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- Lai Mohammed Give Insight On Akpabio’s Set Defection
- Go And Settle With Your God, Not Me; Atiku Tells Obasanjo
- Godswill Akpabio, Senate Minority Leader, Visits Buhari In London, Set To Dump PDP For APC
- Godswill Akpabio Wants To Be Senate President Through Joining APC
- My Dear President, Let Your People Go - Dele Momodu
| Lai Mohammed Give Insight On Akpabio’s Set Defection Posted: 05 Aug 2018 04:23 PM PDT
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nigeria, Minister of Information and Culture, on Sunday described the recent defection of some governors and lawmakers from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as nothing but a storm in a teacup.The rumours making the round about the defection of the Senate Minority Leader, Goodwill Akpabio, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC, has been reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).The Minister, however, told journalists in Lagos that those who left the ruling party did so for personal interests."I welcome it (defection of Mr Akpabio) because all politics is local. All those who have left us did that for purely personal reasons."Since they say politics is a game of number, of course we welcome gladly the defection of the minority leader. Like they say, it is one-one goalless draw." On whether Mr Akpabio was being positioned for the position of the Senate President, Mr Mohammed said "that I don't know". READ ALSO: Godswill Akpabio Wants To Be Senate President Through Joining APC Mr Mohammed said the recent defection of some governors, state and federal lawmakers to the main opposition party, PDP, was nothing to worry about. "There have been so much hype about this defection, and to me it's nothing but a storm in a teacup. We must appreciate the fact that at the end of the day, all politics is local. "One should ask, what is the electoral value of these decampees? In other words, today in Sokoto State, what's the electoral value of those who have decamped," he asked? According to him, the foundation for the defection has been laid the moment Bukola Saraki emerged Senate President against the wish of the party which affected the relationship between the executive and legislative arms. The minister said that since the day Mr Saraki lobbied the opposition party to become the senate president, the relationship between the executive and legislature had been turbulent. "In fact, we could not have suffered more as an executive in the hands of the legislature if a PDP person had been the senate president," he said. On allegation of lopsided appointment of Kwara people in Mr Buhari's administration, Mohammad described it as unfounded. He said that no fewer than 24 indigenes of Kwara were given federal appointments of which he (Mohammed) only recommended two while the Senate President recommended 20. On those complaining of not being given juicy appointments, the minister said that people complaining were not ready to serve and turn things around but eyeing what to steal. "It is not true that a particular part of the country is being favoured against the other. "I challenge anybody to go to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and take out the list of appointees under this administration." "You will be surprised that we have been fair to all," the minister said. (NAN) Related Topics: #LaiMohammed, #GodswillAkpabio, #Politics Sharing is caring. Share this story  | ||||
| Go And Settle With Your God, Not Me; Atiku Tells Obasanjo Posted: 05 Aug 2018 03:26 PM PDT
The former vice President, Alhaji Atku Abubakar, has replied his for boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo statement he made in a recent interview with the Premium Times, when asked, whether he will support Atiku's 2019 presidential bid, and had said:"How can I be on the same side with Atiku? To do what?"If I support Atiku for anything, God will not forgive me. If I do not know, yes. But once I know, Atiku can never enjoy my support," he added. "I do not have personal grudges with anyone," Obasanjo said. "If you do not do well for Nigeria, you do not do well for all of us."It is not a question of working with or not working with an individual, If you are working for the good of Nigeria, I am working with you. If you are not working for the good of Nigeria, it does not matter who you are, I am not working with you."Most of you do not understand the way I operate. And I thought your own paper will understand better.READ ALSO: Why I Will Never Support Atiku's 2019 Presidential Ambition – Olusegun Obasanjo "I know Atiku very well. And I have mentioned my position with Atiku. My position has not changed." On a personal note, the former President added, "If my children are getting married, he has sent representatives. If his children are getting married, I have sent representatives. That is social. That is not political. "But on political ground, my position has not changed. If I support Atiku for a political office other than the one I supported him in the past when I did not know him," maybe, but not "now that I know him, God will not forgive me." The Atiku 2019 Presidential Campaign responding to Obasanjo's missive at the weekend through its spokesman, Segun Sowunmi, said: "The first is to say it upfront that HE former Vice President Atiku Abubakar holds former President Olusegun Obasanjo in very high esteem, just as he holds every other leader in Nigeria high esteem. "The esteem that President Obasanjo enjoys is premised on two things; one, being the former president, Atiku also understands that he cannot and should not desecrate anybody that has sat in the office that he aspires to. "The second is the fact that they had worked together on a joint ticket as president and vice-president towards the 1999 and 2003 elections, for those two reasons, HE the former vice-president does not want to join any issues with him and respects him and understands that as an individual Obasanjo is within his right to have his point of view. "It is a little bit suspect what Obasanjo means, that God will not forgive him if he supports Atiku. I think that is really a personal relationship between him and his God, and it will be better for him to use his later years to tidy up relationship between himself and his God, instead of hanging his judgement with God on things that concern him and Atiku. "Having said that, we are completely convinced that the (Atiku's) decision to run for the presidency is premised on the condition that this country can benefit from the God-given talents and the experience he has garnered. "There is nothing that has not been thrown in the way of Atiku to cow him, to break him, to harass him, to intimidate him or to just make him uncomfortable. He has demonstrated that he has the tenacity to withstand it and he has the robustness of mind to remain calm. "We still believe that in the course of this journey, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo may have to reconsider his stand in line with the wish of the majority of Nigerians, which, in my opinion now, is that of all the aspirants for the office of President, that H.E. Atiku Abubakar has the experience, has the democratic credentials, has the vision, has the workable programme and is in sync with what the Nigeria nation needs now and can leapfrog it to higher levels of development. "All the same, we will continue to wish Chief Olusegun Obasanjo well and we would want to say that nothing can be further from the truth (that) if Obasanjo follows his Christian dictate he would understand that God that he expects to judge him would not expect him to be a permanent traducer of every other person apart from himself. He has enjoyed the benefits of other people, other people must also enjoy his benefits. Obasanjo cannot be an enemy to every person except himself." Related Topics: #Obasanjo, #Atiku, #2019Election, #Politics Sharing is caring. Share this story  | ||||
| Godswill Akpabio, Senate Minority Leader, Visits Buhari In London, Set To Dump PDP For APC Posted: 05 Aug 2018 02:20 PM PDT
The rumoured defection of the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, seem not to be a rumour any longer as all pointers to his defection from the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress APC is set.The President's Special Assistant on Prosecution, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, had posted on Facebook, Saturday night, a message saying Akpabio will be received into APC on Thursday by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and other top leaders of the party at a rally in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. Obono-Obla also posted a photo of Akpabio with APC national leader, Bola Tinubu.However, Senator Akpabio has not confirmed this himself, but his visit to London to meet President Muhammadu Buhari also gives credence to the rumour.Read this publication by THIS DAY:All things being equal, former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, may leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) this week and join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a presidential aide has disclosed. Special Assistant on Prosecution to President Muhammadu Buhari, Okoi Obono-Obla, posted on Facebook, Saturday night, a message saying Akpabio will be received into APC on Thursday by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and other top leaders of the party at a rally in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. Obono-Obla also posted a photo of Akpabio with APC national leader, Bola Tinubu.
But sources within the PDP, which appeared not to be disturbed by the development, dismissed Akpabio as one big mole it had to deal with over time, noting that he has divulged virtually all the party's plans and strategies to the opposition in an alleged attempt to secure protection from prosecution. THISDAY gathered last night that the speculation about Akpabio's imminent exit from the PDP was beyond rumour, as he was said to have met with practically everyone that matters in the party. READ ALSO: Godswill Akpabio Wants To Be Senate President Through Joining APC Sources hinted that baring any last minute change, the defection ceremony had already been slated to hold this week, not later than mid-week at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, the state capital. Although sources hinted that the former governor of Akwa Ibom State had tried to leave the PDP with some senators from the state, everyone he approached was said to have rebuffed his advice, because according to them, the APC stood no chance in the state, let alone the region. THISDAY gathered that the APC government had shown Akpabio a dossier on some of his alleged atrocities as governor, including monies said to have been stashed in different places, through the EFCC. Joining the ruling party was alleged to be a condition given to him to avoid prosecution for corruption. The former governor was said to have reluctantly accepted the condition. However, disappointed PDP leaders, who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity, said they had since known about Akpabio's predicament and encouraged him to fight on and not give in to the APC threat. "But because his hands, too, are not clean, they were able to box him to a very bad corner," the source said, adding, "His options, we believe, were limited. But he had done so much damage to us. He was our biggest mole. He held strategy meetings with us and went back to divulge all to the APC just to save face. We won't miss him; he can go. "However, the one thing that his defection will prove to Nigeria is the hypocrisy of the ruling party. We will see their reaction and that of their supporters, who almost killed those who left the APC to join the PDP recently. We are waiting to see the fallout and this is, indeed, interesting." One of PDP sources said they started noticing Akpabio's double agent moves, when he started making a case for the reconvening of the National Assembly, as being pushed by the APC. The source said Akpabio had already agreed to do a letter of the opposition agreeing to the reconvening, which is one of the requirements, before the PDP leaders told him they would deny him if he went ahead to write such a letter on behalf of the opposition, knowing full well it was not in the national interest. But Akpabio, sources said, immediately travelled to see the president to personally seal his defection deal and secure assurances of non-prosecution from him. It added that he was not very satisfied with his meeting with Osinbajo, even though it was said to be productive. He was said to have contended that personally meeting with the president was important to him before taking the option of defection to the APC, adding that such a meeting would help to sufficiently arm him to talk to others, who might be disposed to defecting with him. It was as a result of this that some of the close aides of the president, including a top and prominent security person in the presidency, who is believed to be coordinating the current engagement with the National Assembly, facilitated the meeting between him and the president in London. Although still in London, Akpabio is expected back in the country this week to perfect his defection arrangement and ceremony before the end of the week. Meanwhile, THISDAY has gathered that Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel did not receive the news of the proposed defection of his godfather well but has resolved to move on regardless. Sources noted that the relationship between the two leaders was not very cordial, as they have had to expose their differences over political and financial matters. THISDAY learnt that other PDP governors in the South-south had also promised to rally round Emmanuel, saying they would not allow the federal government to intimidate him through Akpabio. Related Topics: #Buhari, #GodswillAkpabio, #Politics Sharing is caring. Share this story  | ||||
| Godswill Akpabio Wants To Be Senate President Through Joining APC Posted: 05 Aug 2018 09:35 AM PDT
Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Senate Minority Leader, is said to be defecting from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a presidential aide has disclosed.According to PREMIUM TIMES, President Muhammadu Buhari's Special Assistant on Prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla, posted a message on Facebook, Saturday night, saying that Mr Akpabio will be received into APC on Thursday by the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and other top leaders of the party at a rally in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state.Mr. Obono-Obla also posted on the social media site a photo of Mr Akpabio with an APC leader, Bola Tinubu.Senator Akpabio, who was the former governor of Akwa Ibom, State rumoured plans to decamp from the PDP to the ruling APC, has been making the rounds since last week.There were speculations that the defection was delayed because Senator Akpabio was negotiating for some "favourable terms" for himself and his political supporters in the state.READ ALSO: "Buhari Stop The Killngs" - Atiku, Ekweremadu, Akpabio Protest Against Buhari With Placards According to the speculation, the Senator was asking for the position of the senate president and also that he should be made the APC leader in the state and the party political structure handed over to him. The PREMIUM TIMES report states however, that they have not been able to independently verify these claims. Mr Obono-Obla, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, said: "Senator Akpabio is defecting to the APC, you can take that to the bank". Related Topics: #GodswillAkpabio, #APC, #PDP, #Politics Sharing is caring. Share this story  | ||||
| My Dear President, Let Your People Go - Dele Momodu Posted: 05 Aug 2018 05:54 AM PDT
Below is an open letter from Chief Dele Momodu, the Founder of Ovation Magazine, to Mr President, titled : My Dear President, Let Your People Go!!!!MY DEAR PRESIDENT, LET YOUR PEOPLE GOBy Dele Momodu Your Excellency, it is with every sense of love and patriotism that I have decided to write you again despite the frustration of knowing that you may not hearken to my sincere advice to you, as I have written to plead with you on several occasions, but my entreaties have been to no avail. I pray this letter meets you well in the beautiful city of London where I expect you to be resting and relaxing by now whilst waiting to undergo your mandatory physical check-up. Sir, though this piece amounts to unsolicited advice from a self-appointed Special Adviser, I wish to reassure you that you should stop banking on professional politicians who are merely using you to feather their own nests. I demand and require no gratification whatsoever other than to put it permanently and indelibly on record that someone told you the truth while the unrepentant liars took over your space and led you astray.Before I go on, please, permit me, Sir, to take you down memory lane, from the First Republic to the present. Practically all our leaders failed, or fell, usually not because of only what they did wrong but ostensibly because of what they did not do right. Let me also establish one fact. Most of our leaders have been catapulted to power, not by their superlative might, but by divine intervention. One day, I will chronicle how providence has been responsible for the exalted position all our leaders found themselves. Sadly, practically almost all of them forgot how they reached their lofty heights and sought to personally perpetuate themselves in power, but the celestial manner of their enthronement also saw to their humiliating, sometimes tragic, downfall. Consequently, virtually all, except may be General Abdulsalami Abubakar, were disgraced, removed or retired ignominiously or controversially.President Obasanjo who was easily the most efficient, efficacious and effervescent leader, after the brilliant and youthful General Yakubu Gowon, ended his tenure in 2007 with the reverberating hoopla surrounding his third term bid. Whether he was interested in it, or his acolytes forced him into it, all his good works would always attract that cloudy addendum. It is noteworthy, for emphasis, that no leader in Nigerian history has ever succeeded in enslaving Nigerians. We can stretch this further, by stating categorically, that no leader in the world has ever achieved absolute authority permanently. Indeed, that is a preserve meant only for God. If only humans reminded themselves constantly of this fact and their mortality!This is the reason I wish to appeal to you once again to resist the temptation of wanting to take Nigeria back to those days of oppression and suppression. In case you need to be reminded of how much God loves you, I shall gladly oblige. When your military regime was toppled in 1985, your enemies danced on the streets. You were compared to the worst dictators on earth and many would have thought it was finished and over for you. But the ways of the Almighty are not the ways of man. 30 years later, the same Nigerians who rejoiced over the collapse of your military junta, in their collective wisdom or stupidity or amnesia, gave you a resounding victory at the polls against a powerful government and incumbent President. This was after you had tried for a record third time and had virtually given up any chance or hope of winning a Presidential election again. You had actually wept for Nigeria and yourself on that third inauspicious occasion. This time around, in 2015, everything seemed stacked against you, including old age and diminishing health. Yet Nigerians at home and abroad placed their abundant faith in you. What you have done with their faith since then is debatable. READ ALSO: Will APC Survive Its Self-induced Hurricane Today? - By Dele Momodu On Pendulum What more could anyone ever ask for again in this life? Credit for that victory must go to everyone, including saints and sinners, in case such nomenclatures exist on planet earth. Please, let no one rewrite the history of that epic battle to dislodge the PDP behemoth. It was thus a gross miscalculation to get power by such default and try to change the narrative by saying you belonged to everyone and to no one, or whichever way it was crafted by your speechwriters. Truth is you belonged to the party that embraced you, warts and all, and all the foot-soldiers who made it possible for you to attain power once again. Not just that, you instantly became the father of the nation on that fateful May 29, 2015, and could no longer discriminate against anyone for that matter. If you wanted to govern in peace and make appreciable impact, you should have treaded softly and walked gingerly towards your ultimate destination. The war of attrition that broke out as soon as you took power was totally unnecessary and uncalled for. Except for your most loyal supporters, not many ever trusted the many fisticuffs were to the benefits of Nigeria, but only for the pecuniary gains of the privileged ones in power. If you fight a war for over three years and you are unable to defeat your enemies, you should realise that it is either they are stronger than you or your strategy is abysmally faulty and failing. I love the Yoruba adage: "ta a ba leni, ta a ba bani, iwon la a bani sota mo…" (If we pursue an adversary and cannot catch up with him, it is better to retreat, than continue to make enemies of such a person). It is not an act of cowardice to retreat or even surrender. The fight you are pursuing right now would eventually prove too costly for you and for Nigeria, even if you manage to win it, which I seriously doubt. By the time you reach the end of it, you will discover the meaning of anti-climax. The victory will be a pyrrhic one or if otherwise, a cataclysmic defeat. Therefore, I'm shocked that you're allowing some reckless and vengeful politicians to goad you on and mislead you into victimising those who have left your party and are now opposing you. The same people you met and laughed with recently, before our very eyes, have suddenly become enemies who must be destroyed by all means. Sir, this act is totally unfortunate. Only God can give power and only HE can take it back. You did not use force to take power in 2015, why do you then think you need to retain that power by use of force and fire? I'm not sure if you are familiar with world history, my dear President. You may need to ask your aides to print out some dark moments in human history for your perusal. What often happens is that you will, inadvertently, turn those you're harassing now into superstars. What you are playing with is a game of David and Goliath. It is one of the most fascinating scenes in the Christian Bible. Goliath was so confident of his awesome strength and stamina and so looked down on pitiable and diminutive David. The Holy Bible recalls their fight was a classic example of a mismatch. But Goliath suffered a crushing defeat in the hands of David. That battle is still celebrated worldwide till today, and it is a story almost every child knows and is taught to learn from. The didactic lesson from it is that not every battle should be fought and not every arsenal should be deployed. Better to keep some things till they are absolutely needed. This cat and mouse game of using State apparatus to witch-hunt deserters is becoming predictable, boring and nauseating. RAED ALSO: President Buhari Men Will Soon Unleash Terror On Fayose - Dele Momodu Those who have decamped from APC have only exercised their fundamental rights. Whether they are morally right is neither here nor there and is ultimately a verdict for the electorate to ponder and unravel when elections, which loom large, finally arrive. Similarly, whether they are legally justified in their defection is a matter which your party may seek to take up in the courts, and I am certain that the Courts will do justice to the case as they have been doing despite terrorisation, bullying and coercion from some over-exuberant agencies of your government. I pause to observe that some of these guys were hailed by us when they joined our side the last time. At that time, we justified their defection to us as being part of the democratic process. If they have now decided to go because they believe they are not wanted by some influential gladiators in the ruling party, my dear President, please let them go. Your party's point that they have done so for less than altruistic reasons will be considered and digested by our people who are quite politically savvy and discerning. They will make up their minds as to the rights and wrongs of it all. Your Excellency, I want you to remember that you will not be in power forever. You have your family and friends to consider. Those who have been locked up in prison today and those being hounded could never have envisaged a day like this would ever come when there would be a reversal of power and fortune. It is too cheap for a Governor to decamp today, and then he and his operatives are being terrorised tomorrow. Power should never be abused in this manner. Who knows what would happen when tomorrow comes again? One of the reasons former President Jonathan is respected today and enjoys some peace is because he gave you great respect though both of you fought tooth and nail over power. He tolerated many of us who supported you and did not make the occupation of Aso Rock a matter of life and death. Sir, why can't you reciprocate this wonderful gesture? It is to his eternal credit that, in the midst of our attacks on him, I got invited to the wedding of his daughter, and was treated with decorum. Politics should never be a matter of brutish animosity. That is why I always have tremendous regard for lawyers. They may fight like savage adversaries in Court but, whilst they are there, they still show themselves some honour and respect. It is their attitude once they step outside the courtroom that is even more remarkable. Then they shed the toga of adversaries and become noble and learned friends. I wish all of us could imbibe this kind of camaraderie in the practice of our political beliefs. Furthermore, I have copious examples that show that what you sow is what you reap. I wish to plead with you to cool temper, Sir. I know how it feels to be abandoned in the lurch by your own friends and supporters. But that is life. Everything can't be smooth all the time. When you go to the FIFA World Cup, you do so knowing only one team can grab the much-coveted trophy. You should try to play a good and clean game and leave the rest to Allah. You have played your part to the best of your abilities and should be happy once your conscience is clear that there was no better way to do things. Even if you decide to keep all your opponents in the gulag, it still does not guarantee that you will win the next election in 2019. But if you do it in God's way by embracing decency and fairness, your rating will go higher. You will attract natural admiration. The love of the people cannot be forced. You've been drawing sympathies to the decampees because of the high-handedness and intolerance of some of your agents. As I started this mail, what kept coming back to me was a very popular autobiography I read as a youth, LET MY PEOPLE GO, written by Albert John Luthuli, the very first Black African man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Luthuli led the African National Congress in South Africa in the apartheid years for 15 agonising years and coordinated mass resistance and non-violent crusade against the White supremacists. Though he did not live long enough to see the end of apartheid, others carried on the task and Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, came back alive to become the first President of an independent and free South Africa. Mr President, there is a moralistic lesson to learn from the life and trajectory of the great Madiba Nelson Mandela. He became a world Statesman for his uncommon magnanimity and spirit of forgiveness. He had the power to exterminate his former tormentors and jailers but instead he decided to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Committee that tried to integrate the whites into a new black-dominated government. Nigeria needs urgent reconciliation, healing and unification, which has led to a strident clamouring for restructuring. We should be tired of fighting for power for personal aggrandisement after groping in darkness for 58 ugly years. There are no prizes for war but there are beautiful garlands for peace. Sir, I'm begging you in the name of God, please, let your people go, in peace. I remain yours most sincerely… Related Topics: #DeleMomodu, #Politics Sharing is caring. Share this story  |
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