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BREAKING: Ganduje floors Kwankwaso, emerges new APC Chairman
All Progressives Congress (APC), practically handed Abdullahi Ganduje, a major weapon to fight his political foe in Kano State – the camp of Rabiu Kwankwaso, with his emergence as the new National Chairman of the party, replacing Abdullahi Adamu, who was kicked out of office a fortnight ago for standing in the way of the presidential ambition of Bola Tinubu, during last year’s primaries.
Adamu, was forced to resign his position after it became obvious that he was going to be disgraced out, alongside Iyiola Omisore, erstwhile Secretary, leaving the position open, with Ganduje, former Governor of Kano State, said to have been favoured, penciled down as replacement.
The choice of the former governor, who is from the North West, was confirmed on Thursday at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party, with former Senate spokesman, Ajibola Basiru, from Osun State, South West, also elected as National Secretary, at the 12th NEC meeting of the party held at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
Ganduje, who thanked the President and promised that internal democracy would prevail in the party during his tenure, while pledging to ensure a scientific register of party members and pay utmost attention to election management and conflict resolution, apart from ensuring a level playing field for all party members during party primaries.
The new party boss, at the forum, which had Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, the Vice President, as well as top members of the party, including the Progressives Governors – elected on the platform of the party, in attendance promised to hit the ground running to ensure victory for the party in all forthcoming governorship elections across the country,
Tinubu had told his colleagues at the parley, where ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, were absent present that it was now time to deliver the promises of good governance to the Nigerian people, since the party had won the 2023 presidential election, which he described as the best in the history of the
The NEC meeting which was preceded by Wednesday’s session of the APC National Caucus Meeting (NCM), also witnessed the resignation of former National Legal Adviser, Ahmed El-Marzuk, who was said to have thrown in the towel after losing out in the power play, which saw the early exit of Abdullahi and Omisore, former Governor of Nasarawa State and former Deputy Governor of Osun State, respectively.
A widely reported meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso in France, earlier in the year, had given the indication that the President was tilting his attention to the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), under whom Ganduje served as deputy governor, but whose relationship had worsened over the years.
A rash of decisions taken recently in Kano, currently under the NNPP, which has Abba Kabir Yusuf as the new helmsman, had led to the demolition of many structures in which Ganduje, who left power on May 29, 2023, has interest, apart from the reversal of many of his previous policies.
Chidi Odinkalu, Nigeria’s fiery lawyer, law teacher and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), is emphatic that President Bola Tinubu is pushing to perpetuate himself in office, beginning with gaming the electoral process in 2027.
Odinkalu, Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School, told his host Naija Unfiltered, a popular Nigerian podcast programme, that he was as sure as death that the President would not exit office in 2031, if he succeeded with his current gambit to remain in power beyond next year.
Hear him: “Yes. But as I said, let me repeat myself. There’ll be a third term. President Tinubu has not done all of this just for another four years. There will be a third term. And anybody who is doing, ‘it is not our portion,’ is not reading the evidence.”
To achieve this aim, the activist, who was also emphatic that the National Assembly, would play a role, added: “The current National Assembly is anything but national or an assembly. And if it’s an assembly, it’s not a parliamentary one. Many people have called it a rubber stamp, but I think that is actually abusive of rubber stamps. I think this National Assembly is a disgrace.
Citing how bizarre and completely compliant the national legislature had become to Tinubu, the ex-NHRC’s boss, stated: “If you can change your national anthem in less than 24 hours with no public hearing, no public consultation, no public involvement, it tells you you don’t have a country because a national anthem is fundamental to the construction of a national identity.”
Also referring to the current move by the President to introduce state police, Odinkalu, wondered how the Nigerian Senate would introduce the bill to that effect and proceed towards the first and second readings, as well as committee stage and passage in less than two hours, questioning how that was possible in normal clime.
Hear him: “Once we finish our elections, we’re going to amend our Constitution, introduce a single six-year presidential term. The current incumbent will be elected until 2031. In 2031, what will happen? The question will be, will he be entitled to run on the six-year term or will he not?
“You will then get the best Senior Advocates in Nigeria telling you the law is not retrospective. That is why the administration is supporting the litigation over President Jonathan’s tenure—not because the Constitution is not clear, but because they will say there is precedent. There will be a third term, and I’m prepared to bet on it.”
“If we continue to pay ransom, we are encouraging these criminals to kidnap more people. The cycle will only continue unless we stop rewarding criminality,” were the words of Dauda Lawal, Governor of Zamfara State, with which he blamed those in the habit of paying ransoms as the major factor fuelling the current wave of kidnapping incidents across the country.
Lawal, on Thursday at the ARISE News/THISDAY Town Hall Conference on State Police and National Security in Abuja, told his audience how he flatly refused to pay a ₦300 million ransom demanded by kidnappers who abducted his brothers in 2019.
Reiterating his opposition to negotiating with bandits and renewed his support for the establishment of state police, Lawal, while recounting the incident, said: “My own brothers were kidnapped in 2019, and the kidnappers demanded about ₦300 million. I told them I was not going to pay a dime. If they wanted to kill them, they could go ahead.”
Stating that his brothers were eventually released without any ransom being paid, he argued that paying ransom usually emboldened criminal groups by providing financial incentives for further kidnappings.
He added: “My position on ransom payments remains unchanged. I will not negotiate, and I will not pay ransom to any criminal, no matter what happens.”
Endorsing the move for the establishment of state police, to enable governors have greater operational authority over security within their states, he regretted that the current constitutional arrangement left governors with responsibility for security without corresponding powers to direct security agencies.
His words: “In as much as I am called the chief security officer of the state, I do not have the command-and-control authority to direct the operations of the security agencies. I’m prepared to support the funding of state police if the proposed policing structure is established. I’m confident that decentralised policing will improve intelligence gathering, response time and the overall fight against insecurity.”
Exactly seven years, two months and four days after he forced Walter Onnoghen, the 16th Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) out of office, Danladi Umar, former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), on Thursday, found himself in Kuje prison.
Justice Peter Kekemeke, of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting in Maitama, handed the ex-CCT boss the unwelcome package on Thursday, following his arraignment by the Federal Government on a four-count corruption charge.
Umar’s ordeal began after an investigations revealed that he abused his official position by conferring an undue advantage on himself while serving as head of the tribunal, having in 2021, reportedly using his wife’s bank account to collect the sum of N5.5 million from a contractor engaged to paint the headquarters of the CCT in Abuja.
He was also accuse of using the same account to collect another N6million on January 25, 2024, from a contractor who handled the digitisation of the CCT’s records and yet another N2.43 million a contractor paid as tuition fee of his daughter at Baze University, Abuja.
After pleading not guilty to offences, said to be punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, Christopher Mshelia, lawyer to the FG, prosecuting the matter, applied for his remand in a correctional facility, while urging the court to set a date for the commencement of trial.
His pleas to be freed on bail pending the determination of the case, was opposed by the prosecution, which drew the court’s attention to the fact that it had just been served with the bail application, saying it needed time to respond to it, forcing Kekemeke to adjourn the case till July 15 for hearing while the former CCT boss remained behind bars.
Umar, had as CCT Chairman, on January 23, 2019, issued a controversial ex parte order that led to the removal of a serving Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Following the ex parte order, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, on January 25, swore in the next most senior jurist of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to take over the leadership of the judiciary as Acting CJN.
Even though Onnoghen later voluntarily resigned his position as CJN on April 4, Umar went ahead and convicted him on April 18, 2019, on the federal government’s allegation that he had failed to properly declare his assets as required by law.
He gave the federal government the go-ahead to confiscate all monies in five accounts belonging to the former CJN, and also removed him as Chairman of both the NJC and the Federal Judiciary Service Commission (FJSC).
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