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Tag: Asiwaju

  • Tinubu fulfilling the meaning of ‘Asiwaju’ – Reno Omokri

    Tinubu fulfilling the meaning of ‘Asiwaju’ – Reno Omokri

    Former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fulfilling the meaning of his moniker ‘Asiwaju’ with his performance so far.

    He noted that Tinubu entered office as one of the least popular, supposedly elected leaders in Nigeria’s history.

    He further stated that in two weeks, Tinubu is turning out to be one of the most progressive Presidents in Nigeria’s recent history, simply by his actions after his swearing-in.

    In a recent tweet, Omokri wrote: “President Bola Tinubu entered office as one of the least popular, supposedly elected leaders in Nigeria’s history. In two weeks, he is turning out to be one of the most progressive Presidents in our recent history, simply by his actions after his swearing in. Nigerians are not hard to please.”

    “Apart from those using politics to hide their secessionist agenda, most Nigerians seem to be happy with his performance thus far. And his popularity is high right now. Except you are not being honest with yourself. If he continues this way, even the secessionist agenda will be defeated by good governance in a way that it could not be militarily vanquished by General Buhari.”

    “For those who understand Yoruba, President Tinubu is fulfilling the meaning of his moniker, Asiwaju. The PDP and Waziri Atiku Abubakar would have been better. Whatever the Supreme Court rules, we will accept. But at the end of the day, whether PDP or APC, all we want is good governance for Nigeria.”

    See Tweet:

  • Asiwaju goes for broke! – By Gbemiga Ogunleye

    Asiwaju goes for broke! – By Gbemiga Ogunleye

    By Gbemiga Ogunleye

     

    A couple of weeks ago, on April 29th to be precise, I sent a message to my friend of over two decades, Richard Akinnola, complaining about a news report credited to the Vice- President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to the effect that Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, nominated Osinbajo as the Vice-president.

    For the uninitiated, Akinnola is a respected journalist, celebrated human rights activist and an influentual social media influencer. Presently, he is at the forefront of the campaign for his friend, the Vice-president, to be the President of Nigeria. I told Akinnola to advise his friend to stick to stick to his usual refrain: that it would be a disservice to the nation if he doesn’t contest for the Presidency and to emphasise his experience and expertise.

    I also told him that the VP could leverage on the fact that he wouldn’t have to learn on the job if he elected. Crediting Aregbesola, a man who had just thrown Tinubu, his benefactor, under the bus with is nomination as VP was a low, I told my friend. As was his wont, Akinnola promptly responded, said what the VP said was that Aregbesola notified him of his nomination not that the goatee- spotting Minister nominating him.

    Even then, he agreed with me that the VP ought not to have said that and promised that he would tell the VP. It is in the light of incidents like this that we should situate Tinubu’s outburst of Thursday, when he met the Ogun State All Progressive Congress, APC, delegates on Thursday in Abeokuta. At the meeting, an angry Tinubu had said without him and God, the President, the VP and the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, wouldn’t be holding the positions they are holding.

    Those close to Tinubu say it’s not in the character of the man to talk in that manner. But that the Jagaban of Borgu had been pushed to the wall by those bent on frustrating him within the APC.

    They say it is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that the Jagaban of Borgu, who has campaigned in more states than all the presidential aspirants in the APC is the man to beat. Therefore, the man couldn’t understand why obstacles are deliberately being put on his way.

    They allege that the President deliberately encouraged serving Ministers to enter the race to frustrate Tinubu’s ambition. The idea of a consensus arrangement is also a ploy to screen Tinubu out. The attempt to draft former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, were also cited as attempts to frustrate Tinubu out of the presidential race.

    Tinubu sympathisers also allege that, picking John Odigie Oyegun, a former chairman of the APC, who doesn’t see eye to eye with Tinubu to chair the APC’s screening committee was another attempt to throw spanner in the wheels of the Jagaban’s presidential ambition.

    To make matters worse, was the President’s address to the APC Governors, shortly before he travelled out to Spain, that he be allowed to choose a successor, since the APC had a policy where the Governors had a hand in choosing their successors. It is in this light, Tinubu’s supporters argue, we should situate the Jagaban’s outburst on Thursday. Come to think of it, if a man is pushed to the wall, what do you expect him to do?

    All Tinubu is asking for, say his admirers, is a level-playing field where all aspirants are allowed to test their popularity. Come to think of it, have critics bothered to ask why the Jagaban had to put Dapo Abiodun in his shoes?

    For God’s sake, Abiodun has a right to throw his weight behind his preferred candidate but he has no right to distort history. As Asiwaju rightly pointed out, Abiodun’s predecessor, Ibikunle Amosun, a fellow APC man didn’t want Abiodun and wanted his protege to succeed him but it was Asiwaju who threw his weight behind Abiodun and ensured his emergence as Governor. Indeed, when the APC presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari came to campaign in Abeokuta, he urged the party supporters to vote him as President but that they were free to vote for anybody in the other elections.

    He didn’t campaign for his party candidate, Dapo Abiodun. Buhari did this because he didn’t want to offend his friend Ibikunle Amosun.
    Furthermore, according to those close to the Asiwaju, Dapo Abiodun had been avoiding receiving the Jagaban.  Each time the Jagaban informed him of his plan to come and campaign to the Ogun delegates, Abiodun always found an excuse to discourage the Jagaban.

    It’s either he wouldn’t be in town or he was indisposed. To add insult into injury, when the Vice-President came on his campaign trail, he publicly credited the Vice-president with his emergence as Governor.

    That was too much for the Jagaban to take, hence his outburst .Those who accuse the Jagaban of having a sense of entitlement, forget that he wasn’t talking to the country. He was addressing his party men (and women), reminding them of how much he has sacrificed for the party.

    He reminded them that but for his sacrifice the President Buhari wouldn’t have achieved his ambition.
    As a human being, it is natural for Tinubu to expect Buhari not to be antagonistic to his ambition, even if he would not support him.
    Thrice Buhari tried to be Nigeria’s President.

    Thrice he failed until Tinubu went to him and the rest, as they say, is history. Those who are against Tinubu’s ambition make a song and dance of his so-called baggage. Pray, which humanbeing doesn’t have a baggage? Which humanbeing hasn’t done something he or she is not proud of?

    But they conveniently forget the man’s role in the attainment and sustenance of democracy. But for the Jagaban, there would have been no opposition party in Nigeria.He, it was, who ensured that there was a platform to challenge the behemoth PDP during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo.

    By challenging the Federal Government in the court on many occasions, he ensured the enthronement of federalism in the country.
    He formed the Acton Congress, AC; he formed the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, to democratise the political party space and ensure the plurality of opinions in the country.

    To demonstrate his selflessness, he gave the presidential ticket of the parties to Northerners: first Atiku Abubakar and later, Nuhu Ribadu.
    Thanks to the Jagaban, he retrieved through the courts the stolen mandates of Governors Segun Mimiko in Ondo; Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti; Adams Oshiomhole in Edo and Raufu Aregbesola in Osun.

    He achieved this by flying into the country, one Adrian Forty, probably the world’s best forensic evidence expert. Of course, at his expense. So, if the man says he has paid his dues and insists he deserves the presidential ticket of the party he helped form, is that asking for too much?

    If attempts are being made to deny him the opportunity of testing his acceptance among his party men (and women), should he keep sealed lips?
    When those he had assisted with his God- given talents and resources decide to stab him at the back, should he offer his belly to them in return?
    The man is human.

  • 2023 Presidential Election: Tinubu to announce defection to SDP soon -Sources reveal

    2023 Presidential Election: Tinubu to announce defection to SDP soon -Sources reveal

    Ahead of APC Primaries, there are indicatons that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would decamp to the Social Democratic Party, SDP, soon.

     

    “Reality is dawning on Asiwaju Bol Ahmed Tinubu that a surprise might erupt in the forth coming primaries of the All Progressives Congress and to forestall the unthinkable, the strong man of Lagos politics had prepared a ‘plan b’ for himself, to enable him actualize his age long dream of becoming the president of Nigeria, come 2023,” inside sources said.

     

    There have already been reports that certain prominent members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet are opposed to Tinubu’s presidential ambitions and have urged the president against supporting the embattled APC leader.

     

    TheNewsGuru.com gathered that Tinubu’s decision to join the SDP was sparked by a recent revelation as well as the outcome of yesterday’s meeting with other presidential candidates in the South West.

     

    There were also speculations that Tinubu may have also influenced the announced defection of Abdulmumin Jibrin his Campaign Group Director General.

     

    “I have done my best for APC; it is time to move on. By the grace of God, I will announce the new party I will be joining in 24 hours. More information will be forthcoming,” he said.

     

    Despite the fact that Jibrin is yet to announce his next political party, his defection increased rumors about Tinubu’s likely defection, which “is happening sooner than we imagined,” according to insiders.

     

    To be or not to be, Tinubu’s purported defection has now dominated discussion in several quarters, especially after none of the aspirants agreed to the subject of a consensus candidate when it was raised by one of the conveners during yesterday’s meeting of South West Presidential ticket contenders.

     

    However it was learned that Tinubu intended to test the waters with the governorship race in Ekiti on June 18, 2022, he had to move up his tactics due to the reluctance of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to modify the Presidential primary timetable.

     

    INEC in a press statement had insisted that the Commission would on no account shift the deadline originally announced for primaries and this has thrown political parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling APC in a state of disarray ever since.

  • Asiwaju Tinubu a dogged leader – Ambode

    Asiwaju Tinubu a dogged leader – Ambode

    The 11th Bola Tinubu Colloquium to mark the 67th birthday of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) kicked off in Abuja on Thursday where Governor Akinwunmi Ambode described the celebrator as “dogged leader’’.

    In a brief speech at the ceremony which held at the International Conference Centre (ICC), the Lagos state governor said that Tinubu with “undoubted political courage’’ spearheaded the ruling party to victory in recent the national elections.

    He said that APC won at the national and state levels.

    Ambode said that Asiwaju Tinubu had been a key to the successes and progress recorded by the current administration.

    Tinubu, he said, was also going to be part of the success of Nigeria in years to come.

    “We are here today to celebrate the coming down.’’

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and many other dignitaries attended the colloquium.

    Commenting on “Nigeria’s Industrialisation Policy’’, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, unveiled the administration’s plans to spur the country’s industrialisation and growth.

    He listed Eyimba Industrial City, Lekki Modern Industrial Park and Funtua Cotton Cluster as major projects to grow Nigeria.

    The Eyimba city in Abia state, he said, covered 9,500 hectares of land. The master plan has been completed.

    The partners in the project included South Africa, United Arab Emirate, China, African Export-Import Bank.

    He reported that the power project for electricity had been put in place and the zone would create 625,000 jobs.

    The Lekki park is occupying 1,000 hectares of land designed to handle export of manufactured goods. The feasibility study of the zone has been prepared, he said.

    The Funtua cotton cluster, he said would pull more than 8,000 farmers together to restore cotton production and value chain as well as produce feeds for animals and spur textile industry.

  • Asiwaju commits suicide in Lagos hotel, posts notes on social media

    Asiwaju commits suicide in Lagos hotel, posts notes on social media

    The founder of Asiwaju Royal Furniture in Ojo, Lagos, Michael Asiwaju, popularly known as Mike Cash, has taken his own life following several rape allegations against him.

    According to reports, the late Asiwaju died at a hotel in Lagos.

    He was said to have taken a poisonous substance suspected to be Sniper and was met lifeless in his hotel room around 12am on January 13, 2019.

    It was learnt that the father of one had checked into the hotel in the evening of the previous day.

    Shortly before he committed suicide, he had expressed his intention via his Twitter handle, Asiwaju_limited, to end his life.

    “Goodbye I’ll die soon. (I) am gone,” he tweeted at 7.35pm on Saturday, January 12.

    Asiwaju was prominent on the social media platform with about 24,700 followers.

    The post was the last of several tweets the deceased broadcast last Saturday, between 5.52pm and 7.35pm, in response to the allegations.

    Last week, a Twitter user, @thatgoddess, had called out Asiwaju, noting that she had information about how he raped a woman inside his car. She, however, said facts about the allegation were still sketchy.

    Later on, she posted a chat history between her and an unnamed woman, who claimed to have been raped by the young businessman sometime in May 2017.

    In the chat history, the woman alleged that Asiwaju lured her into a hotel in Festac and forcefully slept with her.

    The woman’s chat read in part, “I don’t want anyone linking me to this. He raped me. His full name is Michael Asiwaju. He owns a furniture company. He’s also known as Mike Cash. He is mostly in Festac. He tried to lure me with money and gifts. He was asking me out and I refused. I was just fine being friends with him because he was a controlling person.

    “He said I’m his girlfriend and I just laughed about it cos (because) I never agreed to be his girlfriend. He always wanted me to come see him but I always refused. Then, he accused me of sleeping around with men. I ignored him and then he apologised. So he called me and said I should come hang out with him and his friends at the beach.

    “So I thought it was okay to go see him since it was an open place and his friends were gonna (going) be there. So when it was time to leave the beach, he was supposed to drop me off at Lekki Phase I; then I’d get Uber to take me to my house. He also had to drop one of his friends at his hotel. So we were all in the car and then his friend dropped midway.

    “Mike said we had to go to his friend’s hotel to wait for him. I didn’t even understand what was going on but I didn’t mind cos (because) we were not alone. His cousin was there too.”

    The accuser stated that when they arrived at the hotel, she waited at the lobby instead of checking into a room with Asiwaju. She explained that his cousin drove out in Asiwaju’s car and promised to come back soon.

    She continued, “Mike kept telling me to go chill in the room instead of waiting at the lobby. He kept assuring me that I’d be okay. So I went to the room; (the) biggest mistake of my life. I really trusted that nigga.

    “I was alone for a while, then he came in and locked the door. I started to panic. He started touching me and all that. I told him I wasn’t in the mood. So he said I was his girlfriend and he would have sex with me whether I was in the mood or not. I started to fight him and he became aggressive.”

    But while replying to the allegations last Saturday on his Twitter page, @Asiwaju_limited, the late businessman said the women accusing him of rape were actually his girlfriends who he met on social media platforms.

    He posted pictures of two of the purported girlfriends, claiming that they had fun together sometime in 2017 at a club, where he spent N500,000.

    Asiwaju alleged that his former business partner, one Blessing, was behind the blackmail.

    He wrote, “I (am) here, I’ll need to say my own side of the story. I know my former business partner sponsored this blackmail to destroy me cos (because) she’s contesting on the platform of All Progressives Congress.

    “You all claimed I raped you? We met on the social media, I took you to a club, I spent N500,000 popping Champaign cos (because) of you and we had sex when am (sic) high and you call it rape? In 2017, you didn’t report to the police. In 2018, you didn’t report to the police. In 2019, you decided to blackmail me.

    “This two people (sic) and Blessing should be held responsible if anything happens to me. You came to visit me cos (because) you know I have money. We went to a club; I bought drinks worth half a million naira; we had sex inside my car you claimed I raped you just to tarnish my image.

    “We discussed sex before you came; all this happened in 2017. None of you reported me to the police. In 2019 cos (because I) am supporting PDP and my bestie is contesting under APC, she sponsored this thread to destroy me.”

    Asiwaju stated further that the saga claimed the life of his ailing mother after she read the post online, adding that the blackmail had destroyed his family.

    He wrote further, “This story made me lose my mum. Even when I called, I pleaded with these people to take down the post; that my mother just had (a) heart surgery. Imagine if I wanna pay back but I won’t cos I won’t be available.

    “My advice for Nigeria girls; when you meet a guy, you like him cos he is rich; you talk sex before meeting him; don’t call it rape when he sleeps with you.

    “What will you gain from this blackmail? Imagine if I decided to come after you and your family? But I won’t. Now that you have blackmailed and destroyed me, wetin u gain (What did you gain)? My mother is gone cos of this; I can be gone too cos right now I’m not myself anymore.

    “If you all want me to expose you, I still have your fucking nudes on my phone. Did I force you to send me nudes? Do you really wanna (want to) get exposed?”

    Enraged Asiwaju subsequently posted a nude picture of one of the girlfriends purportedly sent to him. He also uploaded an 11-second video clip, showing a faceless naked woman caressing him erotically.

    He continued, “You sent me this (a picture exposing breast and private parts) and we clubbed together; got high and you called me a rapist just to tarnish my image.

    “Someone DM this (another nude picture) to me on Twitter; why do you people want us to expose ourselves? Plenty big gals (girls) on this platform send me nudes that they want me. When I sleep with them and stop talking to them, they blackmail me.

    “I don’t care anymore. My mother is dead. I’ll expose all of you. Why will you destroy me when I told you my mother just had (a) heart surgery? Now she’s gone; everyone is crying cos of your stupidity. Are you happy now?

    “You claimed I raped you. Bring police report. You feel blackmail will destroy me. Today might be the last time I tweet or breathe. Before you blackmail someone, think about their mental health. Are you happy now for destroying Asiwaju? Are you really happy Blessing?”

    Further showing signs of being suicidal, Asiwaju, a single father, said his son would not live a regrettable life as he had made enough money for him to live on when he (Asiwaju) was no longer alive.

    “My mother is gone. What am I doing here? Let’s get dirty on social media; stop calling me again to stop posting. Asiwaju raped you; tell Nigerians what led us to sex. Don’t sugarcoat things to spoil my image.

    “I met her on Twitter. She sucked my ass; she called me the richest guy she had ever met in her life and she’s among the people blackmailing me on Twitter. Imagine if I post her real face online. Goodbye I’ll die soon. (I) am gone,” he ended the tweets at 7.35pm.

    While some commenters were curious to know the suicidal man’s location and how he fared afterwards, others cracked jokes about his woes. One of them asked for his original iPhone charger before he would execute his suicide plan, while another begged for N100,000.

    Four days after the controversy played out, a police source told City Round that Asiwaju had actually killed himself at a hotel in Festac.

    Although the time he arrived at the hotel could not be ascertained, it was gathered that his corpse was found in the room around 12am last Sunday.

    The source said, “He checked into the hotel with another name entirely. He wrote his name as Prince Moses. For now, no one knew why he used another name. It was later discovered that his face was the same as that of a young businessman prominent on Twitter. The suicide might not be unconnected with rape allegations against him in the social media.”

    The Police Public Relations Officer in Lagos, CSP Chike Oti, confirmed the suicide. He said two bottles of Sniper was recovered from the incident scene.

    He said, “We are investigating a possible case of suicide. We were alerted that a young man died in his hotel room and the Commissioner of Police was informed. He directed that the body should be evacuated and that a team of detectives comprising men from the forensic unit and men from the homicide section should investigate the matter.

    “The body was inspected and there was no visible mark of violence on the corpse. Two bottles of Sniper, which we reasonably believed he must have drunk, was recovered from the hotel room. One of the bottles had been emptied while the other one was still unopened. The man checked into the hotel with the name, Prince Moses. Preliminary investigation revealed that the man was the owner of a business known as Asiwaju Royal Furniture.”

     

  • Tinubu warming up to be President come 2019 – Dele Momodu

    Publisher of the Ovation Magazine and former Presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu has explained a recent comment by an All Progressives Congress chieftain, Chief Bisi Akande, on issues of ‘automatic ticket’ is a pointer that national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bolaji Tinubu is warming up for presidency come 2019.

    Akande during a meeting of the South West leaders of the ruling party had made it clear that there was no automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Reacting to the matter in a long article he shared on social media yesterday, Momodu pointed out that Yoruba leaders are preparing a former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bolaji Tinubu for presidency come 2019.

    He said the decision is borne out of frustration, adding that the Yoruba leadership will no longer support any other tribe for the presidency.

    Part of his article reads, “What Baba Akande has not said is simply that the days when the Presidency would be voluntarily zoned to exclude most sections of the country in favour of another section, whether the candidate presented and supported by the people is competent or useless, are over.

    “The truth is zoning never worked anyway, as some Presidential candidates left their original parties for other parties in defiance of the zoning formula of their own party.

    “Without mincing words, it is obvious that the Yoruba leadership has decided it would no longer support other tribes, zones or regions to attain to power to the exclusion of their tribe.

    “They would rather work hard, reach out, and join hands with like minds to get power.

    “Their decision is borne out of the acute frustration and disappointment that makes them feel cheated about the Nigerian configuration which does not throw up the best but regularly favours the dregs of society who have only contributed to drawing Nigeria backward, in most cases.

    “The campaign has probably started in earnest, culminating in the search for a Yoruba Presidency.

    “Though the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Peter Ayodele Fayose has controversially but ceremoniously thrown his hat into the ring, it is the fact that the capo di tutti capi, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may be warming up for his turn to take a major shot at the race of his life that is most significant.

    “Mark my words. One of the greatest political strategists in Nigeria, Tinubu is tired of being a kingmaker and he would rather be the king.

    “Indeed, that has always been his ambition but this has been largely curtailed by circumstances.

    “Like many of those who supported Major General Muhammadu Buhari to attain power, after so many attempts, the former Senator and former Governor of Lagos State, feels he’s not gotten the respect and relevance he deserves for his monumental effort. Accordingly, he seems determined to make a personal push.

    “Apart from the virtues of Baba Akande that I have enumerated above, a lesser known one is his deep sense of loyalty.”