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Tag: Afenifere

  • 2023: Afenifere makes u-turn, denies endorsing Tinubu

    2023: Afenifere makes u-turn, denies endorsing Tinubu

    The apex Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere has denied the purported endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    The group’s national publicity secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, yesterday, said it will meet with other presidential candidates to hear what they have to offer Nigerians.

    “The leader of Afenifere Pa Reuben Fasoranti did not send for the All Progressives Congress APC presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,” he said.

    “It was Tinubu that sought to have an audience with the Afenifere leader, and Fasoranti extended an invitation to all Yoruba leaders that graced the occasion.”

    On whether that means Afenifere has endorsed Tinubu, as against the Labour Party candidate Dr. Peter Obi the party was rooting for he said, “That is not the situation, the Yoruba leaders will hopefully send for other presidential candidates to know their plans to make Nigeria better if elected into office.”

  • 2023: Afenifere backs Peter Obi for president

    2023: Afenifere backs Peter Obi for president

    The Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere has thrown its weight behind Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi in the 2023 elections.

    The group hinged its position on equity, stating that the South East region, where Obi hails from, has been “brutally marginalised, and excluded from the power dynamic”.

    In a statement at a media briefing in Lagos on Monday, Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo said: “We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria, while we at the same time continue to brutally marginalise and exclude them from the power dynamic.

    “Peter Obi is the person of Igbo extraction that Afenifere has decided to support and to back, he is the man we trust to restructure the country back to federalism on the assumption of office.

    “We will not compromise this principle of justice, equity and inclusiveness because one of our own Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a frontline candidate”.

    Tinubu, a former Lagos State Governor, is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

    Adebanjo reiterated the group’s position on restructuring, which it has been advocating over the years. He recalled: “In the countdown to the 2023 general elections, long before the parties conducted their conventions to elect their National Executives and candidates, we had insisted and still advocate restructuring before the elections proposing a synthesis of the identical resolutions of the 2014 National Conference and the APC El Rufai 2018 True Federalism Committee.

    “We did this as Afenifere and on the wider spectrum of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF). We did this, when politicians, in spite of the monumental crises confronting the nation, carried on as if the attainment of power was all that mattered, the SMBLF unanimously proposed that the minimum condition for a peaceful transition from the disastrous eight years of Buhari’s government headed by a President of northern extraction was to have the next President from the South. This position was also supported by all the southern governors, irrespective of their political parties at a meeting held in Asaba, Delta State”.

    He said that the Northern and Southern regions, which were amalgamated in 1914 to birth Nigeria, remain the most important testament of all political parties in the country.

    “The principles of federal character enshrined in the constitution dictate that the government of the federation or any part thereof shall not be concentrated in any ethnic group or a combination of such groups.

    “It is therefore preposterous to adopt this principle for employment in public service admissions in educational institutions, political appointment, the composition of the executive committee of a political party, only to jettison it in the most important question of rulership of the federation”, the nonagenarian said.

    He recalled that the Yoruba have produced the President for eight years in the Fourth Republic, which commenced with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, while Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, also from the same South West region will finish another eight years as Vice President next year.

    “Equity forbids us for presuming to support another Yoruba person for the presidency in 2023. The current President is a Fulani from the Northwest and by virtue of the zoning arrangement that has governed Nigeria since 1999, power is supposed to return to the south imminently. The South West, as I have pointed out, has produced a President and currently sits as VP, the South-South has spent a total of six years in the Presidency, but the Igbo people of the South East have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the South equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo”, Adebanjo rationalised.

    He said that it is on the same principle that Afenifere condemned the presidential candidacy of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party “to succeed General Muhammadu Buhari, another Fulani Muslim who will soon complete eight years of uneventful and disastrous rule. One can imagine such a high degree of political insensitivity”.

    The elder statesman called for Southern solidarity, which, he said, has embraced the Middle Belt Leaders Forum.

    “We enjoin the labour movement, students, youth organisations, women associations, and every institution whose foundation is built on fairness and justice to join hands in this task of enthroning a democratic government by supporting Peter Obi. If we are sincere and honest about keeping Nigeria together in peace, the slogan henceforth should be ‘To keep Nigeria one, everyone should be Obi/Datti compliant.’”

    Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed is Obi’s running mate.

  • 2023 Elections: Peter Obi visits Afenifere, Middle Belt leaders

    2023 Elections: Peter Obi visits Afenifere, Middle Belt leaders

    Labour Party (LP )presidential candidate, Peter Obi has visited the leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo, as well as the southern and Middle Belt leaders.

    Obi who took to his Twitter page to share photos of himself with the leaders of the groups.

    Obi also made it known that the leader of the Labour party was also on ground at the meeting venue.

    “Presently visiting PA Ayo Adebanjo and members of the South and Middle Belt Leadership Forum. The national leaders of the Labour Party and other stakeholders are here too. -PO” he tweeted.

    Recall that the  Anambra-born politician recently visited the governor of Anambra and the  Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse.

    The development is coming on the heels of Olu’s first anniversary since he ascended the throne in 2021.

    Obi attended the 62nd edition of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) which was held in Lagos on Monday. The People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku and the All Progressive Congress APC Vice presidential candidate Kashim Shettima were also present at the conference.

     

     

  • Northern Reps hold Gbajabiamila hostage over acidic Water Resources Bill

    Northern Reps hold Gbajabiamila hostage over acidic Water Resources Bill

     

    There are speculations that the ‘acidic’Water Resources Bill allegedly disguised in RUGA will pass second reading as northern Reps plot to impeach Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila if he fails ‘to play ball’ by looking the other way this week.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports multiple sources privy to this development declared that though in the outlook it will appear as if Speaker Gbajabiamila is against it but the bait of impeachment will make him bend over to pass the contentious Bill seen by most southerners as RUGA fly.

    A source privy to this development told TNG that ” it’s all a grand deception to give the impression that the speaker is against it but in reality he is not against it.

    Another source said the progenitor of the Bill allegedly has ulterior motive as he has invested interests and the fact that it’s RUGA which was initially designed by the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to allow easy access to water by herdsmen and have settlements in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s representation of the bill which was first introduced in the 8th Assembly in 2017 and reintroduced in 2020 in the 9th Assembly and roundly rejected by South-South leaders, Afenifere, Ohanaeze and Middle Belt Forum is causing hair-raising amongst critical stakeholders in Nigeria.

    Recall that on June 29, 2022, the House of Representatives passed the bill for first reading in what can be described as an ambush of Southern lawmakers, many of whom are still unsettled following their inability to secure their party ticket and were absent at the sitting.

    An APC House Reps member from Nassarawa State who was also privy to the plot, but spoke to under the condition of anonymity for fear of been victimized by the presidency, said the strong opposition to the reintroduction of the bill to the house will not stop its passage as plans to get it passed this time around has been concluded.

    The source added that the plot to get the bill passed in the 9th Assembly has the blessing of Mr President and the leadership of the National Assembly and that unlike in the last attempt when the Speaker of the House of Reps played a stabilizing role leading to the defeat of the bill, this time around the threat of impeachment is hanging on him if he fails to play along.

    “The plot to pass the Bill was hatched here in Nigeria but was concluded at Mecca during recent Haji. Part of the plot is to impeach the Speaker of the House of Reps, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, whom they believe didn’t do much to ensure the bill was passed during the 8th Assembly even when he knows the President is interested in the bill.

    “Now that they have the Speaker’s buy-in, they wanted the bill to be passed for the second reading this past week, but many Southern lawmakers were around and with the support from Northern Christian lawmakers, the sponsor and the leadership of the House failed to bring the bill on Tuesday, Wednesday and last week Thursday.

    “The National Assembly would have gone on vacation, but they are waiting for most of the Southern lawmakers who have made summer travelling arrangements to travel out of the country, then they will strike.

    “They will observe this week, if they can’t pass it because of the large number of the Southern and Northern Christian lawmakers at the chamber, the Speaker of the House will be made to convoke an emergency sitting of the House, after the House might have been adjourned for vacation.

    “The source added that the Clark of the House has prepared ‘addendum’ to enable the House to be reconvened and sit even at night or weekend to consider, pass the controversial bill with or without Southern members in attendant.

    “My fear is that if Southern Nigerians fail to rise to the occasion, the bill will pass through as certain interests in the Presidency and core North are bent on passing the bill and have mobilized huge resources to get it done.

    “For me, this is a fight for the soul of Nigeria, because if this bill passes through the second reading, then it’s finished and the crisis that it will trigger in the country can best be imagined. This is how they passed 3% for Host Community Fund in the PIA, as against the 5% we collectively agreed.”

    The bill, which was initially introduced and rejected during the 8th Assembly, following public outcry, is believed by many to be Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) regulation in disguise and according to our source has the backing of the presidency.

    The Bill as introduced in the previous assembly and present 9th National Assembly seeks to empower the Federal Government to control all water resources in the country such as rivers, streams, lakes and underground water streams, lakes and underground water in all parts of the country.

    The First Introduction of the Bill:
    President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2017 presented the controversial bill to the eighth National Assembly. The proposed law seeks to transfer the control of water resources from the states to the federal government.

    The bill was titled: ‘A Bill for An Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for the Water Resources Sector in Nigeria, Provide for the Equitable and Sustainable Redevelopment, Management, Use and Conservation of Nigeria’s Surface Water and Groundwater Resources and for Related Matter.’

    It partly reads: “This Act repeals the Water Resources Act, Cap W2 LFN 2004; River Basin Development Act Cap R9 LFN 2004; Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (Establishment) Act, Cap N110A, LFN 2004; National Water Resources Institute Act Cap N83 LFN 2004; and establishes the National Council on Water Resources, Nigeria Water Resources Regulatory Commission, River Basin Development Authorities, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, and the National Water Resources Institute.”

    It would also be recalled that in September 2020, following the raging controversies, debate on the bill succeeded in pitting Southern lawmakers against their Northern counterparts and efforts by the Northern lawmakers to save the bill proved abortive as arguments by the members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opponents of the bill forced the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to order its withdrawal and reintroduction.

    Those championing the bill are the Bill sponsor and Chairman of the Committee on Water Resources, Hon. Sada Soli and the Chairman Committee on rules and business, Hon. Hassan Fulata.

    It was also gathered that as at the time the bill was passed for the first reading in the House, no member of the House has seen or had a copy of the Bill, except those behind it, and this according to our source prompted the Speaker to direct that every lawmaker gets the copy of the bill to study ahead of the second reading debate, this directive has not been carried out.

  • Afenifere kicks against reintroduction of National Water Resources Bill

    Afenifere kicks against reintroduction of National Water Resources Bill

    The pan-Yoruba Socio-cultural association, Afenifere, Ondo State chapter, has urged the National Assembly to reject the National Water Resources Bill, which was represented on June 29.

    The bill was presented for first reading by the Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli.

    The bill, which was introduced and rejected by the lawmakers during the 8th Assembly following public outcry, was reintroduced in the current 9th National Assembly in 2020 but faced adverse reaction from Nigerians, forcing the National Assembly to step it down.

    Afenifere, in a statement issued at the end of its Caucus meeting on Friday in Akure by Mr Remi Olayiwola, the Publicity Secretary, said the reintroduction of the bill was an insult to Nigerians from all the geopolitical divide.

    The association urged all the traditional rulers and political leaders from the state to work relentlessly against the bill.

    “For the umpteenth time, a bill tagged the National Water Resources Bill, seeking to take over all inter-state rivers, and hydrological territory in all parts of the country has been tabled before the House of Representatives.

    “Here is a Bill that had on two occasions in the 8th and 9th Assemblies failed to stand the test of time.

    “Why should there be the desperation to bring the same Bill back to the House? It is simply another unholy way to enslave the people of this country,” Afenifere stated.

    On the implication of the Water Resources Bill on the people, the association noted that states of the federation stand the risk of losing their identities and rights to the Federal Government.

    According to the association, while majority of the people are requesting for more decentralisation of government, the bill is seeking for more responsibilities for the Federal Government.

    Afenifere noted that the National Water Resources Bill would have negative consequences and was a “cunny actions being cleverly foisted on the nation, which must be resisted by well-meaning Nigerians.”

    It stated that if the Federal Government had embarked on restructuring of the country as being canvassed by the leadership of Afenifere over the years, the re-introduction of Water bill would not have been necessar

  • Afenifere snubs Tinubu for Obi as Babachir Lawal faults Shettima’s choice

    Afenifere snubs Tinubu for Obi as Babachir Lawal faults Shettima’s choice

    The leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Ayo Adebanjo, has declared his support for the 2023 presidential bid of the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi.

    Adebanjo, who featured in an online radio programme, Yoruba Gbode, yesterday, said the ex-Anambra State governor would not disappoint Nigerians if elected the country’s president next year.

    He also expressed doubt about the ability of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, Atiku Abubakar, to steer the country’s ship effectively.

    The Afenifere leader argued that Tinubu sold President Muhammadu Buhari to Nigerians in 2015 because of his selfish interest, adding that the ex-Lagos State governor would give continuity to incompetence if elected next year.

    Adebanjo has been unrelenting in his support for the South-East to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023.

    He said: “In my opinion, only Peter Obi can rule the country independently without the influence of these criminals in the government. Tinubu will only give continuity to Buhari’s incompetence.

    “We know Peter Obi very well , that’s why we endorsed him. He will not disappoint Nigerians, let’s put tribal differences apart and vote the right leader in.

    “Tinubu sold Buhari to over 200 million Nigerians for his own selfish interest of wanting to rule after Buhari. None of them loves Nigeria.

    “Easterners are also Nigerians, they deserve to rule. I am sure Peter Obi will not subject himself to the northerners like Tinubu and Atiku would do if elected.”

    2023: Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket ‘dead on arrival’ – Babachir Lawal

    Meanwhile, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has faulted the announcement of a Muslim-Muslim ticket by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    Lawal, in a note he personally signed yesterday, described the decision as a “disastrous error.”

    Mr Tinubu on Sunday had announced former Borno State Governor, Kassim Shettima, as his running mate in the 2023 presidential election.

    Both men are Muslims.

    Lawal, who backed Tinubu during the APC presidential primaries, said the choice of Mr Shettima was a sign that the APC presidential candidate has “been cornered by self-serving, hero-worshiping, lapdogs.”

    “The northern governors and some northern moslem elites must have persuaded him that they will never vote for a ticket that has a northern Christian on it. And he has agreed with them,” Mr Lawal said.

    “But if he thinks a Moslem-Moslem ticket will win him the northern Muslim votes, he should have a rethink. They will massively vote for one of their sons because it is in their nature to do so. Buhari, their first son will not be on the ballot in 2023. Atiku their second son will be.”

    Read Babachir’s full note below:

    I thought I will be able to avoid commenting on the disastrous error by my very good friend, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his choice of a running mate.

    I will be the very last person to stand in the way of my very good friend Tinubu’s path to the presidency. This is because since 2011 my consuming passion has been for him to succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria.
    It will not be true if I say that I did not see it coming. I have often read his body language, picked up snippets from several discussions with his lapdogs (some of whom, sadly are Christians but most of whom are moslems) and I have conveyed my reservations to them against the pitfalls of a moslem-moslem ticket towards which I sensed they were drifting.

    As part of my obligation to him, a close friend, I had on many occasions argued the merits and demerits of both ticket permutations to him. I have done so in both verbal and written form and I have likewise, done so with some of his close respectable associates and friends. In all instances I had left him with the sole responsibility for his final decision arguing that in the end the consequences of the outcome of any bad decision will be his to
    bear. There might be some collateral damages though. I have also on several occasions passed on to him counsels and messages from some well meaning Nigerians intended to alert him on the possible outcomes of the Presidential ticket permutations.

    Tinubu is a very good man. He is a great listener. He has a very humble and friendly disposition to every one. He is very generous in both cash and kind, especially where it could advance his political interests. But I have realized that it is in the nature of power that sycophants and lapdogs have the most influence on leaders with such character traits. They will lie to him, malign and disparage others and generally do any thing to curry his favor and to also put well-meaning associates in bad light. I suspect this is what has
    happened to my friend. He has been cornered by self-serving, hero-worshiping, lapdogs.

    It never used to be like this. While in his hay-days in Lagos, he surrounded himself with smart, street-wise guys that could tell truth to power. He had Rauph Aregbesola, Yomi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Dele Alake, Muiz Banire, etc.The Lagos days were the days of think-tanks, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, principles and ideologies. But
    these people have since grown-up and moved up to establish their own systems living my friend stranded. Nature they say abhors vacuum.

    Welcome the Abuja equivalent. But the Abuja equivalent are people inflicted with the modern Nigerian diseases – religious bigotry, sycophancy and morbid tribalism. They are mostly political jobbers who are most times not averse to the application of diabolical means. Gone are the days of think-tanks, and strategic planning. Gone are the days of principles and ideologies. Try and call a meeting; they will not attend. Try and make a plan; they will sabotage it. Everything is ad-hoc, everything is chaotic because they excel in such environments. The result is that they have played on his longterm ambition to be President and have built it into a sort of desperation and a crescendo that easily justifies this satanic resort to a Muslim-Muslim ticket. This is the calamity that has befallen my
    friend.

    And why Kashim Shetima? He is an overambitious man who has a Machiavellian bent and has lots of money with which to procure a preferred-candidate status among Tinubu’s lapdogs. And as we are beginning to see, to also procure bogus supporters especially from among the Christian community to help launder his no-so-good image.

    But as a popular proverb goes: “Those whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad”. It appears that the gods want to destroy the APC and its Presidential Candidate and have chosen the instrumentality of the northern Moslem governors and their super ambitious tool and Kashim Ibrahim for this purpose. Alhaji Kashim Shetima is a Greek gift from the Northern governors to Tinubu. I advise Bola to make sure Kashima’s two hands are always in his plain sight and empty.

    True, based on the advise of his new friends, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made his choice. And I am sure he thinks he is ready for the out come of that choice. He has chosen to bring religion to the front burner of Nigerian politics. And being a Muslim he has chosen to take sides with his own religion. For all he cares, Christians can go to blazes with their
    votes. But he must also be told that there will consequences for this choice. Some of them are that Christians all over the country will revolt against the APC to put the chances of his election in serious jeopardy. It will also put the election of all Christians standing for elections in Christian dominated areas in jeopardy. This could result in APC being a minority party in both the National and State Houses of Assembly.

    Now tell me which Christian will vote for APC with the following contraption: Moslem Presidential Candidate (Lagos), Moslem Vice Presidential Candidate (Borno), Moslem National Chairman (Nasarawa), Moslem Deputy National Chairman (Borno), Moslem President (Katsina); Moslem Senate President (Yobe); Moslem Speaker (Lagos); Moslem Deputy Speaker (Plateau) e.t.c. APC the great! Wu na de try woh!

    The northern governors and some northern moslem elites must have persuaded him that they will never vote for a ticket that has a northern Christian on it. And he has agreed with them. But if he thinks a Moslem-Moslem ticket will win him the northern Muslim votes, he
    should have a rethink. They will massively vote for one of their sons because it is in their nature to do so. Buhari, their first son will not be on the ballot in 2023. Atiku their second son will be.

    Proof of a possible Islamic agenda was leaked when Governor Ganduje, the “Kadmul Islam”, gave advance notice that Tinubu had assured them he would be nominating a moslem as his running mate. For those who might not know, Governor Ganduje has a foundation called “Ganduje Foundation” which purpose according to its website is to “provide selfless service to humanity and Islam” but whose primary purpose it appears is the conversion of Christians to Islam.

    So if my very good friend Tinubu in a desperate bid to become President allows himself to made into a religious bigot or even a mujahideen, he is welcome. But it is a risk that will not play out positively for his presidential bid. But, were he to win and become President of Nigeria, it will be as a sectional President; an Islamic President. And he will surely face
    massive discontent and opposition even before taking off.

    Expecting Nigerians to ignore this crass insensitivity to the country’s diversity amounts to acceding to the perpetration of very grave injustice and discrimination against a huge segment of the society. No one who seeks to be president of Nigeria should ever deploy the tool of religious extremism and exclusivism as a tool to win elections. This is very very
    dangerous. And this is very sad.

    But, baring any last minute change of mind, Bola has made his choice. He should be bluntly told that in this choice Nigerian Christians clearly see a pending Islamic Republic
    of Nigeria in its infancy and are right to be severely anxious. There is gloom among the Christian community all over the country since Tinubu announced Kashim Shetima as his running mate. Are the generality of the moslem ummah happy with this? The answer is a resounding NO.

    How then do we respond? The decision as to how to respond to this deliberately senseless act of provocation is both corporate to each religious group and also personal to each voter that love peace, and hate injustice. Christians want to continue to leave peacefully with their moslem neighbors at home, at school, at the work place, in the markets and on the streets as we have always done or desired to do. And I am sure Moslems share this view too. No one person’s ambition to rule over us should be allowed
    to set us apart and at war with one another.

    Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should be compelled upon by whoever can do so to rescind this decision. President Mohammed Buhari should exercise his powers as the Commander-inChief and as the APC Leader to revoke this nomination of a VP by Tinubu. The APC National Chairman should refuse to sign the nomination forms if not rescinded.

    There is a story in the bible on how some people responded to similar provocation: “And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king,

    “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents” (1 Kings 12:16).

    I will love for Bola to be our next President. But I am afraid a Moslem-Moslem ticket will be “Dead on Arrival”. And the arrival date according to INEC’s election time table is 25th February, 2023. This ticket will drag down the whole APC members to the pit. We all should reject it.

    Engr. Babachir Lawal

  • BREAKING: Killers of Afenifere leader’s daughter sentenced to death

    An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has sentenced to death by hanging three out or four persons that killed Olufunke Olakuri, daughter of Afenifere Leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti.

    The trial Judge, Justice William Olamide, however, discharged and acquitted one of the accused who is the public relations officer of Miyetti Allah, Auwàla Abubakar.

    Olufunke Olakuri, daughter of Afenifere Leader, Reuben Fasoranti was shot dead in June, 2019 by gunmen in Ore, Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

    She was buried few weeks after her gruesome murder. Her alleged killers were later arrested and arraigned, six months after her death.

  • Ayo Adebanjo’s musings on power shift – By Azu Ishiekwene

    Ayo Adebanjo’s musings on power shift – By Azu Ishiekwene

    The statement by the leader of the Yoruba Cultural Group, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo, that the South East should get the next turn at the presidency has ruffled quite some feathers.

    This comes at a time when nearly half a dozen of his kinsmen have shown interest and almost nothing seems certain anymore because the two major political parties, having just discovered the virtue in merit, are now disposed to an open race.

    The only thing that is certain is where the presidency may not go: the South East. When you hear top politicians talking about power shift, and insisting that the president after Muhammadu Buhari should come from the South for the sake of “fairness and equity”, they are not talking about the country’s most excluded region – the South East.

    They are not talking about the region with the least federal presence, the least representation in federal establishments and the least number of states, all of which are a price for a war fought over 50 years ago.

    The advocates of power shift have managed to define a geopolitical South that excludes the South East. They speak only of equity in power shift insofar as it means power going to the South West or ‘South South’. Adebanjo bucked the trend, and Edwin Clark has also lent his voice.

    In a country where hypocrisy is a political virtue, the mindset of those who preach fairness and equity is governed by the Matthean principle: those who have will have more added to them, so that they can have even more at the expense of the disadvantaged.

    That’s why the South West, which in the last 23 years has had 15 years of the first two top positions, currently has six candidates aspiring for another eight years, while the ‘South South’ which has had four years at the top job, has lined up six aspirants as of the time of writing.

    And the North, which never fails to disappoint in the politics of benevolence is saying on the one hand that power should shift to the South, and on the other propping up its own candidates to join the race, after about ten and a half years of being at the helm since 1999.

    In the All Progressives Congress (APC), for example, the first sign from the North that all the talk about a Southern candidate meant nothing was when the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, shelved the idea of being a running mate potentially to a ‘South South’ candidate, fancied at the time to be former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Insiders confided to me this week that, “It was after the Jonathan idea met the brick wall that Malami revived the idea of running for Kebbi governorship. The dead Jonathan project was a clear signal to Malami that given the large crowd of aspirants from the South a northerner might do better at the APC primaries and doom his vice-presidential ambition.”

    Let us return to the South East. What is it about the region that makes it so convenient to treat it with spite and malicious negligence?

    Some say that the region has to grow up and earn its place: no one hands over power on a platter. That sounds sensible and logical – that is, until we remind ourselves that the whole business of Federal Character, enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution today, was power redistribution served on a platter.

    The Federal Character Commission (an elevation of quota system) is a useless bureaucracy costing the country billions of naira. It was improvised by General Sani Abacha in 1996 to help disadvantaged states catch up with the others and to create a sense of belonging. I wonder why the beneficiaries, mostly Northern states, did not think it prudent to earn the privileges bestowed by this crooked system.

    How about the argument that the South East does not deserve a shot at presidency at this time because of the inability of Ndigbo to unite around one candidate and pursue a common agenda – that they are masters at the game of group betrayal and disassembling politics?

    Those who make this argument cite Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, who appear to be inclined to candidates outside the zone, as examples of Ndigbo’s penchant for betrayal and backstabbing. Why can’t they rally around any of the 16 Igbo candidates in the race?

    If the South East is Nigeria’s capital of disunity, how do the proponents of this argument explain the ambitions of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Governor Kayode Fayemi, and potentially, Pastor Tunde Bakare, who are not only from the South West, but are all members of the same political party?

    How do critics of the Igbo quest explain the fact that even though the South West has enjoyed the lion’s share of power in two decades, it is still in the race with a bigger sense of entitlement than any other region? Or why did three other Northern aspirants contest for APC’s ticket against Buhari in the party’s presidential primaries, despite the push for a consensus candidate at the time?

    Not done, there are others who would argue that politics is a game of numbers. If the South East does not have the numbers and cannot negotiate with others to its advantage as it did in 1959, why should it – or anyone – blame others for its current misfortune?

    That sounds logical, until you cross to other zones, like the ‘South South’, for example, that apart from producing a president, has reaped financial rewards and political benefits, from derivation to special commissions and an amnesty programme, far in excess of its numerical strength.

    In the mathematics of a federation, the cold abstraction of numbers sometimes deserves to have a human face. That was why Jonathan became president; that is why Quebec retains its distinct cultural and political identity, despite its union with Canada.

    Then, of course, there are those who argue that rotation is pointless because it is simply the crutch of the thieving political elite. Ordinary people up and down the country, North and South, hardly benefit. And when the elite are conspiring to steal, they hardly discuss tribe, religion or region. We should be concerned about what the candidate can – or has done – rather than where he or she is coming from.

    That is true. But that truism applies to all six zones in the country. I completely agree that there should be a broader definition of who benefits from power beyond zoning; a need to make power more inclusive, accessible and accountable. But why didn’t that begin in 2013 when Northern elders, determined to remove Jonathan, said, “power rotation was a mark of equity and justice”?

    If it’s not good enough to stop former President Olusegun Obasanjo returning to govern as civilian president for eight years after three years as military president, and it’s not strong enough to stop Buhari copying Obasanjo’s example, why should it be the albatross of the South East? In fact, the last time the Southern Forum led by Governors Peter Odili, Chimaroke Nnamani and Victor Attah pressed for power shift in 2007, they capitulated and allowed Obasanjo to hand over to Umaru Shehu Yar’Adua!

    In the current calculations about where the next president should come from, perhaps the biggest elephant in the room is the spectre of the separatist agenda in the South East, largely promoted by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). Separatist-related violence in the South East has claimed hundreds of lives, ruined lives and left the region devastated.

    Those who oppose power shift to the region argue that an Igbo president after years of violent confrontations in the South East, with the political leaders looking the other way most of the time, would amount to rewarding rebellion, and who knows how or where it would end?

    That is frighteningly seductive. Anyone who has the faintest idea of what has been going on in the South East, especially in the last four or five years, should be worried. But perhaps we should pause and examine the conditions under which three Nigerian presidents – Obasanjo, Jonathan and Buhari – emerged in the last three decades.

    Obasanjo emerged on the back of widespread violent disturbances, especially in the South West, after the annulment of the 1993 election and the death of MKO Abiola. Obasanjo, a Yoruba president, was the North’s peace offering to the South West, as Jonathan was to the implacable ‘South South’ and Buhari to the North – all of this regardless of the near ungovernable state of these regions when these presidents emerged and allegations of complicity against one of the candidates.

    We can argue all day about being strategic, about optics or the need to avoid sending the message that violent rebellion pays and we would be right. But if “justice and equity” are the reasons why other regions have had their turn as tokens of good faith and reconciliation, then we cannot justify a different treatment for the South East. And I don’t have to have a dog in the fight to say so.

    It’s time to end the obfuscation and pussyfooting and to call this spade by its name: Nigeria must stop treating the South East as if it does not matter and still hope to find peace.

     

    Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

  • 2023: Afenifere hits APC over high rate of nomination forms

    2023: Afenifere hits APC over high rate of nomination forms

    The Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has berated the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the exorbitant rate the party pegged nomination and expression of interest forms for all categories, claiming it will increase corruption in the country.

    The APC on Wednesday had announced the sum of N100 million for the sale of presidential nomination and expression of interest forms for presidential aspirants whilst Governorship candidates will purcahse theirs for 50 million.

    Reacting to the development on Wednesday, the Secretary-General of Afenifere, Mr. Sola Ebiseni, the high cost of forms is to scare away genuine Nigerians who can’t afford from trying to get the forms.

    According to him, the cost of the APC’s nomination form is only “responding to the shameful state of the economy under its government where the rate of inflation is intractable and cost of living unprecedentedly unbearable.”

    Ebiseni stated, “It is an insulting message to the pauperised Nigerians that they have no say in the governance of Nigeria or any part thereof. It is a direct affront to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and particularly the declaration in Section 14 (2) (b) that the participation of Nigerians in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.
    “How can the poor members of the party who are so blatantly discriminated against, on the basis of their situation in life, contrary to Section 42 of the constitution, participate in the governance of the country, particularly in a country where only a political party can field a candidate and no independent candidate allowed?

    “Unfortunately, the two dominant parties are both guilty in this game of absurdity and conspiracy against the ordinary Nigerians in the access to their platforms for political participation.”

    He added, “For the PDP, it runs contrary to the objectives of their founding fathers led by the likes of Alex Ekwueme and Solomon Lar. The current price placed on participation is the very height of political insensitivity and an open invitation to thievery by anyone who could only corruptly meander himself to power.”

    He noted that the way forward for the country is to restructure saying that’s the possible way forward.

    “The country has been handed over to the nouveau rich, only the restructuring of its political architecture, liberalising access of the citizens to power, can stem the inevitable descent to oligarchy and anarchy,” he said.