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Tag: Ehichioya Ezomon

  • Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (4) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (4) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Seeming to belie the header for this article that’s run three installments, a couple of weeks has witnessed the return of former Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike – from his semblance of a sabbatical leave – to rejoin Governor Siminalayi Fubara in shadow-boxing, and stoking the metatarsising Rivers political crisis.

    On Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Ogu-Bolo, Rivers State, at a grand reception in honour of Chief George Thompson Sekibo for his 20 years of public service, Wike – who no longer has the luxury of daily political rhetoric as when he’s governor – addressed five issues Fubara would likely tackle on separate days.

    They include: A mistake he’d made, without elaborating; his deliberate bullying of the Fubara camp, to create fear, and make it to commit mistakes; that nobody can remove his pro-lawmakers sacked by the court; denying asking anyone to worship him; and the need for beneficiaries to show appreciation to their benefactors.

    This comes as Fubara says he’s records of his duties as a civil servant, and the Accountant General of Rivers State under the Wike administration (2015-2023), stressing that all activities he carried out were based on “approvals” from his superiors.

    In a veiled reference to his promise to probe the Wike government, Fubara, during the inauguration of Egbeda internal roads, in Emohua local government area on Thursday, May 16, said he’s ready to answer any queries, as his records would show that his previous official activities in government “were based on approvals.”

    In similar masked remarks obviously referring to Fubara, Wike said he made a mistake in his political calculation, by shutting out an array of chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Rivers governorship in 2023, and settling for Fubara. “But nobody is above mistakes,” Wike said, and asked Rivers people to forgive him.

    His said: “I want to say this clearly, in life we have made a mistake. I have made a mistake. I own it up and I say God forgive me. I have said all of you forgive me. I am a human, I am bound to make a mistake. So, forgive me for making a wrong judgment. So, nobody should kill (because of it). But we will correct it (mistake) at the appropriate time.”

    On the sacked lawmakers loyal to him, Wike said the law and due process would take its course, irrespective of whatever happened, adding, “If they like, they can go to anybody by 2 a.m or 4 a.m to get an injunction. The law will take its course. We must follow due process.”

    Wike urged the lawmakers not to be intimidated, saying, “Don’t be afraid. Nobody will remove you as a lawmaker. Most of you don’t understand. This is our work. Our business is to make them fear. That is what I am doing. We will make them to be angry every day, and they will continue to make mistakes.”

    Rounding off, Wike said he isn’t God, and as such, had never demanded that anybody should worship him. “Nobody can worship man. All of us believe that it is only God we will worship. (But) as politicians, we appreciate people who have helped us.”

    On the latter issue, Fubara’s previously said he appreciated the fact that Wike played a pivotal role in his governorship, but that it’s God that used him as a vessel to fulfil His purpose, and so, only God deserves his worship and not any human.

    Fubara said: “God can do anything He wants to do when He wants to do it. It is only for us to realise that God will not come down from Heaven but will pass through one man or woman to achieve His purpose. So, for that reason, when we act, we act as humans; human vessels that God has used, and not seeing yourself as God.

    “I want to say this clearly, that we appreciate the role our leaders, most especially the immediate past governor (Wike) played. But that is not enough for me to worship a human being. I can’t do that.”

    On the hot-potato matter of probing Wike, whose government Fubara served as Accountant General, the governor told his audience at the Egbeda roads’ inauguration in Emohua that he wasn’t entertaining any fears, but ready and prepared to defend himself whenever he’s queried or called to answer alleged financial impropriety under the Wike government.

    Fubara said: “What we bring to our people is service delivery at record time and cost-effective. Everything we are doing is in my white paper (record of activities). I carry it along. There is no issue of any manipulation. Call me any day, any time, it is there.

    “Even the ones l did (as a civil servant) before this time, I still have all the records. If you call me any day, I will bring my records of all my activities in government. I know that as a civil servant, what is most important is record-keeping.

    “I am not scared of anything. Anybody who calls me up any day, any time, I have my records to show. I have all the approvals to show that I acted based on approvals, and not personal decisions. We are not going to rest until we make everyone happy in Rivers State.”

    This leads to the questions: If Fubara’s that sparkling clean, as he claims, why did he allegedly hide, and refuse to surrender himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation during the 2023 general election? Or was it then Governor Wike trying to shield him from the EFCC, to prevent him from spilling reported malfeasance in the Wike government? Members of the public Fubara’s called to witness his incorruptibility deserve a plausible answer to the query!

    Meanwhile, as the probe of Wike looks to proceed apace, only a miraculous intervention in the crisis – which Fubara doubts can be settled amicably after President Bola Tinubu’s brokered peace deal between Fubara and Wike looks to breakdown – would prevent him from declaring soon that, “enough is enough,” and go for Wike and his members’ jugular, deploying the enormous powers at his disposal that he’s said “he doesn’t know what to do with power,” as “the most hit and abused governor” (in Nigeria).

    So, when he’s decided, the scenarios may look as follows:

    First, there’re a few strategies that Fubara’s outlined to deal with the recalcitrant lawmakers he’s described as “not existing.” The governor could evict them from the Rivers State House of Assembly Residential Quarters in Port Harcourt – where the legislators and their families domicile, and also use as a legislative chamber – to deny them the venue and avenue to make laws and/or plot his impeachment.

    Second, Fubara could mimic some of his counterparts, and withhold the lawmakers’ emoluments, and allocations to the legislature, such as he allegedly did to the April 2024 allocations to Rivers local councils, whose chairmen, majorly loyal to Wike, have vowed to remain in office after their tenure in June 2024, “in line with the law” passed by the pro-Wike lawmakers, extending their tenure until elected local government officials are installed.

    Remarkably, a Rivers High Court has struck down that “law” as illegally enacted by the lawmakers whose seats had been declared vacant on account of their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the PDP, which sponsored them in 2023.

    Prior, Fubara had warned the council chairmen that they’d a few days remaining in their tenure, and shouldn’t forment trouble within the period, as “nobody has monopoly of violence.” He handed down the warning at Egbeda community in Emohua, during the official flag-off of the Elele-Egbeda-Omoku road project.

    As reported by New Telegraph, this comes as miscreants, allegedly at the behest of the aggrieved council chairmen, attacked some persons who attended the governor’s inauguration of the Aleto-Ogale-Ebubu-Eteo road project in Eleme local government area on Tuesday, May 14.

    Fubara said: “Let me also say this here. When we left Aleto the other day, some people went there and attacked our people. There is no need for that. Nobody has the monopoly of violence. So, I’m begging everyone, please, conduct yourself. As a matter of fact, I am the one who is most hit and abused as a Governor who doesn’t know what to do with power. Is it not? Have I said anything?

    “So, I am advising those people, who call themselves local government chairmen: you have a few days in office. Please, conduct yourselves in a peaceful manner. Politics will come, politics will go, but we will still live our lives. Let nobody deceive you, if you deliberately hurt anybody because of expressing your useless support, nobody will forgive you. You will pay for it.

    “Just endure until when you finish, then you go your way. I don’t want trouble. I don’t want anything that will bring any problems in this state. I know what they want to do, but we will not give them the opportunity.

    “We have made our promise to our leader, who happens to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that we will take the path of peace and that is the path we are taking. We will continue to take that path.

    “Don’t mind what they say. Don’t mind what they do. Peace remains the path to take. (But) while taking the path of that peace, it does not mean that we won’t defend ourselves… No, no no. We need to also protect ourselves in a lawful manner.”

    The next installment of the serialisation under the running header will conclude what Governor Fubara could do to cage former Governor Wike and his loyalists in the cascading political crisis that daily produces different scenarios in Rivers State!

     

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

  • Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (3) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (3) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As the Rivers political crisis reaches – or being pushed by the feuding parties to – its crescendo, Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s adopted a strategy of one-day, one-taunt, one-threat, one-allegation to deal with his opponents, or enemies of Rivers State, as decreed by the governor.

    Hence such headlines as, “Rivers crisis: ‘I have defeated my enemies, they now sleep with two eyes open’ — Fubara,” “Fubara: ‘Small thing I did they no longer sleep,’” “You haven’t seen anything yet, wait for joker, says Fubara,” “We’re battling huge debts left behind by Wike’s government — Fubara,” “Fubara vows to probe Wike, says ‘jungle is mature,’” “I’ll liberate Rivers from oppression, says Fubara,” “Rivers crisis: ‘Conduct yourselves, nobody has monopoly of violence,’ Fubara warns LG chairmen.”

    To rein in his traducers, Fubara’s decided to probe the administration of former Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike – ironically his political godfather-turned nemesis accusingly fueling the Rivers crisis.

    On Monday, May 13, at the inauguration of Dagogo Israel Iboroma (SAN) as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, to replace Prof. Zaccheaus Adangor, who resigned after he’s redeployed to the Ministry of Special Duties (Governor’s Office), Fubara vowed he’s “not going back on it (probe).”

    He told Mr Iboroma – who’s sworn in after screening by the pro-Fubara three-member House of Assembly, presided by Victor Oko-Jumbo – that he’s brought on board as the Attorney-General to tackle the legal matters faced by the government “with bravery and courage.”

    Fubara’s words: “My brother, Dagogo Iboroma, you are going to be the brand new Attorney-General of our dear State. SSG (Secretary to the State Government), give him his letter, he is the Attorney-General.

    “Why are we bringing you at this very critical time? We have a lot of issues around us. We believe that you are not going to be the one that, when they send (court) service to you, you go and file ‘nolle prosequi’ (a formal notice of discontinuance) or you go and file one thing that would kill us here.

    “Let me also say this. You have a big task. We will be setting up a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the affairs of governance. So, brace up, I am not going back on it (probe).

    “Please, defend us. We know that you are going to defend us because your record is clean. You are a gentleman and peaceful. You are not a noise maker. People like you are endowed, and they have the fear of God.”

    Prof. Adangor didn’t escape Fubara’s censor for allegedly sabotaging the administration “he served as chief law officer,” even as Adangor, in his resignation letter, claimed Fubara interfered in the discharge of his duties.

    Adangor’s letter reads: “The Governor of Rivers State had, in the past couple of weeks, willfully interfered with the performance of my duties as the Hon. Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Rivers State, by directing me not to defend, oppose, or appear in suits instituted against the Hon. Attorney-General and the Government of Rivers State by persons admittedly hired and sponsored by the Government of Rivers State.”

    But as Fubara said: “It is good that you (Iboroma) were already a SAN (Senior Advocate of Nigeria) before your appointment. This means that you’re a very thorough lawyer and has earned your appointment. Not like the one (Adangor) we had here.

    “Instead of you (Adangor) to close your mouth, you go publicly to claim that you are a learned person, and go publicly to tell people that you were the chief law officer. Chief law officer?

    “You were here and you went to stand before a Magistrates’ court. At that time, you didn’t remember that you were a chief law officer, going against the ethics of your job. Like I said, you will get your reward, not in the next world, but in this world.”

    Though Fubara’s elated to’ve found “a well- constituted House of Assembly” (of only three members out of 31) to discharge legislative duties, and “the appointment of a seasoned lawyer as Attorney-General,” he doubts the resolution of Rivers’ crisis amicably due to alleged “deliberate sabotage” of his government.

    “It has become very clear that… there is no way to resolve it (crisis) amicably, and for a lot of reasons. There is visible evidence that there is sabotage, deliberate attempt to sabotage this administration,” Fubara said, adding, “for that reason, we have to move forward, and moving forward, if it means taking decisions that are going to hurt anybody, we are not going back.”

    One such decision is Fubara’s avowal to rehabilitate the Rivers State House of Assembly Residential Quarters in Port Harcourt, launched in 2022, thus pre-empting the report of experts he’s commissioned to carry out integrity tests on the quarters that houses the lawmakers and their families, and also serves as a legislative house, which Fubara’s lately relocated to the Government House via an Executive Order.

    With opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers alleging the governor intends to demolish the structures, as he reportedly did to the House of Assembly complex, Fubara, on Thursday, May 9, displayed the attitude of the typical politician to regard – and appropriate – state resources: financial and material as theirs.

    After he “stormed” the residential quarters – and journalists wanted to know his mission to the place, Fubara asked what’s amiss if he visited his own property. He said: “Is the assembly quarters not part of ‘my property’? Is there anything wrong in going to check how things are going on there? You are aware of the developments. We have a new Speaker, and I went there to see for myself how things are. There might be a few things I want to do there for the good of our people.”

    Fubara’s query reminds of the late media sensation and Kano State Governor Sabo Bakin Zuwo, during the short-lived Second Republic (1979-1983). Sen. Zuwo had hardly spent a few weeks in his three-month stay in power (October 1 to December 31, 1983) when he appropriated the state resources to the Government House for quick disbursements.

    When anti-graft operatives had intel about – and actually saw – the stacked amount of Kano State’s money in the government house – where Zuwo handed it out at his whim and fancy – and was asked for an explanation, the following dialogue ensued:

    Zuwo: “Whose money is this?” Security operatives: “Kano State’s money.” Zuwo: Whose house is this?” Security operatives: “Kano State’s Government House.” Zuwo: “You found Kano State’s money in Kano State’s Government House, is there any problem with that?” Security operatives: Tongue-tied, no response!

    Fubara’s claim of Rivers property as his also recalls an apocryphal (unverified) saying, attributed to Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, “L’État, c’est moi” (“I am the state,” literally, “the state, that is me”) – allegedly said on April 13, 1655, before the Parliament of Paris – is a phrase that “symbolises absolute monarchy and absolutism,” according to Wikipedia.

    In the context of Nigeria’s politics, the President and Governor act as absolute monarchs, who equate themselves as the State, and do what they like with its resources, without questioning from the legislative arm of government under their stranglehold. That’s where Fubara’s veered lately with his proclamation of a three-man Rivers State House of Assembly, to make laws for the state, and oversight the executive that installed the chamber itself.

    Getting away with a five-member Rivers Assembly that passed a hefty N800bn budget within 24 hours, and signed into law the next day – a 48-hour wonder – Fubara gambles now with three members in a 31-member assembly, to “guard” his government in the next three years before the 2027 general election.

    And seemingly free of the political bondage he’s been held by Wike, Fubara’s ploy – barring any unforeseen circumstances – is to put the final nail into the political coffin of his opponents: Wike and his sacked loyal members of the Rivers Assembly, depending on several factors, chiefly, the direction of cases in court, resistance from the sacked pro-Wike lawmakers, and local council chairmen, whose tenure ends in June, and the courage by Fubara’s three-member legislature to go the whole hog with the governor for the ultimate showdown with Wike.

    Top of these challenges is the Wike probe, which sing-song Fubara took a notch higher on Tuesday, May 14, when he alleged that Rivers’ huge debt overhang was incurred by Wike, who also didn’t pay contractors for projects executed for the state, as reported by Premium Times on May 15.

    Fubara revealed this at the commissioning of reconstructed 10.89km Aleto-Ogale-Ebubu-Eteo road at Ebubu community, Eleme local government area, where he said he’d lived and worked to get to Level 14 in the Rivers civil service.

    His words: “This is to let the world know that if there is one problem this administration has, it is the huge debt burden. Most of the projects being commissioned, the contractors are coming for their balance-payment, and it is running into billions.

    “I have said that I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to talk because I was part of that system. But, when you (Wike) keep pushing me to talk, I will say it so that the people will know the true situation of things and be properly informed.”

    Fubara’s charge counters claims by then Governor Wike in November 2022, that he’s fully funding the multi-billion naira projects executed by his administration, and that he wouldn’t leave any debts behind for his successor.

    Wike said he’s deploying arrears of 13 per cent of oil revenue – (later with additional refunds of N78bn incurred by the prior Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi government (2007-2015) to rebuild federal roads in Rivers) – paid by then President Muhammadu Buhari to Rivers State.

    Wike, inaugurating the Rivers State campus of the Nigeria Law School (NLS) declared: “That is why, since 2019 till now, we have been commissioning projects in the state,” and threw a challenge to other governors in the South-South zone “to account for the oil revenue they have received.”

    Whatever, Fubara’s poured cold water on Wike’s claim of financial prudence and accountability, as he’s in a postion to know – as then Accountant General of Rivers – the actual financial health of the state, and challenges Wike to account for how he spent Rivers resources in eight years!

    On the launching of the road, Fubara said he’s happy to be there (Ebubu community), and “to join the good people of Rivers State to start this wonderful celebration of our first anniversary in the face of all the troubles. It shows that we are still focused, not minding the level of distractions.”

    “This project was awarded at the cost of N6.7 billion, and I can say boldly that no kobo is remaining. We’ve paid the contractor its complete sum. Our gathering here is to tell our people that their problem is our problem,” Fubara said.

    Obviously as a parting shot at Wike, Fubara said he’d invited Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, to inaugurate the road because Otti is not a man of “artificial integrity,” but a “pragmatic man.”

    Now that the die is cast for the probe of the eight-year tenure of governance of Rivers State by Nyesom Wike, how will Governor Fubara proceed with the task? This and other issues will form the next installment of this article!

     

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

  • Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (2) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (2) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As noted in part one under this header on Monday, April 29, 2024, Governor Siminalayi Fubara voluntarily and freely signed the peace agreement emanating from his solicitation for President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the political crisis in Rivers State that’s pitted the governor against his predecessor in office and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.

    Fubara signed the “Eight-point Resolutions” in the presence of his backers, such as former Rivers Governor Peter Odili, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu and chairman of Rivers chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Aaron Chukwuemeka, and with Prof. Odu and Mr Chukwuemeka also appending the document.

    When Fubara’s newfound political allies railed and raised hell against the agreement, claiming the governor didn’t sign it – and if he did, it’s under duress from the almighty Presidency, and a betrayal of the Rivers people, who’ve lined behind him in his fight for political supremacy with Wike – Fubara confirmed that he endorsed the document willingly.

    The governor, in a Christmas message on Monday, December 25, 2023, said the resolution brokered by Tinubu to resolve the crisis was “not a death sentence,” but would ensure lasting peace, and he’d implement it in a way to restore political stability in Rivers.

    But implementating the peace accord appears a “death sentence” to Fubara, who – short of repudiating the document as urged by his supporters – is dilly-dallying, signalling that he might not honour the spirit and letter of the agreement, so as not to hand victory to his opponents.

    Looking at the items in the agreement, it’s evident that Fubara’s sidetracking the sticky issues that caused and fueled the crisis in Rivers. For example, Fubara and his team – as urged in the peace agreement – haven’t withdrawn matters they filed in court against the Rivers Assembly and others.

    The likely Fubara-engineered cases in court triggered the resignation of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor, who, in an April 23 letter, accused Fubara as barring him from cases against the Attorney-General, and Government of Rivers State.

    Adangor’s letter reads in part: “It is important to mention that the Governor of Rivers State had, in the past couple of weeks, willfully interfered with the performance of my duties as the Hon. Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Rivers State, by directing me not to defend, oppose, or appear in suits instituted against the Hon. Attorney-General and the Government of Rivers State by persons admittedly hired and sponsored by the Government of Rivers State.”

    However, Fubara – in a no-holds-barred speech on Monday, May 6, when he received a delegation of political and traditional leaders from Bayelsa State, led by former Governor and Senator Seriake Dickson – alluded to Prof. Adangor sabotaging the interest of his administration and that of Rivers State, as reason for redeploying him to the Ministry of Special Duties (Governor’s Office), which Adangor declined and quit the government within 24 hours of the letter of redeployment issued on April 22 by Secretary to the State Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo.

    Recall that Mr Isaac Kamalu, Commissioner of Finance, moved to the Ministry of Employment Generation and Economic Empowerment, resigned his post same day, citing “inability to function properly in an atmosphere devoid of peace,” and disputed Fubara’s claim of doubling the Rivers internally-generated revenue in 10 months, noting a steady rise in internal revenue receipts for years, “culminating in what the state is presently generating though not the figures (Fubara) erroneously claimed in the media.”

    Drafting this piece the upper week, I posited that the Rivers Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule, maybe in name and in place, and sitting in a location of their choice, but wasn’t recognised by Fubara because 27 of its members had dumped the PDP for APC when there’s allegedly “no fictionalisation of the party nationally.” Hence Fubara’s vetoed bills passed by the Assembly, which then overrode the governor, and passed the bills into law.

    Fubara’s now publicly proclaimed the pro-Wike 27 APC members in the Rivers Assembly as “not existing,” going by law, and stressed he only accommodated them as his former political allies, and for the sake of peace in Rivers. Also, Fubara, during the Bayelsa delegation’s visit, dismissed the Tinubu brokered peace deal between him and Wike “as not constitutional.”

    Fubara’s words: “It (peace deal) is a political solution to a problem. I accepted it because these (APC lawmakers) are people that were visiting me and we were together in my house. These are people that I have helped in many ways even when I wasn’t a governor.

    “Yes, we might have our disagreements, but I believe that one day, we could also come together. That was the reason I did it. But, I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing, so that they understand that they are not existing.

    “Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognise them, they are nowhere. That is the truth. So, I want you (the visitors) to see the sacrifice I have made to allow peace to be in our state.

    “I can say here, with all amount of boldness, I have never called any police man anywhere to go and harass anybody. I have never gone anywhere to ask anybody to do anything against anybody.

    “But what happens to the people that are supporting me? They are being harassed, they are being arrested and detained. There is no week that somebody doesn’t come here with one letter of invitation for trump-up charges and all those things.”

    Fubara boasted that with the powers at his disposal, he knows what to do to put in check those that don’t want peace but to destroy Rivers State. “I know that I have always taken the path of peace. I have shown respect. I’ve subjected myself to every meeting of reconciliation for peace. And what happens, each time we come out from such meetings, we are faced with one thunder or lightning,” Fubara said.

    “Even when I have all the instruments of State powers, I have shown restraint, and I believe that whoever is alive, and has been following the activities of our dear state, knows that I have acted as a big brother in the course of this crisis.

    “I have not acted like a young man that may want the house to be destroyed but, I have behaved like a mature young man that I am. This is because I know that no meaningful development will be achieved in an atmosphere of crisis.

    “And because our intention for Rivers State is to build on the foundation that had been laid by our past leaders, it will be wrong for me to take the path of promoting crisis. That is why we are still recording the development that you are hearing around Rivers State.”

    In line with his declaration of “non-existence” of the 27 pro-Wike members, and the leadership of the Rivers Assembly, Fubara’s refused – contrary to the peace deal – to represent the state budget of N800bn he presented on December 13, 2023, to his loyal five PDP lawmakers, headed by former “Speaker Edison Ehie,” who passed the budget within 24 hours, and signed by Fubara the next day. A 48-hour wonder!

    But on Monday, January 22, the law came on the side of the Rivers Assembly – and by extension the presidential peace agreement – when a Federal High Court in Abuja set aside the N800bn budget because both the presentation and passage of the appropriation “amounted to nullity, and a wilful breach of the court order made on November 30, 2023,” the court ruled.

    Justice Omotosho also restrained Governor Fubara from frustrating the Amaewhule-led Rivers Assembly from sitting or interfering in its constitutional and legislative functions, and barred the National Assembly, the police and any member of the state executive arm from interfering in the assembly’s affairs.

    Similarly, a Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, January 30, dismissed a suit seeking to stop Governor Fubara from re-presenting the N800bn 2024 budget of Rivers State, with Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, ruling that a similar suit in the matter had been decided by a sister court on the day she had granted an interim order (which she subsequently set aside) to the plaintiffs, who claimed that Tinubu, Fubara and the Rivers assembly have no right nor entitled to enter into any agreement that has the effect of nullifying or undermining the provisions of Section 109(I)(g) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on appeal by some Rivers elders, led by a member of the Rivers State Elders Council, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, and nine others, questioning the legality of the peace agreement that they asked to be declared unconstitutional, and the representation of the Rivers 2024 N800bn budget to “a properly-constituted Rivers State House of Assembly for approval,” as demanded in the peace deal.

    A Rivers High Court, presided by Justice Chinwendu Nworgu, had struck out the suit, seeking interpretation of the Constitution on whether the president has the legal right to direct Fubara to re-present the budget to 24 lawmakers, led by Amaewhule, “even after their seats were declared vacant.”

    As first reported by PUNCH, the dissatisfied claimants appealed the high court ruling, joining President Tinubu, Governor Fubara, Rivers Assembly Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, the state House of Assembly and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    On Wednesday, May 1, the three-man panel of the Appeal Court, led by Justice Elfreda Oluwayamisi-Dawodu, reserved judgment to a date to be communicated to parties after they’d adopted their final written addresses. While the counsel for President Tinubu and Governor Fubara didn’t file any brief of argument in the suit, no lawyer represented the PDP during the proceeding.

    In support of his adopted written address, counsel for the claimants, Wilcox Agberetor (SAN), argued that the appeal be allowed, and the matter transferred back to the Chief Judge of Rivers State, for reassignment to another judge, while counsel for the House of Assembly, K.C Njemanze (SAN), urged dismissal of the appeal.

    Equally unimplemented in the eight-point peace accord between Fubara and Wike are issues of the caretaker committees in Rivers local governments, and dissolution of the Local Government administration, which the peace deal declared “null and void and shall not be recognised.”

    This has added a fresh layer to the power tussle between the governor and Rivers Assembly, which’s overriden five bills Fubara’s vetoed, including the revised Local Government Law that paves way for election into the local government areas of Rivers State.

    Is Governor Fubara intent on honouring the peace resolutions? If he does, what’s worth doing at all is worth doing well! No need to continue digging in; it only profits the puppeteers and “where-belly-face” politicians egging him on to renounce the agreement. Many of them were with Wike yesterday, they’re with Fubara today, and will be with another governor tomorrow for “stomach infrastructure.”

    Fubara should free himself of the sycophants and bootlickers in and about the corridors of power in Rivers State, so he can clearly see and directly hear from the masses, who suffer more as his fight-to-finish with Wike lingers! Or does he want a no-end to the Rivers crisis?

    Fubara talks about being patient, tolerant and restrained in his dealing with the Rivers crisis. Will his patience snap, and pull off completely the gloves, and bare-knuckle his traducers in Abuja and Rivers? How will he carry out the struggle? Defensive or a blitzkrieg?

    That’ll be taking a page or two from former Rivers governors, who hounded and/or probed their predecessor-governors over real or phantom allegations! And he’s at liberty to tread that path in Rivers peculiar, firebrand politics. More in the next piece under this header!

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

  • Rivers politics: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (1) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Rivers politics: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (1) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    In my copy of Monday, January 15, 2024, entitled, “Shaibu’s talk about Obaseki’s betrayal laughable,” I posed the question, “Do politicians have conscience, and if they do, does it prick them?”

    This followed the declaration by the lately impeached Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu, that Governor Godwin Obaseki had betrayed him by refusing to back his aspiration to succeed him on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Comrade Shaibu had reckoned that Obaseki supporting his ambition would be reciprocal for what he did to aid his first and second term elections, and his governments (under All Progressives Congress (APC) and PDP, respectively). Rather, Obaseki “anointed” a Lagos-based lawyer and financier, Dr Asue Ighodalo, to succeed him in November 2024.

    In the article, I likened Shaibu’s accusation to “the kettle calling the pot black,” nudging him to recall “how he betrayed former Governor Adams Oshiomhole – whom he still addresses as ‘my father,’ perhaps to humour him – in order to ingratiate Mr Obaseki, who also betrayed Comrade Oshiomhole.”

    Then, I took Shaibu through Oshiomhole’s unilateral endorsement of Obaseki against opposition from formidable foundation members of the defunct Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), “and did a yeoman’s campaign” for him to win the 2016 governorship.

    But not long after, Obaseki broke with Oshiomhole for allegedly “attempting to lord it over him and his government as a ‘godfather,’ – which Oshiomhole really assumed in 2016 to swing the candidacy for and ‘crown’ Obaseki as Governor of Edo State.”

    In closing, I noted that, if Obaseki could undermine “Oshiomhole’s benevolent spirit that broke his palm kernel for him,” and reward Oshiomhole with a series of betrayals, who’s Shaibu to escape retribution from Obaseki, who’s already “anointed” by Governor Oshiomhole as ‘Governor-in-waiting’ before Shaibu’s picked as his running mate?

    That intro question of whether politicians have conscience, and if it pricks them, needs emphasising, owing to what’s happening in Rivers State between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his “political godfathers” and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, who Fubara’s rebelled against for alleged overbearing influence on his government that came into office on May 29, 2023.

    Ahead of the general election – and the March 18, 2023, governorship poll that ushered in Fubara – Wike had “anointed” him against opposition from PDP chieftains, who’d assumed that Wike would pick one of them for governor after he’d “encouraged” them to so dream. They accused Wike of picking Fubara because he’s of his Ikwerre ethnic stock, whereas Fubara’s an Ijaw.

    During the campaigns, Wike’s everywhere, as if he’s gunning for a “third term” in office. Like the mother-hen that protects her chicken from the predator-hawk, Wike shielded Fubara from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which declared him wanted for alleged financial sleaze perpetrated in his office as the Accountant General of Rivers State. Due to EFCC’s intense manhunt for Fubara, Wike literally assumed the candidate for the election.

    Wike took all the arrows, darts and bullets aimed at Fubara, and made him governor under the PDP even when Wike – in support of the candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (now President of Nigeria) – worked against the interest of the PDP presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

    This was similar to what former President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007) did for the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010), when his bid for president was hampered by ailments that kept him mostly overseas from the campaign trail. Obasanjo more or less “swapped” position with Yar’Adua and campaigned for him to win the 2007 presidential poll.

    Ditto for Senator and former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State (1999-2007), who campaigned for his then Chief of Staff, Theodore Orji, who’s detained in a Lagos jailhouse over corrupion allegation. On the strength of Dr Kalu’s campaign under the defunct Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Orji won the governorship from prison, and was released to assume office in 2007.

    In 2016, Oshiomhole, so to speak, “carried on his back” Godwin Obaseki – the nominal chairman of his government’s Economic Strategy Team (EST) – while campaigning for him to succeed him as governor in November of that year, which Obaseki did.

    There’s no crystal ball to foretell if Yar’Adua would’ve estranged Obasanjo had he lived beyond 2010 when he died, but he’s beginning to question some of Obasanjo’s policies, and even the election that brought him (Yar’Adua) to power in 2007 as indeed “rigged” in his favour. But Governors Obaseki, and Orji dealt with their political benefactors, Comrade Oshiomhole and Dr Kalu, accordingly.

    Not surprising – given the MO of Nigerian politicians, Governor Fubara’s toeing a likely line, forgotting so soon Wike’s political sacrifices for him, and thus proving a liner from a book by former Rivers Governor Peter Odili (1999-2007) – and quoted by Wike – that, “Give a man power and money, that’s when you will know the person.”

    “If you have not given a man power and money, do not say you know the person,” Wike adds in an interview on African Independent Television (AIT), in reaction to the torching of the Rivers State House of Assembly on October 9, 2023, in attempts by pro-Wike lawmakers to impeach Fubara, who pulled down the complex to prevent the lawmakers’ action against him.

    With power and money, Fubara’s graduated from “bended knee” (sevant) to straightened knee (master), and daily challenges Wike’s political clout, and his professed love for Rivers State. For instance, on April 27, on a visit to condole with “former Governor Celestine Omehia” on the death of his mother, Mrs Ezinne Cecilia Omehia, Fubara vowed he’d not kneel (to Wike) to govern Rivers.

    (By law, Omehia’s never a governor of Rivers State, as his few weeks/months in office was vitiated by the Supreme Court, which declared Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as the duly-elected governor of the PDP in 2007, sworn-in and ruled for eight years (2007-2015) – even though he only won the PDP primary, and didn’t participate in the governorship election, as he’s exiled in Ghana, afraid for his life from alleged officially-backed political goons. It’s Omehia who, supported by Wike, that campaigned and “won” the poll, which the Supreme Court voided because Amaechi won the primary for the governorship poll.)

    Fubara’s words: “Anybody who claims to love this state should not be party to anything, directly or indirectly, that will bring us backwards. We will continue to support every course (cause) that will advance the interest of our dear Rivers State.

    “And I am happy to say, and I’ve said it over and again, it doesn’t matter the number of people that are standing with me, I will stand on the side of truth. I will not, I repeat, I will not govern our dear state on my knees. If that was the purpose, I will not do that. I will stand to govern our dear state and stand continually on the side of (what’s) right.”

    In response, Omehia expressed appreciation, on behalf of his family, to Governor Fubara, his delegation and other friends, among whom were those he described as “mature elders,” for the show of love.”

    Then, Omehia massaged Fubara’s ego, saying, “I have taken a decision to be SIMplified (an alias derived from the governor’s name, Siminalayi). Wherever you (Fubara) go is where I will go. If you say tomorrow you are no more interested in this position, I will also stop fighting for anything in Rivers State.”

    Omehia stated emphatically that almost the entire people of the State, including chiefs, elders, opinion leaders, women, youths, civil society groups and professionals across all spectrums, “were praying and working assiduously for the success of the Fubara administration,” stressing it was that support and prayers of the people that he needed to succeed, because, “one with God, is with majority, and would always excel and succeed.”

    The inevitable questions: Wasn’t Fubara on “his knees” when he’s aspiring to be governor of Rivers State? Didn’t he bow, cower, crawl, cringe, flatter and genuflet to Wike to achieve his ambition? If Wike had asked him to commit a criminal act against Rivers State, would Fubara be his own man he claims, and stand straight and look the governor in the face and say, “no, I won’t do it?”

    Why does Fubara think he loves Rivers more than Wike; that only a few Rivers people, like Omehia, “understand that Rivers State belongs to everyone of us,” and “we must, therefore, fight together to sustain the soul of this state,” and that, “anybody who claims to love this state should not be party to anything, directly or indirectly, that will bring us backwards?”

    Really? Because Wike – who single-handedly brought Fubara into his government, appointed him Accountant General, and anointed and crowned him as governor – asked him to honour a behind-the-scenes gentleman’s agreement Fubara entered into, Wike’s become an enemy intent on destroying Rivers State he’s helped to develop in his eight-tenure as governor (2015-2023)?

    Does Fubara equate his fight over personal political and other hidden interests as a fight for the soul of Rivers? No, Mr Governor! Your fight isn’t for Rivers State nor for Rivers people, who weren’t there when you probably signed an agreement(s) you knew would mortgage the state! Now, you claim victimhood, stirring up, and blackmailing the innocent, but gullible citizens of Rivers to assist you to fight your self-induced battles with Wike!

    If Fubara actually believes “politics of bitterness will not take us anywhere,” he should shealth the sword, stop rattling the sabre and threatening fire and brimstone everywhere and at any opportune moment – such as he did during a solemn occasion of condoling with Sir Omehia over the death of his beloved mother.

    There’re no half measures for peace. It’s holistic and enduring. If you want peace, you continually talk peace. If you talk peace, you cultivate peace. If you cultivate peace, you walk peace. If you walk peace, you drop the stick for the carrot. If you preach peace, you don’t pursue war. For war doesn’t achieve peace, but eternal enmity.

    You don’t pretend to preach peace, and do the opposite. It amounts to betrayal of trust, and the cause. It cuts deeply, even in politics where there’s no permanent friend or permanent enemy but permanent interest.

    The road to peace – which Fubara preaches openly while also fanny the embers of discord – is to honour another gentleman’s agreement he publicly endorsed at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on December 19, 2023, before President Bola Tinubu, his (Fubara’s) representatives, and Wike and those in his camp.

    Agreed that controversy trailed the eight-point agreement, which’s the outcome of Fubara’s reported personal invitation to Tinubu, to intervene in the crisis in the Rivers polity. Yet, contrary to claims by newfound political allies, Fubara didn’t object to any of the items, and he signed the document in the presence of his backers, some of whom also signed the agreement.

    Fubara, in a Christmas broadcast on Monday, December 25, 2023, said the resolution brokered by Tinubu to resolve the crisis was “not a death sentence,” but would ensure lasting peace in the state, and pledged to implement the agreement in such a way that would restore political stability in Rivers.

    This was as the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP warned Fubara against implementing the accord without its input, while some Rivers elders filed writs against President Tinubu and others for allegedly violating the amended 1999 Constitution, by finding political, rather than legal solutions to the Rivers crisis. Just imagine, faulting the deployment of a political strategy to solving a political issue!

    Present on the government side at the parley were President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the president’s Chief of Staff, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila; and on Wike’s side we’re Wike, Rivers Assembly Speaker Martin Amaewhule, and APC Chairman, Rivers State, Mr Tony Okocha

    From the governor’s camp were Fubara, former Governor Odili, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and PDP Chairman, Rivers State, Mr Aaron Chukwuemeka; and those who signed the agreement included Fubara, Wike, Prof. Odu, Ribadu, Amaewhule, Okocha and Chukwuemeka.

    As a governor, who claims to “stand by the side of truth and the side of (what’s) right,” it behoves, and is incumbent on Fubara to wholeheartedly respect President Tinubu and his intervention in the Rivers palaver, and honour the “peace agreement” fully, and not pick-and-choose for piecemeal implementation that’s the potential to exacerbate tension in Rivers State. The eight-point Resolutions are as follows:

    • All matters instituted in the courts by Fubara, and his team shall be withdrawn immediately.

    • All impeachment proceedings initiated against Fubara by Rivers Assembly should be dropped immediately.

    • The leadership of the Rivers Assembly, as led by Amaewhule, shall be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP to APC.
    • Remunerations and benefits of members of Rivers Assembly and their staff should be reinstated immediately and the Rivers governor shall, henceforth, not interfere with the full funding of the Assembly.

    • The Rivers Assembly shall choose where to sit and conduct legislative business without interference and/or hindrance from the Executive arm.

    • Governor Fubara shall represent the state budget to a properly-constituted Rivers State House of Assembly.

    • The names of commissioners, who resigned their appointments due to the political crisis in Rivers, should be resubmitted to the Assembly for approval.

    • There should be no caretaker committees for Rivers State local governments. The dissolution of the Local Government administration is null and void and shall not be recognised.”

    Looking through the items in the agreement, it’s evident that Governor Fubara’s continued to sidetrack the sticky issues that backgrounded the political crisis in Rivers. This, and other matters will be treated in the next installment!

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

  • Edo 2024: How serious is APC for September guber race? – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Edo 2024: How serious is APC for September guber race? – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    The “Big lie” – often attributed to the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels – though there seems to be no evidence that it was used by him to prop up the State under the hegemonic rule of Adolf Hitler – is to repeat a lie until it’s assumed to be true.

    According to Wikipedia, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. (Yet) the lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

    We aren’t here dealing with the power of the State to lie to the people, to serve certain ends, but the proclivity of politicians to lie to the public, to gain political points and mileage over their opponents. That’s the scenario playing out in Edo State in the lead-up to the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

    It’s almost two weeks that the unusual – and uncommon in our clime – reportedly took place in Uromi, headquarters of Esan North-East local government area of Edo Central in Edo State: That the family members of the “Okpebholo dynasty” in Uromi had declared their support for the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Asue Ighodalo.

    “Reportedly” because politics is like magic: the more you look, the less you see. In politics, anything can happen, as anything can be “arranged” to look real, especially “when money talks and changes hands.” That’s why opponents are quick to debunk “defections” from their political platforms to others, before the gambit grows wings of reality.

    The undisguised impression created in the public by organisers of the Okpebholo family’s “defection” to the PDP, as first reported by The Conclave on April 18, is that the family – settling in a different location – is related to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo (APC, Edo Central).

    It’s on this premise that one allowed almost a fortnight’s benefit of the doubt – even as a two-week period is more than a lifetime in politics – to see if Okpebholo would clarify that the family members at Amedokhian community in Uromi, who decamped to the PDP, and declared support for Ighodalo on April 17, are related or unrelated to his family from Udomi-Uwessan community of Irrua, Esan Central local government area of Edo Central in Edo State.

    (Sen. Okpebholo’s born on August 29, 1970, at Udomi-Uwessan, Irrua, where he’d his early education at the Udomi Community Primary School and Ujabhole Community Secondary School, both in Irrua, before he completed his secondary education and obtained his senior school certificate in Jos, Plateau State, and received a degree in Business Administration from the University of Abuja, where he’s undergoing a Masters’ degree in Policy and Leadership Studies.)

    But one hasn’t heard, seen, or read about an affirmation or a denial from Okpebholo in the media. Perhaps, that may come on the campaign trail, which officially began on Wednesday, April 24, going by the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for full-fledged electioneering that’ll end midnight on Thursday, September 19.

    While the public expects a plausible explanation from Okpebholo or the leadership of the APC in its Edo State chapter, it’s curious to know if – before the campaigns commenced – the candidate and the party had a media arm. If they’d, did they bar the outfit from publicising their activities – or giving access to the prying and nosey media to do same – until they “hit the ground running” after INEC would’ve blown the whistle for earnest campaigns?

    In that regard, can they cover the lost ground – particularly ceded to the seemingly well-oiled media arm of the campaign organisation of the rival PDP and its candidate, Ighodalo – and meet the expectations of the APC leadership, mostly President Bola Tinubu – who, while handing over the party flag to Sen. Okpebholo and his running, Hon. Dennis Idahosa (APC, Ovia Federal Constituency) at the State House, Abuja, on March 18, described them as “giant killers”?

    At a gathering of party stalwarts for the ceremony, Tinubu, sounding upbeat about the APC winning the governorship, declared: “Distinguished senator and our flag bearer, we are putting you forward in order to hold the party in trust for us and achieve victory for us. You and your running mate have been described as ‘giant killers,’ and you have worked tirelessly with the party leadership.

    “We are going to work with you. We are going to stand with you like the wall (Rock) of Gibraltar. That is all I can assure you. The party is supreme but victory is superior and very important.” The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) first reported the story.

    Both Okpebholo and Idahosa – on their way to the National Assembly (NASS) – defeated incumbents at the poll, and are expected to wave the same or similar political magic wand, to win in September and restore the APC to power at the Osadebey Avenue Government House in Benin City, the Edo State capital city.

    Okpebholo, Idahosa, the APC and its leader in Edo State, Sen. and former Governor Adams Oshiomhole – who “anointed” Idahosa for the governorship, and had to settle for the deputy slot after Okpebholo won the twice-held primary – have barely five months to turn things around in the proxy battle of incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki and Comrade Oshiomhole to install their “anointed” candidates, respectively.

    Particularly for Oshiomhole, nothing else will suffice, as he strives to avoid a second consecutive defeat of his “chosen candidates” by his erstwhile political protégé-turned traducer, who sponsors Ighodalo, and pulls all stops to ensure the candidate succeeds him in November 2024.

    Recall that Obaseki, running for his re-election in 2020 – after Oshiomhole, as then chairman of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC, denied him the party ticket, and forced him to decamp to the PDP – defeated Oshiomhole’s choice candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who’s also the PDP candidate in the 2016 governorship poll against Obaseki, then of the APC.

    Oshiomhole’s, however, promised – with the joint efforts of the APC candidates and members of the party – to reclaim Edo State from the PDP. He made the pledge in a congratulatory message to Okpebholo after he picked Idahosa as his running mate on March 17.

    Oshiomhole said: “Your decision to choose Hon. Dennis Idahosa as your running mate, demonstrates great wisdom and foresight. Your joint ticket presents the people of Edo State with the best option to usher in a dynamic, progressive, and responsive government that aligns with the aspirations of our vibrant youth population.

    “I am confident in your leadership abilities and believe that, with the support of all APC members across the state, we can restore Edo State to the path of progressive governance, sustainable socio-economic growth and political inclusion in all its ramifications.

    “Together, we must forge a strong, united front that resonates with the electorate and secures victory in the governorship election on September 21, 2024. Congratulations once again, as I eagerly anticipate our collective efforts towards achieving victory in the upcoming election. Yours in the struggle for the rebirth of a greater Edo State that works for all.”

    Oshiomhole’s lofty expectation of a return of the APC to governance of Edo State is a daunting task and a big challenge to Okpebholo’s candidacy that needs bolstering with rapid response to disclaiming oppo narratives tending to portray that Okpebholo and the APC are losing ground, and surrendering when the battle has just begun.

    Meanwhile, Ighodalo and the PDP are gaining in momentum. Pre-primary in February 2024 to pick candidates for the September governorship poll, Ighodalo’s opponents had capitalised on his supposed handicap in not communicating fluently – some allege he can’t even string a few words together – in Esan language.

    To somewhat compound his perceived political woes, Ighodalo – unable to address his ward members in Esan when he visited Ewohimi to inform them about his ambition, and crave their support to make it a reality – allegedly “hired an interpreter” to help him out of the language logjam.

    In the polarised, tribally and ethnically-inclined political environment in Nigeria, the fact that Ighodalo can’t communicate in his native language, he’s bred, schooled, and works outside Edo State, and his mother and wife were/are non-Edo – even though his father’s an indigene of Okaigben, Ewohimi in Esan South-East local government area of Edo State, where he kicked off his bid for governor – makes his political opponents to adorn him with the toga of “not a true ‘son-of-the-soil’” of Esanland, and Edo State.

    But whether or not Ighodalo speaks Esan fluently – which’s not a criterion for the governorship – he’s adjusted to delivering his message of “making Edo the Number one State in Nigeria” in simple English language, mixed with pidgin English – the “unofficial lingua franca” of Esan people, Edo people, and the Nigerian people – that’s turned for him a blessing in disguise.

    Like Nigeria’s leading telecoms operator’s famous unique selling point, “MTN Everywhere You Go,” Ighodalo – since entering the governorship race in 2023 – has been everywhere in the nooks and cranies of the 192 wards of the 18 local government areas of Edo State, selling himself, his vision and mission to be governor in November 2024.

    And the results – as he consulted widely in the off-campaign period – were the friendly and welcoming receptions for him and his team, and the many defections from other political parties to the PDP, as witnessed on April 17 in Uromi, where the “Okpebholo family members” defected from various political parties and “joined the rest of their members, who were already in the PDP, to jointly endorse Ighodalo and the PDP.”

    The Conclave reports: “The carnival-like atmosphere witnessed not just only the members of the family, but also women, youths and other members of the community, all chanting Ighodalo’s name and affirming that he is their governorship candidate for the election.

    “Ighodalo had stormed Uromi, with a number of his supporters, to witness their defection to the PDP. He was treated to a warm welcome, as cultural dance troupes added colour to the convivial atmosphere, showcasing the rich heritage of the Uromi Kingdom to their guests.

    “With the approval of the head of the Okpebholo dynasty, Hon (Engr.) Felix Okpebholo, Barr. Patrick Okpebholo – a grassroots politician and mobiliser, who recently dumped the Labour Party (LP) for the PDP – introduced his cherished family members, who are leaders and stakeholders in various endeavours of life.

    “The visit was significant in many respects, as it served as a pivotal moment for Ighodalo to further reaffirm and expand his bond with the Okpebholo dynasty and indeed the Amedokhian people of Uromi, where he also shared his vision and aspirations for the people of Uromi and the broader Edo State.

    “Ighodalo expressed his profound gratitude to the family for the support and reception, promised not to let anyone down, assured the audience of his unwavering dedication to their cause, and upholding the values of integrity, accessibility and inclusivity in whatever he will do in the state, and emphasised the importance of unity and collective action in realising their shared dreams for a brighter future and a prosperous Edo State.”

    The defection of members of the”Okpebholo family” of Uromi to the PDP – and similar others across Edo State – is a huge boost to Dr Ighodalo’s aspiration, and capable of giving Sen. Okpebholo (and the APC) sleepless nights and a wake-up call to action, if he’s to realise his ambition to be governor in November 2024!

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

  • Yoruba Nation agitators: ‘Omoluwabi’ triumph in Oyo invasion by ‘ọmọ àlè’ – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Yoruba Nation agitators: ‘Omoluwabi’ triumph in Oyo invasion by ‘ọmọ àlè’ – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    It’s no surprise that Nigeria’s plethora of security agencies – due to their remarkable lack of capacity for intelligence gathering, and non-proactive approach to nipping potential untoward happenings in the bud – missed the planning and execution of the siege to the Government Secretariat in Ibadan, capital city of Oyo State, where so-called Yoruba Nation agitators hoisted their Flag for a proclaimed creation of “Democratic Republic of the Yoruba” on Saturday, April 13, 2024.

    As one of the arrested (or surrendered) suspects – a 55-year-old lecturer at a Federal College of Education – revealed, membership of the Yoruba movement is spread across Yoruba-speaking states, noting that, “Our leaders went to all Yoruba-speaking states to serve officials letters written and we were given our copies. Then the proclamation was made and after the declaration, occupation, and notification to the world that Yoruba is an indigenous nation.”

    Yet, overt and secret security operatives missed the publicised mobilisation for the agitators’ D-Day – or they never took it seriously, or were in cahoots with and sympathetic to their cause – until the storm almost blew in the faces of law-abiding citizens of Oyo State, the South-West and Nigeria at large.

    Despite their “treasonable” felonious action – as pronounced by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, and the state Commissioner of Police Adebola Hamzat – Nigerians should be grateful though that the armed agitators for a Yoruba Nation weren’t out for real mischief but a somewhat show of symbolism, knowing they’d be challenged eventually. Otherwise, there’d have been “wailing and gnashing of teeth,” as they wreak untold havoc before security operatives rouse themselves from inertia.

    Forget the chest-beating by the governor on April 16 – when he received in his office the 46th General Officer Commanding the 2 Mechanised Division, Odogbo Barracks, Ibadan, Maj. Gen. Obinna Onubogu – that, “the Emergency Security Response was activated and it worked. The response was quick, and timely and I believe the hoodlums and miscreants met something that was beyond their imagination. Within one hour, everything was under control. And we are grateful for the timely response.”

    Also, discountenance the Police bragadocio that, “the agitators turned violent and opened fire on the Police, and a detachment of Amotekun corps was present. The Police responded and were joined by Operation Burst Patrol teams and Personnel of other security agencies, who suppressed the treason and dealt with the agitators in line with Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).”

    Wonders! If the agitators opened fire and the Police responded, how many people on both sides were injured or killed? None reported! lf the Police were that capable, efficient and alive to their responsibilities, why literally escort the heavily-armed “miscreants” – dressed in some sort of military camouflage – in their whirlwind journey to the Government Secretariat that houses the Governor’s Office and State House of Assembly, where they hoisted their Flag? Didn’t the Police guess they’re headed in that direction, and should’ve striven to cut them off before they got there?

    And why did the Police ask the “miscreants to dispatch” (go away) until they “turned violent and opened fire” on operatives? Would the Police have allowed the agitators to go scot-free, if they’d dispersed “peacefully” from their intent to forcefully overthrow a democratically-elected government, in breach of the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria?

    The efficiency or lack of it of Nigeria’s security architecture isn’t the theme here, but the near-universal condemnation of the agitators by the Yoruba, for bringing opprobrium to the ethnic group that’s the beacon of democracy and intellectual discourse of any issues that will reshape the structure of the Nigerian federation.

    From the umbrella Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, to the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE); from leading Yoruba Nation activists, Prof. Banji Akintoye of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide and Chief Sunday Adeyemo (alias Sunday Igboho) (who distanced themselves from the invasion), to Governor Makinde and his government; and from former Military Governor and ex-Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George and other prominent Yoruba individuals and groups, it’s wholesale repudiation of the Yoruba Nation agitators, their leaders and sponsors.

    The denial of involvement by Igboho and Akintoye is germane because of their prime leadership role in and links to the struggle for Yoruba self-determination. Reacting via a Facebook Live, Igboho said: “I know nothing about it (invasion) and I don’t know those behind it… Any person that said he is agitating for Yoruba Nation and is going to attack government facilities, that person or group is on his own; I don’t know anything about it.”

    Similarly, Akintoye alleged that another separatist leader (name withheld) was behind the incident in Oyo State, saying, “I have spoken to Sunday Igboho. Some people sent them (agitators) to make sure that they disrupt the Yoruba self-determination struggle. I was informed a few minutes ago that some people… have come to take over the government of Yorubaland, and that they have arrived in Ibadan. We, in this struggle, don’t act in that manner.”

    Top on the series of excoriation came on April 17 from President Bola Tinubu – a Yoruba and unarguably one of the most influential pro-democracy activists of this generation – who, read the riot act to the agitators and similar cohorts that, those threatening Nigeria’s sovereignty “will have a price to pay.”

    Tinubu, hosting a delegation of Afenifere at the State House, Abuja, including its leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, and Oba Olu Falae – on a solidarity visit aftermath of the Yoruba Nation agitators’ invasion of Oyo – said that, “I am irrevocably committed to the unity of Nigeria and constitutional democracy. Those who think they can threaten the sovereignty of Nigeria will have themselves to blame. They have a price to pay. And we are not going to relent.”

    Besides the Police declaring wanted the alleged “mastermind” and a former wife of the winner of the military annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola (GCFR) – whose family members have disowned the woman’s action in what many concerned Yoruba describe as a “coup d’etat” that should be punished under the relevant laws – the Oyo State government, by court orders, has demolished a building identified as “operational base” of the Yoruba Nation agitators, and several other buildings used as hideouts in Ibadan.

    Till this moment – over one week after the brazing incident in Ibadan – no Yoruba leader or group has backed the effrontry of the agitators. There’ve been no charge by the agitators or their supporters and sympathisers that they’re put down forcefully by the federal and state governments, and security agencies.

    No allegations of scores or hundreds of the agitators killed and injured, and no claims of suppression, victimisation, marginalisation and ethnic cleasing of the Yoruba race in Nigeria. No malicious reports to, and calls for intervention of external bodies, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), Commonwealth of Nations, United Nations, and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    No calls on the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and Japan to exert their political, economic, diplomatic and military powers on Nigeria and back the agitators for a Yoruba Nation. Nor have there been calls on the Nigerian military to overthrow the government of President Tinubu for threatening to deal with those troubling the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

    What Nigerians have heard and seen so far – and which’s worthy of emulation by other sections of the country – is the Yoruba leading by example on how individuals and groups should conduct themselves in a complex multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic society as Nigeria’s for a peaceful and harmonious coexistence.

    It’s apt to quote a post on X (formerly Twitter) by a social commentator and best-selling author, Mr. Reno Omokiri,  @renoomokiri, on the Yoruba Nation agitators’ saga. He states that, “to understand why the Yoruba are the most influential and the wealthiest people in Nigeria, study how they (not the Federal Government) dealt with the so-called Yoruba Nation agitators, who tried to cause havoc and chaos in Ibadan last week.”

    “First of all, the families of those involved publicly denounced them. In fact, one of the affected families took out an advert. That is to show you social responsibility at the family level,” Mr Omokiri says.

    “Then, the society rose against them, with community members forging them out and pointing out their properties and hideouts to the authorities. That demonstrates social cohesion and a society with a secure moral fabric. Secessionists can only operate where there is local support. If there is no local support, they will evaporate.

    “Next, the State Government did not wait for the Federal Government or their agencies. In less than a week, they had arrested all of those involved, demolished their properties and brought criminal charges against them. That is evidence of a responsible sub-national government.

    “No prominent Yoruba came out to make excuses for these agitators, or sympathise with them. As a unit, they called them by their names – miscreants. They did not even call them Unknown Miscreants (nobody is unknown to the community, except the community wants to hide behind one finger). They named and shamed them!”

    The totality of how the Yoruba rose to the occasion of the agitators’ storming of Oyo is located in “Omoluwabi” (Omoluabi) – a cultural concept that’s native to the Yoruba people. It’s used to describe a person of good character.

    The omoluabi concept, according to Wikipedia, “signifies courage, hard work, humility and respect. An omoluabi is a person of honour who believes in hard work, respects the rights of others, and gives to the community in deeds and in action. Above all, an omoluwabi is a person of integrity.”

    So, in the context of the episode in Ibadan – and the pre-cautionary measures put in place in other South-West states – an omoluwabi isn’t irrational and disruptive, but calculative and deliberative in choosing and applying intellect and persuasion over brawn that’s wilfully displayed by the Yoruba Nation agitators.

    As a tweep notes in response to the @renoomokiri post, “People that bring shame to their families are called ‘ọmọ àlè’ (derogatorily, an illegitimate child, bastard) in Yoruba. Ordinarily, a properly brought-up Yoruba son brings honour to his family. We don’t do blame game in Yoruba land, we call a spade a spade. A Yoruba mother will give away (hand over) her own son if he breaks law.”

    Another tweep says, “If other regions in the nation adopted this kinetic and proactive approach – terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, and other criminal vices will be reduced in the society. Will tribalism, ethnicity and religion sympathy allow them to think deeply?”

    That’s the big question, as the government and security agencies delve into the remote and immediate causes of the Yoruba Nation agitators’ activities on April 13! As noted by Gen. Onubogu during his visit to Governor Makinde, “We are indeed in a period of security challenges… This incident is unfortunate, as it shows that despite the peace that exists in Oyo State, there are still sons and daughters of South-West Nigeria, who are bent on challenging Oyo State, the entire South-West as well as Nigeria as a whole.

    “I have taken note of some of the gaps that preceded this incident and I want to assure you that under my watch, we will play our part to ensure that such a situation does not arise again. As our adversaries have made their intentions known, it will be foolhardy for us not to refocus and ensure the people of Oyo remain safe.”

    Investigations into the invasion shouldn’t be farfetched, as some of the arrested agitators have given the investigators leads to follow. A female agitator said those who sponsored the invasion promised to put an end to starvation in her life, adding, “the sponsors promised me and my entire family that they would empower us and that our future would be assured. Starvation would no longer be in our lives and that cost of living would automatically come down.”

    Another suspect didn’t regret his action, stressing, “We all know that nothing is working in Nigeria and things are hard for everyone except those in government. We were at the Secretariat waiting for our leader to come and address us. We believe our leader knows much about the law and so we were not afraid to join when we were called upon. Our leaders told us that all challenges Yoruba are facing shall be addressed if we achieve our aim.”

    And from Ondo State, where precautionary measures were taken to forestall any similar incident, a group of “Yoruba Nation Youths,” both Home and Diaspora, has told the state government – and insisted that – “they are not terrorists but a legitimate group of youths demanding Yoruba Nation, self-determination and independence.”

    In closing, Governor Makinde’s words to Gen. Onubogu resonates: “Concerning the unfortunate incident, what I can say is that we must win the war, but we must also win peace. It is a challenging period!” Absolutely challenging times for Nigerians and the entire country!

     

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

  • Abia repeal of life pensions for ex-govs, deputies: Matters arising (2) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Abia repeal of life pensions for ex-govs, deputies: Matters arising (2) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    While most Nigerians still clink wine glasses in toast to Abia State Governor Alex Otti for belling the monstrous cat of life pensions for former governors and deputy governors, three Abia ex-governors have punctuated Dr Otti’s enviable limelight, by denying drawing pensions, and the accompanying perquisites of office.

    Under the repealed law, former governors and deputies were to be paid lifetime salaries; get houses in Abia and Abuja; receive 100 per cent of annual basic salaries of the incumbent governor and deputy; get two brand-new vehicles worth N20 million every four years; and have three police officers and two operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), and cooks, stewards, drivers, and gardeners.

    The denial by immediate past Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (2015-2023) came on March 20 – a day before Otti signed into law the bill repealing the pensions. A statement by Dr Ikpeazu’s chief press secretary, Onyebuchi Ememanka, refuted reports “mischievously couched to give the false impression” that Ikpeazu’s among former governors receiving pensions from Abia State.

    Ememanka stated: “Dr Okezie Ikpeazu wishes to make it abundantly clear that since after handing over the reins of power as Governor of Abia State on May 29, 2023, he has neither requested for, nor received from the Abia State Government, any dime under any guise whatsoever, and has no intentions of doing so.

    “Former Governor Ikpeazu has since moved on with his life and is currently engaged in other areas of interest to him and advises the Abia State Government and her various organs to face the business of governance and desist from engaging in needless media sensationalism. The general public should be properly guided, please.”

    Former Senator and ex-Governor Theodore Orji (2007-2015) also debunked claims of benefiting from the pension largesse, saying on March 21 that, “he hasn’t received any pension, he hasn’t asked for it, and he’s not interested in it.” Orji spoke via his former chief liaison officer, Hon. Ifeanyi Umere.

    Umere said: “Nobody should link Senator Orji with the said pension law because nobody has paid him any pension after leaving office as Governor. He transited from Governor to Senate and he made it a point of morality that he will not, and he didn’t ask for any pension or question anybody about it because he is not interested in it. He didn’t receive any pension from Okezie Ikpeazu and he didn’t pay anybody, too.”

    And Sen. and former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu (1999-2007) – whose government established the pension law in 2001 – said he didn’t receive any pensions since 2007. One of Kalu’s aides was quoted: “As a former governor of the state, T. A. Orji did not pay him (Kalu) a dime as pension, and Okezie Ikpeazu continued in the same manner.”

    Recall that Dr Kalu, fielding questions from journalists at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja on February 20, 2017, distanced himself from the 108 ex-governors that a national daily claimed were “living off their states through pensions and other entitlements.”

    As reported by Vanguard on February 21, 2017, Kalu said he hadn’t received “any payment, entitlements or privileges of any sort from his successors (Sen. Orji and Dr. Ikpeazu), adding that the Abia State government had “withheld and refused to pay his pensions and entitlements, making him the only ex-governor in the 36 states that does not receive pension.”

    Kalu said on leaving government on May 29, 2007, he left behind “all the government vehicles and every other thing that belonged to the government,” and that, “none of the privileges, like security details or vehicles that accrue to former governors has been extended to him.”

    Asked if he’s broke because of non-payment, and his next line of action, Kalu said: “It is not about being broke or not. The pension law of the state did not exclude me from being paid as expected. In fact, it is illegal, according to the law, to deny one his rights and privileges.”

    Also reacting to the abolished pension benefits, former Deputy Governor Ude Chukwu, under the Ikpeazu regime, said: “Nobody has given me a dime. I am aware of the law. For me, it (the law) is as good as not being there. If all past governors said they have not been paid anything, what is the essence of the existence of the law?”

    Relatedly, former Lagos State Governor and ex-minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has revealed that his monthly pension is N577,000, after eight years in office (2007-2015). Mr Fashola, appearing on ARISE TV programme, ‘Perspectives,’ on January 20, said:

    “The benefit I get, I think, is a N577,000 monthly pension from Lagos State. So, in spite of all the stories that we got several billions of money (after leaving office), I’ve come out to deny that repeatedly. Well, I don’t know how long it lasts, but all I know is that I get N577,000 per month consistently,” without stating if he’d enjoyed the “full package” pre and post-effort by the Lagos State House of Assembly (LGHA) to halve the pensions in 2021.

    The poser: If Otti’s predecessors in office denied receiving any pensions, why the Labour Party (LP) governor’s bravado to sign into law the pensions repeal bill passed by the Abia State House of Assembly (ABHA)? Was it to score political points by painting black Dr Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Orji (PDP), and Sen. Kalu of All Progressives Congress (APC)?

    Perhaps, Otti wanted to fulfil a campaign promise, and guard against any governor resurrecting the dead law in future. Signing the law on March 21, Otti stated: “Even before this new law came into place, a lot of people, who have followed our views in the national discuss (discourse), understand that we were not going to continue the practice of paying pensions and allowances to this set of former government officials.”

    That said, pensions for former governors and deputy governors aren’t “illegal,” as the issue is perceived in the public. What Nigerians detest and question is the morality of and insensitivity in awarding huge severance pay, lifetime pensions, allowances and material benefits to former governors and deputies.

    Some former governors-turned senators or ministers also receive emoluments in a couple of places: pensions from their states, and salaries and allowances from the National Assembly (NASS) or the Executive, against the rules that exempt farming as the only avenue to possibly earn extra pay, while boosting the country’s food production and security.

    In 2023, some members of NASS were enticed by the mouth-watering pension packages for federal and state executives, and proposed same for the President and Deputy President of the Senate, and Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives – an incentive for State Houses of Assembly to follow suit. But the bill was shot down due to public outcry.

    In the oft-quoted Lagos High Court judgment of November 26, 2019, in suit no: FHC/L/CS/1497/2017, filed by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo queried the legality or validity of pensions for former governors and deputy governors, but pushed the burden of discovery to the Attorney General of the Federation.

    Justice Oguntoyinbo had differed from the position of then Attorney General Abubakar Malami (SAN) that, “the States’ laws duly passed cannot be challenged,” and said, “I do not agree with this line of argument by the Attorney General that he cannot challenge the States’ pension laws for former governors.”

    “In my humble view, the AG should be interested in the legality or validity of any law in Nigeria and how such laws affect or will affect Nigerians, being the Chief Law Officer of the Federation,” the judge said, and then gave the following commands:

    “AN ORDER of mandamus compelling and directing the Attorney General, AG, to urgently identify former governors and their deputies collecting pensions from their states and to seek full recovery of public funds from those involved.

    “AN ORDER of mandamus compelling and directing the AG to urgently institute appropriate legal actions to challenge the legality of states’ laws permitting former governors, serving as senators and ministers to enjoy governors’ emoluments while drawing normal salaries and allowances in their new political offices.”

    Based on the orders, SERAP asked President Bola Tinubu, in a letter on March 23, “to immediately obey,” to recover pensions collected by former governors, and to challenge the legality of states’ pension laws permitting those involved to collect such “outrageous pensions.”

    Equally instructive is an Appeal Court ruling, in suit no. CA/A/810/2017, against the Kogi State Government seeking pensions and severance packages in the state, which’s referenced by Alex Enumah in an opinion piece, “Pension Laws for Ex-Govs: The Abia Example,” published by THISDAY on March 31, as follows:

    “The court held that the fact that elected public office holders and political appointees were paid huge amounts of money as monthly salaries and other forms of allowances while in office makes it morally wrong for them to demand pensions, gratuities or severance allowances for holding such an office for four to eight years as the case may be.

    “The three-man panel of the appellate court, which had Justice Emmanuel Agim, Justice Abubakar Datti Yahaya and Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, submitted that it amounted to gross social injustice, and unjustified in the context of the nation’s present social realities.

    “The lead judgment, which was delivered by Justice Agim (now JSC), said it was wicked and morally wrong for political office holders and political appointees, who helped themselves to public funds while in office, to claim entitlement to pension and severance allowances.

    “He submitted that it was wrong for political appointees and elected public office holders, who do not work as long and as hard as career civil servants to quickly get paid huge severance allowances upon leaving office, in addition to the huge wealth they acquired while holding such offices and without having been subjected to any contributory pension schemes.”

    So, controversies trail pensions for former governors and deputies not for being “illegal” but because they’re overbloated, and a huge drain on the lean resources of many states, which owe months and even years of backlogs to retirees, some of who spent over 35 years in service and retired into penury, as their pensions are withheld by governors, who are “qualified” for hefty pensions and adds-on for life, and even pay themselves upfront part of the packages before they leave office.

    It’s reassuring though that former Governors Ikpeazu, Orji and Kalu have denied receiving pensions, and challenged Otti’s sweeping statement that, “we were not going to continue the practice of paying pensions and allowances to this set of former government officials.” But can hundreds of other former governors – accused of drawing huge pensions and entitlements from their states – emulate the Abia trio by disavowing the allegations against them? The ball, as they say, is in their court!

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

  • Abia repeal of life pensions for ex-Govs, Deputies: Matters arising (1) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Abia repeal of life pensions for ex-Govs, Deputies: Matters arising (1) – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Abia State Governor Alex Otti’s the rave of the moment among his peer governors, and most Nigerians, for “infrastructural development,” and particularly for signing into law a Bill passed by the Abia State House of Assembly (ABHA) to repeal life pensions for former governors and deputy governors of the state.

    Under the repealed law, former governors and deputies were paid lifetime salaries, and got houses in Abia and Abuja, prompting ex-Head of State and former President Olusegun Obasanjo – on a visit to Dr Otti to commend his novel move – to describe the life pension laws by state governors as “rascality” and “acts of daylight robbery,” and urged other  governors to emulate the Otti example.

    But did retired Gen. Obasanjo, Ph.D, also send similar entreaty to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly (NASS), to repeal pensions and entitlements for former presidents, vice presidents and heads of state? Or only former governors and deputies should curb their appetite for free money and materials after “retirement” from government?

    Obasanjo’s advocacy should touch all former elected or appointed executive officeholders, as we shouldn’t have a “special breed” of Nigerians: former military heads of state, presidents, vice presidents, governors and deputy governors, who enjoy government’s freebies, and live in luxuries at the expense of toiling Nigerians in need of the bare essentials of life.

    It’s as well to recall that in a valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council at the State House, Abuja, on May 24, 2023, then Vice President Yemi Osinbajo called for an upward review of pensions for former presidents and vice presidents.

    Osinbajo, referencing President Muhammadu Buhari’s “personal integrity,” said: “Part of the problem with that is that sometimes, you and I end up getting the very short end of the stick. If you look at the laws today, our retirement benefits, yours (Buhari) will be N350,000 a month by law and mine will be N250,000 per month.

    “Those, of course, as you can imagine, are very tiny amounts of money. And I think that one of the things that we must do is to, perhaps, see how we can amend that law so that I will not come to you in Daura (Buhari’s hometown in Katsina State) and ask for some of your bulls to sell in order to survive.”

    As Sunday PUNCH findings, first reported on May 28, 2023, indicate, “severance packages for Buhari and Osinbajo, state governors and other political appointees leaving office in 2023 might cost the country about N63.45bn,” adding that, as stipulated by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC), “President Buhari will get a severance pay of N10.54m, which is 300 per cent of his annual basic salary, while Vice-President Osinbajo will receive N9.09m.”

    In a manner of, “What a man can do, a woman can do it, and even better,” then First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari, also solicited increased out-of-office benefits for ex-presidents and vice presidents, and for the incorporation of former first ladies “among the beneficiaries.” She spoke on May 25, 2023, in Abuja, at the launch of a book, ‘The Journey of a Military Wife,’ written by Mrs Vickie Irabor, wife of then Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd).

    Mrs Buhari’s plea: “The Federal Government should consider us as people that need help not as magic makers. And on the privileges given to the former presidents of Nigeria, they should do more. It is still not enough considering what people go through in that house (Presidential Villa). And at the same time, I want them to incorporate women, the former first ladies, among the beneficiaries.”

    Many Nigerians have lent voices to the Otti gesture, especially coming at an time of economic strangulation of the average and below-average citizens since the advent of the Tinubu administration, following the withdrawal of subsidy on petrol, and floating the Naira, which’s crashed against major foreign currencies, and sent inflation and the cost of living sky-high.

    The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked President Tinubu to swiftly obey a court judgment, which orders the Federal Government to recover pensions collected by former governors, and to challenge the legality of states’ pension laws permitting those involved to collect such “outrageous pensions.”

    Following a SERAP suit no: FHC/L/CS/1497/2017, Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo in a 20-page judgment on November 26, 2019, granted “AN ORDER of mandamus compelling and directing the Attorney General, AG, to urgently identify former governors and their deputies collecting pensions from their states and to seek full recovery of public funds from those involved.”

    “Justice Oguntoyinbo also granted ‘AN ORDER of mandamus compelling and directing the AG to urgently institute appropriate legal actions to challenge the legality of states’ laws permitting former governors, serving as senators and ministers to enjoy governors’ emoluments while drawing normal salaries and allowances in their new political offices.’”

    Then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had argued that “the States’ laws duly passed cannot be challenged.” But Justice Oguntoyinbo differed, saying, “I do not agree with this line of argument by the Attorney General that he cannot challenge the States’ pension laws for former governors.”

    “In my humble view, the AG should be interested in the legality or validity of any law in Nigeria and how such laws affect or will affect Nigerians, being the Chief Law Officer of the Federation,” the judge said, adding, “I have considered SERAP’s arguments that it is concerned about the attendant consequences that are manifesting on the public workers and pensioners of the states who have been refused salaries and pensions running into several months on the excuse of non-availability of state resources to pay them.”

    Justice Oguntoyinbo didn’t expressly pronounce on the legality of awarding life pensions to former governors and deputy governors. Perhaps, the plaintiff, SERAP, didn’t include that in its averments and prayers. Which somehow left the judge to push the responsibility to the Attorney General – “being the Chief Law Officer of the Federation” – of finding out the “legality or validity of any law in Nigeria and how such laws affect or will affect Nigerians.”

    But the National Industrial Court –  as posted on the African Law eJournal on March 25, 2020 – had ruled that pensions for former governors and deputy governors are legal, as nothing in the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria precludes or prevents state houses of assembly from enacting laws to give such benefits to former state chief executives.

    Michael Dugeri of University of Ottawa, Canada, posted the court’s ruling in the case of Incorporated Trustees of Human Development Initiatives & 39 Others v. Governor of Abia State & 73 Others, which borders on “legal validity of state pensions laws for political office holders in Nigeria.”

    “The National Industrial Court, in this case, was invited to determine the question of whether any law, especially by the State Houses of Assembly, that stipulates pension of such public officials already covered by the constitutional mandate of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation & Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), is ultra vires, null and void. The Court answered in the negative,” the report said.

    Yet, as first reported by Vanguard on March 24, SERAP, while noting inaction by the Buhari administration on the Justice Oguntoyinbo judgment, urges President Tinubu, in a March 23 letter by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, “to emulate the good example of Governor Otti by urgently obeying the judgment.”

    “Unless the judgment is immediately obeyed, former governors and their deputies, including those now serving as ministers in your administration and members of the National Assembly who receive pensions, would continue to evade justice for their actions,” SERAP says.

    “Immediately obeying the judgment would show the sovereignty of the rule of law in Nigeria and go a long way in protecting the integrity of the country’s legal system. Obeying the judgment would also show you (Tinubu) as a defender of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended), the rule of law, and public interest within government,” SERAP adds.

    SERAP lists former governors, “who continue to collect double emoluments and large severance benefits” from 22 states, including Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Delta, Ekiti, Kano, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Abia, Imo, Bayelsa, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Ebonyi, Rivers, Niger, Kogi, and Katsina.

    As reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on March 20, the Abia pensions repeal law isn’t the first, as a few states had moved to abolish the law, but “many states showed nonchalant attitude toward doing so.” Still, the “Abia State Governors and Deputy Governors’ (Repeal) Law 2024,” which took effect immediately on Thursday, March 21, 2024, after Governor Otti signed it, forecloses former governors and deputy governors earning pensions.

    But did the Abia repealed pensions law include other perquisites of office, which make the pensions per se to look like pocket money for a boarding-house student, who doesn’t really need extra money, as their parents or guardians have settled accommodation, feeding and provisions for them?

    This and more will be explored in part 2 of the series, amid denial by two former governors of Abia State, Sen. Theodore Orji and Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, of receiving pensions since they left office, even as Governor Otti continues to enjoy the limelight of abolishing pensions for former governors and deputy governors of Abia State!

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

  • Fake news: Between Rasheed and Oyetola and Mohammed’s recipe – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Fake news: Between Rasheed and Oyetola and Mohammed’s recipe – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Pre-celebration on November 11, 2018, of first anniversary of the Armistice – what is known as “the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month” that ended First World War on November 11, 1918 – John Hubbel Weiss, associate professor of history at Cornell University, in an opinion piece, “WWI ‘fake news’ made truth the first casualty,” published on news.cornell.edu on November 7, 2018, writes that the current notion of “fake news” can be tied back to this period, when the public began mistrusting the press narrative about the real state of the war.

    Weiss says: “Widespread mistrust of the press as the purveyor of ‘fake news’ began with the Armistice of 1918. In the case of Germany, the press maintained a triumphalist approach, suppressing stories about the military disasters of the summer of 1918 and running uninterrupted editorials that victory was near. Throughout the war troops, who had just suffered massive losses of men and territory, were dismayed to read optimistic accounts of battles unrecognizable to those that had participated in them. As the saying went, in portraying wars in the press, truth was the first casualty.”

    Similarly in an April 22, 2022, article, “The ICRC vs. Fake News: Setting the record straight in the First World War,” published on blogs.icrc.org, researcher, Cédric Cotter, writes, “The term “fake news” has been a constant presence in the media for several years now. The deliberate spread of false information seems to have become one of the great perils of our time. Yet the issue is nothing new.

    “In fact, all conflicts give rise to propaganda, in which fake news is mixed in with rumours, information becomes a real weapon of war and the facts seem to be entirely relative. The First World War was no exception and many historians have taken an interest in the spread of rumours about atrocities perpetrated by the enemy, brainwashing and how propaganda was received by civilians at the time.”

    The above quotes serve as a backdrop to the topic at hand, which’s the matter of Olawale Rasheed, spokesman to Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, allegedly sponsoring “fake news” against Femi Oyetola, son of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy and former Osun Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, over which the Department of State Services (DSS) has invited Mr Rasheed for interrogation.

    Rasheed’s denied the allegation, and promised to make himself available for the DSS investigation. But rather than stick to his bravado, he’s approached the Federal High Court in Osogbo, capital city of Osun State, “for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights,” in an originating summons against the DSS and Femi, seeking three reliefs, including a restraining order on the DSS from “inviting, arresting or detaining him.”

    Are Nigerians going to witness a classical case of “The Guilty Are Afraid,” as depicted in a 1957 thriller novel by British writer, James Hadley Chase? The issue surrounding Rasheed borders on “fake news” set on criminal extortion! So, why did he – after denying sponsoring the fake news against the son of his principal’s “political enemy number one” – suddenly develop cold feet, and want the court to stop the DSS from probing the damaging allegation of Femi extorting directors (for what purpose?) in his father’s ministry?

    The Nation first reported on March 24 that the DSS invitation to Rasheed followed an Abuja-based blogger’s news report, “claiming that Femi was extorting directors of the Ministry of Marine. Subsequently, the blogger was arrested by operatives of DSS and she reportedly confessed that Rasheed sponsored the report.”

    What’s hard in Rasheed honouring the DSS summons to prove his innocence? Unless he’s something to hide, appearing before the DSS would afford him an auspicious moment to confront the blogger, who alleged that he sponsored the “fake news” published on her blog!

    Now that the Rasheed “fake news” extortion of Femi is before the Federal High Court in Osogbo, the trial judge should give accelerated hearing to the restraining order on the DSS from inviting, talkless of arresting or detaining Rasheed.

    As extortion isn’t a plaything to be bandied – moreso against Femi Oyetola for accusingly perpetrating the act in the ministry that’s on his father’s watch – the court shouldn’t put the public in suspension via unnecessary and frivolous adjournments orchestrated by any of the parties, as the case strikes at the heart of fighting corruption by the Bola Tinubu administration.

    The Rasheed episode comes at a time fake news rules the media, particularly social media, which exploits free speech to disinform, misinform, ply falsehood, and flat-out lies ravenously consumed by members of the public, who relish bad news due to envy, or parochial interest.

    Fake news is malicious propaganda aimed at damaging the image and reputation of those targeted. Because the average human being wants to read, listen or watch bad news about their neighbour, bad news, laced with fake news, sells like hot cakes. That’s why the “new media” traffics fake news to drive ratings and for monetary gains.

    The disadvantages of fake news far outweigh its advantages in terms of unpending lives, and socio-economic and political order that can lead to inevitable consequences, such as family feuds, intra and inter-tribal conflicts, civil strifes and cross-border skirmishes and wars.

    Across many countries, fake news have been sowed in attempts to sway votes, and influence the outcomes of elections. An example is the United States of America, where former President Donald Trump falsely claimed he won the 2020 General Election, with his supporters storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to disrupt Congress from certifying Joe Biden as President. There’re fears that fake news can scramble the November 2024 poll!

    In Nigeria, fake news almost derailed the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections. The opposition, using social media, made heavy weather of alleged massive electoral malpractice by the ruling party in cahoots with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – even as they claimed to’ve won the same “flawed” elections – which they failed to prove at the election petitions courts.

    Earlier on in his administration (2015-2023), there’s a series of fake news about President Muhammadu Buhari’s incapacitation, and death while on medical treatments abroad, and the cloning of a “Jubril of Sudan” as his replacement at the Aso Rock Villa seat of power in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Also, President Tinubu – even as a candidate – reportedly died several times overseas, and/or underwent periodic procedures to replace “batteries that keep him alive.”

    During the 2023 campaigns, fake news purveyors not only “manipulated and distorted videos and speeches” attributed to Tinubu, but also predicted that he won’t be sworn-in as President, as the Military would takeover at his inauguration; and as President, he won’t dare to visit any country for fear of arrest over alleged drugs offences. But Tinubu’s inaugurated on May 29, 2023, and has visited several countries around the globe thereafter.

    Yet, ahead of the next general election in 2027, fake news saturates the polity, this time to undermine and demarket government’s diverse strategies – already showing encouraging signs – designed to ameliorate the economic pains admittedly inflicted on the citizens following Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the Naira.

    Social media “remains the platforms of choice for the purveyors of fake news, anti-state groups, anarchists, secessionists, terrorists and bandits,” says Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s former Minister of Information, who recalls that while in government, his ministry uncovered 476 online publications dedicated to spreading fake news against the Buhari administration.

    Mohammed, the Managing Partner of Bruit Costard, a lobbyist and public relations firm, spoke lately in Lagos at an event to mark the 90th birthday anniversary of Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, entitled, “The Media in the Age of Disinformation,” as first reported on March 23 by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    Noting the far-reaching consequences of fake news, disinformation and misinformation, Mohammed, an advocate of social media regulation, says “fake news has become exponential through the use of Artificial Intelligence and deep learning techniques to create highly realistic fake or manipulated videos, audio recordings or images.”

    “The consequences of disinformation and misinformation are far-reaching,” Mohammed says. “They undermine democratic processes, sow discord within communities, and pose significant threats to public health and safety. Today, even the media is at the risk of losing its credibility because of the proliferation of fake news on social media.

    “Therefore, the media, as custodians of the public trust, must take decisive action to combat the scourge of disinformation and misinformation,” and “prioritise the integrity of information over profit motives and take proactive measures to detect and remove harmful content from their platforms.”

    To arrest the disturbing trend, Mohammed recommends that social media platforms and other intermediaries amplifying disinformation and misinformation should be held responsible, and be checkmated “through robust regulatory frameworks to curb the spread of false information while safeguarding freedom of expression.”

    In terms of targeting individuals, Mohammed shares how “fake news” – alleging he’d stolen $1.3bn from the coffers of the Ministry of Information (between 2015-2018) and stashed it overseas – nearly ruined his 40-year-old marriage. The gist in a nutshell: Mohammed, on an official assignment in Lagos in 2018, retired to his house, and to bed. But his wife woke him up past midnight, “as there were some serious issues to discuss.”

    “I could not fathom what was that urgent or serious to warrant being woken up at this time of the night,” Mohammed says, adding that the accusation from his wife was “a bombshell” narrated to him in Yoruba language, but roughly translated thus:

    “Daddy (wife addressing him), death can come knocking at any moment, please let me also, as your wife, be a signatory to your overseas account in ‘Ali Financial,’ which contains 1.3 billion dollars.”

    Mohammed says he didn’t believe his wife could take, hook, line, and sinker the fake story in circulation, crediting humongous sums of money in overseas accounts to government functionaries/ministers under President Buhari’s administration.

    “I spent the next two hours or so, sweating to convince my wife that there is no iota of truth in the allegation,” he says. “I had to fetch a calculator and reproduce the Federal Appropriation Act for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 in the middle of the night and explain to her why it is simply preposterous for me to have 1.3 billion dollars in a foreign account.

    “I explained to her that there is no year my capital budget exceeded N5 billion, which then, at about N400 to a dollar, was just 12.5 million dollars. I explained that, even if I managed to divert every kobo of it to my personal account, it will take at least, 104 years to save the sum of 1.3 billion dollars being peddled that I stole.”

    Mohammed adds: “My wife insisted that the whole world believed the story and that her friends had as a result, besieged her with all kinds of requests. She said every effort on her part to deny the existence of this foreign account only succeeded in depicting her in the minds of her friends as a selfish, greedy and uncaring friend. Is my wife truly convinced of my innocence? The answer is in the wind!”

    To the question at hand: Many Nigerians have suffered Mohammed’s kind of experience from fake news purveyors! Is Femi Oyetola about to bear the brunt of fake news reportedly engineered by Olawale Rasheed now standing accused in the eyes of the public and the courts? Can Rasheed free himself from the reported fake news against Femi?

    In any case, Rasheed – and others in his shoes – should beware, as going forward, there maybe no hiding place for purveyors of fake news, as several countries have regulated – and many others, including Nigeria, are making moves to regulate – social media activities within the bounds of law, with or without infringement on citizens’ rights to free speech. A word is enough for the wise!

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

  • Edo 2024: Oshiomhole, Ize-Iyamu ‘show of power’ over APC guber candidates – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Edo 2024: Oshiomhole, Ize-Iyamu ‘show of power’ over APC guber candidates – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    A tell-tale photograph from the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja showed Senator and former Governor Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North), beaming, and hugging the party candidate for the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State, Sen. Monday Okpebholo (APC, Edo Central), for accepting to run with Rep. Dennis Idahosa (APC, Ovia Federal Constituency).

    Self-assured Oshiomhole’s elated because he’s somewhat regained his mojo that’s lost over the scheming for the APC flagbearer – which he’d primed for Idahosa, but clinched by Okpebholo through the backing of two-time governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. And he’s certainly losing out again to Ize-Iyamu in the running mate slot until President Bola Tinubu intervened to save him on his Edo State political turf.

    But that photograph got X (formerly Twitter) users engaged on March 18, with a tweep pointing to Okpebholo’s awkward facial expression, as APC’s National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, presented Idahosa as Okpebholo’s running mate. “The look on the face of the governorship candidate says it all,” the tweep notes.

    To which another replies: “Because Idahosa is not his choice. He’s imposed on him by the triumvirate of President Tinubu, Sen. Oshiomhole and APC Chairman Ganduje. Sen. Okpebholo’s choice is Ogbeide Ihama of the PDP, backed by APC and PDP bigwigs in Edo South. We wait and see!”

    A third poster warns: “False start! Rule n1 (no 1) in Naija politics; don’t ever have as your running mate a man who previously aspired for the same position you are contesting because he will never be loyal to you. When in office, he will scheme to actualise his ambition even if it means undermining your govt.”

    Yet, an ecstatic Oshiomhole wouldn’t allow social media comments to impeach his “success” at delivering Idahosa for the joint ticket of the APC for the September poll. So, he belatedly congratulated Okpebholo for his “well-deserved emergence” as the party flagbearer. His words:

    “Dear Senator Monday Okpebholo. I extend my heartfelt congratulations on your well-deserved emergence as the flag bearer of our esteemed party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the forthcoming Edo State governorship election. Your victory in the closely-contested primaries reflects the belief of our party members in your unwavering dedication and commitment to our party’s core values.

    “As we embark on this crucial journey, I urge you to leave behind the intrigues of the primaries and extend a hand of fellowship to all those who contested with you for the ticket, as well as to all stakeholders of our party in the state. Together, we must forge a strong, united front that resonates with the electorate and secures victory in the governorship election on September 21, 2024.

    “Your decision to choose Hon. Dennis Idahosa as your running mate, demonstrates great wisdom and foresight. Your joint ticket presents the people of Edo State with the best option to usher in a dynamic, progressive, and responsive government that aligns with the aspirations of our vibrant youth population.

    “I am confident in your leadership abilities and believe that, with the support of all APC members across the state, we can restore Edo State to the path of progressive governance, sustainable socio economic growth and political inclusion in all its ramifications.

    “Congratulations once again, as I eagerly anticipate our collective efforts towards achieving victory in the upcoming election. Yours in the struggle for the rebirth of a greater Edo State that works for all.”

    As first reported by GWG.NG on March 18, it took Oshiomhole one full month (from February 17 to March 18) to congratulate Okpebholo for securing the APC ticket, defeating Idahosa, who Oshiomhole wanted to railroad in as the candidate for September 21.

    Maybe Oshiomhole wouldn’t have congratulated Okpebholo if he didn’t yield to President Tinubu’s plea to accept Idahosa as his running mate, and shelve his preference for former Rep. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, whom Okpebholo had introduced a few days earlier as his running mate, thus sending Oshiomhole into overdrive, as the “coup” was hatched and executed by the Ize-Iyamu camp of the Edo APC.

    The harder part for Oshiomhole, going forward, is to justify the inclusion of Idahosa in the APC ticket. He can achieve that by dropping his hubris of “dominating Edo State politics.” Granted Oshiomhole can influence block votes from his homestead of Edo North, but the primary has discernablly shown that he needs more votes from Edo South and Edo Central, from where Ize-Iyamu and his coalition mustered the votes for Okpebholo’s victory.

    Oshiomhole’s Tinubu to thank for interceding on his behalf, as Okpebholo – backed by Ize-Iyamu, who shelved his long governorship ambition “for unity of the party” – would’ve paired Ogbeide-Ihama, who’d the support of most APC aspirants, and chieftains of the PDP in Edo South, and probably the legacy faction of Edo PDP, headed by the Deputy Vice Chairman (South-South) of the party, Chief Dan Orbih.

    There’re speculations that the Orbih faction across Edo State would “defect” to APC should the Ogbeide-Ihama gambit materialise. That can still happen if Oshiomhole plays his cards well and give the assurance to “dissatisfied” APC (and PDP) members that he’ll – or has actually – come down from his high horse on account of being a Governor, APC’s National Chairman, and a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Oshiomhole got to these positions with the help of party members – he now overlooks – from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the APC in Edo State. So, he should give these members their due recognition, and a say and a place in the campaign to deliver the APC and its candidates, as President Tinubu promised on March 18.

    Nothing else will suffice, particularly for Oshiomhole, who should strive to avoid a second consecutive defeat from his erstwhile political protégé-turned traducer, Governor Godwin Obaseki, who sponsors PDP’s candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, to succeed him in November 2024.

    In his remarks at a gathering of party stalwarts during President Tinubu’s presentation of the APC flag to Okpebholo and Idahosa at the State House, Abuja, on March 18, APC’s National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, stressed the unity of purpose within the party toward achieving poll victory, saying, “Our candidate is soft-spoken, focused, and an achiever. He is a product that is highly marketable, and I am confident that with him as our flag bearer, we will bring Edo back to our party.”

    Tinubu also sounded upbeat about the APC winning the governorship, and declared: “Distinguished senator and our flag bearer, we are putting you forward in order to hold the party in trust for us and achieve victory for us. You and your running mate have been described as ‘giant killers,’ and you have worked tirelessly with the party leadership.

    “We are going to work with you. We are going to stand with you like the wall (Rock) of Gibraltar. That is all I can assure you. The party is supreme but victory is superior and very important.” The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) first reported the story.

    As he invited the Edo APC Woman Leader, Lady Betty Okoebor, to speak on the party’s readiness for the election, the president noted the role of women in electoral contest, saying, “If the women say we are going to win, then we are good to go because they constitute the largest number of voters and the most dedicated,” even as he commended the Ganduje-led APC leadership, the Edo chapter of the party, “for their efforts toward the success of the candidates and the party,” and particularly Oshiomhole, “for his exemplary leadership.”

    And there lies the problem of the APC in Edo State ahead of the poll. As first reported by The Nation, Tinubu’s flag presentation followed a March 17 prolonged meeting by stakeholders from Edo, the party leadership and Vice President Kashim Shettima.

    This comes on the back of Oshiomhole’s antics to dictate the process and outcome of the primary on February 17 – which stretched into one week (February 17-23) – due to roadblocks he erected, in cahoots with the party leadership, including Ganduje and Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Sen. Hope Uzodimma.

    Pre-primary, Oshiomhole flaunted his closeness to Tinubu, quoting the president as against zoning of the ticket to a particular senatorial district (Edo Central), and countered those – also referencing Tinubu’s “subtle support” for zoning the governorship – to show proof, even as he attempted to shoo-in Idahosa as his “anointed candidate.” But twice, Oshiomhole’s disproved carrying out Tinubu’s “wish, directive or body language.”

    In January, when the National Working Committee (NWC) wished a manageable size of aspirants for the governorship, Oshiomhole, as APC’s leader in Edo, named a “primary election screening committee,” which reduced the number of aspirants from 29 to six.

    The agenda of the “illegal committee” was to enable Oshiomhole rubberstamp Idahosa as his “anointed candidate,” and weed out “formidable aspirants,” such as Ize-Iyamu, who Oshiomhole campaigned against in 2016, as he projected his then godson, Mr Obaseki, but ironically campaigned for in 2020, as he fell out with Obaseki.

    Following protests by the 23 or more “disqualified” aspirants, the APC NWC disclaimed the “Oshiomhole committee,” and stated it’s the sole authority to screen the aspirants – 12 of whom it cleared for meeting the primary requirements, and fixed February 17 for a direct primary.

    Despite the NWC rebuff, Oshiomhole put into action his “Plan B” to ensure Idahosa’s candidacy. He reportedly procured the services of Sen. Uzodimma, chairman of the APC Edo Governorship Primary Election Committee, who declared Idahosa as winner of the primary even as votes from only eight of the 18 local government areas had been collated, and Okpebholo won handily in six of them. The Chief Returning Officer for the primary, Dr Stanley Ugboajah, eventually declared Okpebholo as the “authentic” winner of the poll.

    As local government returning officers on February 18 also declared Hon. Anamero Dekeri (APC, Etsako Federal Constituency), as the “primary winner,” there’s chaos in the Edo chapter of the APC, and at its Abuja national headquarters, where Ganduje had hurriedly “congratulated” Idahosa on February 17 without waiting for completion of the primary.

    It took Tinubu’s intervention for the NWC to suspend the primary, and fix February 22 for its completion under Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu, who’s initially Uzodimma’s deputy. Sen. Otu finally announced the results on February 23, with Okpebholo returned as the duly elected governorship candidate, beating Idahosa to the second position.

    Idahosa rejected the declaration, and vowed legal action should his appeal for remedy fail at the APC appeals committee, which dismissed his petition, and upheld Okpebholo’s plea, with the NWC issuing him a Certificate of Return and President Tinubu presenting him the party flag on March 18.

    But not before Oshiomhole played his last card! He withheld recognising Okpebholo as the APC candidate, and implored (“blackmailed”) Tinubu to enjoin Okpebholo to accept Idahosa as running mate, which the president obliged “to save Oshiomhole from failing the third time to push Idahosa’s candidacy.” This is hoping that Oshiomhole’s learned some lessons in “realpolitik” in Edo State!

     

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