The National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole has blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for presiding over the ceding of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon which has resulted into hardships being experienced by the people of Bakassi.
“Former President Obasanjo ceded Bakassi to Cameroon because he wanted to get a Nobel Peace Prize. But unfortunately for him, such prizes are not given to traitors. He ceded Bakassi and made residents in that area to become refugees in their homeland.”
Oshiomhole spoke today, Wednesday at the presidential campaign rally inside the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar, capital of Cross River State, where President Muhammadu Buhari received into the All Progressives Congress (APC), former National Financial Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bolaji Anani and his supporters.
The APC chairman asked the people in the state to vote for President Buhari in the February 16 election to enable him to continue with the good work he has been doing to revive the nation’s economy and develop the country to the standard required.
Receiving the defectors, President Buhari said that his administration would continue to fight corruption and improve the country’s economy even as he promised to support farmers across the country with soft loans to help them improve their productivity.
“I want to assure you that after I have been sworn in, I will visit Cross River again to interact with the people.”
The APC governorship candidate in the state, Senator John Owan-Enoh, assured President Buhari of bloc votes from Cross River, adding that the broom revolution that started in 2015 would emerge victorious in 2019.
John Ochalla, Acting Chairman of APC in the state, told the President that the massive turn out at the stadium showed the strength of the APC in the state and their willingness to vote for him at the polls.
“Mr. President, I wish to bring to your notice that investors have been chased away in Cross River over multiple taxations by the PDP government.
“The Super Highway and Deep Sea Port projects are a monumental failure as both are still at groundbreaking level with nothing to show for three years after.”
John Ochalla said that the desire for a change of leadership in the state was loud, adding that APC will sweep Cross River in 2019.
A number of dramatic incidents have been recorded since President Muhammadu Buhari came out on the hustling, preparatory to the February 16 presidential election. Those incidents have compelled a revisit of the Jubril el-Sudaniya narrative. Politicians’ imaginations are fertile in the making of propaganda and deployment of the same in demonising the other camp and its members.
To be sure, the narrative, as it had since been confirmed, was from the outset, nothing but a carefully-crafted tale by a doctor of spins about a celebrated impersonator in Aso Rock Presidential Villa who, in fact, resided in the prolific mind of the man who concocted the epic fiction. But the tragedy at the time was that the gullibility of Nigerians was assailed such that the issue was enjoying some hush-hush discussions.
I could not come to terms with the dangerous rumour until I saw on YouTube, an address by the leader of Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to a motley crowd at only-God-knows-where, talking authoritatively about a “Buhari-double” in the nation’s Presidential Villa. It was at that point I knew the source of the rumour.
Even at that, Kanu cut the image of an incredulous narrator. I never thought that any rational being could descend to that kind of odious level to sustain what came across to me as a wicked propaganda against the president and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Whatever the intention was, certainly, it was beyond politics. Kanu’s narrative defied humanity. It was at the base level. It caricatured our national security and discounted our national interest. That Kanu’s mind-game parodied our misplaced essence that verges on the salacious and the ridiculous.
It was not funny listening to timelines of events that presaged the rumoured death of President Buhari in London. The narrative also lampooned the British government and its security architecture in the movement of Buhari into London alive, perhaps, on Kanu’s imagined stretcher; and out of London, dead, to Saudi Arabia for burial, according to a variant of that narrative.
That was the picture Kanu painted. He claimed that Buhari collapsed on the very day an Abuja court granted him (Kanu) bail and was flown to London, but that the aircraft had to make an emergency stopover in Casablanca in Morocco to get an oxygen mask for the president who had lapsed into coma in order to sustain him on the flight to London.
Kanu claimed that by the time the president arrived in London, he had suffered a substantial brain damage. He said Buhari did not come out of the coma; that he died and a Buhari look-alike, Jubril el-Sudaniya, was flown into London from Sudan, for necessary plastic surgeries that made him look like Buhari.
In essence, what Kanu was driving at was that President Buhari that currently presides over the affairs of Nigeria is Jubril el-Sudaniya from Sudan and not our own Buhari from Daura who was voted into power by over 15 million Nigerians in the 2015 presidential election.
But when I considered that the Federal Government had charged the IPOB leader with treasonable felony before a competent court of jurisdiction, how he went to live in his family compound in Abia state, consequent upon meeting his bail conditions, and the circumstances that surrounded his escape from Nigeria during an exercise (Operation Python Dance) by the Nigerian military, I decided to treat Kanu’s ingenious story as coming from an embittered mind.
Nevertheless, the first thought that came to my mind in my attempt to reset what I believed to be Kanu’s illogical logic was the possible complicit role of the British government, together with its security, in the hushed manner in which a president of another independent nation, could have been brought into its territory in coma, “died” and flown to Saudi Arabia for burial, yet another variant of the narrative, while Jubril el-Sudaniya was flown in for plastic surgeries to enable him assume the look and position of the “dead” Buhari.
What was immediately inferential from Kanu’s narrative was that Britain was a collaborator in his fancied grand plot by a cabal in Nigeria to foist on Nigeria a Buhari-double. If it was true that Buhari had died, the British government would have known and would have weighed in on the sensitive matter. But Britain would rather keep its cool, perhaps, because it knew full well that there was nothing of such. That was enough for me to draw my conclusions that Kanu’s narrative was a tale by the moonlight, a piece of idiotic fiction that blossomed in his fictive mind.
Interestingly, Buhari was calm about the development. He did not initially react to it nor did the Federal Government consider it germane to expeditiously dismantle the Kanu narrative. But when Buhari did in Poland, he said jocularly that he was not a clone. That reaction was significant enough to have put paid to the issue.
But there were people who still believed that Nigeria was being ruled by Jubril el-Sudaniya. I had wished they would exorcise themselves of that propelling spirit of eerie belief. Indeed, many incidents have since proved that Buhari did not die in London, as claimed by Kanu. To be clear, the wish of Kanu and many others of his ilk who have an axe to grind with Buhari is for him to die so that they can freely pursue their individual agenda unfettered, unrestrained.
Buhari has busted their fancied narrative. It is instructive that this is happening in the final push on the homestretch to the scheduled February 16 presidential election. Although, some of the incidents involving President Buhari might appear negative from the perspectives of oppositional politics, they have proved that this Buhari is real-the original Buhari from Daura- and not Jubril el-Sudaniya.
Before now, those who did not wish Buhari well were questioning the rate at which he picked up physically after his protracted sickness that kept him away in London for months. They could not believe how Buhari would sit through public events, read his addresses, et al. They wanted to see a frail figure that would not be able to go the whole hog, possibly collapse and become incapacitated.
Now that the president is hanging in there, the opposition elements have capitalised on his obvious frailties at campaign rallies to insist that he is not fit to rule for a second term. They are no longer talking of a Buhari-double.
Whether Buhari should be voted for by Nigerians for a second term in office or not is not the purpose of this piece. Revisiting the Jubril-el Sudaniya narrative is an exercise at confirming the reality of the Buhari persona. This Buhari, who is campaigning in states of the federation, is the actual PMB. The opposition elements now believe that he is, after seeing a number of incidents that exposed his frailties.
What more confirmations do they need after the incidents in Kogi (the president missing his steps and almost falling, were it not for the alertness of his security aides); in Delta (where he handed the party flag to a presidential, senatorial and governorship candidate all rolled into one) and in Kaduna (where he buckled due to fatigue and collapsed into his seat)?
I notice that the opposition elements have since downplayed the Jubril el-Sudaniya narrative. Why should they not, after their hackneyed propaganda had lost its bite?
Indeed, I see those incidents in Lokoja, Delta and Kaduna as too fickle and feeble to clinically and decisively question the capacity and fitness of the president who, judging by his electioneering and the mammoth crowd in attendance, seems to be saying to other candidates and parties: ga fili, ga doki (see the field; see the horse), inviting then to the race!
That, for me, is the ultimate Buhari, not Jubril el-Sudaniya, challenge that other presidential candidates have accepted but which many of them are not capacitated enough to contend with.
The National Bureau of Statistics has come out with a damning report of 14.3 Nigerians between the age of 15 and 64 that have been into drug abuse in the last year.
According to the report released today, Wednesday, the Bureau said that the prevalence of any drug use in Nigeria is estimated at 14.4 per cent or 14.3 million people aged between 15 and 64 years.
It said that the extent of drug use in Nigeria is comparatively high when compared with the 2016 global annual prevalence of any drug use of 5.6 per cent among the adult population.
“The past year prevalence of psychoactive substances excluding alcohol, overall was higher among men in Nigeria, however the gender difference in the non-medical use of prescription opioids, tranquilizers and cough syrups was less marked.
“Drug use was most common among those who were between the ages of 25 and 39 years, while the rates of past year use were lowest among those who were below 24 years of age. Cannabis was the most commonly used drug followed by opioids, mainly the non-medical use of prescription opioids and cough syrup.”
The Bureau presented its key findings of drug use survey as follows: “A dichotomy in the past year prevalence of drug use was found between the North and South geopolitical zones. Highest past-year prevalence of drug use was found in the southern political zones: South-East, South-West, and South-South zones (past year prevalence ranging between 13.8 – 22.4 per cent of the population) compared to the North (ranging between 10 – 14.9 per cent of the population).”
The report lamented the large-scale prevalence of drug abuse after nation-wide survey was conducted to examine the extent and patterns of drug use in Nigeria.
“The results of this survey aim to provide the baseline information needed for the design and implementation of effective prevention, treatment and care services that are evidence based and targeted to reduce the demand for drugs and prevent the morbidity and mortality attributable to drug use in Nigeria. “The results of this survey highlight a considerable level of past-year use of psychoactive substances in Nigeria, in particular the use of cannabis, the non-medical use of prescription opioids (mainly tramadol, and to lesser extent codeine, or morphine) and cough syrups (containing codeine or dextromethorphan).
The Court of Appeal has refused to stay the trial of the suspended chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Samuel Onnoghen, in the false asset declaration charges brought against him by the federal government at the code of conduct tribunal. The Appellate Court, in a unanimous decision in a ruling delivered by justice Abdul Aboki held that the prayers of Onnoghen, that is trial, be put on hold, runs contrary to sec 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act ACJA 2015. Justice Aboki, who read the lead ruling, sited a case of Dr Bukola Saraki in which Justice Onnoghen himself at the supreme court, declined to stay trial of Saraki on the same ground that section 306 of the new law, did not permit the stay of criminal trial. The Appeal court said that there were no special circumstances under which the prayer of Onnoghen could be granted in the appeal argued on his behalf by Chief Wole Olanikpekun. In the ruling, the appeal court agreed that the prayer of the appellant for stay of further proceedings ought to be refused, and consequently dismissed the appeal, seeking to stop the Code of Conduct Tribunal from taking further steps in the six count false asset declaration charges filed against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria. The Code of Conduct Tribunal headed by Yakubu Umar had on January 14th ruled to hear all motions that arose in the charges against Onnoghen together and give decision on the motions. But Onnoghen, having been dissatisfied with the decision of the tribunal to hear all motions together had approached the court of Appeal to set aside the decision of the tribunal. His appeal was predicated on the ground that the issue of jurisdiction raised against his trial ought to be resolved one way or the other first before any other motion could be entertained. The Interim order granted by the court of Appeal on January 24th has therefore been vacated in compliance with section 306 of ACDA. It will be recalled that the tribunal on January 28th adjourned the trial of Onnoghen sine die as a mark in which the Mr. Kumar said “was out of respect to the court of Appeal interim order”. Federal government on the 14th sort to arraign Onnoghen at the CCT on false declaration of asset but it could not hold due to the absence of the defendant in the tribunal, who was said not to have been summoned. On the January 22nd, he was also not in court for the second time, but his lead counsel told the tribunal that although his client had been served as required by law, he was not there because Onnoghen challenged the competence of the charge against him as well as jurisdiction of the tribunal. Mean while the court has fixed 4th February for the substantive appeal related to the competence of the charge as well as the jurisdiction of the tribunal.
The Nigeria police have already expressed concern over the dangerous activities of those they described as desperate politicians as the nation’s elections approach.
The police said: “we, however, remain genuinely concerned about the disposition of some ill-advised political actors who appear bent on threatening our democratic values and our national security all in their desperation to project their narrow political interests over and above national interests.
“We are also concerned about subversive actors who masquerade as politicians and are taking advantage of the freedoms that our democracy has bestowed on the citizens to encourage hate speeches and misinformation, and inflame passion in a manner that could threaten our stable political order.
“Equally worrisome are reports of firearms build-up by some political actors and threats in some other quarters to disrupt the electoral process. We also note an increasing level of political intolerance which has been occasioning pockets of inter-party violence and destruction of campaign billboards across the country. All of these constitutes not only serious electoral or criminal infractions, but major national security threats.”
Addressing Deputy Commissioners of police in charge of operations from across the country today in Abuja, the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu warned those who are engaged in such unacceptable activities, that the officers and men of the Force will vehemently protect the law abiding citizens.
The leadership of the Force, he added, will identify, isolate “and deal decisively with any political actor that acts in contravention of the Electoral Act or our Criminal Laws. This is our sacred Mandate and this we shall perform within the dictates of the law and in the overriding national security interest.”
He advised the officers that as they return to their Commands, they should carry out the following:
To, under the directives of your CPs, coordinate effectively with the Resident Electoral Commissioners in your States
Avail yourselves of the pieces of critical information provided by your Resident Electoral Commissioners and utilize them effectively in perfecting all arrangements for effective deployment of personnel and logistics
iii. Perfect an advanced plan for the mobilization and deployment of personnel from sister security agencies that will be available to complement the Police during the elections
Emplace adequate security architecture for the security of INEC personnel, facilities, and all electoral materials
Emplace adequate arrangement for the safety and security of all local and international observers as may be accredited by INEC
Orientate all personnel on the need to perform their electoral security functions within the dictates of the Electoral Act, the Fundamental Human Rights provision of the Constitution, and the Code of Conduct developed and approved for Police Personnel on Election Duties by the Police Service Commission.
vii. Undertake concerted raids of black spots with a view to frustrating elements that could constitute a threat to a peaceful electoral process
viii. Be conscious of the directive touching on the withdrawal of security aides from political office holders and other personalities and commit to enforcing the order on the day of the elections.
Undertake a ‘Show of Force’ operation in conjunction with other security agencies in order to strengthen public confidence on the readiness of the Police and other sister security agencies for the elections.
Emplace strategies to give effect to my recent directives to mop-up illicit firearms in circulation as part of the broad strategies directed at addressing the threat of electoral violence.
IGP Adamu assured the nation and the international community of the full preparedness of the Nigeria Police for the general elections and called on all citizens to continue to support them in their common drive towards bequeathing to our nation the legacy of a credible and peaceful 2019 general elections.
“I am confident that working together, we shall meet this expectation.”
The national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that the Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar had displayed a complete ignorance of the operative word, suspension, construing same to mean removal (of the Chief Judge of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen).
Asiwaju Tinubu, who replied to Atiku’s recent State of the Nation’s comments regarding suspension of CJN Onnoghen, said: “I encourage everyone to read it. In its disregard for the truth and patent misrepresentations, it will go down in political history as a classic of self-incrimination. Atiku thinks the piece exalts him. Instead it evinces his penchant for wilful misstatement that make him unfit for the office he now seeks and has always coveted.”
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In the statement, he claims to have dedicated all his life to the defense of democracy. Those of you who know him, and even those who don’t, know this is not true. If all of his life has been dedicated to support for democracy, then he is far too young to run for president; however, I must congratulate him for having somehow managed to find or begin a second life. This rebirth as a defender of democracy must have taken place only a few short hours ago.
His previous life of over seventy years was one of skirting democracy and of blatant impunity in attempting to enshrine reactionary government and installing an unjust political economy on the backs of the people.
In his address, he claims the nation has entered a difficult moment. To my dear and good friend Atiku, I say the difficulty is not so much with the moment but with your memory.
When you lorded over Nigeria in tandem with President Obasanjo, there were myriad court orders mandating that your government render to Lagos state the funds due it to improve the lives of its millions of inhabitants. Instead, you gladly and without dispute joined Obasanjo in utter disregard for these unambiguous legal verdicts. In so doing, you demeaned the rule of law. You also readily sacrificed the economic development and welfare of millions of innocent people in Lagos just to gain some illicit political advantage that proved to be fleeting and of no avail to you in the end.
You now speak of democracy and the need for executive restraint. But such verbal finery never crossed your lips or traversed your pen when you and Obasanjo improperly removed Senate Presidents more easily than a trendy cad exchanges a pair of shoes or changes the subject of his false affections. Your love for democracy is such that you were recently observed apologising to the PDP for not rigging the Lagos 2003 gubernatorial polls as you did the polls in the other South western states.
Instead of repenting for rigging at least five states too many, your expressed regret was that you had not rigged enough; that you rigged one state less than the complete mauling of democracy your party and your principal had mandated. Regarding such a destructive love as this, I am sure democracy and fair elections would rather do without.
A few weeks ago in a televised broadcast you even revealed to the people that your official policy envisioned the base enrichment of your friends should you achieve the presidency.
I must assume that your lifetime as a defender of democracy began after this long record of unjust deeds and even after your latest statement of intent to mould Nigeria into an oligarchy. If this is not the case and if all these things you have done and said are consistent with your current notion of democracy, then there is but one conclusion. The democracy you now claim to support remains a rather strange breed of democracy, such as to be nigh indistinguishable from the regressive, rentier political economy you designed and foisted on Nigeria as the crafty lieutenant of the bullish Obasanjo.
Strange that you would choose to depict the current situation so inaccurately as to stir emotions unduly. You claim that CJN Onnoghen has been removed. However, this is not so. He has been temporarily suspended. You and your advisors should know and recognize the vast legal difference between “suspension” and “removal.” Yet you persist in conflating the two in what you say is a pursuit of justice. While true you may be in pursuit of something. It is not justice.
If justice was your goal, you would acknowledge that the CJN has only been temporarily suspended not permanently removed. Thus, your recourse to saying that the president violated the constitutional provision regarding the removal of a CJN is inaccurate in that Buhari never intended to remove the CJN. What he has done is to have the CJN temporarily get out of his chair so that the serious matters against him can be heard by someone other than himself. Should the charges show themselves to be wrong or unproven, the CJN will be automatically reinstated as the head of the Nigerian judiciary. However, for Atiku to state that the CJN should remain on seat while credible and grave charges swirl around him is to put the entire workings of the Supreme Court under a heavy cloud.
It is ironic that Atiku of all people throw such darts at President Buhari. Buhari actually exercised considerable restraint in this matter. He has reasonably balanced concerns about the integrity of the judiciary with concerns for the individual rights of the accused. Nothing has been taken from the CJN that cannot be restored if the facts warrant such restoration. Thus, President Buhari conditionally suspended the CJN. By doing so, this allows for the case to move forward without the CCT or others fearing the CJN might use his position to unduly interfere with proceedings. If the CJN is exonerated, then he will return to his position. If not exonerated, then a more permanent discipline awaits him.
This is an imminently fair and balanced approach, especially given the fact that the constitution and other laws really do not provide clear and unambiguous guidance in how to proceed in a case whether the CJN is the defendant under this unique fact pattern. While Atiku rails against Buhari because of this act of restraint, we can but imagine the tack Chief Obasanjo and Atiku would have taken if they presided over this situation. By now, they would have put CJN Onnoghen in the stocks or shipped him off to that infamous farm in Ota where he would have begun his new career in plucking poultry.
It is curious that Atiku would take up the marker of a jurist who has enjoyed the sweet but hidden benefits of several million dollars of mystery money passing through his secret bank accounts, Even when discovered, these accounts held several hundred thousands of dollars in them.
Someone in Atiku’s position would normally be wary of a judge thusly tainted. A politician in Atiku’s position should more objectively be concerned that the government would have been the source of the hidden funds or that government would use the fact of the clandestine money as leverage against the judge to make sure he did government’s bidding for surely this a jurist highly compromised by pecuniary indiscretion. It is almost unnatural that an opposition candidate would champion the soiled cause of such a judge who seems to have sold something in exchange for the money found in his vest’s secret pockets.
Yet, Atiku now cries the anguished cry of a man who thought he had won the lottery only to find he had misread the last number on his claim ticket. Or perhaps these are the tears of a man who thought he had invested in a sure deal only to see the reason for the investment evaporate before his very eyes. Now, Atiku and his cohort seek to turn their personal disappointment into a burning national issue. They seek to manufacture a constitutional crisis where none exists.
They said they suspended their campaign because of this matter. Here, they are as illogical as illogic can beget. By suspending their campaign, did that mean they were permanently ending it? Of course not!That would be a boycott or the permanent “removal” of the campaign. No, they have resumed their campaign after temporarily suspending it. If they know the meaning of suspend in this regard, only malign intent allows them to feign ignorance to the meaning of the word “suspend” when applied to CJN Onnoghen.
There is no need to quake at the solitary incident of the interim suspension of a justice pending the legal resolution of serious criminal claims against him. If this matter is shorn of the political trappings it has acquired, there is no fairer way to handle the matter.
Atiku, I gather, would rather leave the man in seat and allow the charges against him to go unattended. Or Atiku would rather that the CJN preside over his own trial. Such is the logical conclusion of Atiku’s position. It is an odd bravery that would lead Atiku to stake such a position. If Atiku is as oddly courageous as he now depicts, then let him venture a step further. Pray tell, let Atiku tell us what good and precious thing he and the PDP rendered thatthey cannot even countenance the temporary and conditional suspension of a single jurist until the charges of illegality against the man have been fully resolved in open proceedings conducted by his judicial peers.
Atiku claims to be a democrat and defender of democracy, but where was he, his voice and action during Abacha’s suffocating maximum rule? Was he not a member and cheer-leader of one of the five Abacha parties aptly described then as five leprous fingers of Abacha? Did he even have the courage to visit his mentor, late Major General Shehu Musa Yar Ádua, in jail for fear of Abacha stopping him from running for the governorship of Adamawa?
Dare Atiku say what is really upsetting him and what he really is hiding in his attempt to cloak his lifetime of undemocratic reckonings in the swaddling of this much too belated democratic second birth he now claims for himself.
President Buhari attends APC Campaign rally in Imo State on 29th Jan 2019
The paramount ruler of Aba in Abia State, Enyi I, Isaac Ikonne, has called on the people in the state to vote enmass for President Muhammadu Buhari in the February Presidential election for many projects the President had executed in the State that have impacted positively on the lives of the people.
The paramount ruler, spoke today, Tuesday in his palace when President Buhari paid him royal visit as he arrived to stage his Presidential campaign for re-election for second term.
This was even as the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu also commended the President for directing the provision of electricity to the popular Ariaria market.
He thanked the Federal government for executing laudable projects that continue to empower the people of the State.
“The President has done a lot for us in the area of infrastructure as well as the school feeding programme, which has tremendously reversed our school enrolment from private to public schools with over 400 percent.”
Also, the Secretary General of the umbrella socio-cultural group of Igbos, known as Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo, Uche Okwukwu, denied claims that the group had endorsed the Presidential candidate of any political party for the February 16 election as was reported by the media last week.
“I am the Secretary and custodian of the secretariate of the Ohaneze and I know that we have not adopted the candidate of any party for the Presidential election. It is not true at all.”
The Secretary thanked President Buhari for showing love to the Igbos by implementing projects that have touches on their lives.
He praised the President for visiting the two main commercial cities in Igbo land, Onitsha and Aba during his campaign tour.
“President Buhari has done what no other candidate has done. He has visited Onitsha and Aba, our main commercial cities. That is what no other person has done. We thank you our President. Imela.”
President Buhari responded by saying that if he is re-elected, he would do more for the people of the state and the country at large.
He thanked the Igbo people of the Southeast for their support as well as the Enyi I of Aba for the warm welcome he received and positive remarks about the work the Federal government has so far executed for the people of Abia State.
The paramount ruler of Aba, Enyi 1 of Aba in Abia state, His Royal Majesty Dr. Isaac Ikonne, raises the hand of President Muhammadu Buhari (left) in a victory sign ahead of the February 16 Presidential election in which he is seeking a second term as President of Nigeria.
From Left; HRM Ezerust Onwuka (standing), speaking on behalf of Eze in Council. President Muhammadu Buhari, Enyi 1 of Aba, His Royal Majesty, Dr Isaac Ikonne, Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Sen. Chris Ngige, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Imo Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama and former President of the Senate, Sen. Ken Nnamani during a courtesy visit to the Palace in Aba, Abia State. Photo by Sunday Aghaeze.
For human, some occurrences are impossible and mysterious, but for God, everything is possible and known to Him.
An inevitability of the Almighty Creator has occurred and compelled some of us without option to turn to the same Creator for consolation.
Of course, no one can blame the all-knowing God for some things that happen to a man, a family, or society at large.
The mystery of life as ordained by Almighty God has occurred, with the transition of one of our finest brothers, who inadvertently assumed the position of father to many. His kind heartedness, selflessness and unwavering support to his families and community at large despite his youthful age were unquantifiable.
Brother Aminu Obiyo, who was a few days ago, snatched by death and left us to face the reality of life and living. He was a brother, guardian, and father-figure to many. He was cheerful with smiling face that possessed the magic of soothing heart of people in a state of distress.
Honorable Aminu Obiyo is a humble, visionary and well-bred young Ebira politician with a refined mind. He played politics without rancoure. For him, politics should be a patient negotiation with one’s mind. He believed, with patient, dedication, prayers, one can achieve his or her objective without resorting to crudeness.
He was a diplomat and leader by design, a good listener, a peace maker, a community servant and a bridge-builder.
Indeed, brother Aminu Abiyo transited to eternal life at the time many are vigorously looking up to him not only for his wise counsels, but also for the fatherly support which he always rendered to his people.
His sudden death has re-echoed the popular saying: “good people never last!”
May God forgive him all his shortcomings, accept all his good deeds and admit him in the Jannatul Firdausi. Ameen!
National chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshimhole has reminded the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union that Nigeria is not their colony and therefore should not interfere in its internal affairs.
Oshiomhole, who fielded questions from news men at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today, Tuesday, said: “the thing is that Nigeria is not a colony. I think we all have to be careful. We must defend the sovereignty of our country.
“We welcome collaboration (of other nations); we welcome peer review, we can compare notes, we welcome people who are interested in sharing experiences with us whenever the need arises, whether it’s capacity building, making useful suggestions on how we can continue to improve on our electoral process. Those are very valuable contributions that we appreciate.
“But Nigeria is not a colony. We will not accept any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nigeria.
“When they dismiss judges in Europe…judges have been dismissed in the United States when they are found guilty of corruption and the Western world cannot on the one hand, when it suite them, describe Nigeria as fantastically corrupt and when a corrupt judicial officer is being charged, people want to interfere.
“What anybody can insist on is: is anybody being framed? Is the suspended CJN (Chief Judge of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen) guilty of the allegations made against him? Or is it something being cooked out from nowhere?
“Now, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has breached the law, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has several foreign domiciliary accounts, even though he also admits that by nature of his office, he is not s trader, what is he doing with accounts in British pounds, US dollars and in Euros and to the extent of forgetting that he has those accounts?
“If he has such memory failure about the size of his number of accounts as to fail to declare them, you and I know that not even ignorance is an excuse in law. So, why are we being hypocritical?
“And at a certain level of responsibility, it’s not even about legal technicalities. It’s about the moral weight, the moral burden you carry.
“So, nobody should make us feel as though we are at the mercy of any other country. The future of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians and our laws are clear. Our laws are meant to be obeyed.
“If Nigerians thought that anybody other than the president and the vice president or a governor and deputy governor have immunity, it should have been so written into the constitution.
“I don’t understand what the noise is about.
“Some people say even if it is true, is this the proper timing? What is the best timing to prosecute a crime? Should we suspend criminal justice pending elections?
“Then, some people say you know, because of the very unique role or rather, very delicate role the judiciary has to play in settling elections issues; that is the more reason that people are worried about the timing.
“My question is, given that important role of the judiciary in times like this, is that the reason why you should allow a judge who has professed for breaching laws of the land; is that the reason to allow him to preside, to adjudicate over issues that have to do with fairness and justice?”
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A number of dramatic incidents have been recorded since President Muhammadu Buhari came out on the hustling, preparatory to the February 16 presidential election. Those incidents have compelled a revisit of the Jubril el-Sudaniya narrative. Politicians’ imaginations are fertile in the making of propaganda and deployment of the same in demonising the other camp and its members.
The National Bureau of Statistics has come out with a damning report of 14.3 Nigerians between the age of 15 and 64 that have been into drug abuse in the last year.
The national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that the Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar had displayed a complete ignorance of the operative word, suspension, construing same to mean removal (of the Chief Judge of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen).
For human, some occurrences are impossible and mysterious, but for God, everything is possible and known to Him.
