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Tag: Ehichioya Ezomon

  • Tinubu not Amaechi’s problem in Rivers – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Tinubu not Amaechi’s problem in Rivers – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    What’s happening in the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, and by extension in the Peoples Democratic Party, appears to defy logic. But it isn’t!

    It’s the way politicians muddy-up the political arena when their self interests are threatened or aspirations unfulfilled. Those are the scenarios in the Rivers APC, and PDP.

    For example, supporters of former Transportation Minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, are issuing “warnings” about his possible defection from the APC to the PDP, even as Amaechi’s notable allies leave the APC in droves.

    On the PDP side, protégées of Governor Nyesom Wike are dumping his leadership amid internal feuds stoked by Wike in protest of his defeat at the presidential primaries.

    The APC and PDP primaries in June and May were high-stake exercises that saw the former and incumbent governors of Rivers coming short in second position.

    Amaechi’s trusted ally, Eze Chukwuemaka Eze, sounded the defection alarm following well-publicised emissaries of APC’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, hobnobbing with Wike on separate occasions.

    Amaechi is reportedly “unhappy” that Tinubu has snubbed him since the duelling June 6-8, 2022, primaries in which Amaechi came second to Tinubu.

    Rather than strive to improve relationship with Amaechi post the primaries, Tinubu has literally rubbed-in his defeat by romancing with Wike, Amaechi’s political arch rival.

    Trust Wike! Fighting to recover his mojo aftermath of his defeat by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, he’s made a show of the cross-party “rapprochement” with Tinubu.

    While Amaechi’s tactically cloaked his anger over his defeat by Tinubu, Wike’s dramatised his dissatisfaction for being bested by Atiku, blaming his loss on PDP’s leaders.

    Interestingly, Wike’s display of bitterness, and his avowal to reveal the schemings that robbed him of victory, has made him the “beautiful bride” in the 2023 election cycle.

    Thus, Wike’s courted by alarmed PDP leaders angling for a truce, and chieftains of other major political parties, including the APC and Labour Party, respectively.

    This seems the immediate rationale for the angst in the Amaechi camp, and the threat of his defection to the PDP he’d decamped from in the build-up to the 2015 polls.

    It’s uncertain if the rush to exit a divided Rivers APC is a prelude to Amaechi also leaving the party. Chief Eze had earlier shot down reports to that effect. But polity watchers won’t be surprised if Amaechi joined the exodus of his former allies and supporters to return to the PDP.

    Lately, Eze purveys the alleged ill-feelings in the chapter, seemingly initially triggered by Tinubu’s backing of Amaechi’s political soulmate-turned rival, Sen. Magnus Abe, who Eze derisively labels as “Tinubu’s ally.”

    Let’s recall a scene in the heat of the campaigns to grab the APC presidential flag. In an analogy of “actions speak louder than words,” Amaechi, unveiling his presidential run at the Port Harcourt International Stadium – one of the legacy projects of his administration in Rivers (2007-2015) – did a “100-metre dash” to the cheers of his supporters.

    This was to show his fitness to be president, and a direct dig at Tinubu’s ill-health that some Nigerians say makes Tinubu unsuitable for the post of president in 2023.

    Besides, coming home to a rousing welcome from Abuja after the primaries and a seven-year stint as Minister, Amaechi’s embarked on a meet-APC-members in Rivers, during which he alleged a “dollarised” Tinubu ticket.

    Amaechi’s words: “Those who collected dollars at the APC primaries are now regretting,” perhaps for choosing Tinubu as APC’s flagbearer, instead of Amaechi who’d only battered Naira for the expectant APC delegates.

    Amaechi’s obvious outburst against APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket, is akin to the polity-shaking remarks by Tinubu in Ogun State, en route to the June primaries.

    Tinubu, crowing “Emi lo kan” (“It’s my turn” to be president), listed how he politically made many APC’s heavyweights, including President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Nationwide condemnation was swift across party lines, but particularly from members of the APC, the Presidency, the National Chairman, former Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Adamu, and chieftains of the party.

    While Sen. Adamu vowed to “punish” Tinubu for his effrontery, Tinubu’s rivals in the primaries were elated that his “unguarded statement” would sink his aspiration.

    Prior, Adamu had sprung a “consensus” presidential candidacy of Senate President Ahmad Lawan, in total conflict with the decision of the APC governors and Buhari for an open contest for the aspirants, including Dr Lawan and Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, who refused to withdraw from the race for only Southern aspirants.

    But it’s the Abeokuta no-holds-barred outing that saved Tinubu’s candidacy, and restored the unprecedented backing of Northern APC governors for the presidency to rotate to Southern Nigeria for the 2023 polls.

    At the primaries, Tinubu scored 1,271 votes, to Amaechi’s second place finishing of 316 votes that his supporters widely celebrated, even as they downplayed Tinubu’s victory and highlighted Atiku’s candidacy – suggesting that something’s amiss in the Amaechi camp.

    And soon after Amaechi’s “triumphal homecoming,” a highly-visited WhatsApp page managed by Eze, dedicated to propagating the “Principles and Philosophy of CRA” (Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi), began to run negative stories about Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket, the protests by Christians and defections from the APC therefrom.

    It’s understandable if Eze – who prides his secretaryship of the defunct New PDP (nPDP) that merged with the APC after its formation in 2013 – celebrated the emergence of Atiku as the PDP candidate, but downplaying Tinubu’s success at the primaries was beyond imagination.

    So, it looks too much for Amaechi to swallow double “uncomfortables” in the Rivers APC that’s under his leadership: Tinubu having the ear of Sen. Abe, and Governor Wike in Amaechi’s political turf.

    To be candid, Tinubu isn’t Amaechi’s problem in Rivers chapter of the APC. It’s self-inflicted as Amaechi tries to install a riverine indigene as governor since 2015.

    The laudable moves of fair and equitable representation of all sections of Rivers have been resisted by ambitious politicians from the majority upland section of the state.

    From 1999 till date, the upland has produced governors Peter Odili (1999-2007), Celestine Omehia (in 2007), Amaechi (2007-2015) and Wike (2015-2023).

    Former Sen. Abe (Rivers South East) is particularly incensed by Amaechi’s alleged scheming of the electoral process in his bid to install a governor of riverine origin.

    Feeling a sense of entitlement to the ticket he lost in 2015 and 2019, Abe reportedly sabotaged the APC craving by instigating the courts to ban wholesale APC’s candidates for governor and national and state assemblies in 2019.

    Abe mounted similar efforts for the 2023 polls, but was thwarted by the courts, prompting his decamping to the Social Democratic Party that offers him the ticket to run.

    So, rather than being hurt by Tinubu’s political romance with Abe and Wike, Amaechi should deploy Abe’s exit from the APC to re-event the party, and prevent its further depletion, and a third loss of Rivers in a row since 2015.

    Unless he’s plotted to return to the PDP all along, doing so on the back of a so-called Tinubu’s neglect would portray Amaechi as a sore loser not different from Wike that his supporters have laughed off the primaries stage.

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

  • The hullabaloo over Okowa’s ‘downgrade’ of Obi – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    The hullabaloo over Okowa’s ‘downgrade’ of Obi – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    When politicians have nothing to offer, they resort to flaunting their “superior” educational qualifications and/or public or corporate experiences to deceive the electorate.

    That’s why the haggle over “Who’s more qualified” to be Nigeria’s president in 2023 has been disputing to detract from the real issues of insecurity, poor economy, poverty, series of agitation, and disunity plaguing the country.

    The candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, have adjudged the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, as unqualified for president, and won’t be able to secure the votes for victory in the 2023 general election.

    And Obi’s reply: “They all qualify to rule Nigeria, but I’m more qualified. I’m more prepared and more physically and mentally fit to rescue the Nigerian economy from collapse and restore the nation to a path of prosperity and glory.”

    Also, Asiwaju Tinubu, responding to Atiku’s criticism of his Muslim-Muslim ticket, has rated his running mate, former Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, as more qualified than the vice presidential candidate of the PDP, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

    But Dr Okowa respectfully advised the former Lagos State governor to leave the trivial, and address the myriad of problems confronting Nigeria, the collapsing APC, and the many unsavoury issues surrounding his candidacy.

    Lately, though, Okowa got in Mr Obi’s crosshairs, for claiming that the former Anambra State governor has little experience for the presidency, which he stresses that Atiku is more qualified, and prepared for in the 2023 polls.

    But in rapid responses, Obi’s supporters, and the LP vice presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, took Okowa to the cleaners for riding the tiger’s back.

    The Okowa “dare” on “Who’s more qualified” among or between the main candidates or running mates, has echoed in Obi’s camp as a flop, and a put-down of Obi.

    Really? A flop; an Obi downgrade? Maybe from those who didn’t watch or read the BBC interview from which the media uproar emanates about Okowa belittling Obi!

    From unbiased observers, Okowa acquitted himself in flawless delivery of pidgin, and was calm, calculated, frank, measured, restrained and down-to-earth.

    And a dispassionate evaluation of the interview would reveal Okowa didn’t mean to demean Obi but to assess his experience he deploys to ramrod his messaging of a “new kid on the block,” for a “New Nigeria” from 2023.

    Hence Okowa’s admonition: “I did not say he (Obi) won’t have any votes, he will have. But what I’m saying is that he’s not a new candidate. It has not been long since he left PDP. You know he was in APGA before, from APGA he came to PDP.

    “So he cannot say anything about PDP because that’s where he was before. Some of us are still here. At every party, there are good people and bad people. But today’s Nigeria is very troubled and we need the right person (as president).

    “That is why I am appealing to our youths to be wise and vote well; they should not be blinded by the concept of a false change because that is how they raved on (former President Goodluck) Jonathan in 2015.

    “His (Obi) previous experience is not enough for this one (the 2023 presidency); it will be hard. His experience is not deep enough. Even as a current governor ruling in a time of crisis, I know how hard it is.”

    Okowa toutes Atiku’s experience gained in the Olusegun Obasanjo government (1999-2007) as vice president, and says it’s worthwhile for one to have such knowledge.

    “For them (Obasanjo and Atiku) to have handled the economy at that time and made it something better, offering hope, creating jobs, and filtering the society was not easy because it’s a bigger thing,” Okowa says.

    “So someone is supposed to learn through that. If you look at Obi’s experience, you’ll know it’s small,” Okowa says, adding that himself would learn under Atiku’s presidency.

    Was Okowa fair to Obi in the interview? Not at all, says Obi’s running mate, Dr Baba-Ahmed, who hopes Okowa would retract his comment, “because it shows that he has no idea about what capacity is.”

    Baba-Ahmed, on Channels Television programme, says, “When you speak of capacity, you are talking of people like Peter Obi and with all modesty, my humble self.”

    He dismisses Atiku, Tinubu and Kwankwaso as having had “more leadership experience,” adding, “I fail to see anyone who even comes close to his Excellency, Peter Obi.”

    Baba-Ahmed adds: “The world is now at the stage where we need private sector experience and among all of them, no one has much private sector business sense, prudence, frugality, ability to manage persons, communities, interest groups. None of the other three (candidates) has as much.”

    In the BBC interview, Okowa declined repeated baits to tackle Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, and his “godfather,” former Delta State Governor James Ibori.

    Overlooked for running mate, Wike, who came second in the primaries, has slammed Atiku and the PDP, even as his craving for “entitlement” has put Okowa on the spot.

    Okowa served as a Commissioner in the Ibori government (1999-2007), and Secretary to the State Government under former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, Ibori’s cousin. And Ibori reportedly influenced Okowa’s election in 2015.

    But for the 2023 PDP governorship, Okowa and Ibori have respectively propped up Sheriff Oborevwori and David Edevbie, and await the courts to anoint the “actual candidate,” for the INEC to enrol the “pick” for the polls.

    The interview was apt for Okowa to blast Wike and Ibori – both assumed capable of scuttling his 2023 ambition, and the governorship aspiration of his “godson,” Oborevwori, the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly.

    But on Wike, Okowa says: “We’ve been talking internally, everything is being settled. You know that when something happens and everybody can’t agree, it’s settled bit by bit.

    “That is what we’re still working on from the inside. We are finding a way to talk. I’ll say, he (Wike) is my friend, I am his friend, and we will find a way to talk.

    “For us in the party, it’s about how to bring everybody together, how all of us can work together. Wike is still a very important member of the party.

    “He has worked so hard for the party, as many of us have worked hard, too. So we pray that everything comes together and we talk. I’m sure very soon we’ll be sitting down (and talk).”

    On his bonding with Ibori, Okowa states that, “for our personal relationship, there’s no problem at all,” and acknowledges that, “Ibori is the leader of the PDP in Delta State,” and “I’m the PDP governor of Delta State.”

    And “for the politics of it,” Okowa says when the court cases arising from the primaries are decided, they (Ibori and himself) would back the eventual candidate, adding, “the PDP will have a candidate for Delta in the 2023.”

    As every politician’s word matters, and most possibly be interpreted contextually, the 2023 contestants should
    refocus attention from “Who’s more qualified” for the presidency to the bigger national issues of the day.

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

  • Insecurity: Terrorists, bandits dictate affairs of Nigerians – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Insecurity: Terrorists, bandits dictate affairs of Nigerians – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Due to insecurity in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari is perceived as unqualified to lecture on security. But he’s good at it the other day on the global stage in Liberia.

    Buhari spoke in the capital, Monrovia, and advised leaders, especially of the West African sub-region, and the African continent, to avoid actions that warrant unlawful change of governments by anti-democratic forces.

    Being a major player in coup-making – an enterprise he benefited from as Head of State from December 1983 to August 1986 – Buhari knew what he’s talking about.

    Buhari had joined other world leaders to commemorate the 175th Independence Anniversary of Liberia that Nigeria had helped rescue from warlords that plunged the country into a devastating civil war from 1989 to 1997.

    Focusing on West African leaders, Buhari relished his “democratic credentials,” and warned against conducting elections that breach “trust, freedom and transparency.”

    His words: “I would like to use the opportunity of this event to address an important issue affecting three countries in the ECOWAS region: Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

    “All the three nations have National Elections in 2023. In Nigeria, we are working towards a free, fair, transparent, credible and acceptable outcome of elections and their results.

    “It is important and necessary for all our countries to key into these resolves as they are indispensable to peace and stability in our countries and sub-region.

    “The deepening of democracy and good governance are essential antidotes to check-mate unconstitutional change of governments as we sadly witnessed within the last three years in three countries within our sub-region.”

    Ironically, back home in Nigeria, the opposition members of the National Assembly (NASS) were plotting a palace coup of sorts against the president via an impeachment.

    When on July 27 the impeachment move was shot down by Senate President Ahmad Lawan, members of the minority caucus staged a walkout of the chamber, and thereafter availed the press of their grievances.

    Senate Minority Leader Philip Aduda said that due to insecurity that’s left even Abuja unsafe, the Senate, at a closed door session, took a decision to give Buhari a six-week ultimatum to resolve the problem or be impeached.

    But Dr Lawan, expected to “brief the public on the issue that happened,” shot it down for not personally briefed, prompting the minority caucus to stage a walkout.

    As Aduda told the press: “We are worried that nowhere is safe in Nigeria, and as such, we have walked out of the chamber in protest. The security situation is deteriorating and urgent steps need to be completely taken to ensure that these issues are curbed immediately.”

    At the July 28 plenary, the House of Representatives’ minority caucus declared that it’s “on the same page” with its Senate counterpart on the threat to impeach Buhari.

    Nigeria’s pervading insecurity has informed recalling the late Gen. Sani Abacha as saying: “Any insurgency that lasts for more than a day has the backing of government.”

    True talk, as the Abacha junta sponsored the terrorism visited on agitators for revalidation of the annulled epochal June 12, 1999, poll won by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola!

    Really, there appears an official connivance in the current criminality, with high-profile bandits on security wanted lists reinforcing alleged government’s involvement.

    On a viral video, a notorious bandit swore by Allah that it’s the government that gave them arms to carry out the bloody campaigns against innocent Nigerians.

    Another bandit leader, Abu Sani, told the BBC Hausa report that he master-minded the kidnap of schoolgirls in Jengebe, Zamfara State, “to humiliate the government for sending troops to disturb us.”

    He said they reduced N200 million ransom to N60 million, “after they (government) asked some people to plead with us,” adding, “we used the money to buy more arms.”

    The Zamfara State government had denied paying any ransom, but Abu Sani insisted that, “they paid N60 million. I collected the money with my own hands.”

    Yet, another bandit alleged that “many big people, including government officials,” gain from the booming business of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria.

    Terrorists have lately raised the ante, threatening to kidnap President Buhari, Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, other state governors, legislators and ministers.

    They’ve made a show of the threats by attacking the advance convoy of Buhari’s homecoming to Daura, Katsina State, that injured several journalists.

    Terrorists waylaid troops of the Guards Brigade, Nigerian Army in Abuja, resulting in “three casualties… evacuated to the Military Hospital for immediate medical attention.”

    The Guards’ spokesperson noted that the ambush within the general area of Bwari, “shows that the terrorists were actually within the location and possibly preparing to carry out their plans to attack the Nigerian Law School in Bwari, as earlier reported.”

    This comes as ISWAP terrorists attacked the Medium Security Custodial Centre at Kuje in Abuja, and freed hundreds of inmates, including 64 terrorists.

    Bandits’ attack on a mining site in Niger State killed 13 policemen and civilians, and many kidnapped along with four Chinese. But scores of troops died later in an ambush as they responded to a distress call on the mine attack.

    The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya, admitting “there are security challenges in some parts of the country,” has stated that “the time is up” for bandits, terrorists and other criminals.

    “This is a message to all the criminals, whether they are making videos or whatever they are making; the time is up and we will get to them by the grace of God… Anybody, who takes up arm against the state in whatever form it is, will have him/her self to blame,” Yahaya said.

    He, however, stated that, “the recent happenings by these criminal elements are panic action, and they will definitely see the noose getting close to them; it’s just a matter of time, we will get them.”

    Commendably, the COAS avowal has yielded dividend in a combined ground and air operation that “successfully neutralised about 30 terrorists in a clearance patrol around Bwari general area between 24-26 July 2022.”

    Yet, the security forces need to do more. As a bandit leader, Abu Aleru, has confessed, bandits kill; they don’t take prisoners, except for ransom to buy more arms.

    The terrorists’ siege to Nigeria seems nervily close to the seat of power, whose occupants have striven to debunk alleged ceding of too much ground to marauders to dictate and control the daily affairs of Nigerians.

    The hoodlums strike at anytime and anywhere. At home, in the office, farm, marketplace, relaxation spot or on the road, Nigerians have nowhere to hide in their country from being mowed down or captured for ransom or ritual.

    Nigerians now calculate the risk factor for venturing out, from or to their homes at a particular time, and through a particular route, to avoid falling victims to criminal gangs in the neighbourhoods or in bushes on the highways.

    The auguries are frightening. So, Buhari should show enough gravitas, as he finishes his tenure, and faces the 2023 polls he promises to make a showpiece of “transparency and credibility,” as a parting legacy.

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

  • Obi: May ‘ObIdients’ not dim his ambition – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Obi: May ‘ObIdients’ not dim his ambition – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    From the look of it, the poster wasn’t embossed, but the mere pasting of the campaign item of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Muslims’ prayer mats was enough to set off a firestorm.

    The mats, whose pictorial was splashed on various social media outlets and platforms, were reportedly donated by promoters of “Obi for President” in the 2023 elections.

    Reactions were quick from adherents of the Islamic and Christian faiths, majorly in criticism of the insensitivity by the donors of the mats to Muslims for prayers.

    The obviously uninformed donors meant no mischief, but to advance Obi’s candidacy that’s shaken the political arena of 2023 with his message of a “New Nigeria.”

    The negative reactions are indicative of a bitterly-divided country on religious lines, such that “small matters” are interpreted as impugning on religious beliefs.

    This division is the handiwork of politicians, to gain power and influence, and control over their followers who, sadly, copycat them in the misuse of religion during elections.

    By all standards, Obi is a gentleman, who hasn’t overtly pandered to religion in his presidential attempts: as running mate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 polls under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and in 2023 flying the flag of the Labour Party.

    But this can’t be said of his supporters, who’ve literally hijacked his campaign into a “movement” primed for a revolutionary change of the status quo in the opposition PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The movement is peopled mainly by the youths that propelled the famous 2020 #EndSARS protests that took Nigeria by storm, and those in power by surprise.

    Described in hyperboles, and parading as a “tsunami” that will sweep away the old order, and the rot in the system, the movement may be Obi’s Achilles’ heel in 2023.

    In its frenzy to enhance his chances, the disparately agglomerated group has exhibited sectional and religious biases antithetical to Obi’s positioning and posturing.

    The movement dares every segment and section of the polity into a political dwell, and doubles down on negative responses to comments querying Obi’s poll prospects.

    Prompting Obi to tweet to his supporters on July 3, to be “tolerant of other people’s views, dissent, divergent opinions and possibly learn from them.”

    “While the frustration and anger in the country is understandable, we must strive to channel that energy positively in ways that will earn the support and collaboration of others,” Obi said.

    There’s no harm in challenging the orthodoxy that serves the interests of the powerful few, and emasculates the majority. That’s the thrust of Obi’s campaign ab initio.

    But members of the movement leave nothing to chance, not even the sensitive and “forbidden” areas that touch the raw nerves of the society, like the Muslims’ prayer mats.

    The Obi campaign poster on the mats, according to a tweep (someone who uses Twitter) on June 1, “is just a poster and not a paint on the mat; the receiver can easily remove it if they want to use it for prayers.”

    But critics thought it’s a ploy to malign the Muslim faithful, who, a rejoinder says, “don’t even wear dresses with human image, talk less on the mats, when praying.”

    The vexed prayer mats left Obi fending off a collateral damage via a disclaimer on July 1, iterating his respect for various religions catering to millions of Nigerians.

    Obi’s tweet: “The inclusion of my picture on the praying mat by a support group was misguided, even with the best of intentions. It didn’t emanate from my campaign team.

    “I have deep respect for the Muslim faith and indeed, for every other religion. We will never mock any faith, ethnicity, or gender. We are one Nigeria.”

    Did Obi react likewise to the portrayal of his rivals in the 2023 contest – Atiku and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu – when his supporters compared them to the Biblical thieves nailed, and flanked Jesus Christ on the cross?

    That picture of Obi, flanked by Atiku and Tinubu, literally compared Obi to Christ, a blasphemy that could generate untold reactions were alleged Christian “thieves” photoshopped to flank the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

    The image trended for weeks on social media, with the Obi support groups defending its retweets and repostings as being deployed to de-market his political rivals.

    In this era of fake news that parades little or no evidenced allegations of criminal nature, Obi’s supporters can damage his brand if rivals start to throw dirts at him.

    Make no mistake about it: Obi isn’t a saint, not if he’s a politician, and was in power to the level of governing Anambra State in Nigeria’s corruption-infested system.

    He’s managed to escape searing searchlights because, since leaving political office in 2014, he’s mastered the art of controlling his messaging, which his other two main rivals – Atiku and Tinubu – haven’t been able to learn.

    Yet, how many fires – and how quickly – can Obi quench, as the movement that evolves from his ambition takes on a life of its own, and hardly reverts, if at all, to the campaign that’s the clearing house for his messaging?

    Consider how the “ObIdients” – with fuel from the rhetorics of mouthpieces of the Nigerian Christendom on the 2023 polls – saturate the social media with negativities in regard to the APC/Tinubu Muslim-Muslim ticket!

    Obi distancing his campaign from misrepresentations is a first step to taming the monster of unsolicited messaging that can blunt his vision and mission for the presidency.

    His campaign should wield the big stick, by divorcing any identified group(s) out of sync with Obi’s messaging, all in the guise of canvassing for memberships or votes for him.

    Besides calling his supporters to order, and issuing to them a code of conduct that conforms with his stellar behaviour in the political arena; it’s time to rein in the seemingly derring-do, non-conformists in their midst.

    The general election is riding on the back of a traumatised citizenry in all fronts of human existence, and Obi has thrown himself up as capable of reversing the locust years, and ushering in a new paradigm for Nigeria.

    This self-imposed assignment that’s gathered a novel momentum, and following shouldn’t be slowed down or derailed by the actions of overzealous supporters.

    Too many hands shouldn’t spoil the aromatic broth Obi has promised, and looks set to prepare and serve the millions of hungry and starving Nigerians. He should take heed while it’s still daytime in the journey to 2023!

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • 2023: It’s good Atiku sticks with Okowa – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    2023: It’s good Atiku sticks with Okowa – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    It’s settled on July 15, 2022: The political parties in Nigeria participating in the 2023 elections submitted the final list of their presidential and vice presidential candidates.

    Yet, controversies continue to dog the filings by the parties with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which’d insisted on the deadline.

    The initial dust was raised by the reported scheming of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, with the Christian community vowing a voter blowback.

    Then, to meet with the preliminary deadline of June 17 set by the INEC, the candidates of three of the parties – the APC, Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) – engaged in the novel naming of “placeholders” for their “authentic” running mates.

    The protests against the APC candidate’s pioneer choice of a fellow Muslim, Alhaji Kabiru Masari of Katsina State, as his placeholder, and Masari’s replacement with another Muslim, Senator Kashim Shettima (Borno Central) as the “actual” running mate, resulted in the alleged indefinite postponement of unveiling of Shettima on July 14.

    Due to the opposition to a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the February poll, the APC allegedly considered replacing the former Borno State governor with a Christian on the eve of the July 15 deadline for turning in the candidates’ lists.

    But Shettima remained the APC running mate as at close of submission of names of the candidates at 6pm on July 15, as replacing him with a Christian would’ve been incongruous, and done more political damage to the party.

    Tinubu couldn’t forcefully defend his pick of Shettima, as his running mate, owing to the reported interests among Northern APC governors that wanted the post.

    But not so with the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who’s repeatedly defended his choice of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his vice presidential candidate.

    Atiku’s pick of Okowa had splintered – and still divide – the PDP, with most of the power players calling for his replacement with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.

    The critics’ urging of Atiku to accept Wike as running mate, as he topped the PDP screening for the position, tantamount to waiving Atiku’s say in who runs with him, even if the “choice” isn’t politically compatible with him.

    But Atiku wanted just the opposite: A “simpatico” running mate (as United States President Joe Biden craved during his run for office in 2020) that’s competent, and won’t rock the boat if they’re elected in the February 2022 poll.

    Amplifying Atiku’s position, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP and former Minister of Police Affairs, Waziri Adamu, recalled: “The PDP has had a history of what happened between 2003 and 2007, where there was a deep-seated crisis between the President and the Vice President, and nobody wants a repeat.

    “Hence the candidate, who won the election on his merit, must be given the right… to make a choice on who will be his running mate, (and) not the party (choosing for them).”

    What an irony! Atiku obviously rejected Wike to avoid a similar scenario he’d with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who lately regretted accepting him (Atiku) as vice presidential candidate in the 1999 poll that they won together, and were-elected in 2003.

    The aggrieved PDP chieftains talked about fairness in politics, arguing that besides Wike coming second to Atiku in the May 2022 PDP primaries, he scored highest in the straw poll to choose Atiku’s running mate.

    In the behind-the-scenes vetting involving 17 PDP leaders, Wike allegedly scored 14 of the 17 votes, prompting his recommendation as Atiku’s running mate.

    Poll watchers may dismiss “fairness” as a bedrock for democratic practice, as politicians majorly promote self-interest and how to win election, to claim or retain power.

    Atiku settled for Okowa to serve his interest, and complement him to win the presidency. So, he trumped other considerations, like Wike’s touted capacity to galvanise voters and bankroll the PDP 2023 campaigns.

    After all, Atiku has bankable millions of votes, and the war chest to single-handedly finance the presidential contest. Any contributions from Okowa are an added advantage.

    The PDP leaders’ harping on fairness in their canvassing for Wike to be Atiku’s running mate is fair enough. And that’s if politics were based on fairness. But it isn’t!

    And if history is any guide, critics won’t ascribe “fairness” to Wike, nor blame Atiku for picking Okowa, who came second to Wike in the PDP committee screening for a vice presidential candidate to Atiku.

    The interesting bent to Atiku’s decision to pick Okowa is the memory it brings in the infamous “16 is greater than 19” votes under President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Then, Wike, as Minister of State (Education), was a rabid supporter of President Jonathan, who’s at loggerheads with Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

    In his bid for re-election as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Amaechi scored 19 votes, while his challenger and pro-Jonathan Plateau State Governor Jonah David Jang, polled 16 votes.

    But Jonathan upheld Jang as the “winner,” and Wike couldn’t be happier, as Jonathan was undermining Amaechi’s hold on power in Rivers, which finally fell to the PDP in 2015, and enabled Wike to become governor.

    Still on fairness in politics, Wike shouldn’t have stood for president, for dissing the Southern Governors’ Forum (SGF) resolution for the presidency to rotate to the South.

    Despite this notice, Wike rooted for emergence of a Northern president, and endorsed Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed as the “best man for president.”

    Wike only retraced his steps when the agitation for a Southern president had gone beyond his calculation as a possible running mate to Mohammed in the 2023 polls.

    The BIG question: If the shoe were on the other foot – Atiku naming Wike as running mate – would he have allowed Okowa to replace him? That’s unimaginable!

    The odd request by the PDP leaders was for Atiku to do the unintended: change his mind, and designate Okowa as a “placeholder” for Wike, the “authentic” running mate.

    Thus, Atiku would’ve mimicked the candidate of the APC, Tinubu, the LP’s Obi, and the NNPP’s Kwankwaso, who picked placeholders as their preliminary running mates.

    Iterating his choice of Okowa, Atiku, on July 14, barely 24 hours to the deadline for listing of candidates’ names, stomped with Okowa in Osogbo, Osun State capital city, for the PDP candidate in the July 16 governorship poll.

    It’s good that Atiku stuck with Okowa to the end of the nominating process, and left the other three candidates to play catch-up in the high-stake march to 2023 elections.

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Kuje attack: Buhari should be mad, not ‘disappointed’ – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Kuje attack: Buhari should be mad, not ‘disappointed’ – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Was President Muhammadu Buhari quoted correctly or misrepresented? That he’s “disappointed” by the failure of security operatives to stem, and crush or repel the daredevil attack on the Custodial Centre in Kuje, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja?

    And this from a president in charge and control of Nigeria’s security apparatus as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces? It’s unbelievable! It’s unimaginable! It’s unprecedented! In fact, it’s un-presidential!

    The attack, claimed by Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) terrorists, weren’t just an assault on a Medium Security prison, but a strike at the heart of Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja, and the seat of governmental power.

    At invasion, the centre was holding high-profile inmates: Former Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame; former head of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), DCP Abba Kyari; and 63 terrorists “freed” during the milieu.

    Ironically, the terrorists’ attack came barely hours after a daring by a separate set of terrorists on Buhari’s advance convoy to his hometown of Daura in Katsina State.

    In the light of these twin happenings alone, the president isn’t only unsafe in his community, but also presents a practice target for various terrorists united in recklessly shedding innocent blood across Nigeria.

    Hence Buhari should display more than “disappointment” over the attack by the terrorists that’ve expanded their campaigns from the North-East to the North-West, to North Central (Middle Belt) and the South-West.

    The president’s anger should erupt, with indignation, like a volcano, spilling lava over those that failed the nation in the discharge of their security responsibilities.

    During his unexpected visit to the Kuje Custodial Centre on July 6, aftermath of the terrorists’ onslaught, Buhari could’ve let fly the whip, by sacking or suspending those directly or remotely connected with or assigned to keeping the facility secured 24 hours, seven days a week.

    In a readout by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, on the visit, Buhari said: “I am disappointed with the intelligence system. How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?” A loaded poser for the security high commend!

    When he’s briefed on the terrorists’ attack, the president asked the right questions that backgrounded the invasion, saying that like most Nigerians, he’s “shocked by both the scale and audacity of the attack.”

    Then, he queried the briefers: “How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack? How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them can you account for? How many personnel did you have on duty? How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?”

    The security chiefs were quick to tell Buhari the number of inmates the terrorists freed, and those recaptured; and the huge amount of money, in local and foreign currencies, that the attackers had “stolen” as their “spoils of war.”

    But listing the number of inmates killed or injured, the officers skirted two questions Buhari posed: “Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do?”

    Buhari wanted to know the casualties sustained by the attackers, but the officers nebulously claimed that many of the reported 300-man invaders were killed.

    An apparently dissatisfied Buhari, accompanied by top officials of his government, said he was expecting from the same officers “a comprehensive report” on the incident.

    Given this state of affairs, these security chiefs should be grilled, to reveal what they knew before the attacks, and what they did during the unhindered terrorists’ operation.

    Nigerians had expected Buhari to impose immediate sanctions on his security appointees that’ve repeatedly let him and the nation down, with none held to account.

    Thus, Buhari’s visit to the custodial centre was a perfect setting for him to dish out adequate punishments for the unmistakable dereliction of duty by the security officials.

    Now, the what’s, the how’s and why’s of the attack at the custodial centre are coming into the open, and they’d form a trove of information for investigators to proceed from.

    There’re allegations of complicity, and compromise of security at the facility, such as the reported withdrawal of the military guards 24 hours before the attack executed in the intervening period before the guards’ replacement.

    Who ordered the withdrawal of the military guards said to be familiar with the centre’s terrain, without simultaneous replacement by a new batch of guards?

    Reports speak about intelligence shared by the Department of State Services (DSS) with the security commands, on an imminent attack on the custodial centre.

    That security operatives manning the centre, including officers of the DSS, allegedly fled when the terrorists landed. The DSS has denied its personnel fled the centre.

    Besides, there’re startling revelations by a self-appointed negotiator between a band of terrorists and the Federal Government, Mallam Tukur Mamu, a media consultant to Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi.

    In a statement in Kaduna State on July 6, Mamu said that before the July 5 attack on the Kuje custodial centre, he had shared intelligence with the relevant security authorities, who apparently failed to act on it.

    He said: “Even on the tendency and threat to attack targets and other facilities of interest like the Kuje Correctional Centre attacks, I have shared that intelligence with the security agencies and the committee that was constituted by CDS (Chief of Defence Staff), Gen. Lucky Irabor.

    “I can confirm, without a doubt, that the Kuje Correctional Centre attack was executed and coordinated by the same group that attacked the Abuja-Kaduna bound train because they gave indications of imminent attacks to that effect, which I shared.”

    The “scale and audacity of the attack” on the Kuje Custodial Centre, and the alleged shared intelligence that was obviously ignored or compromised, are too weighty for President Buhari to wait for a “comprehensive report” before announcing “deterrents” against officials that failed in their duties to secure the facility, and let Nigeria down. The time to act is now when the iron is hot!

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

  • 2023: ‘Certificate forgery’ threatens Tinubu’s bid – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    ‘Eneke’ the bird, in acclaimed Prof. Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece, “Things Fall Apart,” says, “Since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching.”

    This analogy comes handy in the allegation of “forgery” against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    He’s accused of submitting altered credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the February-March 2023 general election in Nigeria.

    Of concern is that the new documents differ from those he presented when he vied for governor of Lagos State in 1999, won the seat and ruled from 1999 to 2007.

    Missing from the documents are Tinubu’s primary and secondary school records, which he claims were lost when state actors torched his home during the struggles for revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993, election.

    Tinubu, a Senator in the pseudo-military-civilian era, became a major player in the ‘June 12 struggle,’ leading to threats to his life, and prompting him to flee into exile.

    Eleven days to the July 15 deadline for substitution of candidates for the 2023 polls, Tinubu, the “Jagaban Borgu,” sweats it out to fill his running mate’s slot.

    He’s faced a lot of blowback for allegedly scheming to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket in a nearly, evenly divided Nigeria between adherents of Christianity and Islam.

    Failing to name a running mate after the June 6-8, 2022, APC primaries in Abuja, Tinubu (and some presidential candidates) has recourse to a non-extant “placeholder” as proxy for his “authentic” vice presidential candidate.

    Commentators and legal experts have criticised the adoption of a “placeholder” or stand-in, hold-in or proxy as unknown to the laws guiding elections in Nigeria.

    The Centre for Reforms and Public Advocacy (CRPA), which’s also faulted Tinubu’s pick of a placeholder for his running mate, has threatened to sue him for perjury, for reportedly submitting forged documents to the INEC.

    The CRPA had given the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, a 48-hour ultimatum to arrest and prosecute Tinubu, failing which he would be served a court order of mandamus to effect the arrest.

    The CRPA’s legal adviser and rights activist, Agu Kalu, at a press conference in Abuja on June 25, said Tinubu isn’t qualified to be president of Nigeria, as he supplied “false information on oath” in Form EC 9 to the INEC.

    Mr Kalu specifically alleged that Tinubu, in 1999, claimed to have attended Saint Paul’s Aroloya Children’s Home School, Ibadan, between 1958 and 1964, and Government College, Ibadan, between 1965 and 1969.

    But in his 2022 Form EC 9 to the INEC, Tinubu left blank the columns for primary and secondary schools – leading to the assumption he didn’t attend any of such schools.

    This, to the CRPA, is unimaginable, as Tinubu claims university qualifications in the same INEC’s Form EC 9, and thus should answer to the courts that he’s dragged for years by legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN).

    As did – and still do – many Nigerians, including former Military Governor and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), retired Commodore Olabode George, Gani had questioned Tinubu’s biological data (bio data).

    Gani’s writs focused on Tinubu’s conflicting statements, and documents regarding his name(s), parentage, place of birth, state of origin, primary and secondary schools, and universities attended, at home and abroad, and the certificates obtained therefrom.

    The matter traveled the courts, and became functus officio (of no further authority or legal effect) when Gani died, and yet, the Tinubu qualifications saga remains.

    The posers needing answers: Why are the credentials that Tinubu submitted in 2022 to the INEC different from or at variance with the ones he tendered in 1999?

    Are there electoral laws prohibiting candidates from presenting credentials separate from the documents submitted in previous election(s)?

    Is levying forgery against Tinubu based on circumstantial evidence or “proof beyond reasonable doubt,” as the main ingredient for determination of a criminal felony?

    When has forgery become a heinous crime to attract arrest of Tinubu, as canvassed, instead of filing a cause against him, to appear in court and defend himself?

    Tinubu seems to imbibe the saying, “Once bitten, twice shy,” to stay ahead of those after his ambition, and avoid political troubles that filings with INEC could occasion.

    He wants to prevent what happened to Bayelsa State Goveror-elect, David Lyon, who, via a Supreme Court judgment on February 13, 2020, lost the seat 24 hours to swearing in, due to errors in the names of his Deputy-Governor-elect, Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo! Like the Biblical Moses, Lyon saw the Government House in Yenagoa, Bayelsa’s capital city, without occupying it!

    Tinubu may’ve also taken lessons from the playbook of Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, who endured similar allegations, but outsmarted his opponents at the courts.

    Like Tinubu faces, the plaintiffs in the Obaseki case – the All Progressives Congress and another – alleged that the credentials submitted for his election in 2016 didn’t match the documents he tendered for his re-election in 2020.

    That Obaseki didn’t attend the University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan, as he lacked the entry requirements for Classical Studies in 1976, and forged the institution’s certificate.

    They alleged discrepancies that backgrounded the case, such as irregular/incomplete/altered/missing dates, signatures and other information in the credentials.

    The plaintiffs called six witnesses, including a student of the university that graduated in Classical Studies in 1976, and one that studied Agricultural Economics (1974-1978).

    Obaseki denied the charges, and called three witnesses, counting Abayomi Ajayi, UI’s Deputy Registrar, Legal, and Eghosa Osaghae, a Prof. of Comparative Politics at UI, and Obaseki’s secondary school and university mate.

    Below is the decision of a Federal High Court in Abuja, in the suit against Obaseki, that can serves as a “locus classicus” (a classic case or example) in forgery matters.

    In his ruling, Justice Ahmed Mohammed held that the plaintiffs failed to “prove beyond reasonable doubt,” the alleged discrepancies in the documents that Obaseki filed with the INEC in 2022.

    The Judge said that, “the evidence of the plaintiffs is at variance with their allegations,” noting that, “allegation of forgery borders on crime, which must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.”

    “In the instant case, no iota of evidence, talk-less of a proof beyond reasonable doubt, was brought to prove the allegation of forgery against the first defendant (Obaseki).

    “Having thoroughly analysed the evidence of this case, it is the conclusion of this court that the defendant did not forge his O’Level certificate, his HSC certificate, and particularly his University of Ibadan degree certificate. Accordingly, the plaintiffs’ case is dismissed.”

    As Tinubu’s 1999 filings with INEC vary from the ones in 2022, can the CRPA prove a case of forgery, and stop his lifelong ambition to rule Nigeria?

    As Nigerians await the CRPA to advance its arrest and legal threats against Tinubu, and the courts to make their pronouncements accordingly, the intriguing and thought-provoking issue has the potential to shape the direction of the 2023 polls, and the polity therefrom.

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

  • 2023: Okotie, Bakare taking Nigerians for granted – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    2023: Okotie, Bakare taking Nigerians for granted – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

    This declaration by Edmund Burke is apropos for the clamour for religious leaders to join politics and lead by uprightness in governance.

    But it appears that Nigeria’s “Men of God” of the Christian faith have taken undue advantage of the people’s desire for change, to want to cut corners to get to power.

    Without as much as doing the heavy lifting of politicking and engaging the voters, some clergymen want power on a platter via gimmickry, blackmail or barefaced threats.

    The religiously-inclined office seekers employ diverse strategies, the most abused being to invoke God’s name as anointing, choosing or endorsing them for president.

    They claim, without going through the rigours of an election, that God has anointed them to inherit the victory of a president-elect, who, they predict, won’t be sworn-in due to ill-health, death or other untoward circumstances.

    The clergymen also claim that God has endorsed them to take over from an incumbent president, in a caretaker or an interim capacity, until a new president is elected.

    And they strive to get to power by asking presidential candidates to drop their ambition and allow them to be president, to tackle thorny national issues of the day.

    In these ploys, the political clerics assume that by invoking God’s name, the electorate would vote for them, or agitate and plead for power to be freely given to them.

    Let’s check the electoral landscape since democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999, and take a couple of such clerics that had literally thrown their hats into the ring.

    Back in 2006, prior to the 2007 general election, popular televangelist and former music star, Pastor Chris Okotie, formed the Fresh (Democratic) Party (FP), to use as a vehicle to the presidency.

    But each election cycle, Okotie hardly left the comfort zones of his Household of God Church in the Oregun area of Lagos State, the klieg-lights of television houses, and the print media, to solicit votes to be president.

    He usually devoted a major session of every Sunday service to politicking, laying out the ills of the country, and how God had ordained him to become the “Messiah President” to take Nigeria to the Promised Land.

    He would repeat the same themes, and act likewise at subsequent polls if his party and his name scaled the qualifying requirements of the electoral umpire.

    Yet, Okotie and his party had barely reached or crossed the thousand-mark at the polls nationwide, making polity watchers to wonder why the voters shun him always.

    Taken as a mandate, Okotie can record huge votes even from the “hallelujah” devotees of his church, and the non-congregant recipients of his yearly philanthropic awards.

    But having taken vying for, and securing the presidency as a huge joke, Pastor Okotie is at it again for the 2023 presidential run, devising another ploy to get to power.

    He’s asking the presidential candidates of the political parties for the February polls to step down for him, to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2023.

    Accordingly, Okotie has urged Buhari to hand over to him as an interim president in 2023, as he claims to be the “right person to right the wrongs in the country.”

    Okotie’s exact words: “I want to appeal to all presidential candidates to withdraw from the race and allow me to come in as the interim president. I want to implore Asiwaju (Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to support my government for the betterment of the country.

    “And I also want to tell (Peter) Obi (the Labour Party (LP) flagbearer), that the system that introduced him cannot take him anywhere because he cannot operate in the system we have now. All the candidates should support me to succeed Buhari as the interim president.”

    Okotie’s recourse to getting to power by any means but democratic, even as he admits the hijack of the polity by strong men, has received hisses from former Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central).

    In a tweet, the rights activist advised Okotie to go revive his political platform of Fresh Democratic Party, rather than attempting to derail the march to the 2023 elections.

    Pastor Bakare, General Overseer of Lagos-based Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), continues to glory in his zero score at the APC primaries early in June.

    The lawyer-turned cleric, who’s candidate Buhari’s running mate in the 2011 polls, claims he’s been ordained by God to take over from Buhari, as the “16th President of Nigeria,” on an interim basis from May 2023.

    Days after flunking the primaries, Bakare resurrected his 2019 “prophecy” of being Nigeria’s 16th president, noting he lost the primaries because he refused to compromise.

    “Our heads remain unbowed because we did not compromise on the values that are integral to building a New Nigeria,” he told cheering congregants on June 12.

    “For us, the means has always been as important as the end. This is why we confidently wear our ‘zero votes’ as a badge of zero tolerance for a certain kind of politics.”

    Bakare, who shelled out N100 million, possibly donated by his congregants, to obtain the APC nomination forms, can’t be serious talking about not compromising values.

    As he congratulates Tinubu for winning the APC primaries, Bakare wants a short cut to power by revisiting his old prediction: “I’m the next president come May 29, 2023.”

    Recall that in September 2019, Bakare, delivering a church sermon, declared that “nothing can stop me from succeeding (newly re-elected President) Buhari” in 2023.

    He told his ecstatic congregation: “Take it to the mountain top if you have never heard it before. I am saying it to you this morning, in the scheme of things, as far as politics of Nigeria is concerned, President Buhari is number 15 and yours sincerely (Bakare) is number 16.

    “I never said that to you before, I want to let you know it this morning; nothing can change it, in the name of Jesus. He (Buhari) is number 15 (and) I am number 16.”

    Isn’t it ridiculous that the religious partisans talking about a “New Nigeria” are craving for undemocratic tactics of the bigoted military era to install them as president?

    No wonder Pastors Okotie and Bakare still live the dream of becoming president anchored on a reported prophetic word of God, rather than through an electoral process!

    Save a military coup in this season of “ObIdient” politics, and the #EndSARS on Nigerians’ minds, the Okotie and Bakare longing to be president will remain a pipe dream!

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

  • The yelling over Tinubu’s choice of Muslim running mate – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    The warning about, and the calls for a religiously-motivated voter backlash that preceded Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s alleged “intention” to choose a Muslim vice presidential candidate for the February 2023 general election haven’t abated.

    They’ve escalated since June 16, 2022, when Tinubu, a Muslim and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), announced a fellow Muslim, Kabir Ibrahim Masari, from Katsina State, as a hold-in/stand-in/place-holder/proxy, as his running mate at the polls.

    Not even Tinubu’s response to State House correspondents’ query that he’d pick a Christian deputy candidate was taken for its face value, but considered as an off-the-cuff remarks by the APC candidate to distract from the reality.

    Tinubu’s intended choice comes against the Christian community’s fierce opposition to a Muslim-Muslim ticket in a religiously-polarised society by the dominant faiths of Christianity and Islam.

    Politicians have exploited religion to divide Nigeria, such that the mention of fielding members of one faith as president and vice president is anathema in the country’s contemporary politics.

    Only in the June 12, 1993, presidential poll had a Muslim-Muslim ticket of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola and Amb. Babagana Kingibe been floated, and succeeded in Nigeria.

    Still, that acclaimed free, fair and credible election was annulled by the retired Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida military junta, and Abiola, winner of the poll, died in detention, where he’s custodied by the late Gen. Sani Abacha, “for declaring himself President.”

    But in 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari posthumously recognised Abiola (and Kingibe) as truly the winner of the election, and awarded him the national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), conferred only on Presidents of Nigeria.

    The outcry against Tinubu’s Muslim running mate stems from the fear of, and threats by vocal adherents to Islamise Nigeria, through a jihad, and “dip the Holy Qur’an in the Atlantic ocean” in Southern Nigeria, to symbolise the country as an Islamic State.

    These threats have intensified under President Buhari, a Muslim, with the Boko Haram/Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) extending their bloody campaigns from the North-East to the North-West and South-West, to proclaim a Caliphate over Nigeria.

    Likewise, a band of armed Fulani herdsmen and bandits, reportedly invited from neighbouring West African countries, has embarked on a kidnapping and killing spree, and sacking and occupying indigenous lands and communities across Nigeria.

    The above is the backdrop to Tinubu and the APC leaders’ possible settling for a Muslim-Muslim ticket that’s alarmed the umbrella Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Catholic Church in Nigeria and Arewa Christians and Indigenous Pastors Association (ACIPA).

    The bodies have warned against a Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian presidential ticket by political parties, and vowed to mobilise massive votes against the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket.

    The CAN, in a statement by its Secretary General, Joseph Daramola, on June 14, urged political parties to ensure balance in their presidential tickets, warning that a Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket would be unacceptable.

    It said: “… the CAN will not accept any presidential ticket that is Christian-Christian or Muslim-Muslim. This simply means that where the presidential candidate of the party is a Christian, the deputy should be a Muslim, and where the presidential candidate is a Muslim, the deputy should be a Christian.

    “In the context of growing religiously-motivated terrorism,… conceiving and executing any plot to have both the President and Vice President come from the same religion is a deliberate effort to ignite the fire of religious warfare in Nigeria.

    “Therefore, we give notice to all political parties that we will protect the religious diversity of the Nigerian State and will mobilise… against any party that sows the seed of religious conflict by presenting to Nigeria a presidential ticket that is Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian.”

    A statement by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria came on June 14 via its Secretary-General, Rev. Fr Zachara Nyantiso Samjumi, and Director, Social Communications, Rev. Fr Michael Nsikak Umoh.

    In it, the Church said there’s nothing wrong in a Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket in a democractic dispensation “if there is mutual trust and respect for the human person, and the desire for seeking political office is the fostering of the common good.”

    “With the present glaring crisis and division in the nation, a Muslim-Muslim ticket would be most insensitive and a tacit endorsement of the negative voices of many non-state actors who have been threatening this nation’s unity and peaceful coexistence without an arrest,” the Church said.

    “Going by the Kaduna experience, we can perceive the havoc the Muslim-Muslim ticket has brought upon the predominantly Christian people of Southern Kaduna.

    “We… strongly advise those political parties toying with divisive agenda to have a rethink by presenting a more inclusive ticket, while calling on people of goodwill to resist this budding injustice that may be hatched against a cross section of the people,” the Church added.

    And the ACIPA in a statement by its Chairman, Rev. Shehu Luke, on June 14, said it’s “aware of the plan for a Muslim-Muslim ticket or an alternative ‘use’ of (a) Christian running mate to be vice-president to assuage his Christians while promoting Islamic agenda.”

    “This is unacceptable to ACIPA, our networking partners, and indeed all Christians in the next dispensation. Any political party or candidate that neglects Arewa (northern) Christians shall do so at their peril.

    “ACIPA shall be consulting widely in the days ahead for a definite decision on who to endorse as the President of Nigeria in the 2023 elections,” the association said.

    Despite these warnings by the Christian community against a Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian presidential ticket, the APC and Tinubu are accusingly set to name a Muslim running mate.

    Ahead of the 2023 elections, it can be said that the APC and Tinubu aren’t unaware, and unmindful of Nigeria’s religious diversity, which’s lately been exacerbated by the actions of fundamentalists.

    Yet, in politics, the paramount consideration is how to win elections and control power. Will Tinubu picking a Northern Christian secure the APC the needed victory to retain power beyond 2023?

    That’s unlikely, as Christians are in the minority, reortedly about 15 per cent of the voting population in the North! Tinubu and APC need the region’s majority Muslim votes, to counter any deficits from the Christian community of Southern Nigeria at the polls.

    Going by a reported APC calculation, only a Muslim-Muslim ticket can guarantee it success in 2023, and thus can’t afford a Muslim-Christian ticket in keeping with Nigeria’s religious diversity.

    Similarly, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, can’t pair a Muslim as a winning strategy. Hence, the party settled for a Christian running mate in Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

    Ditto for the Labour Party (LP) flagbearer, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, choosing a Muslim vice presidential candidate (with Dr Doyin Okupe, a Christian from Ogun State, acting as a proxy); and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate, former Kano State Governor Musa Kwankwaso, going for a Christian running mate (if Kwankwaso sustains his candidacy).

    From an assumed winning strategy, Atiku can’t gamble with a Muslim joint ticket; Obi can’t joke with a Christian partner; and Kwakwanso won’t consider a Muslim running mate. Why will Tinubu experiment with a Christian that won’t guarantee him success?

    Those against the APC Muslim-Muslim combo should mobilise to democratically vote against the ticket at the general election. That’s a commendable way to show disapproval and disenchantment!

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

  • APC primaries, Tinubu’s victory and tasks ahead – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Only diehard promoters and supporters of other aspirants had predicted defeat for the acclaimed National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the presidential primaries and special convention on June 6 to 8, 2022.

    Facts available indicated clearly that given a level-playing field for all contestants to test their political prowess, and popularity with members of the ruling party, the former governor of Lagos State would dust other aspirants combined.

    That’s exactly the outcome of the primaries, with Tinubu securing 1,271 votes cast by 2,303 accredited delegates at the convention that suffered several postponements chiefly on account of intrigues related to the clamour for power shift to Southern Nigeria.

    It’s a tug-of-war between the North and South, and the North was on the cusp of gaining the upper hand at the primaries when, barely 48 hours to the convention, the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, unilaterally proclaimed Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the “consensus candidate” of the party.

    In attempting to put spanner in the works he’s supposed to superintend as an unbiased umpire, Adamu played on President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire for the APC to produce a “consensus candidate” going into the 2023 general election.

    Without consulting with members of the National Working Committee (NWC) that he heads, Adamu dropped the name of the president as endorsing Dr Lawan as the APC standard bearer for the elections commencing in February 2023.

    But amid the hoopla generated by the Adamu bombshell, Buhari denied endorsing Lawan, or any of the 23 aspirants cleared for the primaries, and called for a level-playing field for the contestants.

    Buhari had also aligned with the Northern APC governors’ resolution for the presidency to be rotated to Southern Nigeria, as the president rounds off his eight-year tenure in May 2023, having utilised the slot for Northern Nigeria in the rotation of the presidency between the South and North of Nigeria every eight years.

    But for the last-minute “intervention” of Buhari and 11 of the 14 Northern APC governors, Tinubu would’ve been disgraced by the antics of vested interests majorly located within the party.

    So, Tinubu, as he’s acknowledged, owes his victory at the primaries firstly to Buhari, who debunked Lawan’s endorsement that would’ve been a fait accompli, and guaranteed the conduct of a transparent and credible poll at the convention.

    Secondly, Tinubu should appreciate Northern governors of the APC, who, despite criticisms by some vocal Northerners, cast their lot with power shift to Southern Nigeria, which action smoothened the former governor’s path to victory at the primaries.

    Most especially, Tinubu should extend his gratitude to Northern and Southern leaders, particularly present and past governors, who stood by him, and campaigned vigorously for his election as APC’s presidential flagbearer.

    Then his co-aspirants that stepped down their ambition; the delegates to the convention that gave him a resounding triumph over very formidable contestants worthy of the APC ticket; his campaign team for an excellent job of marketing and defending his candidacy; and the president’s wife, Mrs Aisha Buhari, for her reported “support.”

    The APC is riven by internal crises, arising from congresses and primaries in 2015 and 2019, and the fissures aftermath of the 2022 primaries in the state chapters, and at the June 2022 presidential primaries and special convention in Abuja.

    Division in the APC state chapters has led to defections of heavyweights in critical states of Kano, Zamfara and Kebbi, and there’re lingering convulsions in Kwara, Oyo, Osun, Rivers and several other states.

    As observed, it took some of the co-presidential contestants days to congratulate Tinubu. So, as time is of the essence, the true test of Tinubu’s mantra as a “unifier” would be to embark on bringing together the disparate groups in the APC, beginning by seeking fellowship with his co-contestants for their cooperation and active participation in the campaigns to get him elected as President.

    In his acceptance speech for the nomination, Tinubu declared he holds no grudges against those that didn’t support his aspiration for the APC ticket, and appealed for their cooperation to rout the PDP at the 2023 polls.

    He said: “The competition is now over. Those who did not support me have nothing to fear. I hold no grudges or grievances. Let us each agree to join hands in defeating the PDP and beating back our common foes of poverty, terror, and violence. Let us win so Nigeria can become the nation it is intended to be.”

    Thus, as a matter of deliberate policy, Tinubu should consult with, and offer roles to his co-contestants in his campaign, to feel appreciated, and enlisted in the arduous task of retaining the APC as the governing party in 2023.

    Of course, the off-season governorship poll in Ekiti State comes up this Saturday, June 18, as an apt exercise that would demonstrate Tinubu and APC’s readiness for the long haul of the 2023 elections.

    Undoubtedly, Tinubu’s work is cut out for him in former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who’s clinched the ticket of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

    Atiku, a veteran of presidential contests, paired with Obi as his running mate in the 2019 presidential poll won by President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in their re-election in office.

    Not umindful of his political experiences off-shooting from his governance of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, and joining to form the APC that dislodged an incumbent administration in 2015, and retaining power in 2019; Tinubu’s coming to the national stage is a different kettle of fish.

    As he often bandies, he’s been a kingmaker of other politicians. Can Tinubu also make himself king in 2023, given the deck stacked against him within and outside the APC, which faces a referendum from traumatised Nigerians yearning for a “fresh change” from the one the APC promised in 2015 and 2019?

    Tinubu’s pledge to build on the “solid foundation” in security, economy, and anti-corruption laid by President Buhari raises a red herring in the polity, even as he admits Nigeria’s daunting problems.

    His words: “Yes, we face serious problems. But I believe we have it within us to reach our finest destiny. With help from God, we shall make this nation better for the generation to come.

    “President Buhari has already laid a solid foundation in security, economy, and anti-corruption. We will build upon this for the salvation of our people.

    “Our teeming youth population is our nation’s greatest asset. We will create jobs for our youth from the Zamfara and Osun gold deposits to the vast agricultural lands across the country.

    “We will create new opportunities in the FINTECH sector, the creative and entertainment industries, digital skills, and other areas. Our vision is of progress and the future that can be. We must defeat the PDP’s reactionary ideals.”

    The BIG question: For how long will Nigerians give Tinubu the benefit of the doubt? Certainly not longer than a few days, if at all, as they weigh his utterances, actions and body language, to gauge his direction and that of the APC ahead of the 2023 elections!

     

    *Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.