News
Wike to LP: I’m now in charge, you’ll never win Abuja again!
With a twitch of smile and obvious expression on his face, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Monday served a notice to the Labour Party – your reign has ended, you will never win Abuja again under my watch.
The Minister made the definite statement as a direct response to Ireti Kingibe, Senator representing the FCT, who had earlier, at the weekend, tacked the former Governor of Rivers State, for allegedly not carrying her along in the administration of the territory as the highest elected officer and political office holder.
Recall that neither the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party in power at the centre nor the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party under which Wike had risen to political reckoning and served as two-term governor for eight years, after a stint as local government chairman, and Minister of State, before his present position, secured 25 per cent in the FCT.
Apparently referring to the galloping victory of the Labour Party (LP), under which Kingibe became a Senator, not only unseating Philip Aduda, of the PDP, but cleared the elective positions in the area, Wike boasted that such a feat would never happen under his watch.
A guest on ThisdayLive, a weekend programme on Arise News Network, Kingibe had carpeted the Minister for neglecting the people, even though she acknowledged that he had improved on the infrastructure, stating that the people were always coming to her with loads of complaints.
She said: “The minister of FCT is almost acting as governor for the President. Just like people took me on when those roads were commissioned. That is the difference, it is just like a governor telling you he built some roads, so he doesn’t care what the needs of people are. They FCT people have needs. The people are not impressed.”
But in a quick riposte, Wike used the inauguration of the construction of Mabushi Bus Terminal, Phase I, in Abuja to counter the Senator, saying she must try to ask questions about what she was not aware of in order to know, adding that her recourse to beefing over the praises being showered on him and his team at the ministry, would not work.
“With all due respect, what you don’t know, you don’t know, what you know you know. The good thing for you is to tell people you don’t know when you don’t know, then people will educate you. The Minister of State, and I have not been in office for more than 11months and the person is angry that people are praising us. If you don’t want go and hang yourself in a transformer. Yes, if you are angry, go and hang yourself.
“If we have done well; we have done well. If we haven’t done well; we have not done well. I’m proud to say that in the short time that President Tinubu has appointed us, we have done well. You, as a legislator, what have you done? How many bills have you sponsored for us to improve our education and health sector?
“I challenge that legislator. If you are very popular, in 2027 come and run under Abuja, we will fail you. You think what happened the last time will happen again? You think so? It will not happen again. If you’re popular, come and run. Luckily for me, I’m the FCT minister now. so, here is my territory. I’m not afraid.
“So people should be able to come out and face the truth. We’re not begging for anybody to be our friend. We have so many friends that we cannot even carry along. So how can we go and beg people to be our friend. We’re not interested in that. So, if you’re angry that people are praising us, wait, by next year, your BP level will go very high, because the praises you will see will be too much.”
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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