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Tag: Oby Ezekwesili

  • Oby Ezekwesili, husband celebrate 37th wedding anniversary

    Oby Ezekwesili, husband celebrate 37th wedding anniversary

    Former minister Oby Ezekwesili has celebrated her 37th wedding anniversary with her husband, Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili.

    In a heartfelt post, Oby shared the story of her husband’s proposal, recalling her enthusiastic “yes” and reaffirming her lifelong commitment to him.

    She expressed gratitude to God for their enduring love, “#ThirtySeven today, my guy Pastor Chinedu T. Ezekwesili, and I am forever blessed by our God for that day you asked me and I said a resounding yes.

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    “And I will always love you until we return to the one who’s shown us the everlasting love upon which we centred ours in good times and tough times through the years. You’re still the one I want for life,” she wrote.

  • Oby Ezekwesili’s wars without rhyme

    Oby Ezekwesili’s wars without rhyme

    Not a few Nigerians are upset by the name-calling to express contempt between Oby Ezekwesili, a celebrated Nigerian icon and distinguished senator, Onyekachi Nwaebonyi on the hallowed floor of the senate last week. It is just as well the senator has since apologized for what many saw as an assault on the person of a distinguished woman that has done us proud at home and abroad. But not without Ezekwesili’s detractors saying she got what she deserved

    Oby Ezekwesili has earned her stripes. Her strings of achievements and honour at home and abroad speak for her. She was a two times minister, first as Minister of Solid Mineral and Minister of Education at different periods. As a public servant, she has been celebrated for her role in crafting the Bureau for Public Procurement legislation, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) legislation and currently, as founder-chairperson of the Board of School of Politics Policy and Governance in Abuja.

    She has also been globally celebrated as a former vice president of the World Bank (Africa region} and co-founder and pioneer director of Transparency International-TI, the Berlin-based global anti-corruption organization.

    It is however hoped that Ezekwesili still remembers she earned her stripes not through emotional blackmail as the weaker sex or by allowing her vision to be blurred by local politics, but by being able to stand her own among the best in the world. However, since we cannot stop her from doing what she does best – seeking justice for the poor and the disadvantaged, many believe it is time for her to critically examine the character and motives of those whose battle she takes head on.

    For instance, as a role model for many young Nigerians, many thought she would have distanced herself from the ongoing Natasha family war, being waged not on the basis of facts available to most Nigerians but because she seems to have an axe to grind with her husband’s friend, the senate president and she is ready to bring to disrepute all other male senators that passed a vote of confidence on the senate president.

    What Nigerians witnessed on the floor of the senate was an ill-tempered Natasha who was not prepared for the distinguished office of a senator of Nigeria. But reporting the outburst of visibly angry Senator Natasha the following morning, it was from Rufai Oseni of Arise TV that we heard that there might have been other underlying reasons for Natasha’s ignoble behaviour whereupon he publicly threw her a challenge to come to Arise TV and tell Nigerians her story. A few days later, we saw Natasha sobbing while narrating how the senate president held her hand while showing her and her husband (we have since learnt there were other senators) around his new house and whispered to her about the possibility of coming to spend quality time w ith him in the new house.  This revelation was coming about 14 months after working together amicably including accompanying Godswill Akpabio to the 148th IPU General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland along with other senators and securing some advantages including chairmanship of juicy committee on local content.

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    But following her six months suspension for her unruly behaviour with a proviso for forgiveness if she tenders an apology to the senate’s Ethics Committee whose invitation she ignored, she changed the narrative, falsely claiming she was suspended over her sexual harassment petition allegation against the senate president.

    This falsehood was echoed by Arise TV, her chief promoter.

    Five days later, the suspended Natasha was illegally at the UN Inter-Parliamentary Union where she falsely claimed she was illegally suspended for her sexual harassment petition against the Nigerian senate president which she described as a “punishment for speaking out against impunity, corruption, and gender-based violence in Nigeria”. She then moved to BBC where she told the world how a few powerful men silence voices of women in Nigeria, with her media promoters pretending not to see the damage being done to the reputation of our country.

    Of course her message of underrepresentation of women in Nigeria where we have only four senators in a sena te of 109 resonated well with her women supporters. This seems to be the basis for her support among Nigerian women, if the conclusion of some well-educated and highly successful Nigerian women professional who often feature on TVC programme “Life with Morayo” last week is anything to go by. After their healthy debate, one of them stood up and said “Natasha out of the senate is minus one for women, this battle must be fought” right or wrong”!

    Sadly, this seem to be the mind-set of even our distinguished Oby Ezekwezili and Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, Senator Natasha’s witness and lawyer respectively during their appearance before the Senate Committee on Ethics last week. They did everything including discrediting the chairman of the committee, the committee members and the senate except pursuit of truth and justice. While calming they were not there to create a stalemate, they did everything to frustrate efforts by the committee to hear Senator Natasha’s petition.

    Many also believe Ezekwesili’s decision to join Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN) the Nigerian Bar Association chair who speaks more as a politician to fight the Fubara battle was ill-informed. Ezekwezili, a star minister under anti-democratic and corrupt administration of Obasanjo where N300b budget for road reconstruction between 1999 and 2003 disappeared with no single road constructed, where children of PDP stalwarts stole N1.6trillion forging documents without supplying a litre of fuel, where about 18 of PDP and ANPP governors between 1999 and 2007 were dragged to court by EFCC for financial malfeasance, where Nigeria’s total investment of over $100b was sold for a paltry $1.5b to PDP stalwarts in the name of privatization, and where she, herself complained openly about monumental corruption under Jonathan administration, has seen nothing but doom in Tinubu’s administration.

    In fact many believe her criticism of the president’s action in Rivers which prevented a descent into chaos and anarchy amounts to agonizing over the president’s success.

    The co-organiser of ‘BringBackOurGirls’, kidnapped by Boko Haram in faraway Borno State who has today joined the new crusaders for democracy, did not do anything as Fubara ruled from her backyard like a despot for close to two years after his coup against the state House of Assembly.

    She had the following to say to people of Rivers after president’s proactive action which many believe has prevented a descent into chaos: “To all the Good People of Rivers State, I send this Quote of Wael Ghonim with solidarity and kindness: “The Power of the People is greater than the People in Power”.

    Before her last week undignified senate outing, was another ignoble interference in the battle between the openly partisan Arise Television and 2023 Candidate Tinubu’s handlers, Bayo Onanuga and Dele Alake. They insisted their candidate was not going to feature on Arise TV debate anchored by Reuben Abati, who they claimed was a card-carrying member of PDP and a former Ogun State PDP deputy governorship candidate to the late Buruji Kashamu.

    They also had cause to report Rufai Oseni to the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) for unprofessional behaviour. Ask any journalism teacher who teaches attributes of news anchor in our universities, they will tell you Rufai Oseni is the worst example of how not to be a news anchor. But Ezekwezili, who knows next to nothing in journalism, organized a one woman crusade in support of Oseni, whose job she claimed was under threat. Of course many read politics into Ezekwesili’s ill-informed intervention.

    She could have saved herself from her last week disastrous outing where attempt was made to demystify her if she, as a national icon, sat back  and allow Rufai Oseni and Arise TV to fight Senator Natasha’s battle they so valiantly promoted hiding under the banner of patriotism, ‘the last refuge of the scoundrels”.

    Many have since come to the sad conclusion that Oby Ezekwesili miscalculated by taking sides in an unwinnable war between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and her husband’s friend and long-time associate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, a two-term governor and senate president, who like most accomplished politicians and professionals including journalists, can afford four wives instead of risking the fury of a scorned friend’s wife.

  • Natasha: Senator Nwebonyi, Ezekwesili clash over alleged bias

    Natasha: Senator Nwebonyi, Ezekwesili clash over alleged bias

    Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi (APC – Ebonyi South)  and a former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, on Tuesday, clashed in the Senate over alleged bias in the handling of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment allegations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

    The Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions later threw out Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition, saying the matter was already a subject of litigation.

    The petition was authored by Mr Zubairu Yakubu, one of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s constituents.

    The clash occurred during a session by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions  on the sexual harassment allegations levelled against the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, by suspended lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

    Senator Nwebonyi and Ezekwesili engaged in war of words as the Senator representing Ebonyi South described the former Minister in derogatory terms.

    The petitioner, Yakubu, from Kogi Central Senatorial District had appeared before the Committee on Tuesday in company of Ezekwesili, who appeared as a witness.

    The Committee ruled that it could not sit on the petition in view of a pending case filed against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by Unoma Akpabio,  wife of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.

    Citing Senate rules, Senator Imasuen noted that the practice of the Red Chamber was to desist from entertaining petitions on any matters pending before the Court.

    During the proceedings, tension rose when Nwebonyi resorted to derogatory remarks, labelling Ezekwesili an ‘insult to womanhood’ and a ‘hooligan.’

    The verbal war ensued when

    Ezekwesili and some other attendees’ refused to take an oath during the committee’s hearing.

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    While one of the senators insisted that either they take the oath or the committee would end the meeting, Ezekwesili and her colleagues insisted on not taking the oath, during which Senator Nwebonyi became apparently angry.

    “You are an insult to womanhood, hooligan. People like you are not supposed to be here, hooligan. You are an insult to womanhood!” Nwebonyi repeatedly shouted at Ezekwesili, who maintained her stance while staff made frantic attempts to switch off their microphones.

    Social media have been abuzz following the altercation with many Nigerians decrying Nwebonyi’s conduct as unprofessional and unbecoming of a Senator.

    Speaking with journalists after the Senate Committee adjourned, indefinitely, Ezekwesili accused the Senate of violating the Constitution as she maintained that the Senate rule cited by the Committee was not superior to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    She said: “The Nigerian Senate keeps telling citizens they are subject to Senate rules, even when those rules violate the Constitution. This is unacceptable in a democracy.”

    She  further argued that the embattled Kogi Central lawmaker was denied fair hearing in clear breach of provisions of the Constitution.

    “The Senate placed its own rules above the laws of the land. Now, with this petitioner, they have done the same thing—using procedural loopholes to avoid addressing critical issues,” she said.

    The former Minister who insisted that the Senate Committee has shown bias called for an independent panel to review Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition.

    “If a petitioner says they do not believe the Senate committee will give them a fair hearing due to clear bias, it is only just that an independent body reviews the matter,” she said.

    She  warned that the Senate’s actions could set a dangerous precedent where internal rules override the Constitution.

    “The Senate must respect the Constitution. Otherwise, we risk turning our democracy into a system where powerful individuals manipulate processes to silence opposition and suppress justice,” she said.

    Speaking further on the alleged bias by the Senate, the petitioner, cited previous remarks attributed to the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Imasuen, where he described Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition as dead on arrival during a previous Committee sitting.

    “How can the chairman serve as a judge in a case where he has already publicly taken a position? What is the need for us to present our case when a verdict has already been given before hearing us?,” he queried.

    Yakubu expressed disappointment over the objection by the Committee to his request that the Kogi Central senator who has been suspended for six months by the Senate be allowed to testify before the panel as principal witness.

    He noted that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was in custody of  crucial documentary evidence to support her  claims, but she had been barred from entering the National Assembly as part of her suspension.

    “In my petition, I clearly stated that my witness would present her evidence personally. But she was not allowed into the premises. If my key witness is denied access, how can I proceed with my case?” he queried.

    Legal counsel to the petitioner,  Dr. Abiola Akinyode also faulted

    alleged  inconsistencies in the Senate’s handling of petitions.

    “There is nothing in Yakubu’s petition that was not in Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s original petition. If the Senate dismissed her petition as ‘dead on arrival,’ then logically, Yakubu’s should also be dismissed.

    “The Senate seems to be operating under its own rules, separate from the Constitution. That is why they can suspend a senator for six months without following due process,” Akinyode said.

    She also faulted the defense by the Committee that it could hear a petition on a subsisting case before a court of competent jurisdiction.

    “If they knew the case was in court, they should have simply written to the petitioner stating they could not entertain it. Instead, they invited him, only to dismiss the petition on the basis that it was already in court.”

  • Oby Ezekwesili’s desperate search for bandits

    Oby Ezekwesili’s desperate search for bandits

    Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili, is one of those special Nigerians, Saro Wiwa would regard as ‘Nigerian sun’, as a result of her activism, string of achievements and awards. As a co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement, two times minister, first as Minister of Solid Mineral and Minister of Education at different periods, celebrated as the architect of the Bureau for Public Procurement and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) legislations, and as a woman who once contested for the office of the president on the platform of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby remains a trailblazer.

    And as a founding director of Transparency International and  a former vice president of the World Bank (Africa region), Oby unarguably remains a pacesetter and the best example of what educated African woman can become as against ‘feminization of poverty’ (UN) by those African societies that refuse to educate their womenfolk. Above all, Oby is passionate about the Nigerian project and often speaks with passion on issues that are connected to our crisis of nation-building.

    But like many of us, her vision is sometimes blurred by her political prejudices. Ezekwesili sees only the things she wants to see. ““If you are a Nigerian, you should be vexed at this government. All we have seen from this government since it came into office is fiscal profligacy”. Although many of the economic policies designed to set our nation on the path of modernization and sustainable growth are yet to start yielding dividends, not many of those familiar with Nigeria’s years of the locusts when ill-equipped leaders declare unabashedly that ‘money was not Nigeria problem but how to spend it’ and when in recent years, weak leaders turned themselves to ATM without password, will agree with Ezekwesili.

    Read Also: Akpabio meets ex-Akwa Ibom REC Igini at NBA conference

    But we understand where Ezekwesili, an unapologetic supporter of candidate Peter Obi, and a silent admirer of the ‘obidients’, is coming from. For her, Peter Obi, a sell-confessed importer of wine among other items that killed our budding industries thereby forcing our youths out in search for greener pasture elsewhere in the world,  is the best hope for turning the Nigeria economy around.  She has a mind-set that both Atiku and Tinubu, the eventual winner of the election, are no match for Obi.

    And her crooked syllogism was that youths who make up 60 per cent of the voting population along with women which make up about 51 per cent of the voting population are more inclined towards the presidency of Peter Obi. And based on two premises that may be invalid, Oby on  December 10, 2022  told Channels TV’s Hard Copy “So after I have done my rating, there is absolutely no way I would leave a Peter Obi and vote for any of the other two candidates”.

     Now trapped in Obi’s illusory presidency, she still describes the 2023 election as  “not an election, but snatch it grab it and run away with it” while discrediting both the INEC and the Supreme Court, praised by many for the share profundity of its judgment. She dismisses both the executive and legislature as ‘bandits’ and ‘rascals’. All she wants by accusing those in power of starting class war is the collapse of the government.

    But if one may ask, what are the causes of Oby’s current emotional anguish?

    First, beyond removal of fuel subsidy, she wants total deregulation, where market forces will reign supreme. No one expects anything different from former director of the Harvard-Nigeria Economic project. The problem however is that no one has told us where in the world market forces only has brought prosperity to the people beyond making the poor  live to support the system while the rich get richer.

    At least we already have a template in Nigeria. Okpara’s ‘Pragmatic Socialism’, where public enterprises played a leading role repositioned the old Eastern Region as the fastest growing economy in the world in the sixties. In the West, Awolowo’s home grown capitalism where public enterprises joined forces with the private sector to create a more egalitarian society, was the reason the old Western Region became ‘the most educated part of Africa’. Of course Ahmadu Bello built the biggest business conglomerate in Africa in the sixties without consulting Oby’s World Bank.

    Ezekwesili also considers government’s acquisition of aircraft –Airbus A330 to replace the 19-year old Boeing, economic recklessness. While uninformed victims of the president’s economic policies could be incensed, the same reaction from opinion leaders who understand need for safety and the fact that old aircrafts have been put on sale to offset the cost of the new one could only have been designed to whip up public sentiments against the government.

    As for Oby’s grief over N20b to build the vice president’s house, she was being economical with the truth. FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, disclosed the contract for the building was first awarded in 2010, at a cost of N7 billion. It became one of the abandoned projects until leadership of the FCT in January 2024 sought for and obtained approval for a review of the contract to the sum of N22 billion, leading to its completion 14 years after commencement. The president praised Wike for his ‘dynamic and focused leadership’ saying it was the 9th in the series of (mostly abandoned projects) Wike had completed.  Oby would have preferred the property already taken over by reptiles to continue to rot away like the abandoned National Assembly whose contract was awarded in March 11, 2006 to Reynolds Construction Company, (RCC), to the tune of N8.5 billion naira.

    Unlike the National Mosque and the Ecumenical Centre started the same time but completed by those who think God can be deceived, it was abandoned and today TETFUND is projecting a cost of N200b. Meanwhile, Ezekwesili has not called those who abandoned the projects only to raise N7billion from serving governors and government contractors to build their own personal presidential library bandits.

     As for Oby’s other heartache, the National Assembly’s decision to buy toys or what she described as ‘funny looking cars’, even while the governed should be naturally  such  insensitive decision, Oby understands that the  National Assembly runs its own budget independent of the executive arm of government.  She knows it was this reason, neither Obasanjo, her political father, who has at various times described the assembly members as ‘pen thieves’, Jonathan who according to Okonjo-Iweala had to part with about N15b bribe to have his budget passed nor Buhari who for eight years complained about the padding of his budget by the legislature, could not rein in the National Assembly members.

    Oby also knows that this was part of the reasons Nigerian stakeholders have since 1999 called for the review of the 1999 constitution. But as against joining this crusade, what we have on record is Ezekwesili’s pursuits of her Igbo ethnic group agenda-citizenship of Nigerians wherever they stay without obligations of settlers to host communities, ignoring the sociological reality of Nigeria, which unlike America, is a federation of ethnic nationalities.

    I am not sure many Nigerians have an axe to grind with Oby’s characterization of many Nigerian politicians as bandits. She is best placed to confirm this fact.  I think they just believe charity must start from the home. She was part of PDP when Obasanjo  and Atiku in the guise of privatization sold Nigeria’s total investment of over $100b for  a paltry $1.5b to party stalwarts, when in the name of monetization policy they shared physical structures dating back to the pre-colonial period, kept in their temporary care for our children among themselves with David Mark, as Senate President and Dimeji Bankole as House Speaker,  buying their official residences at give-away prices among other government  buildings including the  NITEL building in Ikoyi.

    She was there when in 1999 when lawmakers who claimed to have sold house to fight election set up an instrument which according to a National Assembly probe report, they deployed to steal billions. She cannot also deny the claim by Audu Ogbe, one time PDP chairman, corroborated by National Assembly report, that siblings of PDP stalwarts forged papers under the nose of Okonjo-Iweala, as Minister for Finance, to defraud the nation to the tune of NI.6 trillion under the dubious subsidy regime, “without importing a pint of fuel”.

    Finally, Oby is a former vice president of the World Bank whose policies she wants to force down our throats. But we do know the World Bank is the greatest bandit the world has ever known. It is the instrument Europe effectively deployed to defraud and impoverish Africa nations from where over $58b is siphoned from annually. What other name besides ’bandit’ do we have for a continent  that has nothing but depends on our  priceless resources including silver, gold, crude oil among others, and declare without shame that a unit of their coloured papers, must exchange for between 1,500  and 5,000 units of the currency of African nations that own their resources?

  • Ezekwesili urges FG to tackle insecurity

    A former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, on Saturday decried the spate of killings and other violent crimes in the country.

    Ezekwesili expressed the concern while speaking with newsmen at the 11th Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture series in Lagos.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the lecture, organised to mark the 85th birthday of the Nobel Laureate, was ”Rethinking Credible Elections, Accountable and Good Governance in Nigeria”.

    The former minister condemned the killing of Mrs Funke Olakunrin, 58-year-old daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, a leader of Afenifere, a Pan-Yoruba group, around Akure on Friday.

    She described the murder of Olakunrin by yet-to-be identified gunmen as one too many, saying the incident reflected the seriousness of the insecurity in the country.

    Ezekwesili said that the situation was giving the impression that the government was incompetent, describing the problem as unacceptable.

    The former minister urged the government to wake up and urgently take action to protect lives and properties in the country.

    ”The government should do what it is expected to do on the issue of insecurity in the country.

    ”The safety of citizens of this country should be placed above any other issue,” she said.

    Delivering the keynote address at the programme, Ezekwesili said the country’s democracy was being bedeviled by a number of factors.

    She said the conduct of elections was still far from acceptable global standards, as the will of the people was often subverted by the many inadequacies of the process.

    The former minister said for the country to get it right, it had to start evolving ways of ensuring elections were credible and free of violence.

    Ezekwesili said the electorate also had a great role in improving and ultimately perfecting the system.

    She urged Nigerians to always participate actively in the electoral process and vote according to their conscience during elections.

    Ezekwesili advised the electorate to always vote candidates on character and values and not because of political affiliation, tribe, age or any other irrelevant consideration.

    The former minister said good governance was essential for progress and development of any nation.

    She, however, raised concern about lack of service and accountability of leaders to the people, saying the situation had promoted poverty and retrogression.

    Read Also: SDP endorses Buhari as Ezekwesili’s group adopts Atiku

    The former minister called for the opening up of the political space to ensure gender balance in the process leading to governance.

    She decried the disproportionate representation of women in governance, saying the situation threatened the progress of the country.

    ”There is need to have gender balance in the process that leads to governance in the country.

    ”When we get to that point, what will happen is equitable development, equality of opportunities and so on.

    ”And when you look at the global league table on economic performance, political and social stability, it is occupied by countries that have learnt how to practise inclusion where men and women, boys and girls participate in the process for democratic maturation,” she said.

    The former minister urged political parties to uphold progressive democratic values, saying lack of the right ideologies by parties was undermining democracy.

    Ezekwesili, while congratulating Soyinka on his 85th birthday, described him as a literary icon and a fighter for democracy.

    She said Nigeria would be a better place if more people stand for the truth and justice like Soyinka.

    Also speaking, Senior Programme Manager, MacArthur Foundation Nigeria, Mrs Amina Salihu, said gender equality in governance was central to participatory democracy.

    She called for gender balance in the democratic space, saying it would promote equality and progress.

    Salihu urged Nigerians to believe in the country and contribute to its progress, as they had no other country to call theirs.

    Mr Rotimi Sankore, Chairman, Editorial Board, Nigeria Info Radio Group, said the media had a big role in democracy and the development of the country.

    He urged journalists to always practise responsibly, in a way that would not undermine the peace and progress of the country.

    Sankore described the constant portrayal of one ethnic group dominating the other in the media as unfortunate, saying the clashes between farmers and herdsmen were because of competition for resources and not ethnic war.

    ”The narrative that the herdsmen are fighting with farmers because they want to dominate is all lies.

    ”What is happening is contest for resources, land, water and all that.

    “It is not an ethnic thing and we are having these things because we have not planned well as a country.

    ”Journalists are supposed to practise in a way that will aid the progress of the country not to cause problems,” he said.

    Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), decried the problem of vote buying and selling, saying the practices undermine democracy.

    He said INEC was doing its best, despite the limitations, to address the problem, to enhance the credibility of elections.

    Mr Olaokun Soyinka, son of the Nobel Laureate, who spoke on behalf of the family, thanked the organisers for honouring his father with the lecture.

    He said the family was pleased with the ”birthday party” for their patriarch.

    The younger Soyinka said the Nobel Laureate would have been present but for his usual preference for solitude on his birthdays.

    He described the Nobel Laureate as a great icon, saying his life was replete with lessons on service and rising against impunity.

    The younger Soyinka challenged younger generation of Nigerians to struggle for democracy and good governance, just like his father had always done, to actualise a better country.

    Mrs Motunrayo Alaka, Coordinator, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, said the programme was to celebrate the icon that Soyinka is.

    She thanked Nigerians for their support for the programme, which she said was in the 11th year.

    NAN reports that dignitaries at the programme later cut a birthday cake to celebrate the literary icon.

    NAN

  • Another female presidential candidate quits, backs Atiku

    The presidential candidate of the National Interest Party (NIP) Eunice Atuejide has quit the race in favour of her Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar.

    She is the second female candidate to quit the race after Oby Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) threw in the towel following irreconcilable differences with the party’s leaders.

    Atuejide, in a statement on her twitter handle, explained she was backing Atiku because of his choice of former Anambra governor, Peter Obi as his running mate.

    She said: “I choose to fight for the benefit of every Nigerian on the side of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I cannot defend PDP for giving us bad leadership from 1999 to 2015 yet I cannot help but blame the APC for doing a much worse job from 2015 to 2019.

    “Plus, whether we call them PDP, APC, PPA, ANN, YPP, or NIP, we are all the same people moving from one political platform to the other in search of a place to speak out and be heard.

    “To my mind, the political party platform is not the real issue nonetheless it’s either Alhaji Atiku Abubakar under the PDP or President Buhari under the APC this time.

    “I make bold to state unequivocally that I stand with Atiku under the PDP this time.

    “Mr Abubakar picked an amazing VP. In fact, even though I have never met or spoken to Peter Obi, it is thanks to him that I am today the Founder and National Chairman of a youth-led, digitally organised political party (NIP).

    “His exemplary leadership as Governor of Anambra State led me and several of my team members to politics.”

  • ACPN to Ezekwesili: Return our money or face court action

    The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) has asked the former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili to return of all monies generated during her short stint with the party, threatening to issue an order of mandamus against her.

    National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima told a news men in Abuja that the former Minister thought that politics was like the bring back our girls project which she coordinated, adding that the accounts rendered by her to the party was unacceptable and was subsequently rejected.

    Both the party and its presidential candidate have engaged in the war of words following the later’s withdrawal from the race and the subsequent endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by the party.

    Galadima said Ezekwesili only invested N100, 000 being the money she paid for her expression of interest form instead of N500, 000 which she was supposed to pay, but started sourcing for funds for her presidential campaign even before she joined the party and was given the ticket.

    He said the party “reject in entirety everything she submitted”, telling the former minister that a political party is different from a charity organisation or the #BringBackOurGirls where she belong too.

    “So, we are rejecting everything she submitted in entirety, we wanted to know all the content of the accounts and see the accounts because at the end of the day it is not the presidential candidate that INEC will hold responsible according to the law but the party, and whatever any candidate generated for his or her campaign belong to the party.

    Read Also: Ezekwesili resigns from ACPN

    “We are expecting that she will respond at the appropriate time. But if she doesn’t, we may be compelled to go to court to seek for order of Mandamus.”

    Galadima said from all indications, Ezekwesili does not have capacity to contest a presidential election, adding that ordinary Lapel that the presidential candidate wore on her chest and distributed to members was paid for by the national secretary of the party.

    “For somebody who want to contest for presidency, all you could generate for period of three months was just N43 million and spent everything by herself. She could not even disclose to the party the sources of the fund and how much she was able to generate.

    “We wanted to know the full details of all the accounts she opened because when you look at the statement she made available there are four difference accounts which we didn’t know anything about.

    “Look at the Omoyele Sowore, he publicly disclosed on a national TV recently that his campaign has been able to generate about N99 million for the party. In addition, he has also told the world how this money could be traced.

    “So why is there no transparency in madam Ezekwesili’s project? That is the bone of contention.

    “So, we are rejecting everything she submitted in entirety, we wanted to know all the content of the accounts and see the accounts because at the end of the day it is not the presidential candidate that INEC will hold responsible according to the law but the party, and whatever any candidate generated for his or her campaign belong to the party.

    “We are expecting that she will respond at the appropriate time but if she doesn’t, we may be compelled to go to court to seek for order of Mandamus.”

  • Ezekwesili, Moghalu and other also-rans

    Only the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Muhammadu Buhari or the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, have a chance of being elected Nigeria’s next president come February 16.

    Yet, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has a long list of other names aspiring to this office, even if the closest they would ever get to becoming president is on their beautifully-designed posters!

    These are the latest in the long line of eccentric characters who have added colour to our politics through the years. I speak of the likes of the late lawyer, Tunji Braithwaite, who running on the platform of the defunct Nigeria Advance Party (NAP) threatened to exterminate mosquitoes and cockroaches across the land. Many took him literally, and when they recovered from their fits of mirth, his presidential dreams became the primary casualty.

    You had the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti who, had he been improbably elected president, would have had internecine warfare on his hands deciding who amongst his 27 queens would have been First Lady. Mercifully, his political ambitions melted away like the notes one of his less-than-successful songs.

    Who can forget the foray of the effervescent Pastor Chris Okotie, founder of the Household of God Church? He plunged into the race confidently assuring Nigerians that he had the assurance of heaven to make the bid. Who are we to query God? But the Lord must have backed out of the project somewhere between the pastor’s declaration and polling day, because he only managed a couple of thousands of votes nationwide.

    Still, we are grateful to Okotie whose campaign wasn’t noted for the novelty of his proposals for governance, but for stump speeches laden with earth-shaking English words that would have required a battery of professors to decode for the National Assembly had he ever entered Aso Rock.

    This recollection would be incomplete without mentioning the inimitable Gani Fawehinmi who ran on the platform of the National Conscience Party (NCP). He was often referred to as the Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM). Unfortunately, they abandoned him when he needed them most – on polling day. The poor man was then left to carry out his political campaigns in the courts.

    The 2019 class of also-rans equally has its own share of interesting characters – although none of them as colourful as any of the aforementioned. They include the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate – and one-time PDP rising star – Donald Duke.

    The list has former Central Bank Deputy Governor, Kingsley Moghalu, businessman and one-time activist, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim of Peoples Trust Party, activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore, as well as motivational speaker Fela Durotoye.

    One of the most well-known names among the lot is the Bring back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigner and former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili. Even after dramatically throwing in the towel, INEC would not let her go.

    I suspect that beyond the soundbites for television cameras and newspapers, these individuals know deep down none of them would be president this year. So what would make an ordinarily rational, well-educated, experienced, accomplished and widely-travelled man or woman, persist in a very expensive race to nowhere?

    I can only guess that their running for president, specifically, is a means to some other end. You could also argue that some have outsized egos that need to be caressed by the notion they ran for president – albeit on some rickety political platform.

    But then politicians are also some of the most optimistic beings on the planet. They know they can’t get the prize first time out, but keep coming back in the hope of hitting the jackpot along the line. Who remembers today that there was a time when Rochas Okorocha used to entertain us with is presidential bids? But one day he rationalised his ambitions and now is governor of Imo State.

    The thing about these fringe candidates is that sometimes they make a difference in a tight race – especially if they are people with grassroots following. In the 1992 US presidential contest, the third party candidate – billionaire businessman Ross Perot – took away enough votes from the Republican George H. W. Bush, allowing the Democrat Bill Clinton to emerge victorious.

    The problem for the 2019 bunch is that none of them really has the kind of grassroots following that counts – except on Twitter and Instagram. In the social media age that might mean something, but is not likely to get you anywhere near a local government chairman’s seat.

    Some of them are vociferous critics of government and are usually brimming with ideas on how to transform the economy and the nation at large. But you cannot implement your ideas unless to find the right platform and get elected.

    If your ideas are to address today’s problems, then you must use the existing vehicles that can get you there. Anything else is just utopian daydreaming. In Nigeria at this point, only the APC or PDP can get you the presidency and it doesn’t matter how badly you think they stink.

    But such is our fascination with the presidency that we’ve become seduced with the notion that it is only through that office that you can impact governance and society. Some of those dreaming of becoming president – given their training and exposure – would make excellent representatives or senators.

    People forget that Barack Obama was an ambitious community activist who didn’t jump from nowhere to run for US president. He first got into the Senate and used it as a platform to showcase his extraordinary political and oratorical gifts. It worked a charm because just four years after he became a lawmaker, he was elected president.

    But that said, I am full of admiration for these men and women who even in the face of ridicule have stuck to their guns and invested resources on what may appear at this point a futile exercise. They chose to get their hands dirty rather than sit idly by cursing our bungling rulers.

    We should encourage them to stay the course irrespective of the fate that awaits them on February 16. Perhaps, they could, like Okorocha, rationalise their ambitions and get into positions where they can begin to push their ideas through the system. And who knows, one day we may all be calling today’s ‘joker’ Mr. or Madame President.

  • The TouchStone: Onnoghen should have resigned – Sam Omatseye

    Political analyst and Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation Newspapers, Sam Omatseye, joined by Member, Editorial board Femi Macaulay to discuss the CCT trial of CJN Walter Onnoghen, President Muhammadu Buhari suspension of the CJN and Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili withdrawing from the 2019 Presidential election.

  • Oby Ezekwesili: The twitter presidential candidate

    A former Vice President of World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili shocked the nation on Wednesday when she announced her withdrawal from the presidential race. Oby was the darling of social media addicts. She would tweet anything under the sun. No wonder many called her ” the twitter presidential candidate. ”

    From the look of things the cerebral ex-candidate may have been taught one or two lessons in politics . One of them is never to trust every one who sits with you at meetings to plan strategies .

    The late M.K.O Abiola trusted his party chiefs and believed they would stand by him but we knew what people like late Chief Tony Anenih did. They dumped the billionaire chief and struck a deal with those that tormented their candidate . Former President Godluck Jonathan could not believe that some of his associates worked against him in the 2015 presidential election.

    For Oby , it is  the same experience. While she was busy taking the candidates of the two leading parties to the cleaners, some of her party leaders were busy cutting one deal or the other with the very people she was attacking. As M.K.O would say, ” they were shaving her head in her absence. ”

    Now, she is at loggerheads with her party, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) over her sudden withdrawal from the race. Although INEC said it is too late for her to withdraw, the ACPN has offered to back the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari on February 16. Sentry learnt this could be the main reason she withdrew from the race. She suddenly realised she was in OYO( on your own.)

    It is strange that Oby did not know that ACPN is a party formed by the patriarch of  the Saraki dynasty, the late Dr. Olusola Saraki in 2011 , to fight his son, Bukola Saraki. She jumped on the ship of the party hoping for a smooth sail to the Villa. But rather than head for the Villa the ship was heading for Daura. Sentry was told had she  stayed a week longer in the party, the leadership would have disowned her for Buhari. That would have been “the mother of all humiliations.”