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BREAKING: Bwala, ex-Atiku spokesman, joins Tinubu in France
A fortnight after Daniel Bwala, a former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDP-PCO), met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the pair have again met in Paris, France, where the President, is currently staying on a “private vistit..”
Bwala, who personally announced the development on Monday, through his X platform, on Monday, wrote: “It was a pleasure to meet with the father of the nation @officialABAT President Bola Tinubu in Paris today. He continues to share his thoughts and demonstrate his passion to lead Nigeria out of the woods.”
A vocal critic, who was at the Presidential Villa, Abuja a fortnight ago to confer with Tinubu and pledge his support for his government, during an appearance as a guest of Sunday Politics, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, said the President was toeing exactly the path of the great American President in rallying the country to achieve greatness.
Bwala, currently facing immense backlash from a groundswell of Nigerigerian public after the visit, coming few weeks after he had claimed that 30 years of Tinubu’s government would not change anything positively in Nigeria, told his host during the programme that some of his views had changed after meeting with the President, who took time to explain most of his policies and decisions since taking over the reins of power on May 29, 2023.
Explaining further on the turn of events, he said: “Look at it this way. Elections are over and adjudications on the elections are over. What, as a country we’re confronted by now is governance. The President on the first day of the year, called on everybody, including members of the opposition to come together.
“That’s why I came with this book – Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategy for Tough Times. This is what I think President Bola Tinubu is trying to do – the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, who at the time, led the United States through the civil war. Now these were the problems he was confronted with at the time. You had the insurgents of what the called the Federalists or the Confederalists, you had the issue of slavery, you had the issue against the challenge of the union, then you had the issue of the economy and the issue of the expansion of the federal government.
“These were the problems Abraham Lincoln was confronted by. To be able to steer that, he needed to generated and steer national consensus. That means you’re rising above the waters and rising above the level of partisanship, you’re looking at from the perspective that both government and private sector inclusive of members of other political parties to come together so that we can join our hands and lead the country.
“The question I think people should rather ask is – does it mean when you say you’re going to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, you’re not going to critique policies that you disagree with? I think that is the question people should ask. He’s the President of the Republic, he’s the President of the opposition. He’s the President of the media.”
Arguing that Nigerian governors including those from the opposition, had also supported Tinubu on many fronts without being vilified, he said Atiku was quite aware of his movements in the direction he had chosen, because he informed the former Vice President before and after the meetin.
His words: “It’s absolute nonsense for somebody to say because I said I will support President Bola Tinubu therefore I betrayed Atiku. I informed Atiku Abubakar I was going to see the President. After I had seeing the President, I informed him (Atiku) that I had just seen the President and he replied me that, ‘Thanks Daniel for notifying me’.”
In July 2022, Bwala, then an APC member, dumped the ruling party when Tinubu announced his running mate as ex-Borno governor, Kashim Shettima. The lawyer and politician faulted Tinubu for his choice of a Muslim as himself as a running mate and quickly joined the campaign train of Atiku, a Muslim and ex-Vice President, who chose a Christian as running mate in the person of ex-Delta governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.
Bwala was one of the very vocal and unsparing spokespersons of Atiku during the campaign that culminated into the last poll.
The lawyer said his job as Atiku’s spokesman during the last campaign was that of a salesman with the sole responsibility of selling a product and demarketing competitors. Bwala, who made a sharp U-turn, said he never said Tinubu wasn’t fit to be Nigeria’s President, adding that now that Atiku did not win, Tinubu is okay for the job.
Bwala was taciturn in his response when asked whether he was still a PDP member or he has now returned to the APC.
He also said the President did not promise him any appointment in his cabinet during Wednesday visit but he would be willing to work with the President in any capacity offered him in the interest of the Nigerian people.
Fuel marketers across Abuja on Wednesday continued to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, at old prices more than 24 hours after Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced a reduction in its ex-depot price, Vanguard is reporting.
The paper reported that its investigation, showed that major retail outlets were yet to adjust their pump prices despite the N75 per litre reduction announced by the refinery on Monday.
At the retail stations visited in Abuja, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Retail and TotalEnergies dispensed petrol at N1,335 per litre, while AA Rano sold at N1,350 per litre. AYM Shafa and Conoil outlets sold the product at N1,330 per litre.
The development comes amid growing public expectations that the reduction in Dangote Refinery’s gantry price would quickly translate into lower pump prices nationwide.
Explaining the delay, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said retail prices are influenced by several factors beyond refinery gate prices.
Speaking to Channels TV, Gillis-Harry said: “Prices reflecting at the pump are dependent on availability of the product, the other is the cost. The cost of purchasing the product and cost in terms of logistics, and preparing the particular petroleum to be delivered to the people”.
According to him, downward price adjustments often take longer to reach consumers because marketers need to recover the cost of existing stock purchased at higher prices before restocking at lower rates.
When asked why increases in fuel prices are usually reflected immediately while reductions are delayed, Gillis-Harry said the dynamics of supply management play a significant role.
He explained: “It is mainly affected by whether the producer has additional resources or not at the time. Increases in prices are mainly caused by the need to restock. There must be that advantage pushing the price upward to be able to pay for new supplies.”
He further acknowledged that marketers generally seek to exhaust existing inventory before implementing lower prices.
“That’s the basic idea. But in petroleum, a mixture is involved, and loss is taken, though not in a way that affects the capital needed to restock,” he added.
Also speaking on the issue, energy analyst Olabode Sowunmi said fuel pricing in Nigeria is influenced by a combination of domestic supply arrangements and logistics costs, rather than crude oil prices alone.
He noted that although international crude oil prices remain an important factor globally, their impact on local petrol pricing is not always direct.
“Global price of crude oil is a factor internationally and not necessarily in Nigeria,” Sowunmi said.
Explaining that Dangote Refinery operates under arrangements that allow a portion of crude supply to be priced in naira, reducing the direct impact of international market fluctuations on local fuel prices, he said: “So basically the issue will have to be from the point of refinery to where it touches the final person. Logistics costs within the domestic supply chain remain a major determinant of the final pump price paid by consumers.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
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