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Tag: Olusegun Osoba

  • How Obasanjo betrayed Southwest AD governors, by Osoba

    Elder statesman and former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba yesterday spoke on the political earthquake that swept through the five Southwest states in 2003, saying that former President Olusegun Obasanjo betrayed the Alliance for Democracy (AD) governors and Afenifere leaders who supported him for a second term.

    He said apart from the ‘D’Rovan Presidential Electoral College fiasco of AD in Ibadan, another factor that led to the implosion of Afenifere and the AD was the pact the party and pan-Yoruba organisation had with the former president.

    Aremo Osoba emphasised that, contrary to the impression in some quarters that the AD governors were solely responsible for the Southwest’s support for Obasanjo in the 2003 election, it was the collective decision of the Afenifere/AD hierarchy.

    He recalled that the AD governors were not in good terms with Obasanjo, pointing out that they only decided to rally round him when the House of Representatives, led by former Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba wanted to impeach him in August 2002.

    Osoba reflected on the defeat of the AD in the Southwest in his 341-page memoir: ‘Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism and Politics,’ published by Diamond Publications Limited. The book will be presented to the public next Monday as part of activities marking his 80th birthday in Lagos.

    He lamented that after assisting him to overcome the impeachment hurdle, he later waged a virulent political war against his Southwest benefactors.

    Osoba recalled: “As it turned out, unwittingly, we gave Obasanjo a breather and tool with which he later dealt with us too.  I told him to “stoop to conquer.”  After doing that with the National Assembly and surviving the impeachment plot, he also later “stooped to conquer” against the AD governors and Afenifere.

    “After he survived the impeachment plot, he never showed any sense of remorse.  To all of us involved we could not believe his new bellicose approach when in a national broadcast he described the impeachment plot as “joke carried too far.”

    Read also: How NADECO was formed, by Osoba

    The former governor said before the agreement to support Obasanjo, Southwest leaders gave his some conditions, particularly restructuring and restoration of true federalism.

    Osoba stressed: “A meeting was held in Lagos where the conditions for negotiating with Obasanjo were agreed upon.  After the meeting at the home of Pa Adesanya, he led a team with Afenifere charter of demand to Ota to discuss with Obasanjo.

    “The delegation to Ota included Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Senator Femi Okunrounmu and Dr. Cornelius Adebayo.  Senator Okunrounmu and Dr. Adebayo were mandated to speak on behalf of AD and Afenifere respectively at the meeting with Obasanjo.  Chief Adesanya called me and asked me to join them at Obasanjo’s Ota Farm, from my station in Abeokuta.

    “The conditions presented to Obasanjo amongst others were:  the restructuring of the Nigerian federation, devolution of power, including moving some items from the exclusive to the concurrent list and ensuring fiscal federalism.

    “ Obasanjo was made to agree to organize a credible and transparent national census.  We also demanded that the constitution must include merit as a condition that must be followed alongside federal character and quota system in the recruitment to federal positions across the country. When all these conditions were tabled before Obasanjo, he assured us that he was satisfied with them and that he clearly identified with them.”

    Osoba said apart from the AD governors and Afenifere leaders, Obasanjo also reached out to royal fathers and other prominent Yoruba leaders to support his second term bid.

    He said prominent leaders he reached out to mount pressure on the AD governors and Afenifere leaders included the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the Alake of Egbaland, the late Oba Oyebade Lipede, the late Oba of Lagos, Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, the Ataoja of Osogbo, the late Oba Iyiola Matanmi and the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona.

    Besides, he said members of the “Hope Family,” led by the late Chief Debo Akande, including Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, the late Chief Folorunso Oke, Chief Jide Sawyer, and the late Prince Supo Adetona, supported Obasanjo’s bid.

    However, Osoba said former Oyo State Governor Omololu Olunloyo warned him about any romance with Obasanjo, saying that it could be counter-productive.

    He added: “As we were coming out of one of the meetings at Obasanjo’s lodge in his Ota farm, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, former governor of Oyo State who was waiting to see Obasanjo called me aside and whispered in my ears: “Be careful. You and Lam Adesina are being spied upon; they are monitoring your activities as governor.  Be careful and before you reach any agreement with Obasanjo, think twice and think well.”

    “It was the second time within a month that Olunloyo was warning me about Obasanjo.  He had earlier done so at the 70th birthday celebration of Senator Biyi Durojaiye in Ijebu-Igbo.  Olunloyo’s wife, Ronke, is from Ijebu-Igbo and a distant relation of Senator Durojaiye.  Aside Dr. Olunloyo, the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA,) Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) came to Abeokuta in the heat of the 2003 elections campaign to admonish me to be wary of any collaboration with President Obasanjo.

    “Many longstanding friends like General Emmanuel Abisoye expressed serious reservations.  My son, Hon. Olumide Osoba, right from the outset never believed in the alliance.”

    Osoba noted that, in a desperate move to get him to support him, Obasanjo also paid his family an unsolicited Christmas visit in Abeokuta, Ogin State capital.”

    He recalled that two weeks before the first election, Afenifere leader, Adesanya led a delegation of the group to Ota Farm for another meeting with Obasanjo, where Oba Adetona, Oba Adekoya Dagburewe of Idowa, Bishop Emmanuel Gbonigi of the Anglican Communio and Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu of the Methodist Church.”

    Osoba added: “ To our shock, Chief Adesanya opened fire at Obasanjo, shooting straight from the hips. “Mr. President, we hear you are planning to use military tactics to ambush us during the election,” he said.  “From our intelligence gathering, we have learnt that you are planning to run us all aground and rig us out of power in the south-western states.  By doing that you would have betrayed our trust and support for you.”

    “Bishop Gbonigi also added credence to Adesanya’s information, firing more shots in the direction of Obasanjo. “Mr. President, what Chief Adesanya is saying is true,” he said.  “We also hear that your people are in Ondo State training some people who are expected to wear fake police uniforms on the day of the election with a view to rig the elections for the PDP, your party.”

    “A visibly angry Obasanjo had to fire back asking the bishop: “What’s your source of information?” “My source of information?  I got the intelligence information from my friend, Governor Adefarati.” “Governor Adefarati is lying.” Obasanjo said. “He is not lying.  We grew up together from childhood; Adefarati has not been known to be a liar,” Bishop Gbonigi replied.

    “The whole meeting was running into stormy waters with the exchanges between Obasanjo and Gbonigi. “I swear to God that the allegations are untrue and unfounded,” Obasanjo said.  “I can never be part of such a betrayal.” “Mr. President, I still insist you are deceiving us,” Adesanya chipped in.  “And I know that no betrayer would go unpunished.  As our people say, he who betrays the earth would end up being swallowed by the earth.”

    “It was the intervention of the Awujale that calmed the frayed nerves.  He intervened and said that what was needed was for the president to assure us about what he intended to do to allay the fears of the Afenifere/AD leaders.”

    “Obasanjo jumped at that opportunity to make a solemn promise that he will do everything possible to make sure that the elections were conducted well, to the satisfaction of all that parties.  It was on this note that the meeting ended.”

    However, Osoba said events subsequently proved Adesanya right, recalling that the results of the  National Assembly elections had been forged before the polls and the outcome of the governorship elections were also manipulated.

    He added: “Fictitious figures were already available to declare the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, as winner.  My then current and former deputies, Alhaji Gbenga Kaka and Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye, who went for a pre-election meeting at Ogun Stae INEC reported that some people in INEC revealed to them confidentially that the elections were “a foregone conclusion”

    “By 8pm on the Election Day, a total of one million, three hundred and sixty thousand, one hundred and seventy (1,360,170) votes had been announced for Obasanjo.  Gbenga Daniel was declared winner of the gubernatorial election with four hundred and forty-nine thousand, three hundred and thirty-five (449,335) votes.

    “The sheer shamelessness of the PDP and its candidates was revealed even by the Federal Appeal Court.  In the judgement, the judges cancelled Ogun State results and noted that the presidential election received 615,873 votes over and above the votes cast for all the governorship candidates.

    “The judges queried the “yawning gap” between the votes recorded for Obasanjo and those assigned to gubernatorial candidates of all the parties in the state.  The court concluded that the difference was “indefensible” especially when both the presidential and gubernatorial elections were held simultaneously.

    “ In the lead judgement, Justice F.F. Tabai even added that “all allegations in Ogun State were criminal in nature.  They ranged from violence, fingerprinting, official intimidation, bias and falsification of results.”

     

     

     

  • How I escaped assassination four times, by Osoba

    All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains Aremo Olusegun Osoba on Monday reflected on how he escaped assassination five times during the military regime.

    He recalled that he was a ‘’marked man’’ because of his objection to the annulment of the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Chief Moshood Abiola.

    Although the eminent politician and two-time governor of Ogun State said he did not know that a price had been put on his head by the late Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha’s elite Strike Force, he had lived to thank God for his survival.

    Osoba, journalist, businessman and elder statesman, reflected on the dark days of the military rule in his 341-page memoir: ‘’Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism and Politics’,’ published by Diamond Publications Limited. The book will be presented to the public next Monday as part of activities marking his 80th birthday in Lagos.

    The veteran journalist and former Managing Director of Daily Times said little did he guess that he was also marked for liquidation after his friend, the late Dr. Alex Ibru, and his leader, the late Senator Abraham Adesanya, were shot in Lagos.

    He recalled: “I never knew my life was hanging by a thread until Sergeant Rogers revealed that I was high on the list of Nigerians targeted for death by the hit squad. I was, therefore, in total shock when I learnt of the conflict and confusion between Sergeant Rogers and Major Al-Mustapha during their interrogation by the Special Investigation Panel set up by the transitional military regime under General Abdulsalami Abubakar after Abacha’s death.

    “In the drama, well captured by TELL magazine (February 13, 2012, p. 35) Rogers’ boss, Al-Mustapha, vehemently denied ever sending him to kill anyone. An enraged Sergeant Rogers countered, insisting: “You sent me. You sent us to RUTAM House. You sent us on an assignment for the assassination of Alex Ibru, Kudirat Abiola, Segun Osoba, Bola Ige, (and) Abraham Adesanya. You sent us on these assignments.”

    “When Al-Mustapha persisted in his denial, Rogers rebuked him sharply. “I believe you should be bold enough to come out and say the truth. Why (are you) denying this? I believe you should be bold. Because you’ve been telling us that you are going to protect us, we should not worry. You should be bold enough to come out. And you are a major!” This drama was set against the backdrop of the June 12, 1993 crisis and its aftermath.”

    Osoba lamented that the polity trembled under Abacha when his killer squad went after pro-democracy crusaders and anti-annulment forces, including the late Chief Alfred Rewane, the late Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), Commodore Dan Suleiman and Lt-Gen. Alani Akinrinade, whose property were burnt by soldiers.

    Painting an awful picture of repression and intimidation, the former governor said it was confounding to him that members of the killer squad waited in front of his house for a whole day to kill him, as claimed by Sergeant Rogers.

    He added: “It was the divine hand of God at play also when, unknown to me, Rogers had trailed my car from Lagos to Sagamu interchange with intent to kill me, but was delayed at a military checkpoint, shortly after I had passed, long enough for me to vanish from their sight till I got to Abeokuta. Aside from Rogers’ failed attempt, I escaped my killers on many occasions, most of the time without even knowing that a death squad was stalking me.”

    Narrating series of attempts on his life, Osoba said: The first attempt on my life was on the night of August 23, 1994 when my house was invaded. Fortunately, members of my family had travelled out of the country. Nobody was home, except the state security agent attached to me as a former governor.

    “Suspecting that the intruders were armed robbers, he opened fire on them. When he exhausted his ammunition, he scaled the fence and took cover in our neighbour’s compound. My gatekeeper was not so lucky. He was shot and wounded in the head. He was rushed to Royal Cross Medical Centre, Obalende, where Dr. Seyi Roberts and Dr. Doyin Okupe attended to him and saved his life.

    “It was clear to me that this was the handiwork of Abacha’s goons. There was no evidence of breaking in. They gained access with their expert security keys without damage to my bulletproof doors. They ransacked my bedroom, took my expired passport, as well as letters Chief M.K.O. Abiola had written to me from his detention. This incident happened on the eve of August 24, 1994, Abiola’s first birthday in detention, which we had planned to mark with a mass rally at Abiola’s residence in Ikeja.

    “That same August 23, 1994, Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s office was also hit and his security man, badly injured. The next day, Abacha’s thugs went to Air Commodore Dan Suleiman’s house where they attempted to burn the house down.”

    Osoba recalled that when the killer squad visited again, they burnt his house, adding that he escaped by whiskers.

    He stressed: “They struck again on September 7, 1995, when they set my house in Abeokuta on fire at about 2am. Fortunately, I don’t sleep early. I just heard a spark. By the time I rushed out of bed, the whole place was filled with smoke. My Boys Scout and leadership training programmes in Man O’War Bay during my secondary school days had taught me that when there is fire, you don’t stand erect. Instead, you crawl, to avoid inhaling carbon monoxide that could suffocate and kill. That was what saved me.

    “My bedroom was totally burnt. I lost a lot of documents, photographs and irreplaceable valuables.

    I headed straight to the Fire Brigade in Abeokuta to seek help. Providentially, I had re-equipped and modernised the Fire Brigade in 1993 when I was governor. I reaped the dividends. They contained the fire.”

    Osoba said after their failed attempts in Abeokuta, the ruthless killers came to his Dolphin Estate home in Lagos and laid siege for a whole day, adding that, unknown to them, he had gone out on a visit to his neighbours, Mr. Segun Olusanya, Chief John Akinleye and Chief Adeyi.

    He added: “If Rogers and his squad had known my habit, they would have ambushed me during one of my evening visits to my neighbours. The confession of Sergeant Rogers made the headlines in all the newspapers on January 12, 2000. The Punch screamed: “Rogers Weeps”. The National Concord reported: “Rogers Opens Up.

    “The Comet, which later morphed into The Nation, reported: “Sergeant Rogers Speaks at last: How we went in search of Porbeni, Ige, Ibru, Osoba, Adesanya on killing missions”. Whilst being cross-examined by then Lagos State Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Rogers disclosed how as a member of the Strike Force he had been assigned to assassinate four persons.

    “According to him, “They are the owner of The Guardian newspaper, Mr. Alex Ibru, Chief Segun Osoba, Mr. Bola Ige and Pa Abraham Adesanya. He (Mustapha) gave us some money through the OC MOPOL. He also gave us N25, 000 to give Danbaba for a work well done.”

    Osoba pointed out that, although Rogers did not know his Ikoyi residence, an informant, one Alhaji Lateef, who spoke Hausa fluently, gave a clear description of the house in Dolphin Estate.

    Read Also: Buhari wins Obasanjo’s, Osoba’s polling units

    The former governor said vigilance was the watchword during the dark days, noting that his wife, Aderinsola, was also being trailed to her school and market.

    To report suspicious movements around the house, he said his wife, a former Customs officer, strategically gave permission to some tyre vulcanizers to ply their trade opposite the house to enable them report suspicious movements or activities.

    Osoba said when he went underground for almost a year, security agents from Alagbon Close, Ikoyi usually invaded his family’s privacy to ransack the building between 2 am and 3 am under the guise of looking for him.

    He said he literality fell into depression when Mustapha and others were discharged and acquitted in court, adding that he only regained his composure after The Guardian newspaper on July 31, 2013 came out with a well-researched and lucid editorial, which reflected his concerns.

    Venting his anger, Osoba said: “What the judgment has done is to authenticate impunity. It reinforces the conviction that here in Nigeria, only the small man pays for his crimes. Above all, it means that all those behind the dastardly acts and litany of woes freely dispensed by the Abacha regime have finally got away, literally with murder, in a manner that calls to question the essence of government or its readiness or capacity of discharge its basic responsibility of protecting lives and property, and enforcing law and order.

    “With justice now put off over these murders and the killers still unfound, the cleansing Nigeria needs remains elusive. And the blood of the victims, still raw on the pavement of the hearts of Nigerians, cry out ever more loudly for justice.”

    Osoba disclosed that when he decided to go under, a prominent businessman, Dr. Oba Otudeko, took the risk of hiding him in his office for about six weeks. However, when he came out of hiding, he was promptly arrested and detained at Police Force Headquarters.

    The former governor recalled that he escaped being arrested for the second time in June 1994, after he led former Edo State Governor John Odigie- Oyegun, his Anambra State counterpart, Emeka Ezeife and Dr. Doyin Okupe to Abiola at his Ikeja residence to discuss his proposed declaration as president.

    He said: “On my way back from Abiola’s Ikeja residence, my wife called me up again on my cell phone to inform me that the house had been sealed up by security operatives who were looking for me. This was around 9 pm. I quickly diverted to my father-in-law’s residence in Yaba and sent the driver away.

    “When I called my wife up that I had taken refuge at her father’s, she objected on the ground that it would be too easy for the government to figure it out that such a place would be my likely port of call. Thanks to her quick thinking, she suggested that I should relocate to Abule-Oja, to the home of my auntie, Princess (Mrs.) Adefunmilayo Aderinsola Oyekan-Williams.

    “How did I survive in Abule-Oja? My hostess was a lady of the old Lagos stock. Hers was an impeccably clean and well-ordered home, where everything was in the proper place. The environment spoke volumes of her background as the elder sister to the then Oba Adeyinka Oyekan II, the Oba of Lagos. Hers was an enviable pedigree of well-trained Isale Eko Christian family.

    “With a well-trained house-help, Mama and I were alone upstairs in her apartment. A young man and his fiancé lived downstairs. I therefore felt very secure here. An octogenarian, she treated me like a child, waking up at night to check that I was well and safe.

    Recalling how he escaped being captured for the third time, Osoba said: “The third in my series of hide-and-seek games with the Abacha Security machinery occurred one quiet Saturday morning in 1995 when my chauffeur, Peter, called me up on the intercom at home that he needed to brief me on an important security development.

    “Agitated, he informed me that he was suspicious of some strange movements around the house. He said he saw my chief detail as governor alighting on the main road and that the car from which he dropped drove past the house with some people only to return empty. I got the message that my former chief detail, an SSS operative, must have escorted some of his colleagues to identify my residence. I asked Peter to take my wife’s school bus.

    “I climbed in and lay flat on the floor and managed to escape what turned out to be an attempt to arrest me. At Ikoyi hotel I dropped off, hailed a cab and headed straight to the mainland residence of my brother-in-law, Mr. Stan Olawanle Adeyemi. This was the beginning of almost one year in self-imposed detention. Stan and Gboyega Onabanjo (Chief Bisi Onabanjo’s son) were the only persons who knew my hideout. Stan arranged a Togolese cook to cater to my needs throughout. My only means of communications was my 090 mobile phone.”

    Osoba lamented that gruesome murders outlived the military regime, stressing that eminent Nigerians, including the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Harry Marshall (March 3, 2003) Aminasoari Alfred Dikibo (February 6, 2004), Funso Williams (July 27, 2006), Kunle Arojo, Dipo Dina, and the Lukotun of Ake, Chief Yomi Bamgbose, the Iyaloja of Ijebu Ode , Alhaja Alimot Shadia Elewuju, the Onimole of Lagos, Kayode Adesina,  Animashaun Age, and Gen. Muhammadu Shuwa, were assassinated after the restoration of civil rule.

  • ‘Amosun can’t stop Abiodun from succeeding him’

    Former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba spoke with reporters in Lagos on the preparations for Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections, complaints about the Commissioner of Police, suspension of Governor Ibikunle Amosun from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and chances of the governorship candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun, at the poll.

    Is the division in Ogun State APC ahead of the governorship election not worrisome to you as a party leader?

    Not so whatsoever. I am lucky and grateful that we have the kind of national chairman who has the courage, determination; and he is incorruptible; that has been steering the ship of the APC. The progressives that brought in Amosun in 2011 is back as one family. he that has joined us is the one that is out. The APC is a happy family. That is why despite the resources available to him, we won the three senatorial seats and seven House of Representatives seats of nine.

    Are you saying that the results of the presidential and National Assembly elections will predict the outcome of the Saturday governorship and House of Assembly elections in Ogun State?

    The Saturday election results will even be bigger because the liability of the incumbent chief executive that robbed on us during the election is off. So, the boundary is clear. He is no more APC. He is APM. Going to the field will now really test the true family of the APC and those who came to join us; who created confusion; imaginable magnitude, not only in Ogun State, but in the whole of Southwest; unheard of in the history of progressives in Nigeria. He is out with his team. On Saturday, the verdict will be clear. By the grace of God, we will coast home to victory.

    Why did you campaign for Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who is fighting your party, during the senatorial election?

    My orientation and training under Awolowo, who I was very close to, is to support the party. I always tell the whole world that, of all the living progressives in this country, the only two people who can claim closer relationship to Awolowo that me are Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Chief Ayo Adebanjo and the two of them know that I was as close to Awolowo as they were, except that they were with him longer than me until Awolowo died. That training is that the party is always supreme. Under no circumstance must one deviate from the party. My advice to party members on the election day was that they must go all the way APC. They must toe the line of the party, in spite of the grievances, the annoyance against the person of Amosun. At that time, he remained in the APC, although he has started the anti-party activities. But, as he was still on the ballot of APC, we voted for APC. We were not voting for Amosun. We voted for the APC. And I have no regret.

    Talking about the suspension of the governor, why did it take the party so long to wield the big stick before the election?

    Then, you are not tactical. We were going into the presidential election where every vote should count. My vote is equal to the vote of the mentally derailed person on the street. I am not in anyway superior. So, we needed everybody’s vote. Then, it is not tactical to expose ourselves to the money bags of the PDP. We wanted the presidential election to be over, which is national. Now, the governorship and House of Assembly elections are localised. It is now Ogun State. The president has no business with what we do in Ogun State. He will not vote in Ogun State. We, the people of Ogun State, will decide what will happen in Ogun State on Saturday.

    The suspension has raised questions. Some people that he should have been suspended at the ward, local government and state…

    You caught an armed robber. You see the gun. The goods he was carrying were video-taped. And you now say that you must prove beyond all reasonable doubts. Well, the law is an ass. But, the law is also sensible. In the first place, we had written as far back as last year to the national leadership. You may not know it. I had written to the caretaker committee. The caretaker committee in turn, with those of us at the state caucus, signed the document. We told the State Working Committee to complain about his anti-party activities. On December 31, last year, at the crossover, he said APC will lose Ogun State. It was front page of Punch. Then, at another point, he said: ‘I will work against Dapo Abiodun.’ We attached that document too. We had to expose all these to the National Working Committee (NWC). The National Working Committee cannot wake up one morning and say they had suspended him. We had complained. His ward had complained. His local government had complained. The state caretaker committee complained. During the presidential rally, he provoked us by bringing APM banners, APM billboard, APM symbol. He is lucky that our people are decent and responsible. We supplied the tape wher4e he said he will destroy APC in Ogun State. What further evidence do we need? To go to Press? If you are queried in Thisday, do you go to the press. If you queried it The Nation and The Nation finally sacks you, must The Nation produce the steps it has taken? There is modern-day technology showing the evidence we attached; on these anti-party activities; since October, since the primary.

    What edge does your candidate have over and above other candidates?

    If you watch the result of last national elections, we produced the senator for Ogun West, which includes Yewas, Aworis, Eguns and Anagos. If we can produce Tolu Odebiyi as senator for that district, that is a big victory. And if we can score 6,000 out of 9,000 votes, is that not an indication that we are firmly on ground, even in Akinlade’s local government? That was an election where he was going about with arms, SARs and police. The commissioner of police was closing his eyes to his misbehavior. Illyiasu is not the Commissioner of Police to be in an enlightened state like Ogun. He should be kicked out of the place. He closed his eyes and one of his boys was killed on the way to Ilaro  . They wanted to ambush results. If you are on ground, you will not go and ambush results. The edge that we have is that we won that senatorial district and one House of Representatives seat in the so-called Akinlade’s area. We produced the senator in the Central. We produced all the three House of Representatives members. With Kashamu Buruji in his own Ogun East, we came first. If you add all these together, we are home and dry by the grace of God.

    What is the position of President Muhammadu Buhari on these anti-party activities?

    I am disappointed with the way the media is over-playing Amosun’s visit to Aso Rock. Amosun is suffering from a serious complex. Serious complex. Inferiority complex. If he has confidence himself, he doesn’t need to be running in and out of the villa. He is a governor. All governors are given direct access. A serious governor, a busy governor will not be going for photo-shopping with the president everyday. He has gone there 28 times, from his words. What result did it produce? The oresident came to Abeokuta and you are referring to the president’s remarks: ‘vote for me, exercise your right to vote at all elections.’ First, he canvassed for himself as president, as a politician, ans a president who swore to protect the constitution of Nigeria. He spoke as president; that the constitution guarantees your rights, freedom of association, right to vote for who you like. So, he spoke as a politician and as a statesman. It doesn’t bother me at all. The president has no vote in Ogun State. He has no direct say in the outcome of the elections in Ogun State. You don’t go and sit at the villa. President’s vote is in Katsina. The president has spoken as a statesman that we should go and exercise our rights as provided in the constitution. Now, we will go and exercise that right. I don’t need to go to the villa to exercise my right. The vote in villa is at the villa. It is not in Ogun State.

    Does that mean that the so-called clamour for power shift to Egbado by Governor Amosun will not count in this election?

    It is his own selfishness. He claimed that he has trained Akinlade. Training him in what? Three quarter of Abeokuta is a dust. I was born into Abeokuta, a modern town exposed to education; first in everything, first newspaper, our roads were tarred. There was railway. I will show you the photo of my train ride to Abeokuta, 61 years ago, in 1958. There was power when I was born in Abeokuta, managed by one Ghanaian. So, every modern facility were there in Abeokuta. Today in Abeokuta, three quarter of the roads he is constructing is still dusty. We are now back to dusty road. So, what is he going to sell to make him win? He is a liability to us. He has left the party. So, the party now has a clean slate. The people now perceive us a true progressives. I can tell you, where I voted, in the Government reservation Area, everybody is highly educated; professionals. Titi Oseni scored 106 votes to Amosun’s eight votes. It shows you the liability that he is. It was the party; my appeal to the party; that made people to vote for him out of pain. In retrospect, people now said they were happy for heeding my advice to vote for him. He has now gone full blast for the APM. So, the line is drawn.

    So, the incumbency will be finally liquidated on Saturday?

    The mistake he is making is that when you are on your way out of office, you become a lame dock. Anywhere in the world, even in advanced countries, you become a lame duck. That was why Hillary Clinton, despite the successes recorded by Obama, distanced herself from Obama. The world will not listen to somebody who has done his own bit. What else does Amosun want? He was senator in 2003. He has been governor two times. He is going back as a senator. People are asking: is he the only one? He doesn’t appreciate the goodness of God in his life.

    Would there be realignment of forces in favour of Dapo Abiodun ahead of the polls?

    I will not disclose that to you. Because I can tell you our greatest foe, normally is the PDP. I will throw the question back to you. Is the PDP settled in Ogun State?

    You disapprove of the commissioner of police in Ogun State. He will still be there in Saturday. How can you curtail the perceived partiality of the commissioner. What exactly did the commissioner do?

    First of all, why I am upset with him is that, as a citizen of Ogun State, I pay tax to Ogun State. Millions of naira every year. Let the governor himself disclose. I am among the first 10 that pay the highest tax to Ogun State Government. I demand the right for protection from Illyiasu. And Illyiasu has failed woefully. If his Commander-In-Chief is stoned, a bottled water is thrown at your Commander-In-Chief; with a lot policemen surrounding the hoodlums on that day, and the commissioner of police claimed not to have been able to catch one, that does not need any further analysis to show that he is a total failure. God forbids, if anything had hit President Buhari that day and he collapsed in that stadium, what will those of us from Ogun State say? The police commissioner did not catch one. I went to the president a week after. I asked: what’s going on? A whole Commander-In-Chief, just president. Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, which include the police. If not for the eagle eye of the Presidential Guard, who were sharp enough; even the domestic staff of the president fell flat behind the president on that day. The police did not fond one person. I told the president that his bill board was being destroyed. Mr. President told me that, if it had happened in the North, it would have led to a riot. Yet, they threw things at the president and he commissioner of police did not catch anybody. As for him, it is of no value. What can the CP do to us? We have told our people to be ready to face anybody. The law says you have the right to defend yourself. You don’t wait when you see somebody with a gun pointed at you. You wrestle with the one and you fall down and they say murder. You can’t commit murder. It is self-defense.  We have resorted to self-defense. Let one million Illyiasu remain as commissioner. We will cast our votes in a peaceful manner. Those who are backing him will be disappointed in Ogun State on Saturday when we deliver the state to the APC and Mr. President who has won his election. We don’t need the police. Where you are majority, God is with you.

    Read also: Workers boo, shame Amosun over hostile policies

    How can we avert violence on Saturday?

    I can assure you that we in Ogun State are determined that every vote should count. We have resorted to self-help. I am not ashamed to say it. I told all the OPC in each neighbourhood and the vigilante in each neighbourhood to be ready for self-defense. So, we have resorted to self-help. How many policemen are in Ogun State? They can’t even go round the wards and polling booths. I can assure you it will be peaceful elections as it was two weeks ago.

    What are challenges that will face the next governor of Ogun State?

    Too many. Nobody know the quantum of indebtedness of Ogun State. The labour; the leaders of civil servants are claiming that N66 billion are owed. Some are saying N200 billion. But, I know that what is being owed is not less than N100 billion. It is a major challenge. To many uncompleted projects. In the civil service town, you go and erect a shopping mall of the magnitude of shoprite; to people who atre used to going to Isoko and Isapon. Most of the dualised roads; three quarters are not completed. You do one kilometer dualised road. Every other inner roads in Abeokuta and other parts of the state, all inter-community roads are in a terrible shape.

    The people of Ado-Odo, Igbesa, they are living in medieval age. No road. So it is in entire Ogun East-Ijebu and Remo. Ogun Central, you don’t need to talk about it. All the roads I did, 19 years after, they are unattended to. So, the magnitude of the problem; it is going to be heavy. I pity the governor that is coming, Dapo Abiodun. I do not envy him. He has a lot of restructuring to do financially, economically, educationally. Schools in Ogun State are bad. Go to Agbado, go to many areas in the state. In many of the schools, they are sitting on the floor. I feel upset. I weep for Ogun State.

     

  • Don’t vote against Amosun, Osoba begs

    Former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba has asked members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to put behind attacks on the party’s campaign rally in the state and ensure victory for all candidates of the party, including Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

    Suspected political thugs believed to have been hired by a party attacked the APC campaign rally in Abeokuta, pelting some dignitaries including President Muhammadu Buhari with stones.

    Amosun, who is APC candidate for Ogun Central, backs the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) governorship candidate, Adekunle Akinlade to succeed him against APC’s Dapo Abiodun.

    Osoba, who lamented no arrest has been made over the incident till date, said he has told supporters in the state to leave vengeance to God and vote for all APC candidates.

    He said: “Yesterday, I told stakeholders in Ogun state that on no account should anybody vote against Amosun as a person.

    Read Also: Osoba lashes out at TraderMoni critics

    “A governor is a governor and he will be in office till May 29. So, why are we worrying ourselves?

    ‘Amosun is just an individual. I still respect him as my governor up to May 29 this year and will not do anything to undermine him as governor.

    “I was governor twice. I told our people that vengeance is not ours and that nobody should go for vengeance.

    “Amosun is just a person but the office of the governor deserves respect and I give respect to that office.”

    He added: “Ogun state is first in several areas. The leaders of the progressives in this country are from that state and it is the home state of the Vice President.

    “I told the President that I apologised to him and that uptill today, nobody has been arrested. I see that as a failure on the part of some elements of the security agencies.

    “Actually, the bulk of APC in Ogun state, we are one family and instruction has gone out that despite what has happened, we should vote for APC candidates at all levels and when the result is out, it should reflect that.

    “At least we should respect the Vice President, who is busy preaching welfarism for the downtrodden and I am sure that appropriate action will be taken on that issue later.

  • 2019: ‘Ogun APC should let people pick governorship candidate’

    Former Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Senator Gbenga Kaka, on Monday appealed to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to give the people free hands to decide who should fly the party’s governorship ticket in 2019.

    Kaka said that a free and fair primaries where party members enjoyed the freedom to select a formidable, popular and strong governorship candidate that could  match the opposition, would ensure the victory of APC  and its governorship candidate in 2919 governorship race in the state.

    The Senator who represented the Ogun East at the Senate from 2011 – 2015, made this known while addressing reporters  at the Abeokuta Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State Council, advising that the choice of who becomes the party’s governorship candidate must not a product of bedrooms decision or one restricted to zoning formula.

    According to him, the process must give room for an all inclusive decision so as not to shut out the best man for the job.

    Kaka stated this to declare his ambition to run for the governorship of the state in 2019.

    He pleaded with  the party leadership in the state not to allow any part feel inferior as every section of Ogun State is well endowed and has all it takes to rule the state.

    Read Also: Kwara APC stakeholders seek dissolution of excos

    “If it has been by zoning, I am sure Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo with all his celebrated legacies across the South West would never have made it. In any case, I am not aware of any zoning because the national body of our party is yet to release the guidelines for the election. So, when we get to the bridge, we shall cross it,” he said.

    He denied being sponsored for the governorship ambition for political negotiations by the former governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba, saying  his desire to be next governor of the state was not a do or die affair and that it is an ambition being purely driven by overwhelming need to harness the potentials of the state for its further growth and development.

    He promised to run a government that will assiduously work to defeat poverty among the people, restore hope to the hopeless in the society, pay the workers and pensioners as and when due, equip the schools with cutting edge facilities, provide affordable qualitative health care services as well as development of the agricultural sector among others.

  • Amosun : I’m not afraid of Osoba, SDP

    Amosun : I’m not afraid of Osoba, SDP

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun said yesterday that he was not “jittery” about former Governor Olusegun Osoba and his prediction that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) would garner about 500,000 votes for its governorship candidate, Senator Akin Odunsi, in the February 28 poll.

    Amosun wondered what “magical stunt” Osoba wanted to pull to enable SDP win half a million votes in the state when it was obvious that he or his party do not command such support.

    He challenged the ex-governor to name the party’s presidential candidate.

    The governor said the changes made in lives and communities in the last 43 months coupled with the facelift of the state would ensure his re-election.

    Amosun, who spoke through the Director of his campaign organisation, Bode Mustapha, at a briefing in Abeokuta, the state capital, said he was drawing the world’s attention to Osoba’s boast of 500,000 votes.

    According to him, some politicians were capable of playing sundry “tricks”, hence the alarm so that the “forthcoming general elections are not rigged by anybody or party”.

    He said: “What kind of mysterious, magical stunt does Chief Osoba have under his hat that will automatically produce a half-million votes out of nothing, when the world knows that neither he nor his party possesses the support to command even a fraction of such votes from any ward in the state.

    “Ideally, the former governor should be patient enough to test his popularity at the polls.

    “Here is a party, the SDP that could not even garner marginal support from its campaign at the Itoku Market among other parts of the state capital. Perhaps there are high and mighty plans underhand to rig these elections.”

    Amosun promised that the new Local Council Development Areas(LCDA) proposed by his administration would be created after next month’s elections.

    According to him, the LCDAs would be in full operation on or before May 30 as necessary steps had been taken for their creation.

    The governor, who made this known yesterday at his campaign tour of Yewa North Local Government Area, said financial constraint accounted for why the planned LCDAs creation had not been effected.

    He said his administration planned  to create about 30 LCDAs  in addition to the existing 20 local governments.

    Amosun said: “We have concluded plans on the creation of the local council development areas. It would have come before today, but due to some hitches, which is mainly, finance. But I can assure you now that we are more than ready.

    “Most states have like 30, some are 40 and you need to see these states, they are half of Ogun State.

    “To enable our people  benefit more from the good governance we are witnessing now in the state, it is very important that we create the council area.

    “I can’t say off hand now how many we plan to create but I can tell you that we will have something around 50 altogether after creation.

    “We would have done it now, but some people may say it is politically-motivated, I want to assure you that by March 1, we will announce the names of the local council areas because I  have the assurance that by the special grace of God and with the support of our people, I will return to office to continue the good work I have started.”

  • Ogun and 2015 polls: APC’s unending conundrum

    Ogun and 2015 polls: APC’s unending conundrum

    After hesitating for many months, the Olusegun Osoba camp in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State has decided to defect to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Though Chief Osoba himself has not made a formal announcement, the long-standing turmoil in Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s government all but made the defection virtually inevitable. Governor Amosun’s deputy, Segun Adesegun, who belongs to the Osoba camp, had a little over a week ago publicised his deep-seated grudges against the governor, much of it revolving around mistreatment, disrespect and inadequate funding. In the letter, the deputy governor sounded pessimistic the disagreements could be resolved. He may be right.

    The Osoba camp is believed to comprise some leading politicians in the state, including all the state’s three senators and six House of Representatives members. No matter what veneer of optimism the Amosun camp want to spread on the split, the Osoba camp is as formidable out of government as the Amosun camp remains formidable in government. If the two camps stay together, they will be even more formidable and stand a decent chance of defeating the resurgent and obviously well-financed opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. As far as optimism goes in politics, both camps imagine they are so formidable separately that they can win the next governorship poll based on their individual merits, political integrity and grassroots mobilisation.

    Chief Osoba entertains the chimera that he has with him the state’s top national lawmakers and perhaps a plethora of other state and local government elected representatives. He probably thinks his camp is impregnable. But as some states have shown since 1999, it may take just one election for a grumpy and testy electorate to sweep a whole coterie of lawmakers away. Governor Amosun also imagines that his infrastructural renewal programme, the like of which has probably never been witnessed in the state before, may stand him in good stead with Ogun’s longsuffering voters. He will be misreading the times to think performance is a sufficient condition for re-election. In fact, in reality, apart from their befuddling incompetence in assessing candidates, Nigerian voters may have become unfathomably venal, irritable and impatient. They punish well-meaning candidates for little slights, and reward malevolent candidates for massive deceptions.

    The trouble in Ogun APC appears on the surface irreconcilable. But that is because APC leaders’ attention is riveted, perhaps inadvertently, on the wrong things. They seek ways of mollifying Chief Osoba, who seems in the opinion of many to be desirous of carving a liberal fiefdom for himself in a state where he can exert a powerful pull on the politics and bureaucracy of the state consistent with his national standing, age and political associations; and where he can erect a panoply of political and electoral frameworks to dispense equity and fairness according to his own peculiar understanding of justice and ideology. But it so happens that in the same Ogun State lives and governs someone like Mr Amosun, a man fiercely  independent and unwilling to subordinate himself to man or angel, or to Lagos or Ogun, but a man who was nonetheless probably the party’s best choice to win the governorship in 2011.

    The party’s pragmatic leaders, especially in Lagos, recognised this seemingly contradictory fact and prioritised their preferences. If their major desire was to win in 2011, they were willing to ignore Mr Amosun’s idiosyncratic irreverence. Chief Osoba, it seems, never quite reconciled himself to either Mr Amosun’s candidature or his independence for many reasons dating back to the 2003 governorship election. Every small disagreement has therefore loomed larger than necessary, and the governor’s sometimes complex realpolitik has seemed to the Osoba camp despicable and intolerable arrogance. Making a choice between who to support for a House of Representatives seat, such as the one the party had to make between Lekan Abiola (MKO”s son) and Olumide Osoba, became red rag to two raging bulls.

    Party leaders in and out of Ogun are miffed and bewildered by how quickly a small misunderstanding turns tectonic. They are expending energy to settle acrimonious party congresses, determine who should be supported for elective and appointive positions as well as party executive offices, pacify incensed party men elbowed out of the governor’s tight inner loop, and other long if not interminable list of grievances. I am not sure to what extent party leaders can procure peace by continuing to focus on the long list of grievances from both sides. With every resolution, a new grievance emerges. I even suspect that judging by the severity of the rupture between the Amosun and Osoba camps, party leaders may now focus on how to ensure a tentative peace so that the party can unite for the 2015 polls. If they succeed, it will be because Mr Amosun realizes the inadvisability of relying on his good works to give him electoral victory, and because Chief Osoba appreciates that even if Mr Amosun is vanquished, it would be pyrrhic victory so devastating to procure that even he would be unable to gain from it.

    Nevertheless, party leaders must wade into the fray not by looking at the long list of grievances or setting out broad principles for redress, but by examining holistically the bane of politics in the Southwest, and helping party leaders, both elected and appointed, to have a better and deeper understanding of the complicated nuances of contemporary political undercurrents. The region is gradually moving away from the patrician and paternalistic forms of politics and governance. Unknown to Chief Osoba, APC’s national leaders have had to quickly reconcile themselves to the fact that whether Ekiti under Kayode Fayemi, or Oyo under Abiola Ajimobi, or Lagos under Babatunde Fashola, the governors often and ineluctably resist any attempt by anyone to exercise control over them. Lagos and Osun, however, present an interesting study.

    While Mr Fashola chafes at any outside control, not being a politician dyed-in-the-wool however, he has been unable to summon the ingenuity to take over the state’s political structure. Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, in spite of his well-known fondness for boisterous politicking, seems to be the most successful in the Southwest in balancing his independence with the need to accommodate his party’s national leaders. He has done it with effortless ease, due in large part to the easy-going nature of former Governor Bisi Akande and the ideological affinity he shares with former Lagos Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If restiveness in Ogun is to be pacified, party leaders in and out of the state will have to look closely at the Aregbesola formula, a formula I think, by the way, is more intuitively practical than rational or designed. It will be pointless blaming Chief Osoba or lambasting Mr Amosun. Blame game will only lead into a labyrinth.

    Mr Amosun has obviously not been wise enough in managing his relationship with Chief Osoba’s camp, considering how he has tried to win every battle, overt or covert. He wants to dominate the state and wholly determine its direction in accordance with the constitutional powers vested in him. If his party’s national leaders gave him breathing room, a number of reasons accounted for that pacifying change. But in his battles with Governor Amosun, Chief Osoba consistently makes reference to his age and association with the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, at whose feet he said he learnt politics. Even then, Chief Osoba has not demonstrated the flexibility and restraint that come with the qualities he has ascribed to himself. Southwest history is replete with examples of party divisions preceding heavy electoral defeats. Why does Chief Osoba think Ogun can defy the odds in 2015?

    Chief Osoba may be a great politician and leader, but he is not ideological, notwithstanding the Southwest and APC’s progressive orientation. Indeed, most Nigerian politicians, the Southwest included, are not ideological. Mr Amosun is also ideologically blank, though his infrastructural renewal programme is exemplary. The common ideological causes and lofty visions for a great welfare society that should animate and bind the two political leaders together are thus inexistent. Until APC national leaders can help the two find a common cause, they will continue to undermine each other. Elsewhere, in Oyo, Mr Ajimobi is also not ideological, and he has found it difficult to conceptualise the inspiring common causes that have differentiated Lagos from other states, in spite of Mr Fashola’s lack of ideological affinity with Asiwaju Tinubu — the isolationist governor versus his expansionist and internationalist predecessor. If Mr Ajimobi had had a politician like Chief Osoba to discomfit him, say an aggressive Lam Adesina, Oyo would also obviously be in turmoil.

    The revolution begun in the Southwest some years back is stalling for much the same reasons the Ogun APC conflict is festering. It is uncertain how that conflict will be resolved, both in Ogun and the Southwest. Dr Fayemi has been dethroned, Mr Ajimobi is under enormous pressure and faces an uncertain electoral future, Ondo never really cottoned on to the revolution, Lagos quivers with uncertainty and is dithering, and Ogun now looks set to unravel spectacularly. A gargantuan conflict between idealism and populism is in fact underway in the region, between the so-called stomach infrastructure of grassroots governance and the futurism and inventiveness that epitomised the high points of the region’s development in the First Republic. Neither Chief Osoba nor Mr Amosun is persuaded by the transcendental quality of the causes they should be fighting for, causes that should concentrate their energies in the right direction and diminish the political self-aggrandizement that now propels their politics — a self-aggrandizement that irrationally drives politics in the Southwest and sets APC leaders against one another in Lagos, Oyo and Ekiti.

  • Discordant tunes

    Discordant tunes

    There is this friend of mine who has this habit of always calling me each time he felt worried about happenings in the polity.

    “Ol boy”, he said last Friday when I picked his call. “What kind of government is Jonathan running in this country?” he asked referring to the federal government. “Can’t they get their acts together? In one breath he is ordering an all out military onslaught on Boko Haram, and at the same time granting amnesty to the terrorists. Which one are we to believe?”

    And before I could even attempt a response he launched into his second concern about happenings in the country. He is worried that the All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition party in the country, and in his enlightened estimation, the only hope of rescuing Nigeria from the misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), does not seem to be getting its acts together. He is particularly worried about the seeming civil war within the APC in Ogun State with Governor Ibikunle Amosun and former governor Olusegun Osoba at daggers drawn. “What does Osoba wants?” he asked but quickly added that Amosun should also take things easy and learn to respect his elders.

    I could sense that he was feeling very bitter and the best I could do as a friend was to calm him down and assure him that Nigeria ‘go survive’ even when I share most of his concerns.

    We later went into those things that friends talk about for a few more minutes before he hung up.

    Coming a day after the celebration of the so called Democracy Day to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Nigeria’s return to democratic rule, and about six weeks after over 200 school girls were abducted in Chibok, Borno State by the terror group, Boko Haram, I sat back after the conversation to reflect on the two issues he raised.

    Since the 15th April abduction of these girls, the Goodluck Jonathan administration has been going forward and backward, blowing hot and cold at the same time with little to show for it in terms of tangible achievements that could raise our hopes that our girls would return home quickly and safely. It’s been all movement no action. The federal government could not even speak with one voice.

    Granted the fact that Jonathan failed to respond openly, as if in denial, to the abduction of the girls until about three weeks later, what manner of response have we been getting from the government ever since it came out, albeit belatedly, to admit that our girls are missing?

    When the whole world expected a robust and tough response, at least in the open, from the federal government, the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, the man under whose watch many job seekers were killed during the ill-fated Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise, came out to announce that the Jonathan administration was ready to negotiate with the terror group, but the backlash forced the government to back out of that statement and launched into a policy flip-flop on the rescue/return of the Chibok girls.

    And when we all thought that the administration had learnt its lesson from that Moro’s statement, Boni Haruna, another of Jonathan’s ‘emergency’ ministers and latter day friends opened his mouth to announce amnesty for Boko Haram, at least for those insurgents who renounce violence and lay down their arms. Haruna, Jonathan’s Minister for Youth Development, claimed the president had actually granted the amnesty. A day or so later the presidency said there is no amnesty on the table.

    With such policy summersaults and discordant tunes coming out from the presidency one begins to wonder how our partners in this war again terror, especially against Boko Haram would see us; inconsistent, unreliable?  More importantly, the insurgents would probably be laughing at us and see the federal government as an unserious partner, if at all they, or some among them is contemplating peace or ceasefire.

    If we want to negotiate the release of the girls, fine, but we don’t have to tell the world that we are talking to the terrorists for their release. We can still be fighting Boko Haram and at the same time negotiating with them on how to bring our girls home peacefully and safely. After all, the United States just secured the release of its only servicemen captured by the Taliban in its war against terror, after reaching a secret agreement with the terrorist group. Sgt Bowe Bergdhl, 28, was released by the Taliban in exchange for freedom of five of its members held in Guantanamo Bay by the US. No noise was made while negotiations were going on and the US has not relented in its fight against Taliban while the terrorists have also not renounced violence and terror.

    Granted the fact that this is a new territory (fighting terror) for our government, but by now it ought to have learnt how things like this are done, at least from those that had passed through that route before. This kind of policy inconsistency could put government negotiators in harm’s way in their dealing with Boko Haram or whoever were the abductors of our girls.

    I am not surprised that the military high command denied knowledge of the Australian negotiator reportedly appointed by the Federal Government; I don’t expect the government also to admit there is such a person(s). Things like these are never done in the open or openly admitted, they are only acknowledged if and when they went well. All we are interested in is #Bring back our girls,  safely. How Jonathan and his team does that is left to them, but they should stop disgracing themselves and the country in the public and before the international community with their lack of coordination. The discordant tunes must stop and the presidency must speak with one voice. Make your position clear Goodluck Jonathan on this matter and Nigerians would follow.

    On the seeming civil war in Ogun APC and by extension in some other chapters of the party, I just hope that the opposition would not shoot itself in the foot and gift the presidency to Jonathan again in 2015.

    The Jonathan government is discredited already but the APC should not help it bounce back into reckoning by its own internal wrangling. The leaders of the party known and unknown must step in to resolve the crisis in Ogun APC before it snowballs into another thing that could thwart Nigerians genuine efforts at sending Jonathan and PDP packing next year. Suffice to say that the era of godfathers in our policy is gone, it never served us well. Whoever has been elected should be allowed to rule. What some people did not accept when they were governors they should not force it down the throat of others. As Yoruba would say, ti a ba fi agbo fun eegun, a nfi okun e si le ni, meaning literally, when you give the ram to the masquerade you release the rope.

     

     

  • Understanding Ogun APC crisis

    SIR: I have lived in Ogun State since 1977 even though I am from Imo State. I can claim to know about the politics of the region as much as that of the South-east. Besides, I am a student of politics and history.

    At the heart of the crisis in the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is the fear of election. I do not think the problem is strictly between the incumbent governor, Ibikunle Amosun and former governor, Olusegun Osoba. This is because, at every public forum that I’m aware of, the governor has always acknowledged Osoba as leader of the party, although by virtue of the APC constitution, the governor should be the leader. Equally, the former governor has spoken of the unprecedented achievements of the current governor. So the re-election of Amosun is not under any threat just as the position of Osoba as the party leader is not challenged.

    All over the world, there are tendencies within political parties and members usually gravitate towards one party chieftain or the other. But the current problem in Ogun is that current members of the National Assembly from the state want to retain their position in 2015. They gravitate towards Osoba and, from all indications, have his support. However, there are other aspirants who believe the NASS members have performed below expectation and therefore must be replaced. These aspirants claim they have the sympathies of Amosun.

    But from what I gathered authoritatively, Amosun has not supported anyone for any slot. What he wants is a level-playing field where the current elected office holders, including himself can contest against other aspirants within the party. This is the crux of the matter. The incumbent office holders don’t want election but selection.

    All the talk about parallel ward congress on April 5 is a lie because a few days before the election, Osoba and Amosun worked together and also they jointly monitored the election. It was an open contest, free and fair. But since the loyalists of the NASS members did not have the upper hand, the talk of division and parallel congress began to rent the airwaves. Till date, nobody has been able to tell us the exact location of any parallel ward congress in Ogun on April 5.

    The current talk of non-forgiveness, non-harmonisation, and non-reconciliation is unhelpful to the cause of democracy and internal democracy within political parties, except, of course, this people all along had “hidden agenda”. Unforgiveness is neither in the Bible nor Koran.

    Then people should stop name-dropping. The real Awoists are those who do what Awo did or stood for. If you love with your heart the masses, declare free education, revive agriculture, including farm settlements, construct durable roads and bridges, declare free health, provide security of lives and property, etc. then you are the true Awoist, and the majority of Yoruba will always support such a person, come rain come sunshine. It does not matter whether you ate with Awo, slept on the same bed with him during his life-time or not.

    All lovers of democracy should accept elections, go for primaries. The losers should congratulate the winners and vice versa, because in a contest between members of the same family – as Amosun was quoted to have said recently – ‘there are no victors, no vanquished.”

    • James Ikechukwu

    Owerri

     

  • Ogun APC Ward Congress: Beacon of hope

    Ogun APC Ward Congress: Beacon of hope

    SIR: Permit me to use this medium to congratulate the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for holding a successful Ward Congress on Saturday, April 5. That exercise, by all accounts, ranks among the best in the annals of party politics in Nigeria. It was not only peaceful but inclusive and the turn-out impressive.

    Both the leader of the party, Chief Olusegun Osoba and the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, jointly monitored the exercise, thus giving the lie to the rumour of division within the state APC. Of course, no one expected a 100 per cent success in any election – without one or two hitches. And I believe the governor underscored the essence of sincerity after last Saturday’s Local Government Congress in explaining this human phenomenon.

    Amosun was reported in the papers to have said thus: “Whatever minor hitches witnessed in the conduct of the poll could only be “because we are human, not angels. The good thing is that there was no deliberate action on the part of the officials to disenfranchise anyone. All tendencies in the party were fully represented. Either as winners or losers in the Congress of today, we are all one in APC.  Our goal is one, so is our aspiration in Ogun APC.”

    It is however sad to read of deliberate distortion of  the Ward Congress in one or two papers. It is one thing to understate or exaggerate an event that happened but when some writers manufacture an event that never took place, then they act against public interest. Such amounts to gross misconduct and the public should be wary of accepting hook, line and sinker reports they themselves know could be improbable or fly in the face of realities and accounts of other sources.

    Just like the governor, I was shocked to read in two papers “that parallel congresses were held in all the 236 wards in Ogun State.” This is comprehensive falsehood. It never happened. Not one parallel ward congress was held throughout Ogun on that fateful day.

    Let me quote the reaction of Amosun to this lie:  “How can this be true? We are all witnesses to what happened last Saturday. Except in a few wards where unavoidable change of venue led to some justifiable complaints, which were immediately redressed by our party leader, Chief Osoba, after which the exercise went on smoothly, where on earth did we witness parallel congresses, as reported in some papers?” the governor had asked rhetorically.

    I declare that the APC Ward Congress held on Saturday, April 5, remains a landmark in the annals of Nigeria and is therefore a beacon of hope for all lovers of democracy. The ward congress is the foundation of all other congresses. It is like the foundation of a house. Once the foundation is strong, the house will be strong.

    Congratulations to Ogun APC, its leaders at the state and national levels and all lovers of democracy in Nigeria.

    • Soyombo Opeyemi

    Abeokuta