ABEOKUTA — Nigerians are paying part of the sins of the 16-year rule of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, through the lingering fuel crisis in the country, All Progressives Congress, APC, national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said yesterday.
Bola Tinubu
Tinubu’s assertion on the fringes of a reconciliation meeting of APC South-West leaders at the residence of Aremo Segun Osoba, was also echoed by the APC South-East caucus at an interactive meeting at Egede, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Tinubu said: “For 16 good years, PDP destroyed the country. We should not be lamenting about petroleum queues today if they had seen what is necessary and done what is necessary for this country.
“We can’t be emotional and in self denial. If they had done Awolowo Road, if they had done Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, if they put priority on our rails, if they put priority on electricity generation and distribution, we will not be in this mess that we are today.
“Nigerians are impatient for what? I research Nigeria,they just want to see the direction of the economic policy and want to be certain of the future that we will not continue in the direction of leaderless, directionless and hopelessness of the past 16 years.”
One year not enough to rectify the rot
Spokesman of the South-East caucus, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, who echoed the point also at an interactive meeting said: “We are paying, unfortunately, for the sins of PDP. I remember vividly in 2010, when Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, then Finance Minister and Coordinator of the Economy, announced to the whole world the award of $23 billion Greenfield Refineries, to a Chinese company.
“The refineries were to be located at Bayelsa, Lagos and Kogi states. There was jubilation nationwide. If they had completed the refineries, today we won’t be talking of scarcity or astronomical increase in fuel pump price. They squandered the money and put Nigerians in harm’s way.”
While assuring that the problems were being fixed Okechukwu, however, said one year was not enough for the administration to rectify the rot. Among those present at the interactive session were Mrs. Juliet Ibekaku, Deputy Governorship candidate of APC, Philip Eze, senatorial candidate of the party, local government and Ward chairmen.
Challenged that Nigerians were running out of patience with the new administration, Okechukwu said: “We can’t stop pointing out the unconscionable wreckage the PDP unleashed on our economy in the last 16 years. The wreckage keeps popping up at each junction, despite the efforts being made to suppress it.”
There are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari has initiated moves to forestall the escalation of the festering feud between the All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu.
Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Emmanuel Kachikwu
The PUNCH reliably gathered on Monday that Buhari believed that Kachikwu’s statement and Tinubu’s criticisms could tear the party apart.
It was learnt that the President had therefore cautioned the APC chieftains and members of his cabinet against taking sides in comments and issues that could divide the party and derail his government.
A member of the cabinet, who confided in The PUNCH, said the President was of the view that any comment by the APC on the propriety or otherwise of Tinubu’s statement would divide the party and his government.
It was gathered that Buhari had told the minister that he should concentrate on how to end fuel scarcity before May, the time Kachikwu had proposed that there would be smooth fuel supply in the country.
The cabinet member stated, “I am aware that the President has moved in and cautioned ministers and party chieftains against divisive statements on the seeming feud between Tinubu and Kachikwu.
“At this time of the nation’s history, the President needs all the support of Nigerians. There should not be any distraction. The minister has been told that his main focus should be how to end fuel queues.”
Kachikwu had, in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, said fuel queues could not be eliminated before May, adding that he was not a magician.
But Tinubu had, in a statement on Saturday, criticised the minister, saying Kachikwu’s position amounted to an act of insubordination to Nigerians, who voted public office-holders into their offices.
The National Secretariat of the APC on Monday kept mute over the controversy generated by Kachikwu on the fuel situation in the country, which was roundly condemned by Tinubu.
The National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and the party’s National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, could be reached for comments on Monday.
Calls to their mobile telephones indicated that they were switched off while responses to text messages sent to them were still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.
However, a source within the party said, “The statement by our revered leader is not ambiguous. I honestly don’t see any ambiguity; he issued the statement and signed it in his personal capacity.
“He, like every Nigerian, has every right to speak out when he sees anything going wrong in the polity; you cannot deny him that right.
“Besides, I understand that the matter is being handled at the highest level; it is an internal party affair.”
Meanwhile, the Senate has directed Kachikwu to appear before it on Tuesday (today) to explain the cause of the embarrassing fuel scarcity across the country.
The Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) issued the summons after carrying out an on-the-spot assessment of the fuel situation at major filling stations within the nation’s capital, Abuja.
Members of the committee were confronted with long queues of vehicles at many filling stations.
The operators did not dispense the product to motorists, alleging lack of supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s depot in Suleja, Niger State.
The Acting Chairman of the committee, Senator Jibrin Barau, said the petroleum minister must appear before the panel to explain what led to the scarcity and the way to resolve it.
He said the fuel scarcity had become pathetic, forcing Senate President Bukola Saraki to call on the committee to assess the situation and the way to resolve it.
Barau added, “This situation is very bad and unacceptable, hence, the need for the minister to appear before us tomorrow (today) and unveil his plan of the way out to us.
“Even if he doesn’t have any plan yet out of the lingering problem, the Senate President and the entire members of the committee are more than ready to rub minds with him for that needed purpose.”
The Senate Minority Whip and a member of the committee, Senator Philip Aduda, called on the Federal Government to arrest the situation fast by making fuel available to Nigerians.
Aduda said, “What Nigerians need is fuel and not blame game. The government should look for petrol and ensure that it is given to the people.
“This situation is very and unacceptable. We are Nigerians and it will be bad for us to continue remaining in queues.
“If the APC leaders like, let them blame themselves; that is their problem, but the most important thing is for us to have fuel in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“That is what we are looking for and that is what we want. We want to see all these queues disappear.”
One of our correspondents observed that petrol marketers at various stations visited, lamented lack of supply and inadequate supply of petroleum products by the NNPC in recent times.
Isa Friday, the manager of Oando Filling station, Zone 4, Abuja, said it had been long the station got supply from NNPC depot in Suleja.
In a related development, the official pump price of petrol, otherwise known as Premium Motor Spirit, was largely upheld in just one state in the month of February 2016 out of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
According to the bureau, the average monthly price paid by consumers for petrol in Edo State was N86.5 per litre, while in Ogun, the price was close to the official rate as petrol users paid an average price of N86.53 per litre during the period under review.
The official pump price for petrol as approved by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency is N86 per litre for petrol stations run by the NNPC, and N86.50 per litre for outlets managed by other major and independent oil marketers.
The NBS, in its PMS Price Watch for February 2016, revealed that petrol was sold for as high as N122.88 per litre during the review period.
A study of the bureau’s report showed that the average cost for the product in Abia was N112.5 per litre; Bayelsa, N120.6; Cross River, N116.65; and Yobe, N122.88. The average price of PMS in February was higher in these states.
States that recorded average prices that were close to the official pump price included Lagos, N87.03 per litre; Borno, N87.88; Delta, N87.5; Oyo, N87.21; and Katsina, N87.95.
In its bid to ensure strict adherence to approved prices, the Department of Petroleum Resources recently announced the constitution and deployment of special intelligence monitoring teams nationwide to ensure the prompt delivery of products to designated filling stations.
“The teams would enforce government approved price regime and ensure the right quantity and quality of products are dispensed,” the DPR had said in a statement issued in Abuja.
Also, motorists on Monday pleaded with the Federal Government to step up efforts in ensuring that fuel queues disappear.
Motorists, who spoke with one of our correspondents while waiting to be served petrol in front of some filling stations in Abuja, wondered why it was becoming difficult for Nigeria to complete a full year without experiencing severe fuel crisis.
“This is becoming something that we must experience every year and it’s not good at all for an oil producing country like Nigeria,” said Onyema Christopher, a motorist, who was in queue at one of the NNPC’s mega stations on the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, Abuja.
“The government should please look for a lasting solution to this problem and let Nigerians, at least, enjoy one whole year without experiencing fuel scarcity and the problems associated with it.”
There are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari is making fresh moves to woo the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Buhari and IBB
Saturday PUNCH reliably learnt on Friday that before the President’s recent moves, the relationship between the duo had not been rosy.
Findings showed that Buhari decided to reach out to Tinubu to seek his support for the control of the APC.
It was gathered that Tinubu was not happy with the appointments the President had been making since his inauguration on May 29 last year.
Investigations revealed that among those the APC leader had tipped for appointments under the Buhari administration were a former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, Mr. Wale Edun, and a former Commissioner for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Yemi Cardoso.
A member of the APC National Working Committee, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said that Tinubu had been loyal to Buhari.
According to him, Tinubu was fighting Buhari’s battle when he decided to support Senator Ahmed Lawan and move against Senator Bukola Saraki for the senate presidency.
The national officer stated that Buhari was aware of the fact that Tinubu had been loyal to him since he (Buhari) joined the presidential race.
He said, “You will recall that Tinubu was initially supporting George Akume for the senate president position, but he switched over to Lawan when it became obvious that that was the man the President preferred. Also, many APC members are aware that Tinubu lost out in ministerial and many of the appointments made by the President.”
Another prominent member of the party told Saturday PUNCH that Tinubu had been maintaining what he described as a “siddon look” attitude towards the President before now.
He said prominent members of the party were worried that the president failed to consider the APC leader’s candidates for appointments.
A Presidency source, who confirmed the recent moves by Buhari, said that the President was not unaware of what the APC national leader did for him.
The source stated that Buhari’s reaching out to Tinubu was borne out of the alleged subtle moves by some elements in the party, including a former Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, to reposition themselves for the 2019 presidential race.
The former Kano State governor was alleged to have launched his 2019 presidential ambition during his visit to Kano early this month.
The Kano State chapter of the APC had, at a press conference in Kano, said that it was probing the former governor’s “misconduct,” adding that there was no presidential vacancy in the party.
But Kwankwaso, in a statement signed by his Chief of Staff, Yunusa Dangwani, said the former governor did not launch any presidential campaign.
Explaining the governor’s visit to Kano, the aide said, “It is appalling and rather unfortunate that the good gesture of Senator Kwankwaso has been mischievously interpreted wrongly.”
Although former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has been a loyal APC man, our correspondents gathered that chieftains of the party were aware that he was not uninterested in the presidency.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH in 2015, when asked if he would contest for the presidency again, he said that it was too early to answer such a question.
He had said, “It is quite too early for such a question. We are in a transition process. We have not even formed the next government. You are asking me whether I will like to run again or not. I think it is just too early.”
It was gathered that Buhari was aware of the moves by some elements in the party to position themselves for the 2019 presidential race.
That, investigations showed, informed the decision of the party caucus at its meeting on Tuesday to declare that there was no presidential vacancy.
According to a report on Thursday, the APC national caucus, comprising serving and former governors, the National Assembly leadership, and selected members of the national executive of the party, at the meeting said the endorsement of Buhari for a second term would help to stabilise the polity in the face of what members described as the 16-year rot inherited from the Peoples Democratic Party.
Another top member of the APC, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said, “Buhari needs the support of Tinubu to survive the onslaught of elements that want to seize the control of the party ahead of the 2019 elections.”
The party chieftain stated that in boards and other appointments that would be made by the President in the months ahead, Tinubu’s loyalists would be taken care of as a way of wooing the APC leader.
He said, “Although the President is not somebody who can be dictated to, he is not an ungrateful person. He is aware of the role played by Tinubu in his election and he will not abandon the man.”
When contacted, the Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, declined comments.
Repeated calls to the Director-General of the Atiku Media Office, Mazi Paul Ibe, indicated that his phone “was either switched off or out of coverage area.”
The first call was at 2:56 pm, the last was at 6:14 pm
Also efforts to get the spokesman for Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, did not succeed as calls to his mobile telephone did not go through. He had not responded to an SMS sent to him as of the time of sending this report.
But a prominent member of the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it would be good if Buhari could reach out Tinubu in view of the contributions of the party leader towards Buhari’s victory at the poll.
Also, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, who was the Joint House Leader of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party, in the House of Representatives during the Second Republic, advised the APC to learn from history.
The former lawmaker said President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the APC must find a way of working together in spite of whatever individual differences they might have.
He said, “I would advise that President Buhari sits with the leadership of his party for them to do some soul searching.
“They must realise that they need each other to deliver on the promises made to Nigerians; they must be seen to be on the same page on issues of policy and what have you.
“Those handling the President must be able to tell him some home truths about how democracy works-you need people.”
Speaking in a similar vein, a public affairs commentator and member of the civil society, Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, said it would be a disaster if the APC begins to behave like the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said, “We strongly advise the APC to sit down and resolve their issues and avoid distractions.
“Whether true or not, there are rumours of a frosty relationship between and among leaders of the party. The sooner action is taken to ensure that these rumours don’t turn out to be true, the better. If on the other hand they are true, it is better that whatever the issues are; they are quickly resolved in the interest of the party and the nation.
“Nigerians have invested so much hope in the APC to be let down on account of unresolved internal wrangling. It is time for the party to sort itself out and move the nation forward.”
The National Publicity Secretary, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said, “Most of the legacy parties in APC never knew the basics of internal democracy and the party itself was formed as a special vehicle to grab power.
“Now that they are in power, they must learn how to democratise internally as they cannot give the country what they don’t have.
“It is frightening that they have allegedly scrapped their BOT because they can’t agree on who to chair it. The implication of that for the polity is that if any democratic situation in the polity would not serve their interest, they would look for an undemocratic means to scuttle it. Indeed the embarrassing political situations we have seen in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers partly flow from this undemocratic mood.
“The APC must learn to subject its internal activities to democratic processes so as to be able to affect the polity positively.”
President Muhammadu Buhari last night held a meeting with the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu and the caucus members of the party.
In attendance were many serving and former governors on the platform of the party including Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara was also at the closed-door meeting which place at the new Banquet Hall at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
However, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar arrived the venue of the meeting after it had started.
The meeting, which started at about 8.30p.m, was still in progress at the time of filing this report.
Leaders of the All Progressives Congress met at the Aso Villa, Abuja, to decide on the party’s national convention.
Bola Tinubu
A reliable source told one of our correspondents that the meeting also centred on how to fill vacant positions in the APC’s National Working Committee.
A source said that the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Senate President Bukola Saraki, among other leaders were present at the meeting.
The source said that some positions in the NWC such as the National Vice-Chairman (North-East) and National Publicity Secretary had become vacant due to political appointments.
While the party’s former National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was appointed as the Minister of Information and Culture, the National Vice-Chairman (North-East), Babachir Lawal, was appointed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The source said, “The meeting was strictly a party affair. Some positions in the NWC had been left vacant since the appointments of Lai Mohammed and Babachir Lawal. The positions they occupied have been zoned to the North-Central and North-East respectively.”
The question of who would emerge as the Chairman of the APC’s Board of Trustees was also said to have been discussed at the meeting.
Another source said, “The main issues were the vacant party positions. Members expressed the desire to fill the positions. This is to be achieved by also preparing for the convention of the party where these positions will be sorted out.”
A source in the Senate said that the meeting was for the members of the newly constituted APC caucus.
The source, a senator, said that 19 people were invited to the parley.
According to him, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Presidency and the party leaders were represented at the meeting.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is currently meeting behind closed doors with some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The meeting which started at about 11am is holding inside one of the conference rooms of the Vice President’s Office inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Those in attendance include a leader of the party; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun; Senate Leader, Ali Ndume; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; and a former interim chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, among others.
Saraki arrived at about 12.30pm when the meeting was already underway.
The agenda of the meeting was not made public.
President Muhammadu Buhari is currently on a one-week official visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Senate President Bukola Saraki has made fresh moves to reach out to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, following the Supreme Court judgment on his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Bukola Saraki
The Supreme Court had on February 5 ruled that Saraki’s trial should continue at the CCT. The apex court had affirmed the propriety of Saraki’s trial at the CCT on 13 counts of false asset declaration.
In the 13 counts initiated by the Federal Government, Saraki was said to have made false asset declaration in his forms at the Code of Conduct Bureau as a two-term governor of Kwara State.
The CCT had on Friday said Saraki’s trial would resume on March 10.
It was reliably gathered that since February 5, Saraki had been making moves to indirectly reach out to Buhari and Tinubu.
A top government source, who confided in SUNDAY PUNCH, said Saraki could not reach out directly to Buhari on the matter because he knew the President’s disposition to such issues.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the Senate President resorted to sending emissaries to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo when Buhari was on a six-day vacation and Osinbajo was the acting President.
The delegation was reportedly led by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.
The source said the Vice-President made his position and that of the President clear to Saraki’s emissaries.
He said, “Saraki knows the kind of person the President is and I think he won’t approach him directly on this matter.
“But yes, I can tell you that he is reaching out indirectly.
“He sent emissaries to meet with the Vice-President when the President was on vacation and the Vice-President was on the chair in acting capacity.
“The emissaries had met with the Vice-President under the cover of the developments about the 2016 budget.
“In the process, they put the issue of Saraki forward.
“Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, however, made it equivocally clear to them that the two issues could not be mixed. He told them that the issue of the budget was different from the trial of Saraki.”
Ndume had on Tuesday led some of his colleagues, including Dino Melaye, Abdullahi Adamu and Monsurat Sumonu to meet Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
At the end of the closed-door session, Ndume told State House correspondents that the meeting reviewed some developments in the polity, including the issue of the 2016 budget currently before the National Assembly.
While saying that it would not be a new thing if people read meanings into their visit, Ndume had claimed that his delegation did not discuss Saraki’s travails with the Vice-President.
He was however quick to rise in support of the Senate President when his opinion was sought on the calls by his colleagues in the Unity Forum that Saraki should resign.
“Are you saying that the Senate President should be convicted before the trial? In our constitution, you are considered innocent until proven guilty,” he had said.
For Tinubu, it was gathered that Saraki had reached out to not less than 10 opinion leaders and clerics to visit the APC leader at his home in Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Saraki and Tinubu fell out in June last year when he defied the directive of the APC and became the Senate President under controversial circumstances.
The Senate President further ensured that Tinubu’s preferred candidates were denied principal offices at the Senate.
The former governor of Lagos State subsequently broke all communication with Saraki, describing him in an open letter as an ‘indisciplined and disloyal man who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party in soul.’
Another reliable source told one of our correspondents that Tinubu was not interested in Saraki’s latest peace moves.
He said, “Access from Saraki’s camp has been blocked. Tinubu has been disappointed in every way. It was the party that picked Ahmed Lawan. He was not Tinubu’s initial candidate but he did it all the same.
“So, he has decided to (wash his) hands and will not say a word again regarding Saraki.
“Efforts have intensified since Saraki’s recent CCT trouble but Tinubu has been out of the country. He has been in Guinea for the last five days.
“We have been informed that Saraki is working with a team of people in Ilorin that will storm Lagos. Top leaders there including Muslim clerics are being put together to visit Lagos and mediate on his behalf but Tinubu is not interested.”
He added, “There is no deal to be made anymore. Saraki never conceded anything. He did not give any of our people any principal position. He then went ahead to increase the number of Senate committees by fiat just to placate those that have been following him to court.
“Every concession was denied. The approval of ministers had nothing to do with Tinubu. It was purely between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Tinubu has moved on. He has been visiting African countries, supporting other democracies in West Africa.”
“Saraki should go and get good lawyers. As you can see, attempts to remove the CCT chairman did not work. Attempts to stop the trial at the Supreme Court have also failed.”
All attempts to reach the spokesperson for Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, proved abortive as he did not respond to repeated telephone calls.
Saraki meets Buhari regularly — Aide
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, said on Saturday that his principal had been having regular meetings with the President in recent times on national issues.
Olaniyonu, who spoke with one of our correspondents on telephone cited the most recent when both leaders jointly hosted the German President at the Aso Rock villa on Thursday night.
Saraki’s spokesperson however, said the regular parleys between Saraki and Buhari were purely on issues of national interest.
He said, “These two gentlemen hold two critical arms of government and they need to meet regularly to discuss issues of national importance.
“The issue of budget is there, insurgency and the economy generally. How can anybody think the Senate President will be seeking audience with the President on the issue of the CCT when there are serious national issues calling for attention?”
When asked if Saraki would reach out to the President, Olaniyonu said, “No comment.”
Before his recent moves to reach out to the President and Tinubu, Saraki had been facing renewed opposition from the Senate Unity Forum led by Senator Ahmed Lawan.
Lawan was supported for the senate presidency by the APC leaders and some party senators, while Saraki got the backing of all Peoples Democratic Party senators and some APC senators to emerge as senate president last year. Last week, the Lawan faction regrouped in a bid to force Saraki to resign.
A senator representing Lagos Central, Oluremi Tinubu, says the 2016 national budgetary allocation of N4 billion to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is inadequate as it would not cater for the welfare of women who supported the ruling party.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu Credit: Punch News
Mrs. Tinubu, the wife of a leader of the ruling APC, made this known during the debate on the general principles of the 2016 budget proposal at a senate plenary in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to her, the allocation will not be adequate to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian women, who are looking up to the APC-led government for succour in line with its 2015 campaign promises.
“This budget is less than N4 billion and the capital is almost N3 billion.
“When you look at it what is left to do any work. I am laying this case on behalf of the Nigerian women that this is not going to go well. It is as if we have been used during the campaign.
“We say this is the government of change, that our change mantra is supposed to change things across board, but what they allotted to the Nigerian women is not encouraging.
“When we talk about change that doesn’t mean we are going to just be supporting what is not working.
“So the women are not just going to be used to campaign and several promises are made to them. This budget is not telling anything and not making any promises.
The senator argued that the N1 billion ear-marked for recurrent expenditure would hardly cater for the empowerment programmes under the ministry.
“When we look at the functions of this ministry, we see that the ministry is divided into two, human resources and capacity building, economic services and women cooperatives.
“But when we look at the first division, which is the human resources and capacity building, they are supposed to promote education, development of women in the civil, political, socio-cultural, and economic sectors.
“Also to promote motherhood women’s health especially maternal mortality; and not only that, they are supposed to fund six zonal political empowerment offices.
“Subventions and grants to NGOs, Nigerian women trust fund, management of shelter for female victims of violence, 100 women lobby groups, welfare support for indigent women,” she said.
She called on the Senate Committee on Appropriation to increase the allocation considerably to enable the ministry to meet its obligations to Nigerian women.
The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and owner of the Nation Newspaper, Bola Tinubu has returned its own share of the N9 million received from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, through the Newspaper Proprietor Association of Nigeria, NPAN.
Bola Tinubu
The is coming after the Sun Newspaper also surrendered its own share to the Federal Government and as the Punch Newspaper also suspended its membership from the association following its involvement in the arms scandal.
Recall that investigations from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had traced a suspicious transfer of funds from the former NSA, Sambo Dasuki to Newspaper outlets including Tinubu’s own Nation Newspaper.
Obviously embarrassed by the trend of events following the arms scandal, Tinubu may have pressed on his company directors to file an explanation and immediately return it’s own share of N9 million received.
“We are again compelled to comment on the N9 million received by Vintage Press Limited as compensation from the government of ex- President Goodluck Jonathan through the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) for the seizure of our publications, The Nation and Sporting Life in June, 2014.
“We do this for two reasons. First, to restate the sequence of events that culminated in the payment , thereby debunking insinuations about the motive for the compensation. Second, to inform the public that the N9 million collected from NPAN on behalf of the Jonathan government has been returned to the association .
“This decision was arrived at on Wednesday by the Board and Management of Vintage Press Limited after a painstaking examination of the legal and moral issues arising from the compensation.”
“In our first comment published in the Saturday, December 12 edition of The Nation, we provided the background to the compensation. We recalled the mindless, illegal and unjustified seizure of thousands of copies of both titles by soldiers in major cities and towns across the country.
“Not only were copies of both papers impounded, our vehicles and drivers were arrested and detained in military barracks. They were released very late, in some instances at 7pm, when it was practically impossible to put the consignments in the market.
“We know of no other newspaper that was so harassed and maltreated by soldiers who claimed that they had intelligence reports that newspapers vehicles were to be used by insurgents to ferry arms.
“Our response to this unjustifiable infringement of our rights was go to court to get justice and ask for Compensation. We briefed the legal firm of Femi Falana (SAN) to institute an action against the government and the military authorities and demand N300 million compensation.”
“Soon after the clampdown, Jonathan hosted the NPAN in Lagos and the issue of compensation was raised with him. He promised to get back to the association through its president, Nduka Obaigbena the publisher of Thisday.
” Obaigbena later briefed members that the government had agreed to pay N10 million to each newspaper. A mail followed from the association asking newspapers to submit their statements of claims for compensation.
“This development was discussed with our lawyer who advised that the N10 million compensation was reasonable, following which we resolved to stay action on the suit .
“At subsequent meetings in Lagos and Abuja , NPAN assured members that the government had not changed its mind . At the Abuja meeting in March but year, the association resolved that N1million be paid by each newspaper on receipt of the N10 million towards the acquisition of a befitting corporate office for it.
“In May, the secretary of NPAN, Mr. Feyi Smith, brought a draft for N9 million to Vintage Press Limited. The draft was accepted in good faith, believing it was from the account of the association and also from the appropriate department of government.
“Who was in a better position to deliver a draft from NPAN to Vintage Press than the NPAN secretary? Vintage Press, like other newspapers that received drafts/cheques from the NPAN, did not know that the money was paid to a private company by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and from funds collected by that office specifically for the procurement of arms ?
”This was until The Nation, in its edition of Friday, December 4, published details of the stupendous sums of money collected by individuals and organisations from the ONSA.”
“Now, the source of the payment to us is beyond contention. We now know it came from the ONSA and routed through a private company, General Hydrocarbon Limited.
”This company is unknown to NPAN. Facts in the public domain show clearly that the money the company collected was for ‘energy consultancy.
”That this company would collect the compensation on NPAN’s behalf was never disclosed to the association in line with corporate best practice. As a business that subscribes fully to the tenets of sound governance, we are not at ease with this revelation.
“We are also uncomfortable with the revelation that the compensation was from the money earmarked for the purchase of arms for troops fighting insurgency.
“This point was stated clearly in our editorial of Wednesday, December 23 in which we said: ‘it is unclear to what extent the extension of the anti- terror war was due to fraud – related factors. But it is clear enough that the war effort was deliberately hampered by fraudulent activities.”
“It is a shame,” we said further, “that there is even a possibility, however slim, that media players helped to create an enabling environment for terrorists, wittingly or unwittingly, by linkage with Dasuki.
“In the light of the foregoing, Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation and Sportinglife, on Wednesday resolved that the N9 million compensation be returned to the NPAN for onward delivery to the source of the money. A draft for N9million was handed over to Mr Smith today in Lagos.
“The Board and Management of Vintage Press have also resolved not to resume the legal action it asked the firm of Femi Falana (SAN) to initiate against the government and the military authorities but to regard the losses incurred during the period as part of the sacrifice The Nation has made to the enthronement of a new order in our country.
“It was noted with satisfaction that no law of the land was breached in asking for compensation and receiving same from the government but that with the sordid disclosures about the ONSA, Vintage Press cannot in good conscience regard the compensation as a closed case on which nothing can be done.
“However,, we find most uncharitable the infantile claim that the compensation was meant to compromise us.”
President Muhammadu Buhari; a national leader, All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; and the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, have urged the people of Bayelsa State to vote for Timipre Sylva in Saturday’s governorship poll.
Bola Tinubu
They spoke during the grand finale of the APC campaign which was held at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on Tuesday.
The mega rally, which saw the temporary movement of the machinery of the Federal Government and the APC National Working Committee to Yenagoa, locked down the state capital.
The rally had in attendance Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (representing President Buhari); the APC’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; former interim chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande; Senator Heineken Lokpobiri; Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; and a former governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni.
Others were former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission, Timi Alaibe; Mr. Peterside Dakuku; Senator Magnus Abe; State Chairman, APC, Tiwei Orunimighe, and a host of other party bigwigs.
Specifically, Buhari told Bayelsa populace that the APC would bring a new era of peace and prosperity to Bayelsa State.
The President said, “The time for change, prosperity, good governance has come to Bayelsa. So, Bayelsa people should not miss the train of change.
“Bayelsa State deserves a pride of place among other states in Nigeria. We must do the right thing in the APC to show that we are a party of change.”
He urged them to go out en masse and cast their votes for the APC and its governorship candidate, Sylva.
Buhari, who expressed confidence that Sylva would win the poll, promised the people of the state that Sylva government would provide jobs, ensure progress, prosperity and unprecedented development.
On his part, Tinubu, who described the PDP as ‘Poverty Development Party,’ said for 16 years under the leadership of the PDP, the country was in the wilderness.
He urged the Bayelsa electorate to vote Sylva to liberate them from bad governance and to ensure accelerated development of the state.
Tinubu said, “On Saturday, go and vote and make sure you defend your votes. They are already afraid of you, because you are already the masters. Sylva is back; he has bounced back. His winning lies with you. After you have voted on that day, do not go home. Stay there and they should count the ballot in your presence. Do not leave it for the agents; shine your eyes properly.
“To get freedom, it is not served free of charge. You must protect your votes. Your votes are your freedom from poverty, unemployment, bad government, among other ills.”
In his remarks, Oshiomhole said the APC was unanimous that with Sylva on the driver’s seat, the APC would win the poll by a landslide.
He said Bayelsa is unarguably one of the most endowed states in the country, but lamented that development had eluded the state because of misgovernance.
“We need change in Bayelsa. We must refuse to be like a fish in the river without water to drink,” Oshiomhole said.
On his part, Sylva said his government, when elected, would be people-centred, noting that development could not take place at the expense of the people of Bayelsa.
He said his government would empower the people by providing the dividends of democracy, good governance, regular payment of salaries of workers and pensions, among others.
He lamented the rampant rate of kidnapping, hunger and crimes in the state, promising that his government would abolish hunger and poverty and that people would have a sense of belonging.
The highlight of the event was the receipt of 23 defectors, including serving commissioners, special advisers and local government chairmen that moved to the APC.
On receiving them, Odigie-Oyegun lauded their courage for jumping into the “winning ship.” He said he was happy that they had realised on time that they were formerly in darkness and had now moved into the light.
The police in Lagos have arrested two men who defraud members of the public with the name of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni.
He said the men also used the name of the former Lagos State governor, Sen. Bola Tinubu.
Owoseni made the disclosure on Monday while parading the suspects before newsmen.
He said the suspects allegedly opened a Facebook account in his name with his photograph to solicit for fund into a bank account of what the suspects called “CP Owoseni Foundation.”
He said, “The command wishes to inform members of the public that fraudsters have continued to device different methods of duping unsuspecting residents.
“The latest trick being used by these dupes is to open a Facebook page using the photographs and information of highly placed individuals.
“The commissioner of police, Lagos State and former governor of Lagos State, Sen. Bola Tinubu, were impersonated by these cheats.
“The suspects have been arrested and are to be prosecuted.”
The commissioner said that he had never operated a Facebook page before and urged the public to beware of fraudsters using the names of highly placed persons.
Owoseni said the suspects were soliciting for N20,000 donation to the fake Owoseni Foundation before they were arrested.
Similarly, a retired traffic police officer was also arrested for parading himself as a Deputy Superintendent of Police under the Lagos State Command.
The commissioner said the suspect claimed he was only escorting trucks with goods to the Eastern part of Nigeria after his retirement.
President Buhari’s words vs President Buhari’s actions, according to FFK
An ardent critic, though also being criticized by Nigerians, Chief Femi Fan-Kayode has harshly criticized President Muhammadu Buhari over his action which he said is different from his utterances.
General Buhari
Fani-Kayode who took to his twitter page said Buhari is flying across the continent drinking tea in pretence of fighting terrorism, reminding that the President appointed a national security adviser who was retired for releasing a Boko Haram terrorists under suspicious circumstances.
His words “This brings me to other matters and raises other questions about our president’s sincerity of purposes and commitment.
“You say that you are fighting Boko Haram yet you are travelling the world drinking tea with world leaders whilst your soldiers are secretly being slaughtered.
“You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet you were nominated as their spokesman and chief negotiator two years ago in proposed peace talks with the federal government.
“You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the man you appointed as your national security adviser was retired from the army a few years ago for ordering the release of Boko Haram terrorists under suspicious circumstances.
“You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the first thing you did when you came to power was to remove military checkpoints. This guaranteed Boko Haram free movement and access to the entire country.
“You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet last year you told the world that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north.
“You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power Boko Haram has grown in strength, has regained lost territory and has been declared the “world’s number one most deadly terror group” by the Global Terror Index.
“You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power, Nigeria, according to the Global Terror Index, has been declared as not just having “the first most deadly terror group in the world” which is Boko Haram but also of having “the fourth most deadly terror group in the world” which is a group that the Index describe as the “Fulani militants” and that we call the Fulani herdsmen.
“You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet since you came to power, Nigeria has been declared the world’s “third most terrorised country” by the Global Terror Index after Iraq and Afghanistan which were declared first and second respectively whilst Syria and Pakistan were declared fourth and fifth.
“You say you are a “born-again democrat” yet you voted against the protection of human rights at the United Nations alongside Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea.
“You say you respect human rights yet you barricade Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former national security adviser, in his home, endanger his life, deny him medical attention, flout court orders and make him critically ill.
“You say you respect human rights yet you arrest Governor Boni Haruna simply for standing as surety for Dasuki and you try to force him to abandon his friend.
“You say you respect human rights yet you raid Governor Attahiru Bafarawa’s home and arrest and detain his son simply because he is friends with Dasuki.
“You say you respect freedom of speech and human rights yet you lock up Nnamdi Kanu indefinitely and your security agents shoot two unarmed and harmless pro-Biafra youths to death in Enugu simply because they were involved in a peaceful demonstration.
“You say that you are a believer in the rule of law yet you ordered your secret police to storm a sitting governor’s official home in Akwa Ibom knowing that he enjoys immunity from such matters.
“You say you love Nigeria yet a bomb goes off in Kano killing over 21 people and instead of coming back home to mourn with your people you continue junketing around the world.
“You say you know how to run Nigeria but, according to Paul Wallace and Michael Cohen of the United States magazine known as Bloomberg Business, your bounce has become bust, your policies irk investors, you have destroyed Nigeria’s economy and you do not have the capacity to move the country forward.
“You say that you know how to manage the economy yet stocks and shares have crashed, small businesses are folding up, our foreign currency has dried up, industries are collapsing, agricultural output has decreased, our foreign reserves have been spent and the value of the naira has depreciated since you came to power and it continues to fall.
“You say you know what you are doing and how to manage Nigeria’s affairs yet the U.S,-based Washington Times newspaper says that you lied to America about your so-called good intentions for Nigeria and that you have ”duped the United States of America” with your false promises and empty words.
“You say that you are fighting poverty yet according to the Business Day Newspaper, Nigerians are “getting poorer for the first time since 1999″.
“You say that you will restore our country’s fortunes yet the fuel queues are back and the prices of food, transport and basic commodities are soaring by the day.
“You say that you are a man of your word and after you were declared winner of the election you promised not to malign, persecute, witch-hunt, demonize, disrespect or go after President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his administration unless you had concrete evidence of wrongdoing, yet when you came to power you did precisely that.
“You say you are fair-minded, true to your friends, loyal to your supporters and always reasonable yet you did not concede even one ministerial slot or approve one ministerial nominee of the two men that helped you more than any others to win the presidential election, namely President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Bola Tinubu.
“You say that you want the country to change, that you believe in fairness and equity, that you are a progressive, that you believe in a generational power shift and that you want the country to move forward yet you are trying to destroy Governor Bukola Saraki simply because he won an election and became Senate president.
“You say that you are fighting corruption yet no one has been made to face the music or brought to book over the 25 billion naira REMITA and Systemspecs scandal and neither has the matter been clarified or resolved even though it has been established that the whole deal was struck under your watch.
“You say you love Nigeria and all Nigerians yet your Fulani kinsmen, under the guise of herding cattle, are slaughtering thousands of innocent people all over the south and Middle Belt, yet you remain their grand patron and you refuse to utter to a word of condemnation for their actions.
“You say you respect Nigerians yet every time you travel out of the country you spend your time telling foreigners and the foreign media how useless, rotten and corrupt your people are and how you are the only saint in Nigeria.”
The question is, what becomes of Nigeria?
In view of all this I am constrained to ask whether President Muhammadu Buhari has a conscience or is it that he has just lost touch with reality? Everything that I said about him during the presidential campaign has been confirmed and in just six months he has betrayed the trust and squandered the goodwill that the Nigerian people bestowed upon him in the March presidential elections. I have to say that I am not surprised by this because his “change” mantra was just an illusion.
What he and his APC failed to disclose to the Nigerian people during the campaign is that what he meant by “change” was a change from light to darkness. Sadly, our people trusted him and now he has plunged our nation into that darkness.
May God enable him to find the courage to retrace his steps before it is too late and may the Lord deliver Nigeria from those that are around him that fail to tell him the truth.
I gather that they call those of us that oppose President Buhari and that are PDP supporters the “wailing wailers”. That is an interesting expression because by the time Buhari finishes with Nigeria I have little doubt that the entire country will be wailing.
The truth is that I would rather be a “wailing wailer” that posterity vindicates than a “lying liar” or a “howling howler” who has lost his way and who continues to have confidence in a man like Buhari and a party like the APC that is hell-bent on destroying our country and our cherished democratic institutions with their Rambo-like insensitivity and total ineptitude.
All those “lying liars” and “howling howlers” that voted for President Buhari should clap for themselves for the terrible mess our country is now in. We will remember them in our prayers too.
Last Saturday’s inconclusive governorship election in Kogi State is tearing the ruling All Progressives Congress apart.
Bola TinubuBuhari
Saturday PUNCH learnt on Friday that the APC leaders became divided shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission asked the party to submit a substitute for its governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, who died on Sunday.
The commission had on Sunday declared the governorship election inconclusive.
It was gathered that party leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari; a former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and an ex-governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso had yet to agree on Audu’s replacement.
INEC had declared the election inconclusive because cancelled votes or registered voters in places where elections did not take place were 49,953, a figure higher than Audu’s lead of 41,353.
The commission had on Tuesday written the APC, directing it to submit a replacement for Audu. The APC also disclosed that it would hold a fresh primary to produce a replacement for Audu.
INEC also fixed December 5 as the date for supplementary election in the state.
Besides Audu’s son, Mohammed, who has been endorsed for the primary by Kogi East elders, others, who are said to be interested in the governorship slot include Yaya Bello; a former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Jubril Echocho; Salihu Atawoda and Audu’s running mate, James Faleke.
Investigations showed that right from the outset, Buhari did not support Audu partly because of his closeness to a former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Buhari was reported to have a soft spot for James Ocholi, who is now his Minister of State for Labour and Employment.
A Presidency source said after the death of the APC governorship candidate, the President shifted his support to Bello, who came second at the primary, where Audu emerged as the party’s candidate.
The source said that the President “is not a type of person that would impose his will on others.”
Buhari’s Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, while advising the APC to substitute Audu, had hinted that Bello might emerge as the replacement for the deceased candidate.
When asked whether Faleke would become the APC candidate or not, Malawi told journalists that the primary that produced Audu was still valid.
He had said, “It all depends on the appreciation of issues arising from the primary conducted before now. There was a first and a second candidate. The primary that had taken place over time had not by anyway been nullified. And it is recognised by law.
“But then, a further consideration would be the idea of conducting another primary; but that is not envisaged in view of the sustainability of the first primary.”
It was also gathered that Tinubu was a strong supporter of Audu, but he was of the view that Faleke, his political godson, should naturally be a replacement for the deceased governorship candidate.
A member of the APC National Working Committee, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said, “From all indications, Tinubu is now backing Faleke. He believes that Faleke is part of the APC governorship ticket and that it will amount to injustice if a fresh primary is held.”
It was, however, gathered that the APC NWC members, including Odigie-Oyegun, insisted on a fresh primary because they were opposed to Bello.
It was learnt that Odigie-Oyegun, like the APC leaders in Kogi East, might support Audu’s son.
A member of the NWC, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, “We felt the pulse of the people of the state and most of them are rooting for Mohammed. Besides, Bello does not have the type of political clout that Audu had, although he came second in the primary.”
It was also gathered that Mohammed was being supported by Kwankwaso, who was said to be close to his father.
Attempts to get a response from the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun were unsuccessful. Calls to his mobile phone were neither picked nor returned.
A response to a text message sent to him on the subject was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report at 8:05pm.
A similar attempt to get a response from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, were also unsuccessful.
Repeated calls to his mobile telephone number went into voice mail. A response to a text message sent to him on the subject was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report. 8:05pm
Party leaders meet, keep mum over date for primaries.
But three days after pledging to come up with a date for the proposed primary for the supplementary election, the party on Friday kept mum.
Journalists had gathered at the APC National Headquarters located at Blantyre Street, Wuse II, Abuja, as early as 8:00am in anticipation of a pronouncement.
Members of the party’s NWC started arriving at the headquarters at 10:08am for a meeting. The meeting was interrupted at various stages by various protesting groups from Kogi State.
The series of meetings eventually ended around 5:00pm but NWC members led by the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, headed straight into their waiting vehicles and zoomed off.
They did not respond to questions journalists asked them.
The party leaders had held a similar meeting on Thursday.
It is Mohammed Audu or nobody –Kogi Assembly members
Meanwhile, support for Muhammed was strengthened on Friday as 11 out of 25 members of the Kogi House of Assembly insisted on him as the APC governorship candidate.
The lawmakers, who were said to have the ear of the party’s national chairman, after a meeting with Odigie-Oyegun, threatened to impeach anyone who emerged as the state governor, unless such a person is Mohammed Audu.
The leader of the group, in an interview with journalists, said, “We are the legislators; should in case anybody is smuggled in, we know the best way to remove him. It is not a threat; this is just a two-minute job for us.”
Calls to the mobile telephone of Mr. Sunday Dare, the Spokesperson for the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, indicated that it was switched off.
A response to a text message sent to him on the subject was still being expected as of the time of filing this report.
MANY monuments have been built in honour of the man Bola Tinubu. He is acclaimed as the political genius of our times who not only engineered the taming of the PDP juggernaut, he caged it and confined it to the backwaters of Otuoke. Since the APC defeat of the PDP in the presidential election, Tinubu the tactician has been feted, celebrated and praised to high heavens. But all these encomiums have proved to be highly exaggerated.
Bola Tinubu
The truth of the matter is that Tinubu, the veritable Jagaban of Borgu, is a master of political illusion. He is remarkable for the distinction of characteristically pulling defeat out of the jaws of putative victory. He mid-wifed the birth of the APC, only to be shut out of its vice-presidential sweepstakes. He engineered APC”s victory at the centre, only to see his arch-enemies take over the posts of Speaker and Senate President in the National Assembly. He piggy-backed Buhari to the presidency, only to be shut out of a say in the president’s cabinet nominees.
Tinubu is called the National Leader of the APC when there is no such post in the party’s Constitution. When a critical meeting of APC bigwigs was called to address the party’s imbroglio in the National Assembly, the “National Leader” could not attend because, in actual fact, he is not even a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
Sowing and reaping
In 2011, Tinubu was hailed for cutting his nose to spite his face. The PDP nominated his kinswoman, Mulikat Akande, as Speaker of the National Assembly. However, Tinubu conspired with recalcitrant PDP party-members to frustrate the plans of their party for his South-west homestead. Instead, he engineered the election of Sokoto’s Aminu Tambuwal, an APC wolf in PDP sheep’s clothing, as Speaker.
In 2015, Tinubu received payback for these shenanigans again to the detriment of his native South-West. The same Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto he schemed into the position of Speaker in 2011, repaid Tinubu by frustrating his efforts to install his Lagos acolyte, Femi Gbajabiamila, as Speaker in 2015. Taking a leaf straight out of Tinubu’s 2011 playbook, Tambuwal conspired with opposition PDP members to install another Northern PDP turncoat, Yakubu Dogara, as Speaker.
Tinubu’s comeuppance here is particularly savage because it was actually Gbajabiamila who reportedly convinced Tinubu that Tambuwal would readily act as traitor to his PDP party in 2011. It is therefore veritable poetic justice that the same Tambuwal became an equally ready tool of the PDP in the frustration of Gbajabiamila’s ambitions and the interests of Tinubu and the APC in 2015.
Moreover, Tinubu was repaid for his 2011 manipulations with interest. The same treachery employed to Tinubu’s political disadvantage in the House was also duplicated in the Senate. Bukola Saraki, another PDP turncoat, refused to abide by the dictates of APC Central, firmly controlled by Tinubu’s ACN. He snatched the position of Senate President without official APC approval, but with the support of the opposition PDP. So doing, he sidelined both Tinubu’s first-choice of George Akume, as well as his second-choice of Ahmed Lawan.
Crumbled cookie
Just as Tinubu was licking his wounds at the denial of his “rightful inheritance” in the National Assembly after the APC victory at the polls, the news came that his political cookie had equally crumbled at Aso Rock. It had been popularly alleged that Tinubu’s portion in Buhari’s presidency would not be limited to the appointment of his political godson as vice-president, but would also include the allocation of no less than nine choice ministerial nominees to the discretion of the Jagaban of Borgu.
But by the time Buhari unfurled his ministerial list two weeks ago, the alleged dedicated slots had shrunk to zero. Many of us had warned in the heady days of the formation of the APC that those insistent that power must return to the North would be determined to checkmate Tinubu if and when the election was won. We warned Tinubu that even as he cannot conceivably be accepted nationally to rule Nigeria as president, even so can he not rule Nigeria by proxy. We warned him that the North would never allow Buhari to be his Man Friday in Aso Rock.
However, Tinubu was too far gone to listen. It would now appear that he even failed to take out insurance policies against such probable eventualities.
But once elected, Buhari started a romance with Babatunde Fashola and Kayode Fayemi designed clearly to sideline the Jagaban. While these former governors were previously members of Tinubu’s inner-circle, they had since run out of patience with the heavy handedness of their boss. Therefore, during the election campaign, both of them campaigned for Buhari above and beyond the call of party duty.
Fashola, in particular, was clearly fed up with being under Tinubu’s political shadow. In the struggle for who would be the APC governorship candidate in Lagos State, Tinubu did not allow Fashola to choose his successor, in the ignoble tradition of Nigerian governors. While Fashola favoured Dapo Sasore, the former Attorney General of Lagos State, Tinubu railroaded in Akinwunmi Ambode as the APC candidate.
While again, in the ignoble tradition of Nigerian politics, governors promptly transform themselves into Senators when their term as governor ends, this option was closed off to Fashola because Tinubu had already installed his wife as the Senator from Fashola’s constitutency. The only option left for Fashola politically was presidential ministerial appointment and, even there, Tinubu had put up a road block against him.
Tinubu prefers to nominate political nonentities for higher office in the South-West, so that he would be the only Iroko tree in the forests of the region. Therefore his candidates for ministerial appointment from Lagos were his little nationally-known former commissioners, Wale Edun and Yemi Cadosso, who could pose no threats whatsoever to his ascribed South-West political supremacy.
Alarm bells:But when Fashola and Fayemi accompanied Buhari to the G7 meeting in Germany in June 2015, alarm bells started ringing in Tinubu’s Bourdillon Road mansion in Lagos. This was clearly a signial that these former governors were intent on by-passing the official godfather of the South-West by applying to be members of Buhari’s kitchen cabinet on their own recognisance.
The Tinubu brigade would have none of this. Therefore, a campaign of calumny was launched to cut Fashola in particular to dimunitive size. Suddenly, the “memo” was sent out implying the former governor had developed political leprosy. When two books were launched simultaneously celebrating his achievements as governor, none of his APC colleagues from Lagos dared to attend for fear of entering the bad books of the dreaded Jagaban.
In order to nail the coffin on Fashola’s ministerial aspirations, it was leaked to the press that a whopping 78 million naira of public money was spent on the construction of his personal website. 139 million naira was also alleged to have been spent on two boreholes constructed in Government House, Lagos during his tenure. The intention here was to ensure that Fashola becomes ineligible for ministerial consideration on grounds that he would not pass Buhari’s anti-corruption integrity test.
However, Buhari was apparently unimpressed by these political shenanigans. When his list of ministerial nominees were unfurled, Fashola and Fayemi featured prominently among Buhari’s “first eleven.” None of Tinubu’s nominees made the list. Other nominees from the South-West were precisely the kind of people Tinubu did not want in Buhari’s team; people who would not be indebted to Tinubu but to Buhari.
While Buhari completely ignored Tinubu’s candidates, he included that of another South-West bigwig. Obasanjo’s favourite-son, Prince Olagusoye Oyinlola, former governor of Osun State, was included in Buhari’s list. Thereby, the president asserted the saliency of Obasanjo’s South-West influence in Aso Rock over that of the Jagaban. He even pointedly appointed Obasanjo as his special envoy to Guinea-Bissau.
This is certainly not what Tinubu bargained for when he decided to pitch his tent with Buhari and the APC. If he were to be furthermore overlooked in the appointment of BOT chairman of the APC, the marginalisation of the Jagaban in the post-election APC would be complete.
Comeuppance: Some of us saw this coming. In the heady early days of the APC coalition, we warned that Tinubu would be used and dumped. But we were labelled as PDP lapdogs and charlatans. That is why I say today: let no one cry for Bola Tinubu.
Anyone who hears Tinubu’s recent vicious attack on Saraki would realise these are the tokens of a frustrated man. Tinubu could not attack the President, therefore he poured all his venom on the Senate President. He accused him of indiscipline and disloyalty; the very things he celebrated in the PDP rebels who joined forces with him against their party in 2011.
Face saving device
The recent declaration that Buhari appointed Babachir Lawal as Secretary to the Government of the Federation at the instance of Tinubu is a face-saving device. The Tinubu camp forgot to tell us this until now. At the time of new SGF’s appointment, all the uproar was about the Northern lopsidedness in Buhari’s choices.
Observing the sidelining of Tinubu by Buhari, Senator Femi Okunroumu said: “I am having a good laugh. This is what I expected. In any case, Tinubu is stretching his luck too far as he wants to dictate who will rule Nigeria. Tinubu’s wings need to be clipped. With the ministerial list, Tinubu has been dumped. He should not just be dumped, he should be disgraced.”
On his part, Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said: “APC is not a party; it is a gang of people whose sole aim was to remove Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as president. In a real party, you share the spoils of office before elections not after elections. This is what is happening in APC. We warned our people, but they failed to listen.”
In the new politics of today’s APC, it is better to be the enemy of Bola Tinubu than to be his friend. The enemies of Tinubu become Senate presidents; they become Speakers of the House of Representatives; they become ministers of the Federal government. But the friends of Tinubu are sent to Siberia.
The Jagaban of Borgu himself has been slain politically upon his high places. How are the mighty fallen!
NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday, lambasted Senate President, Bukola Saraki, describing him as an indiscipline, disloyal and member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in soul.
Bola Tinubu
Tinubu spoke yesterday while denying media reports that he was conspiring with Senate President Saraki to move against President Muhammadu Buhari over his alleged disaffection with the ministerial list.
Insisting that President Buhari must be supported by all to realise the change agenda, Tinubu said there was no way he could conspire with Saraki, who he said was indisciplined, disloyal and a PDP member in soul.
Tinubu spoke via a statement from Conakry, Guinea, by his Media Director, Dare Sunday.
“The idea of an alleged conspiracy between Tinubu and Saraki against the President is a lie. Tinubu is committed to the APC vision and the Nigeria Project. The way Senator Saraki captured his current seat travestied party discipline” he said.
Reacting to the attack, the Senate President, Saraki, said he would not join issues with Tinubu and promised that the screening of ministerial nominees, starting tomorrow, would be done objectively according to the laws of the country and in the interest of Nigerians.
Tinubu in the statement said: “It was a crass act of disloyalty showing that Saraki may have joined the APC on paper but has remained true to the malpractices and wrong aims of the reactionary PDP in his soul.
“If this nation is to have more than a fleeting chance of escaping the quagmire into which years of PDP misrule have taken us, we cannot allow these regressive elements to deploy their cunning tricks to divide and pit progressives against progressives,” he said
The APC leader said he would not toss aside a lifetime’s labour because of an alleged slight and certainly would not join with Senator Saraki in stymieing the government which might just be the nation’s last best chance to salvage itself.
“In our journey to national betterment, plans and policies will be made, then amended. Mistakes will occur and then be corrected. Achievements will be had and replicated. Through it all, Asiwaju will remain true to the progressive ideals that fuelled the creation of the APC. He has devoted his political life to achieve what has been achieved. His heart is too much of the people and his mind too fixed on establishing a positive historic legacy to suffer such a cynical policy or engage in the destructive pettiness of which he is accused.”
He continued: ‘’The alleged conspiracy is a figment. It takes at least two people to make a conspiracy. There has been no substantive communication between Asiwaju and Saraki since the latter decided to foul the integrity of the Senate and the party. To be truthful, I don’t think Saraki would care to hear what Asiwaju would have to say to him. He would admonish the Senator to treat the nomination process with dispatch, justice, fairness, transparency, and most of all with the greatest patriotism.
“He would counsel Saraki to shelve his personal situation for the moment to concentrate on the people’s business. It would be a grave mistake and abuse of office for Saraki to directly or indirectly inject his personal matter into the approval process. Saraki should not link the approval of a single minister to his desire for extra-judicial treatment of his issues.’’
The statement read in part: ‘’Other than voice this encouragement, Bola Tinubu will never say a negative word or lift a finger to forestall anyone’s approval before the Senate. For the record, the Buhari Presidency was brought to life by the votes of millions of Nigerians who desire change. Such a collective and historic achievement is not one that anyone who worked to bring it to life would easily seek to de-construct.
“If adhering to the decisions of the party, supporting the government’s progressive plank and working for the good of the people qualifies Tinubu for surveillance, then he will accept that.
“However, we know that any such surveillance is not from state security organs. Such activity would come from the insecurity agencies of the PDP and its mercenary allies elsewhere who would seek to fragment the true core of the APC so that they may scuttle the Buhari reform programme and return the nation to the misgovernance of the past. They hope to delude the APC into attacking itself. By so doing, they believe they can regain through stealth, the reins of government the people seized from them through elections. They seek to break the hearts and hopes of the people. Asiwaju Tinubu would never team with anyone to gain such an inhumane objective…
“Those who midwifed this garish tale gave birth not to truth but to lies intended to kill APC unity and to retard the Buhari administration’s strategic reform initiatives, as earlier outlined by our party manifesto. Given the potential for change that stands before us, we are now beginning to see the true nature of many people. There are those who truly want positive change so that we can break from the ways of a stolid past. Then there are those who speak of change with their mouths but never believe in it in their hearts. They came along with us for the ride or because no other political option availed itself at the operative time. Now given the chance to redeem themselves from their past political actions, they would rather return to the political morass from whence they came.
“Here, I will do those who inhabit the shadows of untruth a favour. I will state explicitly what they hoped to get the reader to infer. Their claim is that Tinubu has joined with Saraki to scuttle the President’s ministerial nominations. They have misfired.
‘’Their wrong is a great wrong. Like the rest of us, Asiwaju Tinubu waited for the President to select his cabinet. The majority of the selections have been made. There is nothing to do but congratulate the appointees and pray for them. Their responsibilities are vast, the future of the nation now rests on their shoulders. The challenges before them are manifold and daunting. Those who want the best for Nigeria can only hope that these people succeed. The only intervention that Asiwaju Tinubu would make is one of encouragement. He would charge them to remain true to the progressive vision of the party and our President.’’
I won’t join issues with Tinubu—Saraki
Reacting, Saraki, in a statement by his Spokesperson, Mr Yusuf Olaniyonu said: “I saw the statement said to be issued by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu over a story published by a national daily. I have decided not to join issues with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. However, I know that most Nigerians are aware that there has been no meeting or communication between me and Asiwaju Tinubu since I was elected Senate President. Therefore, I do not see any basis for a newspaper to report that we are both plotting to oppose the President.
“I recognise Tinubu as one of the leaders of the APC who contributed so much to the victory of the party in the last election. Some other people also contributed and I believe the collective efforts made it possible for the first time in the history of our country for an opposition party to win the general elections.
He also said: “Let me state clearly that I remain a committed member of the APC and will do all in my powers to ensure the party fulfill its promises to bring positive changes into the country.
“Since my election as Senate President, my focus and efforts have been devoted to doing the job that I was elected to do by my constituents and my colleagues in the Senate. Twice, my colleagues have confirmed their support for me as the primus inter pares in the Senate.
“As I said in my speech when we resumed from our recess late September and in Ikenne over the weekend, the screening of ministerial nominees will be handled by me and my colleagues with all sense of responsibility and in adherence to the provision of the constitution. We will be fair to all and be guided by the interest of Nigeria. The screening will be devoid of sentiment and it is not an opportunity for anybody to settle scores. We are equally eager for us to make a positive difference in our polity and Nigerians will be able to judge us whether we acted in their best interest or not.”
Sen. Oluremi Tinubu on Tuesday said that she did not get the support of her husband, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to run for second term in the past National Assembly elections.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu Credit: Punch News
Tinubu, Lagos Central Senatorial District, made the disclosure while answering questions at the ongoing “Women in Government’’ conference organised by the South-West Region of the Department For International Development (DFID).
The conference was organised in collaboration with the Lagos State Office of the Deputy Governor.
She said that it was her district leaders who got the form for her and talked her husband into allowing her to run for the position.
According to her, Asiwaju likes his wife to be at home, and what is more confusing to me is that most Muslim men do not want their wives to work, but I am a hard worker.
“People have been saying that I got to this position because I am Asiwaju’s wife.
`What they did not realise is that in the past election, my husband asked me not to go for a second term.
“It was the leaders in my district that got me the form and talked to him that they wanted me to go back.
“You can go to my district, the elites might not know me but the grassroots are the ones supporting and voting massively for me.
“I think that is enough for me and that is how you can get elected, you have to really identify with your people; if really know your people, they will stand up for you,’’ she said.
Tinubu said she fought and worked hard as it was difficult getting the vote of the masses.
“When I got the bill to run for primaries, I told my husband that I needed money and he said no money.
“I fought with the people in my constituency because they said I have to give them more money and I said no, what about the ones I have been giving to you before?
“If you are not going to vote, so be it.
“They said that they were just voting for me because of Asiwaju and I responded that Asiwaju is not even supporting me, then, you can go and vote for him.
“But I’m grateful they voted for me.
“I have realised that when you are elected, you have to go back and work with your constituency because that is where your support and vote rests,’’ she said.
First Republic Commissioner for Education and Commissioner for Health in the defunct Western Region, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, 90, tells KAYODE FALADE andLEKE BAIYEWU about the defunct Action Group, Chief Obafemi and Mrs. HID Awolowo, and the crisis in Afenifere
WITH your closeness to the sage, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, what can you say about his wife, Mrs HID Awolowo, who died recently?
Bola Tinubu
The thing that was really outstanding about her was her relationship with her husband. She was a true wife. She was to him a consultant and a friend – a dependable friend — and, of course, a good wife. She was a very astute businesswoman but at the same time she still found time to go about with her husband politicking; even when her husband was in travail from 1962 up till 1964; when there was a coalition of a sort between the National Council of Nigerian Citizens and the Action Group; when a party called United Progressive Alliance was formed. Awolowo was in prison and Michael Opara was the national leader of the NCNC, but then, Mama (HID) did not sit down at home in Ibadan mourning her husband’s incarceration, rather, she was ready and willing to go out to campaign.
There was a particular day when Opara came to Ibadan, in spite of all restrictions that he must not come to Ibadan because, at that time, there was a very strong opposition put up by Chief S. L. Akintola – who also formed his own party, the Nigerian National Democratic Party. Then, there was another party formed by some northern people, the Nigerian National Alliance. There was also the United Progressive Grand Alliance. But Mama, in spite of all the opposition, joined Opara in campaigning when he came to Ibadan. She was to us a great pillar and, of course, a worthy example for many women on what their relationship should be with their husband.
How was her relationship with her husband’s political associates, considering the fact that politicians now worship wives of political leaders and sometimes go on their kneels to address the women?
Are you referring to the present situation of things whereby a commissioner will kneel before a governor’s wife? There was nothing like that at all! Mama was fond of all of us. There was nothing like that; we wouldn’t even do that for Awolowo then, how much less his wife. To kneel before talking to Awolowo’s wife? There was nothing like that. As far as we were concerned – even though we were very young then – everybody would hold his head erect when speaking with the leader of the party or with his wife, of course with a bit of affection and respect to either of them. But to kneel down, there was nothing like that.
When and how did you get involved with the Awolowos?
I gained admission into Wesley College, Ibadan in 1946. At that time, a childhood friend of mine was working at the Cooperative Bank which was headquartered in Ibadan. He was residing in the boys’ quarters of the Awolowos at Oke Ado. Whenever we had free time, I would go to Oke Ado to see my friend and I would greet Awolowo. The relationship started from there on a very low-key note. I finished from Wesley College at the end of 1949 and I was posted to Sagamu in 1950, where I taught. But then, I was the secretary to a number of organisations, one of them was the Wesley Guild.
Politics was about to start, particularly around 1951. By then, Awolowo was already in it. But before then, he was a councillor at the Ijebu-Remo Divisional Council; together with S. T. Oredehin of Ogere, who later became the Organising Secretary of the AG; and Dosunmu of Iperu, who was the Administrative Secretary of the party. Occasionally, the Wesley Guild would organise events and as the secretary, I might be asked to write to Chief Awolowo to come and lecture us. I remember between 1951 and 1952, AG was new on ground and I was asked to write to invite him to come and deliver a lecture. I wrote him and I followed up to make sure that he acceded to our request. Thus, the relationship continued to develop and when the AG came, I enrolled. I joined the party in 1952 and I formed a branch of the party here in Isara.
What was the significant thing about the AG that made youths like you to join the party or was it because Awolowo, a Yoruba, founded it?
Not, at all. One, during the First Republic, the AG was the only political party that was properly formed. Neither the NCNC nor the Northern Peoples’ Congress was so formed. For example, there was a group of very few people doing politics in Lagos but because Zik (Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe) was fresh from America and a very good speaker – a very beautiful speaker – there was a lot of attraction to him. One day, somebody went to him and said, ‘Excuse me sir, why don’t you let us get more people, particularly ex-students of King’s College, to join us and form a party? And we have some Cameroonians here.’ And he (Zik) said, ‘That is a good idea.’ They invited ex-students of King’s College and some Cameroonians. They had meetings on two occasions and decided to have a name. The name they gave to their organisation was National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons.
At that time, southern Cameroon was part of Nigeria. Although later – about the middle of 1955 — there was an election for Cameroonians from the southern extraction to choose where they wanted to remain — in Nigeria or go back to Cameroon. Some of them stayed here but not many. Nevertheless, they didn’t change the name from NCNC to something else, even when Cameroonians were no longer there (in the party). That was how the NCNC came about.
In the case of the NPC, there was a Hausa/Fulani club – I don’t know how to pronounce the name of the club which was in Hausa. Around 1951 and 1952, with the emergence and prominence of the NCNC and the AG, the northern leaders thought they too should have a political party and they considered turning the name of the club into the Northern Peoples’ Congress. That was how NPC came on board.
What inspired Action Group’s formation?
In the case of the AG, however, Awolowo was watching what was going on in the country way back in 1946, when Governor Arthur Richards was here, and the way they (colonialists) were running the affairs of the country. Then, he felt that a political party would be appropriate. He had just returned from England as a lawyer. He called a meeting of so many people of Western Region. The first time, a very few people came – very few. The second time, they were very few; third time, very few; fourth time, very few. I think the sixth time too, a very few people came. And Awolowo said, ‘well, it is not worth our while calling meetings day after day and people will not be attending. I think we should give it up.’ And then, (late Pa Adekunle) Ajasin said, ‘No, let us make another attempt.’ That would be the seventh meeting. Ajasin said, ‘Let us take it that whoever comes will constitute the meeting.’ And Awolowo agreed. The seventh meeting was held and a sizeable number attended – not as much as was expected but it wasn’t as bad as the previous ones.
The meeting started and Awolowo addressed them on the need to have a political party. He said, ‘Because when you look at Nigeria, I have a vision of what might happen to the country very soon politically.’ He asked, ‘What kind of political party should we form? Should we form a party that will be elite-oriented or we should look towards the masses or the haves?’ We debated these options and came to the conclusion that we should look towards the masses. That was the decision that would become a political party that would cater and look after the welfare and the wellbeing of the masses of the Western Region. It started like that and began to build up till April 1951, when the party had grown up and people were already embracing and joining it. And a decision was taken that we should go to Owo to launch the party formally. We went to Owo – I think on April 14 – and the party was launched.
Then, the leaders took a decision that before launching the party, everything should be under wraps – everything about the would-be political party. If they allowed the information to go out, some people might, by way of criticism, kill it. Hence, we decided to keep it under wraps until when it was launched. The appeal was to the Third Class and the general masses of western Nigeria.
How was the party run?
We had what was called shadow cabinet. This is it: Let us assume you are in government. There are ministers running the government – of health, labour, agriculture, etc. There would be a set of ministers from the political party – a set of people appointed as shadow Ministers of Industries, Works, Health, Education, etc. The meaning and implication of this is that each of the shadow ministers would be working as if he or she was a minister. They would try to know what was going on in their ministries as shadow ministers, so that when the party meeting was to be held and the question arose about the education ministry – the question of teachers, are they adequate or not; the question of school fees or school facilities – it was the shadow minister of education who would answer all the questions. He or she would be as informed as a substantive minister. That was the AG.
Before we formed government, the questions arose; ‘How are we going to run our party? How are we going to make life better for the masses?’ We said since we had shadow ministers, they would advise us on what was going on in each ministry. Then, we would be able to plan ahead before we take over office. The question might arise for the shadow Minister of Education, ‘How many classrooms do you think we would need in Abeokuta Division or in Ijebu, Remo, Isan or Oyo?’ He would give a full answer. If we asked, ‘What would be the cost of the classrooms?’ He would say, ‘It won’t be more than £200 per classroom – built and furnished.’ That is on education. So it was for other ministries too. Then, we asked, ‘How do we prepare our budget?’ We were not in government then. Because the education ‘minister’ had given us the statistics, and other ‘ministers’ of health, works, etc., had given us their statistics, we would use the data to prepare our budget. We were not in government yet; we were only preparing for election.
What is the difference now?
The thing we have at the moment: For example, the National Assembly; the ascendancy of Saraki (as the Senate President) would never happen in the AG. It would never, never happen.
What would have happened, if he were a member of the AG?
It was more or less a coup; something he did to spite his party. He got elected (as Senate President) by using mostly members of the opposition. In the case of the AG, in 1950 or so, we wanted to appoint ministers and the list (of ministerial nominees) was to go to the governor – as it goes to the National Assembly or state House of Assembly now. The governor was an expatriate, before the Ooni (Oba Adesoji Aderemi) became the governor of Western Region after the expatriate left. The party leaders met. There were six or eight slots for ministerial positions and they said, ‘Let us make sure that we appoint at least a minister from each division or from a group of divisions.’ There were certain criteria they would use to choose who the minister should be. They met and chose about eight ministers – I can’t remember the exact number of ministerial slots available then. They gave Remo Division two slots – Awolowo and somebody. But Awolowo said, ‘Remo is a small place; don’t give two slots to Remo. Let Remo have one and other places, which are bigger, should have one or two as the case may be.’ The leaders objected, so they decided to choose somebody who was Awolowo’s friend. His name was M. S. Sowole from Ipara-Remo. The list was compiled and taken to the governor for his assent.
There was a man called Bode Thomas; he went to Ikorodu to meet Pa S. O. Gbadamosi — the father of Rasheed Gbadamosi – and told him that the distribution of the ministerial slots was imbalanced. He asked Gbadamosi, ‘We appointed ministers but who is representing the Lagos Colony among those we suggested in the list already sent to the governor?’ Lagos Colony included Ikorodu, Ikeja, Yaba, Ebute Meta – apart from Lagos. They realised that Lagos Colony had been left out. Both Gbadamosi and ‘SOG’ decided to go to Awolowo. Awolowo said another meeting had to be called. They called another meeting and the issue was thrown open for discussion. They discovered that there was nobody representing Lagos Colony. They said, ‘What shall we do? We have to drop one (the second slot) from Remo.’ Awolowo did not object; he knew he was dealing with enlightened people. Awolowo was only 43 when they were doing all these beautiful things. They were just God-sent, not the rubbish that we are seeing now.
But then, they had already informed M. S. Sowole (Awolowo’s friend) that he was going to be minister. But they agreed that they were going to delete Sowole’s name. Then, they debated who would represent Lagos Colony. They said, ‘Let us choose Akran of Badagry’ Not the present Oba Akran. The challenge was now who would inform Sowole (about the swap). They told Awolowo, ‘You are the leader, it is your responsibility to inform Sowole about the new development.’ Hence, the leader had the most unpleasant task of going to his friend to say, ‘My friend, you are no longer going to be minister.’ He went to Sowole and told him he wasn’t going to be minister anymore; that one of the slots given to Remo had been given to Lagos Colony, which had no slot. And Sowole said, ‘Fine, if that is the decision of the party.’ What the party did after the election was to ensure that Sowole was given a ‘comfortable’ position comparable to a ministerial position.
Today, if somebody told any person who had been told he would be commissioner or minister, and then a message went back to him to say, ‘You are no longer going to be commissioner or minister,’ how would the person take it? He may resign from the party. But Sowole accepted it. Awolowo, again, went ahead to withdraw the list earlier submitted to the governor and submitted the new one. That is to show you the kind of leadership in Awolowo. The governor told Awolowo, ‘Don’t come back again to change the list.’ And Awolowo replied, ‘Your Excellency, I will come back here as many times as the situation demands.’ That was Awolowo for you.
Why were AG members so selfless?
What happened in the short story was simple — party supremacy. You can also call it party discipline. The party said to the person who had been promised a position that, ‘You’re no longer going to be.’ And he said, ‘Yes sir.’ And he never forsook the party; he never went away to another political party or say, ‘I’m going to resign’ or ‘I’m going to take you to court.’ Not, at all. He was disciplined.
I will give you similar examples of party discipline or party supremacy or party loyalty in the AG which, to me, is an ideal of a political party; to be a lesson and example of maintaining sanity in a political party.
The AG now in power (in the Western Region), the NPC and the NCNC were in coalition – the Igbo and the Hausa/Fulani; the East and the North. But they sent to the AG to send names of two persons who would be on two boards. The name of a reverend who later became a bishop, T. T. Solaru, was sent to the Board of the Nigerian Airways Corporation; the name of E. E. Esuwa, who was the secretary of the Nigerian Union of Teachers and whose son has a hospital in Surulere, was sent to another corporation. The government of the NPC was behaving irresponsibly and the AG decided to withdraw their members from the boards. The party sent to Esuwa and Solaru to resign and they both resigned immediately. Will politicians today resign? That is party supremacy, party discipline, party principle, and party loyalty.
Let me give you another one: There was a man called Olu Ibukun, an Akure man, who was preparing himself to contest election to the House of Assembly but the party had somebody from that area who was already serving as a member of the House. Awolowo heard about Olu Ibukun’s ambition to contest against our member. Awolowo went to Akure for something and he ran into Olu Ibukun and said, ‘Olu Ibukun, I understand you want to contest a seat in the House of Assembly against so-and-so.’ He said, ‘Yes sir.’ Awolowo said, ‘You’re joking. He has to finish his term, don’t contest against him. You must go and work for him and he must not lose. Don’t try to contest the seat; nothing like that.’ And Olu Ibukun had to obey the decision of the party. He campaigned for that man – I’ve forgotten his name – and our party won. After the party won, they made Olu Ibukun the Chairman of Western Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation.
With these AG examples you cited, can what Saraki did to the APC be seen as an indictment on the party?
When you say indictment, does it mean the party did not organise itself well? If you want to say that, yes. But at the same time, if you organise yourself well as a party, your members may still defy you.
You formed the AG with a common interest, which was nation building. But where people with different interests come together to form a party, is it not possible for the foundation to be faulty from the onset?
Then, a lot is wrong with the party. I told you; of the mainstream political parties in the First Republic, the AG was the only party that came about properly as a party should be formed. Therefore, scholars refer to the AG as one of the best parties in West Africa because it was a party that was well organised and well run. It is written in a book titled Political Parties authored by Sklar. You must know the genesis and the background of the political parties you have today. Did you know how the Peoples Democratic Party came about? (It was formed by) retired soldiers, retired National Party of Nigeria people and all sorts.
What about the Alliance for Democracy, which had the Awolowo-led Afenifere as its backbone?
After about four years of PDP and AD’s existence, there were people in the AD who felt that, ‘These elders are too powerful. We should rubbish them so that they would not be in a position to decide our fate if we want to run for second term. If we allow them, they may not allow us. So, let us rubbish them.’ These were Bola Tinubu (Lagos), Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), Lam Adesina (Oyo), Bisi Akande (Osun) and Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti).
Whereas, before they got there, it was we who voted for them; who organised their election. We never spent a kobo for the masses of western Nigeria; we didn’t have the money — no bicycles, motorcycles or cars. The only 12-seater bus we had was a gift from somebody, and it was I who asked for the gift to be given, including the insurance for the bus. That was all we had. And we won all the local governments; we won all the general elections up to the Senate. We were so successful that we went to each (state’s) House of Assembly in the old Western Nigeria, causing motions to be passed by members of each House that a National Conference should be held. But they thought, ‘We should rubbish these elderly people; they should go.’ Hence, they took power from us and did what they did. All those who were supporting us, all the young people, deserted us and went to them (the AD governors) because each governor had the wherewithal to give to these boys jobs, (parcels of) land, cars, etc.
Then, they left the party (AD) and formed their own party, the Action Congress. That is, a legion of those who left the AD and those who left the PDP formed the AC. Later, they changed the name of their party to Action Congress of Nigeria, which is now (part of) the All Progressives Congress. You have not heard at any time that Awolowo said his wife should be a member of the House of Assembly, a minister or member of a board. Have you heard that about Awolowo? Have you heard that Awolowo, at any time, made arrangements for any of his children to be part of government? For Oluwole Awolowo, the father first kicked against his political ambition. But when he saw that Oluwole was adamant, he then thought he should give him support because if he failed, people would say Awolowo had failed. They won’t know which Awolowo failed.
Are you saying the departure of the governors from the AD led to the downfall of the party and the breaking of the rank of the Yoruba leaders in Afenifere?
It is one of the reasons because they (the governors) just started to behave somehow. Aja ’o gbo fere olode mo (the dog stopped heeding the call by its owner). Tinubu said he was going to remove the chairman of his party (AD), Ganiyu Dawodu, who is now late. He wanted to remove Dawodu from the chairmanship of the party in Lagos; Dawodu had been with Awolowo since he left secondary school. He only spent about six months in John Holts before he joined the AG. And since then, he had been there (in the party) for well over 40 years. Now you (Tinubu) came, and because the man (Dawodu) was so strong politically in Lagos, Tinubu thought it would pay him to get rid of him. That was the beginning of our troubles. I went to Tinubu on three occasions to beg him not to remove Dawodu. He made up his mind and removed Dawodu.
In Ogun State here, the governor (Ogun) regarded himself and said so on one occasion as the ‘Supreme Court’ of Ogun State. There was a young man who misbehaved to our leader, Abraham Adesanya. Osoba was not around when the man misbehaved. He came back and the story of the man’s misbehaviour was just going round. And Osoba told the man, ‘To go the leader now and explain yourself.’ He did not say, ‘Go to Abraham Adesanya and apologise.’ You see the difference? The man went to Adesanya and the issue was not resolved. The man reported back at a meeting and he (Osoba) said, ‘I knew that would happen. I am the supreme court of this state,’ instead of saying, ‘Boy, go back to Adesanya and apologise to him.’ Is that not different?
What is the state of Afenifere, which was once the voice of the Yoruba nation, today?
They have spoilt it. There was nothing we did not do to settle the dispute. We tried as much as possible to get it resolved but the governors would not cooperate. They insisted they would go and they left to form another group.
Were they part of the Yoruba Council of Elders?
The YCE was another group formed to destroy Afenifere. It was Bola Ige who put up the YCE because he was grudging against us.
Is it the same YCE being headed by Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (retd.) you are talking about?
Oh, yes! The first chairman (of the YCE) was Pa Emmanuel Alayande, I think.
What has happened to Afenifere?
The current position of Afenifere is that the soul of the Afenifere is still there and it is being carried by Chief Reuben Fasoranti, being the leader. But it is not with a lot of people who spread all over Western Nigeria as before, no. The reason is very simple: It has its origin from the doing of (former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim) Babangida. One of the things Babaginda did while in power was to destroy the middle class. He destroyed the middle class of the Yoruba people, just as he destroyed our industries, particularly the textile industry. If you ever know the number of industries we had before and how many we have now, you will agree with me that it is true. After this he destroyed our middle class and monetised politics. He built offices for political parties which he formed and gave them names, while the government was paying political officer holders. People were becoming poorer and poorer. With the passage of time, the poverty was growing and something that had never happened to the Yoruba race started to happen. Yoruba people started to beg. In the gone days you wouldn’t see any Yoruba man or woman begging along the streets. Not, at all. It won’t happen. But it is now happening. Take your car and go to a function. You will see men and women who will come around you, hailing and begging for money.
They (Babaginda and co) did it so that people became very poor; so that when the government said, ‘I want two persons,’ 10 persons would run there, hoping that money would come from there. That is one of the evil things the military brought upon us. Monetising politics destroyed our civil service. It was the civil service that would not have allowed corruption. If you were in the civil service in those days; if you were entitled to a car and you wanted to buy it, you would apply through your boss and your application would go to the Ministry of Finance. The ministry would organise with the car company for the vehicle you want. There would be only one cheque for that car and it would pass through only one person. It would be a cheque written by the ministry to the company. What you, the applicant for a car, hear is, ‘Go to the company and take your car. Your car is waiting.’ That is all. That was the control in those days. To steal or do rubbish wouldn’t happen. It was perfect discipline. But the soldiers came and destroyed that system.
In our time, if a building or a road were to be constructed, tenders would be invited; contractors would apply. They would send their tender documents to the appropriate ministry. Then, there would be secretary and chairman of the Tenders Board. On the day fixed for the meeting of the board, the contractors and consultants would be there. Each ministry concerned would get in when it was its turn to come in. The tender documents would be opened in the presence of everybody – nothing behind. There was nothing like, ‘you see that road, you are going to save for our man; add so-and-so amount; the difference would be shared between you and I.’ And this will interest you: Do you know who the chairman of the board would be? It was the leader of the opposition. The leader of the opposition would be the chairman of the tender board. That is due process and accountability – everything above board. You can’t get that now.
