News
Even US democracy has hiccups – Tinubu *Anambra, next APC target – Ganduje
Nigerians crying out over the wacky nature the nation’s democratic practice has assumed, were reminded on Thursday that the system of government is not easy anywhere in the world, including the US, believed to be its bastion, as citizens there are also witnessing some difficulties with it even after centuries of practice.
This was the contention of President Bola Tinubu, as he received Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, who emerged triumphant in last Saturday’s election governorship election in Edo State, who were at the Presidential Villa Abuja, to hand over the Certificate of Return on the same day it was issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Receiving the governor-elect, who came alongside a delegation of APC bigwigs, including Abdullahi Ganduje, National Chairman of the party, a palpably elated Tinubu, who also emerged from the party, in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, assured his visitor of the full support of the Federal Government and the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF).
Accompanied also by Dennis Idahosa, Deputy Governor-elect, Okpebholor, who went on his knees to thank the President, emphasised the importance of good governance and delivering results to the people of Edo State, saying now the election was over and victory secured, the next stage was to take care of the people, whose mandate he was holding.
His words: ‘’Governor-elect, you can now face the task of development. We are here to work with you. You have seen the progressive governors of APC. They are truly progressive. Work with them. Learn the ropes, and I believe you are up to the task. You have earned the victory. Democracy is difficult, particularly in emerging democracies and economies like ours. ‘If you hear complaints from places like America, you know how difficult it is to navigate democracy. But it remains the best form of government. ”
Praising Okpebholo and Idahosa, who were opponents at the APC primaries, where the former eventually picked the ticket, as ”good symbol of people ordained by God to work together,” Tinubu added: ”You started as rivals and ended us as partners. You are a symbol of good understanding in politics; the man at our party’s helm has been through it before.
“In Kano, he was a front runner, became a second runner, and became a deputy before he eventually became a governor. I saw Adams Oshiomhole radiating in joy… sincerely the governors showed up in Edo, they impressed me. They defended the party. They worked hard for the party. I must thank the security agencies. There was no bloodshed, no riot, people voted and went back to their houses in peace, and the fears dissipated instantly.
”Never mind the noise makers. I do a lot of statistical sampling and results. When you hear politicians saying ‘all politics is local’, you must respect that notion. When you see the stability in the Edo North senatorial district, we see a man that won the Central senatorial district and a candidate who has won a seat in the south senatorial district; we did a match- which turned out to be a winning match.”
Tinubu, who particularly praised the resilience of the people of Edo State to withstand the elements to cast their votes, even under heavy rain and for voting in the rain without using an umbrella, after he was fully briefed by Ganduje about how the people defied the downpour to cast their ballots, told his guests: ”It is a very punching illustration.”
It was at the same occasion that Ganduje, repeated the desire of the party to replicate its Edo victory in Anambra, a position, he revealed in his victory speech immediately after INEC announced Okpebholo as winner, explained that the move was to bring the entire South East into the APC bracket, in order to end the complaint of the Igbo people against marginalisation in the scheme of things in the country.
Hear him: “On the day of the election, there was an exciting scenario: it was raining heavily, yet people came out to vote without using an umbrella. Your Excellency, the people were convinced that our party is the party to be voted for, and we won the election. The election in Anambra is part of our programme, ‘ Political de-marginalization of Southeast geopolitical zone. Having only two states in the Southeast as APC is too small for us. We need more states from the Southeast geo-political zone.”
If 21 governors including Ifeanyi Okowa, running mate to Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 presidential election could lose their states in the presidential election and a “special magic” had to be performed to save Kashim Shettima, the Vice President from embarrassment of losing his home Borno State, nobody should lose sleep even if the entire governor of the 36 states empty into the same party.
This was the response of Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to the mass defection of political office holders including state governors into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in support of the re-election of President Bola Tinubu.
A guest of The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS television network, the former SGF, said nobody should lose sleep over the development as electoral victory resided with the people and not the governors or any other political figure, as they were incapable of influencing anything.
The former SGF said the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, is a committed and active member of the group championing the coalition campaign to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027.
Lawal, also took a swipe at governors and political leaders from the North West, who recently endorsed Tinubu, saying their was no basis for doing so since their zone has remained the most ravaged by activities of criminals in the mode of terrorists and bandits, adding all they did was to lie and deceive the people.
His words: Most of the politicians that are defecting to APC are probably driven by the desire to safeguard their stomachs and to safeguard their luxurious lifestyles that they had acquired while in government, using the people’s money. To them, it’s okay. They can go that way because that’s what they chose to do.
“As for defections, I saw a study last week that showed that 21 governors could not deliver their states to their preferred candidates, which means that the governors have little influence on the voter at the polling unit. Yes, within the party platforms, they have their influences. They can rig the party primaries. A Senator for example who is out of favour with his governor is endangered in that sense because the governor might not give him his return ticket. He could just order everybody not to vote for him.
“But no governor can influence the voter. Take for example, Delta State. The Vice-Presidential candidate for PDP was the serving governor on seat. But he could not deliver. Peter Obi beat them flat. In those days, they will say he lost deposit. In Borno State, it is well-known that the Vice President could not deliver Borno State to the APC until they did magic on the result so that he’s not embarrassed.
“But he knows, the voters know that he was disgraced woefully. So, defection is nothing. It is just the character of the person. Somebody without character will easily abandon you when his interest is threatened rather than when the interest of the masses are threatened.
“So, that is my position, we’re not bothered about defections. It will continue to happen. In 2027, we’ll go to the polls and we’ll see the result. People from the North West shamelessly gathered themselves, drank tea and coffee and said they endorse Bola Tinubu. To do what? “There’s no place in the North West that is safe. The poverty level in the North West is so huge and so terrible, much more than anywhere else. If their so-called leaders choose that it is the path they want, then, good luck. But everybody knows that they’re just liars. They’re deceiving themselves and they’re deceiving their own people.
“If somebody from the Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, says he’s endorsing Tinubu because his security policies are working, he’s a shameless liar. Whatever induced them to say that is between them and their God and their conscience. But Nigerians know that it is not so. Insecurity has now grown; in places it was not before, it has expanded. They have not done anything.
“This government should better not talk about insecurity. When talking about it, about the economy, it is exactly the same thing. The poverty has multiplied exponentially. Even those who were doing well feel now threatened because there’s no economy, it has collapsed, completely collapsed.
“We are just surviving by the grace of God on a hand to mouth basis, everybody. So what economy? They are putting money that doesn’t arrive in Nigeria before it is spent, even when it arrives in Nigeria, they spend it on intangible things that we cannot show, that are not visible, you know.
“Economy is not for this government, it is not their intention, their attention is to run down this country. That is their intention. But now, it appeared that he just deceived us in those days all along, and now he has gotten the power and is in the mood to ruin the economy, to ruin the security of the country.”
The former APC chieftain, also spoke about the coalition of political leaders in Nigeria to end the tenure of Tinubu, in which he acknowledged being deeply involved say the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had no place in it, having been infested with an “incurable virus.”
His words: “In all the meetings I’ve attended so far, nobody has ever bothered about adopting the PDP as the platform. We all agree that PDP has an incurable virus. No anti-biotics can cure what is ailing the PDP and we don’t want to go into a house that we cannot modify that is not willing to change.”
A truck heading to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital from Lagos, on Wednesday morning, reportedly lost control as a result of brake failure and rammed into the Isheri market at OPIC junction, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Channels Television reports that the incident led to the death of one person identified as a tea seller, while an unconfirmed number of people also sustained injuries from the impact, quoting an witnesses who was at the scene of the accident.
The source, a commercial motorcycle operator, was quoted as saying: “I’m the security man of this place. Every morning, I sit with my people before they open for the day because I work at night. I had just called the tea seller to give me tea, and I had only tasted it once when I heard loud noises.
“I stood up, and the truck pushed me and I fell. It’s God that saved me that I fell to the right side, assuming I followed the other side I would have died. The man who gives me tea is the one who died.
“While I was at OPIC bus stop roundabout, a container coming from Lagos reached OPIC bus stop. When he was coming, there was no traffic on the express, he didn’t have brakes when he tried to enter the estate, he then crashed into the market and killed a person,” the motorcyclist said.
The report, also said that emergency responders and local authorities have arrived at the scene and the truck driver has been arrested and held in the custody of the Isheri Tactical Unit as investigations commence.
“The army does not have the necessary equipment on ground to fight the insurgency. Right now, the insurgents are using drones to fight soldiers on the ground,” was the stark reality Babagana Zulum, Governor of Borno State, painted on Wednesday, to explain the current onslaught in his state, which has remained the hotbed of decades-old terrorism ravaging the North East.
Against the backdrop of the resurgence of activities of terrorist groups, particularly Boko Haram, which has been killing residents since 2009, Zulum, a guest of News Central television network, on Wednesday, said terrorists were now deploying sophisticated technology in their operations.
Bemoaning a situation in which the bureaucratic bottlenecks attached to the procurement of military equipment, had remained a major challenged, the governor insisted that the situation must be remedied urging President Bola Tinubu to listen to the army on what it required to end insurgency in the north of the country.
He added: “We must prioritise security. National and subnational governments must pool resources together to procure equipment. A few days ago, I visited the Chief of Army Staff. He said he is looking for about 32 drones and he would end the insurgency.
“My plea is that let us deal with this matter decisively. The President of Nigeria should listen to those that can distinguish between the right and wrong. Those that can tell him the right thing and not sycophants.
“He needs to understand what is happening on the ground. A few days ago, I said there is an insurgency in Borno state. I commended the federal government for doing very well and that we should come together to resolve the issues. Some people said there is no insecurity in Borno state. We should not politicise insecurity.”
Regarding the debate on state police, Zulum, who seemed not to be in support of the idea as the immediate panacea, maintained that the existing security apparatus should be strengthened rather than create a new policing system.
Tinubu is gone – Babachir *Shettima, Okowa, 20 govs lost their states in 2023
TRAGEDY! Ibadan-bound truck, loses control, rams into market in Lagos
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