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2019 Political jigsaw: an aide memoire to the Yoruba

I need not repeat that we suffered enough under the PDP’s 16 years of the locust when we were treated like aliens in our own country.

1.”This is clearly an attempt to distract the APC federal government from the yeoman’s job it has been doing in rescuing the country from the deep rooted socio-economic, political, security and moral mess inherited from the PDP’s 16 years misrule of Nigeria, instigate crisis within the party, stoke dangerous embers of religious disaffection within the party and the country generally and stem the remarkable progress being made in the reinvention and revitalisation of Nigeria”.
2. “About $32bn was lost to corruption during the six-year administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development said on Monday. The agency said the huge amount represented 16 percent of the previous government’s resources that could have been channeled to development” – Debbie Palmer, DFID Head of Office, Nigeria.

Ndigbo can boast about having some of the most astute politicians at any point in our country’s history. Historically, Igbos are not used to being in the opposition. You can therefore imagine the agony that has been theirs since they unwisely put their entire eggs in the political basket of former President Ebelechukwu Jonathan, going into the 2015 elections. So bruised were they that, as he has severally told Nigerians, even a hard-headed politician like Governor Rochas Okorocha was being treated worse than an outcast for giving APC a foothold in the entire South East. But truth be told, that has become history as top Igbo politicians are now trooping into the APC like it were an armada. Thanks to the fact that life in opposition is as uncomfortable for them as it is uncharacteristic. The Igbo situation was, however, worsened by what the highly seminal Chief John Nnia Nwodo, economist, lawyer, and president, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said at his inauguration. In what can best be described as a jeremiad about how Igbos in public office treat their homeland, and people, Chief Nwodo said: “I remember a time in this country when all the six ministers in Jonathan’s kitchen cabinet were all Igbos. Ayim Pius Ayim was Secretary to Government, Ngozi Okonjo Iwealla was in charge of Finance, Emeka Wogu was in Labour and Productivity, Berth Nnaji was in Power and Energy, Dieziani Madueke was the powerful minister for Oil. The six of them outside the Federal Executive Council would meet and decide what and what not to be discussed at the larger Federal Executive Council meeting. Okiro and Onovo had the police under their control. Ihejerika and later Minimah controlled the Army. These powerful Igbos could do and undo. Nigeria was in their pockets. Rather than care about the poor Igbo chaps scattered all over the country, they were busy diverting billions of naira into their accounts at home and abroad. The 2nd Niger Bridge, they did not do. They shared the money. The Lagos/Calabar rail lines passing through nine states, three of them in the South East, they shared the money.” (Any wonder DFID recently said Nigeria lost 32 billion dollars to corruption during President Jonathan’s six years). “Enugu/Onitsha, Aba/PH and other roads of economic importance to their fellow Igbos, he continued, they abandoned. Who is to blame? Who is marginalising Igbos? You had your chance, you bungled it. There was only one Yoruba minister worth mentioning at the time, Akinwunmi Adesina. He was in Agric. His budget was less than 1% while Emeka Wogu in Labour had over 10% for his ministry, Ayim had unlimited access to the treasury for the benefit of himself and family members. The poor Igbo guys meant nothing to him.”

The consequences of that lost opportunity, more than any marginalisation by President Buhari should, in my view, account for the increased Biafra/IPOB agitations in the region. It is in the determined intent of the new Igbo leadership, under Nwodo, to make up for that lost opportunity that is now driving top Igbo politicians to embrace the ruling party, especially, as they can’t see the PDP defeating President Buhari in 2019. For this hard-headed reasoning, I congratulate both Ndigb and the APC. However, while it is fascinating to see this paradigm shift in Ndigbo’s political calculations, what nauseates is their serpentine attempts to overawe the Yoruba, exaggerate and embellish whatever the Yoruba angst against the Buhari government is, and deliberately stampede them out of a party to which they have given everything and which they voted massively in the 2015 despite the best wishes of their revered Afenifere elders.

To this plot must, therefore, be attributed the Sun newspapers’ (an Igbo medium) last week story which Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appropriately described as a “classic case of utterly and irredeemably-fake news.” Apparently assuming that all Nigerians operate on the same cultural ethos, the story has it that Tinubu, who nominated Professor Yemi Osinbajo for his Vice Presidential position, was going to replace him as Vice to President Buhari at the 2019 elections. This, in Yoruba land, in case they don’t know, is considered, culturally, as infra dig. But even if they knew Yorubas well enough, they were yet undeterred because the objective was to present the Yoruba as unreliable, untrustworthy and so, not worth the President’s trust. There was, of course, more. As the APC National Leader correctly put it, it was intended to instigate a crisis within the APC, as well as stoke dangerous embers of politico-religious disaffection amongst the members and within the country at large. Also, in a classical example of crying more than the bereaved, the social media is another forum which they have been using to drum this so-called ill-treatment of the Yoruba by President Buhari.

This, in essence, is why the Yoruba, as the holy book says, must be as wise as the serpent going forward, in the march to 2019. While Yoruba land luxuriated in the opposition under the sterling leadership of the Avatar, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, things have so changed in our country that to allow ourselves be coyly ousted, in numbers, from the APC because of some misgivings which are, incidentally, being wantonly exaggerated by persons who do not wish us well, would tantamount to torridly shortchanging ourselves. All things considered, it needs no robotic science to know that Yorubas are many times better than we were under the Goodluck Jonathan government. Should we require any reminding, I wrote as follows in ‘THE PRESIDENT’S BROADCAST’, The Nation, August 27, 2017: “are Igbos the first to be denied plum appointments? Was it that we didn’t have the Bode George’s, the Ebino Topsy’s, the Olajumoke’s , great bulwarks of PDP, in the Southwest when President Jonathan literally completely overlooked Yoruba’s in his appointments just as Anyim Pius Anyim and Okonjo- Iweala ensured that they appointed Igbos and a few Niger Deltans, to the headship of over 60 per cent of all federal agencies?”

Also, smart politicians that Igbos are, they have good reasons to wish to see Yorubas lose out in the APC, by whatever means. They have realised that remaining within the PDP as solidly as they have always been, they will be obligated to vote for a PDP Presidential candidate who, if he wins, -God forbid – would be heading to a possible two terms of eight years, thus postponing the possibility of an Igbo presidency to a future that is clearly uncertain .

While I perfectly agree that, compared with our Northern compatriots, the Yoruba has not been compensated enough for their contribution to the victory of President Buhari and the APC in the 2015 elections, I am equally certain that Yoruba interests would be much better served negotiating, re-negotiating, and fighting, if need be, from within, rather than permit our position in the party be undermined. The treatment meted to the Southwest wing of the PDP at the party’s recent Abuja convention, should further serve an ‘aide me moire’ to us Yorubas as to what could happen to us again in a PDP controlled government. Meanwhile, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has been going round saying that PDP needs the Southwest to defeat Buhari in 2019 but a stitch in time, they say, saves nine. So rather than seeing this article as ethnic baiting, it should appropriately be seen for hat it is: a shout out to my Yorubas compatriots to tread gently, all eyes opened, as we head to the 2019 elections. I need not repeat that we suffered enough under the PDP’s 16 years of the locust when we were treated like aliens in our own country.

December 17, 2017
Papa Deceive Pikin (PDP) back?

But how far they go depends on President Buhari

Iwo la ri bawi,
Iwo la ri bawi,
Iwo to f’aya won too fe’y a won,
Iwo la ri bawi! (it is you we blame, you that married their wife and not their mother; it’s you we blame).

IN a sense, it is President Muhammadu Buhari that one blames for the resurrection of the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after wobbling and fumbling for more than two and a half years since the 2015 General Elections. The erstwhile ruling party had been enmeshed in one crisis or the other since losing power to the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) government headed by President Buhari in that historic election. Although PDP, once referred to by Reuben Abati, one of the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokespersons as “Papa Deceive Pikin”, has managed to conduct its convention where Uche Secondus got the big job of the party’s chairman, it is not clear whether that signals the end of the animosities that have dogged the party since its defeat at the polls.

Without doubt, the country needs a vibrant opposition party to put the Buhari government on its toes. This is a sine qua non in a democratic dispensation. The lack of a vibrant opposition has not been in the country’s interest, even as it has not been in the incumbent government’s interest. It probably explains why it would take ages for the president to kick out someone like Babachir Lawal, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) despite the huge whiff of scandals surrounding him. Nigerians had thought the government was slow in firing him because of the ailment that took the president abroad for medical attention. But when the president returned and still retained him about three months after, Nigerians began to insinuate. Anyone would, especially so that the president had saddled his deputy with the task of investigating the former SGF as far back as April. Still, mum was the word from the president after returning from abroad until public outcry forced him to fire Babachir in November. I am deliberately silent on Ambassador Ayo Oke, the former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency that was investigated alongside Lawal because he was just seen as an attachment; Lawal was the reason why many Nigerians felt the president dilly-dallied on Oke’s case too.

Again, President Buhari had promised to shake up his cabinet, with a view to reinvigorating governance. We had thought money was the reason why the government has not done this, but the president said this was not the case: “On the other hand, I am keenly aware that our supporters are very eager for these appointments to be announced. By the Grace of God, these appointments will be announced soon, especially now that the economy is improving, we will have the resources to cater for the appointees,” President BUhari said. More than six weeks after, we are still expecting that long overdue cabinet reshuffle.

Even with regard to the constitution of the boards of some Federal Government parastatals, this is yet to happen more than two years after the government assumed office. President Buhari gave indication of this ‘go-slow’ approach to governance early in the day when for about six months after taking over, he could not form his cabinet.

Then the issue of the criminally-minded herdsmen who are bestriding the nation as if it is their fiefdom. Not a few Nigerians feel they are being treated with kid gloves because they are of the same Fulani stock with the president.

One needs to highlight these issues for the president and the government to know why some people now have the audacity to say they want to bring back the PDP from the dead. While it is true that these people are able to come together again because they have no shame, it is good to let the government too know that some of its actions have tended to give those now trying to revive the moribund ruling party the opportunity. Indeed, in a decent country, no one would want to identify with a party like PDP because of the grievous harm its members had caused this country in the 16 years they were in power. But here we are again; some of the party’s leading lights are even complaining that its chairmanship went to the highest bidder at the just concluded convention. Yet, these were the same people that more or less legitimised money-politics in the country. Now that they were beaten to their own game because their time is past, they are complaining.

Then there is also the anti-corruption war which has not succeeded in jailing a significant number of our high profile thieves here at home despite the fact that we have a surfeit of them, whereas their colleagues who were unlucky to be tried abroad picked up jail terms as if they were picking cowries in the ocean. This weak or corrupt (or both) nature of our judiciary is what Diezani Alison-Madueke, President Jonathan’s petroleum minister wanted to exploit by asking that she be brought back home from the United Kingdom to be tried for the alleged crimes she committed against her Fatherland here in Nigeria, instead of answering corruption charges in the UK. She knows that here, she will escape justice and all she needs to do is to hire a retinue of Senior Advocates of Nigeria who would look for all manner of subterfuge to ensure her trial lasts forever. So, chances of paying for her crimes may never arise.

She is not alone.

If former governors James Ibori and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha had the option of deciding where they wanted to be tried too; they would have opted for trial in Nigeria. We would still be debating whether the Ibori that was arraigned was the same Ibori that committed the crime! These things should get our judicial officers pondering; but it is like many people at the helm of affairs in the country were simply in a hurry when coming to the world that they could not wait to get their own portion of that important element called shame.

This country, no doubt is in a big mess. Those who have stolen the country’s coffers dry have made more than enough safety nets for themselves such that it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle than it is for us to successfully convict these influential rogues holding our destinies to ransom.

It is the dearth of shame in our shores that has led us to the current debate about immunity for our judges. We have found ourselves in the present mess because almost everybody that matters is enjoying one type of immunity or the other. Apart from the president and vice president as well as governors and their deputies who have immunity from prosecution, our National Assembly members too who are not covered by immunity want same. Many of us did not know it before; but we have now been told that even judges too have immunity because that is what it means when the anti-graft agencies cannot prosecute judges suspected to be corrupt until after the National Judicial Council (NJC) has given the nod. Yet, we know that the same NJC simply went to sleep until it was woken from its slumber before it started dealing with some of these erring judges.

President Buhari may have been too slow in dealing with the country’s challenges. But that is not to say that he has not made some successes here and there, in spite of the cash crunch facing the country. His administration has recorded some progress in the agricultural sector, with food prices now coming down. Husbands whose wives have not reflected this in their house-keeping allowance should bring in the auditors. In terms of power supply, generation has increased substantially from the about 4,400MW that the Buhari government inherited to about 7,000MW today, even though we do not have the capacity to distribute all. Perhaps this explains the slight improvement noticed in power supply in recent times.

All said, I still discharge President Buhari over his helplessness on some of these issues, including the anti-corruption efforts because the latter in particular is being complicated by the judiciary. But, to be acquitted, the president has to move fast to bring about effective changes in his style of governance in the remaining part of his tenure. No more ‘go slow’. He also has to eschew what many Nigerians see as nepotism.

The Papa Deceive Pikin Party can only fly as high as the president makes it to.

December 17, 2017
Release of $1bn for FG to fight Boko Haram alarming – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday described the approval for the release of $1billion to the Federal Government under the guise of fighting insurgency in the North East as curious and alarming.

A statement issued on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said the party was alarmed by the manipulative plot by the All Progressive Congress (APC) administration to secure approvals without recourse to due process, and for purposes of fighting the same insurgents it claimed to have since defeated.

The PDP wondered why the federal government had to recourse to the National Economic Council (NEC) while avoiding the direct constitutional appropriation channel of the National Assembly for funding of items already provided for in the federal budget if it actually has nothing to hide.

The party said: “The PDP supports the fight against insurgency. We hold our officers and men confronting the terrorists and securing our territorial integrity in high esteem, but we are concerned about the manipulative tendencies connected with the approvals as well as the veracity of claimed purpose of the fund.

“Nigerians would recall that the APC-led Federal Government had claimed that it has since defeated the insurgents.

“If it would take a billion dollars from a nation’s savings to kill what they long claimed was dead, then we challenge the APC government to come clean and tell Nigerians the whole truth.

“The era of lies and propaganda is long gone and Nigerians now know the truth. The federal government must be held accountable and stopped from any move to fritter away our national savings.

“We therefore call on the National Assembly to interrogate this proposed disbursement and subject it to a thorough but rapid interrogation.”

The PDP also noted that the development has rubbished the integrity of the current administration and demanded that it apologise to Nigerians for lying to them about the actual state of the fight against insurgency in Nigeria.

“By accepting the $1billion for fighting insurgency, the APC-led federal government has admitted that it lied when it announced that it has defeated the insurgents. They should therefore apologise to Nigerians for giving them a false sense of security, resulting in their vulnerability to attacks by terrorists,” the party added.

December 15, 2017
PDP to APC: Don’t cause disaffection among our South West members

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of instigating some leaders of the party in the South West with the view to infiltrating their ranks and setting them against the national body.

According to the PDP, the ruling party is trying to capitalise on the fallout of the just concluded PDP national convention, which saw aggrieved chairmanship aspirants from the South West kicking against the outcome of the convention.

A statement issued on Thursday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said the aim was to distract the opposition and divert the attention of Nigerians from the “colossal failure” of the APC government.

“Having woefully failed to stop the PDP elective national convention, a desperate APC has again failed in another bid to plant seeds of discord within the ranks of our members in the South West, particularly on issues relating to the outcome of our hugely successful national convention,” he stated.

The PDP, however, said people of the South West have seen through the antics of the APC propaganda machine and would not allow themselves be deceived.

The statement continued, “The South West leaders who contested for the PDP national chairmanship position are all men of quality and credibility; the fallout of the convention cannot, in any way, diminish their standing as core nationalists and statesmen whose interests, particularly in the PDP, and the nation, are not driven by personal or ethnic considerations.

“What essentially drives the individual and collective aspirations of the South West leaders in the PDP remains in tandem with the vision of other leaders of our party across the country, which is to rescue our dear nation from the directionless administration of the APC with its attendant economic hardship on Nigerians.

“In fretting, the APC does not seem to realise that people in the South West are as much victims of its misrule as other Nigerians. Those in the South West suffer from the current chaotic state of the economy which the APC administration has inflicted on the nation

“They groan from the APC’s negative policies on foreign exchange as well as the heavy taxations that are killing industries and businesses; they suffer the misery in the land resulting from the spiral rate of inflation, decline in the stock market and decayed infrastructure.

“The APC’s attempt to plant seeds of discord among our members in the South West merely betrays their fears of losing control of the region.”

Declaring that the South West is too sophisticated to fall for the gimmicks of the APC, the opposition party insisted that people of the region cannot be distracted or deceived by baseless propaganda and cheap resort to ethnic politics.

It added that the South West would not fail to join other despairing Nigerians in voting out the APC in the 2019 election.

“The truth is that the APC administration, having wrecked the country, is resorting to shadow boxing to stay afloat; Nigerians are however, impatient to kick them out.

“The APC must note that their exit has become inevitable. They must note that the more they fight the PDP, the more united we become and the more Nigerians see through their deception and emptiness. Today, many are leaving their ranks in droves. Very soon their party will be empty and its collapse will be loud.

“For the PDP, we remain one big family committed to credible processes that guarantee internal democracy in our party. Our leaders have since revved our internal conflict resolution mechanisms and consultations in this direction are yielding tremendously positive results.

“Finally, the PDP assures all Nigerians not to despair as we have now repositioned to provide direction and return the nation back to the path of unity and prosperity.”

December 14, 2017
PDP’s pangs of rebirth

Since the conclusion of its convention in Abuja on Saturday, all has not been well within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Those who lost out in the power game are still seething with anger. Many chairmanship candidates are not happy with how things played out. They should have known better. I do not pity them. The contenders from the Southwest should have known that there was no way the governors, who are mostly from the Southsouth and the Southeast would have supported them. The well known ambition of Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose, who had earlier thrown his hat into the ring for the party’s presidential ticket, spoiled their chances. As usual, he was clowning. He knew the ticket cannot go to the Southwest after the party had zoned its national chairmanship to the South. The Southwest contenders, who wanted the post micro zoned to their region, so as to exclude the Southsouth and Southeast from running, also did not help their own case when no fewer than seven of them showed interest in the race. None was ready to step down for the other. In that wise, what is the essence of micro zoning? Uche Secondus, who emerged chairman, has embarked on reconciling with them so that they will let bygones be bygones. It is all a ploy to use them in 2019 to win election in Southwest if they can, but after that what will be the region’s fate?

December 14, 2017
PDP convention was transparent, says Moro

Former Minister of Interior Comrade Patrick Abba Moro has described the national elective convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the most transparent, successful and peaceful convention ever conducted by the party.

Moro, a chieftain of the PDP from Benue State, who made the remark in an interview in Abuja, noted that the dissolved National Caretaker Committee (NCC), led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, eventually kept to its promise to ensure transparency and fairness in the conduct of the election of new national officers.

He added: “The convention was very okay and we hope that we will be able to come out of the convention a lot stronger, more formidable and more prepared to take on the role of opposition. Quite frankly it was all excitement in the run up to the convention. “Everybody was very eager. I think that going through the memory lane, this has been one of the most peaceful, successful convention of the PDP that I have ever witnessed. I understand that some persons are not quite happy with the outcome of the election. It is understandably so, because in a contest there are definitely some persons who will lose and some persons who will win. And of course, all manner of reasons are given for either winning or losing.”

Noting that he had raised alarm few days to the convention expressing fears that the PDP was yet to learn from past mistakes, the ex-minister said: “I actually raised some basic fears of potential manipulation of the electoral process, the fear of a possible implosion and the need for the leadership of the party (the dissolved Ahmed Makarfi-led NCC) to take appropriate steps in ensuring free, fair, credible election where the votes of the delegates would count. As a party man, I think that was a legitimate fear especially against the backdrop of people grumbling and crying hidden agenda, crying impunity and crying imposition.”

December 14, 2017
PDP and its new enforcers

Move over, the Old Guard. There are new kids on the block.

For long, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was like a ship with two – or more – captains. The weather was rough; turbulent. Humbled at the polls by an electorate that felt enough was just enough and hobbled by a debilitating power struggle that threatened to end it all, the PDP got a lifeline with a Supreme Court judgment. Senator Ahmed Makarfi’s faction won the bitter battle for the control of the party. Former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sherrif -where in the world is he now? – beat a retreat. He went home quietly, perhaps to re-launch his bid for the soul of what was once the largest party in Africa.

All was set for the convention that many saw as a redemptive tonic for the opposition party. The elders, including former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, were excited by the prospect of a rejuvenated party. He issued a lengthy statement warning against the influence of money. How wrong he was.

On the eve of the great convention, a “Unity List” surfaced, as reported exclusively by this newspaper. It was the governors’ weapon for the final push against the old guard, including Babangida, himself a master of subterfuge and obfuscation, and former President Goodluck Jonathan, who has vowed not to sleep until PDP returns to power. For how long can a man stay awake?

The elders wanted former Education Minister Prof Tunde Adeniran as chairman. They put the governors under the gun to install him. But the new enforcers wanted Uche Secondus, a prince and former interim chair of the party. The battle was joined.

The elders hammered out a “National List” and ordered everybody to fall in line. But the new power brokers, although not as experienced as the old hands, are more ruthless, brutal and aggressive. With a huge arsenal of cash and an army of ruthless soldiers who knew how to fight, they easily overran the old guards.

Adeniran staged a walkout as soon as he perceived that it was all over. Southwest delegates and their naïve leaders who campaigned on their knees, begging for the job – have mercy on us; we’ve never had this job since the birth of the PDP – instead of flaunting their solid credentials and credibility, were sulking like some hungry kids.

Nobody listened. Secondus – a cheeky fellow said the name sounds like one that will always put the troubled party in the second position – snatched the trophy. The losers, lacking in that spirit of sportsmanship which the elders are preaching, said the election was sold to the highest bidder. Did they also bid? They did not stop at that. They claimed that there were 2,115 registered delegates; the final count was 2,297. Isn’t that to be expected in such a crucial election?

Congratulations Secondus, the chair!

Missing at the convention was garrulous former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode. He seems to be unusually quiet nowadays – his opponents claim, without proof anyway, that he is broke and depressed. Dr Doyin Okupe, the one who said he should be called a bastard should Buhari win the 2015 presidential election, was not there either. Many were surprised, but I’m happy to report that the Ijebu prince is hale and hearty; he is only trammelled by the prospect of an uncertain political future, according to sources. Olisa Metuh, I am told, rescheduled a crucial meeting with his lawyers to attend the convention, but he got a raw deal, barred from the VIP stand for some inexplicable reasons.

Kudos to the architects of the new order. Stand up for recognition, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, chief, lawyer, politician and governor of Rivers State.

Wike is believed to be the lead actor in the coronation of Secondus. He led his brother–governors to seize control of the party from the old guards. When accused of imposing Secondus, Wike merely dismissed it with a sneer. “I’m free to support any candidate,” he said, adding : “Making statements that some people have hijacked the party is not correct. With all due respect, the people know what they want.”

Bold, brash and brawny, the chief is no stranger to political wars. He had surmounted great odds that would have sent many a candidate throwing in the towel and running for dear life to become governor.

Ironically, his opponents have refused to acknowledge his remarkable courage. They taunt him endlessly with that victory. They claim that his road to the Government House was paved with the blood of innocent citizens. A lover of contact sport – he recently bankrolled a wrestling tourney – Wike is never afraid of a fight. In fact, his road rage with his predecessor Rotimi Amaechi grabbed the headlines the other day.

Never afraid of telling the truth – an attribute which his opponents mistakenly describe as arrogance – His Excellency pointedly told the Southwest PDP chiefs that their zone was of little significance in the new calculations. When a group of students who claim to have been abandoned in London stormed the Chatham House where His Excellency delivered a lecture, bearing placards and raining expletives on the authorities, Wike smiled. “I’ve gone past this stage,” he told them.

Those who saw police chief Ibrahim Idris and Wike locked in a big hug at a ceremony in Port Harcourt thought their long verbal war had ended. They were wrong. Wike, a master of ambush, decided to up the ante. His opponents have accused him of spearheading the SARS-must-go protests against the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

Despite all the accusations against him, His Excellency keeps hauling in awards as the world recognises his talents. For some newspapers, he is “Governor of the Year”. He has been honoured by the “Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards (SCAHSA), which is said to be backed by the UN, but derided as a big scam by – who else? – the governor’s political foes.

Step forward Ayo Fayose, “architect of modern Ekiti, leader of the opposition, friend of the poor” and leading apostle of the much ridiculed but highly successful Stomach Infrastructure – the vote harvesting formula that has made an average Ekiti citizen the envy of all, with robust cheeks and bulging tummies.

Fayose is said to have played a major role in the coronation of Secondus at the convention, which His Excellency attended after taking a break from the sewing machine on which he had been busy, battling to meet the deadline to produce Christmas dresses for 10,000 kids.

Even that great gesture has attracted some remonstrances. Why don’t you just pay their parents’ salaries? the critics say.

To his opponents, he betrayed the Southwest. But that is their opinion. His excellency has seen far ahead of them all. He, months ago, launched his presidential campaign. If Southwest produces chairman, it cannot have the presidential candidate. If it does not get that, vice-president will be available. Who else fills the bill?

Instead of hailing Fayose’s foresight, those who never see anything good in his deft political moves have been accusing him of shortchanging Ekiti delegates. What proof do they have? They said each delegate was to get $10,000, but that His Excellency claimed that an average Ekiti delegate would faint if handed such cash. He collected the Secondus largesse and gave each delegate N50,000, the tale bearers said. Trust His Excellency, he did not dignify them with a reply, let alone a defence of the puerile allegations.

Bala Mohammed, the former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, is also one of the new kingmakers. An unruly fellow said the other day that the amiable politician was the victim of a rare kind of envy that has seen him hopping in and out of courts since he left office. At a point, he was said to have lost 14 mansions to the EFCC. Besides, he filed a motion urging the court to compel the EFCC to grant him access to one of his homes to retrieve 35 “babanriga”, 15 bottles of perfume, 50 sets of leather handbags, 65 pairs of shoes and 35 boxes of clothes, among many other personal belongings.

Mohammed is said to be eyeing Bauchi’s governorship in 2019.

Those who thought former Benue State Governor Gabriel Torwua Suswam would be hamstrung by his many encounters with the law got it wrong. It is true that His Excellency and two others are facing a N9.7b fraud charge for which he was once detained at the Kuje Prison. It is, however, to his credit that he produced National Secretary Dr Agbo Emmanuel.

Godswill Akpabio, the former Akwa Ibom governor, now a senator, belongs to this elite group. So are former Senate President David Mark and former Niger Governor Babangida “servant leader” Aliyu, who was once remanded for alleged N4.568 fraud and abuse of office. He is believed to have nominated Financial Secretary Abdullahi Husseini Maibasara. Former Foreign Affairs Minister Aminu Wali’s personal assistant, Wada Masu, is Deputy National Treasurer.

These are some of the leading lights of the new PDP, which has been threatening to return to power in 2019. Good luck to the party and its anointed ones.

JAMB chief Oloyede’s example

When Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar Prof Is’haq Oloyede announced that the agency had sent N5billion back to the treasury, many were shocked. Fees were not increased and standards were not lowered. How was that possible?

Simple. He plugged all the loopholes and reined in the fat rats that had been preying on the agency’s cash. Now, JAMB has remitted N3 billion more to the federal treasury.

An elated (and troubled) Federal Government ordered a probe. All the former chief executives were summoned to account for their deeds in office. We are yet to get a report of that exercise.

Why was it impossible for the old JAMB to remit such hefty sums to the treasury? Was it a sign of the impunity that sent corruption to a level beyond human comprehension? Who is looking into the books of the other agencies?

Oloyede’s example should be commended by all. May his like multiply among us.

December 14, 2017
PDP has great set of national leaders – Metuh

A former National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, has described the party’s newly-elected National Working Committee (NWC) as “one of the best set of national leaders the party has ever produced.

Metuh said on Wednesday in Abuja that he was fully confident that the new NWC would lead the party to victory in 2019.

He said virtually all members of the NWC led by Prince Uche Secondus were experienced in party management and politics, and were well prepared to serve the party.

He said: “The National Chairman, Secondus, has been in party administration. He was a state chairman, chairman of G-84, national organising secretary, deputy national chairman, acting national chairman of the party and he has now become the elected one.

“Also, the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, was a former editor of a newspaper. For the first time we are having a practising journalist as our spokesman.

“We expect that he will excel. He is going to be one of the best publicity secretaries we have in PDP because he comes well prepared for the office.

“His deputy is also well known and experienced in the practice. I think this is one of the best NWC that we can have. We are happy with the members.

“Unarguably, this is one of the best NWC that we can have. The election worked very well, and we now have people who are equipped and ready to work for the interest of our party.”

Assessing the process of the convention, Metuh commended the Chairman of the Convention, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, and his team for “good preparation, planning and execution.”

He also commended the enthusiasm and excitement shown by party members, especially chairmanship aspirants who campaigned round the country.

December 13, 2017
2019: PDP begins search for candidate

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chiefs are to raise a search panel for a credible presidential candidate, a source said yesterday.

A senior party official, who pleaded not to be named, said the party had decided to scout for a “sellable” candidate who can match President Muhammadu Buhari, who is believed to be interested in a second term.

“We have made mistakes in the past. We violated zoning and we paid dearly for it. We are considering going for a presidential candidate, who will withstand the predictable propaganda of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government. We want to get it right. If we want to win, we must get a better candidate; a candidate that is better than what the APC will offer because Nigerians will compare and contrast,” the source said.

According to the source, who pleaded not to be named, the party may be looking beyond the array of likely presidential aspirants who have started consultations and mobilisation of supporters, ahead of next year’s primary.

PDP presidential contenders include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Barafawa, former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, former Kaduna State Governor Ahmed Makarfi, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose and Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo.

The source said: “There is no shortage of presidential aspirants in our party. But, one factor that will determine the selection of the flag bearer is his ability to win. We as a party want to win. Therefore, the opinion is that, while studying those already holding consultations on their presidential ambition, the door should be open for more people to come in.

The source said: “Many APC leaders are former leaders of the PDP. Thus, communication is easy. We did not offend ourselves. They were fighting Jonathan and he is no more in the saddle. We still meet and relate and the bond is not entirely severed.”

Among APC stalwarts being wooed, according to the source, is Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso.

However, despite his potential, Tambuwal’s limitation is that he is considered as a promising politician from a narrow political base and disputed formidability, although he had a seemingly big stature then as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The source said: “There is no evidence of lack of amity between the PDP and Kwakwanso. Now that there is a division in Kano State APC, we are likely to succeed in our effort to encourage Kwakwanso to return. Kwakwanso actually wants to return, if we mount more pressure on him and convince him. But when he returns, he may have to fight for the ticket at the primary without any special concession given to him beyond the normal waiver.”

The presidential search team, it was gathered will be made up of experienced party leaders, “intellectual friends” of the PDP, founding fathers, National Assembly members, the governors and other party officials, who will consult widely and liaise with prominent leaders of opinion, including royal fathers, religious leaders, past leaders of government and other influential blocs in the society.

The source added: “For us in the PDP, it is a moment of sober reflection. We are facing the reality. It may not be easy to displace an incumbent. But, they defeated us. That has given us the courage that we can also defeat them.

“We need a new strategy. We must also make sacrifice to bounce back. To win, we must strategise, plan and execute our plans with dexterity. MKO Abiola was accepted by all the six regions. Somebody with that kind of antecedent can be honoured with the ticket to salvage Nigeria from the APC. He can come from the business world, diplomacy, and other sectors where he has made a name.

“The person must be clean; without any baggage and he must be knowledgeable and versatile. He must have adequate knowledge of how to turn the economy around. And you know, the first criterion is that he must be someone from the North because we have zoned the presidency to the North. The factor we are considering is the winning factor and the PDP family will not compromise this factor.”

December 13, 2017
Secondus pledges total reconciliation in PDP

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has restated his commitment to full reconciliation and inclusion of all aggrieved members in the bid to reposition the party.

A statement issued by his media aide, Bisi Ezekiel, said Secondus stated this while receiving the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

The PDP chairman said he is committed to the implementation of his three Rs namely – rebuild, reposition and regaining of power.

He said: “Power belongs to God. It is the Almighty God who put us here and we have to be fair and just.”

Secondus told the governor and his delegation that he had commenced reconciliation efforts with his visit to Chief Olabode George and assured that he would ensure a united front with justice and internal democracy within the party.

Governor Dickson urged the chairman not to relent in his reconciliation efforts.

He said many Nigerians are looking towards the PDP for salvation.

“We are here to congratulate the chairman and the new leadership. We appeal that all aggrieved members should be reintegrated to ensure a united front for the party ahead of 2019,” the governor said.

December 12, 2017