Prominent Nigerian moneybags have promised to dole out dollars on Super Eagles as the players prepare to take on the next opponents in the semi final in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2019 in Egypt.
Prominent among such personalities are billionaires, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola who promised to dole out $75,000 to the Eagles for every goal scored in their remaining games.
While Dangote promised $50,000 per goal, Otedola on the hand pledged the sum of $25,000 for each goal scored by the eagles.
One of the official sponsors of the senior men national team, Aiteo group had earlier given the eagles $75,000 for the three goals scored in their 3-2 victory over Cameroon at the knockout stage.
Also a businessman, Hosea Wells Okunbo pledged the sum of $20,000 per player, while Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu rewarded the team with $5,000 per player.
The Gernot Rohr’s boys had, yesterday, trashed the Bafana Bafana of South Africa by 3-2 in the quarter final of the tournament at the Cairo international stadium, progressing to the semi-final.
The Super Eagles will take on the winner between Algeria and Cote D’Ivoire in the semi final game.
For criticizing the government of Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai of Kaduna State, one Aliyu Jaafaru Abubakar has lost the chance to be a commissioner in the cabinet of the government as his nomination by the same governor was rejected by theState House of Assembly.
In spite of his alleged criticism of Governor el-Rufai in his facebook wall sometimes ago, the governor still included his name in the list of would-be commissioners he forwarded to the legislature.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Aminu Abdullahi Shagali, who presided over the screening of commissioner nominees, said that Jaafaru Abubakar’s rejection followed his criticism of the el-Rufai’s policy since 2017 on his Facebook handle.
Aminu Abdullahi Shagali cited the issue of unqualified primary school teachers who could not pass primary four examinations.
The Speaker said: “In your (nominee) Facebook account, you said ‘there is nothing like making Kaduna State great again and that it is a deceptive cliche used by politicians to deceive the masses’ and ‘We will make Kaduna great at the appropriate time. It is a responsibility for those who are truly sincere not for those who are inherently sarcastic.’
“You also said El-Rufai must learn to tackle issues with human face, and said you are ‘an advocate of change that goes to the root and cause not only the symptoms’
“You also said in the same post, ‘stop comparing me with El-Rufai who thinks he is more intelligent than intelligence itself.’”
The House Committee Chairman on Media and Public Affairs, Alhaji Tanimu Musa, also said: “Jaafaru has been a critic of this administration on social media. Why did he want to work with the governor?”
The House unanimously rejected the nominee after the Speaker had announced.
Other nominees screened and confirmed were Thomas Gyang (Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission), Hassan Usman Mahmud (Commissioner in the Governor’s Office for Riots, Damage, Rehabilitation and Resettlement), and Atiku Musa (Auditor for General Local Government).
Somehow and, understandably, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has become an issue in the ever-increasing conversations around leadership and reforms in our party. He has also become the issue in the calculated attempts by desperate forces to insinuate him into everything negative that has happened to anyone in the party on account of the new deal and pristine approach to party administration.
Pigeonholing him for denunciation by those who have lost either entirely or partly their pseudo-political empires in their respective states is the essential burden that the comrade chair has stoically borne in the task of cleansing the Augean stables of pestilential indiscipline and monumental disrespect for party supremacy.
While some forces, especially those who lost control of party structures in their states, have sworn to a life and time of revenge, those that the new leadership style has liberated are in a celebratory mood and would remain eternally grateful to Oshiomhole’s single-minded leadership in helping to redefine their essences in APC’s political enclave such that members have taken ownership of the party.
Indeed, Oshiomhole’s role in bringing that about is a throwback to his many years of active struggles as a peripatetic labour unionist in the circumference of the Textile Unions, which he led at different times and in different capacities and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over which he would later preside from 1999 to 2006 or thereaout. On that pedestal, he had led a series of protests against perceived anti-people policies of the Federal Government.
In September 2004, for instance, the NLC under his leadership gave the Federal Government an ultimatum to reverse the decision to reintroduce the controversial fuel tax or face a nationwide protest and strike. His inimitable spirit was not shy of galvanizing the strike despite a ruling by a Federal High Court in an earlier dispute that the NLC lacked legal power to call a general strike over government policies.
He was arrested on October 9, 2004 at a protest at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport and later released after a “chat” with officials of the State Security Services (SSS). He had many confrontations with the state in the course of discharging his onerous responsibility of providing proactive leadership to the labour movement. For a man who was burnished in the blistering furnace of labour unionism, he defined his eon by deploying his stentorian voice in ceaseless articulations of pro-workers, pro-people issues.
Oshiomhole’s luminous epoch in socio-economic and political crusading and the legacy of commitment to good causes that he left behind in the labour tradition of struggles would recommend him highly for appropriation and endorsement by the political elite in Edo state in their search for a new leadership in a great moment of anxiety over the future of the state.
To upend the business-as-usual approach to governance in the state that was under the overbearing influence of some obdurate godfathers, Oshiomhole was summoned by providence to become a battle axe in the hands of politicians with whom he was in consensus ad idem to dismantle the conservative culture of executive genuflection at the table of godfathers.
Stepping in the saddle as governor following his victory at the Court of Appeal, he invested all that was at his disposal to overwhelm the tribe of godfathers in the state. For eight years as governor, Oshiomhole provided leadership that reset the politics of Edo and ensured that the people decided who their governor would be and not the godfathers in the old-fashioned style of obligated imposition of candidates.
Today, as much as I have always contended that godfatherism is an ecumenical concept and a cosmopolitan reality, Oshiomhole’s attitude to politicking and succession politics in Edo explicates his republican spirit that drove the choice of leaders through utilitarian engagements, catholic conversations and coruscating selection processes that placed the people above the leaders and thereby put the party in their hands.
And, as national chair of the APC, he is replicating that exemplar. Indeed, at the intersection at which he accepted the challenge to step in the saddle of leadership in June last year, it was clear to Oshiomhole that the political voyage was not going to be jollity. One, he must have realised that Edo state is just a microcosm of the Nigerian nation-state. Therefore, he was prepped to deploy his vast knowledge and experience acquired in the labour struggles and governance of Edo state in dealing with problems confronting the APC.
He identified indiscipline among party leaders and members as one problem. The significant other was contempt for party supremacy. Basking in a vaudeville of countrywide approbation that culminated in his emergence as a consensus candidate, he knew much would be expected from him by the powerful forces that rallied support for him in the spirit of quid pro quo.
But as one who is not given to such mundane considerations that discount the place of the people in the leadership of the party (and to be sure, while in Edo, he promoted the mantra of ‘let the people lead’ and the philosophy of “one-man;one vote”), Oshiomhole knew from the outset that human nature would always resist changes; and on that score, he was going to have problems with many of his associates.
Regardless, he was in that context, and acting in pari materia with the zeitgeist that recommended him for the assignment, committed to take both the credit and the blame for actions and inactions of the party leadership on his watch. And, expectedly, he has been getting both commendations and condemnations. He has taken both in his strides and he remains sharply-focused on consolidating the party on the trajectory of finding anchorage in members who are in the majority rather than in the minuscule leadership.
This explicates his dignified silence in the face of a carefully-composed symphony by some aggrieved leaders about his alleged actions and inactions that led to losses by the party in some states. Specifically, the court decisions that stymied the participation of the APC in all the state-based elections in Rivers and Zamfara states were beyond the contemplation of Oshiomhole.
The denouements in both states were products of the pigheadedness of local political warlords who were inebriated by power and would not sheathe their sword in a debilitating supremacy battle for the souls of the party. Had they been reasonable and respected the supreme decision of the party on the method of electing candidates, perhaps, the law would not have foisted the faits acomplis that paved the way for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to ride to power seamlessly in the affected states.
But Oshiomhole realizes that in any battle that involves attitudinal changes, getting people’s buy-in is not always easy. He has thus put his nose to the grindstone and become more sure-footed in driving the regime of reforms that is unsettling some leaders who do not believe in it. In the face of pockets of protest and resistance, underpinned, perhaps, by a grand conspiratorial alliance calculated to project him as incorrigible narcissist, the Iyamho-born labour activist turned politician continues to fix his eyes on the ball in an epistemological and enigmatic fashion.
Very knowledgeable and nimble in the milieu of the nation’s cloak and dagger politics; and, carrying on amid airs of inscrutability, the atomic Oshiomhole, like an atomic bomb, has become a veritable bugaboo to those baying for his blood, or asking for his head on a charger. Oshiomhole is enjoying well-deserved presidential approbation and support by critical stakeholders of the APC countrywide. With these providential gestures, he is primed for total victory.
Indeed, to God be the glory, the coast to the next level remains clear for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. He has taken the opportunity to etch his name in gold. It would be said of him by posterity and as Julius Caesar said of himself after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnacles 11 of Pontius at the Battle of Zela: “veni vidi, vici”; that he came, he saw and he conquered.
Hon. Obahiagbon, a former Chief of Staff to Oshiomhole, contributed this piece from Benin City.
The Administration of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, today, July 11, commenced the demolition of no fewer than 120 houses, fences and illegal attachments, especially in Lokogoma District.
The demolition is being carried out after the expiration of two-week ultimatum given to the residents and owners of such buildings that have been obstructing flood plains and natural water channels to evacuate from the properties.
It is confirmed that similar demolition will also soon be carried out in other mass housing districts of Kafe and karsana where such violations exist.
The Permanent Secretary in the FCT Administration, Chinyeaka Ohaa ordered the enforcement team of the Department of Development Control to commence the removal exercise from the IPENT II Estate of the District.
At the demolition site, the Director in Department of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima said that the exercise may last for one month, considering the difficult terrain.
He said that legal action might be taken against offending developers as the Department is working very closely with the Legal Secretariat of the FCTA to consider its legal options.
Galadima stressed that the offending developers will not go scot-free, even as he said that all the structures being removed had received stop-work and demolition notices long before the exercise commenced today.
Lokogoma District is situated in an area through which Rivers Wumba and Kabusa navigate. However, several developers constructed houses on flood plains and water channels which often lead to severe flooding that affect lives and property.
No fewer than 37 governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State have endorsed the use of indirect primary in the forthcoming election to pick a candidate for the party in the State. This was even as they made it clear that the incumbent governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello will be defeated even with direct primary.
The aspirants, who endorsed the direct primary including Adama Idris, Taiwo O. Mathias, Ojodomo Usman, Hon. Momoh Ismail, Ilemona Dan Sabo, Murtala Muhammed, Matifo Precious, Hon Adaji Ainoko and Irojah Femi among others. They emphasized their determination to defeat the governor right at primary election.
Addressing news men after submitting a letter addressed to the National Executive Committee of APC and other organs, convener of the forum and one of the governorship aspirants, Comrade Edime Godwin Amade, said that member of the group that earlier kicked against the indirect primary were non-APC members.
He posited that APC has grown from less than 100,000 members in 2015 to over 500,000 in 2019 in the State.
“It will take too much time, money and logistics to produce a clean and uncontested membership register between now and August 29, 2019. “Even if that impossible feat is achieved, we simply cannot organise trouble-free direct primaries for at least half a million people. Anybody can obtain our party card from anywhere and cause legal trouble.
“In fact, we have proof that in anticipation of their success in moving the NWC to adopt direct primaries, some of the aspirants who turned up here last Monday have started printing hundreds of thousands of APC Kogi membership cards.
“They are also compiling rival membership registers in a bid to make sure the confusion is complete. We, therefore, state categorically that there are no factions in Kogi APC and no rival claimants to the leadership of it.
“Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, our authentic former chairman, and Alhaji Abdullahi Bello our incumbent State Chairman have since put aside their differences and are working hand-in-hand towards the indirect primaries approved for us.
“The case filed by the Ametuo faction against the party has come to an end with the filing of a notice of withdrawal. The Supreme Court has held that by filing a notice of discontinuance such as Haddy Ametuo has done, the plaintiff voluntarily puts an end to the action he instituted. Outside of these gentlemen, there is no other person or group to whom Kogi APC owes anything beyond a level playing field.
“We totally reject anything which will throw our party into chaos on the eve of a major election, especially the imposition of Direct Primaries.
“Direct primaries are responsible for the loss of Rivers and Zamfara States to the APC. The confusion which will trail any imposition of direct primaries in Kogi State will lead to the loss of our state too. The troubles which will follow such an imposition will persist until all the INEC windows closed and the courts are given reason to rule that the APC did not hold any valid primaries. We will fight against this outcome with all our strength.
“Finally, we do not understand how somebody who calls himself a chieftain and an aspirant under a party in power can claim that he does not know the delegates who will vote in an indirect primary election. “Delegates are spelt out in the party guidelines. Delegates are clearly identifiable by their offices and statutory roles. Any aspirant who cannot woo delegates elected by his people is not fit to bear the name.
“The APC must not give room for people to tag it confused or inconsistent by changing established norms to fit every wind of opposition which blows. The legal effects could be catastrophic. Except for a few recently elected officials, delegates for Kogi APC Indirect primaries on August 29 are the same people who voted at the National Convention for the President as our flag-bearer in the 2019 general elections. They also voted for our National and State Assembly contingents at the various Primaries. We must beware of those who now want to impugn the integrity and legality of our delegates. The domino effect of undermining the legality of our delegates will be catastrophic beyond just the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi state.”
While calling on those supporting direct primary to have a rethink, the forum said: “While we agree that every qualified person is free to aspire to be our flag-bearer, we insist that all aspirants must play by the rules, not seek to change them to scatter the party. It is on record that in 2015, the incumbent Governor was not in control of the party or the delegates yet he subjected himself to the Indirect primaries and because we knew him and what he had sacrificed for the party, he beat 25 other Aspirants to close second behind the late Prince Abubakar Audu. Similarly, every true aspirant should go and start networking the delegates and stop scandalising the party at every turn.”
The President-elect of the United Nations General Assembly and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has said that part of his agenda as he set to assume full operations will be to fight for return of stolen assets from European countries to where such assets were originally stolen.
Outlining his vision statement for the UNGA Presidency, today, July 11, when he visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Ambassador Tijjani Muhammad-Bade said that the fight against corruption and return of assets to the countries of origin is part of his agenda.
He promised to positively represent Nigeria especially on issues that are of great importance to the country today, including peace and security, poverty eradication, education, inclusion and climate action, particularly on the Lake Chad region. He stressed such issues are on the front burner of his UNGA Presidency.
“The election of Nigerian into an international position can only happen if what is happening at home has the confidence of the international community.
“The fight against corruption has already gained traction, under the leadership of Nigeria at the United Nations. Discussions on combating illicit financial flows, the fight to return assets to the countries of origin, have been led effectively by Nigeria with the support of many countries, especially Norway.”
Receiving Ambassador, President Buhari acknowledged that he had intellectually prepared himself for this position, adding that he is well experienced in the field.
He advised the UNGA President to justify the confidence reposed in him by Nigerians and the world.
“I believe you have earned the respect of your colleagues and I appreciate your coming to see us.”
The Nigerian Diplomat was on his first visit to the country since he was elected by acclamation as the 74th President of the General Assembly on June 4, 2019, in New York.
Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), known as Shiites, have again clashed with the Police at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, today, July 11.
Information reaching us said that Police fired gunshots and tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters, and in the melee, arrested five members of the group.
Report said that the clash caused panic around the federal secretariat with workers, commuters and motorists fleeing out of danger. Members of the sect later regrouped at another location to continue with their protest.
They had stormed the National Assembly complex on Tuesday, during which they shot two policemen and also torched three cars and damaged many other vehicles and property.
Forty suspects were arrested in connection with the Tuesday incident.
Lawyers at the Presidential election tribunal | Credit: Channelstv
Here are some important reasons why the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar will lose his case against the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress APC) at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, and even up to the Supreme Court level. His lawyers know all about the truth but because of greed, still convinced the candidate and PDP to go ahead with the case.
1. Atiku’s Server Argument is a Scam and an expensive one. The Electoral Act as it exists in Nigeria today does not recognize the transmission of results to any Server or Servers anywhere.
2. So, it does not matter whether INEC has a Server or does not have one, or whether there is any information or data on the INEC Servers or not; the law does not recognize it, simple. This means that regardless of what party clowns and petty criminals like Reno Omokri are saying on social media, claiming they have ‘incontrovertible’ proof that INEC has a Server, all of this means nothing before the Law. Whether or not INEC has a Server, whether or not it transmitted any results to this Server, is immaterial before the current Electoral Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Even a 100L Law Student understands this, how come Atiku’s SANs don’t?
3. What Nigerian electoral law as it currently exists recognises is the Form EC8 Series, especially Form EC8A, signed by agents, collation officers, etc, at the Polling Units. The only way to prove election results in Nigeria today is by the approved forms: the EC8 series. Not by any Server or Servers.
4. INEC could not have transmitted any results to any Server (even if the Server existed) because of network connectivity issues around the country. Several parts of Nigeria are not covered by mobile network which is necessary to guarantee successful transmission. Even INEC has explained that this was one of the reasons why it jettisoned the idea of electronic transmission, in addition to the fact that it is not currently supported by law. INEC has repeatedly explained that it used manual collation for the 2019 elections, as stipulated by the existing Electoral Laws of Nigeria.
5. No lawyer worth his salt, arguing an election petition case in Nigeria in 2019, will make an argument based on Servers, phantom or real. This suggests that Atiku’s lawyers are either clowns, or greedy, or both. This is all about milking him as much as possible. After the campaign-milking comes the election-petition-milking. After the election-petition-milking, probably the spiritual-assistance-milking will be the next level.
6. Please help ask: Which of the party agents – of any of the Parties – authenticated any results on a Server post-voting and the counting of votes? If there’s any agent who authenticated any results please let him or her come forward. Truth is that it didn’t happen! The only results party agents authenticated are the ones on Form EC8A, and this is the only evidence that will stand up in court.
7. Atiku and PDP say they got access to INEC Servers from where they retrieved the results they’re bandying about. Let’s even assume that those so-called Servers exist and that there are any results on them (there aren’t!) – do Atiku and PDP realise that illegal and unauthorised access to a Server is a crime under the Cybercrime Act? If you had (illegal) access as you claim to the Server, how do we know you did not manipulate whatever was present on that server, by adding or subtracting numbers, or smuggling extraneous data in? What Atiku and the PDP do not realise is that admitting in a Court of Law that they hacked into the database of a Government agency is itself proof of malicious and criminal conduct. Talk about self-incrimination. Atiku will not only lose the Election Petition case, he will go down in history as a Cyber Hacker and Manipulator.
8. a. Take a look at the results presented by Atiku and the PDP, as their own genuine version of the results obtained from the INEC Server. It is extremely ridiculous, and can only support the theory that Atiku’s lawyers are both clownish and greedy.
b. See Lagos State, where 580,825 people validly voted for Buhari versus 448,015 for Atiku, making a total of 1,028,840. On the other hand, however, Atiku’s fabricated Server results allege that 1,103,297 people voted for him versus 1,422,906 for Buhari, making a total of 2,526,203. In other words, PDP and Atiku are alleging that 1.5 million votes somehow vanished into thin air in the cosmopolitan metropolis that is Lagos State.
c. Meanwhile, two weeks later, in the Governorship election, the total valid votes cast came to about 945,000, which is in consonance with the number that voted in the Presidential election, but nowhere near Atiku’s fabricated claims. How will Atiku explain this 1.5m difference between his fabricated Server result and the INEC Presidential result on the one hand, and his fabricated Server result and the INEC Governorship result on the other hand?
d. This is the pattern in all of Atiku’s fabricated Server results – his figures make no sense whatsoever. They didn’t employ common sense in their fabrications. According to Premium Times, “Mr Abubakar’s purported result implies that no invalid votes were recorded in the 33 states, and none of the 71 other presidential candidates obtained any score. In three states; Abia, Bauchi and Cross River, the documents show that the two candidates collectively got votes higher than the number of accredited voters.” Ridiculous!
9. Atiku’s so-called 400 witnesses which he is presenting in court are far too few to prove or disprove anything, especially in a Presidential Election. His lawyers know this, why are they not telling him the truth? The law says you have to prove your election petition case PU by PU. In the 2014 Osun Election Petition Tribunal alone, PDP originally sought to present 1,000 witnesses. 1,000. Just for Osun State alone. In Ekiti in 2014 APC sought to present 1,009 witnesses in the Governorship Election Petition. Now PDP wants to argue a PRESIDENTIAL election petition – with nationwide coverage – with only 400 witnesses. Joke!
10. Atiku and PDP question the INEC declared result in Borno State claiming that turnout could not have been that high because of the insurgency (Buhari 836,496 vs Atiku 71,788, making a total of 908,284). Guess what Atiku’s fabricated Server results claim: Buhari 849,599 vs Atiku 281,897, making a total of 1,131,496 – more than 200,000 votes higher than the declared INEC results. How does this make sense? How can you question the turnout in Borno on the basis of insurgency, and then go ahead to fabricate numbers that are even higher than what you’re querying?
President Muhammadu Buhari has hailed Super Eagles who beat Bafana Bafana nana of South Africa by two goals to one in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt today, July 10.
President Buhari described Super Eagles performance today as “spectacular” which he said, has confirmed Nigeria’s progress to the Next Level.
According to the the President, with a well-deserved victory over the Bafana Bafana of South Africa, “the mission of having the trophy in our hands for the fourth time is almost accomplished for the high flying Eagles.”
He urged the team and their handlers to remain focused, disciplined and scale the remaining two hurdles to glory, even as he noted that the crop of players in the national football team represent the resilient and indomitable Nigerian spirit, which must be reflected in all other areas of national life.
President Buhari assured the players that Nigerians are praying for them to fly higher and get to the peak of the tournament, knowing that the taste of victory is sweet and what they have achieved so far is pleasing to Nigerians irrespective of ethnic, religious or political inclination.
The Special Presidential Investigation Panel on Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), set up by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration says it has uncovered over N3 billion in several accounts belonging to two senior civil servants.
The civil servants, according to the panel, are Dr. Goody Nnadi, the General Manager, Corporate Services, and Aisha F. Usman, the General Manager, Operations, both with the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).
The chairman of the panel, Okoi Obono-Obla, revealed that findings of a petition received against Nnadi revealed that he (Nnadi) operated corporate accounts with Galbani and Greatwood Hotels, Owerri, Imo State, adding that findings revealed that the total inflow of monies into the accounts of Nnadi from 2011 to date amount to N2.2 billion, $302,964, €11,000 and £2,000.
“Both individuals and oil companies deposited money alleged to be gratification/bribe to the personal and corporate account of the suspect in order to get allocation of either PMS, AGO and DPK from the NNPC depot. Nnadi was questioned and released on bail and is presently undergoing Senior Executive Course (SEC 41, 2019) at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Plateau State,” he said.
“The suspect admitted helping some of the oil companies to get allocation from NNPC and that was the reason they paid money into his accounts. During a search on Nnadi’s house, two documents of landed property, $1,000 and €200 were recovered.”
In the case of Aisha Usman, the General Manager in charge of Operations for PEF, Obono-Obla said findings revealed that she operated nine accounts with one bank alone with a total inflow of N1.4 billion. He said it was discovered that some corporate organisations paid the money into her account.
He said, while charges would soon be filed against Nnadi and Usman, the panel had extended invitations to other management staff of establishment.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Prominent Nigerian moneybags have promised to dole out dollars on Super Eagles as the players prepare to take on the next opponents in the semi final in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2019 in Egypt.
For criticizing the government of Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai of Kaduna State, one Aliyu Jaafaru Abubakar has lost the chance to be a commissioner in the cabinet of the government as his nomination by the same governor was rejected by the
The Administration of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, today, July 11, commenced the demolition of no fewer than 120 houses, fences and illegal attachments, especially in Lokogoma District.
No fewer than 37 governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State have endorsed the use of indirect primary in the forthcoming election to pick a candidate for the party in the State. This was even as they made it clear that the incumbent governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello will be defeated even with direct primary.
The President-elect of the United Nations General Assembly and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has said that part of his agenda as he set to assume full operations will be to fight for return of stolen assets from European countries to where such assets were originally stolen.
Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), known as Shiites, have again clashed with the Police at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, today, July 11.
President Muhammadu Buhari has hailed Super Eagles who beat Bafana Bafana nana of South Africa by two goals to one in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt today, July 10.
Oshiomhole As An Enigma, By Patrick Obahiagbon
Somehow and, understandably, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has become an issue in the ever-increasing conversations around leadership and reforms in our party. He has also become the issue in the calculated attempts by desperate forces to insinuate him into everything negative that has happened to anyone in the party on account of the new deal and pristine approach to party administration.
Pigeonholing him for denunciation by those who have lost either entirely or partly their pseudo-political empires in their respective states is the essential burden that the comrade chair has stoically borne in the task of cleansing the Augean stables of pestilential indiscipline and monumental disrespect for party supremacy.
While some forces, especially those who lost control of party structures in their states, have sworn to a life and time of revenge, those that the new leadership style has liberated are in a celebratory mood and would remain eternally grateful to Oshiomhole’s single-minded leadership in helping to redefine their essences in APC’s political enclave such that members have taken ownership of the party.
Indeed, Oshiomhole’s role in bringing that about is a throwback to his many years of active struggles as a peripatetic labour unionist in the circumference of the Textile Unions, which he led at different times and in different capacities and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over which he would later preside from 1999 to 2006 or thereaout. On that pedestal, he had led a series of protests against perceived anti-people policies of the Federal Government.
In September 2004, for instance, the NLC under his leadership gave the Federal Government an ultimatum to reverse the decision to reintroduce the controversial fuel tax or face a nationwide protest and strike. His inimitable spirit was not shy of galvanizing the strike despite a ruling by a Federal High Court in an earlier dispute that the NLC lacked legal power to call a general strike over government policies.
He was arrested on October 9, 2004 at a protest at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport and later released after a “chat” with officials of the State Security Services (SSS). He had many confrontations with the state in the course of discharging his onerous responsibility of providing proactive leadership to the labour movement. For a man who was burnished in the blistering furnace of labour unionism, he defined his eon by deploying his stentorian voice in ceaseless articulations of pro-workers, pro-people issues.
Oshiomhole’s luminous epoch in socio-economic and political crusading and the legacy of commitment to good causes that he left behind in the labour tradition of struggles would recommend him highly for appropriation and endorsement by the political elite in Edo state in their search for a new leadership in a great moment of anxiety over the future of the state.
To upend the business-as-usual approach to governance in the state that was under the overbearing influence of some obdurate godfathers, Oshiomhole was summoned by providence to become a battle axe in the hands of politicians with whom he was in consensus ad idem to dismantle the conservative culture of executive genuflection at the table of godfathers.
Stepping in the saddle as governor following his victory at the Court of Appeal, he invested all that was at his disposal to overwhelm the tribe of godfathers in the state. For eight years as governor, Oshiomhole provided leadership that reset the politics of Edo and ensured that the people decided who their governor would be and not the godfathers in the old-fashioned style of obligated imposition of candidates.
Today, as much as I have always contended that godfatherism is an ecumenical concept and a cosmopolitan reality, Oshiomhole’s attitude to politicking and succession politics in Edo explicates his republican spirit that drove the choice of leaders through utilitarian engagements, catholic conversations and coruscating selection processes that placed the people above the leaders and thereby put the party in their hands.
And, as national chair of the APC, he is replicating that exemplar. Indeed, at the intersection at which he accepted the challenge to step in the saddle of leadership in June last year, it was clear to Oshiomhole that the political voyage was not going to be jollity. One, he must have realised that Edo state is just a microcosm of the Nigerian nation-state. Therefore, he was prepped to deploy his vast knowledge and experience acquired in the labour struggles and governance of Edo state in dealing with problems confronting the APC.
He identified indiscipline among party leaders and members as one problem. The significant other was contempt for party supremacy. Basking in a vaudeville of countrywide approbation that culminated in his emergence as a consensus candidate, he knew much would be expected from him by the powerful forces that rallied support for him in the spirit of quid pro quo.
But as one who is not given to such mundane considerations that discount the place of the people in the leadership of the party (and to be sure, while in Edo, he promoted the mantra of ‘let the people lead’ and the philosophy of “one-man;one vote”), Oshiomhole knew from the outset that human nature would always resist changes; and on that score, he was going to have problems with many of his associates.
Regardless, he was in that context, and acting in pari materia with the zeitgeist that recommended him for the assignment, committed to take both the credit and the blame for actions and inactions of the party leadership on his watch. And, expectedly, he has been getting both commendations and condemnations. He has taken both in his strides and he remains sharply-focused on consolidating the party on the trajectory of finding anchorage in members who are in the majority rather than in the minuscule leadership.
This explicates his dignified silence in the face of a carefully-composed symphony by some aggrieved leaders about his alleged actions and inactions that led to losses by the party in some states. Specifically, the court decisions that stymied the participation of the APC in all the state-based elections in Rivers and Zamfara states were beyond the contemplation of Oshiomhole.
The denouements in both states were products of the pigheadedness of local political warlords who were inebriated by power and would not sheathe their sword in a debilitating supremacy battle for the souls of the party. Had they been reasonable and respected the supreme decision of the party on the method of electing candidates, perhaps, the law would not have foisted the faits acomplis that paved the way for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to ride to power seamlessly in the affected states.
But Oshiomhole realizes that in any battle that involves attitudinal changes, getting people’s buy-in is not always easy. He has thus put his nose to the grindstone and become more sure-footed in driving the regime of reforms that is unsettling some leaders who do not believe in it. In the face of pockets of protest and resistance, underpinned, perhaps, by a grand conspiratorial alliance calculated to project him as incorrigible narcissist, the Iyamho-born labour activist turned politician continues to fix his eyes on the ball in an epistemological and enigmatic fashion.
Very knowledgeable and nimble in the milieu of the nation’s cloak and dagger politics; and, carrying on amid airs of inscrutability, the atomic Oshiomhole, like an atomic bomb, has become a veritable bugaboo to those baying for his blood, or asking for his head on a charger. Oshiomhole is enjoying well-deserved presidential approbation and support by critical stakeholders of the APC countrywide. With these providential gestures, he is primed for total victory.
Indeed, to God be the glory, the coast to the next level remains clear for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. He has taken the opportunity to etch his name in gold. It would be said of him by posterity and as Julius Caesar said of himself after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnacles 11 of Pontius at the Battle of Zela: “veni vidi, vici”; that he came, he saw and he conquered.
Hon. Obahiagbon, a former Chief of Staff to Oshiomhole, contributed this piece from Benin City.