Following the Judgment of the Court of Appeal, delivered Tuesday 29 December, 2020, by a three-man panel led by Justice Peter Ige JCA, which toppled an earlier verdict delivered around June 2020, constituting statutory members of the All Progressives Congress, Rivers State, into a Caretaker Committee with Hon. Igochukwu Aguma as Chairman; and the more recent High Court judgement delivered Tuesday, 5 January, 2020 by the very learned Justice Chukwu, which aborted the plot by Sen. Magnus Abe, Igo Aguma and Emmma Deeyaa and their evil conspirators to scuttle the membership update and revalidation exercise of All Progressives Congress, billed to commence soonest, critical stakeholders, political analysts and opinion leaders have continued to make their minds bare on the rulings especially, the Appeal Court verdict, which has severally been described as the ‘dawn of a new day’ for the party after several years of internal hostilities.

Chieftain of the APC and erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said while a critical view of the separate judgements largely depicts the core essence of justice in a representative democracy, it also restores public confidence in the judiciary especially in Rivers State, where the courts have been conquered and converted into an extension of the executive arm under Gov. Wike and the People’s Democratic Party.

In a statement made available to media houses, the party Chief said the verdicts have politically entomb Abe, Aguma and their circle of wrongdoers who have continued to hover on the edge of the trash-can of history, and allow the majority have their way in line with the tenets of democracy.

Eze said the Rivers APC has suffered series of deliberately orchestrated miscarriages of justice in satisfaction of the whims and caprices of the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who has continued to mobilize state resources into his hubristic project of sweeping the court from its hitherto impartial judicial moorings into the dangerous waters of partisan politics in a bid to sustain his firm grip of statecraft without a formidable opposition, at the detriment of Rivers people who have been left in squalor without a hint of remorse.

He commended the learned Justices of the Appeal Court, for their firm resolve towards redeeming the battered image of the judiciary in Rivers State by restating the fair stance of the courts and upholding the impartiality of the judiciary in dispensing with contentious issues especially, those touching on politics and governance brought before it for determination.

With the Appeal Court Judgement which further confirmed the legitimacy of the Isaac Ogbobula led Caretaker Committee of the Rivers APC and double-clothed it with super legitimacy, and particularly, the recent verdict of the Court of Appeal which made public show of Abe and Co. as no respecters of of the orders of President Mohammadu Buhari and party hierarchy, Chief Eze said Abe, Aguma and their conspirators are now on a very speed lane towards political extinction, noting that the metier saboteurs have created for themselves a no mean conner in the history of political treachery and it would grossly be of unblessed memory.

The party stalwart assured that the judgements have automatically settled the protracted internal unrest that has set the state chapter of the party aback in the polity the last 5 years especially, the floodgate of litigation that heralded the last congresses of the party which resulted to the non-participation of the APC in the 2019 elections and the denial of Rivers people their right to choose who represents them in the parliament and other positions in government.

He said Sen. Magnus Ngei Abe and Hon. Igochukwu Aguma and their circle of saboteurs may now join their ranks in the People’s Democratic Party on which soil they have toiled laboriously, having met with perpetual failure in their scheme to again employ legal technicalities and mechanics to frustrate the planned membership drive and plunge the party into another round of crisis without recourse to what is right.

Lamenting over the depth of damages Abe and Aguma have caused the APC and the lives of Rivers people, Eze, a strong voice in the Niger Delta said only a group of unconscious and conscienceless mortals can elect to play the very horrendous script serially displayed by the duo against a party which membership they claim, stressing that it can only take the collective goodwill of the entire people of Rivers State who are currently suffering the consequences of their ill-will, to forgive their horrific atrocities against the state and humanity.

While congratulating the APC family for once again successfully sailing through the turbulent waters of legal mechanics and acrobatics and landing safely on Canaan side, the party stalwart commended the resilience and timeless spirit with which party faithful responded to the messy crisis carefully instigated by Abe and Aguma to leave the party in perpetual shambles.

By: Adémólá Òrúnbon

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, popularly called BAT, is a master strategist, generalissimo, who has dominated the politics of Nigeria’s commercial capital for over two decades, Tinubu, has long been overdue and expected to make a run for the country’s top job–his formidable political network, propensity for deal-making and substantial personal wealth give him a head start over many other contenders. In the 2023 presidential elections, Tinubu has been coquettish. After the latest rumpuses in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in which Tinubu and his allies seemed to lose out, he mocked those pundits who purported to know his political intentions.

“Indeed, to those who have been actively bleating how the President’s actions and the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting have ended my purported 2023 ambitions … Already you have assigned colourful epitaphs to the 2023 death of an alleged political ambition that is not yet even born.” That was the pronouncement and submission of Tinubu after the purported dissolution of National Working Committee (NWC) of the party after the NEC meeting of the ruling party, which was attended by PMB himself.”

Precisely, on the 25 June, the ruling party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had dissolved its National Working Committee (NWC) on which Tinubu and his allies had a clear majority and could choose the party chair. They lost that battle. Now the management is in the hands of a caretaker committee and state governors are battling to reassert their control over the party’s machinery. The general view is that Tinubu will run in 2023 but he has not announced any such intentions. This secrecy may be a new strategy given that he is facing serious rivals in the party and the government. Tinubu has not held an official position in government since his second term as Lagos governor, which ended in 2007, but his influence in national politics has grown.

The schisms in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), have led to the formation of at least two different camps: Nasir el Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State and Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transport on one side; and Tinubu, the national leader of the APC and deposed Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, on the other. Other factions within the party include senior party people such as Kebbi State governor Atiku Bagudu, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, Works Minister Babatunde Fashola. For now they are discreet about their ambitions but many have their eyes on the succession in 2023. Mind you, Tinubu is a former two-time Governor of Lagos State and he retains the mass support till date, with crowds of people gathering outside his mansion on Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, on a daily basis. They credit him with the social and economic progress seen in Lagos over the past two decades. They add that he has also ensured that progressive Governors run the state since he left the post.

Some of Tinubu’s notable achievements as Governor then include; improving the state’s waste management system and better incentives for civil servants (salary increases and better quality of working environments). His successor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, was responsible for the implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Lite System, which ferries passengers in high-capacity buses on dedicated bus lanes. Also, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the immediate past Governor, was shut out when he tried to move away from Tinubu and his desires and instead of allowing him to run on the APC ticket for the second term, he was replaced by Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Governor Sanwo-Olu, the current Governor, another one of Tinubu’s picks, has been praised for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country’s most densely populated state.

Although Tinubu is widely loved in Lagos, his vast wealth and real estate holdings raise questions, especially amongst the critical and independently wealthy citizens. Most attention has focused on the operations of a company called Alpha Beta Consulting which was awarded a contract that gave it exclusive rights to collect taxes on behalf of Lagos State when Tinubu was governor. It was believed to also receive about 10% commission from the revenues collected. Many pro-transparency groups and opposition activists have demanded information about this group and its links with Tinubu and other politicians in the state. After being a two-time governor of Lagos State, he became known as the ‘godfather of Lagos’, handpicking his successors.

Under Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos State, Alpha Beta Consulting was awarded the contract to collect taxes for the state on the recommendation of a committee whose members included the state’s then Attorney General Yemi Osinbajo (now Vice President), then Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Wale Edun and former Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Yemi Cardoso. But, all attempts by journalists using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to discover the terms of Alpha Beta’s contract with the Lagos government and its beneficial owners have been blocked by the State Government officials, arguing that the freedom of information only applies to the Federal Government. It is imperative to highlight Tinubu’s influence amongst the Area Boys–loosely organized gangs of street youth who roam the streets of Lagos. He is held up as a man of the people, often giving out free food to poorer Lagosians.

When the APC was formed–a merger of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC, headed by current President Muhammadu Buhari), and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA)–Tinubu was a key member, not even a key member but a key player in bringing together these parties to oppose the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2015 elections. After being a two-time Governor of Lagos State, he became known as the ‘godfather of Lagos’, handpicking his successors, as I earlier mentioned above. Those that stopped listening to him, or decided that they held all the power, were removed–as was seen with Akinwunmi Ambode, a one-term Governor of Lagos State who was pushed out in the State primaries ahead of the 2019 elections.

But, falling out of the good graces of both the people of Lagos State and the kingmaker of Lagos politics resulted in Ambode’s going from being the Governor of the country’s most thriving State to being hunted down by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in just six months he was replaced on the APC ticket for the gubernatorial elections by another Tinubu loyalist, current Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Tinubu’s current role is the national leader of the APC, a title that, although an honorific, gives him power and influence within the party structures. It is of note that Tinubu holds two chieftaincy titles: Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom in Niger State, in a country where traditional leaders are still widely respected, these Chieftaincy titles enhance his power and reach. Many younger politicians owe the success of their careers to Tinubu, notably Fashola, and Vice-President Osinbajo. His model has always been to encourage the younger generation.

Before the dissolution of the NWC, it was said that at least 15 out of the 20 members were loyal to Tinubu and Oshiomhole. Governors loyal to Tinubu include Ganduje of Kano, Masari of Katsina (President Buhari’s home state), Abdulrazak of Kwara, Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Abiodun of Ogun, and Oyetola of the State of Osun, amongst others. Some were asking questions about whether President Buhari wants to play a leading role in determining his successor, like Obasanjo did in 2007. Nobody knows the answer of this for now and certain, but people around Buhari are trying to make sure they are on his good side, hoping that if he does decide to influence the choice and the primaries, he will be on their side, but Tinubu has been on the verge of contesting the race for the fact that most of his allies had been on consultation tours to Alaafin’s palace and others stalwarts.

Although the Nigerian political system is meant to work in a way that the presidency rotates between a Southerner and Northerner in power–implying that Buhari the Northerner should be succeeded by a Southerner –the question of whether the APC’s next candidate will be a Northerner or Southerner looks far from resolved. Tinubu cannot succeed with support only from the South-west; he needs Northern votes as well. Will the eight million strong voters block that Buhari tapped into to stay with the APC, regardless of candidate, or will they go to a Northern candidate, regardless of party? For example, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the North-East state of Adamawa is likely to contest again for the PDP and fight for those eight million Northern votes. The collaboration between Buhari and Tinubu in 2015 involved the latter being tasked with bringing in the South-West votes and providing a Southern technocrat as the Vice-Presidential Candidate. When the APC vote count from the South-West for Buhari slipped, it seemed that Tinubu had become less important for him.

It’s unclear how far Tinubu and Buhari trust each other. And whether Buhari would support Tinubu as an APC candidate for the next presidential election. Buhari plays his cards close to his chest. Tinubu has not announced his decision to run for President in 2023, but it will surprise few if he does. Though Asiwaju Tinubu remains a local hero in Lagos, the country’s commercial capital. He would prepare his campaign with an acute strategic sense of the voter data and the political messaging, and Tinubu’s critical task would be to bring in allies from across the middle and the north to bolster his national reach–his deal-making in the past has proved effective but this would be his greatest test yet. But, whether Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is contesting or vying for the presidential election or not in this country, my submission still remains that he is worth voting for by the Nigerians in all ramifications. Indeed, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must even contest for the number one position in this nation.

Òrúnbon, an opinion writer, poet, journalist and public affairs analyst, writes in from Federal Housing Estate, Olomore, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Can be reached via: orunbonibrahimademola@gmail.com, or 08034493944, 08029301122

After several efforts by the Buni led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at reconciling members and rebuilding the distressed chapter of the party in Rivers State, hope still seems not to be on sight as peace appears to have taken perpetual flight from the circle of the Rivers Progressives family which has long been enmeshed in the turbulent waters of legal mechanics and acrobatics and which culminated in the denial of the party its constitutionally guaranteed right to field candidates for national and state parliamentary seats and other positions in government during the 2019 polls.

This revelation was made by the erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (A PC), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, in a statement made available to media houses, Wednesday 16 December, 2020.

According to the party chief, a critical scrutiny and in-depth analysis of the body languages and verbal expressions of Chief Igo Aguma and Senator Magnus Abe on recent developments in the All Progressives Congress succinctly suggest that the duo may have sworn to an oath with the devil never to allow the Rivers APC take up the responsibility and play the necessary roles befitting of a responsible, progressive, people-oriented and democratically inclined political organization in the state.

With the litany of available facts and records in connection with their satanic artifice against the party and her teeming members and supporters, Chief Eze said it will be foolhardy for the leadership of the APC to tolerate their renewed onslaught and treat them with kids gloves given the fact that this times are too serious for the party to continue to accommodate serial saboteurs.

For the duo to continue to boast in the open that the party will no longer exist let alone participate in the 2023 general elections is enough reason not only to sanction but expel them as a matter of urgency, unless the party hierarchy is conniving and cooperating with this same known mercenaries of the Peoples Democratic Party and Gov. Wike, to exterminate the Rivers state chapter of the APC.

“The singular fact that Abe, Aguma and their cohorts have defiled the directive of President Mohammadu Buhari and the leadership of the party to the effect that court cases instituted by party members should be withdrawn is enough reason to lead the moles to the exit door and allow for sanity within the progressives fold”. Eze lamented.

Given the reality that majority of their allies have left them for the PDP which clearly indicates that they will no longer have the capacity to compete for any position in the party after the membership update and revalidation excerise billed to commence by January, 2020, the duo prefer to ensure that the excerise will not take place in the State. This is nothing but sheer witchcraftcy, gross cowardice and it is diabolical and highly condemnable.

Eze described Aguma’s recent statement questioning Amaechi’s credentials to aspire for any higher position in Nigeria though laughable as coming from a misguided, demented and dammed mind that needs our collective prayers Psychiatric evaluation For a fellow like Aguma who because of hunger and questionable political intents to question Amaechi’s credentials knowing whom Amaechi is and what he has achieved politically in Nigeria simply demonstrates that Aguma has gone so down and needs an immediate help before his case becomes irredeemable.

The party stalwart specifically pointed out that recent statement credited to former Rivers South/East representative at the Red Chambers of the National Assembly, Sen. Magnus Abe, unambiguously suggests that the Ogoni-born politician and his band of goofy and sycophantic followers may be scheming to throw the party into yet another round of crisis in the continuous pursuit of their selfish private vendatta notwithstanding the shame and fatal misfortune they brought to the APC during the electioneering period preceding the 2019 polls which was the nadir of the whole misadventure.

Sen. Magnus Abe, had in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson, described as an act of impunity, the inauguration of the local government and ward Caretaker Committees of the APC in Rivers State, adding that “it was the same attitude of insensibility that has kept the party comatose in Rivers State”.

Further excerpts from the statement read “It is this imperial approach to the challenges facing the party without the input and consultation of other stakeholders, that is responsible for the crisis in the party. It is clear that those who believe in the power of man are once again on the move.

“It is indeed unfortunate at this critical time in the political game, that the APC in Rivers State has learnt nothing and forgotten nothing, it appears that the minister and his supporters are still hell-bent on “their way or the highway”.

“The end result of this kind of behaviour is not difficult to predict. As usual, it will end in failure. When it fails, Nigerians should note that the choice of impunity, disrespect for party members, exclusion of critical stakeholders, contempt for judicial pronouncements and petty arrogance, over humility and inclusiveness is the foundation of our serial failure as a party”.

Reacting to the balderdash and stuff and nonsense, Chief Eze said Abe may have gone conscienceless, pointing out that only a man who has lost cognitive orientation will display the level of desperation over an inordinate ambition as Abe did in 2018/19, and without remorse, still reserve the temerity to make reckless comments with impunity in the public space.

He said in saner climes, the likes of Abe would not only be hiding their faces in shame, but also be isolated from partisan politics, having traded the very fair electoral fortunes of the APC for a paltry bowl of stew like the biblical Esau and loosing everything remaining of his integrity and sense of morality.

Admonishing the APC to be weary of Sen. Abe and his usual satanic schemings and artifice, the party stalwart said investigations have revealed that the People’s Democratic Party has declared Sen. Abe a persona non grata, and as a result, he is bared from seeking membership of the party, given his antecedents and defective political moorings which wrecked havoc on the Rivers APC in the recent past.

He described the continuous stay of Sen. Abe, Igo Aguma and others in the All Progressives Congress as a gross misnomer, a huge threat to the much desired peace and anticipated tranquillity and called on the Gov. Mai Mala Buni led Caretaker Committee to expel the former Rivers South/East Senator and his ally, Aguma, from the party for making themselves willing tools in the hands of Gov. Wike and the PDP at the detriment of a party they claim to be members.

The party Chief said the APC has shown more than fair leniency to Abe to the tune of considering him for an appointment. He averred that allowing Abe to always get away with undue concessions will only empower him to ask for more without respect for what is right.

He described the antecedents of the former Secretary to the State Government as a practical exhibition of crude desperation for power, stressing that his ambition, if unchecked, is capable of relegating democracy to the background as it remains a nightmare to the free exercise of franchise by citizens as guaranteed by national laws and international treaties.

Eze commended members of the Caretaker And Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the All Progressives Congress, led by Gov. Buni of Yobe state, for their commitment towards stabilizing the party across the states and assured them the support of all progressives of good will.

The party stalwart also congratulated the Rivers APC Caretaker Committee headed by Barr. Isaac Abbott Obuogbula for their appointment and subsequent inauguration. He described the constitution of Caretaker Committees at the local government area and ward levels as a strategic step to fill every speculative gap in the leadership of the party at all strata.

Ends

Signed

Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze