every institution of state, be it the military, the courts, INEC or any other one, is destroyed. All that matters now is his re-election.

    “This explains why he has embarked on this war against the opposition, this war against all of Nigeria.

    “Having bastardised the army, the police, the courts, aviation and the electoral commission, he has now moved to the next level: Impeachment. Every impeachment or threat of it in recent times has the imprint of President Jonathan.

    “As we speak, the Governor of Adamawa, Murtala Nyako, has been impeached at the instance of the President and his party. They have moved to Nasarawa, their next stop, while Rivers, Edo and Borno, all APC states, are not being spared the destabilisation that precedes their new-found weapon.”

    He attributed Nyako’s impeachment to the ex-governor’s defection to the APC.

    He said the President was guilty of allegations of extra-budgetary expenditure with which Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State is being threatened with impeachment.

    He added: “What was Nyako impeached for? Offences he allegedly committed five years ago. Those offences were not impeachable when he was in the PDP. But the moment he decamped to the APC, they became impeachable.

    “The entire ‘impeachment’ of Governor Nyako is so fraught with irregularities, bias, judicial contradictions and in violation of every procedural and constitutional provision that it is the worst manifestation of impunity.

    “We intend to mount an immediate and rigorous challenge to this gross injustice to the party and people of Adamawa State.

    “What is Governor Al-Makura of Nasarawa being threatened with impeachment for? Allegations of extra-budgetary expenditure, the same offence that President Jonathan has committed many times.

    “In fact, on only on the 10th of July 2014, the Senate passed a resolution asking President Goodluck Jonathan to prepare and submit to the National Assembly supplementary budget to cover the over expenditure in the sum of N90.693 billion (US$585 million) for PMS subsidy 2012 and the sum of N685.910 billion (US$4.430 billion) for Kerosene (DPK) subsidy expended without appropriation by the National Assembly in 2012 and 2013!”

    A livid Odigie-Oyegun gave insights into mass bribery of lawmakers in Adamawa and Nasarawa states to impeach their governors.

    He said: “In Adamawa, each member of the State House of Assembly was allegedly given US $300,000 as part payment to impeach Governor Nyako; some N500 million has allegedly been moved to Nasarawa to induce the state’s lawmakers to impeach Governor Al-Makura, and in Edo, each lawmaker has allegedly been offered N75million to impeach Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    “Now, who is guiltier of gross misconduct than a President who is frittering away our commonwealth to induce perfidious legislators to impeach state governors? Who is guiltier of gross misconduct than a President who deploys troops to harass, intimidate and arrest the opposition during an election?

    “Who deserves to be impeached for gross misconduct more than a President who uses national institutions against the opposition, and shuts airports arbitrarily?

    “President Jonathan’s desperation knows no bounds, and he is willing to set a record of presiding over the greatest number of impeachments under his tenure.

    “Before Nyako’s impeachment on Tuesday, a total of five impeachments have been carried out in all of the 15 years of the Fourth Republic. But between now and 2015, President Jonathan is championing five impeachments, in Adamawa, Nasarawa, Edo, Rivers and Borno.”

    Odigie-Oyegun expressed concern that the military had been compromised to do the President’s biddings.

    He said: “In doing so, he is subverting hitherto respected national institutions. The Army has been so compromised that it can no longer be trusted by anyone to be neutral. The army has been so abused that it now carries out police duties.

    “Soldiers were deployed to guard the residence of the Chief Judge of Adamawa while the impeachment proceedings were on. Soldiers were deployed to guard each member of the impeachment panel. Soldiers were also deployed to guard the venue where the panel sat.

    “In Ekiti, soldiers were deployed to hunt down the opposition and prevent them from moving around freely, in contravention of the nation’s constitution.

    “In Osun, soldiers are again to be deployed to shut down the state and go after the opposition.

    “By using the military for election duties, President Jonathan is clearly disobeying a court order as the Court of Appeal had ruled as far back as 2005 that the involvement of the military in the conduct of elections is an aberration and, therefore, unconstitutional. Indeed in the words of Salami, JCA on page 176 in the case of Yusuf v Obasanjo (2005) 18 NWLR (Pt. 956 96@174-5)

    “It is up to the police to protect our nascent democracy and not the military, otherwise the democracy might be wittingly or unwittingly militarised. This is not what the citizenry bargained for after 1999. Conscious step or steps should be taken to civilianise the polity and thereby ensure survival and sustenance of democracy.”

    “The Akure airport was suddenly slammed shut just to punish opposition leaders who had converged on Ekiti for Governor Kayode Fayemi’s campaign rally. They had to travel all night by road to Lagos.

    “In Borno, under the guise of ensuring security, the Maiduguri Airport has been closed for several weeks; hence the Borno Governor and the people of the state, including the pilgrims heading for lesser Hajj, have been forced to travel by road to Kano to board their flights.

    “However, the reason for shutting the airport has suddenly vanished as the private plane bearing former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff was allowed to land at the airport on Monday, the same day the governor had to travel by road to Kano to see his brother who was involved in an accident on the same road.

    “Obviously, President Jonathan is fast turning Nigeria into George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where some animals are more equal than the others.

    “Welcome to Nigeria of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, where the only people who are deemed to be true Nigerians are those under the umbrella of the PDP, where the only people worth protecting are PDP members!”

    The APC National Chairman reminded President Jonathan and the PDP that political greed had always derailed the nation’s democracy.

    He called on all friends of Nigeria to prevail on President Jonathan to apply the brakes in his “obsessive” quest for power.

    Oyegun said: “We have raised the alarm several times that President Jonathan’s obsession with his re-election is a clear and present danger to our democracy.

    “Today, we say this President’s obsession with re-election is threatening the very existence of our nation.

    “Never in the history of our dear nation has any President waged war on the country the way this President is doing. Never in the history of our country has any President desecrated national institutions like this President is doing to the very institutions that sustain democracy.

    “Never in the history of our country have our people been so divided along ethnic, religious, political and social lines, with poverty rising astronomically in the backdrop of a claimed rapid growth in the nation’s GDP.

    “We warn that excessive political greed will always have its consequences. Any student of Nigeria’s contemporary history will realise what acts of impunity and desperation to win elections at all cost did to the country in 1965, 1983 and 1993, just to mention but a few.

    “We call on all friends of Nigeria to prevail on President Jonathan to apply the brakes in his obsessive quest for power, because every action has consequences.

    “It is time for those who can still get the ears of this President to remind him that his ambition is not worth the destruction of a whole country. All those who can must act now before it is too late!”

    The briefing was attended by party bigwigs, including Deputy National Chairman Shuaib Lawal; National Secretary Mai Mala Buni, one-time Minister and former National Chairman of PDP Chief Audu Ogbeh; a  former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; Senator Bukola Saraki; Minority Leader in the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila; ex-Deputy Governor of Bauchi State Alhaji Mohammed  Garba Gadi, National Vice-Chairman (North-East) B. D. Lawal;  National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed; National Organising Secretary Senator Osita Izunaso; National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties(CNPP) Osita Okechukwu; anti-corruption crusader Dino Melaye and other members of the party’s National Executive Committee.

     

  • Let’s pray against blood letting, says Olubadan

    The Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Samuel Odulana, has enjoined Muslims to pray against “ceaseless bloodletting” being witnessed daily from the destructive activities of religious extremists.

    The monarch, in a statement in Ibadan yesterday, congratulated all Muslims for witnessing another month of fasting  “at a trying time the country is passing through serious security challenges.”

    Oba Odulana enjoined Muslims to pray for peace.

    The monarch admonished the faithful “to radiate the virtues of love, compassion, self-discipline, obedience, peaceful co-existence and religious tolerance during and after the Ramadan period as enjoined by the Qur’an and teachings of Prophet Muhammad.”

    He also urged all Nigerians to pray for unity of the country and refrain from acts that could lead to break down of law and order.

  • A convention against all odds!

    A convention against all odds!

    This time last week, all minds were busy wondering about what the outcome of the national convention of the leading opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC), would be. Most people, especially from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) were seated in their strategy room waiting for the doomsday prophesy that APC would buckle under internal wrangling. This is expected in view of the fact that PDP would not ever contemplate that any political party, not even APC, could ever give it the kind of serious challenge that it presently faces.

    Consequently, the PDP would still attempt to do everything possible, including the planting of moles within the opposition’s topmost hierarchy, to ensure that the APC crumbles like a pack of cards before the dawn of the 2015 general elections. Moreover, it is not in doubt that the ruling party would be ashamed that the national convention that it failed to successfully conduct last year, which led to its decimation, was what APC has just achieved.

    Apart from the major challenge of  sponsored subversion from the PDP, APC equally and expectedly has to contend with the test of members that see the platform not necessarily as one for change, but one for the realisation of their inordinate ambitions and when not achieved, are ready to rock the boat. When juxtaposed with earlier raised PDP’s wish, some analysts have concluded that the task ahead of APC is Herculean. The two extrapolated positions are true but this column wants to believe that the promoters of APC, especially former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a shrewd politician, must have anticipated these at the formative days of the mega opposition party. The adequacy of the steps he had taken to checkmate such injurious malcontents is what may be in doubt in view of the high-wired politics that took place in Abuja during the party’s last convention.

    Again, some have argued that what happened in Abuja during the APC convention is normal for such a political gathering because politics is ordinarily the game of intrigues. But this column agrees with this position to a point that it is targeted at achieving the general wellbeing of whole and not a malicious personalised war. One doubts if any reasonable Nigerian can honestly profess to be contented with the performance and governing style of the ruling PDP. And the reason behind this is why majority of Nigerians could not affirmatively answer this question. In retrospect, this was what led to the birth of APC. The need for an effective alternative party to dislodge PDP from power, and APC has done effectively well at the regional level.

    In 15 years of supposed democratic governance, the PDP has been ruling by fraud and through this fraud, it acquires access to the tools needed to finish the job of killing off the constitution. APC is hopefully out to cure this mischief. PDP has foisted a nation where justice is denied; where poverty is enforced and where ignorance prevails among the people; a society where the privileged class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade the hoi polloi. This column now knows why lives and property are not safe under the current administration. The truth is that PDP has failed and it is obvious that those who deny good governance and meaningful wellbeing cannot claim to be defenders of the suffering Nigerian people. The testimonies of good governance in the states controlled by APC are in sharp contrast to the wobbling misrule in most of the PDP states including the centre.

    Somebody saw the need to forge a united front and replicate the development of the APC states all over the federation. He toiled day and night meeting people from the other parts of the country. He could have remained in his southwest cocoon which yours sincerely would have preferred but he took the risk. He has hope and confidence in himself and ultimately, God against odds. But when the party has taken firm roots, most of those who silently mock him sees the hope that he saw long time ago and decided to have a piece of the action. They conspired against him at the convention in their scheme to have stronghold over the party.

    This column finds quite treacherous the moves of some APC governors that were installed by the man to usurp his power at the convention. At the nick of time, the national leader of APC’s trump card of visiting Governor Wammako revealed the wolf in APC’s sheep’s skin from Borno State. He comfortably sat down and was caught compiling his conspiratorial list of self-serving national officers. This mole from defunct ANPP is working for Jonathan’s PDP. The same man worked for Obasanjo, though he claimed to be a chieftain of ANPP.

    The man that I am talking about is the contemporary rescuer of the southwest that many love to use his name and resources to attain power and comfort but gleefully choose to betray easily without a whiff of conscience. He is Bola Tinubu who alongside Mohammadu Buhari, Abubakar Atiku, Wammako and others ensured a successful APC national convention. They realised that whatever misfortune befalls APC at this period could not be in the interest of democracy and Nigeria’s stability. Most people cannot continue to mouth PDP’s maladministration without working concertedly to provide an effective alternative which Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun, a matured man of integrity, had been elected at the convention to provide.

    Tinubu tickles more because he liberated the southwest from the yoke of PDP-concocted misfortunes and because Claude Thomas Bissell once said: He “Risks more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible.” Also on the conspiracy against him during the convention, he was able to prove the words of Orison Swett Marden right when he said: “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” Ride on Asiwaju for weathering this national convention’s storm to a successful end. A caveat: Beware more of the enemy within and the several birds of strange bedfellows that are always flocking around you, pretending to be genuine loyalists! Their motive is clear enough for all to see now.