News
Wike aims at denying Atiku 25 per cent votes, intensifies onslaught in Rivers
In Rivers State, these are not the best of times for Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 election, following the onslaught continuously mounted on his ambition by the camp of his familiar foe – Nyesom Wike.
The Rivers State Governor, has increased the tempo of his campaign to ensure the failure of the ex-VP is denied of victory in the state, which boasts one of the largest voting populations in Nigeria, next only to Lagos and Kano.
The Nation, in its report on the mood in the state, quotes sources as saying that Atiku, who is aware of the situation, is distraught by the fact that party leaders who pitched tent with him against Governor Nyesom Wike, are not pulling their weight as expected.
The likes of former governor Celestine Omehia, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austine Opara, Senator Lee Maeba, and Farah Dagogo, all backing Atiku, seem not be a match for the Wike machinery, which has since been unleshed in the state, the report said.
Apart from beating Wike to the second position in the May 28 presidential primaries, Atiku had bypssed the governor, who was the choice of the PDP selection committee to select Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, a development, which seemed to have drawn sympathy for him and increased the division in the party.
Though Wike, who is leading the Group of Five – G-5 governors of the PDP, known as Integrity Group, insists that both incidents were now a thing of the past, he and his group are hinging on the fact that the party is still maintaining a structure where the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, comes from the same North as Atiku.
For that reason, they insist that Ayu, who has also been accused of sundry infractions including corruption and playing a partisan role during the presidential primaries, must be ousted from office as the irreducible minimum condition for the group to join in the Atiku campaign.
On his part, Atiku insists that he was not averse to the demand of the governors including Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, but that the move must go through the PDP constitutional process, a position seen by others as being clever by the half.
The report by the Lagos-based newspaper, says that Wike had grown stronger by developing unique strategies to tighten his grip on the party and take all state structures beyond the reach of Atiku and his men, adding that his continuous campaign for inclusiveness in the national leadership structure of the party and his portrayal of Atiku; the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu; Atiku’s running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa and other Atiku’s men as betrayers, liars, haters of Rivers and divisive leaders, had been received by many Rivers residents across the political divide.
As a result, Atiku is said to have become an anathema in many parts of the state as any attempt to mention his name is viewed as an abomination, while his pictures had disappeared from all campaign materials of the PDP in the state.
In fact, youths across the state including the rural areas are said to be combing communities daily to identify and remove campaign materials belonging to the PDP presidential team and that it is unlikely to see any their billboards, posters or other campaign materials unlike in 2019 when Wike supported him for the same position.
Besided, the recent appointments of 200,000 advisers on polling units and over 300 local government liaison officers by the governor were said to have made any plan by Atiku and his men to penetrate Rivers a herculean task, the report, said, adding that all local government chairpersons, ward and unit heads of the PDP had remained loyal to the governor and were backing his political decisions ahead of 2023.
In addition, it went on, the perception of the governor as a performer and his use of project inauguration to extract a commitment from folks had made many Rivers communities a no-go area for Atiku’s men, adding that while campaigns for the governorship candidate of the PDP, Sim Fubara, National and House of Assembly candidates of the party were ongoing with their campaign materials dotting all corners of the state, nothing was being said about Atiku.
All pro-Atiku leaders in Rivers had fled the state and were said to be hiding in Abuja and following Atiku without any plan to return home to campaign for their presidential candidate.
Wike had continued to tell the people to vote for his candidates for other positions but to wait for his decision on the presidential poll.
The governor on Saturday night excluded Atiku, Okowa, Ayu and all Atiku’s men from the list of 162 distinguished Nigerians he conferred with state awards for their inspirational achievements, impactful life and contributions to the progress of the Rivers in particular.
Among those honoured were eight governors, nine former governors of other states, lawyers and others, whom he said demonstrated a high level of loyalty to the nation, excellence in public service, commitment to equity, equality and justice in the country and love for the government and the people of Rivers.
Wike presented the awards during the State Honours and Awards ceremony 2022 which was held at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Port Harcourt.
The awards were in four categories of the Grand Service State of Rivers State (GSSRS), the Distinguished Service State of Rivers State (DSSRS), the Governor’s Medal of Service (GMS) and the Rivers State Merit Award (RSMA).
Wike explained that the state honours and awards were solely the initiatives of Dr. Odili.
He said everyone bestowed with an award on Saturday night had distinguished themselves by their good character, personal achievements and positive contributions to society.
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said Wike had demonstrated that he is a true patriot and nationalist by honouring Nigerians from the six geopolitical zones, irrespective of their religious and political persuasion.
He said: “Today, in Nigeria as we match towards 2023, we are not looking at political parties, we are not looking at ethnicity, but we are looking at how we can salvage our country Nigeria, and make it greater than where we are today.
“I thank you (Wike) for charting this course and I believe that moving forward from here, all of us who are here tonight will be a catalyst to how we can make Nigeria greater, economically, politically, socially, security-wise, we will make it greater.”
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), who spoke on behalf of the awardees, said governor Wike had taken governance to the next level.
He said: “You have indeed demonstrated what it takes to be accommodating, what it takes to be a bridge builder, a builder of bridges across the Niger.
“You have established a bridge. We are happy crossing over to come around to identify with you in the expression of excellence attributed to the service of the nation.”
I will always refer to the encounter I once had with Kenneth Idiodi. He was then the leader of the Rosicrucian Society in Nigeria, otherwise known as Amok. It was a sit-down at Zodiac Hotel Enugu. Then, I was the reporter of The Guardian in the Coal City.
You know the Amok faith bases its philosophy or belief on the law of Retributive Justice – the law of Karma. That is to say, everything you do in life has its rewards or punishment in equal measure – much like the measure you give, the measure you receive.
I don’t know how much this society draws or links this belief from or with the Bible, but I do recall Jesus Christ warning Simon Peter – return your sword to the scabbard – for he who kills by the sword, dies by the sword.
As a child growing up I listened to one of the epics of Oriental Brothers with the lyrics – ogbu mma ga-esi n’mma na, ogba egbe ga-esi n’egbe na ooo! Translated – he who kills by the sword will die by the sword, he who kills by the gun will die by the nozzle of the gun.
Now, here is where this is relevant in present Nigerian reality – the reason I’m putting details of that encounter out publicly once again, having done so previously.
During that encounter, Idiodi used one event in Nigeria to illustrate his point. He told me of a Nigerian leader who commanded the troop that carried out the Asaba massacre in the heat of the Nigerian civil war – an episode, said to have claimed over 2,000 able-bodied men who had come out to welcome the Nigerian soldiers with songs and dances only to fall in the hail of bullets that descended on them like rainstorms – was not spared by fate.
That commander was to meet his own death in a hail of bullets even as a Head of State. He never mentioned the name of the military top brass. But I used my tongue to count my teeth to come to the answer. You could also do same – use your tongue.
Now, how does this relate? You may have followed the outing of General Yakubu Gowon at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja, where he presented his autobiography titled: My Life of Duty and Allegiance, that contained what seemed his memoir on the Nigerian civil war, which he prosecuted as Head of State.
I’m sure you must have been observing the debate therefrom that event. Now, I’m not so much enamoured of the debate as I’m of the nuances surrounding that unfortunate episode and the role of Gowon in it, given my takeaway from that Idiodi encounter some two decades ago.
Does Gowon, now a nonagenarian really believe that presenting a pious, if not saintly account of himself to the world as snippets of his book, which I picked up here and there suggests, truly suffices for the atrocities of that period?
Take the Asaba massacre for example. Was that the handiwork of Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Biafran leader, whom the former Head of State seems to blame for everything that went wrong. Was he also the one that commanded that mass slaughtering of innocent men?
Under your nose as Head of State, you watched citizens slaughtered mercilessly like infested herds in the streets – you watched young girls corralled into leprosy colonies and wantonly raped before being wasted – you watched as train coaches bearing people fleeing the scene were stopped and their human cargoes thrown alive into River Benue like rotten goods for fishes to feast on – you watched all these and didn’t lift a finger.
Then as Head of State, you not only supervised but watched millions of children with distended stomachs, tiny feet, glazy eyes, heavy heads on ropelike necks, practically begging for death to come quickly and save them from further punishment.
You supervised and watched the cataclysmic eruptions from the blitzkrieg on churches, markets and hospitals – all to keep Nigeria together. In your mind the brutal and merciless butchery of innocent people who were not soldiers and had nothing to do with the war could be explained away just like that?
O! It was Ojukwu that caused it. Ojukwu was the one who released the bombs, caused the blockades that led to the kwashiorkor that killed millions or other atrocities thereof? What a pity!
Now, I return to Idiodi. How else could anyone interpret today’s Nigeria without introducing the law of retributive justice that the Amok leader spoke of? How do you fault the link of the commander who massacred over 2,000 souls dying by the barrel of the same gun, even as Head of State?
How could anyone fail to relate what is happening to our Gowon today with the past? This is a Geneal that wakes up to see hundreds of his brothers and sisters being buried in mass graves as was done during the onslaught he supervised against another people and he still thinks it has nothing to do with him?
Now, the story you told at that event in Abuja on Tuesday, is not new. You simply repeated yourself. My interpretation of that event is that you’re a man undergoing daily torture. You wouldn’t be a human being otherwise, given what is before you, which didn’t start today.
You’re probably trying to escape your fate by appealing to public sympathy. How helpful could that be in the face of the clear evidence of your culpability in the deliberate wasting of more than three million souls? Nobody would believe you.
Yes! They could humour you. But that’s the best anyone could do for you. I hear money rained like a fountain and that you left the scene with billions of naira in your kitty. At 90? Haba General!
Now, here is the thing General. None of these would help.
None would work. You have tried prayers. But you forget that the prayer of sinner is an abomination and a reproach before God, unless he repents. You have also written the book. Surely, this too would end up in the trashcan of history – meaningless piece of conjectures, propaganda, half-truths and outright lies – perhaps!
But, why don’t you try the one thing you have been running away from, for more than five decades – go on your knees in total supplication and surrender, repentance and penance – then rise, call all Nigerians and empty yourself with the truth.
Thereafter openly apologise to the millions of souls whose tormenting wailing you probably hear every day during your disturbed sleep and in your quiet moments, but choose to suppress with these baby tales. Ask them for forgiveness, genuinely and see. There may lie the answer you seek.
Try that and see if it wouldn’t be a more efficacious cure for this decades-old wound than this Ojukwu-bashing and those wasted prayer sessions. You might not only have atoned for the past, but saved the future. May God guide you.
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice
“Now that the court has ruled against it, we are sure that, in the coming days, we will witness a mass exodus from the ruling party,” were the words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC) welcomed Wednesday’s ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja reversing the deadline for party primaries, among others.
Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman, who conveyed the party’s excitement over the development, said it viewed the ruling as vindication of its objections to key aspects of the electoral body’s guidelines at the time they were issued.
Recalling its specific objections to the strict timelines on membership registration as well as the conduct of party primaries, the statement, said: “The decision of the court on these issues, including those that directly contradict the constitution, is therefore a welcome vindication of our position.”
Stressing that the ruling, which removed the impediment placed by the guidelines on politicians who wished to seek alternative platforms to contest elections, was a positive development that would promote freedom of association, the statement, added: “We believed at the time that that particular restriction was designed to prevent people from leaving the ruling party, APC.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Cuba on Thursday that the United States was laser-focused on changing the communist system, after the island was stunned by a US indictment of its former president Raul Castro.
The US military announced that the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its escort warships had entered the Caribbean, although President Donald Trump, asked if the deployment was meant to intimidate Cuba, said, “No, not at all.”
Rubio, a Cuban American and vociferous opponent of Havana’s government, described the island 90 miles (145 kilometres) from the US shore as a “failed state” as it suffers a major economic crisis.
“Their economic system doesn’t work. It’s broken, and you can’t fix it with the current political system that’s in place. What they’ve gotten used to all these years is just buying time and waiting us out.
“They’re not going to be able to wait us out or buy time. We’re very serious. We’re very focused. The US preference is always a diplomatic solution, but President Donald Trump has other options at his disposal.”
Stating that Cuba had tentatively accepted an offer by the United States of $100 million in aid in return for reforms, he said it was unclear if the United States would accept Cuba’s terms, as Washington insists on circumventing the military-backed conglomerate GAESA, which dominates the island’s economy.
Rubio said Thursday that the GAESA chief’s Florida-based sister, Adys Lastres Morera, had been arrested and was being held by US immigration authorities, adding in an X post: “Managing real estate assets…while also aiding Havana’s communist regime, until I terminated her permanent resident status.”
The charges against Raul Castro — younger brother of Fidel Castro, the late iconic US nemesis who led Cuba’s communist revolution that culminated in 1959 — stem from the deadly downing of two civilian planes manned by anti-Castro pilots in 1996.
Cuban authorities called on citizens to protest the “despicable” indictment, with the official newspaper Granma urging Cubans to gather outside the US embassy in Havana on Friday at 7:30 am (1230 GMT).
“This isn’t really an accusation, something from more than 30 years ago, but rather a public attack on a public figure,” Fabian Fernandez, a 30-year-old accountant, told AFP in Havana.
Trump in January seized on a US domestic indictment of Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro to send in US forces to depose him and take him into custody.
“The idea is to say, we can do to you what we did to Nicolas Maduro,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House.
The Maduro operation led to the end of free oil from Venezuela to Cuba, which relied on its ally for nearly half its needs.
Cubans have suffered power outages of up to 20 hours a day and taps running dry.
Runaway inflation has caused the price of basic goods to soar and mountains of trash have piled up on the streets of Havana.
In addition to murder, Castro has been charged with conspiracy to kill Americans and destruction of aircraft.
The Cuban government called the 1996 shootdown was “legitimate self-defense” against an airspace violation.
China and Russia both criticized Trump’s steps on Cuba, which come as he tries to end an unpopular war he started with Israel against Iran.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press briefing that Washington “should stop brandishing the sanctions stick and the judicial stick against Cuba and stop threatening force at every turn.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We believe that under no circumstances should such methods — which border on violence — be used against either former or current heads of state.
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